>> kristen welker at

kristen welker is following it from the white house. let's break down what we know. it sounds like big money for

kristen welker having worked this story all day joining us tonight. we're also joined by eli stoeckels who played a big role in the reporting of this story. eli, specifically for viewers who weren't with us at the top of the last hour, i was saying i knew this looked likely when i saw a piece you co-authored talking about the president's son-in-law kind of leading the infrm search for the people to replace the national security adviser who have not yet officially resigned. how does that bank shot work? >> well, i don't think it was just jared kushner, i mean, this was a thing that it was taking place inside the administration that went above kushner all the way to the president doing more reporting on this over the last 24 hours or so. we understand that the president at mar-a-lago this weekend was grousing to people about mike flynn, expressing regret he had put him in this position and yet we also in talking to people today understand that the president still was very conflicted about what to do at the end of the day. he was very cognizant of the me

kristen welker having worked this story all day joining us tonight. we're also joined by eli stoeckels who played a big role in the reporting of this story. eli, specifically for viewers who weren't with us at the top of the last hour, i was saying i knew this looked likely when i saw a piece you co-authored talking about the president's son-in-law kind of leading the search for the people to replace the national security adviser who have not yet officially resigned. how does that bank shot work? >> well, i don't think it was just jared kushner, i mean, this was a thing that it was taking place inside the administration that went above kushner all the way to the president doing more reporting on this over the last 24 hours or so. we understand that the president at mar-a-lago this weekend was grousing to people about mike flynn, expressing regret he had put him in this position and yet we also in talking to people today understand that the president still was very conflicted about what to do at the end of the day. he was very cognizant of the message

kristen welker is getting set. mr. velshi, since we have two alis i'll be specific. >> dodd-frank in 2010 kamd after chris dodd and barney frank in the wake of the financial crisis and of it a lot of different bills that became one and no part of the financial system it didn't touch. republicans have hated this from the beginning, said it was an overreach and preventing business from being done, it's really curtailing business. they wanted to get rid of this for a while. mitt romney campaigned on getting rid of it entirely. i think what we'll see in the executive order because it's a bill there's little that the president can do about it. seems he'll direct the treasury secretary to speak to the various agencies regulatory agencies that deal with everything to d with finances and have them lk at ways in which it can be rolled back. it's not clear whether they'll completely do away with the bill, try to pair it back. donald trump wants 75% reduction in regulation. coprobably get it by getting it all out of dodd-frank. w

kristen welker is still with us. given the questions, do you believe there's going to be an investigation? >> reporter: there certainly could be. i think the questions today, for the white house are going to hone in on everything you are talking about. when did president trump know that his national security adviser had had these conversations. has he seen the transcriptions of those conversations with the russian ambassador and if the acting attorney general, in fact, raised alarm bells for the white house last month, why did it take until this point to actually have him tender his resignation? i think those are the questions. you have calls on capitol hill for an in-depth briefing from the white house about this tick tok of events. i anticipate the calls are going to grow. >> carl, i want to play for you a conversation our own matt lauer had on the "today" show. take a listen. >> last month, the justice department warned the white house that general flynn had misled them and that as a result, he was vulnerable to b

. >> that first question about general mike flynn coming from our own kristen welker. let's go into that room where peter alexander, our other colleague is standing by to talk to us about that. quite a press conference that was. peter, he would have directed general mike flynn to talk sanctions with the russian ambassador? >> yeah, that's exactly right. the bottom line here, and you travel on the campaign so you and i both know this well from news conference, it's gobble pick a headline. there were so many from this more than hour-long news conference with president trump. he referred to the situation with russia as a rouse. he said the real story wasn't just fake news but what he described as the criminal acts, the leaks that have been out there as well. but despite making that statement, he also said that he fired mike flynn because he had misled the vice president. if that were the case, the only reason the president was alerted to this -- or mike flynn was alerted to this is because of the reporting by "the washington post" on that topic. in effect, he said here, i

i want to go to kristen welker. let's pick up where craig left off here, this idea that the president wants part of his legacy to be his relationship with members of the african-american community in this country. that said, he has had a notable lack of diversity in his cabinet. when you look at the numbers, you when you look at the people surrounding him. you saw dr. ben carson ak rosa, who is someone we often see in the west wing. talk about how you see this visit playing out and reverberate around the country. >> i do think to some extent it fits into that broader narrower, which is the president wants a reset and i think that applies to the african-american communities of color. up heard a president who was very definitive today when he spoke about the contributions of the african-american community and in terms of deannouncing some of the anti-semitism and the uptick in terms of threats against jewish community centers. this was the most definitive we have heard him in terms of talking about that, both in his p

kristen welker is still in the briefing room for us over at the white house. join in the conversation here. >> reporter: hallie, the treasury department putting out a little bit more of an explain a explainer. it says today's action is part of treasury's ongoingfforts to counter irani malign activity brought that is outside the scope of that u.n. resolution we talked about. we were talking about a dozen individuals who have been sanctioned and about a dozen business entities as well. what does it mean for them and for those who would do business with them. all property and interests in property of thos designated today subject to u.s. jurisdiction are blocked and u.s. persons are prohibited from interacting with them. this administration trying to take a very hard line in wake of what you call provocations. but as you've been discussing with ari arouzi, there may be some backlash on this as well. >> we want to note at this moment in the west wing kristen have president trump meeting, president trump not taking questions about the sanctions at this time. in the

>> kristen welker at the white house, thank you. >>> the trump administration deciding to keep one of president obama's executive orders in place, protecting the rights of the lgbt employees working for federal contractors. >>> there is drama swirling around president trump's nominee for secretary of education. as democrats raise concerns about her qualifications and now this, a report that some of her answers appear to be copied from multiple sources without attribution. we get details from nbc's chief education correspondent rehema ellis. >> reporter: betsy devos was approved by the senate committee by just one vote after a fiery discussion about her qualifications to be secretary of education. >> it is hard to imagine a candidate less qualified or more dangerous. >> i think she'll be an excellent education secretary because she cares about children. >> reporter: today, "the washington post" reported, answers she provided to senators seemed copied, almost word for word, from an obama administration official's old press release. writing, "every child deserves to attend school in a sa

. >> craig joins me back from his exclusive interview and alongside kristen welker at the white house. craig, this was fascinating because of the venue, this new museum, which has gotten so many important rave reviews taken has become a centerpiece of washington in its infancy really and here the president going and you interviewing him and talking about some of the most controversial issues of race, of immigrati immigration, and of ethnicity and religion. >> the president, one of the things that struck me andrea, was that he seemed genuinely moved by what he had seen at the museum ahead of our conversation. he spent about an hour walking around the museum, asking questions of the folks there, and really you know, his tone, if you will. we've heard the president at times full of bluster. there was none of that today. last question i want to talk to you about the violence at jewish centers across the country. >> you were talking with him, and in talking with him he seems much more reflective and he also said that he speaks out on these things whenever he can. we haven't really heard hi

my colleague kristen welker standing by there. it was a relatively short speech, about ten minutes. what did he include? >> it was a short speech, kate. it was si

the fbi, russia, kristen welker has been following all of this. i know a senior administration official very fiercely, very heatedly pushed back against some of this reporting. walk us through what we know and how the white house is responding. >> reporter: you're right, hallie. it was fierce, strong, robust pushback at times, senior administration officials becoming straight agitated. here's the story and here's the pushback. this relates to a cnn report that the white house tried to pressure the fbi to knock down a "new york times" report that came out back in february that said that trump campaign officials had frequent contact with russian intelligence officials. worth noting our reporting at the time dialed that story, that initial "new york times" story back a little bit. here's the white house's version of events. they say when that "new york times" story broke, chief of staff reince priebus had a separate meeting with top officials at the fbi on a separate matter here at the white house and then deputy director andrew mccabe asked for a pu

kristen welker leads us off with late details. >> reporter: tonight mounting questions at the white house after national security advisor mike flynn was forced to resign late last night after misleading the president, the vice president and others about discussing sanctions with russia's ambassador before the inauguration. >> this was an act of trust. whether or not he actually misled the vice president was the issue. that was ultimately what led to the president asking for and accepting be resignation of general flynn. >> reporter: the key questions tonight, what did the president know, when did he know it and why did the president keep flynn on board for nearly three weeks after the president found out he had been mislead? nbc news learned vice president pence was not told for 15 days after the president and white house knew. meaning, no one told pence that he had been sent out to say something false about flynn, the only reason pence was informed, apparently an impending media report that would cast doubt on pence's own honesty. >> why not immediately act? why wait another two and a ha

kristen welker was talking about this. this was in his speech he gave in florida. let's listen to what he said and we can talk about it. he was talking about terrorists. >> and all across europe you've seen what happened in paris and nice. all over europe it's happening. it's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported. in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. they have their reasons and you understand that. >> what is he talking about? >> well, let's remember that for the last eight years we had an administration who refused to say radical islamic terrorism. hillary clinton refused to say it in the campaign. i think it's actually a large part of why we have president trump right now. you also had an administration who called isis the jv team. and then misled the public about attacks in benghazi, et cetera. the point being that you then had the media follow suit where they were incredibly hesitant to ever report on the motives, even if we knew the motives at the time. so, i think that this is part of a larger trend of the me

>> kristen welker also as the white house today, thanks. >>> a very busy day in washington. that includes a high-stakes meeting at the white house. president trump with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu discussing middle east peace and the president making some controversial comments that break with past presidents of both parties. here is our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell with more. >> reporter: president trump rolled out the red carpet for israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu. the pomp and circumstance of a state visit, plus, melania's debut at a white house arrival ceremony. a mood change but also a major policy shift. the new president backing away from four decades of bipartisan u.s. support for a palestinian state. side by side with israel, known as the two-state solution. >> i'm looking at two state and one state and i like the one that both parties like. >> reporter: the personal animosity between israel's prime minister and president obama gone. >> our alliance has been remarkably strong. but under your leadership, i am confident

we get details from our white house correspondent kristen welker. >> as the debate rages about america's healed care system, president trump taking fresh aim at obamacare during his speech at an conservative conference today. >> obamacare doesn't work, folks. >> new details about a republican plan about repealing and replacing the law, a draft proposal obtained by nbc news calls for gutting the original mandate, meaning no penalty for those who don't buy insurance, but if healthy people opt out it could drive up prices for the elderly and sick. eliminating subsidies, republicans want to give tax credits based on age instead of income. rolling back the medicaid expansion. but giving states the control to cover lower income patients with grants. and to help those with preexisting conditions? states will be given money to create high-risk pools. obamacare recipients worry they would pay more. >> kathy and i both would be put into some kind of a pool and charged higher premiums. because of the various health care issues that we have. >> two top republican sources say the aim is to lower cost

nbc's kristen welker reports. >> reporter: president trump aiming to fortify his relationship with justin trudeau. the two leaders meeting for the first time. it comes as the president faces a major foreign policy test with a foe after north korea fired a ballistic missile over the weekend the president responded in his strongest terms yet. >> north korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly. >> reporter: but over the weekend questions surfaced after pictures appeared on social media showing the president dining with the prime minister of japan at mar-a-lago. a dinner that started after 8:00. the dinner appeared to turn into an open air strategy session onlookers told cnn. top aides holding their flashlights illuminating documents. democrats wasted no time pouncing. house leader nancy pelosi tweeting there's no excuse for letting an international crisis play out in front of a bunch of country club members like dinner theater. president trump was fully briefed before dinner in a secure facility and their discussions at the meal focused on the logistics of an impro

>> kristen welker, thank you. >>> the new jobs report is out, a healthy 227,000 jobs were created in january. the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.8%. actually a sign more people re-entered the workforce. but as our business correspondent jo ling kent explains, millions of americans remain under-employed, and not by choice. >> president trump touting the number of jobs created in january. despite being in office for just two weeks. >> we're very happy about that. i think that it's going to continue big-league. >> but just last year, trump called the labor department's unemployment rate a hoax. >> don't believe those phony numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5% unemployment. the number is probably 28, 29, as high as 35. in fact i even heard recently 42%. >> that's very inaccurate because it's not even people who are necessarily looking for a job. they're actually doing something else or out of the workforce now. >> in fact, the number of under-employed did rise to 9.4% in january. people who worked part-time because they can't find full-time jobs. among them, dennis parker, a trump voter la

we get it all from nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. >> reporter: president trump aiming to fortify his relationship with key ally canadian prime minister justin trudeau. the two leaders meeting for the first time today. it comes as the president faces a major foreign policy test with a foe. after north korea fired a ballistic missile over the weekend. today the president responded in his strongest terms yet. >> north korea is a big, big problem. and we will deal with that very strongly. >> reporter: but over the weekend, questions surfaced after pictures appeared on social media showing the president dining with the prime minister of japan at his florida resort, mar-a-lago, a dinner that started just after 8:00, soon after news broke about the north korean missile launch. the dinner appeared to turn into an open-air strategy session, onlookers told cnn, top aides holding their flashlights, illuminating documents. democrats wasted no time pouncing. house minority leader nancy pelosi tweeting, there's no excuse for letting an international crisis play out in front of a bun

they say ultimately he's going to get confirmed, andrea. >> kristen welker. more ahead on "andrea mitchell reports." just moments ago, the senate confirmed betsy devos as education secretary. it was an historic move. vice president pence breaking that tie. >> the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion to table is agreed to. >> the mandatory quorum quaul be waived? >> without objection. if you're searching other travel sites to find a better price... ...stop clicking around... the lowest prices on our hotels are always at hilton.com. so pay less and get more only at hilton.com. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medi

i'm kristen welker in tonight for kate snow. we begin with the president poised to make key decisions about the nation's security, spending the day at his florida resort interviewing candidates for national security adviser after firing michael flynn last week. those high-level meetings come as we're getting our first glimpse of draft memos which detail possible new guidelines for deporting undocumented immigrants while the white house says the memos are just suggestions, immigrant rights groups are already expressing concerns. nbc's kelly o'donnell takes a closer look. >> reporter: behind the scenes at the president's mar-a-lago home in palm beach where a high-level help wanted sign is out, president trump is interviewing four job candidates today to replace the fired national security adviser, michael flynn. all with military and national security backgrounds. the white house chief of staff insisted the president's choice will not be forced to keep flynn's national security council team. >> the president has said very clearly

>> kristen welker, thank you. >>> the white house revealed that president trump plans to hike defense spending by 10%, or $54 billion. as part of his first budget proposal. and it would put other federal agencies in line to absorb some potentially deep cuts. we get details on this from nbc's hallie jackson. ♪ money money money >> reporter: the president who's talked plenty about his money -- >> i'm really rich. >> reporter: -- now spending the taxpayers' in a new budget blueprint that's as much a political document as a financial one. >> we have to start winning wars again. >> reporter: that means a lot more money on the military, a lot less almost everywhere else. president trump wants to add $54 billion to beef up the pentagon, intelligence agencies, and homeland security. and slash the same amount to agencies like the epa and the state department. >> we are taking his words and turning them into policies and dollars. >> reporter: his new budget director emphasizes it's just an outline, but the cuts could mean less money for, say, arts programs or helping people in need overseas.

our white house correspondent kristen welker has more on a new and critical pick. >> reporter: in a made for tv moment, president trump announcing his new national security adviser. >> general h.r. mcmaster will become the national security adviser. he's a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience. >> reporter: a senior administration official tells nbc news the president chose lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster because he's both a warrior and a defense intellectual. at 54 years old, mcmaster is highly decorated, having served in both iraq wars and in afghanistan. also hailed for his military book "dereliction of duty" about officers who refused to tell president johnson at the time he was wrong about vietnam. now mcmaster is in a position of having to weigh if and when to speak out to the president and while some in foreign policy circles question his national security expertise, the announcement was largely received with bipartisan support. >> i don't know if h.r. ever sleeps at night. >> reporter: the former u.s. ambassador to iraq, ryan crocker, praised mcmaster's leadership o

kristen welker reports. >> reporter: president donald trump at the national prayer breakfast unleashing his most extensive defense yet of his controversial order halting travel from seven predominantly muslim countries. >> we will not allow a beachhead of intolerance to spread in our nation. we want people to come into our nation, but we want people to love us and to love our values, not to hate us and to hate our values. >> reporter: the president vowing to repeal a regulation that prevents political endorsements from the pulpit, the johnson amendment, one of the clearest lines between church and state and most americans support it. >> i will get rid of and totally destroy the johnson amendment. >> reporter: meanwhile, mr. trump couldn't resist going off script after being introduced by the creator of his former reality tv show "the apprentice," mark burnett. mr. trump still an executive producer of the nbc show joking -- >> they hired a big, big movie star, arnold schwarzenegger, to take my place. the ratings went right down the tubes. it's been a total disaster. and i want to just pr

white house correspondent kristen welker has late details. >> reporter: a surprise at the white house briefing. president trump's national security adviser michael flynn unleashing a stern warning to american adversary iran. >> as of today, we are officially putting iran on notice. >> reporter: at issue, a series of provocations, including iran launching a ballistic missile test on sunday. flynn accusing iran of violating a u.n. resolution on ballistic missiles even though the u.n. is still assessing the situation. late this afternoon, a senior administration official says they are considering retaliating and wouldn't rule out economic sanctions or even military action. >> iran continues to threaten u.s. friends and allies in the region. the obama administration failed to respond adequately to tehran's malign actions. the trump administration condemns such actions. >> reporter: iran said on tuesday it wasn't a violation and would never use its ballistic missiles to attack another country. the state department telling nbc news it was informed about flynn's statements ahead of time but

white house correspondent kristen welker has more on that for us. kristen? >> reporter: as the debate rages about america's health care system, president trump taking fresh aim at obamacare during a speech at the conservative conference. new details about repealing and replacing the law. a draft proposal obtained by nbc news calls for gutting of the individual mandate, meaning no penalty for not purchasing the insurance and eliminating subsidies. tax credits based on age instead of income. rolling back the medicaid expansion but giving states the control to cover lower income patients with grants and to help those with pre-existing conditions, high-risk pools. these two are worried they could pay more. >> kathy and i both would be put into a pool and charged higher premiums because of the various health care issues that we have. >> reporter: they say the aim is to lower costs by eliminating some taxes and creating more competition but even john boehner was skeptical of republicans' ability to replace the law. >> they will fix obamacare. i shouldn't call it r

>> kristen welker at the white used his appearance at the ing mainly conservative gather ing to lash out at the common journalistic practice of protecting sources. by not naming them. following reports that the white house asked the fbi to publicly refute claims that trump aides were in contact with russia during the campaign. we get details from nbc's hallie jackson. >> president trump on attack in front of fired-up conservatives today. almost back on the campaign trail. same music -- ♪ >> same message. >> a movement the likes of which actually the world has never seen before. >> same media bashing. railing against what he calls fake news. >> a few days ago, i called the fake news, the enemy of the people. and they are. >> his administration particularly upset over two reports they call false, about interactions between chief of staff reince priebus and the deputy director of the fbi. the white house today acknowledging priebus asked the fbi to knock down a story that the campaign had been in touch with russian intelligence officials. but only after the white house says, the deput

nbc white house correspondent kristen welker has details. >> reporter: in a stunning act of defiance, president trump today blamed the media after he fired his own national security adviser, michael flynn. >> general flynn is a wonderful man. i think he's been treated very, very unfairly by the media. as i call it, the fake media, in many cases. >> reporter: it's the first time the president has weighed in on flynn's departure which came after revelations flynn misled the president, vice president and other top officials about discussing sarvegs sanctions with russian's ambassador before the inauguration. also pointing a finger at the intelligence community, who he's sparred with in the past. >> from intelligence, papers are being leaked, it's criminal action, a criminal act and it's been going on for a long time. >> reporter: left unanswered, why it took the president nearly three weeks after the justice department warned him about flynn to ask for flynn's resignation and why the vice president was kept in the dark for a full 15 days after the president found out. a source inside the

let's start with kristen welker live at the white house. help me. you just got out of a briefing on this, what did you hear? >> reporter: it was a 40-minute briefing with top officials here at the white house. they are pushing back vigorously on reports that the chief of staff, reince priebus tried to pressure the fbi to knock down a new york times report that said that trump campaign officials had frequent contact with russian officials. let me tell you the white house's version of events according to top officials in the briefing that wrapped up moments ago. the fbi was here on a separate matter, then in a pull aside, after that meeting wrapped up, between reince priebus and the deputy director of the fbi, mccabe, mccabe said the report in the new york times is inaccurate. we don't have evidence to suggest trump campaign officials had contact with russian officials. reince priebus said, okay, what can we do to fix the situation, to clean it up? mccabe went back, talked to other officials at the fbi and ultimately, it was determined nothing could b

you have kristen welker on capitol hill. there are a lot of developments coming from the hill in the last 20 minutes. i know you've had a chance to catch up with two key members of congress just in the last 20 minutes. what are they telling you? >> reporter: hallie, good morning. a lot of questions around what congress will do in the wake of this investigation. both intelligence committees have already begun inquiries into russian meddling in the u.s. election. this clearly is set to expand that. i spoke to several members of the house this morning, more conservative, more moderate members and there does seem to be more of an openness into this investigation. previously these questions, most members didn't want to entertain them. now they're saying, hey, we really want all the facts and we also know that vice president mook pence, a key player in this entire drama around michael flynn, will be up here on capitol hill talking to members of congress. he's been a regular attendee at the senate lunches. i think you're going to s

. >> to kristen welker, my fellow member of the opposition party. jamaal simmons. kristen welker, charlie sykes. that finishes up things for me. i'll see you tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. you can look for me. >>> i'm steve kornacki, live in new york. day 35 of the first 100 days. topping our agenda, a rare public appearance. >> in regard to us two, i think the biggest misconception is everything that you're reading. >> president trump's top aides, including the normally press-shy steve bannon make an appearance with reince priebus together on a public panel, giving their take on the first month of the administration. also on the agenda, no mass deportations. >> let me be very, very clear. there will be no, repeat, no mass deportations. >> that is the claim of homeland security secretary john kelly, along with secretary of state rex tillerson. he is in mexico right now defending donald trump's new guidelines on stepped up deportations. and rounding out our agenda, tumult at the town halls. >> how many people in this room are genuinely upset that the politicians aren't worki

we're joined now on the phone by nbc white house correspondent kristen welker. thank you for staying up late with us. a couple questions i think are begged here by the news tonight and i'll start with where we ended in that clip, kellyanne conway. misinformed, out of the loop, or did she misinform us? >> well, i think the developments were so fast moving and they were agonizing, joy, according to our andrea mitchell. this was a tough decision. remember, mike flynn was one of president trump's initial supporters and one of the people who he looked to first when he started looking to a national security advisor. and, so, i have been talking to my sources throughout the night who say that he didn't want to get to this point, but ultimately the pressure just became too great. not necessarily because they thought that michael flynn was compromised by the russians, but more so because the information that was piling up against him just became too much of a distraction. and, so, i think that's part of why you had these different messages coming out of the white house t

kristen welker is following the president in tampa. good afternoon. does the white house think it's going to win these challenges? the end, despite the setbacks? >> reporter: they're going to try. they're certainly going to try, and they're digging in, they're not backing down. chuck todd asked vice president mike pence over the weekend if they had any plans to scrap this executive order, to try to go through congress, to try to get something done legislatively, so they wouldn't be faced with some of these legal challenges. the answer was that they're staying the course and we've seen that in president trump's tweets. let me read you a few of them, one this morning which took exception to recent polls which show a majority of americans are opposed to banning travel. this tweet says any negative polls are fake news just like the cnn, abc, nbc polls in the election. sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting and then this one, i just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. if something happens, blame him courtpouring in,

. >> we're joined now on the phone by nbc white house correspondent kristen welker. thank you for staying up late with us. a couple questions i think are begged here by the news tonight and i'll start with where we ended in that clip, kellyanne conway. misinformed, out of the loop, or did she misinform us? >> well, i think the developments were so fast moving and they were agonizing, joy, according to our andrea mitchell. this was a tough decision. remember, mike flynn was one of president trump's initial supporters and one of the people who he looked to first when he started looking to a national security advisor. and, so, i have been talking to my sources throughout the night who say that he didn't want to get to this point, but ultimately the pressure just became too great. not necessarily because they thought that michael flynn was compromised by the russians, but more so because the information that was piling up against him just became too much of a distraction. and, so, i think that's part of why you had these different messages coming out of the white house t

kristen welker is at the white house. the goal is not mass deportations. fair to characterize it that way? >> well, look, if you look at what is written, that is accurate. they aren't changing the guidelines. at the same time, the reason why it's being characterized that way is because these new rules that dhs put out yesterday which, by the way, dhs' way of saying, here's how we're going to carry out president trump's immigration policies does seem to expand the universe of people who could be eligible and scrutinized for potential deportation. let me give you a couple of the headlines. one, there will be 10,000 new i.c.e. agents. 5,000 new border agents. this is also going to give some of those agents the ability to detain and deport people when they cross the border. it's also going to be looking at parents who pay smugglers to pring their kids across the border. those parents could be subjected to prosecution, hallie. in addition to that and the way to think about it is under the obama administration, they were really targeting criminals. those who had