white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has that part of the story. >> reporter:outrage outside a detention center in new jersey today. ♪ protesters railed against the istrump admintration action that separates children from parents accused of violati immigration laws. >> making the noise, it was us as the people! >> reporter: inside, democratic members of congress crammed into the lobby for what they called an unannounced inspection, but cameras could not follow. >> believe me, tearing children frrm the of their mother and their father is not the right cision. it has got to stop. h it's father's day, damn it, and youe a right to talk to your children and you don't even know where you children are. >> reporter: tgh p of children prompted a rare move by eighed in lady, who with a statement from her office. "mrs. trump hates to see children separated fromheir

>> kelly o'donnell. stand by if you can. bring in our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell now. andrea, kelly o. hit on this a bit. the significance of the optics here. i think it was you a few moments ago who indicated they're not shuffling kim yong alcoh-chol t the back door. giving him the v.i.p. treatment. what can we glean from that? >> that this is likely pointing towards a summit as scheduled in singapore if not june 12th, very close to that date. i will bet on that. if the announcement is not made today it will be made soon. every sign in new york, where we were the last day and a half covering meetings with secretary pompeo were very positive. obviously, there was a statement from kim jong-un saying, we believe as we have in denuclearization. that's the crux of the matter, of course. how does each side define denuclearization? a lot of disagreement there. they've got to narrow those gaps, and the president himself said this might require a second or a third summit, or more than one day. so they're look

here's white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: far from the real world consequences is the red meat of immigration politics. today president trump tweeted, "democrats can fix their forced family break-up at the border by working with republicans on new legislation for a change." this white house video links an alleged gang murder to rules affecting child immigrants. >> the gang member reportedly entered our country through glaring loopholes for unaccompanied alien minors. >> reporter: one day after he distanced himself from his own administration's zero-tolerance policy that triggered the separations. >> i hate it. i hate to see separation of parents and children. >> reporter: the president's strategy is to blame democrats for blocking passage of immigration reforms and border security. but ou oe treatment of immigrant children could blow back on republicans. oklahoma senator james langford posted video where he tells a constituent he has a message for the white house. >> keep families together as much as we can possibly keep families together. >> reporter: for republic

white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has that part of the story. >> reporter: outrage outside a detention center in new jersey today. ♪ protesters railed against the trump administration action that separates children from parents accused of violating immigration laws. >> making the noise, it was us as the people! >> reporter: inside, democratic members of congress crammed into the lobby for what they called an unannounced inspection, but cameras could not follow. >> believe me, tearing children from the arms of their mother and their father is not the right decision. it has got to stop. >> it's father's day, damn it, and you have a right to talk to your children and you don't even know where your children are. >> reporter: the plight of children prompted a rare move by the first lady, who weighed in with a statement from her office. "mrs. trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform." melania trcarefuy presented a softer tone saying q we must be a country that gover

nbc's kelly o'donnell has the latest developments on the crisis at the border. >> during the president's motorcade ride to his virginia golf course today, he fired off on twitter,or ig existing legal rights for undocumented immigrants. we must immediately bring them back from where they came. the president's edict fails to recognize constitutional due process. long established case law that grants that protection to noncitizens. but that did not stop the idea from bubbling this week. >> i don't want judges, i want border security.on i d want judges i want border patrol, ice. >> house republicans could not decide on legisddtion toss the border crisis. he made democrats his target. >> it's the democrats fault, it wouldn't be f their fault long if they sat down with us, we could make a deal so quicy. democrats argue their party has been kept out o negotiations. an impasse that fuels the campaign year fight. illinois democrat luis gutierrez. >> it's wrong to separate babies, to use cruel inhumane policies in order to gin up your political base. >>n a new interview, the president says he want

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house. a lot of attention on that. thank you, kelly. >>> as the country heads toward midterm elections this fall, history is being made. an unprecedented number of candidates who are openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender are running for office. catie beck takes a look at some of the races in texas. >> reporter: a historic moment in red state texas on primary night. >> all of us together, we're gonna fight for change. >> reporter: army veteran and former sheriff, lupe valdez becoming the first openly lesbian and first latina to ever win a major party nomination for governor in the state. >> the truth is, texas has a variety of people. we're not just one culture. we're not just one theme. >> reporter: the november ballot will reflect that. more than 50 lgbtq candidates are running for office in texas, that's three times more than the state has seen in any other election cycle. >> how are you? >> reporter: if elected, former intelligence officer gina ortiz jones will be the first lesbian, iraq war veteran, and firs

our white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has a front-row seat to the preparations. >> reporter: north korea's grand gesture, a letter from kim jong-un inside that oversized envelope, comes just as president trump is downsizing expectations. >> we're not going to go in and sign something on june 12th. we never were. we're going to start a process. >> reporter: spending the weekend at camp david, today the president's focus reflected on twitter hit a wide range of issues other than the coming nuclear summit. but donald trump jr., who also went to camp david, said in a radio interview today that his father is ready for north korea. >> he has a lot of leverage. he knows that. and he's not afraid to use that. >> reporter: part of that leverage, sanctions that can continue to cripple the north's economy. >> i said i'm not going to put them on until such time as the talks break down. >> reporter: the president considers this new dialogue an achievement in itself. while advice offered by senate majority leader mitch mcconnell urges the president to be cautious. >> if you fall in love wi

>> let's bring in kevin -- thank you kelly o'donnell. jonathan allen, national political reporter for nbc news digital. jonathan, we'll start with you on this. the reporting coming out of the quts new york tiles times, believed to be largely led or influenced by stephen miller and also with influence from his chief of staff, former head of dhs general kelly as well. how firm is the president in his stance right now from what you're hearing? >> what we heard from -- from officials on capitol hill and from white house officials on friday was that there was a lot of back channelling between the institutions going on, base he canally white house aides telling people on the hill that the president didn't understand the question he was asked on fox and friends on friday aidn't meano say he would veto the legislation that his on aide stephen miller had been working with with people on capitol hill. you know, for many, many hours on friday there was a.mbiguity about that and tweet by trump. he's going to go up to capitol hill on tuesday and here

my colleague kelly o'donnell abouve from wre we are in singapore. kelly were we know now a little bit more about these talks that are happening in the working group and the idea that this is actually moving quickly as we heard secretary of state pompeo saying not too long ago. fill us in on what we can expect in the coming ten, 12 hours or so. >> reporter: good to be with you and sometimes it's the off-handed dmaent gives us the roadmap on what to expect. early on the president had talked about expanding this to perhaps beyond a single day. now the secretary of state describing a more rapid pace with the working group which is a unit of american negotiators who represent the state department, department of defense, expertise in noouclear weapons with north korean counterparts who have been working together across the table multiple times a week for a period of time. this is the period of scenes, little light on this, but it has been the kind of negotiation that really is the backdrop for anything substantive that can be had when two leaders get toget

kate. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house tonight. thank you. >>> in south carolina a republican candidate who got a lot of attention after president trump endorsed her and s won a key primary victim is in critical, but stable condition tonight after being injured in a c crash. confiscate representative katie arrington and a friend were driving last ni was hit by another car driving in the wrong direction. the driver in that other c was killed. arrington defeated congressman mark sanford in house republican primary earlier this month. >>> there is promotion er potentially s weather to contend with stretching al the way from the south. nearly 40 million people at risk for storms. janua thunderstorms are possible, stretching from dallas to memphis all the way over to atlanta tonight. and also a small section in mount richmond philadelphia and as well as eastern colorado. tomorrow could be worse. more tornados possible tomorrow afternoon. through much of kansas and texas pan handle. cold front is dropping south throughhe ains tomorrow. d

right to singapore and nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly, i don't even know where to again. was there any warning that kim would be taking a tour, any warning dennis rodman would show up? a busy couple of hours there. >> reporter: chris, you set it up beautifully. we thought we had the creeky middle of the night shift even though it's nighttime hours in the united states, most things are turned down for the night in singore and surprise, surprise, kim jong-un, a man about town in singapore seeing the sights. taking selfies. drawing a lot of attention, and until now, the only person who knew both kim jong-un and donald trump, dennis rodman had been a bit off the screen. here now, as you pointed out, and it's unclear what role he will play. he's been unique among americans, developed a curious friendship with kim jong-un over the years and has been able to have some kind of dialogue with him making a number of visits to north korea and if people don't recall, he was also won of the players on "celebrity apprentice" came to know the presi

we begin with the president's new language and kelly o'donnell at the white house. >> reporter: during the's president's mohamm motorcade he fired off on twitter. we must immediately with no judges or court cases bri back from where they came. the predent's edict fails to recognize constitutional due process. long established case law that grants that otection to noncitizens. but that did not sto the idea from bubbling this week. >> i don't want judges. i want border security. i don't want judges. trol.nt border i want i.c.e. >> reporter: the vents the frustration after congress after house republican could not decide on legislation to address the border crisis and he made democrats his target. >> it's the democrats' fault but it wouldn't be their fault for long if they sat down with us. >> reporter: democrats including some who made trips to the border this week argue their party b hasn kept out of negotiations. andmpasse that fue it is campaign-year fight. illinois democrat luis gutierrez. >> it's wrong to baseparate es, cruel, inhumane policies to gin up your political and it seems

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house, thank you. >>> now to a chaotic andfr htening scene earl will this morning at an arts festival in new jersey. gun fight send revelers scrambling for cover, one person is dead, more than 20 others are injured. our blake mccoy is there. >> reporter: a gun fight in trenton, new jersey, overnight. >> she got hit! she got hit. >> reporter: sending bullet flying and people running. >> it was like pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. there was two or three people that went down right in front of me. >> anybody hit? anybody hit over here? >> reporter: chaos in the moments after as the panicked crowd, some injured, poured into the street. the violence shattering 24-hour art all-night festival, meant to bring the community together. this photo taken hours before. 17 people were shot, including irvin gginbatha, h four times in the leg. >> the kids out here, doing some stuff, it's no good. put the guns up, go about your life, get an education. >> reporter: police have recovered mtiple gunsnd believe it was a gang-related dispute, one suspected shooter is dead, two

nbc's white house correspondent kelly o'donnell traveling with the president.as there in the old days, and is following the president. any sightings, my friend? >> reporter: not yet. you and i did a lot of hours in those old days when the president was meeting potential cabinet picks. it was colder then. we got the other end of the spectrum, 90-plus degrees in new jersey this weekend. the president has a list that began with 25 conservative judges, people with a record that can be examined. that at this particular moment, although not a requirement for the courts, seems pliolitically necessary. president say he's down to five but maybe six or seven. can u it would be very easy for a potential candidate for this the supreme court to be brought to the president's residence on the grounds at his new jersey golf club for a meeting, for a meal or a chance to get know each other getter. that would be easy to do. president is here this weekend. we've asked and have not been given any indication there have been such meetings yet. he has more time because he has built i

kelly o'donnell is at the white house. ly, do we expect the president or anybody in the office to potentially give us more of a readout of what happened in this meeting? >> reporter: certainly i expect that senior officials will give us a readout. the big question will be will the president want to do that himself? possibly even with the secretary of state. we have not been given guidance to that effect yet. what's also notable here, just by the body language and the diplomatic hospitality for the president to exit the oval office with his guest to be a part of this farewell, when we measure things in gestures and movements in how a president interacts with world leaders, that's significant. often a meeting would not bring the president outside after, sort of continuing the conversation trying to show what we can only interpret by looking at the pictures as at least positive signs about what went on. a meeting of more than an hour with the secretary of state mike pompeo and chief of staff john kelly along with the president

more on this is kelly o'donnell. what can you tell us? >> reporter: this is an issue where you've got the emotion we've seen at the border. you've got the brew rock ureauc the conflicting views on what the white house should do and should do now because of the policy that's in effect and the changes that have been made. so across our own reporting and also fleshed out by "the new york times" and the "washington post," there's been division inside the white house about the best steps. the president not necessarily wanting to sign an executive order, ultimately, did so and has then been pressuring the congress to act and yet then backing off of that pressure because he is seeing the hard line divisions within the republican party to try to address this as well as the need to get 60 votes in the senate which means you'd need democratic support that seems unlikely. and then inside the white house, among the different agencies, conflicting views on how to carry out not only the policy of zero tolerance that the president is advocating but also

and i want to start with my colleae kelly o'donnell who is just across the way from us here on set. kelly, listen, when we talk about what's next, when we talk about where this is going, the biggest headline it seems coming out of this, in addition to obviously the historic nature of this handshake heard round the world between these two leaders, is the idea that the president will call off what he called war games, end these military exercises. we are already seeing that reverberating throughout the world. here's a little bit more about what the president had to say ton that. >> can you be specific about what assurances you are willing to give to kim jong-un? does that include reducing military capabilities and just to follow up on your answer? >> no, we're not reducing anything. at some point i have to be honest and i used to say this during my campaign as you know probably better than most, i want to get our soldiers out. i want to bring our soldiers back home. we have right now 32,000 soldiers in south korea. and i'd like to be able to bring them back home. but that's not part of

nbc's kelly o'donnell and bill legal neely are in singapore. is the white house happy with the way things turned out? are they happy with what donald trump and america walked away with in that meeting? >> so far, there seems to be a gloe after the summit. er there in a window where they are really focused on the historic nature of it and believing that the meeting itself was an accomplishment and that there is a road map going forward. the president says that kim jocken has a total plan, those were his words, to denuclearize. at this point, i think it will take time for the white house to sort of digest the reaction and then of course the following steps that will be required as the president is now in guam, touched down there for the opportunity to refuel air force one. and he might be reminded of some of the threatatmosphere, because the governor of guam is possibly stopping by, we're told, for a brief hello with the president. you remember, he had been threatened and the island had been threatened by kim jong-un with his nuclear capability a

kelly o'donnell what's the plan moving forward on the issue of immigration. we saw this report about the defense department renting space for 20,000 migrants. policiwise, kelly, what's the white house saying about what's next? >> one of the big issues is the fact that this crosses a number of different agencies and departments and there's a hurry-up bureaucracy that how has to confront this issue, try to assist with the reunification, provide shelter and care for those in the interim period. and that is a task that was not widely anticipated. so one of the things we are seeing is a sort of in real-time forming a policy and response. so the department of health and human services, which is largely responsible for the welfare of the families and children who are involved here, creating a task force to plan for what could take weeks of reunification for those children remaining. you've got the department of homeland security, which is certainly a part of this, on the front end. they have been able to do reunification of those in their custody. and the department

kelly o'donnell sat the white house. the president traveled to las vegas for a speech that would center on the economy and tax reform and he did talk about immigration as we heard at the top of the show. he said it's a winning issue for the republican party. >> it was a political setting for the gop convention in nevada and he did talk about immigration and the ways that really echoed his message from 2016. what he did not do is speak directly on the moment. he did not talk about the zero tolerance policy. he did not talk about his executive order ending the separation of families or any plans to reunify families. it was not his choice of message in that setting and he was there to support a candidate. the senator from nevada. dean heller, who is considered one of the most vulnerable republicans and in a state like nevada where about 20 to 30% of the voters are hispanic, that is an issue where anything related to immigration is complex and it has real local importance. so he steered clear of that. the president was also

nbc's kelly o'donnell is still with us at the white house. what do we though about how this decision came about? are there any future pardons or commutations on the horizon? >> we expect there may be. we don't have specifics. taking the case of the johnson family today and the good news that went to them, and this really came about over time where the president learned of her case through kim kardashian-west, who had contacted the president's son-in-law, jared kushner, who part of his portfolio at the white house which at times seem vast has been prison reform and being aware of situation where is the justice may not have been really mindful of the capacity of a person like alice marie johnson to be a outside standing inmate and to have really turned her life ad to describe it in that sense we a of the officials who were part of the prison where she has been held wrote letters of support. a life sentence for her non-violent drug offense was certainly on the farthest end of the spectrum. so the white house acknowledged she has accepted her res

>>> nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house. msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos is also in mcallen, texas, outside a federal criminal court and cal perry is in tornillo, texas near one of the tent cities housing children. kelly, start with what's going on in this administration. there seems to not ever be a real plan for how to enact their more extreme policies, their policies that anybody could easily say are going to cause a lot of drama. the muslim ban. that travel ban that he tried to institute eaon in the administration. no plan for that. no plan for the separation of the kids. now no plan for the reunification. what's going on? >> reporter: well, katy, the hot-button issues that you just highlighted that gave the president red meat as a candidate and in many ways continued to animate his presidency are about that ideological view. some of the people who are around him share, and even propel, his ideology on those topics. part of the dna of the trump administration has also been sort of an anti-government approach where the

kelly o'donnell, we'll see you again. kelly was mentioning the nationwide protests today, planned over president trump's immigration policy. let's go to nbc's garrett headache. across the street from the white house. where many of the protesters will be rallying today, it's in essence, garrett, sort of the epicenter of all of this today. what do we expect to see? >> we're just across the street from the white house here. organizers expect this empty park to fill up by the time things really get going here. around 11:00 today. attendees will be here for a rally. and a march across washington, could have as many as 50,000 people in attendance. the buzz phrase is to keep families together. that has been the key motivating issue. protests across the country since the zero tolerance policy at the border started to get so much attention. we've got a preview of the intensity of emotion over this a few days ago when there was a massive protest. almost 500 people in one of the senate office buildings here in washington. it speaks t

and we begin with nbc news correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly is where it's all happening in singapore. kelly, do we have it about right that we believe this kind of bilateral conversation with staff is still going on? >> reporter: that's our understanding now, and this is a multi-event day, in part, brian, because both of the leaders are very aware of branding, of spectacle. to some extent, you could argue for north korea propaganda. so there was a need here to not simply meet behind closed doors and emerge at the end of a day, but to have intervals where we are seeing the leaders. the public can judge they are interacting. you've talked about the body languages and the words that have been said. but also to give sort of data points through the day visually, which are important for both countries and really for the record of history, and for president trump. he has said plainly a number of times that although there are working groups that have met and have really gone into the nitty-gritty of what could be on the table between these two co

kellie o'donnell is following the developments from singapore.we just have about a minute or so. with both these leaders in singapore, what are the plans leading up to tuesday at 9:00 a.m. your time? >> well, for the next several hours, because it's evening here, things will be quiet. both leaders are in their hotels. they'll have the night to get settled here. tomorrow the president will be meeting with the singaporean. primary to thank them for helping to get this summit to happen. on tuesday, in the morning local time, the president will meet with kim jong-un for the first time, that face-to-face, and they'll begin a series of meetings where, in part we're told we expect the president and kim will meet pridely, then as the day goes o. the delegations, their top advisers will also participate. that may be critical in part for all of the detail related to the expectations the u.s. has for north korea as nuclear program and to get a sense of what kim could be willing to do, if anything. so that initial meeting where they have time, man to man, le

kelly o'donnell at the white house this morning, kelly, thank you very much. chuck todd is nbc's political director and moderator of "meet the press." chuck, good morning. it's good to see you. let's tick through some of the things in the memo given to the special counsel in january. it says legally the president cannot obstruct justice because theonstition gives him the power to obstruct it in this case if he wants to. says he cannot be compelled to testify. it says he has the power and right to terminate the russia investigation. which, you know, now in this letter it lays out specifically what many people believe, that the president believes he actually is running this investigation or that at least he has the power to control whether or not it continues. >> well then, to take that to its logical conclusion, then why have they used con gress to try to get evidence out of the justice department? if the president -- you know, by this, by this argument, they're contending, then, they can order the justice department, why don't they just order the justice depar

kelly o'donnell has more on the backlash hitting the administration. >> outrage outside of an administration center protestors railing against the trump administration action that separating children from parents accused of violating immigration laws. inside, members of congress crammed into the lobby for what they called an unannounced inspection. >> tearing the children from the arms of their mother and father is not the right decision. >> it's father's day and you have a right to president. >> the first ladyei in with a statement fromofcer. mrs. trump hates to see children separated this from their families and hopes to see congress come to an agreement soon. echoed by kellyanne conway. >> but no suggestion that the president would reevaluate the legal interpret statiation thats families. >> we have to get the security on the border, i believe he will enforce this policy. >> today two remember senators who have responsibility for negotiating how much congress might send on the predent's border will move with him at the white house. two moderate republicans are demanding answers about the

with nbc's cal perry and gabe gutierrez in texas, nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, and two of the hour's members, aaron mcpike from swan street strategies. we're going to start, though, at the white house, kelly o zonl wi o'donnell with the very latest. let's start with the president's tweets, they're about due process, saying no judges or court cases. what's he saying? >> reporter: he's using tough language today which is no surprise, that's in keeping with the president's tone and tenor. we saw it on the campaign trail. it's certainly evident ifn his twitt twitter feed. h he talks about we cannot allow all of these people to invade our country. a very strong term. when someone comes in, we must, parenthetically, should be send them back to where they came. the president is referring to requests for a flood of additional legal help to address these issues. so that if someone is detained at the border and charged with a misdemeanor, that there would be a legal process to work them through the system then ultimately, whatever outcome takes place there. part of that has be

nbc news's white house correspondent kelly o'donnell is joining us now.ith a good morning to you, let's get to the mood inside the white house following that big meeting yesterday. >> good morning to you. i think there's a lot of expectation and anticipation and preparation that needs to be done. there's a lot of work that goes into this kind of historic meeting and the planning is under way. that's been going on before the president confirmed that it will go forward. but there's a lot to do between now and june 12th. in addition to that, remember the president also has the g7 meeting in canada. the group of seven nations of a large peaceful democracies and economic powers will be meeting right before this summit. what happened here friday was extraordinary. when you consider all of the history, decades of discord and hostility the white house opened its doors to one of the top officials around kim jong un. a man who has himself been part of some of the hostile acts attributed to the regime over the years. and now president trump says not only will he go

is this the level of detail that we are at as kelly o'donnell tells us on the floor there at singapore to work out the details, and these are the type of details that could keep this from happening? >> i don't think. so i must say in all of my dealings with the north koreans, we never paid their hotel bills, and so it is a little probl problematic. it is amazing how far this has come. in the bush administration, which is also a republican administration, and so much skepticism of any talk with the north koreans, and i mean, i had to beg, borrow and steal to pay for the cooling reactor to be deconstructed. and so, let alone pay the hotel bill. and so when he hosted kim jong chul, he made it as warm of an event going out to the south lawn on the white house, and i haven never seen with a love-n and i don't know what happened with john bolten if he was locked in the basement of the white house, but he made sure that everybody there was in favor of this thing, and sos as the president says, let's see what is going to happen here. >> kevin, where was john bolton and the read out of him, bec

kelly o'donnell joins me again now. lot of folks remember this president giving himself a "10" with regards to our government's response to what happened there on puerto rico and is this a live look here? no. no. this is not a live look. this is from october of 2017. my apologies. but what can we expect to hear from the president just a few minutes from now? >> a few things we'll be looking for. of course, hurricane season means a large swath of the country is bracing for what kind of storm season will it be. we saw such rampant devastation last year, and in places like puerto rico they are far, far, far from recovered. and in other parts of the country where the damage is still very present in the lives of people who lived through the various storms of 2017. so it is fairly standard for a president to visit fema early in the hurricane season. it is a way for the president to talk about these issues, to try to appear to be ahead of it. when you reference the president's 10 out of perhaps 10, the trump hyperbolic scale of

kelly o'donnell reports on that and up roar regarding the press secretary. >> the issue dominate thehis past week his own zero tolerance policy led to family separations at the border but he charged ahead blasting a message of deterrence and security. >> if they see any weakness they will come by the millions. we have to have strong borders. we're going to have the wall. we're going to have the wall. >> but a new flash point all over social media was not part of the vegas trip. white house press secretary sarah sanders on the jagged edge of angry politics after she was asked to leave a lexington, virginia restaurant about 180 miles outside of washington. last night a server at the red hen posted a kitchen note that sanders was turned away or 86 today she tweeted from her official government account she was told by the owner to leave becausor for the pred. she said she does her best to treat people especially those i disagree with respectfully that ienl of social media wild fire that takes everything in its path. in a torrent ant "-trump and and eye-sanders voices praising the owner f

kelly o'donnell is in singapore this morning and traveling with the president. good morning, kelly. >> reporter: good morning, willie. president trump acknowledged he is stepping into unknown territory here as he tries to hammer out a deal with kim jong-un. this comes just hours after he tangled with long time u.s. allies in canada. president trump has also declined to answer when repeatedly asked if he and kim have spoken by phone. but no hesitation to try to manage expectations as he says any potential deal will take time. heading toward history. president trump traveled from the g7 in canada overnight, arriving in singapore this morning, hours after north korean leader kim jong-un's motorcade rode through the streets for his meeting with singapore's prime minister. in this neutral host country. the president saying his people skills will quickly assess north korea's true intentions. >> i think within the first minute, i'll know. just my touch, my feel. that's what. that's what i do. >> reporter: before he sits with kim jong-un, the president's personal diploma

. >> for the latest word now from singapore, we have both nbc's kelly o'donnell and bill nealy for us. helping us with the political angles, rosie gray of the atlantic and cnbc's john harwood. with a great panel there, we're going to go to kelly first. kelly, if you could bring us up to speed on what has transpired up until now. >> reporter: well, alex, after all of the hostility that you outlined between the united states and many of our closest allies, here in singapore there's a bit of quiet time. it's the overnight hours, so president trump is at his hotel getting rest. so is kim jong-un, who came in a couple hours before president trump arrived in singapore. they'll have their big meeting on tuesday. on monday, president trump will meet with the host of this summit, the prime minister of singapore. that will be a way to show gratitude for their willingness to step up and provide a secure location that is neutral to both countries. so that will be part of it. we are told by white house officials as well that the president will be meeting with the secretary of state, his national s

>> kelly o'donnell from the white house. thanks for that. >>> joining me now, jill colvin and alley vitale. a good morning to you. the statement addressing the 2016 trump tower meeting, why change the story now? >> why change the story now? you could also say, why not just be forthright about it and deal with the ramifications of what actually happened. you have a shifting story what happened on the plane ride consistently. in the summer of 2017 it was that he didn't help draft the statement. sara huckabee sanders told reporters he didn't dictate any of that. i know kelly touched on that. now it's that he did. he draft eed a short but accura statement on the plane. you have these shifting stories. i think that that's part of the reason why when you look at how the white house has handled the fallout from the things going into this probe, they have had shifting stories. it makes it hard for reporters and for the public to say, okay, yeah, it makes sense this white house is being forthcoming with all the information that they

kelly o'donnell, thank you. alaina, thank you so much. and way to hold up there. charlie, always good to have you. peter, one of my favorites there at "the new york times," always good to have you, sir. >>> another possible case of collusion involving president trump. reports that lawyers for nfl player colin kaepernick, the player who started the national anthem protest, want to subpoena the president. we'll tell you why. >>> rudy giuliani doubling down on those comments about having a lack reef expeof respect for st daniels because she's an adult film star. what her lawyer has to say about giuliani's attack on her credibility. >> i don't even think he has a slight suspicion that it's true, excuse me, when you look at stormy daniels, i know donald trump and -- look at his three wives, right, beautiful women, classy women, women of great substance. stormy daniels? e. e. we're putting ai into everything, and everything into the cloud. it's all so... smart. but how do you work with it? ask this farmer. he's using satellite data to help increase crop yields. that's s

kelly o'donnell and bill neely are both in singapore. the choreography of this event which is tonight for us, today for you over there in singapore, how is it going to go down? the two men are coming in from different sides of the room? >> yes. what we expect that will be most notable is that there will be time for donald trump and kim jong-un and their translators to be alone togetr and to have an opportunity to size each other up, to get to know each other, to continue whatever sort of communication has existed between them up until now. n that the president has not publicly answered the question when asked if they have spoken in the past. we know that there have been letters exchangesed betwed betw. this will be a real test by both men of what do they want out of this? with the flashes and celebrity that's surrounded this, the interest and attention from a serious point of view, as well as just the event quality of some big thing that's happening which you could get really anywhere in the world and singapore has certainly embraced thi

joining me now from the white house, nbc news kelly o'donnell, and from capitol hill msnbc's garrett haake. garrett, i was up there running around in what has been a crazy keen this after as they scramble to pose pony this bill and try to hunt for the votes. where does it stand now? can you walk us through exactly what happened in the last hour? >> a couple of thing are at play. in the last hour we had one vote here in the house of representatives, it was on the more conservative good lat bill, the house immigration bill that conservative leaders wanted to see get a vote. it got a vote and failed, it got 193 yes votes. that's better than some people thought it would do. it has the effect of turning off that discharge petition we have been talking about meaning the house moderates that have been trying to force a vote now lose that weapon. it is a procedural weapon here. as for the delay on the compromise bill. leaders decided to push it off another day ostensibly so they can get additional votes in favor of it. here's mark meadows not necessarily a fan of it talking to us moments ago

i'm kelly o'donnell at the white house. gone is his luxury lifestyle.n of the northern regional jail. manafort was moved two hours outside washington and into a place in warsaw, virginia friday night. waking up behind bars. a first day without freedom for former trump chairman paul manafort. a federal judge said she had no appetite to lock him up while he awaits trial, but judge jackson said she could not turn a blind eye. after prosecutors alleged manafort tried to influenhat potential witnesses might testify about his lobbying work with ukraine. late friday, president trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani both floated and pulled back talk about presidential pardons. >> he will not pardon anybody in this investigation. he is not, obviously, going to give up his right to pardon if a miscarriage of justice happens. >> reporter: he left the door open. >> of course he could. of course he could. >> reporter: earlier, president trump responded to the jailing of manafort with tweeted sarcasm. didn't know manafort was the head of the mob. tried to distance him

i've been told kelly o'donnell has some news to report from singapore. kelly, it has to do with how the coming together of these two men came together. >> well, brian, you've been g aboua lot of the stagecraft andhe symbolism of what we've just witnessed. and what went into that? of course we know the white house had to pull this together in a very short amount of time on the standard of summits of this scale. they also had to weigh the varying equities of singapore, the host country which is footing the bill, estimated at somewhere at 15 million u.s. dollars for security and logistics. one ofpresidt's top officials, the white house deputy chief of staff for operations, joe hagen, who actually comes out of bush world, having served both presidents bush in the past, it was his charge tory to negotiate with north koreans. and sources tell me that was a difficult task because of the lack of trust over time and part of what was required was trying d get the north koreans to agree to some of the stagecraft that we have seen, the grng the display of the flags,

more now from nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell who is traveling with the president in singapore. kelly? >> reporter: good afternoon, ayman. still the middle of the night in singapore. time to rest and recharge for president trump and kim jong-un. they are at the respective hotels about half a mile apart here in singapore. the closest they have ever been physically and maybe the closest they will ever get prior to sitting down on tuesday to have a conversation about what the future looks like between the united states and north korea on the issue of nuclear weapons. president trump on monday will also take time to thank singapore by meeting with the prime minister. singapore is playing an important role here. it is neutral territory. it recognizes both countries with diplomatic relationships. that's important to give equal footing, and also they have been able to put together the necessary security, logistics and facilities to bring about one of the most hurriedly as bald summits in the modern era, something of this magnitude that came together quickly. president trump will give

nbc's correspondent kelly o'donnell is joining me now. how much are preparations for the north korea summit occupying the president's schedule today? >> well, alex, good afternoon. one can only assume this is a high priority for the president because the stakes are so great. he did tell reporters that he has foreign leader calls scheduled this weekend that will deal with the issue of the summit, handling north korea, and trade. and we've not seen any readout yet from the white house which would be a summary or description of what went on during the call. but one would think he's doing preparation before he has this high-level negotiation. one of the things that was confusing to reporters when the president completed his meeting with the north korean official who came and spent part of friday here is that he was talking about the delivery. so, the purpose of kim yong-chol coming to the white house was to present the president with a letter from joouk joou that was the centerpiece of it. and just a matter of minutes later when reports were

kelly o'donnell at the white house. thank you for that. >>> also new, the white house again trying to justify the administration pol separating children from parents once they cross the u.s., mexican border. here is what kellyanne conway said in an interview with chuck todd earlier. >> this is a perilous journey for many of these children, and if people really cared about them, we would figure out a way to get funding to expand the centers and to close loopholes. >> you don't have to be doing this. >> if i commit a crime a put in jail, my four children are separated from their mother because we don't have a policy. why would you want children in jail with the parents? >> as the presipares to meet with republican leaders tuesday, democrats are calling on their colleagues to put politics to the side and demand the president put an end to this policy. >> their election year strategy to win the mid term elections in 2018 and that is keep their jobs, right, is to be as mean, as vicious, as cruel as you can be to immigrants.

with me now, nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, and nbc news chief global correspondent bill neely. kelly, we are six hours away from the beginning of this. >> there is a lot of anticipation here, as there would be for any sort of gleebl event beyond the serious subject matter of nuclear talks there is an energy that has come to this city state of singapore and certainly a lot of attention around the world. when you consider the time difference a morning meeting of 9:00 a.m. here in singapore results in a candidate p.m. in the united states. which is typically the time if the president wanted to make a serious announcement to the nation he would ask the networks for that time slot. the president gets primetime slot when it comes to this first encounter with kim jong-un. they have 15 minutes in the schedule for the initial meeting. it will be recorded here and perhaps replayed for years or decades to come to show that image of an american president and a north korean leader one with a history of deception and misdeeds on the human scale, come together for this turn of perhaps

kelly o'donnell h f morerom the white house. >> reporter: during the motorcade ride toir thenia golf course he fired off on twitter ignoringeg existing rights for undocumented immigrants. we must immediately with no judges or crt cases bring them back from where they came. the president's edict fails to recognize constitutional due process. long established case lawhat ants that protection to non-citizens. but that didn't stop the idea from bubbling this week. >> i don't want judges. i want border securi. i don't want judges i want border patrol, i.c.e. >> the president eventsfr tration at congress after house republicans could not decide onegislation to address the border crisis. and he made democrats his target. >> it's the democrats' fault but wouldn't b their fault for long if they sat down with us. >> democrats who made trips to the border argue their party has been kept out of negotiations. and impasse that fuels the campaign year fight. gutierrez. k lui >> it's wrong to separate babies using cruel inhue mine policies in order to begin up your business. and it seems to be worki

. >> kelly o'donnell joins us from singapore. re with me, gorn chang, author of nuclear showdown, north korea takes on the world. kelly, i few hours ago i told you to go to sleep. now i realized why you laughed. because you had to wait up for this at least. give me andea of what's been happening there in singapore. i know it's overnight but bring us up to speed. what should we expect? and when tonight? >> katy, if we were taking a apshot of singapore and i told you one leader was reclusive while in town and the other was show boating before cameras would you have been able to guess which which? president trump hasn't been seen publicly except for his time visiting with the president singapore. and it's kim jong-un, the supposedly reclusive and certainly infamous leader of north korea was treated like a celebrity in a walk-about with the foreign minister of singapore and others. the attention drawn to him. that's the kind of celebrity magnet that is in part not about the substance of who kim is but it's about the spectacle of this

>> all right, kelly o'donnell at the white house, see you again kelly, today. thank you so much. >>> also new today in an interview airing sunday, republican congressman mark sanford issued a new warning about accepting falsehoods made by the president. >> and so maybe the reason i'm so outspoken on this now, is there's no seeming consequence to the president and lies. and if we accept that as a society, either it's going to have incredibly harmful consequences in the way that we operate going forward, based on the construct of the founding fathers. >> earlier this week, sanford lost the south carolina gop primary to a candidate president trump endorsed. >>> joining me now, aaron del mar, and john harwood, cnbc editor at large. with a good saturday morning to you. john, i'll start with you, you have a republican congressman in sanford. what's the reaction, saying that the president is getting away with telling falsehoods? >> well everybody knows that he's getting away with telling falsehoods. the american people know that the president doesn't tell the truth. a

we begin with the president's new language and kelly o'donnell at the white house. >> reporter: during the president's motorcade ride to his virginia golf course today, he fired off on twitter. ignoring existing rights for undocumented immigrants. we must immediately with no judges or court cases bring them back from where they came. the president's edict fails to recognize constitutional due process. long established case law that grants that protection to noncitizens. but that did not stop the idea from bubbling this week. >> i don't want judges. i want border security. i don't want judges. i want border patrol. i want i.c.e. >> reporter: the president vents his frustration after congress after house republicans could not decide on legislation to address the border crisis and he made democrats his target. >> it's the democrats' fault but it wouldn't be their fault for long if they sat down with us. we can make a deal so quickly. >> reporter: democrats including some who made trips to the border this week argue their party has been kept out of negotiations. an impasse that fuels the c

and tonight, we gin with kelly o'donnell here in singapore. >> reporter: after a 21-hour journey, one of the most powerful symbols of the american presidency delivered donald trump to what he politically described as unknown territory. hours earlier, here in singapore, north korean security trotted alongside the limousine as kim jong-un emerged from isolation and infamy to a new level of international recognition. he's never known until now. assessing his adversary, president trump said he can size him up instantly. >> i think within the first minute i'll know. >> how? h i just -- my touch, my feel. expected baggage. a fresh diplomatic dispute with u.s. friends. he lashed out on twitter at g7 host canada's justin trudeau who complained publicly about trump's trade policies. but the white house framed the president's angry reaction as positioning before tuesday's meeting with kim jong-un. >> he is not going to permit any show of weakness on the trip to negotiate with north korea nor should he. >> this was about north korea? >> of course it was in large part. >> because trudeau said tha