but the white house is itself -- with the white house itself acting as the dividing line between the two halves. this arrangement might seem familiar as most american homes have lawns visible from the street and backgrounds that are -- backyards that are more secluded. this is precisely jefferson's intent -- to have the north grounds freely accessible to the public, and a south grounds reserved for the private use of the presidential household. overtime, this distinction between public and private space blurred and changed, but even now, when granted access onto the entirety of the white house grounds is restricted, it is fair to say the north grounds are the mansions of formal front lawns, and the south grounds is the more homey backyard. as for the third theme, jefferson called for plants in abundance. his vision included lots of trees, but also productive gardens for growing fruits and vegetables, and ornamental flowers and decorative plants. in keeping with the spatial division of the landscape, the plantings on the north ground would be formal and symmetrical, while those on the

. >> our final panel white house gardens today features speakers who worked in and around the white house. we will hear from jim adams and jim mcdaniels, secretary for the white house historical situation board of directors. like our previous panel, we will hear three short presentations and then our panelists will have a short conversation moderated by dr. chapelle. please join me in welcoming our speakers. [applause] >> thank you, it is an honor to be here today to speak with you about white house gardens. both of our other panelist our named jim and both work lted at the white house. at the end am going to let you ask questions. we are the last panel of the day and we will finish the discussion by talking about gardens that have been established and modified since the kennedy administration. so from the johnson administration on. in many different ways, the white house gardens have been inspired and used. i'm going to start off the panel by talking about some of the garden trends and movements that have inspired and influenced the development of the white house gardens and grounds. i'm

, don mcgahn, white house counsel, now the white house counsel that placed mcgahn. it's bougt preventing getting witnesses to the hill and documents to the white house. that's what a lot of their focus is day in and day out. >> as we're having this conversation, president trump is tweeting about the exact issue we are talking about. we're going to get that up on the screen for you here. he says, according to the president, now the democrats have asked to see 12 more people who have already spent hours with robert mueller and spent a fortune on lawyers in so doing. how many bites at the apple do they get before working on border loopholes and asylum. bob, this is similar to what we've heard from the president in the past, trying to turn the conversation away from the special counsel investigation and focus instead on what he perceives as shortcomings for congressional democrats. >> also apples and oranges, not just a bite at the apple. federal investigators, robert mueller, special counsel's office, looking at russia interference and possible obstruction of justice.

when osc did flag this unprecedented recommendation for the white house, osc only gave the white house 16 hours, that's right, just overnight to respond. the items osc flagged as problematic are ridiculous. ms. conway said that vice president biden, senator bernie sanders are two old white career politicians. she said senator warren was lying about her ethnicity and appropriating somebody else's heritage. she suggested that congressman o'rourke does not think that women running are good enough to be president. and she said that senator bernie sanders has ideas that are, quote, terrible for america. frankly, i think a lot of americans would agree with ms. conw conway's statements, but whether you agree or disagree with those statements it does not change the fact that they are ms. conway's honest opinions and she has every right to share her opinions. democrats on this committee are more than happy to use osc -- the osc report to attack ms. conway and of course the president. this is just yet another example of the committee, as i said, being used for politics. we had special counsel he

since she joined the white house in january since she joined the white house in january 2017, she has repeatedly and flagrantly abused her position of trust. in march 2017, the office of government ethics recommended that the white house discipline ms. conway for using her official position to oppose the private business during fox and friends. holding her accountable, the white house minimizes the seriousness of her violation by claiming that this was made in a "light, offhanded mander.". the committee discovered that she wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars by traveling around the country on private jets with former secretary of health and human services tom price. secretary price paid the taxpayers back then resigned. ms. conway refused to reimburse taxpayers and faced no disciplinary action at all for president trump . recently, on june 13, recently, on june 13, 2019, the independent office of special counsel which is led by henry carter, who was appointed by president trump, issued a report recommending that the president fire ms. conway for "persistent, notorious, and deliberate

connell: or the white house. not long ago a guy wandered up the north lawn of the white house. got into the building. crazy when things like this happen. >>> severe flooding taking over the state of louisiana. we'll go there. this is dangerous stuff, could get worse over the weaken ass are -- residents embrace for tropical storm barry. we're waiting for comments on cam from the president as he is hosting a social media summit at white house. the big social media companies are not there today. those comments from president trump when we get them. hey, who are you? oh, hey jeff, i'm a car thief... what?! i'm here to steal your car because, well, that's my job. what? what?? what?! (laughing) what?? what?! what?! [crash] what?! haha, it happens. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, paying for this could feel like getting robbed twice. so get allstate... and be better protected from mayhem... like me. ♪ while managing your type 2 diabetes- why think about your heart? lower a1c helps, but type 2 diabetes still increases my risk of a fatal cardiovascular event. and that's why t

chairman cummings asked the white house to produce emails of white house officials july 1st, 2019. three weeks ago. the white house, and abby wolf, attorney for ivanka trump and jared kushner are cooperating with requests from the chairman. he briefed the committee twice. chairman cummings is rushing to subpoena for headlines before august recess, choosing confrontation over cooperation. here are the facts. here are the facts. jared kushner's attorney told us he preserved all records as required by law and does not use personal email or other platforms to conduct official business. following the law. imagine that. ivanka trump inadvertently used unofficial email for official business on a few occasions but corrected her actions exactly as the law directs and provided all, every single one of those emails, to the white house for preservation. furthermore, contrary to chairman cummings' assertion, her attorney explained she forwards all emails relating official business to her official white house account. again, as you're supposed to do according to law. despite this, the chairman i

chairman cummings asked the white house to produce emails of white house officials july 1st, 2019. three weeks ago. the white house, and abby wolf, attorney for ivanka trump and jared kushner are cooperating with requests from the chairman. he briefed the committee twice. chairman cummings is rushing to subpoena for head lines before august recess, choosing confrontation over cooperation. here are the facts. here are the facts. jared kushner's attorney told us he preserved all records as required by law and does not use personal email or other platforms to conduct official business. following the law. imagine that. ivanka trump inadvertently used unofficial email for official business on a few occasions but corrected her actions exactly as the law directs and provided all, every single one of those emails, to the white house for preservation. furthermore, contrary to chairman cummings' assertion, her attorney explained she forwards all emails relating official business to her official white house account. again, as you're supposed to do according to law. despite this, the chairman

of the white house. the place where the public can get the closest to the home of the american public. this is even more true throughout the 19th century, when the public was allowed ready access to the north grounds. people weren't shy about coming for a visit, as we can see from this fantastic photo of these rather dapper gentleman lounging on the north grounds, fittingly in the shadow of the jefferson statue, that was a centerpiece of the north grounds. all of this was good so long as they respected the right to privacy, and stayed out of what was supposed to be the private south grounds. what do you think happened? before very long, folks started making themselves quite at home in the president's backyard. this trend really started with a bang during andrew jackson's first inaugural reception in 1829. more than 20,000 boisterous supporters descended on the white house, and ran through before spilling outdoors and continuing the party outside on the south grounds. to be fair, washington was still a yo

that work with the white house. when i explained that to people. almost think of it as a foundation with an educational mission. the federal government will only appropriate money for the maintenance and upkeep of the building. if you want the state floor to have presidential trips and state services, historic artifacts that are returned to the white house all of that has to be raised privately. there is no taxpayer money used for those things. >> to have a say as to what pieces are in the white house? >> there is a group called community for the preservation of the white house it consists of a lot of the major heads of agencies like the smithsonian, chief usher of the white house, white house curator, head of the national park service and the number of presidential appointees that serve on the committee. the association works with the community for the preservation of the white house to acquire things but also for various renovation projects. for example, when first lady laura bush decided to renovate the lincoln b

and the story about teddy roosevelt's when he came to the white house, the white house had all the offices in it at that time. the president lived there, it was a small family. he had six children and everyone had to have his or her own bedroom. so, they had to build the executive office building so that they could all have their own bedrooms. and that was when charles mckinnon came in to build the west wing with the oval office. and of course you know in the colonnade connecting the white house, the president still has to go outside every day to go to his office. there is no way through the house to do it. and at that time he also built the east wing, which as you can see here in this wonderful postcard from 1930, the east wing is a right angle because it became an official portico entrance to the white house. the east garden that we are going to be talking about is embraced, as it were, by the east wing. and if you go in october you can see that. thomas jefferson actually wanted the idea of having wings. and evidently when they were building these, they did find foundations that had been

administrations including multiple white house counsels. the deputy counsel to the president and associate counsel to the president, the deputy assistant to the president, the director of the white house office of security. this is a clear cut case. when not requiring to testify about advice, she gave the president or about the white houses policy decisions, let me repeat that members. we are not requiring her to testify about advice she gave the president or about the white house's policy decisions. we are requiring her to testify before congress about her multiple violations of federal law. her waste of taxpayer funds, her actions that compromised public confidence, and integrity of the federal government. this illegal activity and the ongoing efforts to cover this up mustn't be allowed to stand. this is bigger than just the hatch act or any other law. this is about holding our government to the highest standard and not allowing individuals appointed by the president to be given special treatment when they flagrantly violate the law. i mu

house, there were concerns among white house officials that the rolling disclosures about acosta's involvement in this deal, which have continued since scrutiny has grown, first with that miami herald article and then with the new charges against epstein, that would only continue to create distractions for this white house. so president trump creating yet another vacancy in his cabinet, by letting acosta go as trump himself distanced himself from that social relationship that he enjoyed with jeffrey epstein years ago, brooke. >> let's back up while i have you too on director coats. why is he coming up again, potential departure? >> well, brooke, president trump has been discussing with confidants again. his frustration with his director of national intelligence, that's not new frustration for months on and off, the president has questioned whether he has the right man in that job. back in january recall that coats gave congressional testimony that contradicted what president trump was saying publicly about iran, about north korea, president trump was very angry at coats over that at the time,

and we have a predator living in the white house. donald trump has predatory nature and predatory instincts. and the thing about predators you should know is that they prey on the vulnerable. they prey on those who they do not believe are strong. and the thing about predators you must most importantly know, predators are cowards. predators are cowards. and so when we look at this campaign and we look at the task before us, it will be to successfully prosecute the case against four more years of donald trump, and i am prepared to do that. >> all right. california senator kamala harris is among the 2020 democratic candidates flocking to iowa this fourth of july weekend. by a "des moines register" count there are at least 50 campaign events scheduled. and a new abc/"washington post" poll today shows former vice president joe biden continuing to bleed support, although the numbers are less dramatic than other polls we've seen this week. the poll sums up the trend like this. the post/abc poll underscores what has been the case from the ti

being interns at the white house. believe josh, who is now a congressman, was an intern, one of my interns. he is now a congressman. way, if you can get one of those internships, i would highly recommend that you try to go for one of those. ms. sams: we love internships. i am a first-year graduate student. i noticed your commonality between generality and specificity. things people notice in their everyday life. versus the specificity of senior and the specificity of the badger versus where you were when you knew it or other wording that made me think of friends parents who died in 911. how do you choose when is a good detail?o use a specific bothdmonds: i think you do in most speeches. you always want to have a real-life life story, an example to bring your point to life. and i think you might notice and most of the modern state of the union addresses, they have people in the gallery who represent different parts of the speech. and they asked them to stand up at the appropriate time. in most modern campaign speeches

but this is the trump white house. and so thursday's social media summit is instead shaping up to be a "star wars" bar of the outright. a thinly vailed con cav on the design. platforms like facebook and twitter are not invited. instead there's a pro-trump meme creator and some banned on social media to spread toxic nonsense. it's appropriate the president is convening this meeting not to talk about rereform but to give oval office oxygen that social media is discriminating against them. >> if you look at twitter, they don't treat me right. a lot of people try to follow me. it's hard. i have so many people coming up to me. they say it's so hard. they make it hard to follow. what they're doing is wrong and possibly illegal. and a lot of things are being looked at right now. >> okay. so put that casual threat from the president aside. his twitter followers exploded from about 13 million before the election to nearly 62 million today. some suppression. what the president might be talking about is twitter's push to suspend

house from speech writing in the white house in law school? thank you. speeches inspire a lot of people, so i'm curious who inspires you. >> have you ever felt that posedic posted -- an ethical dilemma to your message, and if so, what did you do in that situation? >> ok. [laughter] inspiration, you want to listen to great speeches -- franklin roosevelt and kennedy, ronald reagan, martin luther , to maket in terms of another point as well -- when we talk about authenticity and nowadays there's so much talk on theuthenticity being top of your head, it is authentic. so when martin luther king was writing these speeches and sermons, he put a lot of effort into them. when he got up there, no one said hey, throw that aside and give that some authenticity, would you? there was nothing more authentic . the presidents i mentioned were very serious about speeches, and in my own case, working with president bush, he did a lot of aliving -- add living -- d-libbing with his speeches, but it was always what he wanted to say. he always got high marks for aut

the white house has refused to release any information on it. they have invited these right wing trolls as the president invited them there as an antisocial media bend. >> we don't flow what it is and neither do the guests? >> they are the people who want to prepare for something like this. >> right. >> sure. >> they haven't been able to, i guess -- >> figure out -- >> they don't know what's expected of them because the white house has offered no guidance. >> there's a line between trying to preserve antimedia guidance. let's take a look at some folks invited to this. some of them, it's 12r5i7bd -- >> it's not the heritage foundation, right? >> not at all. >> some people like carp carpe dantum, a provocateur, bill mitchell has gotten it going on twitter. james o'keefe at journalists who publish deceptively edited videos. the president is giving these people a platform. >> well, one, it's the clearest -- it's the clearest example yet of the president trying to legitimize fringe political allies. he's taking them from out there and bringing them i

what's the white house bracing for, what's the white house been doing today? >> well, you've seen it on twitter, steve. you would have seen it potentially here at the white house, because many of these republican leaders, at least half a dozen, we understand, were supposed to come here for a meeting, but because of this, very remarkable, as you and kasie are talking about, floor fight, that didn't happen. they stayed over at the capitol. the president and the white house has told us that meeting is being postponed to a date tbd, and the president has been very public in trying to make it clear that he wants to make sure republicans stay unified against this resolution, that nobody votes for it, likely not an issue on that front. i will say, steve, no matter what happens from here, i would predict that the president, this white house and republicans will already capitalize on this as a kind of win. you are already seeing that from leader kevin mccarthy, who is tweeting about how nancy pelosi broke the rules, essentially, so, the fact that this discussion and th

this president has created a hyperpolitical white house, a white house that unfortunately uses a platform to denigrate and a lot of women have been offended for years by his treatment of women. we still have 14 or 15 women accused him of sexual harassment or assault in one form or another and there's not been an investigation. something is wrong with that picture. the bottom line is athletes feel personally hurt. and one think i would do and i think anybody who becomes the next president needs to do, it's a place that should foster unity and respect for everyone, not hatred and division. and in the end if athletes who are generally not particularly political, if they feel so offended they can't go, that speaks volumes. we want to put our athletes on a pedestal where they belong but they also have to follow their consciences. >> i want to ask you about the breaking news this morning where the u.k. ambassador, sir kim darroch resigned really in embarrassment after these leaked cables became public where he was giving his assessment about the trump administration, that he was telling the hom

everybody at the white house okay with this? this is now a third straight day's news cycle taken up by this, or do they see this as an effective weapon of some sort? >> an effective weapon, perhaps. they argue about the 2020 presidential race dividing the country. they know they have inflamed the nation's civil fabric with the president's racist tweets and comments that began on sunday. at the same time, brian, talking to my top sources tonight, republicans in congress, and some even in the white house, acknowledge that the president may have played a reelection strategy here, but he has jeopardized his congressional agenda. he still has to try to get the u.s. trade deal through, still has to extend the debt limit. all of that up in the air as democrats move forward with this legislation, including with a few republicans. >> donna edwards, i need an honest answer. you're the only former member of congress we have to ask this question of. are you surprised only four republicans crossed over? >> i am sad. history books of the unit

let's go back to our white house correspondent kaitlan collins more on the late-breaking developments. what are you hearing. >> reporter: tonight white house officials are scrambling to put the final touches on the president's celebration as he is defending this show of fire power while also facing questions about whether or not he's politicizing the military and also how much all of this is going to cost. armored vehicles rolling into washington tonight as the city prepares for president trump's independence day extravaganza. which will feature those tanks parked at the lincoln memorial, military flyovers and a vip section for his political allies. but they are concerned about the price tag. trump tweeting the cost of our great salute to america tomorrow will be very little compared to what it is worth. we own the planes, we have the pilots and the airport is right next door, all we need is the fuel. we own the tanks and all. but that is not so. the white house poesh reports that the national park service will divert $2.5 million from recreation fees to cover a fraction of the cost.

former white house counsel don mcgahn. the panel revealing how the white house blocked annie donaldson from answering questions, get this, 212 times. also breaking, attorney general william barr says the decision on how to add a controversial question on citizenship to the 2020 census will be made in the next day or two. we're told the strategy to comply with the president's demand remains up in the air. an executive order is among the options on the table right now. barr also is weighing in on next week's congressional testimony by robert mueller. he's accusing house democrats of force the former special counsel to appear to create, and i'm quoting him now, "some kind of public spectacle." this hour i'll talk with house judiciary committee member steve cohen and our correspondents and analysts are also standing by. first let's go to our senior white house correspondent pamela brown. pamela, there's a lot of hand wringing tonight over how to insert the president's citizenship question into the cens census. >> reporter: tha

house. >> i would invite him right now to the white house. i just want to say that this is my honor. i didn't really expect it. we were in japan for the g20, we came over, and i said, hey, i'm over here, i want to call chairman kim, and we got to meet and stepping across that line was a great honor, a lot of progress has been made. a lot of friendships have been made and this has been in particular a great friendship, tremendous positivity. really great things are happening, and in a lot of places, but, we met and we each other from day one and that was very important. it is my honor and the chairman's honor to say we work well together. >> i want to thank chairman kim for something else. when i put out the social media notification, if he didn't show up, the press was going to make me look very bad, so you made us both look good and i appreciate it, and it's an honor to be with you, and it was an honor that you asked me to step over the line, and i was proud that you asked me to step over the line. it was great, very historic. >> before leav

host: alayna treene, take us inside the white house. we read something that suggested the president pushed back in the opposite direction because of criticism, slack he was taken thatthose around him after court ruling. explain what is going on inside the white house right now. guest: one interesting thing we have not discussed is at the department of justice there is actually a turnover now of some of the lawyers that have been assigned to this case. think what some forces have said some people do not feel comfortable with the way the president and this white house is handling this issue, pushing back on the court, trying to find a way around the supreme court decision to get this question added to the senses. there is a lot of controversy behind closed doors that have not been public yet. host: karl is in west virginia. republican caller. caller: one thing you won't hear in the mainstream media is the citizenship question on the census is all about democrats gaining more power. if they count all of these illegal immigrants, like in ca

they welcomed that news at the white house. >> i'm sure. thank you. let's get more on the breaking news. here in the situation room, you've been going through the legal documents around this 2007, 2008 case when alex acosta was the u.s. attorney prosecuting him. what did you find out? >> we found out there were bare knuckle tactic that's were used by the high profile lawyers. including ken starr, the lawyer who had investigated bill clinton. what we found was that there were a lot of letters exchanged between two where they were trying to get acosta to knock two of his own prosecutors off the case as well as even say the case itself was overreaching. when that didn't work, they appealed to the criminal division at doj in washington. also to the child exploitation central and ultimately to the deputy attorney general's office one of their arguments was that this case was only a state case. it shouldn't happen. they suggested it was politically motivated because epstein had a close association with bill clinton. so that's one of the arguments they made.

tonight president trump back at the white house. tweeting there wasn't a thing missing or a mistake that was made. perfect. on the heels of the g-20 and his monumental surprise visit to north korea. where he had an impromptu meeting with north korean leader kim jong-un. >> i didn't expect to meet you at this place. the first u.s. president to cross this line. >> reporter: trump taking 20 step news north korea, making him the first sitting american president to set foot in the hermit kingdom. he was greeted by the smiling kim jong-un. >> this is my honor. i didn't really expect it. step ago cross that line was a great honor. >> reporter: the two leaders met for almost an hour, agreeing to restart negotiations on a long, illusive nuclear agreement. the president even suggested kim jong-un should visit the white house. all of this as the "new york times" is reporting the u.s. may be willing to agree to a nuclear freeze. which would pause further weapons development in north korea, but allow it to keep existing weapons. this would be a

plus, how the white house tonight has punished the british ambassador for candor. why joe biden apologized at a campaign event and who decided he would not realistically be elected president. all of it on this "11th hour" on a monday begins now. >> good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. this was day 900 of the trump administration, 561 days remain in his presidential term and tonight, the trump white house has a wary eye on an explosive case that the feds announced today to the north here in new york. it's a deeply disturbing and lured sex trafficking case involving this man, 66 years old. he's a multi millionaire financer named jeffrey epstein that has ties to the president and notably his labor secretary alex acosta. more on that angle in a moment. today, federal prosecutors in the southern district of new york in effect the manhattan office of the justice department charged epstein with sex trafficking conspiracy and one count of sex trafficking. epstein has pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces up to 45 years in prison if

this gentleman, he appears to be from the white house, right? put a white ball cap underneath the podium, which would make you look -- look like a white folded up ball cap. did you see it? is that what you saw? >> maybe in case of rain. >> in case it rains. >> do we know -- is it a usa hat? what hat is he going to wear? that's very important, right? if he's coming out, he needs to be wearing -- if he's trying to send a message, how important is it that it's a usa hat? >> it should be a usa hat. it may be a usa hat. the white house probably has thought that through, that exact question you asked, bri. one challenge for the president here is that if he comes out and stays on script, he'll get better reviews from people like us. but if he stays on script, he won't get as good reviews from his supporters who like the red meat at the campaign rallies. when he gives speeches like he gave at the d-day anniversary or his inaugural speech, those were solid, down the middle speeches, by and large, but they didn't rev up his base the way he does when he gi

>> i'm not going to the white house. no, i'm not going to the white house, we are not going to be invited. >> you're not going to be invited? >> i doubt it. >> the president responded back then by tweeting in part megan should never disrespect our country, the white house, our flag, especially since so much has been done for her and the team and now heather, the president is taking a second look at white house invite extended tweet last month, not likely though that we will see the champs show up by the way. heather: we will see, great to have you with us. it was a great win for the usa and your comments have been pouring in on this all morning long, many of you believe it is time for athletes to put patriotism over politics, james on facebook writes, i hope all of the patriotic america-loving players go to the white house, shay, tweets, president trump took the high rod which i doubt repinoe and her teammates will reciprocate, large stain on the victory, keep your comments coming. you do have a lot of them, time now is

david: when you were at the white house, you had the wall issue. the president wanted to build a wall. you were quoted a few times as saying well, it doesn't have to be a concrete wall. it can be see-through or something like that. was there a difference between you and the president on that? do you think the wall is a good policy? gen. kelly: when i got to dhs, i went to the experts, customs and border protection people that man the bastion down there, the watchtower and said do we need a wall, a physical barrier? they said, we need more. we have, remember, back in 2006, the congress authorized over 650 miles of wall. and senators clinton, schumer, and obama all voted for it. so that was in 2006. 650 miles. what the cbp people were telling me is we want to improve that barrier. and we can give you -- if you can tell me how i can get 300 more miles, i can tell you exactly where to put it. if you tell me i can have 1000 more miles, i can tell you exactly where i want it. they also said that we want to be able to see through the wall. because we want

having him into the white house multiple times, going to the white house is very special. it's very historic for our country. it means a lot. we are some of -- we are a world leader. so this is another opportunity for our team to potentially not make a statement about how we feel that our president but how we feel about our country. and that we can determine where we go and why we go and how we go. that's the decision they will have to make. >> melissa: charlie, if she says she feels left out by the president's message, i don't doubt the way she feels. but she also said that she is happy to go talk to anyone who agrees with her. [laughter] macon rapinoe. but i would say, why doesn't she go to the white house and have a conversation with the president? and say, "your message makes me feel left out a question mark" and challenge him face-to-face. and maybe make some progress. >> charlie: he would love it. he would enjoy engaging with her. it's more of what we are talking about. people are trying to politicize everything in this country. it's so stupid. it's just -- life is s

one is the white house reporter for the l.a. times. we also say good morning to siobhan hughes, congressional reporter for the wall street journal. good morning to you as well. let's start with the new large hearings which will happen on wednesday live on c-span. to will get each of you weigh in but we want to hear from jerry nadler, the chairman of the house judiciary committee on fox news and was asked why he's putting robert mueller through a congressional hearing. [video clip] >> we want the american people to hear directly from special counter mueller what has investigation found. the president and attorney general and others have spent the last few months systematically lying to the american people about what the investigation found. they said it found no collusion, it found no structure and, it exonerated the president -- all three of those statements are absolute lies. it found a great deal of collusion and a great deal of obstruction of justice by the that itt and it found refused to exonerate the president. we think it's impo

blake burman there at the white house. blake. reporter: the white house held this event to celebrate the one-year anniversary for the pledge to american workers this is the campaign the white house has been pushing to get companies, organizations to provide opportunities for their employees in the name of retraining and education. the national association of manufacturers today, for example, pledging nearly 1.2 million opportunities. the white house says that brings the total to 12 million pledges over the next five years as a whole. here was president trump earlier today. >> companies stepped up to the plate and so many companies have done thousands and thousands of jobs and the training for these jobs. it is not like the old days where you go in, you do something much simpler. today with new technologies, computers, different things you have to know. this is not something you can easily step into. reporter: meantime the white house is throwing its support behind the prescription drug pricing reduction act which advanced out of

what's the response from the white house? >> certainly the white house is standing by acosta and trying to shine a light back on the perpetrator, the charged man, jeffrey epstein who had been a social friend many years ago with the president. and you commented on some of the president's quotes about jeffrey epstein's social life. today we heard from kellyanne conway who defended secretary acosta and described the president as not having spoken to epstein, the man charged in this case, for many years and having only met acosta a couple of years when he was e in consideration for the job he holds as secretary of labor. we have also heard this was an issue not related to his work as a member of the cabinet but something he did in his professional life before. and as casey mentioned, it was to some degree addressed during his senate confirmation hearing and he was confirmed by a republican-led senate. here is kellyanne conway a short time ago. >> does the labor secretary have the president's confidence. >> what i said is the pres

house counsel, who refused the committee's support at the direction of the white house. so you're saying, you know, what they have to prove in this first lawsuit. what are the chances of this one being successful? >> i think they have a better chance actually of getting don mcghan under subpoena and requiring him to testify. as to some things -- i do think there is a legitimate claim of privilege, perhaps executive privilege as to some of the information that he may be able to provide the committee. but it's not absolute privilege, as the president said before. so i think in connection with that lawsuit which we expect to be filed at some point next week, a judge will parse through the information the committee wants and likely require mr. mcghan to answer some of the questions. maybe that information will get congress to the point where they can formally say we are now in animity inquiry. i think they have to say that if they want access to the other grand jury material. >> may have been hesitant to say that formally. the next story, the federal government's announcemen

not going to the white house. we are not going to be invited. >> reporter: back in the us with her team doubling down on her anti-trump stands while simultaneously saying a team visit to the capital, chuck schumer and nancy pelosi, is what they want. >> we said publicly most of the team, i think everybody is with me. we don't want to go to the white house. thank you, chuck schumer for inviting us. >> reporter: for his part donald trump unequivocally congratulating women on their win, putting aside the firestorm surrounding the found never to visit the white house while adding this. >> will unify the women seem to the white house? >> we will look at that. >> we will be interested to hear what the players say about potential dc travel plans tomorrow in downtown manhattan under confetti. unless we make this a political thing, the phrase for the team comes from both sides. >> great job by them but it is unfortunate it took this political turn on both sides. my twitter feed has been going for several days about it. >>

policy on what's coming out of the white house and how the white house. is really gearing up to selling those policies nationwide in the in the light about 2020 presidential election. yeah donald trump is a master manipulator of the news narrative but it's something that he did on the campaign trail a twin. 16 he continues to do it in the white house and presumably if he wins re-election will continue to do so he's very tuned to how the media works how he can control the narrative what he's doing right now by putting out these tweets we're talking exactly about what he wants to talk about it as and some would even argue helping his reelection bid by putting out discussing these very inflammatory issues in the united states this may be a part too because donald trump is facing some testimony on capitol hill the could perhaps be unfavorable there are a number of hearings that will take place particularly in the house side this week discussing immigration issues particularly with regard to the top administration policy is there's the robert muller testimony

is that a concern with the white house? >> i don't think it is a concern of the white house. i think it's a concern of others. it's not a concern that the president shared. he seems very comfortable with the acing title. he seems to like having people there who maybe give him a little bit more flexibility by not being -- not seeming to be as permanent. i think -- i have spoken to people in the white house who say even if your title isn't acting, we are all acting because the president can choose to fire you at any time. but to you question, i don't think that that's a major concern. >> any sense of congress or congressional concerns over the status of acting secretary snz. >> i think there i

joining me my colleague at the white house nbc news chief white house correspondent hallie jackson. what are your sources telling you? >> reporter: what has been a fluid situation here, we are now being told by an administration source that the president when he announces what is going to be this executive action in some form or fashion today will essentially direct his administration to seek answers to that question of citizenship in other ways. it is still going to be led, i'm told, by the commerce department. they will be running point on this. but it does indicate a little bit of a shift in tone. now, i will tell you this. two administration officials tell myself, my colleague, our colleague kelly o'donnell, that the president is not backing down from his fight to have this information to obtain this information. one official telling kelly o. it should come as no surprise that this president wants to know who is in the country legally and lawfully and we will do everything within his legal authority to know. the attorney general bill barr said monday that the administration's st

residence of the white house. all of this is coming from the president of the united states. listening to karen bass, head of the congressional black caucus. when it comes to black people in america and people of color in america, donald trump is nothing new. that's the thing we have to remember. he's nothing new. especially when i talk to people from jim crow and especially with the birtherism. >> i don't want to skip over this point, when you look at the exit polling, black women were the smallest group, none voted for donald trump. if you ask them after the election, the antidotal evidence was we all knew someone like donald trump. >> exactly. the reason biden does so well in polling, he's being supported by the black community. in his announcement he took a 2x4 to the racism of donald trump and that awakened people and said, yes, this person can beat donald trump in their mind. they know how dangerous donald trump is and they have seen the bigotism all their lives. when we say we have seen this before, it's sa

so you're saying the white house is simplyng pus back on all of this? >> the white house and the president personally, to me, are pushing back on the idea that robert mueller said that the president's answers, written answers were generally untruthful and that campaign aides and white house aides lying impeded the mueller investigation. the president is, i think, very upset with the idea that robert mueller on the cord before millions of people essentially were saying that the people around him and himself were lying. the president really feels as hathough hto now defend his character. he called republicans today incredib f warrio him and said that his party really was coming to his defense, as everyone was really trying to attack him. but when you look at what robert mueller said, he really did push back on so manms that president trump has been making over the last two years. the presidt said this was a witch hunt carried byou2 democrats, the president said ceis was a hoax and there was no russian interfer all of that robert mueller was wrong and that

how worried is this white house? >> first of all, i think it's very interesting that trump is trying to indicate that he's not even going to watch. before the first democratic debate, his aides floated the idea that he might live tweet. so it's interesting to see the different ways they use his interest in the television program to indicate how we're there. worried they are. they're trying to make it this is the phrase he keeps repeating, another bite of the apple. the white house messaging, today we heard kellyanne conway speak saying, america, this is congress saying you're too stupid to read the report yourself. they're trying to downplay there is anything new here and say that the barr letter really set the playbook here, and that is that there's no collusion. there is no rapid response plan they've been previewing. last week mr. mueller was supposed to testify and they were planning a program rally. the program rally was rescheduled and the president spoke about the, quote, unquote, squad. and the chants of send

and the white house. we're doing okay, just remember us and take care, okay? >> mayor peggy breeden, thank you so much for your time. our coverage continues right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> this is a "the situation room" on report. wolf blitzer is off, we're following breaking news, the biggest earthquake in decades has rocked southern california followed by dozens of aftershocks. this was felt in he los angeles, near the desert town of ridgecrest scientists say there's a chad of another damageling water today. i'll be speaking with or correspondents and analysts have full coverage. i want to begin in southern california. we have sara sidner in our los angeles bureau. what are you hearing? what are you seeing? >> we have heard in ridgecrest there are two house fires, gas lines ruptured. the hospital has evacuated about 50 people there, very important part of the community. they're dealing with evacuations, and emergency crews are getting more calls than they can handle. they are, tho