steve rattner, and politics editor for "the daily beast," sam stein, along with our willie geist in new york city. good to have everybody on board this friday. >> so, really -- >> is this a deflection? >> of course, it's a deflection. willie -- >> from stormy? >> yes, of course, from stormy. >> but who can keep their eyes off the whole stormy situation? >> certainly not from the nor'easter. but willie, look, let's just look back at this week. you had donald trump enraged by some events earlier, the leaving of hope -- hope hicks' announcement that she was leaving, a testimony that didn't go so well, the house intel committee, several other things crashing at the same time. and the news reports were, out of the white house, that the president was angry, and so, he just struck out and decided to push tariffs, and he did it without talking to any of his economic advisers. he lost his most able economic adviser, gary cohn. and then fast-forward a couple days, and the president is consumed in the story of a payoff to a porn star, which now we're hearing he was angry at his press secretary for

and willie geist in new york.the conversation, as we saw, political reporter for the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst robert costa, he's the moderator of "washington week" on pbs. and staff writer for the "atlantic," natasha bertrand. she's an nbc news and msnbc contributor. welcome aboard. >> thank you. >> willie has the top story. take it. >>> as the president is tweeting about hillary clinton and joe biden, he may be trying to throw up a smokescreen about this story. president trump met the snow day yesterday tweeting his defense of his congratulatory call to russian leader vladimir putin. he wrote this "i called president putin of russia to congratulate him on his election victory. in past obama called him also. the fake news media is crazed because they want me to excoriate him. they are wrong. getting along with russia and others is a good thing not a bad thing." he continued "they can help solve problems with north korea, syria, ukraine, isis, iran and even the coming arms race. bush tried to g

i'm willie geist. it was another extraordinary week at the white house.a planned face to face meeting between president trump and the leader of north korea, details of the alleged payoff to a porn star, the promise of tariffs that have shaken markets. then last night the president speaking off the cuff in pittsburgh for more than an hour detailing his achievements. president trump even had a few words for our own chuck todd. we'll talk to chuck about all of it in just a moment. >>> and later, a sunday sitdown with the great jeff daniels. we talk about a career that has spanned classics and he talks about the reaction around him when he said he wants to do dumb and dumber. >> jim carrey is a comedic genius. he's probably going to bipolwip off the screen. i said, well, he's not in the tongue on the pole scene and he's not on the toilet. >> classic scene. >> it will be on my tombstone. >>> kelly o'donnell is at the white house with more. zblchblg >> reporter: the president attracted a big crowd in a part of pennsylvania where he is popular. he was on stage m

we have josh ernest and kassie hunt as well as willie geist. and former treasury official and morning joe economic analyst, good morning to have steve on. >> it is a great morning. before we get to any of that and gary cohn, we brought john on to talk about an issue even more pressing. something that has tortured him. >> it's going to be stormy. >> tortured him over the past few days suggesting that western civilization will not survive, but if it does survive it does not deserve to survive because the way they treated a young woman on the bachelor a few nights ago. john? this -- for you, you can take stormy daniels, you can take the cohn resignation and you can take hitler's invasion of france, put those all together and none really challenge western civilization's foundations more than what happened on the bachelor. you want to explain? >> so i happened to watch the supposedly final episode of the bachelor. i guess monday night. due to my wife's control of the remote. >> always blaming your wife. >> she put it on. so i really was not expectin

willie geist is in new york.ington, nbc news capitol hill correspondent host of kasie dc on msnbc. kasie hunt. oh, yeah. three times this morning is a record. >> going to get the t-shirts on. "new york times" reporter jeremy peters is with us as well. washington bureau chief for usa today susan page joins us. also with us member of the senate arms and finance committees, top ranking democrat on the homeland security committee. senator of missouri running for re-election this year. claire, good to have you on board. >> good to be here. >> how's the campaign. >> campaign is great. i actually enjoy. >> this is what you do. >> this is what i do. it's really hard work. i've moved around missouri with a vengeance and i will continue to do that. try to -- and i love that part. i love actually going into the very small communities and sitting down and walking in the diners and talking to people about what they're angry about. and what they're frustrated with. >> what are you hearing. >> what is really missing, everybody

i'm hallie jackson in for willie geist with a lot of news to cover this morning.ncluding that massive march in washington on saturday. look at that, hundreds of thousands of students and the adults who love them. taking to the streets in a rallying cry, enough is enough when it comes to the school violence. we'll have a full wrap-up on the march for our lives. >>> plus is a new storm about to hit president trump. the adult film star claims she had an affair with the president years ago, set to share her story for the first time tonight on national television. what will she say? and there are pictures and for the payoffs she received be election law violation. we'll have more on that. >>> plus, willie's sit down with drew barrymore. talks about fame at an early age, partying with her mom as a kid. and how her starring role in a new netflix series came when she needed it most. >> i definitely, personally, was in a very dark and fearful place. and then the script came along. >> that's "sunday sitdown" with drew barrymore later on in the show. but let's begin this mor

i'm willie geist. a week that began with the twitter firing of secretary of state closed with the firing of the former fbi director two days before he was set to retire. president trump celebrated the move by attorney general jeff sessions on twitter calling it a great day for democracy. and again calling the russia investigation a witch-hunt as his lawyer publicly calls for the muler probe to end. we'll get into all of it with chuck todd. >>> and march madness living up to its name with another buzzer-beater late last night and a cinderella team with some divine innings participation mo -- inspiration moving into the sweet 16. >>> and a sunday sitdown with comedian ricky gervais on his predictably irreverent new netflix special, his brief stint as a 1980s pop star and how he's made a career out of making people uncomfortable in their seats. >> i'm so excited about it, that it might be taken the wrong way or end my career. >> a sunday sitdown with ricky gervais, plus harry smith a bit later in the show

reporter michael schmidt and new york times reporter jeremy peters and in new york along with willie geist we have msnbc contributor mike barnacle and the president of the foreign relations and author of the book war of choice, richard haas. i know david especially is hoping that he's next and that he'll get am rosa's job. but it appears that cable tv is like the bench for the president. >> it looks like it. the attorney speaking on fox news amplifying or perhaps introducing the idea that the entire mueller investigation is a conspiracy against president trump, that is president trump's argument. he's been tweeting about it that the investigation is a witch hunt and it appears he wants to surround himself with attorney who is agree with him that this is in fact a witch hunt against him. >> that should be interesting and again, worries about the potential firing of mueller. we begin though with that shakeup in president trump's legal team. michael schmidt, you and your colleagues, you're reporting in the new york times that trump recently weighed out loud to close associates whether he shou

new york times reporter and willie geist is in new york along with national affairs analyst for nbc news and former chief of staff at the cia and department of defense nbc news national security analyst jeremy bash. wow. h.r. mcmaster becomes the sixth close advisor or aide to announce a departure from the white house in just six turbulent weeks at the white house. according to the ap mcmaster showed up to work yesterday as usual. hours later in a phone call with the president, was he down the hall? it was clear that his time was up. he was fired. joe scarborough has been off with his kids last week but he filed a piece on this big story of the week. he calls the appointment of john bolton a fitting conclusion to the failures of conservatism. joe writes in part this, six decades of republican overreach and corrosive causes have led to the rise of donald trump and a foreign policy run by john bolton, an economy guided by larry kudlow and a legal team led by conspiracy theorist joseph digenova. called for the pre-emptive bombing of north korea and iran while defending his role in the worst

i'm willie geist. it was another extraordinary week at the white house.ng between president trump and the leader of north korea, details of the alleged payoff to a porn star, thero

. >> good morning and welcome to "sunday today" on this march the 4th, i'm willie geist. new standards of this presidential administration, it was a truly wild week. president trump appeared at washington's grid iron dinner overnight, telling jokes after a stretch of days that included jaw-dropping comments on guns, tariffs, and the president of china. and that's just the beginning. chuck todd joins us t

i'm hallie jackson in for willie geist with a lot of news to cover this morning. that massive march in washington on saturday. look at that, hundreds of thousands of students and the adults who love them. taking to the streets in a rallying cry, enough is enough when it comes to the school violence.

i'm willie geist.e twitter firing of secretary of state closed with the firing of the former fbi director two days before he was set to retire. president trump celebrated the move by attorney general jeff sessions on twitter calling it a great day for democracy. and again calling the russia investigation a witch-hunt as his lawyer p

new canaan people around the kitchen table. >> willie geist has a question. illie. >> it's willie in new york. one of the most extraordinary pieces of news that happened last week that got swept up in everything else that happened was admiral mike rogers testimony before the arms services committee last week. the head of the u.s. cyber command saying we're not doing enough, russia continues to attack our syste unabated, i haven't be given the authority om the white house to do the things i believe need to get done. my question is if everyone knows this is a problem, everyone recognizes it continues to happen a couple of years after the presidential campaign and the presidential election. who's standing in the way of doing more and why do you suspect they're doing it. >> in this case it has to start at the top. we have a president who regards the fact of the russian attack as something which damages his legitimacy. there are presidents who might say that's an uncomfortable moment. i don't like the fact that the russians wanted me to be elected but now we need t

law professor and michael steele along with our willie geist in new york. willie, i -- the dualing leads this morning believe it or not are the women and russia. the question is where to begin because these legal challenges against president trump are really building up. >> they are. as you mentioned there's now a former playboy bunny, there's a former contestant from the apprentice, but what you started with, that washington post story where you have members of the president's security advisors leaking to the washington post that said we told president trump to confront the russian president and he did not do that. covering themselves to say we know what should have been done. >> we'll go there because that story has international ramifications but jonathan, on the legal claims against the president, pertaining to the playboy bunny and to stormy daniels, why do they matter? why is that even in the running for a lead this morning? >> well, there's a couple of perils out there in terms of these cases for the president. one is this campaign finance problem tha

. >> good morning and welcome to "sunday today" on this march the 4th, i'm willie geist.ndards of this presidential administration, it was a truly wild week. president trump appeared at washington's grid iron dinner overnight, telling jokes after a stretch of days that included jaw-dropping comments on guns, tariffs, and the president of china. and that's just the beginning. chuck todd joins us to sort through it al

steve rattner, and politics editor for "the daily beast," sam stein, along with our willie geist in newhave everybody on board this friday. >> so, really -- >> is this a deflection? >> of course, it's a deflection. willie -- >> from stormy? >> yes, of course, from stormy. >> but who can keep their eyes off the whole stormy situation? >> certainly not from the nor'easter. but willie, look, let's just look back at this week. you had donald trump enraged by some events earlier, the leaving of hope -- hope hicks' announcement that she was leaving, a testimony that didn't go so

. >> good morning and welcome to "sunday today" on this march the 4th, i'm willie geist. even by the new standards of this presidential administration, it was a truly wild week. president trump appeared at washington's grid iron dinner overnight, telling jokes after a stretch of days that included jaw-dropping comments on guns, tariffs, and the president of china. and that's just the beginning. chuck todd joins us to sort through it all. >>> plus, the race to restore power to more than 1.5 million homes and businesses after the brutal nor'easter unleashed its fury here in the northeast. >>> and later on this oscar sunday, my sunday sit-down with chadwick boseman, the star of the biggest movie on the planet, "black panther." with the groundbreaking blockbuster marching towards $1 million in the box office, boseman stops with us to take a breath in the middle of the whirlwind. >> what you usually see when it's like a rock star. i hesitate to say it was like the beatles, but it felt like that. a sunday sit-down with chadwick boseman. plus, harry smith later in the show. >>>

you not just later today at the white house but this weekend on "sunday today," filling in for willie geistl be hanging with my friend, dylan dreyer. hey, ali. >> the white rhino isn't really white. >> true. >> it is named after the nose they have. that's how you distinguish between a white and black rhino. we've been having this discussion decades. it is devastating that people continue to hunt these. this is one of the saddest pictures. glad you put it up there. >>

i need to share what former cia director john brennan told willie geist this morning. >> do you believe the president of russia? >> i think he's afraid of the president of russia. >> why? >> well, one can speculate as to why, the russians may have something on him personally, that they could always roll out and make his life more difficult. the russians have had long experience with mr. trump, and may have things that they could expose. >> something personal, perhaps? >> perhaps. perhaps. >> uh-oh. >> occam's razor. the most obvious thing has to be the thing that it is. it's so clear at this point that vladimir putin and his associates, somebody has something on donald trump. there's no other reason he would be so praiseworthy and continuously be so essentially, as john brennan said, afraid of john pu putin and what he has over him. hopefully robert mueller can help figure it out and share it with us. >> occam's razor. who is the puppet? >>> next, the company that harvested data from millions of facebook users suspends its ceo after another undercover video is released where he touts hi

you not just later today at the white house but this weekend on "sunday today," filling in for willie geist. i'll be hanging with my friend, dylan dreyer. hey, ali. >> the white rhino isn't really white. >> true. >> it is named after the nose they have. that's how you distinguish between a white and black rhino. we've been having this discussion decades. it is devastating that people continue to hunt these. this is one of the saddest pictures. glad you put it up there. >> me, too. >>> we have a busy day. i'll see you later on today. >> sounds good. >> we will have lots to discuss. thanks, hallie. good morning. i'm ali velshi. live in washington. stephanie ruhle is off. it's friday, march 23rd. let's get started. >> john bolton in. h.r. mcmaster out. >> my view is the same as the president's, which he described as the worst deal in american diplomatic history. didn't really expect that announcement this afternoon. >> the president building aggressive national security team. >> the president is assembling a war cabinet. >> i see troubled waters ahead. bolton may have a fuzzy mustache, but he

. >> i want to share what john brennan said today when he spoke to willie geist because it was jarring. >> i think it just demonstrates that he looks at the world through a prix -- a prism of what will help and protect donald trump. that is not what president's are supposed to do. i worked for six presidents and i didn't agree with the policies but they all did what they thought was best for the united states. that is not mr. trump. he is self absorbed and trying to promote his eninterest and protect his flanks. >> this is a fear that people have that the president has yet to put country first. and it is not a big deal that he just wants to make money for his brand but making money for his brand and putting us in a national security crisis or at the very least in harm's way are two different things. >> what is america first according to trump? i don't know what his policy is on russia. all he said is we need them as a partner orn all of the other things and just makes a random list. but let's take north korea for example. whenever he was in his very aggressive total pressure solution a

. >> willie geist, the epitome of public enemy. >> the lawyer representing former porn star stormy daniels battle against president trump joins us here on set next on "morning joe." 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. >>> joining us now, michael avenatti, the lawyer representing stormy daniels whose real name is stephanie clifford. thank you for joining us. good to have you on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> first of all, the appearance on "60 minutes" will happen, correct? as far as you know. >> we hope so. i think the "washington post" reported late yesterday it's slated for the 25th which is a week from this sunday. >> have there been attempts to try and thwart that? >> we're not aware of specific attempts but we'v

. >> senator toomey, willie geist in new york.for you, and you face this uphill battle since you first introduced manchin/toomey years ago and you had your nra rating drop to a c at the time. >> sounds right. >> what is the resistance to this idea you're talking about? words in are the people that are preventing this from moving forward. the idea sounds common sense to a lot of people that there ought to be a background check on private sales, even on a sale at a gun show. what's standing in the way of that happening? >> well, i'll tell you, i think back in 2013 the argument that i heard the most was first of all people -- much of it was misrepresented. when they got to the facts they didn't actually oppose the substance of our bill but they said but it's a slippery slope and we know that president obama really would like to ban whole categories of guns and take away our guns so we shouldn't be moving in that direction. nobody thinks that donald trump is going to come in and try to ban whole categories of guns or confiscate guns s

let's go to willie geist. a lot of people tweeting me this morning asking the question.e way, the building behind you in istanbul looks like the turkish capitol. they're saying joe, what does stormy daniels' estranged mother think of the brouhaha. >> there's breaking news on that this morning. >> well, stormy daniels' estranged mother sheila gregory gave an interview to the "dallas morning news" and she sides, in this argument, with president trump. >> really? >> she's disappointed in her daughter and she says that if president trump ran for president four times she'd vote for him four times. so stormy's mom, team trump. >> who are you looking at willie? >> one of my colleagues in istanbul in the capital. my congressional colleagues. >> when did you get that -- >> "dallas morning news." she's in baton rouge, louisiana. spent the day with her, did a big interview and she says disappointed in her daughter. >> well, there's a not of lose to come with stormy daniels because she did a big interview with "60 minutes" which trump people are trying to block. we've also learned t