steele, anita dunn. i'm nicole wallace. "mtp daily" starts right now. hi, chuck. >> hi, nicole. this is usually my happiest moment. this is not a happy day. so, thanks, nicole. if it's thursday, a new twitter storm casts clouds over republican health care talks. tonight, could a tweet by president trump hurt his chances of getting a repeal of obamacare? >> what we're trying to do around here is improve the tone, the civility of the debate. and this, obviously, doesn't help do that. >> despite the tweet, does mitch mcconnell have enough legislative magic to get health care done in the senate? plus, are we about to see the rex tillerson rexit strategy from the state department? >> are you satisfied with your staffing? >> no, i would like to go faster. thank you. >> if tillerson isn't allowed to run his own state department, could he be asking, what's the point of staying? and later, reflecting on some words of wisdom from the women of the white house.

>> we have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other. >> this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. good thursday evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington. welcome to "mtp daily." republicans are in some desperate need of leadership on the issue of health care. and today the president dropped a truly massive, inappropriate, and unpresidential mess into the party's lap at exactly the wrong time. by now, you've probably seen the tweets or presidential statements as the white house calls them, that i'm talking about. as members of his own party have pointed out, the president's statements about two of my colleagues here on msnbc are beneath the office he holds. they are shameless and undignified. but the white house does not seem to see it that way. >> when the president gets hit, he's going to hit back harder, which is what he did here today. >> doesn't he have to meet a

higher standard than cable news media, sarah? >> i don't think you can expect someone to be personally attacked day after day, minute by minute, and sit back. look, the american people elected a fighter. they didn't elect somebody to sit back and do nothing. that's -- they knew what they were getting when they voted for donald trump and he won overwhelmingly. >> i'm able to not respond to twitter a lot when people attack me. anyway, folks, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is scrambling for a way to get his party behind a revised health care bill by tomorrow, as a growing chorus of republicans pressure him to start negotiating with democrats. and at this 11th hour for the party, the president goes rogue. despite senator mcconnell, to his credit, repeatedly pleading with him not to. >> i've been pretty candid with him and with all of you that i'm not a great fan of daily tweets. i think it would be helpful to have less drama emanating from the white house. >> gop leadership still holding out hope that they can cobble together some kind of compromise

bill on health care within their own party before they leave town tomorrow. senator john mccain says that's now as likely as pigs flying. but if there isn't a deal by tomorrow, republicans like lindsey graham and shelley moore capito say their party will have no choice but to start negotiating with democrats. moderate senator joe manchin says he's already started talking with at least three moderate senate republicans about a possible deal. which begs the question, which wh what does the art of that deal look like? first, are democrats prepared to deal? their caucus is severely divided on this issue. the growing progressive led by progressive bernie sanders wants single payer and wants to start campaigning on single payer. the leadership led by senator chuck schumer, he's not quite there yet on single payer. next, you've got to ask where the compromise would come from. the ultimate goal of republicans at this point is to figure out how to get to tax reform. and come hell or high water, the white house says, it will move on to tax reform.

>> we were going to get to tax reform if this passes or it doesn't pass. we are on a tax reform agenda when we come back in september, when the august recess is over, we will be 100% engaged in tax reform. >> so now, we got to ask, what is next? i'm joined now by republican senator, susan collins of maine, who today met with vice president pence on the issue of health care. senator collins, always good to talk with you. >> thank you, chuck. >> what do we know -- do you know anything new about any potential changes that are going to get filed tomorrow by senator mcconnell? >> the only change that i expect will be in the bill is $45 billion to help treat people with an opioid or heroin addiction. that obviously is an improvement in the earlier draft, but it doesn't go nearly far enough. now, there may be a host of other changes. we really don't know at this point. no draft has been handed out.

no outline has been provided to us. >> now, i know you had a meeting with vice president pence. look, this has got to be, he's got to be pleading with you as a republican, i'm sure, and i know the two of you maybe don't necessarily see eye to eye on what the substance of the bill would be. but how close are you and vice president pence when it comes to the substance? >> he -- the vice president listened very carefully to my concerns. i went through my concerns about the cut in medicaid, what the impact would be on some of the most vulnerable citizens, our rural hospitals, our nursing homes. we talked, also, about the increase in deductibles that would make insurance unaffordable to a lot of low and middle-income citizens in our country. and we talked in general about the coverage issue. i've made it very clear, i cannot support a bill that is

going to add 22 million people to the 28 million that are already uninsured. he was very much in a listening mode. he was receptive to what i said in many ways, but he certainly didn't make any commitments. >> now, you have made it clear, you can't accept 22 million. is there any number that you accept, as far as this bill is concerned? is it 10, is it 15? is it 5? what is that line for you that it becomes like, all right, i'm willing to try this reform? >> well, the goal that i had, along with senator bill cassidy, when we introduced our bill, was to actually expand coverage, because even under the aca, we have 28 million americans without coverage. so i actually think our goal ought to be in the other direction. now, i recognize when you do away with the individual mandate that there are going to be some

people who will choose not to have insurance. i think you could diminish that number gravely if you had a system where people were automatically enrolled and you had to opt out. >> i love this idea of automatic enrollment. why is there no -- i guess, why is there no critical mass on this in your party? >> well, people are now finally starting to look at that idea and we've had a couple of scholars who have written papers on how you might do auto enrollment. so i think it was a new idea. but i do believe that it's starting to get attention. >> let me ask you one other idea. are we to the point -- i feel as if one thing about this debate is people are learning more about medicaid. that it isn't just a safety net for the poor. this is a lifeline for many people, of all ages, of a lot of different incomes. should this be the insurance plan for rural america?

if we can't get private insurance companies to feel comfortable being in the private sector in rural america, for some -- you know, because they don't feel as if they'll get enough customers, is medicaid the answer? >> medicaid is part of the answer, but i still prefer to rely on the private market place. but what we have under the affordable care act is a very fragile insurance market where premiums are skyrocketing and insurers are fleeing and people can't buy any snushs insuranc i with a subsidy. and that's why, ultimately, the democrats are going to have to come to the table and negotiate. because otherwise, it's going to be under the aca, obamacare, that the markets collapse. >> so where does this go next? you know, you've been involved with plenty of gangs. i was joking with tom carpers that he's also a gang member. there is this, still a group of

center-left and center-right senators. you've hijacked the senate before. and i mean that in a way where you feel as if leadership isn't listening and you guys say, enough is enough. you're not there yet. when are you getting there? >> we have to wait to see what mitch mcconnell comes up with. the leader is putting together this package, it may be unveiled tomorrow. but then it has to go to the congressional budget office to be assessed and scored next week and that's when we'll know the impact on coverage and costs and can make final decisions. if that isn't going to fly, then i think you'll see this bipartisan group finally come together. i can't tell you how many secret conversations i've had with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who have told me that they are going to be willing to negotiate down the road. >> obviously, nothing like a presidential tweet storm to add

a cloud to this health care debate, which is not easy. you tweeted, you put out a release. you said, this has to stop. we all have a job. three branches of government and media. we don't have to get along, but we must show respect and civility. did you bring this up with the vice president? >> i did not. our conversation was strictly on health care. there was another senator present for it and i thought it was not appropriate for me to get into the tweet issue with him. >> can you -- how do you -- you've been offended by his tweets in the past. you've been offended by his behavior before. i took your tweet as sort of you almost were throwing up your hands. what is your advice to parents? what is your advice to parents at this point when it comes to the president? >> this is one of the things that bothers me the most. i believe that the president of the united states ought to be

modeling the best of behavior. he should be an example for children. he should be an example for all of us. he should not be contributing to the tremendous divide and polarization that we have in our country. it's one thing when he was the candidate. all of us say things that are a little bit over the top when we're running for office. but once you're a public official, particularly if you're president of the united states of america, the greatest country on earth, you have a special obligation to be above this. and that's why i was really disappointed and dismayed by the president's tweet. >> is there a point, though, where you look at it and say that he's damaging the office? >> i worry about how the president is seen in the eyes of the world. and i hope that he will -- he did stop the kind of personal

tweets for a while, and i hope that he will really reconsider, in fact, i would prefer that he not do any tweets. i think that we would be better off. >> and if he doesn't -- when is your tipping point? when are you done? when do you say, i'm done with this? >> well, i respect the fact that he's president and i'm going to continue to negotiate with him on issues that i really care about. he's president of the united states. i hope that the reaction, which has been overwhelming to this latest tweet, will cause him to reconsider. i will have to see what happens. >> senator susan collins, never shy about expressing your opinion. i appreciate that. thanks for coming on and sharing your views. >> thank you, chuck. all right, coming up, i want to look at the health care debate from the state level. i'm joined now by governor john bell edwards, democrat from louisiana. governor, good to see you, sir.

>> thank you, chuck. good to be with you. >> so, explain. you've got a senator, my guess is you guys are more eye to eye on this, even though he's a member of the different side of the party, bill cassidy, you heard susan collins talking about his plan here. make your case to mitch mcconnell about why you need more medicaid funding, not less? >> well, we certainly don't need the cut that they proposed. i think it's three quarters of $1 trillion, to pay for a tax cut. but i will tell you, on saturday, we will have our first anniversary of the medicaid expansion in louisiana. we are now covering $430,000 working poor people, people who have never had health care coverage in their lives, and they work. and we are saving money, but more importantly, we are literally saving lives because of the access to preventative care, where we are diagnosing illnesses and diseases earlier and treating them, where there's

cancer, hypertension, diabetes, 30,000 individuals have had access to mental illness treatment that didn't visit before. we've had 8,000 with access to treatment for addictive disorders, which helps us with the opioid problem. so, it's incredibly important that we not interrupt that, because we are finally turning the corner in louisiana. our uninsured rate went from 24% to right around 10%, and we're delivering better health outcomes again for working people in louisiana. >> can you afford it? can state afford it? >> absolutely not. fuf first of all, they talk about facing out medicaid expansion, but i will tell you, by 2022 at the latest, it will be over in louisiana. under their plan. the other thing is, the way they proposed to commute the base, so that they can figure out what the per capita cap would be for our state going forward is particularly punitive to

louisiana, because we only have four kbauquarters of medicaid expansion. and they want eight quarters of expenditures to compute the base. there's no other state in the nation that faces that kind of a problem. and senator cassidy is aware of that. i know that he is working, he is one of the more reasonable, sensible voices in the senate on this issue. and we look forward to his leadership. >> now wint to , i want to go b can the state -- you talk about the advances of makd. b but obviously the problem is paying for it over time. how do you propose we pay for all of this medicaid expansion? >> well, first of all, are you talking about the federal government or the state? because we -- >> both. >> well, when we expanded medicaid in louisiana, we knew that the largest share of that would be ten cents on the dollar. and so our expansion plan accounts for that. and we can certainly pay our share. we cannot pay, once it goes down to 85 cents, 80 cents on the

dollar, our plan no longer works. now, the simple argument about why the united states can afford this is because what they're planning to do with the savings realized from these draconian cuts to medicaid is to give a tax cut of the about the exact amount of the cuts to the medicaid program. so i believe we can afford it. i believe we can afford it. and if we're going to fight the opioid epidemic, if we're going to make sure that our labor force is healthy enough to be productive and go to work, we've got to invest in our people. these are working poor people who were caught. their employers don't offer insurance. they don't have enough money to buy it. and yet, they make too much to qualify for medicaid and the traditional population. and one of the things i want to point out to you, chuck, this isn't just the expansion population. these cuts will hurt the elderly. they will hurt the disabled, they will hurt children, and it is unacceptable. this bill is a non-starter. we need a bipartisan approach and we need to involve

governors. i look forward to working with senator cassidy and with the trump administration, but we need to start over, because this is a non-starter. >> well, all right. so let's say, and it does look like if this fails, this latest republican effort, there is a growing consensus in at least the middle of the senate to have some sort of bipartisan talks here. but make your case to democrats who say, why should -- why should democrats help the republicans in this, you know, they didn't help the democrats make obamacare, some fixes that were necessary when you had the time. and there's going to be a lot of democrats who say, you know what, you broke it, you own it. not going to help. make your case to chuck schumer that he should let democrats work with republicans on this. >> well, this isn't about getting the politics right, this is about getting the policy right. there are too many americans, too many louisianas whose lives are literally in the balance

here. i know that medicaid spexpansio in louisiana is saving lives. i know if we lose it, people will die. we need to get this right. and it's time that people come together and that we find the center again in the united states. i heard someone say this morning on msnbc, in fact, that wouldn't it be great if we had 30 republicans and 30 democrats in the senate come together and fashion a truly bipartisan approach to this that worked as opposed to people just saying, we're not going to work together, because this isn't only about health care. this is coming to define the relationships that senators have with one another on every single issue, and it is making congress completely dysfunctional and it's costing the united states of america too much. >> all right. governor edwards, i will leave it there. democrat from louisiana. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. probably be talking to you soon as the health care debate continues to heat up. coming up, our roundtable weighs in on how the president's latest twitter distraction is hitting the health care battle. noo

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welcome back. as we mentioned at the top of the show, president trump's latest tweet storm cast a bit of a cloud over the ongoing health care debate. in fact, i sat down earlier with republican senator bill cassidy and democrat tom carper to discuss how the president's actions are making it difficult for work to get done in d.c. >> i look at it and i just shake my head. it's got to be harder for him to recruit people to come to work for him. they're having a terrible time filling positions. i was told by john vas sow, we're not getting names. out of 600 positions, i think we've got 100 names. and it's because people in part don't want to work for him. >> enough is enough? >> he's hurting himself and his administration. >> i liken it to when i have a patient in the intensive care unit. i'm focused on that patient. i walk around all day long thinking about what i can do better. if i focus on the president, which those tweets were not

good. they're re they're reprehensible. if i focus on that family sitting around the kitchen table unable to afford premiums, frustrated with the process and frustrated with their inability to pay their premium, then i'm doing something good for them. >> you can see much more of my interview with two senators, one from each side of the aisle, talking together with each about this health care debate. we'll delve deeper into that on sunday on "meet the press." we'll be back in 60 seconds for a little more "mtp daily." about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪

when heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. welcome back. let's get right to our panel. joining me tonight, shane harris, senior writer on national security at "the wall street journal." radio host, hugh hewitt, who also now hosts a show here on msnbc on saturdays at 8:00 a.m. and andrea gibbs lejay with the center for american progress, welcome, all. hugh, i'll start with you. mitch mcconnell had a hard enough job today. how much harder did president trump make it? >> he made it much harder. what the president tweeted was wrong. it was cruel. it's an admission against

interests that you are weak and being beaten and that it's under your head. and i heard senator collins say to you just moments ago, she wishes he would stop tweeting. jake tapper and andrea mitchell got awards last week from the los angeles press club and jake gave a speech about truth and decency. the president can tweet about truth. he can mix it up. they haven't proved collusion. they haven't proved obstruction. but the decency part has got to infuse his public communications. that's important for a president to maintain that level. so he heard everything this week. i hope he rethinks that policy. >> 71? >> he's not going to. i mean, this is who he is. like, he has showed hy eed himsr and over again to be this person who has no filter, who does not respect the office of the presidency in the same way all of us do and that other journalists do. so i do not think this is going to change. >> and what's interesting, i had a conversation with malcolm gladwell. and he actually says, look, this does check -- he gets away with -- there's no penalty for

him on this. or there hasn't been, yet. because the offensiveness is also authentic. and there's such a craving for authenticity, it's why his folks defend it. >> right, i think this is what people most crave about him and have always loved about him. he says what's on his mind, and frankly he gives permission to a lot of people that would like to -- >> that's the damaging thing about all of this. the permission slip. >> the permission and enabling of it. if there were a moment where all of official washington would rise up and say, enough with the tweets, this may be the one that everyone can get behind and no one's defending this. >> he hasn't done it yet. >> don't you think he has to be -- he has to -- look, behavior doesn't change until you're penalized. and he's not faced a penalty -- >> here's a penalty. he is winning on the collusion message. he was winning, that there is no collusion in evidence. he was winning that there is no obstruction in evidence. he was winning on the fact that the media has been unfair. and he undid it in a moment of unreflective cruelty, because they got under his skin. look, it's a tough show.

i've been on with mika and joe. they're tough, they're professional colleagues, it's a tough knockabout show. but presidents can't get into that when they're winning. he had many a message one and now it's backwards. >> let's talk about health care. i feel like everything got frozen in place. by the way, susan collins sounds like, you're not buying me off with opioid money, right? and hugh, you and i had this conversation. you weren't going to be bought off with opioid money, either. >> i would like to see a block grant to rural hospitals and opioid treatment that is an endowment to the states so we don't have cornhusker kickbacks or louisiana purchases, a 50-state program to fix this problem of rural health care and opioid epidemics. but that, we'll wait and see. i'm not done with mitch mcconnell yet. i think there's stuff going on. >> oh, i'm sure there's stuff going on. i'm sure there's lots of backroom deals happening. we'll see. in order to get the votes that they need, they have to appease two very different wings of the party. i'm just not sure how they get there. >> this is trump, the master negotiator, where you want to see him enter in, right.

if there were ever a moment for him to come in and make a deal, this would be the one. what better deal could they be? i'm with you, i don't count mitch mcconnell out, and for all we know, he planned it all along. but this is not the coupoutcome wanted. >> but at the moment you need presidential leadership, this is what made it so bad, today. the timing. the timing, right when you need him at his most persuasive, he's now toxic. >> yeah, you need him on the phone to susan collins today. >> she's not taking that call. >> what is he going to say to her? >> what's he going to say to lisa murkowski store shelley moore capito. >> he can't. someone else has to do that. >> obviously, mike pence is doing that. but i thought it was interesting, oh, he didn't have anything to say. she was listening. >> i think that's right. and they need to listen to people like susan collins. look, the president -- i don't know how -- oh! president trump is different from every other president that we've had. so, yes, you're right, in this moment, it would make sense for the president to step up in a

leadership role. but it's not clear to me that he understands this bill, that he knows what's in this bill. and so i'm not -- >> you know what's frustrating to me? he could have tweeted this morning and said, i promise you neil gorsuch is the most conservative member of the court, he is scalia times two, and do a victory week. he won this week. but he didn't do it. it's very frustrating. >> quickly, though, how many democrats will help? let's say this all falls apart and mcconnell gives the permission slip to cassidy and collins. >> i suppose there's a moment where you say to the democrats, you've been begging come to the table and craft this bill, now's the time. if you say no to that, then you look like you're obstructing. but i guess i wouldn't -- i don't like making predictions about anything anymore in this administration, particularly when donald trump is going to come out and shoot himself in both feet, right when they're trying to close this. >> why do i smell an august, what i call a new doc fix. which is that they won't agree on any big idea, but there'll be a bipartisan deal to basically prop up the insurance markets in

rural america. i'm just saying, isn't that coming? >> i think that's possibly where they're headed. >> the trouble is it's a forest fire. 14 of 17 counties learned today there will not be one insurer joining missouri, idaho, and iowa as -- >> that's the point. there are people that believe there are fixes to essentially -- and look, people will say, it's a band-aid. but there is a band-aid you can do there. >> the house is the other part of this. i don't see any of this gang of the senate getting together that's going to sell the freely caucus. >> that's an important point. the house isn't going to act on a bipartisan basis on this? >> i agree with that, but i don't think the senate can focus on that right now. they've got to figure out how they get something through their house. >> it's a high-wire act. it's interesting. all right, guys. you're sticking around. we should note that a spokesman for msnbc did put out this statement in response to the president's tweets. "it's a sad day for america when the president spends his time bullying, lying, and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job." that is a statement from msnbc.

still ahead, can secretary of state rex tillerson quit the state department some time soon? in other words, are we looking at a possible rexit? that's next. (baby crying) ♪ fly ♪ me to the moon (elegant music) ♪ and let me play (bell rings) is to always keep track of your employees.r micromanage them. make sure they're producing. woo! employee of the month! you really shouldn't leave their side. vita coco coconut water, hydration comes naturally.

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yeah. with help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. with the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. welcome back. tomorrow, congressman jason chaffetz's last day as the representative for utah's third district expires tomorrow. he's packing up his capitol hill office, tweeting out this photo of the bed he says he slept on during his time on the hill.

in fact, i sat down with congressman chaffetz about his decision to leave washington and the problems he sees with today's political culture. you need members who can answer their own questions, talk on camera, who can stand up to town halls and answer difficult questions. and be able to stand up on principle and say, this is why i believe this. and if that person isn't able to do that in your own district, then get rid of him. it's something like 98% of the people get re-elected. are you kidding me? >> wait until you hear what he has to say about his decision to leave congress. i'll have much more on this interview i did with him, an exit interview, if you will, with jason chaffetz this monday on a special edition of "mtp daily." still ahead, some sage advice for president trump and his recent rhetoric. first, hampton pearson with the cnbc market wrap. >> tech stocks take another plunge, taking the broader market low. the dow falling 167 points, the s&p sliding by 21, the nasdaq

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mr. secretary, are you satisfied with the staffing positions that have taken place? >> no, i would like to go faster. thank you. >> that's secretary of state rex tillerson, openly airing a bit of frustration with the sluggish staffing rate in the department. the comment comes after a blistering report from politico detailing a tillerson blow-up at a top white house aide in reince priebus' office. tillerson unloaded on a gentleman by the name of johnny

destefano, the head of the presidential personnel office for tor need doing proposed nominees for senior state department post. jared kushner was stunned as the typically even-keeled tillerson raised his voice, vetting for the administration has been difficult, as many democrats or republican critics of the president had been passed over for positions, but tillerson himself has raised eyebrows for staffing decisions as well. tillerson proposed cutting 2,300 jobs for the roughly 75,000 employee department. meanwhile, the white house is dealing with their own frustration that tillerson has either not acted on or turned down their own numerous recommendations. former ambassador nick burns served as undersecretary of state for political fair affai under president george w. bush so has a knowledge of that building. ambassador burns, thank you for coming on. >> thank you, chuck. >> look, you're -- i'm not asking you to talk about gossip in state department circles, but it has been an open secret that there is this tension right now

between secretary of state and the white house and of course, now it sort of -- they're not even pretending it's not there. they're openly talking about it. the secretary himself talked about this issue. ambassador, i have no doubt in my mind, every secretary of state has promised that they're going to have autonomy, and the reality is different. is this naivete in tillerson's part or overpromising on the white house's part? >> well, i think it's a -- he's had a very tough job. and it's maybe one of the toughest positions that a secretary of state has been in for a long time. because he has this unique american president who is uniquely unpopular overseas, who's created all sorts of problems with american allies, like germany, the nato countries, and then you have a highly ideological white house and that divided white house. and what we should be doing in the world, and secretary tillerson, who's a very smart, experienced person, who is aligned strategically with general mcmaster and secretary mattis, they've got to contest with some crazy people without a lot of foreign policy

experience, who want to take the united states in an insular direction. and i think those battles have to be wearing on the secretary. that's the primary problem that he's got, but he also has an ideological white house that doesn't want to have the mainstream, very specioused people in the republican party even be considered for a job, and there are all sorts of good republicans out there who ought to be in this administration, but can't be. >> look, i've heard similar stories from the defense department, similar frustrations secretary mattis has had. we've heard similar frustrations for general mcmaster, but they've navigated it. i wonder how much of this is political in experience on secretary tillerson's part. >> well, it's hard to say. he is new to washington. he's never been in a government job before. he's accustomed to being the chairman of exxonmobil and having his, you know, having his word be the way the company goes forward. washington's a completely different place. the other challenge here, chuck, is you don't have any senior leadership at the state department appointed. you have the deputy secretary of

state appointed, unundersecretary of five, no assistant secretaries reported. and we're in with the end of june, we've never had a situation like this. and, omb is calling, president trump is calling for a one third budget cut that would decimate american diplomacy. and as i have been on the hill and i've testified on the budget issue, it's hard to find a single republican on the hill who believes we should cut the state department and aib budget by 31%. it doesn't make sense in the modern world to do that to ourselves. so he has a lot of challenges. i wish him well, because he's a very impressive person. >> well, let me ask you this. if he asked you to join, would you? >> i would not, as you know, chuck, i was a career foreign service officer and i don't have faith in president trump. i don't think i could serve in president trump's administration, i could not, for that reason. >> at what point is it better for both of them to part ways? i mean, does there become a point where if secretary

tillerson isn't going to get the people he wants, he was promised some level of autonomy, i'm sure he asked for it based on advice he got from the bob gates and condi rices of the world who were encouraging him to take this post. is it better for him to walk away or fight? >> i don't think so, because i think, chuck, you know, even though we're six months into this administration, it -- there's a lot of, a lot of months and years ahead for this first term. it should be apparent to the president that the successes he's had in foreign policy have been produced by tillerson, mattis, and mcmaster. and the disasters he's had, the immigration order and certainly the decision not to reaffirm article 5, all the things half gone wrong, have been produced by the other ideological, insular reactionary faction in the white house. and so, you have these three experienced people in mcmaster, mattis, and tillerson, and i hope the president will understand at some point, they can produce some successes for this administration. and i think the career people,

my brethren, in the foreign civil service, they want to work for people with dignity and honor, who have a sense that american should lead in the world. that's the tillerson/mattis/mcmaster part of this administration. >> all right. ambassador burns, i will leave it there. appreciate you coming on and sharing your views. always a pleasure. >> thank you. up ahead in "the lid," we have some breaking news from one of our panelists. big story from "wall street journal" from shane harris just hit and it involves mike flynn and russia. managing blood sugar is not a marathon. it's a series of smart choices.

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welcome back tonight. in light of president trump's tweet this morning about two of my colleagues, i'm obsessed with some of the things those closest to the president have said about coarse rhetoric. here's melania trump on cyber bullying. >> technology has changed our universe. but like anything that is powerful, it can have a bad side. we have seen this already. as adults, many of us are able to handle mean words, even lies. children and teenagers can be fragile. they are hurt when they are made fun of or made to feel less in looks or intelligence. we have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other. >> and here's ivanka trump.

>> there is a level of viciousness that i was not expecting. i was not expecting the intensity of this experience. some of the distractions and some of the ferocity was -- i was a little blindsided by on a personal level. >> mr. president, maybe you'd do well to listen to the women in your life. we'll be right back. isn't it tl you shine through? maybe it's time for otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,... with reduced redness,... thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts...

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it's time for the lid. just in the last few minutes, our panelists here, "the wall street journal's" shane harris, had a big story just published that former national security adviser michael flynn may have been aware of an effort to obtain e-mails allegedly hacked by the russians from hillary clinton's server during the campaign. we're going to let shane explain this a little bit more. the panel is back. shane, hugh hewitt, daniella gibbs lejay. no offense, i'll give shane the floor here.

explain that story. it explains those e-mails, the attempt of e-mails, his son, and a gentleman who is now dead. >> his name is peter smith. a longtime chicago peter w. sm. he mounted a private effort beginning on labor day of last year during the campaign to obtain from hackers e-mails that he believed had been on hillary clinton's private server and stolen by hackers. he went out and made contact with a number of groups and in e-mails and kmpgconversations w associates mr. smith portrayed michael flynn as someone aware of the effort and implied he was an ally in that. he told them he had been talking to general flynn about this. important remember at that time mike flynn was the senior national security advisor to donald trump on the campaign. this effort began on the part of mr. smith after mr. trump said russia if you're listening go

find the 30,000 e-mails that hillary clinton claimed she deleted from her server. that's what smith was looking for. >> did he find the e-mails? >> we can't say for sure. he said he found some e-mails and unable to guarantee they were 100% authentic. he was worried they might have been manipulated and falsified. because he could not guarantee with 100% certainty they were legitimate, he wanted the hackers to sent them to wikileaks instead. that was his advice to them. if they were to put them out under his name given his long history with the clintons an sort of scandals it would be painted as a head job. >> there's a lot of the russia story that gets conflated. those are all separate acts. any effort this gentleman was involved in those? >> no. he talked about he was closely

following those that he believed the private server she had in her house, he thought no, somebody had to have hacked them. the server was weakly protected. she was an obvious target. they thought they were out there to be found. >> one interesting denial in here a trump campaign official said mr. smith didn't work for the campaign and if in flynn coordinated with him it was his capacity as a private individual. it was an interesting caveat. it looked like an over denial. >> i think the collusion story was dead until shane smith's excellent story came along and the mueller team will be sending out per sreservation orders. therest no evidence of collusion yet. there is a new path to investigate because of shane's

most excellent story. >> no hillary clinton e-mails did show up. i've always assumed if they did exist, we would have seen them. >> correct. >> i don't know if they do exist. my assumption is they don't. >> i think that's right. i also agree with you. i think this opens up a whole new lane of investigation for mueller and you're right. it's not connected to the other three different distinct hacks we have been talking about but it muddies this whole water. it's all sort of connected. >> there's always been a line that with john brennon said it that sometimes people go down a treasonous path and they don't know it. were there rogue operates that donald trump didn't know about.

>> there's a the connections will be up on a map in any prosecution that comes forward. mueller is a very trustworthy individual. he's not going to go after the president if there's nothing there. >> michael flynn, he didn't comment in your story. there's all sorts of rumors. how cooperative is he being with the fbi investigation. >> if i'm him, i'm thinking i'm very cooperative since all roads point to me. >> you introduce his son as part of this investigation. >> in some of these e-mails mr. smith portrayed michael's son. somebody he was in contact with and one person they tried to recruit. mr. smith said i want to introduce you to michael flynn.

>> how was he before his death? >> very lucid. very proud to talk about it. >> the truth gets stranger all the time. thank you very much. i appreciate it. you did a lot of work today. after the break, the defense proposal that had house member applaudsing today. the future isn't silver suits and houses on mars,

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this may be the ultimate in case you missed it. america is one step closer to ending a pattern of seemingly endless wars. the house appropriations committee adopted an amendment in the 2018 defense spending bill that would repeal the thor authorization for use of military force. no organization was every named. basically, it was a very broad catch all aimed a eed at fighti terrorism in any name or form. today, it was barbara lee's amendment, a democrat and a republican controlled committee that got this amendment passed. she was the author to repeal it. one of many over the years but this one gained traction moving ahead with a voice vote in

committee. congresswoman lee tweeted gop and dem agree a vote on endless war is long overdue. at least there's some agreement on something this week. this is not necessarily saying it's been repealed. it just means you height see debate on the house floor about it. that's all for tonight. we're back tomorrow with more mtp daily. we'll see you soon. good evening. we start with the white house in crisis. depending president trump's vulgar tweets about my colleagues joe and mika. the president writing i heard poorly rated morning joe speaks badly of me. don't watch anymore. how come low iq crazy mika with psycho joe came. she was bleeding badly from a facelift.