i'm nicole wallace. "mtp daily" starts right now. >> if it's friday, the breaking news just won't stop. tonight, hot off the presses. a new round of reporting on what's going on behind closed doors at the white house. plus, members of congress are given new insight into bob mueller's inveigation. >> there were questions well outside the russian scope. >> and america first goes global. >> he has sxmd done things which undermine the confidence that our allies have in us. >> how will the world receive president trump during his first foreign trip? this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. >> good evening. i'm katy tur in for chuck todd. welcome to the unknown. we've never seen a week quite

like this and it isn't even over yet. an afternoon of major breaking news. the "new york times" reporting that president trump told the russians last week during a meeting at the white house that the firing of fbi director james comey eased pressure from the russia investigation. i just fired head of the fbi. he was crazy, a real nut job. mr. trump said. i faced great pressure because of russia. that's taken off. >> the white house notably is not will disputing that account. and the "washington post" is now reporting that the russia probe which is now in the hands of a special prosecutor has identified a current white house official as a significant person of interest. the white house isn't disputing that report either. these two bomb shells cap off a week of sheer chaos. >> why won't you just explain whether or not there are recordings? >> the president has made his position clear. >> the story that came out

tonight as reported is false. >> there are national security has been put at risk by those violating confidentiality. >> watergate took a few months. this thing seems to be taking hours. >> the special prosecutor is doing an investigation of criminal allegations. >> the entire thing has been a witch hunt. there is no collusion. >> i stand for impeachment of the president. >> did you at any time urge former fbi director james comey in any way, shape or form to close or back down investigation into michael flynn? >> no, no. next question. >> we have never seen a week like this. we've never had a president like the either. we'll try to make sense of the chaos. the president is on his way to saudi arabia. hours ago he boarded air force one for his first presidential trim abroad. he'll hit five countries in eight days. his supporters are desperately hoping it will be a chance to reset an out of control narrative.

before the president departed, his facebook page seemed to address the chaos. it said they are trying to sabotage us. >> clearly, it's my hope that he does right the shipment. >> i think we can do with a little less drama from the white house. on a lot of things. >> obviously -- >> i wish we could take twitter away from him. >> the white house on multiple fronts. we've put together an incredible panel as we try to chart a way forward. steve kornacki is a national correspondent. they have worked hand in hand with the, with four presidents in the past. >> the deputy chief of staff and bush 43's chief of staff, mat was the chief of staff, the director of speech writing, and

anita dunn was the communications director. guys, damage assessment. how bad with these new developments? we have the "washington post," "the new york times," does this make it worse than it was for him. >> i think you have the two there that you're talking about. the "new york times" and the "washington post." i think one brings a lot more specificity. the "new york times" and the reporting of what donald trump said in the meeting the other day. the key element. in story is that the white house isn't disputing it. so then it becomes a question of the white house, trump defenders coming one an interpretation of this. they will try to offer as more benign than what i think it sounds like the a lot of people. here you have a very specific account of words that were said to the russians and you don't have the white house saying no, that didn't happen. >> not denying . >> t "washington post," one, i put it more in the category of potentially explosive. potentially blockbuster.

but the material, when they say person of interest. just because that is such a broad term. such a nonspecific material. that could be something devastating to the white house. that could be something that falls more in the benign end. so i look at the "new york times" one. that's immediately more difficult for the white house. >> we're getting more and more every day. does this indicate only further that donald trump was trying to impede the russia investigation? >> well, i think we need to let the process play out. clearly, you got a lot to work with. a lot of empregss that have been made. i think we've got processes in place and we need to let them work. my real concern if i were in the white house, it is hard enough on move your agenda forward without all of these distractions, controversies and just stresses on the white house. it is going to be even more difficult now. >> michael, if your president had said something like this.

had been the oval office with the russians and denigrated a former fbi director, what would your reaction have been? >> first of all, i would have been shocked. that's not the man i worked for. he would 97 have done such a thing. i think what we're seeing is an extraordinary high stakes contest between leaks that are coming from intelligence and from law enforcement. and the president here, that represents something just extraordinary. something that i haven't seen. it is a fraying of the relationship between institutions in our country. it is not good. even on the face of it, it is not good. >> let's line this up. he has publicly criticized the fbi investigation, calling it fake news and a total hoax. he said he asked comey for his

loyalty according to the "new york times" when he talked to donald trump, excuse me, when he talked on lester holt. he said he was thinking about the russian investigation when he decided to fire james comey. we've got this news today, calling him a nut job. we have the memo comey wrote saying donald trump asked him to end the investigation into flynn. what more do people need other than that for their to be evidence that donald trump was trying to get involved? and at the very least, influence the investigation. >> well, you know, katy, in many ways, this has been the farther he was thing from a cover-up since donald trump last week went on your network to say this was why he had fired director comey. or come as close as you can. this is now the second report. it makes you nostalgic for earlier in the week will the worst they know he had done with the russians was to share intelligence about a trusted

ally. all four of us worked in different administrations. when you are trying to do anything in this town, to have the alignment of enemies, that this white house has managed to line up very quickly and to have so few allies, we're going to stick with you. richard nixon, three years into the watergate investigations, still had a fairly solid block of support on, two years in on, capitol hill. and only when that crumbled did he resign. people hung in there with him. this is a president who ran against his own party as well as my party when he ran for president. who took on the intelligence agencies and said he didn't believe what they were saying. who has basically attacked press. who has come into town. and yes, he has shaken things up. i think he is about to findut how shaky his own ground is.

>> give us your assessment. >> the challenges that president trump has, he envitd on himself. there's been a lack of discipline from him which means a lack of discipline seen as permission around the executive branch. the president should have more discipline for people in the government who work for him. they do work in the executive branch. it is critically important. this is a new stage. we have a special counsel that is going to be reviewing all of this. people should find the discipline to do what is right. i hope that reince priebus convenes a meeting of all the people who boring in the white house and says, we'll cooperate with this special counsellor and the work that has to be done. if you cannot cooperate, go see the white house counsel or the chief of staff. then i would say president trump

should call for people who boring at the white house to cooperate with the special counsel effort to understand what happened. it would be good if this could be done quickly so this review doesn't go on for years and years and years. i think it should be done well. we should cooperate with them and find a solution so we can get back to doing the job of running the country. that's the real job at the white house. president trump must invite people to work with him so he can continue to do the job and not be distracted. especially now that we have a special counsellor who will be reviewing all of this. stop talking about it. focus on the job at hand. hopefully, it will then go into all the intelligence agencies and he'll start to do the job rather than talk about their job, the job that somebody else is not doing well. and talking to the press. i think they have to get back to

discipline. the special counsel is an excuse for the white house to say, we won't talk about this anymore. the special counsellor will hale all of this and let's see what happens. >> that's the near universal advice that people are giving donald trump. and donald trump is not somebody who listens tom. he is somebody who will send out a measured statement about the counsellor and then watching cable news in the morning and wake up and tweet angrily. so i think reince priebus going out and trying to give a stern lecture to the staff is futile if the president of the united states refuses to get on board. what do you do when the commander in chief is not someone you can could not convenience to put down his phone? >> well, i twoth white house counsel and the chief of staff

should sit with the president and outline the importance of having a special counsellor ascened to conduct an investigation. you have to have discipline and probably shouldn't talk about the past publicly if it relates to it. if it will invite you into the process of being distracted by having a special counsellor calling you as a witness and appearing before grand juries or anything else. the president has a job to do. he has an impossibly difficult job to be president of the united states under any circumstances. he doesn't need to complicate it by trying to second-guess what will happen in an investigation that he has to control over. it is what it is. she find discipline to follow the recommendations of his white houser counsel and his chief of staff and invite greater discipline on the whole process, including the white house staff.

>> the president ran against the republican party and the democratic party. that's 100% true. he only embraced the republican party after they embraced him. even then it was touch and go. they decided to back away from them, he would go out guns blazing against fumbles. because of that, because he was not, he doesn't have a real allegiance to a party and his supporters didn't have an allegiance to a party, they have an allegiance to him. what does he have to listen to anyone in washington for? >> yeah. i look at this from a different angle. i look at it from the standpoint of the republican members of congress, on paper, this is their president. they harbor hope that's they can fast agenda. as long as donald trump has that r next to his name, their fate is tied to him in a lot of ways. it is so complicated because so many didn't embrace him.

soap ran away from him in the last month of the campaign when that "access hollywood" tape came out. they believed he would doom them and their party. the fact that he won their nomination last year. he then survived those october revelations and won the presidency, i think has in the back of the mind of just about every republican member of congress is the thought, wait a minute. does this guy know my party's base better than do i? is he more in touch with them? are they more in tune than they are with me? i think that is what has given them so much pause to come out and break with him. >> what i have thursday is next thursday. next thursday, monday tan. a don't and me why it is a thursday and not a tuesday. a special election in montana on thursday. >> you made goo pnt that nixon, theupported forim started to break after a special election. >> michael, i want to get you in on this quickly. >> not if he's in the mid 30s,

in the polls coming up. i think members of congress are at the remaining strength, where his floor is in all this. it makes a difference if it is 40s or 30s as far as intimidation factor, going against the president. the stronger he is, the more difficult that is for members. >> and anita, i'll sorry. my producer was in my ear for a second. i didn't realize you stopped talking. do democrats understand how to capitalize on this or are they going to fall into the same trap during election, which was criticize trump say, that he's a horrible person, he is not fit to be president, are they going to present their own ideas? are they going to turn out at the polls? what do you think? >> well, it's interesting. steve just mentioned the montana special election which is being held next thursday. the final ad that the democratic

candidate, rob quest, has put on the air is about health care. it is very specifically about the republican health care bill. tying his opponent to that republican health care bill. and i think it is an interesting dynamic. clearly, we're dealing with a lot of things out there when it comes the these special elections. hillary clinton got 36% of the vote in monday danieltana so i s a very tough state to went in. having said that, obviously, democrats have to go out and they have to make the case at some point to this coury that they are ready to govern and to lead it forward. in particular, they have heard from the people who haven't done as well. that they have ideas to move this country forward. donald trump ran a very good campaign when it came to appealing to the people who felt left behind. democrats have the challenge of coming one the economic message. every day that goes by, this white house is making this

mid-term. easier for the democrats to make significant gains in the house and to at least hold their own in the senate where two months ago, everyone was talking about the democrats losing significant numbers of seats in the senate. >> we'll get back to you a little later in the hour. i didn't get to circle back to you in this block. but steve, appreciate it. michael and anita, we're just getting started in this hour. next, we'll talk to members of congress with reaction to today's new round of breaking news. this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you

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probe. and "the new york times" said that trump told russians that firing james comey eased pressure from the investigation. and according to foreign policy magazine, israeli intelligence is furious over president trump's disclosure of classified information to the russians. we'll hear from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle next. and we'll go to saudi arabia ahead of the president's arrival. verything, so we know how to cover almost anything. even a coupe soup. [woman] so beautiful. [man] beautiful just like you. [woman] oh, why thank you. [burke] and we covered it, november sixth, two-thousand-nine. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night,blind.

and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24. learn more by calling 844-824-2424. or visit your24info.com. we're winding up as busy a week as you can have in congress without having any monumental votes. joining me now, the florida congressman francis rooney. thank you for joining me, number one. and i would be remiss not to start with a couple of breaking news stories that have come out of both the "washington post" and "the new york times." first with the "washington post," they say their law enforcement sources are what u.s. official sources say the investigation into the russian

probe has reached a senior white house adviser. somebody close to the president. given that, do you still believe that a special counsel was not necessary? >> i think as long as it is an intelligence issue and the issues being talked about pertain to classified documents is that who has the right to receive them, who should be their names disclosed, yeah, i think they should keep the jurisdiction. >> if a white house senior adviser, somebody close to the president is being investigated, do you trust that this administration is properly vetting people? >> i wouldn't know about their internal procedures about, vetting. he know the vetting procedures the bush administration did which were exacting. i would assume that they're following the same lines. >> micha flynn, they say they didn't know abt his ties to turkey. they say they didn't know he was under investigation. there is reporting that he alerted them early on. there are questions about vetting of michael flynn.

now another white house senior adviser being investigated by law enforcement during this probe into russia. that's a pretty big deal. you think the vetting is okay? >> well, i have to agree with the flynn situation now that we know some hard facts. that's a bad deal if he was being paid by foreign governments and still working around the white house and having classified briefings. >> "the new york times" is reporting the day after the conversation with the russians, told the russian ambassador told the russian foreign minister, that james comey was crazy, a real nut job, that it relieved great pressure from him. what is your reaction? >> i couldn't understand why the president didn't fire comey january 20th. the way he botched the hillary clinton investigation. that was his business to wait. and i think the fact the deputy attorney general has said that

the deputy fbi director has said that there was no effort to hinder the investigation under sworn testimony is good enough for me. >> do you think it is appropriate that the president called the fbi director crazy and a real nut job? is that appropriate for the president of the united states? >> well, we all have our different personalities. certainly this campaign was laden with a lot of them and each of us looks at it differently. i don't know that i would say something like that but i'm not president. >> he told lester holt that he was thinking about the russia investigation when he decided to fire fbi director joel. >> i want to see some president the president of the united states said he was thinking about the russia investigation when he decided to fire the fbi director. >> the deputy fbi director.

we have an intel investigation about what may or may not have happened with intelligence with the russians and i would like to see the two committees do what the taxpayers hired they will to do. if they're not satisfied, take it to another level what did you learn from deputy ag rosenstein today? >> i think he stands by his story that comey needed to go. >> anything else? >> no. is there something else i should have learned? >> did you learn pits leaning more toward a criminal investigation? were you happy with the deputy attorney general? do you agree with his decision to appoint a special counsel now even though you didn't before? >> i would just as soon not have a special counsel and let the intel committees do their job first. you get mission cream. people trying to build careers off these things. >> do you think that bob mueller is trying to build a career off

there? >> no. >> doing this for political reasons? >> not director mueller. he's done everything you can do that's important in the world. but there will be some people he hires that might want to bull a political career. >> so do you think this is an investigation that has an jeopardy, even though someone like bob mueller is leading it? >> i'm not going to criticize a person with a distinguished service record like director mueller. i would just like the see the intel committees do their work first. >> does anything coming out of this white house, anything at all, give you pause about this president? >> yes. there are some things give me pause. >> like what? >> i think the flynn situation is not good. and i think those facts, that the department of defense is investigating need to come to full life. i would like the see they will speed up the appointment process and fill out the posts to the

government so they can do their jobs. >> thank you very much. >> same to you. let's turn to senator chris van hollen. i'm going to warn you now, i'll going to throw a bunch. news at you. we have tons of breaking news that has been mounting by the motel. >> first, mcclatchy has indicated that they were also investigating a cover-up. did you get that indication yesterday? in your meeting with rod rosenstein? >> i don't think there's any doubt that the special counsel has been charged to look into not just collusion between the trump campaign and the russians during the election burks into obstruction of justice and a potential cover-up. that's clearly the reason why rod rosenstein did not answers

the questions, whether he met with the president, his view of the comey memo, all of that now is in the purview of the special counsel with respect to potential obstruction of justice. i should point out that in order to appoint a special counsel, under the regulation, rod rosenstein had to make a finding, a derrell atiterminatia criminal investigation was warranted. at some point, clearly, something tipped the balance from the decisions not to appoint a special counsel to appointing one. >> but did he tell you that? >> he was very clear in his comments that a criminal special was part of this and part of purview of the special counsel. >> did he use the words, were you looking into a cover-up? >> i'm not sure if he used the word cover-up. but the word obstruction of justice was used. >> got it. "new york times" is reporting that donald trump. in meeting with the russian

officials in the oval office, he called fbi director a nut job. that being said, believe alone. he said that firing him eed pressure. what does that say to you? that it eased pressure in the oval office. >> i think that will be of great interest to the special counsel. it is the question of collusion during the trump campaign and the elections. if in fact the firing of comey was done by president trump to try to prevent comey from getting to the bottom of things, that's something the special counsel will want to look into. again, we don't know what he'll find but it is clearly something that will be on his radar screen. that will make his antenna go up, as is the news about the

comey memo where trump told him not to pursue the investigation into michael flynn who clearly is over his head with respect to his this quconnection with the russians. >> the "washington post" is reporting that the law enforcement investigation now reaches as high as the white house. saying that a current white house official is a person of interest. any idea who that could be? >> i do not have any idea who it could be. it tells me that in addition to the counter intelligence investigation that's going on, i think this likely falls under the purview of the criminal investigation. as we know, even before the appointment of a special prosecutor, there were grand jury proceedings. subpoenas had been issued in this case. clearly things were heating up and that seems be the the

motivation for president trump making the decision to fire comey. the irony, of course, is that the result of a special counsel who is now going to be very focused on this. and i should say that despite what trump said the other day about how this is dividing the country, for the most part, a few members of congress second, there's broad bipartisan support by this move by rod rosenstein. >> in your roles, heading the dscc, the dccc, what do you think? if democrats cannot win the two special elections coming up, one in montana, one in georgia, if they can't win right now, what does that say? >> let me make an important distinction. i believe that the questions regarding collusion and the ongoing investigation are things that really do rise above party politics. one of the things we've done is call for a come together as

patriots, not partisans. i believe the appointment of rod rosenstein is an example where people came together outside the white house, of course. >> but they can't win under those circumstances. i don't want to write it back to the politics but that mean the american people don't care? or does that mean that even despite this, they trust republicans more? >> it has to mean something. >> with respect to the special elections, i think it was anita dunn who mention that had the ads being run in montana focus on the republican support for the trump care, which is a total betrayal of the trump voters when you get under the hood and look at what it does. it strips 24 million americans of access to affordable care while providing huge tax cuts to very wealthy people and powerful special interests. that's why that kind of issue that shows the broken promises

of the trump administration has been a powerful motivator. and yes, you've seen people coming out to town hall meetings, making phone calls, marching in the streets. all of that is really important in offyear elections because it is the in are of voters. trump said he would find china currency ma anymore lator. it is a campaign where a lot of members of the trump family have financial interests tie one what the president is doing. and he has a budget coming up which we know from the preliminary glimpse will be a total betrayal of what he told the forgotten americans. he is forgetting the forgotten americans and going after them. >> senator, i appreciate your time. happy friday, sir. >> still ahead, our panel gives

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amid all the breaking news, president trump takes his first trip abroad. right now, here's cnbc's hampton pearson with the market wrap. >> we had stocks basically

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to do with this. >> reporter: the stakes couldn't be higher. they are hoping this will help president trump reset the narrative after what has been the rockiest period of his young presidency. this is going to be an historic nine-day trim. it starts right here in riyadh. he will be meeting with the king right here on saturday as well as the number of leaders in the region. his message is that he wants to be a partner. despite his travel ban that has been held up in the court. i can tell you that he is being welcomed with optimism and excitement. he is staying at the ritz-carlton where we are and there's a huge image of president trump and the king as well as their hands clasping. so there's a lot of optimism. they see this as an opportunity to reset relations in the weighing of president obama. there was a lot of president

obama because he secured the iran nuclear deal. they say one of the end ms. of saudi arabia. he then heads to israel, the vatican, and brussels, sicily. a chance to reset. you can bet all the scandal there's follow him here. >>er appreciate it. now let's go back to my all-star panel. the chief of staff. bush 43 is the director of speech writing. >> do you think this can be a reset? >> it does gave chance to reset the narrative. the narrative at home is not good. you have to be strong at home to provide leadership abroad. i think he is set up to have a good trip to saudi arabia. i think he'll be well received by mr. netanyahu in israel, despite the recent flap.

nato will be considerably more complicated, how he squares america first with nato where he's been very critical. but there's no question when the u.s. president steps on the world stage, if he can handle it in a thoughtful, serious manner, it will help him reset the narrative. and he needs that at this point. >> words matter when you're visiting these sorts of countries. donald trump's speeches are being written by steven miller, the same adviser that wrote the travel ban adviser who wrote many of the speeches while donald trump is on the campaign trail. many were accused of being islamophobic. what does that say to you? >> he has to repudiate his positions in order to communicate what he wants to communicate in this circumstance. he has identified islam as part of the problem. you cannot fight war on terror by ailen it aing the islamic world. that's not will possible. all. our allies on the ground are muslim in this fight.

so he will have to change his position. the question is, is the speech writing department avoice of reason and moderation in this? or are they part of the problem? they are the ones who produced the inaugural address, one of the most divisive in history. america first message. he has to repudiate his previous positions, and the speech writing staff will have to do something it hasn't done before. >> and we're just getting a report about israel and the intelligence out there being furious with american intelligence officials screaming for the leak of highly classified information from donald trump to the russians. are he goes to israel right after saudi arabia. by all public accounts, it looks like things will go well. at least the israeli ambassador said things will be fine. what will it be like behind the

scenes? how tense could it get? >> first, president trump does have a good relationship with netanyahu. i think he expects to have a good meeting and netanyahu wants to have a good meeting. they've had friction in the past and this is not the first time. we're allies and we are the best ally that israel has. netanyahu knows that. president trump knows that. is certainlytanding up and demonstrating. i think it will be a good visit to saudi arabia and a good visit to jerusalem and israel. so i think president trump is actually going to be standing on stage at the right time with the right message. he does have a problem back home and we should recognize that it is important for all of america to say he is our president now. he is speaking for us. >> speaking of being back home, vice president pence is not on

this trip. he is somebody that nbc news reporting is shown to at least being kept in the dark on some of the more momentus things. >> are white house officialser purposely keeping him in the dark to protect him? or are they purposely keeping him in the dark because they don't trust him? >> i don't know, katie. i think that vice president pence was never a member of the trump inner circle during the campaign. he has done what the president has needed him to do. i want to go back to something andy said before the the need for discipline. these foreign trims, a nine-day trim, five countries. it is a grueling trip for anybody. that's a really tough, long foreign trip. the discipline that's required of those individuals, being

presidential, changing the narrative, it is discipline that says do not get in these meetings and free lance. it is really important for him to go into these meetings as the president of the united states, but also to exercise the kind of discipline that i think andy was talking about earlier in order to really maximize all this. >> if anybody knows about the need for presidential discipline, it is you guys. so happy you're joining us.

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it's time now for the lid and it's a lightning round. my west wing friends are back. andy, michael, anita. you're going to get same question, you have to give it to me quickly. what is the story, mack, that will still be in the headlines as of next week? >> i think there will be two stories likely. i would not be surprised president trump's encounter with the pope could bring forth some unexpected news stories. but the stories here, the controversies will continue. as anita noted that will be hard to deal with on a long foreign

trip. >> anita, your name was invoked. what about you? >> jim comey, and why he fired jim comey because at some point jim comey gets to talk, too. >> andy? >> comey, bob mueller, the new fbi director, that will be very interesting to america. but this trip could also generate some commentary depending on how well the president does. and this is the chance for the president to be standing on the world stage as the president of the united states and i think that will make a difference, too. >> michael? >> special counsel just guarantees that russia is going to be important. and, you know, we have white house leaks all the time. we have intel leaks. we've got fbi leaks that have guaranteed this story stays in the headlines, and i'm not sure that's going to change. >> and michael, since we have some more time you guys were so quick, who do you think the next fbi director is going to be, is joe lieberman a good choice? >> i think democrats are not very happy about the possibility of joe lieberman on the argument

that they want a nonpolitical fbi director. i think a more consensus choice would -- i like joe lieberman a great deal, but a more consensus choice would be a consummate professional. that's i think what members of congress maybe on both sides are looking for. >> mack, it looks like they want to get lindsey graham and john mccain on board. if they do that, do they stand a chance of being able to pass this by a republican majority only? is that politically smart? >> well, i think both senators mccain and graham will support senator lieberman if he's nominated. i have great respect for joe lieberman. in this case i'll show some bipartisan ship. i think a consensus candidate might be the better choice here. >> and, anita, are you surprised donald trump didn't want to fire michael flynn? >> you know, it's very hard for donald trump to surprise me at this point. [ laughter ] >> that is true. >> he's surprising all of us. >> andy -- yeah, he definitely is surprising all of us. certainly surprising his aides when he says that sort of thing.

guys, thank you so much for being here. it's wonderful to have such an an all-star panel people who know what it's like to be in the white house instead of us folks like me who just pontiff indicate about what it could be like. thank you guys very much. next why a traditionally political safe space may be disappearing soon. keep it right here. listen up, heart disease.) you too, unnecessary er visits. and hey, unmanaged depression, don't get too comfortable. we're talking to you, cost inefficiencies and data without insights.

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since long-time fbi director j. edgar hoover died in 1972, the senate has voted on seven nominees to lead the bureau. in all, seven of those votes, there's only been one no vote. and it came during james comey's confirmation in 2013. and if you follow the senate, you may be able to guess who was the lone dissenter. that's right, it was kentucky republican rand paul. he cast a nay vote because he said he wanted more information ornt fbi's use of drones. in addition two oregon senators voted present on comey. that's not exactly a yes, but senator paul's time as a trivia answer is probably coming to an end. it is quite likely that we'll see more than a handful of democratic no votes on whomever president trump nominates to run the fbi. that will do it for me this week. remember you can catch me any time at 2:00 on msnbc, 2:00 eastern, 11:00 a.m. pacific, and for the record with greta with

special host chris giannising starts now. hi, chris. >> katie, thank you so much. three big stories that are breaking and developing. first the washington post reporting the russia probe has reachea current white house official who isescribeds close to the president. the white house pushing back in a statement saying, a thorough investigation will confirm there was no collusion between the campaign and any foreign entity. then you have "the new york times" reporting, president trump told russian officials in the oval office that former fbi director james comey was a nut job and firing him eased the pressure from the russia investigation. nbc news has not confirmed this story, but at this hour the white house is not denying it. also breaking now, mcclatchy reporting that investigators looking into russian meddling are now also examining if white house officials engaged in a cover up. big headlines on three major stories, all breaking within a few hours of each other just this