the help is finally after many, many decades on its way. we are giving control back to the cities and the states. you know best how to plan your communities, analyze your projects, and protect your local environment. we will get rid of the redid you understand answ-- redundancy an duplication that waste your time and moy. our goal is to giveou one point of contact to deliver one decision yes or no for the entire federal government and to deliver that decision quickly, whether it's a road, whether it's a highway, a bridge, a dam. to do this we are setting up a new counsel to help project managers navigate the bureaucratic maze. this council will also approve transparency by creating a new on-line dashboard, allowing everyone to easily track major projects through every stage of

the approval process. this council will make sure that every federal agency that is consistently delaying projects by missing deadlines will face tough new penltds. i know it won't happen with these two. we don't have to worry about them. we will hold the bureaucracy accountable. we are also creating a new office in the council of environment quality for rout out tin efficiency, clarify lines of authority and streamline and federal and state, local procedures so that communities can modernize their aging infrastructure without fear of outdated federal rules getting in their way. this massive permit reform -- and that's what it is. it's a permit reform. doesn't sound glamorous. they won't write stories about it. they won't even talk about it.

but it's so important. but it's only the first step in renewing america's roads, rails, runways and rivers. as i discussed in ohio recently my new vision for american infrastructure will generate $1 trillion in infrastructure investment, which we desperately need. we've spent as of a few months ago $6 trillion in the middle east. think of it. $6 trillion in the middle east. it's worse than it was 15 years ago by a factor of ten. yet, if you want to build a little road in one of your communities in pennsylvania or ohio or in iowa or north carolina or in florida, you can't get the money. state and local leaders will have more power to decide which

projects get built, when they start and how they are funded, and investors will have a much more predictable environment that enkurjtz them to invest billions of dollars in capital that is currently stuck on the sidelines. together we will build projects to inspire our youth, employ our workers, and create true prosperity for our people. as we forge metal from the furnaces of our -- and our beloved heartland, which has been forgotten. we will put new american steel into the spine of our country. american workers will construct

gleaming new lanes of commerce across our landscape. they will build these monuments from coast-to-coast and from city to city, and with these new roads, bridges, airports, and seaports, we will embark on a wonderful new journey into a bright and glorious future. thank you. god bless you. appreciate it. thank you very much. thank you. >> and right now on andrea mitchell reports, exit interview. he said-he said. the trump kousht offensive today as the president tries to change the subject, and also called james comey a leaker, while comey calls the president a liar. >> i was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of our meeting, and i thought it was important to document. >> today more questions about

comey's decision to leak his memos about those tense conversations with the president. >> it was not a classified document to the best of my knowledge, but it was a government work product that belongs to the fbi and not to him as a private citizen. >> and the follow-up. jared kushnergreeing to testify behind closed doorso the senate intelligence commtee about his dealings with the russians. and new questions about the attorney general. while the big issue still looms. >> there should be no fuzz on this whatsoever. the russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle. they did it with purpose. they did it with sophistication. they did it with overwhelming technical efforts. good day. i'm andrea mitchell. the aftershocks from james comey's testimony are rippling across washington and the rest

of the country. president trump and comey trading public accusations as the shadow of special council bob mueller's investigation now hangs over the white house. the president will likely be pressed on his claim that comey vindicated him. this counter offensive about comey the leaker when we can get into why he did dispose those documents, but they were not classified documents, so it's hardly the same as an nsa leaker. >> that's right. heas always ted to put the focus on the russia probe back

to the leaks that have led to so many of these different revelations, and yesterday in the wake of comey's testimony, he got new ammunition, and he is taking it and running with it. so are so many of his surrogates who were on the air waefds last night and this morning, and then in that tweet that he sent out this morning, he was quiet yesterd yesterday. total and completed vindication and, wow, comey is a leaker. the question for the president later today, andrea, and there are so many, is, one, how did comey vindicate him? if he is, in fact, a liar. and, also, if there are, in fact, tapes, which is the president who had suggested there are,ing will he, in fact, produce them so we're not just in this he said-he said back and forth. the president clearly wants to turn the page on this russia investigation, andrea, but it is not possible for him to do so with so many outstanding questions, and, of course, with that special council underway. andrea. >> the fact is that the republicans on the committee

were as struck by james comey's testimony as the democrats. both sides had questions about some of his tactics along the way. why he didn't walk out of the room, matt miller. why he didn't stand up to the president. some are saying there's a very human explanation. it's the oval office. what do you think coming out of your justice department experience? >> yeah. that was certainly his explanation that, look, he knew the president was doing something inappropriate, but you have to understand. in a meeting like that, a one-on-one meeting with the president, that is a tremendous amount of pressure that the president is bringing to bear on him, which is, you ow, actually why even being in that situation discussing a criminal case with the president is so inappropriate. i think his answer instead of bringing it up with the president was to do two things. one, to walk out of the meeting and immediately document, as he said, and then, two, to go back and tell his superiors at some point -- not initially, blut at some point, you need to stop ligue me alone with the president. i have real concerns about what he is doing.

he it to jeff sessions. something that didn't get a lot of thengs e attention, he said he also briefed rod rosenstein about those conversations. you raised concerns about general sessions. one of the big questions for him and for rod rosenstein is you knew jim comey had concerns about something inappropriate with the president. we don't know how much they knew, but we knew he told them about concerns. why didn't you do anything about it? why didn't you go to the president? it's your job as the senior leaders of the department. why did you sign off on his firing? >> kristen welker, another issue is there were other officials. the chief of staff reince priebus was in that oval office meeting with one of the people who was asked to leave. jared kushner. he is a family member, so maybe that's a different relationship. clearly it's a different relationship. other officials. the attorney general, the vice president, the chief of staff are there to protect the white house and the administration from whatever the president's impulses might have been to have a one-on-one inappropriately with the fbi director. >> and you heard comey make a

very large point of that. he felt that was part of the reason why -- into a national security advisor. michael flynn wrrks because the president asked all of the other people who were in the room to leave. it was clear comey said that the president wanted to have thi ersation one-on-one, and that really added to the pressure that he felt. undoubtedly, the president is going to have to answer questions about that as well today and andrea, this other point that i thought was so striking from yesterday, which is that comey said that he didn't feel as though the president took a real interest in the fact that the election had been hacked. the question for the president is what level of interest did he have? what level of interest does he have? what's he going to do about it to make sure it doesn't happen again? >> matt miller, very, very briefly. the fact that the president never asked him about the russia investigation, and he testified that there were thousands of other investigations out there that he only seemed to be zeroing in on mike flynn. >> yeah.

donald trump clearly cared about two things in this. one, am i personally under investigation and, two, what about my former national security advisor and top aid mike flynn. he cared about nothing else. not what happened to the country. either on this investigation or any other. >> i tried to hold the line. it got very awkward, and i then said you'll always have honesty from me. he said honest loyalty. then i exceeded to that as a way to end this awkwardness. >> the culmination of all these events, you are summarily fired. >> there was an explanation. i just don't buy it. >> well, yes. >> we are joined after a day of questioning up on the hills

part of that panel. what were your big take-aways? >> i think for both sides of the aisle, director comey's presentation was very compelling. first, he took an oath. he was testifying under oath, and then he made it very clear that he answered all questions, and he made the case that the president's rationale was not clear. he also was not clear that -- which is still ongoing. in fact, he suggested the comeback has even more force in the next elections, and that he was, i think, very compelling in his testimony and i think leaving lots of questions to the president, which can only be reconciled if the president is willing to testify under oath. >> when you went into closed session, i know you can't speak

about specifics, but did you come away with the impression that there are or aren't tapes? does anyone really know if there are white house tapes? >> without regard to the -- i don't think anyone knows whether tapes exist. again, if the president had tapes that clearly contradicted director comey, i am shocked they're not public right now. he has the ability to release them. it just seems to be implausible that tapes would exist that contradict comey and are being held by the white house. there might be tapes that support comey, and they' being held for the obvious reason. the president doesn't want to continue this discussion that comey started. >> comey suggested that there was another reason out there why he expected the attorney general to recuse himself. and why he didn't feel comfortable sharing.

do you have better clarity on that now? the justice department is pushing back very hard on suggestions that there was a third undisclosed sessions kisliak meeting. >> i have no comment with respect to that issue. >> so something came up in closed session that you can't discuss? >> i have no comment. >> do you want to get sessions in front of the committee? >> well, i think it's appropriate to get everyone who has been involved significantly in this effort before the committee under oath, to testify. mr. kushner has agreed to the interview by the staff, the intelligence committee. that's a good sign. also, ultimately to offer testimony, and that's a very positive sign. i think it's our job is to get out all of the facts, get them out as quickly as possible, and we are also operating in parallel -- the leadership, i think, is more with director

mueller in terms of the special prosecutor and his efforts. they have a much more effective and efficient way of getting information than we do. they're using that right now. >> do you understand why kushner uld be meeting with the russian banker conne to the kremlin? >> i don't have any particular insights with respect to what went on. that is the whole point of getting mr. kushner in to give him the opportunity to give his side of the story and to respond to questions that we might have, but -- and, again, it's an encouraging development that he would testify. >> democratic leader pelosi, who has been very cautious about the i had of word, impeachment, or anything else until facts are known, does not want to lead to any conclusions, she raised serious questions today on "morning joe" about the president's fitness to serve. do you have such concerns? >>. >> i have questioned the president, the candidate, about his temperament. that's one of the reasons why i

was not supportive of his candidacy, and he demonstrates not just in the context of this investigation, but in many other ways a temperament that is disruptive. i can recall weeks ago. i think we might have chattered about this where he tweeted in the middle of the night that the south koreans would have to pay for the system, causing a great deal of strain. >> the defense system. >> in south korea. causing a great deal of strain and having general mcmaster and others make frantic calls to the south koreans saying, no, that's not our policy. those types of behaviors, some unrelated to the russian probe entirely, suggests a temperament that is not well suited for some of the very major responsibilities he has with respect to the defense of the country and the economic development of the country. >> and the tweet on qatar this week, which they'veow spent -- madison tillerson has spent four da tryin to unwind that.

>> that's another example where this was claimed as the result of his efforts, and, in fact, i think it caught everyone by surprise. i was in the region in iraq and other places last week, and there was no sort of sense that this was part of a deliberate american poechl, that this was happening. this was just an event that sort of shocked i think everyone and, again, the president's tweet caused i think more complications to the state department and the department of defense. one of one of our largest air bases in qatar, which is essential to our supporting our forces in the region, and so we have to be cognizant of that too. >> jack reed, the armed services committee and the member of the intelligence panel yesterday. thank you very much, senator. thank you. >> thank you. still ahead, british mayhem. the election shocker rattling the u.k. and throwing america's closest ally into political chaos. plus, the room where it happens. new legal questions before james comey's testimony about the

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you know have any case where a person has been charged for obstruction of justice or for that matter, any other criminal offense, where this -- they said or thought they hoped for an outcome? >> i don't know well enough to answer. the reason i keep saying his -- i took it as a direction. it is the president of the united states with me alone saying i hope this. i took it as this is what he wants me to do. now, i didn't obey that, but that's the way i took it. >> the republicans trying to focus on the language of an obstruction of justice charge rather than on what the president's intent may have been, as former fbi director comey tried to explain how he interpreted president trump's comments about mike flynn saying i hope you can let this go. greg craig served as council to presiden obama, and led the --

he joins me now from d.c. thank you very much. how important is that distinction between the words hope and direct or some other word ordering the fbi director to do something? >> you know, andrea, i think the back and forth that occurred between the president and mr. comey is less important within the existing fact that he was fired, and the investigation -- by the way, the headline for the week's events is that there's no doubt that the president of the united states is now the subject of a criminal investigation. there's just no doubt about that. >> why do you have no doubt about that? >> because there is evidence to suggest that his intent when he fired mr. comey was to either influence or halt an investigation, and there's evidence of the president asking him to stop an investigation of mr. flynn. that's adequate and sufficient,

i think, to satisfy at least the predicate to begin an investigation, and i have no doubt in my mind that mr. mueller is, in fact, conducting an investigation that includes the conduct of the president of the united states. >> now, the president cannot be charged with a crime under the constitution. >> that's correct. >> so legal distinctions being what they are, it's really a political question as to whether house republicans or any other body decides that action needs to be taken against the president. >> that's true, but the president of the united states is not above the law, and he cann commit crimes and have no consequences. it is true that the way in which one holds the president accountable is through the impeachment process, which is fundamentally a political process, but that doesn't mean that the special council does not investigate, does not gather evidence, does not reach a conclusion as to whether or not the president has committed a crime because the consequences

to the president may occur after he has left office. that was always the case with respect to president clinton, but the reality is that while he is under investigation, there is no indictment that could be forthcoming, but there could be a report that could be sent to the congress of the united states in which mr. mueller concludes that, in fact, the conduct that the president was involved inme amounted to code sections 1512 -- amounted to obstruction of justice. >> there's no question, of course, out there which is the attorney general of the united states recused from the russia investigation, but still certainly jim comey was throwing some shade on him yesterday when he suggested that there was another issue, that his body language indicated he understood there was a problem when he was being asked to leave that room. what about the fact that sessions let him be alone in the oval office with the president of the united states? >> well, it's highly unusual for the president to ask to be alone

with the director of the fbi. generally at least in my experience with two presidents when the president meets with someone like the director of the fbi, there's a senior staff member there. frequently the white house counsel is the person that is there because it involves legal matters or u.s. policy in connection with criminal matters, and so it was highly unusual. i think without warning to the director of the fbi to have a one-on-one to ask everybody to leave so that there would be just two people in the room. in my experience that never happened with either president obama or president clinton. and the fact that jim comey did not walk out of the room, did not say as dianne feinstein said, susan collins said, why didn't you say this is wrong? >> well, i'm perhaps somewhat more forgiving than senator feinstein is on this. director comey came to the white house for another reason. he was part of a group of people that were discussing a variety of different topics.

he was not prepared to deal with the subject that the president brought up with him, and i think it was a little bit of an ambush. he caught him by surprise. i thought actually under the circumstances comey handled himself very well. in second guessing himself, he said maybe i should have done something else or lectured the president on the inappropriateness of asking me to stop an investigation that was ongoing of general flynn. i'm less judgment al snoo comin up, stranger things about the president's fitness for office. that's ahead right here on andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. using an electric toothbr. for an exceptionally fresh feeling choose philips sonicare diamondclean. hear the difference rsusrab. in a recently published clinical study, philips sonicare diamondclean outperforms oral-b 7000,

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(crowd applauding) ♪ we know a place that's already working on it. ♪ >> you can't expect people to respect the office of president any more than the occupant of the job does. i do respect the office of president. i hope that he will rise to that occasion. the fact is he hasn't so far. i'm concerned about his fitness for office, and that's really the question. >> democratic leader nancy pelosi's blunt talk on "morning joe" today at a time when she and karl rove now are in rare agreement. rove writing in the "wall street journal", "increasingly it appears mr. trump lacks the focus or self-discipline to do the basic work required of a

president. his chronic impulsiveness is apparently unstoppable and clearly self-defeating. mr. trump may have mastered the modes of communication, but not the substance, thereby sabataging his own agenda." that was karl rove. joining me is charlie dent. congressman, good to see you. this has been a rough week all around. what is your take-away at the end of the week after james comey's testimony and the president's pushback? >> my take-away, thank you for having me on the program. i would say that my take-away is the president is not -- wasn't you should an investigation, and it's clear, though, that his interference and interventions, though, we could make it more likely that he could be under an investigation. i think that the attorney general sessions didn't have a particularly good day yesterday. nor did loretta lynch. nor did general flynn. i guess i'm worried about the broader context here. i just returned from germany, and i'll tell you, i think the world is looking at america right now, and they think

there's political instability. they have taken america strong leadership for granted. nas that is no longer the case. whether it's on security, whether it's on trade or the environment, there's a feeling that america is a little bit adrift. i'm worried about that broader context in addition to all the day to day noise of what's happening in washington on the russia investigation. >> i certainly don't disagree with you because when i travel, that's what i'm hearing from people who are not normally, you know, in the political space. isn't it partly because the president's nato speech was given to the surprise of his secretary of state, his national security advisor, his defense secretary? he left out article 5, colle collective support for the alliance, tradition and commitment. then in the middle east, he makes commitments and then comes back and goes completely against a u.s. military ally, qatar, siding with the saudis.

there's a lot of back and forth to try to fix that. i mean, the paris accord. isn't it really coming from the oval office? >> well, yes. i cannot discuss. the article 5 statement -- on german cars, german auto manufacturers, gaming system, which they're not. i mean, those kinds of issues hurt. clearly, too, you know, many of our no partnerselt like they were being talked to unfairly. while at the same time the saudis, it was important to reset relations by the saudis, while at the same time being perhaps too critical of some of our european partners. it's been unsettling. >> what can we do now going forward to reset it? obviously we're in the middle of an investigation. mueller is not going to go away. this could take a long time. how do you get anything accomplished, things that people really care about that affects their daily lives?

>> well, if i were in the white house right now, i would simply say less is more, and, you know, the president has a good lawyer in don mcgann. he has his outside counsel and former director mueller who is the special counsel. he is a reputable man. now it's in his hands. there's really not much to say until robert mueller completes his work. if i were the white house, i would get on with the business of the day. this was supposed to be infrastructure week, and until a few minutes ago we didn't hear too much about infrastructure. i think it's important that he -- that the white house fwoeks on the legislative age a agenda. >> isn't -- let me ask you. was it a mistake for the republican national committee to fire up super pact money and put a commercial out attacking james comey, who is not running for office, as far as i can tell.

>> the rnc didn't ask my advice on that one. again, i always felt director comey is a very good man. he was placed in a difficult spot by his former boss, loretta lifrm, and that caused him to make some decisions that in retrospect i probably wouldn't have made. that said, i don't really think that james comey is the issue. we need to get on with the legislative agenda that we're talking about. tax reform. again, whatever the issue is, we should be talking about that, and that's where the rnc should be focused as well. >> charlie dent, it's great to see you, congressman. have a good weekend. see you soon. thank you. >> yes. thank you, andrea. why comey felt compelled to document his conversations with president trump after their first meeting in trump tower in january. andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. okay. got it.

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than ever is certainty, and having secured the largest number of votes and the greatest number of seats in the general election, it is clear that only the conservative and unionist party has the legitimacy and ability to provide that certainty by commanding a majority in the house of commons. >> legitimacy, what is the reaction there? >> theresa may is still prime minister, but she's been humiliated, and those that work inside that parliament behind me there will be calculating the consequences of this earthquake. it is so complex that honestly i think some of them will be getting a headache from it. i think two wider points to make. in the first place for prurp, this is president trump's closest ally in europe. it will be a weakening for him

on the international, and there will be many very worried about the political implications now of him coming for the state visit that have been planned. another wider point in ermz it of brexit, it makes britain substantially week weaker in those negotiations with the europeans, and that may not be a good thing for britain or for the europeans because the europeans now making it clear that they want a stable and clear government here that they can negotiate with. if they can't get that and there are real question marks now, then does it end up with no deal at the end? that will be bad for the european economy it looks very good. >> kier simmons with a gloomy view from westminster. thank you so much, kier. >> back here at home james comey's first meeting with president trump was indeed an awkward one. the former fbi director was asked by the director of

national intelligence to stay behind for a briefing at trump tower and informed the president-elect that there was a unverified dossier that was created by an officer that was about to be leaked and could even be the trigger for a russian blackmail attempt. definitely dicey material. mr. trump called comey and said he hpt been involved with hookers in russia and always assumed he was being recorded in russia. joining now is ned price, president obama's national security advisor and also a cia analyst and an nbc national security analyst. david, a former intelligence officer and daily briefer at the cia. well, let me ask you, david priest, you have briefed presidents on intelligence. can you imagine meeting a president-elect and having to present that as your opening gambga gambga gambga gamb gambit? >> i've had some really tense situations, but never anything quite like that. the thing to keep in mind, though, and all of the commentary after this has not really focused on this.

we treat these like they are movie scene moments, like there's a script for how someone is supposed to react. when the president or in any case i did daily intelligence briefings for a year for the attorney general a the fbi director bob mueller at the time there are times when it doesn't go well. there are times when the reaction is not what you expect. i was not surprised when director comey said in response to senator feinstein that he was stunned, and he even in self-reflection said perhaps it was a bit of a cowardly moment. slightly cowardly. you don't know what's going to happen. you don't know exactly how it's going to play out. to expect they should treat it like a movie script and how to play it like they would if they had more reflection time, puts a high burden on them in that moment. >> and ned price, the oval office itself is an intimating factor, is it not? >> it sure is, andrea. you know, you hear from mark kas

owi tz that this wasn't a direction or an order. it was just a sentiment. just a hope that he could let this go. when you are in the oval office and that setting, the most -- the most imposing probably setting in the world with the commander in chief and the most powerful man in the world, the president's wish is your command. that is precisely what director comey said yesterday. that is why he took it as an order because he rightly concluded that in his office in the oval office the president of the united states does not just idly hope. >> david priest, you spent a year, as you say, briefing bob mueller when he was fbi director. what do you expect? >> i say i was universal impressed. i took him the president's daily brief, and it had the most sensitive intelligence daily information for the prosecute ez and the small number of people that the president designated to

receive it. he always treated it with the up most seriousness, and he treated it in two ways. both, he understood the strategic view, and esalso knew when to ask that extra question, and i was always impressed with the kiepds of questions he asked. what is the big picture, and what do i need to complete the pieces of that puzzle? then also looking for the probative information, the things that came out of jim comey's testimony yesterday where he knows all of the loose enz, all of the tactical limits he wants to follow-up on. >> i just wanted to play a little bit of marco rubio asking james comey exactly about the point you were just making. >> at the time did you say anything to the president about that is not an appropriate request, or did you tell the white house council that is not an appropriate request, someone needs to go tell the president

that he can't do these things? >> i didn't,ing no. >> okay. >> why? >> i don't know. i think -- as i said earlier, i think the circumstances were such that it was -- i was a bit stunned and didn't have the presence of mind, and i don't know. you know, i don't want to make you sound like i'm captain courageous. i don't know whether i had the presence of mind that i would have said, president, sir, that's wrong. >> to your point, ned, the circumstances as david just said, it's not like a movie script. >> but who has choctawed to his every wish and command, including as his chief surrogate from the dios yesterday. this is not a movie set, as the point david was making. but, you know what, director comey had the wherewithal to document these interactions. he knew that this could not be a

he -said-she-said affair, and, again, trump's defenders are still trying to make this a he-said-she-said affair. director comey, even though he didn't have the courage, as he said yesterday, to stand up in the moment. he did have the wherewithal to do what he needed to do to make sure these instances of attempted obstruction of justice were held to account. >> one other quick point, andrea. >> yes. >> another thing that's interesting here is that director comey responded to a question from senator collins about the same thing. why didn't you do more? why didn't you push more? he made reference to the historical fact of j. edgar hoover. he didn't want to have a j. edgar hoover moment where he would be perceived as saying to the president, we are holding this over you. we are going to do something to you. with that in the back of his mind, with trying to keep the bureau apolitical, it is a

little more nabbedable that he did not want to go all out and push the president back. coming up, more headlines. the fall-out from the comey testimony. we'll get the inside scoop next right here on andrea mitchell repos msnbc. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job,

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james comey describing his

unexpected dinner invitation from president trump. >> then he said, how about 6:30? and i said, whatever works for you, sir. and then i hung up and had to call my wife and break a date with her. i was supposed to take her out to dinner that night. >> that's one of the all-time great excuses for breaking a dinner date. >> next time he'll not cancel that dinner with his life. let's get the inside scoop. okay. welcome to all. nicole, first to you. the president calling and inviting him to dinner one on one. already the oval office meeting in that awkwardness, it's just all so unusual. >> there was so many contacts between the two of them. and we had andy card on as part

of our coverage yesterday talking about how he never would have been comfortable with a president that he worked for. having that kind of frequency of contact and iimacy oonduct with the director of the fbi. george w. bush didn't start meeting regularly with bob mueller until after 9/11 when he started getting his intelligence briefings from the cia and fbi jointly, because one of the takeaways is they weren't communicating as they should have been. everything about this president and this presidency is unorthodox. to harken back to a bush-era known term, we know it was wholly inappropriate, and made jim comey very, very uncomfortable. >> you had the unusual situation with an off-camera briefing, sarah sanders said something

that was a little bit reminiscent of president nixon. >> no, i can definitively say the president is not a liar, and i think it's frankly insulting. >> ruth? >> umm, well, if the president is not a liar, then jim comey is lying. and one of them wrote contem contemporaneous memos. and we'll see in the end whose story holds up better and who has more of a long record of truth telling. i would like to go back to that dinner. at dinr did not occur in a vacuum. it took place the very day after sally yates went to the white house and in fact he was back at the white house that very afternoon to warn don mcgahn, the president's counsel, that michael flynn had been lying to officials at the white house and was subject to being blackmailed by the russian. we were told by sean spicer that

mcgahn immediately informed the president of that. so this odd dinner, this very chilling request for loyalty, i expect loyalty. the president reraising the question of whether director comey wanted to keep his job after, according to director comey, that had already been assured to him. he had already been assured by the president that he would keep his job. all of this took place at a moment when the president understood that his not yet fired national security adviser was in extreme jeopardy. >> the timing is important. thanks for putting that context around it and reminding us where these things are happening, when they're happening. they're not in a vacuum. the white house now in complete campaign mode. we had a speech from the white house today, the president's lawyer, which is understandable, because that's an appropriate thing to do, but the president tweeting this morning, then the speech. and this from kellyanne conway

at the faith and freedom forum. >> i do thank god every day. i'll admit efficient click my heels and say, he is not tshe i president, she is not the president. >> clearly a reference to hillary clinton, and i guess "the wizard of oz." sam? >> yeah, i guess that's the case. it is highly political right now. not just referencing hillary clinton obviously, but very concerted effort it looks like to go after james comey, his credibility, to accuse him of leaking, even though that's not what happened. you're allowed to share contemporaneous notes, especially if they're not classified. then legal threats now to james comey emanating from the white house. i would just say two things. one is when it comes to the issue of veracity, one person has testified under oath, the other hasn't.

that would be james comey has testified under oath and donald trump hasn't. two is that there is apparently, according to president trump, possibly tapes of their conversations. and if you were adamant that the person making accusations against you is lying, there's an easy way to resolve that, which is to release the tapes. they're not going to do that, because likely the tapes do not exist. james comey could be a witness in bob mueller's investigation. you could construe potentially that these legal threats against james comey, these political attacks that are taking place, are witness intimidation. you know, the trump administration needs to be careful as they go on the attack. >> nicole, this is a situation so fraught with peril for the white house. and yet, as was just pointed out, don mcgahn told the president and no one said to the

president, you know, you shouldn't have dinner with the fbi director. >> we're appropriately focused on the president, what he said to his fbi director. but this is also a story of the ineptitude or the weakness of the people around him to push him in an appropriate direction, which is prudent, that which is traditional and legally sound. i mean, he's acting in ways that are not in his own interest it will cli or legally. >> that's the white house chief of staff, but again, you have steve bannon, all of these different power centers. we'll have to leave it there. if i go over, then we might have a domino effect. join nicolle wallace today at 4:00 eastern, "deadline white house" right here on msnbc. that does it for us. remember, follow the show online, on facebook and twitter.

chris jansing is up next right here on msnbc. chris? >> thank you so much, andrea. you're not going to take extra time, so maybe i'll take a little of nicole's time. but good afternoon, i'm chris jansing in for craig melvin. today, we know more about the special counsel investigation and where it goes after the former director of the fbi called the president of the united states a liar on thursday. president trump has now fired back, telling his personal lawyer to go after comey, a tweeting a suggestion that comey committed perjury, painting comey as a liar and a leaker, even as he tries to put the focus on his domestic agenda today. a source close to president trump's outside legal team says the president's personal attorney will be filing a complaint with the doj and senate judiciary committee. add to that this new development, jared kushner will meet with the senate intelligence committee, although that wl