>> i'm peter alexander. the back story of the president's abrupt firing still developing as we speak to you. the white house aides saying the president's trust of his fbi director, now ousted fbi director, erolleded over the course of weeks and even months. it didn't happen in a single day, after hearing from the deputy attorney general on this issue. we've also learned the acting fbi director is expected to come to the white house to meet with the president.

we'll keep you posted when we know what time that will occur. we have now learned that james comey has been invited by the senate intelligence committee, looking into the investigation. possible ties between president trump's aides and russian operatives. they've invited comey to meet with them in a closed session next tuesday. we're still trying to work to put together a time line of this tire developing situation. when and why did president trump decide to fireman leading the investigation into those alleged ties russia? it seems everybody in washington is reacting to this. >> was this decision made on comey's handling of the russia investigation? >> he know that's what the need would love to report. >> hit a tell in it like bad poker player. >> does comey firing cast a shadow over your talks,

gentlemen? >> but when you fire probably arguably the most respected person in america, you'd better have a very good explanation. so far i haven't seen that. >> the president took strong and decisive leadership here to put the safety and security of the american people first. >> he was not doing a good job. >> we have a top tier team joining us now. they are across the capitol. pete williams is with us as well. i want to begin if i can with kelly o'donnell. you were inside that briefing. there were a years i think of headlines. what hit me, and we had this conversation before we came on air. ett appears the president made up his mind and made a decision. we are now understanding this developed over the course of maybe weeks.

>> we, saying the president considered this even after his election. that flies in the face of what we saw publicly from the president who praised james comey, who brought him to the white house who thanked him for security around the inauguration hooflt leader referred to the team. saying he had confidence with comey. also letting his spokespeople echo that as recently as six days ago. now we're led to believe that there was some undercurrent that he was not the right person for the job. he could have exercised his judgment when he became president. he didn't do it then. doing it in what looks like an abrupt action. and now we're told that the acting director, who will be here today, enjoys the full confidence of the president. but that's what we heard about james comey as recently as last

week and it is not just judgment, it is about trust when the president says i believe in someone and a short time later he fires him. >> among other questions posed in this briefing today were whether the attorney general of this country, jeff sessions, who has recused himself in the russian investigation, should be in a position he's helping select who at least for now, the next fbi director might be. at least for the moment. the white house said that responsibility is much larger than the russia investigation. where does that process stand? >> just in the very beginning stages. right now the focus is on getting the interim director for the fbi. right now, andrew mccabe is in charge. that is what the law is. the deputy its steps in and the decision about who will lead in the short term, and that five

candidates, all of them people who work in the fbi now in various capacities have been interviewed. mccabe is one of them. but i suppose he might be considered for fbi director, too. i don't think they've gotten to that step yet. they're still looking at who would be the interim. >> i want to go to the him right now. jonathan swan, i want to play part of conversation that my colleague had take. listen to what was said. >> did the president fire director comey to impede the rushing investigation? >> well, as you know very clearly, as has been stayed repeatedly, the president is not under investigation. as former director clapper, the director of national intelligence said, there is no evidence of collusion. >> but the director claer --

>> our campaign and any russian officis. >> but intelligence officials have said there's an investigation into potential ties. >> that's not what this is about. the president took strong and decisive leadership here to put the safety and security of the american people first. >> just hearing there from the vice president. they're deflecting all the mentions of the russia investigation. they say this was for safety and security's sake. is that the may not line you're hearing from the white house? as i pose that to you, even white house officials were saying the way this was handled in terms of the messaging, as they put it to you, ensainsane. >> there was to plan. yesterday was complete confusion in the white house. and look. there are few people at the very, very top level who are informed about it. for the vast, vast, vast majority of white house staff, they learned about this by looking up at the television in

the white house, the tv screens, looking down at their phones, teritory with, text messages from reporters. that's how they found out. there was no plan. there were no surrogates liened up them didn't have law enforcement officials, they didn't have former attorney generals to defend him. there was a two-hour vacuum where they were running around leak headless chickens trying to decide what to do i've talked to white house officials, senior level, more junior. they've all said the same thing. thfs a complete deback well no real plan how the handle it. >> the decision that was ultimately made, i spoke to a white house aide as we were walking out who said basically, the president had consulted with vice president pence and a small circle of others. do we know who was in that circle? or was this as the white house

likes the say, the decision the president made and he was decisive in? >> the president made the decision. we know that jeff sessions, the attorney general was involved, rosenstein and i don't know much more beyond that. what i do know is i'm not talking about mid level staff. i'm talking about senior staff learned it at the very last minute and do not have a plan to respond. what they could have done, i was talking to a white house source about two hours ago who was saying, i understand this is sensitive. they didn't want to it leak out. what they should have said is find ten people who needed to know about this, who could have constructed a plan. take them to a secure room. maybe leave their phones outside and come up with a plan but there was to plan. there was no plan. >> and to you, kelly, one of the things that is yet to be answered is what the white house said to us yesterday. frankly president trump, there

were three had separate occasions where you told me i'm off the hook in the russia investigation. the white house to this point even though in the dark last night sean spicer said we'll get that to you, has yet to provide it. >> one question is how did that come about? if it was volunteered to the president. if this occurred as the president he indicates, from james comey to him, that's semiable. if the president sought reassurance that he was not involved, that takes over a different tink. that's the executive branch and that could be deemed enappropriate. so the white house staying far away from that. press ad couple fwims the who, is what, is when, the why. >> give me a sense of what questions you're asking and what we should be focused on the next several hours. >> i think the question remains, although we got a partial answer. where did the rod rosenstein memo come from?

we've gotten a similar response from the justice department and the white house. what they say is when the president met with the attorney general and rod rosenstein on monday, he was already thinking that fbi director should go. the presses said i want your thoughts. they said yes, we agree with you. they should be fired. and he said give me your thoughts. so what they're saying is while the president asked for the memo, rosenstein had already reached the conclusion that james comey had been fired and they had a meeting of the minds. >> thank you all very much. coming up next live on msnbc it was the takedown heard around the world. maxine watters. she joins us after the break her

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can you tell us anything? >> no. it's classified and we can't tell you anything. all i can tell you is the fbi director has no credibility. >> that was congresswoman maxine waters criticizing now former director james comey. it took place just one week

before the president took office here at the white house. for more, i want to bring in the congresswoman herself, maxine waters. we appreciate your time. you obviously have been very critical of james comey in the past. you said that he had no credibility. i assume you support the president's decision then to fire his fbi director. >> no, i do not necessarily support the president's decision. if the president had not gone all over the country praising him about the way he handled hillary and the e-mails, if the president had not said he had confidence in him, if the president had not said he was a part of his team -- >> but congresswoman, i understand in the past he was praising him. if you said that james comey had no credibility, wouldn't you support the president's decision to get rid of him? >> no. not necessarily. >> why not? >> you have an investigation going on where the president is

implicated. and this is a serious investigation. i've been trying on get people to focus this connection with the kremlin and with putin. i have a resolution that i introduced in february. i think there's enough there that we know about the kremlin and about putin to be concerned about whether or not there was collusion. >> so to be clear -- >> and that i believe they should have to connect the dots and get the facts. i think it will lead to the impeachment of this president. >> so respecting that be to be clear, believe it would have been better to keep in place an fbi director who y said had no credibility tooversee this investigation, than to find someone who you think would be a better choice. >> no. but the president thought that. don't forget. you're talking about what some democrats said, what i said, but don't forget. he was the president. the president supported him. he had confidence in him. it was within his power. >> but you said he had no

credibility so it would make sense that she get rid of him. >> no. under investigation. this president basically has interfered with an investigation where he may be implicated. that's outrageous. and that's why we're having so much of a conversation about it today. everybody is talking about it. this is highly unusual. >> the bottom lien is that you think an fbi director without credibility would have been better in this position. >> i think if the president had fired him when he first came in, he would not have to be in a position now where he is trying to make up a story about why. it does not motor the smell test. >> so if hillary clinton had won the white house, would you have recommended that she fire fbi director james comey? >> well, let me tell you something. if she had won the white house, i believe that given what did he to her, and what he tried to do, she should have fired him.

yes. >> so she should have fired him but had he shouldn'tire him. i'm confused. >> you're not confused. if the president is implicated in an investigation, the president of the united states who has a history who fires people who get close to him and his allies like flynn, and like miss yates, he will fire them if he believes somehow they're getting too close to him in these investigations. i believe that the president of the united states should not have done this in the middle of an investigation. that's it. >> i understand that. i want to play a quick clip of what sarah huckabee sanders said in the briefing room a short time ago. >> as you've seen from many of the gromts democrat members, including senator schumer, they dmt think he should be there. they thought he should be gone. i think it is starting that

democrats aren't celebrating this since they've been calling for it for so long. >> what do you make of the pushback from the white house saying democrats have asked for this so long? >> 10:00 white house would like to gather up everybody they can to support their decision. they're trying to blame democrats now as part of the reason why they made this decision. it does not wash. it is not true. they are simply trying to fix had debacle that they have created and this upsetting of the amerin people in the way that they have fired him. and also, they have put the eye on this investigation which i love. i love the fact because they had, they did this in the way they did it, now more people are focused on this investigation of whether or not there was collusion. i've been trying on get people to focus this for months. i believe there was collusion.

and if this president and his allies undermined our democracy, then he deserves to be impeached. >> can this investigation continue without a special prosecutor? >> i don't know. here's what i believe. let the senate intelligence committee dough whatever it can do. i don't have any faith in the house intelligence community. >> so you're satisfied that no special prosecutor is needed. >> no, i did not say that. >> i'm asking to you answer that. >> i believe there should be a special prosecutor. >> you believe there should be a special prosecutor. >> tlibl should have been an independent commission. but i'm saying let everybody go at this investigation, until we get to the facts, the bottom line. was there collusion? i believe there was. nobody is asking why is it putin wanted this man to be president? why is it he interfered with our

election? why is it he undermined our decracy? those questions need to be answered. i think i know why. or i think i have found out enough information about all the kremlin plan that i've identified who are allies, they are connected to oil and the kremlin. with contracts and money. >> all right. >> so yes, it would be great if we can get an independent prosecutor. >> congresswoman? >> it would be great if we had an independent commission. let everybody get in on this. yes. >> i understand. we appreciate your time and your perspective. thank you. after this break, the view from the other spied many publics are standing by the president. his decision to fire comey, some saying it is time to move on. launching a new investigation by a special prosecutor in the possible collusion between russia and the trump campaign. they say that would only impede

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back now live here from the

white house, i'm peter alexder. this breaking news as we get a little better color from inside th west wing at the white house. this new information coming from my colleague after a conversation with a senior white house official describing an effect, how things went down over the last 24 hours or so. saying in effect as we've been reporting, the majority of white house staff including the most senior members of the trump team found out that comey was being fired moments before or as they watched on it television yesterday evening. we were told there was no internal meeting. not a sent strategy session about this. saying that it is still under clear why the president made the move but there's great anger and frustration inside the white house. not because trump did it but how he did it. as they say hrgs he consulted his senior advisers, it could have been executed far more eloquently. they are, as they described to

us, very angry about how it was handled. saying there was no senior staff or adviser meeting today to zus comey issue. that in itself is striking. there is yet to be a senior staff meeting on this topic. this morning there was the normal meeting with reince priebus and the comey news was pretty much glanced over. i'm sure you've seen the news as it was described to us and then they moved on. the breaking information, coming to us from our colleague stephanie ruehl. th reaction still pouring in from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. some call for a special prosecutor. this is senate minority leader. the top democrat in the senate, chuck schumer speaking moments ago on the senate floor. >> there are three things our caucus agreed must happen right

away. first, mr. rosenstein should not be the one to appoint a special prosecutor. that responsibility should go to the highest serving career civil servant at the department of justice. second. mr. comey is needed more than ever to testify before the senate. third, attorney general sessions and deputy attorney general rosenstein should brief all senators on these events separately and in a classified setting if necessary, and they should do it soon. >> for more now, i want to get to my colleague, mike viqueira. he is covering the latest from capitol hill. not all publics are defending the president today. >> reporter: right. let's start with chuck schumer. in all the outrage over this, what they consider to be a possible corruption of the

investigation, what can they do about it? how can they revse this fortune? how can they get this special prosecutor that so many have called for appointed by the attorney general of all people? congress cannot appoint a special prosecutor. one of the points we're seeing, first of all, you've seen chuck schumer many times. today but whoever the nominee, whoever that may be when donald trump gets around to it. a lot of talk pr democrats that they are going on block nominee. there will not be a confirmation vote of any kind if democrats have anything to say about it unless there is a special prosecutor or an independent counsel, appointed by the department of justice. that is a dicey proposition, not guaranteed for success at all. you're right. republicans now, i've counted seven now who have expressed reservation. we've heard mccain, richard byrd

who has appeared before cameras this very morning telling us he is very concerned about the timing and reasoning behind this. he has an investigation onrequesting into russian meddling. now jeff flake, a republican of arizona. we just caught up with him. >> whenever an fbi director is fired by a president when there's an investigation going on, it is going to be questioned. i have not. i'm assuming that will be coming in the form of a briefing or something. just waiting for that. >> so is it fair to say -- >> no. i think a lot of russ still puzzleds to the timing. >> reporter: so peter, it is not just middle of the road or moderate republicans expressing reservations here. i'm standing in the senate office building known as russell. on days like this it is a

makeshift television studio. you can see the camera crews and members of the senate who come to be on television and appear on these programs. today i see democratic senators, chris van hollen across the way. it has been democrats who have been here pufrepublicans, very scarce. we've found them in the hall ways with our rogue sxrams producers. >> this is part of the messaging war the white house is trying to push back on. mike viqueira on the him. thank you. >> right now i want to bring in rick tyler, an msnbc analyst for senator ted cruz' campaign. rick, to you quickly. it seems the me quickly the next stage for this. it goes to the senate. the power now in a way in the hands of mitch mcconnell to see how he handles this, and what dole if there is an effort to try wrangle those republicans. some are speaking with their

concerns. how do you see this playing out? >> well, mitch mcconnell made it very clear when he opened the senate that he was essentially backing up the president. he repeated his talking points. so i think mitch mcconnell will resist a special prosecutor. i want to make the point democrats may overplay their hand, as they often do, republican dozen also, when the roles are reversed. when you have a tsunami coming. you can neither hasten it or stop it. what you need to do is get out of the way. if you have some people saying we're going to hold up legislation or the appointment of a new fbi director, that's in a sense trying the shut down the government to get your way. i don't think that will play very well the american people. >> and to you, what leverage do democrats have right now to basically try to force home this idea of a special prosecutor? that's the challenge of being minority in both houses of congress? >> the rules have changed so

they have less leverage. but there are a variety of rules to slow it down and i would completely disagree rick about this. if you look at public opinion polls before the firing of the fbi director, who was investigating russian collusion by donald trump, you see that the public in a 60, 65% of the public wants a special prosecutor. wants an independent commission. that's three or four times support for trump care. so i think most americans would welcome democrats fighting for a special prosecutor, for a real investigation into what is happening here. at the end of the y,ond trump has fired three people. not one. three people who could investigate this. had now the fbi director and no one trusts anyone in the line of command of donald trump. >> in effect, as president obama

himself said, elections have consequences. and isn't this a consequence of the election? the president gets on dictate what happens here. >> isn't it a consequence of an american election that the president gets to fire people had a investigate him? i'm sorry. that's absurd. normal rules of business is that the fbi director has a ten-year term. nobody sfektd president would fire him. the fact that he fired the fbi director indicates to a lot of americans that donald trump has something to hide here. which is, he has impeded this investigation day in and day out. and this is just the latest example. the extraordinary step the tuesday night mass exercise indicates to people we need an independent investigation. >> to be clear, it appears the president, president trump himself may be watching us. i'm looking to see if the martin guard is outside. there may be televisions. we'll put up his tweet literally

coming in as we began. writing, dems have been complaining for months and months about director comey. now that he has been fired, they pretend to be aggrieved. phony hypocrites. yestery, i was here until almost midnight and they were handing out sheets twous the past criticism by democrats of director comey. >> yeah. i do think the democrats in a strange situation because they don't like director comey. let me be clear. i think comey should have been fired by the obama administration because of the way he completely mishandled the e-mail scandal by hillary clinton. he should not ever publicly announced or acknowledged there was an investigation. because donald trump ran as a law and order candidate, he should not have carried over director comey and the fbi because he had so tainted 2016 election cycle. yes, he has a two-year term. now we're expected to believe

that donald trump was somehow satisfying the calls of the democrats to get rid of director comey when the refrain during the campaign, and i'm sorry, sarah sanders, he just don't guy idea that a candidate and the president are different. their refrain was lock her up. now they're trying to get us to believe the democrats, that they're trying to please the democrats because somehow comey mishandled this. and finally, peter, this is really an amazing indictment of the trump communications team. either they're completely incompetent or donald trump does not trust them. because they gave them literally no time plan for a response when do you something as historic as firing the fbi director. that needs to be fixed. >> i need to say, the idea that rick, when this happened last july, i don't remember rick or any republican chastising the

fbi director for making public comments. >> i did it for three hours on sirius xm. i've done it on this -- i've done it. i've done it. >> i'm glad you did it. >> but donald trump didn't do it. donald trump didn't do it. he championed it. and the reality is, who are democrats who said we should fire the fbi director in the middle of an investigation? i was critical of the fbi director. i did not say we should fire him in the middle of an investigation. and this is not why he's been fired. the reason he's been fired is because he's getting close. >> let me and you a quick question. as a person who served as an unofficial adviser to hillary clinton last year. you were in a lot of those conversations. at the time, did hillary clinton or aides ever express in any form whether, when or if she were elected president, he should would replace director james comey? >> there were no conversations

about that i never heard anyone about that. and actually, the hypothetical of what she would have done or not double doesn't make any sense here. the reality is that the fbi director has an investigation into russian collusion of donald trump. and that is why people are anxious about this. if he an investigation into the president, there would be far less concerns. but he does. that's what is driving the deep anxiety, and the extraordinary step the president has taken to fire an fbi director mid-term who is investigating him. >> in a sentence, each of you, the one question you would pose to president trump. he speaks to lester holt tomorrow night, would be what? >> when did you decide to do this really? given what we know from the deputy ag on monday. >> i would want to know why he chose this time and why he didn't fire the director exactly when he said he was going to fire the director. and i want to know why he

doesn't trust his comteam on things he decides to do. >> had we appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> thank you. new details emerge of james comey's final days at the fbi, asking for more money and staff for the russia investigation. we're taking a closer look at the time line of the former fbi director's firing. and despite the news that took everyone by surprise, there was at least this moment of levity. for several trump nominees. >> i'm very impressed with your resumes. i casually mention there's an opening at the fbi if you're interested there.

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hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. talk to your doctor and visit humira.com this is humira at work. more breaking news from here at the white house. the firing of fbi director james comey. new details. we've learned that acting director andrew mccabe will now testify in place of comey tomorrow. that takes place before the intelligence committee. sarah sanders with more on why thehite house removed comey. >> dirtor comey made a pretty starting revelation that he had essentially taken a stick of dynamite and thrown it into the department of justice by going around the chain of command when

he decided to take steps without talking to the attorney general or the deputy attorney general when holding a press conference. >> comey, excuse me, sanders with that stick of dynamite reference, referring to comey's july 5 news conference. comey testified last week, he told form he attorney general loretta lynch he would be holding the news conference but not what he would say. he also testified that he did this because of lynch's tarmac meeting with the former president bill clinton. for the latest on all this, i'm now joined by the chief. ari, start with you. sarah sanders said that rob rosenstein took it upon himself to look at james comey. how likely is that?

does it raise a bigger question of how impartial they can be when helping peick successor? >> i think all of this raises questions about impartiality. two things. we learned in the briefing that wasn't so much this letter which it sounds like came up originally on tuesday, dated to the president, that it actually happened that way. what we learned was that there was a monday meeting and a discussion about doing this. the letter was papering over that goal. so i think that may raise some questions that go to the heart of the impartiality. the second part is whether you believe that this deputy attorney general came into his office to set up shop. look at the draymonbooks. i don't think you need to be a lawyer to know that doesn't sound likely. >> the senator from south carolina n looking into trump's business ties into russia. yesterday sean spicer delivered a nugget of news struck me sitting there in the front row. he revealed the president hired

a d.c. law firm basically to send the letter to congress saying noted improper connections or contacts with russian operatives. why hire outside counsel? what do you read into that? >> i don't know why the president hired outside counsel but i can say one thing. the only stick of dynamite i see here is the stick of dynamite that vladimir putin threw into our election if 2016. and russia has been trying to undermine democracy ever since the 1920s. and they wreaked havoc in the united states with the collaboration of americans. we don't know who in the united states koomtd with the russians. we know several people in the trump campaign that contact with the russians and lied about it including general ginn who was our top national security adviser for eastbound days, even though the white house knew he

had these contacts pr the russians and received money from the russians. this is a very serious situation. that's the stick of dynamite thrown at the united states and we have not done anything about and it the white house continues to engage in a cover-up. this is a very, very shocking situation. >> we know one of mike flynn's contacts was the ambsador to the united states who was in the oval office today for those meetings between president and the foreign minister of russia. to both of you, we say thanks. >> the russian president was asked how that already frosty relationship between america and russia might be impacted. ♪ ♪

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back now live on msnbc, it's been nearly 24 hours since fbi director james comey was fired by the president. plenty of questions still surrounding his ouster including the feeling inside the fbi right now. for more, i want to get to former fbi special agent, thomas baker, he was with the agency for more than three decades. tom, thank you for being here. i want to get your sense just

your gut reaction, your first thoughts when you learned that director comey had so abruptly been fired. >> well, like everybody else, it was surprise. >> so, i trust that your gust was surprised, but what were the conversations you had with your fellow colleagues, those that you served with, at the fbi about what was such an extraordinary moment, only the second time in 109-year history of the fbi that a director had been removed from office? the last time when there was, in effect, an ethics probe. >> yes, the reaction, actually, is very mixed. a lot of people from almost six months ago now selected -- the director had stepped over the line a little bit in taking on the role of a prosecutor, yet at the same time, he was very popular, very well liked and admired by almost everybody. >> give us a better understanding, if you can, right now, for those americans who are concerned that by getting rid of fbi director james comey, in effect, this was a major setback to that russia investigation.

is it possible that with the same men and women, the rank and file, individuals who were doing the real investigating there, that there will be a setback for this investigation? or do you have faith given what you know about the inner workings of that agency that day can still accomplish, what in effect was their missions to seek the truth? >> the american people and everybody should have a great deal of confidence in the fbi. the type of people in the fbi, the culture, their work eth, their heartis such that they are going to see this through and they always have in the past and there's been other incidents in the past, almost as bad as this. they will see it through. the american people should have confidence in the fbi. >> tom baker, a longtime fbi agent, joining us here on msnbc. tom, thank you very much for your service and for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you. we're going to be right back after this quick break. first, though, the comey news might have broken late yesterday but it was just in time for late-night tv. here's what you missed.

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rough day for education secretary betsy devos. she was giving the keynote address at the commencement at the historically black college in daytona beach. bethune-cookman university in florida. here's what happened.

>> i am honored to become a wildcat. >> nbc's mariano ostensio was at the ceremony. that was quite the scene. you could hear the booing. what happened? >> reporter: so, peter, now behind me, you see families are heading home to celebrate, but before, inside the venue here at bethune-cookman university at the commencement ceremony, secretary of education betsy devos got on that stage and started to hear booing from the crowd. many in the student body also in the graduating class getting u and giving their back to betsy devos, they did not agree with her being named commencement speaker at a historically black college. you also had the president of the school pleading with the student body to stop the ruckus, to stop the booing and respect his inviteee, threatening students at some point to have to mail in their degrees if the

booing continued. >> wow. >> reporter: this was several days in the making, peter, since betsy devos was announced as commencement speaker today. there were calls for protests. we saw a dozen protesters outside. there was also several online petitions signed by thousands to get betsy devos to rescind her invitation today. many here saying, many students, that betsy devos shouldn't really be the person to give the commencement at a historically black college because she's said in the past that historically black colleges are a real pioneer of school choice, when many here argue that historically black colleges started because of a lack of choice for african-american students. but i have a student here with me, tia. tia, you graduated today. briefly, can you tell our audience and our peter alexander, you were one of the ones who gave your back to betsy devos. why? >> that's right. i do. i did because i am not one to agree with the sfafact she does

support -- she did refer to us as pioneers when of course that's not the truth. i also don't agree that, you know, this was, you know, being with all the controversy about, you know, financial aid, hhbcus this was an event she should have spoken at. >> reporter: the consensus it is this about the students, the class. many won't forget who their commencement speaker was and what she represented today. >> perhaps for the wrong reasons. mariana alenci at bethune-cookman. that wraps it up, another busy day at the white house north wn. i'll see you back here tomorrow afternoon from the same perch. as always, find me on peter @peteralexander and instagram, @peteralexand @peteralexander. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace begins right now. hi, everyone, thanks for joining us. i'm nicolle wallace. it's