the notion that -- which some people are trying to suggest, that by asking for the identity of an american person, that is the same as leaking it is completely false. there's no equivalence between so-called unmasking and leaking. i leaked nothing to nobody. and never have, and never would. >> it is 2:00 p.m. on the east coast. i'm katy tur here in new york. that was former obama national secure advisor susan rice responding to reports that she asked for trump associates to be unmasked for political purposes. the white house and republicans have pounced on the reports after weeks of accusinghe former president of wiretapping trump tower. we'll get reaction coming up from our all-star reporters and analysts. but first, here's more of andrea mitchell's exclusive interview with susan rice. >> i was the national security advisor. my job is to protection the american people and the security of our country. that's the same as the secretary of state. the secretary of defense, the cia director. and every morning to enable us

to do that, we receive from the intelligence community a compilation of intelligence reports that the ic, the intelligence community, has selected for us on a daily basis to give us the best information as to what's going on around the world. i received those reports, as did each of those other officials. there were occasions when i would receive a report in which a u.s. person was referred to. name not provided. just "u.s. person." and sometimes in that context, in order to understand the importance of the report, and assess its significance, it was necessary to find out, or request the ffrs information as who that u.s. official was. let me give you an example. this is completely made up. let's say there was a conversation between two foreigners about a conversation they were having with an american who was proposing to sell to them high-tech bomb

making equipment. now, if that came to me as national security advisor, two matter enormousenormously, is t cooke sitting in his living room offering to sell something he doesn't have or is this a serious person, company or entity with the ability to provide that technology perhaps to an adversary. that would be an example of a case where knowing who the u.s. person was was necessary to assess the information. so when this's cowa occurred, w would do, is ask the briefer whether the intelligence community would go through its long-standing established process to decide whether that information as to who the identity of the u.s. person was could be provided to me. so they'd take that question back, they'd put it through a process, and the intelligence community made the determination as to whether or not the identity of that american individual could be provided to me. that is what i and secretary of state, secretary of defense, cia

director, dni, would do whether we receive that information. we only do it to protect the american people, to do our jobs in the national security realm. that is the only reason. >> within that process, and within the context of the trump campaign, the trump transition, did you seek the names of people involved in -- to unmask the names of people involved in the trump transition, the trump campaign, people surrounding the president-elect? >> let me begin -- >> in order to spy on them, in order to expose them? >> absolute, absolutely not, for any political purposes, to spy, expose, anything. >> did you leak the name of mike flynn? >> i leaked nothing to nobody, and never have and never would. but let me explain this. first of all, andrea, to talk about the contents of a classified report, to talk about the individuals on the foreign side who we the targets of the report itself, or any americans who may have been collected upon

incidentally is to disclose classified information. i'm not going to do that. and those people who are putting these stories out are doing just that. i can't describe any particular report i saw. and by the way, i had no idea what reports allegedly are being described by those who are putting out this story. i don't know what time frame they were from. i don't know the subject matter, and i don't know who they think was collected upon. >> the allegation is that in one case, they are alleging in the daily caller that there was a spread sheet that you put out of all of these names. >> absolutely false. >> and circulated. >> no spread sheet, nothing of the sort. let me also elaborate and say that when the intelligence community would respond to a request from senior national security official for the identity of an american, that would come back only to the person who requested it. and it would be brought back to hem directly, to me or to whoever might have requested it, on occasion -- and this is

important -- it was not then typically broadly disseminated throughout the national security community or the government. so the notion that -- which some people are trying to suggest -- that which asking for the identity of an american person, that is the same as leaking it is completely false. >> let's begin with nbc's hanz nichols at the white house and casie hunt hill. are republicans on the hill seizing on susan rice? >> katie, this has been something of a rallying point for republicans over the course of the last 24 or so hours in a way that some of these other things around this russia investigation maybe haven't been. i spoke briefly with senator john mccain here in the hallways of the senate about this, and he said, look, this is another reason to have an independent commission. he said, look, it's not as though susan rice did something that was inappropriate. this is a power that if she is the sitting national security advisor is within her purview,

but at the same time he said we should ask why she was making these requests. senator lindsey graham and senator rand paul also focusing on in on this issue ever unmavging. it's been something theouse telligence committee in particular is investigating. this is something that adam schiff, ranking member, and devin nunes, the chairman, had asked about several weeks ago. of course, this name, susan rice, the latest twist in this. i think it gives them some political ammunition. they see it that way because susan rice is be somebody who has been -- she's well known among, for example, readership of conservative blogs and media as somebody who played a role in the benghazi issue, for example. so this is something i think that allows them to move attention away from the bigger issue at hand and on to this unmasking question which of course is entirely separate from these questions of russian meddling in the u.s. election. >> hans, she refused to confirm

or deny whether she unmavged any trump official or trump social but also said pretty flatly that she did not do anything improper. after all, she was national security advisor at the time. how is the white house responding? >> well, they see this as partial vindication. i wouldn't -- this idea that susan race may have done some unmau unmau unmasking they don't see as complete and total vindication. they are a step kick among the press corps. the white house sees the opportunity to change the conversation a little bit, change the subject. but the consistency of the white house argument, that is that the press is following the wrong story, is only matched by their frustration that it isn't being accepted. they continue to say this unhavu unmasking is a bigger investigation. any time conversation is about the leaks, that seems to be a

good day for the white house press office. >> the other two stories that are on their plate today getting second and third billing, second to the susan rice now, is that a former trump campaign associate, carter page, had a dealing a few years ago with an undercover agent posing as a russian bank executive in new york, that he passed papers to him, that he was in a criminal complaint over that. and there was also a secret meeting in january that was between the blackwater founder, erik prince, organized by the uae, and somebody who was close to vladimir putin, a russian who was close to vladimir putin, to talk about a back channel between donald trump and vladimir putin, potentially to get them to dissociate or distance themselves from iran, theoretically in order to get the u.s. to lift sanctions from them. those are two pretty negative headlines coming out against the trump administration today. >> katy, the white house strategy on both carter page and erik prince, and even the former

campaign manager paul manafort, is to put as much distance between the campaign and those individuals. carter page, you get something of a collective eye roll that he was at all involved in the obama -- excuse me, in the frump campaign. when you say erik prince, they're saying consistently that he was not part of the transition, that the white house is saying that, erik prince has said that. you also see them try to make this argument with paul ma manafort, a man running the campaign, you well know, for five to six months, said he was only partially involved, wasn't then playing that crucial of a role. so that's their strategy on anyone that might have had contact with russian officials or unofficial or business people. one final note later on today. the president obviously has had a busy day. dana rohrabacher, a congressman, a very pro-russian congressman is meeting with president trump at 4:30 today. >> on erik prince, he donated

$250,000 to the donald trump campaign effort. he is the brother of donald trump's education secretary, betsy devos. and he was seen at transition headquarters during the transition even though he was not officially a part of the transition. hans nichols, we appreciate your time. casie hunt had to run. as we mentioned before, andrea mitchell's exclusive interview in that republicans are already having a field day with it and saying that rice asked for the unmasking of trump associates. take a listen to the republican reaction. >> the facts will come out with susan rice. but i think she ought to be under subpoena. she should be asked, did you talk to the president about it, did president obama know about this. so this is actually eerily similar to what trump accused them of which is eavesdropping on conversations for political reasons. >> susan rice is the typhoid mary of the obama policy.

>> you mentioned in the five talk shows on benghazi. she did an interview 12 days ago. was she forthcoming in that interview, senator? >> i have no idea. but when it comes to susan rice, you need to verify, not trust. >> joining me now in studio, msnbc political analyst and former cruz spokesman, rick tyler. also seener to hillary clinton's 2016 campaign and msnbc political analyst, joel bennanson. a, former u.s. ambassador to the russian federation, rick. rick, start with you. susan rice is a name republicans can really rally behind. not in a good way. >> susan irice was sent out by hillary clinton by proxy that thing about attack was incited from a youtube video that turned out at least from what i can tell not to be true.

susan rice came out today and is in a bind because she can't talk about the things that are classified. masking in and of itself, that's not a crime. it is not improper. it happens all the time. the question is how do these names get leaked beyond the unmasking. that's been a real concern. democrats and republicans should be very concerned about it. >> joel, how do democrats keep the focus on the substance of this investigation, whether or not the trump campaign was coordinating with russia and not allow a distraction like whether or not susan rice in the course of her duties may have unmasked names that came to her in intelligence reports? >> let's first of all put in context what the name unmasking means. it doesn't means leaking. it means a person with a high security clearance can see which americans were talking to foreign officials. this apparently occurred, according to reports, in january. that is a month after, 17 intelligence agencies in the united states confirmed and president obama announced that russia was meddling in our election to tip the scales in

mr. trump's favor. i really think the trump people are skequealing like stuck pigs here. i think the republicans are aiding and abetting them. nothing wrong happens. only people trying to leak those names were the trump white house. ez sra cohen is the one who cald devin nunes to the white house. >> that's not official. we know he helped him get on the premise. we don't know he called devin nunes. >> okay. we know he was poring through these documents. we know general mcmaster warranted him fired on february 10th. we any that on -- or on march 10th, rather. we know that he went to see steve bannon and jared kushner. then four days later general mcmaster's order was reversed. and then a week later he goes and calls devin nunes over. susan rice did nothing wrong. what she did is exactly what the nsa, the flashl security advina advisor should do when you know

russia's meddling in our laeshgss. wh elections. when you see a report that says americans were on the phone with a russian official who is being monitored, you should know who those are. that's what she did. she did her job. it is routine, it is regular and every republican, including lindsey graham, senator cotton and senator paul know that's the truth. >> give us the context and background leer. if two foreign officials are talking about somebody in the trump administration, it's perfectly normal to have their name come up potentially in an intelligence report. but that their name would be masked? also, one other point. we should mention this. devin nunes when he went to the white house said this had nothing to do with russia. >> and nothing was wrong. >> and nothing was wrong. this is all getting kind of muddy. ambassador mcfaul, walk us through it, if you can. >> couple of things. first, remember i worked three years at the national security council before going to moscow. i dealt with a cllot of classifd information and i'm not going to talk about it. that's the point i'm going to start with.

reason we're talking about this is that white house officials in the trump administration leaked classified information about susan rice asking to mask or unmask. now i just listened to a house intelligence committee. i heard many, many people speak for hours about how leaking is bad. i agree with that. and i want to make sure your viewers understand, we would not be talking about this were it not for the fact that trump administration officials leaked classified information. that's number one. number two, the national security council is in charge of national security. of course -- i mean i don't know the allegation and i don't want to comment about thing that are alleged, because it is classified. but if, in the hythet, you saw that kind of traffic at a time when the fbi has now said, on the record, that they were investigating these kinds of connections, of course the national security advisor would want to know what was going on. >> and the third thing -- if i

can, katy -- >> go ahead. >> the third thing, just to be clear -- because there is a very important point that we've all been making, but i think it is a little bit confusing. if -- i don't know whether she did or not, because it is classified. but if in the hypothetical susan rice asked for this to be unmasked so that she knew, that information would come back directly to her. she just said on andrea mitchell that she did not leak that name. i just want to point out that a lot of other people, including in the intelligence community, would have the opportunity to see that name. and so to jump to the idea that somehow susan rice is the one that leaked these names, that's just wrong. that's just incorrect. we need to know the facts before we jump to that conclusion. >> and in order to get them unmasked, she would have to get the approval from the fbi or the nsa. that is something we should also note. rick tyler, joel bennanson, stay with us.

up next, much more of that susan rice exclusive here on msnbc. but first, today's microsoft pulse question. do you believe susan rice whether she says it was absolutely false that the obama administration used intel for political purposes? 86% of you say yes, you do believe her. so far. keep casting your votes and we'll be right back. uh-- wha-- woof! eeh-- woof! wuh-- [silence] [engine roars to life] [dog howls] ♪ dramatic opera music swells from radio ♪ [howling continues]

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during her exclues of interview with nbc's andrea

mitche mitchell, former national security advisor susan rice pushed back that trump tower was the target of surveillance. >> is there any truth to president trump's claim on twitter exactly a month ago, early one saturday morning on march 4th, that the obama -- that president obama was eavesdropping on him at trump tower? >> absolutely false. and the intelligence community, the director of the fbi has made that very clear. there was no such collection, surveillance on trump tower or trump individuals. >> back with me now, msnbc political analyst, rick tyler. also senior advisor to hillary clinton's 2016 campaign. and msnbc political analyst, joel bennonson. one month ago donald trump woke up on a saturday morning and tweeted out that president obama wiretapped trump tower. "just found out," i think he called him sad, and sam other

names. that was how this began with a definitive statement that president obama ordered a wiretap. that has been disproven by a number of officials. since then the white house has tried to muddy the water a bit saying that he meant "wiretapping," in quotes, which meant surveillance, and they've asked congress to investigate it, to find out more information. and we've had the drip, drip, drip since then. devin nunes goes to the white house, comes back and says maybe there was incidental surveillance, it has nothing to do with russia. now we are hearing about susan rice potentially being the unmasker of names and russia's getting woven back into this. but this all started with one tweet that said definitively president obama wiretapped trump tower. so why is it evolved into this? >> because every time something happens, the trump people claim they're vindicated. that gets debunked like everything else, like he had the laest crowd that ever watched his inaugural, and folks in the

media keep coming back to it. the truth is, the fact is -- which is a stranger to donald trump -- is that no one surveilled him, no one tapped his phones. it is completely false. it's been documented over and over again. we ought to stop taking the bait on all these distractions. everybody should. they are the ones trying to distract from this because they are concerned that when the facts come out that it will be more damaging to them than any of the stories that have come out. >> do you think the focus has not been enough on the relationship between the trump campaign and russia? i ask that very seriously, because reporters in this country have come out with news stories about new interaction on a daily basis. >> no, i'm not saying there's not been enough focus on that. i'm saying this all starts with a hideous, disgraceful lie from the president of the united states, which has been debunked. you can read the "l.a. times" over the last three days, their editorial page has really ripped

this to shreds, repeatedly. i think people ought to put it in context. i think every time the trump campaign tries to distort, there is one simple fact. all of these distortions are emanating from what was a tweet that was a complete fabrication and lie from the president of the united states. and what is under investigation is the trump campaign's interactions with potentially russian -- >> on that note, the fbi investigation is still ongoing. we obviously don't have many details about that. the house investigation seems to be starting again. maybe. senate intel is ongoing with their investigation. and a couple of new bombshells, one from buzzfeed and one from the "washington post," both confirmed by nbc news. the buzzfeed one was that carter page was once an associate of donald trump campaign, even if in a peripheral way. he was a foreign policy advisor. passed on documents to a russian spy unknowingly. but he did so. his name was found in a criminal complaint. then also that there was a

secret meeting between the founder of blackwater who happens to also be the brother of betsy devos and who also happens to have contributed $250,000 to the trump campaign. he went out and represented himself as somebody who was representing donald trump and met with somebody, a russian offici official, who is close with vladimir putin to talk about a back channel. those are two pretty big headlines. rick? >> well, it was the -- it was the uae who had done that because what they wanted to do is -- they have a common interest with us which is to get the russians away from iran. so they wanted to do that. the russians in any manner have seemed to be very overly aggressive. and there is an investigation going on about trump meddling -- i'm sorry, the russians meddling in the campaign. but some of this seems like amateur hour, like the carter page. on the other hand, blackwater?

i'm not sure that's an amateur hour. that may be a different motivation. so just as there doesn't seem to be -- i agree with joel that there is no proof or evidence that trump was the target of surveillance. there still remains to date that there's been no evidence of -- despite owl the dots all the do piece of paper, no one's connected them to show any actual collusion, cooperation or coordination with the russians in messaging in the campaign. >> how much longer can they survive this drip, drip, drip? i don't mean survive that they're going to get pushed out of the administration. but until someone from the administration has to be like, all right, here is what we know and we've made to to speak to everyone in this administration and to vet them properly and these people who did this are now out and we're going to lay it all on the table in a very transparent way. is that ever going to happen? >> i think it is going to take a little more time because the mechanism that congress is using right now with the two intel committees, one in the senate,

one in the house, as opposed to suggestions that many some people made along the way, let's name a special prosecutor, let's have a select committee. having this in the political arena every day is going to drag it out long notet to the bottom of it quicker. that'shat we really need to see. i think the more there are cameras running and cameras rolling, the more this is going to be a bit of a political football trying to be used by some people before we get to the bottom of this. >> it's been said quite a lot lately but i will say it again, sunshine is always the best disinfectant. gentlemen, i appreciate your time. it is only tuesday. all day long. thank you both. with house republicans and the president eyeing another attempt to replace obamacare, will they be able to convince skeptical members of their own party? we'll dig into that. you are taking a look live at the senate floor where a procedural vote is under way to move neil gorsuch's nomination forward. but will mitch mcconnell end up invoking the nuclear option? that is next.

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i'm katy tur in new york with today's top 5 headlines.

we begin with take two of the republicans' attempt to repeal and replace obamacare. according to politico, the white house's legislative director met with moderate house democrats last night. it is the trump administration's first outreach to house dems. that meeting came on the same day vice president mike pence vid to make headway with house freedom caucus members who helped sink the republicans' initial replace many bill. from the house to the senate and the fight over supreme court nominee neil gorsuch. today senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is expected to file a motion that could pave the way for the so-called nuclear option when gorsuch heads to a full senate vote next week. senator john mccain just this past hour had some harsh words on capitol hill. >> that after 200 years, at least 100 years o this tradition where the senate h functioned pretty well, they think it would be a good idea to blow it up. idiot. no. whoever says that is a stupid idiot. in syria, dozens are dead,

including 11 children of a suspected chemical weapons attack this morning. the syrian government denies any involvement. the white house condemns the attack. a tornado is caught on camera last night in louisiana. it was spawned from a deadly series of storms that have been slamming the southeast. at least five people have died. chelsea clinton spoke this morning on cbs talking about her mother's political career and russia's hack to influence the election. when asked whether or not she will run against trump in 2020, she had a pretty clear answer. no. >> i clearly don't agree with our president, but i'm definitely not the right person to run to defeat him in 2020. >> more on those gop plans to revive trump care. a republican aide tells nbc a potential compromise could allow states to waive some of the insurance regulations like essential health care benefits and community ratings if they could prove it would lower

health care and premiums in their state. it would not allow states to waive those requirements for people under 26, or allow an opt-out for pre-existing conditions or impose lifetime spending caps. however, without the community rating, health plans could charge people with pre-existing conditions as much as they wanted. joining me now live from capitol hill, republin congressman dan donovan of n york who sits on the foreign affairs and homeland security committees. congressman, thank you for joining us. i know you were initially a "no" on the health care plan. if these changes are made, would this sway you, or would it only fortify your opposition? >> i think i would have to look at it. right now there are conceptual ideas, katy. we haven't seen anything in writing. i had a laundry list of things that i felt hurt people that i represent in the proposal. i've always said that the president and speaker ryan are courageous for attempting this. this is very complicated. they could have let the affordable care act just

collapse upon itself, because it will. but they attempted to make corrections, things that we need to do for the american public. but they have to look through this of the lenses of what's good for 330 million people. i have to look at the people i represent in stat i eien island brooklyn. >> they leave it to the states to do away with the mandate for essential health care benefits. that will effective live force people who have preexisting conditions to pay a very high premium or very -- pay a lot for their health care costs. that is not necessarily insuring that they're going to get health care if they have to pay for than they afford. >> that can be very dangerous. also, katy, when you look at what we did to seniors. the oraniginal affordable care t allowed insurance companies to charge seniors three times as much as they charge a healthy person. the proposal lt week that never got ved on allow tm

them to charge senior citizens five times when they charge a healthy's person. this is the time in seniors' a lives when they are living on limited incomes and probably need health insurance more than they did in earlier years. these are some of the essentials i have with the original plan. i have to see what's being proposed now corrects any of those. >> your president said that he wanted universal health care for every person in this country, not access to health care. why are republicans in the freedom caucus just forging ahead with the plan that would deny so many millions, according to the cbo in that last report, and who knows how the cbo would rate this if this ends up going to the floor for a bill. why are they so bent on making sure that they lose their health care? why is this not a plan that's being made more moderate instead of more conservative? >> katy, i don't know. in washington, one of the things you have to do in our business is learn to count. right now to pass any kind of legislation we need 216 votes. there's five vacancies right now

so the magic number is 216. i suspect the folks at leadership are counting those heads. i don't know why people would want to allow people to go without health care, allow penal who have health care now to lose that health care. it is very expensive. we have to do something. if we don't change what's happening with medicaid, it is not going to be around for people who come after us. something has to be done. we have to do this compassionately. it is very difficult to pull the rug out from people who have now become dependent on having health care. but the cbo report that you just mentioned, the last one anyhow, said 24 million americans would be without health care that currently don't have health care with the new proposal. the new proposal wasn't going to help those people with high premiums and high desubjeductib and co-pays. the cbo says in 20 years people paying $20,000 a year, premiums would only be paying $18,000. that's not the relief we

promised to the american people. >> would you rather work with the democrats on this to fix obamacare rather than repealing the entire thing? >> we have to fix our health care system. it is broken and in great need of repair. however we get that done i am willing to work -- >> so, yes, i would like to work with democrats is what i hear you saying. >> i would like to work with everyone. >> congressman dan donovan, i appreciate your time. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> i trust snoeenator burr and senator warner to conduct this investigation in a bipartisan, thorough way. and so we are anxious to hear what their report is. we also know the fbi has a criminal investigation, so there are two investigations going on. and i think the american people at some point here will find out exactly what happened on all of these issues that have been swirling around about that

preand post election period and whatever interaction there was between the russians and us and all the rest. >> did they interview susan rice? >> now that it is clear that mr. gorsuch does no the have 60 votes for cloture, are you confident you have the votes to change the precedent? >> yes. >> mr. leader? thank you. just to follow up on the earlier questions, are you committing that under your leadership you will never remove the legislative fill bulegislate i ive filibuster? >> correct. >> the leaders are trying to revive the health care bill. how hopeful are you at this point -- >> there you have it, senator majority leader mitch mcconnell commenting on susan rice. congressman mike quigley, a democrat from illinois and member of the house intelligence committee is with me. congressman, as of now, your investigation in the house seems to have stalled. but when do you expect it to get back on track? >> well, we had meetings

starting again this week. i think we've agreed on a witness list. the democrats have openly asked for a public hearing to be rescheduled with miss yates, mr. clapper, mr. brennan, and to have mr. comey and admiral rogers come back in a closed hearing. we are ready to go. we're reviewing documents. again, the committee has started to meet. we're looking forward to a complete investigation. >> you now have a witness list according to your chairman. is susan rice on that list? >> i cannot say who is on or not on the list. i'm sure that will come out very soon on its own. >> is she somebody that republicans in your committee want to testify? >> i would imane that she is somebody that they would want to -- you'd have to ask them. but i suspect that the real reasons they want her to testify have something to do with their analysis of what's happening, and their actions at this point can only be described in three

words. delays, distract, disrupt. the investigation isn't going well for them. the first public meeting was an unmitigated disaster, so that's why they canceled the second public meeting, throwing as many road blocks in our way so the american public cannot find out exactly what's taking place. >> do the democrats want susan rice to testify? >> listen, if the republicans want someone to testify, that's fine. we won't stand in the way. as long as they don't stand in the way of who we'd like to testify. this should be an open and cooperative process. if it is going to have a decent reputation as a final work product, we have to work together. >> chairman nunes when he visited the white house wouldn't say -- in fact, he said the materials that he was able to see didn't have anything to do with russia. now it seems to be folding in on itself and republicans are saying that this is proof that the white house -- that president trump was surveilled by the obama administration. do you see this as a smoking gun

as rand paul has put it? >> yeah. at this point in time it is back to the disruptive stage. just because there's an unmasking, that is not surveillance. just because there's an unmasking doesn't mean there's leaking. it is just the opposite. it is a normal protocol to move forward. there is an incidental collection that takes place, and unmavgi ing unmasking has to go through a legal process. and once if a person is unmasked, that's not a "reply all." that just goes back to the senior official who made that request. it is not released on a wide basis. so, look, they're desperate at this point in time to try to make this something that it isn't. they're trying to take the camera off the news that's coming out every day on a broader and broader investigation. whether there's more dots and more of the dots are being connected. >> when do you expect to see fbi director james comey back on the

witness stand for you guys? >> it is clearly at this time up to chairman nunes. we were ready. we're ready this week. the house is out of session for two weeks. we'd like to start the week we get back with a fresh start. >> illinois democratic congressman mike quigley, thank you for your time, sir. >> thank you. now let's check today's microsoft pulse question. do you believe susan rice when she says it is absolutely false that the obama administration used intel for political purposes? not much change from a little bit earlier. 88% of you say, yes, you do believe her. there is still time to cast your votes at pulsemsnbc.com. stay with us, we'll be right back. you have access to the right information at the right moment. ♪ ♪ and when you filter out the noise, it's easy to turn your vision into action. ♪ ♪

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from the b-2 to the upcoming b-21, northrop grumman stealth bombers give america an advantage in a turbulent world. and we're looking for a few dreamers to join us. can ivanka trump because the white house atop ambassador on equal pay? she made her first public appearance as the president's assistant today, at a town hall with other business leaders. she's essential to her father's new goal -- >> my father wants to create 25 million jobs in this country and women need to fully participate

for that to be realized, because whether we think about equal pay and the challenge we have to finally level the playing field, i think this will be a very important component when we think about the future to doing just that. >> before that event she tweeted, mash mash equalpayday. we must work together to close the gender pay gap. joining me, republican strategist and author, noel mc. the president pulled back the fair play and work place order put in place by the obama administration to protect women in the workplace. now ivanka trump's trying to go out and be the champion of equal pay. can she? is there well, ivanka now works for the administration and works for her father as part of this administration. the administration's policies are clear. they have no interest in talking about closing this pay gap that

dealing th, particularly women of color. in fact, as you've said, he rolled back at least a piece of the solution just last week. i mean just a week before equal payday that we are talking about today. so we've got a lot of work to do and what we really need is continue leadership from wonderful women like congresswoman rosa de lora who today laid out a piece of legislation once again, the paycheck fairness act, that would at least take a step in the right direction in solving this really ridiculous problem that we should not be having a in the year 2017. >> on a number of issues we hear ivanka -- reports of ivanka being the voice of reason in the president's ear, her father's ear. the voice of reason when it comes to equal pay for one, when it comes to family care leave, when it comes to the environment, when it comes to lgbtq rights. but with such a disconnect between the way that she presents herself and the way

that she and the issues that she tries to champion and the issues that her father champions in the white house, noel, does she have real credibility on this issue? >> well, i'm going to answer th. not as a republican, but as a woman. as a woman, this issue is our issue. this is not a political issue. i'm very, very encouraged by the fact that the president obviously is taking into consideration his daughter who fought for the things you said. one of the promises that donald trump made was the fact that all women should get paid maternity leave. anyone can be rolled back. with the huge backlash, president trump can take into consideration and talk to his daughter ivanka who is a proud

working mother, working woman and try to see if we can't repair this. this is not good. i'm speaking to you not as a republican, but as a woman. >> let's hope so. i like when you speak to me as a woman. let's just talk to each other as human beings. 7 79% is what a woman makes of what a man makes. we don't expect to close that until 2059 when i'm well out of the work sphere. >> you and me both. >> you and me both. with alpha president's explicit support and lobbying to congress, is there legislation that has a hope of passing this republican-controlled house and senate? >> it doesn't look like it right now, but the republican party

has not chosen to pick this up. ever, in fact. congresswoman dell oro put out a piece of legislation and we have so many great women. what i often say to people coming from emily's list, i need you to run for office. we need to change who the policy makers are to really get this issue lifted up to another level. i believe if we were looking at kj clo congress closer to 50% women, we could start addressing this issue. we need to do that. if you are ready to run, come to emily's list. if you are not, we could use your help with the women who are running and we have 10,000 across the country who know their voices need to be heard and want to run. that's what we need to do. change the policy makers. >> i want you to put your

republican hat back on. study after study shows the numbers are a lot worse for minority women than white women. as a republican, what can be done to fix that? do republicans have the appetite to fix it? >> republican women have the appetite to change that. 100%. i think our big advantage is to have somebody so close to the president's ear. someone who said her desire is equal pay for women. if we have a champion on the republican side, this close to the president, that's her father. we have got a good shot at rolling back these things. i have hope as a republican woman we had somebody good like ivanka trump who can champion this. >> i was concerned she was close to her daughter as he rolled back things that the last

administration did to ease the gap in the federal workforce. i'm concerned that she is just continuing to stand by her father's policies. that is dangerous for women and families in this country. >> let's give her a chance. >> noelle, happy equal payday to you guys. you ladies, i should say. i'm going to get slammed on twitter for saying guys. after verizon merges aol with yahoo, the company will be renamed. here's the verge update. >> verizon's content division will get a new name this summer. oath. they declined to comment on being rebranded. aol ceo went public with the hash tag, #take the oath. however the deal is expected to

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we are moving forward with the nomination for the supreme court that should be wrapped up sometime friday. it appears as if it will not be invoked, but we will find out on thursday. either way, we will be moving towards confirming judge gorsuch on friday.

>> either way we will be moving towards confirming judge gorsuch. saying earlier that he is confident that judge neal gorsuch will be confirmed on friday. right now you are looking at debate over gorsuch is under way and the chamber is take up procedural vote to advance gorsuch's confirmation. let's take i last look at the question of the day. do you believe susan rice when she said it was false that the obama administration used intel for political purposes. 88% of you said yes, you believe her and 12% said no. thank you for voting. that wraps things up for me. i'm katie turr. hi, kate snow. >> here are the top stories this hour.

i leaked nothing to nobody. susan rice. short and to the point. the former vazor responding to reports that she unmasked trump associates for political purposes. andrea mitchell joins us with that interview. we are inching closer to the nuclear option. the senate could change forever. ivanka trump is not mailing in for first week as employee. she is talking about the way to get jobs ready for america. before we get to the headlines, i want to get to the exclusive interview to join us afterwards for reaction. >> this is a firestorm. it is involved with the whole question of the russia investigation and the response by president trump and now these accusations against you. how do you respond?