democratic lawmaker says she's skipping the speech entirely. plus another possible first. the president's moment of humility just this morning. >> i would give myself a c or a c plus. >> and at any moment president trump will meet with attorneys general around the country, some who have already taken him to court. we'll bring you that event from inside the white house. and speaking of inside the white house, this picture from the oval office. kellyanne conway breaking decorum and blowing up social media in the process. i'm chris jansing at our msnbc headquarters in new york. right now president trump is gearing up for his first address before a joint session of congress, a high-stakes primetime speech tonight at 9 eastern time that aides say will strike an optimistic tone, evan the president will be putting the final touches on his speech

throughout the day. he gave a preview this morning on fox news. >> all i can do is speak from the heart and say what i want to do. we have a really terrific, i believe, health care plan coming out. we have to understand obamacare has been a disaster. it's way out of control. doesn't work. and i'll be talking about the military. i'll be talking about the border. >> right now the president is scheduled to be meeting at the white house with state attorneys general from across the country who are holding their winter meeting now in washington. nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joins us live. let's start with the bik speech tonight. the there is a lot at stake for the president. what are his plan. >> reporter: a lot at stake indeed. according to officials he has been working on his speech overnight. as you pointed out, the goal is to be optimistic. that's important. because remember his inaugural

address was criticized for being pessimistic and not unifying enough. tonight we are told that he really wants to try to send a unifying message. so what's he going to talk about? well, we are told he's going to talk about what he perceives to be his accomplishments on jobs, on trade, the fact that he's pulled out of tpp. and expect a strong focus on defense, national security. it comes on the heels of the president yesterday rolling out that blueprint for his budget, which calls for increases to defense spending of $54 billion. so those are going to be the key themes. so what about the messaging? take a listen when he was asked about messaging and house of representatives he thinks he has done so far. >> i think in terms of effort which means something but i give myself an a-plus effort but that's -- results are more important. in terms of messaging i would give myself a c or a c-plus. in terms of achievement, i think i'd give myself an a because i

think i've done great things but i don't think i've -- i and my people i don't think we've explained it well enough to the american public. >> so the goal, chris, tonight obviously to improve upon his messaging and, again, we'll be listening very closely to see to what extent does he in fact extend an olive branch to some of his opposition, to really try to start that process of unifying this still very deeply divided nation. >> some of this has to do with his views and opinions on immigration. that is invited by the people he's invited. tell us about his guestless. -- guest list. a number of those guests have lost loved ones to violence by undocumented unimmigrants.

he's inviting maureen scalia, who is the widow of the late justice antonin klscalia. this comes as he's appointed neil gorsuch to be the replacement for scalia. we'll being looking at that guest box tonight, clearly meant to send a strong message that immigration continues to be one of his kree prioritiey priority the hot button issues of his administration. >> and let's talk about a number that represents a stunning shift in budget priorities. the president indicated the military budget could be increased even more thanat. >> we're going to spend a lot more money on military. we have no choice. a lot of people think it's a tremendous amount of money. it could be actually $30 billion more than that. and we're going to upgrade our military very substantially. >> nbc news pentagon

correspondent hans nichol joins us live from the white house. boy, has this got people talking on both sides of the aisle. these remarks came after he said yesterday we have to start winning wars again and then there's this surprising pushback from more than 120 generals, right? >> the generals are talking about what reflects the reality that war fighters need diplomats and diplomats need war fighters. it's an acknowledgement across the military. you heard secretary mattis make that point. fewer diplomats means i need to buy more bullets. even with the 30 billion that president trump is talking about and he mentioned that fox interview, that still gets you well south of the number that both house and senate republicans want. they're talking about $640

billion for the fiscal year of 2018. what trump is doing if you do the back of the envelope math is 330 billion. so he's still short of what congressional republicans want to spend and it in the indication that there is going to be a fight not just between this president and members of the opposition party but this president and members of his own party when it comes to how much the defense department needs to maintain readiness and to be able to fight wars on multiple front. chris? >> and what that means for other programs if he's going to try to balance the budget. hans, thank you for that. i want to go to where the president will be heading tonight. that is to capitol hill. nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt joins us live now? . news just coming out of there, kasie, that there's a democrat who is skipping tonight's address. what can you tell us? >> congresswoman maxine waters telling democrats behind closed doors at their meeting today that she does not plan on attending president trump's joint address to congress later

tonight in protest of his policies. we also know that there were other democrats in the room that encouraged her to in fact attend. this is in fact a longstanding tradition where members of congress from both parties go to the chamber, attend this address. in other years, not the first year of an administration, it called the state of the union. this year it's simply called the joint address. we know there will be some protests inside the chamber. there will be women wearing white, and those who have been allowed to stay under daca, those who let the children of immigrants stay here without fear of deportation and you'll also see some dreamers in the audience. we expect there will be some forms of protest and so far maxine waters one of the few that says she doesn't want to attend at all. >> and i want to pick up with

hans, what do you do about the budget? if you have this massive increase in military spending, what does it mean for other programs? a lot of people are wondering if speaker of the house ryan and president trump are headed for a big clash over the budget? >> it's still an evolving question what president trump had to say in his budget outlin ally is in at odd in a lot of ways with what republicans here in congress have wanted to do for years, and that is to fix entitlement programs and spending over the long term. and president trump has of course promised not to touch medicare and social security in the process of doing this. reporters have been pressing paul ryan all morning about what this means for the gop trying to work with president trump. take a look at what the speaker had to say earlier today. >> we have gutted our military in many, many ways and we've had a huge increases in domestic

spending. so he's trying to get that balance right. >> reporter: you said we've got to make tough choices on those entitlements. can he balance this budget out without touching them? >> we've never proposed and this is what i think the president is talking about, we never proposed to change benefits for current senior and people about to retire. for those of us in the younger generation, x general on down, these trams will be bankrupt by the time we get there. we have to reform them for the next generation. >> does the president agree with that? >> i believe he does, i believe he does. >> so you hear paul ryan saying i believe he does. and at a breakfast earlier today with correspondents and anchors ahead of this address, he said something similar. he said it's an open question whether president trump would be willing do make long-term changes to these entitlement programs but the rhetoric is dramatically different from what we've heard especially from paul ryan. he has staked a lot of political career and capital that these are big questions he wants to

try and tackle. he is at heart a policy guy. i asked him if he he's giving up that dream and he said i'm a packers fan, i never give up a dream. >> there's so much to talk about with the budget. let me pick up on what kasie just had to say. if it's an open question about whether or not president trump is ever willing to take on entitlement programs, about what to do about medical care, can you balance the budget, can you increase military spending by $54 billion and not look at entitlement programs? >> well, it's the entitlement spending that's killing us. that's the fastest growing portion of the budget leading with our interest payments. ultimately we're going to have to deal with it. the longer we wait, the more diicult the problem backabllem .

>> what do you say to the president? >> you're going to have to address it sooner or later. >> i want to play what the president said last october and what he said again just hours ago really. >> you're going to have such great health care at a tiny fraction of the cost and it's going to be so easy. >> i have to tell you, it's an unbelievably complex subject. nobody knew that health care could be so complicated. >> you kind of got an earful from some of your constituents at a town hall meeting last night. there a lot of people concerned about losing their coverage. i believe you had at one point a police escort from one of your town halls. i wonder, were you surprised to hear the president say that nobody knew that health care was so complex? and are you okay with the republican draft that's out there right now? >> well, this has been a prominent issue, not on in the last presidential campaign but in the last four elections.

the public has made it very clear some people made out very well with obamacare. most people have not. in fact, more people are now opting to pay for the tax penalty than to actually buy an obamacare policy on the exchange. so that will tell you where the general public is on this. but in replacing it, we've got to assure that nobody's left in the lurch. what we're aiming for is the widest possible selection of plans so that every family can go out and select a plan that best meets their own needs and then have a tax system to assure that it is within their financial reach. >> one of the keys is that it rolls back the health plan's expansion of medicaid. governors have in some cases thousands if not millions of people in total who now have coverage who didn't before. where do you stand on congressman? >> there are two options being discussed. one is to grandfather those put

into medicaid by obamacare and then change the system going forward so they can select a plan that best meets their own need. for those states that opted into the medicaid program, give them a block grant and have them administer the program. >> i thought it was interesting to listen to the president on "fox and friends" and he said he'd give mysehimself on messaga c orr c-plus. clearly he knows his approval rating is underwater, 40% approve, 48% disapprove. do you see this has a chance for him to shift and bring more people in. >> he is planning to revive our economy, and secure our borders.

all of the complaints i've heard about him so far. not one of them is that he's broken his campaign promise, the complaint is he's kept his campaign promises. >> we talked about though protests that you have faced, other republican members of congress have seen at town halls. i want to play what president trump said when he was asked if he said if he thinks president obama is behind them? >> i think he is behind it. i think it politics. i think president obama is behind it because his people are certainly behind it and some of the leaks possibly come from that group. up kno you know, some of the leaks, which are very serious leaks because they're about national security. >> do you believe the former president is behind these protests? >> i don't think so. i don't know one way or another. there's a central organizing hub

on the internet but but a lot of it treelts grass roots concerns. >> thank you, congressman, for coming on. umnext, did president trump blame his generals f the death of navy seal ryan owen who was killed in a raid in yemen just days into the new administration? >> my generals are the most respected that we've had in many decades, i believe. and they lost ryan. before fib, i was a doer. i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions.

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right now in washington president trump is meeting with the national association of attorneys general as he gets ready to address congress tonight. he's got a lot to talk about because he also arguably has a lot to prove, giving himself an average grade for communication so far and his approval rating underwater. my political panel jns me now. robert ehrlich is a former u.s. congressman and john alderman. good to see you, gentlemen. what do you think president trump's goal should be tonight and how does he get to it? >> obviously a coherent speech that appeals to the majority of americans. >> so bring america together? >> well, it's interesting. be careful with that. it's objective and subjective. he'll hit certain common unity

thae themes that are objective, pluralism but then it will be an objective sense of unity according to his platform and promises he made during his campaign and what he's doing to keep those promise. >> we're hearing he's going to talk about what he thinks he has accomplished. we heard he doesn't think he messaged that well enough. but he also does want to help bring people together. he reiterated that. >> i will bring people together. i'm going to bring people together. you watch, we're going to bring people together. >> to all republicans and democrats and independents across this nation, i say it is time for us to come together as one united people. >> we're going to bring this country together. we have a divided country. it's been divided for many, many years, but we're going to bring it together. >> one of the things that republicans say to me, jonathan,

is the problem is no matter what he says, democrats are not going to hear anything positive from him. do you think that tonight he has an opportunity to help do what he says he wants is to do, which is bring people together? >> he always has an opportunity. presidents can always reinvent themselves. the problem is there has been so much disrespect over such a long period of time to donald trump to everybody else in the whole world with the possible exception of vladimir people, he just disses people day and night. it's a nice sentiment but at the same time he's got not one but two people in the balconies who are families, survivors of people killed by illegal immigrants. that will just kind of rub raw that whole subject, the implication being all o tse undocumented people are dangerous and possibly going to kill somebody in your family. so pretty much every issue that

he describes works at cross purposes with that idea of bringing us together. >> does it make sense to you, governor, if as the president said he wants part of what he accomplishes tonight to be to bring people together, to have those folks in the audience, it's in many ways rubbing salt into the wound of one of the most difficult policy disagreements he has, which is immigration? >> but it's a huge issue in the country. to pretend otherwise i think is silly -- >> do you think not having those people there would be ignoring it or silly? >> they should be there. it's a legitimate issue. it was a major issue in the campaign. he has a very strong position on this issue. he was elected in part because of this issue. i think it's absolutely appropriate. but let me just get back to the larger part here. i think hopefully what i'm looking for tonight is growth. i mean, i believe his election was due in large part to lack of economic growth under previous administrations' plans. 1, 1.5% growth didn't cut it.

it appealed to america's working class obviously, his message, and that's why he's there. i want to see real talk about tax and spend, about a tax plan that makes sense, a comprehensive reform. let me just make these three points. there are planks here that are bipartisan in nature, cutting the corporate income tax, repatriation deal and infrastructure deal are all issues that have bipartisan appeal. democrats in the past have supported them. if those elements can be brought together as part of a package, i think he'll make a very substantive first step toward that path of getting a deal done. >> the problem, chris, is on the hill they're saying infrastructure is a 2018 issue, they don't want to deal with it now. even tax reforms, which republicans really want, they've said is not going to be undertaken until august. >> until after obamacare gets settled. >> obamacare is a huge problem for them because there are many

trump voters who are on obamacare and are not real happy with the idea of losing their health insurance. so they have a hard time getting from here to there. what the president is going to try to do is say look at gm and these other companies that are bringing their jobs, they've already brought their jobs back since i've become president. they planned to do it before he became president but he'll try to take credit for that and i think he'll be successful in striking that optimistic tone. >> chris, you have to separate the question of obamacare. obamacare itself is bleeding. and it has been bleeding for many years, as you know. so the body of it is dead and needs to be replaced. with regard to medicaid, that's a separate issue. your previous guest in fact talked about the two options available to the republican majority now with regard to medicaid. that's a serious political dilemma for some republicans. but as far as replace and really repair, the american public has

demanded that over four different electoral cycles. >> do you understand the concerns of governors who have been in washington d.c. over the last several days including republican governors about what's going to happen to medicaid in. >> be careful when you take free money from the feds is the first moral here. secondly with regard to those options, one is to grandfather the folks those republicans governors have added to the program and second, something that appeals t me as a former governor, block grant it, let state health departments and governorsing governor figure it out without the issues we've had in the past. >> block granting it, then you are severely cutting the money coming from medicaid in the state. many of the governors don't agree with governor ehrlich and do not want it block granted. everybody agrees there are repairs needed on obamacare but the democrats are not going to begin to help with those repairs

until the republicans stop saying it needs to be replaced and repealed. >> the president has a big job tonight trying to make this case for this budget he's going to be putting out there. gentlemen, thank you both very much. good to see you. up next, new reaction to that picture of kellyanne conway. now also, i don't need to tell you we live in a politically divided country. we're live in burlington, north carolina for a fascinating conversation with voters about how they're bridging the divide in their own real lives. >> in your house, you're a republican, your husband is a democrat. >> that's right. >> so you might have a political divide going on right at home. >> we had an interesting year. you totanobody's hurt, new car. but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™,

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we've got some breaking news to tell you about with president trump hosting the national association of attorneys general, which is concurrently holding its winter meeting in town. pete williams joins us now. pete, there has been already some interaction between attorneys general and this president, this white house. what's the white house message been to these attorneys general? >> they already heard from the president's attorney general jeff sessions, who spoke to them this morning who said he's very concerned about the increase in violent crime, after decades of being very low, it's starting to come back up. he acknowledged the murder rates are half of what they were 20 or so years ago but he thinks the increase is not a blip, it could be the beginning of a steady rise and he is calling for more

federal prosecutions of crimes that involve guns. this is an effort that began several years ago to try to test this pilot program that when there's a crime and someone's been arrested by the police and they've used a gun, especially in a drug crime, they give those to the federal government to prosecute because the federal government often has mandatory minimum penalties that the states don't have and there can be tougher jail sentences. sessions told the attorney general today if a person is consider committing a crime that may lead to a longer jail term, they may think twice about it. that's been one big message to them. he also has talked about the need for tougher immigration enforcement and he also had a very interesting message about trying to give more confidence to local police suggesting that the federal government is going to cut back on using a tool that was very much used by the obama administration of suing local police departments for civil rights violations. you saw it in baltimore, you saw

it in chicago. what he said today, this is sessions, he said we have an absolute duty to ensure police operate within the law, but we need to help them, not diminish their effectiveness and i'm afraid we've done some of that so we're going to pull back on this, he said, chris. >> pete williams, thank you for that update again. the president meeting with state attorneys general. meantime, he is of course set to address a divided nation tonight. and to voters who say they're frustrated with partisan bicker, battleground, north carolina, one example of the split we see nationwide, president trump beat hillary clinton by less than 4 points there. i don't know anyone, rehema, who hasn't had uncomfortable conversations over the dinner table, on facebook. what are you hearing there in north carolina? >> reporter: well, wait till you

hear this clip we're going to play for you in just a couple of seconds because it speaks directly to one a gro group panelists. here in downtown burlington, a population of 50,000, 60 miles of the capital of new york, which is raleigh. for all the division in this country, the group that we talked about were pretty much in agreement about what the country needs to do going forward. in your house, you're republican, your husband is a democrat. >> that's right. >> so you might have a political divide going on right at home. >> we had an interesting year. >> and you're still married? >> we're still married. we're stronger. >> how did you do it and what lessons can the country learn from you and your husband? >> we've been married for almost three years so our conversations are fresh. when we have political

conversation, they're really not about winning the argument. i want to learn from him. >> don't point the finger, point it at yourself. start with yourself. >> saying see what i can do to bring the country together? >> see how many people i can smile for, how many doors i can hold, how many bags i can carry, how many compliments i can give. there's no other way. the more bullets in the gun has nothing to do with how we're going to survive this thing. it's how many times compliments you can throw at your neighbors instead of rocks. >> lby, i see you shaking your head in agreent. >> yeah. >> and you voted for the first time. >> i did. >> in the presidential election. >> yes, ma'am. as a college student i see that my generation is very more towards the left and i differ from all of them. i'm not that type of person who says i'm going straight down the republican or democratic ticket. i'm not doing that. i want to hear everyone's point

of view. >> i wish that in order for us to move forward people will take a step back, take a deep breath, separate themselves from the political agenda and think of these issues as human beings. >> people have to take their hands off their ears and stop yelling with their hands in their ears and start listening. >> and we have to tell you, this group couldn't help but talk about something that's dividing people right here in this state. as one person says, what's all this fuss about where people go to the bathroom, referring to the so-called bathroom bill here in north carolina. people in the group that we were talking to said they would rather people in this state be talking about the fact that children are hungry in this state and they want more focus on educating our kids. but a lot of agreement, more than disagreement, among these folks. chris? >> fascinating stuff, rehema. thank you so much. >> ntsb on the scene arof a deay

plane crash in california. surveillance video captures the moment a small plane crashed into a home in california. nobody on the ground was hurt. the fbi and justice department are investigating a fifth wave of bomb threats at jewish community centers this year. dozens of centers and schools in at least 15 states were evacuated on monday. no bombs were found. meanwhile, clean-up is set to begin today at a jewish cemetery that was vandalized over the weekend, damaging at least 100 headstones. >> and the transgender sister of the singer who sang at president trump's inauguration scored a temporary victory saying they can use bathrooms that match their gender identity while their lawsuit against the school district court proceeds. last week the trump

administration ended the ability for students to use booth rooms based -- bathrooms based on their gender identity. >> next, democrats are challenging the president's policies ahead of his speech. i'll talk with pennsylvania senator bob casey about what he'd like to hear from president trump. plus, who the senator is taking to the event as his special guest. every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. the microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. the microsoft cloud turns information into insight.

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some democrats hoping to send their own messages during president trump's to congress tonight, some bringing undocumented immigrants as their guest, some will be wearing the special color, white, some may not show up at all. let me bring in democratic senator bob casey of pennsylvania, a member of the senate finance committee. good to see you. good morning. >> good to see you. >> i want to get reaction to maxine waters saying she's skipping trump's speeching s, s couldn't quite contain her enthusiasm about trump and other members of the caucus say it's important they be here and hear what the president has to say. where do you stand on that? >> i think it is important to be there. obviously other members can make their own decision. when i make a decision about how i spend my time, i don't like

other members commenting on what i do. so i won't do that for other members of the house or the senate but i think it is important to be there or to be able to listen what this president says like every other president. and then to react accordingly. >> is there anything that the president can say that you think realistically will bring more democrats and concerned citizens on board? what do you need to hear, senator? >> well, i'll tell you, chris, you know that on a whole host of cabinet nominees i've been in strong opposition. i'm totally opposed to repealing the patient protection affordable care act. so we're going to disagree on a lot of things but if there's one issue i think democrats and republicans can come together on with the administration, it's infrastructure. we've got by one estimate 55,000 structurally deficient bridges in the country, we ought to start fixing those bridges. we're 16th in the world in broad band. kids can't do their homework in

rural areas because they don't have broad band. there are so many issues that create jobs and bring people together -- >> but going back to that reality check, do you see that getting done before, say, something happens before obamacare, before the fight, what is going to be a fight over this budget gets settled? >> if the president wants to focus on something that will create not just millions but many millions of jobs, he should join our cause and support what democrats are trying to do on infrastructure. we've got a huge bill we're about to introduce that will focus on job creation. it's the best thing we could do for the economy. it will have an immediate impact. he should join us. >> your guest tonight is a marine corps veteran who is living with parkinson's disease and has a teen-age daughter with down syndrome. why him? >> two reasons.

whenever i can bring a distinguished pennsylvanian to washington to hear a speech like, this especially someone who has served our country, i want to do that. bringing in joe mcgrathas significance because of what he's done for our country. in this case, given his own circumstance because of his health issue and his daughter having health issues, i hope he will keep his promise and not block grant medicaid. it's bad for people in rural cities and especially bad for individuals with disabilities. do not block grant medicaid and i will fight this to the end of the earth. >> i want to ask you about something that happened in your state. there has been this wave of bomb threats called into jewish community centers, more yesterday.

and as you well know, a jewish cemetery outside of philadelphia was desecrated, a number of headstones. we're seeing the pictures now, were overturned. do you want the president to say something and do you believe, as some people do, including people within the jewish community, that his rhetoric has fueled some of this? >> well, number one, we should condemn it no matter what party we're in, no matter what position we hold in government. it's an abomination, it's an insult to the jewish community, it an insult to america. and whoever is responsible should be prosecuted and go to jail if we ask get charges that will stick, that will allow time for incarceration. so that's number one. number two is we all have a responsibility when you see prejudice, when you see appeals to racism or anti-semitism or any kind of horrific statements or behavior, we should condemn

it roundly. i'll leave it to others to judge making connections between what someone is not doing and what happens out there, but if you're the president of the united states especially, you've got to condemn it immediately. >> senator casey, good to see you. and that's so much. >> thanks, chris. >> coming up, the big questions heading into tonight's presidential address. the white house calling for that massive boost in military spending but does the math add up? that and what else to watch for next on our daily briefing on politics. and jacob rascon is live. >> they have come from as far away as texas and el paso and are marching against sanctuary cities and the strict penalties against those that don't obey. et taxes in decades,

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"how to win at business." step one: point decisively with the arm of your glasses. abracadabra. the stage is yours. step two: choose la quinta. the only hotel where you can redeem loyalty points for a free night-instantly and win at business. the president is putting the final touches on his big address to congress tonight. there is a day of action going on right now in texas to support immigrants and refugees. nbc's jacob rascon is live in austin. what are the protesters looking for? >> reporter: you're going to see the signs behind me that say sb 4. they come from el paso, houston, dallas, the rio grande valley, all the protests that ban the sanctuary city.

texas governor abbott say big fan it would ban sanctuary cities and take away state funding from local or county governments that refuse to follow this. if we can flip around and show that we have a police escort and we're almost at the capitol. i'm going to ask someone who came from el paso, why did you comment? >> it's important for all of to us join this great movement because you know, i was actually part of being illegal one time and it hurts now to see family members and especially right now they want to pass this law from my point of view it's racist because they're just going to see the person and automatically think that they're illegal. >> reporter: what do you hope this accomplishes? it looks like this bill will come la >> we're not going to give up until our rights are heard at let. we're going to try as much as we can in our power for them to

hear what our hearts have to say and our feelings have to do. >> reporter: thank you very much. so that it's clear, this senate and this house will likely pass this law, and will become law on august 1st. chris? >> jacob, thank you so much as they continue their march to the state capitol in austin. we go to our daily briefing on politics. the nbc team has their questions to president trump tonight. mark murray joins us now. the trump administration did release the budget outline yesterday. there are concerns on other side how the budget priorities add up. does he need to address those concerns tonight? >> yes, chris, that is one of the big questions i have for tonight, how does he make that math add up? as you mentioned he's called for an increase in military spending to boost $54 billion with cuts made up from some nonmilitary spending, but when you want to increase military spending and

also want to decrease taxes, you want to increase infrastructure spending and still balance the deficit and balance the budget, how do you do all that? my math it doesn't necessarily seem to add up yet and i'm waiting to see what he has to say about the topic tonight. >> it was fascinating on "fox&friends" what he believes were the achievements are so far. does he give a different speak than at the inauguration which he also claimed would help bring people together? >> one of the reasons a new president gets a hobby moon they meet with opposition and putting some people in their cabinet but president trump has done none of those things and you kind of look at his approval rating at 44% where republicans like him, almost all democrats opposed and independents have him in a kind of negative category.

he's able to use this speech to be able to reach out to the other side to try to grab some of that honeymoon back. >> one of the conversations nothing to do with politics or the budget per se was the kellyanne conway on her phone flanked by leaders of historically black colleges. loft people saying this is disrespectful. you do not sit on the couch in the oval office the way you might in your living room. what's the protocol? >> if i were invited in i probably wouldn't be seated like that. lot of this is making a mountain out of a mohill. i love policy and politics. how someone is sitting i could care less. i note there are people who say boy in the obama era had valerie jarrett been sitting like that it would have erupted in

conservative media. bottom line i'm more focused on the speech tonight more than how kellyanne conway was seated last night. >> thanks, mark. we'll be right back. just moments andrea mitchell will talk live with nancy pelosi. where's frank? it's league night! 'saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico! goin' up theountry. bowl without me. frank.' i'm going to get nachos. snack bar's closed. gah! ah, ah ah. ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. ♪ everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products.

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[kids cheering] [kids screaming] call the clown! parents aren't perfect but then they make us kraft mac & cheese and everything's good again.

thanks for watching this hour of "msnbc live." i'm chris jansing.

right now on msnbc "andrea mitchell reports" live from capitol hill. >> and thank you. right now on a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports" from capitol little, first pitch. president trump's aides say he will take an optimistic tone in his first speech to a joint session of congress tonight, an apparent contrast to his inaugural address but in a fox news interview previewing the speech the president is blaming president obama for the damaging leaks coming from his administration and the outbreak of protests at town hall meetings around the country. >> you know i think that president obama's behind it because his people are certainly behind it and some of the leaks possibly come from that group, you know, some of the leaks which are really very serious leaks because they're bad in terms of national security. the trump white house can't seem to shake off questions of vladimir putin and possible campaign connections to russia.

house speaker paul ryan telling matt lauer on the "today" show an investigation needs to be done but he says congress can handle it. >> the point is we need to make sure that nothing happened that shouldn't have happened as we go forward. that's exactly what we do in our jobs as congress but we think the intelligence community is the right place to do it. and breaking ranks, more than 120 top retired generals and admirals warning against the president's plan to slash the state department budget and other domestic spending in order to pay for huge increases in the military. >> we must ensure that our courageous servicemen and women have the tools they need to deter war and when called upon to fight in our name only do one thing, win. we have to start winning wars again. >> coming up here, more on all of this in an exclusive interview with house democratic leader nancy pelosi