Day 439 of the trump administration. And the Washington Post has just dropped a major story tonight on the mueller russia investigation. Carol len and i can robert costa report the special counsel told president trumps attorneys that the president remains under investigation but is not a criminal target, quote, in private negotiations in early march about a possible president ial interview, mueller described trump as a subject. Of his investigation into russias interference in our 2016 election. Prosecutors view someone as a subject when that person has engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges. The special counsel also told trumps lawyers that he is preparing a report about the president s actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice, according to two people with knowledge of the conversations. Mueller also reinforced the need to interview trump to understand whether he had any corrupt intent to thwart the russia investigation and complete this portion of the investigation. The special counsels description of president trumps status has also sparked debate within the president s inner circle. The report goes on to say, quote, the president and some of his allies seized on the special counsels words as an assurance that trumps risk of criminal jeopardy is low. Other advisors, however, noted that subjects of investigations can easily become indicted targets and expressed concern that the special prosecutor was baiting trump into an interview that could put the president into greater legal peril. Ty cobb, attorney for president trump, told nbc news just tonight that ethically he has declined to comment on this Washington Post report. Another of the president s attorneys, jay sekulow, told nbc news, we do not discuss real or alleged conversations between our legal team and the office of special counsel. And as if this news wasnt enough, we also saw the first sentencing today in the russia investigation. Attorney Alex Vander Zwaan was sentenced to 30 days in prison, fined 20,000 for lying to investigators about contacts he had with storm trump aide rick fates and ukrainian businessman with alleged ties to russian intelligence. For more and because of the news were covering tonight, we bring in our expanded leadoff panel for a tuesday night. Robert costa whose byline appears on the breaking news from the Washington Post. He is the papers National Political reporter. Moderator of Washington Week on pbs. Also back with us ashley parker, White House Reporter for the Washington Post who also contributed to tonights reporting. Also with us jennifer rogers, former assistant u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york. And jeremy bash, former chief of staff at cia and pentagon and former counsel to house intel. Well, i guess i start with you, mr. Costa, this feels like a moment in this investigation, in this ongoing story. What was your key takeaway from the work you contributed to . One of the challenges of reporting on this story is to figure out what mr. Mueller is saying behind the scenes because he has been so quiet, publicly, who have his colleagues in the special counsels office. We have reported and confirmed that in early march mr. Mueller had a conversation with president trumps attorneys on the russia probe and he walked through the president s status at this time, that he is now someone who is being hes not a witness in the investigation, but he is someone who they would like to interview to learn more about his intent when it came to some of his key decisions in his presidency because theyre trying to finish a report on potential obstruction of justice and the president s conduct in office. Ashley parker, im going to read you a portion of tonights reporting in your newspaper. Quote, the president has privately expressed relief at the description of his legal status which has increased his determination to agree to a special counsel interview, the people said. Hes repeatedly told allies that he is not a target of the probe and believes an interview will help him put the matter behind him, friends said. However legal experts said muellers description of trump as a subject of a grand jury probe does not mean hes in the clear. Ashley, youre not trying to tell me that mr. Mueller would play with the president s emotions . Well as the legal experts we talked to said, there is sort of a stunningly thin line between a subject, which is what the president currently is, and a target, which is what he is at risk of becoming, and no one wants to be a target. Basically if the president goes and sits down before mueller and his investigators, someone like mr. Trump is taking a real risk in part because hes someone who we know has a penchant for misleading statements and false statements. Thats the very sort of thing that makes you move from a subject to a target. So while the president has expressed relief and has been going around telling friends and allies hes not a target, he has nothing to worry about right now he doesnt in this immediate moment, doesnt necessarily have something to worry about. The concern from some but not all of his legal team unless he does go and does sit down, he could dance over that line into quite dangerous territory. Jennifer, i talked to a veteran washington lawyer tonight who told me this. For a sitting president to be the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation is frightening. This confirms muellers investigating obstruction. This confirms he will write a report. This only magnifies the stake of an interview switching from subject to target in an instant. So the question to you, what is the difference, in your mind, between subject and target . Well, a subject is someone whose conduct is within is scope of the investigation. So someone who might ultimately be charged but theyre not sure yet, basically. A target is someone against whom they have substantial evidence that a crime has been committed. And the guidelines also use the term punitive defendant as in almost youve made that decision already. This is the problem for the president. He really could move from subject to target very quickly and it doesnt have to be because he sits down and says, i did it, i obstructed justice. It could be that in his denials as hes maybe unable to explain some inconsistencies, the special counsel decides that his testimony or the conversation that theyre having is not credible. It doesnt have to be that he admits something or they catch him in something necessarily, but if they decide what he is saying does not jive with what the rest of the evidence that is theyre hearing, they could decide that puts them over the edge. Jeremy bash, how do you read tonights story in the Washington Post . I think the president may try to take some cold comfort from the fact that hes not a target, but he shouldnt for the following reasons. First of all, his conduct is under the investigation. Its no mere criminal investigation. Its the most Significant National security investigation in our nations history. Second is bob mueller is going to write a report. Thats something new. We havent heard that before. That could be of course the basis upon which Congress Makes decisions about impeachment and removal from office. Finally, brian, there was a suggestion in bobs reporting which id love to hear more about in which the lawyers for donald trump believe bob mueller may be playing rope a dope, this is all a strategy to get the president to its sit down for that elusive interview with the special counsel, during which the president may incriminate himself. Bob costa, your name has been invoked. He brings up an important point, that whats happening now inside of the white house among the president s senior advisors on the legal team in the president s broader circle, is a discussion, its really an interpretation. Theyre all trying to figure out what is the special counsel doing with this early march conversation, with the update on the president s status of being a subject of the investigation but not at this moment a criminal target. And the president has reacted to this feedback from the special counsel based on our reporting by saying he now wants to sit down with mueller because he believes if hes not a target, he would like to clear his name and end the investigation as quickly as possible. The president s attorneys are some of them at least are arguing against that saying, you cannot be sure, mr. President , about what mueller is up to here, what happens when you sit in that chair, your status could change, it could be a different context than you may have believed, be careful. Thats the real debate in the president s inner circle. Ashley, i just want to read you a tweet from our mutual friend nicole wallace. And it reads, this is just tonight, so heres how this can work sometimes. Having worked in a white house under investigation, the Washington Post could have had a call in to the white house for comment on news that trump is a subject. That news might have angered trump. Now reevaluate the market moving attacks this week on amazon. Ashley, i talked to another lawyer tonight who said the president is way underdefended legally. And even if he found the best white shoe Washington Law Firm to come in at this late date, they are one million documents behind. The catchup time would kill everybody involved. The question to you speaks to the anxiety level youve been able to detective in your multiplesourced reporting in the west wing. Theres always a ton of anxiety when the topic of mueller or the russia probe comes out. What you just mentioned is one of the key points, that there is this debate within his legal team on if he should sit for an interview or if he should not. But that sort of obscures the fact that right now as the president is heading into perhaps the most perilous moment in this probe, hes missing a lead attorney. John dowd, who is the lead attorney, basically recently resigned because of some of these disagreements including over this issue of if the president should talk to mueller. The white house has not been able to bring on another attorney, another topnotch attorney as you were referencing, but even any other attorney. No matter what the president decides to do, the key thing is he needs a lead lawyer and he needs a very clear, coherent legal strategy right now, neither of which he has. That just heightens the already existing anxiety surrounding this entire issue. Jennifer, can the lawyer in you imagine jumping into this, a mature case that could be closer to resolution than any of us know, certainly deeper than any of us can fathom and going to work on this . I know a lot of lawyers and a lot of them have pretty big egos, so yes, i actually can. There are people out there who say no task is too great. This may help my reputation if i help navigate him through this. I think there may be people out there who are willing to do it. Theyre probably not the white shoe lawyers you referenced because none of those firms seem to want this work. I just love that term. Yes, the white shoes. None of them actually wear white shoes, turns out. Not after labor day. I think he may find someone whos more of a solo person, a maverick type who would be willing to do it. Do you think the trump team is still trying to extract rules of the road from mueller about the circumstances of an interview . Do they have any clout on that end . They do because its a voluntary interview. They always could say no. Then wed be back in subpoena territory. Where wed probably have to go to court to get through all of that. The problem is john dowd was the one pushing against the interview. So i dont know who now is kind of taking that role and saying, no, no, wait, we want to push for this and that. Its unclear whos talking to them now. Even the reporting is from early march. Since then is when john dowd is gone. So who knows whether thats broken down as of this moment. Jeremy bash, go big for me. What do we know as we send our viewers later in the hour off to their good night, what do we know tonight that we didnt know waking up today about the Mueller Investigation . That the president of the United States has engaged in conduct that is under investigation by the special counsel about his activity to potentially obstruct justice of the investigation of a conspiracy to violate federal election law to benefit the president. I think thats so huge, so enormous, unprecedented in our country. With bob here, i have to ask this important question, which is his reporting said that there would be a report about the president s conduct while in office, almost suggesting that mueller has said, while i might be able to prosecute the president for crimes committed as a private citizen and a candidate, as president i cant do that so thats going to go to congress for impeachment and removal consideration. I just wonder, bob, was that the import of the while in office phrase in your reporting . Jeremy, thats a fair analysis of our report. Based on our conversations with sources, we have deduced that the mueller team is working on multiple tracks and theyre still working on a longerterm with a tbd date when it comes to concluding on the russia collusion and interference of russians in the 2016 election. But the separate portion on the president s conduct in office, they would like to wrap that up we are told by our sources by june or july, well ahead of the midterm elections, so they could have some kind of conclusion on at least that portion of the russia probe. I cant thank our guests enough. We have learned a lot tonight, a night of real consequence in this ongoing story that consumes much of our time on this broadcast night after night. Robert costa, ashley parker, jennifer rodgers, jeremy bash. Much obliged to all of you, thank you so much. Coming up for us, trumps comments today on russia. Perhaps now viewed, as we said, through a new lens in the wake of the reporting by our friends at the Washington Post tonight. Later, if he cant build that wall, hes got a backup plan on how to defend a southern border he says is out of control. The 11th hour just Getting Started on, as we said, a busier than normal tuesday night. Probably nobodys been tougher to russia than donald trump. Weve been very tough on russia, frankly. Nobody has been tougher on russia. Nobodys been tougher on russia than i have. And i know youre nodding yes, because everyone agrees. Theres nobody been tougher on russia. Remarkable the american president on the subject of russia today. He made those comments while in the company of the leaders of latvia, lithuania, and estonia. Three countries bordering russia, wary about their next door neighbor. They know a thing or two about how the kremlin spreads its influence. Hes been accused of cozying up to the russian president , so his remarks today made in an effort to reassure baltic leaders of his willingness to confront russia may end up raising more questions about what exactly is u. S. Policy toward the kremlin. Here is how he responded to a question about inviting the russian leader to the white house. You want Vladimir Putin to come to the white house . Thank you very much. Market volatility . If possible, and this is speaking with the baltic states, ideally we want to be able to get along with russia. Were going to find out whether or not we do. If we could all get along, that would be great. Getting along with russia would be a good thing, not a bad thing. Just about everybody agrees to that, except very stupid people. Then there was this about his relationship with Vladimir Putin. Vladimir putin, is he a friend or a foe . Well find out. Ill let you know. There will be a time when ill let you know. Youre going to find out very quickly. I think i could have a very Good Relationship with president putin. I think. Its possible i wont. You will know about it. Believe me, this room will know about it before i know about it. I think i could have a very Good Relationship with russia and with president putin. If i did, that would be a great thing. Theres also a great possibility that wont happen. Who knows. Okay . The president s remarks came after the white house hit russia with sanctions for election meddling and Cyber Attacks and expelled Russian Diplomats in response to this poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter in england in broad daylight last month. Today Vladimir Putin called for an investigation into that poisoning and demanded that russia play a role in that inquiry. Got to love that. Putin also cast doubt on reports of russias involvement in that attack. While he is accusing the west of launching an antirussia campaign. Clint watts, a former fbi agent and friend of this broadcast, has been closely watching the evolution of putins handling of donald trump. Today clint watts wrote this in an op ed for the New York Times which we commend to your attention. Quote, in trump and his campaign, mr. Putin spotted a golden opportunity, an easily ingratiated celebrity motivated by fame and fortune, a Foreign Policy novice surrounded by unscreened opportunists open to manipulation and unaware of russias longrun game of supervision subversion, forgive me for botching the last word. Here to talk about his work, clint watts, former fbi special counsel agent. He wrote the piece we just quoted. Vivian salama, National Political reporter for nbc news, who was at the president s News Conference earlier today. Clint, ill begin with you. Especially since i botched the last word. I was watching you watching the president. What was that dynamic we saw on display today . Why were you smiling . Its just two minutes of nonsense. I mean, no ones been tougher . Anyone whos watched president reagan or president bush would have to say that was a much tougher stance on then soviet union, now russia. The other part about it which is interesting is hes been slow on sanctions. He has tried to divert sanctions at different times. He has constantly avoided really confronting putin. Hes not brought up the chemical attack that happened in the uk. When told not to congratulate putin, he congratulated putin on the phone. Even here he was talking about we are showing strength with our military, with our military, with our military. He seems to be completely unaware that russia Just Launched the most successful influence campaign and Information Warfare attack on the United States in our countrys history and that doesnt require any military. He went right around us to our internal politics. Putin went right around all of this military strength and has sowed massive chaos in our country. When i hear him talking it confirms what i wrote in the New York Times today, which is, he is unaware exactly how this strategy is working and how that influence campaign is happening. We just saw putin right there. As you talked about it. He turned right around and blamed the United Kingdom for that nerve agent attack. Yeah, of course he did. Its crazy. Seemingly off the wall question, actually germane. Do you believe as many do that Robert Mueller has had a stack of Donald Trumps tax returns on his desk for months . I dont know that he has them yet. But when were looking at this, and this is what i was trying to point out in the article, is if you want to investigate this case, if he is compromised or hes being coerced, the way to do that is through financial manipulation. To understand that you have to look at tax returns. Vivian, what was it like to be there in the moment . His statements today ignored history. We also heard that wanting to get along yearning in his voice that weve heard before. Thats right, hes repeated that multiple times. The interesting thing is that, yes, the administration has taken some measures to show their disapproval of some of russias actions in recent years, but the president has never really come out and condemned russia directly or putin directly with regard to especially to the 2016 elections and the meddling of the elections. He has criticized russian actions in syria. He has taken actions in solidarity with these Chemical Attacks in the u. K. Recently. But really when it comes to this major issue, this National Security threat in the United States, he has not really taken a firm stance against russia. In fact, hes even at times expressed skepticism that russia was solely to blame for the meddling in the 2016 elections. And so thats really something that especially its quite startling to see that when hes standing next to these three baltic leaders where their whole entire National Security existence right now revolves around the idea that russia is their border that they share a border with russia and that threat is something thats very real to them, and they would truly like to see the president coming out and taking a stronger stance in solidarity with european allies, nato allies especially. That was the very interesting thing, that he sort of tap danced around the issue once again standing next to these leaders. That really makes a lot of our european allies very nervous. Clint, let me ask you about your lifes work. How do the men and women who are in the traditional fight against russia, the pretrump notion of the fight against russia, how do they keep their heads down, keep their concentration, keep moving forward and do their work . I think its two parts. One, youre not sure when the administration has your back if youre moving forward. You want to always be moving forward aggressively. Its a zero sum game with russia. So any progress theyre showing, you want to catch that or counter it. Can you do that legitimately with this administration . Will the administration have your back . I think the other part of it is, you dont know what your countrys stance is policywise visavis russia. How can you advocate, how can you work even as an intelligence service, when you show up in a place like syria and you see russian contractors or Russian Military that are squaring off literally with u. S. Military personnel at different times. What is our stance with this country . What are we supposed to be doing . Are we aligned with them, are we fighting with them . How does this proceed moving forward . Its got to be a confusing landscape. You start to tiptoe, and thats never good for a country. The president at one point asked one of the baltic leaders to repeat her praise from a private meeting in the oval office in front of the cameras. It reminded a lot of folks about the cabinet meetings where they went around in sequence and everyone had to compliment the president out loud. It was on the subject of nato, but the meaning was the same. Oh, thats right. The president is certainly not shy to praise people who praise him in his presence. He loves to kind of have that reaffirmation that hes doing a good job by anyone whos around him. So of course he took a minute to actually invoke the name of his former opponent Hillary Clinton. He called out, quote, crooked hillary in that case and said that he would probably be doing a better job with nato allies and defending them than Hillary Clinton would have done. Or crooked hillary as he called her. So the election clearly on his mind, but also just the fact that he feels that hes really moving the relationship forward. He brought that up. The election is never far from the conversation. A day of consequence to be sure. Clint watts, vivian solomo, our thanks to you both, really appreciate it. Coming up, the president went there again today and there and there, for that matter. His verbal attack on so many fronts. Racing isnt the only thing on my mind. And with godaddy, im making my ideas real. When i created my businesses, i needed a way to showcase it. With godaddy you can get a website to sell online. And it will look good. I made my own way. Now its time to make yours. Get started at godaddy. Com everything is working, working just like it should you take a look at the post office and the post office is losing billions of dollars and the taxpayers are paying for that money because it delivers packages for amazon at a very below cost. And thats not fair to the United States. Its not fair to our taxpayers. I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation. We will have as of three months ago 7 trillion in the middle east over the last 17 years. We get nothing, nothing out of it, nothing. And as you remember in civilian life for years i said keep the oil. We didnt keep the oil. Who got the oil . It was isis. Nato was delinquent. They were not paying their bills. A lot of states as we discussed. They were not paying what they should be paying. Nobodys been tougher on russia than i have. And with that being said, i think i could have a very Good Relationship with president putin. I think. Its possible i wont and you will know about it. Lets back up and start with the fact once and for all that the u. S. Postal Service Receives zero taxpayer dollars. Right on up through the statement on russia that ignores the presidencies of kennedy and reagan, for starters. The president s remarks today in person and on social media ranged from attacks on amazon, Hillary Clinton, barack obama and the head of cnn at a time when we have just learned more about the pressure on the president from this russia investigation. As that Washington Post piece we mentioned at the top of the broadcast reports, trump may soon have more from the special counsel to contend with. This quote, the special counsel told trumps lawyers that he is preparing a report about the president s actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice and that if mueller finds trump engaged in criminal conduct, he could detail it in a report and let congress to decide whether to launch impeachment proceedings based on muellers findings. With us here tonight for more, jonathan lemire, friend and White House Reporter for the associated press, and msnbc political analyst. So the question is how will this post reporting tonight, which is weve all agreed so consequential, how will it break publicly, how will it break in the west wing . Two different schools of thought. Obviously tonight were seeing as youve detailed on this show and elsewhere, this is a significant move. It certainly does not suggest that the president is out of hot water. Theres the idea that though he is not currently a target, perhaps he still could be, particularly if he does sit down for an interview with the mueller team, which his lawyers counsel against. Which he very much wants to do, believing that, as always, he is his best spokesman, he is his own best defense attorney in this case, and that he can clear his name by sitting down. That debate in the legal team has helped led to john dowds departure from said legal team. In the west wing, some trump allies weve got early reaction from to this story, theres two different schools of thought. One is there is some sense of relief that the president at least right now is not a target. That is perhaps good news. Its better than the alternative, being a target. Theres some suggestion that this is perhaps leading along a path to eventually this cloud thats been hanging over the west wing eventually lifting. But theres also concern among some in the west wing and some outside trump allies that this is going to push the president this news will be greeted by the president and hell go too far, hell take to twitter to go after it or that he will again double down on his efforts, like hey, im almost out of the woods, now lets sit down for this interview, then might actually make things worse for himself. Topics today confusing the radar, a lot of shiny objects buried other stories like when china makes up its mind to flip sanctions on us, goods and services in this country could increase exponentially. A question i always try to ask, and i ask it seriously. How did the trump agenda advance today . Unclear. The president , when a big moment in the russia investigation comes, thats often linked to some of the scattershot performance like we saw today, a couple of public appearances with the baltic leaders at the white house. Theres a lot going on behind the scenes. There is the tariffs thing, still very much, you know the repercussions of that are to be felt. What to do about syria. The president made a lot of news last week suggesting it might be a quick withdrawal. For American Forces from that area, that isis is nearly defeated, its time to get out the man who said hell never telegraph his moves in advance. In this case, seems to be doing so, which highlighted a real dilemma, a real sort of disagreement within the white house where he has suggested to do exactly that. While members of his National Security team are saying not to do that. That that would be dangerous to leave so quickly ahead of schedule. Theres also scott pruitt, the head of the epa, who the president last night called and offered some reassurances, keep your head up, keep fighting. Buck up, dont give in to the pressure. Weve got your back. Weve got your back, a message that was largely reiterated by chief of staff john kelly today. Thats not the entire story. Kelly and others in the white house are very upset at pruitt. They dont like the bad headlines hes generated. The president has told people in the last couple of days that hes tired of turning on the news and seeing scott pruitt out there, you know, the next negative story hitting him. That as much as the president is fond of pruitt, likes the environmental rollbacks he has done, likes the regulations he is stripping away, likes the fights hes gotten into with some environmentalists, he doesnt like all the bad headlines. So at this very moment Scott Pruitts job is safe. David shulkins job was safe at one point too, and then it wasnt. At a certain point theres belief in the west wing that the president may just say, enough is enough. Jonathan lemire covers the white house for the associated press, we tend to love when he comes to our studios and spills his guts as he did again tonight. Thank you, my frechiend, apprece it very much. Coming up, without funding for his wall, the president s new idea to defend our southern border with mexico when we come right back. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and i will have mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words. 33 months now after the speech that launched Donald Trumps run for president. Hes still trying to deliver on a fundamental campaign promise. That became a rallying cry for his base. But the president s wall has not been funded. Without it, he announced today he has a new plan to secure the border. Ive been speaking with general mattis. Were going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall, were going to be guarding our border with the military. Just over one hour later, trump was back and doubled down on that idea. The Mexican Border is very unprotected by our laws. We have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States and were going to be able to do something about that hopefully soon, hopefully congress will get their act together and get in and create some very powerful laws. So what we are preparing for the military to secure our border between mexico and the United States. With us for more, our military analyst, who better to talk about this than retired u. S. Army colonel jack jacobs, heavily decorated combat veteran of the vietnam war, wonderful only 71 live reg sip yents of the medal of honor. Colonel, we put together a graphic of countries with militarized borders. You and i in our time, you more than me, have passed through a number of check points. Always its an opportunity to check your surroundings. Very colorful graphic. But there is buried the story. Very basic question, is this the kind of thing we do . No. Well, we do it from time to time. I mean, obama sent some federalized troops down there. George bush did too. But none of these troops were and these arent going to be folks who are going to set up machine gun nests and take potshots at illegal aliens coming across the rio grande river. Theyre going to be there to support the border patrol. Theyre going to take them around in helicopters so they can survey the area, going to put out sensors, going to develop intelligence, were going to support them with logistics and administration. Its not going to be the army of the United States defending the republic along the rio grande river. Nor can you hand them mres and say thank you so much for your service, lots of luck. They need encampments, places to sleep, contractors to cook their food, people to pull security for their locations. Raises the question whos going to pay for it. At the end of the day the federal government is going to pay for it. The only way you can do it is to federalize the National Guard. For that you need a couple of things, not the least significant of which is the compliance of the governor of the state who actually owns those troops. The National Guard is the army of each of the governors and you cant deploy them or federalize them, whether youre going to pay for them or not, without asking the governors permission first. How is this going to go over with the rank and file . I cant help but think of a reservist who is a mexicanamerican facing that border maybe even in addition to night vision with armaments . Theyre not going to be very happy about it for a number of reasons. One of the most significant that is we dont have enough troops to defend the rest of the country in the first place, let alone send them to the border to do the kinds of things the president has in mind. We have the Smallest Army since about 1940. The army is liable to get even smaller before it gets bigger. Theyre undertrained, overcommitted, deployed many times over. To take some of these people out of what theyre doing now, including deployments and training support and all the rest of that stuff and send them of them down were talking about active duty people and reservists as well, and National Guard people to send them down to the southern border is a waste of troops, and theyre not going to like it very much. All that stuff the president said yesterday flanked by the easter bunny to those little kids waiting for the easter egg roll to start about our military buildup, the biggest of all time, the 7 billion . Headed nowhere. Also without the compliance of the congress. At the end of the day, the budget, while it calls for an increase in military expenditures, has not called for a significant increase in head count. At the end of the day, doesnt matter how many ships or airplanes you have, you need people. Some 19yearold soldier has to stand on the objective and hold it. Taking the objective is relatively easy. Holding on to it is Something Else again entirely. All the money in the world is not going to pay for the number of people we really need to have in the service and keep them from being deployed over and over again in the same place. Colonel jack jacobs, who was at one time a 19yearold soldier. I was once. This is why we always ask to talk to you. Thank you, sir. Thanks, jack. Coming up, the schools that are closed tomorrow because the teachers have had enough. Well hear from one voice that stood out today. When the 11th hour continues. Youve tried moisturizer after moisturizer but theres one. That blows them all out of the water. Hydro boost water gel from neutrogena®. With hyaluronic acid it goes beneath the surface to plump skin cells from within and lock in hydration leaving skin so supple, it actually bounces back. The results will blow you away hydro boost and our gentle exfoliating cleanser from neutrogena® but im not standing still. And with godaddy, ive made my ideas real. I made my own way, now its time to make yours. Everything is working, working, just like it should wheres our funding, make it happen wheres our funding, make it happen make it happen make it happen we wont leave, we wont leave all we ask of them is to educate each one of our citizens. If theres a teacher in your life you know theres a movement under way. Teachers across this country have had enough. What started in West Virginia moved to kentucky and oklahoma and appears arizona is going to be next. They are striking for better pay, but also, and importantly, for increased funding. In oklahoma today, 27 School Districts remain closed for a second straight day as over 1,000 teachers converged on the state capitol. Oklahoma ranks near the bottom of this nation in terms of public revenue spent per student. The states republican governor actually signed a pay raise for teachers last week, but the teach else say theyre holding out until their students get the funding and the resources they need. During our live coverage from oklahoma today, one moment stood out to us and we thought it deserves a second look tonight. It was an interview with a Oklahoma Teacher conducted by our own mariana atencio. Ray, you teach fifth grade. You told me you work two jobs to make ends meet. Yes, maam. If she the last four years i worked at a brahmas, a subway sandwich, and a general dollar store. Theres something wrong when you have a masters degree and work to put your kid through college and pay for things like scouting. Youre a republican, this is a Republicanled Legislature here. Yes, maam. What is your message to lawmakers . There is nowhere to run and hide. This is bigger than party politics. For instance, maybe they would say, well, youre a democrat, youre not going to vote for me anyway. Im a republican. Theres midterms elections as i told you earlier, if they put an r on a fence post and run it against one of these incumbents who dont fix this funding, i will vote for the fence post. Legislators, republican ones who ive spoken to, say its not only education, they have to look at the budget for health, for other things. What do you say to that . I think thats divide and conquer. I think we can pay for things we need. Were not just fighting for a raise. What they offered i would be satisfied. But man, i have 36 kids in my class. Ten of them dont have textbooks for math. I was teaching the other day, had to teach out of two different books. Ive got 22 of one and 31 of another. Weve got money to fix this. This is the same legislature who found money to give themselves several raises over the last few years but theyre trying to tell us they cant put a textbook in every kids hand . Were not buying it, maam. Were not buying it. Reporter we have seen this in states like kentucky. Is this a trend were seeing in gopled states . Absolutely. I have 11 to 14 very Close Friends in education, from alabama to virginia to tennessee, and i can tell you, this mood of the schoolkids being the last thing on the back of the stove, this is going to stop, whatever it takes. We will hold them accountable. That is an energized and dedicated teacher named ray sanders, schoolteacher in oklahoma, where tomorrow, School Closures will stretch into a third day. Another break, a final break for us and then coming up, what viewers at home on this night 50 years ago saw on their tv screens that changed the course of our country, when we continue. The last thing before we go tonight is the day that begins exactly two minutes from now, april 4th will forever be the anniversary of the assassination of the reverend dr. Martin luther king jr. Tomorrow marks 50 years. For Television Viewers watching nbc on that night in 1968, this is what they saw. Nbc interrupts its regular Program Schedule to bring you the following special report. Martin luther king jr. Was killed tonight am memphis, tennessee. Shot in the face as he stood alone on the balcony of his holt room. He died in the hospital an hour later. That was broadcast live from this building in new york. King was in memphis to support a strike by black sanitation workers who were paid less than whites. He had just stepped onto the balcony outside room 306 of the Lorraine Motel and was shot. Two of the young men on that balcony would rise to become future leaders themselves. Andrew young and jesse jackson. Two months later, Bobby Kennedy was dead, assassinated in los angeles. And by the summer of 68, with riots under way in a number of u. S. Cities, adult americans at the time had good reason to wonder if their country was going to be okay. The good news is were still here. Tomorrow, we mark the anniversary of a single rifle shot from an open window which killed a man and staggered the rest of us. That is our broadcast for tonight. Thank you so much for being here with us. Good night from nbc news headquarters in new york. Tonight on man. A bombshell from Robert Mueller confirming he is investigating Trumps Campaign chair for collusion crimes. Thats what he said. Thats what i said thats obviously what our position is. As the first person heads to jail in the russia probe, well look at who could be next. Only time will tell. Plus, the latest on a shooting at youtubes Head Quarters and the slew of stories engulfing trumps epa chief in scandal. Scott pruitt, do you support pruitt . The tonight democrats and republicans calling for pruitt to be fired. Theres a change coming. Theres a change coming. When all in starts right now