i m jeff bennett in for andrea mitchell. at this hour, president trump is refusing to take no for an answer in his fight to get a controversial citizenship question added to the u.s. census. with the courts stopping him, president trump is expected to announce he s taking executive action to get that question included in the national head count. his announcement alongside attorney general bill barr is likely to happen during what the president is billing on twitter as a news conference later today. if he takes questions, you can expect him to be pressed on the census, but also the nationwide i.c.e. raids on thousands of immigrant families set to begin sunday and the future of embattled labor secretary alex acosta. joining me now is nbc white house correspondent kristen welker, julia ainsley, jeff mason, and msnbc contributor barbara mcquaid. christen welker, let s talk about why we re expecting this
badly. i prefer not to go through this. so, you know, this is one way for me to get justice. what does it take to find the courage to speak and tell your story? it s a lot. even though maybe i don t look it because i m so sad. but also happy tears because i m able to, you know, let myself go of this burden. i feel brave. i feel strong. more than ever right now. nbc news reached out to epstein s attorneys for comment multiple times, they have not responded to all of these requests. in previous discussions, epstein s attorneys are said to have challenged her credibility. joining me now to discuss all of this is christen welker, and editor at the washington post
the president handled domestic matters tweeting about congressional investigations and the looming threat of impeachment both of which tee up questions that will be waiting when the president arrives back at home. the president is en route back to the united states following his trip through japan. i m joined now by christen welker in japan. what was the tone of this meeting? this has been a remarkable few days here in japan. he does have a few more events before he departs on tuesday. but, look, this was a trip that was really focused on the personal diplomacy between president trump and prime minister abe, the two played a round of golf, they attended a sumo wrestling match. they had a dinner overnight. but there were a number of contradictions on this trip with president trump tweeting and taunting effectively throughout the duration.
at the same time, there in the rain to pay tribute to all of those lives that were lost so many years ago sitting together in unison and yet battling these different ideologies about how to move forward, dara. christen, tell us, i know we re listening to the music because the tribute is still continuing under the arch detriomphe in paris. it has been a beautiful and somber morning. macron did deliver that comment where we need to come together as nations and fight for peace.
sidelines of the lunch. i don t think we re going to be briefed on it extensively. just as we still don t know what was said in helsinki. the relationship between two of them is not public relationship except when putin is absorbing the praise that was heaped on him by president trump. christopher, if i may, we were just discussing with christen. she brought up the point how president trump had missed the red carpet moment. he s having a few moments on this trip to france, how is that playing out with the french people? the french people don t like donald trump. i don t think he likes them either. donald trump loves rallies. he loves rallies that are more like prowrestling events. that s not going to happen here. this is not the kind of moment