along side yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. former trump strategist steve bannon is pledging loyalty to administration after days of condemnation and patrons for harshly critical remarks published in a book. refrained commented which he originally called treasonous and unpatriotic. stating donald trump jr. as patriot and good man. comments were aimed at pal manafort with experience and knowledge of how the russians operation. he should have known their duplicitous, kuning and n cunni friends. i regret that my delay in responding to inaccurate reporting regarding don jr. has diverted attention from the president's historical accomplishments in first year as presidency. this as steven miller denounced former colleague. watch this. >> it's tragic and unfortunate that steve would make these grow task comments so out of touch with reality and affable so v vindicti vindictive. whole white house staff is upset about the comments. reads like an angry vindictive person spouting off to highly unicredited author. all these so call geniuse

alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf is back. after a shocking view, the trump administration spilled out in pages of a new book late last night. lawyer for trump and campaign sent a cease and desist letter to former white house strategist steve bannon. accuses him of breaching agreement with the campaign by communicating with author michael wolf about trump and his family. disclosing confidential information. and quote, making disparaging and in some cases outright defamatory statements to wolf. trump attorney, charles said that bannon's actions give rise to numerous legal glams. legal action is imminent. now the trump campaign has threatened legal action without following through multiple times before. including against the "new york times" and october 2016 against women accusing trump of sexual assault. bannon has not responded to the midnight developments. >>> trying to quell further leaks cracking down on staff. siting multiple aides. staffers have been told they cannot use personal cell phones anymore. told this earlier in

i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian.nd president trump and kim jong-un's schoolyard war of words continues to plunge over new depths with the two bickering, believe it or not, over the size of their nuclear buttons on their desks. despite kim jong-un has tweeted that the nuclear button is on his desk of all times. will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that i too have a nuclear button and it is much bigger and more powerful than one of his. >> sanctions other pressures are beginning to have a big impact on north korea. soldiers are dangerously fleeing to south korea. rocket man wants to talk to south korea for the first time. perhaps that is good news, perhaps not. we will see. and confirming to nbc news that north korea has reopened the border and retains contact. that after high-level talks in panmunjom next tuesday to discuss the olympics. so far, pyongyang has not responded to that offer. however, nikki haley addressed the administration's view of possible discussions yesterday at th

good morning, everyone, it's wednesday, january 10th, i'm ayman mohyeldin with yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. california was reeling from a record-setting wildfire and now the area is being hit once again with heavy rain and mudslides. authorities say 13 people have died after flash flooding sent mud and boulders sliding through neighborhoods. cruise have been sliding through mud, making multiple rescues including this 14-year-old girl, rescue workers looked for her for six hours to dig her out of the mug. her home had been reduced to a pile of rubble. >> to be able to have her come out safely and as unscathed as she was, it's pretty phenomenal, and it was -- it was also amazing that it was just -- it was so hard to hear her. you know, we could have very easily taken two more steps and wouldn't be able to hear her at all. >> joining us from montecito, california, gadi schwartz. videos of images coming out of there, unbelievable to see and see that girl pulled out as that guy said and so unscathed from it. what are you seeing on the ground there, gadi? >> reporter: yeah, such a

i'm yasmin vossoughian along with yayman mohyeldin along with lewis burgdorf.rnment shutdown ended. the political wrangling between lawmakers is only just beginning. casey hunt has more from capitol hill. >> the federal government is open today after senate democrats decided they could trust mitch mcconnell and they are expecting an immigration vote by february 8th. if they can't strike a deal with the president in the meantime. but it sets up a contentious debate with immigration that could have us back where we started in less than three weeks. >> the u.s. government is open for bes. senate democrats taking the deal after a three-day shutdown over protecting the so-called d.r.e.a.m.ers. >> it is a good solution and i will vote for it. >> the government will now stay open for three more weeks, the children's health insurance program fully funded for six more years. >> this immigration debate will have a level playing field at the outset. >> the only real change from sunday? democrats decided to trust mcconnell. after a day filled with anxious questions, federa

i'm just throwing that out there. >>> i'm yasmin vossoughian.ons raised about whether the u.s. is prepared for a nuclear attack following yesterday's frightening scare in hawaii. >>> keeping the dream alive. with five days to go, will congress be able to save daca and avoid a government shutdown? >>> an offensive play. republicans spend their sunday on the defense trying to bail out the president following his derogatory comments about haitian and african immigrants. here we go, everybody. >> secretary, you were in that meeting in the oval office. did the president say that? >> i don't recall him saying that exact phrase. >> i'm telling you he did not use that word, george, and i'm telling you it's a gross misrepresentation. how many times do you want me to say that? >> i didn't hear that either. >> i was in a meeting directly afterwards where those who presented to the president our proposal spoke about the meeting, and they said those words were used before those words went public. >> it's unfair to sort of draw conclusions from a remark that

the news continues now with yasmin vossoughian. >> hello, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. sorry. steve bannon apologizing to the president and his family for comments he made about donald trump jr. in michael wolff's explosive tell-all book, "fire and fury." is he mentally fit? the book also sparking debates about whether president trump is mentally fit for office. we're going to hear from a former trump adviser who's quoted in the book calling the president an expletive fool. and a fast and furious defense. the president and his allies lashing out at the author, calling the book a fake and a pile of trash. lots to cover here. let's get started. >> i would have been delighted to have written a contrarian account here -- donald trump, this unexpected president, is actually going to succeed. okay. that's not the story. he is not going to succeed. >> the book is best understood as a work of very poorly written fiction. and i also will say that the author is a garbage author of a garbage book. >> we have all these, you know, wise ac wiseacres out there wanting to criticize and

i'm yasmin vossoughian and alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. bottom of the hour.art with the top stories. "new york times" reported multiple alleged episodes that special counsel bob mueller is examining on whether or not president trump obstructed justice in the investigation of russian metaling in the 2016 election. the accounts of the episodes are based on documents reviewed by the times as well as interviews with white house officials and others briefed on the investigation. and according to the report, mueller has a piece of evidence that comes from deep inside the trump white house. the special counsel has received handwritten notes from trump's former chief of staff reince priebus showing that trump talked to priebus about how he had called then fbi director comey to urge him to say publically he was not under investigation. the white house has declined to comment on the report. said it is cooperating with the mueller probe. >>> the new book about the trump white house, you may have heard of it. called "fire and fury," nbc news has not independently confirm

i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. we want to start with the big news that developed overnight. source with firsthand knowledge confirms to nbc that donald trump ordered mueller be fired last june. ft. backed down after the white house counsel threatened to resign. according to people told of the matter, "the washington post" went on to say he did not deliver his resignation directly to trump. within the last hour, the president responded to the report as he continues to meet with world leaders in davos, switzerland. take a listen. >> mr. president, why did you want to fire robert mueller? >> fake news, folks, fake news. >> so this after a white house statement from one of the president's lawyers last night who said they declined to comment, quote, out of respect for the office of the special counsel and its process. two sources told "the times" what they saw as three conflicts. first, a dispute years ago over fees at the washington golf club that prompted mueller to resign his membership. >> the president said mueller

alongside yasmin vossoughian. we begin with what appears to be a major breakthrough in diplomacy between north korea. developments are moving fast. on new year's day, kim jong-un suggested talks to possibly send a delegation to the winter olympics in south korea and this morning, the south responded with a proposed date exactly one week from today. now that country's unification minister wants to meet january 9 at shared border village located in the joint security area. this would be the first formal talks between north and south career since december of 2015. south korean president moon jae-in favors dialogue with the north and could be a step to easing nuclear tension. suggested delaying joint military exercises with the united states until after the winter games. that is only part of the reason why the move could drive a wedge between washington and seoul. while kim struck a conciliatory tone with the south, blustery rhetoric against the united states remained. warning america his nuclear weapons can reach the

. >>> welcome back, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. it is the bottom of the hour.rt with the top store riffs. rescue crews in california are racing against the clock to find survivors from the catastrophic mudslides. >> the death toll stands at 17, four are children. that number will continue to climb. miguel almaguer is on the ground with more. >> turn around. the flood is right there. >> reporter: this is the moment. >> get out of here. go! >> reporter: the force of nature arrived. >> oh, my god. >> people think of water like a river. you wouldn't last for two seconds. it's a blender of huge logs and 5 x 5 boulders grinding. >> reporter: somehow they escaped what many others could not outrun. >> i don't know how anybody could survive this. >> reporter: after searching for his mom, josie, he learned her body was recovered overnight. diane brewer lost her best friend. >> i can't imagine such a scene. >> reporter: from above, it looks like a war zone. the coast guard plucking families, even pets where search teams are on the ground and could not reach them. >> repor

that does it for us, i'm yasmin vossoughian, alongside ayman mohyeldin and liouis bergdorf. >> this administrationa. >> i believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. one year of watergate is enough. >> the era of big government is over. >> states like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil. >> the supreme court reversed a century of law that i believe will open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections. >> and tonight, president trump delivers his first state of the union address. amid growing questions about his conduct during the campaign and inside the oval office.

. >>> that does it for us on this thursday morning, i'm yasmin vossoughian, along side ayman mohyeldin bergdorf. >>> when they have no collusion and nobody has found any collusion at any level, it seems unlikely that you would even have an interview. >> to reach a higher standard, you would do it under oath? >> i would do it under oath. absolutely. >> if president trump can't stick to his story when he's talking about talking about an interview, what's going to happen when he actually goes one-on-one with bob mueller? i guess that's possibly a good question. meanwhile three separate anti-mueller narratives pushed by the president's allies, collapsed yesterday on capitol hill. they were good deflections. >> really. >> a deflecto-meter. >> a sound from bugs bunny, wah, wah, wah. i'm still trying, mike, to -- we'll show it in a second, i'm trying to wrap my arms around the fact that a united states senator from wisconsin, would talk about the existence of the secret society inside the fbi that was trying to launch a coup d'etat against the president of the united states. and when pressed

. >> that's it for us, i'm yasmin vossoughian, alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis bergdorf. >>> withe federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the american people. >> maybe that was overlooked in the larger speech, but president trump wants to fire federal workers who aren't seen as trustworthy by his administration. i don't know, sally yates comes to mind, jim comey, bob mueller. the president prepped his state of the union top officials at the white house were reportedly pleading with the white house to stop republicans from releasing a classified memo. at 5:00 p.m. yesterday the white house said the president has not seen or been briefed on the memo or reviewed its contents. five hours later the president -- >> no plans, that's good to know. >> five hours later the

i'm yasmin vossoughian, alongside lewis bergdorf, "morning joe" starts right now. >> i was going to firere was no good time to do it. and in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. >> quote i was going to fire comey, i said to myself you know, this russia thing is a made-up story. this morning, and for the foreseeable future we're going to hear a lot of stories about russia, none of which are made up. we have an nbc news exclusive with significant developments on the growing number of top officials now cooperating with bob mueller's investigation. "the new york times" has reported that attorney general jeff sessions was grill fodor hours last week. and a piece in the "washington post" that says the president asked the acting fbi director how he voted in the 2016

. >>> welcome back, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. it is the bottom of the hour.ump administration says it is in full cooperation with the justice department's probe in the 2016 election. yesterday, president trump showed reluctance when asked about reports he might have to answer questions. >> in the next few weeks, robert mueller will ask for an interview with you as part of wrapping up his investigation. are you open to meeting with him? would you be willing to meet with him without condition or would you demand that a strict set of parameters set around you and the special counsel. >> again, john, there has been no collusion between the trump campaign and russians, no collusion. we'll see what happens. >> would you be open? >> we'll see what happens. when they have no collusion and nobody has found collusion at any level, it seems unlikely you would have an interview. >> but, last night, an official familiar with the negotiations told nbc news the logistics and scope of a presidential interview are under discussion and being worked out. the president's respons

i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian.nd president trump and kim jong-un's schoolyard war