back with us from capitol hill, melanie zanona. melanie, what more do we know? >> yeah. is. >> some. >> really sad news that we're learning. we're just getting some. >> of. these details. >> my colleague scott wong. >> reported that. >> there was a house democratic meeting this morning, and the democratic leadership informed members. >> during that meeting. >> that the congressman indeed passed away yesterday and that his family has been notified. additionally, the leadership. >> indicated that. >> he appeared to have some sort of medical event yesterday. >> in the cannon tunnels. that's one of the. tunnels here on capitol hill. so we're still trying to figure out exactly. >> what. >> happened here. but no doubt this is a. >> huge loss for democrats and congress and the community back home. he had just won this seat back in november. this to fill the seat by the former congresswoman sheila jackson lee. >> so he was a freshman. >> member. >> had only been up here a few months. as you mentioned, he had been a houston mayor. he had. >> served in politics. >> for a long. >>

now, nbc's aaron gilchrist at the white house, nbc's melania, melania, i should say i'm sorry, melanie zanonal hill. also with us there, david fahrenthold, reporter at the new york times, and marc short, former white house legislative affairs director during the first trump administration. he is now the board chair of advancing american freedom. so, aaron, federal workers again being asked to list their five accomplishments in an email. where does this go next? >> yeah, jose. that second, what did you do last week? email started going out friday just as federal workers here on the east coast were ending their workday. and again, as you said, they were asked to list five accomplishments. this time, though, that email included a request that they send a similar email every monday by midnight going forward. last time we know there was a lot of confusion about whether workers should respond or whether it was mandatory to respond. there were several agencies that told employees to hold off on answering that email. the white house said that about a million employees across the federal government di

melanie zanona is on capitol hill, and peter baker is back with me.s the president's biggest stage of his second term. what are you hearing tonight from that building behind you? what's the goal? and do you think they're furiously rewriting anything in light of what we've been seeing happen over the last several hours? well, certainly there are ongoing developments, and the president may be making some adjustments, but a big night is one of the areas where president donald. trump enjoys having the stage and coming so early in his administration, just a matter of weeks into his second term. he benefits from the issue of not having as many outside events that will shape what he wants to talk about. it's really an opportunity for him to stress the things that matter now, clearly. today, we. heard significant pushback from prime minister trudeau of canada. there's ongoing developments with ukraine and zelensky. and so there are certainly a lot of factors on the world stage, but the president intends to have a lot of focus on what matters at home. and by j

we just confirmed my colleague melanie zanona and i are reporting that some of those cr skeptics, the republicans are eyeing now, that stopgap measure that would continue, essentially last year's funding, those same levels through the end of this year. republicans in the house freedom caucus, for example, typically don't vote for that piece of legislation. this time around, though, we know that they will be meeting at the white house tomorrow with president trump. he will try to convince them to support it. and we know that he is certainly convincing as he has been in the past. jose. >> julie sirkin on capitol hill, thank you very much. david, how do you see? what do you make of the shift we are seeing in both how the us is approaching ukraine, how it's also been speaking to russia. >> so. >> jose, i think it's. >> obvious from the white house. >> statements and actions. >> that president. >> trump is trying. >> to compel ukraine into accepting the. framework that trump is developing with russia for. >> these negotiations. >> going into a negotiation, you want your allies. and ukraine

and this morning, my colleague melanie zanona reported that rich hudson, who is essentially in charge of reelecting republicans next year, he told republicans behind closed doors not to do them anymore. we had some reporting in the last couple of days that perhaps they were being urged to switch to tele town halls. he just told them to not do them. he's saying, along with other republicans that we spoke to, that these are outside agitators at these town halls, that these aren't people who actually are willing to listen to the members. though i will tell you, i did ask senator roger marshall last night about his town hall over the weekend in a rural part of kansas in which he was confronted by folks who were completely disgruntled by the cuts, especially when it comes to veterans and especially when it comes to the impacts they've seen in the state. take a listen to his response to me. >> people from the big. >> city drove. >> five hours so they could silence us. rural people really are in tough times right now. agriculture is really a tough business right now. >> so we just. had over.