conference and new signs of growing mistrust between trump and the intelligence community. he wants stephen feinberg to head up a review of intelligence agencies. and news that they are keeping trump in the dark about intelligence issues. >> and why are they urging the senate to say no to david freeman? and schools are closing in defines of president trump's crackdown on immigration. i'm ali velshi. a lot to get to this morning. breaking news, president trump targeting the intelligence community with new signing that a showdown may be coming. just last hour a senior administration official

confirmed to nbc news that stephen feinberg, a billionaire private equity leader who has donated to trump's campaign is leading the review on spy agencies. quote, "the spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! they will be caught." late last night, two congressmen asked the committee to look into the leaks as opposed to the actual communication between flynn and the russians. the president is defending his national security adviser saying flynn has been treated unfairly by the media. >> i think it's very, very unfair what's happened to general flynn, the way he was treated and the documents and papers that were illegally -- i

stress that, illegally leaked. >> that of course is ironically the exact opposite of what then candidate trump said about leaks while he was on the campaign trail. >> russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. all you have to do is take a look at wikileaks. this just came out. i love wikileaks! amazing how nothing is secret today when you talk about the internet. oh, i love wikileaks. they have revealed a lot. >> the wall street journal is reporting that the intelligence community is also concerned about leaks but ones coming from the president, citing current and former officials familiar with the matter, the report says spying agencies have withheld sensitive intelligence from the president because they are, quote, concerned it could be leaked or compromised,nd quote. the office of the director of

national intelligence is denying anyone is keeping information from the president. a lot of things to now. joins m the white house where we have just learned the president will be holding a press conference at noon eastern. let's start with that, peter. do we know what this is about? >> we have just confirmed the president is expected to announce his new pick for labor secretary during this news conference scheduled to take place here at the white house in the east room. this comes on the day that was supposed to be confirmation hearing for andy puzder, who was the first pick of preside labor secretary. but that nomination was derailed by a series of issues, obstacles you could describe them as, the last one with a release of an interview of an oprah winfrey show's ex-wife speaking about

allegations of domestic abuse. she has recanted those accusations and puzder has denied any responsibility for those claims. that wasn't it, though. there were other problems with his nomination, including the fact he had employed an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper for years. without paying taxes and ultimately he did repay those taxes. all that said, we know that there will be a new selection for labor secretary today. it was notable because while democrats have been trying to defeat all sorts of these different picks for donald trump's cabinet, this was their first time being successful. we're waiting to see who that name will be. i've just reached out to a series of senior administration officials. we do not know yet who that individual is going to be. >> i don't know what the over/under is on it being a

billionaire. stephen feinberg is a hedge fund billionaire who is being tapped to review the intelligence agencies. no experience at all, ever, in intelligence or national security. >> reporter: that's exactly right. even as i'm speaking to you, i'm hearing from a senior white house official that the conference is expected to start at 12:30 this afternoon. i'm told by a senior administration official that the role that stephen feinberg would play is bigger than just overseeing this large review of the nation's 17 spy agencies, that it would be a broader mandate as it's described to me. it's unclear what his primary responsibility would be. i was told that reviewing the intelligence community would be later on in the words of this official. but obviously this has led to consternation among members of the intelligence community, right now, the idea that an

outsider would be overseeing this review, the potential that this individual is basically a trump ally, somebody working directly with the white house while donald trump or at least his campaign is being investigated for connections to russian intelligence officials has led to some real concerns within the intelligence community. feinberg, a little more about his bio, i'm told he still need to be cleared by the office of government ethics, which could be complicated because of his role as co founder of cerberus, a capital management company. and he made a $1.5 million donation to a fund that backed

donald trump's presidency. . there are concerns that the white house to could investigate control over this individual who would be looking into the intelligence community while at the same time the intelligence community is looking into this white house broadly and the role that donald trump and his aides played over the course of the campaign in terms of their relationship to russia. >> peter, remarkable reporting i would say over the last few days but over the last few minutes and hours because that's the world we're in. >> secretary of state rex tillerson is making headlines after his first face-to-face meeting with prime minister sergey lavrov. secretary tillerson the meeting was productive. in the meeting a reporter squeezed in a question to lavrov about what's been going on in the trump administration? >> reporter: are you concerned about the turmoil of the

administration back in that we not interfere in domestic matters of other countries. >> wow. lucy cavanaugh joins me now from germany. us lucy, russia and america have many. issues to discuss. do we know whether tillerson and lavrov discussed these issues? >> reporter: if on one could be a fly on the wall for this meeting. we simply don't know what they talked about behind closed doors. publicly tillerson at least stayed very closely to the line he put out in his senate confirmation hearing, saying he would look for areas to cooperate. and also saying he won't roll

over where the two countries don't agree on something. >> as i made clear in my senate confirm's hearing, the united states will consider working with russia when we can find areas of practical cooperation that will benefit the american people. where we do not see eye to eye, the united states will stand up for the interests and values of america and her allies. >> reporter: so tillerson also brought up the topic of ukraine where fighting has escalated recently. he said, quote, the u.s. expects russia to honor the minsk agreement. tillerson himself no stranger to russia. this was his first face-to-face meeting with lavrov but he was awarded the order of friendship medal by putin himself in 2013. did this get him any leverage in this meeting? we simply don't know. and also interesting, how few remarks he's made to the press.

he's taken no questions from the press since taking office two weeks ago. lavrov even commented on this as he was leaving the room. lavrov keeping a low profile and to the revealing his hand. >> thank you very much. president trump is going after democrats today as they continue to call for an investigation into any ties he or his campaign may have had to russia. the president tweeting this morning "fake news media, which makes up stories and sources, is far more effective than the discred discredited democrats but they are fading fast." "the democrats had to come up with a story as to why they lost the election and so badly, 306, so they made up to story --

russia." russia is a reference to the 306 electoral votes. are you moved at all by these attacks by the democrats? it sort of seems kind of common place now. >> it seems like he's missing the point as well. it's like having your house on fire and blaming the smoke alarm. we had a real opportunity yesterday on the judiciary committee as we were setting our 2017 priorities and democrats put forward four different amendments to ask that an investigation take place into donald trump and his team with -- and if they had any relationships with the russian government -- >> congressman, i'm going to interrupt you for a second. we're rolling video we just got in, president donald trump meeting with members of the house at the white house. these are house republicans who supported him early in the

campaign. let's listen in to a little of what he's saying, congressman. >> thank you all for being here. i had a lot of good discussions this morning. i'm negotiating a lot of contracts that are saving billions and billions of dollars for the american people and for all of us and i'm very proud of it. you know the a-35 fighter jet, the air force one program which was totally out of control and now it's back very much in control. and many other things. in addition, i had a very good phone call this morning about a major plant that's moving back into the united states. we'll be talking about it soon, and what i do have is a little free time at about 12:00 so i don't think the press will want to show up but i think i'll have

a press conference probably at 12:00 in the east room. we had a little time in between things. so if the press would like to show up -- will anybody show up to that press conference? historically they didn't care about these things. for me they show up. so i think 12:00 in the east room of the white house, we'll have a press conference. i just want to thank you folks for coming today. this was great, this was scheduled a long time ago. some of my very, very early supporters and i've been your supporter also. we're doing really well. the fake news media doesn't like talking about the economy. i never see anything about the stock market sets new records every day, chris. i never see that. but i think the people understand it. we're giving a speech on -- in melbourne, florida on saturday. i think it's going to be around 4:00. i hear the tickets you can't get them. that's okay.

that's better than you have too many, right? so it's great to be great. that will be melbourne at 4:00. i really appreciate you folks. you folks have been so great, right from the beginning. tom, right at the beginning, just about every one of you right at the beginning. some were a little after the beginning but we forgive. but we forgive. let's go around just for the media and you'll introduce yourselves and then we'll start talking and i'll see the media back at 12:00. >> mr. president, we're all honored to be here. this is really our trump caucus, reconvening for the first time in a little bit. but our first meeting was the first part of march. duncan hunter and i both endo e endorsed you on february 24th, a week from tomorrow. this is the trump caucus reconvening. we're just so honored you're taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us. western new york. >> well, these are real friends.

>> very good to see you, sir. from santiago, california. >> kevin cramer from north dakota. >> bill schuster from pennsylvania. >> hazelton, pennsylvania. >> mr. president, it was a pleasure to travel with you to florida. >> please indulge me 30 seconds. i'm from pennsylvania. i have something for you. >> uh-oh. >> certainly for you to sign, i think he means. >> this is from an engineer who 60-some years old, never voted, never registered. he registered for you and voted for you and he asked me to give this to you. there's a nice letter there. that's that. i'll set this over here. >> that's beautiful. thank you.

>> he's a talented guy. i can see that. >> and then i have the chairman and ceo of little league baseball. i kind of figured, mr. vice president, that you would be here as well. this is from the new york team last year that was in the world series. and this is an original jersey of the new york team in the world series last year and this is for you as well, sir. >> well, thank you very much. [ applause ] >> all right. thank them for me. >> i will do that. >> thank you. >> rick, we know who you are. >> scott from tennessee. i want you to know that tennessee is fully behind you. we're excited about the work you're doing. we know health care and tax reform has to be done this year and we like the work you're

doing. >> we need to get it done. the health care is doing really well. and now that we finally have dr. tom price, that was a big thing, we couldn't get him. we're going to be announcing a new secretary of labor who is really phenomenal. so that will be at 12:00. and we're getting -- i mean, this is the slowest in history, the approval of a cabinet and these people are outstanding people. the man i'll be announcing for labor is a star, great person, great person. and so i look forward to that. but i appreciate everything you've done. you've been fantastic and i appreciate it. thank you. >> mr. president, good to see you. mike kelly. >> i know mike. from the pittsburgh area. what an exciting summer. >> we took an area that wasn't a republican area and we swamped them, right? >> 34 years since this area

voted for republican thanks to you. >> billy long, co-chair of the congressional study group on japan. i'm leading the delegation to japan saturday, meeting with prime minister abe monday, so if you will tell me how many golf balls in florida, i'll know how many house of representatives golf balls to take. >> he did well. we played with ernie els. i called and said see if you can get my somebody good to play with, i have the prime minister of japan. so ernie els was waiting for us. >> i knew you all would hit it guy because you're both people persons. >> we hit it off. we had a good feeling. i always said about president obama it's great to play golf but play golf with heads of countries. and, by the way, people like yourself when you're looking for votes, don't play with your friend that you play with

everybody week. that doesn't help. does that make sense? >> yeah, it does. >> i hit it off with the prime minister. he's a fabulous guy. he loves his country. we spoke all day long and well into the night. as you know, they launched a missile, north korea, and we were discussing that. so it was really something. but have a good time over there. >> i will. >> and give him my regards. >> the ambassador was in my district for two full days and he mentioned he was with you in florida. one last quick thing, fran drescher from "the nanny," she has a request with her battle for cancer that you have a cancer board that has one non-medical person. so she wanted me to put her name in the hat for that. >> she's fought a battle. if you would, billy, give me that request and let see if we can do that. >> i'll get it to your people.

>> marcia? >> i'm marcia blackburn from tennessee. we are looking forward to broadband expansion. >> you're going to get it. >> thank you very much, everybody. i'll see you at 12:00. if you don't show up, i won't be offended. >> you're going to get those leakers, mr. president? >> we're going to find the leakers. they're going to pay a big price for leaking. >> they are going to pay a big price for leaking. i want to bring you up to date on a couple of things the president said. he's got a press conference at 12 noon. it will be 12:30 eastern. he did say he's going to nominate his labor secretary, a phenomenal man. that's the amount of detail we have right now. i want to go back to representative eric swalwell. i don't like to talk about what we do that much but, but he did

the fake media doesn't report on stock market record. as a journalist, i can't imagine more having talked about stock market record more. but he's your colleague. they supported him earlier with face time in the white house. >> they're doing a lot to protect him with congress asking a lot of questions about ties between donald trump and his team and the government. yesterday in the judiciary committee, four different amendments as we're setting out priorities to look at ties between donald trump and the russian government and all of them were voted down unanimously by republicans. so, ali, if you're keeping score, right now the tally i have is russia 4, united states 0. >> i guess there's a shift here that may not be discernible to people who don't read everything that comes out about this but there are a lot of republicans who say "we've really got to

investigate this russia leaks stuff" and the emphasis is on the intelligence and leaks. that's different from investigating the president and michael flynn's relationship to russia. >> it's very much missing the point. he has gone out of his way, the president, to demoralize and demean the intelligence community. having visited with so many of them, they don't care at all about politics. they follow the evidence. so the leaking that we're seeing right now i believe is likely coming because he doesn't believe intelligence is relevant. the steam has to come out of pot and it is right now and it's showing that all the arrows are showing to a relationship between either he and his team or his associates and the russian government. and the american people want to learn more about that. >> congressman, thank you for joining us this morning. congressman eric swalwell is a representative of california's 15th congressional district. it has been two days since mike

em -- michael flynn resigned from his post. the white house still facts questions about what exactly went on with flynn's phone calls with the russian ambassador and how those calls became public knowledge for the first place. senator rand paul raised these concerns on "morning joe." >> if secret intelligence agencies record our phone calls and release them to the media, that is not just a leak. we're not talking about whether you get juicy gossip about whether the president wear s a bathroom or not. if we're going to release that to the press, that is very, very worrisome. in the process we're going to destroy people who are critics of the intelligence community? that really, really alarms me. >> let bring in republican mark sanford, member of the committee on oversight. one can't disagree with the underlying theme of senator

paul's commentary that this is dangerous, there's no question. i can't imagine senator rand paul is part of the whitewash here, that we need to avoid the conversation about the trump administration and trump campaign's relationship with russia in favor of just going after leakers. >> no, i don't think he is. i think what he's saying is let's be circumspect. we have a presumption that one is innocent until proven guilty and one is stated as guilty and then to work back from there. i think what a number of us are saying, i think there's a chink in the armor with what goodlatte there this week and chaffetz sending two different letters this week. is there a nexus between

different high-level folks on trump's side and the russian government. >> you mentioned congressman jason chaffetz and his letter to the inspector general to look into the alleged leaks. this morning congressman elijah cummings fired back. he said "chairman chaffetz appears to be taking his marching order directly from president trump's tweet yesterday instead of investigating general flynn's lies to the vice president and the american people as well as his troubling ties with russia, the chairman chose to target those who -- >> i think we need to do both. from a republican side, folks are going to look at one side. from a democratic side, they're just going to want to look at the other.

if you look at the history of government committees, they're often incredibly of partisan nature. i think we need to be equal opportunity on this front. >> so your committee will not be investigating general flynn's resignation because chairman chaffetz told reporters yesterday, quote, i think the situation has taken care of itself. that would put him in a small minority of americans. you can't possibly agree with chairman chaffetz on that? >> i would respectfully disagree with my chairman on that one, in your mind or to a lot of other folks' minds. i think in fairness he's saying let's not get ahead of our skis, that before we go to the point of a congressional investigation, let's let law enforcement do its work first. >> you said i may not be

convinced and others may not convinced, are you convinced this is over? >> no, i'm not. >> let's talk about health care. you've just introduced a bill to replace the affordable care act. can you tell me in broad strokes does it cover preexisting conditions and kid on their parents' policies? >> it covers both. >> what's your sense of where this goes? there is a sense that there was a lot of momentum about repealing and replacing obamacare and a lot of critics are saying that's lost steam. >> yeah, because it's hard. so everybody was for, well, let's repeal but what's replace going to look like. we're actually having -- we had one this morning, we'll have one this morning meetings on what replacement might look like. i think that's beginning to pick up steam because leadership has gotten the message that repeal is not enough. it's not enough to say what are you against. people are rightfully concerned and upset about this because they think that there might be a void and they don't want a void

with regard to their health care. >> congressman sanford, good to talk to you. thank you for taking time to be with us this morning. >> u.s. represent's to south carolina's first congressional district. for all this news we're telling you about, it has been a wild morning on capitol hill. prote prote prote protesters are interrupting the confirm makes hearing of david friedman. >> mr. friedman is building a five-story apartment building in the west bank. david friedman will more likely spark conflict in the occupied territory. >> i want to bring in somebody who knows a great deal about everything we've been talking about, not the least which is the middle east but also the intelligence issues we've been discussing. jane harmon, director of the woodrow wilson center, a former

nine-term members of congress from california. thank you for being with us. >> thank you, ali. >> this won't be the last outcry again friedman. yesterday five ambassadors to israel sent a letter about him to the senate foreign relations committee accusing him of holding extreme radical positions. you've had a chance to look at this. you know of the relationship between america and israel, the palestine. is there a cause for concern with friedman? >> ambassadors doesn't make policy, administrations make policy. i was just in israel and in ramallah, the palestinian authority two weeks ago, and they're quite dismayed at the lack of progress and the list of grievances on both sides. i really hope that mr. friedman, if he is confirmed, walks back some of his own statements and makes sure that there is an opportunity for peace here.

if there's going to be an outside-in deal where the arabs buy into a settlement between the palestinian authority and the israeli government, time is wasting. you go through the west bank and see those settlements on top of the hills and the palestinian villages below and it's a very intimidating situation. and i thought president trump was right to say to prime minister netanyahu yesterday that he ought to cool it on the settlement activity. but can i say something else, though? i'm burning to say this. if i were dan coates, a former u.s. ambassador and former ambassador to germany, not named by trump -- >> not confirmed but nominated. >> nominated. i would be having a very bad day. i would think about stephen feinberg coming into the white house, a trump contributor, basically taking over his job. his job, i was a principal

co-author of that bipartisan law in 2004 which corrected -- or tried to and i think has -- intelligence mistakes before that. i would -- if i were coates, i'd say, hey -- >> you served on certainly important committees, including oversight of the cia. he now has word feinberg is coming in, also a billionaire. nothing against billionaires. but donald trump and administration sources are saying they're thinking of rewriting the way intelligence services work. you have intimate knowledge of this. is it broken? is it working? what's going on? >> well, first of all, the people inside are not broken. they work hard. many of them in undisclosed locations and that wall at the cia headquarters is, you know, a sacred wall. many of their names will never be known.

so hats off to them. i think the intelligence community is now well managed and the dni, the director of national intelligence, the joint commander across 16 agencies is the right organization, it's taking hold, it's had some good leadership. most people think that director clapper who served for six years did a good job. and interfering with the mission to speak truth to power has huge risks. we saw that movie in the bad intelligence leading up to the iraq war. i voted for the iraq war because i believed the intelligence. it was wrong and my vote was wrongs and we're paying a huge price in the middle east because we went to war based on bad intelligence. >> i need to break in for a mome moment. speaker of the house is holding a conference. >> on tuesday another major insurance company announced it,

too, will leave the marketplace and cited a lack of young people signing up, a problem that has dogged obamacare for years now. in many areas, humana is the only carrier left. and on wednesday, aetna said obamacare is in a death spiral. his word. here is what is important for us all to understand. obamacare is not simply stuck in some kind of status quo, it is getting worse by the day and it will keep getting worse unless we act. we need to rescue people from this collapsing law and we need to replace it with a true patient-centered system, one that gives every american access to quality, affordable coverage. that means more choices and lower costs. it means real protections and peace of mind, and it means returning your care to your control. patients and doctors should be making the big decisions, not government bureaucrats.

step by step this is what our plan to repeal and replace obamacare will do. we look forward to making progress in the coming weeks and keeping our promise to the american people. questions. >> reporter: why do you think we're seeing so many leaks coming from this administration in the president has said that they will be caught. do you feel that those behind these leaks should be referred to the justice department? >> i can't answer why. i really don't know the answer why so many leaks are coming from the administration -- from wherever they're coming from. but if you know, let us know. what i do worry about, though, is if classified information is being leaked. that is criminal. so i think there should be an investigation as to the leaks of information leaving, wherever they're coming from. and if it's classified information, that is criminal and there should be a criminal investigation of these leaks. that does compromise our national security. >> kasie. >> reporter: should the house intelligence committee include

in its inquiry an investigation into these leaks? >> the house intelligence committee is the proper place to this. they're the ones that get access to sources and methods. and everything involving russia is what the house intelligence committee has been working on and looking at and we've had an ongoing investigation in all of this. that would be the proper puer view. >> do you believe mike flynn should testify before the house intelligence? >> i'll defer to the house intelligence committee. >> yesterday congresswoman yellen testified that the border tax would cause economic uncertainty and in some cases weaken the dollar. >> weaken the dollar? i don't know if i'd agree with that. i think maybe got that the other way around. here's how border adjustability works. there's a lot of confusion

surrounding this. we're one of the few countries that do not border adjust our taxes. 160 countries border adjust their taxes. we're in the company of countries like north korea and somalia, afghanistan and iran, something like that. almost all countries border adjust their taxes. what that means is if it was con assucon -- consumed in your country, not made in your country. we're putting american made products at a huge disadvantage. there's a built-in bias in our tax code to outsource manufacture. that's not good for american jobs, not good for american manufacturing, that's not good for american economic growth. so all we're suggesting is let's equalize the tax treatment. let's be fair to ourselves and treat ourselves like every other country is treating them. so when we make something in america, let's put it on a level

playing field with everybody else. let's just take this tape recorder right here -- i hope i didn't turn it off. american-made tape recorder. this is an olympus. i have no idea where that's made. sony, made in japan. oops. i just want to explain it. american made tape recorder, japanese made tape recorder. when japan sends it for export, they take the tax off of it. it comes to america and it was untaxed and it competes against our good that was twice. when america makes it, they send it to japan and we tax it and when it gets there, it's taxed again. so we're hurting ourselves. i hope i didn't screw up your tape recorders. that is why we think this is very important. this is good manufacturing

policy. with respect to currency adjustments, it is obvious and mathematical that a currency adjustment would occur when we harmonize our tax laws with the rest of the world. for people concerned about it, i believe there are things we can do to ameliorate those concerns so that the transition from a really bad tax system to one of the best in the world we would get out of this is a gradual transition. i would also say those who are concerned about this, i think they underappreciate how much better our tax system will be with this kind of provision. >> reporter: a quick follow-up. you're not concerned that the growing republican opposition to the border tax will jeopardize tax reform? >> no. go back and read the books written about the 1986 tax reform. it going to be up, down, on,

off. you're going to report 150 stories on tax reforms' fate between now and when we get tax reform done. we are doing tax reform. it's going to happen. do you know why it's going to happen? because it has to happen. america has the worst tax code in the industrialized world. it is killing economic growth. it is driving companies to become foreign companies. more and more and more u.s. companies are going to leave this country because of our tax laws or get bought by foreign companies and we will lose our seed corn, our employers. we will lose economic growth. this is existential to our economy and we know this. we're going to get tax reform done and there will be a whole bunch of drama that you will enjoy covering between now and then. >> reporter: how is the refundable tax credit different and -- >> they're subsidies that say we

will pay some people some money if you do what the government makes you do. that is not a tax credit. that is not freedom. a tax credit is you get the freedom to do what you want and buy what you need, your choice. the affordable care act is the opposite of that. the government makes you buy this. there's one or two plans left. there will be zero plans left in certain markets. they make you buy it and they subsidize what you buy. it's a fixed amount to go by the health insurance plan of their choosing. it's the opposite of obamacare, which is not a patient-centered system, it's a government-run system. we're proposing a system that the patient decide what they want to do. the nucleus is the patient and

her doctor versus obama and the government's sake. >> i was wondering if there are any areas where you think the white house should improve communications with capitol hill? >> i should know. we're doing really well on that front. we talk with the white house daily. our house and senate teams are in consultation with the white house constantly. we're very excited tom price was over there. he was one of the primary architect, off our obamacare replacement plan we rolled ot last year and now he's the secretary of hhs to roll out anand execute that plan. >> has the president shared his pick for labor secretary yet? >> no. i heard it's coming but have i no idea who it is. >> to follow up with obamacare, there are democrats who think the law needs to be fixed.

republicans chose to go the reconciliation route with repeal and replace. do you think it possible to have the plan you spoke of without help from democrats? do you wish you went into this bipartisan? >> they've made it really clear to us they're not interested in doing that. the democrats, just taking them at their word, they want to go down the socialized medicine path, they want what they call the public option, which is to basically have no options but a government-run plan. we think it will do even more damage to the health care system in america. we believe in a patient-centered system where individuals have the freedom to buy what they want and not what the government makes them buy. and also we think, jennifer, it's really, really important to have choice and competition in health care because it lowers cost and increases quality. that is the opposite of what obamacare does. obamacare restricts choice, it

denies competition. we have monopolies in a third of the counties in america. as a result of the lack of choice and competition, you have much higher prices and fewer supply. >> reporter: do you have any concerns that there's a group of republicans in the senate who come from states where medicaid expansion was already accepted and they're very skeptical to take that away from their state. >> i think it's 32 states that had medicaid expansion. we're going to have to find solutions to address these concerns. they are working with governors to come up with a solution so whether a state chose to take the money or didn't, that going forward as we give states more control, as we advance the principle of federalism by giving states more control over medicaid so they can have innovative reforms, we do it in a way that doesn't disadvantage

either side of that coin. >> on obamacare repeal and repla replace, the week you guys are back from -- >> it's after the recess. we're waiting for our scores. i hate to tell you cbo and joint techs are going to give it to us when we want them to give it us to. we'll bring it out after the district work period. excuse me. >> okay. i want to go back to jane harmon, director and president of the woodrow wilson center. a lot happened in that discussion. we won't be able to tackle it all. he did speak a little bit about russia. i thought it was interesting that he hadn't given thought whether michael flynn should testify before a congressional committee. i can't imagine he hasn't given that thought because everybody in the country is thinking of that. i want to ask you how we balance

the conversation between the trump administration and the trump campaign's contact with russia versus the leaks coming from the intelligence community or encouraged by the media. >> well, we need to know what happened. congress has a great mechanism, which it's not using, to find out what happened and share what it learns with the public. that is called a joint inquiry. we did it after 9/11, a joint hearing of the senate and house intelligence committees, part closed and part open. adam schiff, a very able ranking on the house side and my successor a couple removed and i wrote an op-ed recently saying let's renew the joint inquiry. i do agree with paul ryan that

leaks are bad and leakers, once we figure this out, that there ought to be appropriate efforts to find out who leaked. but if we're just focused on leakers and we're not focused on what the truth of the matter was, think think we're short changing two things -- three things. one is the integrity of congress, which is supposed to oversee the intelligence community and two is the american public who have a right to know, and three is we're just suppressing sending a message that we're going to do some effort to suppress the truth. that's not consistent with america. i think americans are resilient, i think we'll get through this. i hope that dan coates is confirmed and has the mandate to do this rather than someone who has no background in intelligence. >> jane harmon, thanks very much. we look forward to talking with you more.

let's bring in kasie hunt. i don't understand how she got to a camera that fast because i just saw her asking paul ryan questions. kasie, there was a lot of stuff in there. >> it's a trick, ali. i sit in the front row. an interesting press conference here from paul ryan. i think the top line news we've been talking about today, those leaks that the president has focused on that are driving a lot of what we're learning about what has happened behind the scenes with mike flynn, russia and the contacts between the trump campaign and the russian government that reporting has clearly angered president trump, the speaker saying leaks are worrisome and leaking classified information is a criminal act. i asked if this is within the per view the house intelligent committee is currently condu conducting into the broad meddle

of the election. but he wouldn't way in on whether mike flynn should come testify before that investigation. we do know that senators also led by republicans, they do want mike flynn to come and testify. much of that would probably take place behind closed doors but they do want to hear from him. paul ryan here saying he doesn't want to weigh in, he hasn't thought about whether flynn should testify in the house investigation into russian meddling. on other subjects, we also learned that the house republicans plan to release their obamacare replacement plan in the weeks after the recess. you also may have speeen speake ryan's his someplace on the border tax -- >> i did enjoy his tape recorder demonstration. >> it is a true passion of the

speaker's, i'll say that. >> thank you, kasie. >> businesses and schools are closing around the country in a strike to oppose the president's immigration policies. we're going to hear from one business owner who is closing her bakery in support of what's being called a day without immigrants.

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breaking news. nbc's peter alexander is confirming that president trump

will at 12:30 p.m. eastern announce alexander acosta as his pick for labor secretary, replacing andy puzder. he is the dean of the college of law at florida internal university. he clerkedw on the court of appeals. been. he is a civil rights attorney. was assistant attorney general in the civil rights department and was the u.s. attorney for the southern district of florida. that announcement will come in 40 minutes from president trump in the east room where he will hold a news conference. businesses are protesting the president's immigration policies by shutting their doors. it's called a day without immigran immigrants. closings are planned -- 600 employees of one restaurant in one restaurant in washington, d.c. will be allowed to use a vacation day. immigrants are telling

immigrants to stay home from work and school and show how much they contribute to the country. goddy schwartz is in denver. >> reporter: it's called maria empanada. usually this back room would be bustling with people, they would be listening to music, 15 people back here prepping. as you can see, it is quiet. out here, the store, the restaurant, is also quiet. the doors are closed here. we wanted to explain why. we are joined by the store owner. she is here to explain why you closed today. tell us why you closed. >> the business is an american business. it's a dream that came through an immigrant that came to this country trying to look for a better life. so this is not something that is

made only by me. i have a team. and all the people has same ethic and they want to work hard and they want to be part of this dream also. i don't want to forget that i'm an immigrant. and that's why i'm supporting this day. >> you were saying an immigrant started this. that's you. you came here with a backpack on. tell me about that. >> just with a backpack. less than 300. now i'm opening my third location. i am giving job opportunities to people, motivating them every day. i'm part of the model of the small business economy here. yeah, that's what we are doing. >> what does this mean to the people that work here? what have they told you? >> well, the decision was made by all of us. it was very important for me to hear my people, right? so this is a very specific way to demonstrate that immigrants here are very important. and a day without immigrants can

create a very big impact. so this is a country that is made by immigrants. imagine all of us making just silence for a day? i decided to make a silence. >> thank you so very much. this is just one of the stores, one of restaurant of many across the country closing down today. we'll continue to follow the developments as they progress. >> goddy spa schwartz in denver, colorado. one month into thinks presidency and donald trump is on the title of "time" magazine again. the article digs into what's called quote trump's white house chaos. i have with me now an upstanding member of what trump would call the fake media for articles like this. you must know you are going to get criticism for putting that cover and that type of article up. what are you trying to get across? >> i think that's part of the

cover line here, nothing to see here. the white house line is any reports of dysfunction in the white house of which there are many and there is diss function in the white house and contradictions and the way they do things is just deflected as bad news. most presidents try to deflect bad news. it's the degree to which this president is doing it. steven bannon told our reporters last night, it's not chaos. it's anti-chaos. they have been spending so much time not only trying to do the government's work but trying to tamp down the rumors, the misyou can kmoos, and the talk that more people's heads will roll. at least as of last night the senior staff is standing firm together saying we are all in this together, all supporting each other and all plowing forward. >> to what degree do you buy the argument that there is always some amount of chaos.

there is more now because these are not career government people and we in the media are not cutting them a break and giving them a chance to get traction. >> that's true. there is always chaos. no administration start running -- there are always setbacks. throughout the bush white house, the obama white house. what is different is they have come in with the intent of disrupting to a far greater degree the business of government, the policy apparatus, the foreign policy. and they are finding it's harder to des rupt in government than it was during the campaign. trump was very successful in the campaign but there were no judges saying he couldn't do what he wanted. there was not the intelligence community leaking facts that, you know, forced him to dismiss his national security adviser. so it's not that this is compared to a perfectly running ship in anybody else's white house, it's just that president

trump has had a particularly hard time of it. i think it's possible in a moth or two they will have their feet under them and this will be behind them. but it's also possible that they don't and this sort of disruption continues. >> michael shearer is the time washington bureau chief. thank you for watching this three hours that i have been anchoring -- oh, it's only been an hour. incredible. find me on social media, right now on msnbc, chris jansing takes over on andrea mitchell reports. good luck, it's nuts. >> breaking news, surprise, this hour, amid a white house in turmoil. president trump will hold a news conference in the east room expecting to announce his new choice to head up the labor department. confirmed he will pick alexander acosta. the new nominee comes after fast-food control larry puzder was forced to take him out of the run amid eroading support.

this is just the latest blow to the administration after the resignation of the national security adviser, michael flynn. good day, i'm chris jansing in for andrea mitchell. following the breaking news from washington a surprise news conference announced by president trump just over an hour ago. the president is expected to announce zapt zant acosta as his next choice to run the labor department. this all comes one day after the president blamed what he called the fake media for his decision to demand the resignation of national security adviser michael flynn. and another surprise announcement. this time from the speaker of the house. >> after the house returns following the president's day we intend to introduce legislation to repeal and replace obamacare. >> joining me now here in new york, nbc news white house co