further down the coast, pay attention to your emergency manager. >> bill karins, thank you. that's it for us. thanks for watching this hour of msnbc. >> indeed. we're "velshi & ruhle." we'll see you -- he'll see you at 3:00. i'll see you tomorrow and all day long on social. right now, over to our friend andrea mitchell for "andrea mitchell reports." >> and right now on "andrea mitchell reports," high noon, president trump duelling with his own republican leaders vowing to shut down the government if he doesn't get his way. >> i don't think the government shutdown is necessary and i don't think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included. congress and the house has done its work on this issue. >> different trumps. another day, another speech, another tweet, another head spinning white house mood swing. >> we cannot remain a force for peace in the world if we are not at peace with each other. these are really, really dishonest people and they're bad

people. it is time to heal the wounds that divide us, and to seek a new unity based on the common values that unite us. >> peace push, jared kushner meeting with israel's prime minister today, all captured by government cameras. no journalists allowed. is this any way to broker mideast peace? >> the president is very committed to achieving a solution here that will be able to bring prosperity and peace to all people in this area and we really appreciate the commitment of the prime minister and his team to engaging very thoughtfully and respectfully in the way that the president has asked him to do so. and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president trump is escalating his battle with the republican leaders in congress. on twitter, going after mitch mcconnell and paul ryan, for not tying the debt ceiling increase to a must pass veterans bill. also defending himself from

widespread criticism of his roller coaster ride over the last three days. swinging from harmony to harm and back again in three separate appearances. kristen welker is at white house for us. the mood swings are, you know, one issue. the politics of taking on the republican leaders when there is a short window before the end of the fiscal year, he needs these republican leaders, or else i guess he doesn't mind if there is a government shutdown, which would rattle not only our economy, but the global economy. >> it is really extraordinary. the president essentially waging war with members of his own party over his legislative agenda. first, to the point that you mentioned, the debt ceiling, the president saying that it should be tied to that veterans bill, which you mentioned. and you have his own treasury secretary saying, look, the debt ceiling should be raised without anything linked to it. you have senate majority leader mitch mcconnell making it very clear. he says bottom line, the debt

ceiling will be raised, not going to default on their loans. this could be a big battle and it comes against the backdrop of another potentially big battle, andrea. earlier this week in phoenix, the president saying he was prepared to shut down the government if he couldn't get funding for his border wall. house speaker paul ryan saying that's not going to happen. he's not on board with that strategy. the real question, andrea, will this tactic work? we have never seen this. a president taking aim at his own party as a political tactic to tri to get his legislative agenda through. will it work this time? we'll have to wait and see. sarah huckabee sanders will be briefing a little bit later on this afternoon, so we'll get to ask her about all of it. the first time that we'll have a briefing this week because the president has been on the road and then he had that big speech on monday. >> and where do we stand with the transgender issue? president went on twitter taking his generals by surprise, by suggesting that there would be an end to transgender participation in the military.

apparently the white house has come up with a memo, heavily influenced by general mattis, by secretary mattis, former general mattis, which gives him a little wiggle room, but it hasn't arrived at the pentagon yet. >> that's right. it hasn't. and we're being told according to officials it will be submitted in the coming days. here are the broad headlines as far as we can tell, at this point. the memo gives james mattis six months to implement this policy. the policy would give him the authority to determine and defense officials, the authority to determine whether someone is deployable. in other words, whether they're ready to -- able to be deployed. it would also call for a halt, a ban on all transgender individuals from entering the military as well as a halt on paying for any medical treatment. this is schweppe iweeping, incr controversial. as you know, the president

announcing it in a tweet, taking his defense officials by surprise, staffers here at the white house by surprise, what we're seeing now is that some of the details of the policy are starting to take shape and, again, we expect that we'll be able to actually see that within the next few days. >> and speaking of tweets, as one of those bad people, you and i, i guess, the fake news he is tweeting is complaining about my different types of back-to-back speeches. there was afghanistan, somber. the big rally, enthusiastic, dynamic and fun. the american legion, va, respectful and strong, too bad the dems have no one who can change tones. >> the bottom line is the criticism that you're seeing, including from members of his own party, this isn't the news media, is not so much his tone, but rather the message of unity.

where you had yesterday, when he was speaking in reno, nevada to veterans, he stressed the importance of unity, but just a day earlier, when he was in phoenix, that big campaign style rally, i was there, it was late at night, it is a different tone, but his message very different, it wasn't one of unity. it was one in which he was taking aim at everyone, the news media, members of his own party as well, so i think that's what republicans are concerned about, not just in terms of the optics, but in terms of the message, but because it could -- they are concerned, make it difficult to get some legislative priorities passed, things like tax reform and infrastructure reform and the president being very clear, he's not giving up on health care reform despite the fact that the senate wasn't able to get something done over the summer. >> kristen, you'll have a busy day today. thank you so much. and joining me now, bob shrum, served as senior adviser to john kerry's 2004 campaign.

msnbc political analyst michael steele, former republican national committee chairman. welcome, both. can't think two of better people to have with me. well, let's go, bob shrum, let's defer to the republican, former republican national committee leader. >> there you go. >> there you go. with the president taking on mitch mcconnell and paul ryan, the speaker of the house, they only have 12 legislative days before the end of the fiscal year. >> right. >> how does he expect this to help him get what he wants? >> i don't think this is so much about getting what he wants on its face. in other words, everyone thinks the goal here is to get a budget done and to get the debt ceiling done. i don't think the president just sort of assessing all that is that interested in it. there is another political operation going on here. and that is the president positioning himself against the party so that he can begin to line up people to come in and challenge certain incumbents going into next year. he wants a senate and a house

that will work for him. not with him. and i think you're seeing the stakes being laid in places like arizona, other races down the pike, this president, i believe, is setting the party up to put in position players that he wants in position on the hill, that will help him push the agenda through that he ultimately wants to get through. a lot of this noise that we're hearing now is just wasted noise. it is sucking the life out of the leadership on the hill because they're sitting there going we want to move on this. the president is resisting that, and throwing all these barbs at them. it is a very interesting dance to see how quickly mcconnell and ryan can parry this particular thrust by the president. >> maybe he's just channeling his inner harry truman and running against congress, a popular place to be with the base. >> but harry trueman ran against a do nothing republican congress

and was a democratic president. better historical example is probably franklin roosevelt, at the height of his popularity in 1938, tried to purge democrats he didn't like in the senate and the house. and the result was that he lost in almost every case. i think what is likely to happen here is that as the president stirs the waters, the house that michael steele had so much to do with republicans recapturing in 20 10, the senate even though the odds favor republicans, i think they're all on the line. and instead of getting a congress that works for him, as michael suggests, we could have a democratic wave and could end up with a congress that works against him. the heart of the problem here, i think, is that steve bannon, before he left, convinced the president all you have to do is hold on to your base. well, his real base, i think, isn't even 35%.

it is 28 or 30%. and i -- senators in states that should be safe, republican senators, i think are going to start worrying. i think mcconnell and ryan are going to have to pass the debt limit. keep the government open with democratic votes. the president is going to then have to face a choice, is he going to veto that, shut down the government, or crash the full faith and credit of the u.s. with huge economic consequences. if he does that, then i think you could see a tsunami politically in 2018. >> in fact, jeff flake was on georgia public radio and asked whether he could see somebody challenging donald trump within the party, and he said, yes, that the president -- the quote is, he's kind of that -- that's the direction he's headed in now, he's got to drill down on the base rather than expand the base. he's inviting one, inviting a challenge. >> yeah, i think there are a number of folks who would look at that closely. ben sass' name is mentioned a lot, he's been after him.

honestly, trump loves that. bring all commerce, let's go at it. as par of the disruptive narrative he's put in place, i was taking note of your comments about the tweets before, the president going out there saying, well, this is one personality, that's another, eventually it leads to chaos. and that's something that the party has not been able to reconcile itself around right now. this president on any given day will demonstrate a particular personality that may or may not be to the benefit of the party. and you look at long-term growth for the party, expanding that base, getting legislation done, it is hard to do. it is hard to do. >> bob, you look at that speech the other night, i was talking to white house people who say, you know it only you people in the media criticizing him for the speech in phoenix, that is trump being trump to his base, the same kind of speech he gave all through the campaign and it worked for him.

>> well, first of all, it worked for him because he drew to an inside strait and hillary clinton lost the unlosable election. secondly, he's president of the united states. and, you know, john f. kennedy, ronald reagan set a standard for presidential rhetoric. most presidents since then tried to live up to that standard. he set a lower standard, lower bar, and managed to go under it in phoenix the other night. it was ugly. it was despicable. the white house staff was saying only the media cares about this. before the speech, they were telling people don't worry, he's not going to talk about pardoning joe arpaio, not going to talk about -- or attack senator flake or mccain who is suffering from cancer, he did all of those things and more. appealed to the lowest instincts of the american spirit. i think it is bad, not only for the republican party, i think it is bad for the country. it is no way to be a president. it is no way to pass legislation. and, by the way, no way to get re-elected. >> michael steele.

>> i'm not going to argue with that. i think that's really the reality that the republicans on the hill face right now. and you'll see over the next weeks or months as we get into the fall and into the winter, a lot of republicans carving up the space where they will run on their own, plan their own strategy and less, less involvement by the white house, which, again, i think will be just perfectly fine for the white house because this president can run against those republicans, primary them and try to take them out to get their guys elected. >> michael steele, thank you. bob shrum, great to see you. thank you for joining us out there. coming up, the russia investigation and proposal to protect special counsel robert mueller. the top democrat on the intelligence committee adam schiff joining me next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪

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i think that the legislation that we have offered to protect the special council against political interference has growing bipartisan support. i think because of the apparent boomeranging that we're seeing, veering of the president's zigzagging between the unifier and divider and some rhetoric attacking the press, very, very chilling. >> senator richard blumenthal on "morning joe" saying there is bipartisan support to protect special counsel robert mueller and the investigation and any

attempt to interfere will face a strong reaction from congress. this as politico is reporting that the president has been venting to key lawmakers about russia. even complaining to foreign relations chairman bob corker about the bipartisan russia sanctions bill. california congressman adam schiff is the top democrat on the house intelligence and joins me now. welcome. thank you. great to see you. >> good it see you too. >> congressman, the president, in a series of events now, continuously exempts russia from any kind of blame, opposing the sanctions bill with bob corker, giving a speech on afghanistan, and mentioning pakistan, mentioning israel -- india, rather, joining him, not mentioning the fact that russia is rearming the taliban in afghanistan. where does this go? >> it is really hard to say. but clearly the president's views on russia are different than most americans. and indeed different than both parties in congress, that's why this sanctions bill passed with

such overwhelming support. and i would agree with comments you played from my colleague senator blumenthal. i think the legislation to protect bob mueller has equal bipartisan support and it is important that that be out there now, that that bipartisan support be apparent to the president, much better avoiding some kind of a constitutional crisis that would take place if he were to fire mueller than we are wait until after the fact to try to legislate about it. so i think those steps are very important. again, we continue to be per plet that investigation is very much ongoing. >> and he was tweeting against james clapper, who, you know, took him on after the speech the other night. james clapper tweeted the president who famously got caught lying to congress is now an authority on donald trump, will he show you his beautiful letter to me.

this after let's just play a little bit of what clapper had to say the other night after the president's phoenix speech. >> i worry about, frankly, you know, the -- the access to nuclear codes. in a fitted peak, he decides to do something about kim jong-un. there is actually very little to stop him. the whole system is built to ensure a rapid response if necessary. so very little in the way of controls over, you know, exercising a nuclear option, which is pretty dam scary. >> your reaction to this brewing controversy between the former director of national intelligence who briefed the president for a number of months when he was a candidate, when he was president-elect, and, of course, now the president and

the way he behaved the other night. >> well, those of us that have known director clapper for a long time, you have as well, know this is not someone who is prone to hyperbole. this is someone who served the country for over half a century, who is a really quite plain spoken, but not -- does not tend to exaggerate. so when he says things like this, gets people's attention, got the president's attention. the president tweeting that -- is he some kind of expert on donald trump. he is an expert on dangerous to the country and recognizes the dangerous bluster we have from the president and the fact there are very few controls over the president's ability to deploy military force including nuclear force. so i think the concerns that director clapper has raised are remarkably and regrettably very much on point. certainly something we're discussing in congress, not an easy remedy to it in terms of the president's ability to act

impetuously or without adequate consultation with the congress or his own team. so it does concern us. and i'm glad that director clapper is speaking out. >> the defense secretary, under the system, came way in to agree with a nuclear strike option, but can't veto it. that is soully the province of the commander in chief, as i understand it. >> i think that's right. we have legislation in congress. i think representative lew tried to put a congressional curb on what the president can do in this area. that's hard to accomplish because article 2 does give the president the power to defend the country if it is under threat of imminent attack. so i think there are certain limits the congress can place and we ought to try to place them. for one thing, we haven't helped ourselves by the fact that we haven't taken up an authorization to use force, you know, for over a decade and a half when these old authorities are clearly out of date and

inapplicable to how we're using force today. congress has been its own worst enemy. that was a problem during the obama administration. an even bigger problem now that we have a chief executive that so many people are asking questions about. >> want to ask you about the dossier. glen simpson, former wall street journal investigative reporter now the head of fusion gps testified for ten hours before the judiciary committee behind closed doors on tuesday. and was his firm who hired the very well regarded british intelligence officer christopher steel to do that dossier. now senator grassley has told a town meeting in iowa he's looking into holding a public hearing, but doesn't have an inherent objection it releasing the transcript of that. simpson and his attorney say it is up to the committee to release the transcript. where do we stand on the investigation into finding out

whether the really troubling contents of that so-called dossier may be true. >> there has been an effort by some to discredit the firm fusion gps or discredit mr. steel and as you say, mr. steel has a very good reputation, is reportedly a former british intelligence officer. i can't confirm that. but is reported to be very well regarded and i think the key thing from an investigative point of view is not trying to impeach the people who produce the report or commission the report, but rather find out whether the facts are true in the report and when you look at just what has become public, some of the public information is very much in line with what is reported in that dossier and i'll give you one example that really strike me and that is that the dossier talks about sources within the kremlin reporting that they have three goals they want to find out what

support friendly u.s. persons would want, they want to gather intelligence and want to disseminate compromising information. all of that is implicated in the e-mails already released. an effort by the russians through the proxies to find out what the trump campaign would want and what they want is negative information about hillary clinton. they certainly gather that intelligence by hacking into democratic institutions. and they certainly disseminated that intelligence. so the three core goals that are outlined in that dossier by that particular source do seem to be very well born out. i think people put too much focus on the salacious allegations within the dossier about that video as if that is really what the dossier is about, that's the least significant part of the dossier from my point of view. we ought to do everything we can to figure out what of the serious allegations are true or untrue , and spend a lot less time just trying to attack the messenger. >> adam schiff, thank you very much, thank you for joining us.

>> thank you, andrea. and shut down showdown. president trump threatening to shut down the government if he doesn't get his way. republican congressman charlie dent on the growing rift between the president and his own party. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ walter? hmm? is that the rest of our food? what? no. how come you have cheese in your beard? because switching to geico could save you 15% or more on car insurance. oh! ok. geico. because saving 15% or more on car insurance is always a great answer. whoa! gross! intrzero alcohol™.ine® it delivers a whole mouth clean

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and we are building a wall on the southern border, which is absolutely necessary. now, the obstructionist democrats would like us not to do it, but, believe me, we have to close down our government, we're building that wall. >> president trump digging in on his threats to shut down the government if congress does not approve funding for that long promised border wall, which i thought he said mexico was going to pay for. joining me now, republican congressman charlie dent, member of the house appropriations committee, is your committee going to get to work on money for the wall? >> well, the house -- andrea, the house passed an appropriations bill in july that provided $1.6 billion for border security. so that's a down payment on additional border security to help establish operational control of the border, that would include money for barriers.

>> is that going to be sufficient to negotiate some solution on the debt ceiling with the president who seems to be really escalating this verbal fight with you all over what to do on shutting down, avoiding a shut down of the government. >> well, shutting down the government would be a terrible mistake. completely counterproductive. and, look, we'll have a debate -- a negotiation with the senate on this border funding. but i would not have that debate as part of this continuing resolution that will be considered at the end of september. i would try to negotiate a bipartisan budget agreement along with the debt ceiling and the continuing resolution, that should be the focus. we can have this debate about the border funding when we deal with the so-called omnibus later in the year probably in december. >> where did this new front come from today that he's opened about the veterans bill. attacking mitch mcconnell for not having connected the debt ceiling with the veterans bill. >> well, to be fair, that would

have been an appropriate vehicle to which we could have attached the debt ceiling. i would have been very supportive of that. but the play was called not to do that. that was not my call. as i said, we can still pass the debt ceiling either with the continuing resolution or bipartisan budget agreement or clean debt ceiling. i don't know what happened in that conversation between the leadership on that subject. >> are you concerned about the president's escalating rhetoric against the leaders given how short a period of time, you've only got when you come back 12 days to resolve a lot of the big iss issues. >> absolutely. very concerned about this. i think it is unhelpful for the president to be picking fights with mitch mcconnell or john mccain or jeff flake. the president is going to need these senators to help him with important agenda items. i can tell you, susan collins

and jeff flake and john mccain and lisa murkowski will be much more cooperative with the president on many items than will senate democrats. it mystifies me why we have this conversation about fighting with republican leaders who are trying to move many of his agenda items. >> look at his tweets from yesterday, the day after phoenix and that raucous rally, he tweeted, phoenix crowd, amazing, packed house, i love the state of arizona, not a fan of jeff flake, weak on crime and border. jeff flake voted with him more often than not, voted with him on health care. >> jeff flake is a good friend of mine. he's my paddle ball partner. he's an honorable, principled man with the best natured people i know. and, again, i think it is very counterproductive to be taking snipes or jabs at jeff flake, a man who will be supportive of the president on many of his agenda items.

>> are you expecting that -- whether kelly ward or other efforts he's going to try to defeat his fellow republicans in primarys? >> i think that would be a big mistake. jeff flake is our best chance of winning that seat in arizona. everybody knows that. dean heller will have a tough fight too up in nevada. those are probably the two most competitive seats that we'll be facing in the general election. and i believe all our efforts should be to shore up those two candidates for the general election. having a battle, a purity battle, in the primary, only to lose the general election would be just an exercise in political malpractice in my view. >> thank you very much, charlie dent. congressman, great to see you, from pennsylvania. >> great to see you. thank you, andrea. >> thank you. the gulf coast, of course, now bracing and texas for tropical storm harvey, expected to strengthen to a hurricane this afternoon. becoming the first hurricane to make landfall in nearly a

decade, bringing with it the potential for extreme flooding. stay safe. stay with us here for all updates on msnbc. and up next, role playing, we'll talk to the man who act as donald trump in hillary clinton's practiced debate. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

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and carry on as if he weren't repeatedly invading your space? or do you turn, look him in the eye and say loudly and clearly, back up, you creep, get away from me? >> the audio excerpts from hillary clinton's upcoming book what happened. released exclusively first to "morning joe," generating a lot of buzz in washington and elsewhere about other surprises that 2016 presidential nominee, the democratic nominee, has in store for readers. philip ryan played donald trump during practice sessions for the debates and joins me now. good to see you. i'm betting when you were practicing for the debate, i know how hard you all worked and how much you got into this method acting. >> maybe too much. >> maybe too much. i'm betting you did not circle her, you know, alec baldwin style and tower over her. >> i did creep a bit, but not directly behind her, more her

peripheral vision, which i knew would annoy her. >> we can watch a little bit of the role playing. i think we have a little bit of you practicing. you guys really got into this practice thing, didn't you? >> the whole point is to, you know, the number one goal is for the candidate to be able to think through what they're going to say and how they're going to say it, not like they're memorizing things. and to do that, you want them to hear and experience everything they might experience. and that's the point of prep. so, you know, you're not yelling every minute of every day, but making sure they see every possible likelihood. >> now, taking us back to the second debate, which is the subject of one of the two excerpts that were released this was two days after access hollywood, october 9th. poll numbers were very high. we have done nbc news has done an analysis of the poll and talked to people in both camps.

this was really the peak and the stretch of where she stood after access hollywood. and then he comes out with a parade of women, the past accusers of bill clinton, puts them on facebook live, this was david bossy and steve bannon, tries to seek them in the family section, right in her line of sight, the debate commission refuses, as i understand it, at the time, and they finally do get seated in the front row of the bleachers. how upsetting was all of that? >> i think that weekend encapsulated a lot of the horribleness of the race. that friday, as you said, the tape came out, everyone's jaw dropped. we had a prep session that night. and -- >> an hour after access hollywood, first wikileaks -- >> the e-mails. >> also not remembered a lot is that john podesta's e-mails started to leak and there is questions about -- no such thing as coincidence. but it was a very dramatic and

disgusting moment, and we spent the 48 hours, her immediate reaction was i'm not shaking that guy's hand. just as a woman, as a person, it was just -- it was disgusting. and it put her off. i remember when we were driving from the hotel to the debate site, in st. louis, on that sunday night, and got the word that the trump campaign had lined up this press conference before the debate where trump sat there with the four women who made various allegations that have been debunked over the years and it just put a real -- again, just a disgusting pale over the whole thing. and then, yeah, they were in the debate site, i believe they wanted to have them shake hands with president clinton, because if you were in the debate hall and you had a pin, you can go wherever you want.

it was just -- it went from -- it was typical trump, it was take something terrible and turn it on the opponent. and if you remember, after the first debate, he said, there are lots of thing i could have said and i chose not to. >> that threat was looming over you. how unsettling was it? is she thinking in this experiment, is she trying to say she's had second thought s about whether she should have taken him on more? >> it is not second guessing. it is a couple of things. comes in a part in a book about what it is like to have been the first female major party nominee. and how that manifests itself and how that presented certain head winds. but i think there is another part of it which is she was the 18th person to face donald trump. for 17 republicans and then her. and then he made mince meat of the first 17.

and he continued to just -- he continues to this moment, to just color way outside the lines. to the point of spraying graffiti all over the place. and i think what she -- one part of what she's saying in that excerpt is for an entire race, she was expected and frankly as a public figure in our eyes for decades, like the other people who ran, conducted herself in a way that actually in hindsight looks pretty reasonable and pretty appealing. and, you know, at a moment like that, really comes to a head, but a lot of it is i ran against a guy who could say whatever he wanted, he could do whatever he wanted, the real question is, what if she had said turned around and said back off, creep. would have been great television. but who knows, i think he would have cowered, scurried away, but you have someone on the next day on as a guest, what would they

say? she's angry. she's -- >> angry woman, not presidential. >> angry woman, easily flummoxed, scared, that's not the side of hillary clinton people like. so it is more of a -- it is more of a thought bubble. look, i saw her before and after that debate, and it was creepy. >> well, to be continued. more creepiness to come. we look forward to the rest of the book and -- >> it is a good book. >> glad to talk to her afterwards. when it comes out. >> thank you. >> thank you, andrea. >> good seeing you. >> you too. coming up, war and peace, jared kushner in israel today, meeting with prime minister netanyahu, followed by a meeting with the palestinian president mahmoud abbas. a lot more coming up next on the inside scoop. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. for your heart...

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about. how to advance peace, stability and security in our region, prosperity too. >> we're very appreciative of your team and all the efforts they made, the president is very committed to achieving a solution here that president is achieving a solution that will be able to bring prosperity and peace to all people in this area. >> president trump's top aide and son-in-law jared kushner back in the middle east this week trying to revive peace talks, meeting today with the israeli prime minister. the traditional photo-op done with government cameras only. journalists were shut out. this as a coalition of rabbis representing all the diverse strains of american judaism have denounced the president's comments after charlottesville and say they will not participate in a traditional call with the president ahead of next month's jewish new year. let's get the inside scoop from our msnbc contributors. welcome all. jonathan, first you.

the whole question of e the government shutdown looming over everything, you've been writing on this. let's get a recordkeeping. >> goldman sachs put out a note last week dpifing a chance of the government shutdown 50%. i was talking to people talking to people close to leadership last night including in the administration and they think it's higher than that. the question is whether donald trump has the fight in september or december. some of his aitd aides believe bettor d a short-term three-month funding bill that will kick the can down the road to december. but donald trump wants this wall. he believes it's politically e smpblly and he wants to have a fight over it so a lot of people think it's going to happen. >> kara lee, at the same time, you and i both used to cover secretaries of state in the field. they don't let us travel with them anymore so we have to sort of fly on our own, but there you've got a photo opportunity with jared kushner, an israeli government camera and an embassy government camera. >> that's how this trip has

gone. this is not the first trip that he's take on the this region and we of seen similar dynamics in terms of press access. but, you know, i think that they're trying to get something moving before the u.n. general assembly, particularly, because as you know there's a lot of drama that can happen there and the palestinians are saying they may make some moves there and it's usually, you know, this issue obviously comes up every year and it's president trump's first one -- >> 3 1/2 weeks from now. >> right. so people close to kushner say that, you know, he spent a lot of time trying to get to know everybody over the last few months and now they're into this phase of talking about substance. but there's lot of preshg sure for him to show that there's actual movement on this issue. >> and nick, at the same time, we're seeing, you know, attempts by john capitol hill to get control of the white house staff at least if not the president himself. >> correct, andrea. we saw a report in politico

today that the chief of staff and the staff secretary in the white house are trying to have a new system where all the paper that crosses the president's december sk vetted first, that there are decision memos that account for the pros and cons of different policy options. what's strange about this is how normal it is, andrea. this is how, you know, all white houses in the past have functioned. it's way to make the process kind of work for the president instead of work for the people inside the bureaucracy. and it's intended to bring some order to a white house where policy has often been done an an ad hoc or freelance basis. it's not clear to me if it changes the guy at the top, if it changes his own behavior and the fact this he kind of hates being controlled and kind of likes to show who's in charge once in a while. >> well, you have to wonder something like the transgender tweet which came as a complete shock to the pentagon which is now scrambling to figure out some way out of this or some way to deal with it, who got to the

president on that? did that just come up someday or did he see something on television? carol, you've been tracking him so closely. >> if you look at what kelly is trying to d in terms of paper flow and the things that get to the president a lot of people have been concerned that there are not only things that aren't true that are getting to the president that then wind up coming out of the pet's mouth that get to his desk but also there's a way people are trying to sway his opinion on different issues and kind of stacking the deck in their favor and this is an effort to try to rein that in. >> and the open-door policy previously. >> it's hard to give you the full picture because it was so crazy the first few months. it really was open door, you adam rosa milling around outside ducking in to see the president. people would be sitting there, like grand central station, people coming in and out. people slipping news stories

from source like breitbart and chuck johnson, who's this sort of very controversial internet figure that would harm their enemies internally and it would rile trump up. if you wanted to get him angry or kill an appointment, you surreptitiously put the paper across his desk. it was truly amazing. >> nick, do you think capitol hill is at least getting that piece of it under control? >> it seems likely. a few of the people widely thought to be the biggest abusers of that freelancing have been demoted or pushed aside or pushed out. the transgender ban is a good example. i of seen some reporting that he did that tweet on his own, that he had been told he shouldn't do that policy, that it was a bad policy, that it was hard to implement, and he decided to show his own team who was boss and put out that tweet. of course the government has spent the last few months scrambling to catch up to the tweet. so we can still expect i think to see some of that from this president. >> nick and carol and jonathan,

thank you so much. great to see you. we'll be right back. so that's the idea. what do you think? hate to play devil's advocate but... i kind of feel like it's a game changer. i wouldn't go that far. are you there? he's probably on mute. yeah... gary won't like it. why? because he's gary. (phone ringing) what? keep going! yeah... (laughs) (voice on phone) it's not millennial enough. there are a lot of ways to say no. thank you so much. thank you! so we're doing it. yes! start saying yes to your company's best ideas. let us help with money and know-how,

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gee thanks for being with us. thank you and this does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow us online at facebook and twitter. chris jansing is up next on msnbc. hi, chris. >> hey, andrea. thank you so much. i am chris jansing in now for craig melvin at msnbc headquarters in new york. war on the gop.

president trump taunting members of his own party by threatening a government shutdown if they don't fund his border wall, while escalating his twitter attacks on senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. will the threats lead to action or will congress fight back? a chilling new isis propaganda video a boy speaking fluent english claiming to be the son of a u.s. military soldier, threatening the united states and president trump. who is he and what does it say about the state of the terror group? peace maker? presidential adviser and son-in-law jared kushner back in the middle east meeting with israeli and palestinian leaders looking for the peace deal that's elude sod many for so long. the president says he is the man to d the job, jared kushner, but is there any sign he's making headway? let's start with president trump's escalation of his war of words with lawmakers from his own party and what's at stake by