nbc's kelly o'donnell has the story. >> reporter: president trump gleefully traded one washington for another saturday night >> i'd much rather be in washington, michigan >> reporter: not only did he skip this for the second straight year. >> is this better than the phony washington correspondent white house. >> reporter: he performs a fake president trump. >> i could be up there smiling like i love where they're hitting you shot after shot and then i'm supposed to -- >> reporter: while the trump administration encouraged its ono figures alls to attend, the president mocked the media before a trump friendly crowd. >> these are very dishonest people, many of them. >> reporter: touting his role into bringing north korea into

. >> kelly o'donnell is joining us from the white house. kelly, inside the white house -- i know the president's having an event in the rose garden right now -- but so far who has he been talking to whether or not he should respond to syria? any of our allies? is he having meetings behind closed doors and when can we possibly get an answer on when he might or might not strike? >> we've not gotten a read-out on any phone calls with foreign leaders. but at about 2:30 the president will be present for a meeting of the principals of the national security council. yesterday a similar meeting was held. that was shared by vice president pence. the president was not in attendance yesterday. so this moves it forward in terms of presumably how the president could be presented with options, conditions on the ground, the latest contact information with our military partners, other nations that would need to be informed. we're in that unique position where we don't have a sitting secretary of state as the pompeo confirmation hearing rolls on. typically i

>> kelly o'donnell there for us in west palm beach. >>> a new development in the u.s. trade wars tonight starting tomorrow. china will impose a 15% tariff on 120 kinds of american fruit and a 25% tariff for certain pork products made here. the chinese government says the move is in response to president trump's decision last month to apply tariffs to imported steel and aluminum products. >>> there's a mystery off the coast of japan. so-called ghost ships have been washing the shore, dozens in the past years alone. janis mackey frayer explains this bizarre phenomenon. >> reporter: the boat washed ashore eerily empty bearing clues it had come from north korea, among the tangled fishing nets a message in korean, urging hard work today to enjoy tomorrow. more than 100 of these ghost ships have made it to japan this past year. it's insanity he says. if we use those boats we wouldn't go three miles from here but these ghost ships have traveled a stunning 650 miles across fierce current. it wasn't the wreckage near his house that bothered him, it was the rotting bodies of thr

kelly o'donnell has the story. kelly? >> reporter: good morning, dara. the president has many different types of twitter adversaries. but this weekend he renewed his fight with a massive e-commerce business that is popular with consumers who are also voters. the president's reasons may be personal. during his motorcade right to the golf course, president trump delivered his own package of tweets, blasting amazon with flawed accusations. this post office scam must stop. amazon must pay real costs. the president scorned for the online giant runs deep, conflating anger at amazon with "the washington post," both owned by jeff bezos but operating separately. along simmering frustration. >> "the washington post," which i call a lobbying tool for amazon, okay, that's a lobbying tool for amazon. >> reporter: but experts say the president's claim that the post office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for amazon cannot be backed up. postal service regulators approved contracts with companies like amazon in advance and require that postal serv

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house for us, thanks.ne more note from the white house, the president will host his first state dinner on tuesday night for france's president macron. we are told that this will be a more intimate dinner than those held in the obama white house with about 150 guests and 4 congressional republicans attend, no congressional democrats and some democratic governors and mayors were invited and are expected to attend. >>> there's a little-known issue in france some are pressing macron to bring up in his meetings with the president this week. it involves the requirement of people in france paying u.s. tax it is they were born here, even if they only lived in the united states for a matter of days. and this law doesn't only apply to french people. we sent tammy litener to paris to take a look at that issue. >> reporter: olivier is about as french as they come. except he was born in chicago. >> are you proud that you were born in the united states? >> yeah. when i was young, it was very exotic for the guys. in fact

we begin tonight with kelly o'donnell at the white house. >> reporter: before the president visited his virginia golf club today, he teed off on twitter. mocking the fired former fbi director as slippery james comey and slimeball. the relationship ended in ashes a year ago. but comey is lighting a new match promoting his book on sale tuesday. today, the president railed against comey's account of why he went public with usually secret investigative details about the hillary clinton e-mail case shortly before the election. >> i was operating in a world where hillary clinton was going to beat donald trump. >> reporter: a tweeted rebuke today from the president. he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win and he wanted a job. comey added more context to his reasoning but was not certain about how much 2016 predictions affected him. >> i don't remember spelling it out but it had to have been that she's going to be elected president and if i hide this from the american people she'll be illegitimate the moment she's elected. the moment this comes out. >> rep

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house tonight. let's continue the coverage of that critical decision that the president has to make in the short term. there is this may 12th deadline to decide what to do about the deal negotiated under the obama administration and agreed to by global powers to try to contain iran's nuclear ambitions. the president has said major changes, but as nbc's ali arouzi reports, iran's president says, no way. >> reporter: threats and insults are how washington and teheran communicate these days. >> if iran threatens us in any way they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid. >> they restart their nuclear program, they will have bigger problems than they have ever had before. >> reporter: iranian president hassan rowhani firing back calling trump a building contractor with no knowledge of foreign affairs, ridiculing the idea for further negotiations. >> there's absolutely no chance whatsoever that iran will accept a new deal. if the u.s. pulls out of the agreement i think that iran will pull out

nbc's kelly o'donnell has been following it all and has our report. >> reporter: in houston today, ae gathering of presidential families, side by side, decades of american leadership, drawn together without friction, for one exceptional life. >> barbara bush was the first lady of the greatest generation. >> reporter: the wife and mother of presidents, but today, it was barbara bush herself, celebrated for her values, strengths, and impact. >> barbara, the tough but loving enforcer, was the secret sauce of this extraordinary family. >> reporter: her husband of 73 years, george herbert walker bush was comforted by daughter dorothy. family, an enduring reflection. >> strength and dignity are her clothing. >> reporter: through tears game laughter. >> she called her style a benevolent dictatorship, but honestly, it wasn't always benevolent. >> reporter: son, governor jeb bush, said being real inspired true affection. >> we learned to strive to be genuine and authentic by the best role model in the world. her authentic plastic pearls, for not coloring her hair, she was beautiful until the

kelly o'donnell is over at the white house. kelly is our white house correspondent with a lot of experience over on capitol hill. i know you know paul ryan well and i want to you talk through the relationship between him and president trump. i was told by one administration official the two of them talked this morning. paul ryan filled the president in on his decision and now we're seeing, as expected, a donald trump tweet about this. we're waiting for paul ryan to show up that the podium anymore. >> reporter: and she just said interest duction tells you a lot about these two men. paul ryan's announcement did not come out via twitter and the president's first response is on twitter where he says that speaker ryan is a truly good man and he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question. we are with you, paul. so on the surface they have had a polite and cordial working relationship, but they are very, very different. and paul ryan was always much more comfortable with the powerpoi

kelly o'donnell, covered the bush family for a while now. at more do we know about who else is going to be at this funeral saturday? >> reporter: well, we know that invitations have been extended to former presidents and first ladies. we know that bill and hillary clinton plan to attend. we know melania trump will be there. additional expectations about those invitations will be coming back in as the day goes on. also, craig, the city of houston tomorrow night will be holding its own celebration of light in the downtown area to honor barbara bush. so this city is certainly embracing its famous resident who has passed, and, of course, when you look at what the bush family is going through right now, it would be easy to expect them to spend time with family out of public view, but i got a call last night after the news of her passing and was told by a george w. bush associate, the president and mrs. laura bush would keep their schedule. planned events this weekend. including a forum on leadership today in dallas and we saw there laura bush talk

kelly o'donnell, nbc news, the white house. >>> and let's get more on the president's primetime rally. as kelly said, counterprogramming, the white house correspondents dinner and focusing on a state critical to his victory in 2016. blake mccoy is in washington township, michigan, for the latest on that tonight. blake, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, jose. this washington, unlike the capital, is very much trump country. mccomb county was pivotal in giving donald trump the key electoral votes from michigan in the 2016 election. this is a county that went twice for obama and then swung heavily to donald trump. he has a lot of supporters in the crowd tonight, many of them wearing red "make america great again" hats. he's set to go on stage at 7:00 p.m., just before the white house correspondents dinner gets under way, and this is counterprogramming, getting his message out in front of a friendly crowd. in explaining that decision, he said in a fund-raising e-mail this week, why would i want to be stuck in a room with a bunch of fake news liberals who hate me? i came up wi

kelly o'donnell standing by for us on the lawn of the white house. who haven't been following this necessarily as closely as all of us, who was scooter libby, why is this significant? >> reporter: scooter libby was the chief of staff to vice president dick cheney in the bush administration and he was convicted of a handful of counts related to not telling the truth to investigators and the grand jury related to the leak of the name of an fbi officer, valerie plame, who has been now well known over the last several years. today, the president has issued a full pardon. he says that i don't know mr. libby, but for years, i have heard that he has been treated unfairly. hopefully this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life. at issue, one of the witnesses in the case, judith miller, who had previously worked for the "new york times" had given testimony about learning the name of valerie plame wilson, she was married to the ambassador at the time who had been critical of the iraq war, that that conversation between source scooter libby

kelly o'donnell has more. >> before the president visited his virginia golf club he teed off on twitterromoting his book. the president railed against comey's account of why he went public with usually secretive investigative details. >> i was operating in the world where hillary clinton was going to beat donald trump. >> a tweeted rebuke. >> comey added more context to his conditioning, but he is not sure how much 2016 predictions affected him. >> i thought if i hide this, she will be -- >> he says that he is ego driven and unethical. the white house counter punch, attack comey's credibility. >> he knew exactly what he was doing. he thought hillary clinton would win and this would give him some cover. >> but comey whose tenure term was not up until 2023, he says the election outcome would not affect his job, which is why he briefed president trump as the salacious fbi dossier. >> after all of that venting on twitter, the president is expected to turn some of his attention back to other matters including foreign policy. he goes to florida and he will spend the week there. officials tell

kelly o'donnell mentioned this earlier.ecret service uniform division members who have protected the bushes for so many years insisting on standing post on either side for hours on end, as we watch houston police now take up the end of the motorcade as it will go out to the private burial. the bishop, priests and attendees seeing them off from the back of this, again, massive sanctuary. seating for close to 2,000 people. inside, largest episcopal church in north america. chris matthews, if i may revisit something you touched on, and we were talking about earlier, and that is, the role of humor in this family and self-deprecation, and all of it underscored today. all of it enforced, in part, by barbara bush. >> you know, it's interesting. i mentioned earlier, the cracked old alarm clock they kept all those years as president even in the upstairs of the white house. and there's something about maybe it's old money. i don't want to characterize it too stereotypically. the old idea of keeping things and not being showy or garis

i believe we took a heart of it. >> that was kelly o'donnell reporting.re still awaiting reaction from russia. so far it's only been words. russian military officials tell our international partner s at nbc news that syrian air defenses shot down 71 of the 103 fired but nbc news has not been able to verify that. the pentagon however says that no missiles were intercepted. in a statement issued by the kremlin, putin said russian military experts found no trace of a chemical attack in syria. russian leaders also said the strikes by the u.s. were quote, an action of aggression and lawless. >>> satellite images released this morning show the aftermath of air strikes by u.s. and coalition operations on three facilities in syria. the satellite image before the air strikes of a research and development center outside damascus is followed by an image the day after the missile strikes. also released today are the dramatic before and after images of a chemical weapons bunker and storage site outside homs in syria. >>> bay area anti-war activists gathered in downtow

you will afford a question as he headed into church today. >> all right, kelly o'donnell, we will check in again next year. thank you on. that later we will talk with former governor of new mexico bill richardson on trump threatening to end daca considerations. joining me nau, ladies a good sunday to you. thanks for joining me on a holiday here what do you make of the president's remarks, jane? >> alex, it is a classic sunday for president trump, it would not be an easter weekend if he did not tweet something that got everybody's blood stirred up. in this case, this is a subject matter as kelly said has always been on his mind, immigration has been his top priorities since being elected to office. it's a real frustration with the senate. this is another tweet mentioned how it was time to use the nuclear option to overcome the republican and democratic opposition to building this wall and go ahead and do it. it's something he called on before, whether it was appeal of obamacare or getting his tax cuts through, he wanted to get rid of this filibuster in senate, which you can do, but that

. >> president trump facing criticism over reaction to the announce many pl kelly o'donnell reports.leaving palm beach this afternoon. president trump posed with officers from the sheriffs department. and over the din of air force one engines responded to shouted questions about north korea. this week north korea's kim jong un and president moon jae-in of south korea are scheduled to meet after kim, seen here inside his private train, announced friday the northeast nuclear program is complete and therefore would stop its missile testing. a move seen with both caution and optimism for potential negotiations. >> there is every reason to think that he will not agree to give up all of the nuclear weapons. the question for the united states becomes are we willing to live with some kind of compromise solution. >> today president trump oversold on twitter declaring inaccurately they have agreed to denuclearization. but north korea has not gone that far. today senator bob corker said for kim, the arsenal secures his grip on power. >> he views having deliverable nuclear weapons as his ticket

nbc kelly o'donnell with the latest from the white house. >> president trump is back in washington afterweek in florida and he is talking about high stakes for any potential agreement, meeting, or summit with north korea. he is always frustrated with p pundits gives him advice on how to make a detail. >> other the sound of air force one's engines, responded to shouted questions about north korea this week president kim jong-un and south korea are set to meet. >> there is every reason to think that he will not agree to give up all of his nuclear weapons, so are we willing to live with a compromised situation. north korea has not gone that far. senator bob corker said for kim, the arsenal secures his grip on power. >> it's his ticket to dieing as an old man in his bed. >> we are a long way from conclusion on north korea. maybe things will work out and maybe they won't. while the white house repeated it's goal for trump-kim negotiations. >> i think from our perspecti , perspective,. >>> just ahead, gas prices on the move and rumors swirling about apple's next iphone. this is "early today."

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house.hanks, kelly, see you again. >>> joining me now, pam alevi, reporter for "mother jones." first your reaction to the president's tweets. is he going after senator john tester only because of jackson's failed nomination, what he brought to the research that put forward some news that was obviously detrimental to that? or do you think there's more to this? >> look, absolutely the president is aware that tester is a democrat. in a state that he won as he likes to point out, by about 20 points. so absolutely. he's aware that he can do damage there. you know another thing that we know about this president is that he is vengeful and he is spiteful and he sees someone whom he believes has gone after someone that he likes, one of his nominees. a setback to his policy goals and so he's, he's taking revenge. you know i think it's not 100% fair to target just tester here. what we've been hearing from his committee for a while now is that this was a bipartisan effort to vet this nominee and that bo

kelly o'donnell with the president in florida. chuck todd is nbc's political director and moderator of "meet the press." good morning. let's start with the amazon attack. as kelly pointed, to this goes back more than two years back in the campaign. the president's obsession with amazon and its ceo jeff bezos. he doesn't like the way "the washington post" covers him so attacking jeff bezos who owns "the washington post" is one way to get at that. what about the larger point of the president of the united states going after a private company and signalling to others there is a way to get in the good graces of the united states government? >> this is the central issue here. it's the idea that the president of the united states can pick winners and losers. that everything is up for negotiation. so whether it was how he did the steel tariffs that nothing is equally -- nothing is equal. if you have a personal relationship with the president, if you -- if he likes you, you've got a way in or out of these regulations of whatever the decis

joining us with the latest in the white house is nbc news kelly o'donnell. kelly, we're still waiting for that white house press briefing to get underway. but in the meantime, a lot for the trump white house to talk about. first and foremost do seem to be the tariffs and a growing potential trade war with china. >> reporter: well, ali, we have a chance to talk with larry kudlow, who is coming into the white house as the new director of the national economic council. and in talking with him today one of the things want -- he wanted to point out is there is not an immediate imposition of the tariffs so the retaliatory tariffs are what he said would be expected and could be a negotiating tactic to try to get the two countries to come up with a better situation. so sort of tamping down some of the trade war rhetoric today from larry kudlow who is saying that this is really about trying to get growth for both countries. so there was definitely a concern there. spoke to him also about the volatility we have seen in the stock market, something the president often li

>> from seoul, our correspondent, and kelly o'donnell at her post in the white house. played like a fiddle. what's the sense from white house officials? how optimistic are they? >> reporter: the president is constantly talking in very glowing terms about these step, and while this is progress, and probably broadly people would give the president credit for moving things forward, he runs the risk of over-praising the steps incrementally that could be an area of concern down the line. at the same time, you've got the president acknowledging he would walk away from any meeting with the north if it did not appear to be fruitful. so you also have the president today giving us new information about a potential location for a trump/kim summit saying whittled down to two or three potential sites nap wi sites. that will be of high interest whenever this takes place, assuming it goes forward. the president talking about his presence in this equation being a difference that allowed for the meeting between north and south today. always willing to take a swipe at his predecessor's

nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house to start things off for us. hans nichols and cal perry is with us right now. kelly, from are things going on on two fronts for the president. he's looking seriously at what steps to take with respect to syria and looking serious with what steps to take with respect to the mooueller investigation. >> one of the most complicating factors of the office is that there are competing enormous crises that really are often on the president's plate and he alone has to make a lot of these decisions. we aren't seeing much today in any public sense about what the planning level is. but of course by canceling the tripe to latin america for the summit of the americas, by being here in washington, by having access to his top military leaders and planners, lunch with the vice president today, an opportunity to strategize. you laid out some of the public comments the president has made really sending powerful signals about a willingness to respond militarily to the chemical attack in syria. but in terms of how far that has moved b

bill kneeley is in lebanon, kelly o'donnell is at the white house. we begin with bill kneely in beirut. what do you think it would take to expect military action from syria? >> to expect military action from syria, you mean in retaliation? >> exactly. >> i don't think there's any prospect of that at the minute. indeed, it does seem like a lid is being put on this whole incident, these air strikes. the u.s. defense department saying last night that this was a one off, even though we heard president trump say last night, also, we are prepared to sustain this response but he was talking about the broader picture, not just military, but diplomatic and economic. i think, for now, you know, everyone is quite keen possibly just to let this go. meanwhile, this morning, just 50 miles from here, in damascus, syrian commanders have been out on the ground assessing those limited air strikes, which the u.s.-led coalition is calling a success. president trump tweeting this is mission accomplished. the russians are saying this was an act of aggression. meanwhile, i

nbc's kelly o'donnell is in houston.l for a sitting president not to attend the funeral of a former first lady but this, i think you can argue, would have been particularly awkward, given the history there. >> exactly, chris. the politics of it, we all remember, the very harsh and demeaning attack from candidate trump toward jeb bush. president trump has been critical of george w. bush in the political realm. but organizers here tell me that the bush family did extend the invitation to the president and first lady because they believe in the historic nature of this sort of an event. first lady melania trump will be here. but organizers tell me they're relieved because to have the enhanced security needed for a sitting president would have really added layers of complexity to this event. there will be four former presidents here tomorrow. to an extend they are relieved for just simply those logistics to not have president trump coming. we are outside the church now because a security sweep is happening right now. later in

>> kelly o'donnell for us.f his weekend once again escalating his attacks on amazon, accusing the company of operating a scam. in a pair of tweets sent saturday morning during his drive from ms. mar-a-lago estate to the nearby trump international golf club, the president argued that amazon costs the u.s. postal service billions of dollars in potential revenue. it is reported that the u.s. post office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for amazon. that amounts to billions of dollars. the failing "the new york times" reports the size of the company's lobbying staff has ballooned and that does not include the fake washington post which is used as a lobbyist and should so register. if the post office increased its parcel rates, amazon shipping costs would rise by $2.6 billion. this post office scam must stop. amazon must pay real costs and taxes now. >>> all right. the chicago tribune points out federal regulators have found the postal service's contracts to deliver some amazon orders has actua

kelly o'donnell for us at the white house. for more on the discussion of the meeting between german chancellor angela merkel and president trump joining me now, steven soak ol, the president of the american council on germany. steven, good to see you. thank you for being with news happy to be here. >> all right. in terms of what limited expectations people had for this meetings. say limited. these meetings are are necessary but it wasn't the expectation that came in with macron. the relationship between merkel and trump is not as good as it is between trump and macron. what were you expecting? are you satisfied? >> i'm still hopeful. there is an ambitious agenda between europe and the united states. and i think we saw that in the first half of the week when macron was here and spent three days in washington and in comparison, merkel's visit is quite short. she's here for working meeting. >> are they tag teaming? are they trying to get the same stuff done. >> there is a common agenda that they have. i think it's very important

>> thanks to kelly o'donnell for that report. >>> president trump is hitting back on a report. friday "the post" reported sessions had recently told white house counsel mcgann that he might have to leave his job if president trump fired his deputy rod rosenstein. sessions did not intend to threaten the white house but wanted to convey the untenable position rosenstein's firing would put him in. but the part of the article that had the president slamming the paper was a line that read, quote, trump has at times referred to sessions as mr. magoo and rosenstein as mr. peepers, a character from a 1950s sitcom, according to people with whom the president has spoken. this is according to people with whom the president has spoken, there are no such people and don't know these characters. more fake and disgusting news to create illwill. asking sessions to investigate comey and clinton. good luck with that request. >>> the democratic national committee has filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit over what it says is a far-reaching conspiracy to meddle in the 2016 presidential election in th

>> reporter: so kelly o'donnell used the word back pedaling. so at the same time as president trump was tweeting that any attack could be very soon or not too soon at all president macron was giving an interview and said yes we believe chemical weapons at least chlorine was used. any decision to respond will be taken future tense when it is most effective suggesting that a decision has not been taken so far and some of teresa may's allies are saying the same kind of thing. one said let's act when it is effective and not just in anger. and in germany chancellor angela merkel in confirming that germany would not take part in any possible military action said there have been no decisions yet. so back pedaling seems to be the word of the day. >> and what are we hearing from russia this morning and from syria? i know there have been developments on that in the last hour or so. >> reporter: so president assad has spoken. a lot of it is pretty predictable. he said u.s. threats are based on lies that the u.s. made up. he said the threats would only lea

nbc news white house correspondent kelly o'donnell is with us from white sulfur springs, west virginia, where president trump is headed. he's going to speak at an event there today. how did this issue rise to the top of the white house agenda and is there even a timetable? >> first, if you'll allow me a moment here of breaking news, we learned from our colleague, as you were delivering the intro to this program, that the president did speak on the issue of scott pruitt. the epa administrator. during his travel with our pool colleagues who are responsible for being up close with the president. they asked, if he remains confident in scott pruitt who's been under fire for his rental agreement, other questions of using personal and taxpayer money. two word, i do. the president saying he remains confident in scott pruitt. so that's some breaking news that's just happening in the last couple of minutes. to get to your question, craig, there has been a long-standing view from the president that the border is central to who he is as a politician and to his presidency. but this simply bubbled u

nbc's kelly o'donnell now with more on that and why amazon is in the president's crosshairs. >> reporter: during his motorcade ride, president trump delivered his own package of tweets blasting amazon with flawed accusations. this post office scam must stop. amazon must pay real costs. the president scorned for the online giant runs deep. conflating his anger at amazon with the "washington post," both owned by jeff bezos but operated separately. along simmer frustration. >> the washington post which i call a lobbying tool for amazon. >> reporter: experts say the president's claim that the post office will lose 1.50 on average for each package it delivers for amazon cannot be backed up. postal service regulators approve contracts with companies like amazon in advance and require that postal service costs are covered. those agreements are not made public. >> we don't know if each package makes a dollar, makes $2 or loses money. that data is not available publicly. i'm not sure where trump is getting his figures. >> reporter: the president's own 2017 financial disclosure form shows he repor

kelly o'donnell has the latest from the white house. >> good morning, phillip. president trump is back in washington after a week in florida and he's been talking about the high stakes for any potential agreement or meeting or summit with north korea. he's also expressed on twitter frustration with people he refers to as pundits giving him advice he doesn't seem to want about how to make a deal. and the president is trying to send some positive signals. >> leaving palm beach, president trump posed with officers from the sheriff's department. and over the din of air force one's engines responded to shouted questions about north korea. this week, north korea's kim jong un and president moon jae-in of south korea are scheduled to meet. after kim, seen here inside his private train, announced friday the north's nuclear program is complete and, therefore, would stop its missile testing. a move seen with both caution and optimism for potential negotiations. >> there's every reason to think that he will not agree to give up all of his nuclear weapons. so the question f

for more we go to kelly o'donnell with the latest from mar-a-lago. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, phillip. the spirit of the easter holiday did not keep the president from venting frustration, even misinformation sunday. president trump again showed concern that the border wall he has so long promised is not yet fully funded. with the first lady and daughter tiffany heading in to easter sunday service, the president paused to engage. even enflamed a political charged issue, immigration. >> a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of daca and we have to see. >> reporter: but the president's assertion gives a false picture of what the daca program actually is. bill richardson was a border state governor. >> the president is factually incorrect. daca has nothing to do with new immigrants coming in or immigrants coming in. >> daca, deferred action on childhood arrivals, is an obama era policy to prevent deportation for young immigrants who qualified based on age and education and must be living in the u.s. continu

my colleague, nbc's kelly o'donnell, is live outside the church. kelly, i know you have been there all week long. really wrapped in this community as they've been grieving. talk about the moment that we just witnessed and how that community is holding up. >> we've seen the people of houston and beyond coming to pay their respects. but it was not planned -- at least not publicly disclosed that president george h.w. bush, who just lost his wife of 73 years, that he would interact with those who came to pay their respects. so it caught all of us by surprise, and yet in many ways, it is in keeping with what they want this celebration of her life and this farewell to be about, about others, about humility, and about service. so pausing from the harsh even caustic moment of our current political discourse, going back to see that a generation ago these leaders, a president and a first lady, were beloved by their hometown here of houston and people are really showing up to pay their respects and to show support. so president bush was joined by his daughter,

. >> reporter: i'm kelly o'donnell at the white house. on this day after the air strikes, the trump administration unleashed a round of fresh warnings. >> chemical weapons are a threat to us all. >> reporter: from the united nations security council -- >> when our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line. >> reporter: to a summit in peru where mike pence filled in for the president and justified the use of force as -- >> the morally right act to take. >> reporter: the vice president thanked other leaders today for supporting action to deter syria. and pence called out iran and russia as patrons of the dangerous assad regime. >> our message to russia is, you're on the wrong side of history. it's time for russia to get the message that president trump delivered last night, that you're known by the company you keep. >> reporter: today the president was visible only on twitter, where he called the action a perfectly executed strike, thanking his counterparts in france and the united kingdom for their wisdom. though the

nbc's kelly o'donnell has the story. >> reporter: after the air strikes, the trump administration unleashed a round of fresh warnings. >> chemical weapons are a threat to us all. >> reporter: from the united nations security council -- >> when our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line. >> reporter: to a summit in peru where mike pence filled in for the president. and justified the use of force as -- >> the morally right act to take. >> reporter: the vice president thanks other leaders for supporting action to iran and russia as patrons of the dangerous assad regime. >> our message is you are on the wrong side of history. it's time for russia to get the message that president trump delivered last night. that you're known by the company you keep. >> reporter: the president was visible only on twitter where he called the action, a perfectly executed strike. thanking his counterparts in france and the united kingdom for their wisdom. though the administration says it is prepared for a sustained effort, president trump declared mission accomplish ed after baghdad fell b

joining me is kelly o'donnell. with us from day beruit is bill neely. let's start with you, kelly. we are half an hour out from what we are expecting to be a white house press briefing. we are now into the time period where the president says a decision will be made. we know jim mattis walked into the white house just over an hour and a half ago. >> it was thanks to our cameras capturing the image of the defense secretary walking into the white house that we knew for certain he was here. we were talking to a range of officials and people didn't want to disclose that he was here. that may be just a matter of them not feeling they were authorized to do so or it might be this is the cane of session with the president or others here that they didn't want to get public attention. certainly the secretary comes here to meet with the president from time to time the. it takes on new importance given the tweet schedule that the president put out, the backdrop of the chemical attack in syria and the time line that the president provided which has certainly put us into this zone as you describ

nbc's kelly o'donnell has more on the battle being waged. >> reporter: president trump road testing campaign themes for the republican party. >> nancy pelosi and her gang, they've got to be voted out of office. >> reporter: honing his partisan fire. >> a vote for a democrat in november is a vote for open borders and crime. >> reporter: but also voicing the political jeopardy he faces if democrats take control of congress. >> we will impeach him. people said, but he hasn't done anything wrong. oh, that doesn't matter. we will impeach the president. >> reporter: he's using that personal risk and history of a president's party losing seats at the first midterm to animate his voters. >> we cannot be complacent, and we've got to fight like hell and we've got to win the house and we've got to win the senate. >> reporter: though he is not on the ballot himself. >> we love you, bro! >> i love you, too. >> reporter: gop candidates in competitive districts are expected to keep their distance. but president trump argues he has a case to make. >> the economy is raging. our military is strong and getting

we have nbc's kelly o'donnell with more. >> reporter: good morning, craig.he actress and the hush money payment back in the news. a short-term victory for the fixer and friend michael cohen that focuses on his ability of fifth amendment right of self incrimination buying him more time. a new twist in the president's legal troubles with michael cohen. >> he represents me like with this crazy stormy daniels deal. >> reporter: stormy daniels lawsuit against the president and his embattled personal lawyer michael cohen is on hold. for 90 days. in a nine-page ruling friday, a california judge delayed the civil case at cohen's request. writing, this is no simple criminal investigation. tv is an -- it is an investigation into the sitting president regarding documents that may be subject to the attorn attorney/client privilege. her lawyer saying justice delayed is justice denied. house republicans released the report on friday. the president claimed victory. >> i was honored by the report. it was conclusive and strong. >> reporter: democrats scoffed. >> it is a glos

. >> joining us right now is our correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly, what are we hearing about this potential pardon? is it really going to happen? what's the timing and is there any reason that's been given for it? >> as early as today, ali and steph, and this is not a favor to the george w. bush era. this is really about a conservative point of view, and this has existed for the past decade that because in that case which i covered every single minute. i sat through the entire trial. because the special prosecuter at that time, because he had through his process of investigation found that someone other than libby had been the first to disclose the name to a columnist at the time, bob novak, but the investigation continued and the argument among those conservatives who raise money for libby and have long urged that we be pardoned, they felt he was caught up in a conflict of memory and not a case where he had been the original leaker. having sat through that trial and knowing what president bush chose to do, he felt the 30-month sentence was exc

kelly o'donnell is in houston this morning. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. today through the doors of st. martin church we'll see the most public part of this farewell. this morning before dawn the hearse carrying mrs. bush's casket arrived here. members of the public, friends, family and admirers will be able to file past today. tomorrow president trump will not be attendance at the funeral, but first lady melania trump will be here as the nation and hometown pay tribute. a celebration in the heart of houston. on thursday, the city hosting a service of gratitude for its hometown first lady. >> may we honor the memory of barbara bush by being people who care for others. >> reporter: many women came wearing pearls, mrs. bush's trademark. >> the mother in her, the grandmother in her, that's the part that still gets me. she led this country with her strength. >> reporter: today inside st. martin's, the bushes' church for five decades, the former first lady will be lying in repose from noon until midnight.

we have kelly o'donnell outside the church in houston where the funeral will take place. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, craig. this is an invitation only gathering. 1,500 are expected. we will see former prime ministers and former presidents and vice presidents. former first ladies and the current one, melania trump. for 12 hours on friday, the doors were opened for many barbara bush had never met. all day and into the night. by bus, and on foot, thousands joined a procession to honor former first lady barbara bush. but this moment was not in the official plan. president george h.w. bush made his first public appearance since losing his wife of 73 years. extending his hand. >> frankly, i did not expect to see him. i was so glad to see him. he was so personable. he shook everybody's hand who came through. >> reporter: offering his smile and thanks. surprising those he met. >> it was just very emotional when the president was there with her. that's what caught us off guard. it made it real. >> i almost started crying. it was overwhelming seeing her coffin an

nbc's kelly o'donnell has the story. >> reporter: president trump gleefully traded one washington forurday night >> i'd much rather be in washington, michigan >> reporter: not only did he skip this for the second straight year. >> is this better than the phony washington correspondent white house. >> reporter: he performs a fake president trump. >> i could be up there smiling like i love where they're hitting you shot after shot and then i'm supposed to -- >> reporter: while the trump administration encouraged its ono figures alls to attend, the president mocked the media before a trump friendly crowd. >> these are very dishonest people, many of them. >> reporter: touting his role into bringing north korea into negotiations. >> what do you think president trump had to do with it. i'll tell you what like how about everything. >> reporter: the rally audience chanted suggesting he deserves the peace prize. >> nobel. >> nobel. >> nobel i just want to get the job done. >> reporter: talking up his handling of the ee con my. he talked about his own fair way endors endorser >> back in washing

joining me iscaly o'donnell. kelly, it has been a grilling mike pompeo, whatever one may think of him and the views he holds seems to have acquitted him well during the hearing. >> unlike some of the people the president has selected to bring into government, mike pompeo has a lot of experience as someone elected three times to the house, also serving as the cia director where he has appeared before congress a number of times. a harvard law graduate, first in his class at west point n. terms of taking some heat of the pressure of the moment, he is well equipped to do that. what lawmakers, especially democrats, wanted to do was to drill down on any potential difference he might have with president trump. areas where he might be someone to speak to truth if there was a disagreement. one of the things that's important to know about the relationship between pompeo and the president is that pompeo has brought the presidential daily briefing to the white house himself meeting with the president in person on most days since h

nbc's white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has more. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, willie. president trump was certainly eager to take credit with those developments on north korea, and he announced publicly that he plans to meet with kim jong-un in the next three to four weeks. that foreign policy news comes from an unlikely place, a campaign rally in a battleground state. president trump gleefully traded one washington for another saturday night. >> i'd much rather be in washington, michigan, than in washington, d.c. >> reporter: not only did he skip the tradition for a second straight year -- >> is this better than that phony washington white house correspondents dinner? >> reporter: the president performed a pretend trump if he were at the d.c. dinner. >> i could be up there tonight smiling like i love where they're hitting you shot after shot and then i'm supposed to -- >> reporter: while the trump administration encouraged its own officials to attend the nearly century-old celebration of the first amendment, the p

nbc's kelly o'donnell reports. >> reporter: with the first lady and daughter tiffany heading into easterday service, the president paused to engage, even in flame, a politically charged issue, immigration. zb >> and a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of daca. >> the president's assertion gives a false picture of what the daca program actually is. bill richardson was a border state governor. >> the president is factually incorrect. daca has nothing to do with new immigrants coming in, or immigrants coming in. >> daca, deferred action on childhood arrivals, is an obama-era policy to -- and must be living in the u.s. continuously since 2007. the future is uncertain for the 800,000 enrolled as the president and congress fail to make their legal status erm permanent. >> i say this to daca recipients. the republicans are with you, they want to get your situation taken care of. >> that sympathetic tone was gone today as the president declared no more daca deal. >> the president has dangled daca in a cruel sense. he's never been serious about resolving it. >> repor

kelly o'donnell has more on this. >> nancy pelosi and her gang, they've got to be voted out of office. >> honing his partisan fire. >> a vote for a democrat in november is a vote for open borders and crime. >> but also voicing the political jeopardy he faces if democrats take control of congress. >> we will impeach him, but the people said he hasn't done anything wrong. oh, that doesn't matter. >> he's using that personal risk and history of a president's party losing seats at the president's midterm to animate his voters. >> we've got to fight like hell and we've got to win the house and we've got to win the senate. >> though he is not on the ballot himself, gop dand candidates are expected to keep their distance, but president trump argues he has a case to make. >> the economy is raging our military is stronger and getting stronger every single day. >> big unknowns from the world stage could cast a shadow over november. the president is already taking credit for progress and nuclear talks with north korea. >> what do you think president trump had to do with it? i'll tell you what. h

as kelly o'donnell joining us from the white house, has been aware the president was sending signals that he want out of syria. this was coming yesterday afternoon at the news conference. now you have kera and courtney saying that the president is reluck tanly agreeing to keep some troops stationed there. what do you think is going to happen in a couple of hours from the white house? >> first we expect there will be a rin statement coming from the white house to explain the direction the president want to take u.s. forces with his commitment in syria. we saw from the president a week ago, sort of off handed comment in richmond, ohio, he sort of told us where his thinking was then. yesterday here at the white house in a formal setting he outlined it more clearly and more on point about his intentions. it is at odds with some of the advisers who have been trying to give the president their input on the situation. we've seen over the sweep of the last 15 to 20 years, when the u.s. pulled back from some of the hot spot areas the void gets filled, that's one of the concerns. the stabiliza