and that is going to wrap up this hour of msnbc live here in las vegas. my colleague katie tur is going to pick things up from new york. >> it is 11:00 a.m. out west where you are and 2:00 p.m. in washington and at any moment we're expecting a briefing at the state department, it will be the first that rex tillerson held a news conference today. secretary tillerson was on the verge of resigning this past summer and that at a july meeting at the pentagon, tillerson called president trump a, quote, moron, according to three officials familiar with the incident. also that tillerson was counseled by vice president mike pence on ways to ease tensions with the president. tillerson tried to smooth things

over this morning by holding that national news conference. but it was really intended for an audience of one, aboard air force one, the president, that is, who was presumably watching tv as he flew from washington to las vegas. >> there was some news reports this morning that i want to address. first my commitment to the success of our president and our country is as strong as it was the day i accepted his offer to serve as secretary of state. the vice president has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of state because i have never considered leaving this post. >> is that the only statement that you consider to be -- >> i think it's the most important out of the article is to reaffirm my commitment to this role that president trump has asked me to serve. and to dispel this motion that i have ever considered leaving. >> what about the headline of this story that you called the

president a moron. and what about these reports? >> i'm not going to deal with petty reports like that. this is what i don't understand about washington, i'm not from this place, but the places i come from, we don't deal with that kind of petty nonsense. >> and almost immediately after tillerson spoke, trump tweeted the nbc news story has just been refuted by secretary tillerson and mike pence, it is fake news, they should apologize to america. the president is now in nevada, right now he is at the university medical center in las vegas and we could see him at any minute. but as we wait for the state department briefing, let's discuss this news with some of our nbc news reporters behind this exclusive, including nbc news national political reporter carol lee, and msnbc white house correspondent kristen welker who

was with the president in las vegas. carol, you're the lead by line on this story, so i'm going to start with you, rex tillerson this morning came out, held this news conference and tried to deny this story, but did he specifically deny the main points of this story? >> no, he did not. and if you just look at the moron piece of this, he had a great opportunity to deny that if he didn't say it and he didn't. that was perceived by people in the white house, those i have talked to since then as confirmation that he did say it if there was any doubt. he's also stuck on this idea that we reported that mike pence somehow tried to convince him not to resign. and we didn't. what we said and what was true was that mike pence counseled him, it was described as a pep talk and he was also the person who went to him to say, look, you need to get on board with the president's agenda for this to work going forward and the

white house official told us that pence was very much trying to get tiller -- basically just buck him up, generally. >> what about the conversation between secretary mattis and kelly, was that addressed at all? >> no, he didn't and tillerson in july, when he reached this inflection point in his tenure and he was really frustrated and was threatening to resign that mattis and kelly intervened and had conversations with him and that he -- they tried to do this sort of reset and then mike pence came in and then got involved then. but this reset that they tried to do in july doesn't seem to have stuck. it wasn't even a month later that the president was frustrated and angry with tillerson because he wouldn't defend him on his comments after the charlottesville violence. and then we saw this past weekend, they had completely different views on knnorth kore. and the reason why that was so important is that he just

escalated it in calling him out personally. >> it seems like they're not in agreement on most things, like carol was just saying over the weekend, he said don't bother trying to negotiate with north korea, don't waste your time, the president undercutting the secretary of state. so does he still have confidence in rex tillerson? >> sarah huckabee sanders was just asked that question aboard air force one while traveling here to las vegas, she said the president does still have confidence in his secretary of state. i can tell you she was asked earlier this week in the briefing in the wake of the briefing that carol was just talking about. the fact that the president undercut his own secretary of state over the weekend. and it's not the first time, we all recall the crisis in qatar, the president and secretary of state took two very different views on that as well and behind the scenes, i am told that there were a whole host of policy issues, where he saw things very

differently. the bottom line here, and it's striking that you didn't hear the secretary of state refute the fact that he called the president a moron, our story is widely -- 12 current and past administration officials corroborated are reporting, seven specifically saying that the secretary of state did intend to resign and now those tongu tensions have been brought to the forefront. the problem for the administration is now it potentially becomes a real policy crisis for them, as they tried to deal with north korea, one of the most pressing problems facing the president right now. >> and tillerson -- whether he can be seen as someone who has the ear of the president, that they're speaking in one voice. not only did he not come out and directly refight calling the president a moron, but he did come out and just lavished praise on him. there's one headline out there,

tillerson on trump, he's smart. is that going to be enough for this president who is so hyper aware of how he is being perceived, his own self-image? >> katie, i wouldn't be surprised if the president does his own due diligence on this story, his own dugging, as carol and i have been reporting throughout the day, it's not clear that that moron comment ever reached him so this may be the first time that he's really learning about this. i anticipate he's going to have some conversations in the wake of this reporting and we'll have to see. but you're absolutely right, one of the key things for this president is trust and that is something that he's going to have to evaluate moving forward, if he in fact can trust and has the trust of the secretary of state. >> trust, loyalty and praise as well. ladies, great job on this reporting, carol lee and kristen welker and a reminder, nbc news

stands by our reporting. we could also see the president in las vegas any moment now, now continuing this conversation with former white house press secretary and nbc political analy analyst. gentlemen, welcome. the white house isn't denying the content of this report, essentially. neither is rex tillerson, but what can the white house do when faced with a situation like this? >> well, katie, i think at least in terms of the immediate aftermath of the story, they did everything they possibly could do is that they rolled rex tillerson out there to deny as much of the story as he could. looks like he gave it the whole college try, but there's certainly elements in that defense or his explanation or his rebuttal, that were not particularly compelling. katie, one of the things i'm

struck by in reading the story, is that it is clear that there is a significant lack of mutual respect between the president and his secretary of state. certainly ambassador mcphal can speak to, part of being secretary of state means that you occasionally have to deliver bad news to the president of the united states, that negotiations aren't going the way we hoped, or that mr. president, you've got too much on your plate. while there was disagreements, there's nothing even approaching the kind of disrespect that's clearly cited in that story and not refuted by the secretary of state. >> ambassador, is this tenable for rex tillerson to keep his job right now? >> tenable in terms of the eyes of the president or tenable in terms of being effective? >> being an effective secretary of state. >> i think it's very difficult. i honestly do. i mean, let's be clear, it's not

like there's a record of achievement to build on here, either in terms of successful foreign policy outcomes or in terms of inside the state department, where morale is extremely low. second it sounds like secretary tillerson was speaking to one person flying on a plane when he gave that statement. but there were other people listening in beijing, in moscow, in brussels in berlin, and this was not a statement of strength, this was not a statement that said i speak for the president or i speak on behalf of the national security team, it was a statement of weakness. and therefore how he can be effective moving forward when everybody is going to be second guessing whether or not he speaks for the president, that's a very hard job to do. >> what about the other side of the coin, ambassador, if trump loses his secretary of state right now, given everything that's going on with north korea, the iran deal is coming

up again. is it going to be perilous to have that position open in the immediate future? >> well, from secretary tillerson's point of view, if i were him, i would be thinking, i have had a bad run, i have a difficult relationship with my boss, i just had to give what i consider a rather humiliating press conference. but in order to defend the american national interest, i need to keep doing my job and if he can look in the moirror and say there's some value there, he should continue to do it. i don't think the president is dependent on secretary tillerson, nikki haley is one that can easily step into this job so she has some -- applaud the resignation of secretary tillerson given the rather poor

record of ak450e67chievement hed so far. >> i think he's in a very trying situation, trying to solve many of the world's problems, a lot of timings without the kind of sup foport that i would like toe him have. >> did he consider resigning at any time? >> i can't get into that. >> when you say tillerson and mattis are separating the country from chaos, from the president's chaos? >> flthey work very well togeth to make sure that the policies we put together around the world are sound and co-hernherent ande are other people in my opinion that no. >> josh, what does this say about the overall state of affairs within the trump administration 123. >> well, katie, it certainly sounds like a senator who is liberated by not having to run for re-election in tennessee

next year, that's part of it. but the other part of this that i think is important is part of rex tillerson's job description is to go around the world, meet with other world leaders and basically convince them that they shouldn't put too much stock in those tweets of the president of the united states, but that actually he's someone who's in the -- him calling the president a moron and refusing to deny that, totally undermines his ability to go and make that case to foreign leaders, so i do think it is very difficult to imagine how secretary tillerson can continue to succeed, to the extend he has, and i think it would be difficult to make sure that he has succeeded. but i'm not sure how he continues in this job when one of the bullet points of his job description is something he's not capable of doing. >> i'm sure they're going to

push back more on this nbc news reporting, the briefing has already started, we're going to dip into it once we get a little bit further into it in just a moment. but ambassador, we had this editorial board meeting with the government of is qatar a few months back here at nbc news, and i asked the officials there who they are supposed to listen to, be it the president or the secretary of state, especially when they are conflicting with each other, and this was back around the time that there was that blockade, essentially of qat qatar. and they said that they have been told that the secretary of state is the one that speaks for america, and to not necessarily listen to what the president may detail on tweet on a day by basis. how does this throw into question our relationship with our allies overseas. >> or allies and our enemies.

think about how absurd this conversation with, it's factually accurate. but who speaks for the trump administration and somehow on the side we're saying that president trump doesn't speak for the trump administration. that is not a sustainable proposition in defeterms of an effective foreign policy. secondly, i am a diplomat, i served president obama, i was his representative in russia, and the idea that i would somehow speak independently and have my own foreign policy, independent of the white house and the president, that would have been a horrible way to conduct foreign policy. so we need, whether secretary tillerson is on the job or not, they must speak together in terms of advocating for america's national interests.

>> not only meddling in the 2016 election, but what to do about the iran deal, north korea, not a good time to lose a secretary of state. josh ernest and ambassador michael mcfall, thank you guys very much for joining us. and today the top democrat and republican leading the senate's russ russia probe spoke about the russian investigation. and we'll take a new dive into just how far and how wide russia went on to influence the election on facebook. also we are awaiting the president in las vegas, we'll take you there as soon as he appears. hey grandpa. hey, kid. really good to see you. you too. you tell grandma you were going fishing again? maybe.

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as we mentioned a moment ago, the state department press conference is going on now. rex tillerson's news conference to refute it. here's what she said just moments ago. >> i wanted to say this to you, secretary tillerson los angeles wi along with the rest of us woke up to a -- it was a report that the secretary said just a few

hours ago is erroneous, the secretary addressed that a couple of hours ago with all of you and some of you had an opportunity to ask a few questions yourself. the secretary chose to speak to the media, he knew it was the right thing to do. it as a man, he is clear, he is direct and he pulls no purgench he is not a politician who seeks the spotlight and a lot of people in media circles not understand that. they think why would somebody not want to speak in front of television cameras all the time. that's just not who he is. secretary tillerson came to washington to serve his country, to serve the trump administration, he came here to advance u.s. foreign policy goals and he also came here as we have seen this week, to keep americans safe. i'm referring to the news, what happened to cuba and the decision to bring home our americans who were serving there. that is the secretary's top

priority. the secretary has never considered resigning from his post, and for those who want him to do so, go ahead and keep pushing, because that will only strengthen his resolve. in my family's part of the country, we would call that a tough old bird, some people may not get that, but where i'm from, that's what we call it. in other circles it might be called battle hardens. the secretary is committed to staying here in the state department and doing that job. i think he was very clear about that today. i spoke with him a short time ago and i wanted to update you on one thing in particular. he spoke with the president after the secretary's press comments to all of you earlier today, and he told me, heather, it was, quote, a good conversation and they are all good. i take the secretary at his word. and with that, i'll take your questions. >> thanks, heather. sticking with that topic, i know that you called that record erroneous, the secretary did not

decline several eopportunities this morning to dispute one particular part of that report which was the idea that he called the president a moron. and i want to know whether you are comfortable that the widespread perception is that he did not dispute that part of the report because it's true. >> let me clarify that, the secretary does not use that type of language. the secretary did not use that type of language to speak about the president of the united states, he does not use that language to speak about anyone. so i hope that that clarifies it. >> he did not say that? >> he did not say that, yes. >> in addition to that, and the notion that he did not, or the fact that you're laying it out that he did not consider resigning, are there other specific facts in that report that you are disputing? >> look, the secretary spoke to that today, i'm going to give you some of the high level right now, which is what i think i have done and i'm not going to

have a lot for you beyond that. >> did the president -- did the secretary speak -- you've spoken to ambassador haley about this? >> i'm not aware he has spoken to ambassador haley, the secretary after speaking here, went up up to the white house for his speech later today. >> state department spokeswoman addressing the nbc news reporting, she said secretary of state rex tillerson left that news continue fence today and went directly to the white house. she said that rex tillerson, this morning rex tillerson he would not get into that, he would not get into petty gossip. heather nauert saying he did not use that language and he did not consider resigning.

i think we were reporting he threatened to resign, whether or not he considered it was in his own mind. nbc's peter alexander is at the white house, he went directly to the white house to talk to the president. does it look like his job is safe? >> reporter: well, i guess that remains to be seen, the president appeared to be sufficiently satisfied by what he heard. he said that the secretary of state effectively refuted nbc news's reporting, but again, we didn't hear that same point made by rex tillerson earlier today, he said he wasn't going to address these sort of petty matters here. but to be here, the secretary of state katie said that the two men were on the same team and shared one mission, but it's obviously they're not on the same page and i point to what happened just a matter of days ago, you remember the secretary of state when he was overseas working on his diplomatic effort to try to diffuse the situation with north korea, said that there were some back channel communications taking place

between the united states and north korea. and then the president tweeted to more than 40 million foll-- >> even though he went to the white house, he did not meet with the president because the president was aboard air force one on his way to las vegas at that time. peter alexander at the white hou house. congress is still investigating russian meddling into the 2016 election. briefed reportered about what exactly they found so far. >> we have interviewed everybody who had a hand in the ica, we have interviewed seven individuals that attended the mayflower event, the testimony of all seven were consistent with each other, but we understand that with the current investigation open, there may be additional information we find

that pulling that thread may give us some additional insight. the committee staff has interviewed everyone involved in the drafting of the campaign platform through comey memos. this topic has been hotly debated. and the committee is satisfied that our involvement with this issue has reached a logical end, the issue or collusion is still open, that we continue to investigate both intelligence and witnesses. >> spoiler alert, they haven't learned all that much, but there were a few notable revelations including what's happening with the infamous field dossier. >> the committee cannot really decide the credibility of the dossier without understanding things like who paid for it? who were your sources and sub sources? though we have been incredibly

enlightened at our ability to rebuild backwards the steele dossier, up to a person date, getting past that point has been almost impossible. >> the committee did say they were able to corroborate at least some of it. he went on to warn americans that russia won't stop trying to meddle. speaking of which, nbc news has now reporting today on which states russia targeted with their facebook ads. nbc's casey hunt is on capitol hill, and also white house correspondent for the "new york times," glen thrush, who's also an nbc political analyst. casey you asked that question whether or not they can rule out any collusion between the united states and russia. do you think it's notable that they still can't rule out any sort of collusion? >> i do, katie, they were much

more definitive in a couple of other areas in saying, we're not going to formally close the book on this, but we're basically done, we have reached the end of where we think we can go. they left open the possibility something might come up. but they cited for example the memos that comey sent, they were league at that meeting at the mayflower hotel. they say basically we have run the gamut on that. but they did not say that on the overall question of collusion. they were asked repeatedly, hey, the president says this is a hoax, do you agree, and they said repeatedly, well, we can't say that at this stage of the game, which i theink is, if pas is prologue is pretty much guaranteed to upset the president who of course has been very frustrated that this inquiry is marching along regardless. you mentioned facebook, social media. the reason this is so important

and it's those states that we're reporting on are so potentially important is because there has been some suggestion behind the scenes that one way the trump campaign would have colluded would be to suggest through offering or sharing of data, where russian influence might be the most influential on the results of the election, that's what i asked senator burr about. take a look. >> you say that the issue of collusion is still open. are you pursuing the question of whether there's a link between the ads that appeared on social media sites and the trump campaign? >> if there was any connection, that would be pertinent to our investigation of russia's influence in the elections. we have had incredible access and cooperation by those social media companies that have been in. some of them have been

interviewed twice. at the end of the day, we'll be prepared to ask the right questions that may answer some of your questions at that open hearing. >> so it does seem like this is something they will potentially address at an open hearing, of course i don't think it's something that the tech companies really want to be in a position to have to grapple with, it's a difficult and new position for them and they're kind of learning how to deal with this new reality, facebook saying today that they will commit to testifying in public at that november 1 hearing. >> and back to the russia investigation specifically, the burr and warner were saying that this is not the end of it, that russia is going to continue to meddle. this is a really big deal, this needs to be taken seriously. the president is not among those who take it seriously. the last he tweeted is the russia hoax continues now it's as on facebook, what about the totally bias and dishonest media

coverage in favor of crooked hillary? >> of course there have been numerous studies including one out of harvard that showed that the hillary clinton email story generated in the homestretch of the campaign considerably more coverage that a lot of stories pertaining to donald trump. but what i think is really interesting about the richard burr investigation o'investigatio. burr, remember s a -- he was a former house speaker -- if you listen to his language, it was an extraordinary bit of tiptoeing through the mine field, katie. he clearly wants to use language that's decisive, that we're getting past this. but it's clear, if you're reading between the lines with him. what did he use that term, we're going to pull on that string and see where it leads, that they are very concerned about fundamental questions.

you also have to wonder what the overlap between what he's looking at and what bob mueller is looking at and what areas he has not and what the committee has not been able to explore because of potentially crossing wires with mueller's investigation. >> i see that you're in atlanta, i'm going to make a small suggestion, tomorrow for breakfast go to homegrown and get the chicken biscuit. >> done. >> tell me how it is. >> i'll take a picture. >> glen thrush and casey hunt, thanks. moving now to discuss this further the former chief of staff at the department of defense and jeremy bash who's also nbc national security analyst. so jeremy, a lot from that, a lot and a little i guess you could say from that briefing from burr warner. we were talking about just a

moment ago, 100,000 documents, they have gone through that many, and they still can't close the door on collusion. that's big. >> i think that's a huge issue, katie, and although the press conference was overshadowed by other news, was significant. a couple of key findings, first that collusion is very much on the table and they continue to look at it as you referenced. second is they continue to look at the business ties between the trump organization and moscow, in particular the effort to build a trump tower in moscow, led by michael cohen, somebody who they will be interviewing and taking testimony later in the month. if that happens during the presidential campaign and the committee is still league ookin it. i also thought it was significant that they are still interviewing witnesses on whether the republican platform was changed and basically they have all have the same story

they got -- >> why do you think christopher steel has been so uncooperative at the senate intel committee? >> i don't think he has any real motive to cooperate with investigative bodies from other countries and in some ways i don't think at the end of the day the intelligence committee is going to say we analyzed is style dossier and here's what we found, i think they'll put forward their findings about collusion and they will let people make conclusions for themselves. >> a reminder that we're expecting to see the president and first lady any minute, they're at the university medical center in las vegas, where they're meeting with victims of that shooting as well as doctors, we'll bring you the president live as soon as we see him. and officials are questioning the shooter's girlfriend, she is back in the u.s. and she is talking with investigators in los angeles. what are they learning?

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throughout my career, i've been fortunate enough to travel to many interesting places.

i've always wanted to create those experiences for others. with my advisor's help along the way, it's finally my turn to be the host. when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. ameriprise we're still waiting to see the president and first lady any minute now at the university medical center in las vegas. they're there meeting with victims of the shooting as well as doctors, we're going to bring it to you live as soon as we see him. and just 24 hours ago, the president was in puerto rico, in the aftermath of hurricane maria

in puerto rico. and regular people at that concert who helped save so many lives. this morning president trump called it a sad day for him personally. >> well, it's a very sad thing, and we're going to pay our respects and to see the police who have done a fantastic job in a very short time, and they're learning a lot more and that will be announced at the appropriate time. >> late last night, police released video taken from the body cameras from the officers on scene. we want to warn you that some of these images might be disturbing. [ gun fire ] >> go that way, go that way, go that way. >> they're shooting right at us, guys, everybody stay down. this way, this way, go, go, go, that way, that way, that way.

>> people were looking for cover, any cover they could find amid what certainly feels like in the moment a barrage of endless bullets. we're also getting a look at paddock's hotel room including an image that appears to show paddock's legs with several guns around him, other guns were on tripods, set up across from the suite and out windows. the shooter's motive at the moment at least is still unclear. investigators hope his girlfriend who is now back in the u.s. may be able to help give them answers. back with me, nbc national correspondent peter alexander, live at the white house, and standing by in las vegas is john ralston, editor of the nevada independent. peter, this is the second day that the president is essentially trying to be the consoler in chief. >> reporter: so many of these

crises have been the president's open making, and the disaster in puerto rico and this one in las vegas are sort of out of his control. he's trying to demonstrate some empathy for the individuals who suffered first in the wake of this hurricane and now this shooting. obviously people were unimpressed by the president's remarks over the weekend, and the mayor of san juan said that his comments were insults to the people of puerto rico. he compared it to the disaster of katrina. so today in effect he gets a do over. and as evidenced by the fact that he's behind closed doors now, meeting with people who were hurt, as well as the medical staff there, this is a place where he and the first lady may be a bit more comfortable. it will be interesting to see what they say when the cameras come before them. and as you understand, he's

going to be speaking to what the white house describes as civilian heroes as well as the first responders who had the opportunity to make some broader comments at that time as well. you remember when he first spoke at the white house following this awful shooting, what was notable was his use of scripture and not making any reference to either terror or guns. >> john, you're a nevadan, what do nevadians hope to see from donald trump today? >> i'm sure they're looking for some empathy, which of course is not his specialty, katie, but he's also going to the hospital, as you know, and the metro police department in downtown las vegas to talk to those first responders, as peter alluded to, there was a lot of talk in this community about the remarkable job by then. the president has called them a miracle, i don't know how you call it a miracle when 500 people are injured and almost 60 people are dead. but a lot of people have told me who understand what happened that night, katie, that literally hundreds of more

people would have been killed or injured if not for the fast action of the first responders who work here and as you probably know there were some offduty california law people in that crowd. but this community, you and i have talked about this before, las vegas gets a bad rap. people think about as if from another planet, these casinos that people don't live real lives and real people live here, and they have contributed millions of dollars to a go fund me account set up by the chairman of the clark county commission, they're hoping to get close to $10 million and they're almost there, katie. >> gun control debates, we keep hearing from lawmakers, republican lawmakers mostly, that now is not the time to talk about this, there are still -- this investigation is still ongoing and the victims are, many of whom are still in the hospital, the families are still grieving, peter, we got hold of some of the talking points from the white house on the gun

debate. what have they said? >> they shouldn't be having a fight over the second amendment until they have all the facts in front of them about what took place in las vegas, but what's been notable right now is how many people view this as exactly the right time to begin in conversation, you remember the presiden president--in the minutes if not hours after terror attacks, either in the united states or overseas, but on this topic, they have been asking for a pause to sort of reflect on the loss of life and the injuries there. a lot of americans have different opinions about this. but it's i think in the eyes of a lot of the critics of the president evidence that this is one topic that he doesn't want to talk about. where terrorism is one of his strengths. >> it depends on whose interests they have in mind when they say they don't want to talk about these things, the people, the

president or the gun owners. stephen paddock's girlfriend, marilou danley, she's being questioned at the fbi's l.a. field office this afternoon, exclusive nbc news footage shows danley at l.a.x., she arrived from the philippines late last nights and was escorted out by fbiing agents. authorities wants to know what she new about paddock's plan if she knew anything. danley's sister says she did not know a thing. >> i know that she doesn't know anything as well. li she was sent away so she will be not there. >> investigators now say they have recovered a total of 47 guns owned by paddock, weapons that were bought in four different states, going back 35 years ago.

nbc news intelligence and national security reporter has been following this from our d.c. bureau. ken, let's start with danley, what does the fbi want to get out of her? >> katie, she may hold the key to this big question of motive, which apparently the fbi has been unable to determine despite extensive searches of his computers and his home. i mean she lived with him after all. what you heard the sister saying there, she was sent to the philippines two weeks and she was also wired $100,000 for her benefit. and her sister claiming she didn't know anything about this astack, and the authorities are not saying anything to contradict this. in every mass shooting, there is evidence somebody knew that the person was declining in their mental state and so far all of

stephen paddock's other family members say they saw no signs of such decline. so the key is what did marilou danley know. >> and the arsenal he was building up, 47 weapons, just an astonishing number of weapons for one person to own. the sheriff said something yesterday in his news conference. >> a person get radicalized unbeknownst to us, and we want to identify that source. >> they ruled out terrorism early on, they said this didn't seem to be someone who was ro radicalized, and the sheriff seems to be walking that back, that notion, is that something we would normally know by now? >> we're not getting any signals from our federal sources that there's any connection to international terrorism. but this term radicalized, it's a term that law enforcement

officials have started to use in any kind of mass shooting incident, because obviously it's a radical act to take 58 lives in this fashion. >> and the government has just released this photo of stephen paddock. >> and it's not clear, it's a is government photo, it's not clear when that was taken. it looks sort of like a mug shot, but that's the latest pho photo we have from the government. it started with laughs and beer and it ended in gun fire and heart break. ist, we snuck some yummy cauliflower into our mashed potatoes. but you'll only taste the love. see what i mean? oh yeah! comfort food that loves ya back.

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with less pain, i can do more with my family. talk to your doctor today. see if lyrica can help. . president trump is now at the the hospital in las vegas. he's just met with victims and doctors. he's going to speak to the press in just a couple seconds. right now let's listen in. >> some of the most amazing people. we met patients that were absolutely terribly wounded, and the doctors, the nurses, all of the people at the hospital have done a job that's

indeexercisable and they were full the night it happened before it happened and they found room for many people. how many people came in? >> we had 100 come in and we admitted 50. >> what i saw today is an incredible tribute to professionalism and what they have done is incredible. you never want to see it again, that i can tell you. the bravery, some were very, very badly wounded. and they were badly wounded because they refused to leave. they wanted to help others because they saw people down all other. this is tremendous bravery. the police department incredible, the people themselves incredible. people leaving ambulances to have somebody else go because they thought they were hurt even more so. the profesk lichl of the doctors and staff at this hospital and other hospitals -- >> community covered everything

they did a perfect job. >> say a few words to the press. >> we couldn't be more proud of the community response. every hospital took serious patients and took care of them well. we exercised our disaster plan, las vegas, and it was rolled out flawlessly. >> it makes you very proud to be an american when you see the job that they've done and people that would not be around today are up there and they'll be leaving the hospital in a week, two weeks, five weeks, and in a few cases a few days. >> a few hours. >> one in a few hours and you would never have believed that. i want to congratulate everybody. it's incredible what you've done. we met quite a few people and believe me they are very lucky to be here. >> what message do you have for them, president trump? >> the only message i can say is we are with you 100%. i invited a lot of them to the white house. i said if you're in washington,

come to the oval office. they said we want to do it. and i'll be there for them. the message we have is a great country and we're there for you and they're there for us. >> gun violence problem? >> we're not going to talk about that today. >> any indication of a motive. >> not yet. it's a very sick man. he was a very dy meanted person, you haven't seen that yet but you know know soon if we find something. we're looking very, voir diery . i'm going today police department who also worked very hard. they went to that zone in 11 minutes and they went to that door and he stopped firing, i think they did an incredible job. the professionalism has been

wonderf wonderful. we're going to police headquarters. doctors thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> any response to rex tillerson's comments? >> i'm very honored by his comments. it was fake news. a totally phony story. nbc just made it up. they made it all up. >> again nbc stoonds by our reporting on rex tillerson but that's not what this story at the hospital is about today. the president was meeting with victims and doctors who helped many victims survive sunday night's shooting. he's now heading to the police headquarters to talk about the investigation. also refusing to answer questions when it comes to gun control saying now is not the time. zblooep. we want to move on to another story. this is a personal story about somebody in that crowd on sunday.

two strangers bonding over country music and a beer. "the washington post" tells a gust gut wretching story of two strangers from different worlds they joked about their love of golf. he recommended new beers for her to try. by the time the final act took the stage the fast friends settled into a spot about 20 yards from the right side of the stage. then the first shots were fired. those shots went on for 11 more minutes. 59 people were killed. more than 500 others were wounded. michelle was shot in the chest, just steps away from cody. he picked her up and loaded her onto a truck headed for the hospital but he stayed behind to help pull others to safety. cody robertson joins me now.

it's an honor to have you i read the story in the "the washington post." michelle lost her life ultimately, but just take us back to that night and what happened, and tell us your story, if you will. >>, you know, obviously it's been a rough couple of days. but, you know, i was there with a group of friends and we had went back to the luke comb's concert which was the back portion next to the nashville stage. we were sitting on the side because it was busy, right by the bar. michelle was standing there by herself. and just striked up conversation. she mentioned that she was there by herself and made a couple jokes that i've gone to plenty of concerts by myself as well. and just started from there.

just enjoyed the show, had a lot of halves. she fit in with our friends. talked about golf, her family, showed me pictures of her sisters and so proud of how beautiful they were. just really a kind, caring, awesome individual. >> cody, you lost track of her after you put her on that truck and after you hoped that she was on her way to the hospital. >> yeah. >> you went back in the field and you helped others but you also found her purse and then were able to find her cell phone. and her family, understandably, were calling her cell phone. you didn't just stop with that. you helped her family find her and talk about that. >> yeah i mean, you know, i felt it was the least i could do. i