To contact donors to try to get his wife a job. We have our team here covering it all this morning about the we want to start this hour with those new headlines from the singapore summit. President trump back in washington this morning with no shortage of things to say about his meeting with north korea. Blasting out nearly a dozen tweets on the subject since leaving asia. This morning, hes saying the world can feel much safer now than when he took office. Secrary of state mike pompeo remains in the region. Hes in south korea right now before heading to beijing. His goal, to keep seoul on board given the president s comments about the u. S. Military on the ninsula. And thats what has lawmakers on capitol hill nervous. Democrats and republicans worry President Trump offered up too much and got too little. Nbcs Geoff Bennett is at the white house. The president coming home with homework in tow with all the outstanding questions and decisions that are still to be made. Whats priority one for the administration right now . Reporter good morning, chris. Well, the president is taking on the role of salesman and chief largely because the lack of details contained in the agreement. The earl sse that north korea and were winners here, its all really ributing to an air of skepticism here in washington, even among republicans as you suggest, about what the president really accomplished. Meanwhile, the president is really trying to spin this as a vi declaring that north korea no longer poses a Nuclear Threat, even though kim jongun hasnt committed to a timetable for giving up his regimes weapons. Now, i asked Kellyanne Conway, the president s Senior Adviser about this early this morning, asked her if the president s no longer a threat if thats s premate. They want this president to completely denuclearization, that has to be complete, verifiable and irreversible. That will take a while. A little optimistic . How is the president at least hes going to bother to consult with congress ue the one sided where we gave up so much including piles of cash and got very little in return. Reporter now you herd conway talking about consulting with congress. But the white house doesnt want a halfhearted agreement with north korea that could be scrapped in much the way that President Trump ripped up the obamara iran deal. Separately, chris, you might imagine that the president would be catching up on some sleep after a 20plus hour travel to singapore. But is it appears hes up and watching our coverage and hes not too happy about it. He tweeted this. So funny to watch the fake news, especially nbc and cnn and it goes on from there. This reflects a view that even the outcome of those talks was short on details, White House AdministrationOfficials Say that the fact that the president is replacing diplomacy with the specter of a showdown, that that in itself is a good thing. Chris. Geoff bennett on another fascinating morning here. Thank you so much. Garrett haake is on capitol hill. Garrett, Kellyanne Conway says the president is going to consult congress i mean, is a phone call going to be enough . Ar they going to want an actual vote . Whatever this final agreement comes down to. What are you hearing on th reporter yeah, a phone call will not get the job done. The senate wants to hear from mike pompeo. They want to bring him back here to the Senate ForeignRelations Committee and have him spell out exactly what actuallhappened in this summit, hows it going to go, whats the time frame, what are we actually expect to get out of it . They want to be brought into the process early. Secondarily, they doant a vote. In fact, both Party Leaders said yesterday they would like to see whatever ultimately comes out of these negotiations with north korea presented to them as a treaty, something that would have to get twothirds of the vote in the senate. 67 senators having to vote for this. They want first of all that oversight. They want to have some control over the process make sure the u. S. Isnt giving up too much and getting too little. And second, as geoff said, they want to make sure that whatever comes out of these negotiations isnt something that a future president could come along and you do given the gravitas of this whole summit, the whole north korean issue, they want to make sure if theres a solution its a permanent solution, one that would be enshrined in law in the form of a treaty and not just an executive an that a re president could say this doesnt work for me. Garrett haake, thank you very much. Im just being told that Chuck Schumer was on the floor and had something to say about this agreement. Lets take a listen. That just came down. Emphasis on showmanship as opposed to substance will not serve america or the prospects for peace well. Wit us now evelyn farc cuss, former isnt secretary of defense in the Obama Administration and now analyst and contributor. Also here, tony, an expert on north korea whos been involved in u. S. north korea talks in the paftd. Hes also traveled to the nation dozens of times. They joined our panel for hour. Msnbc political analyst and former Senior Adviser toator rand paul, elise jordan along with demratic strategist a president of the victory find, ayesha mood did mills. Evelyn, this is a reality tv president but one who now is faced with a very real challenge of making this idea that a safer country, the world is a sa place aeality. Chuck schumer talked about showman ship versus substance. Where does this come down for you . For me it comes down to the timetable. We have seen no evidence that theres a timetable. First of all, the north koreans didnt even tell the president who the interlocutor would be with mike pompeo. Thats troubling me because you have to negotiate that first. There needs to be a timetable fo meetings to negotiate the details and then the whole process of figuring out what the north koreans have, how many facilities, where are they located, how much material, where is it located, then who is going to come in and verify all of that and then whos going to var figverify the elimbation nan of all of that. And the president is holding the hand of both sides of the aisle, both chambers of congress. Tony, we have the situation where the president is very busy on twitter on his way back. His overriding message i think is that we remove i removed the Nuclear Threat here. If thats going to become a reality and are we any close really to that reaty than we were before this summit . But what is on the plate right now of mike pompeo . Because youve beenved in these talks before. Well, i think weve rounded first base and not much more than that. But its a spectacular begin, i have to app President Trump for what hes been able to do to pull thi off, do something that his predecessors, none them has been able to do. And thats precisely becau of the underlying assumptions behind the negotiations with north korea that you dont treat them like a criminal, you dont reward them for good behavior, you treat them as a sovereign equal, number one. Have to take actions in a simultaneous manner, not a sequential manner. Its not a matter of you going first and then well follow. You dont have a problem with the fact that this person is a murderous dictator stood on the stage flags side by side as an equal with the leaderthe free world . What did we get in exchange for that, tone . I what was our advantage in giving him that which he desperately wanted we moved away from the possibility of massive, massive catastrophic casualties from an armed cflict with nokorea la year. That in and of itself is a tremendous achievement. Are we in a position, do you think, evelyn, where at the very least while these talks are going on at least the threat to the south korea is mitigated to almost nothing . I think the threat to south korea and japan from nuclear and conventional forces is definitely minimized somewhat. I mean, its not eliminated, thats a reality. But i would agree with tony that i dont like the fact that we put the guy on par with our president , i certainly dont like the flag thing. But, if at the end thats what incentivizes the Korean Leader to stick with us, great. My concern lies with the fact that we gave up some of our leverage. When the president talk about maximum pressure, i think hes only thinking about the sanctions, the economic sanctions. But the military, theres military pressure there in our deterrence. And those exercises that we conduc regularly with our allies, thats part of the maximum pressure too. And i want to come back that and i want to come back to the war games. But in this whole idea that this was produced like a Reality Tv Show think there one the stng moments for a lot of people, they were confused about this videohat gets shown. They thought it was a north korean video propaganda veo and it turns out if was actually proded by the u. S. What do you make of this and is this essentially now for kim jongun a huge Business Opportunity . Well, the video is truly bizarre and the National SecurityCouncil Spokesman verified that, yes, it came from the unusual Security Press office, which i formerly worked there and this was certainly not anything that had ever been produced before. You never worked o a like this . Never worked on anything quite like this. But as with donald trump, with everything involved with the summit it has been about the show. It has been about the pageantry, it has been about donald trump using his personality and feeling the confidence level to go in and that he could by merit of being donald trump woo kim jongun. So that is at one. Things hes wing him with is hes saying, look, youve got all this great waterfront property, you should be having condos and hotels there . Im really struggling with the fact that were talking free world, wooing this leader guy as if its a good thing. Like, i just want to back up for minute. I think this is pro pos ter tlaus we are somehow putting the United States in a position of allowing this dictator, this vile man who kills his people, killed his own brother, who is perhaps one of the most vile dictators ever, puttingim now on par with being, oh, were going to give him a vc pitch and present to him an economic argument as to why he needs to stop killing and murdering people. Lets also not forget that the conflict that were talking abon and threat that we were under was because trump poked out his chest and went out and started king the bear and created that conflict. And now all the sudden once they have this dog and pony show that says look at me, i deescalated everything that i caused in the first place. But it was a pretty bad situation. Before. Whatever president had come into it, and certainly he should not have fanned the flames, but it was a terribleon that the status quo. Its always been a terrible situation. Hes changing it. They i mean they went from to having nothing to having icbms this year something had to give. I think we need to really, r th precedent that we are setting where our president is now validating, parting on the back and calling a good guy with a great personality someone who say vile dictator. And we should be skeptical of the fact that our president values and admires a Vladimir Putin or kim jongun as opposed to a justin trudeau. And the other concern, surprising both the military and south korea about saying were going to stop these war games and tweeting again today we save a fortune by not doing war games. Is tt what we should be worried about . No. First of all, if we didnt do war games our readiness would decline andould more to bring our readiness back up again. So i dont know where hes just making that up. I see no evidence that we save any money by not having exercises. Yes, exercises cost money to stage. They dont cost that much. And hes also probably conflating this with deployments which in the case of south korea where we have forces deployed, about 28,000, actually the south koreans pay for half of the deployment, the basing costs. So thats also a speeshous argument. Rights front, kim jongun is a despicable character, despicable leader, 1,010 people are living in these camps and the labor camps. The u. N. Did a very exhaustive report in 2014 and there have been other reports coming out. So we know its bad. But the reality is weve always negotiated with savory characters. Its true our president should not have used the words that he used, and that compounded with his love for those other dictators or his aspoused spect for them and his nice words for them is truly troubling. I guesss a National Security person i go down to brass tacks. If this will help him get a deal with kim jongun, im willing to overlook it. I understand the risks involved. So in our last 30 seconds i dont want ask tony really quickly, ma what is our optimism on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being it will happen that a real substantive deal that truly does make the world a safer place comes out of this beginning . This first base. Do we get the home run . It all hinges on whether cvid, Everybody Knows what that means now, is coupled with ip, complete verifiable, irreversible peace. And if these two go hand in hand, yes, im very optimistic. Verification, verification, verification. Verification of peace as well. But if i could say something, theres also the conventional issue. So that does get human rights. The kim jongun regime, the north korean regime would need to change tremendously in order for there to be peace. Velyn, tony, thanks to both of you and elise and ayesha, youll be back with us. Up next, sanfords reelection bid goes down i flames and its a wakeup call of any republican thinking of opposing President Trump. And just when you thought you heard it all about epa scott pru at this time, were shining the spotlight once again. When will the white house say enough is enough . Whats new . We just switched to geico and got more. More . Theyve been saving folks money for over 75 years. A company you can trust. Geico even helped us with homeowners insurance. More sounds great. Gotta love more. Right, honey . Yeah geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. [stomach gurgles] when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Girl, pepto ultra coating will treat your stomach right. Nausheartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Try wo with ultra coating ive always been a realist and at this point based on the numbers i see, i think that ill tonSouth Carolina spokeion. With a clear voice, its time. President trump is taking credit this morning for the stunning midterm upset in South Carolinas Congressional District. Mark sanford, an occasional critic of the president defeated by Katy Herrington in last nights republican primary. She had branded sanford a never trum just hours before the polls closed, President Trump fired off a tweet backing her, slamming sanford, saying had he been unhelpful. Trump even took a shot at sanford for that well publicized extramarital affair nearly a decade ago. This morning from air force one the president sent out anoth tweet. My political representatives didnt want me to get involved in the mark sanford primary thinking that sanford would easily win but with a few hours left i felt that catie was a goo candidate and sanford was so bad had to give it a shot. Congrats to katy arrington. Here to breakall down, as we love to have and what it means for the midterms msnbc Political Correspondent steve kornacki. So the big question is, what happened to mark sanford . That wasnt close. It wasnt a few hundred votes. Yeah, no. Look, there was some sense that sanford was in trouble heading into this. He has baggage that predates the trump era. You mentioned former governor, had he that affair, said he was on the appalachian trail. This was his big comba a couple years ago, got back into congress, won an election in 2013. Thought he was back in the game and then along comes donald trump and katy arrington. What did sanford do to bring this on himself with Republican Voters . You mentioned theres criticism of President Trump, he called him to release his tax returns. It wasnt the worst criticism, ive seen worse on the republican side. The other element thats fascinating is katy arrington, go back in time two years ago, on the same day that mitt romney gave that highly publicized speech where he called trump a liar and a fraud, she went on facebook and said im proud of mitt romney. This says a lot about the republican party. Folks who align themselves with p in the last two years, no matter what they said before, theyre starting to get ahead in the republican party. Folks who havent necessarily take than message, theyre arting to fall behind. Last week Alabama Republican Congress marijuana martha roby, she denouncedtrump, forced in a runoff she could lose her seat. Thats the big story in South Carolina. And quickly we want to mention implications here for the fall in virginia. Cory stewart this mans name, hell be the republican nominee for the senate if the had is to run against tim kaine. Republicans are worried not because they had a shot at tim kaines sheet. But stewart makes confederate moderates an issue. Hes aligned himself with antisemitism, ace racism. Hes tried to distance himself. But a lot of baggage there. And the fear for republicans this is the top of your ticket in virginia. This man, those associations, all the questions that spring up from that. And you have three Congressional Districts in Virginia Held by republicans that democrats think they can flip in a wave year and now add to the top of that republican ticket statewide in virginia, cory stewart. Thats something theyre not thrilled with last night. Thank you for that. Breaking ialdown after last night and, as always, an liegds the results. Let me bring in msnbc political analyst and former rnc chairman michael steele. Back with me say lease jordan and ayesha mills. As someone whos been immersed in midterm strategy, whats your takeaway by these trumpbacked cannedidates and t side of katy arrington, is it trumps way or the highway . Quite some time. For this really answers the question why arent republicans in the house and senate being more aggressive, moving, you know, against the president when he says and does things that are clearly outside the bounds. Well, its because of Congressional Districts like the ones we saw in virginia and alabama, and elsewhere. And certainly South Carolina last night where the trump support has consolidated and it is is ferment, ing, if you will, with this idea that youre against the president or youre with the president if the youre with the president youve got prove it every day and if youre against the president were going to take you out. Im assuming youre not saying fermenting in a good way like a fine wine. Youd no, theres nothing fine about this at all. In fact and elise knows this very well because we see it, it is co is corroding from within. It is trumpism. Butill say this. Primary is not a general election. And thats where National Republicans are concerned. Those three Congressional Districts, particularly congresswoman comstockton in the tenth Congressional District in virginia in trouble. You could see that. Everyones looking over here but look at virginia because virginia could be the precursor of a wave that people have been talking about. Mark sanford who looked like had he not ruled out this possibility of this happening was pretty philosophical in his concession speech. I want to play just a little more of that. Theres been too much made of are you for one personality or against it . What were about as nation is not being for or against one personality. Again, were a nation of laws and not men as theg fathers said stand by that beli in this case it mayd significant electoral consequence. Maybe in this case and also, elise, if there are republicans thinking the can run for reelection and separate themselves, criticize donald trump, is that gone . Is this a wakeup call for them . This is constantly the question you hear. Well, when are republicans going to start challenging donald trump . Well, look at what happened last night. Mark sanford, someone who has been more outspoken than most republicans, particularly wrietding an oped in the New York Times calling on trump to release his tax returns. Look at what happened to him. And mark sanford is beloved by the freedom caucus, its a definitely hawk. Hes someone who is known as a stanch conservative. But he said he could not sit and watch trump and the lies, and the lies really bothered him. I think thatark sanford deserves credit for a strategy that wasnt political astute but was the right thing to do. Were out of time. For democrats, what do they take away from this . Lets remember this is still the year of the woman. In virginia in particular every single competitive seat that the democrats are trying to pick up a woman is the candidate for that. So watch that. Ayesha, elise. Michael steele, thankou s much. Appreciate it. Gop lawmakers arent just falling in line to avoid the dreaded president ial tweet. How theyre start put the essure on the special counsel to wrap up. Lets take a look at some numbers 4 out of 5 people who have a stroke, their first symptom. Is a stroke. 80 percent of all strokes and Heart Disease . Preventable. And 149 dollars is all it takes to get screened and help take control of your health. Were life line screening. And if youre over 50. Call this number, to schedule an appointment. For five painless screenings that go beyond regular checkups. 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Is this something or ist just sort of standard operating procedure, pete . This is what happens when you have to try to have a trial in two separate places against the same thing for basically the same crime. So originally this trial was to start january 10th in virginia. Thats the courthouse youre looking at right now with manafort outside it. Then the judge on his own for personal reasons moved it to the 24th, and then the lawyers for the government for Robert Mueller said, wait a minute, we ha a hearing before judge jackson in washington in the manafort case that day, can we move it to the next day . So the judge said yes. So basically they asked for these subpoenas to be reissued with the new trial date. So thas all it is. They had already sought subpoenas for witnesses before the trial. They were supposed to show up on tuesday. Now the new subpoenas will say wednesday. Thats what this is all about. Thank you for that. In the meantime, in addition to whats happening with Paul Manafort, it was always going to be a big week in the Mueller Probe. And our friends at the Rachel Maddow show put together a handy calendar to help us keep track. First, later this afternoon james wolfe, the former Senate Intel Staffer charged with lying to federal investors as part of a leak investigation is due to appear in court in d. C. Tomorrow the Justice Departments Inspector General will release that muchanticipated report on the fbi investigation into Hillary Clintons use of private email, expected to be hundreds of pages long. Also tomorrow the doj will reportedly brief the gang of 8 on that fbi source who met with three Trump Campaign aides and its a huge day friday. Paul mania forts will be arraigned on yet another indictment. Thats the one alleging witness tampering and it puts his bail situatioin limbo. Meaning, he could land inl. And friday is also an important deadline for Michael Cohen and the pra the president s lawyers. By then they have to review the documents seized by cohen back in april. We have the political reporter for the New York Times an an msnbc political analyst. I want to start with this new political poll. It shows 53 of republicans have an unfavorable opinion of bob md since july Rudy Giuliani leading the campaign against the Mueller Probe, but hes been careful not to go after mueller directly. Take a listen. It kind of gives the American People a glimpse of what weave to deal with day in and day out with the abuses, not so much of bob mueller, but of the people that work for him. I mean, theyre way over the top. Im not saying mueller is lal get mate, im saying the basis on when he was appointed is illegitimate. Theyre a group of 13 highly partisan democramake up the mueller team, excluding him, are trying very, very hard to frame him, to get him in trouble when he hasnt done anything wrong. So, nick, even noe though giuliani is walking this fine line, hes not goingfter him per se, hes going after the poll and the team, clearly if you look at that poll its interesting having the intended effect. Im surprised that mueller is still that popular with republicans. Thats a great number for him. He has not said a single word in public about this investigation since he was appointed. He and his team speak only through subpoenas and Court Motions and court documents. Meanwhile, the president has beut there bashing the investigation and there are others who have bashed the Justice Department for allowing the investigation. So republicans have had the upper hand in the pr war here. They have been going hard at this thing for monthsnd months and months. Its actually a tribute that lers numbers are that high with republicans. Even though its going in that direction you think its amazing that hes not under water essentially . Yeah. Look, he is not able to defend himself. And so its its kind of a oneside pr bted approximately the so, yeah, i think that. The Washington Post reports that Rod Rosenstein is going to brief the president on that inspecr generals report on the clintd ton email investigation. What we think its going to be is very critical of mccabe, comey, loretta lynch. What are you looking for . I think the key thing thats going to come out of this is what does it do to the credibility of especially james comey and mccabe who were sort of at the very beginning of this mueller investigation. Think its going to be critical of them. I do think there were some missteps. Theres been some public reporting suggesting that theres going to be criticism of the way that comey handled the public statements about the ema email scandal and mccabin terms of his honesty in leak egg a leaking and talking about the leaks after the fact. I wou get the trump t willse satein and hence mueller i want toorrect something pete said the manafort trial is supposed to start in january of course its next month in july. But lets go closer to friday. What are the chances he ends up sleeping that night and from here on till the trial in jail . I think hes going to jail. I do think the judge will send him, absolutely. Really . The mueller team has charged manafort now with an additional crime of witness tampering and obstruction of justice. I can tell you nothing makes prosecutors crazier and angrier than witness tampering and judges have very little tolerance for witness tampering because if gees to the heart of the system. Its cheating. Its bending the rules of the criminal justice system. Theres a strong case against manafort here. They have the encrypted texts that he sent out to these witnesses basically telling them heres the story, im going to put this story in your mouth and youre going to repeat it. You cant look at that, can you,nick, without sayingokay, if ellies right and he ends up going l even though this is in anticipation waiting for his trial to start, this is not a conviction at trial, different things, but theres a lot of other people who are wondering what their prospects are who are ine watching somebody, the stature of Paul Manafort potentially going behind. Exactly. Its kind of fascinating to wonder what the aftereffects will be. First of all, Paul Manafort has been sort of brazen and proud in denying any guilt here in invest protesting his innocence. And hes gone so far as to allegedly try to tamper with the investigation as its in progress. Which is amazing when you think about it. First question is how does a few nights or aew weeks or months in jail affect his temperament on striking a deal with mueller . And the second is how does it change the posture of other witnesses in the Mueller Probe and how does it change the posture of the white house if they believe that manafort is close to flipping . Yeah, so ellie, whats the conversation like if youre in the room and youre the lawyer and youre talking to one of these other people whos the target of this probe maybe whos underindictment in this probe, what do you say when they come to you and t say d suft see the Paul Manafort went to jail . Its a huge if he does. If he does, its potentially a game changer. The whole psychology changes. When youre a defendant and out on bail youre fighting like mad to stay out. You will delay, deny, drag your feet, whatever you have to do. But when that shifts and now youre in jail, youre whole mindset changes and youre thinking i got to get out of here. Ill do whatever i can to get out of here as quickly as possible. And the quickest way to get out and so cooperate. And if that happens well see a whole different game here. Always a great conversation. Ellie, nick, good to see you my friend. Epa scott pruitt is in hot water again. It doesnt involve a used trump hotel mattress, doesnt involve ritz carlton moisturizing cream. This time its yet another chapter in the job hunt saga. You want believe the sa nas s tenacity of the hunter. Were on swamp watch next. Im only in my 60s. Ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. So when i found out medicare doesnt pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. Then i got a Medicare Supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if youre eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. Call now and find out about an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like all standardized Medicare Supplement insurance plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesnt pay. 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Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Help stop the clock on further irreversible joint damage. Talk to your rheumatologist. Right here. Right now. Humira. And this morning a new headline on embattle epa director scott pruitt. The Washington Post is reporting that pitt had a top aid reach out to republican dope nors to help his wife secure a job with a conservative political group. Just another unusual example of what seems to be in the Job Description to work for scott pruitt. The it. Unofficial duties include picking up drycleaning moisturizer, protein bars, making coffee although it has to be the pour over kind. Book vacation, scouting apartments, finding out how to buy a used mattress from Trump International hotel. If all that sounds good to you, maybe the epa is the place for you since those are all reportedly, allegedly tasks assigned to folks who worked for epa chief scott pruitt. I joined now by Washington PostSenior NationalAffairs Correspondent whos here to talk about her new reporting. Alicia jordan back withe. Julia, what is it this time . What are your sources telling you about scott pruitt trying to get his wife a job . Weve been looking into for some time but recently pubd stories both about his efforts to line up a chickfila franchise for his wife marlon as well as what we published today in terms of the job that she landed at the judicial crisis network, its clear from our reporting that scott pruitt is has been anxious about his familys finances since joining trumps cabinet. Mai two residences at this point, one in tulsa with a mortgage thats roughly in the 5,000, 50 five hundred dollars month range as w as of course now paying for a pricey apartment here in washington, d. C. And so hes starting really in may of last year started trying to figure out how his wife who had worked as a school nurse for some years inir first half of the 1990s but had stayed home with their kids could reenter the workforce. But obviously whats unusual is that from his perch as head of the Environmental Protection agency, he has passed multiple aides to reach out and try to solicit jobs for his wife. And thats by the way, right . Not exactly, not in the nursing provision, but bo nursing profession, but in terms ched out to other wlthy donors and folks, he lined of a logistical conference work, she worked on the conference where he spoke at in the city in id for that. And hen in addition she landed a job at this judicial advocacy conservative group which is linked to a society which is he very cse to. And she worked there for some months before leaving earlier this year. So what does the epa or the whituse have to say about well, thats a really good question. The epa referred us to the mr. Pruitts outside counsel who did not return my calls and emails seeking comment. And the white house has not yet commented on it but were hoping that well get something today now that our story is out. Weve been down this road with scott pruitt before. I just want to remind folks that when Sara Huckabee sanders has been asked repeatedly aboutthess had to say. I havent had a chance to speak with the president directly about the Washington Post new report. We continue to have concerns and look into those and well address them. Certainly looking into the matter. I couldnt comment on the specifics of the furniture use in his apartment. He was referencing a report done by the epa which we are continuing to review. I know there was a much larger number of securites surrounding the epa administrator than in the past. But for specific questions id refer you back to the epa. We take this seriously and were looking into it. Elise, as someone whos worked in the white house, there are currently at least 14 ongoing investigations involving scott pruitt and you heard her saying were looking into it. Whats the magic number . Whats the number im sorry, 15 ongoing investigations and one of them complete, so 14 are still operational. Whats the number does he have to hit 20 . I mean, he really is campaigning in a huge way to be the most corrupt member of the trump administration. I mean, thats the reality show that wereing play out. And all these different cabinets among the trump familys own staffers, ivanka and jared and their you know are the trademarks that thooes shes obtained and the money shes tained from the trump hotel, this starts at the top. And its sad that corruption is the greatest political liability that this nation faces. And just last week the president gave a vote of confidence to him. So it does beg the question as long as hes dismantling a lot of obama era environmental regulations, is there no number that he can reach . This is when the people need to stand up. The power of the people need to just stand up and say were not going to have a corrupt government. I was talking tle last night and they said part of the problem is theres just so many things that people want to staund about they dont know where they dont know which 1 to stand up for. At the end of the day this guy is abusing his power and congress is doing nothing, no one is investigating, this is just ridiculous and problematic and im thankful that we keep talking about it because people also forget, right . So we got to keep raising this issue. Its so absurd. This is a farce if the youve got the guy having a security detail taking him around to find a special moisturizer. This sin sanity. Is not draining the swamp. Thising a bunch of fertilizer on it. Julia, you and i have been around washington a long time, have you ever seen anything in terms of this quantity of accusations against a Single Person in an administration . No, i have not. Were obviously living under an unconventional presidency, one thats very different from the one you and i covered under the last administration. Hink that that speaks to why this is going on. I mean, again, this is someone who is still respected and appreciated by the president and until mr. Trump decides that he wants different leadership in there, theres no immediate indication that scott pruitt will be leaving the helm of the epa. Julia and her friends at the Washington Post have been doing great report thong. Great see you. Thank you for being with me this hour. Up next, yes, the state of california is debating a divorce. A plan to split the golden state three parts now on the ballot in november. Does it have a snowballs chance of actually passing . Two inch bonus. For this new stepdad, its promising his daughter as if shes his own. Every way we look out for those we love is an act of mutuality. We can help with the financial ones. Learn more or find an advisor at massmutual. Com we can help with the financial ones. With tripadvisor, finding your perfect hote at the lowest price. Is as easy as dates, deals, done simply enter your destination and dates. And see all the hotels for your stay tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites. To show you the lowest prices. So you can get the best deal on the right hotel for you. Dates, deals, done tripadvisor. Visit tripadvisor. Com i love you baby applebees 2 for 20, now with steak. Now thats eatin good in tghborhood. South l. A. Is very medically underserved. When the old hospital closed people in the community lived with untreated Health Problems for years. So, with the countys help we built a n hospital from the ground up and having citi as an early investor worked as a signal to others to invest. With citis help we built a wonderful Maternity Ward and we were able to purchase an mri machine. Weve made it possible for the people who live here to lead healthier lives and thats invaluable. Were in a strange place. I mean, its almost you know, its becoming a cultish thing, isnt it . And its not a good place for any party to end up with a cultlike situation as it relates to a president thathapp parties. That was just a couple minutes ago on capitol hill. You saw bob corker responding to the primary loss of his gop colleague. Congressman mark samford, in South Carolina. We also heard from paul ryan. He said youd have to ask South Carolina voters whether the criticism of President Trump had an impact on hisss. Now, this year voters in americas most populist state will decide on what is a radical proposal. Whether california sho split into three separate states. Californias secretary of state announcing that supporters of this initiative got enough signatures to get this thing on the november ballot. Heres what it would look like on the map. The state of Northern California would go from the baya up to the oregon border. The state of california would be anchored by l. A. Along the coast, and then the state of Southern California would go from fresno south. Joining me now, peggy grandee, spokesperson for the Group Pushing this. As i understand it, your groups argument, peggy j is california has too many people. The economy is too big. California citizens pay a lot of taxes but dont get enough benefits. A majority of californians, though, 72 , say they would vote against this. Make your pitch. How do you convince them . Anybody who lives in california knows its broken. Its too big to function and govern we are ranked last in overall quality of life this past month. Were ranked at the bottom in tk12 education. We have crumbling roads. The people of california believe we deserve better. This is an initiative by people who love california and want to stay there and raise their families there. And have Business Economic opportunity the, and thats not happening right now. Some of the critics say youre ignoring the problems this would create. I want to read from an article today, quote. Critics have long wonders how citizens of a state where the majority of Water Supplies exist in one region would react if negotiations over new interstate compacts to share the resource went contentious. People may balk at being charged out of state tuition. A company could face two Corporate Tax structures and workplace regulations that a workplace might impose differently. Their argument is you are oversimplifying and ignoring the enormous problems this would cause. California does have enormous prms, and we believe this is the solution. We know that smaller governments function better. Theyreeresponsible. Theyre more responsive to the people. We look at 49 states all smaller than california, and theyre all doing it better by almost every measure. So we do believe that california broken int three states would still be a large state. We would have large problems but we would be able to bring the solutions closer to reflect the ne wants of people within each geogrregion. You did get 600,000 californians to give signatures. How do turnhis around . When you look at the see the up hill climb, do you have the money or resources . What are you goiet now and the vote to try and make this a reality. re going to message out. We expect broad bipartisan support. You dont have a fund . You dont have millions of dollars waiting . Youre not going to mount a Tv Ad Campaign . Youll see a lot coming out. We qualified ballot yesterday. We appreciate you giving us the opportunity to talk about it today. Youre going to be hearing a lot about this issue. Its something that people not just in california but across the nation are going to be watching. All of a s if we break california into three states. Instead of an electoral assumption, we are relevant again. Thats another factor that i think will be watched interestingly nationwide. Peggy grand y. Thank you for having me on. Todays big picture. I love this. Minnesota, a everybody titter went crazy, is abouthis. Its about a raccoon scaling a skyscraper in st. Paul. Thats right. This guy went absolutely viral. People lost sleep over this. After npr there. The nprraccoon the city and nation captivated by a daring climb. Would he make it to the top . When woman said she would be devastated if he fell. There he was shaking, taking a nap. Finally in the middle of the night, we got our answer. Go, buddy, go. Ladies and gentlemen the announcer is kind of subdued. They were exhau was 2 30 in the morning. Heres the great news. Ou furry friend is safe and sound. Ali velshi was awake most of the night. Watching that. I have a love hate relationship with these things. I grew up in toronto. It doesnt make sense climb up a building but they can. They can pick your lock. They can hold you hostage. Is that what happened to you . Im terrified by them and fascinated. That would explain a lot. You were once a raccoon picked a lock and held ali velshi hostage. Right. Good. Was freed. Were glad to have you here. Glad to be back, and i am happy for that raccoon. Congratulations, raccoons all world. Whats going on . Theres no stopping them now. Once theyve seen that, theres no stopping them now. Theres going to be a raccoon on the ballot in 2020 in america. You decide if you like that idea. Good morning. Stephanie rule Stephanie Ruhle is off. Its wednesday, june 13th. Lets get smarter. Tweeting this morning after his long trip, everybody can now feel much safer than the day i took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from north korea. I felt good at the beginning, and i talked about we have to denuke this country has to be denuked. He fully understood that. He didnt fight it. People were saying whats he like . Hes got a very good personality. Hes funny, and hes very, very smart. Hes a great negotiator. And hes a very strategic kind of a guy. I think the rhetoric, i hated to do it. Sometimes i felt foolish doing it, but we had no choice. Strategically you were doing it . Well, yeah, and i think he gained respect. What would he have to do to get the sanctions lifted to get the Economic Opportunity opened up for the people . What he wants is security. I understand that. Hell get that. Getting rid of a missile which isnt done in the document. That was done after. Getting rid of a missile testing site. Theyre doing so much now. Its a process, and its really moving rapidly. Were not going to be doing the war games as long as were negotiating in good faith. So thats good for a number of reasons in addition to which we save a tremendous amount of money. That was a to do that. It was y, and premature,