kristen welker will pick more up in a moment. back in washington republicans are counting and recounting the votes. it's all about how many of them could jump on board with democrats to block the president's national emergency declaration. we are live on capitol hill ahead of a test that could see some senate republicans fighting the white house. that's next. t. ♪ feeling unsure? what if you had some help? introducing the new 2019 ford edge with the confidence of ford co-pilot360™ technology. the most available driver assist techonology in its class. the new 2019 ford edge so let's promote our spring ftravel deals, on choicehotels.com like this: (sneezes) earn one free night when you stay just twice this spring. allergies. or.. badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com. takes more mathan just investment advice. from insurance to savings to retirement, it takes someone with experience and knowledge who can help me build a complete plan. brian, my certified financial planner™ professional, is committed to working in my b

chuck todd, moderator of "meet the press" and joined by kristen welker. eegood morning, great toou both. >> chuck, let's start in virginia, you and i sat her a week ago and were not sure the governor is going to make it before he resigns. he says he's still standing. two sexual allegations against the lieutenant governor who alss e's not going anywhere until there is an fbi investigation. this has reached the presidential campaign with candidates willing asked about it and calling for fairfax resignati signation, where does it end in virginia? >> i think this new poll in the washington pos is going to reenforce governor northam believes that he made the right cision not to resign. there is a split in the middle of 47%. how are voters reacting to this. in many ways, that poll buys everybody time. it is going to relief som of the pressure off of northam. theext poll a majority of african-americans said he should stay in office. that should relief a littl bit of pressure. ,t adds more pressure to the lieutenant governven there i think you got to give, you go

nbc white house correspondent kristen welker is on the story this morning. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. three sources say it's anticipating he will sign the deal to avoid a shutdown. but nothing is set in stone.

kristen welker, thank you. michael schmidt and frank fugliezzi, stay with me. >>> coming up, vladimir putin threatening the u.s. with new missiles amid new questions about his relationship with president trump. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. "andrea l reports" only on msnbc guess what day it is! huh...anybody? julie! hey...guess what day it is? ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike mike mike... what day is it mike? ha ha ha ha! leslie, guess what today is? it's hump day. whoot whoot! ronny, how happy are folks who save hundred of dollars switching to geico? i'd say happier than a camel on wednesday. hump day!!! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. get happy. get geico. (indistthat was awful.tering) why are you so good at this? had a coach in high school. really helped me up my game. i had a coach. math. ooh. so, why don't traders have coaches? who says they don't? coach mcadoo! you know, at td ameritrade, we offer free access to coa

>> kristen welker, thank you. >>> while president trump has vowed to remove all u.s. troops from syria, there's word tonight he's changing course. we have more on that from inside syria and the american-born isis bride fighting to return to the u.s. she speaks out to our richard engel. >> reporter: after promising to withdraw all american troops, the white house now says about 400 will remain in syria. >> it's a very small, tiny fraction of the people we have, and a lot of people like that idea. >> reporter: one of them, the commander of u.s. allied kurdish forces fighting isis. it's good for stability in the region, he said, but questions remain about the fate of thousands of isis family members, like u.s.-born hoda mew thundia, who left alabama to join the terror group, now living in a camp with her 1-year-old son. i showed her seblcretary of state pompeo's reaction to her plea to return. >> she's a terrorist, not a u.s. sit doesn't. she ought not return to this country. >> i'm a citizen. i have papers to prove it. i'm just as american as any blonde hair, blue-eyed

with more here's our kristen welker. >> reporter: as president trump hardens his line -- >> tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate. it is actually very >> reporr: a sweeping new report from "the washington post" shows that one of the president's favorite retreats in bedminster, new jersey, the magnitude of undocumented hires, like mariano quesada. "the post" said it spoke with 16 men and women from costa rica and other latin american countries who all say they were employed at bedminster, working for mr. trump without legal status, and they say their managers knew it. were so pervasive it created what the paper calls a pipeline. >> we found in costa rica was an entire town basically built on the labor of undocumented immigrants working for donald trump. >> reporter: after reports first surfaced last year about undocumented workers at multiple trump properties, the trump organization fired some of those without legal status. victorina morales said the issue was an open secret. she decided not to return to work after going public. >> translator: the only thing that they

>> kristen welker, thank you. let's bring in savannah guthrie and chuck todd. same question to you both, savannah. what are your takeaways from what we witnessed today from michael cohen? >> well, we've been hearing so much about this man, michael cohen, the president's former lawyer, the president's confidant. this is the first time that the public really got to take the measure of the man. he's made a series of allegations, as we've heard, against the president, and he comes in with a lot of baggage. so to me today was all about, is he credible? and this was the chance for people to see whether or not they believed him or not. he brought with him evidence, because he knows he's got baggage, he knows he's got credibility problems, he's a convicted liar, he is about to go to jail. so he tried to get an evidence, here's what corroborates what i'm saying, see what people think about it. >> well, it is, and i tell you i was interested in the atmospherics of the room itself. because in many ways, the michael cohen hearing is essentially the first hearing of impeach

>> kristen welker live at the capitol, thank you. our live coverage of michael cohen's testimony before congress begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern. >>> more breaking news from washington. the house has just voted to reject president trump's declaration of a national emergency to get money for his border wall. the move now forces a vote in the senate. president trump has already threatened a veto. >>> also on capitol hill, ceos of the country's biggest drug companies were grilled over the skyrocketing costs of medications, and now congress is threatening to intervene if the companies don't take steps to make their drugs more affordable. tom costello reports in our series "your money, your life." >> reporter: in indiana, shelby and sarah skipper both have type 1 diabetes, and because they can't afford insulin for two, they've had to ration and share. already shelby has been hospitalized with soaring blood sugar levels. >> i mean, if somebody's got to be sick, i'd much rather it be me than her. because i know. i've been through what she's be

his announcement m oming as nbc's kristen welker. >> reporter: new jersey senator cory booker making his esofficial. >> i believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind. where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame. >> reporter: the former newark mayor launching his campaign on the first day of black history month, a sign he's courting critical african-american voters. >> i'm running for president. >> reporter: the white house wasting no time taking aim at him. >> i think cory booker often sounds like a hallmark card and not necessarily a person who's there to tell you everything he's accomplished. >> reporter: appearing on "the view," booker declined to target his fellow democrats already in the race. >> there will be some sibling rivalry, but at the end of the day, we're family. >> reporter: instead taking his own swipe at mr. trump. >> if you're tired of that kind of bitterness, of that kind of trash talking, i'm not in this down, i'm in this race to build our nation up. >> reporter: it comes as senator elizabe

nbc's kristen welker has details. >> reporter: tonight, robert mueller's prosecutors say the evidence they seized in that early morning raid of roger stone's home was voluminous computers, cell phones, as well as e-mail accounts and bank records going back several years. >> it is so voluminous and complex that a speedy trial is literally impossible, so we stipulated to that. >> reporter: prosecutors charged stone, a former trump adviser, on seven counts including lying to congress about his efforts to obtain hacked e-mails from wikileaks. the white house says the charges have nothing to do with the president. stone insists he's not guilty. asked again today if he would cooperate with mueller -- >> all i can tell you today is i will tell the truth. i don't possess any knowledge of any onr united states. >> the fbi could be in a position of identifying other people that they may charge with crimes, or other crimes beyond that which is already charged in this indictment. i think that there is likely to be a treasure trove of information. >> reporter: the latest twist in an investigation

nbc's kristen welker with the details. >> reporter: in this video, you can see trump campaign staffer alva johnson outside an rv after a florida stop in august 2016. >> good job, boss. >> reporter: and you can hear johnson praising mr. trump on this video she shot as he starts greeting supporters. but it's what johnson alleges happened after this video that sparked her new lawsuit. >> she moved her head aside, he still managed to kiss her on the corner of her mouth. >> reporter: johnson's reaction? >> in her words, she thought it was disgusting and creepy. >> reporter: johnson's lawyer says she told family members about the incident at the time. she also says two members of the trump campaign witnessed it, but tonight both of those people -- pam bondi and karen jorno -- say it never happened. bondi telling nbc news, as a career prosecutor and attorney general, had i seen anything improper i would have taken action. i was with the president in the rv, and these allegations are false. press secretary sarah sanders saying, this never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple, hig

the women included nbc news kristen welker a our meagan fitzgerald, moderated the panel there. ey talked about the journey te white house and the importance of getting every story right. kristen, one of the best in the biz. >>> jeff bezos is accusing "the national enquirer" of extortion and blackmail. bezos says the tabloid's parent company threatened to publish explicit pictureses of him and his girlfriend. he published an e-mail exchange with ami. bezos says the company wante m to say the reporting on his affair was not motivated by political concerns. the tabloid published text messages revealing his extramarital affair. ami's chief executive is portedly a close friend of the president's who has attacked bezos, amazon and "the washington post." >>> i'm justin finch at the live desk, following breaking news from rio deej nero, brazil. ten are believed to be dead at a soccerfa lity. there's fear that young lives have been lost. here's video showing the aftermlyh of an e morning fire at a complex run by the a flamengo football club. a fire broke out in a dory area usedoung playe

>> kristen welker at the white house, thanks. >>> now to a major bank's all-y meltdown. nationwide outages at atms, mobile andnline banking leaving wells fargo customers frustrated and furious. our stephanie gosk has late details. >> reporter: wells fargo is the fourth-largest bank in the u.s., 8,000 branches. and for those customers who vi don't want tt them, there's 13,000 atms, an app, or the website.to but noy. online banking was down. atms were struggling. some customers said their cards were acting funn nothing works. i tried online, they gave you a phone number. and you try the phone number, that doesn't work either. >> reporter: the company apologized for the inconvenience on twitter. inin the latest message wr we're experiencing system issues due to a power shutdown at one of our facilities initiated after smoke was detected. wells fargo later said a cyber attack was not to blame. it's the second outage this month. on februy 1st the problems were resolved in just over five hours. wells fargo s been battling to restore trust after the revelation in 2016 that it h

ultimately, his testimony's impact may be more political than legal but nbc's kristen welker reports the ripple effects are being felt far and wide. >> reporter: overnight, the president at a press conference following his nuclear summit in hanoi speaking out for the first time about the cohen hearing. >> you know, it's very interesting because i tried to watch as much as i could. >> reporter: hitting out at the timing of the testimony. >> i've been a little bit busy but i think having a fake hearing like that and having it in the middle of this very important summit is really a terrible thing. >> reporter: the president not responding to some of his former attorney's more explosive claims but highlighting the comments about collusion with russia. >> he lied a lot but it was very interesting because he didn't lie about one thing. he said no collusion with the russian hoax. and i was -- you know, a little impressed by that, frankly. he could have gone all out. only about 95% instead of 100%. >> reporter: it's hours after the fireworks on capitol hill. >> i know what mr. trump is. he's

today and our kristen welker has the story. s reporter: from los ange-- >> this fake wall has got to g >> reporter: to denver. and just outside the white house. >> is there an emergency? >> no! >> reporter: backlash boiling over to the president's national emergency declaratio >> stand up fight back! >> reporter: the president planning to go around congress to get more money for his borde wacluding declaring an emergency to divert $3.6 billion from militarconstruction projects. >> we had certain funds that are bef g used at the discretion generals, at the discretion of the military.th some o haven't been allocated yet. nkd some of the generals t that this is more important. >> reporter: but now california will become the first state to sue, joining several advocacy groups who have already gone to court. >> no one is surprised that donald trump is acting beyond his authority. this is just another example. this is just a very egregious example ere he's testing the constitution and the separation of powers. >> reporter: the state'

i don't ow how much room there is for more candidates. >> reporter: kristen welker, nbc news, the white house. >> senators booker and warren and other declared candidates wi be in the house chamber when we begin our coverage of president trump's state of union address tuesday night at 9:00 eastern here on nbc. >>> one of the president's most voael critics, attorney mich avenatti, will not face charges at this time, prosecutors say, for a domestic violence arrest in november. a woman accused avenatti, who represents stormy danielf grabbing her wrist and throwing her out of his home, which he denied.>> a star of the tv show "empire" breaks his silence ons an aault he claims heufred this week. stephanie gosk has the latest. >> reporter: three days after jussie smollett told police he was attacked on the streets of seicago, the actor has rel his first public statement. let me start by saying that i'm okay. i am working with authorities and have been 100% factual. police say detectives have pored through hundds of hours of surveillance footage but have tund no evidence of an assault. they ha

here's nbc's kristen welker. >> reporter: tomorrow night the state of the union divided with president trump fighting on multiple fronts, le immigration, the very topic that prompted the first 35-day government shutdown. now . trump refusing to rule out a second shutdown unless democrats fund his border wall. >> we're going to have to see what happens. >> eporter: and the president is ramping up his threats to declare a national emergency even as some allies urge him not to. >> how can president trump strike a unifying note at his state of the uni address with the threat of a national emergency on the table? >> the two are not theame. the national emergency, if he were in fact to execute on that, isten, which he has not far, is because he believes that we have a crisis on the southern border. r orter: tomorrow democratic house speaker, nancy pelosi, will be seated behind the president. in front of him a sea of democratic lawmakers with a fewe y calling for impeachment. >> the only way they can win, because they can't win t election, is to bring out the artificial way of impeachment. >>

we get more now from nbc's kristen welker. >> reporter: tonight north carolina's ninth district preparing for a new election for congress. election authorities ordering the move, investigating after republican mark harris beat democrat dan mccready by 905 votes, and there were allegations of ballot fraud and vote-tampering. harris today said he was unaware of any wrongdoing but now wants a new election too. >> it's become clear to me that the pu confidence in the ninth district seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted. >> reporter: just a day earlier harris' son, a federal prosecutor, emotionally testified that he tried to warn his parents about a political operative who's accused of tampering with absentee ballots. >> i love my dad and i love my mom. okay? i think they made mistakes in this process. and they certainly did things differently than i would have done them. >> reporter: it could be months before a new election is scheduled. kristen welker, nbc news. >>> a federal judge in florida said tonight that one of president trump's cabinet

kristen welker, nbc news, the white house.wh >>> while the house has the russia probe looming over wh, it's also monitoring the crisis in venezuele today the u.s.-backed opposition leader who declared himself acting president warned police to stay away from his family. our kerry sanders has more.on >> reporter:ht opposition leader juan guaido greeted by supporters outside his apartment after he says armed poce agents came to his home asking for his wife, with his d 20-month-oghter inside. they will not intimidate this familyhe said. guaido, who's backed by the u.s. and most lin american countries, is locked in a showdown with venezuela's la president, nics maduro, who's backed by russia and china. tonight the u.s. warning of serious consequences if maduro's government harms guaido. speaking today with cnn, guaido saying as self-appointed president he wants to reconstruct his country and restore its liberty. >> our country, our liberty. >> reporter: maduro appearing with troops retains the backing of the military. tonight police say guaido's charges out officers appearing at his home a

act was a speech that keptcheckers busy, and tonight our kristen welker is zeroing in on the id prt's at times dubious claims on his signature issue, immigration. >> reporter: the president building the case for his border wall on a foundation of some flawed facts. >> the border city of el paso, texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime. now with a powerful barrier in placeel paso is one of the safest cities. >> reporter: in fact, violent crime in el d before li the border fence was built there and increased after its constrtion. president trump will hold a campaign rally monday in el paso. cal perry is there. >> reporter: with more an 12 million pedestrian crossings a year between el paso and juarez, it was no surprise when the sheriff of el paso fired back at the president, saying that el paso haalways been one of america's safest cities, never one of america's most dangerous cities. >> reporter: and what about this claim? >> tens of thousands of innocent amerans are killed by lethal drugs that cross our border. >> reporter: but according to federal officials, 80% to

he's planning to draw down troops from syria. >> kristen welker, thanks. i want to bring in chuck todd and savannah guthrie. as we hear from the white house and this call for unity, i want you to listen to what the president said in his first address to a joint session of congress two years ago. here it is. >> the time for small thinking is over. the time for trivial fights is behind us. we just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our hearts, the bravery to express the hopes that sear our souls, and the confidence to turn those hopes and those dreams into action. >> the time for trivial fights is behind us, two years ago. now calling for unity in an environment where he said border security talks are a waste of time. savannah, is this a tough sell in this environment? >> the soaring oratory, where you're always aiming to the high ideal, and bipartisanship is of course the highest of ideals that you could think of in washington right now. so it's really about where the rubber meets the road. it's whether the president, along with those nice words

>> kristen welker at the white house, thank you. >>there has been another shooting in an american school, this time in baltimore where police say a man visiting the school opened fire on a hall monitor near the entrance. police say they believe the suspected gunman was trying to confront someone at a meeting ha ening at the school. officials say that injured employee is in stable condition> e're going to turn from that to the crisis in venezuela whh we're watching closely today. the two men claiming to be president appealed to the public for support as one of themdu nicolas ro, still refuses u.s. aid for the sick and hury. our kerry sanders remains inside venezuela tonight. r >>eporter: today supplies of food and medicine clearly marked "us aid" stuck on the wrong side of the venezuelan border. today maduro taking reporters' questions. >> why won't you let the gift of medicine and food from the united states in? the people of venezuela need it, don't they? >> reporter: maduro replies "it's a rotten gift, the package is pretty on the

kristen welker, nbc news. ju >>> a federae in florida said tonight that one of president trump's cabinet members broke the law ile serving as a prosecutor in the case of a florida billionaire accused of sexual abuse of minors. here's justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: audge in florida has ruled tonight that when alexander acosta, who's now the labor secretary, w the u.s. attorney in miami, he and his prosecutors broke the lawhile cutting an extremely generous deal with jeffrey epstein, the politically connected billionaire accuseof sexually abusing more than 30 underage girls at his palm beach mansion. >> he was just talking to people on the phone. when he flippeover, that's yen he said, okay, you can go ahead and take or shirt and pants. >> reporter: the government spent untold hours negotiating with epstein's lawyers, the judge said, but scant sh information waed with the victims, a violation of the federal victim rights law. that meant the victims had no opportuny to object before the deal wa

while we do, let's bring in kristen welker and garrett haake. you've caught up administration officials this morning. nobody is committing one way or the other to where the president is publicly, but privately we think we know where his head is at. >> that's right. privately you, the rest of our team, have reported based on conversations with multiple sources familiar with the president thinking that it's operated he will sign this deal despite saying yesterday, of course, that he's not happy with it. but he also said yesterday that he doesn't want a second government shutdown. sarah huckabee sanders was out here a short time ago. he had a chance to ask her if the president is going to sign the deal. here's what she had to say. >> to put a fine point on it. news outlets have confirmed the president is anticipated to sign the legislation. if you confirm that? >> we want to see what the final piece of legislation looks like. it's hard to say definitivety whether or not the president is going to sign it until we know what's in it. we like to read l

the step in syria is a good one. >> admiral stavridis, peter baker, kristen welker, kristen, i think we'll be talking to you i hope shortly, the president is in the cabinet room and we expect to play that tape back momentarily. >>> coming up, jersey shore. new jersey senator cory booker jumping into the 2020 race. what does his announcement mean for the expanding field of democrats? stay with us, right here on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. eports" on msnbc. and then, more jobs began to appear. these techs in a lab. this builder in a hardhat... ...the welders and electricians who do all of that. the diner staffed up 'cause they all needed lunch. teachers... doctors... jobs grew a bunch. what started with one job spread all around. because each job in energy creates many more in this town. energy lives here. p3 it's meat, cheese and nuts. i keep my protein interesting. oh yea, me too. i have cheese and uh these herbs. p3 snacks. the more interesting way to get your protein. the latest inisn't just a store.ty it's a save more with a new kind of wireless network store. it's a look

nbc's kristen welker

kristen welker, where does this administration stand officially? mick mulvaney again was not confident and could not say definitively that there will not be another shutdown on saturday. >> reporter: they have been consistent in that position, katy. you heard mulvaney says on "meet the press" that the president is not going to sign a bill that he thinks does not have enough funding. the president was willing to give some when it came to that $5.7 billion he was asking for border wall funding. if you ask republicans and the white house, they see this as their last minute curveball. the president had been tweeting it all day trying to blame democrats. the white house says all along, they are prepared to shut the government down for a second time if they are not happy with the deal. is anyone really prepared to bare the brunt of the political pain that would cost. that's not clear. that's why you have president trump keeping the option of declaring a national emergency on the table as well. undoubtedly if he took that step, katy, he would face a numbe

these are the memories that stay with you, long after the moments have passed. >>> kristen welker backat the sunday mail. our first question comes from kim in ohio. good question. what american historical event would you have wanted to cover as a news reporter? >> the civil rights movement. it's one of the defining moments of our history. i keep wanting to go back and interview dr. martin luther king jr. and get his take on everything we're grappling with. >> i'm going to go with my second choice, the liberation of europe at the end of word war ii. our next question is from charles in alabama. who was your first celebrity crush? >> i cannot wait to hear yours. >> don johnson, phillip michael thomas. when i was a kid growing up, "miami vice" i would watch with my grandmother. >> we guys had crushes on them too. they were so cool. i'm going with justine bateman. >> love her. >> grew up on "family ties." finally our last question from linda in maine. willie, how can i get one of your new coffee cups? here they are. you can get one linda on our website. get you one. thanks kristen. thank y

kristen welker is live at the ite house. >> reporter: good morning to both of you. that's right.ppening, as you say, as president trump is poised to go overse to vietnam. here's what we're expecting this week. the president's fmer attorney and fixer, michael cohen, set to testify on three different days of this week, including a public testimony on wednesday. so, all eyes will be on that. he's expected to talk about some of his business dealings with president trump and a range of other matters. that's going to create a split-screen. the world is waitin for the special report from robert mueller. he will turn it over toathe rney general and it will be up to the attorney general to termine what happenor the report. you have the head of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff, saying he is prepared to subpoena speci counsel for the details of that report. >> kristen welker, live for us this morning. thank you again. more from kristen coming up on "today." >>> virginia lieutenant governor justin fairfax stunned lawmakers with comments he made on the general assembly floor, aft

back to you. >> kristen welker live at the white house. thanks so much. we can watch kristen's full report on the "today" show. >> you can watch the state of the union and the democratic response on nbc 4. coverage begins a 9:00 p.m. >>> two controversies are rocking the virginia state capital. embattled governor ralph northam is still in s office ands he is not a racist. >> the lieutenant governor, justin fairfax, is defending himself against an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2004. david culver has been following this and joins us live from richmond. i want to start with the governor. if northam doesn't resign, aders said they would be less effective doing their jobs. is there any discussion about making a stronger effort to push him out? to force him out?te >> rep we made that question put forward to several of the lawmake we've been interviewing. several of the democratic lawmakers are going against the governor. some part of their own party, have said they don't want to go the route of impeachment. they are hoping the collective, poi

cohen says was signed by the president. >> that was kristen welker reporting. o dealping this morning, was reached during this latest u.s. and north korea summit. e summit came to an abrupt end overnight after conversations failed. president trump and u.s. secretary of state -- wanted ale sanctions against them. >>> the man accused of killing five employe at the capital gazetten court. he opened fire last summer. some say h a held grudge against the paper after they about ad an article 2011 harassment conviction. he's pleaded not guilty. chris gordon is in today's hearing. follow him on twitter for the latest. >>> now to a developing story out of virginia's capital. this time it's governo ralph northam's wife who's accused of being racially insensitive. he washington post" reports that last week pam northam handed cotton to two african-american students during an historical tour. she then asked them to imagine being slaves and having to pick cotton. a state employee complained that her eighth grade daughter was upset about it. pam northam leased a statement in

nbc wh nbc white kristen welker has the latest o kris this back and forth. good morning, kristen. r: all s pointing to the government staying open. th >> good morning, hoda.e biparti cleared an importa all signs are pointing to the government staying open.urdle overnight and multiple white house officials have the bipartisan funding bill to news it's cleared overnight and sources n president will tell nbc it's anticipated the . althou president will sign the bill. p although publicly he's still rel reluctant to give it his full support. support. >> you're no good, pay the with another partial gover workers like you should.nment shutdown >> reporter: with another loom partial government shutdown pred looming tomorrow night, clear he wants to president trump making it clearn he wants to avoid one. don't w >> i don't want to see a shutdown..shutdown would be a t thing. >> reporter: while white house offici a shutdown won a terrible thing. >> reporter: while white house d officials dropped hints mr. trump would sup throughout the day that mr. th trump would suppo

. >> joining me now, nbc white house correspondent kristen welker, white house correspondent kasie hunt, and peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." everybody has been working around the clock, assessing, where do we go from here. kristen, first to you, the president talking about compromise but then in the speech, little sign of compromise, certainly not on the wall, and then this threat on investigations going forward. >> and that threat, andrea, which you highlighted so well just now, really does underscore the disconnect between the white house, saying this is going to be a speech about unity and the fact that president trump essentially said, look, we're not going to be able to get anything done if these investigations move forward. and on that front, andrea, there has been a development. lawmakers in the house intelligence committee voting today to release the transcripts of dozens of witness interviews to special counsel robert mueller. they say those transcripts should be getting to the special counsel later today. the intelligence committee, adam

kristen welker has more. >> reporter: as president trump hearts his line. >> to there arance for illegalon is not compassionate it's cruel. >> reporter: a sweeping new report shows one of president trump's favorite retreat in bedminster, new jersey hires a magnitude of illegal immigrants. they say they were employed at bedminster working for mr. trump without legal status and say their managers knew it. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: these kinds of hires were so pervasive it created what the paper calls a pipeline. >> we found here in costa rica an entire town built on the labor of undocumented immigrants working for donald trump. >> reporter: after reports first surfaced last year, the trump organization fired some of those without legal status. this woman said the issue was an open secret. she decided not to return to work after going public. t >> translator: the only thing they told us if any of us talked they would get rid of us. >> reporter: he said 20 others were fired for false work. >> they were relying on undocumented workers and homeland security must investigate as

back to you. >> kristen welker live atit the whhouse for us.report next on the "today" show. >>> a judge has ruled that paulr manafort lieobert mueller. the judge says because of these lies prosecutors are now released from a deal they made in which theynd recomme manafort be given a ligprer ison sentence. the deal was contingent on his cooperation with the investigation. the ruling wasn't a complete victor for mueller's team. the judge ruled that prosecutors were unable toe provide evide that manafort lied intentionally about other statements. specifically about his contacts with the trump adminion. manafort's sentencing date is set for march 13th. >>> a former ally of trump will be in court today. roger stone is scheduled for a status hearing. he is accused of obstruction, lying and witness tampering. all charge are connected to the ongoing russia probe. stone has denied the charges. > breaking overnight, a busy night for local firefighters. >> we learnedbout incidents in frederick and howard counties. we beginn howard. flames inside a garage

joining us now is msnbc correspondent casey hunt, nbc white house correspondent kristen welker in elo and peter bake are, chief white house correspondent at "the new york times." casey, you've been tracking this all weekend. tell me where things stand. >> well, andrea, right now there is no guarantee that the government will not shut down at the end of the week and that is a significant shift from where things were at the end of last week and that was because the talks stalled and basically collapsed over the weekend over a new stand that democrats are taking on, a policy issue that has been part of this conversation all of the way along, but that has emerged as a means only here at the 11th hour and the question is how many people should i.c.e. be able to detain at one time? right now they're looking to detain 48,000 people and that's what they've authorized to pay for for congress. democrats want to reduce the overall number to 34,000, but more critically, they want to cap the number of people that could be apprehended across the united states and being held to 16,500 people. so th

. >> joining me now, nbc justice correspondent pete williams, nbc white house correspondent kristen welker, msnbc contributor chuck rosenberg, a former cia official and former attorney, and mimi rocah, former assistant attorney in the southern district of new york. kristen, you were tracking every minute of that dramatic hearing yesterday. tell us first of all about the president's reaction, reacting to the only one thing that michael cohen, that he pulled out of it, michael cohen clearing him of any russian collusion according to cohen. >> i thought it was remarkable to hear president trump responding in hanoi, andrea, because you heard him there say that michael cohen lied about everything except russian collusion. what michael cohen said was, look, i have no direct evidence suggesting that there was any collusion, at the same time i do have my suspicions. so he didn't rule it out. but the president pouncing on that statement by michael cohen and the fact that he said, look, he can't prove it, bottom line. but i think what's difficult for the president is how can he say that one statemen

white house correspondent kristen welker following president trump. kristen, we haven't seen a rally like this from the president in a while. what can we expect tonight? >> reporter: well, craig, i think you hit the nail on the head. this is going to be president trump in his element. he thrives in these campaign style rallies. the focus tonight is going to be on this barrier here in el paso. it stretches about 40 miles, depending on where you're standing. it is anywhere from 16 to 18 feet long. president trump is going to aim to make the argument that this barrier makes el paso safer. it is an argument he first started to lay out during his state of the union address. he got some backlash. let's take a look at what the president said and remind our viewers. >> the border city of el paso, texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime. now, immediately upon its building, with a powerful barrier in place, el paso is one of the safest cities in our country. >> reporter: now, the last part of that is accurate. it is considered to be a safe city

. >> so all of that nbc's kristen welker joining us from the white house. it's teeing up tomorrow night. the president will make this call to end bipartisan stalemates. the irony that we are trying to push on is we are in a bipartisan stalemate over the shutdown and spent 35 days in a bipartisan stalemate. how does the president plan to reconcile that? >> white house officials say that's what he's going to do, but you point out the crux of what is going to be so difficult for this president. because we are in the middle of a stalemate. the fact that you have negotiators on political trying to resolve this issue over how to fund the border wall with nancy pelosi saying she's not going to give any money to the border wall. the theme tomorrow night, choosing greatness. we know that the president is going to highlight talk about a number of areas where he thinks they can find bipartisan agreement. immigration, trade, infrastructure, health care, national security. one official giving us this excerpt. together we can break decades, the president will say. we can

joining me now is kristen welker at the white house and phil rutger, washington post white house bureau thanks very much for both of you being with us. kristen, both of you, have been getting briefings. what do you expect when you hear about the shutdown from the president? what might he even say tomorrow in the state of the union about that? >> white house officials, andrea, are saying that the president will aim to strike a unifying note, the theme of his state of the union address is going to be choosing greatness, but that theme of unity will undoubtedly be undercut by exactly what you're asking about, andrea, the president discussing how to fund his border wall. in terms of the language that we are anticipating, i think a lot of the president's allies and advisers will be surprised if he actually declared a national emergency. at the same time i think they are expecting him to use some very firm language about the steps he's prepared to take to make sure that his border wall is built and that does include declaring a national emergency and it will be tough to try to strike a note o

joining me now to talk about all of this, kristen welker, andy card, a former chief of staff to president george w. bush, and here with me in new york, jeh johnson, former homeland security secretary under president obama. welcome, all. kristen at the white house, you've been briefed, you've been talking about officials. how does the president deliver this speech of getting together and fighting disharmony, given everything he has said, everything he's even been tweeting? >> right. and andrea, fresh tweets this morning, taking aim at chuck schumer, the senate minority leader. a big back and forth between the two of them throughout the day. so that's the backdrop against which president trump now, according to white house officials, is going to try to strike a spirit of bipartisanship. and you can see the tweet there, essentially saying, i see schumer is already criticizing my state of the union speech even though he hasn't seen it yet, he's just upset that he didn't win the senate. so really undercutting any tone of unity that he might hope to gain, hours before delivering that speech. bu

back t you. >> kristen welker, thank you. you can watch her full report coming up next on "today show". >>> 6:46 right now, this morning we're following two stories developing overnight. >> begin in the district with details on a tense night for police. d.c. police say they werele c to 5th and 8th streets in northeast for reports of a robbery. when they arrived the group of suspects took off running and started shooting at the officers. we haven't heard about injuries, but we're hoping to l about the incident today. >>> and in prince georges investigating are a deadly pedestrian crash. this happened late last night. police say a man wasit by both a car and a pickup truck in the 3900 block. we're told both vehicles stayed at thee. sc >>> developing in new york city this morning, a police detective has died. >> he and another officer were shot last night. cory smiths at the live desk with details. cory, what happened? >> this was tragicaccident. we learned that the detective killed last night was shot by fellow officers heres w

. >> reporter: >> well, we have lost kristen welker's live shot. ab, thaukts on this?> i think newsom is looking for a fight just like the president. even though this train has come under scrutiny and criticism, it's still their dollars in california for other projects and it's not to be used for a wall. and that it did come shortly after the announcement of a lawsuit. and so it's going to be increasingly more difficult for those remaining republicans in california to back up the fact that he's calling back the dollars. >> i'm told we have kristen welker back with us. you were going through some of the reporting. you heard the white house pointing back. they say this is just business. >> reporter: that's right. they say this is not political retribution and they point to the governor's own words who last week said he's going to move forward with a more scaled back version of the high speed rail project. it was coming in above cost. it wasn't getting finished as quickly as they'd hoped. this is what one white house official says. the california governor acknowledged thi

. >> my colleague kristen welker is at the white house. i understood we heard again from pelosi in the last couple minute. i want to talk about the response this morning from the president's allies. no surprise. they loved his speech. >> reporter: loved his speech, then a they're defending it pointing out the moments of bipartisanship and defending those moments in which the president was a little bit more defiant. one of those key moments did come when he was talking about the investigation swirling around him. essentially what you just played there, that there can't be any movement, any legislation, any work done in washington while these investigations are swirling around, so it really amounted to somewhat of a threat that, look, there's going to be gridlock as long as the investigations are looming over while his vice president was out today defending that. take a listen to what he had to say. >> isn't oversight part of the legislature's job? you served in the house for more than a decade. >> i did. it's part of the checks and balances

"andrea mitchell reports" starts right now with my friend kristen welker. >> hi, craig. >>> it's another busy one. on "andrea mitchell reports," the former director of the fbi says he was so concerned with the president after he fired james comey that top officials seriously discussed using the 25th amendment to remove president donald trump from office. >> i was very concerned that i was able to put the russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion, that were i removed quickly or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace. >> coming up, the first reaction from the vice president in an exclusive interview with andrea mitchell. >>> saber-rattling. vice president pence slams european allies. >> does that mean regime change? does that mean war? >> i think what it means is nations across the middle east and here in europe need to be willing to follow the lead of the united states of america. >> coming up, more on the threat from iran in another andrea mitchell exclusive with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. >>> and

kristen welker is at the white house tracking things. and also we are in florida talking to folks about what they want to hear. we've learned about how the president is preparing for tonight and what we think he may or may not say when it comes to this idea of a national emergency. >> that's right. to the first part of your question, how is he preparing? white house officials saying he's putting the final touches on his state of the union address. he's going to likely run through it again today. he'll be going over it with a sharpie. we're told he practiced it yesterday in the map room. really getting down to crunch time here at the white house. white house officials saying he's going to aim to strike a unifying note. he's going to call for an end to decades of stalemate. to do that he's going to talk about areas where he thinks there can be bipartisan agreement. things like infrastructure reform as well as other big issues he's talked about. the economy and trade. kellyanne conway, by the way, indicating he is going to address the aids

nbc white house correspondent kristen welker joins us with the latest onthis. o introduce their bipartisan funding bill today with the goal of voting by the end of the siweek. the pnt still won't say definitively if he'll sign the day. on tuesday the president said he was not happy, b he signaled he does wt another shutdown mr. trump hinted he may take executive action to rep dmoect y to pay for the wall. the deal includes over $1.3 billion, about 5 miles of new fencin along theborder, not a concrete wall and far less than th.7 billion the president initially demanded. on capitol hill, top lawmakers on both sidesf the aisle are urging the president to take the deal. some of his conservative have blasted it. bottom line, though, at this hour, a second utdown seems unlikely. >> kristen welker at the white house, thank you. >>> one of the women accusing virginia use lieutenant governor of a sexualault is speaking publicly. dr. vanessa tyson appeared at a previously scheduled forum on sexual violence a stanford university. she spoke about the need to report sex crim