entle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. new flonase sensimist changes everything. this sunday, the growing russia investigation. new >> this sunday, the growing russia investigation. new reports that jared kushner tried to set up back channel communications with russia to avoid u.s. monitoring. the reaction, former deputy cia chief -- >> if an intelligence officer had done anything like this we consider it espionage. >> frequently individuals who go

along a treason esz pass do not realize until it's too late. >> former director of national intelligence james clapper and homeland security chief john kelly and that congressional race in montana, the republican won, the democrat closed the gap. which party has reason to celebrate? gynoi joining me is joy reed, and charlie sykes and amy walter of the political report. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press ". >> this is meet the press with chuck todd. >> good sunday on this me mourl day weekend. the president came home last night and when he did the russia investigation got much closer to

home as well. so much closer in fact it now involves the son-in-law jared kushner. it threatens to overshadow his agenda and perhaps his entire presidency. just consider what has happened in just the last week. monday washington post reports that mr. trump had asked his sbilhiefs to push back on the russia investigation. john brennan testifies he saw intelligence revealing contacts that he thought deserved investigation. thursday, nbc reports that kushner is now under fbi scrutiny though he is not a target and late friday night the washington post bomb shell, that he discussed setting up a secret back door channel using russian communication facilities. that last item was so explosive that the trump administration

went out of the way to field reporters' questions off camera even if they didn't actually answer them. >> we're not going to comment on jared. >> national security advisor did try to defend kushner without saying his name. >> generally speaking about back channel communications, what that i allows you to do is communicate in a discrete manner. >> that shows that they were really trying to conceal this from the obama administration and from u.s. intelligence. >> the reactions to the kushner story include shock from the intelligence community. >> i can't keep out of my mind the thought that if an american intelligence officer had done anything like this, we would consider it espionage. >> two phone calls before the

election. sometime between april and november. kushner's attorney did not deny the story but responded this way. mr. kushner participated in thousands of calls in this time period. he has no recollection of the calls as described. on thursday, nbc news reported that kushner is under fbi scrutiny. also this week former cia director publicly acknowledged that trump associates may have been cooperating with russian operatives. though he said he saw no proof of collusion. >> i saw intelligence that was worthy by the investigation by the bureau to determine whether or not such cooperation of inclusion was taking place. >> now the committee has asked the political organization to gather and produce all documents, e-mails and phone records going back to his campaign's launch in june 2015. mr. kushner was also in dharge

of the campaign's data operations. >> we needed those key swing states. jared was an incredible leader to help make this all happen. >> the president will not be able to avoid questions as he did jovr seas beginning with his own party in congress many of who were losing confidence in his ability to lead. >> i think we have a situation on our hands where every few days there's a new revelation. >> interference in our election is unaccept able and i'm going to do thefeverything that i can sanction russia. >> everything sels he's done as been a complete disaster. >> joining me now is republican senator and the chairman of the foreign relations committee. welcome back to meet the press, sir. >> good to be with you. >> let me start with the

allegations involving jared kushner and these meetings that he had where either he suggested or somebody suggested that a back channel be put together in some form, possibly using russian facilities. can you think of any good reason to do something like that in a transition period between one presidency over another? >> look, i -- i think jared has said that he's more than willing to answer any and all questions. they reached out to us yesterday to make sure that we knew that was the case and i'm sure he's willing to do so. i look at what the reports have said about asking questions of him. it seems to me that he's -- bagsed on just the reporting that you and others are making he's not a target and so i think i would just wait. sounds like he's more than glad to talk about all of these things and instead of getting wrapped into a lot of hyperbole,

i think talking with them directly and getting him to answer any and all questions has he said he would would probably be the prudent court course of action. >> i understand that. can you think of any good reason, let's talk the washington post bomb shell and they seem to be talking anonymously to the new york times and they implied that well, the meeting wasn't clear who suggested a back channel and that it was going to involve mike flynn and syria. here's what i don't understand. why would anybody want to set up something like that if it was about syria and not let the pentagon know about it? >> yeah, i have no idea. again, i think it's best to talk directly with these people. i know that from a military standpoint obviously we have ways of deconflicting with russia on things relative to syria. again, chuck, because i just don't know, i mean, these things

are -- these sources are not people who are willing to give their names, it's just hard to respond to things like that, that again, you know, no names attached, no dates attached, look, let's let this unfold and as i -- i've spent a lot of time with jared. he was over just briefing up on the upcoming trip. they achieved all of their goals. he seems to me to be a very open person and i'd let him speak for himself when the time is right on all of these issues and that hath that time we can render judgment on what did or didn't take place. >> the time is right. i guess i'm a little concerned. do you not have a sense of urgency about this? this is -- let's think about the time period here. you just had 17 intelligence agencies report that russia interfered with this election. these interactions in the month of december, senator corker wow would think would trouble many

people if they thought that geez, there's been accusations that maybe they were trying to -- the russians were trying to assist one campaign or the other and to have these meetings and then to have them talk about the idea of avoiding american eaves dropping i guess if you want to call it that. none of this troubles you? i mean, you want to wait till this unfolds. >> no, no, no. these -- these recent reports is what i'm talking about. again, as i understand it jared kushner is more than glad to talk about all of these things. as it relate to the interference in the election, no question and we've been allowing for a short period of time for secretary of state tillerson to see if he can change the trajectory, but this next work period, we very much unless there's some major change, plan to double down with sajss on russia so absolutely not. couldn't agree m with that.

i'm not disagreeing that they interfered wh our elections and they need to do something about that so if you're trying to tie me into that i agree 100%. >> i'm not trying to tie you into knots but you just connected behavior in syria. should russia be punished for election interference, period? >> they should and sometimes, chuck, what we want to do is make sure that we're having a good outcome for our nation and so with can act with passion over an issue. on the other hand, if we know that there are some negotiations taking place when our relationship with russia is at the lowest point ever since 1991 for good reason, if there are some negotiations taking place relative to that, does it make some sense to get give the secretary of state some time to see where that goes? there are going to be sanctions

against russia, that is going to happen, but i think my job and many people in the foreign relations community in general is to make sure we have got outcome. so these -- russia is going to be punished for what it did and interfering in our elections. there is an investigation that's underway. i took each week multiple times as to how that is unfolding but again, to give a diplomat, everybody's going nuts over the one percent issue that we spend on diplomacy and aid. we care about diplomacy in our country. we want to give it every opportunity and to wait a few weeks at the request of the secretary of state to see if he can change things in syria seems to be an appropriate thing to do. that's what we've done, but next work period we plan to take it up. >> you said a few weeks. it's been four months since

they've taken aufts so is it now time to decide the russians aren't going to change their behavior in syria? >> i read the intelligence on wednesday morning. it doesn't seem to me that they've changed their behavior in any way. so i think we're going to be moving on with this. i know the banking committee plans to do the same but again, chuck, i don't -- i don't know what you're getting at here. obviously, yes, it has been six months, so does waiting two or three weeks for the secretary of state to see if he can negotiate a change, does that affect our ability to focus on what they did on the elections? i doesn't think so. and we're not going to wait for the senate investigation but there is an investigation underway. you typically wait until those things are complete before you take action this case, we're probably going to go ahead just becau the clam moring for this to

occur. rightly so. we're going to take up sanctions this next work period. >> speaking of your next work period, john mccain made this interesting analysis of all the things you guys got to get done in the senate before labor day. heres the reality. 11 weeks between now and tend of september. we're talking about tax reform. we're talking about about a defense bill. there's about three other thing, a looming debt limit. how do you pack all that? and so far i've seen no strategy for doing so. there seems to be -- he's not alone but he's on the record. there seems to be a lot of concern that you have no idea how many of these things are going to get done in the next three months. >> well, it's obvious that not all of those things are going to get done in the next three months. there is a lot to do and you no, we're right now meeting on health care. the meetings have been very substantive. i would have liked for them to

be more in the public. there seems to be some consolidation beginning to take place on tax reform. had a great discussion with smith at fed ex who is working with many business associates. there seems to be something gelling there, but no, we've got a lot to do. there's no question and we're going to do the best that we can, but you know, we have a full two-year congressional cycle here to get many of those things done and again, i think we're moving along in a thoughtful way with way too much work to get done. a lot of people to get confirmed nomination wise. spending issues, a lot to get done. we'll move along as quickly as we can. >> i'm going to leave it there. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. >> earlier this morning i spoke with homeland security john

kelly and i began with asking him about the jared kushner news. >> i know jared. he's a great guy, decent guy. he's number one interest really is the nation, so you know, there's a lot of different ways to communicate back channel, you know, publicly with other countries, i -- i don't see any big issue here relative to -- relative to jared. >> even with an adversary -- somebody that was at the time our own intelligence community had collectively said this was a country that infiltrated our election. did this show good judgment? >> well, you know, it was before the government was in place during the transition period i think from what i understand and i think any time you can opalines of communication with anyone whether they're good friends or not so good friends is a smart thing to do. >> had you ever in your lifetime of government service both in

the military and outside of it, had you ever used another government's communications facility though, the idea of sort of going around american communications? >> well, no, but i didn't have to. i mean, in my previous life, we wouldn't do that kind of thing, but you know, politics being what they are, not a better way to put it, not politics but the kind of interaction here in washington, there's a lot of ways to communicate with people. >> intelligence sharing is something that's extraordinarily important to your job. if you get to the point where you now have our own intelligence community not very comfortable with how this administration is dealing with intelligence, how problematic is that for you? >> for me, and again, i don't necessarily accept this, you know, the issue of -- the issues

related to intelligence being a problem right now, but for me, i mean, i interact with my counterparts overseas all the time. i rely on all of the intelligence community to make the decisions that i make. it's not an iss for me for sure. >> did you -- i want to go bk to the russia thing. is this any way -- are you concerned that if there is a back channel over here that is actually going to disrupt our ability to know what the russians are up to? >> just because you have a back channel if indeed that's what jared was after doesn't mean that he then keeps everything secret. i mean, he shares that, but the back channels as i understand it and of course every administration has had it forev forever. it's way to communicate with people again, not in front of the press as an example but that information is, you know, not necessarily kept secret for the rest of the government.

>> does jared kushner have the same level of security clearance you do? >> i don't know. >> is that something you should know? >> not necessarily. i mean, i -- everything we do in the security world classification world of course before i would start talking to anyone i would make sure that they had the -- you know the requisite security clearances. i mean, i'm cleared for top secret, compartmented fbi, that kind of thing. >> is jared the same kind of thing? >> i don't know but if i had to talk to him or anyone else at the intelligence that i'm briefed in i would make sure they had that clearance before i talked to them. >> i got to ask you about this comment yoma on friday. >> i was telling steve on the way in here, if he knew what i knew about terrorism he'd never leave the house. >> it was a little jarring. i don't know if you meant it tongue in cheek or not. what do you mean by that?

>> there are incredible plots against the united states -- terrorism plots against the united states. the really good news is that we have incredible men and women that are protecting us every day. the away game, overseas, department of defense, cia, the home game fought by dhs, local law enforcement, fbi, every single day there are people plotting to try to hurt us from a terrorism point of view and every single day we beat them, the men and women of law enforcement, again, i say dhs, fbi, dod we beat them every day but we have to be perfect. they just have to be lucky once. >> it's interesting to me that you seemed to say that you wouldn't sleep at night. i mean, how serious -- if we had a threat level the way u.k. has

it would we be at the highest level? >> we have no specific threats right now. otherwise we'd be at a higher level, but there's always a threat and we just are vigilant every day and again, the 99.9% of americans can sleep safe in their homes at night. their children are protected. they are protected, but it is a relentless mission of our law enforcement intelligence, military people to protect america mpl america. >> did the prime minister have a complaint when she complained about leaks? >> she did. in cases like this, i immediately call my counterpart in u.k. and after offering my condolences about the attack and unbelievably the third time in 120 days i've done that.

i've called minister and offered my condolences. and she brought this up. if it came from the united states it's totally unacceptable. and i don't know why people do these kind of things but it's borderline, if not over the -- over the line of treason. >> you believe it's treason to leak some of the stuff you believe that's treason. >> i do believe it is. when you leak the kind of information that seems to be routinely leaked, the high, high level of classification, you are telling me. >> what was leaked you believe on this manchester bombing meets you believe maybe even treason standard? >> i think it's darn close to treason. >> mr. secretary, i'm going to have to leave it there. >> coming up, how unusual is it for an incoming white house to attempt to arrange a back channel for a foreign government to allude u.s. morn nitoring?

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welcome back. as welcome back. as questions continue to swirl about the transition team's communications with russia, walk through the time line of when all of these events took place because we have learned more. it was on the 1st or the 2nd that we now jared kushner and mike flynn met to discuss reportedly setting up a back channel communications between the trump transition and the

kremlin. later in december, he meets with the head of a sanctioned russian state owned bank. the bank was sarngsed, not the individual. calls take place between flynn and kislyak. those sajss were in response to russian interference in the election. >> before i get into the rest of the story you just heard secretary kelly talk about the leaks that took place. we know the u.k. complained about the manchester bombing and they sort of walk up to the line of treason. some might say hey, they're just leaking out something that they think the public should know. where do you draw that line? >> well, i think first of all i have to say that leaks are damaging, they're corrosive, they risk compromising sources, methods and trade craft as we've seen recently, they damage

relationships with crucial partners, you know, u.k. and israel come to mind, and this is particularly serious now because in my experience 50 plus years in intelligence, i know over time when we depended more on friends and allies for sharing information and intelligence, particularly with respect to terrorism, so i know secretary kelly takes -- you know, takes this quite seriously and he should. legal definition on what's treason, i'll leave that to the lawyers but just on the intelligence business, leaks are bad. >> let me go through the issue that has been the bomb shell this weekend, this issue that jared kushner, a private citizen, a private advisor to the president elect was having these meetings with the ambassador to russia and they hid these meetings from public eye. we also learned that he met with the head of a sanctioned russian

bank. you were still the director of national intelligence in december. are these things you would have known? >> yes, they would have and to reenforce john brennan's comments before the house committee on intelligence, and i have to say that without specific -- specifically affirming or confirming these conversations since even though they're in the realm, they'll still classified but from the theoretical standpoint i would tell you that my dashboard warning light was clearly on and i think that was the case with all of the intelligence committee. very concerned about the nature of these approaches to the russians. if you put that in context with everything else we knew the

russians were doing to interfere with the election and just the historical practices of the russians who typically almost genetically driven to penetrate, gain favor, whatever, which is a typical russian -- typical russian technique, so we were concerned. >> and so this is what's likely triggered the fbi's now extra attention to jared kushner that we've been reporting that they have more information, they're saying there's not a target. it would have been intelligence like this that would have triggered it. >> and i think john alluded to his concerns that the fbi is the proper channel. i have to say at the time i left i did not see any smoking gun evidence of collusion, but it certainly was appropriate for -- given all the signs, certainly

appropriate for the fbi to -- and necessary for the fbi to investigate. >> the russian ambassador to the united states, there's been different ways people have described him. does the intelligence community believe he basically is an agent of the kgb -- or if fsb, the old b? >> given the fact that he oversees a very aggressive intelligence operation in this country, the russians have more intelligence operatives than any other nation as represented in this country. still even after we got rid of 35 of them and so to suggest that he is somehow separate or oblivious to that is -- is a bit much. >> why didn't we kick him out? why didn't he specifically get sanctioned? if he basically is viewed not as the ambassador, not as a diplomat but basically the american head of an intelligence agency, that's sort of what you

described. >> i'm reflecting an intelligence per speck tifr. intelligence is paid to be suspicious and whether to expel people or declare them png is at least in the last administration was an interagency determination and so what we did do is get at 35 of the more notorious intelligence operatives and ask them to leave quickly. >> one of the caveats in the washington post bomb shell story is that the russians will frequently do misinformation even in intel channels. how often does that happen? how likely is it in this case? >> it happens a lot. it happens overtly and covertly and certainly that was one of the tools that the russians used in the run up to our election was fake news, misinformation, paying trolls to insert phony information and social media.

and so this is a standard practice of the russians and the soviets before them. >> if jared kushner's meeting was somebody that you referred to overseas large intelligence operation, and while you said you didn't see any smoking gun on collusion, how close to the line is that in your mind? >> well, it certainly arouses the -- arouses your concern about what's going on. given you know, russia, at least from my money is that our primary adversary. they are not our friends. they are in to do us in. and i say as well, chuck, you know, we have kind of a time -- time honored custom in this country that we have one president and one administration at a time and on coming administrations don't get a head's start before the end of the current president's

encumbancy. >> i think certainly sanctions are a compelling powerful weapon, the russians don't like them, and i -- i think that what the last administration -- the actions the last administration took, the sanctions and other actions on the 29th of december i often thought as a first step. and i haven't seen any change in russian behavior or anywhere that would merit a relaxation and if anything, an increase in those sanctions. as we've learned more about more has become public about what they're going to do and as i said at the subcommittee hearing

the 8th of may, they are only 'em boldened. they are going to continue to interfere in our political process and to me, that's the big story here and what american -- american people should be concerned about. >> james clapper, i have to leave it there, the foerm director of national intelligence. you're avrm almost going to be referred to as a member of congress. >> i hope not. >> any way. mr. clapper, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. >> when we come back. much more on the russian investigation. an rlican jim forte who body slammed a reporter w that congressional race in montana. which party has more reason to smile this weekend? but first as i told you before the last break, we continue to honor those who have fallen since last memorial day. fallen since last memorial

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welcome back. panelist here charlie sykes. joy reed and kimberly strauszel. the president is tweeting this morning mplts let's get people

up to speed on this. not specific of what he's referring to but i think you get an idea. it is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the white house are fabricated lies made up by the fake news media. whenever you see sources say and they don't mention names it is very possible that those sources don't exist but are made up by fake news writers. fake news is the enemy. okay. amy walter, we don't want to assume that he's referring to a specific story, likely it is to what's going with his son-in-law. >> i think what we're learning is we don't know that there is a fire but there is a whole lot of smoke and that cloud is blocking everything and if you're the president right now trying to get back on course, you thought that going overseas, having a foreign trip, nine days this was going to reset. we were going to be talking about that trip today. we're talking about what's been happening here.

i this the most important thing, one of the most important things he talked about with senator corker is the fact that this black cloud is also blocking out what he needs to reset. what republicans need to reset is gting points on the board with sometng has beening legislatively. th have a republican house and senate and white house and nothing is moving. the one thing that has passed the house health care bill, not particularly popular. it's stuck in legislative perg toir right now and all those other things, tax reform, the budget, they're not going anywhere either. if you're thinking about running for re-election you're not just worried about the russia piece, but what are you talking about when you go home about what you've been actually able to accomplish? >> by the way, we've been hearing all weekend long, we get our weekly hey, there's going to be a staff shakeup story. but there has been all sorts of chatter over the president vetting his tweetsments i think they've gotten to him in this

case. he used the phrase it is my opinion before putting all of that out about fabricated lies. we did a cursory search, he's never used that phrase or i think in his tweets before since so far going back as president. >> you might almost think these are low energy tweets from the, but it does look like the president has lawyered up. are they going to be looking at his tweets? the nightmare this is not aalign mts of the planets. you have the family, you have the finances, we're not talking about a drip anymore, and i think the difficulty of this white house, dealing with this is going to be exponentially raised by now it is jared kushner and listening to the folk you had on earlier, the reluctance of members of the administration to criticize jared kushner, this is one of

the reasons why you avoid nepotism because he's the one guy you cannot fire. he's so close to the president, this raises the threat level exponentially. >> i think we are having a discussion that is absolutely divorced from reality this week. it is astonishing. let me set the scene for you. it's 2008. we are having an election and candidate obama to establish a back channel and let the iranians know, so this is a private citizen going to foreign soil in order to evade u.s. intelligence monitoring and establishing a back channel with a sworn enemy of the united states who was actively disrupting our efforts in the military in the middle east. that bad judgment? that a bad thing? back channels are completely normal. they happen all the time. reagan did them, obama did them

so i'm not so sure why setting up a back channel with the russians is somehow out of bounds. >> well, here's one key difference. in october, months before this latest meeting and it was one of 18 separate contacts that we now know of between the trump campaign and russia, our primary adversary in the world, in october, the collective judgment of the 17 intelligence agencies had been that russia had been taking active measures to interfere in our elections. so we know that that was happening in october. so in december the now president elect decides he's going to name jim to be the secretary of defense but he sends his real estate developer son-in-law and he decides to open this back channel, not just -- andn't isn't a back channel.

you don't go to the country and say let's set something up in your embassy so that we evade our intelligence services. we set it up inside your facility and it talks them aback. and you sent him to do that without jim mattis and then if it's a channel about opening up negotiations in terms of something realtistic, why are they also back channelling with a bank, a kremlin connected russian bank? and why is the report saying that part of the discussion was the possibilities of opening up opportunities for financing for trump related -- >> well, we don't know the answer to any of those questions because what we're getting is anonymous -- >> you have to follow the money, you have to follow the meetings, the lies, the attempts to -- >> we don't have any of that information. >> and the reality here is that

jared kushner and the trump administration trusted the russians more than the intelligence community. why can this not be suspicious? >> i'm sorry, we can't forget that the intelligence services and the defense department were being run by the obama administration. they had plenty of reason to not let the obama administration know what they were doing? >> what did they want to talk about? why would you use russian facilities. >> and why would you not maybe want to have all of these people in this departments with this information to go on to leak on a daily basis? >> because the election was over -- >> to derail your presidency. >> in december the election was over. in this country, we hand over peacefully power from one party to another. all the time. are telling me that the now electrump administration didn't trust john brennan, that somehow these straight arrow guys were going to now work to actively undermine?

are they now seeing them as some sort of disdent, that has never happened. >> one of the most interesting pieces of news was the revelation that they said that the obama administration had been actively engaged in abusing 4th amendment protections by unmasking people's identities in which they said brought up major concerns so maybe you wouldn't trust that team. >> who said that? what is the source of that information? >> do you how difficult it is to get a report against an american person. >> you're not talking about what i just mentioned. >> i'm going to pause this conversation because i have to go to break. let me do that. we are a for profit enterprise. coming up, hillary clinton's full throated criticism of president trump. >> even denying things we see with our own eyes like the size of crowds. >> but as we go to break we

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brtry new flonase sensimists. allergy relief instead of allergy pills. it delivers a gentle mist experience to help block six key inflammatory substances. most allergy pills only block one. new flonase sensimist changes everything. welcome back. is donald trump make the republican parry or is the party already remaking itself in a way that allowed donald trump to walk in? there's evidence that the gop was becoming trumpian before he got there. we analyze going back to 2010 to help us understand this trend. education is a key measure. in 2010, 41% of college grath gr -- graduates called themselves

republican. and a 6 point jump, that's a big swing overall when you look ate. democrats now have the edge with college educated voters. republicans have seen a 5 point jump with that group while democrats have seen a 5 point drop. also a pretty significant twing. this education gap follows some geographic trends that we've been following that help us explain why some of the republican districts have the highest re-election rates. now some other areas where republicans have seen the most growth, men over the age of 50 up five points. rural voters up five points and those between the ages of 50 and 64 will more republican than years ago. a jump in those making 30 to $50,000 per year, smack dab many the middle class there. not just millennials but genz

but those with post graduate degrees. we're in a political realignment. we've in the middle of it and it's going to take more election to this figure this out and this helps to explain why barack obama won two terms and frankly why donald trump won in november. this is making our elections a bit more unpredictable than we have become used to. before weo to break, we want to note the passing of former senator and hall of fame pitcher jim bunting who died yesterday. he was a two-term senator from kentucky and the only member of congress to throw a perfect league. and we also lost zbigniew brzezinski who died on friday. he of course was also the father of our own mika. he was a scholar and ultimately moved to the white house. he maintained an enduring

suspicion of the soviet union and worked to limit soviet expansionism. our thoughts go off to our colleague mika and the entire family. chief at the helm, we love you, dad, we'll always be grateful for the love and devotion you slowed -- showed us all. coming up, "meet the press" end game and postgame brought you by boeing. oscar mawe went back toig the drawing board... and the cutting board. we removed the added nitrates and nitrites, by-products, and artificial preservatives in all of our meat. every. single. one. why? for the love of hot dogs.

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"meet the press" end game is brought to you by boeing. always working to build something better. >> back now with end game. i feel like we'll do a political speed round here. we have to get all this stuff in. montana, amy walter. you do this for a living. you're the handicapper here on house races. >> yes. >> republicans win by six points in a state that has a democratic senator. but looks demographically more like a trump state. who should feel good right now? >> like pee wee soccer everybody gets a trophy. on the republican side they win. period. this is not just good because of -- they have a person in that seat who's a republican. but it's good for recruiting and good for retaining. right? this is the time of the year where people are trying to get candidates to run. getting donors to support candidates and getting members who are incumbent to run for

re-electi re-election. so a toxic environment, winning goods helps on the republican side. the bad side if you're a democrat, you're looking forward to the margin in a lot of the special elections. a lot narrow, a lot closer. democrats overperforming where a traditional democrat could be, five points here in montana. 12 points in kansas. if democrats are going to take control of the house, they have to overperform nationally. somewhere between five and eight points. so it's not going to help in a deep red state like montana to overperform by five. >> but charlie it seems as if georgia is now a must win. for the democrats, isn't it? >> oh, very much so. in terms of setting that narrative but i will say that the real significance of what happened happened in montana was we moved the life -- line of the acceptable behavior. >> you're referring to the body slamming. >> it was not as significant as the reaction to the body slamming the way that so in conservatives and republicans felt that tribal loyalty

demanded they rationalize this. what's happening is this -- you know, whether you want to call donald trump the role model in chief, thet isou havso manyow republicans and consertives, i'm one othem, who now model their behavior after this. you know, this thin-skinned, you know, thin-skinned nastiness that mimics confidence. >> let me throw in mark sanford, republican from south carolina, respectfully i submit that the president has unearthed some demons. i have talked to a number of people about it back home. if the president can say whatever why can't i say whatever? he's given them license. do you buy this? >> i don't think you can blame the body slamming on president trump, but it's true, we look to the president to set tones and standards and all of us would be happier if president trump was in general exuding a little bit more of a respectful tone to everybody. look, people like that he's blunt spoken and that's fine. but there's a difference between blunt spoken and being crude

or -- discourteous in politics. >> words have consequences. words have meaning. ideas have consequences. and it's one thing to i think be upset with the bias of the news media, but again we have moved the line now to just pure raw loathing. he has stoked those fires. >> last word. >> you had donald trump this morning tweet that journalists presumably he means the journalists at "the washington post" and "the new york times" make up and invent sources. during the campaign, one of the most chilling images that stuck with me from it was a gentleman at a trump rally who had a t-shirt on that said rope, tree, journalist. trump whipped the people up to -- he did it against our own katy tur. >> we're back next week and if it's sunday it's "meet the press." ♪

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hi, good sunday to you. welcome to "pulse of america." here are the stories to get your pulse on today. president trump waking up at the white house this morning.