12-foot bronze statue yesterday. i don't know if that is big enough. >> he's the king. that's all we can say. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. next up is "morning joe,". have a good weekend, everybody. this is a commitment he has to enact health care. this is a process that he's committed to and wants to see through because of the goal that he wants to achieve, which is making a more patient-centric health care system. >> at this point, is there acknowledgment there does need to be a plan b? >> no, plan a. >> welcome to "morning joe."

another momentous day on capitol hill. plan a, blown apart. the vote didn't take place last night. and after a couple hours of considering his options, the president gave congress a take-it or leave-it option. so this morning everybody is looking at congress and trying to figure out exactly what they are going to do. willie, the freedom caucus has to decide whether to cave to donald trump or whether they are going to hold firm. and a lot of people believe that there's much riding on this, including the reputation of the trump white house. >> joe, good morning to you. we reached a stage in this process now where donald trump in the white house to "the new york times" and other publications.

we are now following the runway of the crash that could be the failure of this bill. and how big of a loss would this be, joe, to the president right out of the gate into his administration? >> well, the president would hate the headlines, there's no doubt about that. we how old have to eat he is exactly right. he should not have started with health care. if you ever watched a little show called "morning joe," he would have heard us say all along, don't start with health care. we repeated it day in and day out. start with tax reform, start with health -- with regulatory reform. get the big wins and let t house's senate work out the details. you come at the end as a hero. they didn't do that. to your question how big of a loss this would be one of my favorite quotes came from senator paul simon when he retired. somebody asked him what was your

biggest lesson in all of your years in washington? he said, sometimes, when you win, you lose. and sometimes when you lose, you win. well, we go back to that day when we reported on the obamacare passage and the celebration by the democrats. it's been six years of political hell for them since then, losing over a thousand seats in the house. our a thousand seats across the nation. and this is actually, willie, if it goes down, this vote is the easiest vote ever for the house members to explain why they did it and trump to move on to tax reform and regulatory reform and the senate in the time they need to get real health care bills put together, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if they acted like grown-ups, but, as always, that is a huge if. >> what you just suggested is exactly what the president has said. he sent mick mulvaney over to capitol hill to tell the members of the freedom caucus either pass this today, friday,

sometimes between 2:00 and 4:00 they are saying now but that is a moving target, or the president is moving on from health care and putting it behind him. it is friday, march 24th. mika has the morning off. with us we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle and former treasury official and economic analyst steve rattner and chairman of african-american studies at princeton eddie who is verified on twitter after all of your lobbying, joe. >> i saw that. huge. >> former aide to the george w. bush white house and the state department, elise jordan. and in washington, senior political analyst for nbc news and msnbc mark halpern. and "the new york times" reporting jeremy peters. a full house this morning and get into it. a check o president trump's j approval numbers this morning. the gallup traing poll, the daily poll, shows 39 approve of the job he is doing and 56% d

disproofing. 56% disapprove. 17% approve of this plan and 61% disapprove the way trump is handling willing health care process. 20% say it should be completely repealed and 27% say it should be left intact. you put all of those numbers together and highly unpopular bill with an increasingly unpopular president doesn't bode well for the passage of this thing today. >> no. i'm not the good at this politics thing, willie, but those numbers look really, really bad. holy molle! mark halpern you were in the belly of the beast yesterday and in the woody allen movie where your face was implanted in the

great moment of our time. you were everywhere. talk about what the house members, how they were feeling, which way you thought this thing was going last night. of course, we hear of a couple of more defections overnight from some arizona congressmen. what can you report to us back from everything you picked up in the belly of the beast yesterday? >> well, there is a certain grimness here that you saw in the face of lots of members throughout the day and then certainly as they were leaving the meeting at night with the administration officials, and, you know, mark meadows is still pretty key here, the head of the freedom caucus, the congressman from north carolina almost a threat yesterday as a destructive voice i'm going to work with moderates and let's try to figure this out. i think still a chance they get it but the president is trying to make the best of the situation. it could work. if they have read the "the wall

street journal" editorial and some members may decide this is the last chance and best chance we have. by threatening to move on, i think the president does a couple of things. he puts the onus on anybody who votes no today they are basically saying you are keeping the affordable care act in place and puts the onus more on capitol hill and less on the white house. finally this is where i thought the president was in real trouble by make ago clean break by saying, we are not going to try to revive health care and move on to tax reform. the president has a chance to keep the health care failure if there is a failure today from in fact,ing the possibility of moving on. so members, yesterday, i think, were saying this is not the president's fault but no doubt that this would be the bottom line for the president would be the art of the deal does not work under the current way the white house is doing it. that is why they say failure not an option, they are going to get it and i think there is a chance they will. >> it's preposterous, willie, that barack obama took as long as h took to passbamacare and

they are trying to do this in the flash of an eye. it's preposterous for donald trump to think he can just walk in between honking 18-wheeler horns and pretend like he is driving on the white house lawn and shuttling back and forth for a couple of days. that's not how washington works. it's just not. even if he passes this bill, the negotiations have been such a wreck that he sabotaged it for the senate. >> yesterday was always an artificial deadline. the significance of it being the seventh anniversary of sign obamacare into law something they were looking at but it left them a very small time frame to get this thing done. yesterday, the most important man on capitol hill, perhaps mark meadows, the chair of the freedom caucus, as we said, mark halpern, well position inside that scrum around him following one of the negotiation meetings. >> i think the procedures for going forward are still fundamental and they have not changed for the last couple of

weeks. if we can make sure that there is an adequate safety net that preexisting conditions are taken care of where truly premiums start to go down for moms and dad, that is what it's all about. and i can tell you that that is what i heard over and over again was does this bill actually lower premiums significantly enough to make a real difference for people that are struggling to pay for health care. and i think that we have that at the very core of where we are. >> i mow you're a modest man but you have veto power over this, don't you? >> no, i don't have any veto power. one card has my picture on it but it doesn't belong toe but the people of western north carolina. >> the president pass this without your support? >> again, i'm one vote. i can tell you at this point, we are trying to get another 30 to 40 votes that are currently in the no category to yes. once we do that, i think we can

move forward with passing it on the house floor. >> mark, congressman meadows is the subject in the freedom caucus, is the subject of a scathing editorial in today's "the wall street journal," the freedom for -- from reality caucus. but, yesterday, in speaking with the member of the white house staff, ilves told that this bill that is going to be voted on today has now come down within the white house, within the oval office, to a kill paul ryan bill. because the president has never trusted paul ryan and now the vote that he wants that he is insisting upon today is to get this done with, to get the speakership weakened and get the bill done with. what have you heard? >> well, there is certainly divisions now, despite the public show of being teammates about what happened and what might happen next if the bill goes down and even if the bill passes. you know, john boehner was basically forced out of office by the freedom caucus. the "the wall street journal" editorial page and a lot of moderate house republicans say

the worst thing that would happen is for this to be passed but the freedom caucus would be emboldened and 40 or so members would be able to dominate every legislative reform including tax reform. >> mark, the opposite of that is true also, mark halpern. if the freedom caucus, after calling this obamacare light and after having heritage foundation coming out against it and after having americans for prosperity come out against it and after the koch's saying we will fund any challenges from your political left against you in the primary process coming out in support of them opposing what they have all called obamacare light. if the freedom caucus folds today, they might as well fold um their tent for the next two years, because they will cease to be relevant in any negotiation. >> for

that. and i think they do believe that they can stand strong in negotiations with the senate and continue to have influence. the reality of the freedom caucus is they do have a big enough number that they can dominate any legislative fight. the question is what is the best outcome for the white house? is it for the freedom caucus to be emboldened or put in their place. one republican moderate house member said to me yesterday if the white house will rule the day if they pass the house because the freedom caucus think they can regulate what happens going forward. >> "the new york times" editorial reads, quote. here is sean spicer one week ago.

>> many conservatives are really concerned that all speaker of the house is leading president trump down a very -- path on health care. how do you react to that? >> donald trump is not going to be led down a path by anyone. he is working hand in glove with the speaker. he doesn't get led down any paths. he lead very clearly and i think if you listen topeer ryan today, he's in agreement that there has been a strong partnership between the house, the administration, and i think the senate so far to make sure that we get this bill done. >> the times also reports that two of president's top adviser chief strategist steve bannon and gary cohen who had a major role in pushing health care reform came to agree with trump he should have tackled tax reform first. the times notes, quote, trump's son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner, who is vacationing with his family in

aspen this week, has said for days that the bill was a mistake to support. you have this all over the plays and "the new york times" leading the way and other publications saying they never wanted to do this in the first place. >> this is obvious. again, this isn't us monday morning quarterbacking. go back from the very beginning. this was such an, obviously, stupid play done by a group of people who didn't know how washington worked. we had it time and time again, they could neot decide to lead with health care. when they decided to lead with health care, why decide to go with paul ryan's version of health care. it's what donald trump promised every day on the campaign trail. jeremy peters, it made no sense. but so much of this was the same mistake that neophyte presidents make whe they come into washingtond.c. a everybody says, you really need to listen to the speaker. you really need to follow the house and the senate.

they really know best. which is what bill clinton did in '93 and '94 and bill clinton ended up getting destroyed by you went too far left. donald trump should not have listened to members of the house and senate -- i know this sounds cold but we have been promising to repeal obamacare for six years. that is their problem and not the president of the united states problem. his problem is getting passinging retiring reform and getting the wind behind their backs and letton them fight with john mccain and others in the senate. he comes in at the end and plays peace maker. this was so obvious for anybody who knows how washington works. jeremy, it's a lot tougher than it looks on tv, isn't it? >> well, i think it was pretty clear from the beginning, joe, that the votes weren't there for repeal because you had pressure

from both sides, from the moderate side of the caucus and from the far ride of the caucus. still, this remains a group on the right in the freedom caucus that cannot get to yes. they cannot get to yes on most major pieces of legislation. they have a speaker that they don't fully trust and the writing was on the wall, i think, from day one this was not going to work. so the white house listened to paul ryan and said, okay, you know, we will go along with this and that is because of some of the pressure that existed for this bill. a lot of it was artificial and a lot of it from the outside groups who said, you know, you guys have to do this, you promised, the koch's and freedom foundation and heritage foundation putting pressure behind this. a swell of pressure. that said a lot of members felt if they promised voters one thing orve the last six or seven years they would repeal obamacare. fromhat i hearingnside the white house they are ready to move on to tax reform. when the president meets at

12:30 before this vote to have a lunch with steve mnuchin the first thing on their agenda i'm told is tax reform and where they are going from here. >> maybe this bill passes sometime later this afternoon but it seems to me the ask from white house and paul ryan of the congressional republicans who are still no and need to get to yes is a bill that hasn't been scored by the cbo and hasn't had time to read through and process and wildly unpopular and by the way, die in the senate any way. >> so what is their incentive of getting behind this bill of goods no idea what is in it and the parts that are in it are deeply unmor with the american public? the freedom caucus is pushing so hard to get rid of preexisting conditions and children with their parents under 26 staying on insurance. that is widely popular among the political spectrum. they want to push to get that out. so it just seems like a lot of effort has been put into, you

know, kind of stripping obamacare of some of the most popular elements and not enough to, you know, actually look at cost control and actually free market reforms that would help improve coverage. >> yeah. elise, that is the important thing. no free market reforms here. the conservatives, real conservatives could be excited about, that heritage would be excited about, that the freedom caucus would be excited about, that americans for prosperity would be. why does a conservative put their political careen e line getting behind this bad bill you owlast night, the cbo numbers, steve rattner, comes out and it ends up we don't know the exact numbers but the guesses are the changes will not improve coverage but will actually make the deficit go up even higher. take us behind the cbo numbers. it looks on bleak there too. >> well, as you know in the cbo report originally came out they said it would improve the deficit 337 billion. now they are saying it's 150

billion. 50 billion of that roughly is simply giving more tax cuts to the rich. that is, obviously, not going to improve health care. they created a little bit of a piggy bank for the senate, a little bit of legislative slide of hand for the senate to then give back to the house that might improve coverage at the margin. but look. the cold hard fact is that there is nothing that the freedom caucus and the other far right conservatives want that would actually improve the number of people on obamacare -- on health care and, in fact, the cbo scored this as being no change in the number of people on health care. what they are trying to do is, in effect, roll back the whole insurance market whether it's preexisting conditions, whether it's kids under 26, whether it's ten essential benefits back to where it was before obama which means that essentially a health care system of what it was like before obama, 24 million people, fewer people insured and a lot of them on very inadequate plans that don't cover all kind of things. that is the vision they have.

as the polls that we talked about at the top of the show show, that is not the vision that america has. obamacare for the first time is actually significantly more popular than unpopular while this plan is unbelievably unpopular. >> eddie, whatever happens today, passage or no passage, where does this leave president trump two months into his administration? this is the first big bite he took. he struggled through it, obviously. where does he stand next week as he tries to move forward? is he weakened by this process the past couple of months? >> i think he is. the idea as president trump as the closer seems to be called into question now. the idea of him being the master of the art of the deal seems to be called into question at this point. i think there are two major areas here. the issue around process and the issue around content. what we see with the legislation to my mind is a kind of cold hearted piece of legislation and what david brooks said in his op-ed in "the new york times."

this bill takes the most vicious stereo types about conservatives and validates them. a sense how cold hearted it is. then process. there seems to be a duplication of the very mistake that president obama made with obamacare. that seems to suggest that perhaps trump isn't as distinct and unique as he says he is. >> but i think at the point he is at, calling for the vote today is not a stupid thing. i do deals. he does deals. things are getting worse and more numbers coming out that are bad and losing moderates as you try to get conservatives. at this point you have to call the question. >> in a lot of ways, steve, if this passes the house, it gets even messier. i think if it fails this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. when they have the vote, then they could move on to something else very easily. if it passes and goes into the senate, then you just have another extended drawn-out fight among republicans over what health care reform looks like. the white house doesn't want that. >> sure. but you got to fight one fight

at a time, i think. i do think losing the house would be a disaster for the president. >> i actually think, again, going back to what i said at the top of the show, in politics, sometimes when you lose, you win. i think the best thing that could happen is this bill goes down today. actually, that they pull it. let them start renegotiating from the very beginning, do it the right way and move on to tax reform, something that will unite all conservatives. >> joe, i agree. i think that in the end, while this isn't great for president trump, it's better for him than it is for speaker ryan. you know, he is already loathed by so much of the tea party base and viewed with a lot of mistrust. the one thing that the establishment has looked for is that at least able to, you know, get together a coalition and get the votes. on this critical first test he probably will have failed unless something does change over the course of today. >> we got a busy morning ahead.

more on the administration's strategy ahead of today's new planned vote. health care and human services secretary tom price joins us in our 7:00 hour. and the latest revelations from house intel chair david nunez who, yesterday, apologized to the rest of his committee. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. knowing where you stand. it's never been easier. except when it comes to your retirement plan. but at fidelity, we're making retirement planning clearer. and it all starts with getting your fidelity retirement score. in 60 seconds, you'll know where you stand. and together, we'll help you make decisions for your plan... to keep you on track. ♪ time to think of your future it's your retirement. know where you stand. ♪ time to think of your future this is the story of green mountain coffee and fair trade, told in the time it takes to brew your cup. let's take a trip to la plata, colombia. this is boris calvo. that's pepe. boris doesn't just grow good coffee, boris grows mind-blowing coffee.

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z2a1gz zx9z y2a1gy yx9y why did you find it important to brief the press and then the president before even for -- >> it's just a judgment call. i mean, you know? it was my -- there was a lot going on president. and it was a judgment call on my part and that is at the end of the day, it's sometimes you make the right decisions and sometimes you make the wrong one but you have to stick by the decisions you make. >> yesterday, democratic members of the house intel committee say house intelligence committee david nunez apologized to them for not informing the committee or even its top democrat adam

schiff. nunez said the names of incoming administration members had been put in reports. he gave different answers, though, about whether president trump, himself, was included. a spokesperson for nunez telling cbs news yesterday he said he'll have to get all of the documents he requested from the intel community about this before he knows for sure. in an interview last night with fox news, nunez explained why he did not wait before speaking out. >> i've only read the report, so i don't know all of th intellencehat went into it. t, to me, it's clear that i would be concerned if i was the president and that is why i wanted him to know and i felt like i had a duty and an obligation to tell him because as you know he has been taking a lot of heat in the news media and i think, to some degree, there are some things he should look at to see whether, in fact, he thinks the collection was

proper or not. >> mark, i really don't even know where to start. he actually says to hannity that his justification for blowing up the intel committee for breaking every precedent and basically shirking every responsibility he has in that position is because, quote, the president was taking some heat in the news media. but he keeps changing his story and, yesterday, he even admitted that he hadn't seen the documents and he's not even sure if the president's people were the ones that were caught up in the surveillance. again, this bizarre story keeps getting stranger by the minute. >> guy is super lucky the health care bill story was such a dominant story yesterday. you can expect sloppiness and often accepted by members of congress but not the chair of the intelligence committee and not someone who is under such pressure and scrutiny because of

the investigation into russia' attempts to undermine the american election. i don't think we are done now and he will continue to be in the spotlight and his explanation of what he did continues to shift and none of the ones he has given i think on the merits to the intelligence community, certainly to the democrats, and even to some in the republican party, make any sense. >> what is the argument at this point against a select committee? how could you go forward now with devin nunez at the top? even last night just saying i did it because he was taking heat in the media as though he is going out to protect the president and not to find the facts. >> he is saying essentially i'm fine leaking classified information as long as it's to the benefit of the president. he is not an impartial arbiter. i think they are make ago select committee inevitable at this point by this flagrantly disrespectful behavior. >> joe, do you think that is where this ends up? >> i don't think so. i think there is going to be resistance from a lot of people

in the house. i do think, though, they basically have taken themselves off the field. nunez took himself off the field and adam schiff, after being very careful, said a couple of things a few days ago, in anger, i'm sure, that he shouldn't have said, suggesting that there was more than just circumstantial evidence. so the house has heard itself. maybe they can put themselves back together again but i think you're going to be hearing senators like john mccain pushing for a select committee. willie, this guy is clearly, regardless of what happens, paul ryan and the republican leadership have to take a closer look at this guy and recognize that he is not -- he's just not at the caliber that intel committee chairman or chairwoman are supposed to be at. and he is completely destroyed his reputation for being impartial over the past two or three days. again, and he still doesn't have

the story straight. you know, he went on two or three -- had two or three press conferences and interviews where he said, well, this doesn't prove that the president was telling the truth about obama and then he changed his story there. now he is changing history on surveillance. it keeps going around in circles. >> as you said, he said outloud yesterday, actually, i don't know if it was the president or any of the trump associates or anybody who worked on the transition team who was swept up in these incidental communications so he doesn't even know who it is at this point. >> again, like we said, he also admitted last night the reason he did it was because the president was taking a lot of heat. >> right. >> in the press. paul ryan, speaker of the house, need to let that sink in, that his intel chairman basically went out and blew up the intel committee. one of the most important committees on the hill. because the president was catching flak from the press. >> coming up, vice president pence scheduled to take the

republican health care push to little rock and memphis today. but there is a chance the bill could be dead before his trip even begins. >> republicans vote to destroy health care coverage, especially in this brutal form. well, that vote is going to be tattooed to their head. they can't say donald trump made me do it. he's not their boss. their constituents are their bosses. and this be vote, as i say, will be their tattoo. ♪

can i get some help. watch his head. ♪ i'm so happy. ♪ whatever they went through, they went through together. welcome guys. life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. donai am going to takey's care of everybody... everybody's going to be taken care of much better than they're taken care of now. announcer: 20 million americans gained health coverage under the affordable care act... ...including millions of our most vulnerable

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a look at the other stories making headlines this morning. a former russian lawmaker was shot and killed in ukraine yesterday on the street in what appears to be an assaination. 45-year-old was reportedly shot twice in the head in what ukraine's presidt isalling an act of state terrorism which, quote, clearly shows the handwriting of russian special services. ukrainian presidential spokesman said the victim was a key witness who gave testimony will russian military involvement in the country. he was a former communist

legislator who became a citizen of ukraine last year. also making news this morning israeli officials say the man suspected in the wave of bomb threats against u.s. jewish centers tried to grab an officer's gum while arrested yesterday. he is a citizen who used his neighbor's wi-fi to phone in threats from his bedroom in israeli. according to the suspect's lawyer he suffers from a brain tumor that affects his cognitive functions. u.s. authorities not expected to seek extradition. the justice department is investigating five-term congressman duncan hunter for possible campaign finance violations. the california republican accused of spending tens of thousands of dollars in campaign fund for personal use, including family trips to hawaii and italy, school tuition for his children and even video games. according to "the new york times" the congressman's lawyer

say any mistakes were unintentional and he has already paid back $60,000 to his campaign. joe? >> and, willie, this is breaking from "the new york times." mubarak who ran egypt until six years ago in the arab spring, "the new york times" reporting just now he is freed from prison after six years of being detained. hosni mubarak sent home from prison this morning. still ahead, when republicans vote on the health care bill today, they won't even have an updated cbo score. steve rattner brought his charts to take a look at how the bill could impact the insured and the economy. we are back after this. the command performance sales event is here. experience exciting offers on our most thrilling models ever.

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welcome back to "morning joe." on a friday morning, by popular demand, steve rattner has his charts. we are talking about the cost for americans under the american health care plan. >> one reason tom may not be trump's friend on health care because of every passing day you see new analyses how this is tough for certain kinds of americans. take a look at the newer studies. this shows you the average loss of tax credits under the trump plan would be about 2200 dollars which feeds into an increase in premiums of about $2,400 as well as increase in out-of-pocket costs for copays and deductibles and things like that. you would see an increase in the cost of your health care and not what the white house is saying is going to happen. >> this was the argument against obamacare? >> exactly. >> the premiums are going up and costs too much? >> exactly. because you're taking a trillion

dollars away from subsidies and things like that would make it cost more. now let's look at who the winners and losers are because this is actually even somebody is even more interesting. so what you'll see is that when you look at the totality of all the different pieces of this plan, tax changes, as well as benefit changes and so on and so forth, you can see that for people below median income about $50,000 a year you're the big losers. people making less than $10,000 they lose an average $1,421 a year. conversely because they are appealing a bunch of tax credit, people at the top do much better and when you get all the way to the top of people makin or $200,000 the average benefit is $5,640. this is as night and day as it gets. >> the low end of that spectrum, people losing 10%, 15% of their income? >> i know. it's incredible. another way to slice this is take a look at it in a sense

from a political point of view and say the people who lost the most who did they vote in and the people who lost the least who did they vote for? turns out the people who lost the most were disproportionately trump voters and this is the margin that trump won among these ko hertz. people lost more than $7,500 trump lost. all of the people who are gainers are all of the people who lost less than a thousand dollars, hillary clinton won by somewhat smaller margins. so ironically, this plan would actually hurt. we have talked about this but here are the real numbers. this plan would actually hurt trump's voters more than what hurt clinton's voters and hurt his own base. >> jeremy peters, with all of this in mind what we have talked about the first 46 minutes of this show what happens to that vote later today? >> i know the white house doesn't think they have the votes as of right now but that could change.

i think it's a very powerful argument to make when a sitting president says of your own party, sits you don and says, look. i need you to do this for me. and it's also very powerful to argue that you don't want a self-inflicted wound to be the first thing that happens to a president when he puss a legislative priority through ngress these are all self-inflicted cris crises. the republican party has proven good over the years at wounding itself and i think at the end of the day is what you ultimately have. >> jeremy peters, thank you. still ahead, admiral james devitris will join us live. >> the chair of the republican study committee with his way to build support for the health care bill. hhs secretary tom price joins us in our next hour to break down the administration strategy after the president's take it or leave it demand to house republicans. it's all ahead on "morning joe."

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joining is admiral james sta stavridis. what is happened with the house intel committee and senate intel

committee and james comey saying an fbi investigation. where do you see all of this leading? where it hurts us is overseas. it encourages putin because this is part of his plan, right? but worse it discourages our allies. when you couple with all of this the awkward moments in the white house for global leader, you can see that perception outside the united states of our credibility being shredded. and in the end, willie, deterrence is made up of two thing. capability, and we got that, great military. but it's also made up of credibility and that is where we are hurting right now. >> admiral, do you think that the president's language about nato, his misunderstanding of how nato functions and is funded, the intelligence flap over great britain, their role in the whole russia thing, do you think his language, the

behavior of this administration has altered the impression and the reputation of the united states among our allies? >> oh, no question. and we see that in polling in europe already. we see it in the way the allies are shocked when the secretary of state apparently is not going to make the nato minute sistisu ministerial. that, believe me is read and noticed the impact of view from washington from europe to nato and that weakens our security. >> how unusual has rex tillerson's role been in the first couple of months? he has voiced privately to a lot of people his own frustration. he is a ceo. he used so doing things the way he wants to do them and this is an entirely different job. >> it is. the one that really shocked me was refusing to take press with him an ying, well, i don't need that as though somehow the

press are there to puff up a secretary. the press are there for us, for the country. i think there has been a series of missteps, which to some degree, understandable. he is new on the job and he is a ceo. but he has no team behind him. he doesn't seem to be making progress on it. and we are making the wrong decisions. so we need state department to get in the game. >> admiral, shifting to afghanistan quickly. the current u.s. nato commander has said he has seen russia influence on afghan militants who have just retaken in helmand and a place so many american and british forces have died trying to secure that area. what do you see about russia's expanding role in afghanistan and how they are working against u.s. interests in a foreign battle place? >> i think what we are seeing in afghanistan is the russians playing kind of a double game. ostensibly, they are sporting the government of karzai but

when general scott berati who is cool hand luke, he is very methodical how he thinks and speaks, when he says he sees the russians working on the taliban side, they, very disturbing. that is why this nato ministerial coming up with the foreign ministers is so important to have high-level u.s. representations there, because i think afghanistan is going to be very high on that agenda. it should be. things are not going well there. >> admiral james stavridis, good to have you at the table and good to see you. we should mention he is out with a new book "the leaders bookshelf "check it out now. at the top of the hour president trump dares his own party to vote for the health care bill. "morning joe" is back after this. this is the story of green mountain coffee and fair trade, told in the time it takes to brew your cup. let's take a trip to la plata, colombia. this is boris calvo. that's pepe. boris doesn't just grow good coffee,

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wow. cw mccaul, willie, "convoy" a classic. a little dangerous letting a guy, a city boy that has never driven a car before in his life have h fir moment behind the wheel with a rig that big on the white house lawn. >> i think they threw it in neutral and let him coast a little bit there but who can pass up the chance to pull that horn? anybody who has ever driven down the highway turns and gets the pull from the semi. >> absolutely nothing. probably more fun than what he was going through the rest of the day. >> exactly. >> and i'll tell you this morning. i guess we are all hearing right now the white house really has decided it is time to move on. it looks like they are, right now, down in the votes. and just -- just a very, take it or leave it attitude by them. i think they can't wait to move forward to tax reform.

>> yeah. it's written right there in the art of the deal. donald trump says you have to know when to walk away from the table and what he has decided today apparently. if they don't pass it he is moving on. mika was the morning off. with us is mike barnicle and elise jordan. former treasury official steve rattner. senior political analyst for nbc news and msnbc, mark halpern. so a check, first, on president trump's job approval numbers this morning around all of this negotiation. the gallup daily tracking pole shows 39% americans approve of the job he is doing. according to a new quinnipiac university poll, 56% disapprove

and only 17% approve of this plan. a majority of voters 61% also disapprove of the way president trump is handling health care. 20% of voters say the affordable care act should be completely repealed. 50% say only certain parts should be repealed and 27% say left intact. yesterday's much anticipated vote on the republican health care bill was postponed. the latest guidance we are getting it will come today between 4:00 and 5:00 eastern time but who knows, that could change at any moment. the final straw came last night at a closed door meeting attended by reince priebus and steve bannon and kellyanne conway. the only person to speak from the administration is mick mulvaney telling his former colleagues president trump was done negotiating and he wants a vote on health care tomorrow, which is now today, friday. and while the meeting was described as a positive one, he told republicans if the president doesn't get a vote to repeal and replace he will move on to other priorities meaning bill clinton stays where it is. without a deal in hand speaker paul ryan addressed the press last night and here is the

entirety of his statement. >> for seven and a half years, we have been promising the american people that we will repeal and replace this broken law because it's collapsing and its failing families and, tomorrow, we are proceeding. >> do you have the votes? do you have the votes? >> speaker! >> do you have the votes? >> that was that. the white house source tells nbc news the president would not see a failed vote as a failure on his part. ther, ote, people in congress breaking their promises to their constituents to repeal and replace obamacare. the math seemingly only gets harder today with new defections like mark amaday of nevada and andy bigs a first-time congressman from arizona and republican leadership can afford just 22 republican no's and right now our nbc count at 32 no's with the vote just hours away. >> it's probably going to keeping going up. that happens at the end if you start to sense this thing is going down, then everybody piles

on. they go into the no column because it's a lot easier to explain why you voted against this bill than why you voted for this bill. paul ryan is right. a lot of the republican base, they have been waiting for seven and a half years for republicans to replace, repeal and replace obamacare but they most definitely have not been waiting for this bill. mark halpern, i think that is the mistake that both paul ryan and the trump administration have been making and it's a false choice that newt gingrich and his team would always give to us. either vote for this bill or we all go up in flames. no, actually, we can vote against this bill and then it goes back to committee. we watch schoolhouse rock and we understand how this system plays. we will just go back to the committee and this time we will do it right. isn't that the feeling that a lot of republicans on the hill

are feeling right now? >> it's a long, long way from passage of a bill in the house to getting the kind of market on the other hand patient centered health care that republicans say they want to use to replace the affordable care act. and most of these members are not afraid of the consequences of voting no. as you suggested, they are more inclined both ideologically to vote most. punctuated with a exclamation point with the president saying today is the day is if you don't vote for this bill today, you're going to keep the affordable care act. i don't think there is any doubt that while committees will try to do smaller things on health care, the president is going to move on to tax reform and a lot of republicans are goung ing to why say we had a plan to change this and in our first big effort, rush through, we

couldn't do it. >> yeah. i tell you what, again, it is so easy. you take my old district, mike barnicle, my old district called one of the most conservative districts in america after i think jerry fallwell spoke there in the 1990s. trump is popular there. can i explain this away nonstop six months why i voted against this bill back in my old district. it's not that hard to do. these people running around saying people are afraid to cross trump, they don't know how politics works and they don't know how things work back in districts. whether you are a moderate in pennsylvania like charlie dent or whether you're a conservative in north carolina like mark meadows, can you find enough in this bad bill to vote most no and say, i want to repeal obamacare but let's do it the right way. >> joe, when you were in congress and newt gingrich was

speaker of the house or leader of the poopopposition becoming speaker of the house you had what people do not in the house today. don't know how to govern. mark meadows, today a blistering editorial in "the wall street journal" entitled the freedom from reality caucus. they have worked overtime to eliminate essential health benefits contained in what they call obamacare. for the american people you should know what essential health benefits they want stripped from any legislation they pass. let me read them to you. the ten essential benz would be repealed. pregnant services and maternity services and newborn care service and mental health and substance abuse and laboratory service and preventive care and

pediatric services among them. in other words, health care. health care. >> elise jordan, so you have mainstream republicans and moderate republicans against the bill for that reason. you have conservatives against the bill because there aren't enough free market incentives there to actually try to get some free enterprise into our health care system. there is no wonder that this thing sitting at, what, 17% approval rating nationwide. why vote for that bill? >> joe, i just can't help but to feel that this was really hijack by the surance companies, that their lobbying effort on president trump was really successful just because this is a bill that, you know, so many consumer groups don't approve of but the insurance companies overwhelmingly do. their pitch they can't offer all of these service they can't afford it and the markets are

going to collapse and one-third of counties in america only have one insurer offering coverage under the -- offering individual coverage. but it seems to me this is what president trump was supposed to take on. he was supposed to take on enfrenched lobbies. instead, has gone along with this bill of goods that ultimately doesn't deliver better coverage or a more free market based health care plan. >> let's bring in right now from "the washington post" the team of bob's. bob woodward and bob costa. bob woodward, we begin with you. we showed a gallup poll that showed the president 39%. obviously, approval for this health care plan even lower than that. you look at what is defined this young presidency and it was the horrific rollout of the executive order, the first week that caused chaos across this country and the world. then the obama tweet which even

his supporters say is false. and now this failed attempt at passing health care. what is happening? and have you seen other administrations have this rockiest start? >> no. if you go back to the passage of obamacare in the first obama term, the negotiation was between the democrats in the senate and the democrats in the house, and they came up with a compromise. now the negotiation is between republicans in the house who are saying no, and those who are saying yes. if you go back to trump's old days when he used to build buildings, he knew that you have to agree on what the foundation is. it's going to be 400 feet by 300 feet. now they are debating what the

foundation is and you just can't build a building unless you agree on what the base is. and so this probably doesn't pass, as people seem to think. in a way, it's better for trump that it doesn't so he can move on. >> right. >> because this could be a giant mess. as they say, obamacare is. >> bob costa, your reporting last night was that the white house and paul ryan's office assume that if this bill went to the floor last night, they would feel the political pressure and want to help this new president have a legislative victory and ultimately vote to pass the bill but when they checked who was with them and not with them last night, they saw that wasn't happening. >> that's right. my top sources within the white house told me late last night

and this morning, the president gathered steve bannon and reince priebus last night and told them to go to the capital that this would be the last vote. it was an ultimatum. bannon delivered it with a larger group of republicans about two hours later. and they read a letter from the president and tom price, the health and human services secretary, two members of the freedom caucus saying they know they had all of these concerns about cost and the president and price listed six concerns they had and six ways to bring down premiums that they could do in the future with legislation. they are trying to get people the yes but what i'm told also is members of the freedom caucus, manyf them, remain on the fence or against this bill which puts it in real peril early this morning. >> bob, it seems like on part of what they are trying to do, barnicle's list of thing they are stripping out and then there was another list of things they wanted removed that trump said no to is essentially get to a

place where the insurance companies can offer these skinny packages and allow them to say there are still people on insurance. do you think that is part of their strategy? >> it is. when you talk to members of the freedom caucus, when they want to strip these essential health benefits and what insurance companies have to provide they say they will replace these elements of the affordable care act with conservative provisions, but many moderates and just rank in file regular republicans in the house, gop, are uncomfortable with the way the freedom caucus is pursuing some of this, believe that the current law will become too thread bare in what it requires insurance companies to do. >> bob woodward, internally, within the house, i mean, you've been in washington a long, long time. have you ever seen an internal struggle within one party over such a major piece of legislation that affects so many people in this country run amuck the way this has? >> well, it seems to have. you go back to the clinton administration, getting his

first academic package passed was a real struggle and they had to go around and beg for votes at the end and just made it over the finish line. but i thi t important chart, eve rattn showed early and that is that the people who are going to pay more are the people who can't afford it. i hate to go back on the sold line of follow the money, but people are going to be following the money here and they are not going to like it. and so i think joe is exactly right. the argument for not voting for this is very, very strong. >> bob woodward, let me follow up on another subject. i saw you a couple of nights ago on o'reilly and you were -- you and charles krauthammer and i

think peter king were all basically saying the same thing. you can agree that donald trump was lying about barack obama tapping trump tower, but still be concerned about the obama administration playing fast and loose with their surveillance at the end of the administration. and you seem to be suggesting that there is a reason for some people in the obama administration to be a little nervous right now. and you've said it enough that, you know, i'm slow, but i'm not completely stupid, that my ears about the fifth time. what do you know what we don't know about surveillance around the trump administration? >> well, the head of the house intelligence committee has said there was something here. now it's not established that

that is true by any means but if you go back there is a real interesting history in this and it accounts for the worry in the intelligence community that names of people are going to get out who are u.s. citizens. back in the '80s, they used to pass around these intercepts and blank out the u.s. person's name, but then people would look in the style section of "the washington post," costa's newspaper, my newspaper, and see, oh, there had been a reception at the turkish embassy, say, and they would figure out who had been there. and the intelligence community really had to lock down and put in some very tight rules. it's alleged here, if true, that those rules got broken in and the names got out and they should not.

and, remember, the intelligence commute, joe, as you know, will do anything to protect its product. >> right. >> it goes in jeopardy. serious jeopardy if there are -- if they are breaking the rules in the names particularly of trump people or white house people are getting out. >> bob, but you have suggested, without coming straight out and saying it, repeatedly, that the intel community did not do as thorough of a job as they should have done in protecting those u.s. names. do you believe that to be the case? >> the head of the house intelligence committee has said so. i've talked to people -- >> right, but nunez has made a fool of himself the past several

days. you were saying this before nunez said this. i'm wondering does your reporting suggest that there is much more to look into in this area? >> indeed there is. when you have the transition from one administration to another, all of the intelligence gathering continues and people for the first time are looking at some of this top secret code word stuff and so, yes, it need to be investigated, but the core here is the russian connection and that has got to be investigated. as you point out, this is running off the cliff because the investigation in the house intelligence committee, they can't even agree on sharing information. so they have a big problem. >> they do. elise jordan -- bob woodward,

first of all, thank you for being with us. >> thanks. >> glad we were able to clear that up. elise jordan, i've been hearing bob for about a month now sort of poking away at this, what we have been talking about the russians and we have been talking about the obama tweet and we have been talking about nunez. bob woodward continually keeps going back to the fact that the intel communities and during the obamacare administration may not have done as thorough of a job in protecting u.s. persons caught up in incidental surveillance. bob is exactly right. this story is about the russians. but can you help us out sorting through all of this? >> actually, i just would like to follow-up with bob a little bit more just because the other night on fox news, he specifically said that the obama administration could have committed acts that would be criminal. could you just expand on that a little bit more? and what your reporting is telling you that possibly could have been these criminal acts that were committed?

>> yes. because this is a privacy issue and the intelligence community has free rein, practically speaking, to gather information and, as joe said, wiretap foreigners and diplomats in this country and elsewhere. you have to protect u.s. people here, citizens. it's written in the law and the procedures. and if this was broken and i don't know that. the head of the house intelligence committee says he does. there is some doubt about this. and so it's one of those things that needs to be investigated. but this is -- people who care about privacy and civil liberties should be worried. >> let's go to peter alexander who is standing by for us right now at the white house on this very topic.

good morning. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: on this topic you're talking about sourcing, of course, and some of the specifics of devin nunez's conversation. a couple of details in terms of, first, the bombshell he released and then the backtrack. when he first spoke on capitol hill the chairman of the house intelligence committee said, this is his quote. they were at least monitor or disseminated out as he described it and to trump's team and himself included. what we learned yesterday is that, in fact, may not be the case. we now hear from a spokesperson for devin nunez they can't say for certain they were ever a party to these communications, a member of donald trump's team or even the president-elect himself. just that it may have been potentially two foreigners having a conversation where their name was mentioned. it all raises questions about the sourcing of the information that devin nunez was using, asked whether the white house was the source. he deflected. the whe use pushed back on that as well. but president trump has been a

fierce critic of anonymous sourcing and the information that nunez provided to the press was public. i pressed sean spicer in the briefing room yesterday. chairman nunez came out. he noted sources that he couldn't create and provide publicly. so why, when it's politically advantageous, is that use of sourcing okay? but when it's politically damaging, it's not okay? >> no. he came out and briefed people on what he knew at the time and said he was literally going to get further briefs and would have further updates. that is a big difference than reporting and making a serious allegation. in fact, he was doing quite the opposite. he was vindicating the president and saying there is something that you need to know about the substance of the allegations that are being made against you. and why that may or may not be the case -- >> not vindicating would be have been as important for the president to learn? >> and you wouldn't have any

concern for that, would you? >> reporter: the bottom line spicer said this information was valuable in part because it was vindicating the president. this sort of speaks to one of the criticisms of it becoming public at all and information from an ongoing investigation. i pressed spicer on that as well. basically saying why did the white house in effect take this meeting with the chairman even knowing that it could create the appearance of interference in an ongoing investigation? they insist that devin nunez was there to listen and they knew he was coming. >> we said in an interview two days ago on cnn, nunez himself said this does not vindicate the president on the tweet about president obama wiretapping trump tower. bob costa a final thought from you on what is a busy day. how does this play out over the health care bill? >> look. a lot has happened the last 12 hours. and some congressmen right now republicans are waking up on capitol hill and they have a choice to make. the president has a major legislative test sitting in the

house of representatives. i'm told the votes are nearly there. some soft no's that maybe could be flipped. and the president has told the speaker he wants the vote today. the speaker has told the white house that he would be willing to postpone, if necessary, for a few more hours or even a few more days. but bannon, priebus, and trump are telling everyone this is it. so they could walk, could just be a threat. they have postponed the vote before but what a morning here in washington for the relationship between the white house and congress, and for trump himself. >> bob costa, a must follow on twitter today as this plays out. thanks. still ahead on "morning joe," a live look inside capitol hill as the house rules committee already meeting this morning to set up today's health care vote. health and human service secretary tom price joins us with his prognosis about whether it will pass and whether the changes will help lower premiums. secretary price is next on "morning joe." ♪

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so this week on the circus on showtime mark halpern is going into the quarters of the capitol staking out top republican leaders after a tense meeting with the president. let's take a look. >> mr. speaker, how did that go? >> i wish they would move the bathroom somewhere else. >> good to see you. >> what was that like in there? >> it was just streaming his thoughts. it was great. >> talk about a lot of stuff beds health care, right? >> yes. >> did you convert anybody? >> i think he is very persuasive. yeah. >> congressman, how did it go? good? what was the highlight? >> the president did a great job. bill still bad. >> bill still bad? do you expect more changes? >> mark halpern, you're going to be making some late night edits on saturday getting ready for the show on sunday. >> the big conclusion of our episode is happening and playing out today. that clip is from when the

president came up to capitol hill. this has been an extraordinary week of the president getting involved in. a big test for him and paul ryan. as we said maybe cuts his losses today and maybe he gets a win but this is -- this has been a grueling and difficult week on a fast track process which is going to be second-guessed like crazy as joe has been suggesting if it does go down. i've just been, you know, during the show, i've been in contact with people both ends of pennsylvania avenue. there is a chance this is going to pass. there are some freedom caucus members may switch and if that happens a lot of what we are going to see in "the circus" this is week is prelude of trump showing he can do things his way. if it goes down a thing that will spin out the course of i think his entire presidency or the rest of this year. >> even if it passes in the

house today, it has to go to the senate where republican after republican saying this bill is not getting through us. mark, we will let you go back to the cramped quarters and see you in a bit. see more of "the circus" this sunday on showtime. our next guest was one of the first house republicans to suggest that yesterday's health care vote was unlikely to happen. what is the outlook for today? the co-chairman of the republican doctors caucus joins us with his unique perspective next. (vo) this is not a video game. this is not a screensaver. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪

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they are scrambling t find a bill that they can pass on the floor. i don't know if you want to call this on trump's part a rookie's error, but you don't find a day and say we are beginning to pass a bill. rookies's error, trump, it may be a great negotiator. rookie's error for bringing this up on a day when clearly you're not ready. >> nancy pelosi basking in this health care bill. joining us is chairman of the veterans affairs committee republican congress phil roe of tennessee and with us on the set is bianna golodryaa. thank you for both for being with us.

you still are a hard supporter on this. not a promise kept but good policy and gives every american who wants health care coverage the ability to purchase it so you're talking there about access. are you confident that bill will make it allow through the house of representatives today? >> i'm not totally conversation. we had a great conference last night and a lot of enthusiasm. this is very close. as it should have been. this bill has been debated hard. not just a short period of time but years now. there have been changes and tweaks made at the very end for some people who need the votes. but let me explain in my district what has happened. with the aca, i'm a physician, i practiced 31 years before i came to washington, d.c. but a third of the counties in my district have no option next year to purchase insurance. 160,000 people from tennessee paid a fine becse it was not affordable for them. the third largest county in my state there are no options to

purchase health insurance on the exchange next year and i think this is the way to do it. >> you have delivered close to 5,000 babies in your career. god bless you for that. a lot of people talk about these essential benefits that president trump has agreed to strip out to lower premiums is what some of members think that will do. among them is pregnancy, newborn care and pediatric services and things near and dear to your heart. do you have concerns that people will now have trouble getting that coverage in this bill passes? >> this will go back down to the states. if you believe in federalism. look. i saw in our practice, we have a large ob practice delivered about 25,000 babies, my group did, when i was in practice. so we saw from the very beginnings of medicaid people didn't have access to now. almost never see anybody that doesn't have access to obstetrical care and i don't think that is problem. >> dr. roe, i say dr. roe. the list that we just put up

there, the list of essential benefits that would be stripped from any legislation, if the bill is enacted as it is now, the law that you support, is this a violation of your hippocratic oath do no harm? >> oh, absolutely not. remember, insurance -- >> no, i'm not talking about insurance, doctor. we are talking about health care. >> no, i know that. but we are talking about those benefits that are provided to people and, look. when i went out and purchased a health insurance plan to cover my family, i bought the products that i needed, the coverage that i needed and that is just all we are saying, you can still provide those benefits. the state can do that if they want to. it's up to them. >> congressman, let me ask you a question that many of your fellow republicans are asking right now that disagree with this bill. why rush? 70% of the country disagrees with it. why do it now? >> why do it next week? now is as good a time -- >> at 17%? >> no. we have been talking about this

bill for years. and we started last year with a better way. look. i wrote the republican study committee alternative which is a more conservative bill than this one is. i think this is a good promise bill. i honestly believe for the first time with the tax credit that are out there, that you can offer affordable health insurance for every single american and that is a noble goal to have. medicaid reform, look. we tried health care reform in tennessee 20 years ago and it failed. the premise of increasing, of low loring costs and i think this can do that. >> congressman, let's follow up a little bit on that. ten care did fail and nearly bankrupted tennessee. it was, you know, a rough rocky health care transition and eventually it was rolled back. you're proposing that the state pick up a lot of this burden. so how, if ten care failed statewide and you're proposing

the state picks. a lot of these essential services, how does this get paid for if the federal government isn't paying for it? >> well, it is. and, remember, that we are putting a stabilization around the $100 billion. it's been up to do those things. and we listen to the governors out there. our governor is doing a great job in tennessee and i trust them and our state legislators to be able to provide a plan that tennessee is going to be different than montana or georgia. so i believe we can do that and do it very well. i do trust that. look. the federal government has -- this plan has failed. the hospital i practiced in, 60% to the 70% is people with debt insurance. the reason the copays and out-of-pocket have gone so rule. i live in appalachian. if you have a 3,000 out of pocket that is unaffordable. i think this has a chance to

make it affordable. >> the data actually shows it's not going to decrease their premiums. what do you say to the trump voter who will be disproportionately impacted by the passage of this legislation? >> i don't think it's goin to be negatively impacted. the cbo look and fill out forms and make projects. remember, their projections in 2010 were 20 million would have health insurance on the exchange and the actual number is 10 million and half of those had insurance, including me, and i now have obamacare. that's what i have right now. i can pay the out-of-pocket and copay, not a problem for me. but for other people, it is. i think we have to make the plans more affordable and i whathey want to will le to buy absolutely do that. look. we have, in medicaid reform, we haven't talked about that, but that is a huge issue here and we have now first class people in this country. i took care of many of my friend back home for getting second

class care and i want those first class people to get first class care. >> congressman and dr. phil roe, we appreciate your time this morning. thank you. >> thank you. coming up next -- >> the chief deputy says the final offer. what is your response? >> they are not going to pass the bill. they don't have the votes. if there is a vote tonight, it will fail. >> we have to ask some honest questions about why this went down in flames about why it didn't work. i think the simplest way to answer that is to point out that this bill didn't take care of what is making -- been making health care way too expensive. >> unhappy over leadership's procedure. republicans could hand speaker ryan and the president an early loss. but secretary of health care and human services tom price remains an optimist at this hour. he joins us next to explain why.

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now is the secretary of the department of health care and human services, dr. tom price. mr. secretary, appreciate you being with us on a very busy day. >> good morning. >> we are expecting a vote late today on this health care bill. the nbc news count currently is 32 no's among republicans. as you well know, you can only afford 22 and still get this thing passed. what will you tell members of the freedom caucus in the next five, six, seven hours or up until that vote that will change their minds? what will you cnge in that bill right now? >> i think what is important for all of us to focus on is the fact that the current plan, the current palau is failing the american people. we have costs going up and care and choices going down and it's only getting worse. >> right. what are you going to change to help freedom caucus votes? >> this bill is one step in the entire plan that is meant to bring about patient centered health care where patients and families and doctors are making medical decision and not washington, d.c. so this is just the first step in that process. second step are the kinds of things we are able to do at the department and third step was

just actually happening concurrently even this week. other pieces of legislation like purchase across state lines and association health care plans and the kind of things that actually make health care coverage more affordable for people so that they can get care. >> secretary price, all of the members of the freedom caucus have heard that argument over the last several days and still don't like the bill. my question again is what will you change about it to convince them to vote yes? >> nothing is changes at this point for this piece of legislation because what people have to appreciate again there is a larger plan. and that is what we have been trying to encourage folks to focus on and that is because the american people understand that our health care system from an exchange standpoint, from an aca, obamacare standpoint, is not working for the american people. and that is the real focus where we need to be putting our attention right now. and that is what we plan to fix and what the has been adamant about and what he campaigned repealing and replacing and i believe the men and women in the

building behind me will understand and appreciate this overall plan is what needs to be started today and why the bill, i believe, has a great opportunity to pass. >> just quickly. you agree that if you don't flip those votes the freedom caucus it won't pass, right? >> there is only finite number of votes that where you have to get the 216 votes to be able to pass. >> right. you don't have it right now? >> well, that is the job of the folks in the building behind me. we are excited about the opportunity that we have. we are excited about the fact that the american people are behind a plan that actually understands and appreciateat they ought tbe in charge of health care and not washington, d.c. and that is what we are going to continue to work on. >> i have to interject. the latest poll has it at 17% support so the american are not excited about this bill. >> well, what they are not excited is the fact that people are focusing just on this bill, itself. that's not the plan. that is part of a plan. and that is why it's so important to appreciate that there is so many other things that are going on in the area of health care to make certain we move in that direction of patient centered health care. the kinds of things that we are

able to do at the department whether or not it's flexibility for states to be able to institute their medicaid program for their vulnerable population and the way that they see fit, as opposed to how washington sees fit. the system is broken. opposed tn sees it fit. this system is broken. that's why they want us to get to work today. >> you stay system is broke and people want us to get to work. the poll shows by a 48-44% margin, the american people think obamacare is a good plan. i don't think they quite agree with you. secondly, to the point about other things you can do. i have seen you on the sunday shows talking about phase two and faze three and so on. it requires legislation, 60 votes in the senate. we agree there's no chance of that happening. >> i disagree with you. >> you think you are going to get democrats to agree to roll back parts of obamacare? >> the democrats decided, as a block, they are not going to

vote for repeal of obamacare or the aca. i understand that from a political standpoint. once we get past that face, they understand t system is not working for people and patients aren't able to see the doctor they want. they understand if you have a deductible of $8,000 or $10,000 and making $30,000, you have an insurance card, but you don't have care. i have confidence in the president of the united states and his ability to bring people together to solve those challenges. >> but the stuff you want to do in phase three, the limitation on total amount that can be paid for services and things like that. there's a lot of obamacare stuff you want to repeal. why do you think you are going to get a single democratic vote for that? you didn't in the house. >> this week, there was a bill 415-2 or something like that. one of the phase three pieces of legislation to make it like insurance there are greater

choices for insurance for people across this land. think about purchase across state lines. that has bipartisan support. association health plans where people are able to pool together to bring down the cost of insurance and allow them to get the kind of coverage they want. that has bipartisan support. those are the kind of things in phase three. as i say, much of it is concurrent. the work is ongoing as we speak, not waiting, necessarily, for what happens today. >> secretary price, even if we can see that this is just one step among many, we have to face the actual details of the bill in front of us. we see medicaid benefits will be cut by $880 billion between now and 2026. the tax policy center says those after tax income for those making a million a year is cut by 14%. how do you sell it to trump supporter that is are affected by the bill?

how do you sell it to every day ordinary people struggling to make ends meet? the data is clear. >> we have a medicaid program that is failing medicaid patients. one out of three physician that is ought to be seeing them and aren't. so many didn't want to see them because the system is broken. you have fallen into that trap, once again, that folks fall into. we are going to measure the success of a program by how much money we put into it. if we provide states the flexibility they are begging for, republican and democratic governors, begging for the flexibility to tailor their program to their population, those are the kinds of things we can do in partnership with the states to make it so the people on the ground, the patients and individuals across this land will have the care they want, not that washington forced them

to have. >> governors across the country who are questioning whether or not that premise is actually true. >> what they are questioning is whether or not washington is going to be able to get it done. >> no, no, no. the question is whether or not the premise about states being able to take on the burdens y laid out is true. >> look, i met with the national governor's association. i met with tens of governors across the nation who told me in person, including one from a very blue state who told me, if you give us the flexibility to care for our medicaid population, we are going to be fine. >> secretary price, you said early on one of your top priorities is tackling the opioid epidemic in this country. according to this bill, that is gutted. funding for that is gutted through medicaid. how do you square the two? >> your premise is not true. the fact of the matter is, as you know, the opioid prices is a

scourge to communities far and wide. it's destroying lives, communities and our nation. what we have done is made certain through the entire plan itself, we are putting our focus on making certain that states and localities have the kind of resources they need to provide care and coverage for folks with this remarkable challenge. this is something we have to address as a nation and address it together. this isn't a republican problem or a democratic problem. this is a problem for our country. >> mr. secretary, i know you have a run. one quick question. if the bill doesn't pass, president trump is ready to move on to tax reform, infrastructure, other projects entirely. will this be the end to attempt to reform health care in this country? will you put it behind you as well? >> i think the bill is going to pass. i take the president at his word. he's done as much as any president can do to get it passed.

>> dr. price, appreciate you being with us. >> thanks so much. have a great day. >> we are keeping a close eye on capitol hill. the president wants a vote. a risk some say is not worth the reward. a fluid situation and we are tracking it all. stay with us. "morning joe" back in a moment. this is boris calvo. that's pepe. boris doesn't just grow good coffee, boris grows mind-blowing coffee. and because we pay him a fair price, he improves his farm to grow even better coffee and invest in his community, which makes his neighbor, gustavo, happy. that's blanca. yup, pepe and blanca got together. things happen. all this for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee. packed with goodness.

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health care. this is a process he's committed to and wants to see through because of a goal. >> if it doesn't pass is there a plan b sfl. >> there's a plan a and plan a. we are going to get it done, plain and simple. >> you said there's only plan a? >> rilgt. >> at this point, is there an acknowledgment there does need a plan b? >> no, plan a. >> welcome to "morning joe." another moe mentous day on capitol hill. plan a, blown apart. the vote didn't take place last night. after a couple hours of considering all his options, the president gave congress a take it or leave it option. this morning, everybody is going to be looking at congress and trying to figure out exactly what they are going to do.

willie, the freedom caucus thha to decide whether they are going to cave to donald trump or hold firm. a lot of people believe that there's much riding on this, including the reputation of the trump white house. >> yeah, joe, good morning to you. we have reached the stage of the process where donald trump and the white house to "the new york times" and other publications are saying they wish they hadn't starpted with health care and paul ryan. donald trump indicating to the publications he was pushed along, perhaps, by his inner circle in the white house. they are foaming the runway for the crash that could be the failure of this bill. how big of a loss would it be for the president two months into his administration? >> the president would hate the headlines, there's no doubt about that. he would have to eat crow for several weeks. he is right, he should not have started with health care.

if it ever watched a morning show called "morning joe," he would have heard us saying that all along. don't start with health care. we repeated it day in and day out. start with tax reform. start with regulatory reform. get the big wins, then let the house and senate work out the details, you come at the end as the hero. they didn't do that. but, to your question of how big a loss would it be? my favorite quote from the senator of illinois, it must have been role call or the hill or somebody asked him what was your biggest lesson in washington. sometimes when you win you lose. sometimes when you lose, you win. well, go back to that day when we reported on the obamacare passage and the celebration by the democrats. it's been six years of political hell for them since then, losing 1,000 seats in the house or across the nation. this is actually, willie, if it

goes down, this vote is the easiest vote for house members to explain why they voted against it. it would allow trump to move on to tax reform and regulatory reform and allow the house and senate the amount of time they need to get real health care bills put together. so, it wouldn't be the end of the world if they acted like grown ups. of course, as always, that's a huge if. >> you just suggested exactly what the president has said. he sent mick mulvaney over to tell them pass this today, friday, sometime between 2:00 and 4:00 or the president is moving on from health care and putting it behind him. it is friday, march 24th. mika that has day off. we have mike barnicle, steve rattner, chair of the african-american studies at princeton university, eddie, who

joe verified on twitter after all your lobbying. >> i saw that, it's huge. >> former aide to the george w. bush white house elise jordan and mark halperin and new york times reporter, jerem peters. we have a full house this morning. a check first onresident trump's job approval numbers this morning. the gallup tracking poll shows 39% approve of the job he's doing with 56% disapproving. the majority of americans oppose the plan to repeal and replace obamacare. 56% disapprove. whoa! get this, just 17% of americans polled approve of this plan. a majority of voters, 61% disapprove of the way president trump is handling the health care process. 20% of voters say the affordable care act should be repealed.

50% say certain parts repealed. 27% say it should be left intact. joe, put all the numbers together, highly unpopular bill with an unpopular president doesn't bode well for the passage of this. >> i'm not good at politics, but those numbers look really, really bad. holy moly. mark halperin, you were in the belly of the beast yesterday. your face was implanted on every great moment of our time. you were everywhere. talk about -- talk about what the house members, how they were feeling, which way you thought this was going last night. ofourse we hear of a couple more defections overnight from arizona congressmen. what can you report to us back from everything you picked up in the belly of the beast yesterday? >> there's a certain grimness

here that you saw in the face of lots of members throughout the day. certainly, as they were leaving the meeting with the administration officials and mark meadows is key here, the congressman from north carolina, the head of the freedom caucus was talking throughout the day yesterday as a constructive voice saying i'm going to work with moderates to figure this out. i think there's a chance they get it, but this game of the president is smart, making the best of a bad situation. it could work. when the moment of truth comes, they have read "the wall street journal" editorial. some members who committed no may decide this is the last chance we have, the best chance we have. by threatening to move on, the president does a couple things, puts the pressure on anyone who votes no. you are going to keep the affordable care act in place. two, it puts it on capitol hill and less on the white house. finally, this is where i thought the president was in real trouble, by making a clean

break, by saying we are not going to try to revise health care, we are moving to tax reform, he has a chance to keep the failure from infecting the possibility of moving on. members yesterday, i think, were saying this is not the president's fault. there's no doubt this would be the bottom line for the president would be the art of the deal does not work under the current way the white house is doing it. that's why they say failure is not an option. they are going to get it. i think there's a chance they will. >> it's propostrouse, willie, that barack obama took as long as he took to pass obamacare and they are trying to do this in the flash of an eye. it's propostrouse for donald trump to think he can walk in honking 18 wheeler horns, pretending he's driving on the white house lawn and shoveling back and forth for a couple days. that's not how washington works, it's just not. even if he passes this bill, the

negotiations have been such a wreck, he sabotaged it for the senate. >> yesterday was an artificial deadline. the significance of it being the sent anniversary of signing obamacare into law is something they were looking at. it left a small time frame to get it done. yesterday, the most important man on capitol hill, mark meadows, well positioned around him following one of the negotiation meetings. >> i think the procedures for going forward are still fundamental and they have not chand for the las couple of weeks. if we can make sure that there an adequate safety net that pre-existing conditions are taken care of, where truly premiums start to go down for moms and dads, that's what it's all about. i can tell you, that's what i heard over and over again, does this bill actually lower premiums significantly enough to make a difference for people that are struggling to pay for

health care? i think we have that at the very core of where we are. >> you are a modest man, but you have veto power over this, don't you? >> i don't have veto power. i have one vote. my voting power has my picture, but it belongs to the people of north carolina. truly, that is what motivates me -- >> passes without your support? >> again, i'm one vote. i can tell you at this point, we are trying to get another 30 to 40 votes that are currently in the no category to yes. once we do that, i think we can move forward with passing it on the house floor. >> mark, congressman meadows is the subject in the freedom caucus of a scathing editorial, the freedom from reality caucus. yesterday, in speaking with the member of the white house staff, i was told this bill that's going to be voted on today, has come down within the white house, within the oval office to

a kill paul ryan bill. the president has never trusted paul ryan and now the vote he wants, that he's insisting upon is to get this done with, to get the speakership weakened and the bill done with. what have you heard? >> there's certainly divisions now despite the public of being teammates about what happened and what might happen next if the bill goes down. even if the bill passes, john boehner was forced out of office byhe freedom caucus. a lot of moderate house repuicans say e worst thing to happen is pass this bill. the freedom caucus would be emboldened. those 40 or so members would be able to dominate every fight including tax reform, going forward. there's some disagreements between the white house and paul ryan and there's -- >> mark halperin, the opposite is true, also. if the freedom caucus after calling this obamacare-lite, after having a heritage

foundation out against it, americans for prosperity against it, of the koch brothers saying we will fund any challenges from your political left against you in the primary process, coming out in support of them opposing what they have all cared obamacare-lite. if the freedom caucus folds today, they might as well fold up their tent for the next two years. they will cease to be relevant in any negotiation. >> well, except joe, i would say they have gotten a lot of changes in the bill that occurred because they pushed for it. i think they do believe they can stand strong in negotiations with the senate and continue to have influence. the reality of the freedom caucus is they have a big enough number to dominate any legislative fight. the question is, what is the best outcome for the white house? is it for the freedom caucus to be emboldened or put in their place? a moderate house republican said to me yesterday, the white house

will rule the day this passes the house because the freedom caucus will feel they can call the shots on everything going forward. >> devin nunes apologizes for going to the white house first before talking to colleagues on the house intel committee about potential evidence collected on the trump campaign. later, how will the market react with the repeal and replace bill in doubt this morning? we'll get a report from the new york stock change. you are watchi "morning joe." wel be right back. kevin, meet your father. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. kevin, how's your mom? life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. safety isn't a list of boxes to check.

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why did you find it important then to brief the press, then the president before the ranking membership? >> just a judgment call. i mean, you know, it was my -- there was a lot going on yesterday and it was a judgment call on my part. at the end of the day, sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the wrong one. you have to stick by the decisions you make.

>> yesterday, democratic members of the house intel committee say house intelligence committee, devin nunes apologized for not informing the committee or the top democrat, adam schiff. today is the deadline nunes met for the cia and fbi to turn over materials that involve the trump transition team on wednesday. names of incoming administration members were put in reports. he gave different answers about whether president trump was included. a spokesperson telling abc news yesterday, he'll have to get the documents he requested from the intel community about this before he knows for sure. in an interview with fox news, nunes explained why he did not wait before speaking out. >> i have only read the rerts, so i don't know all the intelligence that went into it. to me, it's clear that i would be concerned if i was the president. that's why i wanted him to know and i felt like i had a duty and

obligation to tell him. he's been taking a lot of heat in the news media. to some degree, there are things he should look at to see whether in fact the collection was proper or not. >> mark, i really don't know where to start. he actually says to hannity his justification for blowing up the intel committee for breaking every precedent and sherking every responsibility he has because the president was taking heat in the news media. but he keeps changing his story and yesterday he even admitted he hadn't seen the documents and he's not sure if the president's people were the ones that were caught up in the surveillance. again, this bizarre story keeps getting stranger by the minute. >> the guy is super lucky the health care story was such a dominant story yesterday or pressure to premove him from the position would be overwhelming.

you can accept sloppiness and it's accepted, but not somebody who is under such pressure and scrutiny because of the attempts to undermine and influence the american election. i don't think we are done now because the vestigation continues and he will ctie to be in the spotlight. the elanation of what he did continues to shift. none of those given on the merits to the intelligence community and the democrats. even to some in the republican party make any sense. >> what is the argument at this point against a select committee? how can you go forward with devin nunes at the top. i did it because he was taking heat in the media as though he is protecting the president, not the facts. >> i'm fine with leaking if it's beneficial to the president. he's not doing the job he has responsibility to the public, his constituency. i think they are making a select committee inevitable at this

point by this flagrantly disrespectful behavior. >> joe, do you think that's where this ends up? >> i don't think so. i think there's going to be resistance from a lot of people in the house. i do think, though, they basically have taken themselves off the field. nunes took himself off the field and adam schiff, after being careful said a couple things a few days ago, in anger, i'm sure, that he shouldn't have said, suggesting there was more than just circumstantial evidence. so, the house heard himself, maybe they can put themselves back together again. you are going to heaot of senators like john mccain pushing for a selt committee. willie, this guy is clearly, regardless of what happens, paul ryan and the republican leadership have to take a closer look at this guy and recognize that he is not -- he's just not at the caliber that intel committee chairmen or chairwomen

are supposed to be at. he's completely destroyed his reputation for being impartial over the past two or three days. again, he still doesn't have the story straight. you know, he went on two or three -- had two or three press conferences where he said, well, this doesn't prove the president was telling the truth about obama, then changed the story there. now he's changing the story on surveillance. it's going around in circles. >> he said out loud, i don't know if it was the president or trump associates or anybody on the transition team swept up in incidental communications. he doesn't know who it is, at this point. >> like we said, he admitted last night, the reason he did it is because the president was taking a lot of heat. >> right. >> -- in the press. paul ryan, speaker of the house, needs to let that sink in. his intel chairman basically went out and blew up the intel

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new details this morning about the british man who carried out wednesday's terror attack in london. the death toll continues to climb as we learn more about the people who were killed. bill neely joining us now from london. bill, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, willie. good morning, everyone. new raids on what police are saying are two new significant arrests. some extraordinary new figures from british police. 3,500 people witnessed these killings, many on westminster drinlg. they collected nearly 3,000 pieces of evidence. they have hundreds of videos from the public. meanwhile, one american women is still in the hospital and many more are grieving.

london, silent. standing in tribute, a mayor and a city grieving as a fourth victim of terror died. a 75-year-old british man. this is the final photograph of the dead police officer, taken by stacy martin from florida. >> he had a very quiet, reserved personality but was joking and very gracious. >> reporter: keith palmer was stabbed 40 minutes later. the killer was a muslim conve. >> the dead terrorist, khalid masood, a number of alias'. we know his birth name was adrian russell. >> reporter: he had been jailed for violence, but not terrorism. >> he was once investigated by mi-5 about violent extremism. >> reporter: prime minister may

was rushed as gun rang out. 30 injured are in the hospital, including the woman seen jumping in the river to escape the speeding car. american kurt cochran from utah was one of four killed. he and his wife melissa were on the last day of a european tour to celebrate 25 years of marriage. she, too, is still injured. in utah, their friends remembered kurt. >> kurt was a friend. he had such an uplifting way about him, you know, that made you feel good. >> reporter: there were many american survivors relieved to be alive. >> a car comes out of nowhere. it just hits four to five innocent bystanders on the street. >> reporter: in london, the search goes on, police on their knees. kathryn, duchess of cambridge on

the verge of tears >> sending thoughts and prayers those affected by yeerdas terrible attack on westminster. >> reporter: the bridge and parliament have reopened. searches ongoing at five homes, london, still on high alert. police say this morning, the very core of their investigation is how the killer was radicalized. was it online, on his own, was he really a lone wolf or helped by, maybe directed by others? that's why the searches, the raids are ongoing. five searches still ongoing here this morning. willie? >> bill neely, our thoughts with the city of london, the cochran family who lost kurt and a speedy recovery for his wife, melissa. democratic congressman tim ryan joins us live, he's hosting a town hall in his home district. they'll have something to say about whatever happens with the

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the republicans are radically reshaping one fifth of the economy in an hour. that is insane, cruel and reckless. this is how republicans reacted when they thought obamacare, which took way longer was being rushed through congress. >> look how this bill was written. can you say it was done openly? with transparency and accountability? without back room deals and struck behind closed doors, hidden from the people? hell no you can't! >> now that we have proven ourselves to be hypocrites, kick people off insurance, can you believe a word we say? >> hell no you can't! >> joining us now, steve kornacki. in washington, national political reporter for politico

magazine, good morning, tim, let me start with you. i was following your coverage on twitter yesterday. it was a real roller coaster ride. first you say the play is simple. put it on the house floor. dare members to say no. then the white house is going to bring the freedom caucus around. finally, the freedom votes will be there friday. the moderates are going to make a difference. how is it playing out today? >> it's been interesting willie. to bottom line it right now, the total number of freedom caucus no votes this afternoon are going to be surprisingly lower than we expected them to be earlier in the week. what i'm hearing, you could probably see that number under 20. if that's the case, i think there is probably a narrow path, a very narrow path for speaker ryan, if he can get all the moderates defected. if he can get them back in line, i think there is a very, very slim chance they could pull a rabbit out of the hat and pass this today. i think it's very unlikely.

because the white house has effectively softened some of the conservative opposition over the last 48 hours, there is daylight where there wasn't previously. >> steve, do you see this thing, the rabbit coming out of the hat. >> i wouldn't make a prediction. it does raise the question -- it would be a victory for the white house and republicans. okay, you have made big concessions to the most conservative element of the republican conference in the house to just squeak it throu the house. what do you have to do? get it through the senate. get it through the senate and you don't have the same freedom caucus element there. you have senators from big states, moderate states that are not going to like the changes. squeak it through the senate. you have to change the thing substantially. then what do you have to do? you have to reconcile what you have in the senate and go back to the house and the freedom caucus and say the concessions we gave you, we took away. now can you swallow hard? if they say no, you have to appease them again and go back to the senate. if you look at the white house

maybe on some level hopes they put it on the floor, hopes it can somehow move on to the next thing, i think that's why. if you get it through today, you are 20% away from the process. >> that's the important thing. today is the be all, end all. this is step one of a long process. perhaps an unlikely step two. >> what the white house has to balance, i think, is a political cost as well as the cost to policy agenda. the first thing, something trump ran on, said this is day one business et cetera, versus going down the path you described, get through the senate, a conference committee, split the difference, go back to republicans in both places and say, look, do you want to have obamacare 1.0 or something that is somewhat better, in your mind, instead of ob 1.0? i think that's the game they have to play. >> if anything else, the optics of this looks terrible for the people who have to answer their constituents at home and say hey, you have 7.5 years to come

up with a plan you seem to be scrambling on last minute. what's going on? all you have been talking about is how you are going to repeal it and replace it with a better plan for us. >> look, there's no question. i think what's so fascinating about this dynamic shift is we have lost for the last six years as the republican leadership in congress has received the most grief and had to live with the headaches that have come almost exclusively from the right flank conference, the conservative members, allied members of congress. a couple years ago, they formed the group, the freedom caucus. donald trump overperformed in freedom caucus districts. they are the most reluctant to buck him. if you look at the moderate members not going to vote from this, these are competitive districts, trump did not do well in their districts and didn't win them. they feel they have some political incentive to buck the party leadership whereas they

never did before. that complicated the equation for paul ryan and the team. it's one thing when trying to corral votes from the right. if they move the bill an inch to the right and pick up three or four conservatives, that's the problem all week. >> president trump appealing to the freedom caucus, he tweeted the following. the irony is the freedom caucus, which is pro-life and against planned parenthood allows them to continue if they stop this plan. well, last "lockuhour we spoke tom price. here is what he said about the legislation going into the vote. >> what will you change about it to convince them to vote yes? >> nothing is going to change at this point for this piece of legislation. what people have to appreciate is there's a larger plan. that's what we have been trying to encourage folks to focus on. the american people understand that our health care system from an exchange standpoint, aca,

obamacare standpoint is not working for the american people. that's the real focus where we need to put our attention right now. >> steve, secretaryriceaid the bill is not going to change. help me figure this out. if you have a group of people that say we don't like the plan as it is and we won't vote yes on it, we are not going to change anything, how do they pass the bill? >> look, you would be responsible, freedom caucus members of them being institutionalized past 2017. what's interesting about the politics is this, in the tea party area, the obama to pret sant era, there was an assumption that the freedom caucus folks, the tea party people, they represented the soul of the republican and conservative base. there was a consistent strain in the conservative base in this country being expressed by the freedom caucus. if you were a republican leader and went head-to-head with them, that meant you were going head-to-head with the base of the party.

that gave them so much power in shutting down the government in 2013. donald trump just went out there last year and won republican primary after republican primary with those voters. he did it in some cases by saying things the freedom caucus members were never saying, i'm not going to cut medicare or social security. now you have a president, a republican leader, who has confidence he can go toe-to-toe with the people that were supposed to be the faces of the republican base and keep with them. it's an interesting contrast. we haven't seen that before. >> now, using planned parenthood to get them to come over. tim alberta, great to have you with us this morning. thank you. >> thanks, guys. >> let's bring in tim ryan of ohio. good to have you on. obviously, you are a no vote on this health care vote if there is a vote. >> yes. >> how do you watch this play out? what is your view of how republicans handled this process? >> well, from having done this

before, i don't think they are really doing enough listening. they are jamming this thing through. that's a big problem when the members of your caucus feel like they are not being heard. that's the general sentiment, this is being rushed. when you hear it from moderates and the freedom caucus, you know you are in a little bit of trouble. i don't know how it's going to play out. they have not done a good enough job listening. you played the speech from speaker boehner. clearly, they were on the other side of this. we took almost a year to do our health care reform bill and they have done it in a matter of weeks. >> congressman, you are one of the guy that is have been credited with seeing trump coming, not that you supported donald trump. you heard from the people in your district and state why they voted for donald trump and why they voted the way they do. part is because obamacare was hurting them. the premiums were too high, they didn't have enough choice. what do the people in your district think of obamacare? >> well, this has been an educational process. i actually think people in ohio

and places around the country actually know more about obamacare today than they did, you know, a month ago or two weeks ago or certainly during the election. for the most part, for the most part. they haveccess to care. there's 700,000 people i ohio that have access to care, substance abuse, mental health coverage, prenatal. all the things the republicans are trying to take out people have coverage in ohio. is it perfect? absolutely not, willie. we need to fix it. there are things wrong with obamacare. we need universal coverage and affordability for middle class families without access to the credits. we can't pretend like this is perfect. itis not. it needs fixed. it doesn't need repealed and causing damage of throwing 24 million people off health care. >> if it fails, is there a chance to go back later or has

the moment passed? >> i would think the moment has passed. that's, you know, up to the republicans in congress as to what they want to do. i mean, clearly, why not come to the congress with the transportation bill? i'm for simplifying the tax code. i'm for a reduction in the corporate tax. talk to us about tax reform, too. these are things wekds agree on. he picks the most divisive things in the country. he made promises, willie. he made a lot of promises in ohio. he's betraying the voters that voted for him when he made the promises you mentioned. >> eddie? >> i want to pick up on the last point. how do we speak to those voters for trump, who are going to bear the brunt if this legislation passes? how do you speak to them? in some ways, this is a betrayal, the evidence of who he is. how do you speak directly to them? >> well, during the campaign, i was one of the guy o tuthere

saying, look, president trump or candidate trump has a long history of screwing workers in places like new jersey, not paying waiters and waitresses, not paying lawyers. he's got a career, 30, 40 years of not living up to his commitments. he's out there making all these promises. i think what we need to say is, he's betraying you. he's not doing what he said. we are not blaming you for believing him. as i said many times, i'm more upset with the democrats and how we have been behaving the last few years as opposed to being mad at the republicans. it's not their fault. they looked at him, he was talking jobs, economics, wages, pensions, so they gave him a shot. they had nothing to lose. now, we better come in, not just with criticism of trump, but a positive, economic message on how to get the people back to work immediately if the democrats were in charge. >> tim ryan of ohio.

thanks for being on. >> thanks, willie. >> now, to dominic chu. all the uncertainty of health care impacting the markets? >> it's having impact. you are seeing flat markets. nobody out there, trader or investor knows what is going to happen with the vote or the fate of health care or anything else down the line. that's certainly going to be a huge issue. very steady markets ahead of what could be an up or down vote on the health care legislation. that's not the only trump item. we have the controversial keystone pipeline deal. it's going to connect oil from canada to america. it's kind of a done deal. it's approved by president trump. after it's done, it's estimated to carry approximately 830,000 barrels of oil into the u.s. each day. in a statement, they said the program is a significant mile st stone and thanked the tru administration. they need to obtain the permits

from nebraska and land rights. prumpb is slated to make an address to address the approval. in technology, lyft, the latest company to pull advertising from youtube. the company joins other firms that yanked spending on advertising alongside videos. corporate ads were seen next to offensive and controversial videos put up by youtube users. at&t and johnson & johnson suspended ads on youtube. they are owned by alphabet. speaking of video, amazon, facebook, twitter and youtube are interested in getting rights to stream nfl thursday night football games according to a report. those companies expressed interest in streaming games last year. that was a deal that was won by twitter. they paid $10 million to stream

games. one more thing here, if you are a social media user, i know you all use twitter and maybe tweet, you may be paying subscription for it. the company is exploring the idea of charging a fee. we'll see if twitter gets a revenue out of that. back to you. outstanding comprehensive report. you are the father to a beautiful baby girl, elizabeth. congratulations. >> thank you so much. i'm sleep deprived, overly caffeinated, which is the life all of you live on morning news. >> look at her. we are seeing a picture of h. beautiful. >> i'm obviously biased, but i think she's cute. if she would only sleep more, i'd be happier. >> in 18 years. >> i won't sleep. >> congratulations and welcome to the world. dom, thanks so much. >> thanks. quickly, steve, keystone. they are going to announce it today. what is the impact? >> they are doing it today for political reasons as much as

anything to get something out there in the midst of the commotion. it's symbolic. a statement to deregulate, encourage business. at the end of the day, keystone is 35 permanent jobs. it's not going to change life in this country. it's a statement of where he's trying to move us to. >> it was expected. >> totally expected. looking back at donald trump's words to understand his strategy on the health care bill. in 2014, he tweeted the best deals you can make are the ones you walk away from. in 2011, quoting the art of the deal, he said know when to walk away from the table. then this back and forth over the years. >> whoever is going to be president this is not going to be easy. i'll solve the problem. don't worry. don't worry. you are going to have such great health care at a tiny fraction of the cost. and it's going to be so easy. going to get this thing done, going to get it figured out. it's a tough situation our

country has been put in. it's not easy. >> not easy to easy, now full circle as the rhetoric runs up to reality. live to the white house, next. you know where you stand, so when it comes to your retirement plan, you'll always be absolutely...clear. it's your retirement. know where you stand. you'll always be absolutely...clear. the whole country booking on choice hotels.com. four words, badda book. badda boom... let it sink in. shouldn't we say we have the lowest price? nope, badda book. badda boom. have you ever stayed with choice hotels? like at a comfort inn? yep. free waffles, can't go wrong. i like it. promote that guy. get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed. when you book direct at choicehotels.com. book now. donai am going to takey's care of everybody... everybody's going to be taken care of much better than they're taken care of now. announcer: 20 million americans gained health coverage

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one million people can benefit from precision cancer care. 197 million passengers can fly with less turbulence. i am on my way to working with one billion people. i look forward to working with you. except when it comes to retirement. at fidelity, you get a retirement score in just 60 seconds. and we'll help you make decisions for your plan... to keep you on track. it's your retirement. know where you stand. in a moment, we go to kristen welker. first, a look at the ground we have covered this morning. >> there's plan a and plan a. >> plan a blown apart. >> i think there's a chance they get it. >> why do it now?

why not next week? >> nothing is going to change for this piece of legislation. >> i don't think they are doing enough listening. they are jamming this thing through. >> i was told this bill -- a lot of republicans say the worst thing that can happen is pass this bill. >> many of them remain on the fence, puts it in real peril. >> in a way, it's better for trump. >> i think losing the house would be a disaster for the president. >> if this passes the house, it gets messier. >> sabotage it for the senate. >> the idea president trump as the closer is called into question. >> trump says you have to know when to walk away from the table. that's what he decided today. >> i have a duty and obligation to tell him. he's taking a lot of heat in the news media. >> he keeps changing the story. he's not sure if the president's people were the ones that were caught up in the surveillance. >> he's super lucky the health

care bill was a dominant story. >> he's saying i'm fine leaking classified information as long as it's to the benefit of the president. >> he's just not at the caliber that intel committee chairmen or chairwomen are supposed to be at. >>reporter: the stakes couldn't be higher for the president. today, he is issuing an ultimatum. his message to republicans, he's done negotiating. it's time to vote. they can either pass the bill or obamacare stays. he is betting that's going to turn up the heat on republican holdouts. this kept a chaotic 24 hours here in washington, willie, with marathon meetings on pennsylvania avenue. the president dispatching top

advisers to capitol hill to tell them it is time to vote. earlier in the day, the president, himself, meeting with conservatives and moderate republicans. he offered concessions to both sides of the party. it was striking yesterday, to conservatives allowing health insurance companies to opt out of providing health benefits like maternity leave and mental health services. that wasn't good enough to pass fi conservatives and infuriated moderates. to counter that, the white house then offered $15 billion to cover things like maternity leave and health care services. the white house really finding itself in a tough position this morning, hours before that vote is expected. if you look at the count right now, more than 30 republicans say they are leaning against or likely going to vote no. that's not enough to get this bill over the line. what's going to happen if this bill fails? the president says he's going to

point the finger at republicans. he will say they have failed to live up to their promise, to voters to repeal and replace obamacare and he's going to move on to top agenda items like tax reform and re-negotiating deals. meanwhile, in an hour from now, president trump expected to announce the approval of that controversial keystone xl pipeline. that was blocked under the obama administration. environment lists are opposed to it. republicans say it is going to be a real job creator. this is a potential diversion nar tactic if the president suffers a loss in the house. this will allow them to pivot to a headline and make the case, hey, look, they are already focused on creating jobs. expect that to get under way an hour from now. high drama at the white house as they prepare to make a full court press to try to flip some of those remaining holdouts, those no votes to yes. at this hour, it's still not

clear that the republican health care plan is going to pass. willie, back to you. >> kristen welker, thank you. joe, as we wrap this up, another busy day ahead. final thoughts? >> another busy day. i go back to the beginning. sometimes when you win on capitol hill, you lose. sometimes when you lose, you win. it would be best for the republicans if this bill just died a quick death and they went back to the drawing board. i don't know, though, whether they will have the discipline to do that. what about you? what are you looking at? >> whatever happens today, this has been a two-month lesson for president trump in the ways of washington. he's not a ceo sitting at the head of a board meeting where he can pound his fist on the desk and make a decree. he has a lot of constituencies and people who believe certain things. they are not willing to move off them, whoever you are. this will be a learning, a growth moment for donald trump. we'll see if he can spin out of it.

there's no question he's been damaged by it. >> we want to thank everybody for watching. thank you for your patience. please, put cw conway on a loop, convoy on a loop all weekend. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage of this crazy, crazy, day in washington, d.c. stephanie? >> joe, i knew you weren't saying conway on a loop. good morning. i'm stephanie ruhle. look where i am. the best place to be, live from washington, d.c. overlooking the most important place, the white house. this morning, it is now or never. you know what i'm talking abilitabout. the ultimate ultimatum. vote for my bill or live with obamacare forever. >> this will be a one and done, up and down. down we are done. >> white house staffers on capitol hill late into the night, pressing their case. >> we have a great deal.

we have a very good chance. >> the vote is now set for 4:00 p.m. today. the vote count still too close to call. >> do you think it's going to pass tomorrow? >> i have no idea. >> we have all the late, breaking details as the republicans day of reckoning on health care is finally upon us. >> for seven and a half years, we have been promising the american people that we will repeal and replace this broken law because it's collapsing and failing families. tomorrow, we are proceeding. >> now you have to deliver, paul ryan. we are going to begin today. all eyes on the house where it is a make or break day. it is just getting started after taking care of legislative business. the first procedural votes are expected in an hour, leading up to the final, decisive vote this afternoon. the best team in the business to set the stage for all of it. i want to go to capitol hill correspondent, kelly o'donnell. kelly, i realize so my