from day one. basically all i've done is keep my promise. we also inherited a failed health care law that threatens our medical system with absolute and total catastrophe. the era of empty talk is over. it's over. [ cheers and applause ] now is the time for action. we are going to keep radical islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. [ cheers and applause ] and in a matter of days we will be taking brand new action to protect our people and keep america safe. >> the trump whisperer completing team trump's takeover of cpac, steve bannon speaking openly and candidly about his top three priorities for the next four years. >> the first is kind of national security and sovereignty, and the second line of work is what

i referred to is economic nationalism. the third, broadly, line of work is what is deconstruction of the administrative state, and if you -- [ cheers and applause ] >> and crossing a line, the president taking on the fbi again, as reports surface about conversations between the president's chief of staff and the bureau concerning the investigation into campaign contacts with russia. the latest pushback from the white house is just ahead. good friday and thank goodness it's friday. i'm peter alexander in today for andrea mitchell in washington. tale two of speeches. president trump at cpac with a lengthy address touting his policy priorities but not before a ten-minute riff on his favorite presidential punching bag, the media. >> the media didn't think we would win. we are fighting the fake news.

it's fake. phony. fake. few days ago, i called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. they are the enemy of the people. they make up sources. they're very dishonest people. i called the fake news the enemy of the people, the fake news. they dropped off the word "fake." they get upset when we expose their false stories. they always bring up "the first amendment." i love the first amendment. nobody loves it better than me. nobody. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] who uses it more than i do? it gives you the right and me the right to criticize fake news, and criticize it strongly. i say it doesn't represent the people. it never will represent the people, and we're going to do something about it. >> joining she nbc's kasie hunt, she is at cpac, nbc's kelly

o'donnell the the white house and nbc justice correspondent pete williams, we're going to get to all of you.. i'll begin with kasie. i want to ask you about the president. he also hit on regulations, obamacare, tax reform, the keystone pipeline knowledge other policy initiatives. ahead of the highlight reel we showed a moment ago he focused on the media, which has obviously become sort of his foil roughout. >> reporter: it has, peter. aspposed to democrats, liberals, kind of the usual suspects who would be considered punching bags at an event like this, donald trump focused very squarely on the media. of course, they're dealing with another wave of stories about the white house talking to the fbi. i know kelly is going to touch on that in a minute, but the main kind of substantive riff at the top of his speech was all focused on this. you could tell he was sort of off the teleprompter his usual off-the-cuff rally type of

performance. we should note of course him saying that newspapers should not use unnamed sources in their reporting, came just hours after his own staff had given an unnamed background briefing at the white house for reporters to use. so some discrepancy there, but as you noted he did go on to kind of tick through this policy laundry list and that is, you know, aimed at the audience here at cpac. these are people who care very much about the finer details of policy, of conservative ideology. many of them are evangelical christians, he gave a few nods to that part of the republican, of the conservative coalition, if you will. we don't often hear him talk that way, but he gave a shout out to priests, rabbis, other clergy as he was talking to this crowd. he did, i will say, get a very warm reception, this was not a situation where the crowd felt like it was a mixed reception,

that there were concerns. there may still be when you talk to people on the sidelines here some concerns about whether they would say yes donald trump is a conservative. they were all very excited to hear from him over the course of today. peter? >> and just to punctuate this point on anonymous sources and the like it was the president who today accused the republican basically of lying for its attribution to nine unnamed sources in their reporting about michael flynn's conversations with the russian ambassador, that proved to be true and it was the president who fired flynn for his handling of that situation. kelly to you. before the president gave that speech in maryland, he unleashed this string of tweets slamming the fbi. he wrote "the fbi is totally unable to stop the national security leakers that have permeated our government for a long time. they can't even find the lkers within the fbi itself," adding "classified information is being given to media that could have a devastating effect on the u.s., find now," in all caps.

where do we stand on this developing story between the agency and the white house? i know the white house has been pushing back very firmly on this. >> reporter: peter, one of the questions, did the white house ask the fbi to help knock down a story they didn't like and believe is false? it gets complicated but the original reporting deals with, did members of the circle of donald trump during the campaign season have contact with russian intelligence operatives or russian contacts? that was a story that of course was considered very damaging to the trump white house. there are conflicting reports about what the truth on that is. what we are now told by senior administration officials is that at a meeting, where a senior fbi official was present, that he went up to reince priebus, the white house chief of staff and acknowledged a story written by the "new york times" saying it was untrue based on what the fbi knows. the senior administration officials go on to say that priebus asked the white house to help discredit that story

publicly to set the record straight, if you will. now that can raise questions because typically white houses steer clear of having any interaction with the department of justice, if there is an ongoing investigation but the white house today says this isn't about the investigation. it's about a specific story where they believe there were incorrect facts that were put into the public domain that are harmful to the white house and the president. and so the white house pushing back strongly, that what it did by having this conversation is appropriate. they allege that the fbi official is the one who spoke to priebus, not the white house seeking help from the fbi. >> right. >> and it comes down to a situation of, is this okay, and the white house says that because this is about a public afairs issue, that it was okay, and it's a complicated set of issues but also about chief of staff and other top officials who are still learning some of the rules of how you interact with other departments when sensitive issues of happening. >> kelly sets that up perfectly, pete. i want to pose this question to

you. one of the questions raised here, were any laws violated? obviouslyome of the facts are still to some degree inispute but more broadly speaking what are the legal issues? >> so one thing to preliminarily and i know what kelly meant to say. she meant to say that the allegation here is that reince priebus asked the fbi to knock down the "new york times" story. so let's assume that's what happened here, that in this conversation, which i don't think anyone really disputes at this point, that at some point the white house was asking the fbi, hey, we think the story is incorrect. can you please knock it down for us. so your question is that illegal and the quick answer is no. there are memos that detail how the justice department should interact with the white house to avoid having the white house influence a criminal investigation. there was one written by michael mukasey when he was attorney general under george w. bush, another one written by eric holder when he was the attorney general. there are a lot of exceptions to

them for example discussing public affairs issues is one such exception. the whole idea here is to avoid having political influence on the fbi. the white house says it wasn't trying to influence the fbi's investigation, just trying to get it to speak out about a news story, and i get the impression that the fbi feels this is an attempt to influence the election. nonetheless the view was sort of if you will a rookie mistake, not understanding the rules here, that you're treading in sort of, you know, getting up to the line if you start associating pending an investigation. there are channels to that. the deputy attorney to the white house counsel this was outside those channels. politically when these things become public the problem arises but it's not that it's illegal >> because the divisions are so deep the partisanship so bitter these are things that quickly become political. pete williams, kelly o'donnell,

kasie hunt, i appreciate it. i want to get to "washington post" colnist eugene robinson and ben weber. i want to start with a little more of what we heard from the president in his speech today. take a listen. >> our victory was a victory and a win for conservative values. >> a victory for conservatives for conservative values. how do traditional conservatives within the party view the president right now? he sort of tried to co-op the movement in one fell swoop. >> i think those skeptical of the president are delighted what they've seen since election day. the cabinet is beyond anything that they could have hoped for. the agenda as it's unfolding, forget the noise around refugees, the agenda tax reform

and repeal of obamacare, deregulation of energy, this is a conservative agenda. the supreme court nominee he promised conservatives would be acceptable is off the charts good so conservatives by and large are feeling very, very good about this president. >> let me ask you, eugene, the buzz we heard before the president was his reclusive chief strategist steve bannon coming out and speaking publicly side by side, rumored rivals, he was there with the chief of staff reince priebus. here's part of what he said that got a lot of people's attention. >> there's a new political order that's being formed out of this. ether you're populous, limbed government conservative, libertarian, economic nationalist, we have wide and sometimes divergent opinions but the center core of what we believe that we're a nation with an economy, not an economy just in some global marketplace with open borders but we are a nation with a culture and a reason for being. >> that was steve bannon a short time ago the idea of

protectionism, the economic nationalism. this is worrisome to a lot of people including some republicans. >> yes, it's very worrisome to a lot of republicans, and a lot of people who believe in the world order that was established after world war ii basically and that survived the cold war, but may not survive i guess the trump administration. it's based not on a sort of selfish nationalism, but on a more internationalist view, and the idea is that it is good for the united states. it is good for us if there is peace and prosperity in europe and asia. we should do what we can, because it's in our interest. that's the sort of washington consensus. >> given everything we heard from the president during the course of the campaign though, does any of this surprise you, that they are sort of pursuing what donald trump says are the promises i made as a candidate?

>> it shouldn't surprise anybody. this is what he sd during the campaign, he ran a try dentally nationalistic -- >> a lot of people said that was just to win. >> right, well apparently wasn't. apparently this is what he really believes is america first and use that old slogan america first, a very checkered past as a slogan but he means the content, and you know, one thing about that picture of bannon and priebus it's not the first time i've seen warring presidential aides sitting next to each other, making nice. so i don't think we should read into that body language. >> that dynamic is as interesting than any at the white house that we're all watching so closely right now. vin, i want to ask you about obamaca obamacare. we heard from the vice president america's obamacare nightmare is about to end. the president said something to that effect the repeal and replace is coming soon. here is a former colleague of yours, the former house speaker john boehner and his comments on obamacare legislation. take a listen. >> all this happy talk that went

on in november and december and january about repeal, repeal, repeal, yeah, we'll do replace, replace, i started laughing because, if you pass repeal or that replace first, anything that happens is your fault. they'll fix obamacare. i shouldn't have called it repeal and replace, that's not what's going to happen. it's basically to fix the flaws and put a more conservative box around it. >> it's nice to be a former house speaker, right? you n say what you're thinking. what is your takeaway from this? what should we anticipate in terms of repeal and replace? you're already hearing it turn into repeal perhaps becoming repair? >> well, i'm afraid the former speaker, my friend john boehner, is right about this. remember that the pledge that the republican party and the republicans in congress made to repeal obamacare was made basically in 2009, '10 and '11 before obamacare was

implemented. repeal at that time would not have been a big deal. we have hey six years of people signing up, the insurance companies marketed. >> 22 million americans. >> a big, big deal. the president is talking about even repeal and place. he doesn't want to throw 22 million people off the rolls. maybe they'll have a vote to repeal. i say it's not repeal and replace. it's repeal and very quickly restore an awful lot of what they repealed. >> a good way to put it. eugene this is dangerous territory for president trump. >> it's really interesting. it is dangerous, hazardous to one's political health to own the health care issue. >> absolutely. >> it's very dangerous to be the one who has to move on this. >> you may not know who gave you the health insurance but you'll sure as heck remember who took it away. >> in the past few years under the obama administration the house voted dozens of times, more than 50 times, probably up to 60 to repeal all or part of

obamaca obamacare. with the republican president they're not moving to do that and there's a good reason. >> vin, i want to ask you -- go ahead, please. >> gene is right. the key message is at an ideological message of health care. that's what republans need to understand. as gene said whoever owns the health care issue is losing on it. the democrats arguably lost the congress twice over the ownership of the health care issue. yes, there were other things but that was number one. republicans need to deal with this and move on to other issues like tax reform, where they can get a lot more positive political footing. >> i want to let our audience know we're waiting. president team of reporters alowed into the oval office for a pool spray, they get a quick moment inside and see what the president is doing before they get booted off. he was signing an executive order focusing on regulation. we'll get those pictures momentarily teamed up and share with you. eugene excuse me any interruption upcoming.

david axelrod tweeting "if in theby ma's chief of staff had called the fbi to knock down a story on an ongoing probe of the president's allies, congress would have raised hell" he says. what do you make of this moment here, is there a different standard being employed? >> you know, maybe there's a different standard and maybe not. i actually focus on the underlying facts of what happened, and i think that's really what's important. were there these contacts between the trump campaign and russians or russian intelligence, constant contacts or just infrequent contacts. what happened between the trump campaign and russia prior to the election and was there collusion. that's a very, very big deal. whether reince priebus came to the fbi or the fbi came to reince priebus and does it fit under the exception for public affairs. the other issue is far more important than how it was bureaucratically handled between the white house and fbi >> this issue of russia in spite

of yesterday donald trump spoke to reuters saying they'd always be at the top of the pack in terms of our nuclear arsenal, rough lang taj deployment of a cruise missile so it didn't appear as so much of an embrace but a pushback. the idea of russia will hang like a cloud, people can decide how dark that is over this administration for at least some time. >> well and we've seen in reports out of russia this week that the publicity about this issue in this country has already convinced the russians there's not much of a chance for improvement in relations with president trump. i don't know if there ever was a chance for that. i tend to be much more skeptical than some people in the trump administration apparently, but it's almost becoming undeniable that the very publicity about this is already having an impact on u.s./russia relations, and i don't see there's much of an improvement going forward. >> eugene, you know, let's talk about these first 30 days and now the last several days it's

hard to believe his chief of staff h.r. mcmaster is right now. the one on tuesday is for congress and frankly a lot more americans will pay attention to. is there anything can he accomplish in that toe more aspirational that could make a pivot after what some described is a rocky first month? >> sure he could. he'll have the nation's attention, speaking in front of a joint session of congress. it's a perfect opportunity. i don't know that he will and i have no idea how he will use the speech. it could be a sort of typical, frankly, me, me, me donald trump speech. he could go back and once again vindicate his victory in the election as if it needed vindication. he won the election but he keeps going back to it, to say no, no, no, i really won. you really won. but can he do that again, and

for all i know, he may. he can give the angry speech he gave in accepting the republican nomination, and his inaugural speech was also angry or he could be more expansive, more welcoming, more presidential. but we'll see. >> vin, circling back to the conversation we were having a moment ago, what's interesting to me today is the democrats' selection of the former kentucky governor steve bashir to deliver their response on that day. he was the man behind the implementation of the health care exchanges unique to kentucky, the medicaid expansion there in that state. the uninsurance rate fell double digits in kentucky. what's notable you'll hear and i've traveled to kentucky people rail about obamacare but they love their health care program there. what is unique and important we should be paying attention to this pick? this say more senior guy. not a lot of young talent pushing back on donald trump among the democrats. >> the young democrats don't have much talent, they have a serious problem in that regard. as we talked about a few minutes

ago the democrats having owned the health care issue for a long time to their detriment are only delighted to have republicans on it. they'll cry crocodile tears about what republicans will do to obamacare but they're excited about the fact they don't have the health care monkey on their backs anymore and the choice of governor bashir ought to really emphasize to republicans the necessity of dealing with this issue in a responsible way as quickly as they can and getting it on to other topics. >> vin, donald trump has complained a lot about democrats not helping, you know, get his nominees, his cabinet filled basically, confirming those individuals but there are a lot of appointments and nominations he has yet to make and what we keep hearing is there are a lot of people, republicans, conservatives who don't want to be a part of this administration, privately in the whispers and conversations, what is the talk about the lack of willingness to join this administration? >> i think moat republicans

would serve if asked, may be a handful who wouldn't. i think that's been diminished a lot since before the election. most republicans if asked would be glad to serve. there is a concern which predates this administration about going through the process of confirmation in front of the senate and that's a bipartisan problem, we've made it very difficult for qualified people, particularly qualified people who have been successful in private life, to get through the confirmation process, and it's disconcerting we may be going another six months before most of the positions below the cabinet secretary are filled in some of the critical agencies. that's the state we've come to. unfortunately it can't be solved by this president. >> eugene, about a minute from now we'll get a chance to see the executive order and hear from the president, just moments ago talking about this e.o., this executive order that will direct each agency to set up regulatory reform task forces to set up teams of research, unnecessary burdens on the economy.

i'm reading the notes provided by the reporters visiting the president. there's a difference between governing and signing executive orders. how do you frame that for people saying this is messaging but not necessarily accomplishing change. >> there is a limited amount you can do with executive orders. now, this is all about regulations, and it's fine to identify rules that you think are unnecessary but the way you fix rule make something through rule making. you can't do that through executive orders. you have to do new rule making. that's a process that takes some time, so as much as any president would like instant gratification, you ain't gonna get it. >> vin, we'll see that executive order signing in a moment. your take on the president's made a lot of photo-ops signing the documents but not much in terms of real governing working with congress on real policies. we wait for tax reform and obamacare replacement.

>> pointing the direction what mr. bannon called the deconstruction of theard mrtive state. it's an ambition republicans share but difficult to achieve. we've got to see tuesday night what the president says about some of the substantive issues that are going to have to go through the legislative process and that's what i'm looking forward to. >> slvin and ugee stay with hee this is president trump who is visiting with some ceos, lockheed martin and dow chemical, as he signed an executive order on regulation. let's take a listen. >> -- biggest in the world in terms of manufacturing and business, some of the people involved are ken fisher, and ken frazier, chairman, president eco of merck, alex of john sson &

johns johnson, marilyn is a tough negotiator, president of lockheed martin corps, gregory hayes, chairman, ceo united technology, andrew laverse, my friend andrew, chairman ceo of dow chemical company, mario elonghi, president, ceo united states steel corporation, juan luciano, chairman, president, cc ceo of archer daniels company, denise morrison president campbell's soup company, lee styleslanger iii, chairman, ceo of alti inc., mark sutton, chairman, ceo of international paper and ing uhlen, chairman president of 3m company, and we have made tremendous progress with these great business leaders, amazing progress. they're getting together in groups and they're coming up with suggestions about their companies and how to bring jobs back to the united states, and i

think it will be fantastic day for the country, and we met yesterday and met with these folks and excessive regulation is killing drops, driving companies out of our country like never before. i must say i think we've stopped it to a large part, marilyn, right? >> right. >> reducing wages and raising prices. i've listened to american companies of american worker, i've been listening to them for a long time, i've listened to them complain for a long time. th directs eh ancy to establish a regulatory reform task force which will ensure that every agency is a team of dedicated and a real team of dedicated people to research all regulations that unnecessary, burdensome and harmful to the economy and therefore harmful to the creation of jobs and business. each task force will make recommendations to repeal or

simplify existing regulations. the regulatory burden is for the people behind me and for the great companies of this country, and for small companies, and an impossible situation we're going to solve it very quickly. we also have to really report every once in a while to us so we can report on the progress and so we can come up with some even better solutions. this executive order is one of many ways we're going to get real results when it comes to removing job killing regulations, and unleashing economic opportunity. we've already issued an order which says that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated. so that in itself is going to be tremendous, but what we're doing is much more than even that. every regulation should have to pass a simple test. does it make life better or safer for american workers or

consumers? if the answer is no, we will be getting rid of it and getting rid of it quickly. we'll stop punishing companies for doing business in the united states, it will be absolutely just the opposite. they'll be incentivized to doing business in the united states. we're working hard to roll back the regulatory burden so that coal miners, factory workers, small business owner answer so many others can grow their businesses and thrive. we cannot allow government to be an obstacle to government opportunity. we are going to bring back jobs and create more opportunities to prosper, maybe more than ever before in our country. we made tremendous strides over the last short period of time. this is i guess we're four weeks into it. i think for four weeks i've done a good job, wouldn't you say? >> yes, sir. >> again i want to thank these great business leaders, some of them are with us in the white house and they had tremendous success, reed and jared and so

many others in business, and they're helping us sort out what's going on, because really for many years, even beyond, long beyond obama, president obama, i will say that it's been disastrous for business. this is going to be a place for business to do well, and to thrive, and so with the signing of this executive order, i would like to just congratulate everybody behind me and andrew i'd like to thank you for initially getting the group together. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you. shou >> should i give this pen to andrew? dow chemical. [ applause ] we are very proud of this one. it means a lot of jobs. thank you, everybody. thank you very much.

thank you very much. >> over here, thank you. >> that was presidentrump just moments ago at the white house in the oval office. you see the color bar thanks to cbs, our pooler apparently on this day, talking about regulatory reform being questioned about the fbi and investigations into russia's interference into the 2016 election to which he had no response, but on the topic of executive orders we're joined by washington state's democratic governor jay insley, fighting the administration on several fronts, after traveling challenging the travel ban he has his own response to the immigration crackdown. instructs law enforcement officers in the state of washington not to arrest people solely on their immigration status. governor ensley, nice to see but >> nice to see a seattle boy do well. >> i met my wife in seattle you'll appreciate it. >> all right.

>> let me ask you about the executive order, why did he sign the executive order and what was the message you were trying to deliver not just to your constituents but to the country. >> states need to be fast or firm when this administration in any way damages our states and yet again this president's proposal would purport to reduce our ability for local law enforcement to do their jobs. look, we want local law enforcement to take care of danger due to burglars and people with assault and domestic violence. they need to focus on those issues of local law enforcement rather tn become mi i.c.e. agents for president trp. we decided to stand up quickly as we did on the refugee and immigration issues to push back against this wrong-headed approach. >> does this executive order ignore federal laws? >> no, this is in compliance with federal law. basically what we have said is yes if there is a warrant, if there is a criminal warrant for a person, we will execute those

warrants like they do for any other police agency but we will not become interrogation agents so when my state trooper pulls up to a domestic violence scene and there's five people standing around, we want those people to cooperate with the investigating officers, rather than run for the hills, and this is a clear and present danger to our law enforcement so we're going to protect our law enforcement to do their local jobs. >> do you support'undocumented immigrants who they see at a domestic violence site or elsewhere are responsible for a crime, charged with a crime, they should be deported from the united states? >> well those are immigration issues and that's up to the immigration officials. our job is to enforce -- shall. >> your law enforcement have the first response. >> that's correct and if there is a warrant for those people's arrest, local law enforcement executes that warrant. what we will not do and my executive order stands up and says this clearly, we will not become interrogation agents for donald trump. it's breaking up families and killing our business.

we have college kids on the campus of the university of washington, washington state university ought to be focused on their studies rather than worried if they have a tail light out that they'll be interrogated to the nth degree. >> president trump threatened to withhold federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities. what impact does that have on a state like yours? >> we're not intimidated by the threats of the president for a couple of reasons. he's way out ahead of his skis. we have the judicial system. he has to listen to the law. the law prohibits him or the federal government from cutting off mass amounts of funding not related to law enforcement. they are not going to be able to cut off our medicaid funding even though we enforce our local laws in this regard. >> you among others are scheduled to meet with the president monday, on the day we may get the executive order the so-called travel ban revised. what do you want to say to the president specifically and what are you prepared to do as soon as we see the documentation? >> we're going to review it but i can assure you we will protect

the constitution, we will move accordi accordingly. the president said see you in court, he lost in front of four judges, two were bush appointees. we will be protective of our citizens. we have to evaluate what they're coming up for. it's unpredictable with the president. we will see valuate it as soon as we see it. we have many other issues. he needs to hear from us and republican governors, you should not be able to damage the health care of our states. you shouldn't hurt our fiscal condition. we have many messages for the president. >> governor to conclude, democrats are still looking for a voice to rally around, perhaps the anti-trump in a year like 2020. is that something that interests you, a run for president? >> i'm interested in being a governor to stand up for our people. we're doing that. i love this job, i love being governor of washington. >> would you consider it? >> i would consider swapping this job to be quarterback for the seattle seahawks but that's the only better job i can think of right now. >> you get hit harder perhaps and russell wilson may not be

willing to give it up. appreciate you being here. >> thank you. coming up, which wing of the democratic party will prevail this in weekend's leadership election? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" right here on msnbc. that means you can take a universe of data - in your case literally - and turn it into medical discoveries, diagnostic breakthroughs... ...proof that black holes collapse into one singularity. i don't know what that is. but yes. innovation runs on supercomputers... ...and supercomputers run on intel. you are super smart. and super busy. ♪ ooh! ufo! false alarm, eyelash! hi, i'm frank. i take movantik for oic, opioid-induced constipation. had a bad back injury, my doctor prescribed opioids which helped with the chronic pain, but backed me up big-time. tried prunes, laxatives, still constipated...

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real ingredients, grilled and roasted using the same smart cooking techniques you do. you own a grill? smartmade frozen meals. it's like you made it. and you did... n't. back now live on msnbc i'm peter alexander. the race to find the new leader of the democratic party is heating up as party officials dpaert this weekend in georgia ahead of tomorrow's vote. the once crowded field for dnc

has quickly thinned out and two front-runners emerngd, keiged k ellison and tom perez. hillary clinton did not endorse any candidate on twitter but said that democrats need to continue to resist president trump's policies. joining me now is jamie harris n harrison, chairman of the south carolina democratic party, a former candidate for dnc chair who dropped out of the race yesterday and put his support behind tom perez. jamie, i appreciate your being here in simple terms what is your pitch? why tom perez? >> peter good seeing you. tom perez has been fighting for us for years now. he was in the justice department in the obama administration, fighting against voter suppression, fighting against efforts to take away the most important franchise that we have as americans, our right to vote. he is someone who went into the labor department, became

secretary and changed, fundamentally changed the culture of the labor department. he's just the best candidate in this field. i've known keith and so many of the others for a number of years and they are great democrats and could be good chairs, but i think we could really have a great chair in tom perez. >> donald trump pointed out this week keith ellison was one of the first to predict his winning the republican ticket back in the summer of 2015. >> i would say is that anybody from the democratic side of the fence who thinks that, who's terrified of the possibility of president trump better vote, better get active, bet be get involved because this man has got some momentum and we better be ready for the fact that he might be leading the republican ticket. >> did the congressman see something jamie that no one else saw and doesn't that foresight

and understanding of the forces behind trump's victory perhaps bode well for the next democratic leader? >> well listen, a lot of us saw the disaster of a trump presidency going into it, and so it was great for keith to mention that on air, but i mean, many of us are saying the things that we knew would happen in terms of if donald trump won, those things are coming to fruition right now, and so we are at a crossroads here in this country and the question is, do we go back and go to this bygone era that donald trump wants us to go back to or do we put a path forward? when we get a new chair in the dnc, when we get tom perez that is leading our effort, we will build a path to the future for so many working people in this country. >> one of the questions right now, jamie, is what the strategy for democrats be. is it all-out war, resistance, the phrase that's become so popular, among a lot on the

progressive and liberal left right now or try to find points to work with this white house to find potential progress on those issues that benefit democrats right now? what is your strategy? what should the strategy be? >> peter, we have to resist. this white house doesn't want to work with anybody else. they've proven that by the nominations that they made. when they put jeff sessions at the head of the justice department, that told communities of color that we don't really care about what you think. here's a guy who couldn't even get through the united states senate to be a federal judge, and you're going to put him in charge of the justice department? i mean, you got steve bannon in the white house that has the ear of the presidency, the president. i mean that's pure indication thaw don't care about anybody else, and that you have an agenda and you're going to move forward with that agenda. president trump, let me tell you something, we are going to resist. we're going to push back and use every tool in our tool kit to make sure that what your agenda

is, is not successful, because it's not the agenda of the diversity of the american people. >> jamie harrison as always a pleasure to have you here. we wish you good luck this weekend. we'll be watching closely, thank you. >> thank you, peter. take care of urself, man. coming up here next on msnbc, what is next after this week's landmark sproupreme cour decision on racial bias in a texas death penalty case. the lead attorney on that case joins us next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. ake on a, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com.

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a major this week out of the supreme court in a case that is grabbing headlines for nearly two decades a texas death row immate has been challenging his sentence after his own attorneys introduced racially charged testimony that all but sealed his fate on death row. duane buck was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend and another man in 1995. psychologist for the defense testified that buck was more likely to commit future violent acts because he's black. this week in a 6-2 decision the supreme court agreed to give buck another sentencing hearing and a chance to argue that he should not get the death penalty and writing for the court, chief justice ron roberts said the psychologist terminology "coincided precisely with a particularly noxious strain of racial prejudice." joining me is christina suarez, litigation director for the naacp legal defense fund and

lead attorney who argued this case in front of the supreme court. christina, in support of duane buck's case, chief justice roberts wrote in part the testimony appealed to a powerful racial stereotype that of black men as violence prone. what was your reaction to that strong statement from the chief justice? >> well, obviously we were delighted to see the chief justice and as one of six members of this court reaffirm the fundamental principle that you know, the american system of justice punishes people for what they do and not for what they are. i think it's particularly important for them to have made that declaration at this moment in time after we've seen police killings of african-americans and latinos, at a moment where we're seeing the dispute over the muslim ban and attacks on synagogues. i think it was an important and timely statement by the supreme court. >> what kind of precedent do you hope that this case will set? ultimately what happens next in

this specific case for duane buck? >> this caseill b remanded back to theower courts for the federal courts to grant the writ of habio iouhabeas corpus and s back to the county for resentencing hearing. in terms of the larger principle it's important for the nation as it is for mr. buck to recognize how toxic how in the chief justice's words how deadly toxic this perceived link between race and criminality is, and that it is not something that courts can turn a blind eye to when it is introduced. >> chris deep, let me ask you about some news we've been focusing this week about the justice department's decision to once again use private prisons to house federal inmates that would reverse anby ma era directive to stop using the facilities. private prison companies could see bigger payoffs under president trump's tough new immigration orders. what kind of implications do you think this decision could have? >> this is a real, a really

disappoints decision. we know that the inspector general has already looked at and documented the problems of private prisons, right? the financial incentives involved really corrupt and has produced really damaging effects, where you see private prisons having more assaults, more contraband, just more overall problems than the bureau of prisons and when the government itself handles prisons. so there's just no good to come of going back to a time where we had all of these abuses that we saw take place in private prisons. there's just no good to come of it, and when there is that kind of financial incentive, it really does have a trucorruptin influence >> "usa today" report many prisons contributed a lot of money to the pro-trump groups over the last campaign. christina swarns thaus for coming in. >> thanks for having me.

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i love this place. love you people. basiccally all i've done is keep my promise. i inherited a mess, believe me. in fact i think i did more than

any other pre-president. they say president-elect. campbell's soup, we had everybody. we had everybody. i like campbell's soup. >> i can see it on campbell's soup cups tomorrow. welcome back to the trump cpac takeover. joining us is chris cillizza and susan page. he talks it's great to be back, i missed you guys. he celebrately skipped it last year with a threat of a wakeout by attendees. the conservative event that donald trump is not talking about reforming reentightments, changing his position versus theirs on the issue of trade. what does this say short term and lg-term about this vement? >> loves this place because he's changed that place. he made cpac have less ideology in some ways and different issues in other ways. he got a lot of applause for his

protectionist trade riff that he did on today's, in today's speech and you hear very little complaints, maybe a little bit under very quietly about the fact he is not taking a tough line when it comes to spending which is our entitlement reform issues, used to have a lot of residents at cpac. >> four, five years ago this was an, every speaker talked about gay marriage, abortion. he really did -- >> immigration, radical islamic terrorism, trade. >> he didn't talk about that at awe. at the end he said and we all are watched over by god, like at the very end of the speech. >> neil gorsuch for that group, we got neil gorsuch. >> this is donald trump engaged in a takeover of the republican party, and in this part of the republican party, too. when you see paul ryeon and people like that sitting there while he talks about we're going to spend on this. that is not the republican party

of five years ago that said well if there's hurricane relief you need to pay for it. it's a totally different party. united not necessarily by ideology but by tone. >> and by winning. victory and a forced multiplier. if you can get the conservative movement in line with the republican party you increase your foe. no republican has done that in this way since reagan. >> i was at cpac this morning and pulled out one of the brochures. among the panels over the course of the next 24 hours, if heaven has a gate, a wail. >> extreme vetting. >> yes, why can't america. >> others when did world iii begin, 50 shades of property and prosecutors gone wild. chris your take? >> as someone in theis with of getting people to click on things i like i endorse these headlines. you got to get people in the door. everybody wants to see the big celebrities at cpac but you need to get people into the conferences.

i'm pro. >> we anticipate the president's remarks on tuesday into the country. what are you looking for? they promise an aspirational speech at the inauguration, it was darker than that. don't need a reminder about what his speech at convention looked like. >> speech today his cpac speech very ominous, too. sorry, susan. >> we're looking for whether he gives clear signals to the republicans in congress exactly what they do for instance the affordable care act and to move on to tax reform. there is not a consensus on what is going to actually be passed. there is a consensus they want to pass something. this is his time to deliver that. we'll see if he will. >> he talks we're going get into the specifics with you never any specifics. the state of the union, what they're addressed to a joint commission, what they call the state of the union in your first year, this is not exactly like usually a specifics-laden speech. every time congressional republicans, now we will do, huh? and he sort of, well health care will be fine, it's going to be

better. it's hard if you're a congssional leader or even a member of the rank and file, because what does that mean? what do you tell your constituents and if you do decide to tell them something does donald trump come out a week from this speech and say no, we're not going to do that. that's the difficult thing with him. it's not only the lack of specifics. it's the wild, uncertainty and unpredictability that goes with that. >> which was the real challenge at the town halls not a lot for republicans to show up with. >> and that's made republicans a little nervous, some republicans at least. there are 23 republican members of the who are in districts hillary clinton carried and others districts trump carried narrowly. >> it's friday, thanks for being here. let's enjoy a good weekend. >> we made it. >> we earned it. that will do it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." andrea back in this chair on monday. follow the show online and facebook and twitter.

you can follow m me @peteralexander. craig melvin takes things over on msnbc. >> good to see you my friend and good friday afternoon to you. craig melvin here in new york city on another busy friday afternoon. executive orders just moments ago president trump signing a new mandate to slash government regulations calling for new watchdogs in each federal agency to enforce his agenda. that following an epic victory speech to rally conservatives 24 morning. the president sming very much like he was back on the campaign trail throwing a bit of red meat to his base with flashbacks to his november win and of course those renewed attacks on journalists. and russia request? the white house pushing back on reports they asked the fbi to knock down reporting on trump campaign staffers' contact with russia. let's start at cpac, president trump railed against the so-called fake news anonymous sources, he did that on a