a wraps up this hour of nbc live. >> it is 11:00 out west, 2:00 p.m. here in the east. right now deputy white house press secretary sarah huckabee sander wills be giving a press briefing, no cameras allowed. and she will be asked about the fact that jared kushner met with a russian lawyer. there will also be big news

abothe first read calling the closest thing a smoking gun in the trump russian saga yet. donald trump jr. admitted to attending the meeting under the premise they would provide him with damaging information on then candidate hillary clinton. so our word of the day is collusion. is this meeting the first possible evidence of the trump campaign's willingness to do just that, to undermine trump's opponent. >> she was promising damaging information about hillary clinton. >> there is no evidence of collusion. >> the fact they were willing to do the meeting suggests to me

that a willingness to collude. >> when we found out she did not have damaging information on hillary clinton, and could not collude, and it was like -- we called an abrupt end to the meeting. this is a defense. >> it doesn't prove collusion, but provides a outline of each side seeking something and meeting to talk about it. >> kristen welker is live at the white house. we have a national reporter for "the washington post." and kacie, let's start with you, the trump administration has repeatedly denied any sort of ties to russia, take a listen. >> are there any ties between mr. trump, you or your campaign and putin and his regime? >> no, there are not, it's absurd. >> it's disgusting and so

phoney. >> did anyone involved in the trump campaign have any contact with russians trying to meddle with the election. >> absolutely not. >> i'm not aware of any of those activities? >> was there any contact in any way between trump, his associates, and the contacts they had. >> all of the contact with with the american people. >> i have nothing to do with russia, no person that i did well does to the best of my knowledge. >> anyone involved with trump and russia in the 2016 campaign. >> donald jr. did meet with a russian offering dirt on clinton. why was it not disclosed? >> that is a big question. one of the big problems is why wasn't the meeting initially disclosed and why has donald

trump junior's story changed? he held that meeting thinking he would talk about russian adoption. and of course the fact that you have all of those denying, the repeated denials from the president, the vice president and on down about the fact that campaign to officials didn't have contact with russians or russians linked to the kremlin. does it point to collusion? obviously that is the broader question and something that will be looked at by investigators on capitol hill and undoubtedly by the special council as well. now they are asking to

salespeople with everyone that was involved in the meeting. >> nbc news has confirmed that reporting, but what did this pushily cyst have to gain by setting this up? >> his name is rod goldstone and he represents a pop star from russia who is the son of a very prominent russian businessman close to vladimir putin. and what it suggests, if goldstone's story is true is that the meeting we have all been talking about was set up at the request of a trump business partner. a guy with ties to the krem min. so it links to trump business interests, and it provides a link to the kremlin as well. the kremlin today is denying

anything about the meeting, requesting it, or having any information with the lawyer that attended. >> let's put up a time line about what was happening in the trump campaign at this time. they met with him. then june the 9th, trump tweeting about the missing e-mails. trump campaign changed gop platform to ensure that ukraine wasn't armed. july 22, wikileaks releases e-mails. in final news conference for 2016 campaign, he asks russia to find clinton's e-mails. russia is interfering in the 2016 election. and wiki leaks starts releases

john podesta's e-mails. that happened right after the dni release. when you look at a time line like that, what do you think? >> it certainly raises a lot of questions. the one date you omitted from that is the week after the meeting, the second week in june is when the dnc releases the report by crowd strike, the private security firm saying the russians pen straited their computers. it was just days after the russian influence campaign surfaced. the changing stories. the failure to disclose, raise so many questions about this. the fact that political campaigns traffic in political information and want to hear about it should not be a

surprise, but if the same offer was made to a more professional campaign, like the clinton campaign, most likely john podesta they would not have been meeting with whoever offered it. some cutout, some intermediary would have been assigned to take that meeting, listen, evaluate and vet it. the fact that this went straight to the top, it is what is really surprising here. it points to their interest or just the inep tineptyineptitudee sources there at the time. they said it was ultimately just a very unprofessional, very naive and disorganized campaign. there was routinely unplanned

meetings. it was also a time when donald trump was in flux. there was, he won the nomination just a few weeks earlier, but he was still preparing for a delegate fight. the two of them fighting for it. so sources are saying if don junior calls him and says come to a meeting, they are trying to curry favor for anything that might help the campaign, might move the needle, is something you would participate in. that being said they don't know about the meeting at the time, and this is just them and their beliefs, that paul manafort once he realized what is going on, they cannot say the same that they know of at least.

but kacie hunt, senator susan collins, what else are you hear something. >> it looks like the pressure is ramping up here. this is as mark murray and our friends called it the closest thing to a smoking gun. the most aggressive turn in this story line. and these committees are in part being guided by public information, we don't have an idea of how we are fully incorporating into their informations, but there are certainly things they're learning right along with the rest of us. this i think is something they will be hearing from, and we also know nbc news now reporting that the interviews in the senate intelligence community will be under way starting this week. that is a critical new phase for the investigation and the senate intelligence committee. they have spent a lot of time going through documents, making lists, figuring out exactly who

it is they want to talk to, getting prepared for the interview phase so they're ready with the right questions. when they finally have face time with these people. that will be critical for the investigation, and it will get closer to the trump family. >> tom hamburger, chris ten we' -- kristen welker. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, good to be with you. >> what can you tell us about this russian attorney that donald trump been involved for e time now to neutralize the act. it is a law that was passed in

the united states a little less than five years ago. huge bipartisan majorities. and it is a law that established an absolutely ground breaking precedent. by sanctions, not by russia, not even against the government of ru russia, but specific s individuals. so these are targeted that strike the heart of the system of nepotism, corruption, and human rights violations. and the nature of the regime are such that are operatives and connected to it. they want to do what they do inside of russia engaging in human rights abuse and engaging in corruption. they want to effectively steal in russia, and spend in the

west. so the law that imposed individual targeted sanctions against them really made a strike at the heart of this system. and they have been enraged and are trying to prevent this law from being passed. on the day of his inauguration for his presidential term was to try to prevent the bill from becoming law. they were trying to do all they can do over turn it, under mine it, and the lawyer that took part in the meeting was in many ways central in this campaign. she was also vainvolved in dissemination of the film that was slanderous against the russian lawyer that uncovered a large tax fraud and election

scheme that was arrested and died. >> connect the dots for me. she is someone that is trying to repeal the act, why would that mean that she would end up in trump tower having a meeting with don junior and why would she go there with the cover story, at the very least, that she had damaging information on the clintons? >>. >> i think this was a red herring. she didn't have any information, but she used it as a pretext, as you say, exactly to set up this meeting. once she was at the meeting, she started talking about trying to overturn the magnitsky act. when it became law at the end of 2012, the kremlin, vladimir putin's regime, retaliated by

opposing a blanket ban on adoptions of russian orphan children. they commented at the time there are only two organizations in the world that use their own children as a human shield. one is hamas and the other is vladimir putin. it is mind boggling that the kremlin would retaliate for crooks and abusers that have been traveling to and spending their money in the west by punishing russian orphan children. we know in some cases, they were already slated for adoption and they were prevented care. if you need a portrait of moral character of the putin regime or lack there of, it is part of this adoption ban.

they use this basically as a blackmail tool. >> do you believe that president putin would not have known about this meeting? >> i think someone very high up, absolutely, certainly did. especially something as sensitive. it would not be not possible. thank you very much for being here, sir. >> thank you. the calls to repeal and replace ba obama care, what will congress do in the wake of the preelection meeting with a russian lawyer. i will ask jack reid straight ahead. also what does he think about donald trump's meeting with putin? stay with us.

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here is a live look at the situation on capitol hill. protestors are staging a sit in. senator jeff flake's office calling for the gop to end the mission to repeal and replace obama care. you can hear them right now shouting "health care is a human

right." a moment ago they were in front of ted cruz's office. we're hearing the demonstration could have arrests happening soon. meanwhile lawmakers are back from recess, and they have more questions about the trump campaign's possible ties to russia. they want to know what went down in that don jr. meeting where a russian lawyer promised date of birth on clinton in 2016. >> what concerns me is this reached the highest levels now nap is why we have a special prosecutor. >> there was how many people in this meeting? i think we're going to find out, we'll learn more and we should. >> the idea that they failed to previously report this despite being required to do so suggests there may be some inappropriate action, conspiracy, or obstruction. >> and regardless of what came out of that meeting, the question is what if something

did? >> i'm joined by another one of those lawmakers, jack reid, a democrat on the intelligence committee, senator thank you very much for joining us. the first question, does your committee plan on calling on donald trump to testify? >> i hope they do, my colleague senator susan collins also asked to call for donald trump junior to come before the committee. it will be made by the chair and vice chair. i think it should be done and i hope it is very quickly. >> how about that russian lawyer, will she come in as well? >> i think at a minimum we have to have the staff to begin to collect any information pertinent and find out her connection to the russian government, intelligence services, and i think it would be helpful to have her testify as well. >> kellyanne conway was asked if

she thought it was collusion. >> no information was gained, no action taken, no follow up whatsoever. i think what is at important here is we're at day 200 or so of no evidence of russian collusion. >> she says people want to convert wishful thinking into hard evidence. this is another meeting between a russian who at the very at least was trying to get in there by offering negative information about hillary clinton. what do you make of this? is it more smoke and no fire? >> no, this is a patent of the trump campaign people reaching out and forgetting they spoke to these people. it happens with general flynn, attorney general sessions, he did not recall his meetings with the russian ambassador. the point missed here is the whole reason they sat down with this woman was because she

claimed she had dirt on secretary clinton and she probably implied that was coming directly from russian sources that were credible nap is why they sat down with her. if she said i want to talk about russian adoption, she would not have gotten the time of day. that adds to, i think the impression that this is a fascination by the trump campaign with getting russian help or assistance or information. >> senator, i spoke to my sources and basically they're chalking this up to naivety. knowing what was okay and not okay. the administration has been accused of the same sort of thing. people say they need to be given time, that donald trump is new to this sort of thing, how much long sere congress going to take the excuse of he is just new to this before there is some sort of action that is taken. or is there action that could even be taken?

>> i don't think you can excuse his behavior has being naive. paul manafort has been deeply involved and published reports are russian interests for years. he managed campaigns, he has been deeply involved in the political process. this is not naivety. they were hoping they would get information that would just harm secretary clinton and that is what they were looking for. they would look anywhere they could. >> so the president has backed off of the idea of forming that impenetrable cyber security unit with russia. before you did, you tweeted his lack of discipline and reckless indulgence of putin puts america's security at the interest. how do you feel now that he's

backing away from this. >> it shows again not recognizing the threats that russia poses today and certainly posed in the election and the danger going forward is that there will be no extensikpe h c effort to protect our selection. it demonstrates a lack of intelligence. i think he also missed a huge opportunity to stand together with our democratic allies, not a russian dictator, but our democratic allies, the ger mman and the french, and said we would not tolerate it anywhere. he walked into the meeting basically accepting russia's viewpoint, or at least not arguing and walking away saying let's work together. >> senator, many people in the trump osh bit say hey, listen,

duo this all of the time, the u.s. does this all of the time. why is everyone getting so up in arms about this? >> i think it is a false equivalen equivalency. you're talking about a regime as your previous guest pointed out that has taken steps to eliminate opponents, that has suppressed democracy in their own country, that are interfering in elections across the globe. showing that we, you know, are not on that same plane. on our best moments, and they're much more frequent than the russians, we have tried to provide democracy and an example, and i hope question do mu -- hope question do much better. >> jack reed, thank you. >> and the president added pressure on congress today, is

that realistic? and arrests happening right now outside of senator's office for the health care protestors. >> also, at the white house, we're still waiting for the daily press briefing to get under way with sarah huckabee sanders, today's briefing is off camera, we'll keep an ear on it here on msnbc live.

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welcome back, i'm katie turr with a look at trump free headlines at the half. a preliminary hearing under way for 18 penn state fraternity members charged in the death of an 18-year-old who died during pledging. the charges rain from voluntary manslaughter. the judge will decide if there is enough evidence to send it to trial. and two people were injured in the annual running with the bulls. so far four americans have been hurt including a 35-year-old of chicago who spent 36 hours in the hospital after he was gored in the buttocks. he says he is ready to run again. and nevada residents may face trouble getting high legally. so many people tried to buy weed

this weekend, the governor had to declare a state of emergency. the state home to the motto what happens in vegas stays in vegas. pot has only been legal for a few days. health care is at the top of the agenda for members of congress. they're being met by protestors. >> vote know on this bill. kill this bill and lose your job. >> several protestors gathering in arizona republican senator flake's office. others gathered in the hall outside and as you see he is still there. police are keeping an eye on them. republican senator path toomey says he still thinks the legislation can pass. >> i think we still have a shot

at getting 50 republican senators to goat for the bill. we have a new version that comes out today. and i think there is still a shot at getting to 50, mike pence breaking the tie. >> senate democrats are responding to mitch mcconnell's comments last week that the two parties may have to work together to fix the affordable care act. today they say we stand ready to work on these and other reforms to the current system and urge you to join us in advancing measures that would have an immediate impact on improving the health care system for american families. let's bring in our panel to go over this, jake sherman and garrett hake in springfield, virginia. jake, let's start with you, what do we know about this now new version. new new version of the bill. >> well, it doesn't seem to be coming out today.

senator toomey might be mistaken. i don't know what information he has that he believes the republicans could get 50 votes. senator susan collins, a gettable republican for mitch mcconnell, said the bill should not pass on a party line, meaning it should include democrats. if you take that as the standard they need to operate by now, it sounds like she is setting that standard for herself. i don't understand how they will get this done in the next few weeks. they will have to scrap this bill, put a new bill on the floor, get house republicans and house democrats who have completely different incentive structures to get it through. i don't see it, it seems like their trapped in time and don't know what to do. >> feeling like it is not so stupendous living in that tube. what about the arrests that we're seeing right now outside of the senators officers. any word that might end up

swaying anyone's opinion on the sfwhil. >> bill? >> people protest all of the time up here, it is just emblemmatemblem m emblematic. they probably heard this across the board. we had a story and the "new york times" had a story about the time that the bill is laying out in the public has not been kind to the whip count. this is a truism? politics. you can't let the bills hang out for too long. the political dynamics have shifted and three weeks. there are three weeks until congress breaks until september. this is the crunch time, can president trump and mcmcconnell get it done, it doesn't look likely at this point but things always change up here. >> the politics, the protest, and the regular people. from what i understand, things got pretty real there.

>> they really did, you can think of it as a different type of protest. you had half a dozen mothers with children with complex medical conditions. they need medicaid to buy things hike wheelchairs, feeding tubes, intense medical needs for their children and they got deeply emotional and so did senator cain talking about how important medicaid and the affordable care act have been to their children. they only know just enough about it to be terrified of what it might do to them. listen to one of them from a short time ago. >> the scariest thing going on in the discussions of the senate bill are the -- not knowing if the states will get the reimbursement they need be getting to provide this. as you talked about earlier, there are so many aspects that medicaid covers, so where will

they cut back, if it affects our behavior specifically, there is no plan for that. these costs are going to be so high, there is. >> katie, one of these moms staid for republicsaid for republican senators in particular, the idea of putting on a budget or a cap, that is well and good, but they should come look in the faces of some of the kids and talk to some of the kids and parents before they think this is just a bit of numbers and budgeting. >> and those kids and parents are standing right behind you including that mother we just heard from a moment ago. thank you for bringing some real violences voices to our coverage today, appreciate it both, guys. next, how last year's meeting between donald trump jr. and a russian lawyer could

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regardless of your chosen career, you're only as good as your word. >> does the latest revelation change anything for the inquiry being lead by the former fbi director. with me now, nick ackerman. also senior foellow at the research institute. how common is it for a russian lawyer or anyone russian, i guess, working on behalf of the kremlin to approach a campaign and say hey, i have dirt on your opponent. >> i think it is unlikely but not unheard of. i think all campaigns, except for this one, would distance themselves. if someone walk-ins and says "i

have compromising information on your opponent, i think i would take a lot of caution. maybe they're trying to dooub you or get you into conspiracy. >> don junior had a lot of different responses. coming out saying i had some dirt on the campaign, but she did not. >> he could be facing treason claims, we don't know what was actually said in that meeting. we can't really go to the bank for the explanation of what occurred. >> what would be tremendousson? >> going in knowing that the russian government likely got it

from it's spying efforts by taling them, it is a serious matter to deal with a russian spy and taking information from her. >> there is no consensus that she was a russian spy. >> first of all, based on what he said, he is his own worst enemy in that regard. first he said it was about adoption, then that she came in to tell us something about the clinton campaign, but dl really tell us anything about it. on that basis alone nap is not even a believable story. the question is what was said, and we don't know. all of the people that were present, including paulman ford jared kushner, who lied about this on his national security

form, it raises questions about if there was really sclugcollus >> there are a number of senators that want to hear from him and he said he would be happy to work with the committee to pass on what i want to know. what flags will this raise for robert mueller. >> every individual in the family, and every in the upper echelons of the campaign, has had a connection to a russian foreign minister, an ambassador, contact through businesses, all leading up to the campaign and to the republican national convention where we saw policy changes put into the platform. they have all gone the extra step of saying they are changing it or trying to cover up an element of it at some point. >> i'm sure we will hear about it again in the off camera news

briefing going on right now, but everyone is trying to find a smoking gun between the campaign and a russian. our first read says basically this is the closest thing we have seen to that yet. what about their argument that if something was there, you would have seen it by now. >> that is not a good argument. they put this forward and they say you would have seen it by now. so they know they're trying to hide it, and they're saying you should have found it by now. i think the investigation will turn all of these things up. they will not have a direct live on communication. but how many emissaries are we seeing turn up with every associate of the trump cam bane.

>> i can name a couple so far that we don't know yet, but who knows what might come out of the campaign, and what news might break tomorrow. thank you very much, i have no doubt we'll have this conversation again fairly soon. next, iraq's prime minister declared victory in the battle for iraq's second largest city. is s it a victory wraen will the fight with isis go next? and we will continue to monitor more arrests at the nation's capital pl more protestors are being lead off by police as they are encouraging senators to vote no on health care. ed money on me insurance with geico! goin' up the country. love mom and dad' i'm takin' a nap. dude, you just woke up!

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displaced. joining us now for more is nbc news pentagon correspondent hans. hans, the iraqi prime minister claims victory. is the embattle for mosul over, and if it is, what comes next for iraqi forces. >> well, it appears to be over, but the balts in mosul does not appear to be over yet and because of that there are pockets of isis that they still need to go back and do what's called back filling. so earlier this mortgage it was down to a few city blocks in western mosul. then a couple of hours ago it was down to a few buildings. just moments ago i spoke to a senior oifl that says it does look like they've completely cleared them out of that area. but there's still a lot of back filling to be done where there's pockets that can still cause a great deal of concern for forces as well as civilians. as to what they are going to be doing, they're going to be heading west towards a city called tal i far. tal i far is sometimes referred to as western part of mosul.

it's a key hub for weapons transport between iraq and syria. >> they might make it to raqqa and say that u.s. forces or alliance forces can find a way to get isis out of raqqa. what's the larger picture there? does that mean it's all over? does isis need territory in order to had operate. >> no. i mean, raqqa is going to be a difficult fight. that is going to take a lot longer. think in terms of months it approximate not into 2018. there you have a different coalition. you have the sdf, which is a combination of syrian, arab and curds fighting together. they're making progress, but remember, isis has been dug in in raqqa for some time. and even after you clear isis all up and down the euphrates river valley, there's still going to be pockets. the numbers change ho this, but the most recent numbers that we have is within the city much raqqa there's a couple thousand isis fighters. sometimes you hear less than a thousand, but they're almost double that along the euphrates

valley where they hold towns that are sympathetic to them. so the cleanup operation in iraq in some ways is easier because you have a strong sorn -- well, not a strong, but you have a unified government that's taking place. when syria, you have a whole series of different coligsz. you have this nah sent cease-fire in the southwest of the country where there's very little u.s. involvement if none at all. and you have the russians as well as a regime that's still in power but the u.s. wants to move out of power. >> can folks get back to their homes in mosul? >> that will be sometime, right. you have electricity problems, you have humanitarian problems, you have water problems. now, in some places you do have civil service and you do have public servants taking place there. it will probably be faster in mosul because you have a central government. you have bag dad that can pay bills. katy. >> hans in this case oels at the pentagon. thanks very much. >> and we mentioned earlier, in

virginia with senator jim kaine about done jr.'s meeting with a russian lawyer who had promised dirt on hillary clinton ahead of the election. >> reporter: this report about p donald trump junior back in jurn of last year, first, what was your reaction to reading that? >> well, this weekend identify just got to say, when president trump meets with vladimir putin and then says, hey, we think we can work together on cybersecurity issues to protect our elections? that is so naive. if you walked into a guy, a meeting with a guy who cyber attacked our democracy and you walk out thinking you can work together, you are -- you're just a complete bab in the woods in term of your nooif take. and then you add to it this thing with donald trump over and over again. i don't know russians. i haven't had contacts with russians. oh, gorn, you're right. i did have a meeting with a

russian agent, oh, and it was about trying to find out information that could help us beat hill larry in the presidential election. i'll just say after this week, the special prosecutor mueller has an awful lot more to work with, an awful lot more to work with. >> do you think his job is safe? >> and that's not it. more with senator tim kaine and what he had to say about health care. that is coming up in our next hour. one more thing before we go, though. a presidential disfrom down under. >> we've also learned that he has no desire and no capacity to lead the world. the g20 became the g. 19 as it ended on the paris climate accords the u.s. was left isolated and friendless, but given that that was always going to happen, a testimony president would have found an issue to rally around the leaders. and he had the perfect one, north korea's missile test. >> political editor of

australian. his take on trump's g20 performance has gone viral. there's a lot more there. and this morning on miskrib he went even further. >> i guess what we were looking for was where this president would decide to lead. and as i said, the issue that he had which was ready made on the way in was on north korea. the australian delegation was expecting that there would be a strong statement led by america. the canadians was expecting it was going to happen. british expecting it to happen. and he would have isolated russia and china in the way that the united states had been isolated. he would have had something to walk away, and yet he walked away, i would say, nothing. if you don't lead, then who will? because somebody will lead. and in this instance what you're doing is you are seeding power to somebody else. >> and that is where we will leave it this hour. you conducted that interview right there. >> it's an interesting conversation because there are a lot of people who don't like america or maybe don't like the president. he was making a very different point that whether or not you like america, most of the world thought america was a leader of

the free world. >> absolutely. >> chris's point was that's what's in deterioration. it's not so much about trump. we're leaving a vacuum. >> this is how we are being perceived around the world. >> that is correct. >> and you could disagree with everything that he was saying in his report, you could think it was totally over blown, but ultimately he is an australian correspondent working for the publicly funded station. >> that's right. >> out there in australia and he's talking to those noeks. and given that and given how the leaders seem to be talking about our president behind closed doors, that should be concerning. >> went from g20 to g. zero because it's not clear who the leadership in the world is and his point is it could end up being china. it's an interesting story. >> it's all yours. >> have a good after. >> you too. >> the white house is on defense this after. answering questions about the

kremlin, the trump campaign and the meeting with the russians. donald trump junior's explanation has evolved a few times since the first -- the story first broke over the weekend. here is the where the story stabds right now. the president's son admits the meeting happened. he's changed his story to now include the fact that the lawyer with whom he met promised damaging information on hillary clinton. he confirms that jared kushner and paul manafort were at the meeting. here is what did the junior says what happened in part to nbc news. quote, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to russia were funding the democratic national committee and supporting his clinton. her statements was vague, ambiguous and made no sense. that was the end of it and there was no further contact or follow-up of any kind. my father knew nothing of the meetings or these events. let's get right to the latest on this story. hallly, give me a sense of where we are in this story? fill it in