coban. >> michael steel, where does this leave us humanizing, i spoefr, because his family -- >> his family is his family, and i think everybody appreciates that. and it's less -- it really is in that sense when you're talking to grandkids and all of that, it's less about -- it's really about the man himself. >> right. and what he's doing in the officials right now. >> all right. that's is it for today. thanks for our panel. that does it for our hour. i'm nichole wallace. mtp dale yid starts right now. >> i think you mean michael steel scared, nichole. >> yeah. i'm not good at math. i never know how that works. >> great show today, as always. and if it's thursday, president trump's red line and red meat amid a red scare. are you ready? >> tonight, president trump fight ens his circle of trust. >> essentially, he should have never recused himself. >> i love this department and i plan to continue to do so as

long as that's important. >> but why is he repeatedly taking aim at his own? >> if emd somebody to take an action, he would make that quite clear. >> plus, where do the russia investigations go from here? >> they don't voluntarily come, they'll be subpoenaed. >> and later, john mccain's toughest battle. the senator promises to be back soon following his cancer diagnosis. >> john is a fighter. >> this is mtp daily and it starts right now. good evening. i'm katy ter in new york in for chuck todd. welcome to mtp dailyel. senator john mccain is on our minds and he's in our prayers right now. and we're not alone when we say give them hell, are senator. and as fate would have it, there's a favorite saying of his that is the perfect way to tee up tonight's take on russia. >> well, i've said many times in the past there's another shoe that will drop and there will be

other shoes that will drop. every few days another shoe drops. it's the sent peed that the shoe continues to drop. that is a sent peed and there will be more shoes to droop. every tienl we turn around snore shoe drops from the sent peed. and another shoe seems to drop every few days. in fact, i think there's a lot more shoes to drop from this sent peed. >> we begin tonight with a president who is likely very worried about how many shoes there really are. as the russia probes continue to balloon, he seems intent on tarnishing anyone who is connected to the investigation, even his own appoint tease. his attorney general jeff sessions, mr. trump told "the new york times" that maybe he never shu hired him. >> sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job, and i would have picked somebody else. it's extremely unfair, and

that's a mild word, to the president. >> his deputy attorney general, who he also hired, the president seemed to say he can't be trusted anymore. rob rosenstein is from baltimore. there are very far republicans in baltimore more, if any. he gave me a very strong letter about firing director comey and now he's involved in the case. that is a conflict of interest. a special counsel should never have been appointed by rosenstein in this case. what about his acting fbi director, andrew mckab? mckab's wife got 700 grand from folks connected to hillary and he's at the fbi. i mean, how do you think that? >> special counsel bob mueller, maybe he's out to get the president because he didn't get the fbi job. >> did you know mueller was one of the people that was being interviewed? >> i did, actually. >> he was sitting in that chair. we had a wonderful meeting. >> day before, right. >> the day before. of course, he feels up there. mueller wanted the job. i said what the hell is this all

about? auk at that about conflicts. but he was sper viewing for the job. >> then came this morning from the president. >> if if you recall was looking at your finances and your family finances unrelated to russia, is that a red line? >> would that be a breach of what his actual charge is? >> i would say yeah. i would say yes. >> if he was housed that lane, would that mean he would have to go. >> would you -- >> no. i think that's a violation. look, this is about russia. >> what would you dpoo? >>a --a answer that question because i don't think it's going to happen. >> so whether it's the ag, the deputy ag, the acting fbi chief the former fbi chief or the special counsel's office, the president's message seems to be that all of their motives should be questioned. in other words, the entire justice department can't be trusted at best or it's koorg out a 123ir i at worst. if you're the attorney or his deputy, how do you react to these statements? >> i have the honor of serving

as attorney general. it's something that goes beyond any thought i would have ever had for myself. we love this job. we love this democratic and i plan to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate. >> i was proud to be here yesterday i'm proed to be here today i'll be proud to be here tomorrow. and we're spending every minute working to advance the interest of the department. >> the white house today said that president trump has not lost confidence in sessions. it should be noted, however, that the white house said the president had confidence in michael flynn on the same day he was later fired. i'm joined now by nbc intelligence and national security reporter and msnbc's chief legal correspondent who will soon be our neighbor as the host of the 6:00 p.m. hour. looking forward to that. let's start with you. trump was are warning robert mueller don't look into his finances. he called that a red line, a violation. is that where this investigation is headed?

>> it's already there, katy. as we've been report right leg for some time, this is in some ways a follow the money investigation. because don't forget, one of the main allegations in the dossier that we know fueled in part the fbi investigation was that the russian government was trying to ingreat 80 itself with donald trump and his team through sweetheart financial deals. so of course that is a matter that has to be looked into. and we already know, for example, that the senate is now pouring through thousands of documents from fin sin, the treasury department's money arm. and everyone i've talked to believes that mueller has the same stuff. so it's an investigation -- >> i'm sorry r ken. so how far back do they go in trump's finances? how many years back? >> so i don't have that level of clarity, but it's many years. i mean, for example, we know that back in 2008 a russian ol i guard bought a palm beach estate from donald trump for $895 million, more than twiels what he paid for it. it's hard to imagine that that isn't something that investigators want to at least take a look at to make sure it

was on the level. >> so talk about these comments in general, though. the president saying that there are conflicts there, saying that it's a red line if robert mueller ends up looking into his finances. how are these comments viewed by investigators? do they see them as potentially attempts to interfere with their work? >> sorry. is that for me, katy? >> yeahel. it's for you, ken. >> yeah. so you've already seen senator risch richard blumenthal tweet today that these comments are inappropriate, bordering on obstruction of justice s. whether it's obstruction, what they say is it's extremely politically inadvice believe aam it looks like the are president is trying to pressure investigators r threatening to fire lawyer. he's a defense lawyer's worst nightmare in this respect because he's sending the impression that he's trying to interfere. >> what can they do? just ignore him? >> they have to just ignore them and keep on doing what they're doing. robert mueller, don't forget, is a republican who is one of the

most respected professional investigators in washington for years, and he has a group of people around him, both democrats and republicans who have terrific reputations and they are backed up by hundreds of fbi agents and i think they're just going to follow the evidence where it leads and eventually we'll see a report on this case. >> so the president is questioning the motives of the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, the fbi, the special counsel, all because of russia. so what sort of control, really, does the president have over those departments and what can he do? can he end up firing all of those people that he's naming in that new york times interview? >> no, he doesn't have lawful authority to remove all of those individuals, though he does over some. i will think one thing in fairness to mr. trump and one thing that's so wrong about his comments. in fairness when you play as you did the entire context of some of those comments, what you hear are reporters pressing him on what are commonly called hypotheticals and then saying, well, what are you going to do

about it and he showed some fairly untrumpian restraint in saying, well, i don't think it's going no happen. i'm not going to answer that. he did not actually go as far as to say what he would do about this so-called red line. and so -- >> most people wouldn't put themselves in that position, notice. >> no, they wouldn't. and he is who he is, but i just want to be fair to the white house that this is not some situation where he did tweet or go give a speech raising a red line about family finances. he's being asked repeatedly from reporters, which is our job. i'm not even saying this to criticize the reporters. i'm just noting what are you going to do about it and he said i don't think it's going to happen. now, the problem for him is what you said and showed in your terrific open here where you showed the six different faces of people. are they all in on the take? all these republicans, two people he personally hired, one of whom sessions was one of his first endorsers, rod rosenstein, who he hand picked to be deputy attorney general. everyone is mysteriously in on this conspiracy, this crookedness to get donald trump. it doesn't make any sense because there's no ed for it

which means at this juncture it's probably not true. a president who does seek to undermine the justice department. >> take a look at at something he said about the fbi. the fbi person really reports to the president of the united states, which is interesting. you know, which is interesting. and i think we're going to have a great new fbi director. so is he effectively, could you say, warning chris wray, you've it got to be loyal to me? ultimately they do serve at the pleasure of the president, but they also serve the constitution. >> that's correct. they they have a dult to uphold the constitution and the law. and while he does higher and fire the fbi director, so in that broad sense he overseas him, the fbi director as a chain of kmanld reports to the attorney general. and yard to mueller who is going to be protected from all of this to a certain degree because of the role of the special counsel, just to be clear, neither the new fbi director, nor the president has any ability to remove the special counsel. >> can he undercut him? >> well, i mean, the question is

how cooperative or uncooperative or obstructive is he being? >> yeah. >> but if you do run the hypothetical i was talking about earlier, which 234 fairness has not reached yet and you say that he is seeking the dismissal of the special counsel, the short answer is no, mr. president, we have rules here that codify what it takes, and the president doesn't directly do it and he can only be dismiss doesed for cause, unlike the fbi director who can be dismissed for any reason. >> thank you very much. thank you as well. i'm joined now by new york times white house correspondent and msnbc drint tore glen flesh whose colleagues conducted that blockbuster interview. as well as tonight's panel. glen, i want to start with you, because it's "the new york times" reporting that was just an incredible interview by your colleagues. but talking about this red line and whether or not donald trump

thinks that bob mueller would be in violation of something if he went into donald trump's finances, listen, michael submit, who pressed him on that, is not a -- he's a savvy guy. he's a savvy reporter. can we take that to mean that maybe this investigation is already headed in that direction, as ken dell leanian is reporting? >> i have to say, i'm a little upset that i was literally the only member of the new york times washington bureau that was not allowed in on this interview. >> why was that? >> i think we've seen reports over the last couple of days indicating that things might move in that direction which i think is why michael asked the question. that is a really dangerous area for the president. but, look, we've had jay sekulow one of the president's attorneys overtly say that the president ought to consider sacking bob mueller if he gets too close to had this sort of thing. and the president has two models for leertd ship when it comes to running an organization. the first isel jornl c. scott

portraying george patton in the moefls and the second is his father fred trump in running the family real estate empire. neither of those two are particularly atuned to the needs of people who are working for them. they view elm pooh as employees. trump after all this time, and i think this is the main thing that this interview proves, views rosenstein and sessions as employees and is angry that they're not behaving like employees. >> so this is a hypothetical right now, and the president refused to comment on this. but matthew, if he does try and block robert mueller and his team from going into the trump organization's finances and his family's finances, is that a firestorm that will eventually ensue out of that? is that something that he can survive? . >> really don't know. and of course, i agree with arry mel bore when he said that the president never actually said he would do this. he was responding, as he often does in interviews, reporters and even advisers who talk to the president often remark about how you can raise an idea with

him and he'll say, oh, that's an interesting idea. even though he has no intention of following up on it or doing anything about it. so obviously if president trump were to fire special counsel mueller, it would ignite a crisis in washington, d.c. i don't think we're there yet, though. >> hold on, though. this president is kbroordel sensitive about his finances. that's part of the reason why we have not seen him release his taxes. this is not any old issue for him. it's an issue that he thinks about, certainly. and it's also important to remember that he did fire the fbi director, so there is some precedent for these questions. susan, what is your take on this? >> well, you know, i'm glad you brought it up, katie, because it seems to me that actually, it was one of those classic donald trump interviews that was shocking but not really surprising. he and his advisers have been testify grafg for quite sometime that he was very dissatisfied with attorney general sessions for arecusing himself and also

floating this notion that if bob mueller tread too closely, that he might go ahead and fire him too because he already fired the fbi director and maybe he would risk it. so where we really -- we were stunned yesterday because the president once again sort of bucked the advice that any lawyer would give him and gave this. so i would not rule out that trump is seriously are considering firing mueller. on sessions, it seems me interesting. it's almost as if he wanted to back sessions into a corner and see if he could get sessions to quit. >> yeah. >> rather than being forced to fire him. >> yaul. and we'll see what happens with that and whether or not he's going to feel like he's going to have to do that at some point. though today he said not. >> daniel la, take a listen -- i want to talk about the political aspects of this and how republicans are reacting. take a listen to orrin hatch a little bit earlier today. >> what's your reaction to that? i mean, he says the fbi director basically works for him. he said mueller could cross red lines. he's kind of all over the place on the justice department there. >> well, i don't really have any

comment on it other than that i think he needs to be a little bit more careful about what he says. >> the gop viewed the tarmac meeting between bill clinton and loretta lynch last year as highly inappropriate. now it seems like their response to things that a lot of is people consider to be inappropriate is just, mau, daniel la. >> exactly right. you know, that seems to be the reaction generally speaking from republicans when it comes to trump. they're willing to let things slide that if a democratic president had tried to do it, there is absolutely no way that republicans would not be howling at the moon and saying how inappropriate it is. you know, republicans are willing to look the other way when it comes to what trump is doing because they want to pass their ridiculous policies through koeng and they think they need him in the white house to do that. i'm really waiting to see when republicans are going to put the country before their party. >> what does this mean for conservatives, matthew? how does this play with kebts? >> well, i think, actually

trump's base and his fans enjoy this interview. >> well, is they're not really conservatives. >> they think they are. >> they're more trump voters. they're like trump yans. >> there is another segment of conservatives who don't like donald trump, and they would find the same thing for this interview. they would have plenty of is ammunition not to like him. trump's people, though, who in many cases view themselves as conservatives, they saw the president kind of -- they do exactly what they like him to do, which is just mouth off on a variety of issues and kind of give his impression about the world and even crack some jokes. at one point ion maggie haberman kind of burst into laughter at what the president was saying. so i don't think this interview sp going to, no phones to "the new york times." i love this interview. it's not going to affect the world course of history here. >> i'm not talking about necessarily his supporters, though. i'm talking about the people on capitol hill who view themselves as republicans, as kebts, who don't really view themselves as trumpists, whatever you want to call his follow irs.

people have upheld certain set of ideals, and they're going against them, especially when it comes to russia. i mean, donald trump's position and posture towards russia is just so not republican traditionally. >> no. and i think orrin hatch's comment that you played reflects the views of many republicans, professionally in washington, d.c., which is they just don't really pay attention to what donald trump tell us the press. and of course, this is a problem for president trump because when he's trying to lobby congress, for example, on his healthcare policy, they don't really pay attention to him there either. so it's a political problem, but i don't think republicans are going to wake up, you know, tomorrow morning thinking about this new york times interview. >> glen, something he did admit in "the new york times" interview was about that g20 conversation with vladimir putin where he said, yeah, we talked about adoptions. that's not very veiled language for sanctions.

>> yeah. adoptions equal sanctions because it's part of the -- it was his retaliation for legislation that was passed in the u.s. here is what's also really interesting. remember the initial press release, which was much wrang he would over that was put out by done junior after he took this meeting said all they did was talk about adoptions. so here is something interesting. >> yeah. >> you have a person that don junior met with that they say are not associated with the russian government, yet they're talking about exactly what vladimir putin brought up during a 15-minute conversation with the president directly. those two statements don't jive. and i suspect we're going see a resolution of that. thank you very much. stay with us. coming um, we're going to talk to a key senator about the current state of play on the healthcare bill s. plus, does the president think he's above the law? we'll talk to a legal expert who calls the president's new york times interview, quote, chilling. let's see, there are the wildcats 'til we die weekenders. the watch me let if fly.

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welcome back w. we already hit the are major headlines from "the new york times" interview with president donald trump, but buried in the details are at least a few none truths or kpaj ragsz by the president. first, on his meeting with gop senators yesterday, the president said it was a great meeting. we had 51 show up. other than john. actually, 49 republican senators were at that meeting. ja's joan isaacson and north carolina's richard burr did not attend. he said he signed more laws than any other president at this time in office. that is also not true. president trump signed 42 bills so far. just among his recent predecessors, jimmy carter, george h.w. bush and bill clinton, well, they all signed more at this point. and one more. in the interview the president paraphrased french president macron telling him that napoleon designed the lay out much paris. that is false and may be a case

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only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® welcome back to mtp daily. as we said at the top of the hour s president trump is seemingingly dead set on destroying the credibility of every single person involved in the russia investigation. but what does it mean for the credibility of our federal law enforcement when the president threatens to interfere with an investigation into himself and his own campaign? joining me now is benjamin whit advertise. he's editor and chief in law fair and a senior fellow in govern nans studies at the broogings institution. ben, thank you very much for joining us. you have quite an he had i to recall until law fair today and i want to read a little bit it. you said it's the president vorsz federal law enforcement. trump attacks everyone.

and we are in a dangerous moment, one in which the president with his infinity sense of grievance feels entitled to publicly attack the entire federal law enforcement apparatus and that apparatus in turn lacks a single person with the stature, the institutional position and the fortitude to stand up to him. you're basically saying here that ag jeff sessions, deputy ag rod rosen stiep, they both need to quit to show the president that he can't behave this way. >> well, so -- look, i think i didn't want, as the attorney general, you have the president at whose pleasure you serve announce in highly disparaging terms that he regrets having appointed you, he thinks you treated him unfairly, he thinks you didn't handle yourself well in your confirmation hearings and answered questions that should have been simple in a fashion that wasn't simple and that you've basically blown it,

i think under those circumstances i don't know under what basis you continue serving. and so it's not with any particular glee that i think jeff sessions should resign, but i just can't imagine -- i mean, leave aside the president. let's just take any boss and any employee. if my boss said that about me in public, i wouldn't show up for work the next day. >> but what happens if they don't resign? >> well, so, look, what we have right now is highly dysfunctional situation at the justice department where the president not only blasts the attorney general, but he publicly questions the fairness of the deputy attorney general, who is in fact now responsible for the russia investigation, and suggests that the deputy attorney general is, you know, sort of part of this kind of weird left wing rear guard action against him. he publicly attacks the acting

fbi director, having fired the real fbi director. and he attacks the special counsel who is responsible for the russia investigation, and not merely him, but the career and staff level members of his team k. and so,up, under those circumstances i think you really have to ask what is the mechanism by which who is going to defend the integrity of federal law enforcement. it's not going to be the attorney general. it's not really going to be the deputy attorney general. the special counsel can't do it because it would be inappropriate for him to talk about things in public. the acting fbi director is just an acting -- he's been really kour ages and he's been a first-rate individual, but he's just the acting fbi director.

so who is it, who is supposed to speak for federal law enforcement and for the integrity of the men and women who carry out our laws every day? >> ben, you're really close with james comey. there was an interesting portion of the new york times interview where it seems like are the president is saying that james comey was trying to blackmail him by revealing the dose yeah to him privately. take a listen to that portion. >> i didn't know what to think, other than this is really phoney stuff. >> why do you think he shared it with you? >> in my opinion, he shared it so that i would think he had it out there. >> as leverage? >> yeah, i think so. in retrospect. in retrospect. >> so was james comey trying to blackmail the president? >> so obviously i don't speak for jim comey, but i will say this. when donald trump makes a suggestion like that, the word that comes to mind is p

projections. and jim comey did testify under oath that he felt like the president was trying to exercise leverage over him. and so, you know, you have two people -- >> so you think he just turns everything around, you're a puppet of russia, no, you're the puppet of russia. you're not qualified to be president, no, you're not qualified to be president, that sort of thing. >> i will just say this. one of them is under oath. the other of them is not. and last week before the president said this, i ran a little google poll which people can find on law fair. google surveys. it's actually a scientific poll, albeit a very simple one about who people believe about their interactions, president trump or jim comey. 17% of americans believe the president. so i think you can say, look, one of them is under oath and the other one is 17% of americans believe about his interactions with the fbi director. >> thank you very much.

i appreciate your time, sir. >> thanks. >> and members of congress are am reacting to the president's comments on the doj heads. connecticut senator chris murphy, sorry, my mouth not working today, joins me next with his take. stay with us. s a story about mal and packages. s a story about mal and it's also a story 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 ♪ i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there." talk to your doctor, and call 844-234-2424.

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welcome back. reaction on capitol hill today that the president's new york times interview has been all over the place. >> well, i don't really have any comment on it, other than that i think he needs to be a little more careful about what he says. >> the president can't start drawing red lines. mueller has a right to

investigate this, and he was given that authority by the justice department, and he reports to the justice department and not to the president of the united states. >> as i know mueller over 13 or how many years he was head of the fbi, he's going to do his job, and that's all that matters. >> i think the fbi, as far as i know, does not need the president's approval to carry out an investigation or even his knowledge. >> oh, i'd be very glad for jeff sessions to quit and to get someone else in as attorney general of the united states. >> this news, of course, comes just as senate leaders are grappling with whether they can move forward on health care. the congressional budget office this afternoon released scoring on the latest revised bill in the senate, but it does not include an analysis on a version of the amendment proposed by senator stead crews. and right now that latest version of the bill doesn't have enough support to move forward anyway. joining me now is democratic

senator chris murphy of connecticut. senator, we're going to get to health care in a moment, but i first want to start with "the new york times" interview and donald trump saying that he wouldn't have hired jeff sessions, appointed him, if he knew what he knows now. where is the oversight forp comments like this? >> what the president is basically saying is that had he known that the attorney general was going to make ethical decisions, had he known that the attorney general was going to follow the law rather than to follow political loyalty to him, he wouldn't have hired him. it's not a surprising set of comments given the fact that he is essentially admitted that he fired james comey in part because he was not happy about the direction of the russia investigation. but, you know, ultimately, you know, this is all part of a pattern of deeply, deeply troubling behavior here. and to the extent there's accountability, right now it lies in making sure that bob mueller and his operation

continue to be walled off. i think a lot of republicans are willing to forgive these comments as long as they know that mueller can proceed with this investigation on his own without interference. and if that changes, you know, then maybe republicans will ultimately are the bearers of the accountability sword here will join us in asking some tougher questions. >> do you have confidence in jeff sessions? >> i didn't support jeff sessions, but i do think you probably have to be a little careful of what you wish for here. if donald trump fooirgs jeff sessions because he has not been win 100% loyal and replaces him with donald trump jr. i'm not sure you've come out on the positive. so i from the beginning have opposed jeff sessions because of his history on civil rights, because of the damage that he's going to do to people's ability to vote, but on this issue you might get a lacky in his place who would make some trouble for bob mueller. >> well, no one is suggesting that he would do that, at least

at the moment. your colleague elizabeth warren says she'd be really happy if jeff sessions ended up quitting. >> well, listen, i think it's all a matter of who replaces him. i mean, i'm probably 20% joking about being replaced by donald trump jr., but the point i'm making is that he's telegraphing to you -- >> you've got to be a little bit less than 20% less joking about that, really. >> i don't think you can put anything past -- >> okay. sure. all right. >> here is my point. my point is that he wants someone in place who is going to be 100% politically loyal to him. and if that's the case and that person also shares jeff sessions' beliefs on voting rights and immigration, then you just have to measure the alternative against what you have today. >> do you think that means if he were to have a new ag that he thinks that that would negate the need for robert mueller and that the ag, because he did not

have to recuse himself, would be able to be in charge of this russia investigation? >> i don't know. i mean, i can't get into his head. what i can imagine is that the president spends a lot of time thinking about how he can put an end to this investigation. i think bob mueller makes it very hard for him to do that. the way in which rod rosen steen has set up this investigation makes it hard for him to do that. but i think it's likely that the president thinks about ways in which he can put an end to the investigation. >> so you got into a bit of a twitter spat with the vpd and you said there's real evil in the epidemic rate of lying when they're talking about health care. real evil, that language that you stand by? >> listen, it's strong language. i don't deny it. but here is my point. the vice president is a very smart person. he went out and gave a prepared set of remarks in which he claimed that the republican

healthcare bill strength end and secured medicaid for the moet vulnerable in america. he knows that's not true. i mean, there is zero basis for that claim given the fact that 15 million of the most vulnerable americans will lose their medicaid coverage and want be able to afford anything else because of this bill. and so i use that word because this looks like a knowing, intentional fabrication, swup that -- >> evil, though? evil? >> listen, it is not just -- it's not just the line that's coming from the vice president. it's the continued claims that the president makes about this bill lowering deductibles and providing good insurance for everyone when all he has to do is read the summary of the cbo report to know that's not true. i don't normally trade-in woshds like good and evil, but there is something really nef airous about an administration that continues to put out these knowing lies about a bill that

the american public hates. >> ultimately the democratic party is saying that they want to come to the table with republicans to find a fix for health care. so when you use language like that, is that helpful to bring both sides to the table? >> well, the only thing that brings both sides to the table is the failure of this bill. mitch mcconnell has made it very clear that he is going to keep this bill on life support for as long as possible. and so if the trump administration gets away with these lies about what the bill does and public approval of this bill increases, then there will never be a chance for democrats and republicans to sit down and get together. so i use strong language about what the administration is doing. i use strong language about what a train wreck i think this bill is because i'm convince understand that the only way that we actually get a bipartisan negotiation is if we do everything in our power to kill this deeply harmful, mafl lent piece of legislation. >> what is the one hoish that you think you can find a compromise on with the republicans. >> here is where i think the sweet spot is. republicans are going to have to

set aside the tax cuts and the deep cuts to medicaid. but they've made it really clear that they want more flexibility of benefit design on these exchanges. the most extreme version of that is the cruz amendment. i don't think that democrats should be totally averse to having a conversation with them about that. maybe there is a plan between the catastrophic plan and the bronze plan that's offered on these exchanges that has a lower act waeral value maybe less rierlts about what's covered that we could talk to them about. now, that's not what i want, but if they were willing to give us some stability on these exchanges, take away from the president the power to pull these insurance payments that he threatens, then we should be willing to talk to them about flexibility. and i think there's a deal to be had, but it would probably be more narrow to the exchanges. >> chris muvry, thank you so much for giving me an answer to that question. i really pleesht it. it's nice to hear somebody come

up with some solid language when it comes to where you can compromise. thank you very much. >> thanks, katie. >> and just ahead, capitol hill's outpouring of support for the mafric of the senate. stay tuned. [music playing] across the country, we walk. carrying flowers that signify why we want to end alzheimer's disease. but what if, one day, there was a white flower for alzheimer's first survivor? what if there were millions of them? join us for the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's. register today at alz.org/walk. if you could book a flight, then add a hotel, or car, or activity in one place and save, where would you go? ♪

expedia gives you the world in your hand, so you can see more of it. ♪ expedia. welcome back. senators are reacting today to the news that their colleague john mccain was diagnosed with a brain tumor after doctors removed a blood clot above his

eye last week. the senior senator from arizona received warm wishes from both sides of the aisle. >> he's a tough guy. he wants to be back here. we need him here. >> he's very tough, but this is serious business. and i know so as one person going through the process to another, i just -- you know, my heart and my thoughts are with him. >> he made that decision to stay as a prisoner of war not knowing if he would ever get out and you think about that kind of courage and bravery, and that's why he's going to be -- fight this to the end. >> he is relentless. he's a warrior. i've traveled outside rt united states a number of times with him, and i've seen him work guys half his aim into the ground. he is a remarkable individual. >> yank of anything i've done since 1999 politically in many ways personally that was worth doing without john. so that's sort of sit me last night. and that just -- yank of anything i've done, any fight i've been in that i haven't been there with him or he's been

there with me. >> senator graham also said mccain called him three times yesterday. mccain is currently recovering from his surgery in arizona, but he's still flashing his whip. he tweeted this morning, i greatly appreciate the outpouring of support. unfortunately for my sparg partners in congress, i'll be back soon. so stand by. we'll be right back with the panel next. nvitation is on. now get our best offers of the season. on the agile mkc. on the versatile midsize lincoln mkx. or go where summer takes you in the exhilarating mkz. the lincoln summer invitation sales event. ask about complimentary pick up & delivery servicing. right now get zero percent apr plus 1,000 dollars summer savings on the lincoln mkx, mkc and mkz only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief.

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dad: flash drives? yup. that's dad taking care of business. laptop setup? yup. but who takes care of dad? office depot, office max. this week, all hp ink, buy one get one 30% off. ♪ taking care of business welcome back. it's time for the lids. let's bring back our panel. i hope you guys were listening to that chris murphy interview i did a moment ago. danielle, i want to start with you. that's the first time i heard a senator on the air tell me one way in which the republicans and the democrats can work together. his proposal was interesting. take the ted cruz amendment, don't go that far with it but find a middle ground between that and the plan in place for obamacare. maybe there's something sma can

do to ma -- they can do to make it less restrictive. >> thei think there are ways th democrats and republicans can come together on the bill. wow won't find a democrat that will say obamacare is perfect including president obama himself. they have always acknowledged fixes need to be made and are willing to come to the table and meet them halfway and not talk about an out right repeal. a report was released talking about bipartisan fixes that if republicans were concerned about stabilizing markets they would look at this proposal. i'm not surprised that chris murphy said this. it remains to be seen if they are making this about this fight about government shouldn't be involved in delivery of health care at all. >> what about the politics of this? if they come to the table and pass, it's going to be labeled

trump care. if it's something that's successful, if they help get some sort of health care legislation passed even if it is a fix, is that something the democrats are willing to be a part of? >> i think you put your finger on it. just like labeling it obamacare, made it politically toxic for republicans, imagine what democrat facing any kind of re-election is going to want to put his or her name on something called trumpcare. i was talking with chris murphy in the green room, he made the point, he doesn't think it's gone entirely even though this current iteration might be going away. both parties have an imperative to have this come back. i think it's going to be a war over labeling it and war over the narrative that determines whether there's a real political viability for either party in negotiating with each other. right now democrats don't have much incentive to sit down with republicans it seems to me.

>> i say this a lot, politics is all about semantics. john mccain not being there, how much does that affect the health care debate? >> i think it affects it greatly. the republican party needs every vote. they have two committed hard nos in susan collins and rand paul and this week we had the additional defections from mike lee and jerry moran. any hope of a senate passage of repeal and replace plan, you would have to bring lee and moran back on and find a way to get mccain involved or take away paul or collin's opposition. it complicates the senate math and makes a tricky political problem. >> thank you for that lightning round. appreciate it. after the break, why we're hyped up over elon musk's latest pipe dream. i realize that ah, that $100k is not exactly a fortune.

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i hired some help. he really knows his wine. this is the new guy? hello, my name is watson. you know wine, huh? i know that you should check vineyard block 12. block 12? my analysis of satellite imagery shows it would benefit from decreased irrigation. i was wondering about that. easy boy. nice doggy. what do you think? not bad.

in case you missed it, it's about 225 miles in new york city to d.c. it takes four hours to make the drive in good traffic conditions. stlee and a half hours if you take the slower regional train. flying time, in theory, the about an hour but in practice the lines and whatnot it's a lot

longer than that. billionaire elon musk said he can do it in 29 minutes. 29 minutes. musk tweeted just received verbal government approval for the boring company, yes that's what this very exciting company is called. to build an underground new york philadelphia, baltimore, d.c. hyper loop. new york to d.c. in 29 minutes. 29 minutes. i could anchor my 2:00 p.m. show right here in new york, get on the hyper loop and be in d.c. to fill in for chuck at 5:00 p.m. with time to spare. a long distance relationship would become nothing. it sounds amazing. it also sunounds too good to be true. a couple of hours he said still a lot of work to receive formal approval but am optimistic it will occur rapidly. no green light.

while i am hyper excited about the whole new york to d.c. in 29 minutes thing, i'm less excited about the part where you get to be loaded into a pod inside an underground tube that moves 700 miles an hour. maybe if it was going to paris. that might be a bit better. we'll see. that's all for tonight. we'll be back tomorrow with more mtp daily. have a good night, everyone. hanging him out to dry. an extraordinary moment this afternoon for president trump. silence when reporters asked the president if he still has confidence in the sitting attorney general. >> mr. president, jeff sessions still have your full support? >> thank you. >> do you still support -- >> you see it. president trump ignoring those questions after telling the new york times it was very unfair of the attorney general to