no, this doesn t work in this situation, and to be able to step beyond what we typically see in a counterintelligence investigation, and try to make the details public. they d argue it matters for the american people. julia ainsley, breaking it all down for us there on a monday morning. julia, thank you. we should point out, the fbi s decision in may of 2017 did not happen in a vacuum. follow me here. they had already investigated four trump campaign members the previous summer. michael flynn, paul manafort, carter page, and george papadopoul papadopoulos. plus, there were his comments on the campaign trail about wikileaks. the times reports it was clearly the events surrounding the ouster of james comey that produced the investigation. in early may 2017, the initial draft of the letter to fire comey mentioned the russia investigation. then on may 9th, president trump fires james comey. may 10th, the next day, trump meets with russians in the oval office.
and file, here s some of what republicans responded with over the weekend. that language has no place in america. that is not the america i know. it s most definitely not the party of lincoln. what steve king said was stupid. it was stupid. it was hurtful. it was wrong. he needs to stop it. we ve got to raise the bar on civility, george. we need to call it out on the republican side and the democrat side. reporter: strong language from republicans over the weekend, craig, but we don t note yet if there will be any actual punishment for king. that could range from anything from being stripped of quicommie assignments, being knocked down on committees. that ll come this afternoon when he meets with leader mccarthy. king said things over the years, controversial, ridiculous, factually inaccurate, racist. what is different this time? why hadn t republican leaders acted before this? reporter: it is a good question, craig. i think there are a couple
calls for a new congressional election. george woke up in pain. but he has plans today. hey dad. so he took aleve. if he d taken tylenol, he d be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill.
the former trump campaign aides to plead guilty left prison, george papadopoulos. we ll get to all of that. nbc news white house correspondent geoff bennett is in kansas city today to speak on a justice department crime initiative, president trump expected there. geoff, tell us who s out, who might be in? reporter: hello from kansas city. let s start with who s out. as you he thinmentioned john ke president trump s long suffering chief of staff has days left in the administration. that s what multiple sources are telling us. i m told that the relationship between the two has devolved to the point where they are no longer on speaking terms, craig. president trump on the south lawn speaking to reporters didn t answer questions about that. he instead announced these two big personnel announcements. first, william barr the president s pick to serve as attorney general. he s a well-known republican d.c.-based lawyer. he won t need much in the way of
we would love to hear your thoughts. for now more with my colleague craig melvin. good to see you, enjoy your weekend. craig melvin here, msnbc headquarters, new york city. white house shake-up. president trump just revealing two big changes coming to his administration, a new nominee for attorney general and ambassador to the united nations. it comes amid reports that his chief of staff, general john kelly likely gone in a matter of days. also, all the president s men, big developments expected today in the cases of three trump allies. his former campaign chairman paul manafort, his former fixer, michael cohen, and his former campaign aide george papadopoul papadopoulos. plus, recession fears. on this friday we are watching the markets very closely as they react to the president s claims on trade. it s all driving fresh concern about a possible recession. we ll get to that in just a moment. we start with what s already a