. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house. joining me now, rene graham, contributor for the bloboston g. and john harlan. g to see you both. john, the story of daniels' payment, there is so much confusion here, right? how does the public keep up with this? and does the confusion then turn to help the president? >> well, i don't think the confusion really matters one way or the other, alex. if you look at polling, long before these revelations, americans had concluded, the majority of americans that trump was lying about not having the affair. and lying about not knowing about the hush money. what's happened now is that the trump team, both the white house and his outside legal advisers

after they met friday with venezuela's president. >> our thanks to kelly o'donnell for that report. >>> it was a win and a go home for the game seven of the eastern conference in boston. the young celtics jumped out to an early lead clicking on all cylinders from behind the arc, but the cavs just kept hanging around even without one of their stars kevin love. both teams exchanged blows with rookie jason tatum growing up before our very eyes. >> 6:45 remaining. tatum drives down and throws it down! would you! >> lebron james but with the game tight late in the fourth, well, you knew what time it was. king james taking over when it matters most leading his team to an 87-79 victory and advancing to his eighth straight finals. they'll facing the winner of the warriors/rockets. their game seven is tonight in houston. >>> the greatest spectacle in racing. will power became the 72nd person to win the 500. shortly before power crossed the finish line, all guys were on dan nika patrick who took to the track for the final time after announcing she would be retiring after the race. unfortunately

kelly o'donnell is standing by. kelly, with a does the statement say? >> well, it goes on to a couple of issues. this is a statement from the former mayor of new york. he says this sin tended to clarify the views that he expressed in the past few days. he is saying these are his views, separating himself from what the president knows or has said. first, there's no campaign violation, says the former mayor. the payment was made to resolve a personal and what he says is a false allegation in order to protect the president's family. not the campaign would be a parenthetical. it would have been done in any event whether he was a candidate or not. that's on the issue of when giuliani spoke about the timing. what if it had come out in october referencing something he said on television the last few days. second topic. he says my references to timing were not describing my understanding of the president's knowledge but instead my understanding of these matters. putting it on himself as the president's lawyer. and part three, the former mayor says, it is undisp

>> kelly o'donnell, thank you for joining me. to help understand what is going on with rudy guiliani, i'm joined by michael daley from "the daily beast" whose latest piece is entitled "rudy guiliani the mob bust sister now sounds like a mob mouthpiece." giuliani leaks when is he wants to leak. >> he's famous for na. >> the patrick doors man leak, the juvenile records. >> when he held up the guy's criminal record. he leaked a juvenile record. he said there is no choir boy. it turns out he was a choir boy. >> this was a kid shot by a young man shot by police. talk about the behavior of him now versus then. rudy guiliani is famous for being pro law enforcement and having a special relationship with the new york fbi. how odd was it for you as a reporter for him to refer to them as storm troopers >> pa shocking particularly in the circumstances. he's done many search warrants. he knows that to get a search warrant like the bug that they put in the jaguar, the mafia jaguar that made the commission case, he knows you have to go to a jud

>> all right, kelly o'donnell for us. morning we are learning the president's legal team is now claiming the russia probe is no longer legitimate. cautioning him away from an interview with robert mueller and the special counsel's investigation. at least until the lawyers representing the president can review the classified information shared with congressional lawmakers last week on the fbi's investigation into the trump campaign back in 2016. with the president's personal lawyer rudy giuliani now claiming mr. trump's unproven claims of a supposed spy within his campaign ranks is all part of a p.r. campaign >> they're giving us the material to do it. of course we have to do it. we're defending -- to a large extent, we're defending here it is public opinion. eventually it's going to be impeach, not impeach. remember they're going to be informed a lot by their constituents. as it should be. it's the american people, the jury. the american people, yes, are republicans largely. independents pretty substantially and even some

our report from kelly o'donnell at the white house. >> reporter: after decades of dangerous work in her life as a spy, the peril gina haspel faces now is washington politics. >> republicans and democrats should come together and confirm gina haspel as the director of the cia. >> reporter: finding enough votes turned into a difficult mission, so much so officials tell me haspel was prepared to step aside concerned a bruising confirmation battle would do damage to the agency, her reputation and the men and women she leads as acting director. urgently hoping to save the nomination, friday white house officials went to cia headquarters to reassure haspel the president wants her to stay. today, officials say haspel is committed to becoming cia director. former director michael hayden today. >> with a president who does not always attach his decisions to the real world, to data, to evidence, gina haspel is one woman i want in that room. >> reporter: political opposition to haspel centers on her time after 9/11 running a secret cia prison in thailand where a terror suspect was waterboarded and

>> kelly o'donnell, on the white house north lawn tonight, kelly, thank you very much. >>> former president george h.w. bush in the hospital after experiencing low blood pressure and fatigue. a spokesman for the 93-year-old said he'll likely remain at the hospital in maine for a few days for observation. just yesterday the former president visited with veterans at an american legion pancake breakfast there in kennebunkport. his office says he is awake and alert and fortunately not in any discomfort. >>> that teacher from indiana who was hailed as a hero for stopping an armed student inside his classroom was released from the hospital this weekend. jason seaman suffered gunshot wounds as he tackled the shooter that opened fire. 13-year-old girl was also wounded. and is listed in critical but stable condition. >>> tonight, the death of a baby in tennessee is drawing new attention to a problem that keeps taking young lives. children being left in hot cars. more than half a dozen dying already this year. nbc's kerry sanders on just how quickly your car can become dangerously hot. >> reporter: i

. >> for more on what's going on with the trump legal team, kelly o'donnell joins me live from the white house. okay, kelly, one question. who on the donald trump looel team prepped rudy giuliani for his media tour? >> joy, i think two words. the president. what we are reporting is from talking with giuliani and others is that he and the president had gone over the strategy in advance of giuliani doing television and print interviews. and what we are told is they agreed that the main point that giuliani was to get out was to release in some form the idea that trump had in fact paid stormy daniels' fees to michael cohen, that reimbursement that because they believe that in investigators already possession that information, it would be important for the president and his team to get that out first. however, that didn't play quite the way the president and others expected. giuliani also talked with people in his own circle, legal and political circles to get advice on whether that was a good move to put that information out before it came out either through a newspaper or television report

kelly o'donnell has more from the white house. >> reporter: after spending the whole weekend inside the white house, the president emerged on twitter with a major declaration. i hereby demand the department of justice look into whether or not the fbi, doj, infull traited or surveilled the trump campaign for political purposes. the president's demand follows reporting in "the new york times" and "the washington post" that a fbi informant made contact with three members of the trump campaign in the summer of 2016. after the bureau began to examine possible russian election interference. reached by phone today, the president's lawyer rudy giuliani said mr. trump wants answers. >> all he's asking for is for them to investigate it. he's not telling them what to conclude so it's perfectly appropriate. >> reporter: he says the president has the authority to demand a new probe as head of the executive branch. though presidents typically avoid directing the justice department to take specific actions. the president's legal team wants to speak directly with the confidential informant. >> we would

let's bring in nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. with reaction from the white house. >> i've reached out to officials here and we have not heard any response on the new developments within the last few hours that janice just laid out. but that is exactly what the white house has wanted to see, where allies would respond. we've seen the abrupt way that donald trump canceled the meeting the other day was a jolt, a surprise even to moon as janice explained and it has resulted in some of the things the president wanted. he had according to our sources wanted to be able to pull away from the bargaining table before kim could do it. snapping things back into a way that he would believe is more favorable to the united states. because they were very frustrated that the north koreans had not been communicating behind the scenes last week as anticipated. and of course it was kim jong un who had put out a statement critical of the vice president and threatening a nuclear showdown. that's what prompted the president unannounced to make this let

kelly o'donnell is standing by having confirmed a new resignation. what can you tell us, kelly? >> reporter: good to be with you, chris. this involves the physician who has been serving as the doctor to the vice president. a part of the military medical unit here in the white house. dr. jennifer pena. she submitted her resignation. not something has goes through the vice president's office, but is, again, a part of the military chain of command. this, of course, would be the second time we've had a change in the staffing to the president and now vice president with both of their doctors out of the mix. at first we, of course, saw ronny jackson, physician to three presidents including president trump, being offered the position of secretary of veterans affairs that was derailed for reasons both political, experiential and all of the furor over allegations raised about some of his conduct on the job, and questions about his readiness to serve in such a role. nbc news can report that she submitted this resignation and that some questions were raised through the vice president's chi

i want to bring in quickly kelly o'donnell. esident, the vice president, senior officials are heading to the rose garden at the white house for the national day of prayer. kelly is there or in the briefing room on a sunny day. 90 degrees inside -- outside, i should say, and kel, listen, this is a solemn event. it's a moment of prayer and reflection at a time when there are a lot of questions for the president about things you don't often talk about in church like money paid to porn stars? >> the juxtaposition is notable, and it's one of those things that makes the white house always a compelling place. how outside events and planned events can converge. today they certainly are. we expect about 200 guests from various faiths. this is not just one form of worship. they will join together for a long tradition of the national day of prayer. it puts the president in a place where with e we, i think will try to see him try to connect with members who have long supported him even in the face of some of these less than savory allegatio

he tells kelly o'donnell the special counsel team gave him that time line about two or three weeks ago and the way giuliani puts it, he says we didn't want to get into what i call comey territory meaning he didn't want this to happen one or two months before the election. giuliani tells nbc news that would be unfair. that would be unfair to both sides. i would just point out that legal experts that we've talked with say investigations like this are often measured in years, not in months. the benghazi probe took two and a half years and the ken starr probe took at least four years. it would uncommon for an investigation like this to last 14 to 15 months. that said, since we are -- it appears we're at the presidential interview stage of the obstruction piece of the special counsel probe. it is conceivable that that part of the investigation could wrap up by september 1st while the collusion part of the probe continues. as we know based on this new reporting from the "new york times" it appears the special counsel is taking a global scope at whether or not members of the trump campaign co

but is just off on this one. >> let me go over to you, kelly o'donnell at the white house. again, if they're on schedule this afternoon, we're about 20 minutes away from hearing from sarah sanders. >> the briefing was originally set at 2:00 p.m. then they announced it would now be 2:30, so there could be, in terms of the prep that the press secretary goes through on a daily basis, consumption of this news that you've been talking about, trying to tailor a response. the most expected response would be to simply kick this over to the president's outside lawyer since it involves michael cohen. but there will be some question and answer related to this, especially on that point of a known call that is associated as tom has been describing it, with a white house number and michael cohen. and anecdotally, we have heard from friends of the president that he often uses his cell phone to make phone calls. so that would, i presume, not be a white house number. but there are certainly so many office lines that are even available, including those in the white house counsel's office whe

but first, we'll bring in the white house correspondent kelly o'donnell with the latest on giuliani's comments. kelly, he was up and at it last night, what can you tell us? >> reporter: it's been a high-profile week for rudy je l giuliani. he was back at it saturday night. and some of the focus was on these issues, but what he didn't talk about is when the president had, in fact, reimbursed the payment to stormy daniels. that is still a question mark, but it was not a campaign finance law violation as part of why he says the investigation should be ended. taking the president's case back to cable tv, saturday night. >> i'm still learning. >> reporter: giuliani warned that there could be a trap for perjury. he cited a famous case about lying. >> they want him to do martha stewart for them. i'm sorry, people, he's not going to do that. >> reporter: a magnet of attention on saturday. but he was not there to fix the role as a president. >> i'm not there to fix the foreign policies views. he knows my views and i know his views. >> reporter: but giuliani did talk about the pressures on his

nbc kelly o'donnell is at the white house for us and pete williams joining us from the news room here in washington. >> rudy giuliani doesn't make any fwobones about it. >> reporter: in my conversations with rudy giuliani he's talked about the necessity for the trump legal team to know as mump about the fbi's use of an informant prior to the president submitting to any interview should this come to pass. they want know what was included in documents that would typically been the reports based on any intelligence or information provided by a confidential human source, an informant. that's not a surprise coming from the trump legal team. when you're talking about john kelly, chief of staff and emmett flood special counsel inside the white house, both federal government employee, it's been described to us their presence was more to frame the white house point of view in a way to spin the president's desire to have this kind of a briefing and to argue that he does want transparency and wants there to be a proper airing of this information. they knew there had been big blow back by taking

. >> will you stop the -- >> whatever -- >> nbc's white house correspondent kelly o'donnell joins me now. kelly o. what do we know at this point this afternoon about negotiations that are going on to try to save the summit? >> reporter: well, good afternoon, craig. the president buying some time with those comments where he suggests he doesn't have an update yet. we know from our sources that the president's been in touch with his secretary of state and his national security adviser trying to as what has happened with kim jong-un's government about this issue after things had appeared to be on a fairly good glide path. the president had referred to kim jong-un as honorable at one point, referred to the release of the three american detainees who were held improperly by north korea as a gracious step and now we have this potential impasse. the rocket man perhaps trying to torpedo the summit. sarah sanders was asked about this this morning here on the driveway of the north lawn and was saying this was not a surprise to the administration given the history of north korea being not always

but democrats are gearing up for a fight, kelly o'donnell has more from washington. >> after decades of dangerous work in hr life as a spy, the peril she faces now is politics. >> finding enough votes as turned into a different mission. so much so she was prepared to step aside concerned a bruising confirmation battle would do damage to the agency, her reputation, and the men and women she leads. hoping to save the nomination, they went to cia headquarters to reassure haspill. former director michael hayden. >> a president that does not always attach his decisions to data and evidence, she is the one woman i want in that room. >> she ran a secret cia prison in thailand where a suspect was water boarded and she destroyed videotapes of them. >> those of us that worked on the torture know some things that are classified and it is an important part of her career. >> much of her career history is classified including achievements the white house would like to highlight. former colleagues praise her skills and 33 years of service. >> i can talk to you about how she did her job as a senior

. >>> let's bring in nbc's kelly o'donnell. kelly, another welcome to you on this saturday. looming over all of this is the white house defense of the daniels payment. what's the latest on that from inside the white house? >> reporter: well, i've been in touch with the president's legal team today. and they are not responding to any of these new reports. and what we saw through "the wall street journal" and "the new york times" are important incremental pieces of information that add to what has become a complex picture about when did the president know about this arrangement. we've seen the denials. we saw the muddied up instance this week where rudy giuliani says the president was informed in recent days. the president saying we're not changing the story. and giuliani was mistaken. giuliani says he was speaking only of his knowledge, not the president's. so "the wall street journal" is giving us some insight into a potential mechanism that michael cohen may have used to bring in more funds. he had properties where he was able to access a home line of credit. an equity home

nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house with all of it for us. kelly, good morning. >> good morning, willie. president trump showcased the relesion o anmerican citizen from v v venenenezezezezuela as under his administration of the ability to secure the release of erics hd unjustly abroad, mang one family's answered prayer a foreign policy win and whithouseven >>> a joyful embraced dreamed about for two painful years, a utah man, joshua holt, reunited with his mother. a home coming bear hug from his father. just hours after his negotiated release from venezuela. he was sitting next to pside trump. >> you were a tough one, i have to tell you. at was a tough situation. >> reporter: a saturday night celebration in the oval office. >> it's really very special to have you both. you've gone through a lot. you've gone through a lot. >> reporter: holt expressed his relief and gratitude. >> for thinking about me and caring about me, just a normal person. so, it really touches me. >> reporter: his mother lori had been in constant contact with utah officials

he's talked to kelly o'donnell who is at the white house.did you learn from the president's lawyer today? >> we had an update on michael cohen, president's personal lawyer over time, who it's been made public his business contracts, including one with at&t. mr. giuliani says that the president had no idea about that contract and claims that he was not lobbied by michael cohen. on an issue like the at&t merger with time warner, which the department of justice and the anti-trust division there voted against and denying that merger and that is something that raises the question about a cohen able to broker his proximity to the president for an outcome. giuliani is saying the president did not know about it and was not lobbied. he goes on to talk about the relationship with cohen today, expressing concern from the president for michael cohen because of their personal relationship but saying they are not in contact now because it wouldn't be appropriate given the circumstances. it is important to note that the president can, as the head of the go

also kelly o'donnell at the white house. and lindsey ford, former senior adviser to the assistant secretary of defense and asian pacific security affairs. she's now director of political security affairs for the asia society. janice, to you first. any reaction yet from china? >> no reaction yet from china. but swift reaction from south korea. it's midnight in seoul, and the president moon sjae-in called a emergency meeting of his staff. calling them all together to try to make sense of what has just happened. they were effectively blind sided. they say they're still trying to make sense of what president trump's intention is. in issuing this letter, saying that the summit has been called off. in the last couple of days -- and he met with moon jae-in a couple of days ago. you'll recall the comments president trump made about president xi in china, how he wasn't happy with the second meeting between xi and kim jong-un. said he didn't like the change in tone or attitude by kim jong-un that followed that meeting. suggesting that

i want to start with kelly o'donnell. my fellow overnight shifter at the white house. a little brighter in the day. talk about what is next now that these returnees are home. when will we find out more about their medical condition and when will they be reunited with their families? >> we are both caffeine fuelled. we know in the seven hours or so since the three men have been back on mainland u.s. soil and beginning their return to the life that had been left behind we have had very little information. we are not getting specifics. typically in a situation like this there are a couple of things that take place. a very complete medical evaluation. we know that detainees in north korea have been subject to very harsh conditions, malnutrition, very tough time. we saw the condition when he returned to the united states and passed away a short time later. a full medical workup. they are the best sources of human intelligence the trump administration and the united states has right now, the three men who have had interaction day to day in harsh conditions with the north kor

nbc's kelly o'donnell starting us off from the white house. kelly, we've seen the tweets. any other reaction from 1600 pennsylvania to this times story on sessions? >> reporter: not yet, but we expect to have an opportunity to ask sarah sanders to give us the latest from the white house. what we have certainly seen is over time, the president has been willing to put out bruising comments about jeff sessions, the attorney general, often expressing his frustration and disappointment in sessions. at the same time, we have seen how republicans on capitol hill in previous iterations of their disagreements have said that they would support sessions to the point of not confirming a replacement if they felt that sessions was somehow drummed out in a fashion that they thought was inappropriate. so, we don't know where things stand right now, but these comments give us a window into the president's thinking. the article that you cited takes us back in time. it's not a current meeting they're describing, but this new reporting deals with a time last year when the president, according

nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has more on this. kelly, what's the response here?er: if you'll in dull being me a moment, peter alexander notified us the three prisoners from north korea who were returned back to the united states have been released from walter reed medical center, are back with families. we know they came in in the overnight hours a few taste ada going through the health evaluation and examinations, debriefing, and are now back with families. that's breaking news just now. on the question you were asking me, there has been a prolonged response to this issue about john mccain. as our reporting tells us, there was a staff meeting and in that meeting when they were discussing the fate of gina haspel, the choice for the cia director, opposition of john mccain was discussed and kelly sadler was quoted as saying his opinion didn't matter because he's quote dying anyway. there's been a lot of uproar about that, because it is such a personal attack and unkind way to describe senator mccain who has brain cancer. we've seen push back from the white house on

. >> nbc kelly o'donnell for the white house. kelly, apologize to you if i have to interrupt you in the middle of a sentence as we wait for the big story with harvey weinstein's lawyers. talk about where this goes next. >> reporter: no worries i can slam on the brakes as needed. this was notable because when the president came out his pace was slow and he veered toward the cameras wanting to talk. he had a new message today and he wanted to make clear that the thing we had thought was blown up yesterday might be intact after all. so the president said a number ever things that were notable. that the u.s. and north korea are talking again. why does that stand out? because yesterday a senior official told us there was radio silence, so that's notable. in addition, the president has also suggested that everybody plays games when prompted by a question about was north korea plais playing games with their tactic that led up to the cancellation? so everybody plays games. might even ib clued the u.s. in terms of strategy based on the pre

our team is here and ready to go this hour and i wanted to go first to kelly o'donnell over at the white house. kelly, no surprise given this news that we've been talking about this morning the president is also talking about it up and tweeting. >> reporter: adjusting his message on twitter, how many times have reread and looked as the tweets are flying by, things like no collusion and witch hunt. so he's adjusting his message to tailor it to what the story of the day is. today he's saying there was no collusion, it's a hoax, and there's is no obstruction of justice, that's a setup and a trap. he then goes on to talk about what there is is the important work of the presidency dealing with north korea and china and so forth. so the president is definitely trying to address specifically what we're talking about, what people are reading and seeing and trying to undercut that argument as much aps much as he has spent so many months talking about collusion on his view on things. that's a critical adjustment from the president. we've also seen how the president's former counsel, private lawyer

. >> kelly o'donnell is joining us now. all right, kelly, let's get to what more you know about now this white house response to the daniels' payment. >> reporter: well, good afternoon, alex. clearly mayor giuliani realizes that for whatever reason and the reason is not entirely clear, what he had said on wednesday evening that the president had learned about this payment in the preceding ten days to two weeks is no longer something his client wants said publicly. we have evidence of that based on the president saying no story has changed. and since that time, rudy giuliani will no longer speak to when the president had specific knowledge about this. why that's an issue, legally he may be exposed in a few different ways, but it is also a case of the president not wanting to acknowledge this. except for the fact he tweeted that this kind of payment through reimbursement was made. when you see kellyanne conway, an employee of the white house, and you see for example sarah sanders, an employee of the white house, they have not

. >> following all of these developments at the white house is kelly o'donnell. we've heard that phrase, we have heard time and time again from the president of the united states, that being we will a see what happens. let's start with north korea, the respects for this summit, what does the administration say? >> there are positive signs today. perhaps they were provoked by the president's letter cancelling the summit and then the response from north korea in the overnight hours for us suggesting there was a willingness to still work on this. from the white house today and the administration more broadly, including defense secretary mattis saying that there are indications that there is a willingness to keep working on this. so we are in a maybe situation. that seems quite different than yesterday when it seemed as if the summit could be not only off but off for a long time now today the president keeping open even the possibility of june 12th. other administration officials had said that would be ambitious considering they lost some ground and would have to bui

kelly o'donnell at the white house with more for us. good morning. >> good morning, from the korean peninsula to the middle east president trump is setting changes in motion that could have long-lasting consequences. his meeting set for june 12th and north korea is providing another sign that summit is on track. . another dramatic step from kim jong un. saturday north korean state media reported that within two weeks one nuclear test site will be dismanteled by explosives. president trump reacted with an ee fusive thank you. . a smart and gracious gesture. coming after the release of three marens as kim prepares for the singapore summit with president trump. >> i really think he wants to do something. and bring the country into the real world. >> eager to shone foreign policy metal, the president is celebrating a controversial move in the middle east over the holy city claimed by jews and palestines. >> we will final open the american embassy in jerusalem. daughter ivanka trump posted with great joy she will be part of the delegation po

nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house. and pete williams, in our washington bureau. kelly, start with you, just on this breaking news from the "new york times." matt apuzzo and mike schmidt reporting that ty cobb is out and that flood is in. where are we on this, and what's the white house saying publicly right now? >> reporter: so tar, kasie, the white house is telling us that ty cobb has been talking about retiring over aeredof weeks, and is prepared to do that now. they are not disclosing at this point what role emmet flood would have. we're working all sources to get a better picture of that. what i think, when matt's signal -- part of what he was beginning to talk about is the influence of cobb inside the white house over this past year as someone who has been friendly towards mueller and his team in terms of a spirit of cooperation with a belief that that would hasten the end of the investigation, as opposed to putting up road blocks that would take more time. one of the things that our reporting collectively here has told us about ty cobb's point of view within

kelly o'donnell. and janice mackey frayer, appreciate it. >>> democratic senator ben carden of maryland joins us from capitol hill. he's member of the senate foreign relations committee. senator, thank you for being here. do you know if anybody was made aware of this decision before it was announced this morning? >> i'm quite certain that no one on capitol hill knew about it. we had a hearing this morning with secretary pompeo. as we are walking to the hearing, we got the letter. and it was quite a surprise. it was a surprise to our chairman, senator corker and the members of our committee. so we were not expecting this. >> you said it was puzzling a little bit earlier today. you also talked about diplomacy. do you think that this is going to be a larger strategy for the president to get them back to the negotiating table with more favorable terms? is there reason to believe that? >> well, i have major questions as to how the president conducts foreign policy and diplomacy. so this, to me, is strange.

. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house for us. i want to play the comments avenatti made here with lawrence o'donnell last night. take a listen. >> the big question is this -- all of this money comes in to this account. essential consultants llc. we have reason to believe it didn't all go to michael cohen individually. michael cohen needs to disclose where the balance of that money went. fanned it went to donald trump or the trump organization and if michael cohen was part of a scheme to sell access to the president of the united states, that would be rather, a rather shocking development, but i don't think that that is out of the realm of possibility at this point. >> so kelly, fowhat are folks a the white house saying? >> reporter: keeping their distance, you would expect. part of what we piece together here is that the president's lawyer, michael cohen is no longer working in that capacity according to rudy giuliani who said it would be inappropriate giving the legal matters. cohen in the past sense, one way to distance themsel

i want to go back to kelly o'donnell at the white house. i understand you have new reporting on why the white house says the president sent this letter in the first place. i spoke with one source over there inside the west wing just before we came on the air about 47 minutes ago who said it was the totality of events that led to this. what are you hearing from your sources? >> if we go back and we look at some of the clues that have been bread crumbs in international diplomacy we saw that the vice president was taking some very strong positions publically. that followed with a statement from the north korean government kweging the tone of the vice president and that was a bridge too far according to sources that in the environment we have seen over weeks, one of the things that has been notable, the president has spoken about it saying he and kim jong-un had dialled down their rhetoric, gone was the little rocketman, the kinds of harsh terms that they had previously been using about each other in the international sphere. any backing away o

. >> kelly o'donnell has more for us on this. >> the white house does not deny this remark was made.ve multiple sources who were in attendance at a meeting in which the comment which we'll explain in a moment, was uttered, according to other sources who were there they're not denying it they're also not apologizing for it. we have seen how over the years president trump and john mccain have had tensions before. on personality and on policy and we've also seen how president trump really carries out his no apology policy. and that has carried over on to the white house, in this instance, when a staffer said something harsh about mccain and the white house has been ignoring it. >> fallout over an insult. >> i'm not going to validate a leak out of an internal staff meeting one way or the other. >> the white house refused to attempt damage control after staffer kelly sadler's dericive comment in a meeting that ailing john mccain's opposition to c.i.a. director nominee gina haspel did not matter. because he's dying, anyway. mccain's daughter megan reacted friday. >> i don't understand what

. >>> nbc news white house correspondent kelly o'donnell joins us now. can we ask you to bring us up to speed on what's transpired in the last 24 hours, please? >> there's a lot to talk about, we hope within this hour we'll have an opportunity to at least see the president, try to ask him some questions. as he heads to marine one on the south lawn. off to cleveland as you indicated, there is a primary tuesday, he's got a fundraiser there. and a conversation, they call them roundtables these days, about the tax cuts. the president will be working today. he will be on the road. we'll be learning about new reporting that deals with the president wanting to be at the center of his own defense. s that been bubbling up in recent days and reporting about michael cohen. a long-time personal friend, fixer, lawyer of the president and the way that he secured more available cash. new this morning, "the wall street journal" reports trump lawyer michael cohen dramatically beefed up his access to cash during the 2016 campaign year. by increasing his home equity lines

. >> kelly o'donnell never anxious at the white house. were the pence remarks the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back here? >> reporter: it is appearing to be more complicated than that. and as sometimes we do this, i've got a bit of breaking news. the president is in the oval office now doing a posthumous pardon for a boxer named jack johnson. sylvester stallone the actor of course has been an advocate for this pardon. but interestingly so long the years have been harry reid, democrat from nevada, and john mccain who of course is ailing right now from brain cancer. mccain and reid for years had been encouraging previous presidents to pardon jack johnson who was an african-american boxer first world heavyweight champion and process could you cuted under the mann act, perhaps porting a woman across state lines. something that seems terribly outdated and really an echo of the former south. so this is what i'm told by officials happening right now in the oval office. so add another topic into our incredibly busy day. but for those w

we get more from nbc's kelly o'donnell in washington. >> reporter: after spending the whole weekend inside the white house, the president emerged on twitter with a major declaration. i here by demand that the department of justice look into whether or not the fbi, doj infiltrated or surveilled the trump campaign for political purposes. the president's demand follows reporting in "the new york times" and washington post that an fbi informant made contact with three members of the trump campaign in the summer of 2016, after the bureau began to examine possible russian election interference. reached by phone, president's lawyer rudy giuliani said mr. trump wants answers. >> all he's asking for is for them to investigate it. he's not telling them what to conclude. so it's perfectly appropriate. >> reporter: giuliani says the president has the authority to demand a new probe as head of the executive branch. though presidents typically avoid directing the justice department to take specific actions. the president's legal team wants to speak directly with the confidential informant. >> we'd like

nbc's kelly o'donnell has more from washington. >> reporter: after decades of dangerous work in her life as a spy, the peril gina has pel faces now is washington politics. >> republicans and democrats should come together and confirm gina haspel as the director of the cia. >> reporter: but finding enough votes has turned into a difficult mission. so much so, officials tell me haspel was prepared to step aside, concerned a bruising confirmation battle would do damage to the agency, her reputation, and the men and women she leads as acting director. urgently hoping to save the nomination, friday white house officials went to cia headquarters to reassure haspel the president wants her to stay. officials say haspel is committed to becoming cia director. former director michael hayden. >> with a president who does not always attach his decisions to the real world, to data, to evidence, gina haspel is the one woman i want in that room. >> reporter: political opposition to haspel centers on her time after 9/11 running a secret cia prison in thailand where a terror suspect was water boarded. and

this is interesting because last we heard is that the white house, kelly o'donnell who is there, is working to narrow down the date for that. kelly, as we apparently the president is still out on the south lawn, he's still talking with our colleague peter alexander who is out there asking questions as the bugs are flying around where you are. >> reporter: that was a bee. i had to do a little head wave for that. >> got to protect yourself. the president clearly wants to be talking this morning. let me just pull back the curtain for viewers for a second. we have to wait for this tape to be turned around, we can't show it to you live. any minute as soon as the spres done taking questions, the cram raman actually runs the tape -- the thing back in to the president room and then we'll play that out. that will happen in a couple of minutes. but, dell e kelly, given that the president stalking about his new lawyer this morning rudy giuliani, give me a sense of how you see this shaping up. >> reporter: couple of things. from sources i've spoken to i have been told that the president and rudy giulia

white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has that story. >> reporter: a rush to >>> a home coming bear hug from his father. hours after his negotiated release from venezuela. a police escort with lights and sirens whisked the holts off to an airfield. a rush to freedom today as an airfield in venezuela. a riot erupted there two weeks ago, and holt begged for help on cell phone video. >> they're trying to break in. they're saying they want to kill me. >> reporter: the 26-year-old utah man went to venezuela in 2016 to get married. he and his wife were accused of stockpiling weapons at her family home. and incarcerated without trial. holt said he was innocent. >> i need your help to get me out of this place. >> reporter: in utah, supporters rallied to raise awareness. holt's mother laurie. >> it's been really hard. it's been tough. and, you know, he's only 26 years old. he hasn't lived his life. >> reporter: relations with venezuela's socialist government are deeply strained. the u.s. imposed sanctions and labeled the re-election last week of president madura illegitimate. madura responde

our colleague kelly o'donnell caught up with rudy giuliani. what did he have to say clarifying the comments me he made in those two interviews? >> rudy giuliani is adamant that the president was out of the loop on michael cohen's consulting deal with at&t. giuliani said he had no knowledge of it, and that the president did not intervene in the d.o.j. decision to deny the at&t and time warner merger. of course the reason why that matters is because of of the suggestion that michael cohen in many ways improperly influenced the administration given that he accepted large sums of money from at&t and other corporate clients. now to the other point about this potential sitdown between the president and the special counsel, giuliani says that they were -- they thought just beginning, hoping to get a decision made on that by next week but that that was delayed by major news events like the return of those americans from north korea. at that point he says they have a couple of weeks to decide whether to submit for an interview, whether the president wi

let's start with today's news. >> i'm kelly o'donnell at the white house.nt trump and john mccain go back years. we've seen how the president has a no-polling policy and that's carried over to the white house after a staff are made a disrespectful remark about mccain and the white house is ignoring it. >> i'm not going to validate a leak out of an internal staff meeting one way or the other. >> the white house refusing to attempt damage control after staffer kelly stalled ler's divisive comment that ailing john mccain's opposition to gina haas pel didn't matter because he's dying anyway. mccain's daughter megan reacted friday. >> i don't understand what environment where that would be acceptable and you come to work the still have a job. >> she did confirms sad ler still works in the trump white house. >> yes, she does. >> the backup for mccain who is battling brain cancer was swift and bipartisan. bill clinton. >> in my lifetime he's one of the most remarkable guys our country ever produced. >> arizona senator jeff flake. >> something that is this bad, you

nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house for us. good morning to you. good morning craig. progress report from the president's twitter feed about the fate of a summit with north korea. the president is siting very productive talks and he even says it is possible that if this summit goes forward, it would take place likely on the original date of june 12, but is this actually something happening or just another negotiating move? >> will they or won't that. >> we're talking to them now. they very much want to do it. we would like to do it. >> disregard the whiplash. >> after the president's bankrupt move thursday to cancel the summit with kim jong-un. followed by north korea's conciliatory response. and the president suggesting chest moving on both sides. >> everybody playing games, you know that. warm and productive. separately trying to democrats accusing them of obviously rooting against us in our negotiations with north korea. in a fighting mood while celebrating 2018 class at the u.s. naval academy. >> we are not going to apologize. >> america is back. >> turning to a n

. >>> sources familiar with haspel's confirmation told nbc's kelly o'donnell said that has spell toldout damage to the agency and her own reputation in the current political environment. she been proven to be a controversial nomination by the white house. we have michelle goldberg, and evan mcmullen, and former chief policy director for the. also noel nikpour, and bobby ghosh let's talk about the potential relationship, with you focusing in on the development of the past 24 hours or so. she reportedly had concern about whether or not she should proceed with this nomination. what does that tell you about the state of place for this position as director of the cia. >> i think she does face a tough confirmation i don't think that's a surprise to anyone, but having spent most of her time out of the limelight, this is not a person who wants to be in the limelight too long. she would be assuming a role as director of the central intelligence agency where she would be in the public view more afternoon, but obviously this will be a challenging confirmation, and it's a tough one. it presents s

thank you very much from the white house, kelly o'donnell. appreciate that. joining me right now, the former nato supreme commander, also msnbc chief of national security and diplomacy analyst. thank you for joining me. this news, how do you interpret what we're hearing? kelly's piece had it there. north korea announced it would publicly destroy its nuclear test site just a few weeks before the meeting with the president. is this in good faith or is this a sleight of hand for north korea. >> i would say, you know the expression things will get worse before it gets better? i think in this case it's going to get better, but unfortunately, i think it's going to get worse again. which is to say we've seen this playbook so many times from north korea which is a char charm offensive, a lot of promises, some gestures. then strangely the nuclear program goes on. the weapons in this case will continue to be held by kim jong-un. i think there is a 10 to 20% chance, a very small chance, but not a zero chance, that kim is like st. paul on the road to damascus. he's sudde

kelly o'donnell is at the white house. sounds like the white house is more optimistic at this point that the summit will happen. >> reporter: you definitely get the sense of a more optimistic tone. this is a key step. the north koreans choosing new york because they do have their own installation at the united nations which although it's in new york is international territory. it will be easier for them to communicate back to pyongyang about any updates they might find meeting with mike pompeo, the secretary of state. this is a critical development, a lot invested for both countries to see this going forward. certainly president trump has laid out a lot of his own success, if you will, at bringing it to this point. there is a great deal of investment in getting it across the finish line. to give you a sense of that, press secretary sara sanders on why they believe at this point we should consider this more likely than not. >> we expect it to take place. but we'll see what happens. we are going to be prepared. denuclearizat

. >> let's go live to nbc's kelly o'donnell who is at the white house who has basically been up all night. you were there at the white house talking to us. talk to us about how exactly it played out, how these men are doing this morning. have they seen their families? >> we don't have an update on where the three men who have been released and if they've made those reunions yet. they were taken to walter reid for some additional follow up. it would make sense for them to have some level of debriefing with officials as well as some health care intervention if any is needed. we have not been given word about reunions. in part, that may be due to secretary of state pompeo has wanted to walk a fine line of respecting their privacy, especially at this very sensitive time. it was an unusual night here of course, stef, at 2:00 in the morning, the president and first lady coming out on the south lawn to travel to joint base andrews. for what was a celebration but also one with a serious undertone, knowing that the summit between president trump and kim jong-un is expected within a matter of weeks

i want to go to nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house. where are we going from here? >> reporter: well, keeping calm and going on. that's not what the trump administration likes to borrow from the ick but that phrase seems to apply. they expected there would be in ripple in this from some 3 1/2 weeks from now when the meeting is set to take place. but at the same time, earlier in the year, one of the conditions was that north korea would not object to planned military exercises between the u.s. and south korea and. and so objecting now is curious, at the same time, it is also expected that president moon of south korea will visit the white house next week. that is a part of the buildup toward these meetings. and so, right now, the white house is saying they will continue the maximum campaign of economic pressure. if kim jong-un does not want to be at the table, we've seen how president trump has said he's prepared to walk away if there isn't progress even during the meeting. so, this is one of those speed bumps that the white house claims they expected. at the same ti