watching the titanic. so it says a lot when you try to open up his human side and there is not that much there. he's a loner. >> well, he has donald trump. thanks to my panel. that does it for this hour. "mtp daily" starts right now. hi, chuck. >> hi, nicolle. >> i missed you. >> appreciate you saying that. i missed seeing you. i'll leave it at that. thank you, nicolle. if it's friday, no one else was in the room where it happened. tonight behind closed doors -- >> president putin and i have been discussing various things and i think it's going very well. >> what really went on today when president trump met president putin. plus can the g-20 leaders work out any solution to north korea? >> i don't draw red lines. >> and trumpcare trouble. >> every other developed country can ask do that, why conditions america? >> it's the most unpopular

biffle the last three decades. what will it mean for the future of the gop. this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington and welcome to a friday "mtp daily" and welcome to the day many have been waiting for for some time. president donald trump meets russian president vladimir putin face-to-face. >> it's an honor to be with you. >> thank you. >> the off camera meeting today at the g-20 in germany lasted over two hours even though it was originally only scheduled for 30 minutes. in the room? just six people. president trump, putin, secretary of state rex tillerson who was awarded russia's highest civilian honor, sergey lavrov, and two translators. that is it. there wasn't anyone from the nationalle security council there. national security adviser was

not in the room. according to michael mcfall, he calls that basically unprecedented. i'll talk to him about that in a moment. the trump team reportedly wanted to keep the meeting attendance restricted in order to avoid leaks. didn't seem to bode well for the president's level of trust in his own national security adviser hr mcmaster. and the small size of this meeting and who was included means every account that comes out of it has to be taken with a serious grain of saltle. and right away we got differing accounts on the critical issue of russian interference in the election. here is secretary of state rex tillerson. >> the president opened the meeting with president putin by raising the concerns ofs american people regarding russian interference in the 2016 election. the president pressed president putin on more than one occasion regarding russian involvement. >> interesting phraseology there. it was of importance to the american people. and then here is russian foreign

minister sergey lavrov. >> translator: president trump has said that these conveying is becoming rather strange and bizarre because over many months when we've heard these allegations and not a single fact has been presented, president trump has said that he has heard clear declarations from mr. putin that russian leadership and russian government has not interfere withed in the elections and he accepts the things that putin has said. >> now, the trump administration is pushing back on lavrov's spin saying it's not accurate. but this is precisely the problem when you have an administration that lacks some credibility when it comes to the issued of russia. and of course we have to treat the russian's account with septemberi skec skepticism as well. both say that they discussed

syria and assad. lavrov says they talked about ukraine and the return of the two diplomatic vacation homes seized in december. tillerson didn't mention those topics. and we don't know if trump brought up new information that russians are thought to be behind a hack with a dozen nukelnuk nuclear plants. remember it was just 24 hours ago that the president himself representing the united states on on foreign soil in a joint press conference questioned whether or not russia was behind the cyberattack against our democracy. and according to secretary tillerson, the president seems eager to put the hacking story behind him. >> i think the president at this point he pressed him and then felt like at this point let's talk about how do we go forward. >> but how do we go forward and who do we believe, the kremlin or the white house? the trump administration is handling the president's speech in warsaw yesterday for its strong defense of the west and

its values. but if he doesn't stand up to putin about russia's interference is does that speech then become just talk. and because this president repeatedly refuses to accept what everyone else in the government says is true about russia, we're stuck debating fact versus fiction after arguably the most important diplomatic meeting of this presidency so far. all a big risk especially when you consider the lack of foreign policy experience in the room representing america's interests. and as a former u.s. ambassador to nato pointed out on twitter, russia's total government experience in that room, 80 plus years. from the u.s. side, less than 12 months. though we aren't sure about the resume of the u.s. translator. joining me now, be kelly o'donnell who is traveling with the president in hamburg. kelly, let me start with you. the trump administration pushing back on lavrov's version of events.he secretary of state sa that the president pushed him on russian interference because it's an issue of importance to the american people. but he seemed to leave some

doubt there about whether this was a priority for this president. >> well, i thought that was an interesting way to certainly bring a meeting to the importance of the public sentiment about this and the frustration that exists about what happened and did not happen and the effects of russian interference. so definitely interesting. what he did not say is that the president rebuked vladimir putin or accused him. pressed is the word he used. but he also said that vladimir putin denied being involved. so sort of i believe police mpl there was an accusation made and maybe lavrov is viewing the fact that after repeatedly bringing it up according to tillerson, they decided that they could not get to any resolution on this except to say that cybersecurity is a problem, that it's a problem if it affects the elections because of course the european elections are a concern, as well. and they moved on. so is moving on to other topics the lavrov way of saying that the president accepted vladimir putin's response? i'm not sure.

it was a very close circle. we certainly know that rex tillerson has personal relationships with putin going back from his ceo days. one of the things missing, chuck, is the faceless note taker. normally in these meetings there is someone with the responsibility to take notes. imagine two hours and 15 minutes and people trying to piece together their memories of what was said when every still la bell can matter. its hard to imagine that the translators had that responsibility or that tillerson did either. >> and the deliverable that they seemed to have at the ready which was a cease-fire in syria. there is always a cease-fire on the table, always one that seems agreed upon and then literally the meeting breaks up and whatever was agreed upon never comes to fruition.

where does this stand? >> reporter: well, a lot of work was done in advance and we learned about this from secretary tillerson with him verbalizing his hopes that such a deal could be had. so he was laying the ground work on this, foaming the runway if you will for days ahead of this meeting. a lot of work went in behind the scenes so that they would have as close to arn a guarantee that they could show there was a development here at the g-20 especially something dealing on one of the handful of areas where there might be commonalty, syria. so secretary tillerson said that he would like to see what they agreed upon for southwest syria, which is not the hot spot, it's the assad stronghold, be expanded elsewhere in syria. so will it fall apart? the humanitarian piece of trying to work together in that way might have some legs. it was a starting point. secretary tillerson was very clear that he believes that this is a piece to be expanded upon.

so we'll see. the new answers from secretary tillerson were interesting even referencing that the first lady was brought into check on things, that is an unusual anecdote. >> that is an unusual one. a lot of people trying to read between the lines on that one. we'll just let that go and chew on it as well. kelly owe gone he wi'donnelo'do >> are one more thing. melania trump is sitting next to vladimir putin at tonight's dinner. so perhaps there is more follow-on first lady diplomacy to be had. >> perhaps. kelly o'donnell, thank you. joining me now is somebody who has been in plenty of russi russian/be u.s. bilats. ambassador, good to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> it was certainly -- i was surprised that no member of the national security council, rex are tillerson is a member, but nothing from the official capacity in there. nobody else in that meeting.

you said you it was of unprecedented to the point of you couldn't think of an example where are if there was a second person in the room that the national security council wasn't that second person. >> that's right. one tidbit. i know both those trance larts in th translators. and that is one place where question have more experience than be we do on the russian side. but moore seriore seriously, wh president meets with a head of state, if there is only a plus one, it is always the national security adviser. it should be more than that precisely because of the conversation you've just been having. you want somebody to take notes. that was a job i did when president obama met with putin and medvedev because you want a transcript of what happened. and just internally within the trump administration, let's remember this is not good for hr mcmaster, the national security adviser. this weakens him within the inner agency and it's just not

good idea. why not have your national security adviser in the most important meeting you've had as president when it comes to foreign policy. >> this town has got it's share of conspiracy theorists these days. their suspicion around every corner when it comes to russia. so if you wanted to ease those suspicions, why have a meeting where the only two people in there are people who have the closest personal relationships with the rush you shan government. it just seemed to be optically an even worse decision because it only raises more suspicion to those that are want to be suspicion. >> i couldn't agree more. and then especially when you have the dueling readouts. now, we had that quite a bit the when i was in the government, too. that is something -- >> isn't that standard fare? russians, that is who they are. >> you do. but let's be clear what has happened on this particular dual.

on the record, sergey lavrov has said that president trump basically accepted putin's explanation. on the record, nobody has refuted that. we've had a senior administration official doing that, but bear in mind unless it was tillerson herself, that person was not even in the room. so what needs to happen in my view is that secretary be tillers tillerson because he's the only on one besides the president who was there, needs to emphatically state what the american side was because otherwise to me reading the readouts on both sides, it suggests that, oh, yeah, it was raised but it really wasn't raised in a very forceful way and even the wording of secretary tillerson when he said, and i'm paraphrasing here, but president trump raised on behalf of the american people their concerns. why isn't the president of the united states raising it as his own concern? that suggests to me that there wasn't a very big conversation and that a a mistake.

he looks weak in the eyes of putin and he's not defending america's national interests. >> and let's say you politically don't want to give -- you're the trump administration and you believe this russia stuff is overblown, you don't want to give him that much credit. why not make the lead this concern about the russian hacking into electrical grids. >> exactly. be tough and say -- even this form uhe lalgs we hags we have the past behind us when the past is about really awful things that president putin has done like hacking our elections, annexing territory in ukraine, supporting a dictator in syria. but even if you were going to accept that formulation, which you can tell i disagree with, why not make to say something very strong and say whatever happened in the past, i president trump i'm not going to put up with anything russian meddling and that would have been the readout you could have said other than on, well, we had a very friendly chit-chat

meeting. these are serious matters. these are matters about american national sdurecurity. we should take them seriously. >> ambassador mcfall, i'll leave it there. seems like we have more questions than answers. let me ask you this quickly, you said you knee those translators. do you think we'll -- there will be the russian version, the trump version and then the truth. where are will ever know? >> not if somebody is not writing down the notes and occasionally always i did with the translator going to talk to the translator to make sure that you got it right. it's not clear anybody was documenting that for the historical record. >> and if ooitsz both tboth rus american, neither one is bugging that room. i'm kidding. former director of the national terrorism center joining us and also editor and chief of the washington free bae con.

welcome to all of you. let me he get -- we're going to chew through this russian aspect a bit, but from what you heard from secretary tim llerson on ts cease fire agreement, is it smoik asmoke and mirrors or something serious? >> we don't know yet. i think it's potentially a good thing. on the military front, we have made real progress against sooiisis. so i think it's excellent that the administration is trying to figure out what the day after looks like. so this is really a confidence building measure. if we can get this to hold in the southwest corner of syria, that is a good thing. i still think we run into the major problem which is our and the vish rurussian's strategic interests conflict. >> forget talking about the other trump you and russia stuff, this part is not aligned. >> this is something that we

can't paper over and no quick being meeting will get past that. >> let me get to the political side of this. i guess i don't understand -- they optically made this a worse story than they needed to be. why? >> leaks. the easiest answer in the world. >> obsession with leaks? >> it's not on an obsession. in every other high level meeting, conversation with foreign officials that he's had in the oval office, the memcon is leaked. they face -- a study came out yesterday showing that it's unprecedented the anonymous leaks that are coming out of this white house from in many cases the national security and foreign policy bureaucracy. so that has resulted in this type of situation so where in order to have some control over the meeting, they blocked everybody but tillerson and trump out. >> but wow, takes shot on across the bow at general can be mcmaster. >> and i think this idea that it makes him look paranoid in some waysbe mcmaster. >> and i think this idea that it makes him look paranoid in some ways because he has to keep his

circle so small and the people that you are supposed to trust, the national security the adviser as your right hand person, you don't trust that person to not leak to the media. and it speaks volumes about kind of how you control the white house with and how you control the office. >> michael, what are you hearing from former colleagues? is there a paranoia on leaks that is at another level? >> i think there is a paranoia and this is -- >> is it legit? >> i was about to say, just baud you're paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you and the flow of leaks is not just a trickle, it is a flood. and it's not just coming from the quote/unquote deep state. this is coming from the trump administration people themselves trying to shape the story. so i think unfortunately if it was a two on two with angela merkel or theresa may, no one would -- but vladimir putin, this makes it a lot harder for them. >> i guess the problem is now he's got this issue. i mean, it wasn't just rex tillerson. it's the person that got the highest civilian honor from

putin. >> from the white house's perspective it was always a good thing that tim had a personal relation shin with putin. the objection is to improve the russia/u.s. relationship. so that is added leverage. my point of view is putin needs more from trump than trump needs from putin. putin needs economic sanctions relief, putin needs some type of resolution to syria. because the syrian intervention is not very popular in russia either. so putin is coming in with asks as well. this is not just about trump meerp a here and we didn't have the look into the soul moment yet, we'll see if that appears on twitter in the next 24 hours. we don't have a reset button yet. so far i think the meeting has been pretty good for trump. >> what do you make of that, michael? >> i don't agree with matt on this one. honestly this was good for putin because he got to sit down with the president of the united states and be the other global

leader. the g-20 is going on, this was about putin and trump. and from putin's perspective -- >> it was bigger that were the g-20. first time that russia has been bigger than the on g-20 in a long time. >> that is umis ultimately whatn is seeking. he wants sanctions relieve and t relief and like, but he wanted russia to be at the center of major global issues and he accomplished that. >> and we have to think about how much the russia crowd has been over this administration. for the russians to say that this was something that was brought up and then accepted and the wording that came out, the fact that it's a concern of the american people, that makes it seem as though donald trump in some ways is not really that concerned. hallie jackson asked him that question where people say that is what happened, that russia is the person that is behind this, but that is only a few intelligence agencies have said

this. that to me was stunning because now he sat down and had the opportunity the big moment to make this a really big deal and it doesn't feel like he made it a big deal at all. and i don't think it's a stretch that the russians came out saying that he does accept our version. >> everybody in hamburg was talking about john with poe dpo. >> you've cranukraine, syria, e interference. and he led with the election interference with. we don't know what was said, but if he had not mentioned it, you can imagine what the -- >> there is no doubt there. and let me take this a step further and backing up matt's point. this is now the fourth straight president that has tried to say i'm going to start trying to make a deal with putin. and if it wasn't for this some other stuff in the background of this election, we'd be talking is he naive do this. bill clinton thought he understood him. george w. bush thought he saw in his soul. they did the reset button on

bochl. you have to do business with russia, right? >> that is right. these two leaders need too have a relationship. and in fairness to the president, although not really loud, he really did say something in warsaw day before yesterday that was good. he did hit him on this. but what is different between -- >> he hit him on it and then two hours earlier -- >> but the level of expectations that we have i think to me is a continuing issue with this administration. >> and a big difference between now and the previous presidents is vladimir putin is on the move. putin has moved military force into ukraine. he has gone after other democracies in western europe. so putin has become the aggressor in a way that he has not in previous administrations. and the question is will president push back firmly on that and i don't think we have any real read on that. >> so how much are we willing to be the country that checks him the most. all right. you guys are sticking around. another troubling topic that did come up between the two

presidents, the escalating threat from north korea. we're looking at the host of that options on the table up ahead. and sunday we'll have much more, i'll have exclusive interviews with with john bren brennan and lindsey graham. i hate the outside. well, i hate it wherever you are. burn. "burn." is that what the kids are saying now? i'm so bored, i'm dead. you can always compare rates on progressive.com. oh, that's nice, dear. but could you compare camping trips? because this one would win. all i want to do is enjoy nature and peace and quiet! it's not about winning. it's about helping people find a great rate even if it's not with progressive. -ugh. insurance. -when i said "peace and quiet," did you hear, "talk more and disappoint me"? ♪ do do do do ♪ skiddly do do ♪ camping with the family ♪ [ flame whooshes ] discover card. hooh, you're real??

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at no extra cost. [ laughing ] so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. call or go to xfinitymobile.com introducing xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. north korea on and its successful launch this week of an intercontinental ballistic missile is a major topic of discussion among world leaders at the g-20. it came up in the meeting with putin. secretary of state acknowledging that it is seen a little differently than we do. and south korea's president said he saw role for russia in helping deescalate the crisis. but members of trump's own administration acknowledge that the window on diplomatic solutions is closing and the truth is there are no good options left. it's all bad options. secretary tillerson told reporters that he is not giving up hope of working with china. >> an approach like we're using and i call it the peaceful

pressure campaign, this is a campaign to lead us to a peaceful resolution because if this fails, we don't have very many good options left. it's one that requires calculated increases in pressure, allow the regime to respond to that are pressure, and it takes a little time to let these things happen. >> admiral joining me. good to see you. >> good to see you, chuck. >> let's talk about the list of bad options. it seems like if there were good options, they would have already been tried and i think you can argue they have been. so here we are. first let's talk about the pressure that has been i guess attempted to be exerted on the russians. they like the chinese have stood with them in blocking us at the u.n. from doing something more serious to north korea. is there a real movement with russia or not or is this just typical they say good things and

and they won't change their ways? >> it is the latter. i don't see russia as part of the solution in any sense in north korea. they might be mildly additive to something china has to do if we're going to have a real diplomatic solution here. but russia just doesn't carry the water in that part of the world. and they don't really have a significant enough economic lever to pull with kim jong-un. so i think other than a spoiler role at you nighted nations, which china can overcome if they want, in the end all roads to pyongyang lead through beijing. >> let's talk about beijing here a minute. if you're sitting from their perch, the north korea problem in their minds, do they view it as more of an american problem than their problem and the reason i say this way, they certainly are acting that way. as if this is more of a -- they're more than willing to live with a fractured korea,

they would prefer it, they don't like the nukes, but if that is what it takes to distract the united states, they will take it. is that their view? >> it absolutely is. and they went to school on what happened in germany when the wall fell. germany combines and after ten years, you see the emergence of this german juggernaut in you're room. they don't want that on that peninsula knowing that ultimately that nation, that unified korean nation would be aligned with the united states are. that is a real nightmare scenario for themle and there is a tactical challenge as well. it's this idea of refugees flowing out in the event of a real war there. so they will do the minimum. they would like to just see the situation muddle along frankly. >> all right. so we know where the russians stand, we know where the chinese stand. let me ask you about the south koreans. the previous administration, the one that ended up getting impeached essentially, seemed to be wanting a more aggressive

posture against the north korean regime. this new administration does not. how much does that complicate the set of bad options that the extremely. and this is like the chicken and the egg.then is engaged, the pen is committed, the south koreans are committed if this thing goes to war. they will lose 20 million people potentially in and around seoul. so on they're logically enough trying to put the speed brakes on anything really aggressive for president trump. so that is a third cal could you c calculus he has to make. and we spend too much time talking about the south koreans and not enough time talking to them understanding their position on this. it makes this really a three dimensional game of chess for the white house. >> all right. well, let's think of all the different bad options. you seem to settle on this one

which may be the best outcome than simply living with north korean nuclear weapons and relying on kim understanding that using one of his weapons would be signing his own death warrant to say nothing of the carnage of his loyal subjects. before i get you to sman yoexplr comment, charles krauthammer essentially came to the same connen collusion for a different reason. he says nukes assure regime survival. that is why the kims have so single mindedly pursued them. lessons are clear. a dad hussein, no nukes, hanged. gadhafi oig, kill canned by his own people. >> i agree completely. let's face it, kim jong-un is young. he enjoys life. he is obviously having quite an enjoyable time running this crazy country where everyone applauds him constantly. he doesn't want to walk into his own death warrant. he won't launch a nuke at us highly unlikely. frankly, chuck, here is a news

flash. if he ever does, it won't come on the end of a ballistic missile, it will come in a container say rich tissues surr long beach harbor. we have to rely on deterrence because all the other options are really lousy as we walked through. >> all right. i had a feeling that was a conclusion that you would be coming to but it is what it is. we'll see how long it takes this administration to decide what do next. thanks very much. we'll quickly take you live back in hamburg, germany. yes, a bunch of provide tests have been ramping up outside the g-20. joiningtests have been ramping up outside the g-20. joining me now from the center of 240those protests is kyrgiosm mond ed kyrgios simmons. what are you seeing tonight? >> reporter: well, right now, chuck, the police are attempting to make another push to move these protesters who have taken

over this part of hamburg away. they are facing heavy, heavy resistance from the protesters. let's just get our cameraman to look closer at this scene. you can see still burning a barricade set up by the protestors. they are dressed in black with their faces covered throwing bottles, stones, anything that they can find at the police to prevent them from moving forward. you can see here guys just smashing up bits of concrete to hurl at these riot police. there is a line of riot police back behind these water cannon. and they are making very slow progress. this area -- sorry, i don't have any water. someone here has -- tear gas is getting fired. let me just bring the camera

this way. and you will see -- stay with me for a second. i'll show you what i mean what i say that this area has been taken over by these rioters who you can see are just picking up bits of doconcrete to throw at e police. they are all the way down there, all of this belongs to the protesters. and there is another police water cannon attempting to move them from there on the street to the left. again, what has been happening for many hours and so far the german police have not managed to take control of this area. >> keir, where they have sort of taken over, was this where they were cordoned off to and it got out of hand or was this more spontaneous? >> reporter: yeah, as far as i have witnessed, what happened was -- and i'll turn back because this battle is continuing behind us.

as far as i have witnessed, what happened was that these protesters got pushed back from an area where there were g-20 convoys. we saw one convoy attacked, we don't think that any one g-20 leaders were inside. but there was clearly getting very difficult for the police to control that place. they moved huge crowds back into this area and now have left them here for some time while they are making some attempts to disperse them unsuccessfully, but now it looks as if the german police are trying again to do that. we have seen by the way, chuck, let me just mention, we have seen -- by the way, let's move out of the way of that. that is tear gas that just y landed right where we were. >> yes. >> right where we were there. that will get in our eyes a

little bit. sorry, chuck. i was saying that we have seen protesters smashing win dees. o windows. this does seem to be fairly well organized. we saw a protester smashing windows beginning to look like he was going to loot the store are and others moved into stop him from doing that. we have also seen people were holding black flags who appear to be the organizers of all this. so there is some strategy involved despite the fact that what you are looking at are people who are anti-capitalists and anarchists, people who do not believe in this system. >> is all the messaging is anti-globalism, this is the same sort of -- same protesters or message that the g-20 attracts, correct? >> reporter: yeah, that is exactly right. you're looking at people who many will be seasoned at this kind of glon be administratiode. people have come from europe,

but many are from here and they have had these kind of clashes with the police before. despite all of the tensions at this particular g-20, this is not just about that. i think it may make for some people to feel even more strongly if you like. and we have seen some anti-trump slogans. but this is -- okay. let's move, let's move. >> yeah, why couldn't don't we go. >> reporter: ajust backing up. just you had to back up a little bit. >> if you need to take cover, if a cover. >> reporter: we will. but we just needed to move back a little bit. but we actually saw some people move in and stop the store from being looted. so this is organized despite the fact that it looks like chaos.

but this is definitely not what angela merkel would have wanted people to be seeing in this major german city as she has the world's leaders gathered here. >> keir, we're feeling guilty. we're letting you go. go get some cover. thank you, keir. we'll continue to monitor that situation out of hamburg and bring you any updates as we get them. and as we learn more about president trump's meeting with the russian president, we will bring you that, as well. what can we learn if anything about the russian leader's motivation as behind that meeting? richard engel is in hamburg with what hopes is new insight into the mind of putin. you can see that "on assignment" tonight at 9:00 eastern. tonight at 9:00 eastern. michael, can we get this data to...? look at me...look at me... look at me... you used to be the "yes" guy. what happened to that guy?

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members of congress may be back be home this week, but still it's pain a rough few days for the senate health care bill. just yesterday mitch mcconnell conceded that passing the bill still remains a difficult prospect. >> if we are unable to -- if my side is unable to agree on an adequate replacement, then some kind of action with regard to private health insurance market must occur. >> republican senators appearing in public are being pressured on health care by their constituents. so it's not surprising many have

been staying out of the public while home. many of those who did venture out are going way out of the way places in their state. susan collins and lisa murkowski both appeared on remote islands in their states. senator dean heller rode a horse during the fourth of july parade in a rural town of ely, nevada. and yesterday jerry moran went more than three hours west to a town where the population of less than 300 to say that he'd like a bill that wasn't so partisan. joining me now is mark murray. how are you, sir? >> good, chuck. >> so if your head has been in the sand for the last week, you're waking up today, the senate comes back to work at the end of this recess next week. give me the play of the land on the senate health care bill. >> this was a really rough week for senate republicans and the leadership like mitch mcconnell. and in some baysways a good wee you were a susan collins and you want to have some type of

bipartisan deal. let me tick off some of the reasons why. you showed the video from mitch mcconnell saying if we can't get our own kind of bill, we will have to do something where we work with democrats to fix some of the insurance -- >> leaving out of the word democrats. it was interesting. we'll have to deal with it some way. it was implied. >> having jerry moran in that off place in kansas ended up saying twheed more committee hearings, we need a better legislative process, maybe bipartisanship. and then the big development yesterday came from senator mike lee's office ended up saying i need more drconservative reform to be able to get my vote. and the reason if that is problematic is that if you end up having ted cruz and mike lee getting that, then all of a sudden that could push some republicans away that are a little bit more moderate. >> the quote of the week may belong to pat toomey, republican from pennsylvania. you got to take a listen to

this. and i know some of you watched yesterday and saw it, but here it is again. >> you have seen how difficult it is to get a republican consensus. until the election last fall, which surprised me, i didn't expect donald trump to win, i think most of my colleagues didn't. so we didn't expect to be in this situation and given how difficult it is to get to a consensus, it was hard to force that. >> that was a lot of poll tesit speak for we didn't think there would be a republican president, so we didn't bother with a replacement bill. that was another way he could have said that. >> yes, jaw dropping. and the other component was a republican president that we didn't think was going to win who really didn't have a detailed plan on health care. you add those two together, exactly. and it shows that the affordable care act, as difficult as it was, the democratic leaders were mostly united and they ended up fighting on 5% of the deal. 95% was already done by the moment that barack obama pretty much was taking oath of office.

>> susan collins, the republican from maine, the question is he can lose two votes. looks like rabd paul isnd paul know and she's sounding like a solid know. the "washington post" did a survey of senators. susan collins chose to share one specific anecdote of what she is hearing. she chose to say she's hearing stand strong, we don't like this bill. >> yeah. that's what she said at the fourth of july parade. said i'm hearing from my people stay strong. and again, itgoes to show that it might be in her interests with. she was cut out with a lot middle eastings crafting the legislation. if you end up getting to that more bipartisan, all of a sudden susan collins takes center stage and they might want to run for governor of maine, too, so she has her political ear to the ground, as well. >> i saw this week interest groups basically because paul ryan and mitch mcpublcaionnell

begging don't get involved, and for the most part, they backed off until this week. heritage action came out against. >> but there is one reason to be kind of bullish for mitch mcconnell and the republicans is you end up hearing from allies they are making the message this is our opportunity. you want a lot of these goodies, the tax cuts and conservative reforms, you have to vote for us. because all of a sudden if we now open it up to democrats, the democrats aren't going to go along with the tax cuts or the -- >> most important players are susan collins and lisa murkow i murkowski. >> correct. and this is the message that you will hear from mitch mcconnell. but again this, wasn't a good week. they will need a good week next week to get this back on track. >> vote next week or probably not? >> our capitol hill team are saying potentially the week of the 17th of july. so next week maybe more cbo scores and other kind of maneuvers and deals. any kind of vote might happen starting the week of july 17th.

>> just what mitch mcconnell wants, more time. mark murray, good stuff. still ahead, the question everyone has about president trump's tweet this morning. david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ i ...prilosec otc 7 years ago,my doctor recommended... 5 years ago, last week. just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn. it's been the number 1 doctor recommended brand for 10... ...straight years, and it's still recommended today. use as directed.

i'm not a customer, but i'm calling about that credit scorecard. give it. sure! it's free for everyone. oh! well that's nice! and checking your score won't hurt your credit. oh! i'm so proud of you. well thank you. free at at discover.com/creditscorecard, even if you're not a customer. welcome back. tonight i'm obsessed with something everyone, and i mean everyone, is talking about. besides president trump. this morning he tweeted the following. everyone here is talking about why john podesta refused to give the dnc server to the fbi be and

cia. disgraceful! let set aside for the moment that john podesta has nothing at all do with the dnc server. let's set as side foot moment that even if john podesta designed, built and lived with the serve beer, it seems that everyone at the g-20 would be talking about it. but this isn't the first time the president has insisted he knows what everyone and everybody is talking about. >> obamacare is dead. been saying it for a long time. everybody knows it. it will be the biggest vote. everybody says it. everybody says it. everybody says how honest everything is. everyone thinks a candidate is being wonderful. there would be nothing wrong if i did say it according to everybody that i've read today. everybody wants to be on -- it will be announced at the appropriate time and everyone will be happy. and you know this. everybody knows this. everybody has to know this. i think it's totally ridiculous. everybody thinks so. >> john podesta understandably

fails to see the humor in the president trump's tweet. he writes that the russians stole his e-mails and helped expose the people he communicated with to harm. one could argue what russia did is something all of us should be talking about. we'll be right back. stry it brought us kosh ♪ delicious pasta marinara. but birds eye made it from zucchini. mmm! bird: mashed potatoes and rice. but made from cauliflower. looks like i need a fork! oh, no. (giggling) bird: new birds eye veggie made. so veggie good.

a farmer's market.ve what's ine. this kiester. a fire truck. even a marching band.

and if i can get comfortable talking about this kiester, then you can get comfortable using preparation h. for any sort of discomfort in yours. preparation h. get comfortable with it. time for the lid. let's bring back our panel. i'm going to stick to national security. so, we now, charles said it as best. admiral stevre said it. kim jong-un is not a madman. he's very rational with what he's doing. it's about survival. >> he saw the example as charles wrote. he thoughs he has wknow choice. we have to resign ourselves to living with these nuclear weapons. that's really hard but we've

done it with decades. that doesn't mean we don't do more now. i think secondary sanctions on chinese banks are critical. i think it's still really important. we're not going to get rid of it. i think a key point that i don't fully agree, this isn't just about whether they news nuclear weapons. it's also whether they use that as a shield and get more aggressive conventionally against the south to try to split the south from the united states. that's what we have to prevent. >> let's back this up a minute. it seems the lesson is in 1994 or in 2001 or 2002 some nuclear potential plants should have been bombed. that's the lesson. >> i think cohen in '06 was talking about bombing the missiles on the launch pad a decade ago. just because we resign ourself to the fact of a nuclear north korea doesn't mean it's going to

be peaceful north korea. it's exactly as michael said with our experience with the soviet union, having the nuclear shield makes you more dangerous. what is the cuban missile crisis of the korean peninsula going to look like? that's the type of scenario we have to start thinking about in the pentagon. >> it's the true one thing that the obama administration and the trump administration that message was clearly conveyed. it was the single people bothering the obama people after they left and what's has this administration concerned. >> it's probably going to be the thing that bothers the next administrati administration. now they have this and now they have this leader that is very convinced this is the way he has to be strong and knows because we're so tied to the south that it's a big weakness of the

united states. i guess weakness or liability that he's so close to us he could start this and make significant problems for the united states if he does that. >> i makes them feel better about the iran deal. whether it's perfect or not through really rigorous global sanctions against iran. that's not what we have against north korea now. i think the administration says let's move this more in the iran direction and not blow up the iran deal now. we have plenty of other issues. >> what's the impact on the iran deal? >> i slightly disagree. the lesson is you can't let the powers obtain nuclear status. once that happens you're back to square one and you have to face the type of nuclear brinkmanship we will face. >> one could argue we have delayed iran a bit. >> what the trump administration

has done is they are keeping the iran deal in place for now but also ramping up the pressure on iran through other means especially military means in syria, sanctions against the missile program. eventually, they're going to have to confront whether to maintain the sanctions in iran deal or whether iranian behavior necessitates learelieving them. all of these issues, it's not just north korea that span presidencies. it's iran. it's russia. even though we go back and forhs global challenges remain the same. >> they're not solved by simple tweets. the iran deal is really complicated.

>> the thing that stuck with me the most is the economic fear of a united korea. when he said they saw -- the chinese saw what happened and now germany is an economic power. it's not like west germany was a chump. south korea is no chump on the economic stage. together, you see that. that's the real motivation. i buy that. >> what you said sticks to me is this idea it's not just about tweets but the fact you have to really staff up and really build and really surround yourself with people who understand the longevity of the decisions you're making. i talked to this one woman in rural pennsylvania who talked about the iran deal. it was surprising me because people have a level of understanding that i wasn't really aware of at the time. >> that's a good thing. that's nice to know. >> it is nice to know.

thank you all. appreciate it. after the break, something you may have missed from the president's meeting with another world leader today. ready for s? xiidra is the first and only eye drop approved for both the signs and symptoms of dry eye. one drop in each eye, twice a day. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. remove contacts before using xiidra and wait at least 15 minutes before reinserting. chat with your eye doctor about xiidra. nit's softer than ever. new charmin ultra soft is softer than ever so it's harder to resist. okay, this is getting a little weird enjoy the go with charmin

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in case you missed it, president trump had a meeting with another world leader today with a history over one big point of tension. he was asked about the border wall. here is how president trump responded. >> you still want mexico to pay for the wall. >> thank you. >> it's a little hard to hear there but president trump said absolutely, in case you missed it, mexico said it will not pay for the wall. mexico isn't the only source of funds to pay for the wall. another one, the sun. >> we're thinking about building the wall as a solar wall so it creates energy and pays for itself. this way mexico will have to pay

much less money. that's good. right? solar wall panels, beautiful. >> you can say the wall lives and the wall will always live in the president's soul. that's all for tonight. we'll be back monday with more mtp daily. catch us sunday on your local nbc station. have great weekend. it's the battle of he said, he said. what really happened behind closed doors today? we now have two very different versions of what president trump and russian president vladmir putin said to each other during their very first face-to-face meeting, and it is big. this is the scenes moments before that meeting. secretary of state rex tillerson one of the few people behind those closed doors, he answered the burning question. did president trump bring up russian hacking? >> the president pressed