Is hitting back. And north korea launched four Ballistic Missiles into the sea angering south korea. Its the latest in the round of tests. And Jeff Sessions to address russia questions after meeting with the Russian Ambassador last year. Hey there, good morning, everyone. It is monday, march 6th. Im alex witt alongside Ayman Mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. James comey is the highest ranking official to push back against President Trumps allegations of politically motivated surveillance of trump tower in the final stretch of the president ial campaign. A senior u. S. Official tells nbc news that comey asked the Justice Department to publicly refute trumps claims that former president barack obama ordered the tapping of his phones as false and needing correction, reportedly making that request on saturday, insinuating that the fbi broke the law. The New York Times was first to report the request. No official statement has been made by either comey, the fbi or the Justice Department. The White House PressSecretary Sean Spicer released a statement, quote, reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling. President donald j. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into russian activity, the congressional Intelligence Committees exercise their Oversight Authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016. Neither the white house nor the president will comment further until such oversight is conducted. Well, Deputy Press SecretarySarah Huckabee sanders everyone sized the need for a congressional investigation into president obama. Were taking the reports that places like the New York Times, fox news, bbc, multiple outlets have reported this, all were saying, lets take a closer look. If this happens, if this happened, this is the biggest overreach scandal. The president of the United States is accusing the former president of wiretapping him. I think that this is, again, something that, if this happened, martha, this would if, if, if, if. I agree. Why is the president saying it did happen . Look, i think hes going off information hes seen that has led him to believe this is a very real potential. A senior u. S. Official tells Pete Williams the president apparently did not consult with people in the deposit who would know before tweeting. Well, a former obama official tried to tap down the statement as a spokesperson said, a Cardinal Rule of the Obama Administration was that no white house official ever interfered with the independent investigation led by the department of justice. As part of that practice, neither president obama nor any white house artificial ever took part or ordered surveillance on any u. S. Citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false. There was no such mounted activity mounted against the president elect at the time as a candidate or against his campaign. I cant speak for other title three authorized entities in the government or a state or local entity. Theres no court order. Not to my knowledge. Of anything at trump tower. No. The chairman of the House Intel Committee says the claims will be looked into. David nunes said they will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities as any political partys Campaign Officials or surrogates and they will continue to investigate if it warrants it. And senator ben sasse said, quote, we are in the midst of a civilizationwhat we civilizationwarping crisis of public trust and the president s allegations today demand the thorough and dispassionate attention of serious patriots. I have never heard that before and i have no evidence or no one has presented anything to me to indicate anything like that. But obviously in the days to come youll ask him, and i imagine they are going to answer. Im very worried that our president is suggesting that the former president has done something illegally. I would be very worried if, in fact, the Obama Administration was able to obtain a warrant lawfully about Trump Campaign activity with foreign governments. Ive seen no evidence of the allegations we have seen in the media, chris, whether thats a potential Court Application or denial of that application or resubmission of that application. It doesnt mean that has hasnt, it simply means i have not seen that yet. Well bring in msnbc news Investigative Reporter joining us from washington, ken, well talk about a fastmoving week. We couldnt keep track of the news breaking about this particular issue. So help us understand exactly what we tangibly know after all of the back and forth over this weekend. Sure. Good morning, ayman. Well, when i first saw the tweets on saturday morning, i was sure that the president was trying to tell us something about the russian investigation. Even discounting the way he described it, which was not possible. Obviously, the president cannot order a wiretap on a president ial candidate, which is what he alleged happened. But i thought, is he trying to suggest that he was just briefed on surveillance with the russian investigation, whether they are trying to figure out associates between trumps advisers and russia . The answer is no. He was repeated unsubstantiated reports he had seen on breitbart. My first indication was when i called the senior trump official, he had no idea what he was talking about and whether it was true. And Pete Williams didnt consult us and we would know about this. And then you had James Clapper, the former director of the national intelligence, saying definitively there was no warrant and he would know about it. So people are wondering, is there anything to this . Is there something behind this . Is there some kind of surveillance . And there is certainly surveillance. The fbi has intercepts. Its been reported between Trump Associates and russians. But there appears to be no surveillance directed at trump tower, which would be an explosive development and just simply is not true. Can you explain a little bit about the fisa court to our viewers and the president tweeting like this . Its not a wiretap, but theres a foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, which would approve surveillance, directly generated to foreigners but could be to americans for spying. He would need to go to a judge to decide that the target was an agent of a foreign power, you know, probable cause of an agent of a foreign power. The judge would make that conclusion, not the president of the United States. And as you heard there, James Clapper on meet the press said as the head of the 17 intelligence agencies, he was not aware of any fisa court. Ken dilanian, thank you very much. The reports that donald trump pushed his National Adviser is considering a tougher stance on russia. European leaders urged the president not to make any concessions or influence anything of james mattis or from h. R. Mcmaster. During his first meeting with National Security council staff, mcmaster described russia as well as china as a country that wants to upend durnt world or r order. The president said in the Oval Office Meeting that russias recent violation of the 1987 arms control treaty made any new agreement with russia tougher to achieve. And according to the south Korean Military, four missiles were launched at 6 00 a. M. Local time traveling about 620 miles before crashing into the sea of japan. And the Defense Department says the launch did not pose a threat to north america. South koreas acting president says the launch signals, quote, a real and imminent threat to our peoples lives and safety. This comes after the uprk launched a Ballistic Missile into the sea of japan last month. Now the north that is previously conducted missile launches during that time. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the United States does not have the ability to effectively counter north Koreas Nuclear and missile programs. Which the paper reports is far more resilient than many experts previously thought. As early as today President Trump is expected to issue a new version of his executive order that restricts travel from several muslim majority nations. The Trump AdministrationOfficials Says the new order aims to overcome legal challenges brought by the initial effort. This verse reportedly doesnt include iraq and gets rid of extra restrictions on syrian refugees. Just over a month a federal judge in seattle issued a temporary restraining order on the ban. And since then white house officials said numerous times the new executive order would be drafted to replace it. And also this morning we are learning the department of Homeland Security is considering a proposal to separate women and children caught crossing the Mexican Border together illegal lie into the United States. The news was first reported by reuters. Under the new proposal, the women and children would be leaving the mother to choose to return to their country with their children or be separated while in retention. And Hillary Clinton is reflecting on her 2016 loss. She appeared at Wesley College outside of boston on thursday. Now witnesses tell nbc news that when asked by a student on what she would change if she were to run again, clinton responded, i would win. She apparently also discussed how her campaign had underestimated the effect that russian hacking and fbi director james comeys announcements about her emails would have on the results. And in the ironny, a photo of clinton on her flight back from boston that sent the internet into a frenzy over the weekend. The fellow passenger shows clinton reading the days issue of usa today. With the headline, pence used personal email in office. What goes around comes around, i guess. Still ahead, the latest on the longawaited bill to replace the Affordable Care act. Plus, the president ial candidate maria la pen compares herself to donald trump. Well have a check on those stories and more when we come back. Stay with us. Imagine if the things you bought every day earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. With the united mileageplus explorer card, youll get a free checked bag, 2 united club passes. Priority boarding. And 50,000 bonus miles. Everything you need for an unforgettable vacation. The united mileageplus explorer card. Imagine where it will take you. How to win at business. Step one point decisively with the arm of your glasses. Abracadabra. The stage is yours. Step two choose la quinta. The only hotel where you can redeem loyalty points for a free nightinstantly and win at business. Trust 1 doctor recommended dulcolax. Use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. Suppositories for relief in minutes. And dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. Dulcolax. Designed for dependable relief. Welcome back, everyone. We want to head overseas and to the contentious president ial race in france that continues to draw similarities to the one back home. Marine le pen discussed her current poll position last night on 60 minutes. Take a listen. Translator yes, they said that brexit wasnt going to happen, that donald trump wasnt going to be elected, wasnt going to be his partys nominee. Well, they are saying that less and less now. They are much more cautious, much more cautious. When donald trump says make America Great again, are you saying make france great again . Translator yes, of course. I have been saying that for many years. We are a great nation which has a lot to offer to the world. But to offer something to the world, france has to remain france. All right, joining us now live from london with more on this particular issue, nbc news correspondent matt bradley. Matt, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, ayman. The French Elections are less than two months away, and Marine Le Pen has often been thought of Frances Donald trump ranks among the top contenders. Despite what she said last night in the 60 minutes interview, she faces considerable challenges to becoming president. The French Election on april 23rd, well see a fight between five main candidates and le pen could very well win that vote. But if no one wins a clear majority, there will be a runoff vote two weeks later between the two top candidates. And thats when historically more mainstream voters expect to consolidate behind one candidate who can more easily defeat the popular outsider like le pen. Because of that runoff, many say le pen wont be president , but she could get lucky. The current left wing socialist president is extremely unpopular and wont be running again. And Francois Fillon has been damaged by accusations of fraud. Le pen will remain an extremely powerful politician, an expression of frances populist bid. Here she is again on last nights 60 minutes. Translator look, im not a fin at a rock concert, you see. Im a political leader in a great nation of the world. What interests me are frances interests. Ill tell you what the danger is for europe, its carrying out a cold war against russia and pushing russia into chinas arms. Thats the threat to europe. Reporter its this kind of talk along with her aggressive antiimmigration posture that has many voters in this traditionally liberal country worried. Ayman . Matt bradley, all eyes will be on that election. And we have the german elections later on in the year. So a lot of focus on both of those. Thank you, matt. Now well check on your weather now with meteorologist bill karins. We have Severe Weather in the midwestern part of the country this morning. Yeah, a big storm coming out of the west into the middle of the nation. Obviously, very frigidly cold in areas of the east. Everyone in the east is going to warm up after a cold morning today, too. Thats good news. We have to bundle everyone up. But this storm is causing all the problems today. The lifethreatening weather will be later this afternoon and this evening. Pretty typical Severe Weather outbreak. Unfortunately, a lot of the tornado threat will come after the sun sets because this year its still pretty early. About 6 00 p. M. Or so. And the tornadoes could happen after that. The Storm Chasers dont have visuals on them and gets less of a headsup for the areas of greatest concern. If youre in little rock, springfield, joplin, st. Louis, kansas city, des moines, ames, as far north as rochester, minnesota, all at risk of severe storms. The real tornado risk is out of the ozarks. 19,000 people. If we dont get a lot of tornadoes, well have the typical large hail and wind damage with the storms. So heres the timing on it. I mentioned the 6 00 p. M. Hour, just a little spotty storm will start to form here on the massachusetts as we go throughout the evening hours, up until 10 00 to 11 00, this is when the line of storms gets more intense and we could have super cells to the south of that. Then during the overnight hours, all this plows through the ohio valley and the tennessee valley. An isolated wind damage threat with that. I did mention it will warm up after a frigid weekend. D. C. , 58 today. New york at 41. And boston at 38. And it looks like even warmer into tuesday. So, alex, it was a cold weekend in areas of the east. Things are going to warm up, feeling like spring soon. I had been in texas for the weekend and came back and was glad that i brought a jacket. Thank you so much. Still ahead, a look at championship week in college basketball. Steph curry is moving on up on the nbas alltime list. Also, theres a slam dunk youve got to see. Its incredible. Sports is next. On your Medicare Part d prescriptions. At walgreens we make it easy for you to seize the day by helping you get more out of life and Medicare Part d. Now with zerodollar copays on select plans. And rewards points on all prescriptions, walgreens has you covered. So drop by and seize the savings walgreens. At the corner of happy and healthy. But everybody gets dry skin. Feel moisturized without feeling your moisturizer with lubriderm. Absorbs in seconds. Moisturizes for hours. Lubriderm. Every body care. Why pause a spontaneous moment . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause