In time when man is presented with one chance that may never be repeated. What will he choose . Good day. Im Kristen Welker in for Andrea Mitchell who is on her way back from singapore. President tr that sum milt mit as a major policy. While the president sells the agreement at home, his top diplomat is reassuring allies that substantive discussions are ongoi ongo joining me is Richard Engel and jeff bennett. So far to reporters its been that north korea understands there will be indepth verification. He also says hes very optimistic that they will agree to major disarmament. How do you think that will go over where you are right now and what do you make of secretarys message . Reporter officially the south korean government is getting on board. There was a statement from the government here saying that it understands that the cancelling of the joint military exercises may have been necessary in order to support the talks toward denuclearization. Youre seeing the south korean government which is very closely allies with the United States. Tryi to make sure theres no distanceenit. There was a lot of surprise here, a by of annoyance that they werent consulted. Wanting to know was it really over . Would these military exercise vs to be scaled down. Wanted to know what the intention was. Today trying to put the best foot forward saying they understand why they might need to be postponed or cancelled. I think they are trying to smooth over a diplomatic embarrassment. I think you captured an important part of what we saw yesterday. We saw that on capitol hill as well. What the Vice President said to lawmakers on capitol hill to ease some of their concerns reporter i may have lost you. Jeff, i know youve been working your sources and spoke with kellyann conway today. Whats the messaging from the white house . Reporter kellyann conway as other Administration Officials to include mike pom ppeo say calling off these exercises set the right condition for these talks to move forward. Nt has been tweeting about it calling the exercises war games. Taking a line from kim jongun calling it defensive. It was a couple of months ago that the president signed the spending bill. The president touted it as a blessing to the military saying that troops would finally be unburdened by these budgetplain cost. People in a position to know how much these drills cost relative to overall defense spending cant put a number on it. Cant tell us in large party because the military doesnt break out those specific numbers. He said its not a burden on the american taxpayer to have a Forward Deployed force in south korea. He said it brings stablility to the region and sends signal to china they cant take over the entire region. Among those saying they would like to have a briefing from secretary pompeo on capitolhi thank you jeff and richard for all of that reporting. Really appreciate it. Maryland democratic senator joins me to discuss all of this. Thaupg for joining me. Really appreciate it. Bottom line, says north korea derstands there needs to be a verification process. Hes hopeful they will achieve nuclear disarmament. Do you take him at his word or do you think the Trump Administration is too easer to trump north korea . Hope does not equal reality. North leaders he wanted to have psaa summit meeting on world stage. They got heaps of praise from President Trump. What did we got . We so far have gotten a vague commitment to something north korea has comed before which is denuclearization. No details on how were going to ve and how were going togo abo line. The jury is still out on the things that we want but the north koreans have already gotten some of the thi o the suspension of the joint military exercint e u. S. Need to put something on the table in order to move thes discussions forward . In other words, isnt this part of negotiating, senator . Negotiating m you get someth exchange for giving somethg up. Whats not clear is what we got. The summit meeting wo ining was that kim jongunsather had bef. Just having that photo op was a win for north korea. Then we put on the table suspended the joint military exercises. Im looking for what did we get. Were all hoping as secretary pompeo said theres nothing there but when y something le and meaningful you get something tangible and meaningful in return. There was a sense that prior to these talks and just the discussion of the foultalking happening that tensions wererea. Today President Trump tweeting that everybody can feel safer. Didsident walk usack from the brink . Well, look, as we all know President Trump contributed mightingly to raising the temperature and now so hes got a photo op which the north koreans wanted. Has the temperature gone down, yes. Has the n arsenal gone down . Zero. Theyre Still Producing nuclear material. They still have the same number of missiles. Its delusional for the president to say the Nuclear Threat is gone awayn the last 48 howeveurs. Its always good to lower the temperature but the president didnt have to raise the temperature so high to begin with. This notion that we needed to do that to bring the north koreans to the table when the north koreans have wanted to come to the table with the United States for a very long timehe nonsense. You talk about raising the temperature which brings me to how the president is explaining a part of his strategy. He said it was sanctions and hes saying he needed to engage in some of that tough talkt was shaly criticized. I want to play an execerpt from an interview he did overnight. Said something very bad ilence. And very threatening and horrible just dont answer. Thats not the answer. Thats not what you have to do. I think the rhet hated to do it, sometimes i felt foolish doing it but we had no choice. Does he have a point . Does he speak kim jonguns rhetoric and that got him to the table . We didnt have to get him to the table. Hes wanted to come to the table long an american presi a i do support the maximum Economic Pressure Campaign the purpose is to squeeze north korea so they make real meaningful concessions. Senator was the rhetoric part of that maximum Pressure Campaign . Was that potentially a key part of that campaign, do you think . I do not think so. What matters to the north korean korean being sqezed economically and i do think those sanctions have been important. They have been supported in a bipartisan basis. In fact, senator toomey and i passed the ban committee, sanctions tof you were the the secondary sanctions component. Make sure we punish other countries like clie thhina the administration opposed having a vote to further streions. You have strisan pport in the congress. I should say one of the consequences of the summit meeting and were hoping good things will come from it. One of the consequences isand o about relaxing t economic sanctions which have put pressure on north korea and which we hope will bear fruit. If you pull back from those sanctions youre going to lose all the leverage youve got. All right. Thank you so much for your insights. Still ahead, trumps way or the highway. What last nights primaryesult say about the sta of the Republican Party. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. Summer is com and its time. Ad with the lelection audiobooks. Audible ouloplot twists off theten track. Or discover magic when you hit the open road. With the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. And for just 14. 95 a month you get a credit, for any audiobook. If you dont like it exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you donm. Soaudible with you this summer. On the road. On the trail. Or start is free. Trialir auk cancel anytime, an ato keep forever. No matter where you is sumr make it better with audible. Text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. On the russia investigation. Former attorney Michael Cohen, former attorney for the president is splitting with his legal team. Msnbc legal analyst danny savallas joins me. What do we know . Michael cohens attorneys are withdrawing or separating from Michael Cohen. En this happens its important to remember that this could be for a number of different reasons. Theres situations where attorneys can voluntarily withdraw. Theres situations where nay Must Withdraw under the rules of ethics. It can be for reasons like nonpayment. An ir retrievable break down of communication. It could be another reason. Another possibility is an attorney cannot counsel any future crime. Thats one of many instances that warrant an attorneys withdrawal from represen one of the theories in this case is that Michael Cohen may be changing his strategy in whatever way he thinks is necessary. Is that a possibility as well . What were seeing here is a classic example of the federal governments war of economic attrition against ndants. Michael cohen, if he does erate, he will be like many others before him. For the first year of the investigation of prosecution claim i will never cooperate. I will stay strong and i will go to trial. After maybe a year or so of draining their Economic Resources or even being incarcerated prior to trial, many defendants after time to think about it and to think about their potential exposure at sentencing, eventually end up singing a different tune. President trump tweeted several that he doesnt expect Michael Cohen so flip. Who is Michael Cohen . Why is he sonificantent . Michael cohen is significant for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that he was someone who considered himself a fixer and very close. Pud o being very close to the president. The theory would be that if someone knows where all the hypothetical bodies are buried, it would be Michael Cohen. The other concern that someone like trump should have is that whenitnesses cooperate, they are under atremendous incentive to give the government a story that the governmentds useful. Otherwise the government wont offer them a deal. The complaint that Defense Attorneys like me have about the cooperating witness process is the story or out right lying to or u. S. Attorneys in other words to secure the best deal possible. Ultimately, many of these cooperating witnesses they pledge their loyalty to their friend or someone like mr. Trump but ultimately when they think about their wife and children and federal prison, that feeling changes. Danny, quickly before i let you go just to remind folks, President Trump was infuriated after investigators raided the office and residences of Michael Cohen. One of the things they are look at is that alleged pay out to porn star stormy daniels. President trump, the white house, have denied there was any type of affair. This is separate from the russia investigation, correct . It is. Thats why we see a separate branch, so to speak, of the u. S. Attorneys handling the cohen investigation. Robert mueller must have believed whatever he saw that cohen was involved in was outse the purview of his original mandate. Thats why the Southern District of new york, an entity separate from the mueller team is investigating Michael Cohen now. If hes ever arrested and chd wi a crime, it will not be directly related to the russia investigation and what muellers team is investigating separately. Cohen might find himself ensnared in that investigation as well. So much for all o that information on that break news. Really appreciate it. Joining me now is ron clain and michael steele. We dont know what this breaking news mean. We know that Michael Cohen seems to be seeking new legal representation. Potentially, i w stresspoy,h huge deal for this investigation. Michael cohen is one of the few people who had senior roles in the campaign and Trump Organization prior to trumps decision to run forpresident. He not only knows where the bodies are buried but also the year prior to that. The president said you cannot investigate that portion of my life and my business. We know the president is just back from this is one of the scopes of the legal Cloud Holding over him. Michael cohen is not his personal attorney. Hes his perso coconspirator. A federal judge went through every piece of paper and found that less than 1 were legal matters. 99 were him helping donald trump build trump power moscow. It came out t ivanka trump sent russian contacts to Michael Cohen. Michae cohen is at the center of this not as a lawyer but a Business Partner and a fixer for donald trump and that evidence is something donald trump should worry about. Before we switch topic, the president tng what happened in singapore as a big victory and now you know political speaking this overshadows that to some extent. I think that investigation overshadows his presidency. It did last week. It will this week and the week after and the week after. Trumpather than shying s to audiocassette about it. He brings it into the political dialogue. I think that also magnifies the political impact. The other thing hes tng about, the upset for republican congressman ousted by his challenger. President trump slammed sanford in a tweet taking aim at his highly extramarital affair. That was back in 2009. Sanford a vocal critic of the president. The move unscoring the critical test for republican candidates in the fall. Cross President Trump at your own peril. Every cycle we use candidates. If youre not on board with trump and you criticize him, yo youll be out. They see the good economy and prospect of a better relationship with north korea. A lot of things hes supportive. Hes keeping his promise to dismantle the obama legacy. He didnt run a good campaign. He lost with a ton of cash on hand. He didnt take his opponent seriously. He almost lost two years ago without the president intervene ng t in the race. A lot of factors. Bob corker is a trump critic. Not seeking reelection. Still, take a listen. I want to say we have a lot of people who are willing to do the things they feel are right for our country. We have some who are fearful of upsetting the president. It would mostly the leadership. Its not a good place for us to be. To have an administration that wakes up every day and making stuff up as they go along, with no coherency to it, i think us having to way inhatld cause them to have to think about what theyre doing versus well, im upset with x today so ill do this. Your reaction to that. Senator corker, now tt hes retired is speaking out about it. He still votes with President Trump pretty reliably. The Republican Party is Donald Trumps party. Theres no question about that. The question is how do they stand up. Last night we had only one actual election in america. A final result, a special election in wisconsin for state senate seat. A districtonald trump won by 18 points in 2016, a democrat won last night. That says people may not be happy with where the Trump Administration is headed. Thankou so much. Comi up, indictment expected. New reports on Michael Cohens future and the russia igation. Man 1 this is my body of proof. Woman 1 proof of less joint pain. Woman 2 . And clearer skin. Woman 3 this is my body of proof. Man 2 proof that i can fight psoriatic thri woman 4 . With humira. Woman 5 humira targets and blocks a specific source of infn ontributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the 1 prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. Avo humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious,ometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serioulergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas whern fungal infections common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symp or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Woman 6 need more proof . Woman 7 ask your rheumatologist about humira. Man 1 whats your body of proof . Woman 7 ask your rheumatologist about humira. I knew something had to be done. What i saw was despair. Hurricane sandy really woke people up, to showing that we need to invest in this community. I knew having the right partner we could turn this place around. It was only one bank that could finance a project this difficult and this large, and that was citi. Preserving Affordable Housing preserves communities. So we are doing their kitchens and their flooring and their lobbies and the grounds. And the beautification of their homes, giving them pride in where they live, will make this a Thriving Community once again. At if a people that share a common and Rich Heritage can find a common future. Their story is well known. But what will be their sequel . Destiny pictures presents a story of opportunity. A new story, a new beginning. One of peace. Two men, two leaders, one destiny. This slick hollywood like action trailer is produced by the white house, was shown during the singapore summit in an effort to win over north koreas leader, but did it work . And what are the implications . Joining me is Jake Sullivan former advisor for Hillary Clintons campaign. Jake, have you ever seen anything like that video we just played a clip of . I cant say i have. That was definitely a first for me. At a minimum you have to give the trump administratiministerm for creativity. Well see if it ends up having it appears in singapore it didnt generate any practical outcomes or practical concessions from kim. When youre dealing with someone as bizarre as kim, a bizarre film may not be the wrong thing to throw out there. It is possible the president is trying to speak kim jonguns language or could this backfire . Im sure the intentions are good. How do we reach this young, isolatedader . Pompeo been the only american to meet him twice. How can we give him a different view of the future. Its an odds film. It snacks a bit of a slick propaganda film. I think it backfired on the administration. The other thing is it puts donald trump and kim jongun in the centerpiece of video. No mention of a man named moon jae. South koreans have much more in stake of this. This is not just about us. They were caught off guard by the president saying hes halting mihalt ing military exercises. What does he need to do . How big is his burden now . We have to steer this to a different place. Take focus off President Trump. Secretary burns brings up the chinese who heard about the fact the president was halting those joint military exercises and from their perspective that was a win. A win for russians as well, right . Of all the people who benefitted from this summit, chinese president probably benehe most. He gets an american president to commit that were going to stop doing something the chinese dont like, be joint military kperdss. Ghets an person predent to float the possibility of pulling u. S. Troops off the Korean Peninsula which is chinese would like to see. He has the pressure alleviated china of enforcing the sanctions because President Trump is all but inviting the rest of the world to engage more directly with north korea and kim jongun. He has the possibility of their being ratcheted up tensions reduced. Its all good for china. Its good for north korea. For the United States its not clear that we really got anything in the way of concrete steps toward denuclearization. No timeo verification. Nothing that suggests that hes even approaching let alone exceeding what the north koreans mised the past. You have to score this as a win for china. We all woke up to some tweets this morning from trump who is beginning his sales pick on this deal. One of them really raised some eyebrows. He tweeted just landed a long trip but everybody can feel much sayer than the day i took office. Theres no longer a Nuclear Threat from north korea. No longer a Nuclear Threat in. Still a. [ inaudible question ] Nuclear Threat. They are still a threat to japan and the United States. The president should feel proud of the fact hes turned this toward diplomacy. Hell overselling it. Theres months and years ahead of us. Were no longer close of being free of a north korea Nuclear Threat. Its about verification. Thats one of the key things that the secretary needs to secure now. He is telling south korea that will happen. Thats right. He said we need a complete verifiable and reversible process of a nuclear apparatus. They didnt get that yesterday. Theres a lot of work here. Were talking about 2019 or0 if theres going be an agreement. It will be lots of set backs along the way. All right. Thank you so much for a great conversation. Really appreciate it. We have more now on our breaking news on the russia investigation. Msnbc media and politics contributor cherman is reports that Michael Cohen is expected to be indicted at any moment. I want to start with you. What can you tell us . My reporting does line up with gabes reporting. I spoke to a source close to Michael Cohen a couple minutes ago and taying that Michael Cohen expects to be arrested pretty soon. He expects to be arrested because his lawyer sa e front got a call from lawyers saying they were preparing paper work. They are expecting that to happen at some point. Theres also reporting that Michael Cohen has ditched his two current attorneys. The source i spoke with said expecting to do that and that is imminent. Hes also lining up another atrney thats more suited for his personal case. A white collar attorney thats more suited to defend him. There is some speculation out there from a number of reports that Michael Cohen could be cooperating with sdny. We do not have that. All sources we have spoken with indicate that currently is not happening. Ive been speaking to a number of people who know Michael Cohen well and they believe, they are speculating here, they believe thats a smoke sign to President Trump. Warning, be considering cooperating with the sdny. We will see. That is what is being discussed right now. I want to bring in game sherman. Tell me what your sources are telling you that Michael Cohen is bracing for potentially being indicted. This is a fast moving story and dove tales on something i reported yesterday which is that in recent days cohen has been telling people that he expected to be arrested at anyoment and one day to point to is it was 12 weeks after Paul Manaforts office and home were raided when charges were filed and been about nine weeks since the sdny and the fbi raided cohens hotel room and office. This sort of felt the noose closing in. As katie and others pointed out, there is talk about him cooperating. My reporting hes not made a decision to flip yet but hes thinking about it. Theresomes to some sort of stra tee Strategic Communication going on and he might be trying to signal to the president he feels abandoned and needs some sort of legal reprieve as inindictments seem to be coming ooze ear as early as tomorrow. What do you make of all of these developments . The fact you have Michael Cohen looking for new legal representati representation. How significant is all of this . The change in lawyers could mean a lot of different things. It could just mean he has some irreconcilable differences with these lawyers ort too expensive. Im not sure that alone signals anything. If hes about to be indicted, they havent reached an agreement with him. One that getsorked out by the lawyers. We saw that in the case of orge papadopoulos and mike flynn. A preindictment pa agreement and an agreed upon statement of the offense. If instead prosecutors are gng to grand jury to seekindieans t proeshl have not been successful negotiating a plea. Once someone is indicted and see what the penalties are, that does raise the stakes and put additional pressure on them to cooperate. The big question around mich has been if ghhe gets pressured by prosecutors, would he flip. Theres been aed lot of debate for months. I want to remind our viewers of a tweet from President Trump. He tweeted michael is a bun for his own account lawyer who ive always liked and respected. Most people will flip if the government lets them out of trouble even if it means lying or making up trouble. Sorry, i dont see Michael Cohen doing that despite the horrible witch hunt and the dishonest media. Bet betsy, what do you make of these developments and as a political maor President Trump. It puts more pressure on the white house. Its manager that will be causing a lot friction among white house aides. The possibility that someone who knows where all the bodies, if there are bodies, are buried. Somebody familiar with the president s personal finances could be on the cusp of working with federal prosecutors. Its something that will deeply concern people in the white house. The news thats coming out is good news for the Southern District of north korea. Prosecutors love cay yohaochaos. They love seeing the people scramble, have to make have to look to change who is helping them in middle of an investigation. That is evidence of more oe stress, more of the friction that Michael Cohen is under and thats good news for the sdny. Barbara weigh in on that. How is the sdny viewing all of this . Im not sure that prosecutors love chaos. I think they prefer continuity. A change in lawyers sometimes cause challenges. I think they will mlly move forward. Id be surprised if indict or issue their final indictment until after they have seen the results of that search of Michael Cohens office. It seems prosecutors would want to see all to have that before they make final decisions. You can supercede on an indictment later. One strategy could be to indict now and Michael Cohen and every one knows additional charges could be coming unless he decides to cooperate. Katie, you have been covering esident trump since the very beginning since he first announced his campaign. We all saw him react so angrily on that day that Michael Cohens office space and residences were raided by the fbi. It was one of the real inflection points, i would say when we saw the president s rage unleashed. What do you think hes thinking right now . What kind of reaction are you cti ing expecting . President trump just back from singapore. I just talked to somebody who works forhe ent. I asked them that very question. Will the president be upset about this. That person said no. I said hold on. Weve seen him be publicly upset about Michael Cohen. He said sure. In looking at what happened in the campaign theres no reason for anybody to believe that michael did aing wrong in regards to the campaign. The president doesnt have anything to worry about in that regard. Its what Michael Cohen might have done outside of the campaign as a back door potentially or what he might have done in his personal business or what he might have from the Trump Organization that could potentially be worrying the president. This source was very adamant there was nothing that the campaign had that could hurt the president in regards to Michael Cohen. Look at the reaction from the president in that cabinet meeting. He was very angry and folks around and in trump world thought that was the president sending a signal to Michael Cohen saying dont worry. Ive got your back. Hes been relatively silent on this except for popping off a few times on twitter. Now those people believe Michael Cohen is now trying to send a signal back to the president. Hey, where are you . Why arent you on my side any longer . Fyi, the pressure is getting pretty strong here. I dont know what i might do. Obviously that is all speculation. That is from folks who know Michael Cohen well and worked for a long time with michael choen and understand the relationship that Michael Cohen has with the president. What are you hearing from the cohen camp about these points that katie is making . What i learned this morning is a source with direct knowledge told me cohen has not seen any charges yet. There seems to be, this is a swift moving story, there seems to be game of brinksmanship going on. Cohen told a source of mine that he wants to wait to see what the sdny comes up in terms of cha l charges before he makes his decision to cooperate. By sending this signal before an indictment come, it seems to be to send a signal to the white house but the other signal its sending is to the sdny, like you better have something good. Ive not made up my mind yet. If youre going to get me to flip, you have to have some pretty significant leverage over me. He may thinking that the sdny doesnt have the goods or if they do, he wants to wait and see to keep his options open. I kno rushed in with all this breaking news were getting. Let me read a statement from michael avenatti. He says our understanding is squint with the reporting that the abandonment of mr. Cohen by mr. Ryan is a disaster for mr. Cohen and for mr. Trump. Gabe, what do you make of that . Clearly hes selfinterested source. He wants to paint this clearly many most negative light possible. To advance his own legal case. Avenatti has been a thorn in the side of this president for months now. He has been able the drive this story. Keep the pressure on the white house. Hes saying this will be bad fo out of hand. Betsy youve been doing some reporting. The president s attor have been in contact with some of the other attorneys who are roped up in all of this investigation particularly as it tes to the mueller probe. Thats right. They have a joint Defense Agreement which is pretty common. It lets lawyers share information. Wh your clients recollection of the event and all those conversations are protected by privilege. Joint Defense Agreements tend to annoy prosecutoecause any time theres additional cooperation or information sharing between the people theyre going afte thats something that can sometimes make their jobs slightly harder. Its all above board. Its permitted. It shows for very much the white house sees this as a team effort as something thats involved in all the key players. Trying stay ahead of curve on the fast moving developments. Thank you. Really appreciate all of your reporting and fantastic insights. Thank you. Coming up, the contndsers. Inside president obamas secret meeting with 2020 hopefuls. Prepare for your demise, mr. Y do your worst, doctor. I will. But first, a little presentation. Hijacking earths Geothermal Energy supply. Phase 1. Choosing the right drill bit. As long as evil villains reveal their plans, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Oscar mayer deli fresh ham has no added nitrates, nitrites or artificial preservatives. Now deli fresh flavor is for everyone. Like those who like. Sweet. Those who prefer heat. And those who just love meat. Oscar mayer deli fresh. A fresh way toeli. According to politico, president obama quietly has been sanders, Elizabeth Warren and only possible 2020 candidates. Some hopefuls appeared as a progressive summit in washington where we find msnbc reporter mike. Youve gotten to talk to some of the 2020 hopefulss what are they telling you . Reporter good morning, kristen. Weve talked onair a about last nights primary elections ahead of this years midterms. Im going way past that in talking about 2020 and early stages of what could be a very large fi terms of the democratic primary for 2020. This morning we had what im calling speed dating with the senators. We had its calmed we the people forum. Basically coalition of a lot of forces in the Resistance Movement. Labor unions, planned parenthood, move on, bringing candidates and issuing a challenge. To talk to this very important audiencee representing that array of the Resistance Movement not just about what donald trump is doing but their message, vision for the future of the democratic party. Senator cory booker, kirsten gillibrand, pamela harris, bernie sanders, not a democrat, as well as Elizabeth Warren. That will keep you busy throughout the day. Mike memoily. And waiting to see what former have the joe biden does. Author of the new book first in line president s, vicepresident s and the pursuit of power. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. One of the big revelations in your book, not a big revelation or a big surprise but you go indepth, the extent to which former president obama, former Vice President joe biden, are talking about 2020. Theyve started this conversation. Yes. And i was really surprised that joe biden and mike pence are talking and at lea once a month that biden is acting as a conduit for foreign leaders and told me he speaks to about a dozen worried about trump and puts them in touch with pence saying trump doesnt have the bandwidth to deal with Foreign Affairs so talk to pence. I think its unusual to see this level of outreach from a Vice President to former vicepresident s and you dont see trump obviously doing that with obama. Well, one of the points that you make in your book, the extent to which mike pence is walking a very fine line. In some of his public comments, for example, but also in private. Let me read you from your book, you write, even top aides at mid pence is loyal to a fa sometimes ding by and defending trump even when it jeopardizes his own rep dautati and could cost him what he wants more than anything. The presidency. How had se navigating this, kate, and the one Vice President who didnt sit down and talk to you . That speaks volumes. Really. You know, its very strange to me hes walking this tightrope, obviously, effusive in his praise of donald trump but his aides worries sometimes its over the top, joe arpaio, for example, jeopardizing his future and looking to 2024, maybe sooner, they joke. Never know. Positioning him, and he got rid of some of his loyal indiana aides and replaced them with washington political types like nick heiairs, someone very connected who,solates him but keeps him safe from scrutiny and doesnt let him talk to a lot of people. Your past book focused and first ladies. An intersection in the book. Melania trump was sort of a person who said, look, pence is the type o perso we need for then candidate trumps Vice President ial nominee, because no drama. Doesnt come with baggage. Her word for it was clean. A decisive voice. Surprising. I dont think people think of her weighing in on politics at all. We need a clean v. P. And trump had Michael Flynn on his list. Newt gingrich, chris christie. She recognized her husband doesnt need more baggage and illustrates her roam. Thanks for being here. And coming up, family matters, epa chief scott pruitt used his position to get his wife yet another job. Craig melvin has much more ahead and breaking news as we head to break. We are learning that larry kudlow, the economic adviser for the president , has been discharged from the hospital after suffering what the white attack. Newsthere. A minor heart everyone wishing a speedy recovery. Stay with us. En. When i found out i had agerelated macular degeneraon, amd, i wanted to fight back. My doctor and i came up with a plan. It includes preservision. Only Preservision Areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. Thats why i fight. Because its my vision. Preservision. Try areds 2 multivitamin. You always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed . M lets get someone to say it with a really low voice. Carl . Lowest price guaranteed. What about the worlds lowest limbo stick . How low can you go . Nice one, carl. Hey ive got an idea. Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Badda book. Badda boom. Nice. Always the lowest price, guaranteed. Book now at choicehotels. Com todays Senior Living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. And theres never been an easier way to get great advice. A place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. A place for mom. You know your family we know Senior Living. Together well make the right choi man 1 this is my body of proof. Woman 1 proof of less joint pain. Woman 2 . And clearer skin. Woman 3 this is my body of proof. Man 2 proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis. Woman 4 . With humira. Woman 5 humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skinymptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, d clear skin in many adults. Humira is the 1 prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. Avo humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Woman 6 need more proof . Woman 7 ask your rheumatologist about humira. Man 1 whats your body of proof . And that does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. Craig melvin is up next right here on msnbc and craig, i hand off a very busy news cycle to you, my friend. Indeed it is. Good to see you Kristen Welker. Craig melvin at msnbc headquarters in new york. Following eaking news. A legal split. Trumps longtime personal lawyer and defender Michael Cohen plans to ditch his legal team. Talk to a reporter who has sources saying cohen expects to be indicted. Also, drain the swamp. Even more news about who else. Scott pruitt. This time he reportedly asked a top aide to reach out to republican donors who might hook his wife up with a job. And trumped. Another blow to a republican who has spoken out against the president. Mark sanford voted out of office last night and emphasizes yet