>> hans nichols at the pentagon, thank you. >>> it is election night in america. a closely watched special election in georgia to replace house secretary tom price in congress, which has now become the most expensive house race in history, pitting democrat jon ossoff against karen handel. the district has been in republican hands for decades but president trump barely won it in november. giving democrats hope of an upset that some analysts say could be seen as a referendum on president trump and his policies. >>> there's new word about when o.j. simpson could be granted a release from prison. a parole hearing for simpson is now set for july 20th. simpson was acquitted of a double murder in the so-called trial of the century, only to be convicted in 2008 for a robbery in las vegas. if parole is approved, simpson could be freed in the fall after nearly a decade in prison. >>> still ahead tonight, the nation's deadly overdose crisis. one county at the epicenter where it's gotten so bad, addicts are forced to seek help, not from a hospital, but from behind bars. we'll

hans nichols joins me now. hans, what is the late oeft this search? >> wbl deliberation happened in the dark, the cause is still unknown and the damage appears extensive. the "uss fitzgerald" back in port after it took on waerpt following a dangerous collision at sea. naval officials say a philippine registered merchant vessel somehow smashed into the much smaller navy destroyer while it was conducting routine operations off the coast of japan. the ship's bridge was damaged in the collision limiting communications with crew members on board. at least three crew members were air lifted off the ship to nearby hospitals, including the commanding officer, brice benson, who is reportedly in stable condition. other sailors missing, amid fears they could be thrown overboard or trapped inside damaged sections of the destroyer. the collision happening when many would have been asleep. the japanese coast guard is assisting with the search and in a statement the navy says right now we are focused on two things. the safety of the ship and the well being of the sa

we have hans nichols over at the pentagon and philip. hans, the white house reporting on this covert cyberops. what do we know about that and about whether president trump may try to deploy those cyberweapons, if you will? >> the first rule is that there is no cyberwarfare because the minute you acknowledge it you open yourself up to a counterattack. in early november we reported exclusively that the u.s. opened the cyberdoors inside a lot of critical infrastructure inside of russia. command centers, infrastructure, telecommunications. what "the post" seems to have is when this suite of options were presented one thing they were considering is planting more bombs that the next president could potentially detonate. here's the thing about cyberwar and you hear this a lot. number one, no firm rules on how you wage it. if you wage it, you open yourself up to counterattack. number two, a great deal of prep work. just because you're opening up cyberdoors and planting systems inside the other network doesn't mean you're going to pull the trigge

nbc's hans nichols is at the white house. he has more for us. obviously, hans, we have this new executive order. that's one part of it. the other part of it is he was tweeting a lot this morning about these stories and various newspapers. whether or not he's a target of the investigation by robert mueller. tell us a little about what to expect. >> cis, there are the stories that president trump can weigh inon. one, this is a question of whether or not he is under investigation and what the scope of that investigation is. we've just heard from otto warmbier's parents in north korea. we know president trump spoke with warmbier's parents. it was a good call. he can weigh in on that. he visited the house majority whip in his hospital room last night. any three of the

hans nichols and kevin, we have to dig into this. we've heard from people who the state department who have said, the obama administration had been working to try to get otto home. clearly he came home in the last week but he came home basically to be laid to rest with his -- with his family. what kind of response do we think we could get out of the white house we saw when president trump saw what happened in syria, when he saw a chemical attack on children. >> he bombed the syrian air base. >> it struck him and he bombed the syrian air base. >> what kind of response do you think we can get there? >> hans? >> two things we should note about the syrian analogy, one is the speed, the velocity in which the response came from the white house, less than 72 hours later. that said less than 24 hours here at the white house as well as officials were talking to the pentagon and state, there's no indication that the president's north korea strategy has exchanged. that is a china based strategy, outsourcing to the chinese and have the chinese r

joining me now, reporter hans nichols on capitol hill and nsa chief legal correspondent ari melber joins me in the studio and the "washington post." hans, let's start with you. did they know prior to the "washington post" report that the president was, in fact, under investigation? >> i'm going to give you a qualifying answer because it's the most fresh and most recent answer we have from the white house, and that's from sarah huckabee sanders saying, not that i'm aware of, as far as she knows. huckabee is briefing reporters right now. she was asked if there had been any contact between mueller's investigation and the white house. she said, not that i'm aware of as far as i know. there are a lot of qualifications in what the white house has been saying all morning. a lot of "i believe so," a lot of "i believe that to be the case." we still don't know whether the white house itself has been contacted by mueller's team. huckabee sanders also said, when asked whether or not the president still had confidence in independent counsel, she said, "i believe so" on that point. they might have had

for more, bring in hans nichols with the latest from the pentagon. a leading research and consulting firm. good to see you both. hans, two big stories going on right now. talk to me about what you know about what is happening between russia and the united states. >> it started in the baltic. happened about 25 miles. and clearly international waters. intercepts are pretty common but how safe they are. this seemed particularly unsafe when you get to know the details and what happened is the russian plane came in at a high rate of speed within five feet of the u.s. recon sans plane's right wing and goes underneath, complete inviblz and then pops back up on the left side off the left wing of the russian plane. that gives you a sense it was unsafe and that's why there's a little bit of concern here at the pentagon. the plane is back safe now. now, over lay that with what's happening in syria. yesterday, the russians made this threat and said everything west of the euphrates river valley, by the u.s., would be taken as a target and could potentially be sho

let's go to hans nichols. he's at the hospital where congressman scalise underwent surgery. >> reporter: he's out of surgery, according to two congressmen. some of who have spoke within majority whip scalise. you can see the emergency room entrance right here. this is likely where he came in. and this is a hospital in northwest d.c. where they do a lot of specialty work. they're not necessarily focused on trauma here. the main trauma hospital in d.c. is george washington hospital, down towards the white house a little more where there are also two victims of the shooting attack. now what the hospital is confirming is that the majority whip steve scalise is here. they're not saying anything about the status of his condition, where he is right now in terms of the surgery. but we can confirm, according to two congressmen who have spoken with scalise that he is out of surgery and in good spirits. >> thank you so much. we're pleased to say he's said to be doing well. peter alexander, as we look at the scene here, t

. >>> to hans nichols, our pentagon correspondent over at the white house. some of this breaking news on this student. now released, apparently, from north korea. this is all breaking in just the last few minutes, hans. walk us through new developments. >> the new development is according to the "washington post" who spoke with otto's family. a 22-year-old university of virginia student. they say he is arriving home in a coma and that he has been in a coma for over a year. remember, the last appearance, interaction he had with anyone was with swedish diplomats more than a year ago. the swedish diplomats undertake america's diplomacy in north korea. at 8:30 secretary rex tillerson informed president trump of warmbere release. he is en route now. he is in a coma. the north koreans are saying he developed the coma after a case of botulism, food poisoning and they gave him a sleeping pill from which he has never woken up. this is according to the family speaking to the "washington post." secretary tillerson is on capitol hill testifying right now. we will see on

joining me from the white house is hans nichols. hans, let's start with you. the white house, are they confirming anything and is donald trump's lawyer confirming he is under investigation? >> reporter: nothing official from the white house, katy. what we have is a source close to the president's legal team saying the president was not, by this tweet, saying he was under investigation, he wasn't confirming that, and he instead was referring to the "washington post" report from the other night, and as this person is pointing out, based on anonymous illegal sourcing. the president's legal team is putting these things out based on anonymity. you see mr. trump putting this stuff out and in this case try to say the president was not confirming that he's under investigation. i'm still having a difficult time trying to square with the legal team as saying here's what the president said, where he starts off that tweet saying, i am being investigated. sounds like a confirmation to me. indicate sni. >> so anonymous sources decrying anonymous sources. hans, we're trying

. >> hans nichols has this report. >> this intercept happened about 25 miles northwest of kalinigrad. at one point coming within five five of the american aircraft. these moves known as intercepts can be common but unsafe ones like this are rare. just two weeks ago, the russians intersented this b-52 training over the baltic and russian fighters have also buzzed american destroyers in the back sea. >> sounds to me like a hot dogging russian pilot. this doesn't make any as soon as. it dangerous air maneuvers. >> coming on the same day that russian defense ministry warned that any u.s. planes would be consideri considered targets when they fly west of the euphrates river. and they intercepted a drone heading to a u.russian base. the officials claim that the hotline remains open but they refuse to say whether or not the russians are picking it up on their end. yasmin. >> thank you to hans nichols for that report. >> the defense minister and the king's son has now been named the new crown prince by royal decree. he will remain defense minister of the country. now, the nephew of the king h

hans nichols joins me from the white house. key things about this. we don't know why he was released. we believe he is in a coma. what was he doing there in the first place that got him into trouble? >> he was there as a part of an exchange program. a private foundation exchange program. there are a number of these that take place. he was arrested after going a floor up and trying to steal this propaganda poster, potentially taking it home for some sort of souvenir. we have confirmation from am bass sort richardson, who has close contacts with the family, runs a foundation that goes inside and out of north korea, that he's been in a coma over a year. we should note that the swedes do american diplomacy inside north korea. they have not had any counselor access to warmbier since march of last year. that's highly unusual. now, he did stop at a medical facility in sapporo, japan. that's from where he is flying towards his family in cincinnati. we're going to try to figure out in the next couple hours what sort of medical attention did he relieve in sapp

not a hard line position. >> hans nichols from brussels for us, thank you very much. i want to bring in ann from "the washington post" along with carol and vivian still here with me. so crucial to that effort. theren this administration there has been a sense that the state department doesn't have a ton of autonomy when it comes to making these decisions, that the white house is really trying to put their fingerprint on all of this, too. what's your sense of the mood inside the state department right now? >> hi, hallie. certainly every administration, the white house is, in many ways, the driver of foreign policy from a purely policy perspective, right? it's the president's choice whether we want to make certain diplomatic outreaches or pull back from other countries and so forth. and the state department implements that. but what's really different and really hasn't changed in this administration from the beginning is the level of influence and input that the state department appears to have in making, informing some of those policy decisions. secretary of state till

joining us from the white house is hans nichols, who has been covering this. hans, what happened? why the change of heart by the president? >> well, the president hinted about this in april in an associated press interview. what happened last night is the department of the homeland security put out updated guidance, saying the so-called dreamers would be eligible for renewal for two-year work permits. the reverse is what the president campaigned on, saying he would have immediate halt to this program. called for the deportation. he softened his rhetoric. this makes it official. some 800,000 so-called dreamers will be allowed to stay in the country and continue to get work permits on a two-year basis. one thing this rule doesn't do? it doesn't extend it to the parents of the dreamers. remember, president barack obama attempted to do that in 2015. this doesn't go that far, but it does protect the children that are here. many of them arriving when they're infants and have been schooled and grown up as americans, just not knowing they weren't americans. this allows them to stay here.

thank you so much, hans nichols. we'll get back to you. >>> in the meantime, let's dig into the two major developments in the russia investigation. sources telling the "washington post" the special counsel is now investigating whether the president attempted to obstruct justice. daniel coats, the current director of national intelligence, mike rogers, head of the national security agency, and rogers deputy, agreed to be interviewed by mueller's investigators and it could happen this week. the "wall street journal," he wrote a memo that mr. rogers had with president trump. trump didn't wait to fight back. he tweeted this morning, quote, they made up a phony collusion with the russians story. found zero proof. now, they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. nice. then just an hour later, this tweet. you are witnessing the single greatest witch hunt in american political history, led by some very bad and conflicted people. #maga. make america great again. also new this morning, an inforal adviser to presiden

. >> nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nicholls join us and jeremy bash, national security analyst, former chaff chief of staff at the cia and the department of defense under leon panetta. good to have you both. hans, those reports that some officials were surprised by the white house statement. kwhaf you lea kwh what have you learned? >> initially we started reaching out to all our sources at the pentagon and we didn't get any guidance. now, about ten hours later, a little bit after that this morning, we started getting very firm guidance and that is that the pentagon had detected through pretty solid intelligence that they saw something at the al sharat airfield, the same airfield april 4th they launched that attack, something suggestive of intent to use chemical weapons. now, basically, they're looking at one of these hangers, a hardened shelter. they're saying they see some activity. it's in this very shelter they think think store chemical munitions. it's the same shelter, one of several, they hit on that april 7th strike. so from that we've gone forward and we're trying to fi

as nbc correspondent hans nichols explains, the aircrafts came within just five feet of each other. >> reporter: the dramatic incident happening between a u.s. spy plane and an armed russian jet over the baltic sea. the russian fighter jet approaching at high-speed tracking along the american reconnaissance right-wing at close distance and passing under it. at one point coming within five feet of the american aircraft. these kind of moves known as intercepts can be uncommon but unsafe ones like this are rare. just two weeks ago, the russians intercepted this b-52 training over the baltic and they buzzed american destroyers in the black sea. >> sounds to me like a hot doing -- dogging russian pilot. this doesn't make any sense. it's dangerous maneuvers. >> reporter: the latest intercept coming on the same day that russian's defense ministry warned that any would be considered targets if they flew west of the euprates river. there was a drone heading towards a u.s. special training base. within minutes and without warning the russians on a military hotline, the american pilot shot it do

nbc's hans nichols at the white house. nbc news national security reporter ken dilanian. nbc chief legal correspondent, ari melber. ken, i want to start with you with, i know we overuse this word, but this did feel like a bombshell in a legal sense, this development that in the days after the firing of jim comey, even before bob mueller had been appointed, the president did, himself, potentially become someone that we'd want to learn more about in terms of obstruction of justice. can you explain to us how that happened? >> well, nicolle, if it wasn't the actual firing of comey by the president, you can bet the fbi investigators perked up when they heard donald trump two days later tell lester holt that he fired trump with -- sorry, he fired comey with russia on his mind. after an explanation had

hans nichols joins us from the white house and one of the questions here is warmbier's condition. what can you tell us about that? and what what's next? >> we know he is in a medical coma, full coma, we don't know the severity of that coma and relying on the north koreans for when he actually entered that coma. they are saying march of last year. and that's what they're telling the parents. the parents have issued a statement, it's a difficult one but i'm going to read it for you when you think of the difficult time they've been through. sadly, he is in a coma and we have been told that he has been in that condition since march of 2016. we want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime in north korea. chris, we're learning more here about how the last two weeks and the effort to release otto warmbier from north korea went down. what you basically had is a series of conversations between diplomats including the swedes who do the diplomacy for the americans in early june. suddenly this accelerated, the u.s. side got involved and it

our pentagon correspondent hans nichols has late details. >> reporter: the devastation of the late night collision plain in the morning light. a crater in the steel hull of a 50 foot navy guided missile destroyer. the requests "uss fitzgerald." as the sun rose, no sign of the seven missing sailors. the u.s. navy scanning the sea for the lost crew, missing since the fitzgerald collided with the cargo ship called the acs crystal. >> we have a search and rescue going on for our missing ship mates. >> reporter: president trump tweeted, thoughts and prayers with the sailors of the "uss fitzgerald" and their families. three of the crew were airlifted from the destroyer for medical treatment, including the commanding officer bryce benson, reportedly in stable condition. the damage to the fitzgerald? just below the bridge, two birthing spaces were flooded as well as the radio room, limiting communication. >> there is every chance after damage like that that a ship could have sunk. it was taking on water below the waterline. great courage occurred that night. >> reporter: the cargo ship from head

hans nichols there for us, at 1600 pennsylvania. thank you. kasie, thank you. >>> initial reaction from republicans to president trump's tweets today, fairly uniform. they wouldn't have done it. >> look, the president's got to respond on twitter and -- i personally think everybody is better served the less said the better. >> i would like to see the president stay off twitter. i think -- and i think everybody has made that suggestion, of course, and it's unlikely to happen. >> i would have certainly not advised that tweet go out today, because what we're still, you know, very much reacting to yesterday's shooting. >> ari melber is msnbc's chief legal correspondent, charlie sikes is a conservative commentator and msnbc contributor michael allen managing director, advisory firm on intelligence and defense matters previously he was the republican staff director on the house intelligence committee. a big thanks to all of you for being with me. >> sure. >> ari, start with you, my friend, let's talk about those tweets in a moment, but start us off w

hans nichols, the president isn't taking any of this laying down. tweeting just before we came on the air, this is a donald trump tweet, "crooked h." i guess that means hillary "destroyed homes with hammer, bleached i ma eed and had husband meet with a.g. days before she was cleared and they talk about obstruction?" mv minutes before that, president trump tweeting "why is it that hillary clinton's family and dems' dealings aren't looked at but mine are?" if we wanted to know where the white house is in terms of head space, we is it from the tweets of the leader of the free world. >> reporter: it's clear, nicolle, donald trump is inhabiting a pre-bob mueller world. the russia investigation, how he was cleared, how they believe that to be true. that he's no longer under investigation for the russia part of it. they don't quite seem to have grasped that this investigation is now in a new stage. and it's a stage where robert mueller, the man who president trump interviewed as the white house confirmed today to be his next director of the fbi, so mueller

i want to start with nbc's hans nichols at the white house. what are you hearing about the investigation and i say it tongue and cheek, how is the administration pushing back, what is president trump saying on his favorite social media medium? >> well, a cosmic defense from president trump on social media, nothing directly rebutting the specific new developments that we have, and just to top those off for you quickly, "the new york times" as well as politico reporting there's a so-called preservation order that's been issued by the general counsel of the transition office, having to do with any matters of russia and ukraine as well as paul manafort and carter page that gives you a sense that transition office, which did exist for some time before the election, and then right up to inauguration, could be preserving documents ready to hand those over to any sort of investigations. i'll give you the quick twitter quote from the president. here's what he said earlier this morning. after seven months of investigations and committee hearings about m

hans nichols is live at the pentagon. i'd imagine this has filtered up for people at the pentagon to examine what's going on in paris. >> it is on every screen i've walked through here at the pentagon the last 20 minutes. everyone is watching events unfold on television. you get two views at the pentagon of the ability of isis to conduct external operations. the one view is you're going to see more of them. as isis loses physical territory inside their caliphate, you'll see more high profile or attempt at high profile terrorist attacks. the other view is that their territory shrinks, they're playing defense on so many levels. their communications is restricted and getting hit by so many bombs. in raqqah, there are 24 strikes last night by coalition air forces. they're getting hit so often, they actually don't have the time to plan and conduct external operations. so two views you get here. now, just to recap what happened overnight. you did have the final assault on raqqah. the difference with the assault on raqqah and th

joining us now to take about this is hans nichols. hans, let's start with you, how serious is this, have we heard anything like this from the russians before? >> serious is exactly the word that i have heard from several officials in the last few minutes, this is a new phase in a very complicated project. working with coalition jobs, and that is one of the reasons you have -- they have coalition flights here, tell us where your flights are going to do. the russians get the syrian plane out there. earlier today, he said it was a goal on keeping it open early for that deconfliction line. >> the russian federation, they are communicating, a diplom diplomatical diplomatically, they have indicated their purpose in syria. we'll see if it is coming true. there is two f-18 jets in the air, and then they do a head butt, flying on top of this jet, dropping flares. they feel like they gave them plenty of warning. when it dropped a bomb close to the plane. >> colonel jack, why is the river so troublesome as that being the line. west of that line,

and msnbc's hans nichols is outside washington's med star hospital where congressm maman scalise is being treated. hans, i know one of your basketball buddies was one of those injured, matt mika. >> reporter: for all the talk of partisanship, it's actually a community. matt mika was a basketball player, now he's a lobbyist. and there's been a community around talking about prayers and hopes of cross party lines because he has been hit four to five times, including chest wounds. he could be in bad shape. one of his friends said he was in critical condition. another said stable. so there's uncertainty on what sort of shape he's in. but four to five shots does not give you an indication that h s he's -- there is a sense here, and you look at what both nancy pelosi said, as well as what speaker paul ryan said. it seems to me that all parties are trying to -- all sides are trying to use this as a unifying moment. as a moment to get past some of the divisive moments. that's really one of the hopes going on today, as well as a great deal of concern for friends, classmates, housemates that just h

. >> now let's go back to the russia investigation with nbc's hans nichols at the white house. hans, what's the reaction at the white house to at least most people take the president's tweet as an admission that he's saying he's under investigation. i know a source close to his outside counsel says that's not so, but that's not how most of us read that tweet. >> the white house is referring everything to the outside counsel. the source close to the outside counsel is in sifting what donald trump said, i am being investigated did not amount to any sort of admission that he was under investigation. and greta, we have some breaking news for you here in terms of the president's legal team, it appears to be expanding. he's added john dowd, a well respected lawyer in d.c. nbc news confirmed he will be joining the legal team reported by politico earlier. this is a lawyer that represented pete rose in baseball tribulation. he represented senator john mccain in the keating 5 scandal as well. so, a well known lawyer in town joining what appears to be a growing legal team. and, greta, one

we have hans nichols with the latest. >> reporter: ayman, the coalition happened in the dark. the cause is unknown and the damage appears extensive. the heavily damaged "uss fitzgerald" back in port after a dangerous collision at sea. in the pre-dawn hours, a philippine registered merchant vessel slammed into the smaller navy destroyer with routine operations off the coast of japan. the ship bridge limited communication with crew members on board. three crew members were air lifted off the ship to nearby hospitals. including the commanding officer. bryce benson. other sailors missing amid fears they could have been thrown overboard or trapped inside damaged sections of the destroyer. this collision happened when many were asleep. the japanese coast guard is assisting in the search. they are focused on two things. safety of the ship and well being of the sailors. it is not just the length of the ships. navy vessel is 500 feet. the merchant vesselas laden with cargo. that is why y see extensive damage. ayman. >> hans for us in washington, d.c. let's switch to politiciiticpol. th

hans nichols at the pentagon, thank you. >>> director and president of the woodrow wilson center, former congressman from california. jane, thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> i want you to help us interpret what we just heard. somebody asked general mattis very specifically about donald trump's tweet to say at least we know china tried on north korea, that seemed to imply that china is done with this and america is going to do something on its own. yesterday he said while i greatly appreciate the efforts of president xi and china to help with north korea, it has not worked out. at least i know china tried. jane, how do you interpret that? and how do you interpret what james mattis just said, which seems to imply they're still trying? >> doing foreign policy by tweet is problematic. less tweets and more james mattis would be really good. i thought his comments at the press conference were comforting. we're going to have a long-range relationship with china and we need to work with china on an ongoing basis to figure out this very tough problem of north korea, somethin

nbc's hans nichols is in our washington bureau with the latestdetas. hans. >> right now they're focused on the safety of the ship, its well-being, as well as finding those seven sailors. three sailors including the commanding officer have been evacuated. at a certain point this will turn into an investigation, questions on how this happened. when you look at the photo, it doesn't look like a direct t bone, it looks like it was at an angle. there's nearly always backups, redundancies trying to figure out how not to have these mistakes happen. this is a major incident. i think one other thing they'll be looking at is the kind of communications, whether or not there's flight plans -- excuse me -- ship plans, who was on the bridge. i think that's another key question, who was at the helm when this happened. in general, when you have a destroyer like this, it can be part of a strike group. there's a strike group based in japan, that's the seventh fleet out there. they have most of the western pacific. this is the same strike group as the uss reagan that has

nichols is out there in washington, d.c. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, the hospital, chris, is telling us that steve scalise, the third ranking republican of the house is in critical condition. that seems to be slightly the odds with what some congressmen were saying earlier today. they were saying he was in stable condition. there may be a way to reconcile those two. excuse me here. that helicopter is landing here. we are here at one of d.c.'s main trauma hospitals. one way to reconcile this deterioration if it is one from stable to critical is to say there were two to three hours between those statements, but the latest from the hospital around 2:30 is critical. we know what happened to him on that field. he was there in the second base area. the gunman was coming in from the third base area, and at the pitcher's mound is matt mika. he is the lobbyist, and he is a great athlete. i can confirm that because i played basketball with him. he took several shots to the chest, including one in his lung. the doctors are

hans nichols has been covering this live from the pentagon. you've been digging around to find out who knows what about the information that led to sean spicer to put out this press relief. >> reporter: mid morning here around 8:30, pentagon officials started saying yes, we have seen that intelligence and they kind of detailed what they saw and that is that it was compelling and it was suggestive of intent by the assad regime to potentially, the hedge there, use chemical weapons, it was in the same air field and actually from the same hardened air shelter that was hit in the april 7th strike. just in the last hour, i've been talking to a lot of officials here and they are saying don't think of this warning from the white house as anything akin to preparing for battle or battle plans. yes, they do have naval assets in the eastern mediterranean but what's happening right now at the pentagon is fundamentally different from what happened in early april. now, as to why this warning was issued, secretary -- ambassador nikki haley spoke to that momen

hans nichols is at the pentagon. you covered his release last week and obviously the story ending as tragically as it could. >> nicole, that's right he died at 2:20 surrounded by his family. otto warmbier, the american college student from the university of virginia who was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in north korea. he was brought home just last week. he had been in a coma for over a year. here's what the family is saying about it obviously they've been getting the best medical attention now that he's here in this country. we will like to thank the wonderful professionals at the university of cincinnati medical center who did everything for otto. unfortunately, the awful tortuous mitsubishi treatment our son received at the hands of the north koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today laying the blame squarely at the north koreans for their son's loss and remember when you have that medical conference right after he was let out or last week, they seemed to suggest

so is hans nichols our man at the pnk and annie corny a white house reporter. mark, start with you. what do the numbers tell us? >> craig, our poll asked who do you believe more? do you believe president trump or james comey? 45 said they believe come y. 22%, president trump. 2-1 margin in favor of comey on that question. >> when we look at these numbers or did we look at it broken down in term of political party? >> and there is a very fascinating result by political party, craig, where you have democrats in the 70s aligned with james comey. you have just 26% of republicans who believe comey. independents break a little bit more comey than to president trump. but certainly very polarized and very consistent with other findings from our recent poll. >> not much of a surprise there. in terms of surprises, here are the numbers thaw were just talking about there, mark. in terms of surprises here in this new nbc news/"the wall street journal" poll, anything jump out at you? >> craig, other numbers as well. our poll asks, you know, do you approve of the comey firing or do you disapprove?

in the meantime, hans nichols is at the hospital where steve scalise was taken. what information do you have for us, hans? >> reporter: we have nothing new on steve scalise, but i do have an update on matt mika. according to a source close to him, he took two shots to the chest, including a bullet to the lung. his condition is stable but serious. he is still on a breathing support system, a breathing support machine. doctors aren't quite certain whether or not they can go ahead and undo that, but they do say they have some confidence that this is going to be a lengthy process. again, this is the update on matt mika. he was the lobbyist from tyson food who was hit in the chest. we also have the facebook statement from another congressional staffer. he is saying basically giving the facts of what happened, saying he's okay, that he was shot this morning, but that he is fine. now, we've seen some activity here behind me. this is a main entry here to the e.r. entry for the medevac hospital here, med star hospital here in washington, d.c. a lot of probation officers m

. >> hans nichols, i know you were particularly intrigued by and may be still covering this idea of digital land mines that were laid. is that a military term? is that a cyber war term? talk to me about what that means and what happens now. >> well, it's one and the same. because the cyber command is run out of the national security agency. they're all sharing these big super computers. the important thing to know about cyber when you talk -- in this building about it, you always want to have if you're going to be on the offense, you want to have access to the other side. it's not as though when you decide to launch an offensive that you then try to seek entry into their system. you want to be inside before you lay these digital land mines. now, whether or not this president is going to trigger and trip those digital land mines it doesn't seem like he's inclined to do so. the other big thing to note on cyber, i know we're kind of feeling hawkish right now. it seems that's the general vibe from this panel. but cyber carries consequences and that's something you hear in this building because

let's go to hans nichols. he's at the hospital where congressman scalise underwent surgery. >> reporter: he's out of surgery, according to two congressmen. some of who have spoke within majority whip scalise. you can see the emergency room entrance right here. this is likely where he came in. and this is a hospital in northwest d.c. where they do a lot of specialty work. they're not necessarily focused on trauma here. the main trauma hospital in d.c. is george washington hospital, down towards the white house a little more where there are also two victims of the shooting attack. now what the hospital is confirming is that the majority whip steve scalise is here. they're not saying anything about the status of his condition, where he is right now in terms of the surgery. but we can confirm, according to two congressmen who have spoken with scalise that he is out of surgery and in good spirits. >> thank you so much. we're pleased to say he's said to be doing well. peter alexander, as we look at the scene here, t

i want to go straight to the pentagon and nbc's hans nicholls. what exactly can you tell us about this? we get this extraordinary warning about syria, yet when i look at the president's twitter handle this morning, he's all about tweeting fake news, promoting books of tv anchors. i'm so confused because a warning about syria is massively disturbing. >> it's an ominous warning, you're correct on that. just in the last few minutes, we have some details from the pentagon that can flush that warning out that was delivered by sean spicer, the white house press secretary. what pentagon officials are telling us is in the last 24 hours the evidence they saw, the intel that they saw was more compelling, a quote from captain jeff davis on the record, saying that they saw strongly suggestive evidence that syria, the assad regime, was potentially on a hedge preparing for another chemical weapons attack. this was at the same airfield that the u.s. struck with those 59 tomahawk missiles on april the 7th. and the activity they saw, which inlulded aircraft, they

i want to thank hans nichols. >>> we have been talking about china and their role with north korea. we are also learning just this morning that the chinese have invited jared kushner and ivnaka trump to visit later this year. kushner, by the way, is headed to the middle east today. getting right into middle east peace negotiations. but can he really pull together a deal? talking about it, next. okay. got it. rumor confirmed. they're playing. -what? -we gotta go. -where? -san francisco. -when? -friday. we gotta go. [ tires screech ] any airline. any hotel. any time. go where you want, when you want with no blackout dates. [ muffled music coming from club. "blue monday" by new order. cheers. ] ♪ how does it feel the travel rewards credit card from bank of america. it's travel, better connected. the travel rewards credit card from bank of america. ready or not, here i come.ek.) ♪ anyone can dream. making it a reality is the hard part. northrop grumman command and control systems always let you see the complete picture. and we're looking for a few dreamers to join us. tech: when you

in in nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nichols. >> the first two meetings were a calling out, asking them to spend more. these are two big topics here, what nato's doing on offense that involves afghanistan, the islamic state but perhaps more importantly what their physical assets are but also about cyber capabilities. you think of nato being very geographically east, yes, it's march eastward and defending its territory but when you get into the arena of cyber space, there's no geographical boundaries. there's a great deal of concern about what russia has been able to do and to the extent that nato might be doing in terms of actual electricity grids and actual infrastructure, those are going to be key topics here and whether or not there will be a formal request, leading into the summit is the expectation is there would be. just yesterday i was speaking to a note official, they didn't expect that formal request to come. they still think the u.s. needs to figure out what the strategy is. >> thank you. >> the public hasn't heard much from rex tillerson politico say the secretary of sta

>> hans nichols, thank you for that reporting. appreciate it. >>> we come coming up plenty more to followen eon the politi front as we gear up for the final full day of campaigning in georgia. democrats want to win there, but not going to be easy in that really red district. we're getting the peach state prediction from the chairman of the national committee, next. (vo) when i brought jake home, i wanted him to eat healthy. so i feed jake purina cat chow naturals indoor, a nutritious formula with no artificial flavors. made specifically for indoor cats. purina cat chow. nutrition to build better lives. whuuuuuat?rtgage offer from the bank today. you never just get one offer. go to lendingtree.com and shop multiple loan offers for free! free? yeah. could save thousands. you should probably buy me dinner. no. go to lendingtree.com for a new home loan or refinance. receive up to five free offers and choose the loan that's right for you. our average customer could lower their monthly bills by over three hundred dollars. go to lendingt

i want to take you to nbc's hans nichols at the white house. what have you learned? >> stephanie, we know the associated press is reporting this is american university student who had been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in north korea, has been released. the ap citing rex tillerson, the secretary of state. we should note we have not independently confirmed or corroborated this at nbc news, but we know none other than dennis rodman the former basketball player who left for north korea in beijing a few hours ago, we believe he has landed and in the past dennis rodman has played a role in helping to release some u.s.s hostages there. there are a total of four hostages that have u.s. passports in north korea right now. this otto, the fact that he's been leased released would bring it down to three. he was sentenced for stealing a propaganda poster from inside of wherever he was staying when he was there on a university exchange. that was his crime and he got 15 years. there's a long history of hostages being taken there, sentenced to some sort of term and then being

tell us about the meeting there, hans nichols. james mattis has been an ally to rex tillerson so far, i'm guessing rex is at least calling him, look what i got myself into. >> reporter: what we know right now, there's a meeting taking place between sretary mattis and nato defense ministers and they are hungry for information, r details on how many troops the u.s. will a demand get sent to afghanistan and b contribute themselves because early this morning we heard from the secretary general of nato he said there would be a few thousand more troops for the nato mission in afghanistan but no one here knows what that is going to be. what we've heard from other defense ministers, he's not telegraphing and giving specifics and indicating to them, they won't get hard numbers on how many additional american troops will be sent to afghanistan until they complete this strategy review in the end of july. >> afghanistan, this has been years. do you have an update on the claim we heard earlier from the white house that the syrian government ap

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we want to begin at the white house with nbc's hans nichols. this bomb sheel tweet effectively confirming he's under investigation. it's stunning because yesterday he didn't answer shouted questions about any of this now the confirmation. >> reporter: this is the investigation not into collusion with the russians but the obstruction of justice part of the investigation. i've read the president's tweet several times and what's clear is he's referring to rod rosenstein. he wrote a memo to president trump where he laid out the case for firing fbi director james comey. he got similar advice from jeff sessions. it's clear from this that he thinks the person who is investigating him is not robert mueller, the special counsel but in fact rod rosenstein, the same rod rosenstein that president trump nominated to be deputy attorney general. this is a remarkable turn of events when you look at who the president nominated to fill out his justice department officials, he only has three that have been senate confirmed. when you look at the total number of pe

let's go right to our white house reporters, nbc's hans nichols, ashley parker from the "washington post," eli stokols of the "wall street journal." so, hans, how is the white house pushing back as strong as they are when the person they're pushing back against is the president? rmp well, they're not, nicolle. what question have is a comment from a source close to the president's outside legal team. you know, any white house is going to have different power structures. different competing centers that are trying to grab the president's attention. in this case, it looks like the outside counsel, someone close to that outside counsel, sources saying that he wasn't confirming that he is being investigated. nicolle, that runs directly contrary to what the president said his tweet which was, i am being investigated. that's how he started it off. so i'm having a difficult time squaring these two statements. perhaps, you can shed some light on it. it seems clear to me that president donald trump confirmed that he is under investigation. nicolle? >> yeah, i think we can't travel too far down the

i'm going do to begin with hans nichols at medstar washington hospital. nbc's kelly o'donnell who covered the hill for years and now our white house correspondent. hans, what do we know about how congressman scalise is doing after surgery? >> reporter: well, frankly, we're getting some conflicting reports, nicolle. the hospital about two hours ago said he's in critical condition. but we just heard from congressman barton there saying he's in stable condition and that he's out of surgery and that he's almost out of the woods. so we're trying to reconcile that because throughout the day, really starting around 11:00, we've had congressmen tell us that steve scalise, the house whip, the third in line, is in stable condition. where the hospital is using the term, critical. and it's difficult to reconcile those two. we also had a little bit of an update from congressman barton there on matt mika, former staffer, now a lobbyist for tyson's food. he seemed to suggest mika was also out of surgery, that would be a new piece of information. he wasn't taken to this