president trump attacking the media. >> they are the fake, fake, disgusting news. >> attacking the russia investigation. >> russia's very unhappy that trump won, that i can tell you. >> attacking the democrats. >> they'll do anything they can to really to obstruct or resist. >> is this a sign the president is feeling liberated in his job or besieged by the growing pressure of the mueller probe? plus, securing ourthis -- >> our adversaries are trying to undermine our country on a persistent and regular basis. >> our democracy itself is in the cross hairs.

>> president trump says this. >> now, we're being hindered by the russian hoax. >> so hoax or threat, what does the trump administration want us to believe? my guests this morning, republican senator roy blunt of missouri. democratic senator amy klobuchar of minnesota and nbc news national security analyst clint watts. also, the trump loyalty test. hugging president trump has become the republican go-to strategy. >> then mr. trump said you're -- i love that part. >> it works great in the primaries, but will candidates pay a price in november? i'll ask long time republican adman mike murphy. joining me for insight and analysis are robert costa, moderator of washington week on pbs. helenen cooper. and al cars that and elia ya johnson. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in

television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. one of the questions that emerged during the campaign was this. should we take donald trump seriously or literally? well, now he's president of the united states. so are we supposed to take him seriously or literally when he says that the mueller investigation that his attorney general should stop what he calls this rigged witch-hunt right now. are we supposed to take him seriously or literally when hours after his intelligence and security chiefs say that the u.s. election integrity for 2018 is still under attack from russia, the president tells a rally that the russia investigation is a hoax. are we supposed to take him seriously or literally when he calls journalism fake news and says that the press is the enemy of the people and can cause war? and what are we supposed to make of the ralliers devoteto t-shir media and are we supposed to

dismiss them? or should we take their anger president trump supporters say don't take the rally seriously or literally. they're just "wrestlemania" like entertainment. the white house says don't take the president's tweets seriously or literally they're not policy. they're just the president's opinion. in other words the president supporters have resorted to excusing his behavior as opposed to attempting to defend it. it's hard to know whether we're supposed to take that seriously or literally. >> the russian witch hunt,lasti unleashed his la s>> maxine wat charge. a seriously low iq person. the fake news media. democrats are obstructionists. the only t well --

they're lousy politicians, they have horrible stupid policies and they are haters. >> a sign of a president who appears increasingly rattled. on wednesday, mr. trump made his most direct call yet to the end of the mueller investigation tweeting, attorney general jeff sessions should stop this rigged witch-hunt right now. his lawyer quickly claimed the tweet was not evidence of obstruction of justice but then argued he could obstruct justice if he wanted. >> if he wanted to obstruct it, he could end it. then you'd all battle whether he has the legal right to do that. but i don't think he will. lal arpy. when money when a friendly party dried up, paul manafort became desperate for cash. raising the question of why he agreed to an unpaid job with mr. trump's campaign in 2016. at the time, manafort talked about the access that campaign

offered. >> they're coming to me to get involved in the trump campaign. >> people want to get involved? >> people want to get involved, yes. wanted to before but didn't have a way in. >> reporter: one republican told "vanity fair" that it's spinning him into a frenzy and then a threat from his former lawyer michael cohen who signalled he might strike a deal with prosecutors and spill the president's secrets. and the special counsel is interviewing more associates of another long-time aide, roger stone. for months, mr. trump has had one relentless talking point. >> there was no collusion at all. no collusion whatsoever. no collusion. no collusion. absolutely no collusion. >> reporter: with mounting evidence of contacts between mr. trump's campaign and russia, this week the president's attorneys tried a new argument. >> collusion is not a crime. i'm not -- i don't know if it's a crime, colluding about russians. >> reporter: mr. trump said collusion is not a crime but that doesn't matter because there was no collusion. in a pr clean-up attempt, the

administration's top intelligence officials held a briefing thursday at the white house. vowing to combat russian interference in the midterms. now, just over 90 dayswa >> we're doing everythingn to have a legitimate election at the -- that the american people can have trust in. >> reporter: hours later -- >> we are being hindered by the russian hoax. >> joining me is roy blunt of missouri, who sits on the senate intelligence committee. so we we want to get into some election security issues. welcome back to "meet the press." >> good to be with you. >> before i get into that, sometimes i try to ignore his attacks on the press. but this morning he seemed to go a bit overboard with this tweet. i want you to get you to respond to it. the fake news hates he saying they are an enemy of tell people only because they know it's true. i am providing a great service by explaining there to the

american people. they are dangerous and sick. senator blunt, i know this is not your point of view. to the point wherehat point i it should stop in your mind? >> well, it's not my point of view. you know, i see the media -- the press every day in the capitol walking through -- to my office, to the floor, lots of questions. generally really good questions. i do think there's so much news out there it's harder to focus in if you're a part of the media than it may have been at one time. if you watch tv every day, you could find some things that y you -- on various news channels you found objectionable and probably not to be true. the president's rallies people seem to respond to that. i would say that. ive not been to one of -- i have not been to one of the rallies but i have watched them. that's something that a lot of americans identify with. i think all of us who try to communwe se it. whether that's you or me and you know, the calling --

when you call a group of people you otherwise him the way he's doing with the press, calling them sick, sort of dehumanizing them, it makes violence against the press easier to rationalize for some. that's the concern that many news organizations have right now. >> yes, but you could certainly find people on the news saying things about the president that are not appropriate either in terms of the -- >> two wrongs make a right here? i mean the president of the united states is the leader of the free world. >> i don't think so, but there's a lot of in depth psychology that goes on on some news stations every day too. >> i'm -- i'm that. but i guess does -- so that's the -- so the presidentws up on cable television that night. >> even the president and his daughter disagree on this topic, and, you know, it's not the way i would approach this. i think not the way you and i would approach it. >> i guess the question is how do you convince the president that this is bad rhetoric, that

this is dangerous rhetoric, not just bad decorum? >> i think the president really believes that a lot of the news is not accurate. >> do you believe that? >> and you could certainly -- there's a vast variety of how the same news is reported. so somebody is not -- that middle of the road news that people my age grew up with is no longer the news. >> well, i would respectfully disagree there particularly on this show. but i want to ask you to respond to something else. pete waner, he tweeted this about the president and his constant attacks on african-american acts including athletes like lebron james. trump's made the same criticism of black athletes, black journalists and black members of congress referring to maxine waters, he attacks their intelligence. the closest figure in modern national politics to trump --

george wallace. trump defines the gop. are you concerned that the president is defining the gop as anti-black? >> well, the gop is not anti-black and when you look at what's happening in the economy and lots of other places. you know, when he says things like low iq about somebody, maxine waters -- >> always with an african-american and intelligence. that's what makes a lot of people uncomfortable with what he's doing. >> i don't think always. i mean, look at what he said about his various opponents in the republican primary. it's not always, but it's -- i think you've got to be more careful in our society about what you say about people that are different thou, you know, a for instance you could say about waters,shs not a bright person t one of them. she is very smart. and very calculating. and grew up in st. louis, missouri, so i served with her in the house. i usually -- >> sounds like you embrace her

though as a proud daughter of st. louis. >> i embrace her as someone who gave a lot of time to public service and who has a different view point than i do, but it's not based on her factual view of the world. >> let me go to the issue of election security. here was christopher wray and dan coats at the white house a couple of days ago. here it is. >> russia attempted to interfere with the last election and continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day. >> we continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by russia to try to weaken and divide the united states. >> this threat is not going away. >> you're on the intelligence committee. i assume you have heard many of these same updy wi p more specificity than we have. what's your level of concern about interference in the 2018 elections based on the briefings you have been receiving? >> i chair the rules committee,

senator klobuchar is my ranking democrat. >> right. >> she and i work on that committee together, so those -- which is basically the committee that would have the legislation for election security at hearings that were public on this topic. i thought the most helpful thing in terms of thinking about this year's elections that director wray had to say was we're not seeing the level of activity trying to approach the election systems themselves insaw in 201. i think the one area where both the congress and local officials and the federal government and local officials need to be working together is to be sure that whatever happens on election day, there is confidence that that's what really happened. i think we are at that point. lots of cooperation between homeland security. our cyber experts. state election officials. local election officials that part of the system i feel good about. >> we still need some paper ballots. we have some states that don't

have a backup paper ballot system. i think it's langford and klobuchar together on this. where are you on this? >> i think we should have an audit trail. >> does the federal government help fund that? >> the federal government should actually -- i think we need to be more specific in the future about how we encourage states to spend money. we did $380 million basically based on the 2001 standard. i was not actively part of that discussion as it came -- until it got before the full appropriations committee. i wish we had been more specific on that, but that's money states will hopefully use to make that transition. >> why did you vote against the election securities bill that was this here this week? >> there was no elections security bill this bill, but $250 million to go to the states. >> you want it more specified? >> more specified. i don't want this to be an annual entitlement. the distapt money and local

money on how to spend it. $380 million was what we were told by homeland security and state officials they needed. it's barely out the door. they have five years to spend it. i want to have things like an audit trail that people have confidence in. the central thread of the fabric of democracy is people having confidence that what happened on election day is what really happened. another discussion about all of the information that may have ledotdecion, that's where the russians appear to be more vigorous this time than last time. >> well, final question here. the sanctions bill from hell as lindsay graham likes to call it. >> i'm on board with sanctions the russians -- >> his is tougher. >> i haven't look at his bill yet. bersked the general who is the in march do you have what you need to respond if we are attacked, you have an offensive

strategy. in march he said no. his predecessor under president obama said no. this week, he said yes. >> i did notice that. >> that is a big step in the right direction and the russians, the chinese, the north koreans, any of the other seven actors that principally are doing this kind of activity should listen very carefully to what the general said this week on the topic. >> it was a striking comment from him. that we're prepared to go on offense. senator blunt, thank you. joining me from minnesota, on the other side of the aisle, amy klobuchar. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thanks, chuck. >> let me stick to election security there. you heard senator blunt's ut the bill this week. it was essentially unmarked money is sort of -- it sounded like that was many of the republicans there. what would you say in response to that? essentially he is saying, he'd support more money if it's

sp what it is rather than an annual semientitlement what do you say? the secretaries of state of the states said they needed more help and we think it's paramount we act quickly given we have the intelligence heads of the united states government all going to the white house and saying this is happening now. we have a common set of facts and that's why as we move forward i'm glad that we were able to get the $380 million out to the states, 47 states now have their funding for things like backup paper ballots but we need to get the secure elections act passed that's what my friend roy blunt was talking about right there. we're voting on that bill finally in committee and that's going to allow us to require backup paper ballots of the 14 states that either have partial or don't have them at all. >> right. let me get you to respond to somethth intelligence dan coats

said about this election. take a listen, senator. >> our focus here today is simply to tell the american people we acknowledge the threat, it is real. it is continuing. and we're doing everything we can to have a legitimate election that the american people can have trust in. >> senator, i have to say it's the last phrase that sent a little bit of a shiver down my spine. so that we can have a legitimate election. it wasn't a guarantee yet. how confident are you that the 2018 elections are going to be legitimate? >> i'm very concerned that you could have that finally went through. you have 21 states that were hacked into. they didn't find out about it for a year and that's one of the reasons that we want to pass or bill so that there's now a requirement that they tell the individual secretaries of state immediately so they can protect themselves and you have the fact

th y tv. still after his security people, they go in front of the world they say this is happening. he says that night at a rally in pennsylvania that it's a hoax. so that concerns me. but at the same time, there are some very good people working on it. i'd love to see this broadened out so we start to discuss also the threats to our power grid system. the threats to our financial system because the russians aren't just stopping at the election equipment. >> is the president's comments when he does that? >> i think they do because you have got these people that e our security people. our intelligence people. when he stne vladimir pun over the intelligence people, it sent that same message to the world. so i wish he would listen to these people, but what we have right now is a common set of facts between at least democrats

and republicans in the senate and a common purpose to protect our democracy. >> all right. i want to get a couple of political questions in here. i'm curious of your response to something cynthia nixon said at the net roots conference, a gathering of progressives. a lot of 2020 chatter there. but something she said about socialism. i'm curious of your reaction. >> the establishment is terrified of that word. socialism. but if we learned one thing from the >> what do you make of that? where do democratic socialists fit in your democratic party, senator? >> i make of it that she's in a primary in new york state. and running for office. but what i have seen in our party isth divides along certain issues but what unites us is so much stronger, chuck. we have a president in the white

house where we need a check and balance. we have an administration that is actually down in texas undermining this protection so that people don't get thrown off their insurance if they have a pre-existing condition. that unites us. what unites us is doing something about pharmaceutical prices. so that instead of what the president did giving a speech and seeing their stock go up that we actually bring those prices down. and i sit in those leadership meetings with everyone from joe manchin to bernie sanders and i thing also yesterday.than iso she said the criminal justice system from start to finish is essentially racist. aart of the criminal justice system, a former county prosecutor. that's a large charge. i understand where she's going there. is that a fair hit? >> for people who have been victimized and have been a

victim of crime, they need a criminal justice system that works for them. i have worked with a lot of very good prosecutors and police officers that do some of the hardest jobs every day. but we know that there is racism in this system that needs to be fixed. that's why we have started instituting body cameras, which is a great solution. doing things on eyewitness id. i think the solutions are there for us. we have to reform the system. >> senator klobuchar, thank you for coming on. sharing your views. ♪ i was able to turn the aircraft around, and the mission around, and was able to save two men's lives that night. two days later, 9/11 happened. but allstate helps you. with drivewise.

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by the way that's an increase over 2014 as well but only a 24% increase. to be clear, primary elections are very different animals from generals but the numbers do provide at least some understanding of how engaged the two political party bases are at this point in the cycle. the fact that more people voted in democratic than republican primaries so far in 2018 it flips the script from what we saw in 2014 which of course was that big wave year for republicans. but the national numbers state. lo awere up 84% compared to 30% republicans. and in nine out of the ten districts seen as battle grounds in california by the cook report, the increases were bigger than those on the republican side. but there is some good news for republicans in that stat. they still produce more overall votes in those battle ground districts. ohio, they paint a complicated

picture as well. the democratic turnout increase was greater than the republicans but republicans still held the advantage in the raw number of votes cast in ohio. in fact, in four of that state's five battle ground congressional districts, democrats saw a bigger increase but in all five, it's the republicans that still had more votes cast overall. potential sort of buffer there for the gop. now, let's go to iowa. this may be the most interesting set of numbers we have seen. the democrats saw a massive increase in turnout. 152%, and republicans saw a steep drop, 35%. now republica want to argue that this was because of a lack of contested races down the ballot. let me tell you, privately, some iowa republicans are muttering fo dampening rural the know what it will mean for november. clearly there's enthusiasm, but is it enough to get them over the top? but at the very least these national numbers offer some evidence at this point the democrats do have an edge going

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england, just a jewel of a golf course. royal lytham and saint anne's, this weekend playing host to the women's british open. final round coverage is coming right up. hi, everybody. carolyn manno in our nbc sports studios. we'll get you to the course but