that does it for us. our thanks to jonathan capehart and the others. that does it for our hour i'm nicolle wallace. hi, chuck. >> only eight seconds to pull that off and you did. nice work. impressive. a member of the biz now, my friend. >> barely. if it's wednesday, democrats are divided and feeling the burn while doing it. >> announcer: tonight, the democratic divide. the left is split on support for the bernie sanders single payer plan. >> who's supporting it, and why, it's impact, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. >> announcer: and talk with democratic leaders. is it driving another wedge in the party? >> when we set aside our

differences and it's amazing sometimes how little our differences are. >> announcer: plus, the banishing political center. >> the president is the leader of the republican party. >> announcer: are moderates rapidly becoming an extinction species. and checking in on the irma recovery efforts from florida to the virgin islands. >> it's been the biggest hurricane to ever pass through the virgin islands. >> all of the windows blew out. completely flooded. >> this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington and welcome to "mtp daily." the civil war one heck of a distraction away from what could be a civil war on the left. decisions inside the democratic party are now exposed to a bit

more by sunlight and in dramatic fashion in some ways. sometimes anywhere you look. divided how they deal with the president. democrats call him a fraud and now cozying up to some, talking deals, tax reform and the budget to name a few. what did they do? he met with a group of democrats at the white house today, again. this time on tax reform, after meeting with three red state democrats last night. and he's meeting with chuck and nancy as he's been fondly calling schumer and pelosi, for dinner tonight. the president's strategy seems to be a rather conventional one. which could drive a wedge between red state democrat, leadership and progressive democrats, and oddly enough, arguably, the single most helpful person now in an effort to divide the party along some of the fault lines is the independent who wanted to lead the democratic party. >> i am just very excited about the kind of support our medicare for all legislation is receiving all across this country and

right here in the united states senate. as of today we now have 16 co-sponsors on this legislation. >> guess what? medicare for all isn't for everyone in the democratic party. its supporters include a who's who of democrats. many people speculate, they're thinking about running in 2020. bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, harris, booker, franken, to name a few. but this bill could be a nightmare for another chunk of the party including vulnerable senate democrats. ten of whom up for re-election in states mr. trump won. only one of those democrats is supporting the bill as of now. and tammy baldwin of wisconsin. baldwin might end up being the canary in the coal mine whether this idea can play in a swing state. republicans in the ten states would love nothing more than to tag their democratic opponent with sanders' bill if they support it or use it as a wedge with the democratic base if they

don't. this also could be a giant headache for chuck shoopers who se - -schumer who seems to be keeping isn't distance from sanders' bill. >> look, democrats believe that health care is a right for all, and there are many different bills out there. we want to move the issue forward looking at all of these. >> an added wrinkle for schumer who once said this kind of approach would basically bankrupt the country. >> there are some on the left who say medicare for all, just have a government program. medicare for all, the private insurance industry would be out of business. the public would be happier, but the cost, medicare costs are going up so much, would be so huge we'd be broke. so we can't do that. >> when sanders introduced a single payer plan on the campaign trail one estimate pegged the cost at $32 trillion over ten years. that's right. $3 trillion a year over a ten-year period. campaign's only estimate was

only somewhat less trillion-ee, pegging the cost at roughly $14 trillion over that same ten-year period. needless to say the bill isn't going anywhere in this congress and some co-sponsors seem to be just fine with that. >> there's not much of a chance you're got to get a vote on it much less it will pass. why do it mnow? >> these are value statements. i don't care about timing. there's no time like now to do what is right. >> and real peel for a seamless system in which people being an american have coverage. >> even if it can't get passed or to the floor now? >> the question never talk about an idea because you can't immediately pass it we wouldn't talk about any ideas. >> joined by one of the co-sponsors of the sanders plan. democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon. welcome back to the show, sir. >> thank you so much, chuck. gb good to be with you. >> start with this question -- the times of this announcement. you have a republican party

stilling w looking to repeal obamacare. the possibility that they do that is still there for the next couple of weeks. why muddy up this issue? why spend so much time working on a new health care plan, when the democratic party took so many bullets for fighting for obamacare and you still have been fighting for it, and it's still the law of the land? >> well, in the course of arguing over trump care, trump wealthcare, i might add, we talked to citizens across the country. i had 36 town halls in oregon mostly republican counties, two-thirds of them. what the citizens in republican counties came out and said is, our health care system is just too complicated, too inefficient and too stressful, and there was real desire, and i'm talking republican counties, for a simple, sacless health care that just by virtue of being an american you have coverage when you need it. >> look, sounds great.

everybody wants this until you tell them they're going to have their taxes raises in order to pay for it. that's number one. again, i go back to obamacare. is this your way of saying obamacare is a failure? >> no. this is our way of saying that in the course of defending obamacare, because it was such a leap forward, we're also very aware of how stressful health care remains. if you caulk to citizens, blue collar citizens, hey, am i eligible for medicaid in oregon? the oregon health plan? if i earn more i have to get off, go to an exchange? on that exchange do that in the middle of the year? what if i have a new employer, covers me, not my children? can i get my children on to the c.h.i.p. program? children's health insurance program? a gauntlet of paperwork and complexity no other developed citizens in know other developed nation face and shouldn't have to face here. and it's cheaper. cheap are four our nation. think about the fact that -- >> let me ask you this.

you say cheaper for the nation, but whether you use the sanders estimates of $14 trillion, additional in the federal spending, one estimate, another puts it twice that a year, $3 trillion a year. where do you get this money? >> because the same estimates say that the total spending by our citizenry on federal budget and off federal budget put together, total cost to our society goes down. you can imagine why. medicare has a, an overhead of about 3%. private insurance has 25% to 30% that's wasted. private insurance denies your claims even when they should cover what you have. every time you are sick or have an accident, or member of your family, you have to go to war in order to get the bill paid. an additional piece of the stress. having a system that is cheaper for the united states of america, that provides better coverage than our current system, that gives peace of mind instead of the stress we have now, that's appealing to

democrats and republicans. >> i understand with the way you're painting it, but to be honest, senator, sounds a little too rosy. was why chuck schumer wrong in 2009 saying medicare for all would bankrupt the country? >> and sponsored single pair as a house member and he was looking at commenting on just the federal cost, if you put more weight there. but there are ways to approach medicare for all that don't cost another single penny to the federal government. i've been arguing we need to have the public option. public option. people already paying money on the exchange, already have tax credit on the exchange. being able to sbi medicare on the exchange doesn't cost a penny in fact will save money because of a more effective, efficient system. allowing private companies to buy boo medicare, doesn't spend a dime. ways to proceed forward that wouldn't cost the federal government anything, take us closer and during the course of

it the entire doft our society keeps dropping. we have an unsustainable system and have to -- have a serious conversation. >> sounds like -- >> about that. >> your last comment seemed to think, what you're saying is, you're endorsing the idea of medicare for all but that isn't really -- what you just described is, we need to have an inkmental step. fix obamacare, add a public option. that's a different plan than this one. which are you pushing for? >> no. bernie's bill also have an incremental approach. lowers the age in year after year after year. so it is not saying it's a dramatic change all at once. but so i don't think anybody in this conversation thinks you can take the enormous 1/6, 1 of our economy, but giving people volunteer ways. by the way, under bernie's way it is voluntary for people to opt in. listen, this conversation is so important for the future of the

nation, we have the most fractured, stressful system in the developed world. we have the most expensive per person system in the developed world. we have the most expensive system per treatment in the developed world. we have to talk about doing better, and citizens want simplicity. they want seamlessness. they want stress-free. let's have a serious conversation about it. >> i hear you on all of that, but sounds like you're promising the world. and it feels like i'm having a deja vu when republicans essentially spent eight years overpromising, underdelivering and voters punished them for it. voters turned to a guy with no experience ever returning for political office to be their nominee because they were tired of broken promises to the base. how does this not end up as a broken promise, pie in the skies, overpromise, underdeliver? >> i certainly would contest your theory there, bu they've turned to someone who promised

the world and had no plan to back it up. and hasn't delivered on any of -- broken every promise. remember, a man, trump, who was going to promise your health care will cover everyone. your health care will cost less. your health care will be of higher quality. >> how are you guaranteeing -- this is not about donald trump, though. my point, the republican party went down this road. overpromisi overpromising, overpromising, not delivering. feels no pathway to passing it. are you not raising expectations only to essentially bring back the cynicism that politicians just love to tell you everything is easy, we're going to make the system simple, and then you can't get it done? >> it would be overpromising to say this bill is going to pass this year. that it's going to get a hearing, but to lay it out as a vision, as honestly has been laid out, to say we need discussions across america how to make our health care better and the way bernie presented it today. this is important to our

country. to wrestle with how we have a simply better system than we have at the moment. so those who say never talk about a vision of where we could go to, because you can't get there tomorrow, i would say we'd never have any progress. a huge mistake. >> senator merkley i love the idea of more debate and you're right on that, and that's a good thing to have. sir, thanks for coming on. always a pleasure. >> good to be with you. president trump spoke briefly to the press this afternoon before his bipartisan meeting on tax reform and before his new allies chuck schumer and nancy pelosi returned to the white house for dinner. >> why have leader schumer and nancy pelosi over tonight? >> i'm a conservative and will tell you i'm not skeptical and i think that if we can do things in a bipartisan manner that will be great. >> let me bring in tonight's panel. michael stooels, former chairman of rnc and based in iowa, joins

us when d.c. he's here. and campaign manager for president obama's 2012 campaign and has a lot of scar tissue over the issue of obamacare. and stephanie, start with you, because i saw you smirk a little when i asked, started with, is this the time to have a medicare for all debate when the party was literally -- was united for an eight-month period to try to save obamacare? >> a couple things on that. it doesn't mean the party is not still united, to save obamacare, or to push for firsts to obamacare. as senator merkley laid out, there's nothing wrong with a vision. i also would say that senator merkley is a great spokesperson on this, much better than we saw earlier, with the unveiling, and you know, let's also understand that we are in the democratic party debating about how to cover more people. with health care. and provide more coverage on health care, and to reduce

costs. we're not debating how to take it away from people, which is the debate on the republican side. you are comparing the false promises of the republican party that they paid for with election of trump on health care. that debate was about repeal. they never put a plan on the table. so you know, democrats have been criticized since the election of trump and even in 2016 for not standing for something. and putting aside what i believe about the policy, they're standing for something. >> i understand that, but it is a small group saying for something, and a bunch of people that have the base, have the ability to do it. joe donnelly, claire -- claire mccaskill. some day, you, too, will run for the united states senator. >> and nothing wrong with finding ways to cover every american with health care and reducing their costs simplifying the system. this is one way to do it. i believe. and then they can stwhat they believe. we have to be careful,

democratses have to be careful this doesn't bn become a litmus test or sort of a, are you progressive enough test? it's not. this is a debate over how to kov are mother people with health care. all democrats stand for that. >> chris, you've been on a few times. i remember one time a coffee can test. in that the one thing you said is, obamacare got rid of the coffee cans. meaning people had an ability to get health care. not small towns everybody chipping in to help a neighbor with health care. medicare for all, the immediate response in middle america, yes, and then what? >> i don't know if necessarily it's going to be a yes for everyone, but it is, you know -- you have a situation right now where if you're on the individual plan, you have one option in most places. and you're seeing a real serious premium increase. so for a lot of people like farmers or small business people, employers for small businesses, it is an option. i kind of looked at this

situation today, though, as republicans have their push on the tax plan. what did democrats and hard-core liberals have? really didn't have anything and now suddenly have anted in with a push again on single pay perp this is -- you have taxes, tax cuts on one side. single pay other than the other. cut the tax base tremendously, or increase taxes, increase costs to fund everybody. this is your balancing act right here between the two bases essentially. >> that is a stark vision. >> a stark veision and with all due respect to the senator and my colleague stephanie here, that's a great vision and plan, but no one's talking about it. it's not something moving through the rank and file of america, that i want more health care now. yeah, there are issues on the health care side of the equation. knot no doubt about it. but for a lot of folks around the country, it's kind of settled. other things distracted their attention, but this is not

something that's a priority and in fact you put it very well. the president is still talking about cutting taxes. democrats spending $1.4 trillion. >> right. a whiplash thing. pause there. i do wonder, though, shouldn't democrats be focused on making obamacare work first before asking the public whether they can do this? we'll talk about that after the break. coming up, tough news out of florida as the impact of irma continues to grow. we'll explain. plus hurricane damage extending well beyond the u.s. mainland. talk with the governor of the u.s. virgin islands about the long road to recovery there.

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welcome back. people in florida are trying to begin picking up the pieces after hurricane irma. lights are starting to come on in more parts of the state, but 4.5 million customers are still without power across the southeast. it is the largest real electrification effort in u.s. history, believe it or not and the lack of power is sadly adding to the storm's death

toll. this has been a chilling day. at least eight people died after a nursing home lost power in hollywood, florida. 115 residents were evacuated from the facility that's been in the dark since earlier in the week. florida governor rick scott says he is demanding answers. a lot of people want investigations. meanwhile, the second nursing home with 110 residents was evacuated in miami beach this afternoon. in light of the situation in hollywood, no deaths but some taken to a local hospital as a precaution. remember, no power means no air conditioning, and police say temperatures at the nursing home were in the triple digits. remote areas of the florida keys, rescue teams are going door to door for people that rode out irma looking for assistance. most structures in the keys received major damage from irma's intense winds. white house says president trump does plan to visit naples tomorrow. u.s. navy ships are off the florida coast to help with relief efforts there assisting in search and rescue operations and supplying drinkability water. and seeing intense scenes from

the virgin islands. some of the worst destruction in all of the caribbean. buildings flattened. after the break, i'll talk with the governor of the u.s. virgin islands there. back in 60 seconds. oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender. (vo) go national. go like a pro. hey. what can you tell me about your new social security alerts? oh! we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so you'll be in the know. ooh. sushi. ugh. being in the know is a good thing. sign up online for free. discover social security alerts.

welcome back. as we said earlier, the u.s. virgin islands had some of the worst destruction from hurricane irma and is just starting a long road of rebuilding. joining me on the phone from st. croix kenneth mapp. governor, good afternoon. >> how are you? >> doing well. in st. croix things are in much better shape than st. john's and st. thomas. >> st. john's got the worst of the damage and devastation. it was really in the wall of the eye. st. thomas is really bad. anyone who had any experience with hugo, marilyn or andrew just understand that irma is

more devastating than that. but irma doesn't outdo the spirit and will of the folks. we are really working to get folks -- getting folks relief supplies. water, food, medical supplies. we've evacuated our hospital, which was destroyed on st. thomas and we evacuated all patients, got them safely on facility in st. croix and puerto rico. and the dialysis community is taken care of, but the devastation is hard, and the people are the virgin islands and the virgin islands need help. >> what is that help, governor? talk about it. let's -- what do you need in the next month and then what do you need over the next six months? i assume you've got -- the quick asks and the long-term asks. >> that's correct. our federal partners, president trump in particular, have been really good, really awesome. the federal cabinet has been here one by one, and we are provisioning and loading up lots

of material, tarpaulins, generators, food, medicine, and security apparatus, establishing in place, to make sure people are safe. long term, simply, we have to rebuild the electrical system from the ground up. 90% of st. john's distribution is on the ground. 90% of st. thomas' distribution on the ground. 5 50% in st. john's and driving to get power up. some lights up in st. thomas. not over at st. john as of yet. we are hoping to have the airport open on the 16th, this saturday. the airlines are ready to come in to help residents to, who want to get out and bring more supplies and bring relief in. the department of defense have two huge ships here with supplies, landing them on the island. the marines are helping with debris removal. the army corps of engineers is promising to come and help us

with more debris pea removal and we just have to evacuate the debris. there's no place for the kind of devastation that we have, but, chuck, let me just say this, that the people here are resilient. they restaurants who could open on st. john opened and cooked food and just gave them, the folks, and let them sit down and have a hot meal. >> explain the importance. tour offism is not just a part of the economy, it is the life blood that is correct. >> explain how important it is for the federal government to basically get you up and running a as tourist destination as fast as possible? >> it's very important. you know, fortunately for us, st. croix has been pretty much unscathed. so a number of the cruise ships are using st. croix as a port. we've been doing good in terms of overnight guests on st. croix but don't have that infrastructure we have on st. thomas here and so with the feds, we're just going to work

to get it up. i know some of the hotels are setting dates your january, to be able to have folks begin to come back in and we believe some of that is realistic. we believe that obviously the roads will be cleared. a good deal of the power will be up and we'll continue to work to build the home spot for the residents and have them -- >> that's three -- >> their homes repaired. >> at a minimum, three moss mon income, lost revenue? >> we'll be asking congress to help us. i'm going to -- the president has asked me to let the people of the virgin islands know he'll be here soon to see firsthand how the federal government is responding and how the folks have been affected by the devastation. and i plan at that time to speak with him in more detail about how we can make it through that period. administrator brock long was here yesterday and the commander

of the coast guard, the general for the u.s. army corps of engineer and chief of the national guard bureau was on the ground today. so we're really working with them and letting them know what our needs are, and making sure we get the help that we need. can i just say one thing, chuck? >> yes, sir. >> that, if you want to help the virgin islands, please, we are asking for your help. visit www.usvirecovery.org. www.usvirecovery.org. and this is going to go to the victims. it's going to be held by one of our wonderful charitable organizations that's been doing work in the community over 25 years. >> great. >> help the people of the virgin islands. we need all the help. >> governor, terrific. we'll make sure folks see that website again and continue to cover what's going on there so people know that you're not forgotten. we're all here. we're all pulling together. >> thank you, thank you so much. >> thank you. still ahead, even as

president trump tries to strike deals across the aisle, are moderates the new -- we can call them endangered species? i think they're extinct in congress these days. one is not yet, but i'll ask him why he's throwing in the towel. be right back.

still ahead on "mtp daily," what's behind the latest comments about james comey. first the market wrap. u.s. stops makes slight

gains but closing at record highs for the second day in a row. dow rising 39 points. apple was the biggest loser. the s&p up by 102 points and energy stock as boost from oil prices. nasdaq gaining five points. tlargt hire 100,000 workers for the holiday season to prevent losing shoppers who can't get help in a busy store. target is also slashing prices to compete with amazon and walmart. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide.

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welcome back. last week we asked whether the retirement of modern republican was an off day. and another announced retirement. this week another. these moderates are choosing to throw in the towel even as we're seeing a willingness in the last week or two on the part of the president to go beyond his base. met with a bipartisan group of

congress today. second day in a row. and struck a deal with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. and tonight pelosi and schumer will be back at the white house for dinner. and someone not running next year, congressman from pennsylvania. good to see you. >> good to be with you, chuck. >> if president trump spent the first eight months having the type of dinners and meetings he's been having over the last week with bipartisan groups of members, and even working, appearing to at least be listening to both sides of the aisle, would you have already announced retirement? >> my decision was made, chuck, actually, i've been thinking about this some time. i don't think it would have changed my decision. i was leaning towards not running snore time. thinking about it since 2013 for a variety of reasons stuck around. never thought to be in congress more than five or six terms. i'm in my seventh term. it might have affected it, but probably not.

>> what do you make of it? >> i'm glad that the president is reaching out. that's important. the agreement struck last week on the debt ceiling i actually thought was a pretty good deal. the only reason he was able to do that was because we republicans don't have 218 votes for a debt ceiling increase. whether for three months or 18 months. everybody knows that. that immediately gives leverage to senate and house democrats and they can help determine the duration of the debt ceiling. i thought the president was correct to strike that kind of agreement. >> why is the political center such a hazardous place to live these days? >> well, because i think there's a lot of, so many people here are ideological. that's a big part of it. you're not rewarded for being a centrist. i've been a part of mostly bipartisan -- really ideological or play ideologues on the campaign trail? how many of your colleagues play and ideologue on the campaign trail and wish they are could be moderates like you and how many are true ideologues? >> chuck, you hit the nail on

the head. a lot of folks are part of the hope yes vote no caucus. that is, they hope a lot of these things get done. they don't want us to default on our obligations, want the government to function just can't vote for it. i often joked with colleagues. i voted for this bill so you didn't have to. the truth is a lot of them -- they always talk about the hastert rule. the so-called majority. we've never violated the hastert rule here. every issue a majority of support for whatever the measure is but aren't a majority of votes. that's what we deal with on a regular basis. it's unfortunate. but we need to grow the governing wing of the republican party. >> and how do you do that? is this a -- what's been the chicken and egg here? is this the conservative media complex? that is, it's created aspective expectations too high among ideologues? something else?

what do you ascribe it to? >> too many members of congress are worried about what outside groups will say about them or how they're school them. an extreme problem. i have a voting card. the voting card -- here's my voting card. who i'm accountable to. the people in the district of pennsylvania. not an outside group that seeks to profit off of chaos and disorder. face it, with those groups what they do, they're not going to -- they'll -- no member of congress will be praised for voting for an on the bus appropriation bill. necessary as it is, you won't get praise for that. they attack those who vote for it and scare others off and raise money. that's the gail. unfortunate. members have to drown that noise out. we have responsibilities to govern here and shouldn't be concerned what the other folks are saying. >> let me ask you this -- is this the case, if voters aren't rewarding searcentristiss

that the system's fault? what do you ascribe that to? >> a bit of the system's fault for sure. look, end of the day we're elected to make decisions. not a bunch of potted plants here. we have to stand up do what we think is in our district's best interests and in the country's best interests. that's what our constituents expect us to do. truthfully, most of my constituents aren't aware of these groups in washington that make all this noise and holler and scream. they expect us to do our jobs. most don't know what these groups are, what they stand for and don't care. they notice when we don't do or jobs don't like the dysfunction, instabilities and, you know, certainty. we need to get back to the conservatism, measured statements, incremental process, order, discipline, control. >> you know if you're leaving congress, one less person advocating for that. i mean -- as you're leaving,

i -- you're setting out a bunch of critiques of how this system could be better. how moderates could be more welcome, but by walking away, you make it harder to make those changes. >> well, chuck, i'll be a voice. a voice for the sensible center. i felt i was one in congress. inside congress. i'll be one outside of congress, too. i'm not going away. i'm going to continue to advocate for that type of governing. i want to certainly support those types of candidates who want to, feel similarly. there are a lot of them s. it easier to advocate from the outside than the inside now? >> oh, i think i can make a difference. all i can tell you, there are plenty of people will be to step up and do what i've been doing on our side of the aisle and concerned, too, chuck. i watched both political parties, in a bad place. look where democrats are now. litmus test over single payer? party taking owner by bernie sanders who's not even a democrat. look where they are. and we have litmus test issues on our side.

before donald trump, pragmatists versus loyalists. are you loyal to donald trump? it's not a good spot. >> it is not. something we've been lamenting quite a bit on our show. congressman, always a pleasur ie you leave congress. >> you got it. still ahead, remembers one of the lions of the senate. 'member that accident i got in, with the pole, and i had to make a claim and all that? is that whole thing still draggin' on? no, i took some pics with the app and filed a claim, but, you know how they send you money to cover repairs and - -they took forever to pay you, right? no, i got paid right away, but, at the very end of it all, my agent- -wouldn't even call you back, right? no, she called to see if i was happy, but, if i wasn't happy with my claim experience, for any reason... ...they'd give me my money back, no questions asked. can you believe that? no. the claim satisfaction guarantee, only from allstate. switching to allstate is worth it.

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tonight my obsession is with one of the senate's long time lions. pete domenici. he passed away this morning at the age of 85. when people talk about the good old days of the senate when the chamber actually accomplished things they are talking about domenici's time and about people like pete domenici that struck deals across party lines with democrats like minnesota's tim wellstone and ted kennedy in massachusetts. served at chairman of the energy and budget committee. it is his work on the budget balanced act that left the biggest mark. he and then house member john kasich negotiated a noteworthy balanced budget with bill clinton back in 1997. in all his years in the senate never became overly polarized and beloved by constituents both sides of the aisle.

and remembering his predecessor today who always kept new mexican's first. announcing the passing on the senate floor today. >> like others in this chapter, i served for a number of years with senator domenici. i came to know him as a smart, hard working, dedicated and a very strong advocate for his home state of new mexico. for an exceptionally fresh feeling choose philips sonicare diamondclean. hear the difference versus oral b. in a recently published clinical study, philips sonicare diamondclean outperforms oral-b 7000, removing up to 82% more plaque and improving gum health up to 70% more. its sonic technology cleaning deep between teeth. from the most recommended sonic toothbrush brand by dental professionals. switch to philips sonicare today. philips sonicare. save when you buy now.

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key witnesses. >> press secretary sarah huckabee sanders seemingly on offense against former fbi director james comey yesterday. if you think that heat was a one-off, listen to what she said today. >> leaking fbi memos on a sensitive case regardless of classification violates federal laws including the privacy act, standard fbi employment agreement and non-disclosure agreement all personnel must sign. i'm certainly not an attorney but i think the facts of the case are very clear. >> as the special counsel's russia probe kicks into high gear, seems the white house is laying out a case to discredit or even prosecute comey bringing us to our panel. yesterday i thought, okay, maybe she went rogue, and seemed like an odd day to pick that fight with james comey and then it came up again today. boy, as our own reporting indicates, it's clear mueller is pursuing at least in part an obstruction of justice charge having to do with the comey firing's that looked like a

deliberate hit to discredit james comey? >> i think you said it out well. this is their way to sort of swat at this before it really takes off. to sort of disturb the air around the investigation and certainly disturb the air around comey around comey. to increase the level of doubt about his veracity and his integrity. which is a little bit laughable, because as we know, given his history in washington no, one has ever doubted those two things about him. even the handling of this. while there's a lot of concerns about the time line and the firing of all the comments he was making, the firing sort of takes that down a notch. because that was just so stark and so blatantly obvious. >>er as someone who has been in professional crisis management, that is a tactic. that is a tactic that you do when you know you've got more coming. >> that's a tactic. >> i'm not going to say whether

it is a good or bad tactic. >> unfortunately, it is often used. you want a tactic to be based in some truth or fact. that's not backed up by the law or the facts as they themselves have told them. that's just a tactic that will come back in their face. and it is also, when you're deploying these tactic, you want a little subtlety about it. >> i'm with you. to read it -- they thought this out. >> build your case through various sources. get some validators out there. build some evidence before you hit us over the head with a club. so i think this probably, i agree michael, this is not going to work for them. but it is obvious what they're trying to do. >> i'm not going to pretend the russia story is taking off around the country and grassroots and hearing it every day. is there a level of concern? >> well, so that story, you have

the wire piece that will be in every newspaper in the country. you'll probably have a front page piece in the "new york times" and the "washington post." maybe a few other dailies. so it will continue to hit. and as long as they continue to hammer, the ap and lose continue to write wire stories and the white house said such and such against james comey. and that story will continue to be out there. day in and day out as they continue to hit on it. no matter how much it gets really heavy concentration, the stories will still be there. whether it is page 9 or page 1. >> in this attack on comey's credibility, it is clearly unintentional but the white house is getting a little bit of help from hillary clinton. sort of has her own beefs with comey. is that going to make it a little bit politically harder for congress to rally around

comey? >> no. also, we don't know the results of the investigation yet. which is the real issue here. this isn't about comey. this is between bob mueller and donald trump. and the trickle, the daily trickle of story lines coming out of that. they might have temporarily bluntd a little of that and i agree. sometimes putting out a bad story about yourself helps dilute the story that you're trying to knock down. but hopefully the reporting on this will always include the mistruth that's they've told. what the law actually is. and what donald trump is accused of. >> and again, i feel like it does give us a window into what trump's lawyers, one of his lawyers is in the white house every day. ty cobb. what they're clearly concerned about of the mueller probe. >> there has been in recent weeks, if not months, a sort of

hunkering down the facts here. and the lawyers are doing what good lawyers do. they're doing a lot of defense on the inside and a little bit of prevent on the outside. they're making sure whatever mueller does, the timing of when he does it, what it is that hits the streets. they have some battle plan. >> they seem to have a political strategy. >> they don't seem to have a hello over it doesn't look like a legal strategy. >> you're right. the legal problem for them is this obstruction of justice issue is really the only way it could lead to impeachment. that's where they see it going. >> and that turns into a political conversation. all right. we got a lot and left a lot on the table. are senator hatch's new bill to puff, puff, pass.

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our country has experimented with a variety of state solutions without properly delving into the weeds of the effectiveness, safety, dosing, administration and quality of marijuana. all the while the federal government strains to enforce regulations that sometimes do more harm than good. to be blunt, we need remove the administrative barriers preventing legitimate research into medical marijuana which is why i've decided to roll out the meds act. i urge my colleagues in our joint effort to help thousands of americans suffering from a wide range of diseases and disorders, in a washington at war with itself, i have high hope this is bipartisan initiative can be a kumbaya moment for both parties. by our count, that's eight pot puns in six sentences. so put that in your pipe and smoke it. this isn't the first time he's tried push a bill like the but it is the first time we've seen

this many pot puns. he has multiple co-sponsors but one of they is not senator roy blunt. but give it time. in all seriousness, this issue is really gaining more bipartisan traction every day. that's all we have for tonight. we'll be back with more mtp daily tomorrow. >> chuck, i've been watching you a long time. host of "meet the press." host of mtp daily. i believe this is your first blunt pun on television. i believe. >> it may be. fair enough. >> we salute and you the good senator from utah. >> hey, go hash it out in your hour, will you? >> thank you, chuck todd. amazing. >> we do begin on the beat we some breaking news. bob mueller's russia investigation is now treating mike flynn jr. as subject in its criminal inquiry.