remember, this was a bill unveiled just over 15 days ago. so, it did not undergo the intense scrutiny and public debate that we saw during obamacare, which was, frankly, debated for about nine months before the white house and democrats demanded a vote on it. this was something that has moved forward much more quickly. and the counterargument to that from this white house, from press secretary sean spicer, is that republicans have been talking about this for the past seven years. this is something that they have campaigned on, from the president on down to dog catcher. you heard him use that term. so, he's making the argument, look, we feel as though this move forward at an appropriate pace, that the men public has effectively been debating this for the two terms of the obama administration and they voted this president into office, in part, because he promised to repeal and replace obamacare. he's making the case, it's now in the hands of those lawmakers and those lawmakers alone. you heard him read out the fact

120 lawmakers have met with the president and he's been holding marathon meetings, all meant to build this case that this was all hands on deck for the president and he's done everything that he could to try to get this passed. >> kristen welker, thank you very much. kelly o'donnell, stay with us. it's 2:00 on the east coast. we want to reset this hour pipts the top of the hour on msnbc. and the clock is ticking on capitol hill. it's the final countdown to the do or die vote on the house gop plan to replace obamacare, as we've been talking about. paul ryan has just left the white house after having what we believe was a frank discussion about where things stand. vice president pence just left capitol hill where he was meeting with the members of the house freedom caucus. all this as the debate continues on the house floor. but it does not look good. according to nbc news' most recent count, 34 republicans are either no or leaning no. here is what press secretary sean spicer said moments ago

about the realities of getting this done today. >> i think the speaker has done everything he can. he's worked really closely with the president. i think at the end of the day, you know, i said this yesterday, you can't force people to vote. but i think we've given them of single reason to fulfill every pledge that they've made. the president made it clear last night, this is it. you have an opportunity to do what you've told the american people, the commitment we as a party have made. but this is your chance to do what we've done. >> we have a powerhouse team standing by. nbc's kelly o'donnell is still with us on capitol hill. peter alexander replaces kristen welker at the white house. former illinois congressman bill walsh, jeff weaver and steny hoyer will join us. peter, let's start with you on the white house north lawn. paul ryan has just left. we have a better idea of what that conversation amounted to between him and the president. >> reporter: no specific details

about that consideration, at least not yet up. say it was frank. bottom line we know he was briefing the president on the fact that he didn't believe he had the votes, as we've been communicating, to pass this bill on this day. what was striking and what we heard from sean spicer over the course of this news conference today is the tough position he's in right now, given the facts, the reality that is now right before this white house. they don't want to prejudge the outcome. nonetheless, they don't want to put the blame on him either. the president is saying he did everything, left it all on the field. the sound bite, effectively, there's only so much you can do up. can't force individuals to vote one way or another. on the topic of the house speaker, he says he beliefs the house speaker has done everything he can as well. obviously, there are some divisions that exist here that have predated this white house, certainly to the campaign trail. the clash between paul ryan and donald trump, particularly among

some individuals close to donald trump who have been dissatisfied and vocal critics of the house speaker. the question among others is, was this the proper way to go forward? was it a mistake to start with the health care bill, given the controversy and challenges that surround it. what's striking today is this white house has been speaking publicly about some other presidential priorities as if to say, look, we can do other things, we're just going to keep moving forward, one was the keystone pipeline, the announcement it had been approved. the president authorizing that construction to begin on that pipeline and separately on tax reform, the treasury secretary steve mnuchin making the point today that he believed comprehensive tax reform could be completed by august. all of it to say that even though president trump said health care needed to happen first, there are still other priorities and they'll do best even with limited capital if they lose this, as it appears they will, going forward. >> kelly o'donnell, are republicans prepared for president trump to blame them if this health care either does not go to the floor or does not pass?

>> reporter: certainly. that will be a challenge for some of them especially in districts where the president is very popular. if members did not side with him on this. i think the big question right now is will it get to the floor? that's a decision that doesn't reside in the white house. it's really a decision for the majority leaders of the republicans, kevin mccarthy a long with the speaker, they run the floor. if they believe it is sort of a doomed bill, they've got to make a calculation about tip -- typically you could see them not put it on the floor with that political exposure for each and every member to be recorded on something that went nowhere. that's typically how this goes. we saw the president saying he wanted a vote. that was a point of leverage. in the time we've been talking about this and when we've been updating our own whip counts and describing the mood and the atmosphere, i can assure you, if there were people in leadership who thought we had that wrong, they would be calling our phones, they would be pinging us, trying to move the narrative

back to the upswing. they're paying attention. of course, you know, i've got my phone in hand and i would gladly take such an update. but right now, members are telling me they have not been given any guidance on what happens on the floor. the debate is unfolding. we know the speaker is back here. i think we're in a bit of a hunker down mode where they'll share with leadership the results of that white house consideration and make some decisions. so, i think we're probably in a window that could be very newsy. this hallway is crowded. we're here standing by for any updates. >> kelly o'donnell making a great point. if you say something lawmakers do not agree with, their reps get on the phone with you pretty quickly. our nbc news count stands at 34 republicans who will say no to this house gop health care bill. that is as of right now. obviously, that could change at any moment. joe walsh, you have spent a ton of time there in congress. you know how things work. is this a stain, the fact we're

even having this debate over it right now and there's this uncertainty about it, is this bill a stain on the republican party? >> katy, absolutely. having know how this works, i'd be stunned if there's a vote. the republican party screwed this up from the beginning. these freedom caucus guys, of which i was one, we pledged to our voters to repeal obamacare and we don't believe this bill does that. and then you have more liberal republicans who don't want a repeal of obamacare, this entitlement. so, the bill is getting squeezed from both sides. it was doomed from the beginning. and it's just weird that paul ryan and the party didn't understand that. >> here's the question, though, republicans, especially the freedom caucus, have spent the last seven, eight years saying, no, no, no, no. this-s this a party that knows how to legislate, that knows how

to be the party of yes? >> from our perspective, from the freedom caucus perspective, this was a chance to say yes. we've got our guy in the white house, doggone it, let's timely repeal obamacare. again, the mind set here from my perspective and the freedom caucus perspective is, this is not repealing obamacare. look, i give trump a lot of credit, katy, for working it, but trump did the didn't run on this. we ran on this. you know that. republicans the last seven years, this has been in our bones. this isn't in trump's bones. he's anxious to get onto other things, i think. >> donald trump not necessarily invested in the policy, is what i think you're trying to get at, although -- >> yes. >> -- he certainly said those words very frequently on the campaign trail, repeal and replace obamacare. joe, thank you. stay with us. let's go to capitol hill where house minority whip steny hoyer of maryland is standing by with us. congressman, the narrative out of the white house, and it has been for a while, certainly among republicans as well, is

that obamacare is collapsing. that it is something that needs to be fixed right now, repealed and replaced. is that true? is it collapsing? >> we don't accept that at all. and cbo did not accept that. again, they want to reject cbo but cbo said it would be stable. what they are trying to do is destroy it in every way they can. they're trying to destroy the confidence in the market. they're trying to destroy the confidence in the consumers. they're jaw boning this effort to make they say what is happening happen. it is not. the affordable care act is helping the american people. it's brought the cost of health care down. not for everybody, but down in terms of the last few decades so we think the affordable care act is working but we don't think it's perfect. we would be willing to work with our republican colleagues to fix that which is not working as well as we would like it to do.

let me if i can, you talked about calling you if we disagreed. you said the president thinks he's done everything he could do. very frankly, what the president said he was going to do was present a bill to congress that would ensure every american, every american, at lower cost and better quality. the president has offered no such bill. this is his bill because he supports it but it's not his bill because he put it together. in fact, the reason it's having so much trouble, it does not do what the president said his bill would do. he doesn't have a bill. we're not considering that bill. and this bill does not give every american insurance. in fact, 24 million people lose their insurance. in fact, the cost of premiums and deductibles will go up under this bill. that's what cbo says. just last night, just last night in the dead of night, they removed the assurance that when

you buy a policy, it will, in fact, cover your hospitalization, it will cover mental health benefits for opioids, cover emergency visits and so many other things that people must have if they're going to have health insurance on which they can rely. so, the reason this bill apparently in real trouble, and i take your word for the 34. we haven't counted the republicans, obviously. i've counted the democrats and there's not a single democrat that will vote for this bill -- >> congressman, let me put you on hold for a moment. let's go to the floor and listen to what's going on right now. >> if their family can pay the bills. this is the right and wrong of this. this is the heart and soul of the matter. we cannot abandon our principles. mr. speaker, we cannot forget our values. i've fought too hard and too long to back down now. i will fight any bill that turns

the clock back to a darker time. i will fight every single attempt to turn a deaf ear, blind eye and cold shored to the sick, to our seniors and to working families. mr. speaker, i will fight of day, every hour, every minute, and every second! with every breath and every bone in my body. we must not give up. we cannot. i will not give in. not today, not tomorrow and never! ever. on this bill there's only one option. and that option is to vote no. >> congressman john lewis giving an impassioned speech right now on the floor of the house, saying to vote no as a democrat. very clearly, though, he will be voting no. our whip count stands at 34 republicans voting no.

congressman highw congressman hoyer, i want to get back to you. president trump has roll back a number of regulations that girds obamacare. with anticipation of being a repeal and replace, a number of health care companies have left the exchanges, left the marketplace. given that, is it necessary to do something right now to make sure that the americans who do have health care under this plan do continue to have health care but affordable health care. >> the answer to your question is no. there's not something that's an emergency now to pass this bill. the affordable care act is working. it's not working perfectly. there were some things we would like to fix in the small market, for small businesses. that's not what was done. we have this bill that was introduced two weeks ago. it was introduced in the dead of night, considered 36 hours later for mark-ups, no single.

not a single american was asked their opinions and the committee didn't have a cbo score. the answer is, no, there is not an emergency but there is a responsibility that each of us has to work together to make what john lewis just so passionately talked about, health care available and relied upon by all americans. donald trump running for president and to the american people in the state of the union -- really not state of the union, but in his speech just two weeks ago looked in the camera and said, i'm going to be supporting a program that will give every american insurance coverage. in fact, in nine years under this republican bill, 52 million americans will not have health insurance. he said he was going to make sure that it brought costs down. in fact, cbo tells us that premiums, deductible and cost of insurance will go up substantially. and seniors will pay three,

four, five times as much as they are now paying. i refer to seniors in the 50 to 64 before they get medicare. the fact of the matter is, there is not an emergency. the republicans keep trying to create an emergency to support their bill. but apparently they have not convinced their own members and certainly they have not convinced us. >> congressman, thank you. jeff -- >> can i say something further? not only have they not convinced us, the american people, every day this bill has been under consideration, less of them support this bill. and now by a 3 to 1 margin, 17%, 20% who don't have an opinion, but people that have an opinion by a 3 to 1 margin say, don't pass this bill. it's bad for me and my family. >> congressman hoyer, i believe, is citing a quinnipiac poll released yesterday. >> yes. >> thank you, congressman. >> you bet.

thank you. >> jeff weaver, former bernie sanders campaign manager, is also with us. jeff, anybody who has a pulse right now can see just how fraught things are in congress, how partisan it is. the inability to get things done. where does this country go from here? is there a forward or what this is the next four, eight, 16, 34 years look like? >> well, the problem we're having on the hill is that the republicans have chose to go it alone. they want to throw millions of people off health care. they want to dismantle the affordable care act. and they know at the get go that democrats are not going to go along with that. there are some problems with the affordable care act. but the solution to those problems are none of which in the republican plan. the problem with the affordable care act is we need to go in the other direction. we need a public option so people have another choice where to buy their insurance. we need to lower the age of medicare, maybe down to 55, so

there are ways to fix the affordable care act. but republicans know they're going to try to dismantle a program that has given health insurance to tens of millions of people that democrats are going to oppose it. >> could single payer ever work in this country? >> absolutely. we have a number of examples. medicare, for instance, is a single payer program for people 65 and over. talk to people who are 65 and over. they like medicare. the va is a single payer program for people who served in the military. ask military veterans, they like the va, despite some of its problems, which could be fixed with additional funding. >> va's had quite a few problems, jeff. >> yes. >> this notion -- i got to jump in. this notion that the republicans are getting pounded because they're going this alone, my god, why are we in this position? what the hell did the democrats do seven years ago yesterday? they went about obamacare all alone. the republicans didn't start

this. they've botched what they're doing right now, i'll acknowledge this. but that canard the republicans are going this alone, my god, that's what the democrats did seven years ago and that's why we're here. >> gentlemen -- >> they're going it alone and now they have the radicals in their own party -- >> just like the democrats did seven years ago. >> gentlemen, gentlemen, i'm going to leave it here. i think the point i was trying to make and the question i was trying to get ais it's so partisan, so completely partisan, how does anything get done in washington. isn't this exactly what donald trump ran on, getting things done, fixing things, making things change, being different. gentlemen, congressman joe walsh and jeff weaver, we appreciate it, as well as everyone else who joined us for the first 18 minutes of this show. coming up next, texas congressman castro who sits on the house intel committee, we'll ask him if he has confidence that his chairman can fairly investigate the trump administration. we're talking about wiretapping,

devin nunes, adam schiff and everything else going on in congress right now. stay with us. 's party! [kids cheering] [kids screaming] call the clown! parents aren't perfect but then they make us kraft mac & cheese and everything's good again. ( ♪ ) upstate new york is a good place to pursue your dreams. at vicarious visions, i get to be creative, work with awesome people, and we get to make great games. ( ♪ ) what i like about the area, feels like everybody knows each other. and i can go to my local coffee shop and they know who i am. it's really cool. new york state is filled with bright minds like lisa's. to find the companies and talent of tomorrow, search for our page, jobsinnewyorkstate on linkedin.

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institute other major story unfolding on capitol hill is the investigation and disclosures that have rocked the house intel committee this week. the republican chairman and democratic ranking member of that committee held back-to-back dueling press conferences today. >> we're not going to get into a

neo-mccarthyism era where we start bringing in americans because they were mentioned in a press story. and i am highly concerned about that. >> the events of this week are not encouraging. i think anyone watching them has very legitimate and profound concerns about whether this congress, indeed, can do a credible investigation. i think that, you know, one of the profound takeaways of the last couple days is, we really do need an independent commission here. >> among the announcements by chairman devin nunes, former trump campaign manager, paul manafort will ftestify. will they call in any other trump associates? only if they want to. roger stone just tweeted, i just want to testify. joining me now from capitol hill, texas democratic congressman joaquin castro. i'll very sorry, sir. i want to blame it on my producers but had i looked in the monitor below my camera, i would have seen your face and i would have known to correct it myself.

i'm very sorry. >> my brother's back in texas and i'm here in congress. >> we apologize. of course, you sit on the house intel committee. because you do, congressman, do you have confidence that this can be addition that this investigation can be conducted fairly within your committee? >> well, you know, even as recently as yesterday morning, i was praising chairman nunes and other members of the committee for conducting what had to that point been a fairly bipartisan investigation aimed at getting to the trut of what happened in the 2016 election. but recent events, first his going to the white house before talking to the ranking member, speaking to the press before talking to the committee, and then today canceling the open public hearing on tuesday, these things are very troubling. they really just underscore why many democrats have argued we need an independent commission separate from the congress, separate from the politicians here. a group of -- bipartisan group

of citizens to look into this rather than congress. >> let's look at the hearing from march 28th. it was supposed to include sally yates, and james clapper. congressman schiff, your ranking member, said that devin nunes' cancellation of this in the public forum, at least, is essentially choking off public information, bringing this behind closed doors when the public needs to know what is going on, even if they couldn't know everything that was going on. do you agree? >> i absolutely agree. as much of this as possible should be done in open -- in the open, in public. we should have as much transparency as possible. i realize there are going to be instances where you need to go into closed session because you're dealing with classified information. but if you think about it, if we had not had that hearing earlier in the week in open session, the country would not know the significant revelation that james comey made, which is that

members of the trump team are under investigation for their connection to the russians who interfered with our elections. >> congressman nunes yesterday or a few days ago goes to the white house and presents the white house with information. he still has of today is not revealing where he got that information, which is to be expected. but he's also not denying and refusing tore confirm or deny that it came from the white house itself. at what point is the committee going to be able to see the evidence that congressman nunes cited the other day? >> that is a great question. it's one with no answer so far. all of us in the committee, except the chairman, are still in the dark as to what he saw. as i mentioned on monday when i was questioning director comey, i made the point to ask about leaks possibly coming from the white house. and i think that may have been the case here. >> do you belief this was a partisan effort to give the

white house cover? >> at this point it sure looks like an attempt for political cover, yes. >> if so, do you think congressman nunes has to step aside, that house speaker paul ryan should ask him to step aside? >> well, you know, as ranking member schiff said earlier, that's a decision for the speaker, but the speaker should make sure that whoever is leading this committee is perceived as credible and trustworthy by the american people. now, i know that over the last few days especially, many folks have been asking for devin nunes' resignation. the one caveat i would put out there is if you look at the range of people who they could replace him with, i would want to know who they're going to put in the chair before saying he should be gone because there are some people on there who, believe it or not, could be far worse to lead this investigation. >> texas congressman joaquin

castro on the intel investigation. thank you. as we await this 4:00 p.m. house vote, there are still more questions than answers who will win and lose if this becomes law. mark sanford just walked out of that meeting with the freedom caucus members at the capitol club with vice president mike pence. take a listen. >> there's a lot of emotion in the room. people very strongly about, you know, trying to find a way to get to yes. [ inaudible ] >> thank you. >> sorry, congressman, last one. could they bring the bill if there are not enough votes? >> that's beyond -- [ inaudible ] >> appreciate it. >> we apologize.

that might have been hard to hear. what we think -- what i could tell from what addition what i could hear from him is he was looking for a yes on this vote, that everybody is looking for a yes. sanford at one point said he was a no and started to waiver. our nbc news whip count shows 34 saying no to the gop health care plan. we break down what this bill means to you. first, our microsoft pulse question of the day. we're asking, do you believe republicans can rally enough votes to pass the health care plan today? the pulse is open. cast your vote at pulse.msnbc.com. ♪ announcer: get on your feet for the nastiest bull in the state of texas. ♪

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the clock is ticking for lawmakers to vote on the gop health care plan. if the deal passes, with sweeteners added, insurance companies may come up the winners and consumers the losers. insurance companies come up the winners because they don't have to cover essential health care benefits, everything from doctor visits to hospitalization to maternity care. larry levet put it this way, with no benefit requirements,

insurance policies could get quite squimpy. no insurer wants to be the most attractive to sick people. insurers come up winners again because they will likely not be covering people with pre-existing conditions because protections for pre-existing conditions only work if the plans cover the services you need because of your pre-existing condition. insurance companies come up winners with maternity care plans since those plans may skyrocket for women looking to have a baby. insurance companies will also fare better for not having to cover substance abuse. they're bleeding money covering the opioid abuse epidemic which went up ten-fold between 2011 and 2016. here with me on set is dr. natalie azar. let's start with people who are -- who are dealing with opioid abuse. how will they be affected? >> important in people who suffer from opioid addiction, the conch -- essential benefits

here cover both addiction and mental health services. i think that's really important to drive home. yes, would we see a disproportionate at of people in low income in economically hard hit areas turning to opioids, yes. you know what is an equal opportunity offender is mental illness. you cannot safeguard against that having, for example, happening to a family member or even yourself. we certainly spotlight the opioid addiction but it's also about mental health coverage. i think that's important people understand that. >> on open yoet addiction, it's something donald trump campaigned on, especially in new hampshire where there's such a heroin problem right now, he campaigned on making sure families could take care of their loved ones if it affects them. talk to me now about maternity care, specifically what budget director mick mulvaney said on cbs this morning. take a listen. >> if you live in a state that wants to mandate maternity cover, coverage for everybody, including 60-year-old women,

that's fine. >> but, sir, what if you live in a state that doesn't do that? >> then you could figure out a way to change the state thaw live in. why do we look to -- >> so you should move? >> no, they could try to change their own state legislature and their state laws. >> change the state you liv in or, essentially, move, if you need maternity care. >> this one to me falls into the category of adding insult to injury in a bill that already disproportionately impacts women negatively, from defunding planned parenthood to this. imagine if you're a woman of child-bearing age and you can only afford the bare minimum of a plan. your costs would absolutely skyrocket if you have to buy another subsidy just to afford maternity care. let's also remember what is in maternal fetal care. this is also prenatal care for your unborn child. the repercussions could be felt for generations after something like this. >> care for the baby, not necessarily the mother.

>> absolutely, absolutely. i mean, there are anecdotes about congenital defects picked up in utero that are taking care of after the baby is born. i hope this resonates with a lot of people, not just women in this country. disproportionately affected by many of these proposals, but so are the children who, bit, are covered in great depth by medicaid in this country. >> i just want to point out something. yesterday there was a meeting between donald trump and the freedom caucus about this bill, specifically what came up was these benefits they want to do away with, maternity care being one of them. in the photo behind the meeting, but not a single woman. >> yes. which, of course, resonates with you and me very much. but i think, you know, sometimes i think it's easier if you have -- if i speak from a point of view of being a physician. we talk about how essential it is that all of these benefits are covered otherwise the plans become so skimpy. if i give you just the example of a disease like rheumatoid

arthritis, all the benefits that are listed there are things that a patient would utilize. radiology services, lab services, rehabilitation services. and, again, i would make the argument, nobody thinks they're ever going to get a chronic disease. nobody ever thinks they're going to come down with cancer. you're gambling against yourself if you choose not to have health insurance. >> talk to me about pre-existing conditions quickly. they're going to go back to the way they were before obamacare or pre-existing conditions still going to be covered? >> we don't know, right, because we don't know exactly what's in the bill. my point is, even if you say to somebody, we will cover your pre-existing condition but your plan doesn't offer services as i listed, laboratory, prevention, vaccines, you know, rehabilitation, what's the point? you're really not appropriately covering a pre-existing condition if you're not covering all of these benefits. >> dr. natalie azar, appreciate your time. thank you for breaking it down for us. as we speak, there's a mad dash to get the votes needed to

pass this gop health care plan. we'll take you back to capitol hill where nbc's kelly o'donnell is tracking the yeas and the nays. that's next. higher! higher! parents aren't perfect, but then they make us kraft mac & cheese and everything's good again.

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do you have things you want to do before you retire? oh yeah sure... ok, like what? but i thought we were supposed to be talking about investing for retirement? we're absolutely doing that. but there's no law you can't make the most of today. what do you want to do? i'd really like to run with the bulls. wow. yea. hope you're fast. i am. get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change. investment management services from td ameritrade. (singsong) budget meeting. sweet. if you compare last quarter... it's no wonder everything seems a little better with the creamy taste of philly, made with no artificial preservatives, flavours or dyes. countdown to health care vote. the vote could come as early as 3:30 p.m. eastern time. 12 amendments have been added to the bill. the bill aimed as recruiting more moderates and those on the

far right. will those persuade some of the most ardant critics. it gives $85 billion in aid for older americans, delays repealing tax on the wealthy. for conservatives it negotiates an end to medicaid expansion and an option for work requirement on those who use it. and repeals taxes that may help pay for obamacare. a bit of a mixed bag. let's go to nbc's kelly o'donnell who is on capitol hill. where do we stand with the votes on this? >> reporter: well, katy, i just heard from a top source involved in the negotiations and the status report remains fluid. that seems neither positive nor negative at this point but there are still considerations happening. talking to various members, they're saying they haven't been notified yet by their leadership about what will unfold this afternoon. typically they would addition each office would be pinged, if you will, and told what to

expect. so i think some strategy is being considered and how they will proceed is still the subject of some behind closed door conversations right now. we know that the vice president was near capitol hill meeting offsite with the freedom caucus that most conservative group went back to the white house. the speaker of the house, paul ryan, went to the white house to meet with both the president and vice president to provide sort of a where we are moment, to say that from based on our count and based on the mood here, it seems republicans are not coming toward the president's demand to vote on this and pass it. of course, we always wait until the votes are actually cast. sometimes when a vote is open and there's a momentum one way or another, votes will really begin to change if people think they want to be on the winning side or abandon something that could fail. so, one of the questions will be, because the president is newer to all this, will the speaker try to say to him, let's not even put it on the floor. we know where we are.

two more hours won't change things. let's not make our republican members vote for something that is doomed and have to live with the political results of that. that's possible. or he would agree that it's time to put people under this kind of pressure with the -- almost the simple question of, do you support repealing obamacare or not? for republicans that's a very potent argument. so, that's where we are. we're waiting to know, when you talk about when would the volt be. there's always a window for votes, when debate ends, there's a lot of give in the schedule in terms of how ready they are, how anxious they are. it's friday. and we call that flyaway days. usually it's thursday. so, that would mean a chance to go home to their districts, which is something that's important. will they go home with a perceived victory, a perceived defeat, questions to be answered? we don't know yet. but sometimes the pressure to get out of here is in and of itself a way to get things done. >> kelly o'donnell on capitol

hill tracking all the votes for us. former house speaker newt gingrich, a spoker of donald trump, has weighed in. he says, why would you schedule a vote on a bill that is at 17% approval? have we forgotten everything reagan taught us? well, there is newt gingrich's take, not a good one if you're president trump or paul ryan. let's go back to today's pulse microsoft question. do you believe republicans can rally enough votes to pass the house health care plan? 96% at no. there's still time to weigh in at pulse.msnbc.com. the credibility of congress, have all these judgment calls by devin nunes proven the need for a special prosecutor to investigate russia and team trump? joy reid and hugh hewitt weigh in. you have access to in-depth analysis, level 2 data,

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woman: on the gulf coast, new exxonmobil projects are expected to create over 45,000 jobs. and each job created by the energy industry supports two others in the community. altogether, the industry supports over 9 million jobs nationwide. these are jobs that natural gas is helping make happen, all while reducing america's emissions. energy lives here. the committee will ask director comey and admiral rogers to appear in closed session and will postpone the previously scheduled march 28th hearing in order to make time available for director comey and admiral rogers. >> i think this is a serious

mistake. we welcome at any time bringing former directors back in closed session. we don't welcome cutting off public access to information when we have witnesses, as these three witnesses, who are willing to testify in open session. >> major developments and drama today into the investigation into russian interference into last year's election. intel committee chairman devin nunes wants to bring the fbi director back in for more questioning. he also said he can't be sure whether conversations among trump or his aides were captured on surveillance until he sees all the documents. paul manafort has volunteered to interview with the committee. joining me now, host of "a.m. joy," joy reid and from california, political analyst, hugh hewitt, host of the hugh hewitt show on salem network. we found out chairman nunes canceled the public hearing scheduled for march 28th and adam schiff says the american

public will lose the transparency of it and a chance to shield it from the public eye. let's just focus on one portion of that which is chairman nunes now saying he can't be sure whether donald trump or his associates were actually surveilled. i'm sorry, wasn't that the entire point of him going to the white house? >> that's right. the entire point of this unprecedented press conference where the chairman of the intelligence committee, house intelligence committee, walks out to cameras and said, a-ha, i have the transcript. he said he had seen with his own eyes evidence there was surveillance on the trump transition team, by which he was a member, so all sorts of conflicts of interests. i think the problem devin nunes has this is he's already shredded the credibility of himself and his committee. he should stop saying things. >> there are three investigations. i have to disagree with my friend joy. first investigation is into russia's interference in our election that's proceeding. the second is into collusion

between anyone on team trump and russia. that's proceeding. the third intimated by chairman nunes is whether there was abuse of political power and that's proceeding. they're all run by the fbi. whether or not one cares for the optics of devin nunes, i have great confidence in director comey. president trump ought to call comey and ask him if there's subject of anyone in the white house so he he or she could be removed. it's dangerous to have an fbi investigation pointed at the white house. i'm confident the fbi will get all three investigations squared up. whether or not a special counsel is needed, that will be up to rod rosenstein when he's confirmed by the jooi judiciary committee, which will probably come after judge gorsuch -- >> let's get to gorsuch in a minute. i want to focus on intel. do you think chairman nunes, being a member of the

transition, can do an independent investigation into the man he served between the time he was elected and inaugurated? does this need to go before the american public so they know this is not a partisan thing? does this need to go to a special prosecutor, hugh? >> that's a rod rosenstein decision once the attorney general is confirmed. i have complete confidence in devin nunes. democrats don't like him diverting the story line away from collusion, which is also very important, but i have confident in that committee. it's well staffed. will herd is a former cia officer. i think it will proceed and that testimony in closed session tomorrow will reveal a lot of leaks. i think democrats are inteting about what happened during the transition. we'll find out. >> i love hugh, we're friend and our assorted twitter followers hate the fact we're friends. hugh said one thing that was incorrect. there are only two fbi

investigations going on. one investigation into, we believe, members of the trump campaign, including paul manafort likely and probably including carter page and whether they colluded with the russians. there's also an investigation into sort of the larger trump campaign and potential collusion with a foreign power. the fbi is not investigating alleged abuse of power by the obama administration. the fbi director said in an open hearing they and the nsa have already concluded trump's lie about president obama wiretapping him never happened. it didn't happen. we've heard it from comey. we've heard it from the nsa. they ain't investigating that, hugh. >> 30 seconds. hold on, hold on. >> 30 seconds. >> they are talking about the general -- i lost all the time i had. i wanted to ask about judge gorsuch and whether mitch mcconnell should go nuclear or whether democrats will have to force him to go nuclear. we have to put that on hold. >> let's come back to it. >> we'll come back to it.

hugh hewitt, joy reid. catch "a.m. joy" weekdays at 10:00. apple will have iphone customers seeing red. here's today's verge update. >> apple just revealed the newest to join the iphone family appear crimson red made in partnership with the red campaign. it supports aids awareness through red colored products. while the iphone giant has made special red cases in the past, this is the first time users can own an actual red handset. tim cook says it celebrates the partnership and he can't wait to get it into customers' hands. the fresh new design will be available this friday. that's the update. check out the verge.com. come on dad!

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we are counting down to the critical health care vote in the house. it's expected to come at any point. could come right now. could come in five minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour. we don't know, so you might as well keep watching. that will do it for am me. i'm katy tur in new york. kate snow picks things up. >> sean spicer said 3:30 eastern time, which is half an hour from now. we don't need to hype this up, do we? you know the vote on the health care bill is supposed to be happening, historic vote today. it could begin, as katy said, in a matter of minutes or not. do republicans have the votes? the message from the white house, it's now