Disconnect between his take on what he should be doing as the president and all of the political advisers in the world. I think what hes saying with this is, im going to go out and pick the most apolitical, most qualified person i could find. I dont care how old they are. This person is 14 years older than srinivasan. I dont care if its going to motivate the democratic base. I know the person, im not particularly concerned about whether this could get better coverage. Im just picking the most qualified person i can dpientd. Probably didnt hurt hes. A fellow chicagoan. Isnt it true, tom, that the more life youve lived, the more jobs youve had, the more decisions youve handed down, especially if youre a judge, sometimes president s pick politicians as Supreme Court justices. California governor earl warren as chief justice comes to mind. In this atmosphere, everything youve uttered or written is potentially held against you . Theres no question that it is, in one sense, dangerous to pick
Tells nbc that several friends and allies told the president that acosta was leaving on his own over concerns that congressional hearings and investigations along with Jeffrey Epsteins ongoing trial in the Southern District of new york would keep his name in the headlines in the leadup to the president ial election. The department will now be led by, you guessed it, an acting director, specifically the Current Deputy labor secretary which means acostas resignation marks the fourth cabinet level agency to be led by an acting secretary. And just the latest in a long list of white house departures throughout trumps time in office. With that lets start with Nbcs Kelly Odonnell whos traveling with the president. Also with us nbc justice correspondent pete williams. Kelly, lets start with you on the developments today. Reporter well, ali, certainly the president has been trying to weigh the fallout with respect to his now former labor secretary alex acosta. Hes got one more week before he of
0 cannot legally obtain in the united kingdom. this accusation is baseless. any data obtained by us from the united states involving uk nationals is subject to proper uk statutory controls and safeguards. in florida today, jury selection begins in the second degree murder trial of george zimmerman for the shooting death of trayvon martin. and worldwide concerns today about nelson mandela. the latest on the 94-year-old s condition as he spends a third day in the hospital. good day. i m andrea mitchell in washington. we can now put a face and a name on the massive nsa leak to the guardian and washington post. 29-year-old edward snowden. he says he was motivated by his hatred for the nsa s surveillance programs, programs vigorously defended by the director of national intelligence, james clapper, in an interview this weekend. the notion that we re trolling through everyone s e-mails and voyeuristically reading them or listening to everyone s phone calls is, on its face, absurd