about believing that the party will do what it says it will do because you see they've been there and you see them do what they say they're going to do. that's really important. looking at the record of the candidate is important. i'm sure i'm going to get plenty of tweets about this. i think with hillary, we put out very detailed plans -- >> i've got to say, karen -- >> how she'd pay for it and all that. we thought that was important and mattered. look now. people would sure love to know more details about what donald trump would do. that matters as well. >> karen finney and josh, thank you. the rachel maddow show starts right now. >> thanks to you at home for joining us. happy tuesday. a lot going on tonight. some late-breaking news about former national security adviser mike flynn. and the former acting attorney general sally yates who appears to have blown the whistle on him. that story may dominate tomorrow's news, particularly because fbi director jim comey is going to be back on capitol

hill testifying tomorrow in open session. today, senators from the intelligence committee were bussed over to cia headquarters in langley, virginia, to go look at classified information at cia headquarters related to the the senators would not say what thooked at, of course, because it was classified but we got to see them get to the scooby van and go over to langley. it's kind of cute. it's both stealth and adorable. how i think of the senate intelligence committee. so that story, the trump/russia investigation, you should expect that's going to get big again. that may blow up again over the next 24 hours or so. particularly with that comey testimony tomorrow and what's breaking tomorrow on flynn. the latest on that including some absolutely hair-curling new reporting from "usa today." the reporter from the "usa today" new scoop on that subject

is with us tonight. in washington, d.c., tonight, as we speak, the day's news is not yet over. we're on proverbial political death watch yet again tonight for the republicans' continued efforts to kill the affordable care act. starting this morning over the course of today into this evening, republicans have been trying very hard to mount a third attempt at repealing obamacare. now they are not even trying to get any democratic votes. this is a 100% republican effort in a congress where they have republican majorities in both houses of congress but it's starting to look tonight like their repeal the affordable care act effort is going to fail for a third straight time. it is not done yet, though, but it's not looking good for them. all eyes on that continuing effort in congress. an effort, if successful, will cause more than 20 million americans to lose their health

insurance. want to try to get a vote on it tomorrow. they're twisting arms 20. eyes on washington tonight, and we'll have more on that ongoing story ahead this hour. we're going to start tonight with something that had you asked me this morning when i woke up what would be on tonight's show, i never in a million years would have guessed this, but this is just something i want you to see. i want you to experience this. i swear it's real. and i say that because for a big portion of the day, after i heard about this today, i thought it was a joke. i thought it was a prank. i did not believe it could have been real. we've now confirmed this is real. this really happened. we have the tape of it i think ultimately it's amang just to experience it in the moment but it's also kind of an incredible snapshot of what's really going on, nuts and bolts in american politics right now. american political reporting beltway media stuff tends to be really focusod what people say they are doing.

and what people say to reporters and how people describe their own aims and intentions. if you mute tha and just wat what happens, you just watch what they do, sometimes you get a lot more insight into what they are capable of doing and what you should expect next. and, boy did we have a stark example of that today. and it's nothing that anybody said they were going to do. here's the story. you know that on friday, congress reached the last-second deal to fund the federal government for a week. to avoid a government shutdown on a minute after midnight on friday night which would have been the president's 100th day in office. over the weekend they came up with a longer deal to keep the government funded until september. that's generally good news for everybody who doesn't want the federal government to shut down. but that deal is a real thing. it's a specific thing. as people started reading through the details of that deal, it became clear that the republicans in the trump administration didn't get the things they promised they were

going to get out of that agreement. and the democrats pretty much got everything they were insisting on. we talked about this a little bit on the show last night. some of these details have now become widely known. republicans did not kill the national endowment for the arts or the national endowment for the humanities or the corporation for public broadcasting even though they said they would. they did not slash the environmental protection agency by 30%. even though they said they would. epa only gets a 1% cut. they did not kill federal funding for planned parenthood. they did not kill funding for sanctuary cities even though they said they'd do that, too. they did not get any money to build a freaking wall between us and mexico. and on and on and on down the list. exhaustively, actually, down the list. so by the time we orp the air last night talking about this development and funding the government, i think people broadly have started to figure out this first big legislation of the trump era really, the

first significant legislation this president will sign will be a checklist of what democrats insisted on and none of the things the trump administration said they were going to force the democrats to go along with. it's really true. down the line 100%. the only thing the trump administration got part of that they wanted was increased military spending. and the democrats weren't opposed to that. so this is a difficult thing from a political perspective, if you think about it from the -- through the eyes of the trump administration. after the 100 days benchmark with all the media attention and political attention on tharkts all the attention the administration itself put on that berchmark. by the 100 days benchmark by which the new president had passed zero major legislation. they pass this 100 days benchmark and then head into the next week and you know finally what they do get?

they do get some consequential legislation for the first time. they do finally get something for the president to sign, something major and it's nothing that they wanted. right? that is not the kind of press they want right now. and at this point, it's -- the deal is done. and the next government shutdown will happen on friday if they don't come up with a new deal. it's too late to change the deal. so what they decided today was that they wanted to change the press about the deal. they can't change the deal. let's change the way people are spinning this. let's try t make ourselves sound better. let's sel ts deal better. and that's where the tape comes in. so today the administration decided they needed to change the spin. and they needed to change the story, change the headlines. so they convened a big conference call with the trump administration's new budget chief. it's him on this conference call with experienced top tier national reporters. change the spin. make it look more like a win for

them. and it started off normal. this is what it sounded like before things went wrong. >> i said yesterday in a briefing here in washington that, you know, the dems were trying to take credit for a win. that's fine. that's understandable. i think in the last 24 hours, though, we've seen them try and take it some place that it is simply not sustainable, which is that they won and that we lost. >> that's how the conference call began. you can hear as people joining the call or at that point, the way those tones go, those are people signing in. joining. getting on the call. at that point, that's what you expect. don't believe these democrats when they say they won anything here. now we'll explain our own new spin on this about how we won this. then the call started and it took a dramatic turn. but then this is what happened in realtime. this is how reporters all over

the country experienced the rest of the call as it was happening. >> this morning, the president on twitter called for a government shutdown in september to try to fix this mess. can you please address those comments? do you think a shutdown will be necessary later this year to get the budget system fixed? >> again, right now i'm not worried about september. i'm worried about this deal that's in front of us. but i think the president's tweet was we might need a shutdown to drive home the point that washington needs to be fixed. the truth of the matter is now as we've averted a government shutdown in a way that allows the president to fund his priorities. for those ofou who put us back on, if you could mute your phones, that would be great. i enjoy the classical music. i do. all right. hold on a second. is there a way to --

who would like to ask a question? this is going to be a disaster. >> doug obey with epa. the democrats didn't get renewable energy subsidies. which subsidies are we talking about here? >> they could ask for new subsidy -- [ inaudible ]. >> hello? >> you're breaking up. ♪ hello? >> is there another question? is anyone there? >> the audio is breaking up. >> this is unbelievable! >> the phone is muted? >> is there anybody left there? ♪ >> the person just screamed, this is unbelievable. >> the system is not working very well.

>> is the music changing? ♪ >> hello? >> your conference is ending now as requested by the host. please hang up. and that's the end of it. that's how it ends. as requested by your host, your conference call is ending now. click. like the most mercifully please hang up in politics ever. the amazing thing was like the three different versions of the song. like each of them louder. did not adjust the volume of that a all. all we did was put the subtitles up so you could hear people laughing and screaming. this is incredible! and all of the things they were saying. but that volume was how people

experienced it. that was what the white house did today. that was the trump administration today. this was the white house. this was the president of the united states of america using all the powers of the federal government to try to respin the disastrously bad press they're getting about the first dig of significant legislation that the president will sign. and that's the budget director on the phone with all those reporters when that happened. imagine the trump imagine director being like, this is not what i signed up for. this is not what they told me to expect. is this background music coming from us? so after starting the day with that, which really happened, they then decided to take a second crack at it. they decided to give the budget guy a second chance to respin this story. this time no calls, no technology. we'll do it live. they put him at the podium at the regular press briefing where they gave him pictures to

illustrate the border wall he insisted will get built, even though the president didn't get the money from congress and while he pointed at them, the pictures disappointed. you can't even do pictures. this was at the regular press briefing today. this is our second crack at it for the administration. and then look how that briefing ended. >> will you guys just e-mail where that wall is from so we can identify a location? >> sean. sean, come on, sean. >> what about the putin call? >> where did sean go? >> just sit. no one leave. sit and wait. let's see. sit and wait. let's see. >> he said he's not coming back. >> he's not coming back? >> not coming back. >> he'll come back.

let's sit here and wait. >> what about the putin call? let's sit here and wait. april ryan is like, let's sit here and wait. peter alexander is like, i just checked. he's not coming back. that cannot be. this is the white house -- this is what they're doing at the white house press briefing? he's just getting up and walking out? they convened a press briefing and now they're not taking any questions and there will be no speaking? peter alexander is like, really, he just bailed. he's not coming. that was the white house today. no questions. no follow-ups. sit and wait all you want. the president is going to sign his first big thing since he's president and we're having a hard time talking about it. so i just wanted you to see that. there's a lot to get to tonight. there's a lot going on in washington. but one thing -- one thing we --

♪ one thing to know about today's news is there is something wrong with the background music today. this -- where is that coming from? this did not work today. you guys, come on. the peace of mindives me and the security just like the marines did. at one point, i did change to a different company with car insurance, and i was not happy with the customer service. we have switched back over and we feel like we're back home now. the process through usaa is so effortless, that you feel like you're a part of the family. i love that i can pass the membership to my children, and that they can be protected. we're the williams family, and we're usaa members for life. call usaa today to talk about your insurance needs. ltry align probiotic.n your digestive system? for a non-stop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. get 24/7 digestive support, with align. the #1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. also in kids chewables.

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this has been an interesting pattern to see develop. first was devin nunes as the house intelligence committee closed in on a blockbuster hearing that was going to feature the former acting attorney general, sally yates. a hearing likely to focus on former national security adviser mike flynn and his contacts with the russian government.

devin nunes called off that next public hearing. it still hasn't been rescheduled and he simultaneously gohimse l himself kicked offhat hou intelligence investigation. so he was firs then it happened aga as the house oversight committee, i think maybe unexpectedly stumbled into information about contacts between mike flynn and russian officials. their questions about flynn's contacts with foreign governments and his payments from foreign governments led to revelations the pent gone launched a new independent investigation into flynn. as soon as that happens, house oversight chairman chaffetz also decided he, too, needed to get out of dodge. congressman chaffetz first announced he was going to quit congress and then he said he needed to leave congress immediately. yesterday for surgery on an old foot injury. then on friday, as that news was publicly announced about the defense department inspector general running its own

investigation, then it was a third guy, the attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions, saying that he, too, was bailing on anything -- any investigations released to mike flynn. on friday, attorney general jeff sessions announced he will recuse himself specifically from anything involving mike flynn that comes up at the department of justice. nunes, chaffetz, sessions. guys keep disappearing themselves from this investigation, particularly when it gets close to mike flynn. and now we may be starting to see why. members of the senate intelligence committee boarded a scooby van and went to cia headquarters not langley, virginia. they reviewed classified intelligence. committee members were tight-lipped after returning to the capitol because they were reviewing classified information. but we did get two teasers from the top democrat on the committee, senator mark warner. he said it was helpful to have the whole committee at that

briefing at cia headquarters because there's a whole lot of information that cannot leave that building. we don't know what that information is that cannot leave the building. senator warner said you'll be hearing from us shortly. we don't know what that means either but we'll stay tuned. and this is about to heat up because tomorrow, fbi director james comey is going to testify before a different senate committee in open session. he'll be testifying before t judiciary committee in the senate tomorrow. that hearing is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. it's an open hearing. it is expected to get into the trump/russia investigation. at least as far as director comey will allow that. then the following day, on thursday, fbi director james comey and the nsa director mike rogers will testify behind closed doors before the house intelligence committee. all specifically on the russia investigation. this will be the house intelligence committee's first hearing since way back in march. march 20th when director comey testified the fbi is, in fact,

conducting a counterintelligence investigation into russia's role attacking the 2016 election as well as possible collusion with the trump campaign. so comey will be testifying in open court tomorrow. comey and rogers testifying behind closed doors on thursday. those will both be a warm-up act for this coming monday when former acting attorney general sally yates is due to testify before a senate subcommittee. she'll be there along with former national intelligence director james clapper. now this is going to be the first time we've heard from sally yates. her first appearance on capitol hill since she was fired by the trump administration in late january after she said she wouldn't defend the muslim ban in court. the reason she's going to be testifying has nothing to do with that. the reason she's going to be testifying is to talk about the warning that she gave the white house about then serving national security adviser mike flynn and his ties to foreign governments and his contacts, his communications with russian

government officials. well, now today we're learning more about what to expect from sally yates and we're getting a window into why everybody might be freaking out every time they get close to the mike flynn investigation. cnn reports that sally yates is prepared to testify that she gave a, quote, forceful warning to the white house regarding then national security adviser mike flynn. in a private meeting january 26th, yates told white house counsel don mcgann that flynn was lying when he denied in public and private that he had discussed u.s. sanctions on russia in conversations kwith russian ambassador to the u.s. flynn's misleading comments, yates said, made him vulnerable to being compromised by russia. that's according to sources familiar with her version of events. she expressed serious concerns to the white house counsel making it clear that flynn could be fired. now the reason this is a big

deal is because this directly contradicts what the white house has been saying about mike flynn. directly contradicts the administration's version of events surrounding mike flynn including sean spicer who has told reporters that sally yates simply gave the white house a friendly heads-up about mike flynn. from cnn's report, yates is highly motivated to set the record straight about her warning regarding flynn. now we should note it wasn't just sean spicer who tried this line thasally yates had done nothing more than give the whi house a casual heads-up about mike flynn. that wasn't just sean spicer like mispronouncing bashar al assad. this was something that the white house actually rolled out through multiple staff as their official explanation of what happened when they got warned by the acting attorney general about mike flynn and didn't fire him for almost three days later. it wasn't just sean spicer. white house chief of staff

reince priebus also tried to say that when sally yates came to the white house it was just a friendly heads-up. >> look, here's what happened. yates came in, gave a heads-up to the white house counsel. without counsel looked at the matter the next day or day after the investigation was closed. no longer going on. then the issue shifted to whether or not something was done that was wrong. the vice president was then looped in on this situation and we talked to the vice president about whether or not michael flynn was being honest or not. the vice president knew there was an fbi interview. and then ultimately, we decided, after about ten days, bringing the vice president in, that we decided that he wasn't being honest. that's a timeline. it happened very quickly, chris. >> but the vice president says he didn't know for 14 days that he had been misled by michael flynn. >> no, the vice president knew th he were -- what the vice

esident dn't know, i believe, was that sally yates gave an initial heads-up to don mcgann. some time after january 27th, it was our legal counsel got a heads-up from sally yates that something wasn't adding up with his story. and so then our legal department went into a review of the situation and some time after that, when sally yates refused to do her job as attorney general, like two days later, we had to get rid of her. >> she just gave us this little heads-up. it was like, you guys, post-it note. and then like two days later we had to get rid of her. so the white house explanation about what happened with mike flynn, what did they know about mike flynn and his ties with the russian government and his ties with forb governments n his payments from foreign governments? what did they know about that when they vetted him to be national security adviser? that has never made any sense in terms of why they took him on in

terms of national security adviser. their explanation for how they reacted to this news from the department of justice, playing down the warning that they got, saying that they responded to it very quickly, even though they kept him on for another three weeks after this warning. the explanation that mike flynn had no idea that -- excuse me, that mike pence had no idea mike flynn had any of these government ties. none of those things factually makes any sense. and sally yates is absolutely key to us all starting to get the real story and starting to make sense of it. so she's due to testify on monday. testimony from comey tomorrow. testimony from comey and rogers on thursday. sally yates will testify on monday. we're already getting reporting about what to expect from that. we've got nunes bailing. chaffetz bailing, jeff sessions bailing. everybody who gets near the flynn investigation is bailing. so this story is about to get big enot smaller. clearly mike flynn is at the center of some bull's-eye here.

but, you know what? one last point here. we're also starting to see something else that's interesting. and that is how republicans in congress may be trying to bobble this up. the head of the senate judiciary committee is senator chuck grassley. he's now sent a shot across the bow at the fbi. ahead of james comey's testimony tomorrow before grasley's committee. grassley just sent a letter to the fbi director casting doubt specifically on the dossier. remember the dossier, the christopher steel dossier about the trump team's connections to russia? in this letter he tries to undercut not just the dossier but tries to undercut the fbi for having ever relied on this dossier in the first place. so watch that line from chuck grassley and senate republicans as of tomorrow. we also just got this news from the top republican on the foreign relations committee today. senator bob corker now announcing his committee will not pursue any sanctions against russia for attacking our

election. because why would they do a thing like that? i mean, you are starting to see not just some interesting new information come out about this investigation. you are starting to see somewhat amazing republican reaction to these investigations as they move forward. things are about to get really interesting in terms of this investigation, in terms of this story and in terms of how they're going to cope with it in political terms as we learn more. ♪ ♪ i'm dr. kelsey mcneely and some day you might be calling me an energy farmer. ♪ energy lives here. you had a long, stressful day,

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some remarkable new reporting from "usa today." did you see this story today? just one of those things where i'm not sure i can improve on this. just know this exists. i'm going to read this lead. quote, a former member of the russian parliament is gunned down in broad daylight in the ukrainian capital of kiev. a longtime ambassador drops dead at work. a commander is blown up in an elevator. a russian media executive is found dead in his washington, d.c., hotel room. what do they have in common? among 38 prominent russians. 36 men and two women who were victims of unsolved murderser suspicious deaths since just the beginning of 2014. the list contains 10 high-profile critics of vladimir putin, seven diplomats, six associates of kremlin power brokers who had a falling out, two are possibly connected to a

dossier alleging connections between president trump's campaign staff and kremlin officials. a dossier produced by a former british spy and shared with the fbi. 12 of these people were shot, stab or beaten to death. six were blown up. ten died allegedly of natural causes. one died of mysterious head injuries. one slipped and hit his head in a basketball bath. one hanged in his jail cell and one died after drinking coffee. the cause of six death was reported as unknown. this is a new report just out from "usa today." headline is mysterious rash of russian deaths casts suspicion on vladimir putin. this list goes back to the beginning of 2014. it's the last three years-plus. the risk of being on the wrong side of vladimir putin is not a new risk that we have just become aware of in this country. for example, vladimir karamurza

on this show on friday night was first poisoned in russia in 2015 but what is different now for us americans, what is different now about this trail of dead russians, as one senate intelligence committee witness recently put it is now vladimir putin's government is accused by u.s. intelligence agencies of attacking our election last year to hurt hillary clinton's chances and to swing the election to donald trump, and now an open counterintelligence investigation at the fbi as to whether the trump campaign cooperated in that russian attack. now, because of that, now putin's trail of dead russians isn't just a story about him and his governance. it's a backdrop to what we're trying to learn about us and our governance. it was the last open hearing on the russian attack where expert witness clint watts advised investigators, advised

congressional investigators of what they ought to do is follow the trail of dead russians. >> follow the trail of dead russians. >> that's struck everybody as maybe -- maybe being hyperbollic when he said it? i don't think he meant that as hyperbole. "usa today" took that advice and what they found reads like the script for a horror movie. joining susoren dorell. a foreign affairs reporter for "usa today." the author of this chilling article today. congratulations on this reporting. thank you for beg here. >> thank you for having me. >> what was the genesis of this reporting and how did you go about compiling what is a very long list? >> i've been following this story of russia and its involvement in eastern ukraine for a long time. and also its involvement in the previous election of the united

states. and i came across another reporter, sarah hurst, who is in the uk, in britain, who had been keeping tabs of suspicious deaths in eastern ukraine and in russia basically since the russian involvement in ukraine began in 2014. and i came across this list that she compiled and she had been following media reports and media reports and russian media and western media and checking some of these people looking at their social media sites. yeah, social media sites. and together, i kind of verified some of the work that she was doing, but we worked together and she compiled the list. i checked what she had and added a few details and together we put this all together. >> and you're clear in the report that you're not

necessarily alleging all 38 of these people were murdered deliberately by the putin regime but you have to decide what you consider to be a government-linked death or a death that counts as reasonably suspicious to be on this sort of a list. what's the line for you between that sort of reasonable suspicious for a specific death and what may just be coincidence or conspiracy theory? >> that's a very good question. and what really -- there are two factors that go into this. one is what connection do these people have to the kremlin and to people in power. do they have information? do they -- one is looking at the victim or the person who died and what their connection is to the kremlin. a lot of these people, all of these people have information that people in the kremlin would not want out.

they're diplomats. they're military leaders in eastern ukraine. they're people who either were involved in corruption as participants and got caught, or they're people who were trying to expose corruption either as government officials so s or as reporters or activists. others are people who were somehow -- had information, some other information, you know, a couple of them are involved in this -- were alleged to be involved in -- connected to this trump dossier which, obviously, is another type of information that people don't want out. another aspect of this was, you know, really looking at the history of russia. there's a long history of people being killed who are either enemies of vladimir putin or enemies of the russian state and soviet state before that.

the soviets developed all kinds of chemicals and means of killing people that were almost untraceable. we have -- people have spoken to -- people who worked in this field for the soviets, and they describe what they had. and there have been people under the rule of vladimir putin who we know have brn murdered. the former kgb agent who defected to britain was killed with plutonium 210, a radioactive substance that can only be made in a few places in the rld, and one of those is in russia. and in order for that material to have made it to london where he was given that material a decision would have had to have

been made at the highest levels of the russian government. so there's a long history. we looked at people at the ways that people died. a lot of them -- there are a lot of outright murderers. there are a few that are very suspicious. there are a few who died of natural causes, but allegedly, but some of them are very -- were rather young. so we don't know which of these people are on the list were murdered, but we think -- we think it's worth asking the question. >> yeah, and what you've provided is, as i said, scary but essentially a reference list that i think a lot of people will use when they -- as people do further reporting on this story, not just in terms of the russian government but in terms of this american connection as well. oren dorell, foreign affairs reporter for "usa today." i really appreciate the work you did and thanks for talking to us about it. >> i will say just to underscore

oren's point about people's involvement in or exposing of corruption. one of the things you find again and again as you start following the russian side of this, when there's corruption, large scale corruption, people who are exposed to that corruption from all different sides end up being in danger. not just people who make it publicly known, who investigate it but people who resist it. people who go along with it, profit from it, people who can tell tales about it. everybody who is touched by corruption ends up being in danger. in russia, often that means mortal danger. all right. much more ahead tonight. stay with us. okay, let's go. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. that's amazing!

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quick programming note. tonight i'll be on an excellent television show called "late night with seth meyers." two fair warnings. one, i will still be wearing the same $20 blazer. if you think it looks frumpy from the front, you should see it from the patented 34-degree side angle that happens on late night shows. there will be a belabored analogy involving the silence of the lambs. >> there's never been a presidency, an administration that was this overtly hostile to the press. but at the same time there's never been a president who was more addicted to the news about himself. and who is more responsive to the news that he supposedly thinks is so wohless. it's a weird tension. it's a dangerous time f the

first amendment and the free press in this country. at the same time we're oddly influential with the guy who wants to kill us. >> it's a weird dance. like one of those movies where the serial killer is also clearly in love with the person who is trying to arrest him. >> so you're clarice? >> yes. the press is clarice and he's lector. it's like a cat and mouse game and, like he's definitely going to kill some other people but maybe not me. >> and he's age inappropriate and can't figure out what she sees in him. >> tell me about the lambs. >> but if the press is clarice, and the president is hannibal lechter, who is buffalo bill? and when do we get the delicious claret. "late night with seth meyers" 12:35 eastern. more ahead tonight in the meantime. stay with us. to china. at&t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques.

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in january 1950, president truman made a mistake, he was making remarks to the national press club and he described a defensive perimeter within the specific region in which the united states pledged to protect that defensive perimeter under all circumstances. he described that defensive perimeter in the specific region and he did not include korea in that defensive perimeter. didn't mention it. and who knows if it was a

connected event or not, but six months after those remarks by the secretary of state, north korea invaded south korea in the korean war began. since then some scholars have pointed to dean's comments, his misstatement of what u.s. policy was at the time or at least his policy disconnect from his president, scholars have pointed to those remarks from him as having played a factor in the start of the korean war. historian's assessments, at least some of them, when he misstated u.s. policy or he gave voice to his own mistaken interpretation of what he thought u.s. policy was, well, maybe he green lit north korea, maybe he somehow convinced north korea that now would be an okay time for him to invade the south since now the u.s. government was implying that the u.s. wouldn't jump in in response if north korea made that move. now, whether that's a fair assessment, there are now starting to be some parallel

worries that that same type of communication disconnect, that same kind of american policy not all happening in one voice, that same type of concern may be at play again. those worries may be playing out with this new administration, over and over again. one example, just this past weekend, president trump praisi kim jong un calling h a smart cookie, saying he wou be honor to meet with kim jong un. if you look at the state department web site. they insist that the united states and north korea do not have diplomatic relations. the president, not just praising dictators, but saying things about the dictators that the state department is shocked by or at the very least they're not echoing at all. there's no united front in terms of what u.s. policy is. take another recent example, in turkey, they recently had referendum that resulted in the president getting way more

expansive power than usual. it, essentially, dissolves parliamentary diplomacy. principles with alarm, pointing out concerns by international monitoring groups by irregularities and uneven playing field in the referendum. at the same time, though, president trump got the turkish president on the phone to congratulate him on that big win. president shocked everybody when he invited the philippines president -- president trump this weekend invited him to the white house. he's somebody who human rights advocate say has led to the killing of thousands of people of his own citizens and extrajudicial murders and in his way of fighting the drug trade. trump inviting him to the white house shocked everybody who knows anything about him. it appears, in fact, to have shocked the u.s. state department and the national security council as well. we had no idea that the president was going to extend

this invitation to the philippine dictator who, himself, brags about killing drug suspects with his own hands. there's lots of ways to look at this phenomenon. people starting to talk about it a lot on the news. this is about more than president trump personally, more than just president trump and his personality and his attraction to authorityian dictators. perhaps more importantly, this is a question of looking at this. there's important question that you can get here from looking at this behavior historically, is this dangerous behavior as compared to past president. what's the risk when the president puts out foreign policy relationship with a potentially dangerous foreign leader that has nothing at all to do what the u.s. government says about that same person in that same country. historically speaking is that a dangerous disconnect. nbc presidential and it is great to have you with us.

thank you for being here. >> past administrations and past presidents have been cozy with past guys. >> they have. >> is president trump's behavior just a continuation of that or is there anything different compared to his predecessors. >> there's something very different here, you know, look at the presidents of the 20th century and beyond. john kennedy and his inaugural talked about human rights that we wanted to make sure other countries had, donald trump and his inaugural said, we do not seek to impose our way of life on other countries that was a big dangerous signal. that was a big i think calling up to congratulate the leaders that was talking about in the philippines and turkey and perhaps had a meeting with vladimir putin this summer. >> in terms of the disconnect between trump and his own government and state department,

is that truman analogy in terms of the right place to look in terms of potential dangers. >> other leaders around the world, including the ones we mentioned are looking at the american government and they're trying to figure out what we're really trying to convey. if you've got the state department saying we're for human rights and then president trump calls up the leader of turkey and says congratulations on, essentially, restricting democracy, what does that tell you. >> michael, nbc news presidential historian, thank you, my friend, nice to see you. >> all right, thank you, good to see you rachel. >> all right. 'll be right back. stay with us. before you invest in a car, remember, it's not just the car you're investing in. subaru. kelley blue book's most trusted brand and, now, lowest 5-year cost to own. think about what you value most.

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i have to make a correction before i go, tonight in reference to the great jonathan silence of the lambs, i was thinking clarise when you eat the liver you eat it with a -- i made the wrong wine reference, i'm sorry, i'm terrible and i don't know anything about wine. kiante i'm sorry. now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnel. >> when you say everybody knows, rachel, i knew nothing about what you just said and so you are now handing over to the person who knows wayless about wine than you do, in fact, i know less about wine than, i think, anyone in the