youngsters and friends and family members are going out in europe and people are worried about whether they will be coming home alive or not. we can't allow this to become the new norm and the new normal. something has to change and i think one of the things that really has to change is the fact that up until now, there are still people within the communities living in denial, people who will not accept that there is a problem, be people who will go on the defensive when really now isn't the time for this. we need to fix this and fix the problem. >> well said. thank you both. that wraps up a very busy hour for us. thank for watching. deadline white house with nicolle wallace starts right now. hello, everyone. it's 4:00. top intelligence officials have spent the day on capitol hill where they face questions about a "washington post" report that claims president trump pressed two of his intelligence chiefs

to publicly shoot down details about the russia investigation. one of those men admiral mike be rogers is facing questions at this hour. as the story comes up, we'll listen to his response together. also on the hill today, john brennan testified on the investigation. >> i encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between russian officials and u.s. persons involved in the trump campaign. by the time i left office on january 20th, i had unresolved questions in my mind as to whether or not the russians had been successful in getting u.s. persons involved in the campaign or not to work on their behalf again either in a witting or unwitting fashion. >> did you see evidence of c collusion, coordination,

conspiracy between donald trump and russian state actors? >> i saw information intelligence that was worthy of investigation by the bureau to determine whether or not such cooperation or collusion was taking place. >> let's bring in our correspondents. nbc intelligence and national security report erd ken delaney and white house correspondent julie dwafs aavis are with us. ken, i want to read to you something from the "washington post" story. i can't believe how often i am blown away every time i refresh the web page. so one of the quotes from a source close to i think admiral rogers said the problem wasn't so much asking them to issue statements, it was asking them to issue false statements about an ongoing investigation. how squeamish is the intelligence community with any contact at all from political appointees? >> very squeeamish. the source i spoke to characterized it in a slightly nefarious way. he was saying that what donald trump wanted was for these guys

to say what trump thinks is the truth, which is they have seen no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. and of course who is totally inappropriate under any circumstances. >> and there is another piece of the story,julie, that basically posits what i've heard over and over again from the whouite hou. what was so stunning from his own appointees, but that was what was stunning was that eches either completely ignorant, that the fbi is an independent law enforcement agency, or he was willing to sort of breach any protocol in terms of how you interface with the law enz forcement agency. is this something you picked up in your own reporting? you've done some blockbuster storieses of your object twn. >> absolutely. i think it's both. i think there is a real sense -- we know from past reporting that has come out that reince priebus

the white house chief of staff wanted the deputy head of the fbi andrew mcabocaibe to go pub with his view that the ties was not true. and now on we hear that the same thing was done or similar thing was done with the d nichlt chlt and head of the national security agency. there does seem to be a real instinct on the part of the president and the people around him to try to get these people to go on the record with things that frankly are just inappropriate for them to speak about publicly. but also there seemed to be a sense that there was a little bit of a pushing of the boundaries can we do this, can we ask you to do this, would this be appropriate for you to do. and of course you hear a lot of push back from the fbi, cia, nsa in particular, but also the white house didn't want to hear

that. it's clear that the president didn't want to hear that and he kept on applying pressure to try to get these stories to be denied. >> and we know he kept going because in a fit of exex-as p-a are race, he ultimately fired comey on. what was the line to overt that -- he was on a collision course with comey for 67 lomuch longer any of us knew. this is basically asking the nation's top spies to engage in a pr exercise. it's crazy. >> and i think we're in unchartered territory on this which is why you saw all these men writing memos. my reporting is that they weren't so outraged that they felt about like they had to run to the and report obstruction of justice. >> who was recused from the rush are shan investigation anyway. a but anyway ofof --

>> but they were sufficiently disconverted that she wrote memo to the file, at least two of them, to document what happened in case this ever came up. and dan coats did not want to talk about it in public, but he said if i'm called to investigate a committee, i will tell what i know. he certainly didn't deny the story. >> julie, i want to ask you about a paper trail. i've been reading stories about the paper trail that was left by national security officials from intel to state to defense. they were leaving little bread crumbs of their concerns and of the little pieces of the puzzle about russian attempts to meddle and the defense and trey gowdy seemed to be towing the white house line, the defense is evidence of collusion. but the evidence that was left was simply evidence of russian meddling. where is the rubber going to meet the road on these two distinct narratives? >> well, i think even today it's been fascinating in the last hour the president has through his press office while traveling in rome put out this statement

that says, you know, the testimony today just tells us what i've been saying that there was no brennan, he said he found evidence that it was worth looking in to further. items obviously standard practice for people within these agencies to register any concerns they have and to put it down on paper so it's filed away and there is a parent trail of that. that is not necessarily something in a donald trump is used to and that will become a problem because now there is a special down on sell and all those mem mothos will be part o investigation.counsel and all t memos will be part of his investigation. so they will see if there was a pattern of obstruction of justice. >> all right. stay with us. joining our panel, sabrina and elyse jordan and also fill about

li phillip. i want to play john mccain making the distinction about the white houseabout phillip. i want to play john mccain making the distinction about the white house fixation on collusion and the fact, the fact that russia was meddling in our elections. >> they said it had no effect on the election, but they didn't say that there is no collusion. i think that is the reason why we're having this investigation. that's why you have a special about prosecutor. i think we have a situation on our hands where you every few days there is a new revelation and i hope we can get through this as quickly as possible. >> you know that verizon ad, can you hear me now? i feel like that is where we are with russia and feel like republicans and democrats and members of congress and members of his own security -- can you hear me now russia becauwas med in the elections. what was wrong with the white house? >> that is a very broad question. >> but why can't they hear this,

why can't they -- >> donald trump doesn't want to hear someone saying in may be evidence there was collusion between your campaign and russia. >> but the win is in the books. why can't he -- y. didn't he care that russia was interfering in our election? >> i think the reason he doesn't want to hear this is because he came into the office under the clouds of having lost the popular vote. he's very uncomfortable with the fact that he thinks people think that he is an illegitimate president. there are all these reasons why he wants to establish i'm the president, you should unify around me and this russia stuff is a cloud that he wants to avoid. but important to note that one reason why we are where we are is the analogy that i like to use is we're ten minutes into an episode of 20/20. and donald trump is saying i'm not the killer, but there is no evidence -- >> you have to watch until the end. >> that's right. we're just starting. that's the point james comey made. it will take a long time. and we're all twitter and cable news, we want an answer now.

>> but donald trump lives on cable and twitter, too, so how will he get through the end of the investigation? >> he will keep release and encourage his press office to release statements saying there was no -- this proves yet again that there was no collusion of any sort. go back to the comey firing letter. wasn't that the third paragraph where he said despite comey telling me three times that there was absolutely no wrongdoing, and he's just going to keep sayinging it and repeating it over and over even if it's not correct. it's all about ego. >> i think this entire episode has underscored that donald trump is his own worst enemy. if this had been any other president operating under this cloud of an investigation, they would just let it proceed on its own and not try to repeatedly interfere whether on twitter or by instructing officials within his administration to try and undermine the investigation. i think one of the foe dcal poi

of telling top intelligence officials to come out and say there was no collusion, the buried lead is that there were other officials reaching out to the members of the intelligence committee asking them to rebut that there had been collusion. and there may have been a pattern of potential ob strusks just ar obstruction of justice. >> and he's surrounded by a ton of enabilitileenablers. this breaks norms and the separation between the white house and the intelligence agencies. >> i feel like this is an episode of dr. phil. tell me again, this is your beat, you live in this world of nonenablers frankly. what they do in the intel community, people live and die based on the decisions they make every day. what is the cumulative effect of donald trump going into office in a hot war with the intel community now having his aides tryinged eto engage in rapid

response. and i think between julie eye incredible reporting about the rod rosenstein episode, i see some of the professionals starting to claw back their credit are credit ability. and the establishment always wins. >> you're seeing the effect in the leaks. we didn't see that under george bush or barack obama. >> never. he always sort of accepted their findings, whether good or bad for his political fate. how does this end? >> i couldn't possibly tell you. i just want to say one thing about john brennan's testimony. i found it remarkable and you are infuriating. it's clear the u.s. in-tell again in-tell against knew more than they said. they should be accountable for that i think.more than they said. they should be accountable for that i think. >> julie, i'll give you the last word. your piece about being

rosenstein being the scapegoat going to within ten days appointing a special counsel, where did you see law enforcement digging in in this investigation? >> i think the big question is going to be the special counsel's grand authority is very broad. and so he will have a lot of leeway to look at whatever he wants to look at. and i know there was a concern on capitol hill that that might in some way impede their efforts to get to the bottom of this, but i think that will be where are some of this really comes out and it may take longer as you mentioned than some people would hope because there is a lot to look at and now it's not just the investigation into ties with russia, but it's the investigation into what the president might have been trying to do to sort of obfuscate or hinder that. so i think that is where this will really be proven out. >> all right. i hope you'll come back early and often. when we come back, was michael flynn caught lie to go investigators about the high

paid speeches he gave and should he have been given a security clear answer at a clearance at all. and also cory lewandowski may be heading back in about to the middle of trump's inner circle. and the latest reporting on the investigation into the deadly attack in manchester last night. (counting for hide n' seek.) ready or not, here i come. ♪ anyone can dream. making it a reality is the hard part. northrop grumman command and control systems always let you see the complete picture. and we're looking for a few dreamers to join us.

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you can actually remember, instantly. add that premium channel, and watch the show everyone's talking about, tonight. and the bill you need to pay? do it in seconds. because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. go to xfinity.com/myaccount flynn tried to plead the fifth. we don't believe that you can take a blanket immunity on the

fifth in terms of 2k0u7of docum. we'll take further action and s we're not taking contempt of congress off the table. >> that was senator mark warner threatening further action against ex-national security are adviser michael flynn who irn strok invoked the fifth amendment on the russian investigation. ari melber is becoming my private legal tutor. what else can the senate intel committee do, what about other tools are in their arsenal once mike flynn invokes the fifth amendment? >> maybe thing a congressional committee can do if they feel someone is being unlawfully unresponsive is hold them in contempt and go to a court to try to get them basically to do what they want in this case, fork over the docs. >> and contempt, is that another -- if you don't comply, what happens?

>> just means they are mad at you will. >> you don't go to jail? is it a new crime? >> what it is is that a judge's discretion. it means that you can be held in jail potentially indefinitely to force compliance. so it is different technically than being found guilty of a crime, but it has the same effect that it's a blunt instrument. you could be in court and the judge can sanction you for talking out of turn in court. it might not be a crime,for it. >> elyse jordan, yesterday you said was the most riveting. you were talking about your late husband and a film coming out. >> yes, on friday called war machine starring brad pitt, anthony michael hall, ben kingsley. it's based on my late husband's book the operators. and mike flynn is a central character in this book. so anyone who had read the book published in 2012 would not be that surprised by the behavior they are seeing exhibited now by

mike flynn. in the book he jokes about his security clearance and says he lied to get his security clearance. whether that was amusing his pals, who knows. but he did say it. and a book that is really foreshadowing a lot of current day history. >> and it's worth reminding people what michael's beat was. he wrote the definitive piece on stand mcchrystal. and michael flynn was it -- >> eches hhe said that we would find owes bhin and misama bin l. and he used it in the eventual book which by that time we had caught osama bin laden. but you it's interesting that mike flynn was promoted in the obama administration rather than that is part of the problem, i think that there wasn't enoughi flynn was promoted in the obama administration rather than that is part of the problem, i think that there wasn't enough attention paid to his actions.

he was incredibly talented and did a ton of hugely important work in the field. and then what you hear from colleagues after the fact, i think admiral mccraven said that something changed in him deerg this last election period. and it's really a shame that it detracts from all the incredible work he did for so many years. >> and i've heard this from folks in the intelligence community. general hayden said to sort of sackingrifice an otherwise distinguished career. this is not a bright spot in general 234riflynn's career. and phillip, your paper has been on the flynn beat. but what do you make of the news today that he may have lied in that background check? i've filled out the sf-286. you take it so deadly seriously, you're calling all your college roommates, did i ever do this?

what about lying on your background form? >> at this point picture we have of michael flynn over the course of the past 18 months or so is this person who -- it's hard to overestimate the extent to which he's been a drag on president trump's presidency. he is 880% of the problem that donald trump is experience. that particular thing honestly, i mean it's this massive portrait of this person who is in a bad position for donald trump. this is a very small part of that portrait. there are so many things that we have learned about michael flynn all of which are making donald trump's job be hard. but all this goes back to the fact that donald trump's his sense ever loyalty is that michael flynn was there with him from day one, so he will be with michael flynn. and it is a huge political mistake. >> and everyone as the white house now tries to distance stefrl and put the focus on back why was i granted the ability to

keep his security clearance under obama, it doesn't happy that you're at the tim getting reports about trump asking the investigators to let go of the investigation into flynn in particular. i also think i wanted to point out, retired generals is a courtesy, it's often the case that they are allowed to keep his security clearance. he was actually forced out for behavioral issues. and these payments that he received from foreign governments were not known at the time. and as we now understand, you have to report those payments. michael flynn clearly did not. >> nick, i have a different theory. i don't think donald trump is loyal to anyone just you watching as you and i have the way newt gingrich's post election career turned, the way chris christie's turned. rudy giuliani. i don't buy that he is loiyal t anyone except donald trump and

maybe ivan came. your paper reported about flynn potentially lying. and who could forget making $45,000 in russia? >> there are people who lose jobs or are denied for jobs for lying on their background check about smoking pot in college. >> i know all of them, yes. >> exactly. and here is a guy who lied about a source of income from a foreign power that is an adversary. it's ludicrous and very strange. and you have to wonder why he lied on that form and said it was a u.s. company or if he was somehow misinformed or confused. but as to his role in the trump organization, we saw reports that he spent night and day with the now president. he was on the campaign plane with him constantly. i saw him at campaign events when flynn was one of the few people who would appear at national security eventsas

essentially a valvalidater. so to some extent he was the only choice for that job, somebody whom the president-electing trusted at the time. of course now he is a huge drag on the presidency and could be essentially the point of the speer on the investigation if he flips. >> nick, let's me just follow up on that because the president is facing questions about whether today's story me just follow up on that because the president is facing questions about whether today's story whether he pressured the intel chiefs. flynn could be at the center of all of the president's legal and political problems vis-a-vis russia. >> that's right, it could go back as the worst choice he made was hiring flynn, although he's had a lot of tough choices recently. and these investigations are ongoing. so the trump administration,ing people in the white house have acted as though the facts at the beginning of the investigation are the only facts. what is happening here is that

investigators are digging. and what they have tried to do is stop the investigation from even happening preemptively. and there is kind of a clumsiness to it when you saw there was a quote i believe in the "washington post" or perhaps "new york times" where are essentially somebody asks law enforcement officials can we do this, can we ask you to call it off. so there is a real familiarity here with the protocol and the rules. >> all right. ari, last word. >> i think we might overuse the word loyalty for things that are more questionable than loyalty. >> i'm right with you. >> these multiple accounts of potential meddling in manners that are potentially ilt legal, which raises the question not only is trump loyal to flynn, but flynn lyooil loyal to trump there a reason why this individual is so intent on being quiet. and pleading the fifth didn't mean you're guilty, but why is he so intent on keeping things

that might -- >> all right. nick, thank you. ari, thank you so much for the latest tutoring. up next, latest on the deadly terror attack in the uk. authorities are working to determine if the attacker worked alone. >> this was among the worst terrorist incidents we have ever experienced in the united kingd kingdom. and although it is not the first time manchester has suffered in this way, it is the worst attack the city has experienced. ing ev. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line. what's in your wallet?

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some build walls to keep people out. but these are walls that welcome you in. within these walls, california's educators create safe places for every student to learn and grow. where teachers open minds to history... unleash creativity... and show our kids the future. some build walls to divide us. but the california teachers association knows these are walls that bring us together. because quality public schools build a better california for all of us. we're back and covering breaking news, the tragedy in manchester. bill neely joining us from there now. what's the latest? >> reporter: yes, good afternoon. there has been an early breakthrough by the police, they have named the man they believe carried this attack out as salman abedi, a 22-year-old, his family of libyan origin.

he has siblings police will want to question those siblings. he went to a mosque here in manchester. police have also been quiing officials there. and a 23-year-old man has been arrested here in manchester already police now questioning him. they also reportedly have cctv footage of him arriving at the arena with a bag. they will now be looking at other cctv images trying to walk back his journey to find out where it began, was he dropped off at the arena, does he have c co-conspirators. they have raided his phone looking for phone, computer, anything that will give him information as to whether he acted alone. and also they are looking at the bomb itself. how it was made up. they have actually been to hospitals in greater manchester and have taken away bags of evidence, essentially the nuts,

bolts, the debris that was imbedded in people's bodies trying to recreate the bomb because every piece could count. it was clearly a powerful bomb. police do not believe this was something that was made on a kitchen top. the number of casualties would suggest that this was a more sophisticated device. was it made of hydrogen per side. that is difficult to get and difficult to make. it requires some skill. it is toxic, it is dangerous. so all of these pieces of the jig saw police are working with now to try to put together a case. did this man act alone, is he part of a wired cell. did he just deliver the bomb or did he actually make it himself. if he didn't make it, the bombmaker is still on the loose here in manchester. >> our think thanks to bill neely. bill bratton is here, former police commission of new york city. i was thinking about the days and weeks after 9/11 when the

counterterror effort was to identify networks and unearth plots. the mission now seems to be to find a needle in a haystack, a radicalized lone wolf. how kidifficult is that? >> extraordinarily. and the strategy did change. the two had very different strategies, al qaeda wanted multiple events at the same time. isis very early on mastered social media, understanding that the world had changed by 2013. everybody had smart phones. and isis is still the probably more significant terrorist organization, although al qaeda is looking to get back into the game again. so you know have are competition between the two of them. >> how does free society protect its most vulnerable and innocent? these were young teenage girls who were attending this concert. >> that is the challenge.

the idea that you don't want to become so oppressive with your security that it creates fear. what you want to create is awareness. the expression that we constantly drive home, you sit in a movie theater, see something, say something. awareness, but not to live in fear. fortunately these types of events relatively infrequent, very infrequent on our own country, but because of the world we live in today and the communications capabilities, the redundancy can be overwhelming at times. so for parents trying to deal with children, it's certainly at this time in our lives very difficult circumstance. i'm a kid that grew up in the 50s with the andtomic bomb scar and drills under the desk and pick being at the asbestos pipesing for throughopipes ing for going through the drills. >> i want to ask you how our

politics may affect our law enforcement agencies. there is nothing political about protecting ourselves. i wonder if law enforcement agencies in cities around the country, do they feel like they have the support and the attention on what they need to protect their cities and citizens? >> i can speak from the experience of new york city the last through years during my time as commissioner. we worked extensively to ensure transparency between our respective organizations. federal agencies, new york, port authority. so the public should feel very good that in the exchange of information, development of cases, we have come a long way from pre- 9/11 when agencies were by law not cooperating with each other. particularly i can can speak to new york region, but i think i have awareness whole. intelligence gathering capabilities are so much more extensive. >> thank you for being here. i hope you'll come back. still ahead, bringing in the

fixer. president trump is reportedly eyeing his former campaign manager cory lewandowski to step in as crisis manager.

we busted out of a break to take you up to capitol hill where senators burr and warner are talking about mike flynn taking the fifth. >> -- specific list of documents because while we disagree with general flynn's lawyer's interpretation of taking the fifth, it is even more clear that a business does not have a right to take a fifth if it's a corporation. so subpoenas are being served and we keep all options on the table. but we think the committee will move forward aggressively. >> and today former dci john brennan said there was blatant interference in the election, he said there were contacts and

interactions between russian officials and trump campaign officials. and a number of other things that were with revealed today. if he can say that now after the election in an open hearing, why wasn't the american public. inned ene ene ened informed of? >> you have to direct that to john brennan. >> let me just mention recall it got caught up in a lot of other pre-election activities. there was this unprecedented letter on october 7th that signed by director of the dni and the chief of homeland security that indicated that there was some -- >> it doesn't have that level of specificity with all due respect. >> well, that's again why we've gotten now the ica report of january 6 where there is unanimous agreement that there

was massive russian intervention. we need to make sure we don't see it in the future. and what we're looking at now is to look at those contacts that mr. brennan spoke about and see what they were, how extensive they were and what they led to if anything. >> senator, you say all options are on the table. can you explain what 240those options are? i'm not sure people have an idea of what a senate committee can do to compel testimony. >> we've taken the actions that we feel are appropriate right now. if in fact there is not a response, we will seek additional counsel advice on how to proceed forward. at the end of that option is a contempt charge and i've said that everything is on the table. that is not our preference today. we would like to hear from general flynn. we'd like to see his documents. we'd like him to tell his story because he publicly said i've got a story to tell. we're allowing him that opportunity to do it.

>> and one last thing before we head off. i think the dhar mchairman i al agreed that we heard conflicting testimony from director coats, but my understanding was that director coats said he would be happy to appear before the intel committee and tell his story as well in regard to the alleged conversations he had with the president. and we will make that invitation, as well. >> why is an offer of immunity off the table? >> it's a decision that the committee has made that we're not the appropriate avenue in a potential criminal investigation. as valuable as general flynn might be to our counter intelligence investigation, we don't believe that it's our place today to offer him immunity from this committee. thank you guys. >> all right. our panel is back and joining us now former senior adviser to paul ryan and also adviser to a couple presidents before with that. what do you make of this?

we now have the of the senate i committee talking about issues subpoenas to flynn's businesses. how dire is this getting? >> i think it's very bad for mike flynn. as far as the ongoing oig governing of the country is concerned, it would be all-kimting for the administration. i think the benefit of mueller being appointed special down is we experienced in the bush administration when the special counsel is appointed, while it can wreak havoc on the executive branch, it actually allows the legislative branch to continue to function because the legislative branch -- >> talk about this more because this is what is supposed to handle, but the trurm temp teams in-capable before. >> yes, the trump team also over last three or four months have made a lot of enemies inside the permanent bureaucracy, dare i say the deep state. >> but the "washington post" story today is about him asking his own heads of intel committees to rapidly respond.

>> right. and so a lot of the contents of the supposedly confidential conversations are being leaked out, a lot from bureaucracy. and i'm not passing judgment, but stuff is coming out because i think pooem tthe president haa lot of enemies. so we'll have the two investigations going on and when we were dealing with the plane investigation, it was going on, but not a ton of stuff was with leaking out. when fitzgerald fine allegatial down, it was like we were all waiting. and now with two investigations going on and all along the way there will be this narrative day in and day out because stuff will leak out partly because of the slfr inflicted wounds. >> so how do the republicans even put a happy face on this, ability to proceed with a budget or tax reform? >> i've been a capitol hill over the last few weeks talking to republicans in both the house

and the senate and there is just can widespread frustration that day after day they find themselves being forced to respond to the late he is controversy overs controversy out of the white house. they say we just want a drama free week. >> they were hoping to get that out of trump's trip. >> and i think that they face wider challenges when it comes to actually passing for example a bill too repeal and replace obamacare. i think that they will have a lot of difficulty coming to a budget compromise. but certainly are i think that the sense is that this proves to be a distraction and certainly obstructs their ability to move forward. it's remarkable that republicans control all three branches of government and have not passed a major bill. >> when you talk to house republican leaders, they will say they don't have a choice but to try to get something passed because the reality is in mueller's investigation, if past is any precedent, it will probably last 12 to 18 months

which can means mueller's findings will probably be formally revealed other than the stuff that gets leaked out right in the mid terms. so house republicans don't say we've accomplished tax reform, we have health care, if they don't have anything to show for it and all they have is this -- >> pack the boxes. >> and that would be the big point for them to have to contend with. he will continue and nfts more and mo invite more slfr in-234rielf i d flikted wounds. >> what d. we learn about the ability to keep the president on script? this trip seems to have gone more or less according to plan, but what have we learned about the limits of even the scripted president trump? >> i think even before this trip we saw the limits of a scripted president trump when he sends

h.r. mcmaster out to deny that he passed along any classified intelligence to the russian delegation only to undercut him the very next morning. and that is exactly the lesson of what it is going to be like for anyone who chooses to work to for president trump. he is so uncontrollable that he will keep shooting position in the foot and take down a lot of great reputations as collateral damage. >> what are you herring about t inner circle? same things that all of us hear inner circle? same things that all of us hear. >> and reince priebus and bannon came back after the first stop to help deal with this. is that -- do you think they are feeling increased pressure? >> i don't know how dhthey coul feel more pressure. it's been a nightmarish past two week. and for the entire conversation,

there is a single thread which is but for 78,000 votes and three upper mid western states, this is an entirely different country right now. we have a president who has no familiarity with with the structure of government making requests to his national security aprat pus raparatus t inappropriate. we have a letter that came out in early october. no one in early october thought that donald trump would win and that is part of the reason that it -- >> let me ask you about cory loon to y loon lewandowski coming in. >> i think some are cal could you 4r5i9ing if they can hold the house republicans, he's safe. >> from what? >> from threat of impeachment. >> do you think that's where they are? >> this is the chatter. if we can keep house republicans at bay, we will be okay. >> if we hold the house, we won't be impeached.

>> and we have to keep the base loyal to donald trump. so cory lewandowski, david bossie, people like that coming in -- >> they speak to that base. >> and i had one other point. i think washington is consumed with this conversation. what i watched happen these past few days in jerusalem, they were not paralyzed by this conversation. for all the constraints the president is under because of the self-inflicted wounds, the president still has enormous power in foreign affairs to act independently, act unilaterally and what you saw over the last few days is a say change at least the arctic could you you lags of a sea change in u.s. foreign policy. if i'm him, i'm going to spend as much time overseas as possible. >> all right. we'll hit pause and a tease that could have been written by dan himself, steve kornacki will tell us what the odds are for republicans to keep the house. so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want.

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our own steve kornacki picks up this conversation right where we left out, with special election fever. steve? >> yes, you were just talking about republicans, will they stick with trump? is there something that would make them defect? and we've got a bunch of special elections going on that are going to have a lot to do with the answer to that question. what we're looking at here, we've got a series of them playing out right now. the question is, do you start to see a pattern here? is there a pattern in these special elections that makes republicans nervous and say, hey, i might be in trouble in

2018 if i don't distance myself from donald trump? now, we already had one in kansas. this was earlier this spring. you had donald trump, he won this district in kansas down by witchta, he won it by 27 points last november. they held a special election for congress, an open seat. look at this, the republican won, but only by seven points. they shaved, the democrats did, 20 points off the trump margin. that was the closest congressional election in this district in two decades. the question, though, is that an aberration or part of a pattern. that's what we're going to get answered here. right now we've got a big campaign, the most expensive ever, in fact, playing out in georgia. here's one of these suburban districts, where trump barely squeaked by. now you've got a poll yesterday, one poll, we'll see if it's replicated, democrat up by seven. are we seeing a pattern of movement towards democrats? how about the big one this week? we're getting ready for montana. the entire state, one congressional district, trump won the state of montana by 21 points. not a lot of great polling here, but you are seeing a lot of

nervousness on the part of republicans right now, sending out a signal that, hey, this is a lot closer -- this is what their candidate said yesterday, he said, this is a lot closer than it should be. so when you put it all together, there's going to be one in south carolina in june, another big trump district. do you see a pattern? do you see what we saw in kansas. 20 points of movement away from the republicans. do you see that replicated in three or four of these races. if that happens, that is the recipe for republicans all across the country to panic and say, if i don't distance myself from trump, i'm in trouble in 2018. >> steve, when you win these, you always talk about the national wave when you rode. when you lose, you talk about local issues. does georgia have any local issue playing? or is it all a national dynamic? >> yeah, i mean, sure, they talk about the local issues, but again, when you start seeing patterns here, if you're seeing big movement away from the republicans in race after race, it's hard to say, it just happened to be local issues over here, it just happened to be a bad candidate over here. the question -- every party can

have a bad race with a bad candidate or a bad break. but if you've got four of them happening at once, if you're a republican, if that's what ends up happening here, you can't dismiss it all as local factors. but that georgia one, by the way, that district right there, trump only won it by a point. that district fits the model of exactly what democrats are looking in 2018. it's suburban, high in terms of college-educated whites. we talked about how they were swinging away from trump. this is a real good test right here. if democrats cannot win georgia six in this special election, does not bode well for their chances in the house. but if they do take it, that's exactly the kind of district they're trying to flip in 2018. >> steve kornacki, thank you. what is the lowest hangest potential policy fruit he could grab and run on in these vulnerable races? >> two are in his control, one is not. health di-- i mean, maybe two a this point. tax reform is the lowest hanging

fruit. because they are -- what the tax reform blueprint looks like right now, where there seems to be a consensus, emerging among republicans, is far less ambitious than they had first initially talked about. if they go down that route, i think they can get majorities in the house and the senate on it. if the senate passes health care reform, that will be a win for the house. this is treated as health care reform in the house is this island, it wasn't going anywhere. and each step it moves along, suddenly in the senate, paul ryan won't look so overly ambitious and perhaps unrealistic, as some were saying, for pushing hard for it. the third area, which is completely out of his control, the executive branch, they continue to do deregulation. deregulation will spike economic growth and that will accrue the benefits politically to the house republicans. >> kristen welker has just landed in rome. she just turned her phone on and saw a thousand e-mails from us. we wanted to know, what is happening. what the mood is of this traveling presidential package now that you're all wheels down in rome.

>> reporter: hey, there, nicole. thanks for having me. we did just land here in rome. i think the mood in this white house and for the president, initially, one senior administration official acknowledged he was a bit exhausted by the schedule, but i think that they are relishing the fact that they can turn the page a bit on some of those controversies at home. obviously, some of them have followed them here. but the reality is, the headlines have been largely positive for the president, ever since he left the united states, left washington, d.c. he got this royal rollout in saudi arabia. he gave a speech that called on, essentially, all religions to rise up and do more to try to combat extremism. and then, of course, he had very positively received meetings in israel, with prime minister netanyahu and the leader of the palestinian authority, mahmoud abbas. hasn't restarted the peace process yet or peace talks. so in terms of the deliverables, doesn't have anything tangible

in that sense. but again, nicole, i think that the president feels as though overall, this has been a positive trip for him. and when you talk to the people in the middle east, they received him very well. they were very frustrated with former president obama, particularly for brokering the iran nuclear deal. they want him to get tougher on iran. you certainly heard him talk a lot about that, while he was in the middle east. and of course, now, his next step here in rome and he's going to be meeting with the pope, at the vatican and the images are just going to get more powerful. so i think that overall, the white house thinks this is a good start to the trip. the question is, of course, what you have been talking about, can he stay on message. we'll have to see, he has a number of days left on this trip, nicole. >> kristen, i wonder if there are any teachable moments from this trip. where he's obviously insulated a little bit from the around-the-clock clicker with the cable and the tivo. does his staff see a benefit of keeping him focused, keeping him on a tighter scheduled, keeping

him heavily staffed, and keeping him more programmed, to be frank. >> reporter: there's no doubt about that. just think about his tweets alone. they have been very scripted. they have mostly been aimed at highlighting some of his events, some of the policy goals that thehe thinks he's most proud of, that he begins to carry out one y sy. he had that one offscript moment when he was meeting with president netanyahu, when he made that comment, i never discussed the israelis with the russians, of course, he was never accused of that. he was accused of sharing intelligence he got from the israelis with russian officials. but i think the white house feels as if there's a real benefit in keeping him on message. at the same time, obviously, donald trump is donald trump and they say that is his power. that's what ultimately, they argue, will make him an effective president. but there's no doubt that the tone of this trip has been more scripted than we have seen in

many weeks at the white house, nicole. >> thank you so much for being our hero and racing to a camera to talk to us. >> reporter: thank you. >> thank you, kristen welker. phil, i wonder if we'll see them apply some of the lessons of what everyone has sort of acknowledged has worked on this trip, a stricter schedule, less access to cable tv, staff around him 24/7. do you predict that they'll try to apply some of these lessons to his day-to-day life, or does this all go by the wayside when they're stateside? >> i think at least now they have the ability to point to a successful period when there wasn't a lot of drama -- >> and this counts of successful. there were just front page stories about him trying to -- >> well, those were out of -- >> it's all relative. >> the question about donald trump always comes down to will donald trump control himself? >> discipline. >> and he has repeatedly succeeded despite his inability to do that. >> that will have the to be the last word. thank you to my panelists. that does it for this hour. i'm nicole wallace. "mtp daily" starts right now. hi, chuck, we've missed you.

>> did you miss me? i hope so. >> i missed you every day. >> that's why you take time off. that's why i tell the boss, you're not missed if you don't take time off, right? >> i hope so. >> it's good to be back. i don't know, nothing much happened in the few days i was gone, but i'll catch up. thanks, nicole. if it's tuesday, there's even more russia smoke. tonight, the former head of the cia says he worried last fall that russia was trying to undermine our election and that the trump campaign may, indeed, have been involved. >> frequently, individuals who go along a treasonous path do not even realize they're along that path until it gets to be a bit too late. plus, the flynn investigation. >> we're not taking contempt of congress off the table either. >> republican senator susan collins joins us to discuss the next steps. and terror in manchester. >> but this attack stands out for his appalling, sickening cowardice. >> what kind of message president trump is sending with his latest remarks