Weve got details from our team of nbc reporters straight ahead. But first, we have breaking news for you right now on msnbc. New details on russian interference in the 2016 election and how it ties to facebook ads. Carol lee is joining me from new york with some of the exclusive report. Carol, walk us through what we have just learning. Sure, thank you, hallie. What we know from two people familiar with the facebook ads, the list of states that the russiantied ads targeted during the Campaign Includes not just michigan and wisconsin, which has been reported, but also maryland, new york, california, texas, ohio and missouri. And specifically on ohio and missouri, were told that they were targeted to those states because they had seen Police Violence. And we know that these ads have been, in part, were aimed at sewing racial divisions. That is what these particular ads in ohio and missouri were believed to be designed to do. Now, the interesting thing about this, and by the way, i should mention, this is not a definitive list of states, but what it gives is a broader picture of how russia was using these ads to target. And what it suggests is that there was not necessarily what you would consider a traditional president ial politics targeting. Because states like new york and california are not decisive in a president ial election. So carol, let me set up the backdrop to this. As i look at my clock here, in two hours and 15 minutes, we expect to see the leaders of the Senate Intelligence committee over on capitol hill giving reporters effectively a status update on the state of the Senate Intelligence investigation into moscows meddling. Your reporting is now coming out after there was originally word that perhaps the ads had maybe just targeted michigan and wisconsin. What youre saying is, this was bigger than that. Maybe a quarter of the ads were geographically targeted and it was not just states that were sort of favorable potentially to somebody like donald trump. Right. And in speaking to sources about this, you know, they were saying if there was a republican operative guiding the hand of russia and targeting these ads, that person should be fired. Because this is not how you would necessarily target ads if you were trying to get a republican candidate or even a democratic candidate to win. And so it gives a picture, a larger picture than we have had so far. And youre right, it comes ahead of this press conference and also as the Senate Committees and the special counsels investigation begins to drill down on the russian use of meddling in the election. As i read this breaking news just getting up on our website, reported out by you and kasie hunt joining us momentarily, you talk about how the states were targeted to states that saw Police Violence or an incidence of violence. And specifically africanamericans, right . Thats right. Missouri, in particular, everyone remembers ferguson. And the adds were targeted there and targeted in ohio because of the shooting in dlooefld had similar returns. So it is part of what we know russia did, which is to try to take the divisive issue among americans and really exacerbate them. It was not just race but other issues, more so than necessarily running what you think of the traditional ad supporting certain candidates or Something Like that. These were ads that were design ed divisiveness on these issues. And kasie hunt is joining us from capitol hill. We talked about the press conference happening in a couple hours from now, this new reporting seems to be a real indication that the Senate Intelligence community may be wanting to up its pressure on social media giants like facebook, like twitter as we have seen executives from both Companies Come to the hill in the last couple of weeks to interfere. I want to underscore one point carol is making in the conversation you just had. Which is the reason were so focused on where these ads may have been targeted is because if you are looking for collusion between the Trump Campaign and russians, the idea there was something that needed to talk to people in wisconsin and michigan could suggest the collusion happened. And this is something we have heard privately from people who worked for hillary clinton. So this new reporting that we have suggests that the effort was broader than that, but rather one that points to sewing unrest broadly and stoking political divisions in america. To get to your original question, this does come as the two leaders are preparing to give a status report on their investigation. And were learning that they are going to point to what the Trump Administration is doing or not doing about preventing this from happening again. So the backwardlooking investigation is very political. Clearly, the president is very sensible to allegations he may or may not had. You can set that aside a little bit, set iting that aside to tr to get the leaders away from things, everybody is very sensitive object which party they are a member of, but what we can all agree on is safe elections going forward. The Trump Administration is talking about the this. Well have more tonight on nbc nightly news. And carol lee, we will talk about the other big scoop of the day with Rex Tillerson. But in the meantime, well go to las vegas. Theres very chilling body cam video released by police. This way, this way, this way, this way. Go, go, go, go that way, that way. Go bthat way theres gunshots right here. Those are the moments when Stephen Paddock opened fire on thousands of concert goers on sunday night. It also highlights exactly what police had to do. These heroic efforts to try to get people to safety. You hear them begging people to run for cover. Were also now getting a glimpse inside the gunmans band lroom t mandalay bay. Police uncovered spy cameras essentially so that the shooter could see presumably when police were coming for him. And Stephen Paddocks girlfriend, Marilou Danley is back in the United States. Thats exclusive video of her at lax. Shes a person of interest in this investigation. Now i want to go to Stephanie Gosk in vegas. Theres a lot of focus now on Marilou Danley, what she knew and may not have known. Now they are speaking to the press. Reporter you can imagine for family and friends of the victims, they want to know, did she know anything . And if she could have alerted the police, why didnt she . Those are some of the things they will ask her. And Stephen Paterson made a transaction a week ago to a bank in the philippines. It was just on the 25th she traveled to the philippines for an unscheduled trip. It is unclear what he told her. Or did he arrange for her to be away, which is what her sister suggested. His brother in talking to the media also said he would have put that money away because he would have tried to take care of her. So those are the questions they will ask. And we have divorce records, her divorce, she was married in 1990. It was during that proceeding that she listed paddocks residence in reno as her own. Now neighbors we have spoken to in reno said that she did not describe their relationship as being boyfriend and girlfriend. But we have heard it described that way by other people. They say she was friendly and did a zoomba crossfit instructor. And now i want to bring in ken delaney with more on the information on paddock himself. Ken, well talk details about the gunman and planning. Because police indicate this was meticulous and not obviously a spurofthemoment kind of thing. Meticulous is a good word. This man planned this very carefully. In fact, nbc news has new reporting that authorities are investigating whether he cased another Music Festival a week before. Whether he rented rooms in a condo tower above the life is beautiful Music Festival. Thats not clear if it was a dry run or a previous attack. That is under investigation. But what we do know is that the suite he rented at the mandalay bay gave him an advantageous opportunity to create maximum carnage. You are talking about the dry run prior to the attack. Well talk about the night that this all happened. What are police finding in the hotel room . We have seen some of that video now of the police tape blocking off the door. Anything from his house . It was remarkable he had cameras. He laid out a series of cameras both outside the hotel room and inside. The outside cameras to tell him if and when authorities were approaching. And obviously they found an arsenal of guns. Were up to 47, mostly militarystyle weapons. We saw photos of bipods and scopes. These are military weapons that do damage to the human body, unimaginable. And so, he had enough to perform this function. There are modifications on the guns we hear as well. You know i was on capitol hill yesterday describing a bunk stop. And tell us how this goes along with this in vegas. We have heard he had 12 devices, bump stocks. This is a legal modification to a semiautomatic rifle to allow lets make this clear, this is legal. This is something people are allowed to buy. We bought this one at a gun store in virginia. They are for sale on the internet and selling out unfortunately. Here it is. And what this does is it uses the energy of the rifle to rapidly depress the trigger, much faster than a human being can do it. It will not create an actual machine gun, but the effect is essentially the same. As you reported on capitol hill, many are looking into this. They are looking into how to make this fire more like an automatic. Thats a story well follow. Ken, you have a busy day ahead of you, thank you for being with us. Thank you, hallie. As the discussion continues to happen on capitol hill, it is not happening at the white house where Peter Alexander is. The president made clear he wants to focus on the victims in las vegas and survivors heading there today, right . Thats exactly what he hopes to do. I was out on the south lawn when the president left a couple agos ago and said it is a sad day for him personally. And he praised the First Responders for doing a fantastic job. About two hours from now, hell be going to the medical professionals there. And then hell meet with the civilian heroes and First Responders. This is an understatement but this is the worst american disaster on american soil. The death toll is approaching 60 right now. The president with the opportunity to show compassion, to show empathy. And critics will be watching closely considering the way he handled the visit to puerto rico where the mayor of san juan was insulting to the people there. But the strike zone for him, his advisers will focus on the sadness of this day and how to federal government is putting forth resources to try to help. We learn in the last hour, the white house is sending a Disaster Relief request over to the hill today, correct . Reporter yes. It is likelyto be send from the white house to the house later this afternoon. Roughly 29 billion according administration sources, which would include close to 13 billion for that Disaster Relief in the wake of the hurricanes and another 16 billion to keep the national plug Insurance Program liquid and approaching a billion dollars to help the. A source indicated this is a longer term. And exclusive reporting on how the fight between the secretary of the state and this mans resignation end ed with north korea. How does that play out . Well bring you details after the break. Can i get some help. Watch his head. Im so happy. Whatever they went through, they went through together. Welcome guys. Life well planned. See what a Raymond JamesFinancial Advisor can do for you. But on the inside, i feel chronic, widespread pain. Like most people. Fibromyalgia may be invisible to others, but my pain is real. Fibromyalgia is thought to be caused by overactive nerves. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. Im glad my doctor prescribed lyrica. For some, lyrica delivers effective relief for moderate to even severe fibromyalgia pain. And improves function. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. 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A growing course of headlines calling on Rex Tillerson to quit. After the president attacked his new outreach to north korea, tweeting sunday, save your energy, rex, well do what has to be done. And i told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful secretary of state, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with little rocket man. That diplomatic bombshell from the president coming just seven hours after tillersons arrival home from beijing where he revealed that the u. S. Has a back channel to north korea, telling reporters in china, we can talk to them, we do talk to them directly through our own channels. Tillersons emphasis on dploup d de deplo deplomacy pleasing the boss there but not at home. I think theres blame on both sides. The president speaks for himself. Reporter for his part, tillerson was frustrated when the president sided with saudi arabia against a key military ally, qatar. The final blow for the secretary of state, a former leader of the boy scouts almost came back in july when the president gave a widely criticized political speech to the scouts. We go to wisconsin and we had tremendous crowds. Reporter current and former officials tell nbc news carol lee, tillerson tried to quit but was talked out by allies includingmattis, john kelly and Vice President mike pence who had to give tillerson a pep talk telling him to get on board with the president. That was nbcs Andrea Mitchell. Theres definitely pushback to this. A top tillerson aide said the secretary did not try to quit and denied he was offended by the speech to the boy scouts. We have our panel for the next 35 minutes or so, National Security and Foreign Policy reporter josh leaderman, and reporter for the guardian, sabrina sadiki. Joel, you just saw the report, what message does this send to the world . It sends deep dysfunction for the world and no respect for rex, essentially. And that is deeply concerning for our countrys ability to negotiate with our adversaries and to send a sense of calm to the world about where we stand on issues of National Security. It is not a secret that on north korea, on iran, on qatar, there have been differences, but this personal level, this is very different. But when you look at the personal level, okay, so you heard that supposedly Rex Tillerson, according to three sources familiar to this, josh and sabrina, Rex Tillerson and an earshot of others called the president a moron and maybe other colorful language involved as well. Its the personality and the policy part of it, too. Theres a sense of deja vu with this. This story is pretty dramatic, but theres a lot of occasions before where we have been talking about, is the president undercutting tillerson . Is tillerson about to quit . And every time it happens, theres staunch pushback from the state department, and often from the white house, this is not true. But the issue is the per tension that it is true underminds the secretarys ability to portray himself as speaking on behalf of the United States and on behalf of the president. And that is something that is a lingering damage to his ability to do his job whether or not turn out to be disputed one side over the other. This is part of a broader pattern where youll recall, you have the most recent example with north korea, but we were talking about this during the saudiled blockade of qatar as well. Where he downplayed the notion that qatar was a sponsor of terrorism. Then hours later the president was in the rose garden playing up the same issue and sort of supporting saudi arabias actions. I think that also as others have sa said, the president does not have north koreas ear. And tillerson is hard to get ahold of and doesnt return a ton of phone calls. How important is it that there is an open line of communication . It has to be a nonstop open line. Can tillerson stay on . He can stay on but is deeply wounded and has to do a lot of repair work, not only within the white house but with congress and the public. He needs to restore congress. Joel rueben, dont go far. Well talk about that in the days to come. We are not forget gt abotin the disaster puerto rico. One day after the president is put under the microscope for this moment. I know you saw it yesterday. Well bring you a live report from san juan after the break. avo when you have type 2 diabetes, you manage your a1c, but you also have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke. Noninsulin victoza® lowers a1c, and now reduces cardiovascular risk. Victoza® lowers my a1c and blood sugar better than the leading branded pill. avo and for people with type 2 diabetes treating cardiovascular disease, victoza® is now approved to lower the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. 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Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Eight hundred dollars when wet switched our auto and home insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey. Oh. Thats my robe. Is it . You could save seven hundred eighty two dollars when liberty stands with you. Liberty mutual insurance. What is an answer and how can you measure the value of one . Today trusted answers from trusted sources are rare and precious commodities. And when industries are undergoing massive transformation, opportunities are only opportunities if you can find an answer that separates fact from near fact. Thomson reuters provides you the intelligence, technology, and Human Expertise you need to find those trusted answers. The answer company. Thomson reuters. We are back with breaking news. This is where secretary of state Rex Tillerson is expected to make an unexpected statement to members of the media. So you have reporters in that room getting ready to hear from the secretary of state as, you know, since we just talked about it in the show, reports now including from nbc news and the exclusive reporting of increasing tensions between the secretary of state and the president. This information that we are getting from our sources that the Vice President , Vice President mike pence, essentially worked to talk Rex Tillerson out of resigning and gave him a pep talk. We are curious to see what the secretary of state has to say at what looks to be solo remarks, coming up to the podium and speaking to members of the press. This will happen in the next couple of minutes and will bring it live to you when it happens. And well talk about the headlines in las vegas where the girlfriend of Stephen Paddock is back in the United States. That is Marilou Danley escorted by fbi agents at lax. Shes a person of interest in the investigation. And we are getting a glimpse of the shooters Mandalay Hotel room and footage leaked. The video includes one of the assault rifles mounted on a tripod. And police uncovered spy cameras in the room. And theres a chilling body cam video capturing the moments when paddock opened fire on concert goers sunday night begging people to take cover as the shots rang out. Other headlines today you should be aware of, yahoo said on tuesday that all 3 billion of the accounts were hacked back in 2013. Yes, 3 billion accounts. That is triple the earlier estimate of the size of the breach they talked about in december. Hackers got names, birth dates, passwords, no financial information, apparently. The new disclosure comes four months after verizon acquired yahoo s assets for 4 billion. And the National Hurricane center says theres a 90 chance that a Tropical Cyclone is going to form over the coast of nicaragua over the next few days. The system is forecasted to move into the gulf of mexico overnight friday into saturday. It is still too early to tell at this point where this might make landfall. As we watch the aftermath of another devastating storm. Of course, Hurricane Maria with more people confirmed dead now confirm in puerto rico. 34 Puerto Ricans have been killed. Today, just 8 of customers on the island have electricity according to the latest update from the puerto rico power authority. Today there are reports of more anger from Puerto Ricans over the federal response. And the president s comments yesterday during his visit. To talk about that, i want to bring in marianne atencio. You talked to the mayor after the president came for a visit. Tell us what she said. Reporter hallie, the mayor of san juan did not mince words when it comes to the president s visit. She said not only did President Trump mention the debt while on his visit, he also said that this wasnt, quote, a real tragedy compared to the number of deaths during karina. Katrina. Then when it was time to go out to speak to victims, he chose one of the most upscale areas on the island. Theres a host of other places where he could have gone. He has a chopper, you can get there in 10, 15 minutes. That shows his inability to want to look at peoples eyes and to want to see what the fear is all about. So it was easier to go there and be even more disrespectful and throw paper towels at people. Reporter so the mayor of san juan also said theres a lot of disappointment here because the president did not really put a blueprint forward as to how to move on from this crisis. What is needed here are the supplies that the Mayors Office is actually organizing today. The food, the water, the baby diapers to be picked up by local churches and sent to the areas most in need here in puerto rico. And i asked the mayor, what solutions do you propose . She said, first of all, fema reimbursements needs to come through quicker. Secondly, you really need the relief package that congress is voting on this week. And then finally, hallie, she said we need the money taken from the island by the physical control board because of the debt issue to be put into puerto rico. Theres a lot of need from the volunteers just two weeks after the devastating hurricane here on the island. Mariane atensio, thank you. And you heard President Trump talk about this while in puerto rico. Heres what he had to say. We have to look at their whole debt structure. You know, they owe a lot of money to your friends on wall street. And well have to wipe that out. I dont know if it is goldman sachs, but whoever it is, you can wave goodbye to that. But this morning the officer of management and budget director Peter Alexander we are not giving a bailout to puerto ri rico. What is at play here . Well, President Trump in these moments has been incapable of showing empathy. That was underscored by the images of him tossing out paper towel rolls and focusing on fiscal responsibility at a time when people are devastated. Dont have water to drink. Dont have water to drink, dont have access to medication. And you didnt hear this question of money when it was texas and Hurricane Harvey or when it was florida. There was a lot more urgency. And i know that officials i have spoken to from puerto rico, theres a deep sense of anger and frustration, but also the fact that the president sees them as secondclass citizens. The white house obviously pushes back on that. We are doing all the things we need to do. But we really cant overstate how critical of a moment this is for the president. Even more so than the agendas that the president s try to push when they come in. Their terms are defined by these events outside of their control and how they respond. And we have two huge ones between what is happening in las vegas and puerto rico, whether the president is seen as showing leadership on this we know from the difference in puerto rico. The president is heading to vegas and landing in nevada in just a little bit. Well bring you that live on the network. And in a couple minutes, well see secretary of state Rex Tillerson making unscheduled, unexpected remarks at the state department. It come just hours after we here at nbc news broke the story about tillerson being unhappy with President Trump to the point where he was considering potentially resigning over the summer. Well monitor that and bring it to you when it happens. And well bring you the emotional story of a husband who sacrificed his love to protect her. I dont know if im experience that kind of love again, but the days i had with him were worth every minute. For, heritage and innovation have made gillette the 1 shave in america. Now get gillette quality at lower prices every day. Brought to you by 1200 workers in boston were proud of giving you our best. Gillette. The best a man can get. A heart attack doesnt or how healthy you look. No matter who you are, a heart attack can happen without warning. A bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another heart attack. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. Bayer aspirin. It seems every hour, every day, we are hearing new stories of heroes coming from las vegas. And one of those folks, 29yearold sonny melton, a registered nurse from tennessee. He was at the concert with his new wife, heather. They ran to find a safe place when the gunfire started. Sonny got around his wife to protect her from the flying bullets and was then shot and killed shielding her. The ultimate sacrifice of love and family. Heather milton talked to savannah this morning on the today show less than 72 hours after her husbands death. I know he saved my life. He when we realized the gunshots were going off and it was not just fireworks like everybody thought, i said, lets get down. And he said, no, well get trampled and he wrapped his armed around my back. And as we started to run, i felt him get shot in the back. And we fell to the ground at that point. There was still gunfire all around us. And people were lying on the ground. And i tried to perform cpr on him on the field. Youre a doctor. Youre a surgeon. Yes. Did you know in your heart right then . As it progressed on, i did. As i was giving him cpr, he began to bleed from his mouth. And i was just screaming for somebody to help me. And somebody finally did come help when the gunfire stopped. Somebody helped you get to the hospital. Yes, i dont know who they were, but a man ran out and put sonny over his shoulder and ran across the field. He was put in the back of a pickup truck with two other victims. And he performed cpr on sonny the entire way to the hospital. And they stayed with you there. They stayed with me the entire time. We were on lockdown in the hospital. And they stayed by my side. I dont know their names. I was in too much shock to even ask. But im very grateful that i wasnt left alone. Because youre not from here, you guys are from tennessee. We are from a small town in tennessee. And i want to talk about you and sonny. Because what a love affair you had. You were newlyweds. You just married a year ago. Right. Yes. I dont know, i mean, it was a love that i had never experienced before. It was the kind of love that fills you up every single day. We love being together. And people felt how much we loved each other. And i will carry that with me forever. Heather told savannah that she wanted to do this interview, she wanted to talk about her husband, sonny, because she wanted people to focus on the good and the light after the Las Vegas Attack and not the shooter. She wanted to show the heroes in the world including her husband. So many thoughts and prayers are with heather and the very many people who lost somebody in nevada. President trump, as you know, is headed there today. Hell be landing on the ground in just a little bit. Well have coverage of that here on msnbc as the president meets with First Responders, with survivors, with victims families as well. Hes said to be there for several hours before returning to washington later tonight. Well keep an eye on this with Kristen Welker on the ground in vegas. We are also keeping an eye on something happening here in washington really any minute. And that is secretary of state Rex Tillerson coming out at the state department and making unscheduled remarks to reporters. We presume hell be coming through those doors. Hell be walking out to a podium that you see. And hell be talking about something. Were not sure what. The state department hasnt said just yet. But a betting man might think it may relate to the story that carol lee, my colleague here at nbc news, scooped this morning. Carol is back with us with this report here that the secretary of state came close to resigning, publicly called President Trump a moron in a room full of colleagues. Vice president pence essentially talking him out of leaving the administration according to multiple sources that you have spoken with. What is your sense . Do we have any idea at what the secretary might talk about today . I know the as on tnswer to the question is, we dont, but theres a lot of tension between the president and the secretary today. We can probably guess that if he addresses this issue, he may follow his top spokesmans lead and say he didnt say that about the president and that he was not close to resigning. That has been his line since july. Since this first surfaced. And, you know, we have basically been working on this story since july and spoke with a dozen people for this story. And, you know, a number of them, seven people, said that he was close to resigning at that time. And yet, you know, his team has made a decision that they were going to buck him up. And not see to any suggestion that he was going to resign. There was an interesting moment in your story, kracarol, when you spoke with the state departments spokesperson, r. C. Hammer, and unprompted he brought up nikki haley in a conversation that he had with the Vice President. And that was, to some, perhaps seemed like a non ssequitter at the time. I talked to him and he called me back ten minutes later. And when i had asked him during our earlier conversation about tillersons meetings with mike pence, he said he couldnt speak to what happened in those meetings because they talk about policy. When he called me back, he said, actually, there was one meeting where pence and tillerson talked about something other than policy. And in that meeting, the Vice President asked the secretary whether he thought that the u. N. Ambassador was helpful or harmful to the administration in her role. Now, the backdrop to that is she is widely revered to be the likely person to step in to succeed Rex Tillerson. So that has created a lot of tension between her office and his office. And for r. C. Hammer to call me back and specifically say that, a lot of times in washington, these sorts of things happen and they are cloaked. And that was very open. Carol, im going to ask you to standby for a minute, there are knowing nods from the folks joining me onset as we are talking about this who are covering the state department. And joel reuben who used to work at the state department. As carol was talking youre saying, yeah, this is significant. It is very significant. Nikki haley, the u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. Is the cabinet rank official, but she needs to be working with Rex Tillerson hand and glove. And there have been separations in public messaging on core issues. That only feeds into the questioning about positioning to succeed him at the state department. Sabrina, given the pushback that we have heard from the state department on this nbc news reporting, seems kind of likely thats what Rex Tillerson is about to do. Yes, i think you have seen from a lot of trump cabinet officials who found themselves in trouble, more of a dear leader approach as you might call it. But i think one thing that Rex Tillerson faces by way of a challenge is, unlike other cabinet officials, he doesnt have a lot of allies in washington. Its easy to forget that he had a very contentious confirmation hearing and was narrowly confirmed by the senate. It was 5643. He received the most no votes in Senate History for any secretary of state. So unlike, for example, when there was a very public feud between Jeff Sessions and President Trump, and a lot of republicans spoke up to defend Jeff Sessions, i dont necessarily think that you will have the same chorus of people rallying around Rex Tillerson with whom republicans themselves have had policy disagreements. And guess what . Nikki haley is seen to them or viewed by many of them as the de facto secretary of state. We are waiting for secretary of state Rex Tillerson to walk through the doors to make the remarks, unexpected remarks. Joining me on the phone, ambassador to president obama. You know the state department, what is going through your head as you hear this conversation now as we are waiting now for the secretary of state to speak to reporters . Well, i must say, theres old adage if you want a friend in washington, you better get a dog. But i really think that the secretary of state has its as if hes gone about the task of making sure he has no friends in washington. And as you all pointed out, he certainly did have a Contentious Senate confirmation or at least by standards the secretary of s contentious but he then proceeded to arrive at the state department. There is thousands of people or hundreds of people at the C Street Entrance wishing him the best. Then he went to his office and shut the door and seemed to never speak to the foreign service. Every secretary understands you ought to reach out to your predecessors if for no other reason than to have them say nice things about you about how you reached out and he didnt do that. In a large sense, hes reaping what hes sown. It has come to my attention, President Trump is tweeting about fake news including nbc news presumably perhaps based on some of the reporting that has come out this morning from us here at nbc that secretary tillerson threatened to quit, was considering it, was talked out of it by people including Vice President mike pence. Peter alexander is on the north lawn standing by for us as we wait to see tillerson any minute. We were in the Briefing Room this week when czsarah sanders s asked if the president had confidence in Rex Tillerson. She was quick with her answer. Yes. The answer for her today was we tried to get that question to the president today as he was boarding marine one. I yelled it out to him over the rotors, the noise you know is too loud there. He either didnt hear me or respond. Right now aboard air force one, less than two hours from his arrival in las vegas where he hopes to bring sort of unity in the wake of a terrible crisis thats taken place there after the shooting that took so many lives is instead going after the media, nbc news in particular, describing it as fake news. Had a series of fake news tweets on this day. Even last night retweeting the fox news commentator sean hannity who said he was going to name names of the members of the despicable media and the left who he thought were problematic right now. As we wait to hear from the secretary of state Rex Tillerson for whatever he may or may not say on the topic of nbc news reporting, its worth noting the abrupt nature of this moment. We did not expect to hear from him. This was not on the public schedule. Today he was supposed to be going to walter reed for a visit. Hes supposed to be speaking at whats called the grand challenges this afternoon. He met with a Pakistani Foreign minister just a matter of hours ago. So whatever he says, it seems fair to assess would be directed for an audience of one, that man flying at about 35,000 feet straight west for las vegas. Our colleague chuck todd making that point that this appears aimed at one person in particular who is on air force at this exact moment in time. Thats right. The constant threat with tillerson in this issue has been he hasnt ever really placed a huge emphasis on this public posturing and what are people saying about him in the media and how are his comments being perceived. Look, he was a guy who ran a company, a very private company where they didnt like to talk about this stuff. Weve seen this evolution over the last nine months as secretary tillerson finally has started to seem to understand that the outside appearance matters. Even if he thinks he can get more done in private with really private discussions that he keeps peoples trust, that all of this talk really affects what hes trying to do and as a result were probably going to see him in just a few moments try to clean up what has been coming out over the last couple hours. So this is going to be a cleanup job . I think this is going to be an attempt by tillerson to probably dispute the reporting. Say hes on the same page with the president , hes part of the team. A ambassador hill still with me . If he is, i want to ask you and joel jump in too, we talked about this before. This is appears to be about not just personality but also policy. Time and time again we have stood we have sat here on this set. I have been traveling overseas with the president when there have been divisions between what the secretary of state is saying and what donald trump is saying most notably when it comes to north korea as we saw this weebl weekend. How does that get resolved . Or is that part of a broader strategy . I think its part of a broader problem that they just havent kind of figured out whos going to say what. Clearly the secretary has been out of the region. He hears the south koreans. He knows he needs to keep the door open to negotiation. And President Trump who is not out in the region and by all accounts doesnt seem to read a whole heck of a lot hasnt kind of seen it that way. So it has looked kind of not very organized and i think its very problematic for the secretary. And especially the comment by the president to the effect that the secretary is wasting his time. I think the real problem with that is people talking to the secretary are wondering whether theyre wasting their time talking to someone who seems to be out of sync and out of step with the president. But hallie, you know, this does have real consequence for americas standing in the world and for our National Security. Thats the problem. The incoherence doesnt help advance goals. I was thinking about how what would have happened if president george h. W. Bush had undercut james baker when the union was collapsing and said he basically doesnt speak for me or the United States. It would have destroyed our ability to make sure there was a peaceful transition in that part of the world. So right now we have essentially a neutralized secretary of state. That doesnt leave us with options. So lets we dont know whats going to happen in the next couple of minutes. When Rex Tillerson approaches the stadium and says something. Right . But if indications are as they are apparent, r. C. Hammond the spokesperson pushing back against this reporting that secretary tillerson was unhappy. If that holds and we hear that reflected from secretary tillerson, it will be these two leaders, the president and this top member of his cabinet essentially embracing each other. That has not always been the case. I think back to charlottes vil. Remember when tillerson went out and said the president speaks for himself. That was a significant moment that really angered donald trump. It did. And the secretary thought he was giving a nonanswer. The least newsy answer in that situation is what he was trying to do there. Who knows. We are lucky enough to have political director chuck todd joining us on the show. I have twitter alerts set for you. I saw your tweet where it said the president that Rex Tillerson, rather, seems to be aiming these remarks at an audience of one currently somewhere over middle america. Well, obviously whatever has already been said between the two of them, the fact that the president came out and did an attack tweet on us and the media, i think tells you that maybe whatever tillerson has said or whatever has happened, that maybe crisis averted here. But i have to tell you, i think back and im sure you guys have been talking about this incident as well which had to do when Stanley Mccrystal then running afghanistan running the war in afghanistan during the Obama Administration went and his subordinates trashed the Vice President in very disparaging remarks. I think expletives were used. Instead of moron, i think it was idiot. But it was Something Like that. A lot of people around the president said mccrystal is a good guy, you need to keep him there. But others were saying you got to set a tone here. Whatevers happened here if youre general kelly and this president , at some point, how much can you handle all of these folks anonymously trashing you . In your administration . What message does that send to the world . I dont know if the president and Rex Tillerson can go along in the same administration for too much longer. I dont think this is a good look internationally for the president if his secretary of state is seen as undermining him. No matter what he says today. So he can deny using the word moron, but what else is the the entire premise of the story is this is a secretary of state that is constantly pushing back. Here he comes. And here comes the secretary of state. Chuck todd, thank you. Well listen in to what Rex Tillerson has to say. Morning. There were some news reports this morning that i want to address. First, my commitment to the success of our president and our country is as strong as it was the day i accepted his offer to serve as secretary of state. His agenda has given voice to millions who felt abandoned by the political status quo and felt their interests came second to those of other countries. His Foreign Policy goals break the mold of what people traditionally think is achievable on behalf of our country. Were finding new ways to govern that deliver new victories. Our job is now to achieve results on behalf of america and we are doing that. Weve created an International Unity around our peaceful Pressure Campaign against north korea including influencing china to exert unprecedented economic influence on north korea. At the summit, the president rallied muslim majority nations to assume new responsibilities for stopping terrorism. Nato members are now contributing more to shared security. And our approach to south asia and specifically afghanistan means building upon our relationships with india and pakistan to provide security for thafr home people. And isis caliphate in iraq and syria is on the brink of being completely distinguished thanks to an aggressive new strategy led by the president. What we have accomplished we have done as a team. Secretary mnuchin has levied sanctions on north korea and related entities. Countries must increasingly decide whether they will do business with north korea or the community of peace loving nations. Ambassador haley has spearheaded and achieved passing the toughest sanctions to date on north korea. General mattis and