i've had fun with you this afternoon. i certainly hope you have as well. that's going to do it for us. colleague katy tur picking things up for us. >> hang on at home because it's going to be a busy hour on nbc. any minute president trump will speak in ypsilanti, michigan. we're awaiting word on interest rate but back in washington, three stories president trump can't escape. are the feds already investigating his campaign ties to russia? two top senators are holding a hearing this hour. they along with their house counterparts have been asking for answers from fbi director james comey. >> i want to know, was there any surveillance at all, with or without a warrant. the longer it takes to answer a question, the more suspicious i get. >> we don't have any evidence that took place. in fact, i don't believe just in

the last week of time the people we talked to, i don't think there was an actual tap of trump tower. >> i see no evidence that supports the claim that president trump made that his predecessor had his wires tapped, thus, we see no basis for that whatsoever. also today the president heads to nashville to shore up support for the house gop health care plan as more republicans warn the measure is in a death spiral. who leaked trump's 2005 tax returns and why? are those tantalizing two pages revealed by rachel maddow just the tip of the iceberg? we have reporters and analysts here to break it down. while we await the president, let's begin with the big decision on interest rates. it's a hike that will affect everything from your credit cards to mortgages and home equity lines of credit. msnbc chief business correspondent and anchor, ali velshi is here. >> we have learned the worst

kept secret has just come true. the federal reserve has raised interest rates by a quarter of a percent. the fed funds rate is now -- it's actually a range. it's so low the fed doesn't give it a number. it's 3.25 to 1%. the prime rate, if you're the bank's best customer it's three points higher than that. prime rate will be about 3%. i want to put up a chart of what the fed fund rate has changed over time. this is a chart that goes back to 1975. interest rates are historically very low. you want a mortgage, it will cost you about 4.25% for 30-year fixed with good credit and 20% down. let me talk about a few things this will affect. this will effect the prime rate will be 3%. credit card rates, the dow up on the news.

credit card rates are going to be affected by this. here's the big win, katy tur, all those people who have waited around for years because they're conservative investors and they don't want to be in this dow. they don't want their money in stocks. they're older, more conservative. now you can get a little money in a bank account. i got a mailer that said i could open a bank account with no minimum for 1.3%. that will be a bit of a win for people on a fxedincome or conservative. still not mo than inflation. you're still losing money in a bank account but a little better than before. we got what we expected. here's the thing you should worry about if you carry a balance on a credit card. they are so high. balances on a credit card are so high. this increases it. so, the interest rate, the average interest rate on a credit card balance is now 16.75% up from 16.5%. if you carry, let's say, $17,000 you're paying 42 bucks a month -- a year more than you were before. that is the skinny on interest

rates, katy. >> pay off your credit card bill? >> if you can, the best thing to do. >> i'll try to do that after this show. let's turn to politics and go to kelly o'donnell, and kasie hunt on capitol hill and ron mott in ypsilanti, michigan, where the president will dlifr remarks at the american center for mobility. joining us nbc's pete williams to discuss the charges against two russian spies and two men accused of hacking yahoo!. msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber in studio. kelly, donald trump has a lot going on. there's russia, health care. do we expect we're going to hear him talk about this in michigan today? will we hear from him on twitter? >> reporter: well, i think the expectation judging by what we've learned watching him over the last couple of years and more recently in his sort of white house mode is that the president will likely take some shots at the political environment, the media, certainly. a subject like russia, he has

really been quiet on that of late. because he has a domestic agenda that will unfold in detroit, it would be harder for him to find a way to do it. he is someone who knows how to turn the moment, direct a narrative. he's had long success at that. there are a lot of issues here. also we're in the environment where there are things he's trying to accomplish. there's a budget tomorrow, the health care law. all these different things, none of them easy to handle. and the president is in sort of the crosshairs of politics and populism on some of these topics. makes it tough. but i think the easiest thing to expect is that he would probably take on the media again on a range of subjects when he's in front of audience that's come out to see him. know he derives a lot of energy from that. >> when all else fails, bash the media. a lot of folks on capitol hill want answers right now, in particular senators lindsey graham and sheldon whitehouseholding a hearing on

the hill right now. they're trying to get answers out of the fbi director. what is the likelihood we'll hear from them after they hear from director comey about whether or not there is an investigation into the trump campaign and its ties to russia? >> reporter: well, katy, the deadline they had set for the fbi director will stay. it was in advance of this hearing that's about to get under way in this room. right next to me. and we know that senator graham said he'll make some kind of announcement at the top of that meeting. the last i spoeblg to him he said, look, at this opponent we don't have anything from the department of justice. so, we have not seen comey come out and publicly acknowledge the existence of any investigation into trump's campaign and contacts with russians. of course, nbc news has reported it. "the new york times" has gone further and said it was contact -- or, rather, is contact with russian agents that they are investigating. so, at this point we don't have additional answers from jim comey. what we do know is that senators

chuck grassley, who's the chairman of the judiciary committee, lindsey graham's doing this in a subcommittee of judiciary. grassley is annoyed behind the scenes that comey has not met with him and dianne feinstein. that's about to be rectified this afternoon. we believe the meeting still being scheduled but we know it will be put on the books and that comey will talk to grassley and feinstein about what is going on. what we don't know is whether comey is telling these senators, acknowledging that, in fact, this investigation is being conducted. it's possible that he has at this point told members of either the intelligence committee broadly or the gang of eight, that top group of intelligence members of the house and senate who hear special highly classified briefings. again, we don't know. we know democrats on the house intelligence committee have decided they're happier with comey than they were before. clearly, he has given in.

grassley threatened to hold up the department -- pardon me, the deputy attorney general nominee if he didn't hear from comey directly. clearly, he's getting all kinds of pressure from all sides. the reality is, subpoenas from congress can really bite. if grassley is willing to help senator graham and senator graham has said, yes, i'm going to subpoena information about wiretapping into trump tower on the part of president obama, if it exists, grassley so far has indicated he will back up senator graham. again, a lot of interest for comey to try to mend fences a little bit. still so many questions about what he knows, what they know, what is really going on, katy. >> let'slien to that pound from senator graham talking about how he wants answers fro rlier today on "morning joe." sound is on its way, i'm told. >> congress is going to flex its muscle here. you see that all over the place. we'll issue a subpoena to get the information. we'll hold up the deputy attorney general's nomination

until congress is provided with information to finally clear the air as to whether or not there was ever a warrant issued against the trump campaign. when i first heard it i thought, well, that was just kind of a wild claim. i really don't know. if it's not true, tell me it's not true. why is it taking so long to get the answer? so, i have no evidence of it. i'm suspicious of it. but now getting concerned because it's taking so long to answer my letter. >> two sets of answers being looked for. both lindsey graham and sheldon whitehouse looking for answers in the doj and then senators feinstein and grassley looking for answers from fbi director comey. kasie, how significant is it that republicans are considering holding up confirmation of the deputy a.g. before they can get some answers? >> reporter: that was the threat that seems to have gotten comey to say, i'll meet with you, senator grassley, senator feinstein. we're still waiting to see if that meeting does happen. look, we have a lot of tiny

puzzle pieces here. every time, you know, today we had devin nunez, chairman of houps intel, they went to the microphones again. they started answering our questions about what went on. they acknowledge it's possible the president himself or top aides were caught up in electronic surveillance and potentially had their names unmasked. that's a letter that they've sent we learned about today. asking for additional american citizens who may have been swept up in such investigation. they want that information by friday. again, lots of pieces here. one thing at a time. but it all adds up to increasing congressional scrutiny and frustration about the level of information they're able to get about what went on between the trump campaign and potential contacts with russia and what the u.s. government is doing about it. and the more that pressure builds, the more risk there is for the trump administration. clearly, they have seemed to react to this in a way that goes

yond the way they have reacted to oer potential problems, domestic issues or criticism, the list goes on. this is something that clearly potentially goes to the heart of the whole thing. members of congress know it, increasingly the administration knows it. at the center of this entire storm is jim comb y the fbi director. he was at the center of the hillary clinton e-mail investigation, he's at center of this. we'll keep an eye to see if he comes up to capitol hill this afternoon to meet with feinstein or grassley. in the case of whitehouse they went to the house. for the potential of earth-shattering news on this front, so far he keeps very tight lips. we'll see him in public for the first time on monday so we can get new information there. >> we have all of that going on in congress and the fbi. there's also some news being made -- quite a bit of news being made out of the doj regarding arrests they were able to make having to do with that 2013 hacking into yahoo!.

pete williams, break it down for us. >> this was the 2014 intrusion into yahoo! the government tells us. there were two known attacks on it, one in 2013 that you're talking about, stole accounts of a billion people, this was 500 million people. it started in early 2014. for the first time ever, the united states has filed criminal charges against two officials of the russian government. you see their pictures in the back there. this is the first time they filed these charges in a cyber hacking case. they're members of the fsb, the success or agency to the kgb and federal prosecutors say they're the ones hyped the 2014 hacking attack on yahoo!. the justice department says the two russians asked two known hackers to actlly get int yahoo! system and other e-mail systems and steal the data. the prosecutors say the russians wanted information that they could use for intelligence purposes, to spy on russian journalists and diplomats and american government and military figures and other international

figures that were using these e-mail systems. then the hackers, one of the hackers, who was a known hacker and had actually been charged with crimes before, was able to use the stolen data to make money by launching phoney spam attacks and phishing attacks and directing people to a website for a commercial product. then they say they used the other known hacker to help them to get into some of the other e-mail systems. the russians wanted intelligence. the hackers were paid bit russians, the government says, and also got to use some money for their own normal hacking purposes of trying to make money, stealing credit card, gift cards, that kind of thing. >> this investigation took years, pete. what does that mean about the investigation into russian interference into the u.s. election? >> not much. my guess is this -- this intrusion happened in january 2014. it was disclosed by yahoo! late last year. so, the fbi's been at it for not a very long time here.

they were able to actually attribute the attack, that is to say these two specific people working in this building in moscow were behind the attack. so, it's another sign that the u.s. has developed pretty good abilities to figure out where these attacks come from. and then figure out who all was involved with them. the addition investigating the russian intrusion on the election, we're told, is much more complicateded and, you know, has already taken months and will probably take months more. we asked that question today. do these two things have anything to do with each other? the answer we got was no. >> joining the conversation -- thank you, pete -- republican congressman mo brooks of alabama who sits on the armed services committee. thank you for joining me. let's talk a little about the fbi director who's scheduled to brief senators grass sxli feinstein this afternoon. there's a lot of answers people are looking for. do you believe it's the time -- it is the time right now, at

least on wiretapping, considering that devin nunez and adam schiff weren't able to find any evidence of that, or don't have any as of now, is it time for the president to hand over the evidence he says he has? >> this is a very serious charge when one administration accuses the other administration of engaging in illegal conduct. i do believe it's incumbent upon the accuser to share, certainly with law enforcement agencies, perhaps with the public, whatever information it has to substantiate those very serious charges. we'll see how it plays out. i'm not in the wte house. i'm not on the senate committee investigating this matter. i'm certainly not member of any of the federal investigative agencies that may be looking into it. i hope this can be resolved and resolved quickly. >> as a member of congress, does it frustrate you that time is being spent searching for evidence when the president says he has it instead of getting things done, like passing a health care bill or any of the

rest of the republican agenda? >> no, because i don't see there being any direct relationship between this investigation about an alleged wiretapping of one administration by another administration, and the other work that needs to be done. there are 435 congressmen, 100 senators, a president with a very large staff. we can do many things simultaneously. so, i've not seen any adverse effect on our doing these other matters that need to be done. i will say that the media has shifted attention from some of these other matters to the president's statement and to the wiretapping issue. but that's something y'all are doing. that's not something that is affecting what we're doing in the halls of congress. >> well, are you saying it's the media's fault that we're taking what the president says seriously? i mean, you're -- >> no, i'm not saying it's the fault of the media at all. i think the media is doing what they're doing because it enhances your ratings which, in turn, enhances your profit

margins. that's fine. >> you think it's ratings, that's why we're talking about the president accusing of another president of wiretapping, that's rate lgz? >> let me give an example. you had a story about the federal reserve increasing one rate by as much as a quarter of a percent. this is a really huge story. >> and we've led the newscast with it. >> let me continue with it. it's a huge story. because if that acts as an impetus to raise the cost of the federal government to borrow money, that increased our debt services cost by $50 billion a year. that's how much the federal government is spending on all our highway transportation, okay? so, you guys choose the stories that y'all want to talk about. if you want to choose wiretapping, that's fine. i'm not disagreeing with what we're saying but i'm saying there are a lot of other things that are more -- i tonight is don if ty're more substante but more imptant to the future

of our country. and this story about the federal reserve increasing interest rates, when you have a trillion dollar debt, that interest rate of the federal -- the federal reserve level transfers over to how much we have to pay in interest on bonds issuance that fund the federal government. >> congressman, we led our newscast with that. thank you for pointing that out. >> i'm glad you did. >> secondly, there's a hearing under way on capitol hill talking about wiretapping and talking about information being searched -- or asked for by the fbi and from the doj. so, we are choosing to cover what is going on in washington. and that is what is going on in washington. and my question to you is, because we are covering this, because that is what is going on in washington, do you have a message to say your president to say, hey, if you're going to make an accusation, why not produce the evidence so that everybody's not running around searching for the evidence when you say you have it?

>> i'm agreeing with you that it's incumbent upon president trump to share with investigative agencies and the american people whatever information he has about a prior administration wiretapping him. i'm not disagreeing with that at all. what i am emphasizing, because of one of your prior questions, is that we in congress can do many different things at the same time. and whatever this wiretapping investigation may be about or what it may yield ultimately, that does not affect our ability one iota to deal with health care issues, to deal with tax issues, to deal with a myriad of legislation we're passing in the house of representatives on a daily basis. >> and we in the news media can cover many differenttoest the same time as well. >> yes. >> which we are doing. congressmamo boks of alabama, thank you for joining us this hour. ari melber, let's talk a little about wiretapping. >> why? >> i know. it's not a big story.

there's a hearing going on on the hill. congressmen want answers, grassley wants answers, feinstein wants answers, lindsey graham wants answers, white house wants answers. this is bipartisan at this point. >> it's all bipartisan. all jokes aside. the premise of your question was important there, because obviously given the choice between taking a president's accusation of a crime seriously or not, most of the press is going to err on the side of taking it seriously. that's a good thing. it's saying, well, certainly, there must be evidence for this or something else made you say that and seeking that out. having said that, we are in backwards land because the white house has now at this point in the story acknowledged they don't have the evidence. they're asking congress to help find it or asking potentially what the fbi via congress as a bankshot would find it. what does that mean? that means president trump basically accused someone, the

former president of criminal conduct without the evidence or doing the due diligence inside the government first. that is a striking and significant development in its own right. separate from whether or not there was what some call upstream or downstream surveillance conducted that may have gathered some information, even without a targeted wiretap. >> remember, the only evidence we have of the -- of where donald trump got this information is a breitbart article. ahead, we'll have much more on comeussia and questions about wiretapping as we await senator graham's hearing on capitol hill. we're keeping an eye on the podium in michigan where the president is set to speak at any moment, if he walks out during the break we'll bust out of it and bring it to you live. we'll also talk with nbc's ron mott on the ground in michigan.

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i rote a letter last week. give us any evidence of a warrant, fisa or criminal warrant against the trump campaign. haven't heard a word. we have oversight over the judiciary committee. if he runs to the intel committee and talks about this without ignoring the with jurisdiction, that would be a problem for him. >> that was senator lindsey

graham earlier today. he's asked for fbi director james comey to provide answers before that 2:30 hearing. will the president comment on any of this when he takes the stage in a short time in michigan to talk jobs? we'll carry his remarks live. ron mott is in ypsilanti, michigan, where the president will make those remarks at the american center of mobility. is anyone paying attention to the various controversies on capitol hill right now? >> reporter: hey, there, katy. i think it depends on the person you ask. we went to the big sky diner earlier, good coffee and food and conversation going on over there, about five, six minutes away from this center for mobility. by the way, can you see some cars behind me, the president is expected to talk about jobs in this industry and technology. we are expecting maybe perhaps he'll announce rollback obama increase on fuel efficiency standards. we'll see.

the president is running a little behind. we spoke to a small group at the diner, and i think anyone who voted for donald trump on november 8th is more dug in on their support for him. those that did not vote for him are more dug in today than they were today against donald trump. here's a trump supporter talking about all the various controversies we've seen in this first 7 1/2 weeks of the trump administration. take a listen. >> what do you make of just the atmosphere of this white house? there are a lot of controversies that we're covering in the in the first two months and it seems like it's been a year already because it's been one thing after another. >> well, it's mostly all brought up by the media. all the -- all the bad stuff that is brought up, is all about the media and the democrats. still trying to bring down trump. >> reporter: how much do you care about his tax returns, seeing them? >> i didn't care at all about

seeing them. when they said last night he made $150 million and he paid $38 million in tax, that was -- when was that, 2005. i think it's a good deal. he doesn't have to show them. >> reporter: talked to a hillary clinton supporter at the diner today. he's not prepared to give donald trump a pat on the back in any sense, any shape, any form, any fashion at this point. he said he may never be able to support donald trump. there's a clear divide in michigan. donald trump talked a lot about jobs in the auto industry, made a big deal out of ford and general motors, announcing a change of plans to expand in mexico, to reinvest in the united states. still a lot of division in this state, katy. a lot of united autoworkers folks in this hangar, this airport hangar today. they were bussed in. they were told they could come here and not lose any pay at work today if they were -- if they had to work the line. there's a lot of support in the auto industry for president trump. that was enough, obviously, to carry him to victory in michigan

and to the white house back in november. >> i know that wasn't a scientific poll you took of that -- of those interviews you did in that diner, but i can tell you that is exactly the reason that gentleman we just showed is exactly the reason donald trump keeps harping on the media and keeps blaming things on the media or democrats because that is the message that resonates. don't blame me, it's everybody else trying to set me up. that's exactly what his supporters hear and that's why they don't necessarily care about the various controversies going on in washington. to them it's about change and jobs. they believe donald trump is going to bring both of those things. nbc's ron mott live in michigan. as we await the president, let's get back to the question of russia and that hearing about to get under way on capitol hill since that is, of course, a huge story, frankly. live in seattle for us is msnbc contributor and former fbi double agent, naveed jamali.

what's going on on capitol hill. we have congressmen to ask james comey, yes or no, is there an investigation into donald trump and his campaign and connections with russia, is there any proof donald trump was wiretapped, can such simple information be with held by comey to certain committees and intel? >> if this is made public, if there is an investigation, i think this is something probably better handled in response to the senator as letter. nonetheless, at this point, the president has made an accusation. i have to stress why this is so important. there's only 14,000 fbi agents. while the fbi agents follow their chain of command, one of the things that everyone is instilled to do, you don't have to follow legal orders. this idea that an fbi agent

would wiretap illegally, it's dangerous to the rank and file. if it did happen, it would more along the lines of a coup in turkey. it doesn't go along with the professionalism of these agents in the intelligence committee. it's a morale-busting statement for the for the say about his people. >> if you're saying fbi director comey, it's better handled in a letter to the senators that asked him for that information, that it shouldn't necessarily be public, confirming there's an investigation, for our viewers at home who might wonder why it was okay to confirm there was an investigation into hillary clinton's -- announcing the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mail, why is it okay to say there was an investigation there but it's not okay to say, yes, there's an investigation into this? >> that is such a great point. this is where i think comey walked the line and, frankly, did something that probably got him a lot of -- a lot of kind of, you know, not good reviews. that letter he sent to congress, he was intending it for it to go to the public.

it was released by someone in congress. so, technically comey didn't release the letter confirms there was something going on with the e-mail servers -- or, you know, it was released by someone else. i think he probably knew it was going to end up in the public domain. while he didn't do anything illegally, i think he very well knew it would end up publicly. when it comes to investigations, i think the fbi and law enforcement intelligence organizations as a whole tend to not comment on those type of things. in this case we're put in a position where the president is leging something that is, frankly, i mean, there's no comparison to say th the fbi would wiretap illegally a u.s. person, let alone someone who's running for president is -- i mean, that is a very serious charge. and i think what we'll find is one that's completely unfounded. >> is all this political pressure on the fbi hurting the bureau's credibility? >> absolutely. absolutely. look, we saw it with -- we saw it going back from snowden. this idea that, again, the intelligence community, the fbi, you have these sort of rogue

agencies that don't follow the constitution. the commander in chief sets the orders but you take an oath of the constitution. that's something instilled. there is a legal order, you have the right to say no. there's inspector generals -- the short answer is, yes, it hurts the credibility amongst the american people. they don't get to see what these people do day in and day out -- >> we have lindsey graham going into his hearing. we're going to take a listen. >> reporters tried to ask lindsey graham for that hearing. they were unsesful getting answers but we'll monitor this and bring any developments to you live naveed, let's get back to what we were talking about. on wiretapping, the attorney general, jeff sessions, was asked about whether or not there was any evidence. he said he has not seen any. the house intel chairman says there's no evidence. that is also, by the way, a republican.

does the fbi have a responsibility to come out, though, and clear the air and make sure -- >> yes. >> -- the american public knows what is going on right now? >> absolutely. because what the -- look, ether there's an investigation of trump or whether an investigation of his associates, that is a separate question. but the core question of did the fbi illegally for partisan or political reasons wiretap donald trump without a warrant is something that they have a duty to answer. the answer, absolutely, unequivocally will be no. i'm sure of that. that is separate from the investigation. i don't think we should be necessarily getting into whether there's an investigation publicly. but in terms of the wiretap, absolutely. >> and this hearing is about to get under way. we'll get to it in a moment. the final question i have for you, naveed, is on what the doj was able to announce today. they're bringing criminal charges into the hack of yahoo! in 2014. that took years, that investigation, to come to these charges. is it conceivable that it would

take years as well to get any potential charges into the hacking of the 2016 election? >> yes and, you know, the funny thing about this, katy, is there's no extradition treaty with russia. we can indict people in russia but getting them to the united states to face trial is -- i don't think you'll -- >> we're going to lindsey graham he's making an announcement. >> the department of justice and to the director of the fbi, march 8, 2017, that they would be responding with a classified briefing, i think, to the chair and ranking member. we'll give you more details as they become available to us. but this letter was a pretty simple request. was there warrant issued by any courtney where in the united states allowing surveillance of the trump campaign, trump tower or any trump operative during the 2016 election? and please provide the

information that was used to obtain a warrant. if a warrant was requested and denied, would also like to know that. so, apparently, the fbi has contacted my staff that they will be at some date in the future providing us an answer to this in a classified manner. with that, i'll turn it over to senator whitehouse, if he would like to respond for a second before we move forward. >> i think one of the things we have tried to do here is to proceed outside of a classified setting. the intelligence committees are working in a classified setting. the added value, i think, that this subcommittee's work provides is to be able to have a

public discussion. if a small town wakes up one morning to find that all the shop windows on main street have been smashed, it is appropriate and, indeed, it is incumbent on the police chief to reassure the town that law enforcement will be looking into that incident. it's even legitimate to say, here are the people i've assigned to it. and it's certainly legitimate to say, and we intend to get to the bottom of this. in my mind, the unclassified intelligence committee, intelligence community, report is smashed windows all up and down main street.

and it is now not only appropriate but incumbent upon law enforcement to say, we are looking at this. we intend to get to the bottom of this, and we have these resources dedicated to accomplishing -- >> senator whitehouse saying it's incumbent upon them to investigate. also senator graham saying the fbi will respond to their letter in a classified briefing at some point in the future. just want to draw your attention to what you are seeing on this screen in front of you. a striking image. on the one hand, a hearing about the investigation whether or not there is one into the trump campaign and russians. on the other hand, the president of the united states, donald trump, addressing autoworkers in detroit. let's take a listen to the president. >> you're going to be very happy, believe me. you're going to be very, very happy. during the campaign i came to michigan, again and again, and i

made this promise, that i am going to fight for your jobs and fight very, very hard. i'm going to fight for michigan workers. i'm going to fight to keep the automobile production in the united states of america. not outside. in the united states. by the way, for those that have any doubt, many other investors do, that's okay, right? so, we're here not simply to honor the past, but to devote ourselves to a new future of american automotive leadership. we want to be the car capital of the world again. we will be. and it won't be long, believe me. by the way, we're going to have

a very big announcement next week having to do with your industry. very, very big. very important. everybody is saying, what is it? let's keep them guessing back there. you've heard me say the words, and i'll repeat them, right now, buy american and hire american. [ applause ] it's not just a motto. it's a pledge. it's a pledge to the working people of this country. the era of economic surrender for the united states is over. it's over. and you see what's already been happening. plants are coming back, other plants that were expected to be built in other countries are not being built. i justment to tell the leaders they made some very wise decisions. very wise.

very wise. some plants that were announced, they're not going to be built, they're smart. we're going to stand up foreign cheating. we're going to crack down on currency manipulation. yes, we're going to use the full economic powers of our country to protect our workers and to protect our jobs. let me also say how important it is for me that we have every segment of this great american industry represented in our audience today. we have everybody. to succeed as a country, we have to work together. we have to fight side by side to protect our industry and to stop the jobs from leaving our country. not going to happen anymore, folks. we've gone through it for many, many years. decades. not going to happen anymore. and if it is, there's

consequences to pay for the companies that dessert us and fire our employees. there are consequences. already we're seeing jobs coming back. since my election, ford has announced 700 new jobs coming back to their plant in flat rock, michigan. fiat chrysler has announced they will create 2,000 new jobs in michigan and ohio. and just today, breaking news, general motors announced that they're adding -- or keeping 900 jobs right here in michigan. and that's going to be over the next 12 months. and that's just the beginning, folks. in fact, i told them, that's peanuts. that's peanuts. we're going to have a lot more. they're going to be building new plants, expanding their plants. my administration will work

tirelessly to end the industry-killing regular lagtss, to ensure a level playing field for all american companies and workers. before nafta went into effect -- by the way, nafta, a total disaster -- there were 280,000 autoworkers in michigan. today that number is roughly 165,000. and would have been heading down big league if i didn't get elected, i will tell you that right now. that i can tell you. plenty of things were stopped in their tracks. they were stopped in their tracks. a lot of bad things were going to happen. a lot of places were going to get built that aren't going to get built in other loektscation. the number of auto plants in the state have been cut by a third. motor city, once set the standard of living for the nation. now it's suffered under decades

of failed economic decisions that have stripped our country of its jobs and of its wealth. the transpacific partnership, another disaster, threatened states like michigan, wisconsin, ohio, pennsylvania and so many others, with the loss of countless more jobs. that is why i'm proud to say i fol followed through on my promise -- and, by the way, many other promises. you've seen what's happened. many. [ applause ] and immediately withdrew the united states from the ttp. i kept my word. the assault on the american auto industry, believe me, is over. it's over. not going to happen anymore. we're setting up a task force in every federal agency to identify and remove any regulation that

undermines american auto production and any other kind of production. including the production of high-end, low-end, big, small, every form of automobile and truck. during my first week in office, i brought american auto companies to the white house. mary barra is here, mark phil's here, sergio is here, and others. and none of them got to see the oval office before because nobody took them into the oval office, our presidents. they employ tens of thousands of people, but i brought them into the oval office. because they're going to be expanding their companies. but they all told me the same thing.

they explained the previous administration promised you a so-called midterm review of the federal fuel efficiency standards. it was necessary because the standards were set far into the future. way, way into the future. if the standards threatened auto jobs, then common sense changes, could have, should have been made. just days before my inauguration, the previous administration cut short the promised midterm review in an 11th-hour executive action. today i am announcing that we are going to cancel that executive action. [ applause ] we are going to restore the originally scheduled midterm review. and we are going to ensure that any regulations we have protect and defend your jobs, your

factories. we're going to be fair. we're going to be fair. this is an issue of deep importance to me. for decades, i've raised the alarm over unfair foreign trade practices that have robbed communities of their wement and robbed our people of the ability to provide for their families. they've stolen our jobs, they've stolen our companies, and our politicians sat back and watched,le watched, hopeless. not anymore. as a private citizen, i looked really with sadness as massive shipments of foreign cars have been dumped onto our shores while those same countries have shut their borders to our cars. we take them, come on in, folks, come on in, no tax, don't worry about it. we make cars. they don't take us. not anymore.

since nafta was approved, we've lost nearly one-third of our manufacturing jobs in the united states. since china entered the world trade organization, we've lost 60,000 factories. hard to believe. our trade deficit last year reached nearly $800 billion. who's making these deals? i can take anybody in the audience, you'll do better, believe me. these statistics really should have shaken up washington to do action, but nothing happened. but something did happen. happened on november 8th. believe me, it happened. happened for you. but the politicians made excuses. they've said these chronic trade

deficits have helped us to win fraendz broad. i don't want friends abroad if that's what it's going to take. they say, no, no, people abroad like us. they don't like us. they thi we're stupid people. no friendship is strengthened through economic abuse because we have been abused. and no country can long lead the free world if it does not protect its industries and care for its people and protect its borders. [ applause ] america will be respected again. and you as workers will be respected again. believe me. you will be respected again. soon, now. i think it's already happened. our great presidents from washington to jefferson to jackson to lincoln all understood that a great nation

must protect its manufacturing, must protect itself from the outside. today i will be visiting the home of andrew jackson on the 250th anniversary of his birth. and they say my election was most similar to his. 1828. that's a long time ago. usually they go back to this one or that one, 12 years ago, 16. i mean, 1828, that's a long way. that's a long time ago. in supporting tariffs, jackson said, i look at the tariff with an eye to the proper distribution of labor and to revenue. and with a view to discharge our national debt. we owe $20 trillion. $20 trillion with our policies. america cannot be a wealthy country if special interests game the system to profit from

the exodus of our companies and from the exodus of our jobs. we must embrace a new economic model. let's call it the american model. [ applause ] under the system we will reduce but in exchange companies must hire and grow in america. they have to hire and grow in our country. that is how we will succeed and grow together. american workers and american industries side by side. nobody can beat us, folks. nobody can beat us. [ applause ] because whether we are rich or poor, young or old, black or

brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots. great americans of all backgrounds built the arsenal of democracy, including the legendary rosie the riveter, who worked here at willow run. you know that. [ applause ] 75 years ago during the second world war, thousands of american workers filled this very building. to build the great new airplanes, the b-24 liberator. at peak production, listen to this, it's not the country that we've been watching over the last 20 years, they were

building one b-24 every single hour. [ applause ] we don't hear that. we don't hear that anymore, do we? we'll be back. we'll be back soon. most amazingpeople. and while that's incredible, it's a tribute, really, to the teamwork, determination and patriotism that lives on today in each and every one of you. great people. you're great people. now, these hundreds of acres that defended our democracy are going to help build the cars and cities of the future. so i ask you -- that's fine, because you're right. so i ask you today to join me in daring to believe that this facility, this city, and this nation will once again shine with industrial might.

[ applause ] i'm asking you to place your faith in the american worker and these great american companies. i'm also asking you to respect and place your faith in companies from foreign lands that come here to build their product. we love them, too, right? we love them, too. i'm asking all of the companies here today to join us in this new industrial revolution. let us put american workers, american families and american dreams first once again.

may god bless the american worker. may god bless the motor city. and may god bless the united states of america. thank you. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> president trump in ypsilanti, michigan, talking to autoworkers, touting his unique ability to keep auto jobs in the united states. also talked about how he's basically tapping the brake on some of president obama's emission limits. it's basically another one of the ongoing, oncoming hits to climate and environmental policies that donald trump is doing, undoing regulations put in place by the obama administration. before we went to donald trump, we were taking a look at the hearing. the hearing to examine russian efforts. that was in the subcommittee of crime and terrorism of the senate judiciary committee. you can see that hearing is ongoing right now. led by sheldon whitehouse, democrat from rhode island, and

lindsey graham, the republican from south carolina. let's take a listen to lindsey graham just a moment ago. >> we gave the director until today to answer that question. and all i can say is i still don't have the answer to those questions. i like the director of the fbi, comey. i think he's a fine man. the department of justice has the responsibility here, too. i just want to let the american people know this subcommittee, with respect of the chairman and ranking committee, that we're going to get an answer to whether or not the trump campaign was surveilled, was a warrant ever requested, was one issued. and i hope to be able to answer the question, is there an active investigation on the criminal side. >> joining me now, political white house correspondent eli stokeles and msnbc political analyst and senior political reporter for "usa today," heidi. you can see lindsey graham is trying to get answers, yes or no

from fbi director comey if there's an investigation into donald trump's campaign, and was his campaign surveilled during the election. so far those answers are seemingly pretty hard to find. eli, is the fbi director now starting to feel some pressure to come out and say one way or the other whether or not there is an active criminal investigation? >> well, the pressure is mounting on director comey. and i think we have to step back from this and recognize that something donald trump tweeted about seemingly with no evidence is now occupying the resources and time of our congress, of our government. they are looking into this. lindsey graham is taking donald trump's words literally and seriously, effectively calling his bluff here. i think we will get to the bottom of this. you saw house intelligence chair, devin nunez, a member of the trump transition, when he was asked about this, he had to basically admit that he has seen

no evidence to support trump's claim that obama wiretapped him. that's an interesting admission from someone who's a very close trump ally. >> how frustrated are republicans by this? >> i think they're frustrated by the whole russia issue, but particularly by this because they're getting pinned down on it, and paul ryan, you can add him to the list, he doesn't think there's anything there in terms of the wiretap. i think senator graham is correct because i myself last night spoke with house intelligence ranking chair adam schiff and he says if it doesn't happen today, they think they can get comey on the record next week in the open hearing to essentially say, no, there was no tapping of trump tower and that evidence of that is also being seen just in the way, katy, the white house is responding to this. trying to now redefine the definition of wiretap to make it

more of a broad surveillance generalization so that maybe ey can say, even if comey ds me out and confirm there was no wiretap, ty'll try to put it off onto other agencies, to leave that impression there among the american people that maybe something did happen. so, you got to watch closely what the white house is doing right now with that pivot. >> i guess wiretapping, in quotes. eli stokeles, heidi, thank you for sticking around and waiting this out for me. we only had a a little bit of time together. that wraps things up for me this hour. i'm katy tur. can you follow me on facebook and twitter. kate, it was so striking to see this hearing going on on one side of the screen and donald trump coming out, taking the stage in ypsilanti on the other. a lot of folks on social media were saying they believe he timed it that way. the timing was that way to begin with during the day, so we can -- >> mostly. although he was a little late. we were running a pool upstairs about how late he would be.

he was a little late. it was striking, though. katy, thank you so much. we have so much to cover this afternoon. i'm kate snow. top three stories we're following right now on this busy day. president trump just wrapping up that speech. you saw it. it was outside detroit, michigan, after he met with auto industry ceos and union leaders. the president spoke about jobs and manufacturing, saying he's going to fight to keep auto production here in the united states. we'll bring you a full report from michigan in just a moment. also bombshell news from the department of justice today. the doj is charging two russian spies and two hackers in that huge yahoo! hacking attack. you remember that back in 2014. it was the biggest data breach in u.s. history. plus, we just heard from senator lindsey graham, that's the hearing katy was talking abou speaking about president trump's wiretapping accusations. and the battle over the new republican health care plan. that's heating up. vice president pence on the hill today, trying to shore up support. i'll be talki t