facebook on instagram. thank you for watching. deadline white house, first time ever with nicole wallace premieres right now. >> hi, everyone, thanks for joining us, i'm nicolle wallace in new york. it's 4:00, do you know where your president is? that's the question we'll ask here every day. today, sean spicer fires back to questions about the 18 days, the days between the acting attorney general's first warning to the white house and michael flynn might be compromised by russia and vul firing and briefing a short time ago called sally yates a political opponent of the president. >> let's look again how this came down. someone who is not exactly a supporter of the president's agenda who a couple of days after this first conversation took place, refused to uphold a lawful order of the president, who is not exactly someone that was excited about president trump taking office or his

agenda -- kate, kate, hold on. let me answer the question. she had come here, given a head's up, and at the same time we did what we should do. just because someone gives you a head's up about something and i want to share information, doesn't mean you immediately jump the gun and take action. if you flip the scenario and say, what if we just dismissed somebody because a political opponent of the president had made an utterance, you would argue it was pretty irrational to tareact in that manner. >> joining me, brett stevens opinion columnist with the qutsz new york times and nbc national correspondent steve kornacki whwho will be here every day. white house reporter for the wall street journal and his newsroom at politico, michael crowley. the good news is the countdown clock is gone and we cantart

talking. calling salary yates a polital opponents seems a bridge too far to me. how do you think that line will play in in terms of the white house? >> this is out the usual playbook, muddy the waters and plit size and and attack. they are based this on -- sean spicer is saying they actually sent out a document after that statement saying look at our on sally yates. her husband donated some money to democratic candidates and she would have stood to maybe get a job in a clinton administration, that's really about it. he also stretched it and said she defied -- refused to enact a lawful order, the travel ban. it wasn't lawful. the courts decided it wasn't lawful. she was doing her job and what they are trying to say, she came in with a partisan political democratic recommendation. that's why we dismissed it, not it's impossible for them to contemplate she was actually just doing her job as the acting

attorney general saying you know, look, your national security adviser might be compromised and might be a national security risk to the country and administration, they dismissed that out of hand and this is their way of sort of explaining that after the fact. >> there's a wonderful line spoke on the origins of t totalitari totalitarianism, which talks about the method of the dictatorial moments, to turn every statement of fact into a question of motive. it's a very profound observation. that is exactly what you just heard sean spicer do, he took a statement of fact -- >> impeach sally yates because her motives were ill. >> she's a partisan hack, you can't rely on her. what were we supposed to do with this information? in fact, everything she warned the white house about was right and necessary to move quickly because you had a perso inhe office of national security adviser who wasotentially

compromised by an adversary of the united states. how that was supposed to be acted on days not weeks is beyond me. >> what's stunning is sean spicer was sort of defending michael flynn's character. remember, he has an audience of one, sean spicer, the president of the united states. had an expose, he walks by the oval office and asks the president, what would you like to hear today? he was clearly speaking to the president. the president continues to view michael flynn as in sort of kruch and continues to defend him to defend his service to the country, despite what he's being accused of. >> let's bring michael crowley into the conversation. how about this idea that over the weekend it looked like the white house was getting ready to throw flynn overboard once and for all and had the president i think in your publication, walk that back and some of jonathan's

reporting, the president wants to stand by his man, michael flynn. >> you know, donald trump isn't very quick to admit fault. particularly when it comes to people, you know one thing you can say about him, he does have this loyalty. i think we're seeing it playing out in the national security council right now, k.t. mcfarland keeps surviving the repeated efforts to banish her and what it sounds like donald trump keeps intervening although she seems to have very few supporters and she's a former flynn person and there are a couple of other flynn -- national security council. on some level, flynn's influence persists and trump isn't willing to admit he made this mistake. i think it's always worth zooming out when we're talking about michael flynn. you talk about when we think about barack obama's admonition to trump not to hire flynn, this was more than what he said about his contacts with the russian ambassador.

there was a really wide consensus in the national security foreign policy establishment, this guy was not the right fit for his job. he had been fired from his job at the defense intelligence agency. people who knew him said he changed and maybe blown a sprocket a little bit. the guy seemed to be in over his head for the job, even chris christie, when he was still running the transition, don't put him in that job. and donald trump didn't want to hear it and stuck with him. that's how trump is and flynn is kind of survived longer than he should have -- >> steve kornacki we had this -- chris christie confirmed he didn't have michael flynn on the list to be national security adviser secretary of defense it's not like acting attorney general yates was the first one to say i have concerns. labeling her a political opponent today when the former head of his own transition was worried about him seems like a stretch. >> there were a lot of people,

you go before any of the questions about russia and any of the questions about the phone conversations were raised there were a lot of people and chris christie apparently included who looked at mike flynn for other reasons having to do with his reputation when it came to management and being somewhat of a hot head, even look he was doing it on behalf of donald trump, you can understand maybe why he turned a blind eye but things on the campaign trail, campaigning for donald trump -- >> led the -- >> is that a right position for somebody with that reputation, that background to be taking? and you have reporting now in fact that in addition to all of the questions about russia that maybe behind the scenes in the white house, in those early weeks, that's something trump and people around trump were starting to see. that side of general flynn. having nothing to do with the russia thing. when you look at what sean spicer said today, partisan figure, all of that. whatever you think of it, that's a genuine window into how they see her.

they look at this is a hold over appointee, not somebody they were going to be appointing to their administration, received an appointment from president obama. it was a hold over and again, it turns out that the courts ended up stepping in on this travel ban. >> proving her right. >> well, what she said yesterday was not what she said at the time and i think that's something that the white house -- agree with it or not, i think that's something the white house defenders would point to, at the time she didn't say, i think this was unconstitutional and at the time i don't think this is awful, at the time your public statement -- >> she was fired for not enforcing a muslim ban, she seems pretty vindicated at this point. >> she has an obligation to serve the president and she was acting attorney general. he was within his rights to fire her, that clearly was not going to be -- >> do you think he fired her over the muslim ban. >> because he was refusing to carry out the order. >> you don't think there wasny

connection between her firing and red flag she raised on flynn? >> we might find out but the reporting at the time and all of the reporting was it had to do with refusal to carry uni rry o order. >> airports were full of lawyers -- night of the protests. >> i want to pick up on something you just said and this is important for republican leaning voters to understand why there was so much alarm by so many people throughout washington across the political board about trump's ties to russia because you had first very strangely a republican candidate who was incredibly soft on russia. you have all of the unanswered questions that come zooming back about his business ties to russia. then you had in the person of national security adviser i guy who sat with putin, taken money from rt, having conversations with the russian ambassador that were being monitored by the fbi, of course people were alarmed,

all of knethese stories seem to move in the same direction. i hear my conservative things it's all about nothing. it was not about nothing and now we're learning exactly why. >> to your point, we have some sound from lindsey graham who added his voice to the chorus of democrats who wanted to learn more about president trump's business ties to russia. >> i have no evidence that the trump business organization did anything illegal with the russians. i have no evidence of collusion. but i want to know about business ties? yes, do i want to know who leaked the information about general flynn to the "washington post"? yes, do i want to know what russia is doing now? yes, do i want to find out what they actually did in the past? yes. >> so this was a threat that started to unravel after this exchange yesterday with former dni james clapper. >> general clapper, during your investigation of all things russia, did you ever find a situation where a trump business

interest in russia gave you concern? >> not in the course of the preparation of the intelligence community assessment. >> since? >> i'm sorry? >> at all, any time. senator graham, i can't comment on that because that impacts the investigation. >> so it wasn't enough to put into the report? >> that's correct. >> you've been following all things russia since the beginning of the beginning, what do you make of this? >> you heard clapper say that yes, leaking and unmaskin is worry some but when you put that next to russia infiltrating and influencing a u.s. election, you can't compare the two. one takes priority over the other. you see the split amongst republicans and democrats and republicans wanting to say we've got to investigate the leaking, while democrats are saying let's talk more about russia. i think you heard confirmation

from clapper that russia remains to be the priority not necessarily the leaking. >> michael crowley, do you have any sense that the winds are shifting and that lindsey graham and john mccain may get blow back, i know they dined with the president recently. do you think they'll continue to be the leaders on these questions about not just business ties but russian meddling in the election? >> well, they are so far -- i don't want to say out on a limb because it suggests the branch is going to break. but they are so forward leaning on this right now, so invested in it. so invested in it that i see it hard to back away. but it is an interesting story. there was a time when it looked like they might be a party of two -- not fully with a lot of their republicans and democrats and opposing trump on some of these kind of classic neoconservative issues and human rights and standing up to putin but more leently i think they are both close to hr mcmaster who may be having his own

tensions with trump but that's another story but close to jim malt mattis and they have more of a line of communication to the west wing than they were expecting or did originally. they are kind of playing good cop, bad cop at the same time here. you put your finger on an interesting tension. i don't see them backing down from the russian investigation though again they are very invested in it and generally outraged by it and dislike vladimir putin. and might -- might sacrifice some othe dinners in the white house before they stand down on th russian investigation. >> when i worked in the white house i had the mccain portfolio and my job to be in touch with him every saturday before a sunday show to find out how hard he was going to whack us on the incompetence of any given foreign policy. do you have any sense of who in the white house might have the mccain grand portfolio on russia? is it mattis and mcmaster as

suggested? >> i think the national security people in the white house are definitely the intermediaries with those folks in the white house, administration. this administration has a steep learning curve. every one does but this one especially. they are still trying to figure out how to work with hill, whether on messaging or how to move votes on the hill and get something done, they are still learning all of this stuff. what makes it difficult are the mixed messages always coming from this administration when you have a rift on national security issues and you have the nationalist and mcmaster and mattis and those folks and it's always difficult when people try to speak for the president to say this is what we want to do as the white house because the president trump zigs and zags often times in the face of what his advisers -- >> i wanted to say, i was thinking with your question, is there that level of sophistication in the white house? >> pause that thought.

i want to hear everyone's theories. with the flynn battle still raging, why would the white house open another internal divide? this time targeting the president's new national security adviser. >> the fbi director back in hot water over hillary clinton's e-mails. why the fbi is reportedly scrambling to correct comments he made during senate testimony. plus, later in the hour, jimmy kimmel making it clear he's got a little more to say about america's health care debate. >> i would like to apologize for saying children in america should have heal care. it was insensitive. and offensive a i hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. look closely. hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. the microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn

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the main objective of us being in afghanistan from being used as a saf vaen for terrorists who attack united states and allies, that is t main objective, we remain focused on the defeat of al qaeda and defight of isis k, which is the isis affiliate there in afghanistan. but that's simply put what the mission is going forward. >> the news that the white house is considering a major shift in strategy in afghanistan, one that could involve expanding the military role and deploying thousands more troops, there was this in today's "washington post." even as it moves to the president, the plan faces resistance from senior administration officials, inside those opposed began to refer to

mcmaster's war, a reference to hr mcmaster, the president's national security adviser. my own reporting on this story resulted in an aggressive pushback, a senior official telling me today the president is very happy with mcmaster and process he's leading and that confidence in mcmaster was won by the interagency process he directed which resulted in the decision to strike syria. michael, you alluded to the tensions earlier, i want to know what your reporting is turning up. >> there's still some flynn hold overs in the national security council? >> who, bannon? >> k.t. mcfarland came in as a flynn loyalist. i'm pointing out there are continuing tensions, steve bannon has more of a michael flynn world view than mcmaster world view and is he baest yan who we keep reading will be forced out any day along with k.t. mcfarland.

they somehow hang on. i would say those people represents more of a trumpian world view, the national security foreign policy establishment has sort of failed and led america into a series of blunders, they are response for the iraq war and cheered on libya which turned out to be a disaster. they think the experts that everyone on the tv shows and council on foreign relations thinks so highly of are overrated and don't have great judgment. it's possible that it's that kind of person who still hanging on the administration who seems to be gunning for hr mcmaster. it's not clear whether there are genuine tensions with tprds. i would as a closing note add o the afghanistan stuff, this is mcmaster's war seems silly to me, talking about sending more troops to afghanistan. barack obama sent 30,000 and this 5,000 would be primarily a training role and obama's were in a combat role. this idea reflects centrist foreign policy thinking.

i don't think it's some crazy nation mcmaster building plan. >> i was at the white house for a briefing on the trip they are going on. i saw this foreign policy team, mcmaster, functioning as one of the more competent displays of governance in this white house so far. do you think that sort of the decision to toss bannon from the national security council is one who may have led to a ripple affect leading to stories like this coming out? >> i don't think this is a huge rist. there's a bannon wing -- >> someone inside the white house attacking -- >> but you can see the motives. who comes up with quirky little names for people, globalist, gary, mcmaster's war, it's steve bannon. >> he's been carved out of a lot of things, has free time. >> i don't know what time he has but he has the nationalist view he would like to think that this is donald trump's real world view. the reality is we don't know what donald trump's actual foreign policy world view is

because he did run on isolationism and iraq war in hindsight was a debacle. but he gave the thrill of nationalist militaryism intervention being strong. the u.s. isn't strong, we're going to rebuild the military. he sold people on both. he loved the response he got after the missile strikes in syria. you can understand steve bannon doesn't want to see mainstreaming -- >> you wrote about this at length during the campaign. i think it's important to understand trump is not an ideas guy, he's an impulses guy. one takes precedence over the other. at the top of the impulse, we don't want to lose, with 8,000 american forces there and largely training roles we were at real risk of losing. what mcmaster is proposing, 3,000 troop increase as michael said, it's not a huge increase, we're still talking about perhaps 10% of what we had

during at the height of the surge in afghanistan. this is just being responsible but what's also interesting to me is how bannon's world view really approximates the most extreme obamaits, remember, complete withdrawal from afghanistan was the obama administration's idea back in 2012, 2013 until they realized that history wasn't quite going their way and they had to keep a force in place. >> but the anecdote of the story was based on did happen, trump did get mad at mcmaster for going back to the south koreans and trying to patch things p but this is after the president himself who has this very sort of real estate mogul's view of foreign affairs, who's paying for what said you're going to pay for your own missile defense and really the national security source said that strained the alliance with south korea which is critical, really much more than anybody understands. and so you have mcmaster trying to sort of smooth things over

and he's getting yelled at because the president feels disrespected. >> you see the ramifications in the south korean election just today. they ee lengted a new president who wants to reassume ties and talks with the north korea and wants to re-evaluate as well. words do have consequences when this come from the president of the united states. >> in fairness to bannon who probably views himself as the keeper of the trump flame. they thought they were getting theati isolationism he explaine >> how radical the foreign policy message that donald trump ran on was. besides ron paul, i don't think of a major figure in politics after 9/11 the iraq war who said this war was wrong, a mistake, think of all of the republican presidential candidates who delicately tried to get a little bit out there but god forbid you say anything critical of the bush administration, he came out

and said it. >> i remember in south carolina. >> could never win. >> south carolina primary, the military state and won it easily. there was that. the other side of it, he did run on some degree of aggression. the distinction was he ran on bombing and not boots. when you start talking about even if it's own 3,000, 4,000 afghanistan, that is getting into an area he didn't run off. >> more details that dell gates authority over to the pentagon as opposed to the white house. i would be curious to see how russia reacts as well, there are reports that they are arming the taliban. if we fight against the taliban -- >> there we go. thank you, michael crowley for joining us and for our first show. back home and facing the wrath of veeters over health care, how worried should republicans be that obamacare is more popular today than on election day. i guess very worried but we'll get into that after this break. at red lobster's seafood trios

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>> that was the scene that house speaker paul ryan as he visited new york. no washington republican will ever get a good reception in new york city, take that with a grain of salt but this keeps playing out in city after city in town hall after town hall holding council members accountable. jimmy kim p who inspired a whole new support of obamacare, responded to some of his critics. >> i cannot count the number of times i've been called an out of touch hollywood elitist creep. which i have to say i kind of appreciate when i was a kid, we had like -- we had to drink the powdered milk because we couldn't afford the liquid. our worange juice came frozen ot of a can. >> here for this discussion, my

very old friend -- >> thank you very much. >> friends a long time, neither is old and steve kornacki and harold ford, former democratic congressman from tennessee. policy makers. >> congratulations. >> thank you for being here. matt, i'm dying to know what you think. you and i may have called jimmy kimmel an out of touch elitist because we've run campaigns back in the old days. >> because we're old. >> i want to know how republicans should respond to sort of what feels like a grass roots reaction to the idea of taking away smik that wasn't as popular as it is now in election day, obamacare. >> i would say listen and be respectful. whenever you touch health care it's people's lives and hits a nerve. this has been true for democrats and republicans. steve can remember when dan was leading this idea that seniors needed a more comprehensive health care and had protesters banging on his car and they did repeal the health care bill.

whenever you're talking about health care, it's going to hit people's lives and think you're affecting the most intimate decisions they make as a human being. be respectful and listen and be confident in the fact that the reason donald trump won the election has a lot to do with the fact that obamacare is popular in cycle after cycle. >> more popular now. >> because they are touching it. this is what happens on health care, why it is a little bit of a trap. you say it's not popular, you start to do something and the other side rises up. the fact is at the end on health care, the best thing for the country in the long run is to be bipartisan. >> people who are for not obamacare but maybe against what the house passed need to understand a couple of things, the reset button has been pushed. put aside what the house did, that's not where it's going to go. it has to center on patient protections and around the fact that health care played such an important part in the overall economy. in cities in this country rank 15 to 30 in terms of population the health care systems are the

number one employers and generator of income and revenue in the cities. take florida, for example, 9% of people in florida receive health care and through the exchanges. if you cut those subsidies the impact not only to those families and individuals and impact to the overall health system and economy is huge. i hope senators who are thinking about this, think about this more broadly than just -- >> republicans or republicans and democrats? >> republicans and democrats. >> do you think democrats are being constructive? >> they can be more constructive but we have to be honest here. republicans -- the ball is in their hands, their on offense. it's going to take a lot to have that happen and some effort on the part of mcconnell and others. and mcconnell has it in him to reach out to some many dids, you can't pass a last piece of legislation unless it's bipartis bipartisan. if you want a ping pong, we can go down that path but if you want something that's going to work and going to last, it's going to take a by part sab

effort. >> so we have bill clinton acknowledging that obamacare wasn't perfect to put it generously. >> i love that clip. >> i forgot to ask for. i don't think i can wave a wand. >> i think he said it was crazy. >> being diplomatic. >> why can't democrats -- it seemed like everyone has run to the corners and house republicans in their corner and democrats in the house and senate in theirs. >> the way the house went about doing it antagonized a lot of folks. the reset button has been pushed. you have a group of republican senators and conservatives including tom cotton saying we have to get it right. it be hoofs some democrats to ensure we don't lose the best parts of obamacare -- the thing he missed most, it didn't include a public optn as part of the plan. we might be able to find some consensus there.

>> so if we were advising this white house, which we're not -- you're not, are you? >> sure, i advise anybody -- i don't know if they are listening. do you think the president cares about repealing obamacare at an emotional level he said to sean hannity, we can't leave people dying in the streets and i thought his face went white as he walked up to the line saying he wasn't affected by the mandate. >> let's take a step back and look at the philosophical conversation happening amongst conservatives and republicans, many say get government out of health care completely. that side lost and president trumed said we're going to replace it and cover everybody. that philosophical -- >> is that conservative? >> it's more conservative too say get the government the hell out or have states be the regulator. in this process, what's the best alternative to it and that's how paul ryan came up with the idea

of the refundable tax credit. i want to agree with harold, the way they started in the house was terrible? you shouldn't hatch a piece of legislation in a leadership office. this is a big complicated issue. let's have a nationwide conversation and debate about it. we triggered the debate because it failed then we started to have to talk about it. the country needs a while to address these things, what's wrong with having a lot of hearings and witnesses and letting people learn? it would help republicans in the long run to pass what they want to have if they didn't look like they were sneaking it through. >> what's wrong with a cbo score? >> they already had two. we know we're in the range of what this is going to cost. >> you're afraid what you're going to see. >> it's going to come out any way and the fact is , we'll have this conversation about less people will be scored under a republican plan. the main reason for that? you get to choose whether or not you have health care as a young man. i didn't get health care. i wanted a car before i have health care. people have the right to make

those choices, it's called freedom, what america is all about. >> steve kornacki you keep an eye on public opinion, are the winds heading against the republicans as they head home? >> it's not popular from the polling we've seen. there's a new one out today, they put it out there. there's two stories you can tell here, one if you think back to march the first time this went through that number that everybody talked about, only 17% of the country supported it. at that point it was an absolute basement level low. it's now up to 31% support, 43% opposed. what you're seeing there, i think that rose garden ceremony that everybody talked about had something to do with this. you're seeing partisanship and tribalism start to meet with the public opinion. you have a lot more republicans who say i'm for it. you're at 31% overall. what are numbers for obamacare right now? 44% support, 45% opposed. no longer as huge a gap there. what democrats see on this, when

they talk about how it could help with the house in 2018, the reason they feel open timistic about it. intensity, do you strongly oppose this republican health care plan, a third of the country, 34%, says yes. a third of the country strongly oppose. how many strongly support it? is there that same intensity -- >> other than that. >> 8%. 8%. when you see that kind of gap, that's where democrats see their opportunity. >> thank you so much for being here today. up next, james comey back in hot water over what else, hillary clinton's e-mails, why the fbi is trying to figure out how to set the record straight. [fbi agent] you're a brave man, mr. stevens.

your testimony will save lives. mr. stevens? this is your new name. this is your new house. and a perfectly inconspicuous suv. you must become invisible. [hero] i'll take my chances.

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nonclassified computer. how is -- how does that conduct not directly violate that statute? >> senator, if i said i misspoke, she forwarded hundreds and thousands of e-mails some of which contained classified information. >> reports emerging today that fbi director james comey gave inaccurate remarks when he spoke last wednesday. the scrutiny placed on that exchange where comey claims hundreds of e-mails were rwardeded to anthony weiner, critics of the fbi director pointing to these headlines is just another sign of how the fbi has mishandled the investigation of clinton. i can think of one person who was most likely not happy after reading these reports today. >> i was on the way to winning until a combination of jim comey's letter on october 28th and russian wikileaks raised

doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me and got scared off. and the evidence for that intervening event is i think compelling, speaker swasive. >> so hillary clinton gets a lot of -- even from democrats for pointing back to the comey letter as one of the reasons she lost. it seems like the story is filling out that the fbi wasn't exactly buttoned up in the case they made against her. >> i've never been a fan of comey, but i like seeing her in a stronger position, layinging out -- >> where the country should be going, policy, she's right on this issue, comey, what i don't understand is if he was not telling the truth there, the whole basis at least from my limited -- i'm not that bright, my limited understanding -- he brought forward this letter because he saw there were other e-mails they hadn't seen.

if he misrepresented the number of e-mails that were sent from her to anthony, then what was the basis of sending the letter. >> at all. >> right. >> we have never seen the letter. she's more right than she thought she was in what she just said. i think comey, if he felt like he had to go back before congress when he discovered those e-mails, he certainly should go back before congress now to explain why he misrepresented -- or outright didn't tell the truth. i'm not going to use the lie word and complain how could you have gotten this wrong twice. you got it wrong in the letter and got it wrong again in this hearing. the election is over but he has a big set of questions and big question and answer and hopefully the committees in the senate will call him back. >> this is complicated for the white house, right? they sort of hated and loved it and hated him and loved him and now maybe they'll hate him again. >> jim comey, i feel it's time to go away. i feel like he was told in my

view, i think someone sat on him in the beginning. >> you're -- that's the only reason i chuckle, when you've lost every wing of the democratic party and you've lost the leader of the american conservative -- >> never had me but i was thinking at least maybe he was a good cop and good investigator. i think the white house sat on him initially on the hillary clinton e-mails and always felt uncomfortable. he prosecuted her on nationwide tv without indicting her. then i thunk he always felt he had toe do something to redeem himself. we've been talking about this for six months, these facts are not that complicated. let's put them out there for everyone to see them, on mike flynn and hillary clinton's e-mails. >> why can't the white house do that. >> basic questions. >> there's classified information that may be pertinent to national security, that's the reason -- >> how about the numbers. >> let's look at the numbers. this question about the numbers of e-mails, that's the fact -- >> and he sent the letter.

>> he said they needed time to reopen this -- >> and they got the time. >> they could have reresearched that and then if they did come back and say we have to reopen, they would lead you to believe that everyone believed there was a higher likelihood she would be indicted then on a sunday before, i was just kidding. there's nothing there. how does -- how did this not trigger an indictment or at least a reprimand for miss abedin on her handling of sensitive information. how did nobody get reprimanded or chastised in all of this? >> evidently he wasn't telling the truth. i don't know but i'm confused now because he says we're only a handful of e-mails that may have had cause -- >> may or may not have been classified at the time. >> that may have been been sent. >> what do you think is guiding come? >> do you think this is career salvation? >> in a sense, a lot of this was sheer optics on his part. he acts in a certain way, reacts out front of it to save face and

know that he's playing to both sides or both sides are going to be angry. it's fair to say he's nausiated following the revelation, his words and sean spicer, i think it spoke volumes when somebody asked about that today and if the president had faith in jim comey, you have to ask the president himself. this goes back to the sean spicer knows who he's talking to and went to the president, how should i address this today and chose to address it by saying talk to the president himself. when we come back, breaking news from the pentagon on the fight in syria. fore fibromyalgia, i was a doer. i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. woman: for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these,

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>> now to breaking news from washington. the white house confirming from president trump approved a plan to give heavier weapons to kurdish fighters in syria. hans nichols has more. >> we have breaking news here in and that is that jim mattis called his turkish counterpart to explain this decision. think of it as an attempt to smooth it over. clearly turkey will be upset that the u.s. decided to directly arm the kurds. remember this is something the obama administration considered and the pentagon wanted to do it. the trump administration is doing it. you can expect this means they are encircling the capital of isis and the assault could happen more quickly. the goal of arming the kurds is they do most of the fighting. they are the ones shooting the most bullets at isis. the way they are trying to smooth it over is saying they are giving the kurds limited

ammunition, teasing it out and having it done incrementally and the kurds will not be able to hold up once it is cleared of isis. >> you are also getting reporting on the afghanistan numbers we saw this morning. what are you hearing? >> nothing final on the numbers. when i listen to sean spicer talking about it, he was using the word eliminate isis and the terrorist threat, but not annihilate. that means it will be an incremental mission and a few thousand more troops and that will be what the general asked for and get you at levels where you are at under the obama administration 6 to 10 months ago. they thinks they are in the stalemate and this doesn't mark a radical shift, but a slight poster change and an indication that they don't want to. the trump administration wants to be in a position to try to win. >> thanks for watching the

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they do that by being honest about the problems they face and come up with real solutions. >> can you see why i voted for him? >> did you catch that? voted for him. >> you look at one another and say can you believe this is happening. for today, former president carter revealing that he did vote for bernie sanders in the democratic primary. they were taking part in the discussion. it's no secret that jimmy carter had a strained relationship with the clintons. it's amazing to hear him say that. and carter may have a little bit of his magic. i think they have a way to go to figure it out. you start laughing.

>> they love him. he is there. >> hillary clinton is coming out to attack jimmy carter. it's jimmy carter's fault. >> they had a rough couple of days. >> save us. >> they will outlive all of us. this man overcame that. >> that's on a 1-10 scale of outrageous things that really happen. >> it's amazing to see. >> the guy who doesn't identify as a democrat who is put up on a pet stal and he is the person we want. >> they wanted to nominate him. they should have done it. >> carter voted for dean back in 04. >> are you saying he doesn't pick winners?

>> what you are all doing, you will say congratulations. thank you. the disclosure you were dragged here today. you mean something today. >> we are all here. you want to send us out on substance? >> that's a lot of pressure. >> you were on deadline. >> it's interesting and one of the things we didn't cover, the paris climate and the president was thinking there would be meetings today and that would be a decision of recommendations. it department happen. >> why not? >> it's not going to happen and the bannon wing and people who were pushing for full withdrawal, they wanted it sooner. they are careful saying that the president's daughter doesn't say do this or do that. she wanted him to have all the information to take his time and she has prevailed at least in

the short-term. >> ivanka prevails. you heard it here first. >> you can get the obama shirt. that does it for this hour. i'm nicole wallace. mtp daily starts now. >> you are only about a second or two late. stick around. if it's tuesday, how safe is it out there for republicans after the health care vote. >> good tuesday evening. in washington, welcome to m t"m daily" the investigation into possible business ties between president trump and russia. it looks like legalized bribery when i comeso getting a v