nbc's kelly o'donnell is live at the white house. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, willie. there was definitely a sense of a big deadline looming. i've seen senior advisers and cabinet level here. sources say it's no longer a goal for the first 100 days but they expect to see progress. and they also think that the president will be graded on his leadership and not simply on legislation. donald trump had been president just eight weeks when this soldier was gravely wounded in afghanistan. >> i wanted to do it myself. so, congratulations on behalf of melania and myself and the entire mission. >> reporter: saturday, the president presented sergeant alvaro valiantos with a purple heart. back at the white house, the president's twitter feed appeared to respond. though not organized as a

nbc's kelly o'donnell is live in west palm beach with that. kelly, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, craig. the president has talked about the advantages of unpredictability when it comes to foreign policy. today the white house is projecting caution and reassurance when it comes to north korea. kim jong-un's ambitions could pose the greatest challenge to president trump, and today a long-planned trip to asia for mike pence comes at a critical time. today the vice president heads to seoul, south korea, part of a four-country trip. pence intends to deliver a message of unwavering support to the u.s. ally most vulnerable to a nuclear strike. >> really, the president's message and vice president's message is to show support with allies and the fact that we are there with them and confront this threat together. >> while president trump has a new friendship with his

kelly o'donnell has the latest from washington. >> reporter: the president, out of sight at the white house, brings the conversation back to media bashing. lashing out on twitter. it is the same fake news media that said there was no path to victory for trump that is now pushing the phony russia story. a total scan. new tonight, we've obtained two sets of disclosure documents. he was forced out as national security adviser after he failed to disclose on russia. from dozens of companies for security consulting and speeches. russia appears three times. one speech delivered in moscow and two for russian companies in the u.s. nine also included an october speech for a turkish businessman with pro government ties. and interestingly, would pay as

kelly o'donnell is with the president in florida. >> what counts as celebration in north korea, again, rattles nerves around the world. the north's nuclear capability tests pose a major problem to donald trump. >> north korea is a problem pro.. the problem will be taken care of. >> pence intends to deliver a message of unwavering support to the u.s. ally most vulnerable to a nouk here strike. >> really, the president's message, the vice president's message is to show our support with our allies and the fact that we are there with them and we'll confront this threat together. >> while president trump has a new frich with his chinese counterpart, in less than two weeks, with the pentagon's first

nbc's kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: under the radar, no more. rex tillerson, the media wary. >> no comment. >> reporter: low-key secretary of state is emerging. weeks after taking office. today his first sunday show interview. >> i hope that russia is thinking carefully about its continued alliance with bashar al-assad. >> reporter: a stern message tillerson is expected to take to russia where he will meet with the foreign minister this week. with his own established ties with vladimir putin from his former oil executive days. a putin meeting may also be possible. >> how he reacts to secretary tillerson, the kinds of signals he says in terms of the future, that's what we need to be watching. >> reporter: tense relations, damaged by russia protection of syria's assad regime, and clouded by putin's interference in the 2016 election. with ongoing investigations by congress and the fbi. in moscow, nbc's bill neeley. >> here in moscow, the kremlin

nbc's kelly o'donnell has more on that. >> reporter: no comment is not the president's usually approach, but his silence on north korea's failed launch is to deprive kim jong-un of attention. president trump was able to convey to the chinese president is that norg korea is no longer an asset but a a liability. the presidential motorcade rolled along the ocean's edge to a palm beach church where the trump celebrated easter services. after a surprising 40-hour break from twitter the president unleashed a spring storm of five tweets. he explained had his shift on china. why would i call china a currency manipulator when they're working with us on the north korean problem. john mccain said the president is right to lean on china. >> china can shut them town. and whether they're currency manipulators or not, we should expect them to act to prevent what could be a cataclysmic event. >> reporter: in aer mo defensive mood, the president linked his

kelly o'donnell, she is on capitol hill. cnbc's ron insana with me in new york. he's going to break down what this new tax blueprint from the white house actually says and of course, we also have han strks nichols at the pentagon. we will start with kristen welker, he is at the white house, where treasury secretary steve mnuchin, director of the national economic council, just unveiled president trump's tax reform blueprint. the headlines here, slashing the corporate rate to 15%. down from 35%. they say simplifying tax brackets for individuals. they say just three of those now they want. 25%, 15%, 25%. also deduction changes as well. krist kristen, again, just a blueprint here. you can already hear the critics saying it's going to blow a hole in the deficit unless they find some way of paying for this, but take us through the highlights, what the white house says it's trying to do here. >> reporter: well, you're absolutely right. republicans saying that this

we're going to kelly o'donnell, live near president trump's m mar-a-lago estate in florida. he's spending the eastern weekend there. let's start with the major military move by the trump administration in a week, versus the missile strike in syria and this, dropping the mother of all bombs. what are you hearing about this, and how much of this has to do with a particular matter on the ground versus sending a message to other countries, including north korea? >> one of the things that the trump white house is trying to show is the president's willingness to listen to military leaders and willingness to move on tactical opportunity, when there is something that presents itself for the president and his team. there is actionable targets to take that action. now, the president did not say that he was specifically the one who green lighted the operation in afghanistan. instead, he spoke more broadly, saying he'd given authority to military leaders to exercise their judgment based on a strategy shared with the white

we get more on this from kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: this rain soaked day at the white house seemed fitting for one solemn duty of the commander in chief, the president and mrs. trump made their first trip to visit injured service members at the national military hospital. for the army sergeant joined by his wife, there was a special honor. >> the president of the united states president of the united states has awarded the purple heart. >> reporter: he was injured in afghanistan last month. >> i wanted to do it myself. so congratulations on behalf of melania, myself and the entire nation. >> reporter: from that personal expression of military strength to a global alliance, today the vice president in sidney. >> good day. >> reporter: reinforced the u.s. bond with australia and specific concerns about north korea's nuclear program. >> the president and i have great confidence that china will properly deal with korea. >> reporter: back in washington, the trump white house is managing expectations

here's nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: not every capitol hill showdown carries the weight of history. >> judge gorsuch has outstanding legal skills. >> reporter: this time, it does. >> i'm honored, and i am humbled. >> reporter: 49-year-old colorado-based federal judge neil gorsuch could begin a lifetime appointment to the supreme court by friday. >> what i can tell you is that neil gorsuch will be confirmed this week. how that happens really depends on our democratic friends. >> reporter: that's where more history comes in. a supreme court nominee has never been blocked by a partisan filibuster. democrats willp gorsuch by insisting on the senate's role requiring 60 votes. >> it's highly unlikely that he's get 60. >> reporter: republicans need eight democrats to move the gorsuch nomination to a final vote. indiana senator joe donnelly announces west virginia's joe manchin and north carolina's heidi highcamp. democrats from red states, trump

let's bring in nbc's kelly o'donnell. good morning to you. how is the white house framing this occasion? >> well, good morning, dara. they are both drawing attention to the 1 4u7b days mark and at the same time trying to down play its significance. it is an arbitrary date. it doesn't carry any particular importance except for the bit of history. it's one way to look at how has a new presidency begun. for president trump who likes to talk about winning, there is a real push going on here to identify tangible victories it can associate with this 100 day mark. but at the same time, we've seen, there has been no typical honeymoon for president trump with easy legislative victories to start off his presidency. >> rarely does the president simply walk to an event with no motorcade. but his first visit to the treasury department next door to the white house made that easy. while there, the president teed up an unexpected new headlines for next week. >> we'll be having a big announcement on wednesday having

nbc's kelly o'donnell has more from the white house. kelly, good morning. >> good morning, lewis.in office. i'm talking about the supreme court. this week is critical for the nomination of neil gorsuch. today the judiciary committee will vote to send his nomination to the full senate for the vote. the republicans don't have enough votes on their own to get him confirmed. they may have to resort to an usual move, changing the senate rules on their own to override democrats and get gorsuch on the court. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says one way or another gorsuch will be confirmed by the end of the week. also a week president trump will be on the world stage. he has visits from world leaders from the white house, egypt and jordan. the chinese president will be here later in the week meeting with president trump and there will be tense issues from trade to north korea. it's a big week ahead for president trump. lewis. >> certainly a big week in washington thanks to kelly o'donnell for that report. >> that's a wrap for us on this monday i'm alex witt. "morning joe" starts no

kelly o'donnell has the latest from washington. >> reporter: the president, out of sight at the white house, brings the conversation back to media bashing. lashing out on twitter. it is the same fake news media that said there was no path to victory for trump that is now pushing the phony russia story. a total scan. new tonight, we've obtained two sets of disclosure documents. he was forced out as national security adviser after he failed to disclose on russia. from dozens of companies for security consulting and speeches. russia appears three times. one speech delivered in moscow and two for russian companies in the u.s. nine also included an october speech for a turkish businessman with pro government ties. and interestingly, would pay as a consultant for the federal bureau of investigation. today the town hall meeting, senator lindsey graham responded to concerns about flynn who was seeking immunity in the russian investigation. >> i really didn't see this one coming. flynn said himself, if you request immunity, you must be guilty. >> with kelly o'donnell reporting, monday they'll

we begin with kelly o'donnell who is in florida where the president is spending easter weekend. we also have kelly kobia who is in england. kelly, let's start with you. the president was saying how he gave total authorization to the military to do this strike. does that mean the president was not involved in dropping the biggest bomb we've ever dropped on afghanistan? >> reporter: well, katy, it remains unclear, because the president was asked that question when he was at an event for a separate matter, but he did respond, and he did not say that he personally authorized the strike or was in direct communication at the time the decision was made, but instead spoke more broadly about having given authorization to his military team to act when they felt it was appropriate, to use the tactics they saw working for that time and place, but the president was very careful while praising their success to not include himself in the direct decision making for this specific event, but more broadly for the strategy. judging from that, it would seem that he was not as involved and would not n

kelly o'donnell is in palm beach on this busy saturday near the mar-a-lago estate. good morning, kelly. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, the president spent time at his golf resort in west palm beach. we presume there's been golfing going on but we don't know that officially. he has used twitter to talk about a couple of biggest things of his week and of his presidency. the meeting with president xi of china was meant to be consequential in ways. building a personal relationship, which the president thinks he has done and forging mutual respect on a wupb to one level. the president critical about issues related to trade. still a lot of work to do from his view towards the u.s. with china and the trade deficit and how china handles currency. so there will be a lot of work with china. as you mentioned, to some degree the visit overshad he doughed by the more unexpected developments related to syria. that is often the case for a president. outside events like the chemical attack in syria generating new demands on a president. those tend to get a lot of action. the

kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: today as the president spent several hours at the trump golf resort his palm beach home, praise flowed from his twitter account, congratulations to our great military men and women for their role in the strike on syria, also today, the president in traditional letter form wrote to congress with his official legal basis, claiming his purpose to stop further chemical weapons attack, and his power, by acting in the national security interest, of the united states. reasoning that both conflicts and supports past campaign positions. >> on the one hand he attacked the assad regime, on the other he is also following through on his commitment to put more forces on the ground to rid syria of isis. >> international headline from friendly nation splashed approval. but inside the white house, splintered power among the president's senior team. chief strategist steve banaban him an add to base, and reince priebus, after sources say they were seeking to assign blame over the health care refusal. tonight, sources say the power trio held a long meeting, kushner, bann

>> kelly o'donnell, thank you. after the strike in syria some of president trump's most ardent supporters are asking what happened to one of the core principles, the cornerstone to his campaign and his administration. hallie jackson has that story. >> it is going to be america first. remember that. >> reporter: for president trump a two word world view. >> america first. america first, america first. >> reporter: clear on the campaign trail as he railed against intervention and then came his syrian strike and the near immediate backlash from his base. >> this is unbelievable. this is not what we voted for. >> reporter: that is a conspiracy theorist. making sure that the air strike seems like a betrayal. >> you are seeing a lot of disturbance in the force that really believed that donald trump represented a very very short break with the bush era foreign policy and the reality is that right now he's not. >> reporter: the editor of one right wing website tweeting i'm officially off the trump train. ann coulter writin

as nbc's kelly o'donnell reports, there was no break this holiday from a presidential tweet storm. >>eporter: no comment is not the president's usual approach. but his silence on north korea's failed launch is message discipline to deprive kim jong-un of attention. while the white house reaches out to the china for help. >> what the president was able to convey to it the chinese president is that north korea is no longer an asset. north korea is a liability. >> reporter: today the presidential motorcade rolled along the ocean's edge to a palm beach church where the trumps celebrated easter services. after a surprising 40-hour break from twitter, he unleashed a spring storm of five tweets. the president explained his shift on china. why would i call china a currency manipulator when they're working with us on the north korean problem? senator mccain said the president is right to lean on china. >> china can shut them down. we should be -- whether they're currency manipulators or not, we should expect them to act to prevent what could be a cataclysmic event. >> reporter: in a more defen

kelly o'donnell, thanks so much. >>> tomorrow morning the u.s.me court begins hearing the final cases of the term and the newest justice, just confirmed, neil gorsuch, will take his seat on the bench for the first time. he could make a big difference in one of those cases involving religious freedom. our justice correspondent pete williams has that story. >> please raise your right-hand and repeat after me. >> reporter: the arrival of neil gorsuch with a conservative judicial record restores the makeup of the u.s. supreme court. he takes the seat left vacant by the death 14 months ago of antonin scalia, given the justices once again a 5-4 majority, and that may make a difference in one of the most important cases. on wednesday the court hears that the preschool was left out of a program to improve school play grouns. missouri state constitution says no state money can be spent to aid a church. the church says it should not be treated differently when it comes to making playgrounds safer. >> the constitution is clear, the government cannot treat p

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house tonight.t's get more how the president is viewed in our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. we turn to our moderator of "meet the press" chuck todd. >> by any standard that you measure president trump, the fact is his approval ratings are at the lowest point of any new president going into day 100 we've tested in the history of the nbc/"wall street journal" poll. he sits at 40% job approval, down from the first poll we conducted of mr. trump's presidency where he sat at 44. look, overall when he look at comparisons between president trump and presidents obama, bush and clinton, he is getting lower marks than all three previous presidents. if you look at simply first 100 days, nearly half of the country believes he has gotten off to a poor start, 45%. nearly another 20 are saying only a fair start. the fact of the matter is he starts in a hole. there's positive news. they give him better marks on the economy than they do on foreign policy. you always want better marks on the economy than anyth

>> kelly o'donnell down in florida. kelly, thank you. >>> the u.s. is also engaging in a powerful show of force tonight aimed at north korea. a u.s. navy strike group is headed toward the korean peninsula after days of growing tensions. nbc's janis mackey frayer is in seoul, south korea, janice? >> reporter: kate, tension here is nothing new. the u.s. strike on syria is widely seen as a message to kim jong-un that the u.s. is willing to strike north korea also. they have ordered the "uss carl vinson" to head to the korean peninsula because of recent provocations. this american show of force is met with a defiant vow from the north to bolster its own defenses, saying the strike on syria is justification for the regime's needs for a nuclear arsenal. the concern of a u.s. strike on north korea counterattack, the north has missiles pointed at seoul and there are 28,000 u.s. military personnel stationed in south korea. president trump has been pressing china's leader to rein in the north. the two met face-to-face for the first time last week, just 48 hour

kate. >>> kelly o'donnell at the white house.hank you. >>> the north korean nuclear threat will be high on the agenda when president trump hosts the leader of china this week. in an interview with "the financial times" out tonight, the president warns if china is not going to solve north korea, we will. lester holt is in south korea tonight where he will be broadcasting for the first part of the week. he sets the scene not far from the demilitarized zone separating north and south korea. >> you don't have to travel very far outside seoul to see signs and remind hers of how close it sits to a dangerous and unpredictable neighbor. people in south korea are used to the bellicose statements and dangerous threats coming from kim jong-un, but this time things are different according to experts. things are more perilous for three reasons. kim jong-un's discussion of trying to develop a longer range missile and miniaturized nuclear weapons. also, the political turmoil in the south, its president recently impeached and arrested over corru

let's start with kelly o'donnell at the white house. casey hunt is with me here. kelly, what does the white house want to see done here, let's start with health care? >> reporter: from the surpearltive driven president trump, he would like to get both done. but white house officials say they have a feeling for the way this is going. they believe a repeal effort can take place, but they don't think that is on the short window of just next week. think they that, in fact, is too hard a reach and will bleed into the following week. when it comes to a budget, that's a much harder deadline and you can't mess around with that. we have seen over recent years when there's been the brinksmanship of going to the edge. and in the case of the big government shutdown that lasted a few weeks, we saw a different set of circumstances. there was a motivation toward a shutdown. that doesn't exist in the current political ethos right now. the white house believes it can accomplish some of what is needed in a -- what's called an omnibus spending bill. if they need a bit more time, ther

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house tonight. president trump also getting a lot of attention today for extending an invitation to the controversial president of the philippines, rodrigo duterte. in mr. trump invited him to visit the white house. since duterte took office last year, thousands have died after he encouraged police and others to kill drug dealers and users in his country. the timing of his visit to washington has not been announced. >>> while donald trump, the president, says he's focusing on his white house duties, trump the businessman recently suffered a legal loss. over the years, hundreds of contractors have accused mr. trump of failing to pay them, but now one business is being paid back to the tune of more than $300,000. nbc's kerry sanders has those details. >> reporter: paint store owner juan carlos enriquez says between unpaid bills and legal fees, he could have gone out of business. for three years, he says a customer stiffed him for over $32,000. that customer, the doral golf course in miami, owned by no

kelly o'donnell is live in west palm beach with the that. ction from the white house after that display of military pageantry in north korea and the reports about potentially new weaponry in its arsenal. today we expect that the president is still looking to shake north korea with the u.s. power, but also looking to china for health. and the president has raised the stakes by suggesting that if china does not work in partnership with the u.s., that the u.s. will handle its on its own. also critical now, vice president mike pence is headed on a four-country, ten-day trip to take him to seoul, south korea, today. that's critical as he delivers in person the show of u.s. solidarity and to discuss strategy with respect to north korea at a time when it is such a critical issue in that part of the world. as we talked about the u.s. may not be within the range of north korea's capability to send a nuclear payload hee, certainly within range, which makes it even more critical. for the president today, he's here celebrating the easter weekend. and so

i want to bring in kelly o'donnell who has new information. kelly, you're with the president there in florida. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, richard, continuing our conversation from the last time we spoke, we've learned from air force two that vice president mike pence has spoken with president trump and pence was briefed not long after his aircraft made a fuel stop in anchorage, alaska. that's a standard procedure going from joint base andrews in washington, refueling in anchorage and heading on to seoul, south korea. i'm told there's no plan to change the vice president's itinerary. he's scheduled to visit four countries in asia and the pacific over the next ten days. expected to arrive in seoul, south korea. we're told that the vice president was briefed and again this gives you a sense of the kind of communications capability that exists while the president is here at his palm beach home. the vice president is literally in the air when these conversations took place. reporters traveling with the vice president were briefed on th

let's get the latest from nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house for us. lly, if we can, let's start with what we spent the last 30 minutes or so watching. that was the vice president on the road there in the midwest. a common stop, as i was mentioning, and some themes and a cadence that he's familiar with. this is comfortable space for him as he tries to redirect the message that is happening where you are, in the white house, in the beltway, trying to move away from the nunes questions that are out right now. your reflection and putting into context what the vice president is doing on this saturday going back to a familiar stop for the trump administration. >> reporter: well, the vice president, richard, is trying to drive the agenda that is under the control of the trump administration, picking the topics and the issues they want to talk about when they are sort of caught in the swirl, as every administration is, of outside events that can suck up so much of the attention. in the case of this trump white house issues related to russia have been so much a

kelly o'donnell, with the president in florida, msnbc military analyst, colonel jack jacob. kelly cobia ya. i want to start with you. obviously tensions mount in the region. what can you tell us about casualties, the location and the response on the ground from isis? >> well within krist, we've hea pentagon and the afghan ministry this morning. the commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan, general john nicholson called this the right weapon against the right target. the u.s. coordinated with the afghan government on this. he also said the u.s. forces on the ground have seen no evidence of civilian casualties. this mother of all bombs so-called was dropped in a very remote mountainous area of afghanistan. the target was a series of tunnels and caves used by isis militants. the afghan defense ministry said the tunnel complex was very hard to penetrate because some of the tunnels were more than 100 feet deep. the spokesman for the men industry of defense saying they had tried to attack the position four times, couldn't advance there and that the road was mined on top of it all. h

steve. >> kelly o'donnell on capitol hill. kelly, thanks for that. >>> turning back to the new tax reform blueprint the trump administration says what they're proposing here, excuse me, would be historic. cnbc contributor ron insana is here with me. ron, i was keeping an eye today, this announcement came early afternoon from the trump white house with the basic blueprint here is. >> yeah. >> the stock market, the first to d two days of this week, a lot of growth in the stock market. today kind of flat. do we read anything into that? >> expression on wall street, you buy the rumor and sell the news. this has begun to trikckle out this week. everybody got the notion the president wanted to push the corporate tax rate down to 15%. the market has discounted this and taken a pause after the dow rallied 450 points in 2 days and the nasdaq topped 6,000 for the first time in history yesterday. >> there's the corporate rate, want to bring tack from 35% to 15%. want three basic brackets on income tax, 10%, 25%, 35%. the big question here

i want to go to kelly o'donnell. before we get to taxes and delve into some of that news, though, put into context the extent of which this russian investigation, this probe on mike flynn has really overshadowed some of the president's agenda, particularly during that critical week. >> well, sources tell told me that the president thought by relieving flynn of his duties, so to speak, forcing him to submit a resignation letter, that that would end it. far from it, of course, in the ways of washington, which are still somewhat unfamiliar to president trump. this kind of investigation has a tendency to cast a long shadow, and with flynn it does. back during the transition period he was at least in part operating off the security clearance as the former head of the defense intelligence agency. he was in a very high level there. and the white house has been saying that it does not possess paperwork related to flynn because during that period of time prior to taking office, they claimet to not have possession of any docum

we begin with nbc's kelly o'donnell who is near the president's mar-a-lago estate. the president has sent a letter to congress about his actions on thursday. what more can you tell us about that? >> reporter: good to be with you, yasmin. this is an opportunity for president trump to lay out the legal basis for the action that he took. we know congress has to play and role and that didn't happen in this case before the attack on the airfield in syria, so the president outlining what he believes is his legal authority in this letter to the leaders of the house and senate. he gives it first the play-by-play of what went down the other night at 8:40 p.m. talking about the forces going into syria. he said that he did this in the foreign policy interests of the united states, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations as commander in chief and chief executive. and the united states will take additional action as appropriate to further its important interests. this is, in some ways, a standard thing the white house would do to inform congress. in

nbc news kelly o'donnell has more from the white house. rning. >> reporter: good morning, lewis. president trump says his is a different kind of presidency and that's why he thinks the 100 day scorecard coming up saturday doesn't really apply to him. he calls it an artificial barrier, something that isn't that meaningful. having said all that trump white house is rolling out high-profile events this week to try to shine a light on things they think the president has been able to get done, even though that does not include big legislation. at the same time there's a different kind of deadline going, that's the budget showdown. by friday if there isn't budget extension to keep the government open, there's going to be a shutdown. no one thinks that's going to happen but there's a lot of work to do between now and then to agree on a budget. avoiding any kind of government shutdown is critical as the president winds down towards 100 days and tries to mark and highlight the things that he thinks define his early presidency. lewis. >> kelly o'donn

we have it all covered for you, but let's begin with nbc's kelly o'donnell live at the white house. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, sheinelle. the white house is keeping comment to a minimum on north korea as we have seen. but the president sure seems ready for campaign mode. pennsylvania tonight. and he's already had some strong words for democrats. despite all the attention around trump's 100 days in office, at the national rifle association convention, he relished his inner candidate. >> november 8, wasn't that a great evening? do you remember that evening? >> reporter: embraced by the nra audience, president trump jabs at a possible 2020 opponent with his campaign trail insults of progressive senator elizabeth warren. >> no, sir. no, thank you, perhaps, ma'am. it may be pocahontas, remember that. >> reporter: and president trump used his address to the mega gun lobby to criticize his predecessor. >> the eight-year assault on your second amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end. >> reporter: the start of the trump administration -- do in 100 days. so we are very hap

i want to go to nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house. kelly, let's talk about the figure. this is what they say they're worth. what have we learned? >> reporter: this is the kind of paperwork at's a requirement for anyone working in thehite house to submit, a very detailed finaial disclosure, everything from investments to n baing accounts to business interests to a spouse's earnings, all of that. it's pretty standard and is expected of anyone who works in the white house. often in past administrations you've had people who work in government for a long time so there aren't in surprises. in the trump world, there are many more people with considerable wealth as he has pulled people in from the business world and then with his daughter and son-in-law from obviously the trump family and the kushner family which has great wealth as well. so this is a requirement and they released these detailed financial disclosures for well over 100 staffers here at the white house, and a number of them have considerable means. what's interesting about looking at ivanka trump and jared kushn

kelly o'donnell is following president trump in west palm beach, florida. and from reuters, josh smith in the capital of afghanistan, kabul. kelly, let me start with you. we know that vice president pence is headed to south korea this weekend. what can you tell us about the white house's approach to the situation in north korea? >> reporter: well, the partnership the u.s. has with south korea is so critical in this, craig, as we understand they are at most risk, most vulnerable from any aggression from the north koreans. wanting to be on the same page, giving them insight directly from the vice president on this mission where he'll visit several countries in that part of the world. to ease any concerns they have, to have that face-to-face kind of diplomacy, where in this case, it's the vice president making this trip. and also at the same time, to keep things calm, to not suggest that the u.s. is prepared to inflame the situation, but instead trying to set some parameters for what the u.s. is prepared to do with the blessing of south korea, should anything t

nbc's kelly o'donnell is live at the white house where the trump administration is watching the situation 100th day in office as well. kelly, good morning to you. >> good morning, craig. on day 100 the president is going to take another step that is really one of the most identifiable kinds of accomplishments in his early administration, the executive order. he will sign another one today in pennsylvania, that deals with starting to look at all trade agreements, that's been a big theme for this administration. then he will head to the familiar surroundings of a campaign rally. and based on his rhetoric, even the last few days, he's already looking to the next election. despite all the attention around trump's 100 days in office, friday, at the national rifle association convention, the president relished his inner candidate. >> november 8th. wasn't that a great evening? do you remember that evening? >> embraced by the nra audience, president trump jabbed at a possible 2020 opponent. with his campaign trail insult of progressive senator, elizabeth warren. >> no, sir, no thank you. no, ma'a

kelly o'donnell is at the white house this afternoon. what can you tell us about this visit to walter reed? >> reporter: well, it's an important step for any commander in chief, stephanie, to go and see injured service members and this is the first time the president has made this trip first lady melania trump who is in d.c. this weekend also joined him. he said he wanted to present the purple heart to one particular service member when he heard this story. sergeant first class elva elvaro borentos who was injured in afghanistan. he said, when i heard about this, i wanted to do it myself, referring to the purple heart. congratulations. tremendous. i think he means the sacrifice of this service member in the line of duty injured in afghanistan. this was an opportunity for them to have personal contact with him, to award him the purple heart. there were meetings not on camera where the president was able to see other injured service members. it's also the president's hospital, as it's known, where typically the presidents of the united sta

kelly o'donnell is there in west palm beach.is the president -- as we watch a very tense 48 hours here in north korea, do we know what he's doing there at mar-a-lago to keep an eye on this? >> reporter: well, there's no easy answer on that. the white house is not providing much in the way of any background of what the president is doing, with whom he's speaking or any contacts. we know he spend most of today at west palmeachoes have access to secure communications with the white house situation room, the pentagon, anyone he would need to be in touch with. typical practice is, whenever there is a president traveling, there are key departments traveling with him. you pointed out some of the most senior aides are not here. that's notable. the first time in the dozen weeks that we have not seen the chief of staff or top strategist traveling with the president. it may be part of why they have stayed home. but. >> are members of the national security council who are here and they direct people to let them know what is going on in nort

nbc's kelly o'donnell is live at the white house.ood morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, craig. buckle up, it's going to be a busy one. and the white house is trying to do two things when it comes to the 100-day mark. on the one hand, they are downplaying that as an arbitrary, media-driven date, at the same time they are ready with proposals and promises kept. the president can tout to say his first 100 days in office showed some successes on the board. rarely does the president simply walk to an event with no motorcade. but his first visit to the treasury department next door to the white house made that easy. while there, the president teed up an unexpected headline for announcement on wednesday having to do with tax reform. >> reporter: the president described his tax cut proposal in an interview with the associated press as bigger, i believe, than any tax cut ever. the president's plate is full, closing in on the 100-day mark next saturday. with no legislative achievements yet, the white house is reviving an effort to repe

>> nbc's kelly o'donnell on capitol hill. kelly, thank you very much. >>> the freedom caucus so board, but what about moderate republicans? this is what dan donovan, a member of the tuesday group, said just an hour ago. >> a lot of proposals, the amendments, the modifications to the original plan didn't satisfy my concerns. being the only republican from new york city i had concerns that affected my constituents uniquely, and from what i've seen, none of those vhave been addressed in the current plan we're looking forward to now. >> here with me is congressman mo brooks from alabama and member of the freedom caucus. thank you for joining us. we'll get to taxes but first i want to start with health care. when are we going to see a vote on this plan? >> well, with the house freedom caucus having successfully negotiated for a bill that better protects states' rights and at the same time lowers the cost of health insurance in those states that decide to go for those waivers, that gives a big bloc vote for the states to work with.

nbc's kelly o'donnell is live for us this morning at the white house. kelli, good morning. >> good morning, willie. the president made himself an anti-washington outsider telling the pennsylvania crowd he would rather spend time with them over a washington tradition. president trump became the first in decades not to attend the white house correspondent's dinner. even ronald regan recovering from a gunshot called into the event. mr. trump told that rally crowd about renegotiating nafta, repealing obamacare and building the wall but he spent the most of his time, a block of it knocking the media. greeting thousands of fired up supporters in harrisburg, pennsylvania, saturday night, president trump revelled in running another kind of campaign, an attack on the national media. >> they are gathered together for the white house correspondent's dinner without the president. >> balking decades of presidential tradition dishing out his own 100 day report card. >> i think we would all agree the media deserves a very, very big fat failing grade. >> reporter: back

kelly o'donnell is with the president in west palm beach. good morning to you, kelly. let's talk about i guess what we know about how the president has been monitoring the situation on the korean peninsula and what advisers are on the ground with him there? >> reporter: well, good to be with you, sheinelle. we know very little in the specifics during this easter holiday weekend. the president is right now at the trump international golf club, one of his properties in this area. we do know that there are members of the white house team with him, but not the most senior members. and when i refer to that, that's a change from some of the weekends and some of the trips where we would see a reince priebus, the chief of staff, or chief strategist steve bannon or senior advisor jared kushner traveling with the president. that's not the case this weekend. however, his mar-a-lago home does have all the equipment necessary for secure communications back to the white house situation room, to the pentagon, wherever he might need to be in touch with other top advisers or to get bri

tax reform is a long-term project. >> kelly o'donnell live at the white house for us, kelly, thank you very much. >>> happening right now, voters in france casting ballots. this is a live look where it is 3:00 p.m., just after 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon there. the top four candidates in this hotly contested race range from extreme left to extreme right and the top two in today's vote will compete in a runoff may 7th. that's if somebody doesn't clear the way. polls show front-runners at emanuel macron and marine le pen. nbc's matt bradley joins us from paris where the city remains on alert after the attack on police officers. what can you tell us about voter turnout today and how the attack is playing out in the minds of the voters? >> reporter: good morning, thomas. the voter turnout so far today seems to be consistent with about the numbers they saw around this time in the last election, in 2012. it doesn't hurt that it's a very beautiful sunday morning here in paris, but remember that the millions of people going out to vote today, they are going to be accompanied by some 50,000 poli