nbc correspondent kristin welker has been on the case from the start and pushed the president himselfoday in the oval office about that revelation. >> reporter: nbc news has learned tonight, james comey, the former fbi director who led the russia probe and jeff sessions, the attorney general who was forced to recuse himself, have both been interviewed by special counsel robert mueller's team. a justice department official says sessions sat for hours of questions just last week. comey was interviewed last year about memos he wrote about his interactions with the president a source close to comey revealed. >> no, i'm not at all concerned. not at all. i didn't, but i'm not at all concerned. thank you all very much. >> reporter: it's not clear what the special counsel asked sessions, but the attorney general was instrumental in the firing of james comey. mr. trump telling lester, it was at the root of his decision to fire comey. >> i said, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> reporter: as the investigation gets closer to the president, mr. trump is escalating his

thank you all very much. >> joining me now is kristin welker. you just saw her in the oval office yesterday. carol lee and mike mamalee with new exclusive reporting. justice and security analyst matt miller, former chief spokesman at the justice department. former u.s. attorney, barbara mccabe. and allen rosen teen from the national security justice division. kristin, let's set the table. you were talking to the president about his reaction to all of the revelations that top officials with the attorney general, as the headliner here, have all been interviewed by robert mueller. >> that's right. you saw the president try to strike a confident note saying he is not concerned about what the attorney general told the special counsel. but as nbc news is reporting today, we now know that the special counsel not only interviewed the attorney general former fbi director james comey but also the president's intelligence block, i should say. as well as a whole host of other people within the president's inner circle. and according to our revelations, one

we get more from nbc correspondent kristin welker. >> reporter: president trump leaned into the march for life rally by satellite from the rose garden, the event just blocks away from the white house. >> the march for life is a movement born out of love. >> reporter: supporting his conservative base. >> i think it's amazing that we have a president who stands up for life. >> reporter: for joanne whose daughter katie was adopted, today is personal. >> abortion is not the answer. we have adoption. >> reporter: but the politics also loomed large as a businessman mr. trump supported abortion rights but ran as an anti-abortion republican candidate. once in the oval office, he's touted some victories for the movement, like nominating conservative justice neil gorsuch to the supreme court. but other campaign promises have lagged, like his vow to defund planned parenthood and limit late term abortions. why should anti-abortion supporters feel confident that president trump is going to get some legislative victories? >> the pro-life movement has seen a really great year of progress making sure

. >> kristin welker is at the white house right now. what happened there? the word was that the president made a deal or at least it was getting there, the direction had been created with chuck schumer but then it falls apart? >> reporter: based on our reporting so far what i can tell you is that essentially as you were talking about, the president did have that lunch with chuck schumer. they even had a phone call last night. ultimately the president, his chief of staff, his senior advisers didn't think there were enough concessions that they wanted when it came to the issue of immigration. remember, this is really where democrats were holding the line. democrats wanted a deal on daca, the program that protects those undocumented immigrants who came here as children illegally. they wanted that to be a part of this spending bill and that is why they are holding the line on this. republicans are saying we don't actually have to deal with daca until it expires which doesn't happen until march. democrats see this as their best shot at having leverage over repub

interesting moments in the briefing where you saw some of the frustration was with sarah sanders he and kristin welker. >> drawing more attention to this? >> i think you guys are the ones drawing attention to every question basically that i've been asked has to do with that. it's not like i came out here and read excerpts from the book. >> you mentioned it. the book is now number one on amazon. clearly it has gotten a lot of attention. a lot of people want to know more about what michael wolff has to say about what happened in the trump administration. let me tell you, nbc news has not independently confirmed a lot of thor anecdotes. some of them are not true. the idea that donald trump did not know who john boehner was, that doesn't appear to be accurate. if you look at past comments and elsewhere from donald trump. but it does raise some serious questions about chaos inside the west wing and i think that will drive some of the conversation here. >> and then sarah sanders said he got the ages wrong of people inside the white house. i'm not sure that rises to the level of defamation for a lawsuit. but

we are going to start at the white house with nbc's kristin welker. if they are going to say three words, strong, safe, proud. the backdrop is fights, russia, immigration and more. right? >> reporter: a deeply divided nation and frankly, a deeply divided congress. the president is going to aim to strike a tone of bipartisanship. we are told, according to officials, he is going to try to be unifying and optimistic. in terms of the key points he is going to hit, there are going to be four of them, jobs and the economy. of course this is one of his big issues. he is going to tout his tax reform plan, the fact it was a big victory for this administration, for the american people. then he's going to be looking forward. he'll call on congress to pass infrastructure reform. an infrastructure package he is going to unveil soon. last week, he unveiled immigration giving d.r.e.a.m.ers a pathway to citizenship. that is the big fight set to unfold in the nation's capital over immigration and national security, more funding for the military. expect him to talk abo

king so powerfully verbalized. >> josh earnest, rick stangle, kristin welker, thank you all so much.>> coming up, who is gary lee? we will introduce you to the former obama white house staffer whose first tweets turned him into a social media sensation. you're watching ann drdi ya m wl reports" on msnbc. until you taste our new menu. discover more ways to enjoy seafood with new tasting plates small plates, with big flavor- like yucatan shrimp in chili-lime butter and caramelized pineapple. and if you like hot, buttery maine lobster, check out this petite red lobster roll. for new entrees, explore globally-inspired dishes like spicy dragon shrimp. and now, when you order any two new or classic entrees, you get a free tasting plate. so get your coupon at redlobster.com and join us today! i own my own company. i had some severe fatigue, some funny rashes. finally, listening to my wife, went to a doctor. and i became diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma... that diagnosis was tough. i had to put my trust in somebody. when i first met steve, we recommended chemotherapy, and then we did high d

nbc's chr kristin welker. >>> president trump said he's the least racist person. but he also says this. >> mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. they're bringing drugs, they're bringing crimes. >> donald trump is calling for a complete shut down. >> i look at my african-american over here. are you the greatest. >> i've been treated unfairly. no this judge is of mexican heritage. i'm building a wall. >> i think there's blame on both sides. >> we have a representative in congress who they say was here a long time ago, they call her pocahontas. that's just a small portion of what donald trump has said. anthony scaramucchi was a former communications director. >> i don't think any of that is going to make the campaign of trump 2020. >> you don't think so? >> no, the paid advertising. making a joke. >> you're making a joke. sorry, i didn't hear you. >> at the end of the day, there are some other sound bites that you could put in there, that are not like that. i mean he's -- he's a complex guy. we both know that. you've covered that. i read your book.

kristin welker looks at what's on the table. >> reporter: there are a number of options that are being considered, including whether the president would be interviewed by the special counselor his team directly. also, the time and duration, the legal considerations as well as the legal team considering a range of compromises, like submitting answers to written questions. all of this, according to three sources familiar with the matter. >> ahead on nbc nightly news, legal experts weigh in on the options and how the white house is responding. that's ahead at 7:00, just after news4 at 6:00. >> well, let's get an update on that weather and a tricky ride home for a lot of people out there, doug. >> yeah, guys, the good news is we have not seen a lot of ice on the main roads. this is not one of those situations where the city is shutting down because of ice. however, the secondary roads, sidewalks still an issue. >> yeah, people are weighing in it is especially areas north of town like frederick up around baltimore where we're hearing a lot of reports of icy sidewalks. >> let's take a look a

kristin welker, my colleague in the white house, pressed sarah huckabee sanders a little earlier about this today. listen. >> has the president threatened with 20 lawsuits and only pressed two. why should they be concerned? >> regardless whether or not there is a lawsuit, they should be concerned about peddling fake stories. they should be concerned about putting out information that is not true. they should be concerned about the fact that we're spending all of our time here focused on talking about this instead of things that people in this country care about. i think that is a really sad process, and i think that that should be everyone's concern. >> is the president committed to following through with these lawsuits? >> i think that's a question you'd have to talk to his attorneys about and whether or not that move forward and what that looks like. >> david, i imagine if a book came out about past administrations like this book, it's hard to imagine one of those happening because i don't think anybody would have this sort of access. but if one did, i would imagine that past adminis

kristin welker at the white house. >>> i want to bring in nick ackerman, a special prosecutor with boughter gate and an msnbc legal analyst and partner with dorsey and whitney. nick, for people who don't follow this as closely as somebody like you or we do, what is all of this parsing about whether he is speaking to the intel committee or he's being interviewed by mueller or going to speak to a grand jury, because my understanding is you can't lie to any of them. >> that is right. whatever he says to one, whatever he said to the congressional committee, is ultimately going to the prosecutors and gos to the grand jury. what he says to the grand jury will not go to the congress. it won't go the other way around. but nonetheless, he has to be very careful what he says to the committee. because all of that is going to be read and re-read by the prosecutors. >> so he has a lawyer who is clearly got to prepare him for any of those type of interviews. it becomes confusing to people as to when sarah huckabee-sanders said that we need to discuss the parameters wave is going on when bannon is before

here is kristin welker. >> reporter: president trump is putting the finishing touches on the state ofike a note of unity even as tensions mount over the russia probe. overnight, republicans on the house intelligence committee voted along party lines to release a controversial and classified memo which purportedly accuses senior fbi officials of misconduct. democrats say that memo draws from cherry picked facts and is aimed at delegitimizing the russia probe. the president has five days to decide whether to release that memo. that dispute comes as deputy fbi director andrew mccabe announced he was stepping down earlier than expected. the reason -- an upcoming inspector general report is expected to sharply criticize the handling of the clinton e-mail probe and the other factor, fatigue, after the president has publicly and privately criticized him. this morning on "today," savannah asked press secretary sarah huckabee sanders about the president's apparent penchant for attacking law enforcement officials. >> if there's nothing to see here and he wants to cooperate why does he continual

let's get all of it from kristin welker. good morning. >> good morning to you. according to three sources familiar with the matter, the conversations between the president's legal team and federal investigators are preliminary and ongoing with the president's legal team weighing a range of options, including one that would bypass an interview with the president all together. this morning, with the russia appropriate intensifying, three sources familiar with the matter tell nbc news preliminary discussions are under way between the president's legal team and special counsel investigators about a possible interview with president trump, with mr. trump's team exploring a range of options for the format, including whether the president would be interviewed directly by the special counsel robert mueller or his investigators, the legal standard for when a president could be interviewed, the location, duration and topics and potential compromises like written responses instead of a formal sit down. at camp david over the weekend, here is how the president responded whe

>> kristen welker at the white house thank you, kristin. >>> to the new revelations in the russia investigation. multiple white house officials urged attorney general jeff sessions not to recuse himself from the probe according to a senior u.s. official. and the order reportedly came straight from the oval office. it has some asking tonight could that be construed as obstruction of justic correspondent peter alexander has more. >> reporter: do not recuse yourself. that was the message delivered to attorney general jeff sessions by white house counsel don mcgahn and several others last march. a senior white house official telling nbc news that the presidential aides all tried to convince sessions not to remove himself from running the russia probe. the instructions coming from the president himself, according to "the new york times," orders sessions ignored. >> i have recused myself. >> reporter: sessions' move infuriating president trump who at times erupted in anger telling aides he expected his attorney general to look out for him. like, mr. trump said, robert kennedy did for jfk and eric hol

your colleague white house correspondent kristen welker is with the crowd along the march route. kristin, i don't know if you can hear me. it's pretty loud there. we can hear you. >> reporter: i have to tell you a lot of emotion here today. throngs of people energized by the fact that the president is going to speak. via satellite. the people who are here, they find this significant, a significant moment for their movement. now. >> kristin -- >> reporter: yes? >> it is a little difficult to make you out because of the loud speakers. if you could stand by. we're going to go back to haie and come back to you if there's a way to get farther away from the speakers, those loud speakers on the mall are pretty loud. hallie, let's talk for a moment how presidents reagan and bush telephoned in to the march when they broadcast that but never took the step. they always wanted to kind of mod due late their tone on this. >> have distance. and have a little distance between them and this. of course. that's a good point. yes, it is very loud where kristin is. we can hear the cheers coming through on th

kristen welker is inside the white house for us tonight. kristinhave we had any reaction yet to this "washington post" reporting about the in-person lobbying against releasing the memo? >> we're getting our first bit of reaction, brian, as we watch those pictures. president about to depart for the capitol. from one white house official says that the decision making process whether to release that memo will be a process laden exercise with appropriate consultation with all the appropriate officials and the decision will not be rushed, an emphasis on that. also after the advice and recommendation period, the president will have the final say. so this official really stressing the fact that this is going to be a discussion, it's not something that's going to be rushed. in fact, they were quite adamant there the wasn't going to be a decision before the state of the union address tonight. the president very much wants to keep the focus on his address, brian. and i anticipate he's going to try to turn the page. obviously, away from all of these headlines

correspondent kristen welker and national political reporter carol lee as well as msnbc contributor chuck rosenberg, former federal prosecutor and chief of staff to james comey. kristin, set the stage here. what we're talking about is whether and how the president would actually be interviewed by people from the special counsel's office on the russia probe. >> reporter: that's right. we spoke to three sources familiar with the matter who say the talks are preliminary and they are ongoing. with the president's legal team considering a range of options which include how the president would be interviewed directly by special counsel mueller or potentially his investigators, the legal standard for when a president could be interviewed, things like the location, the duration, potential topics and then this really caught our attention, potential compromises including written responses instead of a formal sitdown with one source even saying there are talks of submitting an affidavit. now, what does president trump have to say about all of this? we haven't asked him directly. one of his lawyers is responding, john dowd telling halle jackson the white house does not comment o