indictment and walks out of the courtroom can wearing a second ankle monitor. we begin with major developments in the crisis with north korea. president trump has accepted kim jong un's invitation to meet in person. the ground-breaking news comes after south korean national security adviser chun yu yung briefed hr mcmaster and other top officials on the meeting. he and other top officials had earlier this week. speaking outside the white house last night, chung said he expressed he and moon jae-in's personal gratitude for president trump's leadership that brought us to this juncture before going into the details of the meeting. >> i told president trump that now meeting, north korean leader kim jong un said he's committed to denuclearzation. kim pledged that north korea will refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests. he understands that the routine joint military exercises within the republic of korea and the united states must continue and he expressed his eagerness to meet president trump as soon as possible. president trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet kim jong un the past continue. in a statement, the white house said trump greatly appreciates the nice words of the south korean delegation and president moon. he will accept the in veritation to meet with kim jong un at a place and time to be determined. in the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain. trump later tweeted out saying kim jong un talked about denuclearzation with the south korean representatives, not just a freeze. also, no missile testing by north korea during this period of time. great progress being made, but sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached. meeting being planned. a senior administration official said the request was verbally communicated to trump contrary to earlier reports that a physical letter from kim was delivered the to the president. trump would be the first sitting president to meet with or even talk to a north korean leader joining us now, kelly kobea. obviously breaking news having a tremendous impact around the world. how does this news play out today, particularly where you are in the south? >> playing out very well here, ayman. moon jae-in calling this a historic mile stone, a miraculous opportunity. this is something that he has been pushing for for months. he thanked both leaders, said that both had to make a difficult decision, his words, to actually agree to this potential summit that could happen in the next couple of months. all of this, of course, comes after that unprecedented meeting between south korean officials and north korean officials earlier this week. south korean officials saying that kim jong un told them he was very eager to the meet president trump. he thought that the two could have great results if only they could meet in person. generally, the reaction from around the region has been positive. russia, china, japan all saying that they welcome this news. but some words of caution from japan's prime minister who says we have to be sure that there are inspections of that nuclear program before we go down the road of easing sanctions. ayman. >> a small concept, but a significant one. after a week of speculation and controversy back there at home, president trump followed through with his america first policy. the tariffs, 25% on imported steel and 10% on imported aluminum will take effect on march 23rd. flanked by the vice president, steel and aluminum workers, the president defended why he's making this move. >> the steel and aluminum industry are vital to our national security, absolutely vital. steel is steel. you don't have steel, you don't have a country. we want a lot of steel coming into our country, but we want it to be fair and we want our workers to be protected and we want, frankly, our companies to be protected. the fact is, we've been treating -- really, we've been treated to badly over the years by other countries, i think really we've been treated very badly by our politicians, by our the presidents, but people that represented us that didn't frankly know what they were doing. and we lose $800 billion a year on trade. every year. $800 billion. it's been going on for a long time. our factories were left to rot and to rust all over the place. thriving communities turned into ghost towns. you guys know that, right? not any longer. the workers who poured their souls into building this great nation were betrayed, but that betrayal is now over. >> so canada and mexico were granted exemptions from the start of the new tariffs due to ongoing nafta renegotiation talks. but president trump says those tariffs will depend on how the trade talks actually go. in addition to the xwemgzs, the white house will give other nations the opportunity to justify why they shouldn't be included, with trump saying in the coming weeks, we'll see who is treating us fairley and who is not treating us fairley. and house speaker paul ryan is warning of the potential consequences that may result from president trump's tariff decision. following the announcement, he released a statement saying i disagree with this action and fear its unintended consequences. i am pleased that the president has listened to those who share my concerns and included an exemption for some american allies, but it should go further. we will continue to urge the administration to narrow the this the policy so that it is focused only on those countries and practices that violate trade law. speaking in atlanta, minutes before president trump's announcement, speaker ryan discussed his hopes for the president's decision. >> i think the more surgical you can get, the better. i think it was absolutely prudent and wise to exempt our allies in north america, particularly since we're in the middle of renegotiating nafta. i think that's also -- they're a big part of our supply chain with steel and aluminum. i also hope that they have, in continuing the exemption process, that countries and businesses can apply to so that we can make it even more surgical. we want to limit as much unintended consequences and collateral damage as possible. and we want to work with the administration to do that. >> meanwhile, nearly a dozen of america's allies are moving forward with a major trade pack without the united states. yesterday, japan, canada and australia signed a revised version of what used to be the trans-pacific partnership. it was developed as a way of countering china's growing economic power the in asia. now this is reportedly opening the door for china to join. without the united states participation, the deal is weaker than the original tpp, but it serves as a powerful sign of how countries that are pressed relied on american leadership are hurt without it. this is one of the world's three largest trade agreements. joining us now, molly hooper. good to have you with us on this the busy morning. let's talk about the big story from last night and can from the korean peninsula that president trump is agreeing to meet with kim jong un. give us a sense of how that is playing out on the hill. >> earlier when we heard this news earlier in the week that north korea was willing to back off the this development, several lawmakers, this second round of sanctions has been working, that that is really what has caused the north koreans to sort of change their tune and open to talks. also pointed to the fact that north korea, all of a sudden, became part of the olympics. this is sort of a pattern that lawmakers were pointing to as to maybe getting to this point. however, you talk to republicans and democrats, they both -- both parties are very cautious and want the president -- and would want the president to go in with eyes wide open, noting the fact that, you know, in the past when bill clinton, you know, after he was -- during the clinton administration which richardson went over and negotiated, you know, a limiting the nuclear development in north korea, it didn't really work. >> yeah. we've been down this road before. >> we've been down this road before. >> certainly not at this level so that will be the interesting game changer if at all it does take place. let's turn to over story that came out of the white house yesterday. not all the republican party is wind the president on the this as we just heard from paul ryan and others. what's the likelihood that congress will try to narrow these new tariffs with new legislation from their own? even if it comes out of congress, is it ever likely to be signed by the president? >> and that is the biggest question here. it would have to have a veto-proof majority, but also you've seen in the house, warren davidson from ohio introducing legislation that would ban the president from using this national security clause in -- under the commerce department to impose these tariffs, saying that this is not a national security -- it's not in our national security to impose tariffs on these countries and another, you know, other rounds of legislation are sure to be introduced according to mark sanford from south carolina. there are a lot of republicans and democrats wary of this action and fearful that it will cause negative economic consequences. even folks -- even democrats and republicans in rust belt states where this would be -- you know, it would seemingly be more popular, lawmakers like debbie dingo said we need to proceed cautiously and see the details of what this en tails. if you look at countries in the european union that have high labor standards, that use the same kind of environmental regulations that the united states is under, it's not fair to impose these tariffs on countries like that when really the big issue is china. yeah. >> molly hooper, we'll touch base with you a little later on in the program. stick around. still ahead, paul manafort arraigned in virginia. and later, new reporting that president trump is unhappy with press secretary sarah huckabee sanders over her handling of the stormy situation. those story and a check on weather when we come right back. she's noticing a real difference in her joint comfort... karen: "she's single." ...and high levels of humiliation in her daughter. in just 7 days, your joint comfort can be your kid's discomfort. osteo bi-flex. made to move. it was always our singular focus. to do whatever it takes, use every possible resource. to fight cancer. and never lose sight of the patients we're fighting for. our cancer treatment specialists share the same vision. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. and these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com appointments available now. welcome back, everyone. former trump campaign chair paul manafort is now required to wear a second ankle monitoring bracelet after pleading not guilty in federal court in virginia to charge brought by special counsel robert mueller, including bank fraud and filing false tax returns. manafort is facing federal charges in washington, d.c. on money laundering. manafort declined to wave the second venue and have all the charges consolidated in one courthouse which has resulted in his being monitored by two separate court systems. a ro tester threw a russian flag at him and shouted, traitor, show us your bracelet. this as the person who trump replaced as corey lewandowski declined to answer some questions. adam schiff said lewandowski refused to answer questions about donald trump's statement reportedly drafted by the president describing the 2016 meeting at the russian towers about adoption as well as the firing about james comey and conversations they might have had about firing robert mueller. schi the ff called on his republican colleagues to make lewandowski answer the questions. >> witnesses got get to choose. we have requested a subpoena. whether that will be granted by the majority or not, i can't say. let's get a check on your weather with meteorologist bill karins. bill, you're tracking rain in the south, but the big question is, do we have any potential clarity on that nor'easter that might hit us on monday? >> i do. and you have to wait about 90 seconds to the end of this and i'll get to it. currently, we start off with a chilly morning. the nor'easter sent a ton of cold air down to the south. we have freeze warnings from mississippi, north florida, with all the way through areas of south carolina. that's where it remains very, very cool. as far as the temperatures go right now, 31 in atlanta, 29 in augusta. all the flowers are out here, too, so we're probably losing some of those buds on some of the trees. winter snow is on the ground in cleveland. it's snowing in buffalo across the new york state thruways. be careful driving there. western pennsylvania and western west virginia had some snow showers overnight. as far as the forecast over the weekend, we're okay in most areas. but over saturday, some strong storms develop in the southeast. severe weather is possible with hail and gusty wind damage. this is into sunday. we take that rain through the southeast. it's still chilly in the northeast. we do not want this to come up the coast as another possible nor'easter. so our two main computer models, our european model and our american gfs model. the american model at 6 on o'clock a.m. monday does have snow through virginia up towards washington, d.c., through philadelphia. then it takes a little bit of snow or mixed precipitation through new england as we go throughout the day monday and off the coast. this would be what i call a glancing blow. this would not be a huge nor'easter. so that is one version. now the european model, which is typically a little more accurate has the storm system completely off the coast. no snow on monday in areas of washington, d.c. just a little bit maybe on tuesday with a big ocean storm. so odds right now are favoring an out to sea forecast, not a high impact event. still a chance it could change over the weekend. we'll keep an eye on it, but i'm not anticipating anything like what we just saw in the last two. >> that will be good news for folks in the northeast. still ahead, a scary night in the nba, including the loss of one two-time mvp. plus a truly bizarre story involving vladimir putin's favorite hockey team. all that in sports, next. time it takes to brew your cup. let's go to sumatra. where's sumatra? good question. this is win. and that's win's goat, adi. the coffee here is amazing. because the volcanic soil is amazing. making the coffee erupt with flavor. so we give farmers like win more plants. to grow more delicious coffee. that erupts with even more flavor. which helps provide for win's family. and adi the goat's family too. because his kids eat a lot. all, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee roasters. packed with goodness. ♪ burned me up and down, shno way to cool it. ♪ ♪ ♪ every time you kiss me it's like sunshine and whiskey ♪ applebee's handcrafted burgers. any burger just $7.99. now that's eatin good in the neighborhood. pepsoriasis does that. it was tough getting out there on stage. i wanted to be clear. i wanted it to last. so i kept on fighting. i found something that worked. and keeps on working. now? they see me. see me. see if cosentyx could make a difference for you- cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...find clear skin that can last. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. never give up. see me. see me. clear skin can last. don't hold back... ...ask your dermatologist if cosentyx can help you find clear skin that lasts. welcome back. the celtics faced the timberwolves. jaylen brown fell,s was down for a few minutes but was able to walk off to the locker room on his own. he was evaluated for concussion-like symptoms and later taken to the hospital. he tweeted that he was all right, but he has a severe headache. boston would win the game, 117-109 becoming the the second team to clench a playoff berth. but that wasn't the only notable injury of the night. to oakland where steph curry tweaked his right ankle following an attempted lay-up there. he was pulled from the game after throwing a couple of free throws. curry will miss the next two games. the warriors defeat the spurs, 110-107. in russia, one russian sports writer has claimed that president vladimir putin has reportedly rigged the championship for his favorite team ska. slava states that, quote, the the entire league has been set up this year to allow ska to win. it's putin's team. this is putin's election year, emphasizing that any other outcome is not an option. and that most of the players are avid putin supporters as well as members of the gold-winning olympic hockey team. he goes on to say that the team has been able to ignore the salary cap and calls diabetics on every starer who considers joining the khl. he also claims the team has received favorable calls during the playoffs, including a game-winning goal that suggested a seemingly obvious off-sides call should have overturned it. the tweet storm went viral yesterday did you know you were going to get this kind of reaction when you set out to write it? >> no. actually, this is very surprising to me. what i am writing is nothing but common knowledge. the fact that the russian league has stocked the cards in one team's favor, the fact that the refs rb extremely unfair to the team's benefit all year long, all of this, as well. >> ayman, this isn't very shocking. >> yeah. i was going to say, it's not very shocking. i wonder if that journalist is at all concerned, given the fact that he's now ignited this bit of an international story and controversy. >> backtrack hopefully he's okay, though, and nobody takes it personal. sports can get dicey. still ahead, were members of the trump administration in the dark over his north korea announcement? we'll go back live to seoul, south korea for a live report. plus, house speaker paul ryan isn't the only one with concerns over the president's new tariff plan. [burke] at farmers, we've seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. even a "red-hot mascot." [mascot] hey-oooo! whoop, whoop! [crowd 1] hey, you're on fire! [mascot] you bet i am! [crowd 2] dude, you're on fire! [mascot] oh, yeah! [crowd 3] no, you're on fire! look behind you. [mascot] i'm cool. i'm cool. [burke] that's one way to fire up the crowd. but we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ whilnothing comparested modeto the real thing.d... experience the command performance sales event for yourself, now through april 2. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. welcome back, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin along with louis burgdorf. despite concerns from many in his own cup, president trump is moving forward with planning to bring tariffs on steel and aluminum. the tariffs will take effect two weeks from day. because of ongoing nafta negotiations, president trump says canada and mexico have been granted exceptions. >> after days of confusion, president trump made his new tariff plan official, franked by steel and aluminum workers. >> a strong steel and aluminum industry are vital to our national security, absolutely vital. you don't have steel, you don't have a country. >> the president says tariffs, which are tax thes on imports are necessary to counter cheap goods from countries like china. the plan will impose 25% tariffs on steel, 10% on aluminum. canada and mexico will be exempt as those countries renegotiate nafta with the united states. mr. trump indicating other countries could be spared, but stressing american workers come first. >> the workers who poured their souls into building this great nation were betrayed, but that detray betrayal is now over. i'm delivering on a promise i made during the campaign. >> but opposition from maniel top republicans who warn it could spark a trade war. i'm not a fap of broad base across the board. >> and the tariff plan has split the white house. while proponents celebrated, top economic adviser gary cohn resigned over the issue. >> he was going to go out and make another couple of hundred had million and then he's going to maybe come back. he might come back, right? >> absolutely. >> kristen welker, nbc news, the white house. >> as you you heard kristen mention there, a number of republicans are speaking out against president trump's tariff wes a bev very of lawmakers expressing concerns on how they were largely kept in the dark on the president's plan. senator jeff flake called the plan a marriage of two lethal poisons to economic growth. chairman of the house ways and means examine committee congressman kevin beatty praised the president for exempting mexico and canada but called on the white house to go further to narrow these tariffs so they hit the intended targets and not u.s. workers, businesses and families. senator ben sass was more blunt in his criticism saying we're on the verge of a painful and stupid trade war and that's bad. senator john mccain tweeted the president's tariffs will damage relations with the america's allies and partners. meanwhile, outgoing senator orrin hatch saying he's not happy with the president's decision. take a listen. >> these tariffs are actually going to be a tax on the american citizens and that's after we pass the tax bill. there was a blessing to them the, removing a lot of the taxes that they were hit with. so i'm very upset about it and, frankly, i love the president and i just think he's been misled by some of the people down at the white house. i think there's a good chance that we will know, at least if i had my way because i don't see it personally. >> trying to protect many as many as 150,000 steel and aluminum jobs, you're putting at risk jobs in those manufacturing companies that utilize steel and aluminum. and that could be up to 17 million jobs. and oh, by the way, you raise costs of american produced products sold to americans and that increases costs for those steelworkers. president trump has accepted kim jong un's in veritation to meet in person. the ground breaking news comes after the security adviser briefed trump and other officials on the meeting and dinner he and other top officials had with kim jong un in pyongyang earlier this week. kim's pledge to refrain from further nuclear and missile tests. in a statement, the white house says, quote, president trump greatly appreciates the nice words of the south korean delegation and president moon, he will accept the invitation to meet with kim jong un at a place and time to be determined. he will look forward to the denuclearzation of north korea. in the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain. trump later tweeted, quote, kim jong un talked about denuclearzation with the south korean representatives, not just a freeze. also no missile testing by north korea during this period of time. great progress being made, but sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached, meeting being planned. >> check this out. one person apparently kept out of the loop about the fast moving developments, rex tillerson. tillerson is currently in africa and yesterday before the announcement said, quote, we're a long way from negotiations. we just need to be very clear eyed and realistic about it and that the first the step is to, quote, have some kind of talk bes talks. this morning, tillerson tried to clarify that saying what he meant was that the time is not right for negotiations, but that the administration has been open to talks for some time. tillerson said the decision to accept kim jong un's offer is one the president took himself. tillerson's remarks appear to align with reporting in the "new york times" which says that trump was not even scheduled to meet mr. chung until friday. but when he heard that the envoy was in the west wing seeing other officials, the president summoned him to the oval office, according to senior administration officials. after chung briefed the president on kim's desire for a meeting, the president immediately said he would do it, accept that meeting, and directed mr. chung to announce it to the white house press corps. meanwhile, perhaps the last known american nonprisoner to meet with kim jong un, dennis rodman, as you can imagine, he's praising the meeting's announcement. joining us live from seoul, kelly, good to have you back with us. let's talk about what the reaction has been like overseas to these extremely fast moving breakthroughs, fast enough that even the secretary of state perhaps did not even know about them. >> yeah. pretty incredible, ayman. i guess you could say we use that old familiar phrase cautious optimism in the region, russia, china, japan, south korea all saying that they welcome the news. south korea's president, moon jae-in, called this -- he was much more effusive, calling this a historic opportunity thanking both leaders for what he said was a difficult position, he said especially president trump for being willing to sit down with kim jong un. of course, this happens after that unprecedented meeting this week between a south korean leader and the north korean president. as i mentioned, most countries in the region are greeting this news quite positively. japan's prime minister voicing the one i guess skeptical note. he said he would like to speak with president trump, meet with him in d.c. in the next couple of weeks before he sits down with kim jong un. he said v he said verification that the north koreans are going to end their nuclear program is key here. and back with us from washington, capitol hill reporter for the hill, molly.hooper. molly, good to have you back with us. so we see how all of this has played back overseas as we just heard from kelly. but let's talk about the surprise announcement and how likely it's going to play out on capitol hill. you know, there has been a bit of a surprise, if you will, in terms of how quickly this developed according to the "new york times" reporting overnight. >> absolutely. i mean, you can see that. i'm looking at my iphone right now, which is usually broing up with e-mails, especially from lawmakers who react to this kind of news. and there really isn't very much, aside from bob corker who is the chairman of the foreign relations committee in the senate who said, you know, we feed to be cautious and was -- i don't think he used the word optimistic, but, you know, was looking forward to these talks. the problem is is that congress is just tot being kept in the loop when it comes to things like this and when it came to the tariffs decision. you can see lawmakers being back on their heels when you have such blow back, especially regarding the tariff decision with the republican conference already introducing legislation to basically tie the president's hands. so this is one thing that i have talked to lawmakers about over the past week, kind of this atmosphere of chaos in the white house, not knowing what policy decisions he's going to be making announcements on and how they are supposed to play into all that because, keep in mind, these members of congress are running for re-election in november and every decision like this makes an impact on how they're going to run those re-election races. >> let's -- molly, let's switch gears for a moment and talk about the russia probe. there's obviously been some news that there was an effort to establish the back door channel involving people close to president trump and the russian president. house intelligence committee republicans, they've kind of been pushing to wrap up their investigation. but with these revelations, is that going to dampen their efforts? >> well, you see, that's the question is the republicans are trying to wind this down. democrats want to keep it open. there's no word that they're inviting erik prince, the founder of blackwater who was with involved in these conversations, these back water conversations. there's no indication that he's going to be called back as a witness and, in fact, it's unclear whether there are any more witnesses lined up. we really need to keep an eye on the house intel committee. i think if we are going to see more movement, it would be on the senate side because the senate intelligence committee is conducting its own investigation and, really, they would be the one probably to take the charge on this because it seems like their bipartisan spirit, as it's supposed to be on these intel committees is much stronger than that on the house side. >> live for us in washington, d.c. this morning, lots to break down. thank you. >> absolutely. and the pentagon has added niger, molly, and parts of northern cameroon to the areas where u.s. troops will receive danger pay while deployed. the pay, $225 per month or $ 7.50 per day for partial months will be retroactively paid the move comes as defense secretary jim mattis reviews the final drafts of the investigation into the niger ambush. that investigation detailing what specifically went wrong and recommended changes are is expected to be released later this month. heading across the pond into the latest in the mysterious poisoning of an ex russian spy living in the uk, british police now say that 19 people, including a police sergeant, are being treated for exposure to a nerve agent. it stems from an incident on sunday when 66-year-old retired russian military intelligence colonel sergei skripal and his daughter were poisoned with what british police say is an assassination attempt with an unknown nerve agent. skripal was granted refuge in the uk in 2010 while following a spy swap between russia and the u.s. the incident is drawing comparisons to the case of alexander litvinenko of being poisoned, something russia's vladimir putin is expected of ordering. still ahead, the continued fallout over the president's alleged affair with a adult movie actress. plus, bill karins is back with us with the latest on a potential third, yes, you heard that correctly, third nor'easter to get the region in less than two weeks. it's 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, more than a thousand workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get. it takes a lot of work to run this business. but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i don't eat the way i should. so, i drink boost to get the nutrition i'm missing. boost high protein nutritional drink has 15 grams of protein to help maintain muscle and 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d. all with a great taste. boost gives me everything i need... to be up for doing what i love. boost high protein be up for it hey. pass please. i'm here to fix the elevator. nothing's wrong with the elevator. right. but you want to fix it. right. so who sent you? new guy. what new guy? watson. my analysis of sensor and maintenance data indicates elevator 3 will malfunction in 2 days. there you go. you still need a pass. you're more than just a bathroom disease.. you're a life of unpredictable symptoms. crohn's, you've tried to own us. but now it's our turn to take control with stelara® stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before or during treatment, always tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop any new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion, and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. we're fed up with your unpredictability. remission can start with stelara®. talk to your doctor today. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options for stelara®. welcome back. sources close to the white house say president trump is upset with press secretary sarah huckabee sanders. sanders told reporters on wednesday that an arbitration case involving daniels was won in the president's favor, but did not offer more details. a source told cnn that the president is very unhappy, adding that sanders, quote, gave the stormy daniels like steroids. it was the first time that the white house has admitted that the president was involved in any way with daniels. president trump's attorney, micha michaelco cohen said rumors of a sexual relationship has been vehemently denied by president trump. meanwhile, stormy daniels has reportedly recorded an interview with "60 minutes." and new polling has president trump's job approval rating at its highest since he has been in office. the marist poll published yesterday shows 42% approve of the job the president is doing. that is up from 38% in february. the proportion of americans who strongly approve of the job trump is doing is 24% up three points with 37% saying they strongly disapprove, down 3 points from last month's findings. let's switch gears and get a check on your forecast with meteorologist bill karins. what do you have for us? >> i kind of miss february. februarys was like 70 degrees, it was warm. >> we want to go forward, bill, not backwards. >> it's cold. tallahassee, florida, 31 degrees. heading into the middle of march, that's pretty rare. freeze warnings all through this area from myrtle beach, atlanta, birmingham. this is a result of all the nor'easters. as they've kicked up the coast, they've brought down some of that cold air. all the warm air is out here in the west from arizona through texas. it is going to be a toasty weekend. so that is where the warmth is. today, it's not horrible, but 42 in indianapolis. 42 in d.c. after a very cold morning with the sunshine, we'll recover in the southeast. it's going to be beautiful. look at wichita today, 73. denver at 63 degrees. gorgeous. houston at 74. it gets really warm this weekend. snow could be 90 degrees on saturday. tulsa about 68. there is some feeling of the ongoing spring and in texas's case, summer. on saturday, we have to watch out for a chance of strong storm, large hail possible. back down just north of new orleans and maybe the florida panhandle. as far as the weekend goes, watching the strong storms on saturday. by sunday, news gets into the mid-atlantic. as of now, this looks to sneak south of new england, missing and sparing us from another nor'easter. we'll watch it over the weekend. can't rule it out completely, but odds favor a glancing miss and we feed it. still ahead, around the world, president trump's tariff moves are being slammed. we'll take a look at the global markets. the rare and tunnel project would link new jersey and manhattan. as you can imagine, it's been a top priority for new jersey and new york lawmakers, including senate minority leader chuck schumer. according to politico, trump may be using his opposition to gateway to leverage funding for other priorities in the omnibus bill, including the border wall between the united states and mexico, which has been a campaign promise of his for some time. right now, lawmakers are in the process of wrapping up the work on the massive spending package, but without a spending bill in place by march 23rd, federal agencies could once again be forced to shut down for the third time under the trump administration, believe it or not. all right, coming up next on "morning joe," a major breakthrough in the north korean nuclear crisis as president trump accepts kim jong-un's invitation to meet in person. christopher hill, who served as head of the u.s. delegation in talks to resolve north korean nuclear crises in the past gives his reaction, plus, nicholas burns and general martin dempsey, all are going to weigh in on "morning joe" live from washington, d.c., just moments away. your brain changes as you get older. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. this is the story of green mountain coffee roasters dark magic told in the time it takes to brew your cup. first, we head to vermont. and go to our coffee shop. and meet dave. hey. why is dark magic so spell-bindingly good, he asks? let me show you. let's go. so we climb. hike. see a bear. woah. reach the top. dave says dark magic is a bold blend of coffee with rich flavors of uganda, sumatra, colombia and other parts of south america. like these mountains, each amazing on their own. but together? magical. all, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee roasters packed with goodness. nahelps protect eyes fromue damaging blue light, filtering it out to help you continue enjoying your screens. or... you could just put your phones down and talk to each other. [laughing] nature's bounty lutein blue. because you're better off healthy. we all want restful sleep. that's why nature's bounty melatonin is made to help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. so you'll be ready for whatever tomorrow brings. because mom's love is unconditional. even at 6am. nature's bounty melatonin. we're all better off healthy. all right, welcome back, everyone. we're going to have the latest on north korea in a moment. but first, president trump has had a lot to say about relations with kim jong-un over the course of his presidential campaign and, certainly, his presidency. here's a quick look back. >> you have somebody right now in north korea who's got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, i'm ready to use them. we have this mad man over there who probably would use it, and nobody talks to him, other than, of course, dennis rodman talked to him. that's about it. i would speak to him. i would have no problem speaking to him. >> but you say you would talk to kim. >> the one -- i would speak to him. i have no problem speaking to him. and they come out, trump would speak to him! who the hell cares? i'll speak to anybody. there's a 10% or a 20% chance that i can talk him out of those damn nukes! i don't say it's going to happen, and probably it won't. i wouldn't go there. if he'd come here, i'd accept him, but i wouldn't give him a state dinner. at a very young age, he was able to assume power. i'm sure a lot of people tried to take that power away, so obviously he's a smart cookie. north korea best not make any more threats to the united states. they will be be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. little rocket man. he is a sick puppy. i thought north korea was terrific. they came out. they went into the olympics. they went in with good spirit. they did well. hopefully, we'll go in the very, very peaceful, beautiful path we're prepared to go whichever path is necessary. >> mr. president, would you be willing to meet kim jong-un? >> we'll see what happens. >> a lot of interesting highlights, especially going back to the campaign and then as president. you would think a lot of times people who say stuff on the campaign tone it down and become more diplomatic once they become president, but the president has used his biggest language in the white house like little rocket man. >> i wonder about the state dinner. we'll see. and dennis rodman has made his way into this. >> interesting to see if he will play a role at all, former ambassador to north korea, dennis rodman. before we toss it over to "morning joe," let's check on the stories coming up in the day ahead. residents in florida are waiting to see if governor scott will sign a gun law bill following the shooting atjory stoneman douglas high school. governor scott will be meeting with families of victims of the school shooting today in tallahassee. former pharmaceutical executive martin shkreli's sentenced today. prosecutors want 15 years, but his lawyers want more than 18 months, arguing investors recouped their losses with the drug company stock he gave him. >> that's it for me, ayman mohyeldin. "morning joe" starts now. we're a long ways from negotiations. i think we just need to be very clear-eyed and realistic about it. >> president trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet kim jong-un by may. >> hmm. just hours after his secretary of state downplayed the potential for negotiations with north korea, president trump accepted an invitation for face-to-face talks with the nuclear-armed dictator. welcome to "morning joe." it's friday. just another week here in washington. >> yes. >> march 9th. with us in washington, we have nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell. good to have you. >> thank you. >> nbc news national political reporter heidi prisbella. steve rattner, and politics editor for "the daily beast," sam stein, along with our willie geist in new york city. good to have everybody on board this friday. >> so, really -- >> is this a deflection? >> of course, it's a deflection. willie -- >> from stormy? >> yes, of course, from stormy. >> but who can keep their eyes off the whole stormy situation? >> certainly not from the nor'easter. but willie, look, let's just look back at this week. you had donald trump enraged by some events earlier, the leaving of hope -- hope hicks' announcement that she was leaving, a testimony that didn't go so