Transcripts For MSNBCW First Look 20190221

Good morning, everybody. It is thursday, february 21st. Ammann is on assignment and did get caught up in that Winter Weather yesterday. After nearly two years, the justice is reportedly preparing for the end of Robert Muellers investigation. People familiar with the discussions tell the Washington Post that doj officials believe muellers confidential report could be issued in the coming days. Several fiofficials have also td msnbc news that he is preparing to submit a final report. The newly sworn in bill barr will decide what will be made available to the congress and the public. At this point, it is impossible to say how long that process could actually take. And President Trump was asked by reporters yesterday whether muellers report should be made public. Heres what he had to say. Mr. President , should the Mueller Report be released while youre abroad next week . That will be totally up to the new attorney general. Hes a tremendous man, a tremendous person who really respects this country and respects the Justice Department. So thatll be totally up to him. Should it be public . Should the report become public, do you think . I guess from what i understand that will be totally up to the attorney general. Okay . And former acting fbi direct for Andrew Mccabe claims he have fired for opening a counterintelligence investigation into President Trump. But mccabe made four, quote, lack of candor offenses, it was said. I think Andrew Mccabe has made a fool out of himself over the last couple of days. He looks like a poor mans j. Edgar hoover. I think its a disaster. And what he was trying to do is terrible. And he was caught. Im very proud to say we caught him. So well see what happens, but he is a disgraced man. He was terminated not by me. He was terminated by others, the ig report was a disaster. A disaster from his standpoint. Anybody reading the ig report would say how could a man like this be involved with the fbi. But mccabe says President Trump could not distance himself from his public calls for his firing. And even claimed there is evidence of the private pressure to have him removed. I have seen the letter that the president wrote purportedly himself justifying the firing of jim comey. What does it say . In a rambling fourplus pages, it goes through all the Different Reasons why he is firing the director of the fbi. Im not going to go through all of those with cryou, but one ise claims to want to fire the fbi because of his failure to fire me. In it it includes his desire to fire him in part because he deployed you as his deputy . Thats correct. Jims failure to fire me is cited as a reason the president is firing jim. And that letter was written before you were interviewed by the inspector general, correct . That is correct. House democrats are set to take action to try and block President Trumps Emergency Declaration for his border wall led by congressman Joaquin Castro of texas. Democrats plan to file tomorrow to put pressure on republicans when it comes to the wall. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is throwing her efforts behind castros efforts sending a letter to both House Democrats and republicans last night. Inviting lawmakers to cosponsor the legislation. The resolution is expected to pass the house and may get enough republican support to pass the gopled senate. Yesterday republican senator Susan Collins of maine said she is likely to back a straightforward congressional resolution that disapproves of trumps action. Vladimir putin is ratcheting up tensions between moscow and washington after warning the Trump Administration of russia potentially targeting the u. S. With new hypersonic missiles. Putin made the announcement yesterday in moscow. In his speech the russian president said such action could happen if the Trump Administration deploys new missiles in europe. It marks the latest saber rattling by russia after the u. S. Announced earlier this month it was pulling out of the Nuclear Force treaty. It was exiting the cold war era agreement because russia was raising fears of a new arms race. According to state media, putin told lawmakers putin was ready for talks on disarmament issues but added, quote, we wont knock on the closed door anymore. After a Washington Post report that the president is considering getting rid of dan coates over disagreements on north career, he said he has not considered the intelligence chi chiefs future. Take a listen. Are you considering replaces dan coats . I havent even thought about about it. Democrat adam schiff was among the lawmakers supporting coats. And the New York Times is responding to the president s latest attack. That raised new questions about obstruction of justice. The president tweeted this. The New York Times reporting is false. They are a true enemy of the people. Times publisher responded saying this in part. The phrase enemy of the people is not just false, its dangerous. It has an ugly history of being wielded by dictators and tyrants who sought to control public information. And it is particularly reckless coming from someone whose office gives him broad powers to fight or imprison the nations enemies. As i have repeatedly told President Trump facetoface, there are mounting signs that this incendiary rhetoric is encouraging threats and violence against journalists at home and abroad. Joining me to talk about this story and other stories, associate news editor and reporting from axios ailina trailer. Thank you for joining us. The big news this morning and over the last couple of hours or so is this possibility that we could see something with regards to the Mueller Report in about a week or so. That the Mueller Investigation could very well be wrapping up. We have talked about this before, but this seems like the most steadfast line that this could actually be happening. What are you hearing about this anticipated release . Well, it is hard to make predictions. It does appear a lot of signs are pointing to a confidential report could be released by special counsels office as early as next week. I think the details to remember here is what will be made public. And we dont have the breadth of knowledge the intelligence counsel does. So we dont know what details may actually be made clear in that final report. And again, what will be made public. But this is what the Trump Administration and a lot of people have been hoping for originally. They thought this would be wrapped up by the end of twvr20. Clearly its well into 2019. Next week theyre really hoping by the time this report has come out like already weve seen a lot of the meat from this investigation. We had six Trump Associates and advisers close to the president. At least the campaign have pleaded guilty to Something Like this. Theyre hoping that by next week they kind of wash their hands of this. And, you know, of course therell be some sort of political fire storm, but we could see something as early as next week. So lets talk about that, what you just brought up. The political fire storm that could ensue after the release or lack thereof of this Mueller Report. What could we see coming out of washington after this thing is released if, in fact, it happens next week or whenever it does happen . Well, so a lot of people close in the white house as well as conservatives are hoping that the sort of campaign that the president and his administration have done trying to discredit this investigation, to discredit the Mueller Investigation as well as the Justice Department as a whole will tamper some of the expectations that were going to see out of this. And i think that a lot of democrats who initially put kind of all their eggs in the mueller basket are starting to recognize some of the other informations that they have in their back pocket. Were seeing oversight from House Democrats. The House Intelligence Committee is launching a series of investigations. I think the Southern District certify new york investigation thats going on looking at the president s finances and the finances of the Trump Organization could be more damaging than this Mueller Report. I think if you put all of that into context, not trying to put all of the political rami ramifications of the Mueller Investigation just on that. All right. Thank you. Im going to talk to you in a little bit again. In an almost unbelievable turn of events, there are new developments in the case of Jussie Smollett. Hes facing charges this morning for allegedly filing a false Police Report claiming he was the victim of a hate crime attack. According to the chief Communications Officer for the chicago police, felony criminal charges have been approved by the Cook County State Attorneys Office and democrats are working to contact smolletts team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest. He filed a Police Report in chicago on the 29th of january claiming he had been assaulted by two masked men who shouted racist and homophobic slurs. He said they also put a rope around his neck and poured a white substance on him. Smollett could face pro bags or up to three years in prison if convicted. He is due in court for a bond hearing this afternoon. Smolletts attorneys have responded to the charges with a statement reading in part, quote, like any other citizen, smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence and that his team plans to mount an aggressive defense. Wow. Quite a turn of events there. Still ahead, a u. S. Coast guard officer and admitted White Nationalist is under arrest this morning accused of plotting a massive domestic terror attack. We have the details about that chilling story. Plus a look at the massive winter storm moving across the country causing travel and commuting trouble for millions of americans. Meteorologist bill karins is going to have a full check of the forecast. Going to have a full check of the forecast clapping every day, visionaries are creating the future. so, every day, we put our latest technology and vast expertise to work. the United States Postal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, affordably and ontime. ringing the future only happens with people who really know how to deliver it. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Does your customers connecting to the wifi ever slow down your business . Yes, it does slow things down. Aggravating. Its a nightmare. So our gigspeed network is fast. And we go beyond fast by making it easy to create separate networks for your business and your customers and even control how much bandwidth each of those gets. So your business wont miss a beat. This is a big game changer. This is the new wave, and whoever doesnt get on, i think they would be left behind. Just one more way we go beyond at t. Right now get fast, reliable internet and add wifi pro for a low price. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Welcome back. A lieutenant in the coast guard is facing domestic terrorism charges for allegedly planning to carry out a mass killing spree. Christopher paul hasan was arrested on drug charges. He had been cultivating a stockpile of weapons and ammo since 2017 with plans to launch a widespread attack on prominent democratic lawmakers and several highprofile journalists. A search of his Silver Spring maryland home found 15 guns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition according to court documents. Prosecutors say hasan had embraced extremist views for years and began following the manifesto of anders breivik, the white supremacist norwegian terrorist. Prosecutors claim on the same day he compiled a list of targets, he google searched phrases what if trump legally impeached, best place in d. C. To see congress people, and civil war if trump impeached. A federal Law Enforcement officer tells nbc news those searches on his computer threw up a red flag for the coast guard. Joining me here on set, danny se value low. A lot of developments here with this terrifying story. What could he be facing right now . I think as is in the filing. The charges at this stage appear to be just the beginning of charges terrorismrelated charges. I believe these charges were probably for the purpose of getting him off the street and getting him into court and getting him detained. Thats going to happen today. Hes entitled to a detention hearing and the government has to show by clear and convincing evidence that no condition will ensure the safety of you and i and the rest of the community if hes allowed to remain out on bail. They must have seen something they felt they had to move quickly, get him arrested, get him into court. I think what well see rolling out is more evidence. Because right now its just possession of a firearm by someone believed to be an addict. And possession of a controlled substance. I think given that stockpile those photos youre looking at right now. Drugs and guns and ammunition, i expect were going to see more charges coming soon. This was pretty serious Online Activity we saw and some of the searches that put up red flags for some of these investigators. How long could this thing go on for him, really, until we see something actually happen . Its interesting you mention those searches. Because i seized on those as well. Its important to remember and this case is a great example of the law of what we call incomplete crimes. Things like attempt. Things like conspiracy. Where the completed crime hasnt happened yet, but the defendant with the intent to commit it has started to prepare for that crime. That preparation itself is a crime. Thats what conspiracy law is. Thats what attempt is. The bank robber, for example, doesnt need to complete the bank robbery so long as he drove there and ran in with a gun, tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. He still attempted bank robbery. Somebody who prepares for these crime is committing a crime even if the objective is not achieved. I quickly want you to weigh in on this Jussie Smollett story weve been covering and how it has completely changed really. He is being charged with giving a false Police Report yesterday. Could he see time in jail for this . Yes. In illinois, giving a false report is within the Disorderly Conduct statute, but making false reports to public officials, peace officers, is a class 4 felony. Hes looking at up to three years in prison. The other thing to consider is if the federal government looks at these alleged letters he may have written to himself, these threatening letters, now you get into a whole other universe of federal crimes. Danny cevallos, good to see you. All right. Lets get a check of your weather with meteorologist bill karins. You warned ayman he wouldnt make it back. Its all part of his plan not to be here. Yeah. Poor guy, right . Yeah. He was like, can i get back on my flight . Im like what time is your flight. 6 00. Thats right when the worst is. Oh, well. Winter weather advisories are up still. Were getting rid of the ice and snow. Just a little left in areas of maine and boston. But overnight, the freezing rain put a coating of ice on everything from central pennsylvania, hudson valley, through central new england, northern jersey. Even if you shovelled last night, theres a glaze of ice now on top of what you shovelled yesterday. So thats gone. Just a little snow left in maine. Now our next topic which will be this great warmup. Already in the 30s. Notice were still below freezing in hartford. Thats where some of the ice is still left. But look at this this afternoon. 53 in new york. Boston 48. D. C. 55. Even up into the mid40s in central portions of new england. The next story today, chance of flash flooding. Central louisiana into alabama. And we have 16 Million People under flash flood watches or flood watches. So thatll be one of our next stories over the next two days. Hey, bill. Ayman was just texting me. He wants to know the flight path to cancun, mexico. He wants to know if its clear to get to mexico. Hes going to take that flight to cancun and back to new york. Still ahead, sean spicer has a new gig. And its back in front of the camera but not necessarily where you think. Were going to see him in action. Stay with us. Were going to see action ay with us guys do whatever it takes to deal with shave irritation. So, we reimagined the razor with the new gillette skinguard. It has a unique guard between the blades. Thats designed to reduce irritation during the shave. Because we believe all men deserve a razor just for them. The best a man can get. Gillette. Audible members know listening has the power to change us make us better parents, better leaders, better people. And theres no better place to listen than audible. With audible you get a credit good for any audiobook and exclusive fitness and wellness programs. And now, youll also get two Audible Originals titles exclusively produced for audible. Automatically roll your credits over to the next month if you dont use them, and if you dont like a book just swap it for free. Enjoy 100 ad free listening in the car, on your phone or any connected device. And when you switch a device pick up right where you left off. With our commitment free guarantee, theres never been a better time to start listening to audible. The most inspiring minds, the most compelling stories, the best place to listen. To start your free 30day trial, text listen27 to 500500 today. With its billions of records, dna test you could learn youre from ireland. Donegal, ireland. And your ancestor was a fisherman. With blue eyes. Just like you. Begin your journey at ancestry. Com welcome back. A sean spicer has a new gig. Special correspondent for extra. He interviewed his successor Sarah Sanders along with her husband and mike pompeo with his wife. Spicer also talked to Kellyanne Conway but her spouse surprisingly was not included. For 30 years you were behind the scenes. You were advising the political clients. Now youre out front. What do the kids think of having a famous mom . To them im just mom. But its been a little tough on them sometimes because people are very cruel and mean and think they can say anything they want even if its not true as long as its hurtful and snarky and goes against somebody whos close to President Trump. Extra describes his reporting as an exclusive with d. C. s most powerful on their lives inside and outside of the white house. And in sports, lets talk about the highly anticipated College Basketball contest between top ranked duke and number eight unc. To durham, north carolina, where the matchup drew a star studded crowd including former president barack obama, mlb hall of Famer Ken Griffey jr. , and spike lee. Less than one minute into the game, the man they all came to see Zion Williamson goes down with a free knee injury. While the incident sidelines him for the rest of the game, coach k. Later called it just a minor knee sprain. But that sneaker just kind of exploded. Meanwhile the tarheels take full advantage of his app sense. Carolina defeats duke in this one 8872. Should these sneakers be recalled . I guess so. Ive never seen a sneaker do that before. All right, everybody. Still ahead, Michael Cohens public testimony to congress is back on the calendar. Lawmakers have a lot of questions for him. Plus marylands governor could be eyeing to challenge trump in 2020. What hes saying about that m cog up next. 2020 what hes saying about that m cog up next. These folks, they dont have time to go to the post office they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again and our shirts from custom ink help bring us together. We just upload our logo, and if we have any questions, Customer Service is there to help. [male] custom ink has hundreds of products to help you look and feel like a team. Get started today at customink. Com. Welcome back to, everybody. Im yasmin vossoughian. Lets start with the top stories. Anticipation is following new reportering that bob muller may be wrapping up his russia probe. And President Trump is speaking out on the possibility of that report being made public. Nbc news justice correspondent Pete Williams has more on this. Reporter rare words of praise from President Trump for the new man in charge of the Justice Department saying the decision of what to make public from Robert Muellers robert will be up to william barr. Hes a tremendous man, a tremendous person who really respects this country and respect the Justice Department. So thatll be totally up to him. Reporter several government Officials Say muellers work is nearly done and hell likely report to barr in the next week or so. Federal rules say that report is confidential. They nay nothing about sending it to congress or making it public. At his confirmation hearing, barr says hes committed to releasing as much as possible but it could be his summary, not muellers document. The special counsel report is confidential. The report that goes public would be a report by the attorney general. Reporter but members of Congress Demanded more including some republicans. The only way i know for the taxpayers to hold anybody that spends the taxpayers money responsibly is through transparency. Because that brings accountability. Reporter even so, its clear it wont be Something Like the star report. Publicly released in 1998 on the clinton scandal. But many legal experts say just because mueller is about done, the investigating doesnt stop. Pieces of this investigation will continue in federal prosecutors offices around the country including in manhattan. Reporter the star material sent to congress weighed 1 pounds and ran 3 volumes. Hes working under entirely different rules. His report will be nothing like this. All right. Thank you to Pete Williams for that report. Lets talk Michael Cohen. His public testimony before the House Oversight committee, it is back on the calendar. Its now set for next wednesday. The same day the president is going to be meeting with kim jongun in vietnam. Russia is not within the scope of the hearing, but its still expected to be explosive. The topics to be addressed include the president s debts and payments relating to efforts to influence the 2016 election. His compliance with Campaign Finance and tax laws. His conflicts of interest. His business practices. The Trump International hotel in washington, d. C. The accuracy of the president s public statements. Potentially fraudulent or inappropriate statements by the Trump Foundation and public efforts by the president and his attorney to intimidate cohen and others not to testify. That is going to be next wednesday. Cohen will testify privately the following day. Last month he postponed citing threats from the president and rudy giuliani. Congress has an independent duty under the constitution to conduct oversight of the executive branch and any efforts to intimidate family members or pressure witnesses will not be tolerated, nancy pelosi said. He was originally set to report march 6th. Hell now be set to go may 6th. Just after announcing he was jumping into the democratic field, Bernie Sanders campaign has raised almost 6 million from the more than 225,000 individual donors. Sanders fund raising in the first 24 hours has surpassed all of his rivals after they announced their own runs earlier this year. Previously fellow candidate and senator Kamala Harris, her Campaign Said her campaign was 1. 25 million in 24 hours. Trump campaign has also taken notice of it. They sent a text message called on people to crush that number. Also larry hogan says his decision to challenge President Trump in a gop primary depends on how soft his political standing is. Saying people might panic because his chances of holding the white house are, quote, pretty weak. Do you think the president is vulnerable to a primary challenge . I would say today its unlikely when you look at the numbers. At 70 , 80 of the republican primary voters say they support the president. I dont know what thats going to look like three months, six months from now. Depending on how he might soften. The issue im concerned about is he has a very low reelect number. High 30s or low 40s. The chance of him losing a general election are pretty good. Im not saying he couldnt win, but hes pretty weak in the general election. At some point, if he weakened further, republicans would say were concerned about whether or not hes going to win. If were going to face a very far left democratic nominee. And is he going to take the rest of us down with him . Hogan did not endorse donald trump in the 2016 election and said nothing he has seen so far has changed his opinion so far for 2020. Joining us now from axios alayna treene. I believe his average donation was 27 or so. So mastering that small donation like he did back in 2016. Talk to me of the significance of all of this. Well, it just shows that senator sanders is leaps ahead of any other democratic rival that hes facing right now. At least for now. And if you think about it, i mean, he has what all of them dont. He has massive donor lists hes built up over the years and through a former president ial campaign. He has near universal name recognition and hes done this before. So i think its showing that for other candidates who are trying to match him in this, theyre going to have to plow ahead to try to be as competitive as someone like Bernie Sanders. This is an issue people talking about with joe biden. That he doesnt necessarily have the donor base, the small donors base which it seems is going to be pretty successful. That Bernie Sanders has. Exactly. And thats something also that President Trump had in 2016. And we did see the president and his campaign, you know, use this fund raising push. It was 6 million in the first 24 hours after he announced. Like, we have to match this. We have to pull from our small donors in 2016 to be able to, quote, crush Bernie Sanders. Lets quickly talk the Mueller Report. Weve got multiple newly launched investigations into the Trump Administration. How are some of the Top Democrats preparing for the release of the Mueller Report . Well, theyre actually planning a russia investigation of their own. I think whereas before they were really relying on this Mueller Report to be the political fire storm ahead of 2020 that they were hoping it would be. Theyre now planning their own vast probe that will coordinate with a ton of different committees. There will be several interviews and informativestigations. Theyre planning to have interviews of people interviewed before that were, quote, stone walled by republicans previously who were in the majority. Theyre not relying on the Mueller Report as the last word but are going to be doing their own investigations to get to the bottom of what happened in 2016. All right. Thank you, alayna. All right. The republican candidates son claimed he tried to warn his father about illegal voting tactics used in the past by a political operative on the campaign. John harris, an assistant u. S. Attorney in north carolina, and the son of mark harris testified yesterday that he became suspicious of mccray dallas after studying the 2016 primaries in the same rural county now under question. John harris noticed that ballots were being turned in batches. Harris said he encouraged his father not to hire dallas for the 2018 midterms which he still did. I expressed my concerns based on everything i did know up to that point. Mainly my belief that mccrae had been part of collecting ballots in 2016. I told him collecting ballots was a felony. Has your father or your parents said anything that makes you believe that they knew that mr. Dallas was collecting ballots . No. Absolutely not. I think they were lied to and they believed the person that lied to them. I love my dad. And i love my mom. Okay . I certainly have no vendetta against them, no family scores to settle. Okay . I think that they made mistakes in this process and they certainly did things differently than i would have done them. Republican mark harris currently leads his democratic opponent dan mccready by 905 votes. The board of elections will decide whether to call for a new election or certify the race results this week. Mark harris is set to take the stand later this morning. Still ahead, everybody, senator Kamala Harris is facing backlash from one of her own family members. Details on the recent comments by the president ial hopeful being strongly denounced by her father. And well have the latest on the cleanup following the massive storm with another storm already brewing. Well be right back. Th another y brewing. Well be right back. You should be mad at airports. Excuse me, where is gate 87 . You should be mad at nonseasoned travelers. And they took my toothpaste away. 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Yeah with diet and exercise. Jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration. This may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, or lightheaded, or weak upon standing. Ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, and trouble breathing. A rare, but lifethreatening, bacterial infection in the skin of the genital area could also occur. Stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. Symptoms of an allergic reaction include rash, swelling, and difficulty breathing or swallowing. Do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. Other side effects are sudden kidney problems, genital yeast infections, increased bad cholesterol, and urinary tract infections, which may be serious. Taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. So, what do you think . Now i feel i can do more to go beyond lowering a1c. Ask your doctor about jardiance today. boy got it. dad its slippery. boy nooooooo. grandma nooooooo. dad nooooooo. dog yessssss. vo quick, the quicker picker upper bounty picks up messes quicker and is two times more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand. boy hey look, i got it. Bounty, the quicker picker upper. The. Welcome back, everybody. The Supreme Court ruled to collect excess i have fines and seize property. The ruling is a win for critics of socalled policing for profit which involves seizing cash, cars, and other things from people convicted of or suspected of a crime. Second day back on the bench after undergoing surgery. Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, quote, for good reason the protection against excessive fines has been a constant shield throughout angloamerican history. California senator Kamala Harris father denounced his daughters recent remarks where she joked about her past marijuana smoking in college and jamaican roots. Quote, my dear departed grandmothers as well as my deceased parents must be urn thing in their grave right now to see their familys name, reputation, and proud jamaican identity being connected in any way jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a potsmoking joy seeker and identity politics. We wish to categorically disassociate ourselves from this travesty. Harris campaign told politico it did not have any comment regarding the statement. Okay. Lets get a check on the weather with bill karins. Were getting rid of one storm in the northeast. Still have another one in the southeast. And we got a huge event thats going to take place from Southern California to the middle of the country. Good news for everyone after yesterdays misery, look at the high temperatures this morning. This morning things are rapidly going to improve as the temperatures skyrocket. We do have the watch for potential flash flooding. Soaks rivers are already running extremely high. We have thunderstorms this morning from alexandria to jackson and birmingham is getting drenched. Now thats over just to the north of you if youre driving northward. Yesterday by the way wasnt just the northeast. We got nailed by more snow in minneapolis and all portions of the midwest. Now we officially have the snowiest february on record. 30 inches already. And the months not over yet either. Alltime record amount for febds and for the season were now up to about 48 inches. Its been blockbuster from areas des moines, wisconsin. Youve had a lot of snow. For today, chicago 33. Warming up the eastern seaboard. This morning it is snowing once again in las vegas. The third time this month and it hadnt snowed in four years. Its been one of those weather passengers were in. That storm is going to dump heavy snow throughout the four corner region. Were going to track this storm as we go through friday. Snow in the four corner region. More rain in the southeast friday too. And then saturday, this storm really turns into a blockbuster. One of the strongest weve seen. Blizzard conditions here in areas of iowa, minnesota once again. I just showed you they already set the record for february. Were going to jump it higher. This is going to be quite the storm. Then we could even deal with Severe Weather and tornadoes out oi head of it. Its like a springlike storm in the middle of the country. And of course more rain in areas of the south. Finally on sunday we bring up that rain and snow through the northeast. Yasmin, this next storm is going to be significant. Theyre even saying this morning, los angeles could get snow showers down to the Hollywood Sign which is extremely rare. Thats at about 1500 feet. I feel like people vacationing in vegas right now are not happy. Yeah. Scottsdale, yeah. All right. Florida has been the place to be. Thank you, bill. Still ahead, the white house reveals President Trumps next trip abroad to meet with a world leader. Plus one member of Trump Administration unveils a push to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Well show you the president s interesting response when asked about it. s dent interesting response when asked about it i dont keep track of regrets. And i dont add up the years. But what i do count on. Is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. Boost® high protein. Be up for life. Does your customers connecting to the wifi ever slow down your business . Yes, it does slow things down. Aggravating. Its a nightmare. So our gigspeed network is fast. And we go beyond fast by making it easy to create separate networks for your business and your customers and even control how much bandwidth each of those gets. So your business wont miss a beat. This is a big game changer. This is the new wave, and whoever doesnt get on, i think they would be left behind. Just one more way we go beyond at t. Right now get fast, reliable internet and add wifi pro for a low price. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Welcome back. President trump is going to travel to japan in may to meet with the countrys new emperor and then return for the g20 summit. Trump is expected to be the first foreign dignitary to meet crown prince narahito. Skjed to abdicate on may 1st. His visit will take place may 26th to may 28th. A white house official confirmed the trip on wednesday after a phone call between trump and japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe, where the two reaffirmed their commitment to north koreas denuclearization. An exclusive interview with u. N. Ambassador to germany, richard grenell. Theres a lot of energy, a lot of motivation and theres a lot of hope that we can begin to go down it road and complicated process. Michael pence, the president , are they or board . Decriminalizing homosexuality gree it agree it a policy we have to move forward on. When asked about the initiative yesterday, here is the president s response. Say it. Your report to decriminalize homosexual around the world. I dont know which report youre talking about. We have many reports. Pope francis said while there are issues that need to be corrected, those who constantly criticize the catholic, church, quote without love and are friends of the devil. The group of survivors met with vatican officials yesterday urging zero tolerance for abusive priests. 180 bishops and catholic leaders around the world have convened for a threeday summit to address the scandal of sex abuse and coverups that continue to plague the catholic church. The meeting will focus on bringing attending bishops up to speed on what they need to do to prevent and combat the sexual abuse of minors. Coming up, everybody, axioss michaelen has a look at this mornings 1 big thing. And the special counsel is said to be finishing up their report on the president s interference and the president s take on whether the American People should see that information. Morning joe moments away. Atio. Morning joe moments away so, every day, we put our latest technology and vast expertise to work. the United States Postal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, affordably and ontime. ringing the future only happens with people who really know how to deliver it. Welcome back, everybody. Joining us from washington with a look at axios a. M. , the cofounder, mike allen. Good morning to you. Good morning. Talk to us about the 1 big thing today. The climate hits a tipping point. Weve had a convergence of these crazy weather events, extreme weather. You have a series of reports warning in the most convincing way ever whats coming in climate and all that is combining to both move Public Opinion and to force public action. So what were seeing, the why it matters, is that what we do on the climate according to a string of scientific reports, including for the administration, what we do on the climate for the next 10 to 20 years could affect what happens for centuries. There is a growing chorus of voices from what i understand on capitol hill saying more needs to be done about climate change. Also people that are running for president in 2020 for the democratic party, a lot of them are going to be running on this as well. Talk about the steps the white house is currently taking, including this controversial appointment to a climate panel. This is another case of them having lots of report the president would say. The president just isnt on board with reports of his own administration. And we see Public Opinion moving decisively. The number of people who are a alarmed about the climate has doubled in the last four years. The number of people dismissive of it has decreased in public polling and we see that the number of republicans who are concerned about Climate Science, who are believing Climate Science has increased. The white house, though, as weve seen remains a skeptic at the very least. We saw yesterday the news that theyre looking at putting together a committee that would vet whether or not climate is a threat to national security. Now, the pentagon and others have answered that question. They say a resounding yes. This really bubbles under the surface out in Trump Company and talk radio as an issue that hasnt really come to the surface. The president likes the idea of raising this in 2020. And i know trump likes the idea of using executive power to accomplish his agenda. Where is the president planning on using this the most . Weve seen it with the national emergency, but Jonathan Swann pulled back the camera and found that the pen and the phone are back, that just as president obama at the end of his term relied a lot on executive power, were now seeing that President Trump is doing that, making it a defining characteristic of the modern president , bush 43, obama and now trump. You who is this influencing the selection of judges . The president has found he can do it by himself, he likes that. Hes setting up a record run there. Are we seeing this use of executive power earlier on in the Trump Administration than weve seen in other presidencies before . No, thats a great point. And it partly because hes on his back heels further because he lost total control over congress in the midterms. Now hes frustrated. Were told that the cabinet members were told youre going to be judged on what you do on deregulation. Now, the key to that is that shows that this white house doesnt think theyll get anything more out of congress so theyre going to have to rely on that pen and phone. Mike allen for us, thank you. Were going to be reading axios am in just a little bit. That does it for us on this thursday morning. Im yasmin vossoughian. Morning joe starts right now. I want to thank you all. Its very early in the morning. I think you probably broke the alltime in History Television rating for 3 00 in the morning. That i would say. Last year President Trump noted the ratings potential in dealing with north korea. He summit next week, however, has so counterprogramming to contend with, and that would be Michael Cohen testifying to congress at the very same time. Hmm. Good morning and welcome to morning joe. It thursd its thursday, february 21. We have along with joe and jilly with willie and i, mike barnicle, michael steele. A lieutenant in the coast guard is facing domestic terrorism charges for