lectures into princeton" one more piece that gives you part of the greatest story ever told, the greatest story of america. thanks, rick. that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage now. thank you very much. it's 9:00 a.m. on the east coast and we have a lot to get to this morning. and you're in luck. our team of nbc news reporters are here to explain the issues affecting your life today. president trump set to unveil his new immigration plan suggesting a merit-based system that would prioritize immigrants with specific skills. this as an nbc news exclusive report reveals plans for u.s. military to build six new tent cities near the southern border to house migrants. two more states are moving forward on anti-abortion bills after alabama's governor officially signs the country's most restrictive abortion law,

leaving even some religious conservatives in the state of shock. >> i think alabama has gone too far. some breaking news right here in new york city, our mayor, bill de blasio, officially throws his hat in the 2020 presidential run ring. >> working americans deserve better, and i know we can do it because i've done it here in the largest,ing toughest city in this country. we have to put working people first. >> as i said, a lot to cover but we must start with president trump's immigration plan, which will be unveiling in just a few hours from now. mariana intensio is live at the southern border. first i want to go to julia ainsley, who covers immigration. the president is expected to enroll a two-prong planned and i heard from rechtives for jared kushner this could be a big

pivot. what does it look like? >> it's interesting. first it deals with legal immigrant. these are people seeking legally to enter to get a visa. right now a lot of those go to people coming in on a lottery-based system or humanitarian issues. they want to change that and have those visas go to high-skilled workers. first, stephanie, they would have to pass a civics test. then they would be awarded points based on their age, english proficiency, offer of employment and even how much that offer would include, what their salary would be and base rd on those points they decide who comes in. they want more visas going to people based on merit. then when it comes to the border, they want a tougher immigration plan, they want more border security, wall in 33 areas, streamline the asylum process and turn back unaccompanied children who arrive from central america more quickly. all of these things sound familiar about the border security, it's because they've been tried before. they've been held up in our courts and they haven't worked.

as far as the legal changes, we understand this could be dead on arrival because they're not including daca, which is something democrats say they have to see in order to consider legislation. of course, they're in control of the house. so while this could be a pivot, this is something where the president is now starting to focus more on the legal part of the system, something stephen miller looked at. they're also not trying to bring down the overall number of legal immigrants, something stephen miller wanted, instead rearranging the categories. but this isn't likely to go through because they're not addressing the hot issue buttons of the day like the asylum back log and daca. >> i want to go to the border city of el paso, texas. mariana, we learned the u.s. military will be building a handful of tent cities at the border. tell us about that. >> steph, the plan is to build tent cities in six locations near the border to house 7,500

migrants. and it is i.c.e., not the military, that will be in charge of migrant detention and support. but like julia said, in places like el paso, it is the humanitarian issues that locals feel are not really being addressed to a large extent. when you talk to wayne garcia from anunation house here, he tells me a thousand migrants are dropped off in the streets of el paso every day. it is a crisis that is overcrowding the shelters, that is spilling on to the streets and the city is having to pick up the slack. unfortunately, steph, last night we learned about the death of a 2-year-old child from guatemala after being apprehended by cdp. i spoked to the counsel here. he tells me the child was at the hospital for over a month and is now the fourth child from that country who has died after crossing the border and after having been apprehended by cdp.

this underscores the continuing human toll of this administration's actions on immigration. >> humanitarian crisis indeed, a 2-year-old. now let's go to peter alexander at the white house. you're reporting about what specifically sparked the trump administration to escalate warnings in iran. peter, what is going on? there's so many mixed messages right now. >> "the new york times" is reporting the intelligence that raised this threat level came in the form of photographs of missiles on small boats in the persian gulf. they were put on board by iranian paramilitary forces, "the times" cites three u.s. officials for that reporting. the report said the missiles were fully assembled which sparked fears the iran guard would fire naval ships. you remember the state department ordered the immediate evacuation of all nonemergency personnel in the u.s. embassy in

baghdad and before that, of course, deployment of u.s. aircraft carrier group to the region earlier this month. senior state department officials told us just yesterday the recent actions in their words do not mean we're rushing to a conflict, but there's certainly been a lot of scepticism among some of america's european allies about the way this intelligence is being assessed and about america's response to it. >> give me the palace intrigue. there's a lot of new reporting about the president being frustrated with some of its top advisers who are specifically focused on iran. national security adviser john bolton, secretary of state mike pompeo. explain this for us. >> sarah huckabee sanders just pushed back on this idea. >> of course she did. >> there's no flikriction, but expect that. we know the president focuses on these concerns and some of his advisers may be pushing the u.s. towards a military confrontation with iran. this idea would go against his populous pledge dating back to the campaign he would pull america out costly wars in

places like afghanistan and syria and we heard it from the president in his own words just in the last week he said of john bolton, remember he pushed for regime change in iran before joining the white house last year, he said he tempers bolden, it's the president himself. he makes the decision. sarah sanders trying to emphasize that point this morning. the president wants a diplomatic strategy to resolve these tensions. he said i would like to see the president of iran call me. >> president iran, call me. now i must take you to alabama where kerry sanders is standing by. the governor there called into law essentially banning abortion in the state. this is the story filling most of our social media feeds. what happens next? >> well, the law is now the law here in alabama. .gov signing really without much fanfare. she didn't even invite the media

in as she signed it. just had a photographer take a picture signing this bill. under the way things will be set up in alabama, the law will not take effect in six months but it effectively won't be enforced once it gets to that point because it's expected and we know the aclu and planned parenthood will challenge the law in court. one of the things the critics in the statehouse here were upset about, the new abortion law, most restricted now in the nation, had no exceptions, even for incest and rape. the only exception would be if the woman's life were in jeopardy. the sponsor of the bill, terry collins, said what this new law does, and the reason she's sponsored this bill is simply extend, she says, laws that exist already in the state. and she used the example of a pregnant woman driving a car, getting into a car accident and dyeing and a person who hit her being held criminally

responsible for two homicides. but this ultimately will make its way through the court system. unclear if the supreme court would accept this but the desire among conservative lawmakers here, stephanie, is challenge the roe v. wade 1973 land mark decision that established constitutionally a woman's right to end a pregnancy. >> this is certainly going to get an extraordinary amount of attention. kerry sanders, thank you very much. now i have to turn to 2020. why? another day, another contender. new york city's own mayor bill de blasio officially announcing his bid for the white house this morning, arguing that he is the candidate that can defeat the president and put working people first. >> as president i would take on the wealthy and take on the big corporations. i will not rest until this government serves the people. as mayor of the largest city in america, i've done just that. >> de blasio for president, guys! >> donald trump must be stopped.

i have beaten him before and i will do it again. >> nbc's savannah sellers is out on the subway asking what actual new yorkers think of the mayor joining the race. savannah, those people on the subway, they specifically know the mayor, two terms. what are they telling you? >> yes, so last month in a quinnipiac poll 76% of new yorkers said they do not think he should run for president. every party, age, racial and borough group listed agreed on that. and from what i heard this morning, so are new yorkers just riding the subway getting ready for their morning commute. here's what they had to say -- >> what do you it think about mayor de blasio announcing he's running for president. >> very disappointed. >> my concern is how there's a lot of democrats running for president, and it makes it complicated. >> he needs help, seriously.

the guy has done jack. >> what do you think about de blasio running for president? >> i don't know. there are a lot of other good candidates for democrats out there. does he excite me most? no. but i do like him. >> i think he should have announced on the first of april. >> why is that. >> because it would have been a good fool's day joke. >> well, savannah, he's right, new yorkers are tough. >> yeah, exactly. it's been a fun morning out here. one person actually heard me ask that question and had not heard the announcement yet and shouted, is that a joke? and started hysterically laughing. it's been fun et letting new yorkers get a little frustration off their chest. >> new yorkers keep it real. if you haven't seen "the new york post" yet, quite a cover. just a whole group of people laughing. savannah sellers, thank you very much. american alone, not american first. the president's latest actions

against iran and china are putting the united states at odds with our own allies. we're going to talk about his high-risk, low-reward tactics. you're in luck. we're going to speak to one of the smartest people on the planet when it comes to global political risk. rand later we told you the alabama governor signed the most restrictive abortion law last night. two more states advance their laws. we will tell you which ones and impact on the 2020 race. clearly that women's march is making its way into 2020. way i0 there goes our first big order. ♪ 44, 45, 46... how many of these did they order? ooh, that's hot. ♪ you know, we could sell these. nah. ♪ we don't bake. ♪ opportunity. what we deliver by delivering.

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president trump taking on the world, and the world is pushing back. we're talking places like iran, china and north korea, all presenting foreign policy challenges with one common thread, high stakes and not a lot of good objections. the president of the u asia group that focuses on global political risk,ky not imagine a better person to talk to on this. in your opinion, what is the biggest risk, what is the biggest worry you have right now? >> biggest worry is in the last 2 1/2 years we have not not had a foreign policy crisis at all, despite all of the headlines. i don't think that's sustainable much longer. we've seen significant escalation in the confrontations with our relations with a number of countries around the world. we talked about venezuela, talked about iran, talked about north korea, talked about china.

one of those things is probably going to break in an ugly way. i'm not going to predict to you that it's going to be this one next week but the trajectories are all hard and likely of accidents going up. >> it seems in the case of iran we're getting closer and closer to a lot of possible confrontation and there's a lot of mixed messages. how do you see thing there's? >> when we left the iranian nuclear deal, iranians took the calculation they would basically suck up the economic hardship and hope trump would only get one turn. in other words, wait it out. and pompeo knew that and he advised the president if this happens and we only get one term, our policy will fail and bolton is the guy who really wants regime change so they decided to ratchet up the economic pressure. as a consequence iran is in a much deeper recession than they expected and they're starting to lash out, starting to break some

of the components of the iranian nuclear deal, that they had been living up to. also, we've seen attacks now against four tankers in the uae. i suspect iranians were indeed behind that. we don't have proof of this. they were empty. but they were showing they could close the straights of ver muse, for example. they could get around that. and there are people in the trump administration, national security adviser john bolton, that would love to get the iraniania iranians to take the back so we can hit them hard. we have to recognize that's how it goes. >> what position does all of this put us in vis-a-vis russia? we know the president and vladimir putin have a very good relationship. but if you look at what we're doing in iran and venezuela policy wise, we're not in line with russia.

>> not at all. trump really likes putin. he admires putin and doesn't want to say anything mean about him. in terms of trump's policy towards america you can easily make the argument this is the most problematic set of policies the russians have seen since the soviet union. >> that's what pompeo says. >> venezuela, we have an american government that is trying to collapse the regime that the russians support. iran, same thing. ukraine under trump you actually see sending of weapons. >> so pompeii is right when he says this is the toughest administration when it comes to russia? just not meddling. >> pompeo refuses to talk about the fact trump personally is not in line with that policy. the question is this, if you're the russians looking at 2020 elections, we know they're going to meddle, but do we know trump is actually good for them? the trump administration policy,

i think that's an active discussion inside the kremlin right now. >> let's talk about the active discussion on trading floors and in farms. what do you think is happening with trump and russia and these negotiations? the president is claiming he's got leverage with these tariffs, he's got china backed into a corner. does he really? >> the chinese are taking much bigger economic hardship from the tariffs so far than americans are. the u.s. economy is doing a lot better right now than the chinese economy is and we're a lot bigger. and we buy a lot more from them than they buy from us. we've got a lot of leverage. but the next round of tariffs if we were to implement then would be ones on all of the consumer durables americans buy. if we do that, we will see it and feel it. it will be all over the media. >> and does he take care of the country if he's suffering economically? >> yes, he does. he's not a democrat but he

doesn't want to look weak and doesn't want his economy to start cratering. if you look in the last three months it's all been state, state, state because they've got to keep their numbers relatively robust. so i do believe that the chinese are taking very seriously that they want to get to a deal. and get to a deal before the g20 meeting in osaka next month. if that happens, trump will look pretty good on u.s./china. but yesterday the trump administration also put really tough policies in place on huawei and 5g, trying to hit the chinese really hard, trying to get allies in europe not to use chinese companies for 5g, use american companies. >> but huawei signed a letter that said we will behave. >> they did. trust and verify. they're not going to do that. >> ian bremer, thank you so much. i told you, the global expert on

political risk. up next, two more states move forward with anti-abortion bills. a mayor from one of the states will join me on what the voters there actually think of these plans. before we go, this is a story you may have missed yesterday. president trump issued two more pardons. one to former republican legislator patrick nolan who spent 29 months in prison for racketeering and once released became director for the center of criminal justice reform at the american conservative union foundation. the other a little more controversial pardon went to conrad black, a media mogul convicted of fraud in 2007 who last year oddly enough published a biography of you guessed it, president trump, titled "donald j. trump: a press like no other."

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alabama, kentucky, ohio, mississippi, georgia, utah, arkansas. in state after state, the most restrictive abortion legislation in decades is being passed and signed into law with extraordinary speed. new regulations advance in missouri and louisiana's legislatures in just the last 24 hours. any one of these abortion laws will be among the most restrictive we have seen since

roe versus wade was decided 46 years ago. democratic presidential candidates, no surprise, have led the charge in criticizing the laws, particularly the restrictions in alabama. the question, will reproductive rights end up being kier issue that could lead one of them to the white house. i want to bring in the white house reporter from "l.a. times," elise jordan, aid to the george w. bush white house and her first time here, sharon westin-brown, the mayor of baton rouge, louisiana. your state is moving towards passing its own heartbeat bill that would limit abortions at six weeks. take us local, how do your constituents feel about that legislation? >> i'm glad you said that, to take it locally, because certainly it is a state issue. louisiana already has a path and history around that issue. but as a mayor of the city, a growing and thriving city, i will tell you that my

constituents would prefer we look at things more holistically. for example, what is happening with families in poverty? what do we do about parents who are trying to put their children on a trajectory of success? that's why as the mayor i have looked at programs and implemented our programs such as cradle to k, empowering parents who sometimes don't know what to do when they have a baby and how they put that child on a trajectory of success. we all know early childhood development is essential for families to have success in life. and so from a holistic point of view, i think we should broaden the discussion. >> but is abortion legislation a priority? >> i would say from a statewide perspective in the louisiana legislature, it's become a priority. but when i talk to my folks on the local level as a mayor, they're concerned about closing

the income gap, being able to earn a living so they can pay their bills and maintain their dignity and as a mayor, that's what we're trying to do. we're meoving to close those gaps, bring more equity and inclusion and open up opportunities and for families. i want to see the families in my city thrive and prosper on every little. >> most political there, just looking to get buy and hopefully thrive. a stunning reaction from tv evangelist and anti-abortion advocate, some could say godfather, pat be rrobertson. i know you have seen it but i must show it again. >> i think alabama has gone too far. they passed a law that would give 99-year prison sentence for people who commit abortion, no exception for rape and incest. it's an extreme law.

they want tole challenge roe versus wade but in my humble view, this is not the way to bring the case to the supreme court. >> you know jumped the shark when pastor robinson is calling you out. look at the track record, roy moore backing roy moore, losing a senate seat in alabama to the democrats. and this is more of a culture war that maybe it resonates at the state level, maybe a national level. but in terms of pragmatic changes in the day-to-day life of men and women like your constituents, it is a galvanizing issue and great issue in 2020 for democrats if republicans overstep. >> eli, if it's a great issue 2020 for democrats, where does the president come down on this? is it something he wants to talk about? his evangelical base to this point is bulletproof. two supreme courts and record number of federal judges on the

bench, and they like it. >> i think that pat robertson quote is really interesting. that may be an indication the president will take his time before responding and talking about this specific legislation and trying to figure out which way the wind is blowly politically here. on the whole he's looked at abortion as a way to hammer home his bona fide with the social conservatives. the president himself being married three times, he's had to prove those credentials to those voters, and he's done so. he's never shied away from culture war type of issues. he's the first president to speak at the march for life. this is the guy who's really tried to use this issue to drive wage and to identify himself as one with the social conservative movement, but he's also a survivalist. he will hem and haw on some of these issues. i can see a case where he could go either way on this. he could turn this into a big fight and say republicans need to stay strong and fight to stop

abortion, and to curtail abortion rights, or he could potentially look at this and shy away from taking such a stance because this specific legislation could backfire on him and on republicans. >> driving a wedge is the president's forte. jared kushner wants this immigration plan that's going to be rolled out today to be what unites republicans and maybe even democrats. do you think it has a chance? >> it has about as much of a chae chance as jared kushner's middle east plan. it's dead on arrival. you have republican lawmakers making fun of this bill privately and talking about how jared kushner is just wasting his time yet again on another pointless mission. the president's own team is divided as to what they want in immigration. you have stephen miller fighting internally and not wanting any kind of reform and to continue down a more draconian path. they have to solve their differences amongst themselves before they try to go to congress with a plan.

>> mayor , what is your thought? you have constituents who are trying to live their best lives. what is the take on the president saying we're full, we got more space, i want to put my people to work. >> well, louisiana has a history of being international state in baton rouge, international community. look at the fabric of louisiana, our culture, the french, the africans, cajun, creole. that's part of who we are. in baton rouge, we're a welcoming city. we have people all over who are part of our research sector, who are part of uplifting our community and every spear here influence so we understand the straight of diversity in baton rouge, louisiana. >> the president is rolling out that plan later. no doubt, there will be big response. eli, do you think any chance it passes? this is just the first swing. we don't know what the final draft will look like. >> the fact they haven't reached out to democrats at all and tried to gage their support or

put any sweeteners related to dreamers or dacas, this just tells you it's maceaging exercise for republicans. they're trying to get everybody on their side on the spaeth here and really trying to -- maybe if people pay attention to details here, reframe the debate and say the president is not trying to limit immigration, just wants different kinds of folks coming in. he wants merit based rather based on family ties. but that's probably a thing that's going to get lost here specifically because the plan has no hopes of going anywhere until they start working with democrats. >> we will see what happens. eli, maryor, please stick aroun. coming up, we hear 2020 democrats talking climate change but local leaders are taking action now because they need to. the extraordinary cover of tooi "time" magazine. magazine. nothing says summer like a beach trip,

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many argue climate change is just a talking point of the far left and lawmakers like alexandria oscasio-cortez. but yesterday some of the mayors of various nations proved that wrong. presidents of bt, shell, dupont and ford teamed up with environmental groups to urge

president trump and congress to act swiftly on climate change. i will say that again, oil companies are calling on the trump administration to take action on climate change. that meeting prompted "the washington post" editorial board to ask republicans to, quote, wake up. without action from the federal government, responsibility is falling on local communities, communities like baton rouge, louisiana, where thousands of homes were destroyed in that massive 2016 flood. and on the next generation, and climate activists like 16-year-old greta tomburg, featured on this cover of "time" magazine, her sellolo protest outside the swedish parliament turned into a worldwide campaign, with people in 133 countries joining her strike. the man behind that cover story joins me now and mayor sharon weston broome is back with me. mayor, climate change isn't a term we often hear locally but it is a major focus for your

city. you were displaced when the floods came. >> absolutely. 2016 we had a 1,000 year flood that impacts thousands of residents in our area. and so we have been taking steps proactively to look at water management and resiliency. we all know that flooding is not just taking place in the south and places like louisiana or baton rouge but all over the midwest. so we're glad that in louisiana specifically in baton rouge, we have the water institute of the south, which is now becoming an internationally recognized institute researching water and its impact on countries, on cities, on communities, and how do we become more resilient as a community? we're also looking at things through, of course, the lens of technology. implementing gis mapping as we look at communities and

potential of them flooding so we're taking very proactive steps to come up with solutions. >> you're doing it on the city front. do you have the federal funding you need? and when talk to voters, do they say to you climate change is an issue, or are they saying survival, which by the way are kind of the same thing? >> i will tell you, they're saying survival is an issue. so why we know there's undoubtedly climate change involved in this, my folks are really concerned about how do we stay safe in the midst of floods that displace us, that destroy us, and how do we prepare for the next event? so that is what we're doing. we're shoring up citizens and communities with information. we're doing the research so we can build a better resilient community in baton rouge. >> ben, your cover story really is about the next generation leaders who are not necessarily

concerned about the next event that could hit tomorrow, but they're worried about the earth being inhabitable for the rest of their lives. >> they're responding to the profound inaction of the generations before them. it's not a coincidence we have activists like greta and the parkland students when we have the most geriatric population in washington in history. that's not a term of derigs, it's a description. they're older than they have ever better. many young people, greta foremost among them, feel if they don't act, and act with the conviction -- >> these protests get a lot of attention but what are the actions being taken in terms of changing legislation? >> that's an essential point because the first step in anything is declaring that you simply will not stand for it anymore, and then you raise awareness. >> awareness has been raised.

>> that's exactly right. in the case of gun control, there actually were a lot of bills at the state level that were enacted, including in states with republican legislatures. at the federal level, it's virtually impossible. as we know getting anything passed in congress, particularly something that demands bipartisan cooperation, is virtually impossible at this moment. on climate change, there are -- there's the green new deal floated. it will not pass as conceived right now but it has reframed the debate and also returned climate to front and center issue, which it had not been for a long time. >> the spirit of the green new deal is getting a lot of support. but the details. you have an initiative in baton rouge focused on this. tell us about it. >> yes, we have an issue i shared with you cradle to k because we believe early childhood development puts people on a trajectory of success. we also have our mayor's summer youth program where we're

employing 500 young people throughout the community, putting them in businesses so that they can get a firsthand look at leadership, train them, empower them and mentor them and give them some money as well so they can close that gap during the summer. >> money and support and positive reinforcement. that's what we need for our future. thank you both so much. really important conversation. next, the president's trade combatle intensifies as trump launches a second attack, this time on china's biggest telecom company huawei. why that matters next. i've always had a knack for finding things... colon cancer, to be exact. and i find it noninvasively... no need for time off or special prep. it all starts here... you collect your sample, and cologuard uses the dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers. you can always count on me to know where to look. oh, i found them! i can do this test now! ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. covered by medicare and most major insurers.

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really important conversation. really important conversation. trade time. president trump's escalating trade war with china is showing few signs of slowing down. and now the white house is taking on tech and the chinese telecom giant huawei. in a two-part move, president trump declared a national emergency over foreign threats against american technology by issuing an executive order giving commerce secretary wilber ross the ability to ban companies deemed a national security threat. directly after that announcement, the congress department added huawei to the entity list, meaning u.s. companies cannot do business with huawei without the department's approval. joining me now, ben white,

economic correspondent for politico. that's a big move. you made an argument all along that it is all about tech theft, intellectual property. it's a big deal they're taking on huawei. >> it's a huge deal and obviously a critical thing for the united states. 5g is what it's all about. the next giant infrastructure thing in the united states is to build out the network and chinese want to be involved in that. and if huawei is embedded in all of the technology being 0 built out for 5g, there's a national security risk there. i think there's bipartisan support we have to be careful how american businesses do business with huawei, what equipment they're putting in our network. i don't think this will spark outrage among democrats but it complicates the china talks a little bit. >> it complicates the china talks but let's go back to the tariffs. the president has said this thing is no big deal, tariffs are good. can this drive us into a

recession? >> it can if it gets to full-scale trade war. >> which china says it has. >> right. it's definitely hurting the chinese. we're their biggest export market. they don'tus, already hurting us in terms of higher consumer prices. if you get to 25% tariffs on $550 billion, that's a huge price increase for americans. if we're going to tip into recession, that's one thing that could do it. >> what is it doing to china? evenian just joined me and said the chinese are going to make a deal. >> it's always possible. trump is playing a leverage play on theory that it's too painful for them. they need the u.s. consumer. they need to sell stuff to the u.s. consumer. the chinese are playing a much longer game here and willing to suffer some of the short-term consequences rather than give up what is a fundamentally planned economy, a fundamental state-sponsored effort to build up their technology which

requires u.s. technology transfer. i'm not sure they won't suffer short-term pain in order to keep their structure in place. >> take me inside the white house. you know larry kudlow well. "the washington post" reporting that the president and his economic adviser exchanged words, i would say, a back and forth over larry kudlow basically admitting, yes, this is going to hurt consumers and the president saying enough talk about who it's going to hurt. what's really going on between the two of them? couple that with the president suggesting the fed should lower interest rates to help with his tariffs issue. what's happening? >> between larry and the president, they obviously have different views on tariffs. >> always have. >> i think what really made trump mad was not that larry is saying things that are true, which is consumers pay the actual cost of tariffs, but he doesn't want any dissension in the ranks at the white house because the chinese will pick up on that. he's saying, even if you believe this, fine. but let's keep a party line

externally. that's what this was about. on the fed front, he loves to bang on the fed. it's not usually the fed's job to support the president's weird trade policy. in this instance, if it tips us towards recession, they might wind up doing it. him talking about it, makes it harder for him to do. >> imagine that, if all this gets to the president's ultimate goal of lowering rates. >> exactly. >> i read a reaction that the trump administration gave a brazilian meat packing company, a $62 million bailout for pork products from a program specifically meant to help american farmers, and while all of that is happening, the justice department has been investigating the company for possible violations of foreign corrupt practices act. what's going on here? >> it's a truly nuts thing. the fact we would be paying bailout money to brazilians who are corrupt and under investigation by the justice department, goes to show you how weird things get when you're doing bailouts for american farmers, based on the fact you can't sell into china because of

the tariffs we put on american consumers. it's so convoluted and weird and mott the way republicans typically approach free enterprise, to bail out farmers. it winds outgoing to brazilians. in one case it was going to go to smithfield which is owned by the chinese. that would be paying the chinese taxpayer money after the trade war we started. it's bizarre. >> a pork processor proving that how the sausage gets made is disgusting literally and metaphorically. coming up, stacy abrams will be here, surprised many when she decided to skip a senate run. she'll be joining my colleague hallie jackson to announce the kickoff of her statewide movement and why she thinks it's more important than a possible chance to head to our nation's capital. it's all about voter suppression. next to a rural county that went twice for obama before flipping to president trump in 2016. are voters there happy with

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2016 giving a big majority vote to president trump. nbc's cal perry is in lieu certain county where he spoke with trump voters about whether the president has lived up to his promises. cal, what are they telling you? >> reporter: for the trump voters it's about the economy and keeping trump on the message, whether or not the reality is trump is improving the economy, that's the message they're putting out there. good example, a lot of jobs created along i-81. these are low paying jobs, something that donald trump will flag as something he did that maybe we're not hearing the whole truth on. for democrats, it's about lessons learned. it's about how to prevent what happened two years ago. we talked to the man who runs the democratic party now in luzerne county. we asked how do you prevent what happened two years ag gao. here is what he says. >> there are many theories as to why it turned in the 2016 election. my theory is because hillary

clinton really didn't have a strong presence here. donald trump visited the area many times, built up a lot of enthusiasm. i think hillary took it for granted that this was her home ground and didn't spend a lot of time here. i think you need to do that. >> reporter: one of the things he stressed to us, it's not just about a ground presence, also about an online presence. that's something he's improved, creating these various pages, especially a facebook page. the choice of a candidate for the democratic party is something will tell you here is key. if you pick somebody that's a little too progressive, elderly voters in this state -- and they're the ones that come out every time -- might have an issue with it. democrats here are hoping joe biden steps up and becomes the guy. >> we'll soon find out. cal, we'll be tuning in tonight. you can see more of cal's interviews this evening. that will be "the deciders" right here on msnbc. that wraps us up this hour. i'm stephanie ruhle. i'm see you at 1:00 p.m. with my

partner ali velshi. coming up right now, more news with hallie jackson. stacey abrams, that will be great. >> the georgia democrat is making big news here as we welcome you to washington. she's still thinking about her own political path she fights to make sure every person in her state counts. we'll explain that later this hour in a conversation you will not want to miss. plus look at the inside scoop from joe biden's 2020 team and why they may reportedly be plotting a, quote, early kill. but we start at the white house, working to rally republicans around a new immigration push that does little to get democrats to the table. the president today will explain details of that plan to make sweeping changes to the country's legal i'm grace system. we'll preview what's in it in a minute. here is what is not in it, anything related to the 11 million undocumented people living here and anything r