A young, vibrant man. I look at joe, i dont know about him. I dont know. Look, um, if he looks young and vibrant compared to me, i should probably go home. Those are fighting words. Duty of loyalty, new reporting on how far Rod Rosenstein went to save his job and the promise he made to protect the president. And it is beginning to become a dinnertime tradition. As the White House Press glams up for the annual correspondents dinner, President Trump heads to wisconsin to boycott it but Something Else will be missing tonight and were not laughing. But first we begin with breaking news. Right now involving one of the countrys oldest and most powerful organizations, the National Rifle association, a civil war of sorts erupting within the top ranks. The nra president , you see him there, retired marine colonel oliver north is out. The tiemting the timing is striking. The organization is holding the annual meeting in indianapolis right now and hans nichols is the at white house and you were there in indianapolis as the president addressed the nra just yesterday. What is behind this surprise announcement . Reporter well the difference over Spending Priorities and budgetary shortfalls. The nra is under a little financial pressure. You saw that yesterday raising money off of President Trumps visit charging tickets for people to hear the president speak. But at the top, this is a political shootout between the two top leaders. Wayne la pierre, a long time executive Vice President and the face of the nra and retired colonel oliver north who joined about a year ago to be president. They disagreed on the direction of the organization. There is a lawsuit that the nra filed against their longtime advertising agency, a Company Called acmen and a mcqueen and they are behind the famous ads and there are back and forth recriminations and on thursday nide la pierre said north had to extort him and reveal about his spending habits unless he resigned and he ended up at oliver north had to have a friend read his Resignation Letter that he would depart the organization this morning. It is a stunning development. And after President Trump visited there to talk about the importance of 2020, gearing up for the election fight, a crucial organization that supports donald trump is now in turmoil at the very top and we dont know how this will ultimately play out. A very big organization. An organization with a lot of power here in this country. Hans, you were there at the convention yesterday. Did you get a sense that the organization was having some problems . Obviously financial problems as you noted. So it had been reported about, bits and pieces coming out over the last couple of weeks but when we talked to members, members were in the dark about it. They didnt have a good sense that the organizations finances. They were some of them were concerned about the direction of the organization, whether or not it was just about the Second Amendment and it was about a broader cultural war but the biggest thing we heard two threats, one, the threat they felt to their guns and to their Second Amendment rights but also you kept hearing from people on the floor there, the threat of socialism. And it is an indication and what the democrats represent. Kendis, it is an indication how something that started off in 1871 to teach earth northerns how to shoot straight evolved into a full fledged Political Organization that became an appendage almost of the Republican Party. And there are Many Americans watching and seeing all of this trouble at top of the nra and they are happy about it in the meantime. Hans nichols there, thanks to you. And another gathering in las vegas and drawing the attention of several president ial candidates. It is still 282 days from iowa but this is a significant day on the campaign trail. The field getting so crowded with more and more democratic hopefuls getting in. Eight candidates are on the stump this saturday including six who are out in las vegas speaking at a big Service Union conference which is happening to be where our own road warrior Garrett Haake is in las vegas, nevada, and it is a third state in next years primary contest and this conference gets candidates in front of a influential crowd there. Reporter that is right. Nevada coming third is an influential state but also the first state in which you have a big presence of organized labor which is a huge part of the democratic primary electorate and the first of those early states that has a big hispanic population. So it is a unique proving ground for the candidates and they are spending time here and you have six major candidates all here at this seiu union event about workers rights and wages and raising pay across the country and that is a big topic thus far today. And also, frankly, this is about an opportunity for democrats to remind unions about their power and flexing their muscle. Aby klobuchar on the stage now and opened up with an anecdote, if you question what unions can do in this country ask former Governor Scott walker of wisconsin who was a foil of the unions for a very long time and ultimately defeated in 2018. First here was Kamala Harris who spoke about her plans to be part of the fight for 15 and her tax plan to try to get more money into the pockets of working americans by increasing tax credits across the board and she pushed back sort of to bill. And corporations have got to pay more taxes and this whole trickle down theory of economics is ridiculous. I was going to use another word. It does not work that way. Reporter harris said she thought about using a wronger word than ridiculous but decided not to in front of the audience and a good call. That republican tax bill is a bunching bag for a punching bag for Democratic Candidates and through the day i think well hear that talk and a lot of talk about specifics, especially around the fight for a 15 minimum wage and how do you give people the dignity of work, that is the focus here today. And that is quite interesting. Because you mentioned the republican tax plan and many republicans thought that is what they would be running on instead they might be running from it. Have we heard any other mention, garrett, of the other newbie on the block, joe biden . Reporter no, not here today. It was interesting yesterday, beto orourke was asked about joe biden breaking his record for the first 24 hours of fundraising. Beto only congratulated biden with 6. 3 million in the first 24 hours. We have seen some signs that there are some candidates who might want to take on joe biden directly. Bernie sanders for example mentioned joe biden in a fundraising email and the sanders email had a tone about the fundraisers that biden was doing. And Elizabeth Warren was asked about biden the other day and she said her disagreements with him on certain bills in the senate were Public Record but it seems like those are things that will be revisited eventually. For right now i think especially in these early states at this early stage, youre seeing other candidates who dont have joe bidens name recognition, which is to say everybody. Just trying to introduce themselves still. That is what theyre doing with 282 days out. Garrett haake in las vegas, thank you. Well i am very fortunate to have Nbc News National Political reporter mike memmerly with me and Reuters White House correspondent jeff mason and democratic strategist and former adviser to barack obama president ial campaign, david mory and republican strategist and former chief spokesperson for mcmullan for president , rina shaw. Great to see you all in person. Have seen you on the tele. It is good to see you here for White House Correspondents weekend. Mike, youve spent the last few days there on the line joe biden his train station as well. It is good to have one by your own name. So you heard garrett talk about it right there, 6. 3 million haul in the first 24 hours for joe biden. Had a rough appearance on the view, how does the campaign think hes doing so far. Think theyre pleased with the rollout and the watchword is patience. They recognize this is a marathon and not a sprint. They know also how important this rollout is. If his argument, his primary argument to democratic voters is im the person who can beat donald trump, you need to maintain that strength as a candidate and some of the stumbles on anita hill we knew that was coming. Clearly he needs to decide whether there is a full throated apology and were seeing his campaign engage in trying to educate the public about the circumstances around the anita hill hearing and what exactly he did as the chairman involved there. Hes had 22 year foz work on it. Didnt they think this is coming and had a better message. And there were those trying to get him to make a more forth right apology to get ahead. I was covering an event last month where he offered a more explanation but always stopped short of an apology. Joe biden is proud of his record and i think he does think genuinely that he did all that he could within the senate rules to protect anita hill and hes not going to make annin sincere apology. And david, biden is polling about seven points ahead of President Trump in the real clear politics average. Is that the president has come out swinging at him . Yeah. Thats a good sign if the president is attacking you. Kendis, it is good to be with you. I think biden is the frontrunner with sanders close behind. Biden has the ability to win the election because he could go high center. There is a center lane open. 45 of the American People only in gallup poll history have supported trump at height. Hes the first president in gallup polling history never above 50 and overserved his base more than any president in history and whoever can rise up, we advise 19 winning global president ial campaigns, every one was able to transcend and rise above the political nastiness and i think biden has the chance to do that and it is hard because hes the frontrunner because people will struggle to get the nomination themselves. And jeff, youre there at the white house, who does the white house fear the most . Biden . They pretend they dont dont fear anyone and talk about the strength of the economy and the accomplishments they feel theyve made. But the one thing about President Trump it is nod har to read the tea leaves about how hes feeling because of his twitter account because he talks to the press a lot and when you see him focusing on in on one person and in this case it is joe biden, it isay reflection of the fact he sees him potentially as a threat. Speaking of the threat, of course he has a nickname for joe biden, sleepy joe. As we take a look at nicknames. A curious choice, wouldnt you say, from the president to use that name and instead to capitalize on the bad press of the vp former vp last month regarding inappropriate touching. Is that because he doesnt want to bring up his own sort of issues when it comes to that . No, i dont think hes that deep. Hes just not. Sort of goes with whatever comes. And so he knows that people are going to make a thing about his age and hes older than the president. So hes going with sleepy for whatever reason. But this namecalling, it is nauseating and i think it is disgusting. I wish we would be in this moment to talk about the realness and the realness is that joe biden is being treated a bit unfairly. All i hear about is his past. There is no talk of what joe is thinking about the future but it is we need a better country or a better political discourse. I dont think any of that will work. Trump is here and remained here. I personally think it is a layup. I think you get biden as a nominee and you get a layup and another term of donald trump, personally. Interesting. In the meantime, there are talking about Something Else. Theyre talking about age and bill mar talked about this, about biden getting into the race. Here is what he had to say. Joe made the announcement on his social media platform, western union. He does have hair plugs that are older than pete buttigieg. And i strongly disagree with those people who say joe biden doesnt have a vision. He doesnt have night vision. Guess he just had to get it out of his system, all of the old jokes at once. What is behind all of this . There was talk of stamina back in 2016 and now it is an old joke and old defense, mike. To some extent his age is a virtue in this campaign because i think there is some sense the message from the Biden Campaign is you trust, you know joe biden and you trust joe biden. Hes somebody who could come back into the white house and settle what has been a very disorienting and sometimes political environment the last few years but they do know he will perform and well see him in the campaign trail, in pittsburgh on monday and then to the early states and multiple events a day so hes going to be aware of the stamina and try to prove his critics wrong. And it is two stops in pennsylvania this week as well. Mike, jeff mason, and david more and rina shaw. Thank you. So still ahead, team trump on the verge of being fired. New reports claim Rod Rosenstein promised the president that he would land the plane. So now that the Mueller Report has been released, whose side was he really on . Does this map show the peninsula trail . You wont find that on a map. Ill take you there. Take this left. If you listen real hard you can hear the whales. Oop. You hear that . vo our Subaru Outback lets us see the world. Sometimes in ways we never imagined. Driven each day to pursue bioplifechanging cures. Ers. In a country built on fostering innovation. Here, they find breakthroughs. Like a way to fight cancer by arming a patients own tcells. And a new therapy that gives the blind a working gene so they can see again. Because its not just about the next breakthrough. Its all the ones after that. Voting for your favorite has never been easier. Just say vote for world of dance into your xfinity vmo. Um jennifer, its called a voice remote, not a vmo. Yeah, i just think vmo has a nicer ring to it. So, just say vote for world of dance into your xfinity vmo to choose your xfinity fan favorite to join the world of dance experience on my its my party summer tour. Cast your vote by saying vote for world of dance into your xfinity x1 voice remote. Or as jlo likes to call it, your vmo. Who, if anyone, outside of the Justice Department has seen portions or all of the special counsels report . Has anyone in the white house seen any of the report . Im not going to as i said, im landing the plane right now. Landing the plane. That expression coming under new scrutiny as the Washington Post is reporting that muellers boss, Rod Rosenstein echoed the same words while trying to convince the president not to fire him last fall. Rod rosenstein reportedly gave trump the impression he was on his team during the final stretch of the russia probe and kept his job by claiming he gave the investigation credibility. At the same time, the president is now attacking the probe as an attempt to take down an illegal coup. They tried for a coup. Didnt work out so well. Trying for an overthrow and we caught them. Theyre trying to infiltrate the administration to, really, its a coup. It is spying. It was an illegal investigation. It was started illegally. This is an attempt to take down of a president and we beat them. Well joining me now are correspondent for the Washington TimesCharlie Savage and former u. S. Attorney joyce vance, thank you fog br here. Good to see you. And joyce, what implications could rosenstein face if that report from the Washington Post is true. One of the issues prosecutors confront is not just engaging and conducting themselves properly, it is also conducting themselves with the is a appearance of propriety so the public could have faith in doj process and doj work. And i think were getting an abject lesson in why those rules are so important. Even if rosenstein as he said in the article and his response conducted himself properly, people are left with questions and we have guardrails we need to restore around the conversations between doj and the white house. Are these guardrails or questions red flags in the meantime . It is hard to say . And i have to say im not quick to jump on that bandwagon. I need to see more. But ive always been concerned about the fact that we have doj talking with the president , who is himself under investigation about that investigation. That seems to me to have been a mistake from the getgo. So not a normal thing for a subject of an investigation to be talking to heads of drug rings about the cases we were investigating, no. And charlie, in the meantime, so rosenstein was reportedly in a desperate fight to try to save his job. Especially after some of the New York Times reporting that came out revealed last fall, you recall not only that he may have considered secretly recording the president , but also thought about invoking the 25th amendment. And so he had quite a balancing act there to try to work out during that time in september of last fall. Describe exactly how he made that work out for him within doj or within this administration . So this is the moment when my colleague adam goldman brought to light that he in that first crazy week after comey got fired and nobody knew what was going on and trump was bragging to the russians that firing comey had made the investigation go away and they opened a intellige