i'm thomas roberts here in new york and it's pain a whirl wind 24 hours at the white house. john kelly is in, reince priebus is out as chief of staff. and this announcement just coming yesterday around 5:00 as trump capped off another chaotic week. the second major shakeup with sean spicer out and now reince priebus out. and then to capitol hill, how will republicans regroup in the health care battle in another painful defeat in their request repeal and replace obama care with john mccain voting across

the skinny repeal. and plus president trump's call to ban transgender americans from serving in the military. but is a presidential tweet really actionable policy for the u.s. military to follow? we have more coming up on that this hour. but let's dive right in and get straight to it with that stunning shakeup with reince priebus gone as chief of staff just six months in and moving over into that slot is homeland security chief and former marine general john kelly. president trump making that announcement via twitter and pretty happy with his decision, too. >> reince is a good man. john kelly will do a fantastic job. general kelly has been a star, done and incredible job thus far, respected by everybody. a great, great american. reince priebus a good man. thank you very much. >> so priebus last night on fox news in what is now call and

exit sbir view sainterview said president was right about the move. >> he knows in-tufr differenc y in-tuf differencely when things need to change and he determined that it was time to do something differently and i think he was right. >> and there we have the cnn interview, but the rumors about his departure had been heating up for week and the signs for the end being near came with the new communications director anthony scaramucci accusing priebus being a rants. but the final straw may have been the gop failure to appeal obamacare. kelly o'donnell joining me. and that was thursday into friday, but let's explain to everybody the president and the thinking inside this white house when a big move for the chief of staff. >> well, for our sources, what we are hearing is that the

president's adviser children, his familial advisers s as i ca them, ivanka and jared were encouraging help to make a children. also the conversations with his circle of the advisers on the outside and inside and the growing sense that the president was saying that there was a weakness associated with the leadership of reince priebus in the white house. that accomplishments were not happening on capitol hill. that the different thief doms of staff and competition was spilling over and getting a lot of attention on the outside. so this was not a surprise and yet when it happened, there was a real jolt of, wow, it actually happened. the failure of health care reform is also a very nonpersonal policy driven way to say that the president did not succeed in something that was important to him and that priebus would bear the prunt of th bruntd of that and that would be a time that you could make the change. it's interesting you about a the president is taking someone that

you call as star from a department that is responsibility for some of his biggest priorities like immigration, taking a second of homeland security, making him a stacher insides white house creating another vacancy. so givens you a sense of the turmoil and strategy change here. priebus has tried to be gracious in his exits talking about the president very favorably, saying that this is something that he this had conversed about and while dsz isappointed, he was working with the president. here is how he put a positive spin on his departure. >> so this is not like a situation where there is a bunch of ill will feelings. it was something that i have always talked to the president about. i've always said to him and he always agreed with me, anytime either one us think that we need to make a change or move in a different direction, let's just talk about it and get it done.

>> reporter: and the way priebus is handling himself and we saw it also with sean spicer, trying to be positive and respectful of the president, also very much a part of whatever their next chap they are will be. for john kelly, it's a new drive, not to homeland security, but here to 1600 pennsylvania avenue beginning monday. there will be a cabinet meeting. i'm sure there will be some staff meetings. he brings a lot of experience, but none of it in politics. more than 45 years a marine, leaving as a 4 star general. we know the president respects generals. that might be a difference here that the president has a lot of trust and respect in the stature of a general, that may make a difference. job kel john kelly made therifice of lo afghanistan. so a different kind of leadership from traditional politics to a much more military oriented style. obviously it's a civilian style,

but the management experience kelly brings is from his time commanding troops and what he's been doing at homeland security. >> and sending theme through marine corps training. so we'll see if they fall in line. through marine corps training. so we'll see if they fall in line. kelly owe c'donnell at the whit house. >> kevin, as we know, the white house shakeup is certainly a big deal. other white houses have gone through a chief of staff quickly, but this administration has gone through major posts pretty quickly. but as we look at the new york "post" and this is before rebus was fired, they came out with this cover basically showing this administration in theness of the reality tv show sur

strifr and then they updated it after the announcement of reince departing saying the tribe has spoken. they have never come out against president trump. does this signify a shift from the republican establishment away from the president? >> absolutely. you have to republican that reince prieb remember that reince priebus was brought in because he was essentially seen as someone who could, would the pwork with the republican controlled congress and paul ryan. but with the departure of these fol folks, this is the original. there was long sfrus administratifrom us vags with some of the triple digit to try to regain their footing. if you look at the developments

of the rifarrival off anthony scaramucci and who the president is listening to, it would seem to suggest that military background and as well as original staffers are on the as send decemb as send denies city. and anthony scaramucci represents the front house person that the president has represented. but priebus wednesday had to deal with scaramucci's comments to the new yorker basically where he was referred to as being paranoidfwrenic and also a leaker. but listen to what priebus had to say. >> what was yours reaction when you saw that interview?

>> no reaction. i'm not going to tond respond t or get in to the mud. >> are you the leaker? >> that is ridiculous. i'm not going -- >> why not respond to- >> because it doesn't honor the president. i'll honest or the president and his an engineer today and i won't get in the to all of this personal stuff. >> so the loyaltyor the preside his an engineer today and i won't get in the to all of this personal stuff. >> so the loyalty, taking a hit for the president and basically the party, is huge here. what you he is not somebody that was on team trump from the very beginning, but has taken a lot of slings and arrows during a short period of time. >> yeah, i mean i think that priebus was there as the representative of the republican establishment in the whus. and to kevin's point, the fact that he's leaving now is -- he's doing this for the establishment in order to make sure that that voice was still there.

and with his ouster and spicer out as well, you are going to see a shift there in terms of the way that this white house is connected to the republican establishment. at the same time, this whole issue of leaking is really interesting because the president has fostered a culture inside the white house in which there were factions, people from different parts of the party people with different priorities. and one of the ways that you gain advantage is by leaking. so it's part of the environment, it goes with the environment, so that will be a big challenge for the new chief of staff kelly because they have to rein in that environment. as you talk about the new chief of staff, is general kelly supposed to take one of the worst acting presidential platoons and whip them into shape? >> i think you made a great point in the sense of when you

said that he was -- reince priebus wasn't perceived as being on team trump since the beginning. health care failed. and this was a president who knew that the republican controlled congress thought that the republican campaign party has campaigned for several years to repeal the affordable care act and they couldn't get it done. the arrival of john kelly and you have things like north korea bubbling over, and we've found out that the president will be signing the north korea sanctions in to law, and then with of course in venezuela, in terms of a foreign policy type of issue, i think what he does is bring a certain of level of credence and respect from the military community. and i think that the military community is very much looking forward to work with general kelly just upon the sources that i've spoken with in the past 24 hours. >> and the reaction of some

people within congress, general kelly coming in, barbara lee had made a distinction via tweet talking about the fact that putting kelly in charge trump is militarizing the white house and putting our executive branch in the hands of an extremisextremi. there is respect within the military, but we've heard with sean spicer back on twitter today demonstrating an opinion about this and saying that he took offense to it. there it is 37 not only is this wrong, it's offensive on muffle levels. muffle levels. what is the reaction in washington about this that many thought priebus had the experience to get done? >> you know, i think that basically because kelly doesn't

have the political experience, it's a big question mark of whether or not he can really get into the politics. job, whether he can work with both side of the aisle to get there done. i think certainly his background in the military as a general, you know, demands a certain amount of respect. at the same time kelly has been a loyal trump supporter in the administration for six months. and his agency, department of homeland security, has been overseeing the most contentious issues. they are responsible for the travel ban, they oversee deportations. so this is someone who has shown that he has embraced trump's agenda and i think that is a red flag for democrats. >> he's definitely demonstrated a willing noness to take orders. so what is next when it comes to health care arrested a

bipartisan path to reform? questions coming fast and furious and president trump weighed in last night. >> they have been working on that one for seven years. can you believe that? the swamp, but we'll get it done. we're going to get it done. i said from the beginning, let obamacare implode and then do it. i turned out to be right. let obamacare implode. >> so according to an nbc news report, moderate senators have been in meetings trying to find a mutual solution when it comes to the health care problem. and joining me new is congressman from new york lee zeldin. earlier today president trump tweeted that senate republicans looked like fools eefr th s ove moving forward with health care and issues with the filibuster. co do you agree republicans in the

senate look like fools? >> if they don't get anything done as relates to health care, certainly doesn't look good. there are conservatives and moderate senators who are willing to compromise trying to figures out how to get to why. some of this being big picture issues represented to the aca at large. but you also have more specifically a more urgent issue as relateses to the individual market. you just played a clip of the president talking about obamacare imploding. for people in the 2017 individual market, if you live in would be one-third of the co where you only have one option left, some of these counties will be down to zero options under the exchange, for people who live in those county, they could make the argument that it's already imploded. that is on the big picture stuff. on top of of that, you have

other proposals that require 60 votes. and it requires bipartisanship in the senate. that can be a great thing resulting in a better final product on reducing the cost of prescription drugs, making it easier to pull policies, and reform, just a few examples. so that is the next question bond the big picture aca repeal 00 deba debate where you can get everything either that wasn't part of this bill because it didn't work under the bird rule. >> as you know, a filling buster is really a parliamentary delay tactic that requires 630 votes. is really a parliamentary delay tactic that requires 630 votes. everybody other the last seven to eight years have run on repeal and replace.0 votes. everybody other the last seven to eight years have run on repeal and replace. why isn't there is a true plan that everybody can come to an agreement on as you talk about

the big bullet points of certain counties not having exchanges to focus and get their insurance through? >> i think you have the issue is that you have at least three republican senators who may not be willing to vote for any kind of repeal whatsoever. if that's the case, they won't get the votes to do nicanything. >> there is a report that there are some willing to work on solutions. take a listen to al franken. >> everything they proposed was terrible. everything they proposed took insurance away from millions and millions of americans. and raised costs. >> so what can you to you do to people as you go back to washington, hear what senators

are doing on the republican side, to make sure that americans that under this plan would have lost insurance in the decades to come are assured that they will have access to affordable care act? >> well, you know, for one, there are a whole lot of people right now who are counted as having health care but they can't afford to pay their breem y premiums. so if you can't afford it, you don't have access to it even if you're being counted as action covered. so putting aside the names of trumpcare or obama care owingca getting into the heart of it, if you look at the individual market where they are down on zero or one option left, if you try to have the highest possible standards of coverage where no insurer can provide any less than a particular standard set under the aca for example,

business model for insurance company, relatively simple, obviously as you know, too, you try to bring in more are r frfr premiums than you pay out. and the minimum that an insurer had to provide, as that went up, insurers were paying more than they were receiving in. so they started raising premiums, but you start price people out of the market because they can't afford it. so what conservatives lane r s liberals should do -- you can't have a one side fits all model. what might work in new york might not work in iowa. so you need an individual market in a county where there are options and that people have a

pool city that th policy that they can afford, not just one that count them as being covered. so you start looking at -- you start having a discussion on essential health benefits and community rating. and what the minimum standard is now and where you should possibly have some type of flexibility to create a market where you have options again. that debate should be had. i don't care if you're the most liberal democrat or conservative republican, everyone should be part of it because that for the individual, put all polling aside ors best possible partisan sound bites to lob at the other side, for that individual who does not actually have access too coverage, they don't have about any of that junk, they just want everyone to get to the table and talk about whatto coverage, they don't have about any of that junk, they just want everyone to get to the table and talk about what can be done to get coverage again. >> but everybody has been elected to repeal and replace

but no one can con to consensme consensus when everybody is under the gop umbrella. so with the conversation still active, will somebody cut and run to tax reform to get legislation for the president? >> well, we absolutely have to move forward on many fronts. on a normal week in the house, we could pass legislation on human trafficking with regard to the veteran choice program, securing our -- on the appropriations front. we had a number of appropriate yap appropriations bills pass this week. a lot gets dunl. so you have to be working on tax reform and dozens of other things. there have been hundreds of bills that have passed the houts

that the senate has to be willing to vote on. by the way, these are bills with large by part is an majorities in bipartisan majorities in the house. but that is something for the senators to explain.bipartisan house. but that is something for the senators to explain. and for a senate republican, voting against health care, i would be machblging that they had panlging that they would want to improve our tax code. i can't speak for the three senators that voted against the skinny bill. but hopefully they are part of the solutions and leading the way on tax reform. >> the beat goes on. congressman, thank you for your time. >> thank you. so president trump is coming under fire after his call to ban transgender from serving in the military. next we'll get reaction from a transgender service member who completed 13 tours of duty in

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donald trump manages to accomplish would be thing this week, sending a clear signal to lgbt americans that he is not on their side. first was the president trump's ban on transgender people from serving in the u.s. armed forces. a clear departure from his campaign rhetoric. and the justice department declared that the 196 wi4 sifld rights act does not protect on the basis of sexual orientation. and he announced that he said be calling on sam brownback to join

his team. he will serve as ambassador at large for international religious freedom. joining me now is a transgender lieutenant commander in the united states navy. really it should just be a lieutenant commander who happens to be transgender. i thank you for your time because i know that this is not an easy topic especially when the president has taken such actionable measures against those that would voluntarily serve in our military. what was your reaction to hearing this? >> he wilwell, i mean, it was af a shock, but you have to take a moment, gather yourself and go back to comings job that you are already doing. >> so when you think with the j about the job that you are already doing, joints chiefs caught off guard, this is a

troo tweet, so how could be fusing is this for the military to a cue from the president via twitter? >> we don't take kroous vkrooua twitter. when it happen, we will figure out our options. >> you are the president of sparta, correct? >> that's correct. >> so this is an lgbt advocacy organization. what is your message to those that you represent? >> to those out there that are elected by what may our ar may come, continue to do the job that we've always done. we are already stellar sailor, airmen, marine and soldiers.

you have company commanders, submariner, special operators and all aspects of the military continue to do in a job as well as we've always done it and the military is behind it and we will continue regardless of what happens. >> what would you say to our president personally about why you are not a burden to our military and this nation? >> i would say that i've done at least 11 deployments and i've never missed out on a training cycle, i'm ready to do the job. let me on do my job and let's get pack to worback to work. >> blake, thank you. we'll continue to follow this story.

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with health care dominating the headline, and meanwhile political junkies have descended on pasadena taking part in politicon which is the unconventional political convention. and jacob soboroff is there. how are you, my friend? i wanted you to have a one-on-one with the mooch, but he's not there. >> no, anthony scaramucci was supposed to shoaf w up and he i not here.

probably not a surprise after that tirade against many team people. really big political name with me right now, secretary of state of great staft kentucky, good to see you. your opponent mitch mcconnell after health care failed blamed it on the democrats. what is your creation? >> well, mccain and murdkowski and collins. so you can't blame anybody else but yourself. we actually need democrats and republicans coming together to make the common sense reforms necessary to the affordable care act. that can be done but i think what we saw was a victory for millions of americans and in kentucky we have over 400,000 who have been r benefitted from the affordable care act.

especially the expansion of medicaid. that's what we should be focusing on. the tears that mcconnell shed weren't for any kentuckians, they were for himself. >> you were only two of democrats electidemocrat democrats elected in your state. what have the demes learned? >> that's why we're here at police con. politicon. we have something good to say.c. politicon. we have something good to say. this accent gives us a little credibility in the south. >> yeah, i think people know that you are not from southern california. you very publicly refused a request from president trump's voter commission to ask for personal data that they asked ifed you for from about -- about the voters of your state.

what is the latest, are they continuing to ask? >> they received a order said this that he could collect the data, but the judge said it could harm voters across the country. i continue to say it was the renewed request with the same motivation. and you have the president looking to manufacture evidence for his loss, his in-surts of t security the, and also this could be at best a waste of taxpayer dollars, at worst one of the largest voter suppression efforts.best a waste of taxpaye dollars, at worst one of the largest voter suppression efforts. we know kris kobach is a hard liner on imgrakts issmigration

what would it mean if he had the department of homeland security? >> thehe's in a run for governo. you don't have to look to the court decisions especially the recent declaration that held him in contempt, found him for misleading the court on facts. someone that i said have serious concerns with especially if we're talking about immigration. >> great to see you here in southern california. thomas, back to you. ekt is of state of the great state of kentucky. >> all right, thank you very much. straight ahead for you here on msnbc, president trump taking the tough stance against one of north america's most notorious gangs. what it means to the immigration agenda moving forward. and also a new tweet from the president, we'll have that for you when we come back.

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president trump has gone after immigration targeting gang violence specifically ms-13. he did so yesterday and the president addressed police officers in suffolk county and turn some had heads. >> since january 16, think of this, ms-13 gang members have brutally murdered 17 beautiful young live tsslives. they beat them and they stabbed them. they have transformed peaceful parks and beautiful quiet neighborhoods into blood stained killing fields. >> local police there attribute 17 murders over 18 months to the ms-13 gang and the president says that president obama's immigration policies allowed for violent criminals to come into the country. yesterday trump continued his

tough talk encouraging police to use more force. >> when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you see them thrown in, rough, i said please don't be too nice. >> joining me now is retired nac nypd sergeant. great to have you here. joe, your reaction to the president talking about uses more extreme force as police communities have issues with officers. >> certainly this is bad timing. we're having a tough time in the country in dealing with police use of force. and this is not a change in policy for sure. and i expect every individual police officer in this country to follow the laws and policies and procedures that the department set forward. and it won't be tolerated if it isn't. >> the president said we have your backs 100%, not like the old days. it is great for a president to show support to the appliesing

xh policing community and those that choose to wear blue. but what type of message is this sending for communities that have a different perception of the police, one that is not oh, that's a good-bye with guy with? >> he who should try to eliminate the narrative that the police are the bad guys and i think he was trying but it doesn't come off that way. so we need to keep do the community reachout and get the message out there that we are the good guys. and they need to enforce the law. there is no change. just keep on doing whats r you doing. >> and he was talking about is an chsanctuary cities and the i.c.e. xhun fin for americans that may not look like you and me, what kind of message is he sending when it describes just the visual otherness of how

americans can be rooted here but we all don't look alike and this is separating us? >> yeah, i don't like the metaphors with bar awar and alle other things. people are suffering and we don't want to make them fearful to talk to the police. we don't want to give the impression that we are 45 rare g people people. we want them to cooperate to secure the neighborhoods. >> when it comes to this gang and the type of problems that they have kind of inflicted in different areas across this country, talking about it, that is a good thing, right? but in this type of description with the president encouraging almost what we saw freddie gray lose his life from, isn't that an issue that this president needs to be careful of?

>> the president has to be careful in the words he uses. it's not hits job s job to tell. we took this very seriously. we try to protect everybody's civil rights in order to do the job and as police officers, not only do we have to follow the law, we have to obey the law, too and i think that is when we will see. >> we are all prucare presumed until proven guilty. but this is not what we expect. but from reaction that you've gotten, are they impressed would i that talk or dismayed? >> a little bit of both. they were impressed because they got the message from the white house that they got their backs. i haven't spoken to anybody that the president was happy that the president said about the use of force. some were disgusted would eed b.

i was disappointed because that is the only thing that we're talking about. so this was an opportunity that he had and think he blew it. >> great to have you here. thanks. appreciate it. coming up, internal str struchingl strug hims within the democratic party and can they reclaim victory for 2018. they have people, but will it work. ray's always been different. last year, he said he was going to dig a hole to china. at&t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques. remote moisture sensors use a reliable network to tell them when and where to water. so that farmers like ray can compete in big ways. china. oh ... he got there. that's the power of and.

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just a short time ago we had the president coming back to twitter. he's been pretty active today. but this message is directed right to republican senators. take a look. the president said unless the republican senators are total quitters, repeal and replace is not dead. demand another vote before voting on any other bill. we know, as we were following on thursday and into friday, the issues with the skinny repeal failing on the hill.

this was with murkowski and collins and john mccain not voting and not giving the skinny billet go through. we'll talk about the other story developing in russia. how it is retaliating against the u.s. for the new sanctions passed by congress and the kremlin's meddling for 2016. last night the president said he would be signing this bill. the overwhelming support it received from capitol hill and hours later moscow responded by seizing u.s. diplomatic properties. richard engel has more from moscow. >> in above it hardly looks like the center of a diplomat rou between washington and the kremlin but the russia government is seizing this retreat from american bipartisans and a storage facility. the american country house is now gated shut and over the next month and a half, russia said it will be sending hundreds of

americans home. putting a cap on the number of americans who can serve in this country as 455. the exact number of russian diplomats who serve in the russia. it is the punishment for sanctions passed by congress. >> the united states of america needs to send a strong message to vladimir putin and any other aggressor that we will not tolerate attacks on our democracy. >> and it is also a delayed retaliation by president obama last year and his response to russia's election meddling, back then on the eve of the inauguration, putin didn't respond. but now russian officials like andrei clemoff from the foreign relations committee call president trump weak and ineffective. >> it seems to me personally, from time to time, that he's really prisoner of the white house. >> the u.s. embassy in moscow said it was informed about the loss of the house and the

personnel cap and has registered its complaint. richard engel, msnbc news, moscow. >> and we had the senate and house voting overwhelmingly making it veto proof for the president's signature. and now as democrats are trying to find a message to help them win control of congress next year, the most conservative members say the answer may lie in their group, the 18 democrats that make up the coalition. they say they believe right-leaning candidates could capture the voters that democrats lost to democrat. blue dogs say karen handle could have been beaten by more conservative democrats. and making it the most expensive house race in history but it did come close and raise the numbers and hopes there in georgia. joining me now from the blue dog coalition, henry kuar. and as you are from texas and know republican party politics,

as a democrat, how do you think the party could get behind more conservative democratic candidates for a shot at seats for 2018? >> well, a couple of ways. first of all, we spend a lot of time with the dccc and at the very beginning at the year, i went out and sat down with them and said listen, we have to make sure we have people that are running in seats that blue dogs can win because if you remember, last time we had a majority, when nancy pelosi was speaker of the house, and that is because we had 54 democrats, when we lost all of those democrats in 2010, we lost the majority, we lost nancy pelosi and from there our numbers went down and we went down to about 14 and now we're 18. and we've been able to -- we've been working very well with the

dccc and working with the democratic leadership within the caucus or the house, we want to make sure that people understand that if we're going to win the majority, there is one simple premise. you tell me how many liberal seats are out there that republicans have won that we need to get back. i really don't think there is any out there. >> but so you -- >> it is those difficult seats that we have to get back. >> and so when it comes to what you are doing and the meetings that you've been taking with trump officials and discussions about tax reform and where this administration will be going, you've gotten a lot of pushback from colleagues. what is your reaction to that? >> well, nobody has talked to me about that. the blue dog democrats, we sat down with the white house, with the white house at the very beginning and we said, look, let's find some common ground, this is at the very beginning of the year and let's try to find common ground. it was interesting that they told us

this, they said except for health care, we can talk about tax reform, we can talk about transpo transportation. we know what is happening with health care that the republicans are refusing to work with us democrats who come up -- to come up with a way to address the issues that we need to. so it is one of those things that if we can find common ground, we will do it. not with the white house, but doing what is right with what we need to do. i mean, we got to understand that -- that we do need some sort of tax reform. we have to understand we need transportation and some of us in a place like texas, trade is very important. and know that for some of my colleagues and democratic party that is a difficult issue but we have to understand every district is different. it is not trying to get the candidate we want, it is getting the candidates that we need to win in those districts and that is my simple message. >> congressman henry kuar of

texas. thank you for. >> and stick with us, we're back with much more in the next hour. you're not taking these. hey, hey, hey! you're not taking those. whoa, whoa! you're not taking that. come with me. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. mom, i'm taking the subaru. don't be late. even when we're not there to keep them safe, our subaru outback will be. (vo) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. ♪ 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

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