Good morning, everybody. It is tuesday, april 9th. Im yasmin vossoughian. We start with President Trump beginning this week by gutting the department of Homeland Security. Purging allies of his exchief of staff and john kelley. Yesterday the white house announced the director of the secret Service Retired marine Major GeneralRandolph Alice is out. Alice disputed that he had been fired. Outi assure you that this is not the case. In fact i was told weeks ago by the administration that transition in leadership should be expected across dhs. It is my regret i was not able to address the workforce prior to this announcement. The New York Times reports trump who talked with members of his own secret Service Detail had soured on alice a while ago convinced as an outsider he not popular among the agents. The president made fun of the agents looks calling him dumbo because of his ears. Dhs reports the president may remove claire grady in order to avoid any legal challenges. And lee cissna and john mitnick will be out soon as well. As for whats next the wall street journal reports that Administration Officials said trump recently told Steven Miller one of his most hardline advisors quote youre in charge of the administrations immigration policy. Political reports that miller has been telephoning midlevel officials at several federal departments and agencies to demand they do more to stem the influx of immigrants. Vacancies at dhs have some top lawmakers expressing their worry about disorganization at the department. Heres the republican chairman of the Senate HomelandSecurity Committee ron johnson. Im concerned. Im concern of a growing void in leadership within the department of Homeland Security and this is a department thats charged with trying to grapple with some of the most significant challenges facing this nation open ill be talking to the cpb commissioner who will be the acting secretary. Well talk about whats happening inside the department and how well fill these leadership positions the. President trump and secretary Kirstjen Nielsen have been at odds since january over restarting the family separation policy. For more on that i want to bring in Heidi Przybyla. Three u. S. Officials with knowledge of the meetings at the white house tell nbc news that President Trump has been urging his administration for months to reinstate large scale separation of migrant families crossing the border. According to two of the sources Kirstjen Nielsen told trump that federal court orders prohibited dhs from reinstating the policy, and that he would be reversing his own executive order from june that ended family separations. Three u. S. Officials said that Kevin Mcaleenan who is expected to take over as acting dhs secretary has not ruled out family separation as an option. According to the officials, the policy lean would consider is known as binary choice and give migrant parents the opening of being separated from their children or bringing their children with them into long term detention. White house Deputy Press Secretary had this to say about Kirstjen Nielsens departure. I find it kind of interesting the media is so focused on what happened behindthescenes with the resignation of secretary Kirstjen Nielsen instead of worrying about whats actually happening at the border. She offered her resignation. She resign. The president moved forward. Look, this is the most important position right now in the federal government and he put someone in place in Kevin Mcaleenan who knows tissue, hell do a great job there. We have to address whats going on at the border. For the First Time Since announcing her resignation secretary Kirstjen Nielsen spoke to reporters briefly yesterday. Heres what she had to say. I just want to thank the president again for the tremendous opportune to serve this country. Im forever grateful and proud of the men and women of dhs who work so hard every day to execute their missions and to protect the homeland. I spent the last 24 hours since yesterday talking with government officials, Administration Officials, members of congress to ensure a smooth transition. As you know dhs has a vast array of missions. I want to make sure we continue to cute them all with excellence through the transition. Rumors since last summer that secretary Kirstjen Nielsen would be out and now its finally happened. With all the heartbreaking images we saw basically a year or so ago now because of the family separation policy, with all of those numbers of children being separated from their parent, the illnesses that ensued, the deaths of children that ensued, some kids that have not been reunited with their families since then, the president still considering family separation policy. Are you hearing this could actually still happen . It could actually still happen because this is exactly the reporting thats coming out of the who you that the president wants to go in a tougher direction and that according to our own nbc reporting hes been brewing about this for months that he wants to go back to inreinstating that family separation policy. If its not that then what would something tougher look like . Thats the reporting were trying to track down because that policy has been so controversial and Kirstjen Nielsen and others have told him its not practical and its not even legal. And yet he seems to be pushing this as part of a broader purge at the agency which really reflects the sense that he doesnt view the policies as the problem, he views the people as the problem. Even though by all intents and purposes shes been loyally executing these policies to the extent she can. Here the president thinks hell actually change the problem, change the dynamic by doubling down on the same policies that critics say are actually causing a lot of the problem at the border with people flooding in, thinking that thing are only going to get worse so now is the time to come across the border. Shocking that the president might be instituting shuch a shocking policy that we covered a year or so ago. Lets talk about Steven Miller who we know is a pretty hardliner when it comes to immigration policy in this country and has been the hardline for the president for quite some time now. The president basically saying what reporting is telling us that Steven Miller, youre in charge. Steven miller has been one of the most controversial figures in this white house behind a lot of this harder line immigration policy and now with some of these firings and this purge, the word is that hes even more empowered than hes been in the past. Thats causing consternation not only among democrats but among a lot of republicans. We had our own reporters up on capitol hill yesterday talking to Senior Republicans who are now also going on the record, like senator grassley, like senator cornyn, saying that this is a big concern. That they are firing people who have been, by all intents and purposes good brackureaucrats a empowering Steven Miller. Steven miller has been trumps man the whole time. So it seems to make sense. Including Kirstjen Nielsen. Heidi przybyla, thank you so much. After months of speculation democratic congressman Eric Swalwell of california has thrown his hat into the 2020 race. I see a country in quick sand. Unable to solve problems and threat from abroad. Unable to make life better for people at home. Nothing gets done. I talk to teachers and truckers and nurses and they feel like they are running in place and its not adding up to anything. I talk to people who are just like me who are the first in their family to go to college. Have a lot of student debt. I talk to kids who sit in their classroom afraid they will be the next victim of gun violence and they see washington doing nothing about it. They see lawmakers who love guns more than they love their kids. None will change until we get a leader who is willing to go big on issues we take on, be bold and do good the way we govern. Im running for president of the United States. So you heard it there. Swalwell a 38yearold member of the House Intel Committee has been a prominent voice on russian interference and u. S. Elections and other investigations into the Trump Administrations dealings with foreign powers. Hes also made gun reform a top priority during his time in congress. His first major event as a candidate will be a town hall on ending gun violence later today, 13 miles from Marjory Stoneman douglas in parkland, florida. Hes the latest democrat to jump into the crowded group vying for the partys nomination to take on President Trump in the 20 election. Joe biden will make his first visit of the 2020 president ial cycle to South Carolina to deliver the eulogy for his friend the late democratic senator fritz hollings. It will be held next tuesday. Henry mcmaster and jim clyburn will also deliver remarks. Still ahead hollywood actress Felicity Hoffman and a dozen other parents agreeing to plea guilt i in the College Admission scandal. Well talk about what kind of consequences these parents could face. And william barr scheduled to appear before lawmakers on capitol hill today. Where hell likely be grilled about guess what . The Mueller Report. Those stories and a check of your weather when we come back. Sometimes, the pressures of todays world can make it tough to take care of yourself. But natures bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and wellrested. Because hey, tomorrows coming up fast. Natures bounty. Because youre better off healthy. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient natures bounty. Originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Walkabout wednesdays are back get a sirloin or chicken on the barbie, fries, and a draft beer or cocacola all for just 10. 99. Hurry in wednesdays are for outback. Outback steakhouse. Aussie rules. Welcome back. 13 wealthy parents and one College Coach agreed to play guilty in a far reaching College Admission scandal according to the department of justice. They are accused of paying thousands of dollars in bribes to the schemes organizer to help their children cheat on College Entrance exams and falsify athletic records. Court records note that Actress Felicity Huffman will plead guilty to one count to commit mail fraud. The charges carry a maximum 20 year prison sentence. Although prosecutors intend to recommend less time in return for her plea. Shes accused of paying 15,000 for her daughter to get extra time on the s. A. T. Test and for a proctor to later correct her answers. Huffman said she accepts full responsibility for her actions and apologized in part to students who work hard every day to get into college and to parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children. All defendants who took Tax Deductions for the bribe payments have agreed to work with the irs to payback those taxes. At least 50 people have been charged in this sweeping case. More paerntsz are expected to ple plead guilty. Danny cevallos is in the house. Interesting were talking more about this than mueller these days but such an incredible scope of a case, i think. Fascinating. So fascinating. It touches all of us. We have kids. We think about college. I just had a baby. Im thinking about college. Im nervous. Im behind because im not. Lets talk about the possible prison term, how they could face up to 20 years or so. But, of course, seems Felicity Huffman will get a reduced sentence because of her plea. What kind of time could these parents see . You mentioned the statutory maximum is 20 years. But in modern time thats a horrible predictor of an actual sentence especially with defendants like these with no criminal history. They are likely to get far, far below. Just look at the plea agreement. They agreed to a sentencing range of four to ten months. Huffman has a chance to argue for less. She might be in the zero to six category which and i predict huffman will be one of the defendants who will get a straight probation sentence. We start at the maximum of 20. Now theres a good shot of zero. Some of that is based on the fact that she paid 15,000 versus some people who paid upwards of 1. 5 million. Everything in the fraud guidelines that boost the sentence is related to gain or loss to the victim. Thats a significant factor. Consider she rushed in and pleaded guilty. You get a two point reduction for that just for accepting responsibility. Shes doing all the things right in pleading guilty and trying to get the least possible sentence. Notice also shes working with the irs to deal with the tax issue. That had to have been bundled into the overall agreement. Part of Felicity Huffmans statement is her child had no knowledge of her action. Stanford University Just expelled one of its students that was connected to this scheme, Yale University being the First University to do such a thing. First of all why are they expelling these students. Can they prove these students had knowledge of what their parents were doing to get them into school . It doesnt matter. They dont need. Universities are like their own sovereign, they have have their own rules. So what stanford did they dont need to prove whether or not the child knew about the whole scam and the federal indictment and everything el they just need show that student falsified admissions documents or falsified statements in trying to get admitted. If they did that thats a violation of the internal rules at stanford and you can expel a student for that. Having defended they cases students get very little if any due process. Its a lot like a third world country when defending a student in front of a tribunal at a university. Sort of a dictatorship. Exactly. Thats the price of admission. Stick around for morning joe as well. Is that okay . Of course. Lets get a check now on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. Two things to talk about. We have Severe Weather which is typical. Then this april blizzard thats is going take place in the next couple of days. Jaw dropping for when we see pictures how much snow will fall in the central plains. Rain in south florida. Most of the heavy stuff will be down in sarasota to ft. Myers. Isolated storms from mayon to augusta. Charleston and myrtle beach back up to wilmington. Even back down in here towards savannah. Well watch this. I dont think it will be too bad. Heres the big headline for the rest of this week. This is all the winter storm warnings and watches and now we have blizzard warnings in effect for south dakota, nebraska, little portion of minnesota. This is going to be a major winter storm. This snow forecast is ridiculous for any time of year let alone april. This area of red is 18 inches of snow is expected in areas of south dakota, southern minnesota, even minneapolis is expected to get a foot of snow out of this. So, yeah, its going to be a mess. By the time we get through thursday interstate 90 will be closed. This will be an incredibly powerful blizzard. Winds could gust to 60 Miles Per Hour and up to 18 inches of snow. Middle of april. Thats cruel. I feel like if were sitting here on the east coast, 70 degrees and sunny were over it, seeing that forecast for the people in the middle of the country. It was 70s a couple of days ago. What a difference makes. Virginia completes the turn around in an overtime thriller. Details next in sports. End of a fabulous tournament. Rebound into the hands of hunter. And virginia with the all time turnaround title. All right. How many people in this room had virginia . Raise your hands. Welcome back. Time now for sports. New ncaa basketball champion top seeded virginia they are national champions. They defeated texas tech. To minneapolis the teams were neck to neck. Virginia took the lead at the break with a threepointer before the halftime buzzer. Locker room red hot. They stretched their lead to as much as 10 points midway through the second half. Maybe a nice easy win. Texas tech turned the tide with five minutes left in regulation and raising the deficit, taking a brief lead in the final minute before virginia right here they needed this one just like they did against purr ddue and aubur. Texas tech the magic was gone in overtime. Late in the extra period virginia a couple of key defensive plays. Perfect 12 for 12 for the freethrows and then go on to the 8577 victory in the Schools First National championship. What a run it was. Congratulations. To highlights to chicago where the cubs newfoundlander baez somehow makes contact with this pitch. Lets go take a look at the replay. The ball was in the dir