nothing. >> that's right. >> they mean nothing. >> you get the last ten seconds. >> i just thought it was pretty remarkable that he had words of praise in vladimir putin and says he's disappointed in mim. >> says he thanked vladimir putin by cutting the payroll by the spelling, the staff of the u. u.s. embassy in moscow. "mtp daily" starts right now. >> this would just be easier if the president would just say i'm going to do live interviews every day between nicole and chuck. why bother. cut out the middle man. >> he can start at the end of my show, i'm hand him off to you. you can finish. it will be fun. >> all right. mr. president, you heard it right there. if it's thursday, the president sundays off on everything, from north korea to mcconnell to the russia investigation.

>> good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington and welcome to "mtp daily." we're starting with a bit of breaking news, if you want to call it that. the president decided to take a lot of questions from reporters today. and it was a wide range of topics, perhaps most notably he continued his hot rhetoric on north korea after that country threatened to strike the u.s. territory of guam. >> he does something in guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before, what will happen in north korea. >> and when you say that, what do you mean? you'll see. you'll see. and he'll see. >> is that a -- >> elsee. >> is that a dare? it's a statement. it has nothing to do with dare. it's a statement. he's not going to go around threatening guam and he's not going to threaten the united states and he's not going to threaten japan, and he's not going to threaten south korea. no. that's not a dare, as you say.

that is a statement of fact. >> the president vowed to increase the military budget by, quote, many billions because of north korea. he also said he wanted to, quote, did he nuke the world, unquote. on a few other military matters, he said they're going to decide soon about whether to send more troops into afghanistan and if so how many. and that iran is not being compliant with the nuclear agroechlt. he expressed support in his national security advisor h.r. mcmaster who of course has been coming urntd fire from those that are sympathetic to the steve bannon wing of the kbhs and the republican party. and he also spoke about the fbi's raid of his former campaign chief paul manafort. >> i thought it was a very, very strong signal or whatever. i know mr. manafort. i haven't spoken to him in a long time, but i know. he was with the campaign as you know for a very short period of time, relatively short period of time. but i've known him to be a good man. i thought it was a very, you

know -- they do that very seldom, so i was surprised to see it. i was very, very surprised to see it. >> the president said he's not going to fire special counsel bob mueller. he also touched on other topics ranging from leaks to russia's decision to expel u.s. dim attic staff, hillary clinton's server, his election victory. he doubled down on his attacks against senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and more. i know we're not getting all of this in, right. luckly we know some of you watched it live a few minutes ago. let me bring in tonight as panel. they've den dissecting this. i think we had a president today that was pent-up a little bit. once again, he hates the press and he lust the press. and he just couldn't help himself today. >> yeah. i think he's a little lonely out there at bedminster. only by a handful of his

advisers, but notably he's with his national security advisor h.r. mcmaster and several national security officials out there today. so it's very clear that north korea is top of mind for all those guys. >> and what was interesting was and on one hand you're not surprised, the president essentially said, no, no regrets on fire and fury. if anything i would have been stronger and i thought well, that's the trump we all know. but again, we know him. what does the world hear? that's -- >> one thing i find interesting is that general mattis, the secretary of defense, was talking about the end of the north korean regime. now, mattis doesn't have a reputation as somebody who is full of bluster who just shoots his mouth off. he evidently either wants to be on the same page as president trump or thinks that it's important to get that same kind of warning out there. >> what was interesting, though, i'm glad you quoted mattis, because that was how you word a statement that if you wanted to

interpret it, dap yell la, as over the top and hawkish or if you wanted to interpret it as being measured, that's what -- that was the brilliance in mattis' statement because i think he's right. on the one hand the end of the north korean regime. that could have meant anything. >> yes. >> it was much more sults than how the president did it. >> it is. but you have to put it in the context of what trump said, right. like we can't remove the president from everything. >> they have to speak as one, even when they're not speaking as one. >> exactly. >> yes. >> you know, it's like well, you know, don't look too much into what the president tweets or says. he's the president of the united states. and words have cons. and to your earlier about what are other people thinking, what are the south koreans thinking what are the japanese thinking, well, then what are you talking? how far are you willing to go with this rhetoric. >> i think more than the president's words having potential consequences, i do think that world leaders have now become accustomed to these sorts of things from closely observing the president, but we

get into dangerous situations when world powers can calculate that their ability to launch missiles doesn't have the threat of a major repercussions. i mean, it surpassed three manages that have gotten us to this point in the first place. what's interesting to me is that president trump, who has mocked barak obama for drawing a red line, has not drawn a red line. he has made a real threat, but it's not totally clear to me what the red line this administration is going to draw is. >> i think he drew one. others think he's drawing one now. >> i don't think so. >> but that's the point. we don't know. >> i don't think so. >> we don't know what the north koreans think, what the chinese think. it certainly to me looks as if he's saying we're not going to respond with sanctions anymore. >> that's right. and of course the other thing is what draws forth the fire and fury. yesterday's remarks by the president made it sound as though it would only take north korean threats to get there. now it seems like -- certainly mattis was talking about that would be a response to action.

that's maybe a nuance, maybe i'm taking what trump said yesterday literally and i shouldn't. but a carefully crafted statement that he had consulted with his colleagues before making would have observed that distinction. >> what's interesting is that this was all -- he's also the other topic thern having and frankly it may have been the longer conversation is afghanistan because they sort of are not on the same -- that is another thing where the national security vifr and mattis are in one place, the president, steve bannon frankly is in another. he goes, look, we're getting very close. it's a very big decision for me. i took over a mess and we're going to make it a lot less messy. it's a very big decision for me. he's right there and he's hesitant about sending in any more troops. so it's funny to hear all this unless that the president is being over the top on north korea when he actually gives off every vibe of somebody not wanting to start any new confrontation. >> right.

it's so confusing and sometimes i think it's because he doesn't know. he very much operates from his gut, and i think his gut told him that afghanistan is a mess, as he says, and he doesn't want to sebd any more troops. on the other hand, he does the stuff on north korea. i mean w it would be very interesting to see -- he always talks about he's surrounding by his generals and they're my generals and is he going to listen to them in afghanistan and make a tough decision. >> president obama to this day regrets being pushed by his generals into doing the big r that he ended up doing. and, you know, in this case this president is not the first president to sort of feel boxed in by his military generals. >> well, there are two very different presidents and two very different conflicts. on the one hand in north korea, that could present an exist enshall threat in the near time. on the other hand the afghanistan war that we've been embroiled in for 16 years where the threat isn't quite as clear. but i also think that the

president who doesn't want to get the u.s. elm brald in nags building exercises it's much more difficult to extricate that we're already in. the other thing, i think, is important to note, who isn't at bedminster. steve bannon. but h.r. mcmaster is. and that's why i think there's a little bit more -- >> you're keeping score of the mcmaster bannon wars. we're going to pause here because another thing the president spoke interest moments ago and frankly he's been tweeting about all day is an escalating argument he's having in public with the senate majority leader, yes, he's still a republican, mitch mcconnell when in the midst of an unprecedented proxy war between the president and mcconnell and it's being waged right out in the open over who is to blame for the republican party's stalled agenda. he took questions the first time from reporters outside the club in bedminster, here is what he said when asked if mcconnell should step down. >> if he doesn't get repeal and

replace done, and if he doesn't get taxes done, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesn't get a very easy one to get done, infrastructure, if he doesn't get them done, then you can ask me that question. >> first of all, did you count all the heest? the president basically trield to absolve himself of any responsibility of his agenda and how it gets through congress. instead, he put it all on mcconnell. >> so i say very simply, where is repeal and replace? now i want tabs reform and tax cuts. and i want a very big infrastructure bill. i said mitch, get to work and let's get it done. they should have had this last one done. they lost by one vote. for a thing like at that to happen is a disgrace. and frankly, it shoopt have happened. that i can tell you. it shouldn't have happened. >> wow. those attacks come after mcconnell very publicly but in a very mcconnell subtle way

criticized the president for, quote, artificial deadlines and excessive expectations. and he also under the president to stay on message and, quote, stay off twitter. let me bring in my partner in crime in the morning on first read, nbc news's senior political editor. mark murray. you and i have been covering mitch mcconnell you very closely on capitol hill for years. nobody is a full-fledged mcconnell whisperer these days, but this is not the same as some of the fights donald trump has picked before with fellow republicans. >> yeah. that's right, chuck. you know, the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is a very powerful person in his own right. you can make the argument that he's going to be a top republican in the united states senate beyond 2020, maybe even beyond 2020 four and it's very hard to use those same kind of tactics that he's used on mitch mcconnell. and what's amazing here is that both men really do need other for a big legislative agenda in the fall when you're talking

about tax reform, when you're talking about the budget, spending legislation, raising the debt ceiling and then chuck, also in the 2018 midterms as our friend amy walter this points hout, this divide and conquer type of strategy, these kind of critiques that he's level against mitch mcconnell really might only end up hurting congressional candidates in 2018 on the republican side. >> now, it's been interesting, mcconnell himself hasn't responded but some allies have, orrin hatch, who is the senior republican in the united states senate by seniority called mitch mcconnell the best republican leader he's ever seen in the senate. so that was unequivocal there, i believe, as he said. so mcconnell is not somebody who likes to be in a public spat back and forth, but he does want to send a message back. what's his -- how does he do it? >> yeah. well, right now he hasn't said anything, chuck, and i think that they probably want to be able to have the high ground and actually let this pass and have

us talk about all the other things that donald trump spoke about today in his kind of semi news conference. but i do think it was notable, awe you pointed out that senator orrin hatch came out and defended mitch mcconnell and that you probably aren't going to see a whole lot of defections because there's a question on who else can do this. and when the critique is on the health care legislation, yes, republicans fell one vote shored. on the other hand, when you looked at the legislation that they were dealing with and all the divides, in some wads it was pretty amazing that they were able to get 49 votes on that skinny repeal come to so, so close something that it's important to note that president trump never held a town hall about, never had a prime time news conference or speech. ep wasn't really selling it in some ways schts mitch mcconnell was to his own colleagues. >> but, mark, i saw something earlier this week, a poll this week on congressional job approval. and republicans disapproval of congress is rising. that tells me the president is

effectively essentially deflecting this blame, that the base of the party says they know it's not -- they're not plamg the president. they're blaming congress and they're blaming congressional republicans. that's a big deal. >> it is a big deal. and alternatives, it could end up hurting republicans in 2018 because some of these republicans who voted for donald trump in 2016 might say, you know what? mitch mcconnell, you know what, jeff flake, you know what dean heller, you haven't helped my president, i'm not if going to vote for you. well, what's the alternative? you have democrats potentially ending up winning these seats. >> all right. thanks very much. we will catch you later. first read, of course, every morning. people should be signing up for it and bring you all that wisdom that we can. let me bring back the panel. look, this was going to be our lead story today just because he spent all morning tweeting about mcconnell and it just became almost like an escalation and then of course when he decided to respond to that, he responded to everything. for the life of me, i don't see this helps tax reform, i don't

see how this helps the president get his agenda going. >> yeah. i think that mcconnell, trump and others all share responsibility for the relative lack of legislative accomplishments, and they share some responsibility for this spat as well. mcconnell -- i mean, you have to say mcconnell started it. if we're going to the playgroundologic. >> everything is playgroundologic now. >> and what he said actually doesn't make any sense. it's not actually president trump's fault that for seven years republicans were talking about repeal and replace and then didn't have a plan in place. the expectation that they would after six months with a republican government be able to do something on obamacare wasn't something that president trump just artificially created. he accepted a timetable that essentially the congressional republicans came to him with. so i just think that this is kind of a blame shifting on the senate majority leaders part that you can expect president trump to respond to forcefully. >> one thing about mitch mcconnell, though, that is a little bit different when donald trump has had these spats with

other republicans, they all eventually backed down. mitch mcconnell has a high tolerance for unpopularity. he has won multiple times in kentucky not as the most popular guy. he's comfortable being, fine, you want to -- i don't care. i'll take the hits. meaning he may not back down anytime soon is my point. >> and not only unpopularity, but social awkwardness and tension with people not only in the republican side but the democratic side. the interesting to me about this spat is how mitch mcconnell has become a tool in trump's political world, because trump campaigned against washington. this is a sense in which he's -- he transcends both parties. and to me he's saying mitch mcconnell is a if he canless loser, useless, he's not get approximating anything done. that was very much the troep of his political campaign and the republican party and the gop's agenda is becoming collateral damage and trump continuing to do what he does best which is act like a campaigner. >> it's none any, i was talking to my staff earlier today.

i've seen this when presidents are backed into a corner, they do sort of fallback on what worked in their campaign. and what did work for the president when he was a candidate, beating the living dates out of washington leaders including republicans. >> exact am. and trump only cares about donald trump at the end p. day, his popularity. and what the american people think of him and if it means he has to throw mitch mcconnell under a bus and blame him for all the failures of the republican party, then that's what he's going to do. i kind of agree with had i am r. republicans did say for search years repeal and replace and it's ridiculous that they didn't have anything ready set to go. but donald trump also, he didn't do anything for this bill. i was in the white house when we were doing town hall after town hall meeting after meeting on health care for mis. so he has to take some of this blame. >> i'm sitting there saying they're both right about the other. >> right. >> i do -- i'm sorry, i sort of take issue of what you said about mcconnell a little bhit.

i think the president had -- he had seven years. don't put this on me. >> yeah. but, you know, maybe to take a step back, it says something very bad about republican fortunes that they're fighting about who is to blame for failure. not they're not talking about how we're going to create success. >> when they're in power. >> touche. all right. i think we're all a little bit exhausted here. let's take a breath. you guys are sticking around. we've dpot to talk more about north korea, more about some other things. coming up, war of words between the president and kim jong-un. talk to the top democrat on senate foreign relations about that. we'll be right back. rank my hus, not just being in the military, but at home. she thinks she's the boss. she only had me by one grade. we bought our first home together in 2010. his family had used another insurance product but i was like well i've had usaa for a while, why don't we call and check the rates? it was an instant savings and i should've changed a long time ago. there's no point in looking elsewhere really.

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what should i watch? show me sports. it's so fluffy! look at that fluffy unicorn! he's so fluffy i'm gonna die! your voice is awesome. the x1 voice remote. xfinity. the future of awesome. on afghanistan whether to add additional troops -- >> we're getting close. we're getting very close. it's a very big decision for me. i took over a mess, and we're going to make it a lot less messy. >> welcome back.

that was more from president trump a few minutes ago in new jersey as i hinted earlier, he's not yet ready to make an announcement on afghanistan strategy whether he's willing to sent for troops and even before that happened today senator john mccain making it happy he's not happy with the movement from the white house. really in similar ways, senator mccain wrote a plan himself. he said in a statement nearly seven months zbu president trump's administration we've had no strategy at all as conditions on the ground have steadly bores end. the thousands of americans putting their lives on the line in afghanistan deserve better from their commander in chief. so the mccain plan includes increasing the level of american forces in afghanistan, but mccain does not say by how much he'd like to see, a long-term open ended agreement with afghanistan to bolster their own military and support capabilities, so a long-term military packet in afghanistan. and the ability to pressure pakistan for offering support and cover to the taliban groups.

realistically it's probably a pla that isn't going anywhere. frankly, my military proposal with mccain's name on it is likely to not get support from the president these days. the mccain plan is more hawkish than any other plan in front of the president. we'll see if it moves debate. we'll see you in 60 seconds.

frankly, my military proposa for people who were questioning that statement, was it too tough, maybe it wasn't tough enough. north korea better get their act together or they're going to be in trouble like few nations ever have been in trouble in this world. >> how could it be tougher than fire and fury? >> you'll see. that was the president earlier this afternoon defending and doubling down on his threat of north korea with fire and fury for its nuclear ambitions. the president then met with his national security team and then addressed reporters again about how his team is handling the nuclear threat. >> i would like to did he nuke the world.

i know that president obama said global warj is the biggest threat. i totally disagree. i say that it's a simple one. nuclear is our greatest threat worldwide. not even a question, not even close. >> meantime nbc news has learned that the cia and other u.s. intelligence agencies do agree with the defense intelligence agency's assessment that north korea has indeed successfully miniature iced a weapon to fit on a ballistic missile. joining me now is maryland senator been cardin. he's the top democrat on the senate foreign relations committee. welcome to the show, sir. >> good to be with you. thank you. >> let's start with i'm curious to see, have you received any briefings in the in the last day or two? you've had some interactions with the state department. do you have a sense of what the supposedly coordinated messaging and strategy is right now in north korea as far as the united states government is concerned? >> chuck, i have not received a

briefing in the last day or two. we have received briefings when north korea in the last couple of weeks, but i must tell you, i don't understand what the president's game plan is here. the language that he's using, i think, broadcasts to the international community that the president does not have a plan to get north korea to the bargaining table if he avoid a confrontation. i think they look to the united states for leadership on how to deal with north korea in a way that won't cause a military confrontation that could involve nuclear weapons. >> it seems to me we're sort of -- there is a box here, a little bit. north korea is not coming to the table. what does it take to get them to come to the table, carrots and the stick of sanctions hasn't worked. is there a theory that says if they believe that a military option is real, because there's been a concern that the north koreans and the chinese don't believe that the u.s. government would ever actually use the military option with north korea and that is why it's been so difficult to get them to the

table. >> well, north korea has a nuclear capacity today, so i think north korea feels that it is unlikely there would be an initiation of a military campaign against north korea because of their threat against the region. what we want to see is north korea change its calculation, and by that i mean that it's in their interests to freeze their program and ultimately eliminate their nuclear program. they can get regime security in a different way if they work with china. that's where the united states and china have a common agenda. both want to see north korea without nuclear weapons, and we are prepared to allow clean to guarantee to north korea its regime. so there is a way of moving forward here. clearly, though, the president's language is such that it makes it less likely rather than more likely that north korea would change its calculations. >> now, the president today

himself was a bit pessimistic that the sanctions would have much of an impact. i mean, on one hand he was saying it was a big deal to get china and russia on board, which he's right. it was a huge deal. not only keeping china from an staining, let alone being on board. you've dpot to say that was a big deal. getting them to actually implement the sanctions is going to be a tough step. is that what you think the president -- why the president was maybe skeptical that these new sanctions would have a big impact? >> well, the timing is a little strange, because we just got the sanctions imposed by the united nations supreme court council in which both russia and china joined us. we do know that if china really enforced those sanctions, it would be a game changer for north korea, that it really would isolate and economically have an incredible impact on north korea. so china could turn up the heat considerably on north korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

will they do that? well, that's an issue that we need to work on. clearly they have not done it in the past. they did vote in security council for additional sanctions. now is the time for us to work with china to increase the pressure on north korea. >> well, it's interesting, the president floated the following idea to snenty viez china. he says they know fully well i don't like our trade deficit, don't like some of our trade deals, and he said maybe i'll like them better if they do more in nok. he's essentially making it very clear, he is willing to make economic negotiations with china contingent on what they do in north korea. are you okay with that? >> i don't think that's the tape of trade that would work. i think what china wants is a communist country on their border. they don't want to see a united cory peninsula with a democratic country. obviously we favor south korea

and their form of government. then understand that. right now our priority must be for a nonnuclear korean peninsula. so i think what china wants is for us to say, look, china can guarantee north korea's regime as long as they give up their nuclear weapons and we have inspectors and we make that work. i don't think it's going to be an economic deal with china that will cause china to try to turn the screws tighter against north korea. >> do you think the president needs to go to congress before he used any military force against north korea? . >> i think he needs to come to congress. he has to share with us a strategy. we don't have that strategy. it has not really been shared. the use of force is controlled by the war powers act, he needs to comply with the war powers act. at this point there needs to be consultation and working with congress, and there's no indication that he's done that to date.

>> all right. senator been cardin, who is the top democrat in senate foreign relations and want to assume that you may get called up to bedminster if there is a bipartisan briefing on the foreign policy experts in congress. so we shall see. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. >> you got it. still ahead, sfiet the president's soft approval ratings and republican infighting, democrats face their own problems with this midterm that's coming up. i'll ask dnc chair tom perez if the party can overcome their geographic disadvantages.

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later on "mtp daily," some u.s. diplomats in cuba are mysteriously losing their hearing and u.s. investigators think either cuba or russia may be involved. i'm not making this up. but first here is hampton sear r pearson. >> thanks, chuck. we had stocks closing lower on wall street as those geopolitical tensions heat up with north korea. lost 204 points. the s&p 500 shed 35. the nasdaq frnd 135 points lower. retail stocks continue to fall as more shoppers move online. macy's earnings beat wall street expectations, but shares fell 10% on weak shals sales. snap took a tul bell after the social media company reported worse than expected quarterly results and revenue that missed

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welcome back. democrats are eyeing president trump's low national approval numbers and dreaming about 2018, but next year's midterms won't necessarily be an easy fight for the democratic party. at this time four years ago the political focus was on the republican party's demographic problems. now after trump's 2016 victory, the conversation has turned to the denim party's geographic problems. this isn't about just house seats. >> the democratic parties leaders right now, nancy pelosi from california, chum schumer from new york. double her national marnl in, now, i'm not saying there's anything terrible about either leader's legislative strategy, but it when it comes to the

parties branding and message lg, look at the results in 2016 and it's not a coalition that can win the breath of house and senate sooets that the party ten or 20 years ago could. >> joining me now is tom perez, chairman of the democratic national committee, and he came on because he wanted to respond to this issue. mr. chairman, welcome back to the show, sir. >> it's great to be with you, chuck. greetings from richmond, virginia, where we have a lot of energized democrats. >> let me start with that point that david wasserman was making, that this is -- that the problem here -- that the democratic party has a branding and messaging problem that is bigger than just simply making better maps for house and legislative races. do you accept that critique? >> well, listen, we have to do everything. we have to be in every zip code, telling people what we stand for, and that's what we've been doing. you look, chuck, in two special elections in oklahoma p recently

where donald trump won those districts hand ill. democrats won. education was the big issue there and they were able to win. the other day in iowa another seat where donald trump won by a comfortable margin and the democrat won there by 10 points. new hampshire a couple weeks ago a state senate race. and the dnc invested r where. we have to have in every zip code strategy that's what we're doing and we have to lead with our vaults and this health care debate it is so tragic that the president are trying to put health care at rask for people. and what we've been able to do is martial the facts and talk about if you live in rural oklahoma and that hospital is your not only your health care anchor but your employment anchor, they're really going to make life difficult for you. so i think we have real opportunity everywhere, and what

we have to do is scale these success stories of recent months. >> look, i know some of these things both iowa and new hampshire i think were technically democratic holds at the time because it was a special to replace democrats on that front. but i want to talk about the -- let me bring up alabama. what are you doing in alabama senate? it's a total mess in the republican primary side. it is pretty clear to me that the national party is not that serious about targeting alabama senate. >> well, listen, i've met with doug jones. i've known doug jones is one of the candidates for the senate race in alabama. doug jones was the u.s. attorney who prosecuted one of the 16 street bombing cases. he's incredibly respected. as part of our every state strategy -- >> you've met with him. have you raised money for him? have you sent staffers? what's the dnc c dpoog? is chuck schumer raising money? you see my point here.

you've met with him. the campaign, the primary is next week. >> sure. well, hey, you know what, chuck, and what we have done is increase our investments in state parties everywhere, because what we have to do is a dnc is build that infrastructure for success. we are taking the word off year out of our leks con. we've got to organize everywhere and every year, and that's what we're doing as democrats. our increased vaechlts in alabama are going to help people like doug jones. i think doug jones' message can resonate with democrats across the state of alabama because as you correctly point out, the three republican candidates are forming a circular firing squad right now. and that's why i've had conversations months ago, and that's why the democratic party and the dnc, the primary is coming up shortly, and absolutely we're going to be actively engaged, just as we're doing here in virginia. >> howard dean once said he wanted to be -- when he was running for president he wanted

to be the democratic and he wanted to be a candidate for the guy who drives a pickup truck with a con fed rat flag. that he wants the democratic party to be open for that guy too. do you want the democratic party to be open for that guy as well? >> well, listen, we want the democratic party to talk to everybody in every zip code. and i think when we talk about getting access to good jobs that pay a migds class wage that make sure if you're a mine worker in west virginia, and you're looking to maintain your mention, mitch mcconnell and the republicans and the trump administration are the ones making it harder for you to retain your pension. that's what the democratic party is fighting for. we're fighting to make sure that you have good jobs and health care and retirement security. >> you understand that cultured question i'm asking? can you overcome that? because -- do you want the democratic party to be the party for, yes, the guy in the pickup truck with the con fed rat flag on the bumper and the gun rack in the back? >> i want the democratic party to be the party for the working

person who wants to make sure that his life is better, that he has the freedoms to make sure that he's living and his children are living an even better life than him or her. and that's accident chuck, what we've always been fighting for. and you look at the issues that are confronting people, whether it's west virginia or whether it's here in richmond. the opioid epidemic has been, you know, just absolutely destroying communities. and what is the republican response? they want to cut medicaid, which is the principle lifeline for people seeking treatment. and so i want that person, whatever pickup truck you drive, whatever place of worship where you go or don't go, i want to make sure that that person can make his or her life and their family's lives better. and that's what the democrats have been doing. >> tom perez, i'm going to leave it there. chairman of the dnc, coming from are richmond, virginia. i have to say, i'm impressed you didn't miss a candidate name. you got it all there. everybody should be happy about that, i'm sure.

it's not the easiest john these days. >> chuck, it's always good to be with you ask your viewers. >> up next, why i'm obsessed with this very potentially dangerous new diplomatic mystery out of havana. ♪ ♪ ♪ hey. what can you tell me about your new social security alerts? oh! we'll alert you if we find

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several of these diplomats, enough that something nefarious may be going on. in fact, u.s. law enforcement officials are investigating whether someone or some entity, perhaps it's the could you ban government, perhaps it's someone else, is using some type of ultrasound energy, a covert sonic device, kind of an invisible weapon, maybe an invisible dog whistle. the device or whatever it was is described as operating beyond the range of audible sound, so a weapon iced dog wichl. it was apparently either placed inside who outside the residences of where the diplomats were staying in havana. in fact, it's so bad some of these diplomats now need hearing aides. u.s. officials first became aware of the issue at the end of the calendar year. in fact, the u.s. has actually responded to this by kicking two could you ban diplomats out of the u.s. now, the could you ban government has strongly denied having anything to do with this and claimed that they also are investing. and in fact, u.s. officials are

not discounting the possibility that it was a third party, that cuba has its own relations with, some enemies of the united states. think russia, think iran, think north korea. maybe one of their intelligence agencies was involved in this. quite the mystery and something we're all digging in more on. we'll be right back. for millions who suffer from schizophrenia a side effect of their medication... is something called "akathisia." it's time we took notice.

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the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. this august visit your local volvo dealer to receive sommar savings of up to $4,500. time for lib. i want to get to russia here a little bit because the president was asked about everything, asked about manafort, you heard that question earlier. but it was here's the president's response to the decision by russia to expel u.s. diplomats. here's the president. >> do you have any response to the russian president expelling 755 workers from our embassies? >> no. i want to thank him because we're trying to cut down on

payroll. and as far as i'm concerned i'm very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll. >> well, that was obviously a little tongue in cheek statement because last time i checked i don't think these diplomats are actually -- were going to stop getting paid. but daniella -- >> was it -- >> okay, you're right, literally, seriously. >> maybe he actually thinks that once putin expelled these people who worked for putin in a way he phrased that, they don't get paid anymore. you just don't know with this president. >> i mean, it did don on me today that he's been tougher on mitch mcconnell than vladimir putin. i'm just -- you know? >> he's been tougher on people he appointed to the cabinet himself than he has been on vladimir putin. at least in his rhetoric. not necessarily some of his policies. >> clearly signing the sanctions bill. so he did that. is it progress that he responded that way though in that it's his

way of like i'm not going to give putin the credit that we care? >> that's how i read it. >> is that a -- you know? >> show has a way of getting under his skin, but he reacted very differently to north korea and called kim jong-un a maniac and so on. i think you're height he's treated some people on his own staff very differently in many ways than putin. i think that's because the president tends to respect power, he doesn't respect weakness and the people mistreated on his staff are people who are weak, they're not military -- they're the people who aren't members of the military and who aren't wealthy. >> he likes american civil servants who aren't expelled. >> that's also very generous reading of his treatment of putin. >> let me take all of his comments on russia today. on manafort, on mueller where he said he still says there's no collusion, everybody's found it, but he didn't go off on mueller the person, he didn't go off on fake news, he didn't say the

word hoax. it's early, but is this the kelly effect a little bit? >> i was going to say first of all -- >> at least he's not adding the words hoax, fake news and parody when it comes to the investigation. >> well, there are a couple things. the first is he's out of washington and he's in his own element, i think, somewhat at bedminster, even if he's a bit lonely we saw him riffing with journalists for 40 minutes. with some people around general kelly, some white house aides say he commands respect and organized things in a way reince priebus simply didn't have the force of personality to do. and i think even though that's not with reference to the president himself simply having a more organized staff has to have an impact on the president in some way. >> remesh, we were talking about how wide ranging this press conference was, whatever you want, impromptu, he apparently just also having make news on the opioid crisis. take a listen. >> i'm saying officially right now it is an emergency.

it's a national emergency. we're going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis. >> all right. i guess that means he's declaring a national emergency. why didn't he do this two days ago? this is like at this point where you head scratch. it was obvious they were going to do this. it just seems -- this is the disorganized part of this white house that sometimes you just shake your head. >> i think that's right and that disorganization has real consequences. on this particular issue i would say people aren't going to hold it -- >> no, but if you're going to do it, do it. people have wanted this because it means something. >> recommends you do it. >> it means financially, it means the federal government can act sooner. this is the why you do something like this. quickly, i'm not going to play this specific sound yet because we're running out of time, but this gorka guy, doctor, i don't know, there are some people have questioned his credentials, but he appeared to contradict

secretary state rex tillerson. i know the president loves how much he goes after these reporters and a pugilist, but is the guy a legitimate national security advisor to the president or just this pugilist that goes on tv every now and then? >> white house aides have told me the president puts him in a realm of kellyanne conway type who defends him on tv. >> not really a serious advisor? >> no. >> but it does sort of send weird messages. >> you do wonder whether the people who are talking on tv are in a sense his advisors, right? i mean, he spends a lot of time apparently watching tv. >> but, how does this guy survive? >> as long as he keeps doing good tv, i mean -- right. >> it just strikes me as he's nothing but a menace to the rest of his staff. anyway, all right. i'll leave it there. daniella, ramesh, eliana, another day in the world of president trump.

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it's called the treaty on open skies ux it establishes a regime of unarmed aerial observation over the areas of signatories. when two words put together make a bit of a chill run down your spine, it's all in the up and up. if you see a low flying plane with a russian flag, ilt might seem panic is warranted, it isn't. at least not yet. that's all we have tonight. "the beat with ari melber" begins right now. >> thank you, mr. todd. we begin with breaking news, president trump speaking out and making himself known on a range of issues. discussing the fbi's raid of his former campaign manager's house. >> i thought it was a very, very strong signal or whatever. i know mr. manafort, haven't spoken to him in a long time, but i know he was with the campaign as you know for a v