lose if it gets to be a war. several presidents got us into this big deficit. this is the president who is going to get us out of it. >> he's just wrong. i mean, you know, you had bigger trade deficits when the economy is strong because we're buying everything. >> breaking developments in the russia investigation. >> a new report from the "washington post" overnight, that the special counsel is telling the president's lawyers he is not considered a criminal target at this point, but that he is under investigation as the subject of the russia inquiry. the distinction means, according to justice department guidelines, while there is reason to investigate the president's conduct, there is not enough evidence to link him to any crime. >> he should be worried he is even a subject. >> the president is also making news when it comes to his crackdown on illegal immigrat n immigration, revealing plans to order the military to guard parts of the u.s. border with mexico until as long-promised

wall is built. >> until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military. it's a big step. >> it's certainly not something the mexican government welcomes. >> walls don't work in this 21st century. we need to be thinking more about building bridges. >> this brand-new information on the terrifying shooting at youtune's heyo youtube's headquarters. >> the shooter, nadim aghdam, last living in the san diego area. she claimed youtube discriminated and filtered her content. >> pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. pop, pop, pop. i'm like, what's going on? >> i came to the courtyard, and that's when i heard a bunch of yelling going on. there was a person out there yelling, you know, "do you want to shoot me?" i froze. breaking news. president trump says, we are not

in a trade war. if you take a look at the markets this morning, they'd clearly disagree. at the very least, it is a skirmish. right now, the dow is down, less than it was this morning, and we know how it all started. >> over steel and aluminum tariffs that morphed into an intellectual property issue. it's gone beyond that now. this morning, the president, as stephanie said, insisting we're not in a trade war with china. that war was lost many years ago by the foolish or incompetent people who represented the united states. he also repeated his claim of a $500 billion trade deficit with china, something commerce secretary wilbur ross echoed this morning on cnbc. >> as you know, he said in the tweet, and i agree, when you're $500 billion down, this isn't a war you can lose if it gets to be a war. >> lot to discuss here. we want to remind the administration that, no, despite the fact the president and wilbur ross have said so, we do

not have a $500 billion trade deficit with china. we have a trade deficit. china does import $500 billion worth of goods -- or export $500 billion worth of goods into the united states, but the u.s. exports to china slash that to $375 billion. i'm not sure why, stephanie, the president continues to say it is a $500 billion trade deficit. it just weakens the argument because we have to tell you that, once again, the president of the united states is lying. >> lying. as is wilbur ross. we should remind you, the trade deficit has only grown since president trump has been in office. let's hop into the back. the time machine to last month. the president famously declared on twitter, trade wars are good and easy to win. let's look at how good this sucker is going. overnight, china announced a $50 billion worth of tariffs on american goods. it shows a targeted effort to hurt trump country. here are just a few of the

sectors hit with 15% or 25% tariffs. first up, soybeans. it is our second biggest export to china. eight of the ten soybean producing states voted for president trump in 2016. car exports. top ten u.s. export to china. midwestern states were the key to the president's election victory. and beef exports, all part of china continuing to hit u.s. agriculture. this is all in response to a list released by u.s. trade representatives, listing 1,300 chinese exports, worth about $50 billion on their side. massive target, electronics. it'd hit one of china's biggest export sectors but could also cause a major issue for u.s. companies, like apple and del, w -- bdell, who rely on inexpensive products to americans.

dishwashers. the kitchen staple faces a 25% tariff. for those with chronic medical conditions and senior citizens, medical devices. they're on this list. many products needed to treat sick americans could see a serious rise in price thanks to this tit for tat approach. yesterday's u.s. announcement comes on the heels of china tacking tariffs on u.s. fruits, pork products, nuts, sparkling wine and more. a significant amount of those tariffs directly hit, you guessed it, trump voters. wilbur ross said it, the chinese are good at arithmetic. and getting back to the beginning, it was almost 30 days ago that president trump announced his intent to tax steel and aluminum coming from abroad. eventually, exempting many allies, narrowing the target list significantly to feature china. >> joining us now is cnbc contributor ron and former u.s. trade representative under president obama, ambassador kirk. ron, i'll start with you.

i want to bring you the donald trump tweet again from this morning, where he said, we're not in a trade war with china. that war was lost many years ago by the foolish or incompetent people who represented the u.s. now, we have a trade deficit of $500 billion a year with intellectual property theft of another $300 billion. we cannot let this continue. we've clarified the $500 billion is a lie. i used to think it was an error the president was making, but he does it every day. we know the white house watches this. we've been telling him every day that it is wrong. now, it is a straight up lie. ambassador, are you one of the foolish, incompetent people? >> well, you know, i guess i am. i will tell you, ali, at least my daughters take great joy in the president's description of me as that. look, you and stephanie have spent the morning debunking that. i do want to frame this, ali, in the broader context. a number of administrations have consistently challenged china to

uphold u.s. intellectual property rights, have respect for our trade secrets and taken them to task on one. the one point missing from this, one of the strategies we put in place to check china on that was our being a central author of the transpacific partnership. it would have elevated the status and rights of u.s. intellectual property rights around the world, but particularly in southeast asia and, to some degree, boxed china out of that. as you know, the president withdrew from that. but the president takes what is a legitimate concern for many american manufacturers, but has done this absolutely dizzying twitter sort of initiated, random approach to slapping tariffs on goods for no reasons that brought about the predicted response from china. now, we're seeing the markets and those in the state that s tu mentioned that are going to be hurt by this, respond to that.

>> ron, wilbur ross earlier on cnbc was talking, and he said, sure, we knew this was going to happen. this is how the tariff game works. take a look. >> anyone who thought that the chinese would do nothing when we put on the measures that we did just wasn't paying attention. they know we're talking about fractions of 1% of the respective economies. so, this is not world war iii. >> wasn't paying attention. weeks ago, peter navarro said, other countries aren't going to take action. they can't afford to. well, they clearly can. china has. for wilbur ross to say he's surprised the market reacted that way, he's not telling the truth. otherwise member other members of this administration told him that's exactly what would happen. >> the markets are having an appropriate response to what is a series of trade skir ismishes.

i don't think peter navarro belongs in the office in any way, shape or form, but has said these are winnable events. we've seen in the 1930s, other periods, that trade wars are bad for business. as the ambassador said, we have legitimate complaints with china. we also have in the world trade organization a dispute settlement mechanism that should be used before resulting to unilateral tariffs. this administration has turned a deaf ear to that. dealing with asian countries, you typically start behind the scenes with negotiations. if nothing else works, if the wto doesn't agree with you, you launch into these tariffs. the processi itself has been turned on its head. it'll create an environment where the u.s. is borrowing $1 trillion this year. >> can you stay on that? i don't think people realize this. china is our banker. the american people need to understand, the amount of u.s. debt that they hold, which can

be held over us. >> $1.1 trillion of u.s. treasuries there between japan and china, the two biggest foreign holders of u.s. treasury bonds. people would argue that it is mutually assured destruction, if the chinese stop buying bonds or sell them, because they can conceivably tank our economy by spiking up interest rates and having the dollar fall sharply, but they have trillions in capital reserves that we don't have. financing our ever-increasing budget deficit gets that much more difficult if china were to use the ultimate lever in the midst of a trade war. >> ambassador, ross saying 1% of the economies, which are very big. united states is almost a $19 trillion economy. to say 1%, it'll be interesting if it were applied evenly, but it is not going to be applied evenly. if you are an auto manufacturer or soybean farmer, pig pafarmer

whiskey distillery, some of us won't feel any part of the 1% and some of us will only feel it as consumers, but american producers are going to feel much more than a 1% hit. >> i look at this, and you have to forgive the texan in me, it's like the old folks' definition of minor surgery, when it is on you. minor tariffs is when it is on somebody else. listen, our farmers always bear the brunt of these tariff wars. again, i don't quarrel with the trump administration saying china, we want you to play by the rules. >> right. >> but the reason most administrations have avoided these tariffs is because they're going to be real consequences. they'll felt by farmers, small businesses, manufacturers, suppliers and workers, whether building boeing airplanes or growing grapes for wine. the impact then is going to be real. what also frustrates me is there's no discussion about the reality that trade isn't a sum

zero gain. >> amen. >> having a smart trade policy is one of the ways we'll grow our economy. if we can get china to understand that they can use u.s. products to help them meet their own growth goals, this can be a win-win. i think i heard ali note correctly earlier, yes, we buy a lot from china, but we sell china a lot. it's only been 20 years that they've opened their market. they're already one of our biggest export destinations. >> yeah. >> one approach we can use is to convince china how to buy more of our goods and services. that's one way we can balance out the trade imbalancimbalance >> ambassador, thank you for joining us. ron, as well. good to see you. former u.s. trade representative under president obama.

>> conglomerates. major corporations are built on globalization, not populism. i can't stress it enough, no one wins a trade war. i said this earlier, no one wins a war. i was cite size ecriticized for. world war i and world war ii. i'm sorry, the amount of bloodshed that goes on. >> what ron kirk just said, we want people to buy more of our products. the way in which people buy more products is if they also prosper. they prosper because they sell us their products. that is what it is. i know donald trump and some of his supporters like the fact that he's acting fast on things that prior administrations acted slowly on. but the thing that donald trump is going to have to come to terms with is whether it comes to international diplomacy or trade, these are hard and complicated. everybody around the table wants something, and they take time to do. >> president trump has a business history, but in the business history, he has countless lawsuits, four bankruptcies. this is not his private

business. >> right. >> this is the united states of america. this is our economy. he calls himself the art of the deal guy. if you talk about, you know, the art of war, isn't the whole argument that it is to subdue your enemy without actually fighting? what are we seeing over social media and every other medium? the constant smacking and screaming. this is not how you win something. where is the strategy? >> we'll stay on top of this story and keep the administration, if we can, honest about what the facts are. we're also following other breaking news. the white house is making a statement on u.s. military involvement in syria. just moments ago, the president says he's not happy about the plan. we'll explain. first, a live look in memphis, tennessee, where thousands of people are remembering dr. martin luther king jr., who was assassinated 50 years ago today. the events honoring dr. king are going on all day long. we'll take you live to memphis in a few. stay with us. you're watching "velshi & ruhle."

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welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." breaking news. the white house has just issued a statement on whether or not it intends to pull u.s. troops from syria. >> it comes from the office of the press secretary and says, quote, the military mission to eradicate isis in syria is coming to a rapid end. with isis being almost completely destroyed. the united states and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small isis presence in syria that our

forces have not already eradicated. >> president trump shocked advisers, saying he wanted to get out of syria, when they said the fight against isis was not finished. >> military er is joining us from the pentagon. >> it was surprising. the announcement that president trump made last week, when he was out at an infrastructure speech in ohio and said, u.s. troops would be leaving syria very soon. you know, of course, people here in d.c. started scrambling, asking the pentagon, you know, military in baghdad, the state department, what's happening, and there were no plans at that point. this morning, i was at a small breakfast with a group of other military and national security reporters this morning, and the director of national intelligence, dan coats, said, sure enough, there was a meeting at the white house yesterday. he called it a significant and lengthy discussion, where they talked about the u.s. military presence in syria and came to a decision which, as you mentioned, steph, we got from the white house a statement from

the press secretary. basically, what this means is, the u.s. military will continue to operate in a training and advising mission in syria, working with the syrian democratic forces, to continue to get rid of the isis presence. the head of u.s. central command said just yesterday that there's about more than 90% of the presence has been eliminated. but, there still is quite a presence in what they call the middle euphrates river valley, not far from the iraqi border. military officials we have spoken with over the past several weeks said, there's probably two to six months left in the mission to get rid of isis there. but that doesn't include all of the isis fighters, which it is unknown how many, have gone underground. >> thanks very much for the reporting. we'll stay on that until we have a little more clarity about what exactly the u.s. is going to do in syria. nbc news national security and military reporter. big news in robert mueller's

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welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." here are the top stories we're watching right now. a live look at markets, which are moderating a bit since when they opened when you were on air this morning, stephanie. >> they are moderating a bit. remember, we saw a drop because of all this talk about tariff. the threat of tariffs. i want to share something. fox news host laura ingraham just tweeted about it, saying, quote, anyone complaining about the imposition of tariffs on countries systematically cheating on trade deals for decades shouldn't be taken serio seriously. this shouldn't have continued as long as it has with china. i'd like to read you another quote. ready? tariffs are really tax hikes. since so many of the things american consumers buy today are made of steel or aluminum. a 25% tax on these commoditieie

may pass down to consumers at the cash register. it is a tax on low-income families. larry kudlow said that, the new economic counselor for the president of the united states. my question to laura ingraham and don junior, who retweeted it, should he not be taken seriously? >> he got a brand-new job in the white house. ben sasse said it. there is a concern about china's behavior and a way to handle it. it's not how we're doing it. >> laura is spot on, china's practices, they have launched an economic war with us. we should address it. the way we're doing it, no. also in the news, four u.s. marines are presumed dead in a helicopter crash in southern california. the chopper from the third marine aircraft wing went down a few minutes from the mexican border during a routine trade mission yesterday afternoon. no word yet on what caused the crash. authorities are searching for the motive in the shooting

at youtube's headquarters in san bruno, california. the shooter identified at 38-year-old nasim aghdam, was reportedly angry at the company for sallegedly censoring her videos. she didn't know anyone at the company, including the three people she shot before killing herself. now the russia investigation. >> special counsel robert mueller informed president trump's attorneys last month he is continuing to investigate the president but doesn't consider him a criminal target at this point. according to the "post," in private negotiations in early march, about a possible president ial interview, muelle described trump as a subject of his investigation zbo. >> prosecutors view someone as a subject when the person is engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges. the reporting is the work of

"washington post" national investigative reporters. carol is an msnbc contributor. sorry. having trouble talking today. good to see you. >> msnbc is where we work. >> right. >> fortunately, it is national hug a news person day. >> exactly. >> help him through it. >> sending you a hug through the tv, carol. have we had a reaction from the president to the fact that he is not a target? >> so, our reporting, my great colleague bob and i, indicates that the president, when told mueller had indicated he was not a criminal target was, quote, unquote, tremendously relieved. also excited because he felt that it emboldened him to do what he has wanted to do anyway, and that is sit down with robert mueller and his team for an interview. the president believes he handles himself quite well and has done so, actually, in some

depositions, and wants to conduct this interview to answer these questions. one of his lawyers, we are told, strongly encouraged him not to do it. not to create new legal jeopardy where none exists. >> the president though isn't out of the woods. a fee phrase key phrase is muel consider the president a criminal target at this point. should we read anything into that? >> so, that's just the care we take in our reporting. we know that around about march 35 5th, this is what mueller said. we don't know if it's changed. in the target and subject, target being a much scarier category, you can easily become a target very, very quickly when you are a subject if new evidence arises. that new evidence could literally come in your own testimony, your own words, when you sit down for an interview. a target is someone that the

prosecutors believe they can charge on the dime, at this minute. as we reported, robert mueller told trump's attorneys that he wants to investigate more closely the president's intent in some specific actions that he took. >> president trump is keying to sit down and tell his story. he considers himself one of his best salespeople, and he is. what do his attorneys think? >> we learned that john dowd, who was the president's sort of lead attorney on contacts with mueller's office, was strongly advising against an interview. whereas, sekiulowsekulow, his co-counsel, and ty cobb were of the mind that, politically, the president couldn't deny mueller an interview after saying for months, there's no crime. there's no collusion. why hide from answering basic

questions? that counsel, including from some of his allies, included the argument that there was nothing to hide, and doing the interview would end the probe more quickly and remove this shadow that's been over the trump presidency almost from day one. >> darrelcarol, thanks for join and for your reporting. national investigative reporter and msnbc contributor. >> impressive reporting. president trump wants troops at the mexico/u.s. border until the wall is built. plus, we'll break down the presidents who have done the same thing. you're watching "velshi & ruhle." you know where, msnbc. g my moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. but i realized something was missing... me. the thought of my symptoms returning was keeping me from being there for the people and things i love most. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira can help get, and keep,uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough.

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and i don't share it with mom! right, mom? righttt. safe driving bonus checks. only from allstate. switching to allstate is worth it. i've been speaking with general mattis. we're going to be doing things militarily until we can have a wall and proper security. we're going to be guarding our border with the military. it's a big step. we really haven't done that before or, certainly, not very much before. >> welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." that was president trump saying he intends to send u.s. troops to our border with mexico until we have a wall. there is no plan out yet, so it is unclear how many troops and what kind of troops the president plans to send to the border. same with the scope and duration of the mission. we just don't know. as for his accusation, that it hasn't been done before, which president trump says a lot, once again, that is a lie. in may 2006, president george w

bush announced operation jump start. 6,000 troops were deployed to the border to help support border patrol agents. 30,000 personnel were involved in supporting the two-year mission, which ended in july of 2008. then in 2010, president obama started operation phalanx, detailing 1,200 troops to the border. by 2016, it'd evolved into a primarily air mission with the texas national guard flying helicopter missions with border patrol agents. we don't know much about the president's plan for border troops, whether the mission will be to support, but we know these have been done before and, in fact, very recently. at some point, stephanie, perhaps the president will stop saying these things so we can talk about substance and not telling you about the lies he continues claiming. >> it is a crisis that doesn't

exist. joining us, immigration reporter alan gomez. illegal border crossings, let's make it clear, are way down. in fact, we can credit the president with his tough stance on immigration, which has less and less people trying to illegally make -- >> take a look at that chart. >> fewer illegal border crossings. >> peaked in 2000. we have, generally speaking, been going down since there, alan. what's your take on this? >> going down. we're at historic lows right now. there's a little over 300,000 undocumented immigrants caught along the border in fiscal year 2017. it's the lowest in 47 years, going back to 1971. that's important because what you just showed, the two previous deployments of the national guard, the context for those is different. in 2006, we had over 1 million undocumented immigrants coming over the border each year. that was in direct response to

that. 2010, when president obama did it, it was part of a broader conversation with congress, where they were starting to work on a broad immigration reform package. they passed a $600 million emergency supplemental to fund these troops and get more border patrol agents on the border. obviously, neither of those is happening right now. >> right. >> that's why a lot of people are wondering why not. >> we don't seem to -- this administration doesn't actually seem to make the link between actually funding things through legislation and doing them. president makes announcements with no plans. we have no idea where the money is supposed to come from to do this. these are costly. they're labor intensive, involving the national guard members or members of the military. >> bringing in this many people to the border to help out costs tens of millions of dollars they don't have appropriated for right now. it is important to see. he tweeted this morning that we're going to find out maybe today what he has in mind. as of right now, we have no idea how many, what states they'll come from, if he'll draw them

from all over the country, as they did the first time around. we have no idea what he's talking about. >> let's put the tweet back up the president issued today you were talking about. our border laws are very weak while those in mexico and canada are very strong. congress must change these obama era and other laws now. the democrats stand in our way. they want people to pour into our country unchecked. crime! we will be taking strong action today. it's a little stream of consciousness, but there are a lot of things in there. he says our border laws are weak compared to mexico and canada. is that true? >> no. basically, they're very different laws. the southern border of mexico, the u.s. helped mexico beef up their southern border so they can serve as a first line of defense for all the undocumented immigrants coming from central and south america. we've been helping them for years, pumping money to mexico to train thinkeir agents.

we've been trying to secure the border there, but we've also been investing in the u.s. side of the border. we have the highest number of agents in the history, over 20,000, most along the southwest border, and there have been revisions to the technology we use, the drones, the radars. that's all been bolstered. it is reflected in the fact we have the lowest number of people crossing over in 47 years. by the way, that number, that was for fiscal year 2017. in the five months since, it's important to note, crossings are even further down. >> wow. >> the first five months of the fiscal year, through february this year, down a further 27%. down 36% for the unaccompanied minors. down 46% for the family units, the mothers and children coming across. across the board, the numbers are going further and further down. again, it's why so many people are asking, why now? >> president should be doing a victory lap, not talking about how it's not

alan, thanks very much. immigration reporter with "usa today." we have to hit the markets again when we come back. the nasdaq unchanged on the day. stocks are erasing their losses. we're going to dig into for a moment why i know in the last hour larry kudlow was speaking just outside the white house, saying, basically, hold your horses. there's a lot of talk. >> this may not happen, the tariffs. >> this may not happen. i believe he went on to say they're getting closer on finding a clear, maybe better path with regard to nafta. we have to dig into that. the last two days, we've seen the market tank. it opened up down this morning. now, we're certainly seeing it back up. we have to find out why. epa administrator scott pruitt said he's dumbfounded his $50 a night d.c. condo deal is controversial. >> it is amazing. come work here, and let's do a show about how americans can save money. $50 a night in washington, d.c. i want that guy's deal. >> ali velshi has his next

career. he is making scott pruitt the new steals and deals guy at nbc. firing back against a list of questions about his spending. what he says is behind it all. should say, he is firing back but only speaking to a very conservative news outlet. he's not exactly answering our questions. >> come on, scott pruitt. we'll make space for you if you want to talk to us on msnbc. we'll be right back. i've always wanted to have a photo exhibit of the faces of our community and those people that create the heart and the soul of where we live. directer: so i think we can make that happen oh my gosh, you're kidding me. introducing the suv equipped to make your first-ever happen. the first-ever ford ecosport is here.

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welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." breaking news. paul manafort left court in washington, d.c. moments ago after trying to convince a federal judge to throw out criminal charges filed against him by special counsel robert mueller. we're going to continue to broing ybring you the play by play. and scott pruitt is calling washington, d.c. toxic, as he faces a growing list of potential ethics violations, including a $50 per night deal on a condo owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist. >> pruitt says his political adversaries are trying to stop him from cutting regulations. he told the "washington ex examiner," quote, there are people that have long in this

town done business a different way and this agency, the epa, has been the poster child of it. so do i think it is because we're leading on this agenda and there are some who want to keep it from happening? absolutely. do i think they will resort to anything to achieve that? yes. >> what are you talking about? >> let's just get something clear. when we're talking about -- >> nothing to do with the epa's agenda. >> -- the beltway swamp and pay for play, people would say swamp-like activity would be to live in the condo of a lobbyist and pay wildly under market rent, and then the organization that that lobbyist represents, their deal getting approved. that is the swamp that people don't like about washington. >> if scott pruitt would stop talking about the nonsense, we would have less reason to stay on his story. he's doing bad things, and he's talking nonsense about it. let's bring richard painter into the conversation. former chief white house ethics lawyer under president george w.

bush. richard, this is a new low in an administration that seems to have some ethics problems. >> well, they just got a new low every other day. scott pruitt is toward the bottom of a barrel that has an awful lot of rotten apples in it. let's look at what is going on here. this is an energy lobbyist, and he's been spending a lot of his time at the epa de-regulating so the energy companies can get away with a lot of stuff and other polluters. it is not the environmental protection agency anymore. it's the environmental pollution agency. the lobbyist now. he got this condo for $50 a night. when you pay for the nights you stay there, it's like a hotel. find me a hotel room in washington, d.c. for $50 a night. the average middle class family that wants to visit washington, d.c., they're lucky to get a two-star hotel for $200 a night.

$500 or more at the trump hotel. we know what's going on. we know what the hotel rates are in washington, d.c. you check hotels.com. you aren't getting a room for $50 a night unless you are the administrator to the environmental protection agency, getting it from the wife of a lobbyist and de-regulating the energy industry. >> here's the thing, pruitt said he has ethics counsel at the agency review the lease. saying they looked at it and said it was no problem. >> well, i've heard a lot of these stories of people hiding behind the washington lawyers, including the washington lawyers at the general service administration that signed off on the lease for the hotel. completely bogus opinion there. here, we may have a lawyer who wasn't told all the relevant facts. for example, this lobbyist or the wife of the lobbyist owns the place. the lobbyist is clearly trying to influence the epa. this is somebody who funded his political campaigns.

i'll let the lawyer wasn't told all the facts. even if the lawyer was, the fact of the matter is, washington, d.c. lawyers all the time are covering up more ethics violations by government officials. that's why we need to clean we washington. that's why voters are sick and tired of what's going on inside the beltway. >> can he get away with it? is this over and done with? >> if the president wants to keep him in there in the environmental protection or pollution agency, whatever they're doing, the president's not going to remove him. this president doesn't want to take action when people violate the law. he didn't fire kellyanne conway when she violated the hatch act. he himself is in violation of the constitution when he's getting all that $500 or $600 a night from the foreign governments over at his hotel. this administration has no respect for the law and now they're talking about putting -- don't know if they're going to do it -- put pruitt in the justice department and try to get him involved with trying to fire robert mueller. if they do that, they're all

going to go to jail, that's what's going to happen. >> richard painter, thank you. former white house ethics lawyer under george w. bush. today we are honoring martin luther king jr. on the 50th anniversary of his assassination. he was supporting the memphis sanitation workers strike in memphis. >> the same group marching today to honor dr. king and his legacy. you're watching "velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc. regularly with our ameriprise advisor. we plan for everything from retirement to college savings. giving us the ability to add on for an important member of our family. welcome home mom. with the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant.

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welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." we've been watching the markets all hour. here's a look right now, down about .75%. they were down less. markets had almost leveled off. at least nasdaq was about break-even. >> but if you think about it, the session low was 510. the take-away, the market seems to like larry kudlow comments. not so much comments we hear out of wilbur ross and peter navarro. he was on tv at 7:30 this morning, wilbur ross, that's when the market really tanked, he was saying wars, it's okay. wars end in negotiations, no biggie. it was larry kudlow who in the last hour on the front lawn of the white house said hold your houses. >> but donald trump's tweets tend to reflect from wilbur ross and peter navarro is saying, do

not reflect what larry kudlow is saying. >> i can tell you what we've got -- volatility. >> thousands of people march on memphis to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of martin luther king jr. >> on april 4, 1968, just after 4:00 in the evening, king steps out of his hotel room of the lorraine motel. a rifle is fired. an hour later king is pronounced dead and american history changed forever. >> for more on today's mlk legacy and today's marches, tramaine lee is live in memphis. what's the mood there? >> reporter: tell you what, there is a line between celebration and commemoration. folks here mourning this very solemn day, celebrating the life and proud legacy of dr. king, fighting for equal rights for african-americans, especially in this country. while also commemorating and mourning his death. certainly a blow to progress and

justice in america. but a few thousand people out here at the american federation for state, county and municipal employees which was so instrumental in bringing dr. king to memphis in 1968 when 1,300 black sanitation workers went on strike demanding equal pay and respect and safety conditions. dr. king's family say in order to truly memorialize their father's legacy, you need to march in step with what had he believed, which was justice, human rights, demilitarization. but also when he died, he died fighting for poor people, going to a poor people's campaign. dr. king famously said, what good is it for african-americans to sit at a lunch counter with white folks if they cannot afford to buy a coffee or hamburger? so again today, a question we've been asking for decades, where do we go from here? how do we respond to dr. king's call for justice?

the king family say there needs to be a revolution of values in america. when you look out at this crowd of thousands, you see signs, "unite here." "i am." still in that tradition dr. king fought for. and the sanitation workers here in memphis, that, "i am a man," "i should be valued." in recent weeks we've seen gun people marching all across this country against gun violence. again here we are in memphis. it is an exuberant day. looks good out here. >> beautiful day. thanks so much, tramaine lee joining us from memphis. as we honor mlk today, we've got a very, very special monumental american. >> we want to honor civil rights legend and activist ella baker, often called the mother of the civil rights movement, the granddaughter of slaves. baker spent the 1940s as a field

secretary for the naacp traveling to small towns urging people to organize peacefully for equal rights. her visits touched countless future activists, including rosa parks. >> she was also one of the co-organizers of dr. martin luther king jr.'s group the southern christian leadership conference. she help set its national agenda, ran its atlanta office and served as its acting executive director. baker also worked to end school segregation and ran voter registration drives throughout her career. she passed away at the age of 83 in 1986. >> if you've got a "monumental american," please tweet us. we love getting these from you. >> that is always the favorite part of our show. thanks for watching this hour of "velshi & ruhle." >> i'm ali velshi. i'll be back here at 3:00 p.m. >> i'm back at 9:00. >> don't forget -- it is national hug a news person

today. >> this is for "andrea mitchell reports." >> and i need those hugs. right now -- mission accomplished? the president argued with his own military leaders about withdrawing u.s. troops from syria. reluctantly agreed with the top brass to stay a little while longer, this after causing a national security scramble with his comments on tuesday. >> i want to get out. i want to bring our troops back home. i want to start rebuilding our nation. think of it -- $7 trillion over 17-year period, we have nothing. nothing. except death and destruction. it's a horrible thing. so it's time. it's time. inside the mueller probe. robert mueller says the president is not a criminal target in the russia probe but is a subject. critics say this may be to lure him into an interview with the special counsel. >> he is now considered a "subject," not a "criminal target." but somewhere if the middle,