thank you to my friend, savannah guthrie, for interviewing that young woman. that's where i saw her extraordinary story. that wraps us up this hour. we'll see you at 11:00 and all day long on twitter. coming up, more news with my friend hallie jackson. 2024 olympics or 2028? what do we think? >> we'll see. can you do a cart wheel? >> we'll talk about that later. president trump is on his way to texas, but the big action is up in new york because this morning north korea is in a new york state of mind, be but kim jong-un is meeting right now with mike pompeo. now the president says this delegation is coming down to d.c. tomorrow. listen. >> we'll see what happens, it's a process, it's all a process. we'll see. hopefully we'll have a meeting on the 12th that is going along very well, but i wanted it to be meaningful. and here in d.c., we have a new storm brewing. a secret doj memo in the hands of the special counsel about the firing of james comey. the president says it doesn't

matter. robert mueller might think it does. what andrew mccabe remembers about the crazy days last may and why it throws new questions on rod rosenstein. plus, we've got a look at a really disturbing trend in the midterm elections. anti-hate groups identifying a rise in candidates with ties to white supremacy. we're talking with some of them later in the show. but we are following several new developments on north korea. and moves to try to save the singapore summit, part of a number of headlines coming out in just the last what minutes or so. we just heard from president trump before he boarded air force one say, hey, things are going well with north korea. right now you've got secretary of state mike pompeo in high stakes talks with kim jong-un in new york city. he's the highest ranking north korean official to visit the u.s. in 18 years. then in pyongyang, another wrinkle. russia reasserting itself as a force to be reckoned with. foreign minister sergey lavrov face-to-face with kim jong-un. look at this, i'm joined by the chief foreign affairs

correspondent andrea mitchell, host of "andrea mitchell reports" here at msnbc. we are grateful to you joining us with a number of developments in the last what minutes or so -- 45 minutes or. so you have been talking through developments here? >> yes, it's a pretty dramatic development. it was previewed yesterday, they sat down to have dinner, and kim yong chol is here, kim jong-un's right-hand man. we are told he brought a letter to be delivered to the president. how is that going to be delivered? last night asking officials through pompeo, he would need another waiver. he needed a waiver to come into the united states, because he's under a sanction, but to go to washington, d.c., he would need a further waiver easily done by the state department. and that is apparently going to

happen as the president, as he was leaving washington, teed off on the fact that he expects that the letter will be delivered to him. you'll have most likely kim yong chol in the highest delegation to be in the united states for more than 18 years actually coming to the white house, i believe, is the best bet. and delivering that letter and what the president also hinted at was two or three summits, not just the one in singapore. i think they are going to announce that the singapore summit on june 12th is on, but they have so much to accomplish they can't put it all on one meeting. and to stretch it out, it means that denuclearization is a lot more complicated than originally envisioned. >> andrea, in a couple hours you're going to get a chance, i believe, to hear from the secretary of state himself, right? >> yes. he's having a news conference at 2:15. we'll have that available live right here on msnbc. and just note the contrast here. there are divisions in the national security team. john bolten and pompeo spoke

today. they are not entirely on this same page according to a lot of reporting. you're own as well. mattis is very, very if you rememberly -- firmly saying that he's going to have key meetings talking to the president. this is something rex tillerson never could have accomplished because he and the president, as you know better than anyone, did not see eye to eye. >> that's for sure. andrea mitchell, thank you for coming on. i know in the front row later this afternoon, we're tossing out lots of questions. for more on the potential answers, let's go to my colleague, kristen welker, joining me from the white house north lawn. kristen, president trump making news this morning, right? you heard what andrea had to say looking ahead to what will happen this afternoon. then tomorrow will be a huge day, potentially, right where you are standing. >> reporter: that's right. he says, as andrea just

understood kated -- indicated, he does expect to meet with the north korean envoy and deliver the letter from kim jong-un. and he struck a note of confidence, hallie, that this will move forward. take a listen to what he had to say before leaving for texas today. >> good morning. i just want to tell you, we are doing very well with north korea. our secretary of state has had very good meetings. he's meeting again today. i look forward to seeing what is in the letter, but it's very important to them. they are probably coming down to washington, d.c. on friday for the delivery of a letter. i look forward to that. the meetings have been very

positive. hopefully we'll have a meeting on the 12th going along very well, but i wanted it to be meaningful. it doesn't get all done at one meeting. maybe you need a second or a third. and maybe we'll have none. but it's in good hands, that i can tell you. the president also tweeting about all this this morning. hallie, here's the president's tweets, very good meetings with north korea. echoing some of the comments you just heard. i do want to highlight something the president said, hallie. there may immediate to be a second or third meeting. that is significant. it's an indication that he doesn't think this will necessarily be a done deal. after that initial summit, if it does, in fact, take place on june 12th. i've been talking to senior administration officials who are touting not only the fact that you have this critical meeting going on in new york, but also the fact that remember there's a delegation at the dmz as well as in singapore. really trying to lay the

groundwork, the logistics of all of this, hallie. sarah huckabee sanders asked about this during the press briefing yesterday stressing, look, after president trump pulled out of the summit, that was when the north koreans really started to reengage. so a negotiating tactic, the white house feels has been so far successful at moving this potential summit forward. hallie? >> i'm going to ask you a favor to stay there with five more minutes. there's another piece of breaking news to come out that we need to talk about. but first i want to go to christopher hill, former ambassador to south korea. alexi is here as well. what are you expecting to see today? >> we don't know yet whether the trump administration is trying to go deeper on denuclearization or wider to include some of their other weapons of mass

destruction, nerve gas agents, chemical weapons, et cetera. but clearly they are bulgoing b what kim yong chol has told them. i would be curious to see a copy of the letter delivered to the president. usually you want a notion of what is in it before you tee up the president. but it seems that there's certainly a positive feeling in this -- in these high stakes, i guess they were. but i still want to know, where is song kim at the dmz. and he's meeting with the north korean counterparts, are they working on a joint communique? do they have a specific notion of what the north koreans are prepared to do in denuclearization? i think the president is wise to

be tamping down the rabbit being pulled out of the hat here that will take some time, but we have to see if the north koreans are serious because they have said these things before. >> one of the people who knows a little something about trying to have talks with the north koreans, former secretary of state madeline albright was at a "washington post" forum this morning and had critical things to say to team trump about preparation for this thing. watch. >> it can't be based on trust. it has to be based on very deep and international verification. plus, david, i think one of the words is denuclearization. we can't even come to an agreement as to what the definition of that is. what is the schedule? any number of very complex issues, which would have been helped had there been a lot of thinking about this by this

administration before agreements were made to have a presidential meeting. >> alexi? >> half of the battle of diplomacy is figuring out the other side, figuring out what they were coming to the table with. that was last night's meeting. today they need to figure out a timetable for denuclearization and perhaps a wider range of things, as just mentioned from the earlier guest. >> what do you make of sergey lavrov with the appearance one-on-one with kim jong-un overnight? >> the russians always seem to be involved. >> yeah, they do. >> the president's comments earlier were interesting. he was talking about how this may not be resolved in one specific meeting. he wants the meeting, even if everything is not ironed out beforehand, he'll try to make this possible however possible. >> we saw him at the olympics, kim yong-chol. he served as a bodyguard for the kim family in the '60s and '70s.

james tapper was asked, hey, do you trust this guy? >> do you trust him? >> i think you would have to be in the verify mode. >> do you believe that pompeo is in trust but verify mode? >> well, you know, i really don't think this is about trust. i think this is about laying out a set of issues that they are supposed to work on. and verification. so i am much more interested in the official record of what they're prepared to do in the form of that joint statement or whatever is released at the summit. i think nice letters are nice, but i really want to see what they are prepared to do. this is not a problem so much of defining denuclearization. it's a problem -- they know what it is. it's getting rid of the nuclear weapons. so there are a lot of steps

involved. so we can look at the steps. are we going to get the international organization in there? do we take possession of these things? what are we going to do on that? and we still have really no fidelity on what is the, what does the trump administration have in mind? >> ambassador chris hill, stick around. i want to go back to the white house where kristen welker is patiently waiting to talk about another breaking political headline involving tariffs. the new administration decision in what appears to be the opening shot with a trade war with some of our closest allies overseas. >> reporter: that's a great way to put it, hallie. the administration announcing just moments ago that it does intend to impose new tariffs on trade and steel imports against canada, mexico and the eu. the move comes after commerce secretary wilbur ross met with officials from the eu on wednesday. it's not necessarily a surprise, but it is something that is expected to royal some of the closest allies.

take a listen to what wilbur ross had to say. >> he has decided in the case of canada, mexico, and the european union not to extend the exemptions and therefore they will be placed under the 25% tariff on steel and 10% tariff on aluminum effective midnight tonight. >> reporter: so you heard ross there say this is a decision not to extend the exemptions. the united states had given the countries exemptions because they were the closest allies, now rolling them back. why? wilbur ross said there was not enough progress in negotiations. this is raising the threat of a potential trade war. ross, when asked about this said this, if any of these parties does retaliate, that does not

mean that there cannot be continuing negotiations. of course, the u.s. is holding tough negotiations with china against the backdrop. some lawmakers on capitol hill, free traders, say this is the wrong move. the wrpg moong move for global and the u.s. economy that is humming along, but we'll put this in political context. this is a campaign promise kept. something president trump campaigned on. and we are facing some very tough midterm elections if you are a republican. so there's a political element to all of this as well. hallie? >> kristen welker on the white house north lawn, thank you. we'll be watching to see how the markets react to the new news. we'll be checking in on that throughout the morning on msnbc. and we are also talking about robert mueller getting his hands on a new piece of evidence putting more information on james comey's dismissal. what we know about the president and why he thinks it doesn't matter. 24 hours a day,

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we are back with news in the russian investigation. and we want to lay out what is new in a brand new new york times report in relation to ab drew mccabe who used to work for the president. mccabe took notes in the meeting and then drafted a secret memo about just what was said. so what was said? publicly, rosenstein said james comey got fired because of how he ran the hillary clinton

e-mail investigation. remember? but privately in this meeting, mccabe writes rosenstein told him something different. that president trump asked him to include a reference to russia in his public statement. rosenstein didn't get into specifics. and that got mccabe's attention because it spoke to what he believed was a possible attempt by president trump to obstruct justice in the special counsel's investigation. and that rosenstein was maybe helping to provide some cover to the president. so mccabe handed that memo over to robert mule eellemueller's t. he was fired from the fbi months ago after finding he was not fully honest about the clinton e-mail investigation. i want to bring in the washington correspondent for "the new york times" and msnbc contributor charlie savage onset, tom dupree, and alexi and aaron are back here with us. there's a lot in this piece giving us new light on road

rosenstein and what happened in the firing of james comey and looking at why he was firing and whether the president was trying to interfere in that investigation. >> that's right. one of the big chunks of robert mueller's investigations is not whether there was collusion with russia in 2016 but there president trump committed obstruction of justice in 2017 after he had become president by improperly trying to interfere with the investigation. and a big piece of that has been his interactions with james comey leading up to his firing of comey last may, a year ago now, as fbi director. >> yeah. >> so what is new, but also his conversations with comey before that, pressuring him allegedly to shut down the investigation into mike flynn, the former national security adviser and so forth. so what is new is there's another contemporaneous document that robert mueller can look to as evidence of what is being said in the tumultuous month of

may a year ago inside the justice department and what rod rosenstein was saying at the time about the interactions with trump leading up to the firing of comey, when the white house initially tried to say it was on the recommendation of the justice department because of the clinton e-mail scandal and pointed a lengthy e-mail that rosenstein had written. that was the original sin for rosenstein that has put him in a very awkward position. the question continues to raise about why he hasn't himself had to recuse like jeff sessions did, because he was a witness to that particular event, if that event is under investigation. >> i want to talk more about rosenstein in a second, but let me go back to the piece that you mentioned about the president explaining his reasoning for me. he originally said it was e-mails and then said it wasn't. he told lester holt it was because of russia, something his lawyer rudy giuliani reiterated recently. here's what the president tweeted this morning.

he said, not that it matters, but i never fired james comey because of russia. the corrupt mainstream media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true. fact check. here's what donald trump told lester last year. >> he made a recommendation. but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey knowing there was no good time to do it. and, in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> tom, if you're a lawyer looking at this in a court of law, what do you make of this? the president is saying one thing now and clearly on video, on tape, that we just ran said something different. >> the evidence is mixed. it's a messy evidentiary record. >> but it's not mixed. he said that. how is it mixed evidence? >> you have other documents like rod rosenstein's memo that says this is why he was fired.

>> but then andrew mccabe's memo says -- >> i know. there's a lot of stuff going on. it seems to me, at the end of the day, yes, trump did fire comey in part because of russia. that seems pretty clear based on his own admissions. and it underscores that rod rosenstein is in an awkward situation here. >> awkward, is that the right word for it? >> there are other words for it, too. but at a minimum, it is awkward, difficult and challenging and he's walking a thin line because now he's centrally involved in the fundamental question or one of the questions that mueller is looking into, why was james comey fired? >> aaron, you were nodding when talking about rosenstein and the question of recusing himself from the special counsel investigation. >> this has always been underneath the surface of the whole thing. we have known he was involved in this very central event in this whole process having drafted that justice department memo. i think what this reporting adds to that is that it suggests that not only did he draft ma memo, but he drafted it after taking

some advice from president trump, apparently disregarding the thing about adding something about russia in them moe. and i think that adds to the likelihood he's something of a fact witness in this investigation. and the question from there is, you know, he's not the special prosecutor or the special counsel here. >> he's the special counsel's boss. >> so the questions about whether to recuse himself, i think they have not risen to the surface as much as they should have, are now suddenly getting the hearing they would have had a couple months ago. >> stand by because he's responding. should rod rosenstein recuse himself? >> i think it's a closed question at this point. the question is the exchange about what goes into them m memi don't know if this is a moment to recuse. but if this is a piece in his final report, i agree, he can't be a fact witness and a supervisor to the investigation.

facts untenable. >> is roberter mu ee mueller do he needs to and talking to who he needs? here's rudy giuliani using inflammatory language. >> i'm not going to let my client testify, the president of the united states, even if he wants to, without nose dothose documents being produced. if and when we find this was handled appropriately, and there's evidence on which he can base this phony investigation, will we have him testify? but you have a group that is a lynching mob. so let them do their job. and boy, we are ready to knock the heck out of you with our report. >> certainly at the leadership level, there are mistakes made at the department of justice to act with the clinton investigation. i'm troubled and disappointed at

the language used by mayor giuliani. >> giuliani just said yesterday he was repairing the president for a written response with mueller. >> he said that publicly at the white house working on that. >> there was no way the president can submit a written response to the reason why he fired james comey with his tweets to lester holt. the consequences are even bigger now for him to submit the written responses about the question given how much he's going back and forth in contradicting himself. >> tom, final thoughts? >> i would be surprised if bob mueller is willing to accept a written response. any prosecutor needs to ask the follow-up question. i need to cross-examine and probe. bob mueller is a great prosecutor. >> charlie savage, thank you for coming on. alexi and aaron, hang out. because president trump for the first time unfiltered and unplugged about his feelings on donald trump. what one of his top aides says about the meeting many the oval office just days before the election.

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and donald trump is taking

aim at bob iger asking for an apology. roseanne apologized and then defended herself while also blaming abc. co-star john goodman trying to stay out of the drama. not saying much, except that he's fine and he wasn't going to win an emmy anyway, in his words. tom arnold said he knew the "roseanne" reboot wouldn't work out well. and president trump announcing on twitter he's issuing a new pardon. but peter alexander on the north lawn, this is not the pardon kim kardashian was looking for when in the oval office yesterday. >> reporter: there was a lot of anticipation there could be a presidential pardon coming today, but that was related to alice marine johnson, a great-grandmother at 63 years old who is in a low-level drug offender. and kim kardashian was here to pitch on her behalf yesterday, but today as he was taking off for texas, the president instead

of that kim summit, tweeted a different pardon, a man by the name of dinesh d'souza. he's a conservative filmmaker an documenttarian. here's what the president tweeted, we'll give a full pardon to dinesh d'souza treated very unfairly by our government. he was found guilty of campaign finance funds. he was making illegal contributions to a republican candidate in 2012 but doing it under different names. d'souza said he was singled out. he's been singled out by the obama administration and was, in effect, selectively prosecuted because of some of his political criticisms of president obama, in particular, among other things, he base liically said president obama was trying to put forth an anti-colonial agenda of president obama's

father. the judge in 2014 said there was no evidence of selective prosecution. this is notable because the president created a pattern in the first 15, 16 months of his term. joe arpaio, the sheriff from arizona, scooter libby more recently. president obama, we just went back to check on this, didn't make any presidential pardons until late in his own second year, december of 2010, when he announced pardons related to low-level drug offenders. >> interesting stuff, peter alexander. i want to turn you to another piece of developing news coming out. we talked about the new tariffs the white house is implementing on the eu, mexico, canada, and now we're hearing from some of those allies. for example, this is the head of the eu saying, it's a bad did for world trade. they will proceed with the world trade organization dispute settlement case and put additional duties on a number of u.s. imports. you also have mexico now

threatening or saying it will put its own retaliatory products on products coming from the u.s. peter, if the opening shot of the trade war was fired by wilbur ross an hour ago, this is now escalating it, right? that the allies are now coming back to say, we're taking aim right back at you. >> reporter: you're right. specifically on mexico to put this in pocketbook terms, the mexican government is now going to implement their own tariffs on pork bellies and apples and grapes and flat steel. so -- >> that's wine country and this southern farmer, right? >> reporter: you're right. there's a real impact potentially on americans here. so the commerce secretary wilbur ross who was in paris yesterday for talks on this very topic that appear to have broken down are going to occur early this morning and were on cnbc a short time ago. here's how he addressed the questions about whether or not the u.s. has instigated a trade war.

>> well, even if the u.s. does real yalt and others do, it still will remain unlikely to hit 1% of our economy. just because they put tariffs on some of our products doesn't mean the sales will go to zero. that will affect the markets just as good. >> reporter: cnbc is trying to put a positive on the new tariffs on steel and aluminum against our allies in motion coast and the eu and canada. >> peter, see you at the white house in a little bit. we are also getting a dramatic new look on a dbig dea day back in 2016. then president obama was in the oval office. remember this? this happened just days after donald trump's upsetting

election. now we are taken inside the room. for president obama, unplugged and unfiltered revealing how he came to terms with donald trump's terms in 2016. this is the book "the world as it is" describing a discussion with his then boss not long after the election writing, president obama second-guessed himself wondering what if we were wrong? later, asking aloud whether his agenda backfired in red states saying, maybe we pushed too far. maybe people just want to fall back into their tribe. >> i look forward to being with you many more times. >> rhodes, the former deputy national security adviser, shares details about the one and only oval office meet iing. there are long amicable

discussions not caught on camera. he notes that he and obama could draw big crowds but hillary clinton could not. joining me now is peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and the msnbc political analyst. peter, you have been writing about the book and what you learned from it. there's a moment where you write about the conversation that then president obama had with officials after that oval office meeting. quote, afterward, in obama called a few aides to the oval office to ruminate on the encounter. he peddles bull, mr. rhodes answered. that character has always been part of the american story. you can see it right back to some of the characters in "huck "huckleberry finn." talk to us about those first days of november 2016. >> we have not seen much of the inside account of what mr. trump

talked about. he is a restrained individual. there was more of a window when he explain ed that the public chose his successor and deny in his rebirth into the united states in racially charged politics, the kind that president obama had hoped to process what it all meant. at one point, he said, maybe i came along 10 to 20 years too early. that's an interesting portrait of a president trying to grapple with the defeat through proxy. he didn't lose himself but it was, in effect, a defeat for

him. >> and ben rhodes was talking about the investigation saying he nor the president knew there was an active investigation into the trump campaign and russia. did you buy that? is that holding water to you? what else are you learning about how president obama handled the russia issue? >> it is interesting that ben rhodes doesn't give regrets or suggestions they could have done or should have done differently. a lot of democrats and obama aides think the president should have done more in that fall of 2016 to alert the public. yes, there was a statement by the intelligence chief. and gentlemen, it was talked about somewhat. but they felt like the president should have done more to counter the russian influence and that he allowed that to go unchecked, in effect. ben rhodes defends himself by basically saying, look, what were they to do if they did that, then president trump, candidate trump, would call it a rig to win the election.

and he's threatening that line of argument. and they felt hamstrung by mitch mcconnell that wouldn't go along with a bipartisan statement. but there's not a lot of criticism of president obama's handling of it. >> peter, you make the point that you make a point that we don't often see barack obama coming out to speak on it. here's the last broadcast interview of president obama. >> i was advised by my republican friends and supporters around the country, just make sure that as we go forward, certain norms, certain institutional traditions don't get eroded. >> how do you think barack obama feels now, aaron? >> pretty disappointed. and i don't think it has been totally for lack of trying.

i think republicans have been neutered by this presidency. when they have pushed back, he's pushed the president back harder. i think the approval rating with the republican base is a decline of that. and they have been gun shy over the last few months. so when the president does something they all believe is probably out of balance, most notably the whole period, they feel counter active when something like that happens. what president obama saw happening has come to fruition. >> i wonder when you talk to the former obama world folks, what they tell you when it comes to what they are most concerned about now. is it foreign policy? >> well, the biggest concern is whether president trump gets re-elected. i was talking to former president obama people. and they are struggling with the

idea of what is better for the country. is it better that they get a north korean deal? or is it better that donald trump fail because you don't want anything that would happen to give him an argument for a second term. and it's an interesting place the democrats are in right now because they see the possible blue wave for house election victory this fall. but we have seen twice under bill clinton and barack obama. midterm elections go badly for the incumbent president and still win re-election. they are struggling with the idea that donald trump is not necessarily a one-term phenomenon and could be president for eight years. >> aaron and alexi, stick around. throwing the book at harvey weinstein indicting him on several accounts of sexual assault. he faces a half century behind bars. we'll tell you how soon this case could see a jury, next. from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy.

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there is a grand jury in new york that has indicted harvey weinstein now charged with two counts of rape, one count of criminal sexual act. this means this case is now one step closer to a courtroom. the criminal defense is caroline polisi. what will the grand jury be seeing and hearing, et cetera? what's the typical process to unfold? >> prosecutors have a broad latitude in the types of evidence to present to grand jurors. of course, defense attorneys are not allowed behind the closed

doors. so it is quite a secretive process. and there's an old saying amongst criminal attorneys that you can indict a ham sandwich. so we are not sure what type of evidence that was. the question here is as you said, they have thrown the book at him indicted on three counts of carrying possibility of 25 years behind bars. the and the question is whether or not they can krins a criminal jury of the charges. >> if this case proceeds to trial, he expects weinstein to be acquitted. if this goes to trial. is there any doubt in your mind that this is where this thing is headed? >> there's a doubt in my mind. and i took the minority view on this. a very prominent defense attorney here in new york, he defended dominick strass-kan. we are talking about the attorney that represented bill cosby in the second trial. that didn't turn out so well for

them. but braffman is taking an old school at things pre-metoo movement. this is an attack on the victim's credibility here. and he'll face the bill cosby dilemma, which i call, which is there are going to be prior alleged victims lined up outside of the doorway to testify againstweinstein. and the question is whether the judge will allow that into evidence. he is a fool to go to trial and negotiate a deal and take what he can get. >> after the indictment was announced, they said this indictment brings the defendant another step closer to accountability for the crimes of violence with which he is now charged. our office will try this case not in the press, but in the courtroom where it belongs. vance has been criticized for not going after him in the 2015 times allegation.

what do you make of that? >> vance is trying this case amongst the press here. look, it's no secret that vance came under enormous criticism when that tape, the case of working with the nypd, there was a rift between him and the nypd and the manhattan d.a.'s office where vance chose not to move forward with the criminal prosecution, even presented with this evidence. we all heard that recording where harvey weinstein essentially admitted to a groping by ms. gutierrez where she said, you touched my breasts, and he said, you're used to it. people are saying, why doesn't the prosecution move forward? now we have the metoo movement. vance is coming back to get in the public's good graces. we'll see where it goes. it sounds like he has pretty good evidence here. >> caroline polisi, thank you for joining us to talk about that. and there's a growing group

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there's a really alarming trend happening in the 2018 midterms. anti-hate groups say they're seeing a surge in candidates running on an explicitly white nationalist message. they've identified eight candidates running for office with white supremacist ties. morgan ratford traveled around the country to talk with some of the candidates to find out why they think this is a year they think they can win. by giving them a platform for disgusting racist messages and putting it on tv, you're giving their message oxygen. at the same time, they think they can succeed. >> reporter: others say you can't combat hate if you can't identify it.

this is not the kind of thing you expect to hear in 2018. people calling for racial segregation and openly denying the holocaust. that's the message coming from a growing number of candidates this year who see it not just as rhetoric but also as a winning platform. but there is a warning. some of our viewers may find the following language and the views pretty offensive. >> hi. i'm art jones. i'm a candidate for congress here in the third district. >> reporter: arthur jones is running for congress in chicago's third district. do you think you have a shot at winning? >> listen, i wouldn't be in this if i didn't think i could win. >> reporter: he's also one of at least eight nationalists running for state or federal office this year. >> i consider myself a white racialist. >> reporter: jones was a member of the american nazi party who denies the holocaust ever happen happened. >> 6 million jews? ridiculous. >> reporter: he's also campaigning to keep chicago's neighborhoods 90% white.

>> i think most white people want a white neighborhood. >> reporter: do you think black people are genetically inferior? >> the average i.q. of a black person is about 20 points lower than the average white person. okay? >> reporter: i went to harvard. >> all right. and you got a lot of white blood in you, too. >> reporter: some white blood. i'm african american. >> that's where your intelligence is coming from, i think. >> reporter: you think it come from my white side? >> i think so. >> reporter: 20,000 people voted for him in the march primary. he'll be on the republican ticket in november. a fact many locals find unbelievable. >> and you want my vote? >> i don't want idiots like you voting for me. >> reporter: but jones' supporters say he's exactly the kind of candidate they want to see in washington. >> even abraham lincoln believed the races should stay separated. he said there's too great a difference between them to live together. >> reporter: do you feel that way? >> i do.

>> reporter: anti-hate groups say the number of white nationalists running for office across the country is higher than ever before. many of them running on the republican ticket like patrick little. >> this monstrous nature of the jewish people must be made of the public. >> reporter: they're monsters? >> as a group they're behaving as monsters. >> reporter: he's running for dine feinstein's seat in california and blames jews for america's problems. >> they do the bidding of a foreign power who has committed terrorist attacks against this country. >> reporter: he says president trump is talking to people like him. >> he dog whistled about globalists. i didn't understand he was talking about jews until after the election. >> reporter: the state's republican party says it wants nothing to do with them and declined to speak with him on camera. >> it should be a wakeup call. if these types of candidates are going to come out from under the rock, they need to be repudiated at the ballot box. >> communists, atheists, crooks. >> reporter: but their

supporters say this is what they think will make america great again. >> it's not because we're racist. because because we're the ones being oppressed. >> reporter: both of the candidates are running on the republican ticket. but the republican national committee says that america has no place for white supremacy. >> no, none. it is racist and disgusting. and it is disturbing to listen to some of the comments in the piece. you talk about how this is a record number running, but it's still just eight. right? it's still just a fringe group out there. >> reporter: that's the problem. i think sometimes when we dismiss them as just fringe groups, we don't allow for the fact that these people are trying to become part of our political process. patrick little, the second candidate out in california, he said that he's listed as a civil rights advocate. when i said hold on, do you really think you're a civil rights advocate, he said yes, i do. i'm advocating for working white christian men and we feel

oppressed by the jews. i said when you press these guys on exactly what it means, what their campaign platform means, they're talking about forcibly removing people, not only from their neighborhoods and communities but also from this country and their lives. >> there is that moment when you were in that conversation with arthur jones and you said i'm african american. what was it like for you to be out there in these moments? >> reporter: you can imagine when he talked about my white blood, and i informed him that white blood is actually jewish blood, you can imagine his face then. the reality of it is this isn't new to me. i'm african american. i grew up in the south with a jewish grandmother and grew up speaking spanish. what is new to me is the way we're parsing words around the labels. white specialist, racialist, and what's happening there's a rhetoric of violence. even in the comment section when they talked about this interview, someone said that journalist should hang from a noose. and that's the type of rhetoric that we worry could lead to

action. >> and let's not parse words here, morgan. it is racest -- racist and there is no place for it here. for our today's big picture, back to hawaii. this is a remarkable photo. it's a highway covered in lava. it looks like a monster coming down the road. that's volcanic gas. hawaii is telling more people to get off the big island as the lava gets closer. marco garcia is the photographer here. over to stephanie ruhle picking up our coverage in new york. >> good morning, everyone. i'm stephanie ruhle. ali velshi is off. it is thursday, may 31st. we have a lot to cover. let's get a little smarter. we have breaking news this morning. commerce secretary wilbur ross made a major announcement. president trump will not be extending the exemption on steel and aluminum tariffs. >> the u.s. is now going to impose steel and aluminum ff