or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. good morning. i'm thomas roberts at msnbc world headquarters in new york. president trump is leaving the white house very soon on his way to deliver a commencement address at liberty university in virginia. all of this while controversy swirls over statements he made and the interview. >> what about the idea that in the tweet you said there might be tape recordings? >> i can't talk about that. i won't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest. i hope he will be. >> it is a big what if. these questions today concerning whether president trump records

conversations in the oval office. is that legal? plus, did the president ask former fbi director james comey whether he was under investigation and asked the former fbi director for loyalty? all of this as interviews expected to fill for the vacant position. we will tell you the candidates on the short list. and a deluge on the northeast. we have latest on the forecast ahead. we want to go back to the live pictures of joint base andrews. air force one is in position with president boarding to travel to virginia. he will deliver the commencement speech at liberty university. his first speech as president. we can see some of the students in virginia who have lined up. the estimates are roughly about 7,000 will be in attendance. i want to bring in kelly o'donnell at the white house. kelly, give us the latest we know from the president. >> reporter: good morning,

thomas. after an eventful and volatile week here, the president has a public event today. he will deliver the commencement address at the christian campus of liberty university in lynchberg, virginia. we saw the firing of james comey. the fbi director. it is possible that he could be talking at some point soon. no date set. he told the senate intelligence committee that he wants to do that only in public. of course, those comments would be notable after the president turned his firing into a public feud. one tweeted word from the president setoff a controversy. tapes. >> i talked to the president. the president has nothing further to add. >> reporter: the president already implied a threat. james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversat n conversations before he starts leaking to the press. reporters peppered the white house. >> are there recording devices in the white house? >> as i said for the third time,

nothing further to add. >> reporter: and the president ducked the question in a fox news interview. >> what about the idea that in a tweet you said that there might be tape recordings. >> i can't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest. >> reporter: at issue is what was said between the president and then fbi director at dinner on january 27th. one day after the white house counsel was warned about michael flynn's false statements by then acting attorney general sally yates. in an interview with lester holt, the president said comey cleared him. >> we had a very nice dinner. at that time, he told me you are not under investigation. >> reporter: comey has not spoken publicly. some dispute the president's account. also some said trump asked comey for his loyalty. >> no, no i didn't. i don't think it would be a bad question to ask. loyalty to the country and loyalty to the united states is

important. i don't know how that got there because i didn't ask that question. >> reporter: today in washington, the search for a comey successor begins with interviews led by attorney general jeff sessions. sources identify these four candidates. including acting director andrew mccabe and texas senator john cornyn. >> we are looking at candidates right now who could be spectacular and that's what i want for the fbi. >> reporter: only hours after the president tweeted about possible tapes in relation to james comey, democrats on capitol hill responded. including sending a letter to the white house counsel insisting the white house identify if such tapes do exist. and to make certain they would be preserved under the presidential records act. either way, it keeps this alive for the white house and controversy of the quote tapes. thomas. >> kelly, thank you very much,

at the white house. more on the fallout from the comey falling. i want to bring in former special counsel to robert mueller. james, it is great to have you with us. if the president doesn't want further provocation from the fbi, which he may have after the comey firing and a sour mood from folks who thought of comey as a leader. what can be the pick to lead the agency? >> thanks for having me. it is very important at this point to have someone with i am peculiar able law credentials. that will go a long way to solve the public political firing at this point. there may be unhappiness with the remarks last year with mr. comey. with somebody in the position who is seen as non political who has law enforcement credentials and can lead the organization in

the bipartisan and law enforcement focused way. >> out of the four people that kelly just talked about in her report. senator john cornyn of texas. you think he is the least likely or the least in your estimation practical for the position at this point. >> who knows if he is least likely. we have seen this week and the weeks up to it anything can happen. i think in terms of trying to remove politics from the situation, he is the least likely. >> we know constitutional lawyer lawrence tride weighed in. i want to ask you about it. >> my loyalty is to the law and constitution. in which case, donald trump is guilty of attempting to obstruct gist advertise. with the first article of impeachment with richard nixon. this is a series of crimes all

by itself. >> he is calling this high crimes and misdemeanors. do you agree he crosses the line with the firing of comey and tribe said this is nixonian in the first step to impeachment? >> i don't want to go that far with the high treason or crimes. we know for a fact that the president -- >> if the president said, james, he fired james comey because of the russia investigation, the surrogates for the president within the press department said they wanted to move on from this. that is not some type of lyn lynchpin to obstruction of justice? >> that would be disturbing. a lot of people are thinking that. it is a reason we need an independent voice at the fbi. perhaps a special prosecutor to look at it and politics removed. this is a critical investigation for the country. it looks undeniable that russia tried to meddle in the election

and will try to do it again. i think we need to have somebody who is non political to take this over and assure the american people this will be an investigation based on the facts and law and into political considerations. >> let's get to the loyalty pledge that is reportedly asked over the dinner with president trump and the former fbi director. this happened back in january. president trump is denying that it happened in the way it has been reported. another source are saying is that request did take place. if comey won't testify, which he turned down the offer to do, how do we figure out who is the honest broker in all this? >> it is very hard to do that. on the outside. i think the loyalty pledge and somebody in mr. comey's position going in and asking for his job to be reinstated or renewed when he is in the position is very unusual. who knows? maybe the truth is somewhere in

between. it seems like a very unusual move for comey to go in and ask for his job. >> and the tapes tweet. what if there are tapes between the president and comey? as trump seemed to indicate yesterday in the tweet. could this legally clear up the issue of that conversation but also legally jeopardize the president? >> sure. if we hear the tapes, obviously that is a long way to go into what happened. i wonder what the quotes means around tapes. i think if there are tapes, it would go a long way toward revealing what happened. we have seen other presidents in the past, nixon and johnson tape recording meetings in the oval office and white house. it does not seem like something we want to see happen regularly

or released publicly. i guess that would, in fact, resolve the situation if we heard the actual voices and content. >> what about the legality of it? in the ovals office or private dining room or any area which the conversation could have been recorded. you know, is this a one party type of consent deal? >> we have seen presidents in the past do this. i think that there are states where you need one party consent. some states you need two party consent. if it is a one party consent. there may be nothing needed. >> thank you, james. just in the big box to catch you up if you are just joining us. the live pictures from joint base andrews. that is where president trump will take off from air force one

here traveling to lynchburg, virginia. he will give the commencement address two hours from now at liberty university. that is where we find nbc's aly vitale. we have the broader look at the economy and jobs pictures for the college graduates. have we heard more about what he is expected to say? remind us of the connected tissue with the president and liberty university. >> reporter: thomas, we have been here before. january 2016. trump spoken at liberty university. and jerry falwell jr. has been supportive of him on the campaign trail. we heard that gaffe when he cited two corinthians. he swore when he was here. he used the word "damn." it was notable at a christian university. you heard the preview from kelly. he is leaving the political

storm in washington and he is coming down here with the friendly crowds. i have seen signs here in support of trump. people seem to be excited that there will be a sitting president who is coming to talk to them. of course, jobs and economy and things he has pointed to multiple times over the course on the campaign and president as things he is proud of and passionate about. we will hear about the religious liberty executive order he signed just last week which gave churches and other organizations more freedom in political speech. thomas. >> ali vitali on the scene. we know the forecast for the east coast. we hope you are prepared for college graduates there and across the country. ali, thanks. could president trump be better off if he didn't do the talking himself? that's coming up next.

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the billboard music awards. sunday, may 21st eight seven central only on abc. welcome back. coming up in two hours from now, president trump is set to deliver the commencement address in liberty university in lynchburg. and this comes as the firing of fbi director james comey. it seems a long time ago given the amount of news we have had since then. we have eliza collins with us and gabby moore. i'll keep you updated. we expect president trump to board air force one shortly.

gabby, any issue that gives clarity on the comey firing or if he was doing a bad job? >> i wish i had more answers to offer right now. everybody at nbc is wondering why this was an issue for the t president's team to have a c cohesive message on. also there are more questions about comey's decision to rebuff the invitation to testify before the senate intelligence committee. a lot of questions going forward whether he did that because he hopes to do a public testimony to be able to speak in front of cameras and the american public to answer questions that may offer clarity. there is a great deal of uncertainty around everything that has transpired the last week. >> eliza, it was on thursday that lester holt sat down with

the wide ranging and groundbreaking interview with the president. certainly the president has made himself accessible to interviews and the tweets he puts out makes him vulnerable to follow-up on the statements. the president giving an interview to judge jeanine and whether or not he will give written statements to the press or do the press briefings himself. what is it like for the communications staff within the white house and dealing with having factual information to talk about? >> you have to imagine it is frustrating to come out and say within thing and the president who you are supposed to speak for is contradicting. this is hard this week. the things that trump was saying made it harder for people to defend him. i'm on capitol hill talking to republican lawlawmakers. they are having a difficult time defending him as is. when the president goes out and

says things these threats that comey make it more difficult. if you are a communication staffer, i imagine you like the message to be unified and easy. >> yes. i think a lot of people would especially sean spicer who fieldfiel fielded many questions after returning from naval reserve duty to a lot of media inquiries. take a listen. >> did president trump record his conversations with former fbi director comey? >> i assume you are referring to the tweet? i talked to the president. the president has nothing further to add on that. >> why did he say that? why did he tweet that? what should we interpret? >> the president has nothing further to add on that. >> are there recording devices in the oval office? >> as i said for the third time, nothing further to add on that. >> does he think it is appropriate to threaten someone like mr. comey? >> i don't think that is a threat.

he simply stated a fact. the tweet speaks for itself. i'm moving on. >> is the president of the united states currently recording conversations in the oval office? >> i think the president has no further comment on this. >> that was a non denial denial from sean spicer. it simple to say there are no tapes to exist. fox news says this is the action of a mafia boss. what is the word on this may have happened where president trump may have taped people to potentially compromise them down the line? >> i think the white house needs to clarify if recordings are taking place between conversations with the president and senior government officials and intelligence officials. this should be addressed clearly. sean spicer should issue a statement on this and not beat around the bush. time and time again, we hear the

president's tweets speak for them self. he should not tweet if the communications staff doesn't have the ability to clarify what he is saying. i have to wonder after seeing what transpired yesterday whether white house counsel is advising the president on the legality of making threats of this in the public forum of twitter. it seemed president trump made a threat in the tweet yesterday morning and told by legal counsel in the white house that maybe thats wasn wasn't the bes. you should not speak any further. sean spicer was restricted in the press briefing. this is a pattern in the white house. certainly something that the communications office needs to work on with the president to avoid situations like this going forward. >> it is a pattern and demonstrated when he sent a tweet over sally yates in the

same fashion over leaks. what is taking place with elected leaders on the hill is fascinating. it is partisan how they are circling wagons. listen to dick durbin, a democrat, erahe raises a very important question. >> president trump is dangerous. he may be obstructing justice in terms of the investigation that really goes to the heart of our democracy. >> so eliza, he says it goes to the heart of the democracy. the big question for people following from home is with congress expected to be checks and balances of the executive branch from consuming an authoritarian regime and too much power, why is the gop looking at it in a different way from the chaotic decisions? it is like the gop has swallowed a grenade in donald trump. they know this is a grenade that is about to blow up. they are too willing to address it. >> they want their other agenda items to move forward.

they want health care and tax reform. some want criminal justice reform. to do those things, they need to align with the president. they will not be able to bring democrats, if any, on board. they need to be working with the president. especially a president with clout with someone like the freedom caucus in thes hou hous. i think a lot of people are swallowing this and really hoping it goes away. hoping they don't wake up to another tweet. when president trump goes out around his communication staff, there is no clear strategy. he is saying threats at comey. it is making it harder and harder. we have seen richard burr who says he is concerned with the issues and he respects comey. he really is upset he is was fired. you are starting to see correct. this is starting to show a

little bit in public. >> eliza and gabby, thank you. we know as we following the hearings into the comey firing. what will that accomplish? i will talk to a member of the house judicial committee about that and the hopes for that type of hearing after this. think again. this is the new new york. we are building new airports all across the state. new roads and bridges.

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hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts at msnbc world headquarters. this is what we are watching this morning. look at this. this is the nor'easter. we'll get that in a second. this is president trump boarding air force one. there is a nor'easter along the

eastern seaboard. you see gray skies above air force one. you see this from buffalo to virginia. that is where the president will be today in lynchburg at liberty university. coming up in an hour. the president will be on-site there. we will keep you posted. students getting in line for graduation coming up today. congrats legislati ulations to . we go back to d.c. and former fbi director james comey is furious over the way he was fired. we have ken delanian. he is working with sources close to bringing this out and sources close with the fbi director. there are tapes in reaction to what the president tweeted out. what have we learned on comey's side of this? right now it is he said/he said. >> that's right, thomas. associates we have been speaking to are apoplectic.

he is waiting to see how he tells his story. in congress or the media. obviously he has a very different tale about this infamous dinner over james comey requested. comey said he was summoned by the white house. he was uneasy about it. he did not like the appearance it created. people close to comey say it is inconceivable he asked donald trump to be retained as fbi director or told donald trump he is wasn't under investigation. both are claims the president made in the interview with lester holt. >> ken, stand by. we are watching the motorcade arrive at joint base andrews about tie oo take off. right now, the president gets to own the narrative. comey is not testifying next week. you are pointing out from sources he wants to wait to see how this all pans out.

but in respect to the letter that he wrote to members of the fbi, he said he firmly believed that a president could fire him for any reason or no reason at all. is the letter that was made public different from what your sources are expressing days later and how mr. comey has watched this unfold? >> in a word, yes, thomas. when i saw the letter, i wondered if comey had changed course. we were hearing immediately he was intending to respond. that letter was very politic. we are being told he does intend to correct the record on a couple of things where he this it was mischaracterized. he is deeply concerned how this will effect the fbi. he doesn't want to do anything to reflect poorly on the fbi. he believes in that institution. that may factor into his thinking. >> ken, the feeling of the fbi

and names of the short list floated today, what more have we heard about where they may stand on this or whether or not a sentiment with folks on the hill that any type of confirmation process would begin? >> you know, democrats have been saying they will not vote to confirm an fbi director until a special prosecutor is appointed. because of the rules, democrats cannot block the confirmation. they need republican help. in terms of the names, andrew mccabe who testified on the hill this week. he impressed a lot of people at the fbi with the tough comments how the russian investigation will move forward and it is impossible to stymy the men and women of the fbi. another, john cornyn, is seen as a trump partisan and dubious of the russian investigation. that would alarm a lot of people

inside the fbi and on capitol hill if he was the selection. >> ken, thank you. we are watching live as president trump is boarding air force one. again, taking off to deliver the commencement address at liberty university. coming up within the hour. we will keep you posted on that. take you for the address as well. now the other fallout of the firing of fbi director james comey with the democratic members of the house judicial committee calling for the chair to launch immediate hearings into the circumstances of the firing. the letter to the chairman reads that the firing threatens to erode confidence of the fbi and integrity of the system of justice. joining me now is ken jefferys. a member of the house committee. sir, it is great to have you with me. reaction from goodlatte on that letter? >> not yet. we need chairman and all house republicans and including paul ryan to start putting country

ahead of party. we are in the middle of the constitutional crisis. the like of watergate and richard nixon. the firing of james comey overseeing a criminal investigation to implicate the president of the united states is an urgent threat. necessi we need to see what happens to be fair and impartial. >> when it comes to what you are saying is the precipice of the crisis, in the interview thursday, he asked if he was under investigation. you told me he is not under investigation. what is your reaction to those conversations if true? >> if true, the president is coming dangerously close to obstructing an investigation of his campaign and the investigation that could potentially lead to the downfall of the administration or

certainly cause tremendous amount of problems. the president needs to stay as far away from the investigation as possible. that is consistent or would be consistent with what every other president of the united states in recent memory with the exception notably of richard nixon has done. he should not be interfering with the fbi or department of justice in the context of what is going on. that's why we are demanding the appointment of a special prosecutor so no trump political appointee can make decision about the outcome of the investigation once the fbi completes its work. >> have you seen anything within your duties on the judicial committee or other members of congress. you talk about richard nixon. anything to force the president to resign? >> nothing that would wors forc president to resign. we are at the investigation where we are trying to uncover the facts. we know that 17 different intelligence agencies have

acknowledged or concluded that russia interfered with the election for the explicit purpose of helping donald trump. we know high level trump operatives were engaged in conversations with the russian agents at the same time they were hacking into the election. we know donald trump refuses to release tax returns. we know he fired the fbi director leading the investigation. a lot of information coming to light that should be deeply troubling, not just to democrats, but republicans and the american people. >> the reason they bring up richard nixon, he did resign. bill clinton did not resign. he was impeached. is that a direct correlation to get people comfortable with seeking a resignation from the president? >> not at all. the president keeps creating the parallels to the nixon administration. he has become a living, breathing threat to democracy with everything he does. it is unconventional. unorthodox and unamerican.

he himself led to the possibility of drawing the parallels with richard nixon when he evoked the possibility he could be taping conversations with james comey and others. he cannot help himself, but this is deeply troubling to democracy. we will get to the bottom of it one way or the other. >> so this, i want to play for everybody. another moment from the recent interview that the president has made. take a listen. >> he made a recommendation. regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey knowing there was no good time to do it. in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. >> so he thinks it is a made up story. wants to see it go away. is that an admission of what his intent was in getting rid of james comey and back to obstruction of justice. how do you not listen to the president and believe what he

tells you? >> he certainly has walked very closely to the line of interfering with an ongoing criminal investigation and acknowledging that it was his intent. potentially abusing his power. i think we are hoping republicans on the house judicial committee and republicans in the house and republicans in the senate will step up just like republicans during the nixon administration who said you know, regardless of party affiliation, we have to get to the bottom of what happened here. particularly because democracy was hacked into and a possibility that americans colluded with russia to interfere with the election. >> do you think that means -- you said americans colluded. do you say that means others are involved? other members of congress may be part of this as well? >> not at all. i'm saying -- >> is that why you are saying they are turning a blind eye? why would mitch mcconnell and

paul ryan not see this vetted and proven false? >> that is a better question for them. we are scratching our heads as to why they have not stepped up. one possible explanation is they are hopeful this will all go away. they will bury their heads in the sand and jam tax reform to benefit the wealthy down the throats of the american people. this will not go away. that's been clear. prior to this week's events and the extraordinary termination of james comey has made it clear. we are eventually going to get to the bottom of what happened here and turn the situation around. >> congress member, thank you for being here. good to see you in person. we will continue to follow what is taking place right there. the live images of the president. we saw him get on board air force one. he is about to take off for the commencement at liberty university. we will cover the political divide that continues to grow about the fbi director and take a look at this. we have the latest nbc news

survey monkey poll. 79% of republicans think it was appropriate. how can americans be so split on that issue? and a matter of trust. what does it mean if a rank and file member doesn't trust the president? we have a former insider weighing in on that. are allergies holding you back? break through your allergies. try new flonase sensimist allergy relief instead of allergy pills. it's more complete allergy relief

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♪ ♪ use the chase mobile app to send money in just a tap, to friends at more banks then ever before. you got next? chase. helping you master what's now and what's next. dinner was arranged. i think he asked for the dinner. he wanted to stay on as the fbi head. i said i'll consider. we'll see what happens. >> he mentioned he had been invited to the white house to have dinner with the president and he was uneasy with that because of even compromising even the optics of the appearance of not only him, but the fbi. >> so president trump and former director of national

intelligence james clapper on james comey. joining me now is former aide to george w. bush. we have zerlina maxwell. we have rick tyler. let's dive in with you on this one. we heard a lot this week. you know, enough to make your head spin full rotation. the sound bites. what is the reaction you have to the sound we just played together and how unusual the dinner would be between the fbi director and the sitting president, potentially under investigation? >> first of all, fbi directors don't call the white house and ask for dinner and get dinner. that just didn't happen. it would be very unusual when there is an investigation. remember the president doesn't seem to be the target of the investigation. he could be caught up in the russian investigation. it would be unusual and in particular because we learned

that trump seemed to have asked comey for some pledge of loyalty to him which comey demured and would not offer that. the circumstances around it seem unusual. now of course, thomas, the tapes which i think is disturbing. when the president introduces the idea of tapes, it changes the conversation. particularly people who need to give him information on things he needs to know to make decisions. if there are tapes, it introdu e introduces an element of mischusmi mistrust. >> and zerlina, when we look at the timeline, it would be within the same timeframe. 24 to 36 hours of where sally yates came to inform the white house according to sean spicer with the head's up. the details from sally yates we got this week with the head's up

on flynn and conversations with sergei kislyak. those conversations caused him to be fired. then the president having dinner with comey within the same timeframe. the issue here, you know, you pull it apart, it stinks. if a president is explaining it, don't we need a real explanation from james comey too? >> i think we will eventually get an on the record under oath explanation from former director james comey. from all reports and from people close to him, they say he is a man of integrity. i think in some instances, that was to a fault. i'm a former clinton staffer. certainly jim comey is not my favorite person. he did not need to be fired in this unceremonial way and disrespectful way. the president admitted it was because of the russia investigation. that is something that is serious. i was taken aback by the president's interviews this week

because it was clear he hadn't spoken to an attorney before doing these interviews. he is walking a very, very serious line when it comes to coming close to looking like he is obstructing an ongoing investigation which is very serious. you know, we compare to watergate. the underlining crime in watergate was the break-in in the watergate hotel. we are talking about hostile foreign agent breaking into the election. none of this is normal. we need to stake this seriously. i hope republicans have a come to jesus moment. we have to put country first. we talked about america first. push comes to shove. we have to actually live up to that moment. >> joe, come to jesus moment. i'm coming right to pastor. >> pastor's daughter. >> we look at the nbc news survey monkey poll. 79% of republicans thought the

firing was appropriate. 39% of republicans agree. 13% of democrats. do you think, joe, that this th gop? and people that we have come to know as having the heart of the public servant. whether or not their politics are agreeable in, say, paul ryan or mitch mcconnell. is the onus really on them to clean up and provide the republican party back to what you know it to be? >> it ought to be a come to jesus moment. i don't think it's likely to happen. i think for most of the members the house and the senate on the republican side, you know, this is a matter of practicality. they view their own agendas and re-election. remember next year lots are up for re-election. they have to consider that and how the president is viewed in their home district. that matters to them now. i don't think it's going to happen. i think that beauty is going to

be in the eye of the beholder. if you happen not to like donald trump, of course, you're going to want to see a special prosecutor named. if you happen to be republican and like donald trump, of course, you say it's the president's prerogative. as president of the united states he has the authority to dismiss an fbi director because it's been done once before when bill clinton was president. those circumstances were vastly different from these when bill clinton dismissed then fbi director william sessions for ethics lapses. so very different situation than the current situation. nonetheless, i don't think it happens. i don't think a special prosecutor is called. i don't think the attorney's general office will seek a special prosecutor. what i think you'll see happen next is a bunch of potential replacements for former fbi director comey being interrue viewed. i think it becomes the next story. who is being interviewed and whether or not they're qualified. how well they're received by democrats and republicans on the

hill. >> last question, all three of you. rick, does the president stop doing daily briefings? potentially doing them by print or like he said maybe he'll do them himself biweekly? >> i don't think so. he may replace sean spicer but i'm not sure they'll give up on the daily press briefing. it will be something too transparency he can't afford to diminish. >> i hope he doesn't stop daily press briefings. it would go to normalizing something that is not normal in that taking away the access to the administration and actually having credibility. that's the crisis that we're in now. the white house doesn't have credibility. so continuing to do the press briefings but make sure your people are telling the truth. >> o', do you agree yes or no? >> i agree with both but i don't think -- i think there's a better than 50/50 chance that president trump will suspend the daily press briefings. >> i'm a betting man.

i'll take that bet. thank you. great to see you. thank you for your time. new beginnings. the republican party and the plan for 2018. the early expectations. we'll talk about that next. ay t. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced, our senses awake, our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say: if you love something... set it free. see you around, giulia ♪ (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) the joy of real cream in 15 calories per serving. enough said. reddi-wip. (flourish spray noise) share the joy.

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a great gentleman and my friend.

they have better health care than they do. >> they have universal health care. now the latest from the republican party. the rnc spring meeting coming to an end in san diego yesterday. here is a look at what it was like when they were gavelled out. this is all happening under the week that was. the chaos unfolding in washington over the firing of the fbi director. that was largely ignored. nbc is in coronado, california with more. the hard duty of being in san diego. i'm jealous and coronado, which is gorgeous. let's talk about the meeting and the hopes of what they were trying to forecast for 2018. >> reporter: yeah, thomas. this was actually the rnc's first meeting since inauguration day. new rnc chair kicked it off

yesterday. you saw the meeting. there was 160 rnc members. also, here were the political arms of the gop. the senate territorial committee. all are tasked with helping the members looking toward 2018 and the midterm race. usually it's the reception period when you win the house, senate, and white house. as you were mentioning there, when you have the aftermath of the james comey firing, the russia investigations continuing. the tone was different around here. that's why when donald trump recorded a video yesterday that played to these rnc members, there was one particular line that was interesting. we'll play that byte. >> i'll be going around to different states. i'll be working hard for the people running for congress and for the people running for the senate. we can pick up a lot of seats. especially if it keeps going like it's going now. >> reporter: even before this week, thomas, the republican party had issues. it passed in the house that

health care bill, which had 21% approval rating across the country. what the issue is for the republican party now is messaging. they don't have a tax reform bill. they haven't passed health care legislation they promised to do early on in the trump administration. and so really what these individuals here all these different political apparatus arms is having to figure out what extend they stand with donald trump and stand with their members. there's been no advertising on tv from any of these groups or any outside political entities defending any of these members house votes for that health care bill or actually promoting the legislation. so really over the next 18 months, what is going to have to be determined by the groups is the extent to which they go out and have their members seen with donald trump. i was talking with one rnc member, thomas. he reminded me this is donald trump's party now. he said it comes from the white house. exactly where the messaging is going. if donald trump wants to go to the districts and the states, he's going to do it. thomas? >> thank you, sir.

i appreciate it. so president trump and the erosion of trust from his white house. i'll speak with a former fbi insider and the fall out on the comey firing. fair or not? david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ p3 planters nuts, jerky and whaseeds.at? i like a variety in my protein. totally, that's why i have this uh trail mix. wow minty. p3 snacks. the more interesting way to get your protein.

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