intelligence committee. we'll find out a pivotal vote just hours from now. >> tom price is also here. by the way, are you going to get the votes? he better get them. he better get them. otherwise, i'll say, tom, you're fired. >> the breakup? the president was joking about his health secretary but it's no joke about his attorney general. white house officials comparing the trump/sessions relationship to a couple on the verge of divorce. look, i know that he is certainly frustrated and disappointed in the attorney general for recusing himself, but that frustration certainly hasn't gone away and, you know, i don't think it will. >> and on my honor. president donald trump at the boycott jamboree talking about loyalty but last night's speech wasn't always friendly, courteous or kind. >> who the hell wants to speak about politics when i'm in front

of the boy scouts? i go to washington -- in fact, i said today we ought to change it from the word swamp to the word sess pool or to the word sewer. as the scout word says, a scout is trustworthy, loyal. we could use some more loyalty, i'll tell you that. fake media. fake news. did president obama ever come to a jamboree? good day, everyone. i'm an drdrea mitchell. a big day here in washington. the president's son-in-law and closest aide jared kushner is now answering questions about russia for the second day. this time on the house side. the house intelligence committee. the vote to save health care is so close, senator john mccain answered the call to fly back from arizona. he's on his way here. possibly providing the critical

vote republican leaders already today got a commitment from senator rand paul to move it to the senate floor. that was a question mark. we've got it covered with our team. kasie hunt on capitol hill with the latest on health care. and peter alexander at the white house and "washington post" political reporter robert acosta. kasie, first to you. vice president pence often attends as president of the senate, a lot of arm twisting. what's the whip count? what do we know? >> reporter: well, this is their last chance, do or die. it seems at the moment like momentum is tilting in their direction. you pointed out that rand paul has said, okay, fine, i will vote for this motion to proceed. the moderate group that we have been watching so closely has basically been silent so far today. that's lisa murkowski of alaska

and rob portman of ohio, dean heller of nevada. those are the critical votes here. and this has all been a debate around the sequencing of how they would then try to debate the repeal and replace that would come up after they were able to proceed to this house bill. mcconnell's calculation has been, look, if he can get the bill to the floor, it's going to change the arm twisting and not necessarily wipe the slate clean but it looks like we'll see him here on the senate floor to talk about this. >> we'll wait until he gets to the health care issue as he goes through procedural issues. he needs 50 to get it to the floor. let's talk also about what's happening at the white house. peter alexander, you've been watching the whole question of the attorney general twisting in the wind, these tweets from

comment and scaramucci comparing it to a divorce. what's going to happen? >> reporter: andrea, you're exactly right. this has been remarkable to hear the tone from the president and his top aides and anthony scaramucci and sarah huckabee sanders and i spoke to scaramucci here on the white house driveway and he was comparing the situation, the tension, the strain between sessions and donald trump is that that exists before divorce. he told me you either reconcile or you separate. he said very simply about what the answer is right now. he said they either need to get together or separate. >> peter, let me just interrupt you. we'll pick this up in a second. let's go to the senate floor and mitch mcconnell. >> many of us have made commitments to our constituents to provide relief from this failed left-wing experiment and

now we have a real chance for his signature. just yesterday, the president reiterated his intention to sign them just yesterday, the administration released a statement urging all senators to vote in favor of the motion to proceed so that we can, quote, move forward on repealing obamacare and replacing it with true reforms. i'd like to express my appreciation to the administration for its continues close work with us on this issue at every step of the way, from the president and vice president and be secretary price as well as so many others. the engagement we've seen has been important to our efforts and is an unmistakable signal to this country that this administration not only understands the pain middle class families have felt under

obamacare but is actually committed to doing something about it. by now, we've all -- we're all keenly aware of the pain that obamacare has caused for literally millions of families. premiums have skyrocketed on the federal exchange. insurance options have declined under obamacare leaving zero insurers to choose from. many americans now face the real possibility of having no options at all. they could find themselves trapped forced to purchase obamacare without any means to do so. all the while, markets collapse under obamacare in states across the country. it's a troubling indication of what is to come unless we act. fortunately, the american people have granted us the opportunity

to do so. we finally have an administration that cares about those suffering under obamacares failures and to sign a bill into law and a senate with a great chance before us to do our part now. if other senators agree and join me in voting yes on the motion to proceed, we can move one step closer to sending legislation to the president for his signature. i certainly with. only then can we open up a robust debate process and inaction will do nothing to solve obamacare's problems or blame relief to those who need it. in fact, it will make things

worse for our constituents all across the country. i'd like to reiterate what the president said yesterday. any senator who votes against starting debate is telling america that you're just fine with the obamacare nightmare. that's a position of even democrats have found hard to defend. remember, president clinton called obamacare the craziest thing in the world. and a democratic governor said it's no longer affordable. you won't hear me say this often but they are right. so i hope people will consider the unaffordable costs, the burden on middle class families as they cast their vote this afternoon. i would urge them to remember the families who are hurting under this collapsing law. numerous kentucky residents like

across the nation have conveyed their heartbreaking issues and these families are suffering under obamacare. they need relief. i'll be thinking about them as i vote to proceed to the bill today. and i know many other colleagues will do the same. our constituents are hurting under obamacare. they're counting on us to do the right thing right now. that means voting to allow the senate to finally move beyond obamacare's failures. that's what i intend to do. we have a responsibility to the american people to do that. this is the first step and we should take it. mr. president, i suggest the decorum. >> without objection. >> that was the call to twist

arms and twist the republican caucus to hold together. they're going into a lunch with vice president pence. there will be a lot more arm twisting there. senator mccain is flying whoer to provide what could be a critical vote. joining me now is bernie sanders. i wanted to give you a chance to respond to the republican leader to the majority leader on his verdict on obamacare and what the vote should be. >> well, andrea, no question that obamacare is far from perfect but in mcconnell's own statement, the number of uninsured went down from 20% to 7%. i think that that's pretty good. what we have got to do is improve the affordable care act, not destroy it. now, mcconnell talks about helping people. i'm not quite sure how you help people when you throw 22 million americans off of the health insurance that they have. that's not helping people. that is threatening thousands of

lives in this country. you are not helping people when you cut medicaid by $800 billion so that kids with disabilities, people in nursing homes, people who have medicaid today will not know where they are going to get health insurance tomorrow if this legislation were to succeed. you're not helping people when you're doubling the premiums for older workers, people who are 60, 62 years of age who may be paying 4,000 now who will now be paying 8,000 under the republican proposal. you're not helping women when you have 2.5 million women off of planned parenthood. you're not helping people when you make it almost impossible for people with pre-existing conditions to get the health care that they can afford. this health care proposal is a disaster, according to numerous

studies, if it were to pass in the current form, thousands of americans every single year would die. our job is to improve the affordable care act, not destroy it. that means take on the pharmaceutical industry, lower the cost of prescription drugs and lower premiums, not throw 22 million people off of health insurance. >> some people might say why not let it get to the floor so that through amendments you can try to fix it, even senator schumer suggested that single payer may be an amendment option. >> well, you don't fix it behind closed doors. one of the outrages behind this whole process is when you're dealing with one-sixth of the economy regarding health care, they have not had one public hearing. so what should happen is this motion to proceed should be defeated, should go back to committee. we should hear from doctors and nurses and hospitals.

right now, virtually every major health care organization, the ama, american hospital association, cancer association, the aarp, they all disagree with this legislation. they want it to be defeated. we have not heard from one doctor about what this legislation would do for his or her patients. what we need to do is defeat it and take it back to committee and have a serious discussion about how the united states of america joins the rest of the industrialized word and guarantees health care to all people as a right, how we no longer continue to pay by far the highest prices in the world for health care and for prescription drugs. that's the kind of discussion we need. you don't do legislation behind closed doors, bring it to the floor without anybody even knowing as of this moment. this bill has come before the floor in two hours. i'm not sure what anybody knows about it right now. this is an absurd process, a

destructive bill, it's got to be defeated and we've got to start over again. >> rand paul has said he would vote for the motion to proceed. senator mccain has flown across country only days after he's had brain surgery, discovering the brain cancer. an heroic effort but coming to clearly vote with the leadership. so is the momentum on their side now? there was pressure from the president on showing more cap ta in west virginia yesterday. >> well, they have the political momentum but they certainly don't have the momentum from the american people. it's not only that every major health care organization in this country, andrea, wants to see this disastrous legislation defeated. it's the american people. the last poll i saw from usa today had 12% of the american people saying it's a good idea to throw millions off health insurance and give huge tax breaks. this is enormously unpopular, that the billionaire class may

end up winning. that doesn't shock me. the republican party become a right-wing extremist party following the koch brothers ideology and they want to cut government programs. and let me tell you this, if they succeed in this process of making massive cuts to medicaid, medicare will be right behind and then comes veterans and this is a program that working families desperately need. >> let me ask you about the other drama going on. you've got jared kushner on the house side and paul manafort was over at senate intelligence. the president is tweeting and pressuring and leaking against his own attorney general. do you see a pattern here where the president may be preparing to take -- make moves against the independent counsel robert mueller by getting rid of

sessions? >> andrea, i have the american people, including myself, that have a very hard time understanding what trump does today let alone what he will do tomorrow. often he changes his mind completely. all i can say is that right now there is an intensive investigation trying to determine whether there was collusion between the trump campaign and russia. that's an investigation that has got to go on and it's got to go on in a methodical and nonpartisan way and i support that very strongly. >> i want to ask you about the president's speech to the boy scouts. surprising a lot of people. you and your brother larry went to boy scout camp when you were a kid from brooklyn. a lot of us were involved with scouting. and the scouts put out a statement that they are nonpartisan after the president's speech, which was so

political by any measure that it crossed a lot of lines. what was your reaction to the president's speech last night? >> you're right. i was a boy scout m. it was a great experience for me. i learned a whole lot. to give a political speech to kids who are celebrating the jamboree, it is outrageous and who is he makes him very unfit to be president of the united states. so, no, nothing that trump does shocks me but it is, needless to say, i think disappointing to the american people. >> and finally, very quickly, if i could get your reaction to the stirring new motto of the democrats, i'm speaking ironically, better deal? >> well, i think what you're seeing, andrea, is democrats

moving aggressively, trying to do their best to understand that the way they have done business in the past is not what it should be to create millions of jobs and our crumbling infrastructure to provide pay equity for women to address the crisis of climate change in a very, very strong and aggressive way. i think what you're seeing on the part of the democrats is trying to come ut with a platform that speaks to the needs of not just the 1%. >> senator bernie sanders, thank you very much. thanks for taking time for us. we appreciate it. >> thank you, andrea. back now to msnbc on the house side for jared kushner's

closed-door interview and peter alexander at the white house, first let me bring in "washington post" political reporter and host of washington week robert costa. have you ever seen anything like the way this president is trying to pressure his attorney general to quit? >> it's an intriguing situation, to be sure. my sources inside and outside of the west wing tell me that the president is reluctant to actually fire the attorney general because after the firing of james comey, he knows that the atmospherics of that kind of decision could have severe consequences politically for him. he keeps mounting a case against his own attorney general hoping the attorney general will decide to step away but confidants of the attorney general tell me he has no reason to step away right now and no desire to quit his job. >> and as we see live pictures, chuck schumer on the floor,

saying basically that no one knows what is in this bill so objecting to the need to proceed. so peter, this is all in for the white house. the white house has not been fully engaged until very, very recently but they now seem to be engaged with the president joking and threatening tom price. he didn't bring all of his cabinet members and the secretary of state, who is the president of the boy scouts of america, who went to the jamboree on friday was not president last night. >> yeah. notably, also, that jeff sessions, an eagle scout, was not on the stage. they recognize the importance of this moment which is why it's all that much more important that there's so much focus right now. they realize this is where they need to invest their capital even though, as you note, at this moment it's not clear for these senators exactly what they are voting on at this time. it's something that the

president has spoken about in between those tweets about jeff sessions. he tweeted multiple times this morning about the importance of health care but one question a lot of lawmakers obviously, republican allies will be considering is if the president is willing to say what he's saying about jeff sessions, even after sessions' support throughout the entire campaign, whether i support his view or don't support the president's view on this day, that doesn't prevent me from being a target in the future right now. the bottom line is how they view this threat and whether, in fact, they are most concerned about how the constituents view their actions today. >> and lindsey graham has put out an interesting statement on this subject saying president trump's tweet today suggesting that attorney general sessions pursue prosecution of a former political rival is highly inappropriate. this was about the tweet on hillary clinton. the decision should be based on

the law of politics regardless of party. robert costa, to you very quickly, it just seems -- lindsey graham was a j.a.g. officer, a lawyer and he's objecting to this. the separation of -- and the independence of the department of justice is being breached on all fronts by the white house. >> very briefly, the comment by senator graham is revealing of the alarm among many top republicans on capitol hill that the president's recommendations for his attorney general, his statements about the attorney general are unhelpful, especially as his health care bill sits on the thinnest of ice in the u.s. senate. >> and thanks to all of you, garret, before i let you all go, jared kushner, now, we saw what he said yesterday and he said that there was no collusion but there were a lot of legal loopholes in that carefully legally written statement.

what is collusion when he talked about not relying on russian money for his private businesses. relying is also a loaded term. that doesn't mean that he wasn't using russian money or had other connections and he did acknowledge the effort to have a backchannel on syria. a private back channel and why was he talking about syria? >> well, those are all questions that the democrats will try to pry open. i spoke to one of the republicans leaving and jeark has been down there for more than two hours. the hearing continues. some of these folks have other business to attend to. he's been sticking close to the comments that he made in that written statement yesterday. but this one republican member i spoke to said he never met him before and found him to be very honest and very credible and he said he felt like he understood why president trump trusts him and i think kushner indicated to

the folks in the room that he would stay down below, about two rooms below me answering questions until these members are satisfied. perhaps so he doesn't have to come back and do it again. we'll hope to get more information as more of the members bubble back up to return to their day jobs as it were. >> garret, thank you for your patience. this russia investigation is continuing to expand. thank you all. coming up, we'll continue to follow all of the breaking news from capitol hill. and more as both jared kushner and former trump campaign manager paul manafort meeting with congressional investigators today behind closed doors. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. shawn evans: it's 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day

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welcome back. jared kushner is answering questions, as we say, behind closed doors at house intelligence. former trump campaign manager paul manafort meeting with the senate judiciary staff. joining me now, john mclaughlin, former cia acting direct and national security analyst and

greg craig, president obama's first white house counsel. welcome both. john mclaughlin, you've got the jared kushner saying he didn't collude but there's a lot of wiggle room in the very lawyerly statement. he said his business interests were not relying on russian money. that leaves a lot of other room for russian money. >> sure. >> and he's still -- he confirmed what normal people would call the attempt to have a backchannel with the russian ambassador, he said to talk about syria. >> yeah. i think a statement was elegantly lawyered as you implied but the more you look at it the more it raises questions if i was asking further questions, i'd be asking, what exactly was your financial relationship with russia? to what extent was there a

relationship? i would ask, look, october 7, the intelligence community puts out a notice that there is hacking going on by the russians. did you raise that with them in any of these conversations? i certainly did. i was in russia about a week. i raised it with him. did you raise it with them? i would ask -- you weren't interested in the don junior meeting in june which you say you left early but what was left behind in that meeting? did he ever talk to you about it, whether to follow up to that meeting? and i would probably ask him about his digital operation which he ran for the campaign. these are things that robert mueller will probably be going into trying to figure out how is it that russians were so smart to target their fake news on michigan voters and others. >> and greg craig, the spectacle -- you can only call

it a spectacle -- of the president of the united states on twitter attacking his own attorney general, having him twist in the wind. robert costa's reporting is he's trying to push him to resign as a matter of pride, not wanting to fire him because he knows that would cause political exposure. >> it makes you skach your head and make you wonder what he is thinking and what his strategy really is. it's clear he doesn't want the attorney general to continue in the office but he doesn't have the courage to fire him. >> wasn't his end game, to have an acting attorney general who

may not need a recess appointment? >> it's always hard to figure out what is going on in the president's head in terms of strategy or how he gets from point a to point b but one can only think that he's wanting an attorney general that is much more involved in defending the president of the united states than this one can be in connection with the russian matter. >> let me play, also, the president last night at the boy scouts just one little snippet of a speech extraordinarily political to these kids. >> as the scout law says, a scout is trustworthy, loyal -- we could use more loyalty. i'll tell you that. >> and you say that the speech had the feel of a third world authoritarian youth rally? >> yes. i find it bizarre. you know, the real power of the

presidency is the power to inspire. there was no inspiration there. >> 30,000 kids. >> right in front of you. >> instead, what civic lesson did he give these young people? first, fake news. in a democracy, people get their information -- it's important that they get information. he's basically saying the only information you can trust is from me. that's a very -- >> scary. >> very scary kind of idea. when you combine it with something he did earlier in the day and one of his tweets in which he basically scolded the justice department for not prosecuting his opponent in the election, that's the kind of thing you see in third world authoritarian systems and in the boy scout speech, there was a lot of that feel to it. it was mostly political,

attacking the former president, attacking his opponents, showing disloyalty to his subordinates. these are not lessons that you want to give and the president has the bulliest pulpit in the world. >> greg craig -- >> i was a boy scout and i was proud to be a boy scout. it was a wonderful experience. i was offended by what the president did for the same reasons that john points out. i also thought it was a cheap shot to go after president obama in front of the boy scouts of america. he had done nothing to deserve that whatsoever. and so that experience, to me, is a real black mark on president trump's first year -- first months in office. >> greg craig, john mclaughlin, thank you both so much. coming up next, who is in, who is out? what could be next in the white house shakeup. you're watching "andrea mitchell

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the new white house communications director an thon into scaramucci compared the president's strained relationship with jeff sessions to a divorce, telling peter alexander today, quote, you either reconcile or you separate,ed aing that trump and sessions either need to get together or separate. joining me now is charlie sykes and with me here, former chief of staff under president

clinton. welcome, both. >> thank you. >> have you ever seen a president of the united states going after a cabinet secretary, an attorney general, in this fashion, having him twisting in the wind? >> i've seen presidents at war, at battle with their adversaries, seldom with their team. although, i think it's fair to note that from time to time presidents have had some issues with toernattorney generals but nothing like this. >> and usually it's private. >> and jeff sessions put on that cap and supported donald trump early in the campaign. that gave him a lot of credibility. >> charlie sykes, what signal is that sending to others in the cabinet, others who might want to join the team, about loyalty when it comes to donald trump? >> this is really an exceptional commentary on trump's version of loyalty. he expects absolute loyalty from

all of his staffers and his cabinet members. but it doesn't go both ways. what's fully fascinating about this is he doesn't have the courage to actually follow through on firing jeff sessions. he wants him gone. instead, as you pointed out, he's torturing him. he's playing with him. i thought it was interesting that one of the "new york times" reporters said, why is he maying with him, rather than simply cutting the cord and the answer is because he can. this has got to be a cautionary note to understand that absolute loyalty will be ex pet of you but don't expect any loyalty in return. >> and mack, the president has a very unrealistic of his own ase assessment. he said he had every other president beat, that harry

truman was there but he's catching up. you've been in a tumultuous white house. you know the ups and downs. but nothing like this. national security adviser is fired after 28 days. we've seen now the firing of jim comey, sally yates, now the forced resignation, if you will, of the press secretary. >> there's a difference between activity and meaningful action. you've got to get your team in place. we had our cabinet confirmed the day after inauguration and then the deputy secretaries after that. you've got to step on the world stage in a purposeful, confident manner and you've got to get a foundational piece of pillar and that was the foundation for us to move forward. president trump has not done

that today. this is an inflection point for health care. i think health care is not being pursued right. they need to rethink and regroup. this is a very unpopular approach right now. >> the president tweeted today also about john mccain. >> uh-huh. >> saying he lauded him as a hero. now he needs his vote. but look what he said about him during the campaign. >> he's not a war hero. >> he is a war hero. >> he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured, okay? i hate to tell you. >> charlie sykes, we thought that was a pivotal moment in the campaign. it turned out not to be. >> the moment for me was when i realized i was going to be never trump. for donald trump, words never mean anything and in all of these relationships it's transactional. he could dismiss john mccain's

heroism back in 2015 but now that he needs his vote, he's going to say these things and, again, it's all temporary and conditional and i think everybody needs to understand this. how do you not get this at this point? mack is right when he points out, look, this is a big day for the republicans and a big day for health care and the administration and yet once again donald trump is distracting and injecting his own lack of discipline and lack of message. the dysfunction of his white house into this message. this is the reality that the republicans have to live with and they have to ask themselves, do they really want to pass this toxically unpopular bill at a moment when the president of the united states, the leader of their party, may be pulling a pen on a constitutional crisis. >> at this point in your administration, the new clinton administration, he was closing in on this 1993 budget -- tax and budget bill.

>> right. >> bob carey was the critical -- >> yes. >> we have about five swing congressmen in the house and it was key. it was the foundation piece. you're right. we won it by one vote in the house and vice president gore broke the tie in the senate. but without that pillar that really served president clinton well for his entire eight years that's what you need to get an administration started. the stakes are really high. >> have you seen anything in this white house that shows that they have a legislative strategy team, that they are focused on the substance of what they are doing. they declared these weeks and then the president goes off message. >> i think you have to seek with

your legislation. congress can only bear so much freight. but it was a campaign -- that was james carville's battle cry. that's where the focus had to be. >> the economy. >> once we got that in place, then we were able to move forward. >> do you see any chance if this health care bill goes down that tax reform is going to become a reality? >> it will be much more difficult and you and i both know tax reform in and of itself is a very complicated and divisive issue. so we'll have to just see. but it will be very difficult. >> thank you very much. >> thanks. >> thomas and charlie, both. thanks. a republican congressman challenging a u.s. senator, female, to an old fashion duel? you can't make it up. stay here. geico has a 97% customer satisfaction rating!

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♪ backpack, check. that's the family taking care of business. awesome notebook! check. but who takes care of them? office depot / office max. this week, these composition books are just 25 cents each. ♪ taking care of business mitch mcconnell and republican senators along with vice president pence are right now meeting over lunch, some final arm twisting there by mcconnell and the white house ahead of this afternoon's first critical vote on whether the health care bill will even get to the senate floor. let's get the inside scoop now

on the behind the scenes power play. joining me is ruth marcus, columnist from "the new york times" jeremy peters, also an msnbc contributor. welcome. first of all, health care. >> oh, that. >> oh, that. here you had republican congressman on the bob jones show, okay, no idea i'd ever be saying this, say ing thing that we have the tape. you'll hear for yourselves. i for if -- the problem is, the -- some of the people who are opposed to this, there are

some female senators from the northeast, if it was a guy from south texas, i might ask him to step outside and set this will aaron burr-style. >> i don't think that he knows how tough susan collins is. she responded to the texas congressman saying in 20 years in the senate i've had a lot of people make suggestions how to resolve legislative disputes but until today nobody ever suggested a duel. ruth, what is going on? >> female senators from the northeast. one's from alaska, one's from west virginia. i know he might be from south texas, but he might kind of want to look at a map. >> man from louisiana, too, let's not forget. >> and a man from ohio, potentially. >> isn't it interesting he needs to say female senators, right? and that clearly stuck in his south texas craw. all i'm saying. >> it reminds me of when you and i first met in 1991 at the

clarence thomas hearings. that whole jemder thing still -- >> it kind of keeps coming back. someday we will not be saying female senators. it will be a surprise or annoyance to people as it seem to be to the congressman. >> jeremy, here we've got sessions twisting in the wind, there's no other way -- michael short, the deputy press secretary, has resigned, so the cleaning-out, if you will, and i use that term, you know, with air quotes, of the sean spicer team, how reince priebus is hanging on since everybody else is being marched out the door. >> i know that we need a reince priebus/jeff sessions support group. >> or a sort of hour clock. >> that too. sand through the hourglass. >> right. and it may not be the only high-profile departure by the e end of the week the way things are going for jeff sessions. does fot look very good. >> will he have to quit, though? >> i don't see how.

>> excuse me. i meant to say won't the president have to fire him because he doesn't want to quit. >> sessions has shown absolutely no signs of wanting to go and legally, why would he? he did the right thing. the lawful thing. the constitutionally permissible thing by staying in office, i'm sorry, by recusing himself from this investigation. he should not have been involved with an investigation that he was right in the thick of. so it's perfectly defensible for him to say, no, i'm going to say on, you're going to have to fire me. >> what about mccain being praised by the president? we know the history there. but today they need his vote. he's flying back. and apparently he's going to vote to let it go to the floor even though last week he was arguing against doing this without hearings, without regular order. i guess you could argue get it to the floor and then we can have amendments. >> so it's like shakespeare meets robert caro on the master

of the senate. so many similarities and ironies. mccain becomes the hero, gets this to pass the motion to proceed after his heroism was so o outrageously questioned by the president who he'd be helping out here. but i hear mccain is not a fan of the underlying legislation. this may be his one give for the team. >> jeremy, with all of this the heartbreak of john mccain and seeing the way the white house is not averse to using people obviously when they need this kind of vote, mcconnell as well. >> absolutely. certain i no love lost between the president and senator mccain on this or any issues. but as ruth said, it's hard to see how this is any -- anything other than just a temporary victory for them because they don't have the votes to pass

this in the senate. they don't. if it didn't work the last time when the bill was much more palatable to moderates, how is it going to work this time when it's much more conservative? >> jeremy and ruth, thank you both so much. as washington residents you'll know why all of us at nbc and at wrc are so affected by the loss of jim vance. at nationals park tonight, there will be a moment of silence before the nats face off against the brewers in themry of this legendary anchorman. for almost half a century the local anchorman who died after a brief battle with cancer at the age of 75. he was a broadcast pioneer leading the first wave of black anchors in tv markets. he was mentioned by david brink lee. he was known for his awe then tis, his unerring humor, his humanity and his pointed commentaries. he was open and unfailingly honest about his own struggles with addiction and depression in

decades past. even as he became the city's voice during this city's struggle as we lived through urban riots, the transition from being a small segregated let's face it southern town to a vibrant international urban capital. the team at nbc 4 called jim the heart and soul of our city city. "the washington post" tv critic called him the mt. rushmore of tv news in washington, connecting us together as no one else could. our thoughts are with his family, the news 4 team, and especially with co-anchor doreen gensler. doreen since 1989 was paired on the air with vance along with in the days past sportscaster george michael. they were a dream team. and weatherman bob ryan. making television magic for decades. always with honesty and integrity. ♪ music

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craig melvin is here. take it away. >> good afternoon. craig melvin here. live at msnbc headquarters on a busy tuesday. health care decision day this afternoon republicans putting that health care bill um for a vote despite all signs pointing to its failure. what bill is it? and back to the hill.