mcmaster contrary to reports they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the nsc. we will discuss that later in this hour and balance it with what we have learned from "the washington post" tonight. that is simply a tweet from the white house press secretary, so its credibility is whatever you want to assign to it. here is what the president told the "new york times" last july about the special prosecutor investigating his finances. >> if mueller is looking at your finances and your family's finances unrelated to russia, is that a red line? >> would that be a breech of what his actual charge is? >> i would say yes. >> when asked if crossing that red line would lead to firing robert mueller, donald trump said, quote, i can't answer that question because i don't think it's going to happen. well, now it has happened, so what is the president going to do? in order to fire the special prosecutor, the president would have to fire the attorney general first, because only the attorney general has the authority to fire the special prosecutor, the current attorney general h

incoming national security advisor john bolton maybe making sweeping changes at the nsc. he is going to begin at the top. the idea is to stop the leak. they have been dogged by rumors being the leak factor inside the trump administration. the thought is, cleaning house maybe the only way to ensure more message discipline. the president directed mr. bolton to do his part to clean things up at the nsc. >> shannon: kevin corke from the white house. multiple military bases hit by suspicious packages. aftersafter vehicle packed with propane tank exploded in northern california. jennifer griffin had latest from the pentagon. >> senior u.s. defense official confirms multiple packages that contained explosive materials were sent to military installations in the d.c. area today. at about 8:30 this morning a package addressed to the national defense university arrived fort mcnair. that package contained a fuse but an army explosive unit neutralized it. another suspicious package was sent to dahlgren naval center. the story is developing as we speak. the packages are being examined a

>> this would be a lot of turnover at the nsc. e's looking for people who were leftovers from the obama administration, he's looking mostly at career people who are running the inner workings of the nsc and have the deepest experience, who were in the obama administration nsc and stayed over during the transition. movab most of those that i know of have returned back to their main agencies, whether the state department or the cia or defense department. i'm sure there are still some around. i think the bigger issue is going to be this. does he clean out the people who h.r. mcmaster, his immediate predecessor, brought in? and general mcmaster cleaned out a lot of people who had been put in their posts by michael flynn when he came in, and you'll remember he lasted just around a month. in fact the ones who stayed past that time were called flynn-stones. and the question they had at the white house last year was, gee, are they getting rid of the flynn-stones. now the question will be are they getting rid of the mcmaster employees. they

when i left the nsc and was a private citizen. i walked to the shrine and usually see the old imperial japanese rising sun flag. to my surprise when i walked in, there was a dpp flag flying. which proves the old adage the enemy of the enemy is my friend. the dpp on most issues is aligned with japan's opposition power, nuclear, power. on this one strategic questions, the dpp kind of aligns pretty well with abe. so, you have the u.s., japan, taiwan all kind of aligning, but -- then i'll end -- i mean, there are some obstacles. i think for japan there's frustration with taiwan over the fact that taiwan will not import food from fukushima where the nuclear crisis happened which hurts the feelings i think of a lot of japanese. taiwan's position on other territorial issues aligns with beijings. that's frustrating. i think for taiwan's side, there's some frustration. i think the current -- former self-defense officers are quite active. the current government of japan is very careful. i think there's more intel sharing, more cooperation, b

they have interviewed numerous current, former, high-level officials from the white house of the nsc, the department of homeland security, the fbi and other intelligence community agencies. they have secured and analyzed countless products both raw and finished assessments. me say this with a great deal of confidence. it is clear the russian government was looking for the vulnerabilities in our election system. and highlighted some of the key gaps. there is no evidence that any vote was changed. russia attempted to penetrate 21 states. we know there were successful in penetrating at least one voter database. to the department of homeland security alert estates to the threats warnings did not provide enough information or go to the right person in every case. alerts were actionable they provided an ip address to professionals, but no clear reason for states to take this threat more seriously were given. russia was trying to undermine the confidence of our election system. we are here to express concerns and also confidence in our state local governments. what's important to understand

what can you tell us about the nsc's recommendation at this point? reporter: something will happen, in particular if it's a major ally, the u.k. would certainly qualify. there is a trans-atlantic conversation about what to do to demonstrate vocal support but also substantive support and the u.s. is obviously prepared to do just that, although nothing to announce specifically at the moment. let me share just a bit of what we've gotten from the state department and from the white house today. first, at the state department, a statement was issued that reads in part this way. the united states is considering a range of options to respond to russia's outrageous actions in the u.k., both to demonstrate solidarity with oura ally and to hold russia accountable for its breach of international norms and agreements. of course, this in relation to that devastating and awful poisoning attack. meanwhile, the white house with a statement out today saying this, united states stands firmly with the united kingdom in condemning russia's outrageous action. the preside

whether he wants strongic secretaries, he certainly has in jim mattis , whichhe then plays down tole of the nsc. we have not seen come into one effect. we have kind of had both, and that is what is dysfunctional. jane: you served in two administrations, the obama and bush administrations. is it normal to fire people thcause you disagree with ? douglas: you fire or let go, but ultimate to be on board with the president. at the end of e day, the president's voice has to carry. if you don't, there is confusion. if the secretary of state is going -- formp e, last month sident erdogan, has a closed three-hour meeting with president erdogan, they need ton rstand they talked to the u.s. government, and if you talk to the secretary of state and the deal doesn't hold with the president, what is the point? you need a unified u.s. government, even if it is not necessarily the position i would want. a jane: he hot on his plate. ea. trump has very delicate talks with north ka crisis in syria. could all of this churn and turnover impact foreign policy? douglas: churn always impacts ign policy regardless of a

they've interviewed high-level officials from the white house, the nsc, the department of homeland security, the fbi and other intelligence community agencies. they have secured and analyzed products, both raw and finished products. i say this with great confidence, it is clear that the russian government was looking for the vulnerabilities in our election system. and highlighted some key gaps. there's no evidence any vote was changed. russia attempted to penetrate 21 states. we know that eric's successful in penetrating at least one voter database. the department of homeland security alert estates, warnings did not provide enough information to go to the right person in every case. alerts were actionable they alerted officials but no clear reason for states to take more seriously were given. russia was trying to undermine the confidence our of our election system. were here to express concerns but also confidence in our state local governments. it's important to understand is that tomorrow we will have an open hearing specifically on election security. mark and i will be joined by four mem

but this does take a toll on the nsc ability to coordinate the different national security organizations within the government. and that can leave us unprepared or less prepared for national security challenges. i do believe that at this point it's starting to take a toll. >> amanda, i want to ask you about this, because it has been conventional wisdom by some folks -- as well i think that may -- a lot of this stuff in the past couple weeks have been to change the headlines. people may not have been fired today because they're going to be fired sand. when the stormy daniels interview runs. there's been speculation in order to distract from the interview set to aaron sunday the president is going to announce reportedly maybe the va affairs, the hud secretary ben carson supposedly next on the chopping block until the mcmaster announcement caught them off guard. mcmaster's firing was on the same night of the karen mcdougal interview. what do you think we'll hear when the president speaks? >> probably nothing. he needs to sit and see what she has to say. as we know stormy daniels lawyer is t

potus and contrary to reports, they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the nsc. >>> the investigations into russia's meddling in the presidential election is expanding. yesterday abc news confirmed the special counsel has issued subpoenas demanding president trump's family business hand over all documents related to russia. analysts say it's a sign robert mueller's investigation will continue for several more months. a source tells abc news mueller has information that raises more questions about the trump organization's financial dealings. >>> san francisco is installing more bike lane barriers to protect cyclists from cars. the examiner reports safety posts were put up along the valencia street bike line. cyclists have long complained uber and lyft drivers swoop into the bike lane to pick up passengers. the barriers are a short-term solution that city supervisors have requested a study to find ways to make valencia street safer in the long run. >>> wants to ban restaurants from using plastic straws. under a proposal by city council member, you can still get a

it could have come from the nsc staff, people clearly upset this happened. ould be the state department, and of course beyond that, the department of defense. these kinds of things happen where you have competing views about how the president's approaching an issue as difficult, as delicate, and as serious as russia. i think the president's mind, let's look across the board here. the process is not something he cares about. maybe he didn't even read the brief. maybe he doesn't. maybe he likes to freelance a little bit. he's clearly trying to feel out his way with relationships with foreign leaders, and that includes putin. he certainly doesn't want to give into all the screwny utiny him that he's going to be tough on putin. if anything, he's so mad about that he'll keep him a little closer just to get people in fits even though the administration has levied sanctions. he hasn't spoken out about the apparent murder of a former spy by putin. the president doesn't think about this in terms of the presidency, in terms of u.s. goals and morals. in that way, he's n

at the nsc level, at the principals' committee level. >> what about now? -- i can't count them all. now i'm concerned this is not getting sufficient attention at the top. i think what the treasury department did the other week is a good sign. but the message has to come from the top. it has to come from the president of the united states in terms of issuing sufficient deterrents. president obama had a direct conversation with president put been this in 2016. and they're still at it, they're still doing what they are trying to do to interfere with our democracy. >> president trump, after his meeting with vietnam with president putin, seemed to indicate his denials -- at least he repeated his denials. yesterday the president ignored explicit capital letters warnings from his own national security team. what's your reaction to that? >> well, i can understand the temptation sometimes to want to try to establish a warm personal relationship with another leader, and then your staff gives you -- here are five things you must say. and sometimes you feel like, well, i don't want to say those

with the president, i think these two appointments at state and the nsc have both moved the centerline position on north korea and iran. it looked like the president was tilting toward getting out of the iranian agreement. i think the chances have gone up a lot he is going to get out of the agreement. they're going to go in with lower expectations on the north korean talk. john bolton is a very smart man. and he's had a lot of interesting statements. but he is not going to be able to put his beliefs behind. he is not going to go and be a neutral arbiter. he has views he will advance. he's done that all his life. he is going to be trying to advance his policies. i think it's really significant now that the president on a series of personalities, everything has moved toward a harder line, a more combative line. whether it's trade or north korea or iran. you can go down, you can go down the whole series. even his personal lawyers. >> there have been controversial people in this position. i mean henry kissinger has very strong viewers, absolutely. he had a huge impact on policy. it's t

, the nsc being foreign policy and a new economic policy was supposed to synthesize cabinet positions and come up with a policy. how does that contrast with the war between gary cohn and steve mnuchin on one hand and peter navarro on the other hand and the way this whole trade policy was announced? >> that was a great explanation of how it worked. i actually spent time with them in the clinton and the obama presidency. it puts itself in an organized manner. in this situation it doesn't seem to be a process, a whole lot of organization. i guess this is a pretty hard job for someone like gary cohn to have. at the end of the day, though, i don't think it matters a whole lot who is in this job. there is one person in the white house making decisions. with all the turnover the one person in the white house making that decision has not changed, and that's president trump himself. >> and, jason, i know you're a professor, but i don't want to be too professorial and lose me, but the president does not have an understanding, to put it kindly, about what a trade deficit is and the difference be

there are no changes at the nsc currently. but there is a clear sense among people in the white house and outside of the white house that the president wants this change to be made and the decision that is left here is whether it is going to happen sooner rather than later, brianna. >> abby phillip at the white house. thank you. i want to discuss this with our senior political reporter nia malika henderson with us. sources are telling cnn that trump is ready to replace the national security adviser. it makes you think of for instance rex tillerson whose ouster was rumored for some time and seemed like he was safe and it seemed like perhaps he was safe because the president wanted to prove the media wrong as they surmised he was going. could that happen here? >> it could be. we know that the president likes to spend a lot of time watching folks on cable news, how the reviews are, what people are saying and also sort of prove them wrong, right. with the tillerson thing, for instance, there are reports he was on his way out, he c

the nsc job historically is the role is to be the honest broker to balance the different government agencies, departments and give a consensus to the president to let each person, each party speak their case in making position. bolton is not a person who's ever shown any ability to do that so i think it's going to be tough to make the process work. i worry most when i think about bolton about our allies. we are depending now on the strong alliances that we've got around the world. especially to deal with north korea. bolton is somebody who needs to keep south korea on board. he needs to reassure japan. we're not going to do anything crazy here. the president will meet and talk and we're going to seek a resolution. in the case of iran and the iran nuclear deal, he has to reassure a europe that increasingly fears that their security is going to be put at greater risk by american moves. is bowlen the person who can do that? if he isn't, he's going to fail on an essential piece of being national security adviser. at the end of the week, so many instances of chaos, this is the one that i think al

back those people plus worse, i think. >> that's the other question, who does he bring into the important nsc. richard painter and sam sedar, thanks for spending time with us. >> ahead, more on tonight's breaking news. trump's decision to put john bolton in the white house, replacing h.r. mcmaster. >> and the other major departure today. trump's top lawyer in the russia probe resigns. as a faceoff between trump and mueller looms. that's after his two-minute break. and seamless experience across web and tablet? do you want $4.95 commissions for stocks, $0.50 options contracts? $1.50 futures contracts? what about a dedicated service team of trading specialists? did you say yes? good, then it's time for power e*trade. the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. looks like we have a couple seconds left. let's do some card twirling twirling cards e*trade. the original place to invest online. at a comfort inn with a glow taround them, so people watching will be like, "wow, maybe i'll glow too if i book direct at choicehotels.com." who glows? just say, badda book. badda boom. b

back those people plus worse, i think. >> that's the other question, who does he bring into the important nsc. richard painter and sam seder, thanks for spending time with us. >> ahead, more on tonight's breaking news. trump's decision to put john bolton in the white house, replacing h.r. mcmaster. >> and the other major departure today. trump's top lawyer in the russia probe resigns. as a faceoff between trump and mueller looms. that's after this two-minute break. you know what's awesome? gig-speed internet. you know what's not awesome? when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. >>> the president's legal team is unraveling. as the mueller investigation bears down, the president faces numerous legal battles over sex scandals and conflicts of interest. he's losing the one person on his legal team with exper

and potus, contrary to reports have a great working relationship and there will be no changes at the nscating under the assumption that at any moment, the announcement could come. >> there are only two to purchase would be earth shattering. one would we jeff sessions, a sign that trump is thinking about firing robert mueller. the other would be the chief, general kelly. otherwise, i cannot see it having that reagan impact. >> i think there are only -- that big of an impact. sucralose trump is cutting regulations like nobody has in history, and the market is applauding that. anything that would make you think that trump was going to change that course would probably be taken as a negative in the markets. mcmaster's firing, larry kudlow coming, none of that changes the dynamic. i don't think it is anything for markets to be concerned about. >> still ahead, as you review the week on bloomberg best, canada's prime minister, just into growth -- justin trudeau explains what he is optimistic that a nafta deal be done. also, the bigger picture on global trade and more of the weeks top business h

the other thing i think the nsc would be recommending to the president right now is actually to chinait's unusual that china is publicly silent on this. china doesn't let anything happen in the region without being involved in some way. president xi is about to be put in office for potentially a third term. my gut is china is doing something on this behind the scenes and nsc is going to want to work to see what that is. >> colonel, they seem to be giving the united states a little bit. not that they'd denuclearize altogether before they sit down, but they are saying it's part of the discussion. >> i think it's a breakthrough. i'm very skeptical on what north korea does. they've promised things before and not delivered. the china aspect is key here. what are the chinese doing? are they going to guarantee this? my initial thought is this is a breakthrough. the strong rhetoric has worked, the sanctions are biting. i tend to think it's the latter. i don't like hearing this from south korea. i would prefer the north koreans make some sort of announcement. if you read the south korean state

let's take the nsc's advice, when president trump said quote let the other people take care of it. did he know these people were likely to be iran and russia, we don't know. and when the president said we will be coming out very soon. he himself railed against on the campaign trail and boasted that he would never do. >> i don't want to tell the enemy how i am thinking. they used to call it the element of surprise. i keep saying, whatever happened to the element of surprise. we are too predictable. we need to be unpredictable. we want to be unpredictable. i'm not going to tell you about what response i do. i don't want to be one of these guys that says, yes, here's what we are going to do. they shouldn't know. >> and yet, here we are. just like you can make a case for or against involvement in syria, you can also make a case for and against strange surprise. sometimes it is better to send clear signals. sometimes it is not. is it better to have your inner circle out of the loop or not. it is however whether he is even listening. not only does the president get the last word, the pre

contrary to reports, they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the nsc. >>> thevestigation into russia's meddling in the presidential election is now expanding. yesterday abc news confirmed that special counsel has issued subpoenas demanding president trump's family business hand over all documents related to russia. analysts say it's a sign robert mueller's investigation will continue for several more months. a source tells abc news mueller has information that raises more questions about the financial dealings of the trump organization. >>> a florida debris removal company is stepping in to help with wildlife cleanup in the coffey park neighborhood. a company will help tear down and rebuild the walls that line hopper avenue west of coffey lane. the company also promised to make a significant financial contribution to the project. the walls made of concrete and wood were damaged during the october wildfires. >>> let's take a look at live doppler 7. it is wet once again. we'll start up in the north bay where we got a light shower in petaluma towards sonoma. event

dreer reports, they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the nsc. stay mcmasters met with the president and briefly made an appearance in front of cameras on the white house front lawn. despite assurance that's he's going nowhere, sanders said she, not the president, informed mcmast better his status. >> .drei spoke directly to the president last night. >> even kelly may be on the way out but the president has said he is 100% safe. and he said reports of staff changes are not accurate. >> a very false story. a very exaggerated and false story. >> but speculation persists. it seems as throw the white house is setting the stage for a dramatic end to all this talk of these staff shake-ups. if that tension is increasing things here at 1600 pennsylvania avenue, the president seems the revel in it. our sources say the president is enjoying all the attention this story is getting. in part, wolf, because he is the only one who knows how this story ends. >> thank you very much. >>> there's a stunning turn in the stormy daniels story. she is suing the presiden

keith kellogg who is already at the nsc, the national security council. could be a wildcard that james mattis or others bring to the president. right now what we've learned is a decision to remove h.r. mcmaster has been made by the president. what it hinges on is unlike rex tillerson who the president fired via twitter and did it very unceremoniously, the president, others around him want a more stable landing for h.r. mcmaster. they're looking for a high-ranking job in the military or a way to remove him without causing embarrassment or humiliation. >> this has been talked about certainly for a long time. do you know what the issues between the president and h.r. mcmaster were? >> well, they haven't really agreed on anything, frankly, anderson, or at least on many issu issues. they clashed over the iraq war, the strategy on the iraq war. they clashed over the role of foreign aid in the world. the president's world view has been far more america-first as he describes it than h.r. mcmaster. the president often finds mcmaster to be too professorial, too con

allies that those restraints are gone and that the restraint will go to provoke tours at his side in the nsc and at the state kpt. bolton and pompeo are both smart and well versed about the world. and their instinct is also to use that military tool box and to have vastly excess confidence -- i'd say hubris about the consequences of military strikes. >> historically bolton has been critical of russia over the years even this to say back in february. an op-ed in the hill about how to prevent the future russian attacks. he says one way to do that is to engage in retaliatory cybercane against russia. this should not be proportional to what we have experienced. it should be decidedly disproportion knit. the lesson we want russia or anyone else to learn is that the costs to them from future attacks against the united states will be so high that they simply -- they will simply co-sign all the warfare plans to computer memories to gather dust. is bolton going to influence trump on rather osh toe the line. >> i think he will toe the president's line. in the case of iran and north korea they -- they'

mcmaster and contrary to reports, there are no changes at the nsc. >>> the investigation into russia's meddling in the presidential election is expanding. yesterday abc news confirmed the special counsel has issued subpoenas demanding president trump's family business hand over all documents related to russia. analysts say it's a sign robert mueller's investigation will continue for at least several more months. a source tells abc news, mueller has information that raises more questions about the trump organization's financial dealings. >>> san francisco is installing more bike lane barriers to protect cyclists from cars. the examiner reports sfmta put up safety posts yesterday along the valencia street bike lane between 15th and 19th street. cyclists have long complained uber and lyft drivers swoon into the bike lane to pick up passengers. the barriers are a short-term solution. but they've requested a study to find ways to make valencia safer in the long run. >>> an oakland lawmaker wants to ban restaurants from putting single use straws in drinks. on a proposal by city council membe

they have a good working relationship and there's no changes at the nsc. sifying and zeroing in on the president's business practices. robert mueller has subpoenaed the trump organization to turn over documents, including some related to russia. president trump saying once that any investigation into his businesses would cross a red line. the lawyer for stormy daniels, the porn star that is suing to tell her story, publicly says daniels was physically threatened but didn't get into specifics. take a listen to what he told "morning joe." >> was she threatened in any way? >> yes. >> was she threatened physical harm? >> yes. >> oh, wow. >> reporter: now, we reached out to the president's attorney handling the matter. so far, no response. craig? >> kristen welker, from the white house this morning. thank you. >>> the food and drug administration is unveiling a new plan to prevent millions of tobacco-relate ed deaths. it wants to propose new rules to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. about 15% of american adults still spoke. while the fda does regulat

you have a very aggressive threat coming out of the nsc and the white house. at the same time madison tillerson urging diplomacy, but tillerson completely undercut on the way back from asia as the president, you'll recall last fall, tweeted out don't waste your time on diplomacy, rex. the other big question i would have and bill richardson would be a really good witness on this, is there are no diplomats, no senior diplomats. just last week joe young, the most experienced diplomat we had in this whole region, quit, and i'm told quit in frustration because he wasn't even being brought to white house meetings. he was being completely shut out by tillerson. and tillerson himself has been marginalized by the white house in great regard. just today tillerson saying that it's going to be a long time before there could be talks. now his aides say he's just being careful to let the announcements, but by all indications this was an inaudible call by the president when he saw there was the prospect of the meeting. he thinks he's the best deal maker. abe was called by ti

there will be changes at the nsc? just not immediately. >> we'll keep a close eye on that. major new development in the russia investigation. robert mueller subpoenaing the trump organization. that appears to cross that red line president trump had said about not going into his finances. >> reporter: the president was asked directly back in july if going into his personal finances unrelated to russia would cross the red line. now, this looks like personal finances, but related to russia. certainly very close to the red line, if not over it and, george, perhaps more significantly this indicates that the special counsel investigation is nowhere near over. it is expanding into new areas. >> not even close to being over. jon, thanks very much. as the news broke about those subpoenas yesterday afternoon, i was sitting down for an exclusive interview with the businessman in the middle of one deal mueller is examining. felix sater is the man who partnered up wit trumpo try to build a hot in moscow while trump was running for president. >> started making phone calls to some of the c

mcmaster, contrary to reports, they have a good working relationship and there will be no changes at the nscny moment, folks are operating under the assumption that at any moment, the announcement could come. >> there are only two departures that would be earth-shattering. one would we jeff sessions, a sign that trump is thinking about firing mueller. the other, i think would be the chief of staff, general kelly. those are the two big ones. otherwise, i just can't see it having that big of an impact. >> i think there are only two things that matter when it comes to washington. trump is cutting regulations like no president has in american history, and the market is applauding that. anything that would upset that or maybe make you think that trump was going to change about or upset that, would probably be taken as a negative in the markets. mcmaster's firing, gary: living, -- gary cohn leaving. i don't think it is anything for markets to be concerned about. david: still ahead, as you review the week on bloomberg best, canada's prime minister, justin trudeau explains what he is optimistic that

. >> there are reports that officials with the nsc and the state department have been talking to their counter parts in europe to discuss how they plan to move forward with expulsions. >> we'll stand up firm to putin and russia. >> i'm john lawrence reporting. >> russian officials have repeatedly denied responsibility for the poisoning allegations. >>> president trump is ordering a ban on most transgender troops but not all. he's rolling back a complete ban that he tried to impose last summer. now a new policy disqualifies anyone who has had or needs gender reassignment surgery. state attorney general javier baa sarah says -- california that harms or marginnizing transgender service members. the latest plan is likely to face court challenges, especially since the legal battle over the previous ban is still unresolved. >>> time now is 5:09. an urgent situation in the sierra foothills, the train trestle that's sinking and threatening a fuel spill in a major river. >> plus, the california daredevil who strapped a rocket to his back to prove to people that he wasn't going to chicken out. >

contrary to reports, they have a good working relationship, and there nor changes at the nsc. these pronouncements from the white house are true until they aren't. the white house previously dismissed reports about the potential -- then potential exits of rex tillerson, michael flynn and james comey, too. we should say that the president is said to be taking his time before pulling the trigger on firing mcmaster. he wants to find a way to have mcmaster save face, find a soft landing and make sure there's a strong successor lined up. >> geoff bennett on a friday afternoon. always very busy thereupon thank you. keep us posted. >>> this is how "the wall street journal report"s the status of john kelly. donald trump and john kelly reach truce. but inside that article you read phrases like this. at least temporarily. at least for the moment and tempora temporary. jonathan lemire, carolyn is an msnbc contributor and reports for "the washington post" and general wesley clark, retired four-star general, formerna eer supreme allied commander. let me start with you jonathan. chief of sta

mcmaster and the president have a good working relationship, and there are no changes at the nsc. people look at how this has all been handled from around the world and they're thinking what? >> i think they're thinking we have a white house in chaos, we have musical chairs happening every second of every day, which really undermines the credibility of our national security counsel system. and plays to putin's advantage. he's not playing around with his national is security counsel, he's not pushing people out. from one national security advisor to another, you're more vulnerable because you just have more work to do. so none of this plays to a message of stability in the national security space. >> this is a conversation that will go on for some time, a revolving door at the white house, just hours after his lead lawyer on the russia investigation resigns, what this r legal shake-up means and the strategy for the special counsel. and a former playboy play mate says that donald trump told her he loved her and also this. >> after we had been intimate, he tried to pay me. and i actua

putting bolton at the nsc and mike pompeo at the state department, do you think that helps or hurts inerms of the president's foreign policy in general and specifically in terms of the upcoming summit with kim jong-un. >> i think it helps the president because i think he always felt he and secretary rex tillerson and mcmaster had a tension. that both of them wanted a more moderate policy than he did. now he has two guys that are him. it will allow him to relax and accept that they can work together as professionals. bolton is a solid professional with a very long career.i think bolton and pompeo will provide the president with a range of choices along with secretary matches. they will be going in the room saying, how canwe help get what you want done as opposed to going and saying, what you want done is wrong .>>chris: the new fox poll we were talking about earlier also asked people about the upcoming kim jong-un /trump summit. 62 percent approve of the two leaders meeting when asked, who will get the better deal, 42 percent say president trump. 26 percent say kim jong-un. juan, what d

that is since we had our discussions on the nsc. so it is a concern. the white house is engaged and has been. bob joyce and others have been leading the effort. it is a current discussion underway about how we best address not only defense but how do we look at ways to respond to that to prevent us from being vulnerable to attacks. >> again, i will just comment on discussions. i think there ongoing. it is a plan of action and direction. somewhere in that is ultimately the president. that is the nature of his office, the nature of our constitution. director coats: i would agree with that but working with congress much of the time in my last term here at the senate was trying to identify legislative action regarding critical infrastructure and putting a cyber plan in place. i think this is something the whole of government has to work with congress on what we would provide. >> it has to be. it starts at the top if we're going to get anything done. let me change the subject for a moment. i had the opportunity of visiting u.s. forces. sup korea, somalia. --

nonsense and obviously like the president, he's concerned about the leaks that have been coming outs of the nsc, which will come under bolton's leadership. the bolton mandate rid the team of the lakers, hold them accountable and if necessary, clean the slate with top to bottom. not long ago, we saw the ambassador here at the white house. while previously this weekend, he told me he probably wouldn't have any public comments between now and april 9. if we see him again, i promise to shout a question his way. back to you. >> thanks, kevin. >> there you go. >> dana: so a change to the 2020 census is creating controversy. the trump administration wants to include a question about citizenship status. it's the first time the government would do this since 1950. the change is already prompting two lawsuits claiming the lawsuit is illegal and targeting minorities. the trump administration says they will help enforce the voting rights acts which protects minority voting. doug mckelway is live in washington, this is a pretty big deal. >> it's a really big deal and really become a hot button issue in the

contrary to reports they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the nsc. this was never true. you understand? it was never true. the reporting was always solid that he was on his way out. this was a lie. okay. it was a distraction and a lie. now let's talk about why it matters. so he's out. >> yeah. >> is again, not news. there has been trouble. he hasn't liked how his advice is taken. trump hasn't liked how he speaks to him. this was going to happen. but it was denied deceptively. now here we are and the man who is replacing him is going to cause controversy. >> first on your first point, which is their lying. >> am i wrong? >> no. you're 100% right. >> which is rare, by the way. >> and i don't like agreeing with you. but you're right on this one. and i'll add to it that they did the same thing with the legal team. "new york times" wrote a story that says trump is likely to make a move with his legal team. he tweets out fake "new york times". i love all my lawyers. now you have one brought in and one leaving. that's point one. point two to why it matters.