nbc's kelly o'donnell is in branch burring, new jersey, not far from the president's club where he istaying this weekend. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, willie. when the attorney general sits down with members of the senate intelligence committee exp closed doors. and not the big public forum like we saw with james comey. the attorney general says he wants to answer questions in the appropriate forum and that's what brought about a very abrupt change of plans. the attorney general. >> good morning. >> reporter: with a surprise move late saturday. jeff sessions offered to meet with the senate intelligence committee but he will skip a televised grilling expected tuesday when lawmakers were likely to pepper him about the russia investigation the an unrelated budget hearing. in a letter the attorney general said because of mr. comey's recent testimony, some lawmakers plan to he can to us their questions on issues related to the russia investigation. fallout from the testimony of fired fbi director james comey who said he had classified information on why sessions recused

nbc's kelly o'donnell is following the latest from washington. >> reporter: taking the pulse in maryland. >> none of this is good for the people. >> i'm concerned about the cost. >> reporter: democratic senator chris van hollen urges those anxious about a health care overhaul to pressure waivering republicans. >> we need three republican senators to do the right thing by their constituents and not the party bosses in washington. >> reporter: the president on the move trying to close the deal on an obamacare repeal from his weekly white house video as public outreach. >> for the health care system that you deserve. we'll get it done. >> reporter: to phone calls. sources say that president trump is reaching out this weekend. he has spoken to ted cruz, one of five republicans publicly opposed to the proposal. republicans can only lose two votes from their members. a razor's edge margin the president lamented in an interview to air tomorrow on fox news. >> it would be so great if the republicans and democrats could get together and wrap their arms around it and come up with something that ev

we have kelly o'donnell, our nbc news white house correspondent. she is there in miami. have nbc's gabe gutierrez who is in havana, cuba. and joining us, john cavik, senior of the trade council and senator jeb bush. let's listen to the president sign this document. [ applause ] >> so let's start with kelly o'donnell. kelly, this was something we expected the president to do. >> reporter: this was well timed, katy, and it was a promise kept by the president and those who are supportive of it is really calculable. there is support in this particular community to the changes in the obama-era changes on cuba. he is interested in not sending millions of dollars into businesses of the cuban military and government. this will not change the fact that the u.s. embassy now has a home in cuba. that will continue. normalization of relations does continue, but travel will change for those individuals who might want to make cuba a vacation destination. there will be new restrictions, but there will be other ways for americans and groups and educational type sort of organized events t

nbc kelly o'donnell with more. >> reporter: branding in the rose garden. >> he's a leaker. >> from his home, comey again. i believe the james comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone thought possible. totally illegal? very cowardly. cowardly in quotes. a shot at comey's own confession thursday. he told the president he would see what the fbi could do, after the president asked him to back off michael flynn. >> a slightly cowardly way to tell him we're not going to do that. >> his persistent commentary frustrating presidents. >> you may be the first president in history to go down because you can't stop talking beauty an investigation that if you just were quiet would clear you. >> frustration aimed in a different direction by republican party chairwoman. >> i'm calling to an end to the investigations about president trump's campaign colluding with the russians. there's been no evidence of it. i don't think that will continue. >> reporter: that's unlikely as the russia investigation puts attorney general jeff sessions back in the political hot seat. >> i didn't have communicat

let's bring in kelly o'donnell who is live on the phone from branchburg, new jersey. about this memo that was just sent out? >> reporter: this was from the attorney general to the two chairman of the appropriate committees. the attorney general was expected to testify before the appropriations committee. he would be testifying about the budget needs for that department and that would be a public meeting and in light of the russia investigation issues and after the comey testimony, there were other lawmakers who said they expected to ask jeff sessions in a public setting about some of the things james comey had testified to when he was before the committee last week and to try to get at additional answers about jeff sessions and possible contacts he had with russian officials while he was a campaign official or a transition official working on behalf of candidate donald trump. well, knowing that that would be a very high-profile, very high-risk situation, what the attorney general was writing in this letter is because he has recused himself in all matters related to the

let's now go to nbc's kelly o'donnell with the latest on this. s at the white house where the president is expected back from camp david this hour. kelly, any explanation, you have heard these sound bites so far today. have we heard anything from the white house about these conflicts responses? >> no, the whi house i staying out of this. but as you and i were talking yesterday, i was reporting this was the position of the president's personal legal team and we saw that come to life with the tv appearances of jaysojay sekulow. the attorneys would be required to be truthful about such a thing in the department of justice has or has not notified the legal team. that's separate from whether or not the special counsel is beginning -- is under way with an investigation. that's the piece we don't know. the fact that they haven't been notified doesn't mean it does not exist. the special counsel is still hiring lawyers and ramping up and settling into office space. so it might be a time line issue. or the president's team may be correct he's not personally

sparing him a televised spectacle. >> that was kelly o'donnell reporting. it is official, milania trump and the son, barron are living at the white house. she said looking forward to the memories that we will make in our new home t photo appears of the been taken from the red room in the white house, looking out to the monument. this is video of the first family walking in to the white house earlier tonight. the first lady had been living at trump tour in new york city with their child so he could finish the school year there. new at 11:00. delta airlines yanked the sponsor ship of a controversial production of shakespeare in the park's julius cesar, because the central character mirrors trump h the company sponsored the public theetd theater put pulled funding because they said it was a crossing of the line of good taste and did not reflect the company's values. >>> the best and brightest young historians in the world tried to carve out their own spot in history as they compete for thousands of dollars in prizes and scholarships. it's part of the national

likely behind closed doors. >> that was kelly o'donnell. the president may be considering some changes to his white house team. reince priebus's job is reportedly on the line. the chief of staff has until july 4th to clean up shop otherwise he could be removed as march of a white house clean up. sean spicer denied there was a deadline. >>> the white house is denying a report that president trump is postponing a state trip to uk. he told theresa may that he did not want to make the trip if there were is going to be large scale protests. the president may not want to leave the white house now that his wife and his son have finally made the move to d.c. the pair spent a half months living in the trump tower so barron could finish up school. >>> uber discussed stormser u.s. eric holder's internal investigation of sexual harassment. they voted to accept all of holderess recommendations. they wouldn't make details public until tuesday. uber ceo may temporarily leave the company. a source told nbc he wasn't the only uber executive whose future was

kelly o'donnell has more tonight. >> reporter: president trump and his family left the white house today for a father's day weekend get away. the president's approval rating remains mired in a gloomy range. 39% of those surveyed by gallop like the job he's doing. mr. trump rolled out his own new figures. a 98 page voluntary financial disclosure form, not due until next spring. but not as detailed as tax returns he refuses to release. the president reports his family business income in wide ranges. at a minimum, a $595 million since january 2016. his posh new washington, d.c., hotel that attracts foreign business posts revenue of $19.6 million, while his palm beach resort, mar-a-lago, saw profits soar to $37 million. that's more than double what candidate trump reported in 2015. despite tweeting this phrase about the russia probe, i am being investigated, sources close to the president's legal team tell nbc news he has not been informed he's under investigation, and was referring to news accounts. special counsel robert mueller has broad authority. >> bob mueller is going to go slowly, me

kate. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house for us. and one more note from washington, tomorrow marks the final day of the supreme court term with decisions expected in several closely watched cases. we could also hear if the court will take action on trump's husband li husba husband. from the court plans to take action on the president's travel ban from six muslim-majority countries which is currently blocked by lower courts. separately, there is a lot of speculation about the court's key swing vote justice anthony kennedy now 80 years old, court watch is wondering if he might announce his retirement, something that traditionally happens at the end of a term. >>> now to a trio of air scares over the last 72 hours including one caught on camera when a commercial jet with hundreds of passengers on board started violently shaking. for nearly two hours. passengers rattling in their seats, the pilot telling them to pray. we get details from nbc's steve patterson. >> reporter: for 90 terrifying minutes, panic passengers trapped in the sky w

that's campaign and not an official white house event. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house tonight.hank you. >>> in california, a new trend in the criminal justice system has some victims of violent crimes outraged. they're known as pay-to-stay jails. criminals who can pay to be at these high-e facilities and avoid the harsh realities of larger prisons. tammy lightner has the story from los angeles. >> they can watch movies any time of the day. they also have a little store they can purchase snacks. >> reporter: it has amenities you might find at a hotel, but this is not a retreat. it's a jail. >> we've had lawyers, we've had doctors, we've had catholic priests. >> reporter: it is called a pay-to-stay jail, and for criminals who have money, there are several dozen that offer a way to avoid the often violent, gang-ridden los angeles county jail. >> those who are wealthy are able to upgrade their facilities and stay in nicer jails than those who are poor, who might have committed the same exact crime. >> reporter: among the most popular, this one in the surfside community of seal beac

. >>> let's go right now to the white house and nbc's kelly o'donnell standing by with us. kelly, with a good saturday to you. we have the fired fbi director, james comey, set to testify before the senate intel committee on thursday and white house press secretary sean spicer left open the question of whether the president might use executive privilege to try to block that testimony. are you hearing anything on that? do you think they would really try to stop him from testifying? >> well, i've checked with white house advisers today and there's still no update on their position. an executive authority, the privilege that comes with that is intended to allow a president to get unfiltered advice or counsel within the executive branch and to not have to have one of those officials testify before congress, a separate branch of government. it's been used by other presidents. what's really different here is that president trump has talked about his conversations with james comey. he's tweeted about them. he's done so in interviews. he has also talked about wanting to get all of th

we have it all covered for you, kelly o'donnell is live in miami.have ari melburn, and joining me here onset is kristen well k -- welker, with apologies to all of you, let's start with kristen. what is the president doing tweeting about the investigation. his staff has been frustrated as you know better than anyone, that we in the media are not focusing on what they're doing every day. they're in miami, and they think it is politically potent, and he is stepping on his own message. >> he is, and we see this almost on a daily basis. think about yesterday, sarah huckabee sanders had a press gaggle. refer all questions to the president's outside council, and in an afternoon tweet storm he went after his former rival. hillary clinton, asking them to refocus on the e-mail investigation. they found there was no wrong doing, and today, as you open the show, he confirmed there is in fact an investigation. it is not clear that he even intended to do that with a tweet. i think it was about lashing out, he is very frustrated, he is stepping on his own message.

dara. >> kelly o'donnell live for u in washington. anks, kelly. >>> now to the headlines and take a look at this incredible video taken near calvary, canada, where a tornado touched down yesterday evening. no one was injured, but there was some property damage. joining me now, kelly cass. kelly, what is happening this weekend across the country? >> hey there, dara. we're going to have to watch out for some travel downpours in parts of the south, especially along the gulf coast. but it's nice to see the rain in florida, where we so desperately needed. sometimes too much of a good thing can lead to flooding on the streets out there. speaking of flooding, dallas put under a flash flood watch. up towards the midwest, we're talking severe storms a possibility. parts of wisconsin, the upper peninsula. tornado threat not running all that high. tomorrow, that severe threat will shift more to the east and even parts of new york and pennsylvania been otherwise, new york city talking rainfall for you guys, especially during the afternoon. more ra

nbc's kelly o'donnell is nearby in branchburg. let's talk about this, kelly. i know there were some strategy sessions going on this weekend, a working weekend for trump and his team. what have we learned about the afghan incident? >> reporter: well, we had one of the members of the president's staff come to meet with reporters not long ago. and they tell us that a member of the national security council has briefed the president on what they described as the emerging situation in afghanistan. but it gives you an idea on how, you know, beautiful saturday afternoon when world events require the president's attention, there's an apparatus that travels with him to make sure he is in the loop on that. now, they didn't have a lot of details. and our reporting that you just read about the loss of u.s. soldiers is one would presume part of the briefing, but the white house was not getting in front of that. there's always a system of identifying those persons who might be lost in a situation like that, and the pentagon protocol. they're not trying to get in the way of

president trump offered praise and sympathy after the tragedy but as kelly o'donnell tells us, the president also criticized the london mayor and pushed his own agenda. >> reporter: president trump's unconventional london response. sticking with his weekend routine. four hours at his virginia golf resort, spotted champ peyton manning and tennessee senator bob corker. he had already offered the expected condolences. today the president tee'd off on twitter. point one, we must stop being politically correct regarding security for our people. point two, the president questioned the judgment of london's mayor, who described the city as among the safest. >> london has seen an increased police presence today, no reason to be alarmed. >> reporter: president trump seized on those last five years, after citing the casualties. the mayor of london says there is no reason to be alarmed. london's first muslim mayor, sadiq khan, and the president have tangle he can before, over the proposed immigration travel ban. that was point three. president trump tweeted after the attack, we need the courts to give u

. >>> now we'll to to the white house with nbc's kelly o'donnell as they are working on more with the health care bill today. >> reporter: we don't know if the president is working the phones. we know he's done that so far, but speaking to senators on the conservative side of things to try to bring them along. meaning not the more moderate ones so far based on what we have been told. and the leadership of the senate and top staff will really be working hard to try to pull things together. trying to see if they can find some ways to attract a couple of the members who are nose publicly at this point. they can only afford not to have two members vote with them and have this go through. because the vice president will vote in this tie-breaker situation. the republicans have 52 in the senate, a very narrow margin. part of what they're dealing with is on the conservative side you have members who think this doesn't go far enough. and on the more moderate side, those from blue states or states that took the medicaid expansion, there's concern about how that would affect their constituents.

let's bring in kelly o'donnell. good morning to you. >> good morning, dar federal investigator loong at e evidce they found, things like the laptop and cell phone of the gunman say they do not have any evidence of advanced planning as they're trying to figure out a motive for james hodgkinson. they also saw signs that he was making preparations to go back to illinois where he had been living based on some of the interviews they've done, speaking with his wife and learning that he was getting his car repaired right before the shooting. so all of that leaves investigators puzzled at this moment, but at the same time, they have identified one very interesting clue. >> a deepening mystery around the gunman behind webs's congressional baseball shooting. officials say james hodgkinson carried a handwritten list with the names of house republicans, including alabama's mo brooks, arizona's trent franks and south carolina's jeff duncan. congressman duncan says he spoke to the gunman shortly before the interaction erupted. >>

and our kelly o'donnell is nearby.there any sense from white house advisers that the president went a bit too far in his comments yesterday? >> actually, dara, no. they are not contradicting the president. that's one thing the trump team has learned sometimes through the hard knocks of politics. to not separate themselves from the president. so it is unusual for the president to pledge such a thing to go under oath. presidents typically do not do that. but he is taking a very strong position, saying that he was truthful. contrasting himself with james comey. and we'll see where it goes. now of course the white house is trying to also separate itself from the particulars of the investigation by pushing all of our questions to his outside lawyer, mark kasowitz, who has made a public statement and he and his team will really be representing the president in all of these details. it will be curious to know if marc kasowitz thinks the president should have volunteered that. but he has done so and it's very typical donald tr

kelly o'donnell, thank you so much. >>> there is a heavy police presence tonight in portland, oregon, and threats of violence as hundreds of people gather for competing political rallies there. the protests come nine days after two men were stabbed to death on a train by a man shouting anti-muslim slurs. nbc's gadi schwartz is there and has our report. >> reporter: a tense face-off in portland. pro trump supporters at an event billed as a free spreech raleech rally. >> no fair, no fair, immigrants are welcome here. >> what you going to do about it? >> reporter: it comes just days after a hate-fill aid tack on a train. the suspect white supremacist jeremy christian charged with killing two men who intervened when christian yelled anti-muslim insults at two young women. >> this is my country! >> reporter: organizers of the rally say they had nothing to do with christian who had attend 1 of their events in the past. they said they kicked him out of the rally. following the train attack, the mayor of portland, fear mortgage violence, urged the federal government to deny a rally permit. bu

kelly o'donnell is following all of the day's developments from washington. >> reporter: on this father'sy the trumps returning from their first visit to camp david. >> did you enjoy camp david? >> really nice. >> reporter: and back to the heat. the political fever over the russia investigation. >> he's not afraid of the investigation. there is no investigation. i want to be clear here. >> reporter: spanning sunday morning tv screens, one of the president's personal lawyers going on offense. >> there is not an investigation of the president of the united states. period. >> reporter: but contradicting the president's own social media admission made friday. i am being investigated for firing the fbi director. notably, the president did not repeat that today in a trio of tweets where he denounced the distraction of the witch hunt. the admission dismissed by his lawyer as a response to news story, but the discrepancy set off sparks. >> doubt know he isn't under investigation now, do you? >> no one has notified us that ngk is. i can't read people's mind. >> reporter: jay sekulow is expected to

. >>> i want to turn to d kelly o'donnell in washington monitoring the white house but from the white house. >> reporter: good evening, president trump is at the white house tonight and in the last few minutes i spoke to a senior adviser to the president who tells me his national security team has briefed president trump on the situation in london. that was led by national security adviser h.r. mcmaster, and they will continue to update the president throughout the evening. president trump was in recent contact with british prime minister theresa may. they met several times during the president's recent overseas trip and there was tension between them over intelligence sharing, and they committed to working together with incidents that do affect terrorism, so that could be critical depending on how this unfolds. it would also be customary for the president to reach out to prime minister may by phone, but senior officials say it's a little too early for that at this point. but look for that as a potential development. again, the white house will be monitoring this through the night. of

kelly o'donnell at the white house.>> juan zarate was a top counterterrorism official under president bush. good low tech attack here. knives, and three attackers. what does that tell you about who they may be? >> this is now the new wave of terror, low tech on a metropolitan center. what this suggests to me this follows on a line of attacks we've seen throughout europe. frankly, a wave that we saw ♪ uk starting in 2013 with the lee rigby attack. a star attack by a british soldier on the streets of south london but this strikes on what islamic state and al qaeda have called for. they've called for for the use of any means possible to attack fellow citizens in the heart of capitals in the mill of western living and life is style. we saw that in paris. we now saw this last night, attacks on pubs and restaurants on a saturday night in london. it also calls for in a holy war in the month ofra ramadan to attack. it just goes with the attacks that unfortunately we've seen throughout europe which seems to be thickening in pace

. >>> kelly o'donnell is at the white house this evening, monitoring this breaking news. kelly? >> reporter: well, jose, senior advisers tell me the president's national security team briefed him on the incidents in london and that was led by his national security adviser, h.r. mac master, and updates as warranted will happen through the night. the president also spoke with vice president pence, who was on board air force ii, traveling back to washington after a day in iowa. the president's public comments have come through his twitter feed. he wrote "whatever the united states can do to help out in london and the uk, we will be there. we are with you. god bless!" but notally that was not the first message from the president's twitter feed, earlier he wrote "we need to be smart, vigilant and tough. we need the courts to give us back our rights. we need the travel ban as an extra level of safety!" that pointed political message from the president referring to his attempt to use a six-country muslim majority nation limit on visas and immigration for 90 days. it's been tied up in t

nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house. thank you, kelly.oining me now matt welsh, christian former assistant u.s. attorney who worked for james comey, former fbi as we know director. and thank you both for being here. matt, i'll start with you, this because kelly was beginning with that idea. he's not been officially notified from our understanding and our sources and our reporting in the investigation, yet he is tweeting things like this, quote, i am being investigated for firing the fbi director by the man who told me to fire the fbi director. witch hunt. so he is saying that he is being investigated, but from what we know he's not been officially notified that he is being investigated. so he's accepting this. why do you think he's doing this? what does this mean for this case? >> well, what will be interesting to see is whether john dowd has any access to donald trump's twitter feed because donald trump's twitter feed gets him in trouble precisely because of this. he lets things slip. remember comey or having his friend leak to the "new

let's bring in kelly o'donnell at the white house for us. kelly, i'm curious. isn't this the annual visit to camp david? >> five weeks in august, and this is the first weekend the family is spending at camp david which is about 70 miles from the white house. it is in the maryland mountains, small mountains, but it is a retreat that has all the recreation you could hope for, lots of cabins and meeting rooms, but it has not been the thing the president has been most drawn to. we've seen and talked about on a number of occasions the president going to his own homes or his own golf properties. but it is the first camp david weekend. just guessing here, but the president was maybe enjoying the open air or perhaps the quiet, the birds chirping, because he was tweeting by just after 6:30 this morning, earlier than normal. i'm usually up early watching his tweets and he was at the keyboard a little earlier than normal talking about not the most controversial things, but kind of taking the bigger picture approach. the president sort of regrouping on his five months in o

kelly o'donnell is already in miami for us and also joining me is former ambassador vickie hudd huddleston cuba. thanks to both of you for joining me. kelly, i want to start with you. walk us through the terms of this policy, what do folks need to know about what the president is going to announce later today. >> reporter: well the president will be here in this theater that's in the heart of little havana. that's a political signal and a place he's been welcomed today based on the signage i saw on her way here. part of what the trump administration is saying they're trying to empower the cuban people and de-emphasize the power of the government and military structure. this is a huge turn around from the normalization of what president obama brought about after decades of a real freezeout between the united states and cuba. what will not change is the embassy plans for the united states in cuba. what people will see in their own lives is if you're an individual wanting to travel to cuba, that will be changed. there will still be opportunities for american to visit but there will be differe

>> kelly o'donnell there at the hospital, thank you much.bviously so much concern for the condition of steve scalise, as well as the other victims of yesterday's shooting. we are going to have later on in this show two lawmakers, one republican, one democrat, joining us to talk about it, but first i want to get an update on the investigation itself, what we know about the suspected shooter, garrett haake is at the scene. can you fill us in on developments over the last eight, ten hours? >> reporter: hallie, think of the investigation going along two parallel tracks. the first is for the fbi and their investigators to find out anything about 66-year-old james hodgkinson who came in-to-northern virginia in early april. investigators want to know why he came and where he was. supposedly staying in his van in town and want to know who he talked to, to find out if he said anything about what he was planning. on the second prong is the actual forensic investigation, happening right here at this baseball field, just a short time ago, fbi agents wer

joining us now is kelly o'donnell with more on that. and they not necessarily have been best of friends as you've been reporting today. >> they do see a lot of the issues differently. the president now in office, the candidate who was donald trump on the trail, and the mayor, of london. and when these sorts of crises happen, we always look to leaders and they have a job to do in those moments. sometimes it is to comfort, sometimes it is to provide warnings and critical information to the constituents, sometimes it is to inspire people to keep going on. how we measure what leaders do in times of crisis is a part of the modern world, especially in the age of terrorism. well, donald trump had his own way of communicating about all of this too. and it is getting attention either way. president trump's unconventional london response sticking with his weekend routine, four hours at his virginia golf resort, spotted with super bowl champ peyton manning and tennessee senator bob corker. he had already offered the expected condolences, so today

. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell explains what is next before an important vote. >> taking the polls in maryland. >> none of this is good for the people. >> all of you can help. >> urges those anxious about a health care overhaul to pressure wavering republicans. >> we need senators to do right by their constituents and not by the bosses. >> they are deal on an obamacare repeal. >> for the health care system you deserve -- >> to coaxing phone calls. sources say president trump is reaching out this weekend. he already spoke to ted cruz, one of five republicans publicly opposed to the senate health care proposal. republicans can only lose two votes from their members. a razor's edge margin, the president lawmented in an interview on fox news. >> it would be so great if the democrats and republicans could get together and wrap their arms around it and come up with something that everybody is happy with. it's so easy. but we won't get one democrat vote, not one. >> and venting against obamacare on twitter this morning, democrats slam gop health care proposal as obamacare premiums and deductible incr

kelly o'donnell has more >> reporter: the president's prescription. >> i want to see a bill with heart. health care is a very complicated subject. >> reporter: his diagnosis of the acute political challenges around the senate republican health care bill >> you move it this way, this group doesn't like it, move it a little over here, a very narrow path honestly nobody can be totally happy. >> reporter: dissatisfaction is palpable as several reluctant republican senators want to pump the brakes. >> i have a hard time believing wisconsin constituents or myself will have enough time to properly evaluate this >> it is hard for me to see the bill passing this week, but that's up to the majority leader. >> right now i am undecided. >> reporter: for senate gop leader mitch mcconnell and the trump white house, it is a tool to get republicans to decide and deliver before fourth of july fireworks go off tweaks and sweeteners to the deal will likely come in the next few days with official cost estimate the overall includes new rules regarding medicaid that are already raising alarm bells. this yea

>> kelly o'donnell from the white house this morning. kelly, thank you. >>> today shock waves are still resonating at pennsylvania university. the death of a former pledge and a student sent to prison. >> reporter: following the death of 19-year-old fraternity entrance caused an urgent meeting of the board of trustees. >> it's a way to make sure the future of greek life exists in a sustainable way. >> reporter: instead they chose other reforms, including taking control of fraternity discipline, restrictions on social events and pushing back recruitment until later in the school year. >> we believe the government's model is broken. >> reporter: but his family says those changes do not go far enough. >> what i heard was a lot of aspirational language with absolutely not one concrete action taken. >> reporter: prosecutors say piazza's blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit in february when he tumbled down a flight of stairs at the bet betbeta beta theta pi house. it would be 12 hours before anyone would call 911. >> nobody should

the president has waived executive privilege by opening his mouth about the conversations. >> kelly o'donnelleporting there. and you won't want to miss "meet the press." a lot going on. chuck todd will interview former secretary of state john kerry, and epa administrator scott pruitt. >>> and vladimir putin will go one-on-one with megyn kelly tonight. and putin continues to deny that russia had anything do with the hacking of the u.s. presidential election. take a listen to some of what he had to say. >> hackers can be anywhere. they can be in russia, in asia, even in america. latin america. they can even be hackers by the way in the united states. who very skillfully and professionally shifted the blame we say on to russia. can you imagine? >> and you can watch the entire interview sunday night right here on nbc 4. >>> former maryland county executive jack johnson going to be released from federal custody and according to the "washington post" he is home on confinement after serving his five years for public corruption. prosecutors say johnson and his wife were overheard on a wiretap phone p

nbc's kelly o'donnell has the details. >> reporter: the president's approval rating remains mired in gloomy range. 39% surveyed by gallup like the job he's doing, but mr. trump rolled out his own new figures, a 98 page disclosure form not due until next spring. not as detailed as tax returns he refuses to release. the president reports his family business income in wide ranges at a minimum of $595 million since january 2017. his important hotel boasts revenue of $19.6 million. his palm beach resort mar-a-lago saw profits soar to $37 million. that's more than double what candidate trump reported in 2015. despite tweeting this phrase about the russia probe, i am being investigated, sources close to the president's legal team tell nbc news he has not been informed that he is under investigation and was referring to news accounts. special counsel robert mueller has broad authority. >> in the end he's going to go slowly, carefully eventually going up the president himself. >> reporter: after 149 days in office the trumps are making their first trip to camp david. a trip enjoyed by 13 prev

kelly o'donnell is nearby. we understand the president has been breeched on the s-- briefe situation. >> reporter: that's right. a dire situation involving u.s. military personnel. officials from the white house came and briefed reporters here, telling us the president was numbed by his national security team about what they described as an emerging situation in afghanistan. they told us the president would get additional updates and they would give us additional guidance when it becomes available, but it is a sign of how the president has an apparatus with him even here in new jersey where he's at his weekend home or wherever he's traveling where members of the team have direct access coming through the pentagon and the situation room and the national security staff to be able to tell the president what they know, to give him advice, given the fact this involves u.s. military personnel, it would not be unusual for the president to release some kind of statement at some point when they are confident they know t

nbc's kelly o'donnell live at the white house checking on it for us. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, willie. it will be another high stakes week for the trump administration over health care. it has been harder than they expected to deliver on the promise of repealing the obamacare law, and the white house and senate republicans are several votes short of what they need, but they took a brief break on a lovely summer night to live up to the name of grand old party. a grand parade of motorcades and power brokers, security everywhere. a guest list that included the president and first lady, the vice president, ivanka trunk, cabinet officials, top white house staff. all decked out in black tie to see treasury secretary tie the knot with scottish actress, officiated by mike pence himself, but after the vows votes to come, this week on the senate health care bill. at community meetings, democrats are putting up a fight. maryland's chris van who willens. >> this could easily come down to one vote. we need you. >> reporter: pennsylvania bob cas

. >> kelly o'donnell is on capitol hill, also eli is joining us. kelly, let's start with you, what did we learn today? >> this was a way for those paying attention to this hearing to try to bring it back to the most basic thing, not the trump questions, not the sort of characters that we have been talking to in the last few months, what was happening at the scene of the crime, if you will. the various estates under assault. ato the temperatustimony, was i possible for coup country to really get it back in 2016. there was a lot of issues around that. there was a lot of noise in if the campaign, the demands on public attention in that moment, and concerns about how much should the federal government do to go public with the classified information, and the elections, equipment, and officers around the country are not supposed to be directed by the federal government. there was a bunch of reasons why maybe the bell was not ringing as loudly. here is jay johnson, talking about one of the issues that may have made it hard. he was trying to alert everyone

nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house. ot, kelly. >>> still ahead, my inside look at the nation's opioid epidemic, a crisis that is now killing more people annually than car crashes, hiv, or guns ever did and the epicenter of it all is ohio. what i found when i spoke to police, coroners, and addicts themselves all as federal funding for addiction treatment could be gut bid the health care bill. that's coming up later this year. ted by the health care bill. that's coming up later this year. think again. this is the new new york. we are building new airports all across the state. new roads and bridges. new mass transit. new business friendly environment. new lower taxes. and new university partnerships to grow the businesses of tomorrow today. learn more at esd.ny.gov p3 it's meat, cheese and nuts. i keep my protein interesting. oh yea, me too. i have cheese and uh these herbs. p3 snacks. the more interesting way to get your protein. "how to win at business." step one: point decisively with the arm of your glasses. abracadabr

joining me now is kelly o'donnell. and kelly, give us more of that background and what the back and forth has been. >> well, good to be with you, richard. this is not the first time the mayor and the president have met via twitter, if you will. the mayor has been critical of president trump's plan for a travel ban, as both a candidate and now that he's in office, he is the first big city mayor who is muslim in europe. and, so, there has already been tension that exists. and president trump was reacting to just a few of those words and apparently disregarding all of the other thing it is mayor said. and in what is really striking is the criticism coming while the mayor and london and the united kingdom more broadly are kind of in the midst of the crisis. you can have a dispute over the approaches to responding to terror and terror attacks and what is the best public footing. but to do it in the midst of the crisis is notable. also the president has been trying to get attention back on his travel ban because that has been

kelly o'donnell has more from bedminster, new jersey. >> reporter: not satisfied, simply branding former fbi director in the rose garden. >> he's a leaker. >> from his new jersey home t president fired at james comey again. another accusation and insult. president trump tweeted, i believe the james comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone ever thought possible. totally illegal. very cowardly. cowardly in quotes. apparent personal shot at comey's own confession thursday. said he would see what fbi could do when asked to back off fired director mike flynn. >> the president's persistent public commentary frustrating some republicans. >> you may be the first president in history to go down because you can't stop inappropriately talking about an investigation that if you just were quiet would clear you. >> frustration aimed in a different direction by the republican party chairwoman. >> i'm calling for an end to the investigation about president trump's campaign colluding with the russians. there's been no evidence of it. i don't think that should continue. >> reporter: that's unlik

kelly o'donnell is there. last week it was infrastructure. now this week the president and first daughter want to talk about job creation. can they get around that because tuesday is also the same day sessions is supposed to testify. >> reporter: well, there is so much that they're trying to to to appear to be moving forward and really have all the behind-the-scenes work go on with the agenda. but, of course, in the parallel track, there are all of these other issues that relate to the russian interference investigation and certainly the fallout from the james comey testimony. and, thomas, this morning, they're already making a public statement about james comey. that's always going to be interesting especially since his private lawyer said theyer going to try to challenge comey's truthfulness. o here's what the president tweeted early this morning. i believe that james comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone thought possible. he goes on to say, totally illegal with a question mark, which is interesting,nd then very cowardly. the w

kelly o'donnell is with us. >> reporter: i am golf course adjacent, tomorrhomas. >> it seems like the white house is in constant defense of actions. has the conversation shifted away from the russia story or intensified? >> reporter: it has intensifien. the white house is trying to compartme compartmentalize more. we saw infrastructure being one of those. they got less attention, there were a number of events related to infrastructure from roads to bridges to rivers and dams and all kinds of different things the administration says it is working on. they had governors and mayors coming to the white house. other types of officials who interact on the subject matters. coming forward to work on it. there is a case to be made they are proceeding on the trump agenda. no doubt the oxygen is so often taken up with what is happening with the russia investigation. in part, the president in the way he responds to the questions only enlarges that curiosity and interest. the underlying notion this is a long investigation and we still don't know the twists and turns yet to come. one of the big que

. >> kelly o'donnell over at the white house, the president shortly before noon, before that, he was reportedly sitting and watching the coverage. >> well, we don't have a straight answer on that, brian, we had what we call a gaggle which is a journalism form of art for an off-camera briefing with sarah huckabee sanders while sean spicer traveled with the president to the speech. i asked about the president watching it. she gave a number of things the president was doing during the hours of the hearing, dealing with north korea and qatar and saudi arabia. and meeting with secretary of state rex tillerson. i asked more than once if the president was watching she could not say. at the same time, brian, you know the hallways, tvs ever on above everyone's desk. that's standard. they have the news cable chances playing. of course it was one sound in unison, so it recechoed through the west wing. so i asked the mood. she said they're trying to focus on the president's agenda. and the marc kasowitz, the president's personal counsel will be making a statement. but the white house posture is

. >> let's bring in nbc's kelly o'donnell, kelly, good day to you, the president's team out in force this morning seeming to contradict his own words. what is going on there? >> reporter: that's a challenge for the legal team to deal with, because the president likes to emphasize his plainspoken way, his ability to reach 100 million followers on all this different social media accounts. and sort of circumventing the media or other institutions to say what's on his mind. well, sometimes that is problematic in terms of his legal situation, where lawyers typically advise any clients, even a president, to say less, not more. and so what they are saying is that according to the legal team, they have not been notified by any of the investigating entities, and,000 that's being run by the special counsel, robert mueller, that the president is specifically being looked at for any potential involvement in something that would be improper, something like potential obstruction of justice or any other aspects of the investigation. they're saying they haven't been notified so it's not the case. th

kristen welker is at the white house and kasie hunt and kelly o'donnell are on capitol hill for us. breakdown what we heard in those two hearings today, kelly. >> reporter: this takes us back to 2016 and what was happening as the russians plotted. it was vladimir putin who directly this order, according to u.s. officials. and across these two hearings, we learn that 21 states had some kind of cyberattention brought on by the the russians. in a couple of instance, there was a breach of voter roles. but jey johnson said he had seen no evidence at the time he left government that any votes had changed but he was concerned there wasn't enough public attention at the time even though he put out statements, the white house also backed that up. he expressed the sort of realtime reality that there was a concern about saying too much might interfere with the election given the fact, as he describes it, there was one candidate talking about the election being rigged. we remember that tand is now the president of the united states. he also talked about smomething that was frustrating to him. th