flight on msnbc, "andrea mitchell reports." and right now on "andrea mitchell reports," cracking down, after a flood of leaks of the president's calls to foreign leaders. the attorney general and director of national intelligence lay down the law today. >> today, i have this message for our friends in the intelligence community, the department of justice is open for business. and i have this warning for would be leakers. don't do it. >> if you improperly disclose classified information, we will find you. we will investigate you. we will prosecute you to the fullest extent to the law and you will not be happy with the result. >> digging in, the special prosecutor in the russia investigation, bringing his investigation closer to the white house. >> the fact that he is now apparently gone to a grand jury

means he now needs the power of compulsion to get documents to compel witnesses to testify. that is a necessary step to move forward to a potential prosecution. it doesn't mean that he will prosecute. but this is part of the investigation, very much moving forward. and seeing red. a defiant donald trump rallying his base in west virginia. trying to undermine the legitimacy of the mueller probe. >> have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio? or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. attorney general jeff sessions and director of national intelligence dan coats have put government leakers and the press on notice. taking aim at a familiar trump administration target. the intelligence community.

>> criminals who would illegally use their access to our most sensitive information to endanger our national security are, in fact, being investigated and will be prosecuted. >> it is important to stress that any disclosure of unauthorized channels -- excuse me. any disclosure outside of authorized channels is a criminal offense. and we will simply not tolerate the illegal release of classified information. >> and in a red flag for the pr press, putting the news media on notice as well. >> one of the things we are doing is reviewing policies affecting media subpoenas. we respect the important role that the press plays, and we'll give them respect. but it is not unlimited. >> joining me now is nbc national correspondent peter alexander at the justice department where he's just been

covering the attorney general and of course dan coats. and nbc's kristen welker at the white house. peter, first to you. what they said has a lot of warnings. what's behind this? it seemed to me they were trying -- jeff sessions was trying to send a message to donald trump. that he's on the job. >> i mean, i think you could suggest they may as well have pointed the podium to the oval office, that this was for an audience of one. ten days ago the president expressed his frustration about the justice department, specifically the attorney general jeff sessions' handling of the leak investigations. saying he had a week position on these intelligence leakers. here they insist this is the result of what they say is just an extraordinary number of leaks that have been taking place. this is something they've been focused on. there's a tripling in the number of investigations they are focused on. what they focused on in the course of the last seven months matches the number of investigations in the last three

years. so the two real take aways were the reviewing of media subpoenas. obviously, that raises questions about press freedom. as you heard from jeff sessions, they say press freedom is not unlimited here. a and the fact they're dedicating resources to this effort. we heard from rod rosenstein after the cameras were turned off. he spoke about this topic as well, saying this is going to be a real priority for them. that the fbi is now in effect had a unit developed that's going to focus specifically on the unauthorized disclosures of classified and confidential information. >> thanks to peter alexander. kristen welker at the white house, this president has complained about leaks. truth be told, i've never seen transcripts released before of a president's comments to other leaders.

of course, this announcement today was planned long before those transcripts were published yesterday by "the washington post." >> there's no doubt about that. and let me apologize in advance. they are mowing the lawn here at the white house. so that's the background noise that you hear on this friday. but, look, this has been a big issue for this president as you know. he has said that the main issue with the russian investigation are the leaks. effectively that's the only crime here. that's what he wants the attorney general to look into. he spent so many days lashing out at attorney general jeff sessions for recusing himself in the russia probe and finally said that what he really wants to see is for jeff sessions to go after the leakers. i think you're seeing that play out. the attorney general heeding what the president has effectively warned. of course, this white house is digging in as the russia probe deepens. as you reported at the top of the show, there are now a number

of grand juries that are looking into the russia investigation, including here in washington, d.c. i can tell you, the strategy is that the president has come out swinging. overnight he was in west virginia. that's of course a state he won handily. he called the probe a fabrication, doubling down on his efforts to try to delegitimize the entire investigation. i was able to speak with one of his top advisors, kellyanne conway. she said this is nothing more than a fabrication. there are two other headlines that are coming out today. one, you're seeing the legal team and the president's top advisors stress they have not been made aware of the grand jury or that the president is under investigation himself. then, secondly, they're answering the activity we're seeing on congress. the efforts to introduce legislation that would limit the president's ability to remove special counsel robert mueller.

they are insisting the president is not considering that action at this point in time. we're drilling down on both of those two headlines today as the investigation continues to wind to widen. >> that's interesting. i would attribute that to john kelly, the new chief of staff. a broad morning it would set off such a firestorm. really, as dianne feinstein told us, it could be the end of a short presidency if he were to do that, considering the bipartisan opposition in congress. travel safely. i know you're on your way to bedminister. we'll talk to you later from there. joining me now nbc intelligence and national security reporter ken delaney. a let's clarify what this grand jury is and is not. it's becoming clear that there's

been a lot of confusion in some of the reporting. it's basically an ongoing grand jury, which robert mueller would normally be going to for subpoena power. >> that's right. there has been confusion. because there were initial reports that robert mueller had impanelled his own special grand jury. nbc news is reporting that does not appear to be the case. it appears he's using a sitting grand jury in washington, d.c. has he has been using a sitting grand jury in alexenedria, virginia. he feels he needs to use grand jury that's closer to his offices. maybe examining conduct that happened in the district, which could include conduct in the white house. it's a meaningful development. grand juries can be used to compel witness testimony. while you can decline to sit for an interview with the fbi, you

have to appear before a grand jury if called. >> continuing here at the table with michael schmidt and ron clane. let's talk about leaks. some of the leaks scaramucci were complaining about were politically embarrassing leaks. what really is of concern to the attorney general and dan coats are classified information. i was curious about the way they seem to be throwing the intelligence community, which is familiar target of candidate trump and president elect trump and now president trump under the bus, but the fact is it's not at all clear that any of this has come from the intelligence community. there have been denials. >> it plays into the whole deep state. the deep state is the one that's undermining trump. but you have to remember that this is something trump has been obsessed with as far back as february. on that day that comey says he asked him to end the flynn investigation, the other half of their discussion is about leaks.

trump says that we should put reporters in jail. we should go to these extreme things to do. comey says, look, these are really hard investigations to do. so this is something that's been on trump's mind as early as the first weeks of his presidency. >> as a lawyer, and you're the only one at this table who is not just playing one on tv. you are a lawyer. with former general counsel on the hill. this is a significant warning shot for the news media as well? >> look, if you like getting my leisure suit out because we're going backing to the 70s. we have a president in the white house with a grand jury investigation going on and an obsession with leaks. the only damaging piece of intelligence that's been released in the six months of the trump presidency was when donald trump gave the russians israeli intelligence. most of what's come up in the trump months have been embarrassing disclosures, you know, politically harmful disclosures but not the leaks of

classified intelligence. >> let me challenge that point in one respect. because i think the transcripts were very damaging. because they have a chilling effect to foreign leaders talking to our president, any president to have a transcript -- those are routinely classified. those are transcripts made by the situation room. they're made by career people down there. limited circulation as you know from having worked in the white house. this would go to key cabinet members, to the national security advisor, deputy national security advisor, chief of staff but not to a wider group unless there were specific conversations that deal with trade, sanctions, proliferation or other things that would have to involve the secretary of state. at times, i'm told that an ambassador in the field would be notified that such a call was being made. the transcripts would not be circulated. >> we don't know how widely they were circulated in the chaotic process that is the trump white house. >> fair enough.

>> i would also say, when a president has a call with a foreign leader, he doesn't know how many people are on the phone on the other end. so any president who thinks that's a secret conversation with the president of mexico, president of australia is fooling themselves. it's breakdown in process, of course, that these things came out. but i don't think any president believes when they have a one-on-one conversation with a foreign leader that's there's no risk that's going to come out from the other side of the conversation. and in this case, look, these transcripts are hugely embarrassing. it's much more about the political embarrassment of the president contradicting his own administration saying whacky things that any kind of revelation of state secrets. >> and to that point, exactly, ken delaney, according to the author of the washington post story, they went to the white house and the white house did not push back or ask them not to publish. and did not have any problem, apparently, at least, after they

checked with the white house, according to "the washington post." >> that's right. but as you pointed out, even trump's most ardent critics have condemned this because they do say, you know, it has the potential to chill private conversations. it's hard to defend. but there have been a number of other leaks of classified information that have revealed important information about the russian investigation. we know that the white house didn't act after sally yates went to them rising concerns about michael flynn until a leak to "the washington post" about intercepted conversations. classified leaks have played an important role in bringing to light, you know, public information. the other thing i'd say, it's significant we learned today that the justice department has tripled the number of leak investigations since the obama administration. recall, obama was heavily criticized for going after leakers. i'm not convinced it was an obama policy. it just so happened a lot of cases landed at that time and

they prosecuted a number of people for leaking. unprecedented number of people. it looks like the trump justice department is on track to prosecute three times as many. >> michael schmidt, this is a warning. it will, obviously, be read throughout newsrooms around the country at a time when you've got a real newspaper war going on between the times and the post in particular. most people believe -- republicans as well as democrats on capitol hill has actually been a constructive part of what we've learned about this white house. >> the people that came forward knew the ramifications of this. they're not learning anything new today. clearly, there's something going on politically that is motivating people to speak in ways that we've not seen them speak in recent times. so will things change after today?

people will probably be reminded of the rules and say man this is going to be really serious. at the same time, things have not changed politically. my guess these things will probably continue. >> and to ron's point, there has been selective oval office outrage about the leaking of classified information, but only when it is embarrassing to them, not when they are among -- >> look, it was just said, i mean, we might still have mike flynn on foreign government payrolls as the president's national security advisor if it wasn't for some of these disclosures. a great service to protect american's national security has been done. >> we're going to have to leave it there. thanks to all of you. coming up, president trump mocking the russia investigation at a campaign-style rally in west virginia. we have chuck todd joining us next. right here on "andrea mitchell reports." stay wus. hanging out in here. hanging out in here. so if you need anything, text me. do you play?

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have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? they can't beat us at the voting booths, so they're trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. they're trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning

to all of us. >> president trump firing up his supporters at west virginia rally last night with an aggressive new attempt to d discredit the investigation. joining me is chuck todd. chuck, that speech last night was not just another rewarmed campaign rally. because this time he was saying they're trying to take the government, the leadership away from you. it was -- there was a different tone to that to my ears. >> i think -- there's no doubt this president knows how to talk to his base. i think you're going to progressively see this president use the russia investigation and every -- no matter how bad it looks to those of us in washington and all that stuff. but use it as a grievance and use it in just that way.

saying they're trying to undo the election. they're taking this away. i expect this to be the president's midterm message if that's the position he's in at that point. where the way to fire up his base is to say, hey, my presidency, they'll kick me out of office if you give the democrats congress. that may not how paul ryan and mitch mcconnell would like midterms to go messaging wise. i think this president is quite comfortable doing that. i think we've got to hint to that. i have been convinced for some time that if anybody uses the threat of impeachment as a political rallying cry in 2018, that it will be the president that does it, not democrats. >> and, in fact, this is so contradictory to what we're hearing in the last couple of weeks, it's so interesting that senator tillis from north carolina joined chris coons and

others to make sure there can't be a recess appointment. i mean, this is a joint bipartisan effort to try to stop any effort to go after mueller. interesting that the president does not want to fire bob mueller. i think that is the john kelly in the chief of staff's office. >> perhaps, you've got to be careful with jay sekulow. sometimes i'm wondering how much he does know or how much is he informed to take him at his word. we don't know how fully engaged and involved he is. particularly because of that very big mislead by him on that front. overall, look, i hear you on that. this is all russia driven. the president would be in such a better place with his party, and his party would give him more

benefit of the doubt on everything else -- >> absolutely. >> -- if his action and words about putin and russia weren't so strange. that's the bottom line. they're just strange. look at all the little things we learned. the g-20 dinner. why did those world leaders leak it out that the president ended up with another private meet ing with putin. they couldn't believe they thought they were america's closest allies and who is hanging with? the person that everybody in that room says is not an ally these days. and it's just -- whether it's that, whether it's the president tweeting that congress is making relations with russia bad. somehow it's not russia's fault. it's not the fault of russia grah grabbing crimea. it's those actions that have spurred a group of republicans to start thinking about the instituti institutions before their own political party. i think that's what you're

seeing here. the institutionalist mentality taking more and more hold every day. >> i mean, that's what set off lindsey graham and bob corker and john mccain. now the signing statements, where he blames congress more than he blames vladmir putin. he singled out pyongyang, understandably. but he does not blame russia in the two signing statements he issued. it's the -- which is only reinforced, by the way, by the release of the transcript about the conversation with the australian foreign minister in the first week of his presidency, saying his conversation -- he enjoyed his conversation with putin, but this is the worst conversation i've had all day, good bye. you can't make it up. a lot to dig into on "meet the press," we're looking forward to sunday. of course, to mtp daily at 5:00 today. so much news. if it's friday afternoon, though, obviously be a breaking

story friday saturday and sunday. thanks so much. coming up, former homeland security janet napolitano is joining me next on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. this is joanne. her long day as a hair stylist starts with shoulder pain when...

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simply put, these leaks hurt our country. all of us in government can do better. every agency and congress has to do better. we are taking a stand. this culture of leaking must stop. >> today's warnings from the attorney general came after an unprecedented leak of transcripts completely coincidental, though, revealing the president's private conversations with foreign leaders. janet napolitano served as homeland security head under president obama. thank you for being with us today. how concerning do you think it should be that there have been so many leaks? sessions and coats seem to be blaming the intelligence community. i'm not sure that it's the -- that's the source of the leaks, but that's who they're aiming this at and the news media. >> well, you know, it should be

a concern. but an equal concern should be what methods the justice department intends to use here. i think the idea of subpoenaing media sources, there should be an extraordinarily high bar and a factual showing of what damage to the national security has been done before that can occur. >> and to make sure they're not just going after leaks that are embarrassing, but don't damage national security in your view? >> that's right. that's right. and, remember, we're in a presidency that has basically declared the media the enemy. and so i think we have to be, like i said, extraordinarily careful that under the guise of

getting rid of a culture of leaks this is not just igniting a media war. >> one of the leaks that was not planned, because this was a planned announcement today, but the release of the transcripts included the release of a conversation with the president of mexico about the wall. embarrassing of course. former mexican president fox spoke out about that. and what the president had to say about one of his successors about the wall. let me play that for you. >> do you think that the president of mexico should have been more forceful in saying it's never going to happen? >> you can use my words. we'll never pay for that [ bleep ] wall. would that wall, that makes it more clear. >> vicente fox making it clear. at least according to the transcript, mexico's current

president was very explicit they were not going to pay for the wall. >> i read for transcript today. that's a call that you can question what each of those leaders were doing, pena nieto and trump. they're clearly feeling each other out a little bit. i think mexico's position has been very clear and is very clear. they will not pay for the wall. >> is there any concern that there's a chilling effect when you have leaks like this of calls that the president of the united states makes -- any president makes to another leader? >> yes, you know, i think anybody who is a chief executive needs to have some confidence that they can have a private conversation with someone. however, that particular leak

endangered national security versus being on the more -- embarrassing end of the spectrum i would call it a question. >> i want to ask you about the secret service. you use today command the secret service. the secret service has had a dispute with the trump organization. they have been kicked out of trumpato trump tower. they now are in the new command post on the street. they're negotiating for other office space. how concerning is it that the secret service is a long elevator ride away from the protectee potentially? >> i think it is a concern. and i think it's indicative of the fact that the president and his family are very expensive to protect and protect in the right way.

we see this also with the coast guard in providing security around mar-a-lago. the increased expense of that at a time when the trump budget cuts the coast guard budget. so i think if we want to insure protection that the level that we have historically provided, then there needs to be a give on either side. either on the trump tower side or on the funding of the secret service side. >> thank you so much for being with us. governor, madam secretary napolitano thank you, good to see you. coming up, plugging the leaks. more on the unprecedented release of those transcripts. stay tuned. we'll be right back. for your h. your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish,

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liz assumed all dressingsrust were made equal. assume nothing. just like the leading brands, these kraft dressings are made with high quality ingredients, at a price you can feel good about. no wonder kraft is so good. welcome back. even some of the president's biggest critics on capitol hill like the intelligence committee member mark warner are condemning the leak of the president's phone calls. joining me now is the form senior director of president obama's security council. thank you so much. both of you have been there, you've seen the importance of some of these calls with foreign leaders. ned, how small a circle would be involved in setting up the call,

tribi transcribing the call, and circulating a transcript. >> these calls are confined to a very small group. when you're talking about a foreign leader call from the president of the united states to his counterpart you're talking about a dozen people maybe with access to that transcript. the vice president, chief of staff, senior advisors within the administration, sometimes it's given to other senior cabinet officials like the secretary of state, the secretary of treasury or the secretary of defense. when it comes to the staff, it's going to be a small group of people that have access to the contents of that call. it's going to be transcribed and recorded by the situation room. it's going to be -- the call itself will be attended typically by the senior director responsible for the area, in this case the director for western atmosphere in the case of mexico. and the director responsible for the content of that. it's not a large universe. there's going to be a lot of finger pointly clearly. this white house is going to be serious about tamping down on

leaks, they need to look at president trump himself. of course you raised earlier the issue of him divulging sensitive israeli information to the russians a couple months ago. there was a story just last week where on twitter, in fact he made reference to a covert program. for candidate who built his campaign on security, president trump seems to be the leaker in chief. >> they are targeting the intelligence community, it's not at all clear that anything came from the intelligence community. >> it's not at all clear that's where it came from. in fact, one of the challenges here is that leaks are a function of culture. the culture of an institution really is what sets the tone. i've been part of lots of all organizations. they've all had leaks, they've had variety of leakiness if you will. what dictates the leakiness or

desire of people to leak is a sense of the culture of the institution. this will be the challenge for general kelly. how does he really alter the culture of the place to make leaks something that people just don't do. >> in fact, one of the things i learned as a young reporter covering the reagan white house where there was the so-called troika. three power centers in the white house. you had a strong chief of staff, but with three power servers, the leaks were wonderful. we revelled in them. this white house, you've got bannon, you've got ivanka and jared. you've got the political players that have now been experfeungee. all of these different groups. ned, you know, it's katie bar the door. and the president himself. >> that's right. it's going to be the problem when you have fiefdoms inside the west wing. this administration i think has

taken upon itself a very deliberate strategy of trying to equalize all leaks. trying to criminalize the leaks of palace intrigue the same way they're trying to criminalize the legitimate leaks of properly classified national security information. but not all leaks are created equal. a lot of what we've seen come from this administration is the leaks of palace intrigue. the who is up, who is down, who is going against whom. and that is politically embarrassing. it's politically sensitive for the white house. but it is not at all illegal. they need to be clear about that if they are going to embark on a much more aggressive campaign to stop illegal leaks of classified information. >> to what extent do we see the hand of john kelly in this first week on the job? >> well, i think you see it in terms of some of the discipline around messaging. first you had immigration, which that was a roll rouout of a new policy. and with jobs and the strength of the economy. he's having an impact.

the challenge is not so much in managing the staff. the question is how does he manage up. can the commander in chief be managed. in some ways chiefs of staff have that role. they have to tell the principal when they're doing something wrong and destruction to their overall aims. the question is can general kelly make the case to the president that some of the tweeting or statements or some of the offhanded comments are not things that would be helpful. the question, bigger question is going to be can he do that. >> another big question is where does he come down on this afghanistan argument. because he was a commander. he knows this issue so well. here you've got general mattis and the commander nicholson under fire by the president over the afghanistan policy review which is overdue. >> the knives tend to be out for h.r. mcmaster. there's a new website out from a conservative blogger called

mcmaster leaks. so clearly, his posture on some of these issues, i think afghanistan in particular, where according to press reports at least, mcmaster is advocating a much more stringent deployment of u.s. forces on the ground. you have people in the white house who are nationalists they are the america first crowd who would be just as happy to leave the place and to leave it be. so you see the civil war playing out. every day the knives are getting sharper and sharper. there are clearly some people who have h.r. mcmaster in their sights. >> thank you so much. what's next in the russian investigation? how was john kelly's first week on the job? more on that coming up. you're watching andrea mitche"al reports" on msnbc. everything. i love you, but sometimes you stink.

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could be preventedrrent with the right steps. and take it from me, every step counts. a bayer aspirin regimen is one of those steps in helping prevent another stroke. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. this nation must end this culture of leaks. we will investigate and seek to bring criminals to justice. we will not allow rogue anonymous sources with security clearances to sell out our country. these cases, to investigate and prosecute, are never easy. but cases will be made and

leakers will be held accountable. >> we stand warned. what does attorney general jeff sessions' warning mean for the press who have been so aggressive in covering the white house. we've had a newspaper war going on. let's get the inside school house from the national reporter at "the new york times" and an msnbc contributor and a columnist at "the washington post." we have both major newspapers here. >> at war. >> at war. it's been by all accounts a very constructive newspaper battle in terms of the people's right to know. >> i mean, it definitely has been. i think what -- much of what we know about the trump administration and much of what's led to the firings are because "the new york times" and and "the washington post" are continuing to dig and get what the president is starting to say is leaks and kind of classified information. michael flynn would still have a job if it wasn't for this.

even though mooch was taken out by another thing, the new yorker were able to get newsy stuff and write about this. the role of the press in general is we're holding the administration to the fire. we're to the fire. we're questioning what's happening in the government and i think that's what we seeing, is a push back on that. >> ruth, do you have any problem with the release of the transcripts? >> i totally understand why from the point of view of government officials and presidents of any party, and officials of foreign governments that that is discomforting and unsettling, to say the least. but i think that there's a reason why we have never seen this before. and probably why we have never seen this degree of leaking before. which is people are leaking because, as anthony scaramucci said the other day, there are people inside the white house and elsewhere in the government who think their job is to save the country from president trump. people are seeing behaviors that concern them.

and that is one reason for this large number of leaks. >> one of the things janet th napolitano, former prosecutor said, the threshold for when you go after the media, should be a very high bar. should be a threat to national security, not just a political embarrassment. >> and i think part of what's going on is they're so embarrassed by all that's going on, but also because the career officials, ones who have a loyalty to their institutions, not just to the president, are saying we really need to talk about. the fact that even my paper maybe two days ago was writing about the fact that doj was going to go after targeting affirmative action, that's something career people were looking at, and there's no source -- the source hasn't been revealed. but i know i'm getting calls from people saying, look, i have been in this agency for years and years and years, i'm very worried about the motivations behind some of the policies that we're now pursuing. >> which is what people, by the way, at the state department,

energy department, a number of people at different departments -- >> that have been working over different administrations. we're not talking about republicans or democrats. we're talking about people who took the job because they believe in the goal. >> and with respect to what janet napolitano said, it's important for people to understand how news organizations like ours handle news of sensitive national security information. these things are not rushed into print. despite the pressures on us from the speeded up news cycle. when a newspaper or news organization comes across a very sensitive piece of information, we understand what it is. we go to authorities. we discuss with authorities. there are numerous times when you read in newspapers where they'll say this is being withheld at the request of government officials. we are doing our job, and we are also patriotic americans. and this is a back and forth. that's of necessity. when you start cracking down on

people, you actually threaten that interchange and that balance. >> now, i want you to also bring us back to the base, and to west virginia, where the president really seems to be not just returning to themes of the past campaign, but ramping up criticism of the mueller investigation, and trying to make this where he is representing himself as the agrieved party to his loyal supporters. let's watch. >> what the prosecutors should be looking at are hillary clinton's 33,000 deleted e-mails. >> so here he's going back to the 33,000 deleted e-mails? i mean -- >> he said after the election he didn't want to go there. jeff sessions, the attorney general, said in his testimony

to the senate judiciary committee that in america we don'ts we don't prosecute our political opponents and he recused himself, even before he recused himself from the russia probe, for good reason, from looking at anything related to hillary clinton, because he knows that's not the way we do things in america. we don't go after our political enemies. >> let's remember, this is what the president does when he's backed into a corner. i was talking to some sources on capitol hill yesterday. and i was talking to them about affirmative action and what's going on there and also about health care. and they're like, he basically hasn't been able to pass legislation. so what do you do when you feel like your government isn't working, you go back to a state like west virginia where you won 68% of the vote and where his approval rating right now is 60%. so people in west virginia are loving what they're seeing. they're loving the flashiness. they believe that what he's writing, these executive orders are really doing nothing, but seeing the government at work. so he wants to go back to those people and feel that energy, and he wants to say, okay, i am

doing -- the people do love me. when in reality he knows when he gets back to washington, republicans are frustrated with the fact he actually isn't getting anything done. >> but he was getting that energy from the crowd there as they were chanting "lock her up," but i thought he said an even scarier thing in order to ramp up the crowd there, which was to suggest that as mueller goes forward, if he does something that is even more serious than a grand jury investigation or as that proceeds, that he will be usurping their democratic choice. he will have been interfering with their vote. that is very scary to suggest that duly authorized prosecutor named by a republican deputy attorney general, just doing his job, would be trying to interfere with the democratic vote. that is chilling. >> and we're going to have to leave it there. to be continued. thank you so much. and tonight at 9:00 eastern, make sure to tune in for richard engel "on assignment." richard will be live from

beijing tonight, looking at the trump administration's decision to pull out of the paris climate accord. make sure you watch. and we'll be right back. a millie dresselhaus doll! happy birthday, sweetie! oh, millies. trick or treat! we're so glad to have you here. ♪ what if we treated great female scientists like they were stars? ♪ yasss queen! what if millie dresselhaus, the first woman to win the national medal of science in engineering, were as famous as any celebrity? [millie dresselhaus was seen having lunch today...] ♪ [...rumors of the new discovery...] what if we lived in a world like that? (crowd applauding) ♪ we know a place that's already working on it.

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and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." thanks for being with us. remember, follow the show online, on facebook and on twitter at mitchell reports. and chris jansing is up next right here next to me on msnbc. >> shoulder to shoulder with andrea mitchell. thank you so much. good afternoon, i'm chris jansing live in washington, d.c. the culture of leaking.

the justice department cracking down on the leaking of classified information. claiming it's endangering our national security and threatening harsh punishments. but is it a move to apiece the president? making the case. robert mueller now using multiple grand juries to help gather information in the special counsel's investigation. is that a sign the russia probe is ratcheting up? and republican reinforcement. not one, but two pieces of bipartisan legislation to prevent president trump from firing the special counsel. are they sending a clear warning to the president who continues to call the russia probe a hoax? let's start with vacation for president trump. although none of the leak -- none for the leakers, his administration today say they are now doggedly pursuing, tripling the number of ongoing investigations into like investigations leakers and threatening anyone who gets caught. so as he heads for 17 hours of r & r later today, his aor