on his way home from japan. a foreign trip that saw him fixated on politics at home with fresh attacks on 2020 arrival joe biden and a trip that left him more isolated on north korea after publicly disagree with a key u.s. ally on the missile tests. our team is here with those stories and more. hallie jackson live in tokyo and our a-team of journalists this hour. betsy woodruff and msnbc contributor and eugene scott, political reporter for "washington post." hallie, let's start with you. the president is getting criticized by democrats and even republican allies after going after joe biden during this foreign trip. what is happening here? >> yeah, listen. this is an instance where president trump had domestic politics on his mind, even as he has been overseas here in tokyo. let me point out, jeff, the president is currently about 30,000 feet above the u.s. during his down time on his trip here, he was seemingly preoccupy would the possible 2020 arrival, joe biden. the former vice president. he kicked off this trip with that tweet about biden and did not back away from it. in a news conference here in tokyo, that has drawn backlash from not just democrats like mayor pete buttigieg but republicans. pete king, for example, overnight tweeted about this overnight. essentially slamming the president for seeming to side with the north korean dictator over the former vice president and american citizen, obviously. this is something that president trump was pressed on by jaseff mason, a friend of this show, by the way. who asked the president specifically on that. >> i can tell you that joe biden was a disaster. his administration were basically a disaster when it came to so many things. whether it was economy, whether it was military defense. no matter what it was. they had a lot of problems. so, i'm not a fan. >> so, what is that about? there are some raising the question about why is it that donald trump even here in tokyo, as he had four days with a close friend has the president been tweeting so much and talking so much about joe biden. is it because biden is in his head ahead of the 2020 election. biden is a formidable threat to the president, if he were to make it through the democratic primary and that is still a big if. you mention north korea, yeah, very sharp split. not just with any key u.s. ally but with his host here, abe. dismissing the idea that recent missile tests violate. neighboring japan, of course, concerned about these missile tests. even the president's own top aide, national security adviser john bolton had some daylight, a lot of daylight with the president on this one. >> that's a great point. let's bring in our panel. betsy, i want to read for you the big headlines. politico, trump finds himself increasingly alone on north korea. "new york times" and then this from "washington post, still angling for a deal, trump backs u.s. deal over biden. it is hard to see this is what the white house was hoping to get out of this trip. >> the central fact that helps make sense of the way that president trump talks about kim jong-un that he organized his foreign policy in large part based on the personal relationships that he has with foreign heads of state. trump believes that kim jong-un likes him. he believes the two of them have a repore and he believes that personal relationship could lay the foundation for a legacy item in his presidency. however, not something that the people around him put a particularly high revel of confidence in. that's where we get this bifurcation within the white house and within the trump administration and the key allies, including japan. while trump himself seems to have great faith in his personal repore with kim jong-un when it comes to the north korean issue. >> could it be the president is trying to preserve his talking point heading into 2020 that his big gamut on north korea worked? >> we know trump views himself as the dealmaker and he thinks he can negotiate deals where nobody else was able to. he takes great personal pride in the fact that he may be able to get some sort of progress on denuclearization that his predecessors were not able to get. this is really personally important to him and that's part of the reason why he's treating this issue in a way that generates so much head scratching in other corners. >> eugene, let's talk about joe biden. he did not respond to the president's tweets and some of his rivals defended himself, instead. including mayor pete buttigieg. >> vice president biden served this country honorably. just one more example of the way this president tries to draw attention to himself by saying things that shock the conscious. >> eugene, what is your take on all of this? >> well, i think someone like pete buttigieg who has foreign policy experience has been considering his time abroad in military involvement and other pursuits is trying to paint a perspective for people who are considering him as well as joe biden. we know that quite a few of these individuals who perhaps are looking for another alternative. and they want to make sure these individuals know that what they could be doing in backing trump for a second time could make things even more difficult for america in terms of foreign policy. and make things difficult for america in terms of its relationships with other countries, not even involved in the conversations between japan, north korea and the u.s. i think what ultimately president trump is doing is really hurting himself with people who really aren't that interested in voting left, but aren't so sure that they want to go right again. they are making the case. trump is making the case in many ways for joe biden far better than biden could himself. >> eugene scott and betsy woodruff, we'll see you later. following breaking news from ohio. one person was killed as a result of the overnight tornadoes that stretched from indiana and ohio. they left behind a widespread path of destruction and some 5 million people in ohio are without power. homes and businesses leveled with a dozen communities suffering damage. >> we got out and maybe ten minutes later it came through. >> it is like out of a movie. you could never prepare for something like this. >> destroyed the house. >> there are more than 50 reports of tornadoes from late last night through early this morning. this was the 13th straight day of tornadoes in the midwest and it's not over yet. nbc's gabe gutierrez is live for us in dayton, ohio, and also joined by bill karins. gabe, what have you been seeing out there? >> hi, jeff. good morning. we just got here a short time ago and this is some of the damage we're seeing. take a look at the power of this tornado. this is an elementary school. the roof collapsed on this. as we step around this debris. we kind of see the extent of the damage here. for a while, we had been told that there had been no serious injuries here in ohio. as you mentioned just a short time ago the mayor of salina said 40 people have been inneried inneri injured in that area, as well. this is the inside of a classroom. just imagine what could have happened if there were people inside. this happened late at night and many school districts out. there was a lot of traffic and a lot of debris on the roads and many neighborhoods are impassable because of those trees have knocked down power lines. you mentioned that 5 million people were without power overnight in ohio. crews are going to be assessing the damage overnight. huge swath of storms. at least two reports of tornadoes here in the ohio area. one of those storms basically went along the same path as the previous one, about 40 minutes after the initial one. but as you can see, this is going to be a long time cleanup effort here. and we do not yet know the full extent of the damage. now that we have first light, crews should expect to find out more about it throughout the day. search and rescue teams are going door to door to find out if there were any people trapped in their homes. we did get reports of rescue teams having to go in and get some of those people, jeff. back to you. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you for that report. bill karins we had 13 straight days of tornadoes. a stretch for people living in the affected region. >> may is typically our most active tornado month, but we had day after day after day. we had at least eight to ten tornado reports for the longest stretch we've ever seen. there are unusual aspects of this. when you combine this, the tornadoes with all the rare flooding and flash flooding problems we have. this is a multi-billion dollar disaster that we're in the middle of and not over yet. >> yes. we can even add up at this point how many houses have been lost between the tornados and the flooding. the flooding is going to be, ast astronomical and not done yet. let me get into it and recap what happened last night. 51 tornado reports. the one we just showed you where gabe was standing was near dayton. 10:00, 11:00 last night and 51 tornadoes yesterday and something similar today. the one that went through dayton that destroyed that elementary school. you think the end of this school year, no way. but they may not get back into that school for next school year. this is the tornado. the little v notch in here and call this like a stove pipe tornado. the leaves were just stripped and the branches were stripped and the only thing left was the trunk and the main stems. that is like an ef-3 to ef-4. 5 being the strongest. this was a pretty strong one. for today, the new update for the severe weather expected today. in the northeast, watch out. pittsburgh all the way through harrisburg to philadelphia to new york city all the way back down to baltimore and washington, d.c. you could see an isolated tornado and 28 million people at risk and then we'll cut back in the midwest. we now are up to a moderate risk. a good chance of not only tornadoes, but strong tornadoes in areas from kansas city to st. joseph here and columbia northward to southern portions of iowa. watch this closely later on this evening. 20 million people at risk in this area here. in total up to 44 million people in about 14 different states just for today alone. of course, all these thunderstorms and more rain, too. and then tomorrow we do it again from dallas to ft. worth all the way over to ft. smith. hit so hard with all the river flooding and day after day of thunderstorms making things worse. 6 million people and, jeff, i'll leave it with this map. this map here shows us all the major rivers having considerable record or close to record flood stage including mississippi and arkansas and illinois river here. this map shows us another three to six inches of rainfall on top of those rivers. so, it's a nightmare scenario. the dams can't hold any more water and levees are going to start failing and no end in sight. >> thanks to you both. we have some breaking news for you out of the supreme court where the justices have addressed the issue of abortion. nbc justice correspondent pete williams is at the court. pete, what is this about? >> this involves an indiana law passed in 2016 and signed by mike pence when he was then the governor. the supreme court upheld part of it today or invalidated part of it and left the lower court rulings that invalidated part of it. allows the law to take effects to how the remains of fetal tissues are remained of. they can't be treated like medical waste and they have to be cremated or buried. that provision of the law will go into effect. the second provision would have prohibited abortion when a woman is told by her doctor it is a virtual certainty that her child will have severe disability or down syndrome. that part of the law is invalidated. planned parenthood said it would compel a woman to deliver a child when it would die in infancy. part of the law held and part of it struck down. back to you. >> pete williams that supreme court. thank you for that. still a lot more to cover this morning, including the president suddenly reviving talk of a decade old crime bill. and as the supreme court weighs in on the abortion fight this morning, why louisiana could be the latest state to pass some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the country. we're hearing from doctors on the front lines. >> if you provide an abortion on a rape victim, you could potentially go to jail for a longer period of time than the rapist. >> the fact that the aggressor, the assailant has a higher likelihood of getting out of jail than the person who takes care of the woman who ends up providing health care is egregious. egregious.ab only about 80% of your part b medicare costs, which means you may have to pay for the rest. that's where medicare supplement insurance comes in: to help pay for some of what medicare doesn't. learn how an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by united healthcare insurance company might be the right choice for you. a free decision guide is a great place to start. call today to request yours. so what makes an aarp medicare supplement plan unique? 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[ grumbling ] all: sausages! mmm, mmmm. bon appetite. make time for what matters. pause your wifi with xfinity xfi and see the secret life of pets 2 in theaters. later this afternoon, joe biden will be out in houston, texas, holding his first town hall event as a presidential candidate. it comes as president trump is singling out the former vp on an issue that is likely to come up today. biden's role in passing the 1994 crime bill. the president tweeting anyone associated with the 1994 crime bill will not have a chance of being elected i, on the other hand, was responsible for criminal justice reform which had tremendous support. the term associated with the term was so heavily involved in passing. has sleepy joe apologized? no. did play a central role in getting that bill passed but defended himself at a campaign stop in new hampshire earlier this month. >> this idea that the crime bill generated mass incarceration. it did not generate mass incarceration. >> all right. joining me now msnbc garret and national political reporter jonathan allen and msnbc legal analyst paul butler author of "hoke hold." garret, let's start with you. people cloesto t people close to the president saying biden is the one candidate that have him worried. how is the biden camp responding to this? looks like they're trying to avoid taking the bait from trump? >> so far that has been the case, geoff. the biden campaign still politics stops at the water's edge. they don't want to mix it up with the president over this, even if the president wants to mix it up with them. one response in the form of a tweet from senior adviser, to watch trump take credit for the first step of many criminal reforms when, one, other folks did the work for the bill and, two, he is still on the record is exhausting and cdisingenuous. so much about the bill of 1994. the mixed messages being inuvl vaed in this, bernie sanders supported that same crime bill as mitch mcconnell. cory booker has much credit to claim there as donald trump. the whole tweet back and forth here is a bit of a wash. why i don't think anyone from biden's campaign would say this out loud, something to be said for being the campaign that gets attacked pie the president in this way at this stage of a democratic primary. the president is not going after moulton but joe biden who appears to be living in his head even when he is in tokyo and even in a crowded democratic primary, that has some value. >> great point. when we talk about the politics of this bill. let's talk about what was in it. the 1994 crime bill had this. three strikes. mandatory life sentence for repeat offenders. funding to hire 100,000 additional police officers and build more prisons. apologized for signing the crime bill into law. he said he made the problem worse. the problem being the mass incarceration, especially among african-americans. so, clinton apologized. should biden do the same or should he say, look, this is something that happened 25 eryoeryoyears ago? >> it was responsible partly for one of the most dramatic expansion of prison population in history. it gave states cash money and financial incentives as states passed these very severe sentencing laws. it was tough on crime, but it wasn't smart on crime. it didn't make communities any safer, but it did result in twice as many people being locked up as before president clinton started office. again, we know that hasn't made families better off or communities safer, which is why president clinton apologized for his role with regard to the crime bill. >> hey, john allen, here is something i think you know because i've been following your twitter feed about all of this. here are the lawmakers who are still in congress who voted for the bill. you've got senator bernie sanders, senator dianne feinstein, chuck grassley and mitch mcconnell. bernie sanders another 2020 democrat on that list. how big a problem will this be for bernie sanders? we're talking about joe biden, but what about for sanders? >> the messaging is difficult for sander because you want to make the point that joe biden was the author of this crime bill and had a different place in this crime bill than sanders did, but sanders voted for it. with regard to sanders, sanders went to the floor and worked against some of the things that you end up seeing in the crime bill and reluctantly voted for it. joe biden drove the train on it. the crime bill didn't, just a few feet from where i'm standing on the senate floor joe biden said his attitude towards richard nixon talking about law and order in the '70s and he went to the senate floor to brag about how many more instances of the death penalty were in the crime bill and how many new state prison cells would be built as a result of it. i think he will go back and argue and say, look, incarceration was growing and more crime going on before the crime bill. they were just building more jail cells but the truth is, if you look at the jail over time, there was huge mass incarceration after a crime bill and easy to track the provisions of it. >> paul butler, the president is trying to put joe biden on the defensive here. in the past, president trump has advocated for tougher policing. here's what he told larry king a few years before the crime bill became law. >> i'm also in favor of bringing back police forces that can do something because every quality lawyer that represents people in trouble say the first thing they do is police brutality. >> those were the president's comments on policing, but you have his comments about charlottesville and his attacks on nfl players kneeling during the national anthem and now keeping hakee -- >> trump has way more baggage than biden does on this issue. we can think about him taking out those full-page ads in new york city tabloids calling for the execution of the central park five that were later exonerated and found not guilty. everybody has issues back in the day on where they were on criminal justice. >> my thanks to each of you. reminder that msnbc road wars i and all the democratic contenders will soon head to miami for the first democratic candidate debate of the 2020 election only on msnbc, nbc and telemundo. just ahead, why a democrat could be the latest to usher in the new abortion restriction hitting the country. plus, the doctors on the front lines sound off. if you have moderate to thsevere rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. humira can help stop the clock. prescribed for 15 years, humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. help stop the clock on further irreversible joint damage. talk to your rheumatologist. right here. right now. tto harrison, the wine tcollection.. humira. to craig, this rock. the redwoods to the redheads. the rainbows to the proud. i leave these things to my heirs, all 39 million of you, on one condition. that you do everything in your power to preserve and protect them. with love, california. within the last hour, the supreme court agreed with a lower court to put an on hold of restrictive abortion law in indiana that keeps the issue off its docket at least for now. and also this morning, the louisiana house is set to debate a bill that will ban abortions six weeks into pregnancy. the bill was passed overwhelmingly by the state senate and the governor. now, this is the latest in a string of similar anti-abortion measures introduced by state lawmakers across the country. eight states have passed new laws limiting abortion this year alone. in more than a dozen others are considering legislation that would restrict the procedure. stephanie gosk joins me now with the latest on the louisiana bill along with dr. john torres who went to missouri to speak with two doctors who provided abortion services. stephanie, let's start with you. what are the restrictions in the louisiana bill? >> this is known as a heart beat bill. according to the legislation at about six weeks when a fetal heart beat is heard. there can no longer be an abortion. one thing that is worth pointing out about these bans that go into effect is that they're not being enforced just yet. the louisiana bill falls into that category and although when we were down there last week, there is very little push back against this. probably float through the house. but is unlikely to get enforced because it is actually tied specifically tied to mississippi law that is making its way through the federal courts and there has already been a preliminary injunction against that. none of it is being enforced on the ground. >> why is this law dependent on what is happening in mississippi? >> i was curious about that myself and talked to them. the reason when this is fought out in court, it gets really expensive and they were going to lose support among republicans in that state because it was going to cost a lot of money and came up with this clever way of not having to pay for the legal battles. they'll put it in mississippi's hands and mississippi is doing that right now. >> missouri governor signed an eight-week abortion ban into law last week and you spoke with the doctors at the last abortion provider. what did they tell you? >> work at that state's last free-standing clinic and stephanie said the message they want to get out is even though i was sitting down with them at the time the governor signed the bill and they weren't surprised the bill was getting signed because of the history behind it, it doesn't take effect until august. they would say, yes, we're still open. yes, we're still open. they wanted to get that message out. number two, they said this is one of the things they're doing because they really want to provide medical care for these women. they want to make sure they're taken care of. you're going through protesters and you had death threats against yourselves, why are you still doing this? here's what they had to say. >> i think a lot of people would ask the question, why do you do this? >> it is the right thing to do. i became a physician an obgyn to serve reproductive age folks and this is the most common medical intervention that a person in that age group will need. to me, access to abortion care when you need it is so pivotal and essential to being able to fulfill all of the sort of different intersecting pieces of your life. so fundamental to be able to live your life and reach your full potential, i couldn't imagine not providing the care. >> i spent ten years getting to this point to provide that care. this is what i signed up for. you would never tell an astronaut who trained for 20 years not to go to space because it's dangerous. the fact is, i know how important this is for my patients to have access to care on their terms when they need it and i want to be here to provide it under the circumstances. >> are the doctors you spoke with, are they concerned about how this legislation might affect women's other health issues? >> one question i ask them about preventive surveervices because that's what planned parenthood is good at providing. this is a women's health issue to begin with. the fact that we're restricting this makes it an impact on their health from the get go and this could have long-term implications, as well. >> thanks to you both. appreciate it. one other piece of breaking news from the supreme court, our pete williams is reporting that the supreme court has, that policy allows transgender high school students in one school district to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. without comment the supreme court turned away the appeal by other students who claim the policy violated their privacy rights. just ahead, the controversial story that has the special counsel issuing a rare public statement. plus, what has michael avenatti facing not one, but two arraignments in federal court today. y.the all-new 2019 ford ranger, it's the right gear. with a terrain management system for... this. a bash plate for... that. an electronic locking rear differential for... yeah... this. heading to the supermarket? 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>> well, geoff, we can take a look at the statement and put it on screen and read it altogether. it won't take very long. it says the documents described do not exist. that is a pretty blatant, but a pretty categorical denial by peter karr. it a rare statement as you suggested. we receive very few on the record statements during the course of robert mueller's investigation and fairly definitive. it also just doesn't make a lot of sense. mueller was clear in his report that the idea of indicting the president was just not something they went down that path. they did not go down the path of figuring out whether they could or should because this office of legal counsel doj decision in policy that says you can't indict a sitting president. it does not make a lot of sense that they would put together some sort of a draft indictment involving president trump. it is often, by the way, that prosecutors will maybe come up with a draft indictment for other individuals they may seek to charge. but in this case, the special counsel's office says that's not true. >> tom, you're outside the federal court today because you're watching two criminal arraignments from michael avenatti. what do you think is going to happen here? >> michael avenatti is very clear about what is going to happen. one arraignment around noon from charges stemming around $300,000 in the theft of stormy daniels' book advance funds or book payment funds and that will happen at noon in the courthouse right behind me and then later this afternoon, he'll be arraigned on the nike extortion scheme of $20 million plus extortion scheme. michael avenatti tweeted he plans to plead not guilty and hopes to go to trial and hopes for the evidence to be heard. contained in these indictments and pretty specific statements that were made by avenatti. prosecutors were able to point to bank statements and prosecutors were able to point to e-mails, et cetera. the evidence against him in both cases is pretty strong and i expect both arraignments to not take long today. they'll take the not guilty plea and clean up any bail issues and i expect both proceedings to go pretty quickly here, geoff. >> tom winter, thank you. the road to the white house rests on their shoulders. we're live in south carolina, where the democratic fight for the african-american vote is playing out in real time. what the candidates are doing to win them over and what voters there are saying. with moderate to severe ulceratiyour plans... crohn's, can change in minutes. your head wants to do one thing... but your gut says not today. if your current treatment isn't working... ask your doctor about entyvio®. entyvio® acts specifically in the gi tract, to prevent an excess of white blood cells from entering and causing damaging inflammation. entyvio® has helped many patients achieve long-term relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio® may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. tell your doctor if you have an infection experience frequent infections or have flu-like symptoms, or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio®. ask your doctor about the only gi-focused biologic just for ulcerative colitis and crohn's. entyvio®. relief and remission within reach. please sir. there must be something you can do... son.. my father is going. my brothers too. i'd rather die than stay... son, you can't. your heart's not strong enough. my heart is as strong as any. ♪ ...you have to let me go. uncover the lost chapters of your family history with ancestry. get started for free at ancestry.com the 2020 democratic primary is in full swing. and some key dates are quickly approaching. right now the 20 major democratic candidates in the race are all fighting for a spot on the first debate stage which is 19 days away here on msnbc and nbc news. and while we're counting today marks one candidate's sixth trip to south carolina. kamala harris will be back in that early voting state early on and you'll remember south carolina was one of her first stops on the trail. so, why does she keep going back? vaughn hillyard is in greenville, south carolina. help us understand, what makes this state so crucial for democr democrats. >> this is a state, geoff, that will be the most diverse in terms of the electorate. this is a place where kamala harris sees a great opportunity. once you come out of iowa and new hampshire to send the message that she is a candidate that can pull out the black electorate. 60% back in 2016 were african-american voters. this is a place where kamala harris will be here for her town hall and drilling home the message. i want to play for you a little bit of interview that we had with a couple voters here in greenville earlier today. what is important to you? >> integrity and what is best for the masses, not just for one group of people. i'm not saying things need to be given out for free or anything, but i'm someone who looks out for the better interest of everyone. >> elizabeth warren, i'm in college right now. of course, she interests me with her policies. >> geoff, that very first woman you heard from, jada campbell. she's a waitress here in town and trying to save up money to return to college. the reason i bring up jada is she is much like the rest of this electorate that we talked to through the last up canal months in south carolina. a question of who is kamala harris. she did not know who she was. i asked her about bernie sanders. she said that is where her support would lie. she said she saw more of that moderate type of a candidate. whether it be joe biden or hillary clinton. where hillary clinton got them last go around. there is a large part of this electera electorate that needs to be introduced. >> thank you for your time. joining me now to break this all down is zerlina maxwell and michael steele former spokesman for john boehner. so, we just heard that voter, jada, point out elizabeth warren's proposals. those plans that elizabeth warren rolled out student debt reform, child care and affordable housing. michael steele, we'll start with you. do you think these proposals will help warren break through to specifically black voters? >> that is what she is hoping. it is hard to have a strategy, historically, where you don't compete seriously in the first two states of iowa and new hampshire. i think what we're looking at here is senator warren has to get past bernie sanders and has to surpass bernie sanders in new hampshire and that will be the sling shot that sends her addressing the policy concerns that many voters have. >> "washington post" writing about broken promises of the past as they consider the 2020 presidential campaign and the "post" points to disappointment of some black voters quote from their reporting. all too often we see candidates go to south carolina and lecture black folks about racism, that's a textbook definition of preaching to the choir. >> we know about racism. >> so they say, give us some real policy proposals. what do you make of this? >> i think that's where this democratic primary is going, i think that's why you see elizabeth warren rising in the polls this early on, because she's putting out specific plans to address specific problems. the more that we see women involved in these elections some of these primary raisces, the me you're going to see that. studies show women run for office to address specifically problems like potholes if you're running for local office or bigger issues like student loans or corporate influence, in elizabeth warren's case, when it comes to her running for president. it sets up an opportunity for every democrat to win over the support of black people by telling you what you are going to do for black people, and not what i'm going to do for everyone, what i'm going to do to give medicare to all people. i want you to lay out specifically what aspects of your medicare for all plan will address implicit bias in the medical industry, mortality for black women. a lot of candidates are doing that, they're introducing specific bills in the case of senators and addressing issues on the trail, that's a winning strategy. but we'll see, on the debate stage, how that resonates in real time. >> we're talking about elizabeth warren, but folks who know you work know you worked for hillary clinton, you advised the break campaign, you have your ear to the ground in south carolina politics. what other candidates, besides joe biden who has name i.d., are doing well? >> there's opportunity in south carolina, black voters are open, they want to hear what you have to say. there's an opportunity for cory booker to go there. he's very good in a church setting, very good in a community setting. he has amazing family members, his aunt all ma is legendary. also kamala harris, she has the challenge of high expectations and the challenge of no one knowing who she is yet. it's like you have the perfect opportunity to either blow it, or excel. and i think in this moment she's going very methodically and carefully. there's a smart strategy because this is a marathon, not a sprint. >> michael steel, most democrats are trying to court voters by staying focused on the issues like zalina is talking about. we have an msnbc report that liberal activist groups are ramping up pressure on democrats with a new campaign to begin impeachment proceedings against president trump. do you think this will be the cloud hanging over the democratic primary? >> absolutely. i mean, i think washington democrats are to a certain extent victims of their own rhetorical excesses here. if you refer to the president as treasonous, if you refer to him as authoritarian, if you talk about how he's the worst president in history, how do you not then proceed to some sort of squire that could lead to impeachment? because the process is going so slowly on capitol hill, there's no question in my mind that we'll be dealing with these questions, dealing with these issues throughout the 2020 democratic primary. >> michael steel and zerlina maxwell, thanks to both of you. tonight on msnbc, senator kamala harris joins us for a town hall from spartanburg, south carolina, at 10:00 eastern right here on msnbc. injuries coming up at the top of the hour, my colleague craig melvin and the breaking news out of ohio after tornadoes ripped through parts of the northwest, killing one person and leaving millions without power. the governor giving an update soon. we're live on the ground as first responders search for victims. n the ground as first responders search for victims. if you have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture now might not be the best time to ask yourself are my bones strong? life is full of make or break moments. that's why it's so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones from fracture with 1 shot every 6 months. do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it or take xgeva® serious allergic reactions, like low blood pressure trouble breathing; throat tightness; face, lip, or tongue swelling rash; itching; or hives have happened. tell your doctor about dental problems as severe jaw bone problems may happen or new or unusual pain in your hip groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. speak to your doctor before stopping prolia® as spine and other bone fractures have occurred. prolia® can cause serious side effects, like low blood calcium; serious infections which could need hospitalization; skin problems; and severe bone joint, or muscle pain. are you ready? 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(vo) be the first to stream 4k beautifully for the first time ever. be first to real time with verizon 5g ultra wideband. get the new samsung galaxy s10 5g. on verizon. the first major legal test for drug makers at the center of the nation's opioid crisis. oklahoma's attorney general is suing johnson & johnson and the trial started earlier this hour. the ag says the company successfully marketed the drugs by overstating the benefits of opioids and downplaying the risks of addiction. johnson & johnson has said it believes it promoted the drugs responsibly and has taken steps to prevent abuse. the trial is expected to last through the summer. time now to look at what our sources are saying. betsy woodruff and eugene scott are here. betsy, let's start with you. what have you got? >> several weeks ago anonymous trump administration officials claim that on may 2nd in a port in iran, the iranian government moved ballistic missiles onto ships. it was an important claim for these administration officials to make. my colleague and i got satellite imagery which we exclusively obtained showing that on may 2nd, at this port in iran, it's more likely than not that the iranians were not moving ballistic missiles onto these ships. it casts doubt and raises questions about part of the trump administration's case for increasing our military presence in that region in response to iran's activity. >> so just quickly, betsy, u.s. officials are, what, misrepresenting the intelligence? >> our understanding is that the claims that they made aren't consistent with the satellite imagery that we have. the satellite imagery indicates that their claims about moving ballistic missiles may not be correct. >> eugene, what about you? >> in response to the trump campaign's low approval ratings with minority voters, people of color, lgbt americans, the trump campaign is partnering with groups to attack the democratic party with the hopes that these groups would vote against the democrats heading into 2020. the problem is that most of the attacks are inaccurate. >> eugene scott and betsy woodruff, thank you both. thanks for watching this hour of "msnbc live." right now more news with my colleague craig melvin here in new york, great to see you. >> good to see you in the flesh, geoff bennett, good to see you very much, in fact. good morning, msnbc headquarters in new york city. breaking news from the u.s. supreme court, a big decision on abortion tackling a key part of a law in indiana. how could it affect the states in the middle of passing laws of their own to restrict abortion? and an outbreak of tornadoes tears through western ohio. one person dead, homes, schools, businesses, destroyed. and the danger is not over just yet. also ahead this morning, a new warning about the safety of products that we use with our children every day. the woman who used to run the agency tasked with making sure that those products are safe is sounding a new alarm about how her former agency is being run. she's going to join me live. we start with the breaking news, the supreme court striking down parts of an indiana law that limited abortions. the measure was signed into law

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