headquarters in new yor and we start with breaking news. crisis mode. the white house now scrambling to manage the multiple investigations into russian collusion. we just learned president trump's personal lawyer has been asked for information in congressional russia probes that's in addition to the fbi's focus on son-in-law jared kushner. also this afternoon, staff shakeup, the white house communications director is out. that may be just the beginning. reports this afternoon that a massive staff overhaul is in the works. is president trump bringing once exiled advisors back into the fold? and asleep at the wheel, some startling new details from tiger woods' dui arrest. what police report says about woods' condition when they found him in his car monday morning. but we start with that breaking news this afternoon, on the congressional investigation into russia's interference in the 2016 election and possible

collusion with the trump campaign. nbc news has just learned that trump's personal attorney michael cohen, has received requests for information from the house and senate intelligence committees, this comes as the controversy surrounding jared kushner, the president's senior adviser and son-in-law is keeping the white house in crisis mode today. kushner under scrutiny by the fbi as part of its russia investigation. "the washington post" reports kushner talked about setting up a secret communications channel with the kremlin using russian facilities during the presidential transition period. lots to get to. nbc's hallie jackson at the white house, and kasie hunt is on capitol hill. hallie, start with you, what do we know about this request being made. >> we know and also what we don't know aut this. here's what we know, according to cohen who in a brief interview with nbc news confirmed that he did, in fact, receive these requests for

information from the house and senate intelligence committees. a congressional source also tells nbc that these are the same letters, the same requests that had been sent to other people close to donald trump, people in the president's orbit, like carter page, roger stone, paul manafort, mike flynn as well. that letter looks for information about russian contacts, asks for the person, whether it's manafort or stone or in this case cohen, to turn over any communications with the trump campaign related to russia. so that is what we know here. what we don't know is the special counsel question, whether the special counsel that has been appointed now has also reached out to michael cohen, but it is certainly fairly significant moment here. it shows the sort of investigations on the hill that are continuing to sort of deepen and intensify in scope, although, obviously, it's still not clear what timeline for these investigations will be. >> hallie, to be clear, this is not an attorney who is on the payroll there at the white house. this is the president's personal attorney, right? >> let's talk about the relationship there. because you're right, this is somebody who is outside of the

official white house parameters. michael cohen, you may remember was a surrogate to some degree on the campaign trail for donald trump back when he was running in 2016 and known the president for a while. still, according to our reporting, has interactions, obviously, with members of the former campaign, of the administration, so he is somebody who is in the president's orbit, although as you rightly point out, not currently on the payroll of the administration at the moment. ast cohen, i don't know we know this to be true yet, reportedly he was -- he caught the interest of the fbi a few months ago. what do we know about that? >> i think you might be referring to this so-called dossier, the document that had come out at the time that michael cohen had adamantly denied what had been reported about him to us here at nbc news, about his, for example, travels where he had been, said it was patently untrue, patently false, strong pushback from

cohen then, which is probably the most recent time he had been in the headlines to this degree. >> hallie jackson at the white house with the breaking news on trump's personal attorney, stick around if you can and if you get new information, ping us and let us know we will get you back on the air. let's pivot and talk about jared kushner for a moment. what are you hearing there on capitol hill as it relates to the kushner controversy, what are we hearing from lawmakers about that? >> well, craig, at this point, lawmakers are not here on capitol hill. you can tell the hallways are empty except for some tourists, but, obviously, the probes are continuing behind the scenes. you've seen just with this news about michael cohen, additional information about how they are unfolding. they have, according to everybody that we have he tal'v reached a new phase of the investigation where they are fwathsering new evidence and materials from all of these people of interest to the investigation. but, kushner himself, he is

somebody who clearly, you know, he's interacted with the folks on capitol hill, he and paul ryan have had some behind the scenes interaction. paul ryan not on one of the key committees but he is a member of the all-impogang of 8 that reived the top intelligence briefings and he has been included in everything that's been going on as far as these investigations into russia but one person, i'm not sure you'll be surprised by this, he's very much a hawk on russia, but john mccain, very critical of jared kushner over the weekend. take a look. >> i know that some administration officials are saying well, that's standard procedure. i don't think it's standard procedure, prior to the inauguration of a president of the united states by someone who is not in an appointed position. >> now, if you talk to mccain here in the hallways he's had some very sharp words for jared

kushner, taking jabs at how his age, how old he was, how broad his portfolio is, considering his experience. we're likely to get more reaction from members of congress kind of over the next few hours, but again, they're not all here in the capitol for us to chase down right at this moment, craig? >> all right. kasie hunt for us on the hill, hallie jackson at the white house, big thanks to both of you. let's bring in matt miller, former chief spokesman for the justice department, now an msnbc justice and security analyst and jeremy bash, former chief of staff, at both the cia and the defense department, under president obama, also an msnbc security analyst, gentlemen, thanks to both of you. matt, jeremy, let's start with this news on michael cohen, any surprise there and what to we think, matt, i'll start with you, what do we think investigators hope to lrn specifically? >> i think one thing they're going to look at is the -- are the claims from the das see yeah

and whether michael cohen did have meetings overseas with russian intelligence which he's denied. another thing we can expect him to look at are financial dealings he might have had with russians, with people close to russia, but the big question i'm looking for is the fbi also going to be asking him for documents. are they going to be sending his subpoenas. one thing for the senate committee to be asking for documents, as part of their investigation, it will be another if the fbi moves from scrutinizing michael cohen's dealings as it's been reported they're doing, to outright investigating them by asking him for documents, either voluntarily or through a subpoena. >> jeremy, reportedly a congressional aide said this request letter that was sent to cohen was the same that was sent to carter page, roger stone, paul manafort, general flynn, as general flynn as well. what do we make of this at this point? >> i think this is significant for a couple reasons. first michael cohen is the most senior official within the trump organization who did not join the administration but actually remained in new york with the

trump organization. he's the most senior individual to receive this letter request from federal investigators. second is he was leading the trump organization's negotiations not so much with the russian government, but with russian businessmen to build the skyscraper in moscow in 2015. he was part of the negotiating team. he along with another individual named felix satter, a russian born real estate executive, convicted of assault and then convicted of securities fraud, served some time in prison, became an informant and he also was an individual who was working with michael cohen to facilitate business deals between the trump organization and the russian federation. michael cohen knows a lot about the long history of financial ties between the trump world and russia. >> matt, does he enjoy a different kind of privilege since he is not officially

working for the administration or is that not something that necessarily exists in a situation like this? >> no, not officially. politically somewhat he does. one of the rights that every american has is the fifth amendment right not to testify if it might incriminate themselves. as a practical matter that doesn't usually extend to people inside the government while they have that right if you work in the white house and assert the fifth amendment to not testify that's seen as not tenable and you have to leave the administration. i think that would be tough for michael cohen to do as well since he does remain as donald trump's personal attorney. i think what we're seeing with the investigations, with the expansion into looking at kushner last week, now seeing michael cohen is under scrutiny these investigations have moved as closes to donald trump as you can you get without talking to his children. these are people not that joined his organization in the last six months, in the last year, but people who have been with him for years and years and years and who will know a great deal about his financial dealings. >> again -- >> craig. >> can i add one thing real

quick which is michael cohen also played a role in trying to facilitate a back channel between russian officials and then national security adviser mike flynn. if you recall "the new york times" report head delivered a sealed envelope from some russian officials who wanted to propose a peace plan on ukraine and was trying to play in that diplomatic world. i think federal investigators want to understand that back channel specifically. >> bottom of the screen for folks who might be joining us, a live look at the white house briefing room. sean spicer set to hold his first briefing in some time, top of the hour, 2:00, undoubtedly he will be getting a number of questions about the this, also getting a number of questions about the president's son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner. jemy, "the washington post" reporting kushner attempting to set uphis back channel for secure communications with the kremlin during the transition. this is what former acting cia director john mclaughlin had to

say here on "morning joe" on the -- excuse me a few hours with stephanie ruhle. >> back channels are not unusual. it's how you do it. and in a normal transition, if someone wanted a back channel to a foreign government they would go to the state department or an intelligence agency and ask for that to be set up through normal procedures. and that apparently didn't happen. >> jeremy, why not go through the normal procedures? >> yeah. i think three things are strange about this, craig. the technology, the timing and the topic. the technology to go use russian telephones or russian electronic communications devices shows they were trying to conceal it from u.s. intelligence and the u.s. state department. the timing was also strange because it happened during the transition even before the administration came into power. and the topic also is concerning because if the topic was, indeed, syria as discussed, that's an issue that involves troops on the ground, lives are on the line, you want our military involved in those discussions and consultations to

have a back channel, a front channel, any channel without the u.s. military concerning the fate of american service members on the ground is very dangerous. >> matt, one of the things that struck a lot of folks especially odd is this idea of using russian diplomatic facilities for this. why would that be done? >> i think the only explanation you can come up with is to try to conceal it from the united states government. i think this back channel is concerning for all the reasons jeremy bash just laid out. but the one -- but you can actually come up with a very charitable explanation, i think it defies logic, but that he was the and jared kushner was being naive what you can't come up with a charitable explanation why he didn't disclose that communication with the russian ambassador in his security form, his sf 86 he filed weeks after that meeting took place. it boggles the mind when you see the -- when you see what it was they discussed this that meeting, they proposed this unprecedented use of russian technology for kushner, for flynn, to communicate with the

russian government, that jared kushner then one, two, three weeks later forget about the meeting when he filled out his security form. it's a federal crime to intentionally withhold information on that security form. it's hard to believe that it was merely an oversight. >> matt miller, jeremy bash, thanks to both of you for your insight and perspective on this breaking news this afternoon. >> thank you. >> live pictures from the white house briefing room. sean spicer set to give his first press briefing since the week of the president's overseas trip. we're going to bring that to you live and hear what he has to say about the investigation into michael cohen now. also, staff shakeup. reports of some major changes coming to the west wing. who's in and who's out and what that could mean for the direction of the white house. tiger's troubles, tiger woods says it was prescription drugs, not booze, that led to that dui arrest monday morning. what does the police report say? we'll go live to florida. (vo) pro plan bright mind

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turning now to the shakeup in the white house west wing. one high-ranking staffer out. communications director mike dubke. more could follow as a new legal team is taking shape and a war room takes hold at the white house. trump's overseas trip apparently could do nothing to dampen the headlines he's returned to surrounding the russian investigation. in fact, multiple officials tell nbc news that jared kushner, the

man helping to lead that so-called war room is being looked at as part of the russian investigation. again, a word just a few moments ago trump's personal attorney, michael cohen, also now the latest to be trapped in that web that is the russia investigation. or the russia investigations. joining me now to talk about it jonathan swan, national political reporter for axios, charlie sikes, msnbc contributor, and stephanie ruhle, msnbc anchor and business correspondent. jonathan, let me start with you. s michael dubke resigning. what's w.h. whose owes's on the bubble and who's on the move. >> the macro view of it is that there's been a recognition at the top they're not prepared with to deal with the new normal, daily stories about fbi investigation, russia, comey,

they don't have the tools to deal with that. for who's ascended, in one way you could say steve bannon, somewhat ascended because the people that are being discussed now to potentially come into the white house or support from the outside are folks like david bossie, corey lewandowski, former campaign hands like david urban, people that are friendly to steve bannon. >> so stephanie, one of the folks that may be headed to the white house, bossie, deputy campaign manager, what he said this morning when asked about whether there was even an opening. >> they've talked to, you know, many people including me. >> david, is that a yes, have you been asked? >> no. i'm not going to say that there's something sitting on the table for me to pick. that would be a little -- i think that's -- there's -- it's an ongoing conversation and think that that's a fair way to put it.

>> so clearly, they're talking to him. clearly bossie may be going back. >> yeah. bossie is totally -- they're talking to bossie. i think it's likely based on what i heard from people inside that bossie is probably going to go inside. there's basically little chanko lewandowski. reince despises him. the feeling is mutual. jared kushner and ivanka trump don't trust him. no one likes cory lewandowski except for the president and steve bannon. he will be involved but from the outside. >> stephanie, why are folks in the white house concerned about the prospect of bossie and lewandowski coming back? >> i heard that about cory lewandowski. there are people around the president not part of the campaign that said we came here for policy and the country. if we're not going to get to the republican agenda what are we doing here. if president trump decides to bring back the likes of a cory lewandowski or bossie and goes on the road and on these

campaign-style rallies how will they get to governing. the person i spoke to said you're going to see good people leave because think about it, the president gets up there on the podium at those rallies, what is he going to do, make promises that they then have to figure out how to write into policy. they can't do it, a la the health care law. >> critics will say hire whomever you want, nothing changes if the man at the top doesn't change. can new hires or old hires in new roles, can they reshape the way that president trump actually conducts himself in office? >> no. stephanie was right. the problem with the trump presidency is not thetaff, it is the trump presidency. there's a little white noise going on here. but it is extraordinary the kinds of people we're talking about coming back into the white house, the people who are known for being the killers, the ones who tell trump be more trump. if, you know, given, you know, all of the problems this administration has had, all of the self-inflicted wounds that have come from letting trump be

trump, bringing in the number one enablers from the campaign, is not going to fix what's wrong, particularly as the level of legal exposure rises. i mean this new normal when you have, you know, the investigation getting close to jared kushner, when you have the investigation getting close to his personal lawyer, the amount of jeopardy that they are facing and the need to be very, very disciplined and careful, is rising on a daily basis and you're going to bring back this crew? really? >> corey lewandowski's style described to me to promote a style of branding and mockery not governing. it will take the president into a non-fact based reality and we already know he struggles with that. he's coming off the international trip where the last off camera press conference h.r. mcmaster and cohen did, said the president is learning, they need him listening to

facts. they don't need to get back to the campaign style, lock her up, going to do this, won't do that. they need resolutions. today the president saying we're going to get to the tax cuts. they need tax reform that includes resolution. not just slashing. >> never mindhe -- >> yeah. now in his defense, i mean -- >> go ahead, crlie. >> yeah. you know, in his defense, obviously, he does need to shake up the white house staff because the place is leaking like a sieve, you a lot of people who hate their jobs and do not like or respect the president of the united states. the fact that there is a shakeup coming is not a bad idea. the fact that they're about to make everything worse is the problem. >> how much of a shakeup is it just a perceptions game? even if the messiah himself descended from heaven and became chief of staff if the president doesn't listen what good does it do? >> the problem is donald trump. 70-year-old man not going to change, surround himself with different people does not change the central dynamic of the

administration. in a lot of ways the thing that is wrong is about to be magnified by what is about to happen. >> jonathan, i do want to ask you about this tweet from the president apparently wants to do away with the legislative filibuster, what he put out on social media a short time ago, the u.s. senate should switch to 51 swroetvotes immediately and health care and tax cuts approved immediately. dems would do it. both potentially subject to the 51 vote threshold under reconciliation. regardless what's the reaction, jonathan swan, to these problems? >> well, it shows his ignorance of the legislative process, both of those as you point out, both of those pieces of legislation are already governed under likely 51 votes because they're part of the budget bills. what's happening on the hill with these two items, there's a lot of skepticism among senate leadership that health care can be don what i expect to happen based on

my conversations with people in the senate and in the white house, is that there probably will be a vote before the august recess. if you were going to bet on it you would say there will be a vote. that might bring it to an early conclusion. they all want to move on to tax reform. that's what they want to do. if health care can't be done, they want to find that out sooner rather than later so this doesn't drag on and kill their whole agenda. >> jonathan, charlie and stephanie ruhle, one of the hardest working people at msnbc, good to have you. thank you so much. there is this new police report giving some startling new details about tiger woods' dui arrest in florida monday morning. authorities saying that woods actually had to be awakened behind the wheel. what it means for his dozens of major endorsement deals and also, his comeback as well on the pga tour. and again, a live look inside the briefing room. sean spicer talking to reporters in about a half hour from now, maybe longer, after more than a

week without the press briefings and reports of an overall change in communication strategy. what does that mean? we'll talk about that and bring you the daily press briefing live in just a bit. i count on my dell small business advisor for tech advice. with one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and

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police found golf legend tiger woods asleep at the wheel and slurring his words during monday's dui arrest. just released police report says woods was asleep with the car running, lights on, and the right blinker flashing. the 41-year-old arrested in jupiter, florida, about nine miles from his home. woods released a statement that reads in part, quote, i take full responsibility for my actions. i want the public to know that alcohol was not involved. what happened was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications. i'm joined by kerry sanders and bill wroten editor and writer at large for espn's the undefeated and author of "forty million dollar slaves." kerry, start with you in florida, what do we know about what else was in the police report? >> well, it's several pages.

i think perhaps most interesting is, and it sort of supports what tiger woods is saying, no alcohol was involved because the report says that he did actually do a breathalyzer test, where he blew in and they analyzed it and it comes up 0.00 meaning there was no alcohol in his system. he also actually gave a urine sample but those tests are not back. those tests would reveal if there were drugs in his system and whether they were prescribed drugs or otherwise. >> dash cam video of the arrest? >> there is dash cam video, which means likely that there's also audio because they go through not only with the video, but the audio, the police department has it here, it will be eventually released, unclear when eventually means. it could be today, it could be a week from now, we're not sure. the police aren't saying at this point. >> so bill, if tiger woods was under the influence of prescription meds and he wasn't on booze, does that make it any

more acceptable to his fans? >> well no. not only to his fans, i think that's the first thing. it doesn't matter that it wasn't alcohol. this is yet another bad decision by tiger woods because once again, he's completely abandoned the sense of responsibility to fellow human beings in terms of being behind the wheel impaired. but also, i think what's stunning is that he's -- this is one of the greatest golfers of all time, and he's completely lost touch with his image, his legacy, how you going to be remembered 10, 15, 30 years. i buy the idea, i mean he's having multiple back suris and all that, i buy the idea that anybody who has been taking medication you know this kind of stuff can happen. you just don't get behind the wheel. that's the first thing. don't get behind the wheel. don't make bad decisions. so i think we have to really emphasize that. i don't care whether it's

alcohol or whatever, don't endanger my family or other people getting behind the wheel when you're impaired. that's the first thing that has nothing to do with his legacy, but i think that's the next important thing. because i'm -- you know, i feel kind of bad for him. i'm rooting, i love to see him get back. >> do you think he's done? hasn't won a major since 2008. he did post recently he going to come back. he said he hasn't felt this good in years. it sounds like your skeptical? >> when you are in -- when you see these great athletes whether jordan or whatever, there's a part of you that says i would like to see him come back. if lebron james ever gets to that point, people would cheer and say we want to see one more. do i think he's done, intellectually i do but i would love to see a path cleared for his redemption because i do love those types of stories. intellectually i may think he's

done, in my heart i would love to see one great hor-ra. >> 41 years old. i know why you like to see the greats come back because as they get older that means we're all getting older. kerry sanders for us there in florida, kerry, thank you. hey, bill, why are you in vegas again? just out of curiosity. unrelated to what we're snaugts. >> well my mother, god bless her, 92 years old, so, you know, speaking about getting older, you know, we want people to look after us and all that stuff so i want to come back and make sure everything is a-okay. >> you're a good man. always good to see you, sir. kerry, thanks as well. when we come back this afternoon, end of an alliance? president trump slamming germany on twitter after chancellor angela merkel said europe can no longer rely on the united states. word this afternoon that germany doesn't need our help with something as well.

we've got a bit of developing news on that front. also sean spicer set to brief the press on camera just under half an hour from now. the white house reportedly considering a whole new communications strategy. could the president be taking a bigger role as the mouthpiece for his own administration? new bikes aren't selling guys... what are we gonna do? how about we pump more into promotions? ♪ nah. what else? what if we hire more sales reps? ♪ nah. what else? what if we digitize the whole supply chain? so people can customize their bike before they buy it. that worked better than expected. i'll dial it back. yeah, dial it back. just a little. live business, powered by sap. when you run live, you run simple.

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that german intelligence has told its american counterpart it does not need support in monitoring or safeguarding germany's upcoming elections this fall. i want to bring in chief foreign correspondent richard engel. richard, what do we know at this point? >> well, i think this is a sign of the lack of trust that seems to be growing between germany and the united states. what we were told is that german intelligence, which does have a robust capability to monitor elections, to look for disinformation, to look for specifically russian attempts to influence elections, that germany has told the u.s. we got this one. we don't need your help in monitoring our own election and that's quite significant. the u.s. was watching the french election very closely, the u.s. has been watching other european elections to try to look out for

examples of russian meddling, ia tried to put its fingers on the scale and here germany telling the u.s. very clearly, privately but clearly, we've got this. don't help us too much here because one, there's a lack of trust, and two, the germans don't want any hint of u.s. involvement while they're going through a very sensitive election if the fall. and i think this speaks to the larger point of the lack of trust between germany and the u.s. and this transatlantic partnership has been a fundamental part of the american foreign policy since world war ii really. >> you have to wonder how much of the german calculation is essentially listen you can't get your own elections right, why would we invite you into our country to help us monitor ours? >> i think you hit it exactly right and that was the way it was described to me the same tone that was conveyed to the americans that you, the tone was or the message was, you had an

election, you in the united states, you're still investigating what exactly happened, we know that there are attempts to manipulate by russia, elections particularly across western europe, but the germans saying please, thanks, but we -- we'll take care of this on our own. >> our chief foreign correspondent richard engel with breaking news overseas this afternoon, thanks as always, sir. north korea staying overseas, another of the critical international issues presently facing the trump administration, nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nichols standing by for us. steve clemens, editor at large for "the atlantic" and an msnbc contributor. hans, start with north korea, the u.s. military later today going to be testing this system that's designed to intercept an incoming ballistic missile. the test coming as north korea steps up its missile test. yesterday it launched its third missile in three weeks. what do we know about today's

test? >> well, this is about the tenth operational test of this system. as been up for about 10 or 11 years and this is the first time, what's significant about today, is that the u.s. test missile, the one coming in, is an actual icbm, coming in from from the marshal islands in the western pacific. these move very quickly. officials here describing it as hitting a bullet with a bullet. later today out at vandenburg air force base, the gbi, ground based interceptor will come up and try to meet the icbm test. the target is somewhere in the waters north of santa barbara. that's where it's supposed to splash down. the idea to intercept it first and beforehand. >> hans, three missile tests in the last three weeks, is that right? do we know how many since the beginning of the year an does it seem as if the north koreans are ramping up their frequency with which they're conducting the so-called missile tests? >> when you do a year on year analysis yes. about a dozen than have taken

place so far this year. you know, in some situation a big lull and that lull was basically for the month of may, for part of may, because you had that summit in mar-a-lago between president xi and president trump. at that point president trump tried to put a lot of pressure on xi to stop the north koreans from doing that this and that strategy seemed to be working for a couple weeks. most recently we've had about three launches in three weeks. the idea of putti pressure on xi may not be holding a lot of water. you did see preside trump today on twitter giving a little more breathing room for that approach, saying look this is a disrespect to china but china is doing a great job. craig? >> hans nichols for us, thank you. steve clemens, let me bring you in and put the tweet back up there, steve because this is president trump's tweet a short time ago. earlier today i should say. north korea has shown great disrespect for their neighbor china by shooting off yet another ballistic missile but china is trying hard. steve, that tweet seems to imply that north korea is china's

problem. what do you make of it? >> right. it's showing how erratic donald trump can be and how naive because the notion that china is going to share our same degree of strategic concern is a real problem and not correct. so i think that it is something where china is not going to basically take on north korea in a kinetic war and donald trump has repeatedly said if china is not going to do something, then the united states will. that he will. and so he's sort of fudging off of that right now. the one thing i would add to hans nichols' analysis, which is always excellent, is that u.s. senators, the 100 u.s. senators marched over to the white house to get a briefing on north korea and what was going on, were told that our national security capabilities, intelligence capability, had installed malware within some of the north korean missile systems and you had a series, at least two and perhaps more missile tests, that went awry that blew up in air. what's interesting about the

missile test that have come since that doesn't seem to be a problem now. very few have commented on it, but intelligence officials were taking credit privately f some of the mishaps in the north korean missile program. the ones we've seen recently seem to be doing fine. >> steve, i imagine you heard richard engel's reporting there on german intelligence and german officials basically telling their u.s. counterparts that they do not need our help with monitoring their upcoming elections. what's your take on that? >> well, i think it's a slow separation, a slow and sad and depressing separation, that ought not to be happening, and somewhere vladimir putin is, you know, breaking out the vodka. because he is right now achieving what his number one strategic goal is, which is to put tension and to separate and divide the transatlantic relationship. the united states from the major western european countries, and he's succeeding in doing that and i think germany and many other countries have doubt about america's willingness to be with them in their dark days and

through their dark problems an these are manifestations and we will see more of them. there will be a lot of people, particularly in the military arrangement that say you know what we still have u.s. soldiers stationed in eastern europe and we still have systems in place that assure the united states is deeply involved and deeply connected to all things nato, and they have people saying at the leader level there's enormous doubt in dealership his leadership and reliability today. >> steve clemens with the atlantic, thanks for coming on. while we have been having this conversation, some breaking news on the white house's widening search for an fbi director. we will tell you who the trump administration is interviewing today. we'll do that right after this. and again, we are just some 15 minutes away from sean spicer's first on camera press briefing since the president's overseas trip. will he talk about those rumors of massive staff shakeups? could his job be changing? i'm sure he'll also be asked about the president's personal

attorney now being looked at by congressional committees looking into russia. all of that ahead in 15, 20 minutes or so. come back. stay with me, mr. parker. when a critical patient is far from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. stay with me, mr. parker. the at&t network is helping first responders connect with medical teams in near real time... stay with me, mr. parker. ...saving time when it matters most. stay with me, mrs. parker. that's the power of and.

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some breaking news right now as we wait for today's white house press briefing from sean spicer, the press secretary. nbc news has confirmed a new name in the search for an fbi director, a former number two at the bureau. here with me now, nicholas co i confistory. >> this is john pistol, the former number two at the fbi. he's also the former head of the tsa. i am told -- we have two administration officials confirming that president trump is expected to interview him today. of course, there is a real urgency to replace ousted fbi director james comey. one of the top names that we were hearing in recent weeks was joe lieberman. but that got a lot of backlash, craig, democrats saying that the president should be looking at someone who is in law

enforcement, mott someone wnot been an elected official. so this potential nominee, we'll have to wait and see the reaction, but he is someone who is widely respected in law enforcement communities. we'll have to see what happens in terms of the actual interview. but again, we anticipate the president to hold that interview today. a lot of urgency to fill that open position. >> kristen welker there with some breaking news. stand by. i know you have to take your seat there in a moment. in addition to sean spicer being asked about the new fbi head and the interview process, undoubtedly he will be asked about his senior advisor and his son-in-law, jared kushner. we know that president trump values loyalty, but as this thing continues to grow, and now that word here within the last hour that the president's personal attorney, michael cohen, is now ensnared in all of this, with kushner, is this something that he can survive, even if he is a member of the family? >> you know, it is hard to fire

your son-in-law. so i suspect, as with many things with the president, people who are pushed out are often not really pushed out. they're kept in orbit. the threshold question obviously does kushner stay in his job at the white house. of course, that all really depends i think on what we can learn about the substance of his communications with russian diplomats and officials and the purpose of those communications. the real question mark here, craig,s why did he want that private channel. some people in the white house have suggested perhaps it was the talk about syria, but that hasn't been confirmed. we're not really sure what the real answer there is. so a lot is going to depend on how this shakes out. >> nick, your paper also reported on something that caught our attention in the morning meeting here, that president trump -- excuse me, that jared kushner and his wife, ivanka, are reviewing every six months whether to return to private life in new york. has the scandal -- this most

recent scandal, has it made them kryptonite in the beltway? >> i don't think so. there are people who survive much worse in washington and stuck around and had second or third or fourth lives. paul manafort is still kicking in the business world and he's under investigation. it is amazing what you can survive in washington. i think you have to wonder for both of them, they both have very successful careers in business to come join this washington, d.c. it was sort of an alien place for them. i wonder at what point they decide it is not worth it. i suspect it would be a high bar for them. they're deeply intertwined with this administration. in a sense, its success is their success and its failure is their failure. >> as we wait for the start of this white house press briefing, we're hearing now that president trump is having conversations about dramatically changing the way that information is shared

coming out of this white house. what do we know about that? we know that the coms director is out. any word on mr. spicer'sle >> well, first of all, this is striking that the communications director has offered a letter of resignation after just three months on the job, and it really underscores the internal turmoil that this administration is dealing with, craig, clarl particularly as it relates to the messaging. we know that the president has been frustrated with his messaging coming out of the coms team. we know he is thinking about scaling back briefings, potentially giving deputy press secretary share ra huara huckab a much broader role. but all of this speaks to one broader point, which is that this still very young administration is struggling with its messaging and a lot of times you see president trump taking his messaging into his own hands on twitter. >> kristen welker there for us

in the briefing room. nick confessore, thank you. we are just moments away from that white house press briefing. lots of questions to be asked. when it starts we'll bring it to you live. never had 'em quite like this. at red lobster's lobster & shrimp summerfest, the lobster and shrimp you love are teaming up in so many new ways. like new coastal lobster and shrimp, with a lobster tail with butter and herbs, sweet, smoky bbq red shrimp, and shrimp crusted with...get this...cape cod kettle chips. or try lobster and shrimp overboard. a dish this good... makes you this hungry. it's the highlight of the season, and can't last. so hurry in.

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this hour of msnbc live. my colleague, ali velshi, picking things up. >> you're not leaving!

we're going to have a white house press briefing. >> no, i'm briefing before that starts. this hour on msnbc live -- spicer is back. we're awaiting the white house briefing. it is expected to begin any minute. by our count, it is the first official camera briefing since spicer by may 15th. this afterno breaking news, the president's long-time attorney michael cohen has been asked for information as part of a congressional probe into possible trump campaign ties to russia. and that follows news that trump's son-in-law and advisor, jared kushner, is under scrutiny in the fbi's russia's investigation with new questions today about curb merkushner's m with a big bank. our word of the day -- shake-up. >> we've just confirmed he is leaving. >> mike dubke, communications director at the white house, who's only been there for three months, you have changes afoot