that wraps up this hour of "msnbc live" on this busy holiday monday. my colleague katy tur picks things up now. >> i'm usually the one that's tongue-tied and -- >> you have an all-guest panel and it's making me nervous. >> then you should leave and we'll take over. >> all yours. >> kidding. welcome here with me, everyone. across the country, people are

coming out to protest donald trump, saying he's not their president. thousands expected at these rallies from los angeles to new york. you can see them there on your screen. as for donald trump, though, he's still down in florida hitting the links and squeezing in some time to search for a national security adviser after he fired general michael flynn last week. he meet with four contenders over the weekend and today the president is holding follow-up meetings at his mar-a-lago resort, the place he calls his winter white house but it's actually a private club with a membership fee of $200,000. mike pence is in brussels where he held a joint press conference with the nato secretary-general. pence was asked about and he's commenting for the first time on general flynn's resignation. >> did you feel like you were misled by members of the trump administration or were you frustrated that you were left out of the loop on this situation? and what assurances have you

received from president trump that something like this would not happen again? >> i was disappointed to learn that the facts that have been conveyed to me by general flynn were inaccurate. but we honor general flynn's long service to the united states of america. and i fully support the president's decision to ask for his resignation. >> and the senate intelligence committee is stepping up its investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. the committee sent over a dozen requests to organizations and individuals asking them to save evidence related to the allegations. nbc's kelly o'donnell is traveling with the president and joins me now from west palm beach. we have our great political panel here. former ted cruz spokesman, rick tyler, and jon walsh, an msnbc political analyst and national affairs correspondent at the nation. kelly, let's start with you down in west palm beach. talk about the folks donald

trump is interviewing for national security adviser? >> reporter: well, we have been told by white house officials that four interviews have been completed but there was a possibility for others. we've also been told by our colleagues in the travel pool, who are at the president's home that there will be an opportunity to see him today in the next hour or so, we expect. but we don't have guidance on if there is a specific announcement or if there's a specific photo opportunity. but that's something we'll be waiting to get more details on. as for the national security adviser, the president has been looking to people with serious military background and national background. among them, the acting national security adviser, keith kellogg, lieutenant general and head of west post, robert caslen, mcmaster, three-star general, and john bolton. so, you get the idea that the president, at least by this

list, is looking for people with serious kcredentials for a role that requires the ability to discern what the most pressing, urgent matters around the world are, how to filter that to the president to give him the best guidance, to help him make decisions, to shape foreign policy from inside the white house as a partner, really, to rex tillerson, the secretary of state, and jim mattis, the secretary of defense. it's a crucial role. to have this gap now because of the departure of michael flynn, who resigned after being asked to leave over his comments and lack of forthrightness with the vice president in particular. so, it's a big deal. and it's an important decision. and so the president told us he wanted a result in a matter of a few days. at the same time, advisers are saying he doesn't want to rush it. he wants to get this right. katy? >> thank you. let's talk about ambassador bolton. he was once considered for secretary of state. didn't make it through that

interview process to get to the appointment by donald trump, but what's the deal with him being considered now for national security adviser? >> ambassador bolton is very interesting because the right wing of the -- the right of the republican party likes ambassador bolton, the hawks like bolton. no way he'll get through a senate confirmation because even rand paul from kentucky will not allow bolton to be an appointed -- >> does not need senate confirmation. >> does not need senate confirmation. the irony here is trump and bolton are out of synch in russia but i don't think trump has a synch on russia. bolton would be an interesting pick because if he is contemplating getting himself out of this fix of, we love russia for unknown reasons, bolton would be a good choice. >> why suddenly would they be doing that now? >> as trump indicated in his last press conference, he seems to think putin has given up the idea of a cozy relationship or

at least a good relationship between the united states and russia. you've seen that with the fly-byes, with the icbm missile that's been moved. they're testing us. >> bolton may push back on russia but he, himself s a controversial pick, right? >> he's a very controversial pick. it would really be donald trump selling out a lot of his base because a lot of base, white working class base, to be honest, their sons and daughters are the ones who have been fighting in these wars, they're war-weary. i think he resonated with those people by being so against the iraq war, even though sometimes he was for it. but he has had a reasonable stance of opposing it since a brief time when he supported it. and i really think a lot of his appeal was not getting, you know, embroiled in these wars and that was an unnecessary war that was a disaster. the only time he ever sounded smart to me is talking about how that war destabilized the entire region. so, to pick someone like bolton would, again, like cramming your

cabinet full of wall street picks after you said you were going to take on wall street would be a slap in the face of those voters. >> that's my follow-up question. are these empty words from donald trump, his campaign promises? he may be signing executive orders but he's promised to drain the swamp, with a billionaire in his cabinet. said he was against the iraq war from the beginning, even though that's not technically true, and now put an iraq war hawk potentially in -- in fact, everyone he's considering was fo the invasion in ir. >> i think it would be -- i think one reason bolton is emerging as a pick somewhat because of what rick said that maybe he could look hawkish, tough other russia, but i think also he may be the only person who's willing to go along with donald trump and not be able to pick his own staff and advisers, baz that's been -- >> joan is right about that. >> that's been controversial. >> she's right about that. the one thing that would keep a national security adviser on is steve bannon because you cannot have a political operative on a national security council who

has equal standing before the president. because you'll have two competing agendas. that's not going to work. and anybody who's going to head up that -- those -- they should all know that. >> and, kelly, on that note, talk to me about what happened with general petraeus and harward who said no because they couldn't essentially control their staff, is that right? >> reporter: well, we don't know if it got all the way to the point of being offered the job specifically, but we know that both were in the conversations. harhard appeared to be a little further along in conversations with the white house. as they described it, the importance of having the ability to freely assemble a key staff. this is a little bit more challenging because they are coming in a month into the administration when michael flynn, who had been a part of things going back to the campaign, as you know so well, and he had begun assembling his own team. then you have the intersection of steve bannon and the white house chief of staff. now the white house is saying,

there won't be an issue that whomever the president chooses to become national security adviser would have a free hand to assemble a staff to help execute this role. we're going to have to see how that plays out because the reports we had gotten were that there were concerns about this. this was something raised by people who were in the pipeline for consideration. we do know from lieutenant general robert caslen today, he commented he met with the president yesterday. he was honored to do so. would be honored to serve at the pleasure of the president. he's currently superintendent of the military academy at west point. and so, we have also been told by senior officials he might be emerging as a prominent choice until the president decides, until they announce it, we can only go by the fact we've been given this short list. and now the white house has locked itself into this, that they're going to allow the new choice to be able to choose a staff. that's something we'll have to follow closely. >> what do you say about

secretary of state tillerson. he's not been able to choose his own staff. you only have to look as far as tillerson to decide he's not getting to control his staff and all these high-level meetings, and 30 phone calls and meetings from tillerson is nowhere to be found. >> reporter: well, one of the thins we've heard from other people who were part of the cabinet invitation process, whether those were actual interviews or being parts of conversations, is that this issue had come up. that's why it's been a persistent sort of question and problem for the white house. typically while, of course, a white house has a free hand in placing people in jobs, in having certain centers of control, it is often best serving the president by allowing those people you put in key positions, whether they are at other agencies or at executive departments, to live with their choices. to let them work with people they have a relationship with, a center of trust with. and so, this is something that

the president's going to have to answer answer. we've also seen this rivalry and sort of contentious environment he has encouraged among top officials. and it puts a real strain on some of those people that have to execute his plan. the thing we've been told from white house advisers is that they expect that people who are working, especially in the white house and to carry out the president's plans, need to be those who agree with those plans. that followed reports that craig deer had been reassigned from the national security council back to his original post and the white house saying they expect that while there can be disagreement on things that people have to believe in the president's vision and be willing to carry it out. >> the white house saying that. so far as kelly just alluded to, there have been a number of dismissals over folks who didn't necessarily agree with donald trump's -- or were, frankly, critical of him during the campaign. we have to wait and see how all of this shakes out in the coming weeks and whether they can

properly staff up some of these agencies. thank you. hope you have a lovely presidents' day. out on the streets, more than a dozen not my presidents' day rallies are being held across the country. organizers say this is a stand a lot of folks are taking against president trump and his policies. we have reporters at the four biggest rallies, new york, washington, d.c., atlanta and los angeles. and i want to start in l.a. with gadi schwartz. what are you seeing so far? >> reporter: well, katy, today started off with a rainy day. there were concerns it was going to dampen the spirits. i want to show you the crowd as we climb up this hill here. you with see the crowd has been growing, several hundred strong. all different kinds of signs. you see signs of people saying that trump's ties to russia should be investigated. you see signs of women's rights, signs of immigrants' rights. we'll see if we can talk to some

people here. can i ask you, what brings you out here today. >> i'm here for the travel ban. yeah, because -- oh, gosh. >> reporter: tell me, what have you seen so far that is concerning to you? >> it was just upsetting that people with green cards were -- they already been through the process of getting approved and they had to be stopped again. it's not fair to them. i'm also here for all the deportations that have been going on, families that have been separated. it's sad to see that. >> reporter: thank you so much. thank you so much for talking to us. those are just some of the issues. again, you've got a whole host of issues all down here. people choosing to mark their presidents' day by being out here protesting against the president. >> now let's go to mariana live in atlanta. what are you seeing? >> reporter: so, katy, i want to

stand over here so you can see how protesters here in atlanta -- marchers here in atlanta, i meant to say, have taken over blocks and blocks here headed to the financial district in midtown atlanta. they say that a plethora of issues brought here, they are rallying against donald trump's so-called muslim ban. they are rallying against his immigration policies, they are rallying against his alleged ties with russia. we've been walking with these marchers for a while now. we were surprised to see some of the littlest ones are leading this rally. people like jose right over here. jose, tell me, why were you leading the march just now? >> because i hate trump. and so -- and so do my parents and other friends. and he deported my father and my uncle because they were illegal immigrants. >> reporter: thank you so much, jose. so, the immigration issue very near and dear to many of the marchers' hearts here, katy.

we still have a long while to go. these marchers plan to walk for five miles to the financial district, to lennox square here in atlanta. i'll keep you covered as to the latest developments here on msnbc. >> did that young boy just say donald trump deported his family, did i hear that correctly? >> reporter: i'm sorry, i wasn't able to hear your question. >> did that young boy say donald trump deported members of his family? >> reporter: the young boy, jose, he said that donald trump deported his uncle and his father. they're still deported. he's living with relatives at the moment. >> thank you very much. now let's go here to new york city where we have ron allen standing by. ron, a few more people, it looks like, than we saw with mariana in atlanta. >> reporter: i think this is one of the biggest ones in the country, katy. police are saying there are thousands of people from 61st street up to 68th or 69th street, which is about a quarter

of a mile. down near columbus circle we saw some confrontations. there were some anti-trump and so pro-trump supporters who were -- confrontations back and forth, yelling and screaming. people in this direction are still trying to come in. this is supposed to go on for several more hours. down here there are people waiting and waiting and waiting. we wanted to talk to melanie who came from new jersey. what is it that brought you here? what is your issue? >> my major issue is as a retired teacher i want this country to stand for what i taught my students to stand for, decency, civil rights, welcoming attitude, facts. >> reporter: do you think protest is going to do that? there has to be more than just protest, doesn't it? >> i think it has to be resistance to the entire regime. i think we need to meet with our delegates. i think we have to boycott companies that he's getting money from. >> reporter: a busy agenda. >> a very busy agenda to take

back what's right for america. >> reporter: thank you very much. that's what we're hearing all through the crowd. chants of black lives matter and dump trump, all kinds of things, as you can imagine. katy, back to you. >> thank you, ron allen. you saw on your screen where all those rallies are taking place. we to want go to one more of them. this one is in washington, d.c. that's where nbc news correspondent tom costello joins me live. tom, are folks getting ready to protest like this every weekend for the next four years or are you starting to feel -- or to see a little fatigue? >> reporter: well, you know, maybe there is a bit of fatigue compared to the rally or protest we saw a couple weeks ago. right now we've got -- i'm eyeballing it, i would say a couple hundred people here. that's pretty much what organizers had hoped for. they told me maybe we'll get about 200. i think they got about 200. the themes are the same as you heard from the other correspondents across the country. it's really a variety of groups here protesting what they

believe are mr. trump's policies that do not really collide -- or coincide with their own. whether it's immigration, whether it's the wall, whether it is abortion issues. a whole variety of issues. people here, as you can see, carry a variety of signs, a variety of flags, they represent a whole variety of groups. and they have been singing "this land is your land," very peaceful. no plans to march. we have about a mile or so from the white house. we're in dupont circle, which is in the heart of d.c. on a beautiful day here. about 62 degrees or so in washington. but the question is, will this kind of anger or resentment or passion, will that be sustained over the next 3 1/2 years or so? i think that's yet to be determined. >> and can the democrats harness it in the way the republicans were, an extent at least, harness the tea party, or will the left wing of the democratic party take over and fracture

that party the way the gop felt some fracturing during the 2009 congressional year? we will find out. all of that is still yet to be seen. ron allen, tom costello, mariana and gadi schwartz, thank you for joining me. several republicans, so far you may have heard this, are now saying they're willing to stand up to trump specifically when it comes to russia. but remember, the gop controls both parties -- both houses in washington. all of the houses in washington, really. so, how far are they willing to go? stay with us. oscar mayer deli fresh ham has no added nitrates, nitrites or artificial preservatives. now it's good for us all. like those who like... sweet. those who prefer heat. (blows a breath of air) and those who just love meat. for those in school. out of school. and old school. those who like their sandwich with pop. and those who like it with soda. for the star of the scene. cut! and the guys behind it. all the taste you want, nothing you don't.

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if you're worried that we're not going to look long and hard at what russia did in our election because trump won and republicans in charge, you don't need to worry about that. we are. and 2017 is going to be a year of kicking russia in the ass in congress. >> that was south carolina senator lindsey graham following up to what john mccain was hitting on in munich over the weekend. he is vowing to take a hard line in russia. in fact, both of them. but trump disavowing putin is already putting graham and mccain at odds with the president, which is a precarious position, especially considering this president doesn't shy away from hitting back. let's talk about this a little

more. let's go to congressman francis rooney, republican of florida, who sits on the house foreign affairs committee. congressman, thank you for joining me. there are now multiple investigations going on into the trump campaign's possible contact with russia. do you feel like your party is feeling mounting pressure to really push back against this administration, or at least to investigate it? >> well, i think that a lot of people are really frustrated with what's happened the last few years concerning russia. we've enabled and emboldened heinous authoritarian ruler to do bad things in conflict zones and crimea. have you to step back and wonder what's next? baltics? i wonder if he would have done the crimea move under george bush or ronald reagan. that frustration is part of what we're seeing now as we try to figure out how to respond to the alleged invasion of our election system. >> do you believe that this president, though, has the appetite to really push back against russia? we have not seen him really say that so far.

>> well, i think we'll have to see what he does, not just what he says. you know, i think the history of the last eight, maybe even 12 years with with vladimir putin is that he only responds to pretty serious actions. and it's not particularly moved by words. he's a trained kgb agent. if you read that book "the news are" it will show you the personal preoccupation he has with eliminating radical islamic terrorists and some bad things that have been allegedly done at his behest like poisonings. we have a serious character on our hands we need to deal with forcefully. >> that's a good deal. there are a lot of conspicuous and certainly shady circumstances surrounding a number of folks that have gone against vladimir putin, journalist included including political opponents like you just named. donald trump, though, seems to equivocate on that saying, we have killers in this country, too. he's not going after vladimir

putin for the crimes that have not -- that are at least linked to him. what do you make of that? >> well, i don't know what he meant by the killer business, but i definitely think we need to protect the baltics and some of the talk of moving nato exercises over to poland and estonia, i think is a real good idea. i think putin is going to respond to actions. >> so, you represent florida. it's a state that donald trump won. if you are breaking with donald trump, are you worried, even on russia, are you worried that potentially your voters out there will revolt against you? >> well, no, i'm not breaking with donald trump. i'm saying, i think he is going to be -- >> if you do break with him. so, you believe that he's -- >> i've got to tell you, i'm so excited that donald trump beat hillary clinton and we have the chance to get this country moving again and some of the campaign themes he reiterated yesterday about jobs and about america and about repealing all the oppressive regulations that

have been piled on business and individuals the last eight years. no, i'm excited about the next eight years that we face in front of us. >> you seem to have a lot of confidence in front of us that he is going to treat russia in as tough a way as his predecessors did. >> i do. i think he'll -- >> i just wonder where that confidence comes from. >> well, he's got a lot of conservative people in the government. and you know, he's a business guy, so he might have spoken a little less nuanced than very trained generals and state department leaders might. but i think he knows that as he said all through the campaign, we're going to keep america strong. we're going to keep america safe, both at home and abroad, and you can't do that without dealing with russia. >> he also has a number of people in his administration until last week who were friendly with russia. general mike flynn being one of them. his former campaign ceo was paul manafort who has ties to russia. his secretary of state was given the medal of friendship by russia. so, you say there'satives goingk

but i see a lot of folks in donald trump's administration who have a friendlier view of russia than maybe past administrations did. >> i think it was obama that leaned over to putin and said, i'll have a little more flexibility to give you what you want after the re-election. >> i'm sorry, i don't know what you're referring to, congressman. >> remember when he leaned over at a panel discussion or in a meeting and he said, i'll have more flexibility after the election. no one pushed the president on what he meant by that, but i can only assume for a thug like putin it would embolden him. >> congressman, thank you for joining me. happy presidents day to you, sir. >> thanks, katy. protests not just in america, they're across the pond as well, people are standing up to trump outside of parliament in london. that's where we're going to go live next.

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the country a couple minutes ago from los angeles, new york, washington, d.c., and atlanta. but there are also rallies going on across the pond. in london, to be exact, against donald trump, that's where we find nbc's matt bradley. it's pretty unusual to see so many protests happening over there against the american president. what is this, the fourth one you've been to so far? >> reporter: that's right. the kind of anger that you're seeing in cities across america have washed up onto european shores. like you said, this is not new. this is the fourth major protest here in london since donald trump was inaugurated. not that many weeks ago. it's a little different.

the debate that's going on here at this protest behind me, this is one of the smaller ones of the four, is really not about donald trump not being our president, because, of course, that's not in debate. it's about whether or not donald trump should be welcomed here by the queen of england for a state visit. that's what protesters here are demanding, that theresa may, the prime minister of britain, disinvite donald trump from a visit. this visit is a state visit. that's very significant. of course, donald trump, barack obama, leaders throughout the world, they all will have state visits. but this is particularly important here. these state visits are considered the ace in the hole of british diplomacy. now, even as there's this protest behind me, in the house of commons, further back there, there's a debate going on right now about whether or not to allow donald trump to come for a state visit. you're hearing a lot of the anger you're hearing here echoed in the chambers of parliament. a lot of the conservative

politicians are saying, we've eninvited unsavory, unliked politicians for state visits before. we should use this state visit in order to get donald trump on the side of britain. katy? >> nbc's matt bradley in london. a very loud london at this hour. thank you, matt. over the weekend you might have noticed that donald trump talked about something that happened in sweden, quote/unquote, last night. what exactly what he talking about? and why in this case do facts really matter. former u.s. ambassador ryan crocker joins the show to explain next. ahh, sir?

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we've got to keep our country safe. you look at what's happening in germany, you look at what's happening last night in sweden. sweden, who would believe this, sweden, they took in large numbers. they're having problems like they never thought possible. >> that was president trump at his florida rally on friday. so, what did happen in sweden on friday? well, sweden is baffled. they didn't exactly know what attack president trump was referring to. the swedish embassy asked the u.s. for an explanation. also released this statement saying, we don't have any information regarding what president trump was referring to in his speech and we don't want to speculate. we have asked u.s. officials to explain further. the former swedish prime minister, carl bildt even

tweeted, what has he been smoking, referring to president trump. in response the president tweeted a clarification of sorts yesterday. he said, my statement as to what's happening in sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on fox news concerning immigrants and sweden. you might hear my floor director, don, saying, oh, in the back. now he gets it. that aired friday night with a documentary film maker who claimed a surge in violence following an influx in immigrants. >> perhaps no country -- if they aren't able to work they're at least able to commit crimes. >> you see violence spreading across inteeden into the cities? >> one or two times a week. >> those documentary -- the folks in that documentary are saying they were misrepresented by fox news. joining me now to discuss, ryan crocker, executive professor at texas a&m, also somebody who

rick stengel calls the greatest diplomat of his -- >> hi, ryan. >> and former undersecretary to the state for public diplomacy and public affairs in the obama administration. so, ambassador, let's start with you on this. >> we have mexico, australia, now sweden. politicians are usually so careful with their words, presidents essentipecially are careful with their words. how much do they matter in the trump era, i guess? do trump's words matter or is everybody starting to take everything he says with a grain of salt? >> well, thanks for having me, kaindicat katy. yes, words matter. the words of the president of the united states matter at most. at the same time, we shouldn't get apocalyptic. it's not the end of the free world as we know it. let's see what happens down the line. >> when you say let's not get

apocalyptic, do you think parsing each and every thing he says not fair? >> look, i think the immediate, yeah all of us, not only have the right, we've got the obligation to speak out, to research, and to make public what we find. >> how are other countries dealing with this? how do they separate fact from fiction when it comes to donald trump? and how do they know which words to take a little more seriously than others? >> well, i think that people in this country and around the world are going to pay even greater attention than what otherwise might be the case to what president trump says. i think he has brought on himself more rigorous scrutiny than he might otherwise have. but at the same time, it's not exact lit first time in history that a politician, who is a

president, has not gotten the facts quite right. >> speaking of which, his administration hasn't gotten the facts quite right a few times. rick, you know what i'm talking about when i say this. for our viewers, let's get them up to speed on other times. take a listen. >> i don't think you have to look any further than the families of -- that were -- of the boston marathon, in atlanta, in san bernardino, to ask if we can go further. >> president obama had a six-month ban on the iraqi refugee program after two iraqis came here, were radicalized and were the master minds behind the bowling green massacre. >> both sean spicer and mary ann conway said they misspoke. do you think they are fear-mongering. >> i think they are fear-mongering and they did misspeak. there's a difference between disinformation and saying

something that you know is false. >> kellyanne conway said that multiple times. she talked about this bowling green massacre three separate times. >> i don't know what to say about that. i'm trying to assume she knows what she's talking about. >> if they are talking about terror tax, regardless of whether these terror tax happened, does the idea of terror help feed into the justification for donald trump's travel ban? >> one of the key tenants of authoritarians everywhere and dictators everywhere is to stoke this fear because it makes people want a strong leader, even if that fear isn't justified. one of the interesting things i want to point out in that story about sweden, the largest rveyor of disinformation about vience that hasn't been committed by refugees is russia. one of the thins -- ryan knows this because we were on the bbg board together. all of these stories in german media about refugees killing, raping, disturbing people were plant by russian disinformation and then amplified by russia

today and sputnik and these other things. that's another part of the story people here don't understand. that's a very dangerous thing. >> do you think the administration is being influenced in that way by russia? >> donald trump quoted several times from russian today -- >> he's -- >> he can't seem to distinguish between information that's fact-based and information that's not. >> all of us in the news media are fake news, remember. >> well, fake news has just become an epithet for something you disagree with and something that contradicts you. it has no meaning whatsoever. >> i'll leave the fact that president donald trump as president of the united states has the best access and intelligence in the world and yet he's quoting from a fox news story. former ambassador ryan crocker, rick stengel, thank you for joining me. happy presidents day. as these not my president rallies continue nationwide, there is a question for democrats. can their party keep trump in check without appearing

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congressman gerald nadler, democrat of new york. congressman, first off, you've talked -- or you proposed a pretty resolution to try and get some answers. what is it? >> i proposed a resolution of inquiry which directs the justice department to give to the house of representatives any documents, photos, whatever, relating to any intelligence or counterintelligence investigation of the president, paul manafort, and various other people, relating to any possible violations of the emoluments clause, relating to the president's intis interest, representing his way but not totally way and violation of possible 18 different laws. >> that's a lot of different information you're looking for. what do you expect to be getting? >> i don't know. depends on what they have. to me the most interesting question isn't michael flynn. the most interesting question is "the new york times" has now reported that major people in the trump campaign were in constant communication with

intelligence agencies of russia. not the ambassador. intelligence agencies during the campaign. >> i have -- >> what were they talking about? >> have you -- congressmen have asked the fbi for a briefing on this. you have not gotten it, correct? >> we have not gotten it yet. but the thing about it, a resolution of inquiry, is that it must be taken up in committee within 14 days and have a debating committee and a vote, or alternatively, have a vote on the floor. they can't avoid it. >> a handful of your democratic colleagues are using the word impeachment. you have not used that. there's an argument that this resolution you proposed could lay the groundwork for impeachment. >> well, this inquiry -- this resolution of inquiry asks for information. if we get that information, depending what happened, depending what the information shows, could conceivably -- >> the information you get could be so serious that it could raise significant doubts about donald trump's fitness for office? >> not about his fitness. about his violation of laws,

possibly. certainly if it were shown, and we don't have evidence of this, but if it were shown trump was colluding with the russians to help them try to affect our election, that would raise very serious questions. >> what is the risk about -- of talking about impeachment right now? >> well, talking about impeachment, number one, enables republicans and others to try to discredit it. he's been in office for a month, talking about impeachment already. secondly, we don't know if there are impeachable offenses. i'm not ready to talk about impeachment. there's a lack of information about a lot of serious questions. depending on the answers, then the question might come up or might not, depending on those answers. if the evidence does not show that trump was involved in colluding with the rucssians, then you wouldn't talk about it. >> can you get his tax returns? >> certainly we think his tax returns would show the extent of

any business dealings in russia. we know his son said money was pouring in from russia. he's claims he doesn't have business dealings. we would know that. we need to know all kinds of information. the other thing is that i want to mention here is, to me, the most -- the question of collusion in the election aside, the most dangerous thing he's doing now is attacking two of our key institutions for mainining democratic government. that is the free press and the courts. any tyrant or would-be tyrant rst attacks the independence of the court system and the independence of the press. the last time i heard the phrase enemies of the people it was in soviet communist lips. they used to call -- label people they didn't like enemies of the people. the press is not an enemy of the people. the press may be accurate, inaccurate, may be divided but an essential institution for democratic society. >> congressman nadler, thank you for being here. we are going to go to

mar-a-lago. that's donald trump. you see him with acting national security adviser keith kellogg. let's take a listen to what he is saying. >> hello, everybody. you ready? because we're ready. so, i just wanted to announce, we've been working all weekend very diligently, very hard, that general h.r. mcmaster will become the national security adviser. he's a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience. i watched and read a lot over the last two days. he is highly respected by everybody in the military. and we're very honored to have him. he also has known for a long time general keith kellogg, who i also have gotten to know. he's a terrific man. and they're going to be working

together. and keith is going to be chief of staff. and i think that combination is something very, very special. i met with many other people. tremendous respect for the people i met with. i know john bolton we'll be asking to work with us in a somewhat different capacity. john is a terrific guy. we had some really good meetings with him. knows a lot. has a good -- a good number of ideas that, i must tell you, i agree very much with. we'll be talking to john bolton in a different capacity and we'll be talking to some of the different generals i've met who i have really, really gained a lot of respect for. so, i think with that, i'd like to ask h.r. to say a couple of words. i'd like to ask keith to say a couple of words. and then i'll see you back in washington. we're leaving right now for washington and the white house. general. >> mr. president, thank you very much. i'd just like to say what a privilege it is to continue

serving our nation. i'm grateful to you for that opportunity. and i look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything i can to advance and protect the interests of the american people. thank you very much, sir. >> you're going to do a great job. >> thank you, sir. general. >> mr. president, thank you for the opportunity to continue to serve. i'm very honored by it, privileged by it. i'm very honored and privileged to serve alongside general mcmaster, i've known as well. he's a great statesman. great soldier. >> so are you. what a great team. this is a great team. we're very, very honored. our country is lucky to have two people like this. frankly, after having met so many of the people in the military, we're lucky to have all of them. thank you all very much. i'll see you back in washington. we're leaving now. thank you. >> donald trump getting thrown a number of questions from reporters right there. so far, not answering them. and just announcing that h.r.

mcmaster will be his national security adviser. you heard him give some brief remarks. also the acting national security adviser, keith kellogg. donald trump says he'll be going back to washington, back to the white house. to talk more about mcmaster, i have glenn thrush from "the new york times," the white house correspondent. glenn, tell me a little about this choice. >> well, it is -- it very much fits into president trump's preference for generals and fighting generals. two things about general mcmaster that are interesting in addition to his later career working as an administrator. he played a significant role in "operation desert storm" writing a tank column that destroyed 83 enemy tanks. as we know -- i'm not minimizing that accomplishment. that is very -- very much in keeping with president trump's love of sort of battlefield commanders and his infatuation

with figures like general patton. the other thing that's interesting, this speaks more to steve bannon, the president's chief strategist, is general mcmaster was a skeptic and a harsh critic of the decision-making that led up to the vietnam war and led to the continued blood-letting in vietnam over all those years. he wrote a book in the late '90s called "dereliction of duty" which has become sort of the rosetta stone for people who study the problems in vietnam. it's interesting to note that the book that steve bannon suggested that most white house staffers in the west wing read prior to coming in there was the best and the brightest, which is david's book about how all these extraordinarily well educated and well-intentioned people got us into the ma ras in vietnam. interesting choice. somewhat unknown outside of defense circles. >> that is fascinating.

i'm glad you brought that to our attention. he was a supporter of the invasion in iraq, right? >> right. but it's kind of difficult to come up with folks in the military who weren't. i mean, you know, the real litmus test the president has had has been less about that. as we know, there is some ambiguity about the president's own statements and then support for the president during the campaign, and i believe general mcmaster did not stake out a role in that campaign. the other thing that's interesting to note on this, or an interesting question that will be raised, is his previous admiral harward who was offered the job last week turned it down because he was not reportedly allowed to pick his own staff. we had a spokesperson for the president say that that would not be the case with general mcmaster, yet the first announcement that the president made was that keith kellogg, the

acting national security adviser, who had had served under general flynn, will remain as chief of staff. >> that is interesting. so, what are we going to take from that? will mcmaster be able to choose his own people? that's part of the reason why petraeus said he didn't want that job and it's reportedly part of the reason why you said harward didn't want that job. so, can we assume that it's going to be a mix now of kellogg staying on? >> well, it's hard -- it's very, very hard to say. as we know, things move really quickly. we should just say, we were not anticipating a decision this quickly. the last thing we heard is there were four people in the mix. the other thing the president said that was interesting is john bolton, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations under president bush will be retained in a different capacity in the administration, which is an interesting development. we'll have to wait and see. as we know, this has been the most turbulent part of the white house. i think there are a lot of people inside the white house who want to see more stability. >> glenn, have you five seconds.

does this mean the general flynn controversy is going away? >> no, not at all. as long as we still have questions about the russian connection. >> glenn thrush, white house correspondent for "the new york times." thank you so much for joining us. my friend, happy presidents day to you. that wraps things up for me this hour. i'm katy tur. can you follow me on both facebook and twitter, but you know i like twitter better. my other twitter friend, jacob is here. >> follow me, i'll follow you back. in the meantime, katy tur, we have break news. i'm in for kate snow this week. here are our top stories at this hour starting with, as you just heard, breaking news. president donald trump has his new national security adviser. general h.r. mcmaster will replace michael flynn has national security adviser. who he is and what happens next coming up in a few moments. moeanwhile, vice president mike pence is