Transcripts For MSNBCW First Look 20190523

Daniels. And Rex Tillerson said Vladimir Putin was more prepared than President Trump when they first methe putting the u. S. At disadvantage. Good morning, everybody. It is thursday, may 23rd. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside nbc News White House correspondent jeff bennett. Were starting with that fight between houseng democrats and Trump White House and its reaching new heights. An infrastructure ming between President Trump and Democratic Congressional leaders came tocrn abrupt end yesterday after the president nd demanded that they e stop investigating him. Moments afternv walking out of e meetingt the president made a surprise appearance in the rose garden where reporters had been hastily gathered. Watch this. I walked into the room and told senator schumer, speaker pelosi, i want to do infrastructure. I want to do it more than you want to do it. I would be really good at it. Od. Thats what i do. But you know what . Youow cant do it under these circumstances. So get these phoney investigations over with. So the president s impromptu statement came after House Speaker nancy pelosi told reporters earlier in the day that democrats t believed the president is engaged in a quote cover up. One Administration Official told nbc news the president s rose garden statement of quote reaction toot Nancy Pelosis comments, pure and simple. Would you believe that its important for, to follow the facts . We believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States. We believe that the president of the United States is engaged in a cover up. Instead of walking in happily into a meeting, i walk into look at people that just said that i was doing a cover up. I dont do cover ups. You people know that probably betterro than anybody. They want toha make this a big deal. Whether or not they carry the big i word out i can imagine. Theyan probably would. Last night i heard they were going to have a meeting before this meeting to talk about the i word. The i wore. President trumps anger abous the Mueller Investigation was apparent yesterday. He spoke at a podium that had a printedd poster attached no collusion, no coverup. It had a mix of accurate and inaccuratecu information. Twoin Administration Sources tes nbc news the poster was created a while ago. Correctlye stated that 2800 pl subpoenas, 675 days and 500 plus witnesses all about the Mueller Investigation, but it incorrectly cited 35 million cost and quote 18 angry democrats as the president likes to say. Investigation costs an estimated 25ed million according to the department of justice and the New York Times reports that 14 of muellers 18 investigators were actually linked to democrats. Ed after President Trump stormed out of his meeting with Democratic Leaders tensions speck between House Speaker nancy pelosi andke white House Counsel h kellyanne conway. Two sources in the room confirmed to nbc news that after trump left n the meeting conway asked pelosi a question. According to a white house source in the room conway asked this, respectfully madam speaker, do you have a direct response to the president. Pelosi responded i dont talk to staff i talk directly to the president. Conway responded sarcastically thats a very pro woman of you. An aide said the speaker did not sayid she doesnt talk to staff. Nancy pelosi sent ao lette tosi the entire democratic cauc. She wrote in part this. Democrats are herear for the country. F sadly the only job the president seems to be concerned with is his coown. He threatened to stop working with democrats on all legislation unless we end oversight of his administration, and he had a temper tantrum for all ofpe us to see. Trump hit back at that. Writing on twitter nancy pelosi said trump had a temper tantrum. This is not true. I was veryno purposely calm. Very polite and calm much as i was minutes later as i was with the pristine rose garden. Can be easily proven. Its such a lie. Heres how Top Democrats who were t at the meeting described what went e down. We w got in the room, the curtains were closed. The president , there was a place for him at the front so he could stand and attempt to tell us why he wouldnt do infrastructure. And, of course, then he went to the rose garden with prepared signs that had been printed up long before our meeting. The president was about ten minute late coming in. Whatng i noticed is there was n chair set fors where he regulay sits. So there is no doubt that in my mind that this was a show with no go on infrastructure. It was a show because the president was angry. And coming up on morning joe later this morning Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer and steny hoyer will both be guests this morning. Ot amid his blow up with Democratic Leaders President Trump is ramping up his attacks againsthi members of that party and the growing calls by its members to begin impeachment proceedings against him. Trump fired off a barrage of tweets claiming the democrats want a do over on bob muellers special investigation. The president wrote this, everything the democrats are asking me for d is based on an illegally started investigation thatar failed for them. Now they say impeach President Trump even though he did nothing wrong while they quote fish. Asuo mepged the number of democratsmb calling for impeachment proceedings against President Trump and his administration is growing as the white housein resists cooperati with lawmakers investigations. Now the calls come as House Speaker nancy pelosi and other top Democratic Leaders continue to urgeic a more cautious approh to the situation at least for now. By nbc news count 32 House Democrats and republican congressman justin amash expressed their support for opening up an impeachment inquiry. Several democrats signed on to a resolution thatto calls on the Judiciary Committee to inquire whether the house should impeach President Trump. Pr joining us here on set is john from political insider. Not much to talk about. Nothing is happening this week. Pp what a day yesterday. It was a long wednesday. It wasng a very long wednesd to say the least. Wednesday t was a long year. Yeah. Lets talk about the calls for impeachment. Im were hearing more calls for impeachment from Freshman Congress people in d. C. Right now. Obviously nancy pelosi, House Speaker, nancy pelosi still ve measured in her calls for impeachment despite how outspoken she was yesterday in saying shesda praying for this country in whats going on with the president. You also have some people on the campaign trailhe like beto orourke and Elizabeth Warren calling for impeachment as well. As were heading towards 2020 from the democratic pointds of view,t there is this question, think,on amongst democrats that they are asking themselves as to do weem go down the road of e impeachment or do we go towards 2020 . Do we head towards talking more about the issues and getting voters out to the polls and a win at the ballot box. Are these two things mutually exclusive or do you think the Democratic Party can do both . They are meshing together. In theres reluctance along the campaign trail with candidates to talkmp about this because th areis worried about being divise and they want to focus on the issues and not make it about trump. We saw Bernie Sanders in a town hall, aow reason town hall say we focus on trump this entire campaign trail well lose in 2020. Thats why i think we still see a reluctance among some 2020 candidates to talk about impeachment the i word as trump call it yesterday. Well i continue to see that. At the sameo time it seems as though its not really a matter of if impeachment will occur any more, its a matter of when. Just really seems that theres growing pressure. Pelosi is trying to take a very piece meal approach here. She is trying to not appear political on this. Butli shes under a lot of pressure. Lets talk about the president s reaction to this. Every president has had to deal with some level of congressional oversight. It seems President Trump wants none much reit. I talked to some democratic staffers yesterday thatti said president s temper tantrum works for them because it allows democrats to say hey look, we told you this back in 2016 during the Campaign Donald trump is all aboutdu himself, hes no for the country. Do you think the president s approach to thisnk could end up blowing back on him . Thats a good question. A pollgo that came out this wee showed that roughly 54 of americansy oppose his reelection. I think it also would be a mistake for democrats to assume that he cant be reelected. His Approval Ratings arent that bad overall. They are notd that far off fro where obama was before reelection a year off. Do theyn follow the process he and look at the evidence and the 11 possible incidents of obstruction that mueller outlined for them . You know, ensure that they dont set a precedent where the president is above the rule of law or do they continue these kind of piece meal approach of investigations taking itpp very slowly because they are worried about dividing voters. Thats the big question. Everybody is anxious right now. Do they have a strategy . Its too early to say theres a y tragedy. Pelosi istr trying to pump the brakes. Shes trying, to again, not appear too political and allow the p process to unfold and saye did everything we could to cooperate with this administration before we above towards impeachment. Still ahead Attorney Michael Avenatti charged with defrauding his exclient Stormy Daniels. Well talk to Danny Cevallos about that. Dozens of tornadoes have been reported in last 12 hours as Severe Weather strikes theur middletr of the country. Meteorologist bill karins will havebi a full check of the forecast coming up next. When i was diagnosed with breast cancer, there was no hesitation, i went straight to ctca. After my mastectomy, it was maddening because i felt part of my identity was being taken away. When youre able to restore what cancers taken away, you see that transformation firsthand knowing that she had options that she could choose, helped restore hope. My team made me feel like a whole person again. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Appointments available now. To take care of yourself. But natures bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and wellrested. Because hey, tomorrows coming up fast. Natures bounty. Because youre better off healthy. Natures bounty. [kno king] memories. What we deliver by delivering. Heresshow me making it. Like. Oh i got one. The best of amy poehler. Amy, maybe we could use the voice remote to search for something that youre not in. Show me parks and rec. From netflix to prime video to live tv, xfinity lets you find your favorites with the Emmy Awardwinning x1 voice remote. Show me the best of amy poehler, again. This time around. Ox1. Access netflix, prime video, youtube and more, all with the sound of your voice. Click, call or visit a store today. Welcome back, everybody. I want to start with weather. We had a lot of Severe Weather yesterday and continue to have that across the country. Meteorologist bill karins is standing by. A long night for people in the central plains, oklahoma, missouri, illinois and indiana as severe storms and large tornadoes have rolled through the area. We had one that we were focusing on extensively. It formed near joplin. Joplin, missouri where eight years ago to the day is when they got nailed by a huge tornado. This was north of joplin. In areas of Carl Junction got hit. This stayed on the ground for about an hour. Hit over towards golden city after this, after sunset and three people died from this storm and this tornado during the overnight hours. Then we continue to see severe storms overnight. 29 tornado reports in all. This is the super cell that was in this general direction in the northeast. In the middle of the night sometime after midnight Jefferson City got hit. The capital of the state of missouri. Even the governor tweeted out after midnight that he was safe but theres a lot of destruction in Jefferson City. The local station there is reporting about 100 plus people are in the hospital from injuries. We still have storms that are rolling that are very dangerous even at this hour. We have one confirmed tornado in South Central parts of illinois and then this line of thunderstorms thats flowing through indiana, 70 mileperhour plus winds. Then after we get done with this mess later on today we have 42 million people, Severe Weather outbreak in the northeast and once again in north texas, oklahoma and kansas. As far as the areas go tomorrow that were remaining back here in the middle of the country. A lot of issue out there. When we get these pictures in i expect the number of injuries to go up. Unfortunately from what ive been hearing and how bad these tornadoes are, i bet the death toll will go up. Sad situations in many areas. Sunrise is coming shortly and well bring you those pictures when we get them in. Michael avenatti is in even more legal trouble. Yesterday the highprofile attorney was charged with roughly stealing 300,000 from his former client Stormy Daniels. According to the indictment filed in Manhattan Federal Court Michael Avenatti pocketed money daniels was owed from a book deal he used to fraudulent documents to bear daniels name to convince her agent to an account she was owed controlled by Michael Avenatti. Michael avenatti spent some of that money on trips, travel, drycleaning and a lease payment on a ferrari and gave daniels half of the money she was owed. When asked for comment Michael Avenatti referred nbc news to a tweet. No monies related to miss daniels were ever misappropriated or mishandled. She received millions of dollars worth of Legal Service and we spent huge sums and expenses. She directly paid only 100 for all she received. I look forward to a jury hearing the evidence. Also ned Michael Avenatti was formally indicted for trying to extort 20 million from nike and embezzling a clients settlement money. Joining us her on set, nbc legal analyst Danny Cevallos. Michael avenatti has a lot going on. He sure does. How does this Stormy Daniels case going to influence the separate nike case along with indictments in california . They are not. They are separate. They deal with separate issues. The california and the case here involving Stormy Daniels is really, really problematic because as lawyers we are trained from day one in ethics you can have a drinking problem, can you get arrested in a bar fight, but we will not work with you if you steal from your clients. If you monkey around with your Clients Trust account youre out of here, your ticket is pulled, youll be disbarred. This is the kind of thing we have to keep a lot of paper work on. So, for example, even if Stormy Daniels as Michael Avenatti said at the end of the settlement, this happened sometimes, clients say at the end of settlement instead of putting in in the Client Trust Account give to it me and i promise me ill pay your attorney fee. The money should have gone in. That trust account. The lawyer prepares a distribution sheet that shows the client every penny, every pound thats spent on costs, expenses. But not a ferrari. You can take a clients prospective settlement money and start treating it as your own. Thats why we have cline trust accounts and every one us including me should know the exact dollar amount in that Client Trust Account at all times. If you mess around, if you rob peter to pay paul, youll be in huge trouble. I think about Michael Avenatti, theres this weird parallel between him and paul manafort. Both of these men inviting trouble upon themselves by becoming public figures. Do you see anything there . Possibly. When it comes to some things we talk about, messing with client trufrt accounts sooner or later a cline will complain about that. It doesnt matter if youre a highprofile lawyer, a ham and eager handling a few motorvehicle accidents as soon as the client complains hey i got a settlement i never got it the ethics board will look into it and very quickly youll be in a lot of trouble as a lawyer. We were talking about this off camera, talk about the nike case and what you know about it . He rode the line on this. Some of this what he did you mention is what lawyers do do on behalf of their client. But there are certain checks that Michael Avenatti did not make in that process and the reason why now hes in trouble over nike. Lawyers engage in a form of sanctioned extortion every day when they aspirin out a complaint, say to a prospective defendant if we dont settle this by tomorrow im filing this document in court. Youre not saying hey im going ruin you. Youre not going to say ill announce to the world youre a bad person. Youre instead saying i have a legal right to file a lawsuit and ill do that unless we settle. Thats allowed. If Michael Avenatti did those minor Different Things he didnt do that. He would have been immunized from this extortion charge. Instead its alleged he didnt draft up a complaint. He came to any key, to the company and said i will ruin you if you dont settle with us and ill have a preconference. A press conference is not the same as filing a lawsuit. There you go, Danny Cevallos, attorney comppliant officer. The investigation to erase a photo found in governVirginia Governors yearbook. Virginia governors yearbook. Brighthouse smartcare℠ is a hybrid Life Insurance and longterm care product. It protects your family while providing longterm care coverage, should you need it. So you can explore all the Amazing Things ahead. Talk to your advisor about brighthouse smartcare. Brighthouse financial. 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Aveeno® positively radiant get skin happy™ the months long investigation into Virginia Governor Ralph Northam yearbook photo a man in blackface and another in a ku klux klan robe has proven inconclusive. The inquiry determined while the photo, the featured photo was not placed accidentally no one could identify the pictures or who placed it there or picture at all. What the investigation did manage to discover was the school had been aware of the picture as early as 2013, while northam was running for lieutenant governor, but chose not disclose it to avoid influencing the political process. Now northam maintains hes not in the photo but apologizes for any pain and confusion his attempt to explain it may have caused. The governor says hes not going to resign. Hes been saying that since the scandal broke in february. Instead he wants to focus on issues of race and inequality while he finishes the two years left of his term. How did the team feel this was an inconclusive investigation and what happens next . Leading up to this, i spoke to people next to the governor, saying the investigation would exonerate him. This doesnt answer many questions. But he stays on the job as do the other two top demonstrate in that state who also have been engulfed by scandal. They are all compromised in different ways. They face separate and different scandals but all staying on the job. When all of this broke there were a lot of calls, public calls for his resignation. Not only from people from Public Office but from voters on the ground that didnt want to see their governor continue to serve. So do you have any opportunity to speak to anybody on the ground, to voters, to people in the state . There has always been a disconnect between what National Democrats have been calling for. They said he should resign immediately. People that live in virginia look you can judge this guy by what he did or didnt do 35 years ago. You judge him by the man and kind of governor he is now. The selfidentified democrats think by and large he has done a good job so they dont want him to pay a local cost for it. Coming up, everybody, House Democrats may be getting closer to obtain some of President Trumps financial records after a new ruling by a federal judge. New reporting that the pentagon is mulling to send up to 10,000 troops to the middle east. Those details ahead. S ahead. In a new chevrolet. Oh, wow its time to upgrade. You guys out did yourselves there. Im gonna go and get a chevy. An exciting summer begins at your chevy dealer. And now, during the chevy Memorial Day Sales event, get 0 financing for 72 months on these select chevy models. Or current gm owners can get twenty seven fifty total cash allowance on this traverse. Find new roads at your local chevy dealer. Total cash allowance but one blows them allmany moisturizers. Out of the water. Hydro boost with hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. Neutrogena® and try our hydrating makeup. When it comes to type 2 diabetes, are you thinking about your heart . Well, im managing my a1c, so i should be all set. Actually, youre still at risk for a fatal heart attack or stroke. Thats where jardiance comes in. It reduces the risk of dying from a cardiovascular event for adults who have type 2 diabetes and known heart diseas. Thats why the American Diabetes association recommends the active ingredient in jardiance. And it lowers a1c . With diet and exercise. Jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. Ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. A rare, but lifethreatening, bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. Stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. Do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. Taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. So, what do you think . Now i feel i can do more to go beyond lowering a1c. Ask your doctor about jardiance today. Now i feel i can do more to go beyond lowering a1c. 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 listen5 to 500500 today. Welcome back, everybody. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside nbc News White House correspondent jeff bennett. Its the bottom of the hour. Lets start with the mornings top stories. A federal judge has dealt President Trump a major legal blow in his bid to keep his financial records out of the hands of congress and the american public. The judge in the u. S. District court of manhattan yesterday rejected the president s request to block his long time Lender Deutsche Bank from complying with congressional subpoenas seeking his detailed financial records. The judge made the decision after hearing arguments from lawyers representing trump and his family as well as two democratic controlled congressional committees. The move comes on the heels of a decision by a federal judge in washington, d. C. Earlier this week to not block a house subpoena to President Trumps Accounting Firm for his financial records. The president had appealed that ruling. New york state lawmakers passed a bill that allows congress to obtain President Trumps state tax returns. The bill authorizes state officials to get new york state returns with any one of the three Congress Educational committees. Its expected to be signs into law by governor cuomo. New york is trumps home and the headquarters of his business, therefore, his state returns are likely to contain much of the same information as his federal returns but its unclear if congressional lawmakers plan to use the new power in their investigations or if the president plans to challenge the state. As President Trump continues to reel from significant blows to his efforts to conceal his finances, nbc news has learned that a Key Congressional Committee has already gained access to his history with two major Financial Institutions. For more on that i want to bring in nbc news capitol hill reporter. Thanks for joining us. What more are you learning . Reporter its a pretty Big Development in the sense that congress is going to start to get a picture of the president s finances. We do know the House Financial Services committee has submitted nine subpoenas to banks, Financial Institutions to try to get information, financial documents pertaining to the president and the trump organization. We do know, of course, that the judge ruled yesterday that Deutsche Bank and capital one have to turn over their finances, the trump kids have sued to try to prevent that but the judge ruled in congress favor. On the heels of that we also know td bank and wells fargo have already complied with the subpoena. Td bank has turned over a handful of documents and wells fargo has turned in a few thousand documents according to our sources. And so congress is starting to be able to look into and pain this picture and get a fuller picture of the president s finances. This was some great reporting by you and the capitol hill producer. What else are members of the House Financial Service committee looking for in these documents . What are they going to sift through and look for . Reporter what they are looking for is premise ever money laundering, the bank secrecy act. Thats how they submitted these subpoenas. They are trying to look for connections to russia and the president s business. Or any foreign entity, really. So they are trying to paint a picture as we know. We know very little about the president s finances. This is part of a larger picture of what they are trying to do. We have the Financial Service committee trying to get the president s financial documents. You have the ways and Mean Committee trying to get his tax return. You have the Oversight Committee trying to find information from his Accounting Firm. And so this is trying to just get some insight into the president s financial documents and what sort of business he is into and how that might impact how he is running the government, jeff. Thanks so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it. Lets turn now to that growing showdown between President Trump and Democratic Leadership. It reached a boiling point, to say the least yesterday after the president walked out of a meeting with Party Leaders on infrastructure. After House Speaker nancy pelosi accused the president of a cover up. Nbc News White House correspondent Kristen Welker has more on this. Reporter just moments after blowing up a meeting with Democratic Leaders on infrastructure, President Trump marching into the rose garden, dramatically declaring he can no longer work with them. I told senator schumer, speaker pelosi, i want to do infrastructure. But you know what . You can do it under these circumstances. So get these phoney investigations over with. Reporter that surprise move sparked the president says by an earlier meeting of democrats to discuss impeaching him. We believe the president of the United States is engaged in a cover up. I walk into look at people that just said that i was doing a cover up. I dont do cover ups. There was no collusion between russia and the trump campaign. Thats it. But they want to make this a big deal. Whether or not they carry the big i word or not but they probably would. Reporter nbc news was told the president accused pelosi saying terrible things before President Trump walked out after three minutes. He just took a pass and just makes me wonder with, why he did that. In any event, i pray for the president of the United States. And i pray for the United States of america. Reporter but pelosi is also under growing pressure from her own party to green light impeachment which she has resisted. Kasie hunt with one of the democrats calling for it, alexandria occasiocortez. Are you satisfied with what leadership had to say . I was satisfied with the openness of the conversation. Reporter the bitter back and forth between the president and pelosi escalating throughout the day. This president is obstructing justice and engaged in a cover up and that could be an impeachable offense. I respect the courts. I respect congress. I respect right here where were standing. But what theyve done is abuse. Reporter its not just infrastructure, there are a lot of critical agenda items like the budget that require a bipartisanship. An official signaled there might be room for must do deals. Joining us again here on set is politics report for business insider. John, i talked to people close to the president who say look he actually likes nancy pelosi, he respects her, he thinks that shes a worthy adversary, he respects the kind of power she wields within her caucus. What do you think that meeting or lack after meeting yesterday at the white house reveals about the relationship between the president and the House Speaker . Man, thats a great question. Yesterday was highly dramatic. I think it probably is true that he respects her as a shrewd political operate or. He knows the power and influence she wields in washington. Shes been there for a long time. But it definitely reveals that theres tension there, and he is in some ways seem to be goading democrats towards impeachment perhaps thinking it will backfire them down the line by saying hey i wont work with you until you back off. So, yeah, i think their relationship is evolving in a very interesting way. Do you think the House Speaker is aware of that if in fact thats whats happening the president is goading democrats to call for impeachment. Might be. That might be why shes so reluctant. Shes probably aware of the fact that polls shown americans are not enthusiastic about impeachment. Ive not even a single poll that americans are in favor of impeachment even though trumps Approval Ratings are solo. Trump is an enigma as a president. They are happy the way the economy is doing but not happy with him as a president. Many americans are happy with the lives they have but not happy the way trump has approached his office. So were at a very interesting point in American History to say the least. Lets quickly talk about the reporting we got where congress has gotten a hold of certain financial records from td bank, from wells fargo. Whats next for the investigation for democrats . It seems that was quite a win for them there. Whats next for the financial records, for the investigations, and for securing more financial records if, in fact, they will see the president s tax returns . Sure. I think one of the more interesting developments that will come here after the court ruled against him earlier this week in term of the Oversight Committees request for documents will it will go to a court headed by merritt garland who was president obamas nominee for the Supreme Court and never got a hearing. Thats pretty interesting. I dont think that we should assume that there will be any hard feelings here from garland. I think hes a professional. Thats an interesting development. I think beyond the financial documents, which americans have repeatedly shown a concern about, americans want to see trumps tax returns and other things related to his business dealings, theres a lot of anticipation is running muellers testimony. So 73 of americans really want mueller to testify and i think thats what we need to look for moving forward. Thanks for your time this morning. Still ahead, everybody the price tag of President Trumps pension for golfing dont add up. The new figure on just how much americans are paying so that the president can hit the links. Bill karins is tracking Severe Weather and hell have the very latest coming up next. Severe weather and hell have dealing with Psoriatic Arthritis pain was so frustrating. My skin. It was embarrassing. My joints. They hurt. The pain and swelling. The tenderness. The psoriasis. I had to find something that worked on all of this. I found cosentyx. Now, watch me. Real people with active Psoriatic Arthritis are getting real relief with cosentyx. Its a different kind of targeted biologic. Cosentyx treats more than just the joint pain of Psoriatic Arthritis. It even helps stop further joint damage. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. 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Lets get a check on your weather and the Severe Weather in parts of the country with nbc meteorologist cair meteorologist bill karins. There were 29 reported tornadoes in the last 12 hours. Most of those occurred in areas of northeast oklahoma and they just got hit day after day after day. Then we have central portions of missouri and Jefferson City had a tornado do right through the downtown area. Thats the capital. So they already told state workers, a lot of state of buildings are damaged. Theres no power in some buildi buildings. They said if youre not an essential employee in missouri stay home. And a lot of storms going through illinois and indiana. This is how it will play out. Another dangerous day today. Two areas of concern. One is north texas into areas of western oklahoma. Could deal with more tornadoes in this area. Much of the state of kansas from wichita to kansas city. Then a severe risk in areas of the northeast. One of the first of the season. For areas especially all of southern half of pennsylvania. This includes washington, d. C. , baltimore area, philadelphia and looks like the storm should weaken by the time it gets to new york city. Not in the slight risk. But a chance for significant airport delays and on top of all that we may get isolated tornadoes especially in central portions of pennsylvania later this afternoon. Well have to keep an eye on how that plays out. On friday all the storms are once again in the middle of the country. This is where the rivers are high. As far as flash flooding goes right now a couple of those. Joplin area we have a flash flooding warning. Arkansas river north tulsa here in areas of oklahoma, two barges went loose. The barges they lost track of them and heading towards a dam. They are worried these banks can smash into the dam and compromise it. A lot of drama going on. On top of everything else. Disspite vowing on the campaign trail not to play golf if elected President Trumps habit is costing americans a pretty fortune. Usa taxpayers have so far footed trumps golf bill to the tune of more than 102 million. Due to travel and security expenses. Breaking it down, taxpayers have spent 81 million for trumps two dozen trips to his golf course in florida. 17 million for his golf course in new jersey and another 1 million for his trip to los angeles. Its not about to stop. Trump is set to visit his golf course in ireland next month which will cost taxpayers more than a million dollars. Yesterday was trumps 853rd day in office of which he has spent 174 days or more, 20 at one of his golf courses. Still ahead the latest on the Trump Administrations reported plans to send troops to the middle east amid escalating tensions with iran. Plus the reported new comments by former secretary of state Rex Tillerson claiming put outprepared President Trump for their 2017 meeting. Were back in a moment. Can you love wearing powerful sunscreen . Yes neutrogena® ultra sheer. Unbeatable protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer with a clean feel. The best for your skin. Ultra sheer®. You never know what life is going[ whimpering ]ou. And from this point on nothing is going to be the same. Raising a kid its not easy. No, no, no. This way buddy. Come on. No gidget could you watch liam . Its like were his parents. Its like youre the dad and im the mom and were in a relationship. And this is our baby. [ laughing ] well. Discover the. At the fandango early access showing may 25th. Turning to escalating tensions with iran, the pentagon will sent send plans to the white house to send troops to strengthen defenses against potential iranian threats. Thats after the president said the u. S. Has no indication iran is planing a planning any attac. It says the deployment is not in response to any new threat from tehran but is aimed at reinforcing security in the region. No final decision has been made yet and its not clear if the white house would approve sending all or just some of the requested forces. Here is how acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan described it on tuesday after briefing congress. Our biggest focus at this point is to prevent iranian m miscalculation. We do not want the situation to escalate. This is about deterrence, not about war. Were not about going to war. Russias president Vladimir Putin outprepared President Trump for a vital 2017 meeting in hambugermany. Tillerson added that the administration expected a short meeting to happen between the two countries to exchange courtesies but it turned into a more than twohour sitdown, which involved discussions about a variety of geo global issue where is putin was able to push for the things he wanted. Trump said in a statement that he was, quote, perfectly prepared for my meeting with Vladimir Putin, we did very well at those meetings, he says. Take a look. I dont think i have to prepare very much. Its about attitude, its about willingness to get things done. Coming up, axioss Alexi Mccammond has a look at this mornings 1 big thing. And the fight between President Trump and the Democratic Leadership erupts. More on his decision to blow up the meeting as he demands an end to the house investigations into him. Chuck schumer and the number two democrat in the house, steny hoyer, will lay out what went down at the white house. A busy morning joe next. A busy morning joe next. Yesss, im doing it all. The water. The exercise. The fiber. Month after month, and i still have belly pain and recurring constipation. So i asked my doctor what else i could do, and i said yesss to linzess. Linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. Linzess is not a laxative, it works differently. It helps relieve belly pain and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. Do not give linzess to children less than 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to less than 18, it may harm them. Do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. The most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. Im still doing it all. The water. The exercise. The fiber. And i said yesss to linzess for help with belly pain and recurring constipation. Ask your doctor. Wearing powerful sunscreen . Yes neutrogena® ultra sheer. Unbeatable protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer with a clean feel. The best for your skin. Ultra sheer®. Neutrogena®. Welcome back. Joining us from washington with a look at axios am, Alexi Mccammond. Good morning to you. Good to see you both. Talk to us about axioss 1 big thing today. Some democrats believe launching an impeachment inquiry into President Trump would make them have a better chance of getting the documents and testimony they want throughout their investigations. Thats the reason why some of these democrats have been pushing nancy pelosi so hard on on moving forward in impeachment. Even if they moved forward, that doesnt mean President Trump would be compliant or dump all these documents or hand over documents and witnesses to nancy pelosi. But it could help them get grand jury material like the unredacted Mueller Report and it could prevent them or make it such that the Trump Administration couldnt argue congress doesnt have a legitimate legislative reason for all the things theyre requesting. What are you hearing from Democratic Congressional leaders about their next moves given this escalating fight with President Trump with all of these various oversight demands. When im talking to democratic sources on the hill, the con restaurant refrain is theyre searching for work arounds to fight against President Trumps stone walling of congress and their investigations. Theyve been hanging their hats on these course kates that weve seen in this past week alone, that have so far ruled in democrats favor when theyre trying to investigate the president. When im talking to Democratic Leaders, the constant refrain im hearing is theyre going to try to push impeachment as much as possible, theyre saying were finding these work arounds and different avenues to hold President Trump accountable. Talk about the pressure they are facing impeachment. Its no question that some of the more vokal representatives are pushing impeachment. If theres one thing we know about nancy pelosi, its that shes a strong, independent woman who is adept at keeping her caucus in line. I would be surprised if she gives in to the more vocal folks because she thinks its so politically divisive. I understand axios is looking at another of trumps battles, and thats his trade war with china. How might that play in the 2020 election . Staying strong against china is one of the issue that has strong bipartisan support among voters. We know the way he likes to handle china is this aggressive push against them. Were told hell continue this throughout the 2020 election, making it one of his top issue and perhaps making an issue for those running against him. How is this playing with his race . Its not helping him in the midwest. They admit they dont know anyone who has been personally helped by the president s tariffs or his trade war. Thats something hes going to have to do a better job of explaining in places like ohio and women especially, which will be critical to his lek troelect victory or anyones electoral victory. That does it for us on this thursday morning. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside geoff bennett. Morning joe starts right now. You knew this was going to be a weird one. Before trump even got there, he had a sign printed up in front of the podium with the words no collusion and no obstruction on them. He made the words no super big and the other words super tiny. If anything, this looks like the worlds most infectieffective antidrug psa. I just saw that nancy pelosi just before our meeting made a statement that we believe that the president of the United States is engaged in a coverup. Well, it turns out and i think most of you would agree to this, im the most transparent president probably in the history of this country. No, we would not agree. I mean, we could see right through you but i dont think