what could go wrong at mar-a-lago? >> a lot can go wrong at mar-a-lago. we see it almost every time he goes to mar-a-lago. this is his oasis. it's sort of a cocoon where he's surrounded by club members who he surveys for policy advice, friends whoa goes up to at dinner, at breakfast, on the golf course to get them to buck him up and cheer him up. he works the phones. he stays up watching cable news on his dvr at mar-a-lago. and he's separated from some of the people who work in the west wing whose jobs are to try to enforce that order and discipline and try to pull him in one direction or another. at mar-a-lago he's more of a free spirit, and we see it time and again on these weekends where he'll tweet, tweet up a storm on a saturday morning, a sunday morning, making pronouncements, lobbing attacks, and i fully expect we'll probably see that this weekend, especially as the march takes shape here in washington. >> that's exactly where i was going to go. susan, we have some polling numbers, that a lot of people will find striking. and it speaks to tomorrow'

>> a lot could go wrong in mar-a-lago. we see it every time he goes to ma mar-a-lago. this is his oasis, it is where he surrounds at club members and friends that he has to get them buck him up and cheer him up. he separated from some of the people who work in the west wing whose jobs are trying to enforce that order and discipline and trying to pull him in one direction. at mar-a-lago, he's a free spirit and we see it time and again in these weekends where he'll tweet up a storm on a saturday morning or sunday morning making announcements. i fully expect that we'll see it this weekend as the march takes shape here in washington. >> susan, we have some polling numbers that a lot of people will find striking and it speaks to tomorrow's gathering. 19% in a poll commission by your news paper saying they don't feel safe at school. 25% believe a classmate will bring a gun to school. can you believe that's where we are in the country? 15% likely there will be a shooting at their school. half a million voices out behind us. >> amazing. a third of the kids we interview, 13 yea

and melania trump, her staffers say that her staying in mar-a-lago is part of a planned spring break vacation. you're reading along with me this new transcript, stormy daniels telling us her side of her special relationship with donald trump. tell us how her story has the potential to impact the president the most? >> it whether you're talking about impacting the president himself on a personal basis or the office of the president. let's start off with some of the things we have now read in the transcript. many of these things we must tell you are already known. here is the first one, it talks about her relationship, her first and only as we learn sexual relationship with donald trump. anderson cooper asked her, and you had sex with him? she said yes, then anderson said you were 27 and he was 46, were you attracted to him? she said no. and anderson cooper, did you want to have sex with him? she said no, but i didn't say no, i'm not a victim. i'm not. she did this of her own accord, she went up to her hotel room, she found herself in a position, she just thought they were going to go

cnn's boris sanchez live in west palm beach near the president's mar-a-lago estate. what are you learning about the situation? >> hey there, fred, just a few days after it was announced that joseph digenova and victoria tonsing would join the president's legal team, turns out they're not. jay sec ke lo making the case that they are not joining the president's legal team because of conflibtss of interest. victoria tonsing represents certain clients that are part of robert mueller's russia probe, though, she apparently did get some waivers from the clients allowing her to represent the president. this comes as a bit of a surprise. the president on twitter trying to change the narrative again about his legal team. he was making the case that contrary to fake news reports, the white house was not having any issues finding representation. that's after last week cnn reported the white house had approached a number of prominent attorneys for representation ultimately to be denied, declined. so the president there, we should take those tweets with some sort of grain of salt.

he was going to his private golf course this morning from his mar-a-lago estate. he wrote, it is reported the u.s. post office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for amazon. the failing "new york times" reports that the size of the lobbying staff has ballooned and that does not include the fake "washington post." amazon's shipping costs would

never seen them a mar-a-lago. what do you mean? >> i'm talking about the people who allege that there's some sort of chaos or turmoil in the administration. it looks to me like we have a president in the white house who's accomplished more than any president in history. he looks very confident, very happy, very comfortable in his own skin, when you see him in and out a casual atmosphere, he's surrounded by family and friends who love him, especially here in palm beach at the southern white house. and i just -- my point was that for all these people who do all of this speculating about what's happening behind the scenes, i never see them there. so i'm not so sure that they would know exactly what the president is feeling or acting or thinking. >> well, what did you see, while at mar-a-lago, what did you see between melania or donald trump there? >> i make a habit of not talking about any details of what i see of the president -- >> you tweeted a picture. >> i tweeted a picture. >> it started there. >> well, yeah, with you know, he -

he flew down yesterday to be part of a fund raiser at his estate in mar-a-lago. right now, preparing for a victory reception at the estate. we're told by the deputy press secretary the president has been briefed on the situation there. no clarity yet from the secret service on the state of the person who apparently took a gun to themselves, but from what we understand, there was no real threat to the president or any of the principals that were there or that could have been there. they are here in mar-a-lago for the weekend, fred. >> all right, boris sanchez, thank you. we'll continue to watch all that's taking place here in the nation's capital at the white house and we'll continue to follow the breaking news and bring it to you. dial your binge-watching up to eleven. join the un-carrier right now, and get four unlimited lines for only thirty-five bucks each. woah. plus, netflix for the whole family. on us. prrrrrrr... so, they get their shows... let's go, girl! you're gonna love this bit! and you get yours. watch however you want. on your phone, tablet, or tv.

the site of the mar-a-lago estate. top judgment ou.s. officials un. let's bring in matthew chance in moscow. putin is facing an election soon. this was all about chest thumping for the domestic russian audience, no? >> reporter: i think it was. at least in large part. in 16 days, he has the presidential election here. he is certain to win it. no one is suggesting otherwise. you know, he likes to take every opportunity he can to present as a strong leader and macho image who rides bare chested on horses. he has the security of his nation and his nation's military on his mind. he takes every opportunity to push that image of himself forward. he was doing that yesterday in that speech to the joint houses of russian parliament. that is how it is perceived in russia. the only bit of criticism in the russian press so far is that the discussion over why vladimir putin is presenting himself as potential enemy of the west when some in the media here are saying shouldn't he focus on the russian economy and making the lives of russians better before the election

he was asked before parting for mar-a-lago this weekend if he had any response to the accusations from stormy daniels, from karen mcdougal, that former playboy playmate who also acknowledges she had an affair with the president. no response on that, either, fred. >> and while all that's happening, this shuffle of representation, legal representation, of the president. joseph digenova, who is a powerful d.c. attorney, also classified as being rather controversial because of conspira conspiracy theories that have been attached to his name. now he is no longer going to be on the team. this just days after the white house or the president announced they were looking forward to a kind of collaboration. what happened? >> reporte boris, are you able to hear me? it looks like i lost the audio with boris. how about you, shimon? we got the legal team shake-up with joseph digenova no longer being part of the team just days after we heard that the personal attorney for the president, john dowd, would no longer be part of the team. what does all of this signal? >> well, is certainly signals that th

but remaining behind there in mar-a-lago. leaving behind the first lady with son baron which they are saying is a pre-planned spring break vacation. >>> a new episode of our six-part world series "american dynasties: the kennedys" looks at john f. kennedy's first year in the white house. here is a preview. >> let every man and nation know that we shall pay any price to ensure the survival and success of liberty. and so, my fellow americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. >> there was just a sense that we could see a different world. the torch was passed to a new generation who was focused on what the future would bring. >> resonating words about the most beloved american president. joining me right now, cnn presidential historian tim natale. tim, good to see you. jfk's historic election was march 5, the sense of hope and optimism. actually, it turned out quite differently. what were some of the challenges? >> this particular episode tonight is the story of 1961 which begins wit

sources familiar with conversations that the president has had this weekend at mar-a-lago with close associates with whom he's apparently told he's considering getting rid of david as early as this week. there have long been rumors about shulkin's ouster. he's been in hot water over negative headlines he's generated, but sources at the white house told cnn the president is frustrated by specifically a report that came out in february. this $133,000 trip included airfare for his wife and extensive sightseeing. the report said there were several decisions made during that trip that led to questions about how much money he was spending on that trip. notably, there were other cabinet officials like ben carson, ryan zinke,est, who have been the subject of their futures for similar issues. however, the clearest indication that we have gotten thus far that david shulkin is the next member to be on the way out after the president has been having conversations this weekend. we may see the secretary of veteran affairs leaving the administration before the end of the week. again, that's accordi

arthel: kevin corke is near the president's mar-a-lago retreat. more tweets and another staff change. reporter: this doesn't rise to the level of the other departures you and i have been talking about. but it's notable nonetheless. you heard eric mention it in the open.

>> neil: of course, heading to mar-a-lago. certainly did not telegraph any emotional distress onto this stuff. his numbers are up a little bit, even across the board. what do you think? >> he likes pretty happy right now, looks like he is ready for a weekend in florida. also we did not talk about this. he has a lot going on personally with these women coming forward and threatening to speak about their affairs with the presiden president. >> neil: about the whole other thing. >> walking up to that plane doesn't look like any of that happened this week. let's based on what my colleagues are reporting, the president is pretty frustrated. pretty furious. lashing out on twitter. >> neil: we will have more, right after this. >> thanks, neil. rage, rage against the dying of the light. do not go gentle into that good night. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ that i served. of the fact i was a c130 mechanic in the corps, so i'm not happy unless my hands are dirty. between running a business and four kids, we're busy. auto insurance, homeowner's insuranc

here in mar-a-lago, the president was scheduled to the leave roughly ten minutes ago, but he is apparently still at the estate, but from what we understand is that the plan is for him to continue to palm beach airport and then to fly back to washington, d.c. and he is to the attend a gridiron dinner where the jounlists dress up and sing songs impugning the president, and obviously a somber moment at the white house after this gun inflicted, self-inflicted gunshot wound is not going to

president trump is not here right now, he's in mar-a-lago, in south florida. he was not expected to return until around 5:00 p.m. eastern tonight. we'll have to see if those plans change, if at all. at the moment we can tell you the emergency response here on the north lawn of the white house, the briefing room, you can see through the windows here, is still unfolding, even though the secret service gives the impression that the incident itself is ended, alex. >> in typical cases like this, sometimes it's hard to distinguish between, you know, a backfire of a car or a gunshot like this. is there anything that you are hearing, geoff, about whether this was a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound, perhaps a suicide, or somebody was carrying a gun and it went off accidentally? is there any direction on that at this point? >> reporter: not at this point. all we have to go on is this report from the secret service, they even use the word "allegedly," allegedly a self-inflicted gunshot wound. as you know, as these things often happen, we often learn more beyond the ini

the first family traveled to mar-a-lago for the weekend. but the president returns to washington on sunday night, the same time the 60 minutes interview with stormy daniels is scheduled to air. the former porn star is expected to reveal details and evidence of her alleged 2006 affair with trump. >> i think what we're seeing come out ofhis is one we'll see the evidence what evidence there, but two it puts unbelievable stress and time constraints on the cht of the united states. >> the first lady will not be returning to d.c. tomorrow. instead she will be 1,000 miles away from her husband during the interview staying in palm beach wherefore barron's spring break. new york. >>> a little help goes a long way. . the especially event for mothers today in the bay area. >>> and drew tuma up next in the icwa accuweather forecast. >>> hello mike shumann warrior injury updates come up. and a familiar name back on the list while another familiarame back at the tang. the train >>> you know being a mom is already a difficult job. ask my wife. with you im

nunberg was the one who brought you to mar-a-lago. he was the one who thought it was a good idea for you to travel with trump then. and so, then you wrote this unflattering piece and trump was not happy with nunberg. >> yeah, trump fired him because of the piece. then rehired him later and then fired him again. the thing about sam nunberg that i realized when i was kind of stuck in mar-a-lago with him, was that he is part of this kind of rotating cast of, like, kind of weird characters that trump has always liked to have around him who are all sort of aspiring mini trumps, you know. >> seth: yeah. >> you know? like they dress like him. they kind of take on his affect and his like, his linguistic stylings. like they'll use the same words as him. and they all try to mimic his kind of performance. and it's funny because, like, you know, he fires people and hires people all the time. but even now in the white house, he keeps people like that around. and he sets up this kind of -- the environment he fosters is sort of like "the hunger game

president trump not at white house, at mar-a-lago. we will keep an eye on this and let you know as things develop. back in washington here after meetings with lawmakers this week on school safety, president trump stressed the importance of improving background checks, the president also tweeted out that he respect it is second amendment as it stands, there were questions about that after one of the president's comments this week, here to weigh in florida congressman frances. we listened to report about chaos in west wing. is that a distraction from getting anything done on the issue of gun control? >> well, there have been a lot of man hours spent dealing with mr. mueller's investigation and back and forth and a lot of print and it probably should have been deployed on something better when you consider that he hasn't found anything. leland: we have the mueller investigation, we have what's happening inside the west wing, do you get from the white house that the president really knows what he wants to do in response to the parkland sh

and has been very clear since our first meeting at mar-a-lago with president -xi xi jinping . >>chris: are the markets want to be afraid of the presidents tariffs and the impact it will have on the economy? >> i don't expect to see a big impact on the economy. we've been very careful in what we are doing. i think what we are doing is long-term, very good for the economy. which is pressing for free and fair trade. to the extent that china is willing to open up their markets which they are making the right directions on. if they open up their markets, it's an enormous opportunity for u.s. companies. >>chris: of course the fear is that's not going to be the way they respond. the fear is the response to the tariffs is a trade war with china and the day after the president announced his tariffs, china announced plans to impose its own tariffs on $3 billion on u.s. export and the possibility of billions of dollars more in u.s. exports whether it's soybeans or boeing jets. i know you spoke with the chinese vice premier yesterday. what according to the chinese news agency said that ch

trump was not there, as it happened, he's actually in florida at mar-a-lago. he didn't tweet or speak. we got a brief statement from a deputy press secretary who said in part, quote -- we applaud the many americans who exercise their first amendment rights today. john avalon, april ryan, mark preston, amy kremer, keith boykin, and scott jennings. thanks to all. so much to talk about tonight. mark, i'll start with you. the white house put out a statement, okay? but the reality is that's not the way the president operates. when he has something to say, he chose not to. a missed opportunity? >> a huge missed opportunity. one tweet -- he expressed his condolences for the folks who died in a terrorist attack. clearly he could have done it. i think for his part, in some ways it was smart he didn't do it. once he does, that just mean, in making promises he cannot deliver on. in the past few weeks. >> he's going to raise the age, he supported raising the age, and that obviously didn't happen. enchs i think one of the tragedies is the president's instincts on guns is b

of course, landing in mar-a-lago. the president and first lady and other members of the family on board. i mentioned the fake veto as head line on drudge which was interesting point. and that wasn't the headline of the article it linked to. that's the point. he said you would do it and then you don't do it. calling him out. fox news, they were slamming the spending bill itself. they don't like the bill so they don't like he said he was going to veto and then followed through. ann poulter tweeted i'll never sign la bill like this again, yeah, because you'll be impeached. >> that's big. when you lose that all in one day, that is a bad day. and this is the reality. as goes fox nusz, there goes the trump base. that is it what president trump cares the most about. he cares about what those voters, those trump voters in pennsylvania and indiana and michigan and wisconsin, how they feel. basically about him as a strong leader, as a leader focused on the issues they care most about. and when they hear on fox news that he's si

trump's mar-a-lago resort on saturday night. the source says there were other guests, but mrs. trump was not among them. >> let's put all of this into focus right now with scott lucas, a professor of international politics at birmingham live, always good to have you live with us. let's start by putting this into the big picture perspective. what this means for this u.s. president embroiled in two very public scandals involving a porn star and a former "playboy" model, and the news that other women are also considering suing mr. trump. what effect do these scandals have politically heading into the midterm election? >> on the political surface, i actually don't think they have much effect. look, we -- ronald reagan was the first american president who was divorced. bill clinton was the first american president who admitted to multiple affair, albeit being impeached for that. now i think the idea that a president has multiple affairs, including just after his youngest son was born, i think that causes barely a rip well those who were dedicated to supporting trump. but i think it'

believe that -- there's nothing to corroborate her claim. >> did he have dinner with michael cohen at mar-a-lago on saturday. >> yeah i believe he did. i don't have any additional information. >> her claims made in the tv interview- >> i'm not going to get into what he saw. there's clips of it playing in the morning news shows. he's denied the accusations that she made last night, and has been consistent in doing so. she has not. >> on the expulgsz, three weeks passed between the attacks and the expulsions. what took so long? >> actions like this take time and we coordinated with a dozen allies who wanted this to be a joint effort in which the united states is joining both the european union and nato allies. >> and a spokeswoman for the russian foreign minister and threatening retaliation. your response to that? >> we want to work with russia, but this type of an action cannot be tolerated. the united states is responding to russia's action, brazen and reckless, as i called it. this is a u.s. response. we want to work with russia. the ball's in their court with respect to how they want to respon

the first family traveled to mar-a-lago for the weekend. but the president returns to washington on sunday night, the same time the 60 minutes interview with stormy daniels is scheduled to air. the former porn star is expected to reveal details and evidence of her alleged 2006 affair with trump. >> i think what we're seeing come out of this is one we'll see the evidence what evidence there, but two it puts unbelievable stress and time constraints on the cht of the united states. >> the first lady will not be returning to d.c. tomorrow. instead she will be 1,000 miles away from her husband during the interview staying in palm beach wherefore barron's spring break. new york. >>> a little help goes a long way. . the especially event for mothers today in the bay area. >>> and drew tuma up next in the icwa accuweather forecast. >>> hello mike shumann warrior injury updates come up. and a familiar name back on the list while another familiar name back at the tang. the >>> you know being a mom is already a difficult job. ask my wife. with you imag

they will spend the weekend at the residence resort in mar-a-lago. -- at the president's resort in mar-a-lago. [cheering] >> coming up next, your calls and comments live on "washington journal." light at noon, the march for our lives rally in washington, d.c. with student activists from around the country. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. created as aan was public service by america's cable television companies. and today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> this morning, "washington journal," is devoting its entire three hours to the student activists who are protesting gun violence in schools in attending

here in mar-a-lago, the president was scheduled to the leave roughly ten minutes ago, but he is apparently still at the estate, but from what we understand is that the plan is for him to continue to palm beach airport and then to fly back to washington, d.c. and he is to the attend a gridiron dinner where the jounlists dress up and sing songs impugning the president, and obviously a somber moment at the white house after this gun inflicted, self-inflicted gunshot wound is not going to derail his plans for the rest of the day. and president trump has been tweet iing since this took plac and though the focus is on trade and the media and not on the incident outside of the white house, fred. >> okay. boris sanchez, thank you so much. we will try again to go outside of the white house where ryan nobles is now. and so, ryan, give us an idea of what is happening there. >> yeah, fred. the law enforcement presence continues here outside of the white house after that person, the victim of the self-inflicted gunshot wound on the north lawn of the white house, and we are on pennsylvania avenue behind

as for president trump, he'll spend the holiday weekend at mar-a-lago, his resort in florida, kate. >> kristen welker at the white house tonight. thank you. >>> now to a long awaited verdict today in florida. a jury finding the wife of the pulse nightclub gunman not guilty of charges that she helped her husband, omar mateen, plan the attack that killed 49 people. kerry sanders has those details. >> reporter: tonight noor salman leaving the courthouse without a word. >> it's a great day for ms. salman. >> reporter: her attorneys reacting to the not guilty verdicts. >> i think she was overwhelmed. i think we were all overwhelmed. >> reporter: but outside the pulse nightclub where salman's husband omar mateen launched his massacre killing 49 people, outrage from victims' families. >> she knew that her husband was doing what he was doing, and shame on her. >> i am in disbelief. i just feel like we've been slapped in the face. >> reporter: during the trial, prosecutors said this video showed mateen about to attack disney springs but was scared off by the presence of police. and they allege

molly, president trump is in mar-a-lago, had a pretty low-key week. he hasn't been out there and hasn't been busy on twitter, at least on the most controversial or salacious news that has come out this week. what do you make of his relative silence or quietness? >> he has been out there speaking to the american people and he's been tweeting here and there. we certainly have seen -- >> everything is relative when it comes to president trump. when he goes to mar-a-lago on the weekends is when we've seen him be relatively unsupervised and unfiltered, often having the most to say on twitter under those circumstances. e's probably got a lot on his mind. he just fired another cabinet member. there's a lot of controversy over the appointment who was made in his place. there's a lot of controversy over a lot of things. the stock market is jgyratingyr. he started this fight with amazon. nobody knows where that's going to go. i wouldn't be surprised. new developments in the russia investigation always seem to bring him out to comment. i wouldn't be surprised if

we had mar-a-lago session with china. we had another session in november back in beijing. there's been plenty of discussion. >> how many people tried to stop the president from doing this? gary cohn reportedly has threatened to resign over this. what's your understanding about this? >> i don't know anything about gary resigning. gary was certainly part of the interagency process. president likes to have dissenting views, likes to hear every side of everything because that way it makes sure that his final decision is the best informed. >> hard to find a republican supportive of this decision on capitol hill. hard to find many people in business that's not a -- perhaps somebody in steel or aluminum and not even everybody in those industries are for this. does this give you pause at all? should we believe this is actually going to happen? >> well, i think you have to take the president at his word. he made campaign promises. he's pretty well proven so far he intends to keep his campaign promises. >> so this is going to happen this week for sure, the way he said it, 25%, 10%?

earlier in the day, the president attended a fund-raiser at his mar-a-lago home where he talked about xi jinping and his consolidating power. >> don't forget, china's great and xi is a great gentleman. he's now president for life. president for life. no, he's great. and look, he was able to do that. i think it's great. maybe we'll have to give that a shot some day. >> also new today, "the washington post" is out with a new report, pure madness, that's how one ally of the president describes his behavior in the wake of scandals. >>> aides over the past week have described anxiety and volatility with an uncontrollable commander and chief at its center. as one official put it, we have not bottomed out. >>> now to global threats of a global trade war, president trump escalates fear saying he could impose a tax on european cars. jeff bennett is at the white house. geoff, what more can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, dara. president trump is back at the white house today after spending part of his day yesterday at the mar-a-lago retreat. and attending the gridiron dinner last night.

he keeps going to mar-a-lago. plus he had that whole thing going to mar-a-lago with his wife in a separate car. knowing we have the stormy daniels interview coming up. he created a lot of bad optics for himself. the fact is, donald trump is not comfortable in the white house because he's not comfortable governing. so he had to go where he's most comfortable which is unfortunately at mar-a-lago. >> yeah. i want to take a quick look at the new "vanity fair" piece. their names are the down fall after a year in washington, ivanka and jared are isolated on kushner island. during that type, they've taken on pretty high profile roles. ivanka's and i a signments sitting in at the g-20 summit, meeting world leaders in south korea, india and beyond. are you comfortable seeing her play that role on the world stage. >> absolutely not. she's not qualified. it's not because she is his daughter. if she had any credentials that would be fine. she has non. neither does her husband. he's supposed to solve middle east peace and work

he is flying of course to mar-a-lago this weekend. the first lady was not with him and he did not answer the questions that were thrown at him about stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. of course, that is hanging over him as he heads to mar-a-lago after signing the spending bill. >> president trump vented but backed away from his threat to viet tow $1.3 trillion spending bill to keep the government running. >> i say to congress, i will never sign another bill like the again. >> but the president did sign there bill. zm there are a lot of things i'm unhappy about in this bill. a lot of things we shouldn't have had in this bill but we were in a sense forced, if we want to bull our military. we are forced to have. >> never mind republicans control the house, senate, and the white house. the president taking no responsibility for this $232-page bill. he described it like the. >> this ridiculous situation that took place over the last week. >> for hours, the president had washington wondering what he would. do i am considering a veto of the

he was obviously here spending the weekend at mar a lago. none of the main principal, the first lady, the vice president pence, were at the white house, so there was no immediate danger to them. the presented hident has been t in the past few minutes on europe and trade. one tweet about the media. no mention yet of the incident outside the white house. we're going to keep monitoring this and bring you updates as we get it. >> as far as you know, the president is still planning to make his way back to washington for the gridiron continuer this e dinner this evening where the president has met with humor, top journalists out of the washington, d.c. area? >> that's right, as you noted, the president making an unusual short trip here to mar-a-lago, only spending the night yesterday. he came here for a fund-raiser last night. right now, he's actually getting set for a victory reception to talk to some of his supporters and fellow republican lawmakers. and then he is scheduled to go back to washington, d.c. to take part in that roast-type dinner.

we know that the first lady is at mar-a-lago with her son while all of this is unfolding. so again, andrea, we are anticipating that we'll get the first real official reaction during the briefing today. >> and there was also, as you know, another tweet from stephanie grisham, the spokesperson for the first lady, where she said i know the media is enjoying speculation and salacious gossip. i'd like to remind people there's a minor child whose name should be kept out of news stories if at all possible. obviously this has been very difficult for the first family. there's some speculation, in fact, the president's reaction to this as compared to other things where he's spoken out and been very aggressive is affected, colored by, you know, how it's affecting the family at home. robert costa, when you talk to people inside the white house, how important is this in terms of the way the president and the white house are reacting? >> it's something that the white house has struggled with in the sense that during the campaign and even now inside the white house, it's been more of a

>> yes. >> as the bombshell interview with stormy daniels aired, melania trump was at mar-a-lago with her son. today her spokeswoman told cnn she's focused on being a mom and is quite enjoying spring break at mar-a-lago while working on future projects. so far melania has been spared the relentless criticism that hillary got, largely from conservatives, for staying with bill after the monica lewinsky scandal. bill's past behavior a regular target for trump on the campaign trail as he took aim at hillary. >> she's married to a man who was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics. >> he even invited four of clinton's accusers to the same debate with hillary where he claimed to have tremendous respect for women. >> i have great respect for women. nobody has more respect for women than i do. >> reporter: that claim coming right after the infamous access hollywood tape whose language melania called inappropriate, but defended. >> i don't know that person that would talk that way. and that he would say that kind of stuff in private. i heard many different stuff, boys talk. the b

this was an event at mar-a-lago. i mean, the president isn't really known for being a jokester, is he? >> no, he's not. and one of the hallmarks of comedy is when comedians say it's funny because it's true. so, part of what happens when donald trump tries to tell a joke is he actually reveals something about himself because he's never far from what's on his mind. so, whether he's tweeting or giving a speech at mar-a-lago or attending the gridiron dinner, he's really communicating something that's on his mind. one of the ways to understand this problem with china is to think about what ronald reagan said when he was faced with an authoritarian regime in the soviet union. he said, tear down this wall. he didn't say, good for you that you guys are authoritarians and your citizens have no rights. he stood up for democracy and stood up for the people who were suffering. in this case we have a president who has abandoned america's leadership as the guardian of democracy for good or not. >> michael, to jim's point, the peop

. >> it would be great if they meet in mar-a-lago. himould be important to get john kuhn north korea so he can't present this as another homage to north korea. some of the reactions there to the news flow. what could come out of the spring summit with kim jong-un and trump? it is a high risk, high reward. some people say whatever it is, it delivers legitimacy to an administration. ian bremmer just said that to us. this could be the defining issue for this administration. reporter: you are right. the symbolism of this meeting between two of the world's most eccentric leaders in the world is actually quite something. if we look at what is happening here, it is important that we remind ourselves of the fact that the u.s. and north korea are still technically at war. the korean war that started at the start of 1950 still continues, theoretically, because it did not end with a peace treaty. it ended with a cease-fire. what trump might try to do is offer a peace treaty deal that would formally conclude the war, which would help remove the f

the president is in mar-a-lago. he went there on purpose, seeing this crowd stay here. >> that's right. >> he could have stayed here. he went out of town. congress is on a two-week -- i didn't know easter was any time soon happening. but they're hiding out of town. they're going to out wait this crowd. and how does paul ryan th, the speaker, get pushed into bringing up a gun bill? >> get voted out. >> we'll only see change in congress when we see different people in congress. >> thank you. >> optimism overwhelms me. >> i believe in kids. >> i believe in it, toochlt. i want it to happen. montel, thank you. so much more to come from msnbc. so much more from washington, d.c. the powerful party of action is not over. i'm joined by former congresswoman donna edwards and ryan costello, to talk about whether adults in congress can follow the example of hundreds of thousands of young people here today. we're back live in washington for march for our lives after this. >>> welcome back. nbc's white house correspondent jeff be

the first lady is staying at mar-a-lago a planned spring break vacation. the president will be back at the white house tonight. they should not be together as this thing airs. >> that will be very interesting. kate bennett, we'll be staying tuned and we know you will. students are raising their voices by the thousands for gun control but now the other side is pushing back. does this movement have staying power? that's next. mvo: you're not doing work to help somebody, you're gaining something from meeting mr. adderley. it's a calling to not only everybody in this neighborhood in miami, but to the nation how great we are. and how great we can be. ♪ ♪ i'll stand by you. ♪ i'll stand by you. ♪ and i'll never desert you. ♪ i'll stand by you. ♪ ♪ ♪ broccabbage! beans! get your vegetables without a side of gas. the activated charcoal in charcocaps adsorbs gas for fast gas relief, without passing the gas. charcocaps. put less boom in the room. with pg&e in the sierras. and i'm an arborist since the onset of the drought, more than 129 million trees

anderson, certainly, as the family, the trump family is mar-a-lago for the weekend, it's unknown what the status of their time together will be. of course, we'll be watching for the president on social media, other places, but certainly, this had a different feeling today here at the white house, anderson. >> jeff, appreciate that. in just the last few moments, we got breaking news on the silence from the president. the "wall street journal" reported the president has been asking advisers whether he should break it and publicly fight the allegations. advisers told him there's no sign the allegations have hurt him with voters and have warned him it would look inappropriate to engage with among others a adult star. maggie haberman is with us. i saw you on new day this morning. you were talking about exactly what the journal is reporting tonight, about advisers telling him that there is no upside to coming out on this. >> and there really isn't. look, he's been cautioned over time that there's no upside to a lot of the fights he picks and he usually can't help himself. he's been pretty r

anderson, certainly, as the family, the trump family is in mar-a-lago for the weekend, it's unknown what the status of their time together will be. of course, we'll be watching for the president on social media, other places, but certainly, this had a different feeling today here at the white house, anderson. >> jeff, appreciate that. in just the last few moments, we got breaking news on the silence from the president. the "wall street journal" is reporting that the president has been asking advisers whether he should break it and publically fight the allegations. the journal is reporting that the advisers told him there's no sign the allegations have hurt him with voters and have warned him it would look inappropriate to engage with among others a adult star. maggie haberman is with us. thanks for being with us. i saw you on new day this morning. you were talking about exactly what the journal is reporting tonight, about advisers telling him that there is no upside to coming out on this. >> and there really isn't. look, he's been cautioned over time that there's no upside to a lot of th

president trump spent saturday miles away from the capital in florida at mar-a-lago. he remained silent on the massive demonstrations but the white house issued a statement saying we applaud the many courageous young americans exercising their first amendment rights today. joining me now is democratic senator tim kaine of virginia. he is a member of the foreign relations committee. thanks for being with us on is this sunday. >> absolutely. good to be with you. >> democrats, of course, do not control congress. even when they have controlled congress, passing legislation on guns has been difficult or even impossible. how do you exmaplain that to the kids and the 97% of american who is support universal background checks? >> brianna, bluntly, the nra leadership funded by gun manufacturers has basically been able to gridlock everything in congress now for nearly decades. that's why congress has not been willing to act even to do things that an overwhelming majority of the american public want us to do. but the activism of these young people is actually changing the equati

. >> city had dinner with michael cohen at mar-a-lago on saturday? mr. shah: yes, he did. mr. shah: i am not going to get into that, there were clips late in the morning news shows, and i will say he has denied accusations that she made last night and has been consistent in doing so there it -- doing so. she has not. >> on the expulsion, three weeks passed since the attack, what took so long? mr. shah: actions like this take time and we coordinated with over a dozen allies who wanted this to be a joint effort. the u.s. is joining both the european union and nato allies. >> the spokesperson for the russian foreign minister has now announced retaliation with other countries involved in the expulsion, your response to that? mr. shah: this action cannot be tolerated. the u.s. is responding to russia's action, as i called it, brazen and reckless. this is a u.s. response. we want to work with russia, and the ball is in their court with respect to how they want to respond. >> if you listen to national security experts, diplomatic experts on what will happen with russia, they will say

cnn's boris sanchez joins us now not far from mar-a-lago with more. so, boris, what is the latest on this uncertainty that apparents exists between the president, his public comments and really his security apparatus, his own closest advisers in. >> reporter: hey there, jim. confusion is certainly an understatement. we heard from a senior white house official today who essentially told us they had no idea what the president meant by his comment during his speech yesterday to a union in ohio. he further said that we should let everyone else

he said, there is a minor child who doesn't need to be involved in this. >> melania trump escapes to mar-a-lago. we've seen from the first lady she doesn't want to be in the public spotlight on this. she wants to focus on her young child and spending time with him. i just feel like she's taken a maternal role here, trying not to be distracted by that. particularly if we see these two cases with these two women who have come out, we've seen their faces, we've seen their voices. if more women emerge, i think the pressure will be on her to respond. >> remember when hillary clinton came out and stood by herman, she was pilloried for it. if ivanka is looking at this -- >> melania. >> if melania is looking at this, she has -- >> the reporting shows she is not looking at this. she is hunkering down in her parental role and she doesn't seem worried about it like hillary clinton was about bill clinton. >>> coming up, which member of the trump administration is next to go? one source tells us the president's v. a. secretary may want to update his resume. stay with us. if you'd have told me three years ag

the site of the mar-a-lago estate. top u.s. officials unamused and unconvinced. let's go live to moscow and cnn's matthew chance. matthew, this was meant for his domestic audience. he is trying to build up the narrative of his military just as in the united states, donald trump is talking about the american military. >> reporter: exactly. i think that was the primary audience for the speech. the joint house of the russian parliament in moscow. what was domestic here and vladimir putin is in a political season and in 16 days facing re-election. he is certain to win that election. he is still taking the opportunities to project himself as a strong president and leader who is mindful of the russian military and has national security on his mind much like president trump likes to present himself as well. he was messaging the west and adversaries in the united states. i don't think it is a coincidence that florida was chosen as the hypothetical target for the invincible missiles in the computer generated display that he put out. at the same time, messaging the west, b

melania trump stayed behind at mar-a-lago for a spring break her son. she did tweet i know the media is enjoying gossip, i would like to remind the public there is a minor child whose name should be out of news stories. >>> a critical stage of the russia investigation. less than a week after declaring joe digenova on board. now he will not be joining the legal staff after all. that announcement coming minutes after the president tweeted he was having no trouble assembling a legal team. tossing in another new orleano comment. >> president trump liked the message, but convinced they were not right for the job. the two attorneys say they look forward to working with him on other matters. mr. trump's lead lawyer, john dowd, resigned last week. >>> rick santorum says students would be better off taking cpr classes and doing active shooter drills. hundreds of thousands marched on saturday, santorum dismissed what he called phony gun laws. >> how about kids do something about taking cpr classes or try to deal with situations where there is violence. >> i would

the first family then traveled to mar-a-lago for the weekend, but the president will return to washington on sunday night. the same time the "60 minutes" interview with stormy daniels is scheduled to air. the former porn star is expected to reveal details and evidence of her alleged 2006 affair with trump. >> i think what we're going to see come out of this is one, we'll see the evidence, what evidence there is. but two, it continues to put unbelievable stress and time constraints on the president of the united states. >> the first lady will not be returning to d.c. tomorrow. instead, she'll be 1,000 miles away from her husband during the interview, staying in palm beach, for their son barron's spring break. daria allbinger, abc news, new york. >>> apple's chief tim cook is calling for calm heads and more open trade amid fears of a trade war erupting between the u.s. and china. his remarks follow president trump announcing thursday he would like to slap tariffs on up to 60 billion of chinese imports. china said it is not afraid of a trade war. cook made the remarks during a conference in

the president gave a speech on friday night at mar-a-lago to a fund-raising group there. >> donors, right? >> absolutely donors. and another network here that the president called fake news network, cnn, obtained audio of what the president said at that speech and released it yesterday. listen to what the president says and then imagine how to so-called mainstream media would have responded to it. listen to this. >> . >> he's now president-elect. i think it's great. >> okay. so he is pointing, making a joke about the fact -- which it's an oobs salute fact. the president of china xi jinping has extended for life. you could hear the laughter in the room. >> as you hear also the silverware moving around and room noise. the reason why, there was no press involved. this was a fund-raising group. this is saturday that he's meeting with these people. it's specifically not to have cameras, audio. but yet if you remember the mitt romney thing where a waiter put a hidden mike phone next to a glass of water, we adopt know where the audio came from, people were trying to secretly tape the president a