the judiciary committee chuck grassley has been hinting he expects someone on the court to retire this summer. so monday. could be interesting. set your alarm. that does it for us tonight. have an excellent weekend. we'll see you again on monday. msnbc live is next. good morning. i'm dara brown at msnbc headquarters in new york. it's 7:00 a.m. in the east and 4:00 a.m. out west. here is what's happening. and then there were five. another republican senator says he is against the gop health care bill. doesn't have a chance of passing? >> the president today with a new push on the health care version, but democrats are using his words in fooid fighting the bill. we'll tell you who and how. president trump says there are no recordings of his talks against former fbi director james comey, but at least one democrat says it won't stop him from digging deeper.

and jared kushner, security clearance on both sides of the aisle. plus, the weekend weather. it is a mixed background across the country. details next on msnbc live. rebegin with new information from mike pompe on o alleging the intelligence community has confirmed vladimir putin directed the election campaign. >> i can't talk about the details of the intelligence, but we have, the intelligence committee has said ta this election was medaled with by the russians in a way that is frankly not particularly original. they've been doing this for an awful loily long time and we are decades into the russians trying to undermine american democracy. so in some ways, there's no news, but it certainly put a

heightened emphasis on our ability to figure out how to stop it. >> this wheat from president trump last night, just house, the obama administration knew far in advance of november 8th about election meddling by russia. did nothing about it. why? senate republicans are having obstacles trying to pass its health care bill. here is part of his weekly address. >> i only hope democrats in congress will have the political courage to help fix what we know to be a catastrophic situation.. a total disaster that they have created. so be part of the solution instead of obstructing, always obstructing change. and senate republicans find themselves short of the vote they need. casey hunt has the details.

>> senator, do the right thing. show up and give us health care. >> democrat trying to keep up the pressure. >> this is not trying to be overly dramatic the thousands of people will die. >> another blow to the bill's chances. >> nevada senator dean heller announcing he's a no. >> in this form, i will not support it. >> the first moderate republican to join it. he's joining conservatives who are saying no because the bill doesn't go far enough, but three no votes and the plan fails. >> there are four big guys in the forefronts of mind, and i think that they'll probably get there. we'll have to say. >> capitol hill finds there's room to negotiate. >> could we vote for this bill today? the answer is no. can we get amendments?

yes. >> against it, the aarp and the american academy of pediatrics who say it will cut coverage for millions. >> in pennsylvania, more than half a million would lose medicaid expansion in 2021. >> necessary sort of services aren't available to me in the future. you can't get large scale public policy passed in any significant way without public support and they don't have the public support. >> that was nbc's casey hunt routing. joining me now, sara westwood correspondent for the washington examiner. sara, let's start with you.. there are five gop senators declaring a no on this big. senator heller says it goes too far in making cuts. the other four saying it doesn't go far enough in rolling back obamacare. does the white house expect there will be a way to reconcile those differences? if so, what will change the satisfy the different views? that's the problem, right, you

have such a diverse of republican coalition to this opposition. you have conservatives like rand paul and ted cruz would think the big doesn't go far enough. then you have senator dean heller and possibly some other more moderate senators in the future who haven't yet weighed in on the bill who will come out and say they think the bill does too much. so you are going to find to fine a way to meet in the middle. republicans in the house did it. they did it by granting state waivers by allowing governs and legislatures to make decisions that might fit individual states' preferences and that way not imposing these blanket cuts on everyone. that was a way for the house to navigate this. in the senate, each individual lawmakers who comes out and opposes the bill will wield a lot more influence because each vote is critical for senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. but president trump said he's

going to get personally involved. he'll be working the phones, potentially taking meetings and trying to move at least some of these senators towards backing some version of the bill we saw on thursday. >> and ozzie, in a bit of theatrics, senator schumer brought out a poster with president trump's bill that the house bill was too mean. the senate dubbed the proposal meaner. do you think that's the strategy? >> they are using trump's own words to sort of undermine's trump's policy agenda. who better to sort of attack donald trump than donald trump himself. as we've seen with republican voters and the base of republicans the at the moment, the person they listen to most is donald trump. so trump's words coming out of a meeting with republican lawmakers, that seems to be the best tools that democrats have to create some momentum on their side. they are trying to explain a very complicated issue, a very

complicated matter. many, many people had a hard time even understanding what was happening with obamacare. all they knew is they weren't happy. and the only think that made them unhappier was change. democrats are hoping they can use trump's own words to motivate his base in a way they haven't been able to. >> dara, president trump campaigned on no cuts to medicare or medicaid. how is the white house accounting for this? the white house is actually come out and said, look, we know that this cuts down medicaid, it's going to roll back the medicaid expansion that obamacare implemented. and the white house said we haven't taken a position on when we believe that's the right thing to do. it was all but undermining the fact that that in the bill and it's one of the most controversial parts of the senate gop legislation.

i don't know how the white house will be able to reconcile the president's previous comments that he's not going to touch medicaid with the fact that the obamacare bill in the senate does, in fact, make far deeper cuts in medicaid over the next ten years or so than the we saw come out of the house. that may be something that has to get changed to garner some of these moderate republican lawmakers, but the white house is not taking a position on that specific portion of the bill. >> shifting to the president's firing of fbi director james comey, he now says he has no tapes of their conversations, but he suggested he said that as a strategy. take a listen. >> bhe found out that there may be tapes out there, whether it's governmental tapes or who knows, i think his story may have changed. you'll have to take a look at that. because then has to tell what actually took place at the events. i did not tape.. >> it's a smart way to make sure

he stayed honest in those hearings. >> well, it wasn't -- it wasn't very stupid, i can tell you that. >> ozzie, is there reason to believe the prospect of tapes changed anything comey would have said? >> i'm sorry. my head is sort of exploding with that kind of analysis, that that was like a brilliant move. no, it's -- like trump is sort of showing very clearly that he makes these proclamations, has nothing to back them up, and then claims a sort of victory that cannot be in any way, shape or form accounted for. comey showed up and made his remarks. donald trump tried to threaten him by saying we have tapes. and it appears that, like, nothing comey would have said would have changed at all. in fact, people would have wanteded to hear those tapes, to hear exactly what trump was saying. trump is saying i made the suggestion to sort of try to influence somebody and then has nothing to show for it? there is very little explanation to account for this.

>> is there concern in the white house that the president might be forced to testify under oath to special counsel robert mu eller about the comey firing? >> i think because the president has come out and said he's more than willing to speak to the special counsel about his encounters with comey under oath, now if that request comes, the white house will be more or less forced to accept it because president trump stood out there in the rose garden and said that he was, quote, 100% willing to the testify under oath. i disagree with ozzie's comments a little bit. i think comey's actions were based on the release of the tapes. he said as much in the hearing, but it's kind of an opposite of a victory for president trump. you can't point to a single tweet that's been more costly for the president because by comey's own admission, he only decided to leak the most

damaging details from his memos when he saw that tweet. and deputy attorney rod rosenstein only elected to appoint a special counsel when he saw the tweet. >> sara, i'm going to stick with you on this. earlier in the week, we heard from jared kushner for the first time publicly. here is a clip. >> our goal here is simple. we are here to improve the day-to-day lives of the average citizen. that's a core promise and we are keeping it. >> and that was palestinian and israeli leaders this week trying to broker middle east peace while facing new questions over russian connections and calls for his security clearance be revoked. what did we learn this week? >> it's interesting because jared kushner, like you said, hasn't been a forward facing public official. we know he's had this greatly expanding portfolio. yet he hasn't been accessible to the public.

so it was interesting this week to see him speak at a tech job summit and them to speak again when he was overseas in the middle east. obviously, there are still questions that remain about his security clearance, but no substantive allegations have been really raised in that regard against him. so it has been an interesting shift and potentially indicative of his role expanding even greater beyond what we've already seen that he chose this week and this moment to come out and see a public face of the administration. >> and aussie, what are your thoughts on that? >> his portfolio is mind bogglingly large. but the calls about his security clearance are sort of fitting into the sort of general hum and noise coming out of washington. like sara said, there's no specific allegation. and even though some people on his side of the aisle are sort of questioning that security clearance, there really hasn't been anything so dramatic as to force action into it. until we see new revelations, it looks like he's going be continuing to play a very large

role in the administration.. >> great to have you both this morning. thanks so much. >> thank. >> thank you. republicans and the are the count it as a victory, but the georgia special election celebration may be a short one as they glimpse at 2018. details from the right are up next. ♪ (vo) you can pass down a subaru forester. (dad) she's all yours. (vo) but you get to keep the memories. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. p3 planters nuts, jerky and whaseeds.at? i like a variety in my protein. totally, that's why i have this uh trail mix. wow minty. p3 snacks. the more interesting way to get your protein. ...studying to be a dentist and she gave me advice. she said... my daughter is... ...dadgo pro with crest pro-health.

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it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll reflecting what the public believes with respect to the james comey/donald trump battle. nbc's kelly o'donnell, she's at the white house. >> good morning, dara. this is a way to look at what are americans thinking when it comes to judging the credibility of the fired fbi director who testified for hours under oath on capitol hill, a big tv

spectacle before the intelligence committee. first there's the account we heard from president trump through his answers for questions, some interviews, even in his tweets. there is a sharp divide and james comey is coming out on top. he is being judged by those, surveyed by the nbc news "wall street journal" poll as more credible. it breaks down like this. 45% say they are more likely to believe james comey. 22% say they are likely to believe the president. if you look at this from party perspective, you also have a very sharp divide. the you have 76% of democrats who say they side with comey and 50% of republicans who back president trump's version of things. so it gives you a sense of people who have a sense of james comey as boeing a truthful person and when it comes to the political divide, republicans still have a lot of support for the president and democrats have a lot of doubt about the president's truthfulness. that's brand new information from our survey. it tells you a little bit about some of the challenges the

president has when it comes to the overall russia investigation. and some of the challenges he will have going forward now that it's in a new phase with a special counsel. is the president believable? compared to james comey, there are many americans who say not as much. >> californialy, thanks so much for that. now to the health care question, oregon senator ron widen, democrat and ranking member of the finance committee weighing in last night on the new health care bill. >> this bill would be a huge setback for millions of americans who depend, for example, on medicaid. there's a lifeline, per se, nursing home care. the fact is, chuck, what we're dealing with here, and americans hate it, is a big con job. the the republicans said after this horrible health care bill passed, they were going to start fresh. instead, what they did was double down. >> let's bring in robert costa, from the washington post and an

msnbc correspondent. whether are they doing to block the bill and how much can they do in this case? >> the senate democrats are in a difficult position. they're in the minority. and because this bill is a reconciliation bill, that's insider jargon for all fiscally related to health care. because of that, the democrats are in a limited position. they're trying to get the democratic base activated. but it's a tough week for them. they lost the special election in georgia, in the house, and so they're trying to figure out can they rally behind this signature law for president obama. and on the democratic side, you did see president obama weigh in this week with a facebook post, a forceful one defending his law. >> in your latest article, you describe nevada senator dean heller as the bellwether for how this bill is received. now that he's come out against it, what do you think that means? >> as much as the democrats are mounting opposition to this

republican bill, it's really the republicans in the senate who are in the spotlight. who every reporter in town is paying attention to. can the majority leader mitch mcconnell on the republican side, can he bring together the moderates, like heller of nevada and can he get senator ted cruz of texas, senator mike lee of utah, the hard liners and the right wing of the conference together? it's going be a real challenge this weekend for mcconnell as he works the phones and tries to have a vote next week. that's the plan for the moment, but the votes aren't yet there. >> and a couple of moderate senators, they're seen as potential swing votes. what is it going to take for mitch mcconnell to bring them around? >> when you look at senator collins and senator markowski, they would like to see the bill pretty much the way it is with regard to abrgz. the house bill had a lot of

strict restrictions on how you could use with obamacare coverage that included abortion coverage. that's been watered down a bit without getting into too many details n senate version. those moderate republics would like to see this bill be less strident when it comes to social conservativism. >> you mentioned the georgia special election before. i want to bring that up. the gop were thrilled because of this win but it is a long held republican seat. should they be concerned that it was that close and how much of a boost is it, really, to the gop? >> it's not so much a boost, but it's a sigh of relief for those in the trump administration who thought this could be a burden for them in the sense that it would be seen as a referendum on president trump so early in his presidency. they have been successful because of president trump's unpop the layerty. congressional republicans

haven't been able to get much done. those are open questions that have yet to be answered. the democrats are having a reckoning of their own. they kind find consensus on tax reform or health care. who are they going to be moving forward? this is a party that's right now dominated in its leadership ranks by baby boomers, but veterans by mama nancy pelosi in the house from california who has been around for a long time, was a former speaker of the house. but now democrats are wonder whog is going to be the fresh new voice if anything to try and counter president trump. >> great to have you this morning. thank you very much. >> thank you. americans are dealing with a dangerous dose of extreme weather this weekend. the forecast is up next. arly 10.

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is what's left of tropical storm cindy heads north. kelly cass joins me for a look at the weather headlines. >> hair there, dara, we're still watching out for some downpours associated with what was tropical storm cindy. rain down along the coastline. this is a frontal boundary causing showers and storms along the i-20 corridor, i-20, as well, where the ground is saturated. so new orleans under a flash flood watch through this evening. .across the west, really, the big story here is the heat. temperatures the well into the 90s. even triple digits for some of you in the state of oregon. 93 officially in seattle where it's a little unusual to be that warm. 85 degrees in los angeles. and a few scattered showers across the southwest. through texas and along the gulf coast and down into florida, as

well.. if you're hitting the beaches, listen for that thunder. still a few showers are possible around the fwrax interior sections of the northeast, but i daresay the big cities along the northeast coast look better than today. we'll have cooler temperatures and lower humidity, as well. back to you, dara. at the top of the hour, hugh sits down with cia director pompeo. "your business" is up next. the quicksilver card from capital one doesn't do any of that. with quicksilver you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. leave complicated behind. what's in your wallet?

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