>> that does it for us this morning. "morning joe" starts right now. what would you tell democrats why have leader pelosi and senator schumer tonight -- >> well, a ima conservative. i will tell you, i'm not skeptical and i think that if we can do things in a bipartisan matter, that will be great. now it might not work out. in which case we'll do without. i think if we can do in a bipartisan matter. if you look at some of the greatest legislation passed it was done on a bipartisan matter. so that's what we're going to do. right, tom? ♪

. >> that right there along with "decpacito" "nam necessity don" by joe scarborough. amnesty don was the number one twitter yesterday. we are talking about the deal the president struck last night with his friends chuck and nancy. >> of course the song, willie, takes us back, amnesty don the song of last summer. we were all much younger, much more innocent. >> summer love. >> breitbart used the softening line. so good for them. now, you know, we will be showing polls in a little bit that actually show why the president is doing what he has been doing. he has been locked at 33, 44% for some time. he's actually moving towards a plan that actually is going to be supported by 55, 60% of

americans. it's a pretty simple political calculation. but there is fear and loatheing and weeping by some of the let's say more rambunctious parts of the president's base. >> yes, the base is not happy. congressman steve king the hard line republican out of iowa tweeting his displeasure with a deal struck last night. let's fill you in on it. it's thursday, september 14th. micah has the morning off. we have mike barnacle and john heilman, professor at the university of michigan school of public policy, former democratic congressman harold ford jr.. >> good morning. >> former aid to the george w. bush white house and jordan and washington, and kara lee. she has new reporting on the russia probe turning to the sun a. former national security adviser michael flynn. we will get with that in a

moment. we do start with the potential deal with daca. chuck schumer and nancy pelosi say they have struck a do you el with president trump to protect undocumented immigrants brought to america as children. sources say a deal was reached over dinner. apparently chinese food was on the menu. they told the president they can pair the existing d.r.e.a.m. act bill with additional border security. but funding that does not include the mexican border wall. more specifics, they said --

some immigration hard liners who have stuck with the president were outraged by the deal. republican congressman steve king of iowa tweeted if the story is correct, quote, trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable and disillusioned beyond repair. no promise is credible. so, joe, as you said, some of the people who supported donald trump very strongly not pleased last night that he abandoned one of the pledges he made on the cane trail, but the white house says we didn't abandon it. we want the wall, just not a part of this deal. >> well, yeah, john heilemann, even republicans, even mark

meadows was saying we don't need funding for the wall in this measure. so their dreamable wall continues. ? yeah. >> but it's so funny listening to steve king acting like steve king understands what the trump base is, and laura ingraham understands what the trump base is and all these other people making the statement mistakes that the main stream media has made for years. well, if trump does this, then his base goes away. >> right. >> and now they're the ones doing it. and what they're going to find is, the trump base is about trump. >> right. >> they are going to stay with him come hell or high water. it's just funny now, now they're the ones that are screaming, when, in fact, they should know by now that donald trump's base is all about donald trump and little else. >> yes, that's certainly true, joe, but look, i think the reality here is that both of these sides are essentially saying the same thing of what got discussed last night t.

notion if you pardon it all out t. notion that there will be a deal where the president is still going to pursue the border wall, but outside the context of daca or a broader border security package. it leaves the wall as an isolated thing. without any other kind of lever annual attached to it the wall is not going to go anywhere, right? >> no. >> so essentially the president is saying i will do the popular part of this. i will push symbolic amy, rhetorically i will continue to talk about the wall. not that it had any chance of getting funded. now basically he is admitting this is never going to happen. that's the fact of it. i agree with you, we don't know what the trump base will think about this, these people that say it will be irreparably fractured are probably wrong. it is more a personality. it is worth noting this is -- if trump is basically walking away from the wall now, he is walking away from the one thing that he campaigned on from piller to

post. so, you know -- i don't know, it's worth noting this is the moment he basically said, hey, guys, you know what, i'm throwing in the towel. >> but the trump white house said last night, harold, they're not walking away from the wall. they're not doing the wall as part of the deal. that's always been the is car, again as i said, mark meadows said a couple weeks ago the freedom caucus said donald trump's white house said for some time, hey, we don't have to have the wall as a part of the final deal. so they strike a deem. it's not going to be a part of this final deal on daca. daca is something that is overwhelmingly popular with the american people and so that's, again, that itself the way he's manufacturing forward and he's doing something that actually is going to be popular with most americans. i find it hard to believe that his base is going to run away from him on this one because again the base is about donald trump t. base is not about steve

king or what steve conditioning's baz is about. it is unique to itself and there are, you know, only 12% of americans only 12% of americans supports steve king and laura ingraham and aun coulter's position to remove or deport d.r.e.a.m.ers. only 12% and what is it 73% of americans want d.r.e.a.m.ers to stay easter as residents who are legalized or as citizens and they can have the debate over that all they want. one in ten, donald trump last night agreed to a 90-10 prop session harold ford and now he's got all these people screeching at breitbart? maybe he can look and go oh maybe that's why i have been sitting at 33% instead of 55% all of a sudden. because i have people that want me to be on the wrong side of

the 90-10 issue. >> let me try to add to your points. i think you described aptly and correctly. i'd say two additional things, one, we all know when the president's numbers go up, any president, he and one day will say she is able to negotiate on a whole range of things t. president as this program noted as the poll versus indicated has been stuck in the mid to high 30s for a voter of reasons that have been discussed. this moves the numbers up. this will help to move the numbers up. two, you are right, his base is likely not to go anywhere because steve king or breitbart says what they may say. we've seen da da in recent days showing even democrats as they have worked hard to try to portray and depict this president as being out of touch with main stream americans, their number versus not gone up generically across the country. finally, this makes the president two for two. if, indeed the democrats around funding for hurricane relief and we are now seeing, which i think

is the third one he can enjoy, the fact that he's look to, the president is looking to link tax cuts or some form of tax cuts in this hurricane relief package would be a third win for him. so you have hurricane relief and a debt ceiling. have you now daca, it looks like the beginning of it. we can find ourselves having a conversation in the next few weeks thinkable legislative governing is what you call it. >> you call it legislating. you call it governing. you also call it momentum, nothing succeeds like success. he's getting things done and guess what, memo to republicans on april -- he's getting things done because he's not talking to you? right. >> that itself real thing here, they're not in the middle of it. it's democrats that seem to be the core. >> because he's had them in the middle of the white house in the oval office for eight months. i'm not knocking the republicans on capitol hill. but if you want to be a part of the game, you better get your act towing. you better get together on hc 5

and go, okay, we can never get a majority because everybody is trying to get their own like special deal here maybe. who knows maybe they're trying to get an off-ramp somewhere, a government jet to pay for their honeymoon. who knows what they're after. they're not doing at this time right way. so few are donald trump and you want to get things done by the end of your first year, right now unfortunately for republicans, he can't deal with you. he's got to deal with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. they have the votes to get it done. also they are smart enough in this case to be where 90% of americans are and not where 10% of the americans are. >> chuck schumer and nancy pelosi, they may be over for dinner once a week at the white house to try to strike one of these deals. i want to read you a part of the leave. president trump has a full cage to giving amnesty to aliens protected by an obama program.

does he block out that noise? these are mooem people who supported him obviously throughout the campaign to help make him president. does he listen to that or move past snit. >> he will be receiving strong pressure from within theed a min strag. certainly jeff sessions can't be happy about this. steven miller can't be happy about this. but the u.s. this president care about what hard line advisers are telling him or what the public and getting praise, does that matter far more to this president? i would say the praise and the public recognition that he is moving in the direction of what most of america wants. i think that probably matters to this president more than anythingly want to drop in, joe the president just tweeted this from donald j. trump. no deal was made last night on daca, he writes. no deem was made last night on daca. imaginationive boa massive border security would be agreed to exchange of the vote.

i guess he is hearing some of the noise. >> specifically, mike barnical, that's what the white house said last night. even nancy pelosi and chuck schumer said, we're going to get daca in exchange for border security. and so even that is not news. i want to go, though, mike again, maybe they'll put this up on the banter down below. when people in donald trump's quote base are talking about how horrible this is for him. i want to underline this fact. at the bottom of your screens, my friends, only 12% of voters support breitbart's position, only 12% of voters support sean hannity's position. only 12% of voters support anne coulter's position. only 12% of voters support laura ingraham's position. now that doesn't mean they're wrong. >> that doesn't mean they're

right. but i don't know any politician on the face of the earth any president who has been listening to people who have kept him at 32 or 33% that wouldn't go, you know what, i think this is the right thing to do. i promised on the company i would take care of these people and, hey, 90% of americans are on my side. so, yeah, i'm fine with the base being pissed off this morning, because they can sit. 12% of them can get in a phone booth somewhere and hug in washington, d.c. >> well, there you go. i mean, a lot of people, joe, not only this morning but yesterday, last night, are really overthinking this whole thing. this isn't about da california it's not about steve king. it's not about laura ingraham. it's about donald j. trump. he wants a win. he's watched the cleveland indians win 21 straight. he likes to be on that side of the aisle. he wants a win. that's what this is about. he wants a big w on the wall in the oval office. he doesn't care about schumer,

pelosi, mcconnell, nobody. he cares about himself. that's who he is. >> and mike barnical, if -- well we were talking about the cleveland indians again incredible 21 game for the a.l. record. if you have two sides of the bench. on one side of the bench you got a bunch of bulls as leo derocha may call them that don't know how to play baseball and lost 21 games for you. you got people on the other side of the len bench, now they've rolled up two or three wins in a row for you. again, where do you go? this is the republican party's own fault, the entire republican party's own fault because they're the gang that can't shoot straight. they own washington, d.c. and they have been the "do nothing" congress because they can't -- they don't even need the president. they can pass legislation and put it on his desk. they're incapable of doing that

after promising seven years of power and these are automatic things we're going to do for you. they can't do anything. >> the whom thing gets back to what you were saying a year ago, two years ago. donald trump is not a republican, he's not a conservative, he's not a liberal. he's donald trump. his. >> right. >> his whole world is himself. >> well, john heilemann and i know you wanted to go to carol lee, john heilemann first before you do, who can blame a president for actually working with people that can get i will say stuff, i'd like to say something else on tv -- that can get stuff done! >> well, no one can blame a president for wanting to get things done. it's kind of amazing in a town where democrats have controlled no bridge of government, the people who can get things done are chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. i don't understand how that can be, but it turns out to be true.

carol lee, what say you? >> reporter: well, to me, the pushback from the white house tells you everything you need to know. you know, this is not a white house that pulls punches when it wants to knock something down and you have the press secretary saying that nothing was agreed to until everything is afreed to essentially and mark short saying this is misleading. so clearly, if they really wanted to knock down the framing that schumer and pelosi put on this meeting and what was discussed. they know how to do that. they're not doing that. >> so shortly after that dinner with the democrats last night. president trump started tweeting once again about his scent 2016 campaign rival hillary clinton. as she continues her book tour. she was doing a lot of interviews yesterday. the president posted --

>> there are poetry in those tweets. they're sort of initially kind of unusually, you know, they've got full sentences like the proper punctuation. spelling. it seems like he put a lot of thought into those. >> i'm not sure it cuts to poetry. >> grading on a curve. >> joe, i think you were talking yesterday about maybe the category 5 hurricane that has been in the white house, for eight months, coming down to a four or a three maybe. every once in a while president trump wants to remind you, i'm still here guys. >> it's a little wind gust. it's great for his base. yes, he should not -- we have been saying for some time, he beat hillary clinton a year ago. maybe he should stop talking about it. hillary clinton is out there talking about it. this is a week for donald trump, to have her back out there, actually, makes it once again fair gym for him to be talking about hillary clinton.

and she's talk about how deplorable donald trump is at the same time. and you now have john heilemann talking about the poetry of donald j. trump. >> and john heilemann only. we'd like to point out. >> the president of the united states could be like a little more gracious in victory. he is the one sitting in the oval office. he might want to take a pass on going back to crooked hillary. but, you know -- >> donald trump is donald trump. donald trump is donald trump. no doubt about i. and anybody who thinks he's not going to use twitter to speak out to his base -- again he is always doing two thing at once. we soon it time and time again. he dade deal with -- he did a deal with pelosi and schumer last night. a deal that 88% of americans would support. but he throws something out to his base and he reminds them again in sending out that tweet, this was a binary choice hillary

clinton versus us. this is tribalism. it's us versus them. yes, i'm making deeling deals w other side, congress and republicans can't get it done. look at me, i'm your guy. i'm not saying it's right. >> that itself message he was accepting out to everybody. i have to say, we've gotten through this first block, we haven't done the story that we all want to do, that is steve mnuchin asking the federal government for an airplane, for his honeymoon to fly after this same guy used a government jet to watch the total eclipse of the sun. this is straight out of uso by charlie same on the stand on the top of ft. knox gold. now you cannot make this up. he used a government jet so he and his bride could fly to ft. knox and stand on top of ft.

knox gold to see the total eclipse of the sun. >> that's what public service is all about, opportunities like that. wow, so we're going to dig into that in just a minute t. treasury department has an official explanation for it. meanwhile, today, president trump will travel to florida to survie the damage left behind by hurricane irma. he and the first lady scheduled to make stops in ft. meyers and naples, were irma struck as a category 3 on sunday. across the state of florida, about 3 million without power. 100 emergency shelters are opened. from the keys to the caribbean, it's becoming an increasingly dire situation in the aftermath of the storm a. week after the hurricane hit the virgin islands, they call it cot strofk. can you see from these pictures it is, many residents have been surviving military rations passed out by the national guard t. basics still hard to come by.

the power is mostly out. at least 67 deaths blamed on irma. in south florida, police have launched a criminal investigation after eight elderly patients in hollywood, florida were found dead. the victims range in age from 71 to 99. officials say the facility was left without air-conditioning in the stifling heat following the hurricane. more than 100 people were evacuated from the nursing home yesterday. a second facility in north miami beach evacuated 84 patients. for their part the facility said they planned heavily for the storm. the transformer in the air-conditioning blew. they had a standby generator. when the ac went down they say they used cooling units and fans. bill, it was not only hot, it was humid. we'll get into that more. they had a hospital down the street, they could have called in help from the hospital. tell under the circumstances

more about the weather at the time. >> it's florida. it's still summer down there. it doesn't cool off until october. that's what's cool about hurricanes. they don't cool off t. heat index today will be near 100 from daytona beach to tampa, even down to the keys. >> that insider structure, where it can heat up, it gets sweltering hot. it gets hotter than these temperatures, we're very fearful for problems with people, elderly, especially. then as we go through friday, nothing changes, also the power crews are signature out here trying to string these lines with temperatures like these, two, everyone is saying what are we doing with jose? the storm will be with us at least another week, still a hurricane barely holding on. the track has shifted a little closer to the coast. not on the coast, a little closer. this is the hurricane center official path. they keep it about a category 1 hurricane. notice the cone of uncertainty does not include the outer banks. they may have to shift it closer to new england. this is our american modem.

i ended it here on monday, there is pretty good agreement are you safe in eastern and north carolina. as we head into tuesday and wednesday, this gets a little too close for areas of new england. this would not be a strong major hurricane, it would be a category 1 or a subtropical storm, like a hurricane and nor'easter combined. finally what left of irma is coming through the northeast today. have those umbrellas from d.c. up through nuvenlthd we're not done with jose yet. we have as to watch that closely for our friends, especially cape cod and rhode island i want to drop in for you on a blake here, another tweet from the president of the united states, all caps, the wall, which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continued to be built. so answering the question over whether or not there still will be a wall. his first and chief campaign

promise still ahead on ""morning joe,"" we'll have bipartisan reaction to the president's bipartisan push and republican senator bill cassidy join us. plus, new reporting from nbc the son of former national security adviser michael sflin now the subject of a federal investigation into of collusion between moscow and the trump campaign. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. what started as a passion to make something original... ...has grown into an enterprise. that's why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. now, i'm earning unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase i make. everything. which adds up to thousands of dollars back every year... ...and helps keep my passion growing... ...in every direction. what's in your wallet? haven't you ever wanted sowatch your step.ry? a pilot like you should be serving your country. you're c.i.a.?

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♪ welcome back to ""morning joe." "new development itself in the special counsel's probe into russia and the trump campaign. nbc news reports michael g flynn, the son of general flynn, is the subject of the federal investigation into russian meddling in the presidential election and possibly collusion between moscow and the trump campaign. three officials say the inquiry into flynn is focused at least in part on his work with his father's lobbying firm, flynn

intel group, which he traveled to russia alongside his dad in 2015. attorneys for flynn and his father declined to competent for the story. the younger flynn tweeted saying the folks fake news media is done covering those pesky hurricanes, back to russia, #nothing burger. michael flynn was mentioned in an op ed. special counsel for ty cobb says this does not affect the investigation. carol lee, what more can you tell us how significant a figure bob mueller believes michael g flynn the son of general g.

flynn is here? >> reporter: look, this offers another clue that bob mueller's investigation is in full swing. this is michael flynn jr. is someone who was basically his father's right-hand man. he was involved in many of his business dealings. he was his chief surrogate. his chief of staff. he worked alongside him at flynn intelligroup, which you will recall had a number of foreign contacts with foreign government including one that stand to benefit the turkish government that is of interest to investigators. you know, i think that what this does is potentially puts a lot of pressure on general flynn sr. to et vent wale cooperate with the investigation. there is a number of legal experts that believe mueller is trying to flip certain subjects of the investigation, including general flynn and we talked to some folks that said that this is classing if you get somebody

given a parent/child relationship, if you put someone's child in the crosshairs, it raises the stakes and may compel them to do something like they otherwise wouldn't do. >> like squeeze general flynn. maybe in the "wall street journal," a part of the sources describe anonymous former staffers of the national security counsel say during his short tenure in the white house, he was building dozens of nuclear power plants in the middle east, which he had been paid for as a private citizen, it indicates his year-and-a-half work ended in december, 2016. but flynn remained involved in the project once he joined the trump administration in january. discussing the plan and directing his national security staff to meet with the companies involved. now democrats say flynn did not reveal all of his work on that project, releasing a letter to the company flynn advised after they provided documents.

flynn's lawyer did not respond to our request for comment on the letter. so mike barnical, does this all lead eventually you think to general flynn flipping for bob mueller? >> i mean, carole's report as you articulated is a clear pattern in any criminal investigation. as carol, you just pointed out the obvious pattern here would be to try and flip general flynn using the legal difficulty of

his son as a means to help doing that. but in the course of your reporting, did you get any sense of the pace of the investigation in terms of just general flynn and his activities. >> reporter: yes, it's -- the investigation seems to really be gaining speed on general flynn. we saw this with paul manafort recently. now we're seeing a little more the pace quickening a little bit with general flynn. so it does seem like things are moving more quickly. one interesting thing i found when i asked general flynn's lawyer, how he responded to actation iss of collusion with russia, did he deny that? he said, no comment. which was very different from the response that others have given to that question, which is to deny it. >> all right. carol lee, great reporting at nbc news.com if everyone wants to check out the full story t.

president tweeted one more time. he writes, quote, does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? really! what does that tell you? >> he's listening to michael's point he's going to get a deal here. i don't think the wall is out of this. i don't think it's a part of this conversation. joe, i love your -- i think he will have to do something tangible around border security to avoid some of this, what seems to be unrelenting criticism from some on the right. >> well, last night it came out as a part of this deem. he was going to do that anyway. he has to go back with something to the republicans to get them to vote tore the bill. 90% of the americans don't want d.r.e.a.m.ers thrown out. i would guess well over 50, 60% would say we're for a stronger border as well. again here have you, instead of

donald trump listening to people who are saying do what 90% of americans will again are agains have two things americans support, which is tougher enforcement along the borders and not kicking d.r.e.a.m.ers out, as donald trump just said in that tweet, that are even serving in our military, that is politically at least a win-win. as you said, little momentum. pick up a win here, you know the government is opened. it's so interesting, everybody says, oh, there's nothing to that. that's nothing. no, that's actual lay big thing. >> i would agree. >> because if that hadn't have passed, harold, you know everybody screams and yells and runs around with their hair on fire, if that deal had not been struck that's all we would be talking about right now and all the good government types would say they can't even keep the government opened and can't get us, taking care of our credit. they're going to destroy american credit. nothing succeeds like success

and if this gets done, this is yet another win done, willie, primarily, without republican leadership. >> let's take another step as my role as twitter reader today. donald trump just finish thad previous tweet. he said they, talking about d.r.e.a.m.ers -- not the wall, the border security and again the white house said the wall is coming. it's not just coming as a part of the deal. >> his head will explode. coming up, earlier on the treasury department explaining steve mnuchin's request to take a u.s. military plane to get to his honeymoon. that's next on "morning joe." >> and again, willie, i got to say before gow to break. this is the same man who took his wife to watch a total eclipse of the is up while standing on the gold at ft. knox. perhaps it is time for him to go.

we'll be back.

. >> treasury secretary steve mnuchin is facing questions over

reports he request a government plane take him on his honeymoon, the request was submitted in writing for a $25,000 air force jet to take the secretary and his wife on their hein i honeymoon to italy, france and zotland over this past summer. an official said it started an officialen kwiery into the matter. they zell tell nbc news the honeymoon travel request was made to uphold security standards, stating it is imperative that he have access to secure communications sand it is our practice to consider a wide range of options during his travel. you remember, this is not the first time mnuchin has been questioned over the issue of travel. the department of the inspector general is looking a at trip mnuchin and his wife used last month, a government jet to rule and ft. knox, kentucky and questioned whether that trip was arranged to take in the solar eclipse at the time because

that's where they'd have a good view, joe. the easy answer is he's done this retroactively is paid for it, himself, he probably should have done it up front. >> mike barnical, this guy is extraordinarily wealthy. he can afford, i'm sure he has his private planes. why is he using taxpayer dollars to jet he and his newlywed bride around all over the globe and to go on a honeymoon in france, italy and i guess spain and then again the one that tops him all, to fly directly into the path of the total eclipse of the sun so he and his wife with her valentinos and channel bags and everything else can stand on top of the pile of gold at ft. knox to watch the total eclipse. >> i like that image. total eclipse of the sun, great

song. but the idea that you need secure communications instruments on your hone moop, i mean, that's -- that's a whole new deal. >> may i also point out it's a flat out lie that there's list of the government officials who have priority for national security purposes to be flying on government aircraft and the treasury secretary doesn't, you know, doesn't fall up there in the hierarchy. i remember when i worked for sac condoleeza rice at the state department the state department falls under dod. so sometimes traveling within the u.s. it would be a smaller plane and the deputy secretary of state would be flying commercial to go over seas, he could be going to pakistan, he'd be flying commercial. yet this guy thinks it's appropriate that taxpayers should be financing his private jaunt. >> $25,000 -- >> an hour. >> to travel france, scotland. >> still on his honeymoon i

don't know why he wouldn't ask for the jet and pay for it, himself, it sounds like he needs these capabilities. >> i am very skeptical that an imminent national security threat has to be dealt with by the secretary of the treasury? right. on his honeyman. >> you know, i don't know maybe his 60 got smudged on a dollar bill or something and they needed, made a special sort of scanning machine where you can scan dollar bills he could sign while he was flying over to france. >> signs them individualally, picks them off the press. little known fact. by the which, joe, on the ft. knox things thing, sometimes the secretary of the treasurer has to check on the gold. it was a great service he was providing to america. >> you want your government officials going out of the way to try to plan their travel

schedule with natural events, that's a great way to conduct government business for the benefit of the american public. up next, three republicans in the past week announce plans to retire, offering plans for democrats to possibly flip their seats. one congressman retiring joins us next on "morning joe." excuse me, are you aware of what's happening right now? we're facing 20 billion security events every day.

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welcome back to "morning joe." joining us now from capitol hill, a member of the financial services committee, republican congressman of dave trot of michigan. it's his first interview since he announced his retirement. it's god to have you with us this morning. why are you stepping away from washington? >> i want to spend more time with my family. i spent 30 years in business traveling the country every week, and it will be good to be home, and also i think some of the gridlock has been

frustrating, but that might be changing which is encouraging. lastly, i looked at the next year, and because of competitive districts and the cost of campaigns, i really thought i'd be spending every waking moment for the next year raising $2 million to $3 million reelected. i thought there was a better way to spend my time. >> i want to focus on the gridlock in washington. is there something about this moment in time in washington that you feel is different than it has been in previous years and is forcing you to leave town? >> well, there's been gridlock for decades. nothing has changed. >> is it worse now? >> i wasn't here 20 years ago, but i think the americans are becoming less patient with the problem solving ability of congress. i am encouraged by the president's dinners with nancy and chuck and hopefully it will include paul and mitch in some of the dinners, but i do applaud the president for trying to put deals together.

that's what americans sent us here to do, and that's what needs to happen. >> harold ford has a question. >> good morning. what advice would you have for your successor to not fall or have the situation that's befallen you befall them? as you think about leaving? >> i think we need to come in with their eyes wide open. this place has been dysfunctional for a long time. it's not the president's or the speaker's fault. it's been that way for decades. it's not really a job. it's a way of life. it's morning, noon, and night. i applaud and respect the people who serve in congress. they're a great, talented group of people who really are very dedicated, and most people don't realize how hard they work, and i know most people don't want to hear that because they hate congress, but it's a wonderful group of people, talented group, on both sides of the aisle. it's morning and night as far as your commitment. >> congressman, let me ask you

about the deal that may have been struck last night. right now it's just outlines of the deal, and -- but the president is tweeting this morning that it seems that he wants a deal for dreamers so they're not kicked out of the country. in exchange for that he wants tougher border security. both of the issues are popular with the american people. i know some of the base don't like the president talking about that, but would you support a bill that would allow d.r.e.a.m.ers to stay in this country, and at the same time toughen the border? >> absolutely. i applaud the president. i've been critical of him in the past on a few issues, but this is exactly what the president should be doing. this is what reagan did with tip o'neal. this is what clinton did with newt, and this is what we expect our president to do. we have to solve the daca problem and secure our border. people that talk about the base, that's a bit annoying to me. if you're all consumed and worried about the base, that tells me you're more focussed on

your election than getting things done. people who say congress, why is it acting this way and why can't the speaker stop this. i have a news flash. we don't have a governing majority in congress. we don't have 218 reliable republican votes or 60 senators in the senate. if we're going to get anything done, it will have to be on a bipartisan basis. the good news is if we do it on a bipartisan basis, the next won't tear everything down and blow it up like we've had to do with president obama because everything there was partisan. i hope trump continues inviting people up for dinner. >> dave trot of michigan, we appreciate you coming by. you still have time. i'm sure we'll talk to you again. >> coming up on "morning joe." >> steve bannon and breitbart have not been fans of yours the last few years. is breitbart a positive or -- >> is this something i've come

to learn to live with in my life. >> and the president gets the full breitbart treatment after democrats claim they struck a deal on daca. donald trump tweeting not so fast. we are joined in the conversation when "morning joe" comes right back. dad: molly, can you please take out the trash? (sigh) ( ♪ ) dad: molly! trash! ( ♪ ) whoo! ( ♪ ) mom: hey, molly? it's time to go! (bell ringing) class, let's turn to page 136,

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keep trying to distort this into a bad thing is i think exactly why this president was elected. they were sick and tired of business as usual. they wanted somebody who would break up the status quo that would bring people from both sides of the table together to have conversations. this president's done more for bipartisan in the last eight days and obama did in eight years. >> all right. there you go. willie, i suppose that's one way sarah huckabee sanders can try to keep your side on your side. comparing yourself favorably to barack obama. but the part that is accurate is the part where donald trump said if you elect me, i can get deals done. i know how to bring people together. i'm the deal maker. it's the art of the deal. i can deal with other countries. i can deal with other people in congress. and you know, again, not to be a broken record, but it's just the

truth. he tried that with republicans for 7 1/2 months. he got no deals done. he started talking to democrats a week and a half ago, and he got -- this is the third deal he's gotten done. >> and all of our reporting is consistent. we've talked to people around the president. we've talked to people in washington who say he was frustrated after 7 months that with control of all three branches of the house, the senate and the white house they could not get repeal and replace done. so he turned. as you said earlier, in some ways he was driven into the arms of democrats in order to get the deal. it's thursday, september 14th. with us, john hileman. harold ford junior, alise jordan, and steve schmidt, and eugene robinson and robert

costa. mika has the morning off. let's start at the top with democratic minority leaders chuck schumer and nancy pelosi saying they've struck a deal to protect undocumented immigrants brought to america as children. sources say the deal was reached over dinner last night at the white house. the democratic leaders told the president they can deliver the votes to pair the existing drooem act bill with additional border security, but funding that does not include the mexican border wall. more specifics yet to be disclosed. in a statement schumer and pelosi said, quote, we agreed to enshrine the protections of daca into law quickie and to work out a package of border security for the wall that's acceptable. the president tweeted this morning, no deal was made last night on daca. massive board security could have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. would be subject to vote. he then added the wall which is

already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls will be built. does anybody really want to throw out good educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? really? he went on. they have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own, brought in by parents at young age, plus big border security, he writes, joe. so he has heard the criticism. we talked about it last hour from the likes of breitbart, steve king saying he's abandoned his base with this deal with chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. now ensuring people that the wall is still on the table as the white house did last night as well. >> yeah. but his base. let's go to bob costa. abandoning his base, bob, we showed polls last week that said 75% of people who voted for donald trump didn't want d.r.e.a.m.ers kicked out of the

country. a new poll shows that that, quote, base, that steve king is talking about constitutes 12% of the american voters. this is an extraordinarily popular thing for the president to sign onto. especially if he teams it up with very tough border security which he's talking about this morning. and yet, your phones, you said last night, were lighting up like a christmas tree from people who are angry from his quote, so called base. >> you're right, joe. this is the base reacting. perhaps not the majority of the republican party at all, but they still felt like they got a gut punch last night. deep into the night this news breaks and they're all scrolling twitter. they're in the comments section of breitbart. they're texting each other an capitol hill. they feel like eight months in, nine months into this presidency, he's moving in a more moderate direction. the president's aides tell me this is who he is. he's a deal maker. he's not always driven by ideology.

he wants the wall. but he will also really want to cut a deal with the democrats on daca. and this is where -- this is a deciding moment for some of these supporters you say it's a small group of people on the right. they think they're a more powerful group than that. but the president is making -- he's at a cross roads. where does he go? >> yeah. steve schmidt, this is, this is so revealing. i remember after september 15th, 2008, i remember, i think it was -- who was it? it was somebody said this is when the tide goes out and you see who's naked and who actually has swim suits on. this is when the tide goes out and you see that this massive, huge base that everybody is warning donald trump he can't cross actually constitutes 12% of the american people. that even 75% of the people who supported donald trump don't

want him to kick out d.r.e.a.m.ers, people serving in this country and kacame here atn fault of their own. the more they scream, they miss the fact that donald trump's base are trumpists, first of all, they support him, and secondly, they're just picking the wrong hill to fight on here, because 90% of americans support donald trump's position. >> look, one of the most extreme positions in american politics is this idea that we're going to take 800,000 young people who came to this country that are productive citizens and will be our future doctors and teachers and engineers. many have fought in the wars in iraq and afghanistan, some received valor award that we're going to deport them and break up the families. no one in this country is for this except for a small extreme base of ten to at the maximum

15% of the people. this idea that breitbart somehow projects power, right? it has power, it's a type of power that the wizard of oz had, that it affects people, because they believe in the magic here. and at the end of the day, what we're going to find out pretty soon here if he keeps on this track is how weak the bright bar bart power is, how little influence these people have. the most amusing thing, it's just kind of -- thinking about this last night when it broke, i said are these guys, the steve kings of the world, i said is it possible these people are dumb enough to believe? the guy who picked up the rattlesnake this summer and kissed it on the nose and got bit in the face, are they so dumb they didn't see this coming? that they believed donald trump believed this stuff in he's transactional. he woke up in the last month and said wow, as was reported, people really hate me, and they

do. the most unpopular president, 200 days in in the history of modern polling. so now he's looking and said well, maybe i ought to be on the side of some of these issues eighty% of the american people support, and we'll hear all these loons screaming out there on the fringes, but it will have no impact. but it is amazing that they're surprised by it. >> gene, you heard him reference steve king. he wrote last night on twitter, trump base is blown up, destroyed, disallusioned beyond repair. he said no promise is credible. president trump saying pump the brakes. the wall is still in play. i just didn't want to make it part of this deal. something sarah huckabee sanders said in a statement last night as well. they want the base to know the wall is still there, but they made a deal on daca. that's not going to appease

steve king who believes daca constitutes amnesty. >> no. steve king's head will explode, probably. but look, the president's tweets this morning are fascinating. the first one says there's no deal. there's no deal on daca, and then the next three defend the deal on daca and explain it. yes, there's a deal on daca. he made a deal with chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. it's a deal the vast majority of american people will support. he'll get good press and maybe an up tick in his approval ratings as he did temporarily last week when he made the first deal with the democrats. so that's the basic reality. the thing about the base that 12%, the only question about that is, and i agree with what's been said, but the sort of mean-spirited attitude toward immigration and immigrants. you know, kind of making common cause with the steve kings of the world.

that was part of donald trump's original brand. so it is understandable that the base will go crazy over there, and it won't bring him down, but it will be potentially a problem for him. >> oh harold ford junior, my friend, this is -- there's a lot about this that's fascinating. one of the things that is just a reality in washington d.c. is that donald trump can go and cut a deal, so to speak, with these democrats, but in reality, those democrats cannot actually bring legislation to the floor. they can't -- they don't have any of the legislative mechanical ability to do that. eventually paul ryan, mitch mrk come have to get on board because these guys can't actually make this happen. this is a range new reality in washington. explain how this could actually happen given all the chaos right now in the politics of this that this has unleashed for the republican leaders. >> you're right.

any minority party can't do that. if you look back, both paul ryan and mcconnell expressed misgivings about the daca decision when it was announced by jeff sessions, a week to ten days ago. alise was making a point. it was hart humorous and part honest. there was something going on that this daca distracted from. but i think the president is brilliant on this front. we have been critical of him, rightly so, when he's been wrong. i think steve is right. he awakened to the reality that for his presidency to be successful, republicans awakened as well, for them to have something to run on, they have to point to victories. in a span of a few weeks he's found a way to gather some wins. the mechanics of it, the procedure, you're spot on. the challenge will now be on paul ryan and mitch mcconnell. if they have the votes to do something that's reasonable, and if both schumer and pelosi who

probably jumped the gun with their announcement, but if this is right and they find a win, i think the idea of a tax bill getting done, i think you'll see markets and business people of all sizes react positively to what the momentum is. what it could lead to. >> and steve schmidt, last week before the first deal moved forward, there were a lot of people saying trump can't deal with democrats. he's got to deal with republicans. he can't deal with democrats. he went to them with a deal they couldn't refuse. this is a deal that neither side can refuse. we'll make d.r.e.a.m.ers come to this country -- i mean, we'll allow d.r.e.a.m.ers to stay in the country. we won't deport them. and in return, you give me really tough border security. let's enhance border security. that's something also very popular with americans. democrats don't want to be on the wrong side of that.

they don't want to be in a position where they said we didn't let d.r.e.a.m.ers stay because we want porous borders. you know this as well as anybody. you can find deals that are just too good for democrats and republicans to pass by. you can cobble together 218 in the house and 50 in the senate or even 60 in the senate on just about any piece of legislation if you're willing to go into it saying i'm going to give both sides something they want. >> there are dozens of issues that fall under this category where 65, 70, 80% of the american people are on the common sense side of the solution and just want there to be an honest debate that's mathematically based when it comes to budget. donald trump watched the health care debacle play out. watched the threats of a government shutdown, the default

on the full faith and credit of the united states. a faction of the republican party has had a gun to the head of the country on defaulting on the country's credit. it full faith. for years now. it's finally enough. now, i think that the bar has fallen so low that keeping the government open and not defaulting on our debt for the first time in the history of the country is considered some type of achievement. i'm not ready to say that we're at the dawn of a new golden age of american governance here, but that there might be some dialogue or opportunity to deal with some pressing national issues. i think is a good sign. but what we're about to see here is a lot of screaming, a lot of yelling, a lot out of this right wing media entertainment wing of the republican party. >> the 12%? >> right. >> we're talking about the 12 %,

right? >> 12% of the country of 330 million peoples, pretty big number. that being said, t not a majority number. and what we're going to find is if these guys don't bend is that this group of people who have so dominated our politics, inject third down anger, this vitriol, they're powerless. put them out of business. that's what the opportunity right now for this country is. >> what does that mean? how do you put them out of business? >> you put them out of business by pretending they have influence. that there's a people of who have breitbart and talk radio of the republican party. what paul ryan -- he's a good guy. he's not a bad guy, but he's weak. and he doesn't understand how to wield political power. he has a powerful office, and he doesn't understand, i think, the nature of the fight he's in

against the bannon wing of the republican party. they're not looking to compromise with him. they're not looking to strike deals with him. they're looking to dominate him. to dictate, to mandate that the republicans embrace positions that the overwhelming majority of these people up there endowed with any level of common sense know are absurd, know are bad for the country. and so once the power is exposed that it's pretend, we get back to the business of governing the country again. this is the moment to break their backs. paul ryan better wake up to the reality that he's in a existential fight for the future of the republican party. if he doesn't, not only is he not going to be speaker for much longer. republicans are likely to lose their majority and then the democrats will be able to bring legislation to the floor including possible impeachment.

>> can i also point out that right now one person is absent around donald trump, steve bannon. steve bannon has been gone the last couple of weeks and has been very publicly touting that he's going to have more influence outside of the white house than when he was actually in it. and then you look at how the breitbart crowd is fairing with steve bannon out of the white house and with republican fears he's going to primary a lot of candidates that mcconnell wants to hold their seats, i don't know. i think that steve bannon's, the myth of his power is eroding. >> did you think the president is distancing himself from that breitbart element that helped propel him into the white house? >> i don't know that he's necessarily distances. i they that short-term day today, he's going to go for what make him look good. he wants praise, and congressmen need to bring him deals that are going to win him praise. >> joe? >> you see, willie, that's the thing that drives donald trump

cra crazy. he's said it publicly, what you just said. is he going to cross that breitbart wing that helped propel him to the white house. donald trump would say that breitbart wing did not propel him to the white house. being donald trump propelled him to the white house. being a public figure for 40 years propelled him to the white house, and steve bannon came on late. you know, that's the thing. the power is illusory. so many of these people that have been allowed to pass themselves off as king makers. donald trump's base is all about donald trump. and i do think that is something following up on steve schmidt said, if they stick their neck out too far, they're going to get it knocked off by donald trump who is going to teach them, again, bob costa, that trump's base is about trump's base. you look today on twitter, bob costa. i know your phone lines were lit up last night. today on twitter, donald trump

supporters will be saying he had to do this because mitch mcconnell and paul ryan and republicans on capitol hill wouldn't do deals. >> that's right. that's what some of them are already saying. this idea that the hard line breitbart base has no power, as a reporter i'm not prepared to write them off. you look at the upcoming alabama senate race in late september and the debt ceiling and the budget expiring in december. a round of primaries starting to ramp up for 2018. in spite of -- in part being a small and vocal group within the republican party, oh, are they vocal, and they do have a lot of money. the president in his tweets today is revealing some of the power they have. he's trying to explain to his base that he didn't betray them. this is in the early morning, hours after he cut this deal with democratic leaders. he's aware because he road this

base into the presidency that this base has power in terms of animating grievance to the point where it's so potent it can tilt the leadership of an entire party in a different direction. the senate's only african american republican sat down with the president yesterday for 40 minutes to discuss race and other issues. the senator says the administration invited hip to the white house after he claimed the president's moral authority was compromised in the wake of charlottesville. senator scott described the meeting as productive and says the president seemed to understand that there's no comparing hate groups to those protesting them. >> i was encouraged and pleasantly surprised. it was nice that he was very much listening and certainly the history of our nation, three or four serving ris of rape, murder, and death at the hands of the kkk and people who believe in a superior race. i wanted to make sure that we

were clear on the delineation between who's on which sides in the history of the nation. >> senator scott says he advised the president on the need to, quote, diversify the ecochamber and on ways to bring more money and help to distressed areas in the world. the white house communications team could have paid more attention to detail sending out this photo of the two men with a caption that mistakenly named senator tim scott as senator tom scott. it's since been corrected. gene, it sounds like senator scott gave president trump a bit of a history lesson yesterday? >> he did. i'm glad he had the patience to do that. donald trump is 71 years old. he's lived through the history. he lived through the civil rights movement and the end of the jim crow, and one tires of

having to explain all this to people who should understand. and who should know what that history is. so senator scott took this one, i guess, for the team, and he sat there and explained to the president why the kkk is not the same as the people who are protesting the kkk. and we'll see how much of it sinks in. it serve it's certainly the way the president played footsie with the racists since the campaign. we'll see if it ends. >> you'd like to think the president wouldn't need that education on something that seems obvious. thank you all. appreciate your reporting. still ahead on "morning joe," a criminal investigation now underway in florida after nursing home patients died after being left without air-conditioning in the wake of irma. we'll get a live report. plus the health care fight returns to capitol hill.

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see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. >> the battle over health care is heating up again on capitol hill with lawmakers on both sides unveiling different competing plans. senator bernie sanders released his medicare for all single payer plan yesterday. he says it has the support of 17 senate democrats many of whom are thought to be early contenders, by the way, for the party's presidential nomination in 2020 and many of them standing behind sanders for yesterday's announcement. on the republican side is another plan. this one proposed by lindsey graham and bill cassidy. it turns obamacare tax credits into grants for states.

>> if you believe repealing and replacing obamacare is a good idea, this is your best and only chance to make it happen. because everything else has failed except this approach which will work if we get behind it. if you want a single payer health care system, this is your worst nightmare. bernie, this ends your dream of a single payer health care system for america. >> to my republican colleagues, please don't lecture us on health care. in the last few months, you, the republican party, have shown the american people what you stand for when you voted for legislation that would throw up to 32 million americans off of the health insurance they have

and at the same time give huge tax breaks to the rich and large corporations. you, the republican party, have no credibility on the issue of health care. >> and republican senator bill cassidy of louisiana joins us now. senator cassidy, i appreciate you being on with us. we've been talking today about the deal the president struck last night with shuchuck schume and nancy pelosi. he did it partly because of his frustration with you all, he says in the senate not being able to get repeal and replace done. why would he believe or why would americans believe this time is going to be any different, that you could get a deal done that repeals and replaces obamacare? >> we always think the good policy is good politics. what we do is we take the chip program, the wildly popular child's health insurance program as a vehicle to give money to government. we have people asking for

flexzability, all asking for you give us the money, we'll take care of it. we do that. we think it's a blue solution and a red solution. we think it's the way to go. >> let me ask you, senator, we'll stay with health care, but a quick question on what the president's proposing regarding d.r.e.a.m.ers. it sound like he's putting together a deal and talked oh democratic leaders last night at the white house. it would allow d.r.e.a.m.ers to stay in the united states, not be deported and in exchange democrats would toughen the border security. agree with that package for tougher border security. could you go along with that package? >> i have to see the details, but i think cornyn a couple weeks ago said this might be the way it works. the american people obviously want the border security. but the american people want something done with daca in a way which doesn't kick out a lot of kids who came here when they were young. i think the president is looking

at the polls and realizes he needs to work out a compromise. i think that's what the president is aiming for. >> what do you make of bernie sanders' call for medicare for all americans? how much would that cost? >> billions. he would take away everybody's employee sponsored insurance. he would further increase the taxes after taking the revenue that goes for employer sponsors insurance and put people on medicare, a program which is going bankrupt in 17 years. the american people better look long and hard at this empty promise. >> senator cassidy, harold ford, good morning. it's interesting to hear your approach and the sanders' approach. i concur with your characterization of the sanders approach. it sounds like someone saying we can have cake and ice cream and not gain weight. it seems like your side had issues with what democrats want

to support. it's almost making obamacare the middle ground. how do you see your plan atacting democrats to be supportive, and if not, can republicans pass something on their own like lindsey graham was suggesting in his remarks? >> great question, harold. right now 37% of all obamacare revenue goes to four states. there are lots of states which have been left behind. virginia, missouri, indiana, montana, wisconsin, florida, would all do better under our plan. instead of sending it to four states, we would begin to distribute it evenly no matter where the lower income american lived. if you're in virginia, there would be roughly $7 billion more coming to your state over the next five years. and in florida there would be $7 billion alone in 2016 going to florida. would bill nelson vote against a bill that sends that much more

money a year to florida for lower income people? massachusetts costs are high. she likes the rest of the country blue and red supporting massachusetts incredibly high health care costs. but let's make it even. and tennessee will do better and a lot of states represented by democratic senators. >> senator, you say this bill is like the last best chance to repeal or replace obamacare. the white house agreed with that. what would you like president trump to do right now to aid you in your cause? >> we need, obviously, the cbo to score for rapidly, and we will be speaking to our individual senators to get on board the bill. we've begun the discussions, very promising. and we need governors. we have governors calling us up saying they would like to be on board. scott walker from wisconsin is pushing it hard. the president can help with all that. to pressure cbo and help us with the senators and our governors.

if he makes it a high profile issue, it sharpens the mind and gets them on board. >> all right. senator and dr. bill cassidy of louisiana. thank you so much for your time. >> it will be interesting to see where john kasich is on this deal who has been outspoken on this deal. still ahead, the white house takes aim at an spoespn anchor. plus a horrific discovery inside a florida nursing home. eight people have died. nearly 100 evacuated. we'll have a live report next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ wow! nice outfit. when i grow up, i'm going to mars.

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you know, this is obviously a hard job, and, i mean, and it turned out to be kind of funny in a lot of ways. >> for you. >> your first ever press conference you get in there, and it's the day after the inauguration, right? >> yes. >> and you are charged with the job of going in front of the press and saying that the inauguration crowd was the biggest crowd, i think, the biggest audience -- >> yeah. yes, i'm aware. >> did the president himself -- if it was up to you, would this even have been a top snick. >> -- top snick.

>> if it was up to me, i probably would have worn a different suit. i thought i was going in to set up my office and make sure the e-mails went out, and -- >> and somebody told you you need to go out and say this. >> the president wanted to make sure the record was set straight. >> why is he so concerned with size? have you ever seen the president naked? >> i have not. >> no? >> no. >> that's a question i hadn't heard before. jimmy kimmel. >> that's a new one. >> joe, i got to shout out one of our viewers, a friend, colleague, anchor at ktnv in las vegas tweeting out a few hours ago, first hour with my baby in the hospital. up all night but finally catching joe nbc on the west coast, best show, best baby. >> very cool. yes. there's scientific studies --

here we go. there are scientific studies that something like one out of two mothers that are going through childbirth are actually -- they have the pain levels, and a lot of times the pain level's higher because they want to get it over with so they could turn on the tv, watch our show, and then take pictures of babies in the show. that happens all the time. right, willie? what would you recommend? 20, 30 million mothers do that a year? >> i they that's the number. i have no further comment on that matter other than to say congratulations on the beautiful baby. congratulations. >> very kind. yes, just a minute. good job. thank you.

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in south florida police launched a criminal investigation after eight elderly patients at a nursing home were found dead in the wake of hurricane irma. joining us gabe gutierrez. a lot of people wondering how on

earth this happened. >> reporter: that is the big question right now. the state is just shutting the facility down for ynow. we're learning it has had issues before. the facility failed to properly maintain the emergency backup generator and local firefighter also knew this facility well. >> reporter: this morning a criminal investigation is underway to find out exactly what killed at least eight senior citizens found inside a sweltering nursing home in florida days after hurricane irma. >> the ac unit in the place behind us under investigation was not working. and they were utilizing portable ac units. >> there was well over 100 people being evacuated from a snursing care facility. >> 158 residents evacuated from the center. many in wheelchairs and stretchers. some suffering from dehydration

and heat related issues. the nearby hospital ordering a mass casualty protocol to deal with the large number of incoming patients. the fire department saying it got its first call at 3:00 a.m. a report of a heart a attack. another call an hour reporting breathing problems. then another. at 6:15, the firefighters started evacuating the facility as frantic family members tried to get answers. >> it felt like 110 degrees in there. >> many wondered why the residents weren't moved earlier. and the hospital with power literally across the street. >> i think it is an emerging scandal of huge proportions. >> reporter: in the past year alone authorities say fire rescue crews have responded to the facility 127 times. >> in my opinion, that's excessive. >> reporter: the nursing home defending the staff and blaming hurricane irma for knocking out a transformer that powered the ac system. the facility's administrator

saying we're fully cooperating with authorities saying workers diligently prepared for the impact of hurricane irma. saying they contacted florida power and light and their staff continually checked on the well being. >> it was human failure on the part of the medical staff. they should have sounded the alarm earlier. >> reporter: the deceased ranging in age from 71 to 99. carmen fernandez thought of one victim as her second mother. >> why didn't call me to pick her. they have any problem with the air-condition. >> reporter: today with a high near 90 and so many without power across the state, and urgent push to protect florida's most vulnerable. the city has inspected 42 other facilities for similar issues.

one was evacuated. at this point about 10 of the state's nearly 700 nursing homes are still without full power. back to you. >> gabe, i'm looking at your time line. you say 3:00 a.m. wednesday morning is when the 9-1-1 calls started to go out to police. the storm hit on sunday. does that facility offer any explanation about why it didn't act on monday, tuesday, before it became a deadly crisis? >> reporter: no. that's the big question right now. nobody can seem to figure out why they weren't evacuated sooner. they insist they prepared for hurricane irma and had this backup generator and the portable ac units in place. that's why family members are frustrated, especially since there is another hospital literally right across the street. authorities are now trying to figure out why that 9-1-1 call wasn't made sooner. and at 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m., and it took several hours for these folks to be evacuated.

unfortunately at least eight of them have lost their lives. ? imagine being one of the family members of those people. how horrifying. gabe in hollywood, florida. thank you. the caribbean bore the brunt of irma's path. residents there attempt to pick up the pieces. hurricane irma spared much of florida from the worst damage. but the storm showed no mercy at all to the u.s. virgin islands. and to the 100,000 american citizens who call it home. this is a high raise in st. thomas. hurricane irma ribbed through the apartments and blew people's belongings into the rubble outside. this was the one bedroom? >> yeah. this was one bedroom here. this was where me and my daughter were staying. up until now, i ain't seen the kids. >> reporter: your daughter was literally blown out?

>> yeah. this was my room. what's left of it. >> joining us now the vice news tonight correspondent you saw there. she was one of the first reporters to travel to the region to speak with survivors there. she joins us. also nancy gibbs who reveal third down week's cover story learning from disaster. the storms keep getting stronger and so do we. we saw in the clip. we see pictures on tv and from drones and helicopters. what was it like to be on the ground? >> it's really breathe taking. as you just approach either st. thomas or st. john, you're just struck by -- it looks like the two islands were set on fire. if you did not know a hurricane had come through, that's what it looks like. there's not a leaf left on a tree. homes everywhere are just flattened. you see these strong aluminum

parts of cars, parts of homes just torn up, like a sandwich. it's really insane. i covered harvey, in texas, and just the physical destruction in st. thomas and st. john right now, and and the ecological destruction is like nothing i have seen yet. >> and the rebuilding is going to take so long. in some places we heard the power is not going to be on for six months, not six days, six months. >> i spoke to another family in the piece and they said they don't feel they'll have power for eight months. they live farther inland. they're not sure. >> antonia, the woman you showed, her daughter got blown out of the bedroom. what happened? >> her dog was blown out of the home. both sides of the apartment the walls ripped off, 200-mile-per-hour winds and water ripped through, her small puppy just flew right out the window, the door, the wall, into the rubble outside.

her daughter actually got -- 17 years old, a piece of the house smashed her legs. she was in the hospital. but her daughter is still alive and will be okay but is surfing from physical and emotional trauma right now. for hours she described to me she and her daughter were holding on to parts of the toilet, sections of their closet, the strongest parts of their apartment as everything around them was tearing off and flying into the hurricane. >> this isn't going to be months. it's going to be years. every building, they so depend on tourism. it's the heart and soul of their economy. what does the future look like there? >> it's really unclear right now. i spoke to senior fema officials. i sat down with the governor of the u.s. virgin islands. no one can answer how long recovery is going to take and what it's going to cost. what they keep asking is people are realistic about the fact

that it's going to be many, many years until it feels like things are totally back to normal. again, the devastation is at such a point where people aren't just going to be fixing their roofs, putting a new door, a front door in. they're going to be starting from square one. what that individually means for different families and businesses, there's no telling. people aren't even willing to put a number on how many billions this will cost. >> the new cover "the storms keep getting stronger and so do we." i'm interested in the "so do we" part. >> we ladd two category 4 hurricanes hit the country in the space of a week. this is going to keep happening. we have to get smarter faster. what we saw this time during the transition, the obama officials at fema sat down with the incoming trump officials and talked ability every kind of emergency, but especially the high impact, high likelihood events like hurricanes. these are people that are

veterans of hurricanes. we saw a lot of that working, as devastating as these storms have been, the fact that 1800 people died during katrina and the death toll, thank heavens, is so much lower this time amidst this immense damage, speaks to some of the lessons. do you evacuate houston? no. do you evacuate in florida? yes. 100 poem died evacuating houston before rita. officials know more about how to pre position, the role of the military, 21,000 military personnel helping. 64,000 federal officials on the ground in place. and then -- so that was sort of the top-down part. what we're also seeing which is extraordinary is this bottom-up disaster relief, not just the cajun navy, but neighbors and communities and church groups who because of technology were

coordinating efforts in a way that you almost had a meeting in the middle of individual enterprise with coordinated government action that together made these horrific events less deadly than they would have been at any other time in our history. >> people argue that changes in our climate, changes in human behavior are causing this. take what you're saying, the combination of individual enterprise and government coordination. does that marry at some point and we get to dealing with some of the questions around climate and human behavior that's accepting that? >> certainly the question around climate is an abiding one. that's coming up as practically every policy conversation we're having. even in a more granular way, things like flood insurance. 25% or 30% of all flood insurance claims are to 1% of properties that 234r50d over and over and over again. the logical thing is to take those properties, use them for flood remediation, don't keep rebuilding. some of this just -- we're not going to reverse climate change

or address it overnight. so while we deal with long-term -- the long-term needs, the immediate how do we prepare ourselves and try to prevent the human toll from being as high as the physical toll of these storms is a really high priority. >> antonia, the phrase long term, we have a tendency in this culture of ours to cover things incessa incessantly, 24 hours a day for a few days at a time and then it disappears. what about your thoughts of going back to st. john and st. thomas six, seven, eight months from now, when people who are sustained by tourism have no tourism. >> our team is already thinking about wanting to go back and doing just that, speaking the the families that we spoke to and the communities they're a part of. i spoke with governor mapp about this. in the first few days, weeks,

there's a ton of cameras on the ground. people are talking about this on social media. then there's a moment when the cameras turn away. people are still sometimes talking about rebuilding efforts. the charitable dollars stop rolling in, volunteers stop hitting the ground. and what he might do to try to keep that momentum up. there wasn't quite a firm answer on that. he did ask that people do think right now because, not just in the u.s. virgin islands, but across the mainland, too, we have tens and tens of thousands of people who have become displaced, refugees in their own countries, their own homes, and remember that those things aren't solved, like you said, overnight. from the media perspective, reporters like myself, to people who are volunteers, helping out on the ground, thinking about in what ways you'll do more, it will be krushl for the next few months and years. >> excellent job. thank you very much.

the new issue of "time" magazine, personal news that you're stepping away as editor in chief of "time." >> i will always be a friend, so any time you want, i'll be happy to talk to you guys. >> always welcome here, nancy. coming up, the president tweeted, quote, does anyone want to throw out good, educated, accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military. really? at the same time he cast doubts on democrats' claims on the deal with young americans who benefit from daca. plus, the flynn family under new scrutiny. more "morning joe" in just a 340e789. drinking spoiled milk. camping in poison ivy. getting a paper cut. and having their arm trapped in a vending machine. but for everyone else, there's directv. for #1 rated customer satisfaction over cable. switch to directv.

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( ♪ ) >> what would you tell them, why have pelosi and schumer over tonight -- >> i'm a conservative,nd i will tell you i'm not skeptical, and i think if we can do things in a bipartisan manner, that would be great. it might not work, in which case we'll try to do it without. but if you look at some of the greatest legislation ever passed, it was done by a bipartisan manner. ♪

>> that right there, along with des cito, the song of summer, amnesty done by joe scarborough and his band. breitbart using your title, as i pointed out, "amnesty don" was number one on twitter. we're talking about the deal the president struck last night with his friends chuck and nancy. >> well, of course, the song, willie, takes us back. the song was last summer. we were all much younger then, much younger, much more innocent. >> the summer of love. >> they even used the softening line. so good for them. we're going to be showing polls in a little bit that actually show why the president is doing what he's doing. he's been locked at 33%, 34, 35% for some time. he's actually moving towards a

plan that actually is going to be supported by 55%, 60% of americans. there is fear and loathing and weeping by some of the, let's say, more rambunctious parts of the president's base. >> yes, the base is not happy. congressman steve king, the hard line republican out of iowa tweeting his displeasure with a deal struck last night. let's fill you in. it's thursday, september 14th. mika has the morning off. veteran columnist and msnbc contributor mike barnicle. national affairs analyst for nbc news and msnbc john heilemann, professor at the university of michigan school of public policy, former democratic congressman harold ford, junior, former aide to the bush white house elise jordan and reporter carol lee with reporting on the russia probe, turning to the son

of michael flynn. democrat minority leaders nancy pelosi and chuck schumer say they've struck a deal with president trump. sources say the deal was reached over dinner last night at the white house, apparently chinese food was on the menu. the democratic leaders told the president they can deliver the votes to pair the existing dream act bill with additional border security, but funding that does not include the mexican border wall. more specifics have yet to be disclosed. so, in a statement schumer and mel lohse said, quote, we agree to enshrine the protections of daca quickly and work out a package of border security excluding the wall that's acceptable to both sides. mark short said the democrats' statement was, quote, misleading in a lot of ways. white house press secretary sarah sanders tweeted while daca and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall

certainly was not agreed to, to which schumer spokesman said, the president made clear he would continue pushing the wall, just not part of this agreement. some immigration hardliners who have stuck with the president were outraged by the deal. republican congressman steve king of iowa tweeted, if the story is correct, quote, trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable beyond repair, no progress is credible. the front page of breitbart news declared am netsity don. commentator laura ingram who has been floated for white house jobs in the past tweeted, the art of the steal. let's hope pelosi and schumer misrepresented the daca deal. joe, as you said, some of the people who supported donald trump very strongly not pleased last night he abandoned one of the pledges he made on the campaign trail. the white house says we didn't abandon it, we want the wall, just not as part of this deal.

>> john heilemann, even republicans, even martin meadows was saying we don't need funding for the wall in this measure. their dream of a wall continues. it's so funny liss sing to steve king acting like steve king understands what the trump base is and laura ingram understands what the trump base is, and all these other people making the same mistakes that the mainstream media have made for years. well, if trump does this, then his base goes away. >> right. >> and now they're the ones doing it. what they're going to find is the trump base is about trump. they are going to stay with him come hell or high water. it's just funny now that now they're the ones that are screeching when, in fact, they should know by now that donald trump's base is all about donald trump and little else. >> that's certainly true, joe. i think the reality here is that both these sides are essentially saying the same thing about what

got discussed last night. but the notion that, if you parse it all out, the notion there's going to be a deal where the president is still going to pursue the border wall, but outside the context of daca or a broader border security package, it leaves the wall as an isolated thing. without any other kind of leverage attached to it, the wall is not going to go anywhere, right? >> no. >> essentially what the president is saying, i'm going to do the popular part of this. i'll push it symbolically. rhetorically i'll continue to talk about the wall. not that it ever had any chance of getting funded anyway. now he's basically admitting this is never really going to lap. that's the fact of it. i agree with you that we don't know what the trump base is going to think about this, these people saying it's going to sound irreparably fractured, because it is more of a cult of personality. it's worth noting, if trump is walking away from the wall, he

is walking away from the one thing he campaigned on from pillar to post. it's worth noting this is the moment where he basically said, hey, guys, you know what? i'm throwing in the towel. >> but the trump white house said last night, harold, they're not walking away from the wall. they're just not doing the wall as part of this deal. that's always been the case. again, as i said, mark meadows said a couple days ago the freedom caucus said a couple weeks ago, donald trump's white house has said for some time, hey, we don't have to have the wall as part of the final deal. they strike a deal and it's not going to be part of this final deal on daca. daca is something that is overwhelmingly popular with the american people. again, that's the way he's moving forward, and he's doing something that actually is going to be popular with most americans. i find it hard to believe that his base is going to run away from him on this one because, again, the base is about donald

trump, the base is not about steve king or what steve king's base is about. it is unique to itself and there are, you know, only 12% of americans, only 12% of american support steve king and laura ingram and ann coulter's position to remove or deport dreamers. only 12%. 73% of americans want dreamers to stay, either as residents who are legalized or as citizens. they can have the debate over that all they want, but only one in ten -- donald trump last night agreed to a 90/10 proposition, harold ford. and now he's got all these people screeching at breitbart. maybe he can look and go, oh, maybe that's why i've been sitting at 33% instead of 55%

all this time, because i have people that want me to be on the wrong side of a 90/10 issue. >> let me try to add to your point. i think you described it aptly and correctly. two additional things, one, we know when the president's numbers go up, any president, he or she will be able to say they can negotiate on a whole range of things. the president, because the polls has indicated has been stuck in the 30s for a variety of reasons. this will help to move the numbers up. two, you're right. his base is likely not to go anywhere because steve cane or breitbart says what they say. we've seen data showing even democrats as they've worked hard to try to portray and depict this president as being out of touch with mainstream americans, their numbers are not gone up general air kwli across the country. finally, this makes the president two or two. if indeed the first deal with the democrats around funding for

hurricane relief and we're now seeing, which i think is the third one he can enjoy, the fact that the president is looking to link tax cuts, some form of tax cuts to this hurricane relief package, it would be a third win. >> i want to read part of the lead from the breitbart story. president trump exhibited a full fledged cave. does he block out that noise? these are people who supported him obviously throughout the campaign, helped make him president. does he listen to that or has he moved past it? >> he's going to be receiving strong pressure from within the administration. certainly jeff sessions can't be happy about this. stephen miller can't be happy about this. but does this president care about what hard line advisers are telling him or what the public and getting praise, does that matter far more to this president? i would say the praise and the public recognition that he is

moving in the direction of what most americans wants, i think that matters to this president more than anything. >> the president just tweeted, no deal was made last night on daca, he writes. no deal was made last night on daca. massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent would be subject to vote. i guess he is hearing some of the noise. >> that's specifically, mike barnicle, again, that's what the white house said last night. even nancy pelosi and chuck schumer said we're going to get daca in exchange for border security. so even that is not news. i want to go, though, mike again -- maybe they'll put this up on the banner down below. when people in donald trump's, quote, base, are talking about how horrible this is for him, i want to underline this fact.

look at the bottom of your screens, my friends. only 12% of voters support breitbart's position. only 12% of voters support sean hannity's position. only 12% of voters support ann coulter's position. only 12% of voters support laura ingram's position. now. that doesn't mean they're wrong. that doesn't mean they're right. i don't know of any politician on the face of the earth who have listened to people that kept him at 32%, 33% that wouldn't go, you know what? i think this is the right thing to do. i promised in the campaign i would take care of these people. hey, 90% of americans are on my si side. they can sit and the 12% of them can get in the phone booth somewhere and hug in washington, d.c. >> well, there you go.

a lot of people, joe, not only this morning but yesterday and last night are really overthinking this whole thing. this isn't about daca. it's not about steve king. it's not about laura ingram. it's about donald j. trump. he wants a win. he's watched the cleveland indians win 21 straight. he likes to be on that side of the aisle. he wants a win. that's what this is about. he wants the big w on the wall in the oval office and he doesn't care about schumer, pelosi, mcconnell, nobody. he cares about himself. that's who he is. >> still ahead on "morning joe," minority whip steny hoyer takes us inside the daca deal democrats say they made with the president. first, the investigation into michael flynn expands to now include his son. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ to keep their global campus connected.

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welcome back to "morning joe." new developments in the special counsel's probe into russia and the trump campaign.

nbc news reports michael g. flynn, the son of the former national security adviser general flynn is the subject of the federal investigation into russian meddling in the presidential election and possible collusion between moscow and the trump campaign. three officials say the inquiry into flynn is focused at least in part on his work with his father's lobbying firm, flynn intel group which he traveled to russia alongside his dad in 2015. attorneys for flynn and his father declined to comment. the younger flynn tweeted, quote, the fake news media is done covering the pesky hurricanes. now back to russia. nothing burger. >> also mentioned about a gop operative trying to gain russia's help in obtaining hillary clinton's e-mails. the journal says it reviewed an e-mail from the deceased operative which he offered to make introductions to michael g. flynn and mentioned the son among a small number of other

people he said were helping. special counsel for president trump, ty cobb says this does not affect the white house's cooperation with the mueller investigation. carol lee, what more can you tell us about how significant a figure bob mueller believes michael g. flynn, the son, of general flynn is here. >> this offers us another clue that bob mueller's investigation is in full swing. this is -- michael flynn junior is someone who is basically his father's right-hand man. he was involved in many of his business dealings. he was his chief surrogate, chief of staff. he worked alongside him at flynn intel group which as you'll recall had a number of contracts with for governments, including one that seemed to benefit the turkish government that is of interest to investigators. so i think that what this does is, it potentially puts a lot of

pressure on general flynn senior to potentially cooperate with the investigation. there's a number of legal experts who believe mueller is trying to flip certain subjects of the investigation including general flynn. we talked to some folks who said this is classic, if you get somebody given the parent-child relationship, if you put someone's crosshairs in this way, it raises the stakes for them and could compel them to do something that maybe they otherwise wouldn't do, like cooperate with the investigation. >> trying to squeeze general flynn. also the "wall street journal" described as anonymous former staffers of the national security counsel told "the journal" during flynn's short tenure he was promoting a plane with russian ties for building dozens of plaents and vaib in the middle east which he was paid to fork wore. his year and a half on the project remained in december

2016 but remained involved whuns he joined the trump administration in january. directing his national security staff to meet with the companies involved. now democrats on the house oversight committee say flynn did not reveal all his work on that project, releasing a letter to the companies that flynn advised, quote, your responses provide multiple complications that general flynn traveled to the middle east to promote the u.s. russia nuclear power project. it appears general flynn violated federal law by omitting these trips and foreign contacts with his security clearance renewal application and concealing them from investigators who interviewed him as part of his background check process. it goes on, since these violations carry criminal penalties of up to five years in proiz on, we're providing responses to special counsel robert mueller. flynn's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment on the

letter. mike barnicle, does this all lead eventually to general flynn flipping for bob mueller. >> carol's report as she just articulated it, is a clear pattern if any criminal investigation. carol, you just pointed out the obvious pattern would be to try to flip general flynn using the legal difficulty of his son as a means to help doing that. but in the course of your reporting, did you get any sense of the pace of the investigation in terms of just general flynn and his activities? >> yes. the investigation seems to really be gaining speed on general flynn. we saw this with paul manafort recently, and now we're seeing a little more, the pace quickening a little bit with general flynn. it does seem like things are moving quickly. one interesting thing i found is when i asked general flynn's lawyer how he responded to accusations of collusion with

russia, did he deny that? he said no comment which was very different from the response that others have given to that question which is to deny it. >> all right, carol lee, great reporting at nbcnews.com if everyone wants to check out the full story. coming up on "morning joe," the president casts doubt on a deal with democrats to secure the future of the children of undocumented immigrants. minority whip steny hoyer joins us to talk more about that. more "morning joe" is coming right back. i didn't know where i was from ethnically. so we sent that sample off to ancestry. my ancestry dna results are that i am 26% nigerian. i am just trying to learn as much as i can about my culture.

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welcome back to "morning joe," the president of the united states made some comments. we'll get those two you as soon as we can. he talked about the border and the deal struck last night with chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. we're back on "morning joe" with mike barnicle and steve schmitt. joining the table, national political correspondent for msnbc steve kornacki and author and columnist for "new york daily news," mike lupe ka. a great book out that we'll get to a little later in the show, "lone stars," jack scarborough's

favorite books, the mike lupe ka books. >> good to know i'm in his wheelhouse. >> joining us minority whip steny hoyer. your first impressions and what you understand of this deal struck last night. chuck schumer and nancy pell lows say says we have a deal on daca that excludes the wall. the white house saying the wall is still on the table, just not part of this deal. what is your understanding of the particulars struck last night? >> my understanding, i wouldn't call it a deal. i would say a plan to get to a deal. >> okay. >> i think it was very clear that the president understood and there was an agreement that the deemer act would be the substance of whatever agreement is ultimately reached and also what was reached was that security, enhanced security at the border would be part of whatever program was ultimately

agreed to. we are frankly for border security, have always been for border security and want to make sure our borders are secure. we got to know who comes into this country and that's i think agreed to by everybody. the question is how do you do it? how do you get there and that will be part of the discussion. >> the president tweeted -- >> let me just finish. my understanding is, and in discussions i've had with others as well, while the wall continues to be a priority of the president, he does not necessarily take the position that it has to be in this bill. that's my understanding. >> he did say in a tweet this morning, in addition to the dreamers -- the dream act being made into law that there would be, quote, big border security. what does that mean from where you're sitting specifically? if it's not a wall, what is significant border security? will it be enough to placate people who are concerned about what's happening on the border?

>> i don't know the answer to your question of what does it mean. from our perspective, there was a bipartisan bill passed out by congressman mccaul, benny thompson, the ranking democrats' member agreement and unanimously passed out of committee. one of the things we suggested, the leader pelosi and i in a meeting with paul ryan and leader paul mccarthy along with representatives of the tri caucus, that that be the basis, in light of the fact it was supported bipartisanly, and what it really asked to do is homeland security comes up with a plan that will enhance our security so, in fact, they are secure. >> joe? >> steny, joe scarborough here. it sounds like you might have the out lines of the deal here where the president agrees not to deport the dreamers, and democrats agree on toughening

border security, something you said that many democrats already support. this sounds like the outlines of a bipartisan bill, something we haven't seen in washington in a very long time. >> well, hopefully that's true. we have done some bipartisan things as you know. we did the iran sanctions, russia, korea sanctions bill. that was overwhelmingly bipartisan that mccarthy and i and cardin and corker put together. we just passed, as you know, last week or two weeks ago without much drama -- last week actually, without much drama, the cr, the debt limit and harvey. we did that in an overwhelming bipartisan vote. we have done some things, joe, and yes, this is a hopeful sign. leader pelosi and i had a meeting, as i said yesterday, with others and paul ryan and leader mccarthy. that was a positive meeting. so i'm hopeful that there's a context of us moving forward with the dream act as the

central portion of that agreement. yes, i don't think anybody is surprised that the administration and others and ourselves want to make sure our borders are secure. >> the president leaving to survey the damage after hurricane irma. he spoke just a moment ago. let's listen to what he said. >> well, we're working on a plan subject to getting massive border control, we're working on a plan for daca. people want to see that happen. you have 800,000 young people brought here no fault of their own. so whoa ear working on a plan. we'll see how it works out. but we're going to get massive border security as part of that. and i think something could happen. we'll see what happens, but something will happen.

>> [ inaudible question ]. >> they're doing a great job on power, doing a great job. his tore kwli there has never been anything like that. the united states, fema working along with governor scott, they've done an amazing job. power is being turned on rapidly. the power companies, we have the largest assemblage of human beings ever in one area for power, and rapidly it's being turned on. so we're very happy with that. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> the wall will come later. we're right now renovating large sections of law, massive sections, making it brand new. we're doing a lot of renovations. we're building four different samples of the wall to see which one we're going to choose, and the wall is going to be built. it will be funded a little bit later. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> well, we want to get massive border security, and i think

both nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, i think they agree with it. we met last night, as you know, schumer, pelosi and a whole group. i think we're fairly close, but we have to get massive border security. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> mitch is on board, paul ryan is on board. we all feel -- look, 92% of the people agree on daca, but what we want is we want very, very powerful border security, okay. we're going down to florida. we'll see you in florida. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> we're very much on board. i spoke to them, yes. >> so steve kornacki, there's a lot to digest there. he talked about florida a little bit, but mainly the deal brokered last night, a plan for

border control but also daca, reiterating what he said in a tweet this morning, these 800,000 people are here through no fault of their own. he said, quote, the wall will come later and then talked about a renovation that's under way and they have four different samples for how they want to do the wall. i also want to sprinkle in another joint statement from nancy pelosi and chuck schumer where they say the president's tweets are not inconsistent with what they struck last night in the deal. they agreed the president would enshrine daca protection into law in exchange for a border security plan. details to be worked out. as congressman hoyer said, it's an agreement, not a deal yet. >> also what jumped out at me is how many times did he use the word massive. he always finds that way to selling -- it was extreme vetting, not just vetting, but extreme vetting. massive security if he tries to sell this to his base. congressman hoyer, i wanted to ask you about your own party's base.

the theme of democratic activists, liberal activists for the last ten months has been resist, don't compromise, don't cave, just resist this presidency. i was looking last night at some of the reaction from advocates on behalf of these dreamers saying we can't allow schumer and pelosi to make a deal that includes interior enforcement, we're not bargaining chips, we want a clean dream act, a clean dream act, no strings attached. how much maneuvering room did democrats have from their own base to cut any deal with this president? >> i talked with a lot of the advocates. we understand we have a republican president. he just articulated his view. what i took from that was clearly he wants to solve daca and the percentage he used is 92% of the american people. i wouldn't use that high a percentage, i'm fine to take the president's percentage. the overwhelming majority of american people want this dream act to be enacted to give security and confidence to these

young people who are brought to the united states and did not make that decision on their own. and they're positive members of our community. so that's the first takeaway. the second takeaway i took from that statement is clearly the president has made it very clear that he is very focused on security at the border. he tends to use hyperbole and tends to use adjectives which are huge, the greatest, the most numbers, et cetera, et cetera. he calls massive here. we need effective security at the borders. we're for that. the advocates of comprehensive immigration reform are for that. i think we are on a path. but whether it's our constituents or the president's constituents, the fact of the matter is, what i take away in what happened yesterday is i think we are very close to a full agreement on making sure that every dreamer is safe,

secure and has a pathway towards citizenship through the dream act. we think that's a very, very positive step forward. i expect we can get an agreement in the relatively near term. will there be discussion z as to what border security means? yes, i think they'll be that discussion. but i think we're on the right path. >> all right, steny hoyer, always great to talk to you. thanks so much. >> thanks, joe. >> let's bring in mike lupe ka right now. i thought it was very interesting. you looked at donald trump outside the white house talking about his conversation with nancy pelosi and chuck shuker last night, the big security deal he would get in return for daca that a lot of the republican base obviously would support. he looked very comfortable with what he was doing. he looked very comfortable with the deal he was doing. any suggestion that the 12% who oppose what he would be doing

along with breitbart, ann coulter and congressman steve ki king, that that would spook him. doesn't look like he's too concerned about that. i think he understands he's putting together a deal that's going to be pretty popular with the american people. >> here is the litmus test i apply to these things. if steve king hates it, it must be good for america. if he's this upset about it, they must have done something good. what bothers me about this is, the chowder-headed notion in this conversation is, if you're against the wall -- by the way, willie, you heard about the wall renaultation, that's the part they're doing with legos right now. if you're against the wall, you're against border security. nobody is against border security. my larger problem with this, joe, is that somehow dreamers have become props in this conversation. they're not political footballs, not poker chips. they were never part of this. wasn't it a week ago that the president sent his attorney

general out to basically look like he was shooting dreamers out of a cannon? >> there's no way, though, that donald trump is going to be able to get a clean dreamers bill through there. there's no suggestion that certainly from this republican party that he should. this is what compromise is. this is what by part bipartisanship is. republicans, as steny said, a lot of drks want tough border security. it seems like, steve schmitt, there's a win for everybody in this deal. >> look, i'm having this image in my head last night of him sitting with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer and passing around samples of the wall like tile and carpet. this is the wonderful aggregate of granite. part of this debate, there's zero net illegal immigration

coming across the border from mexico. part of the reason for that is the 30-plus-year trend of improved relations between the countries and a growing mexican economy. we look ahead to 2018, we have an election in mexico, an earthquake in mexico, mexico offers to give relief and aid to the united states after harvey. not a word of condolence to the american people, the mechanics kpan government. this, of course, is taken advantage of in mexico by left wing populous shaf vis cease sta politicians. let's see what happens when we completely destabilize the mexican economy with all this nafta talk coming out of it or give energy to a real left wing mexican populist. then we'll see an immigration crisis on the border. if you woont to deal with illegal immigration, 40% of

illegal immigration is caused by visa overstays. wall on the border isn't going to help with that because those people are coming in through jfk. there's an absurdity to this debate. there's also two pieces of technology that work well with walls. the ladder to get over it and shovels to be able to dig under it. that's the problem with walls through history and why they tend to fail. >> live picture of the president taking off from andrews on his way to florida to survey the damage after hurricane irma. to answer mike lupe ka's question, it was nine days ago last tuesday that attorney general sessions stood at a ed podium saying daca would be rescinded. now the president striking an agreement with democrats to sign it into law. >> there was a reason i suspect that it was jeff sessions that went out and made the announcement and not donald trump. it was an announcement even at the time, if you believe a lot of the reports that you were seeing that even donald trump wanted to be associated with,

and almost immediately you started seeing the spin that barack obama had said in 2012 that this was temporary. it will be very ironic if you have donald trump and democrats coming together with a permanent dreamers fix that barack obama and republicans in congress couldn't get done a few years back. that does look, willie, like that's what's going to happen. just to keep this in proper context. there's been a lot of tweets, a lot of back and forth, a lot of statements out there. as you pointed out, nancy pelosi and chuck schumer said, and as we've been pointing out all morning, that what we heard last night from this meeting is consistent with the tweets that we are seeing this morning. last night the outlines of the deal, and just the outlines of the deal would be the dreamers would get to stay, they would not be deported and in return

there would be enhanced border security. that deal, judging by what nancy pelosi, chuck schumer and donald trump have said this morning, that deal still seems to be sticking. >> the white house statements last night don't contradict anything that's been said. all they're saying is the wall is still in play, just not going to be part of this deal struck last night. hold these thoughts, we'll continue this conversation negligent. up next, new reporting on the russia investigation with special counsel looking at moscow's attempt to influence the election on facebook. that when "morning joe" comes right back. every year we take a girl's trip.

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we'll get to new governments in the russia investigation. first mike lupica has a new book out "lone stars." >> middle grade books, the age is about 9 to 14. >> what's this one about?

>> this is about football and texas and living in the world of new information about concussions. i have three sons and i'm glad they were passivists when it came to football. decision about whether i thought they should play. the parents all the time now more information is coming in. it's about a 12-year-old wide receiver who takes a couple of bad hits early in the season. has to overcome his own fears. but his coach is a fictional old cowboys player. who was one of those stick your head in crazy special teams guys who's now starting to show memory loss and confusion and these kids sort of want to get this coach to a cowboys reunion on thanksgiving. and it seemed like an important subject matter at this time because it's a conversation that all parents are having with football playing sons right now. >> so i'll tell you, mike, as you know, your biggest fan, one of your biggest fans is jack

scarborough who actually has been reading all your books for the past couple years, right before jack goes to bed, and he absolutely loves them. and it does, it pulls young readers in. i have -- actually, jack, he loves sports but it's been jack's introduction really sitting there and reading for pleasure not just reading because the teacher said you have to read this book. >> joe, you know, i always tell kids when i was growing up there was no, you know, internet or google or laptops or cell phones. so all -- i read books. and to go around the country and meet kids like jack and find out with all the stuff they can be doing, that they still love reading these books. it's about the coolest thing that's ever happened to me. >> the book is "lone stars," be sure to be another hit. up next, why the investigation into russia is centering on social media.

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reports in recent days have shown special counsel robert mueller's attention is trending strongly towards social media. anonymous officials saying facebook and twitter are becoming a red hot focus of the russia investigation. reports a russia facebook group attempted to enter a series of hillary clinton rallies and more rallies elsewhere.

joining us, senior reporter for "business insider," natasha latend who covers national security. you've been busy on this beat. what was this platform? how did it work? >> this was a facebook page called heart of texas. it had roughly a quarter million facebook followers which was more at that time than the texas republican's facebook page and the texas democrat's page combined. this was not some fringe group pushed off to the side. this was something that had a huge following, was frequently posting anti-hillary clinton memes anti-muslim memes, zenophobic content. facebook actually as part of its decision to shut down roughly 500 facebook accounts last week that they determined were not authentic determined this was one of them. it was actually one of the groups that was operating likely out of russia. >> so russia, a russian entity, whatever that means right now.

maybe you can explain that, creates the platform, but it's actual visiting it, they're just whipping up the energy around it. >> exactly. this is something russia has really taken note of. they have been able to cultivate these movements in the united states. russia has been more than happy to kind of, you know, help them along in their quest to kind of secede from the u.s. we really don't know where this came from. it could have been russian trolls acting on their own. but they know that it was actually operating out of russia, you know, maybe by a troll factory or something like that. >> isn't facebook getting religion a little late in this church service? because if you imagine the whole russia thing, it's like a pie graph, this is a bigger piece to the puzzle than i think people realized at first but are starting to realize. >> right, and it adds a whole

nother element to the russian interference, right? we had the fake news. we have the potential collusion. now we have it going one step further where they actually successfully orchestrated protests in the united states. the daily beast reported last week one of these russian linked facebook groups managed to organize a facebook protest in idaho. i was reporting yield this heart of texas group which was more massive managed to successfully organize some protests across texas and major cities. this is all something that, you know, robert mueller now in his investigation, he's going to be looking at as a huge part of this piece that is likely to, you know, re-emerge next year. >> steve. >> yeah, i guess this raises a broader question too of just how -- you look at facebook and take it for granted it's one of your fellow citizens. it's just a group of activists or something. it really is the wild west in terms of anybody around the world anywhere for any reason inspired by anything could put

something like this up. unless you're trained to be skeptical, you have no idea. >> they know exactly the kind of buzzwords that are going to get people to click. for example, the facebook group, it used words like establishment, corrupt media, anti-immigration. that they knew which would kind of rile up this base that was going off this narrative that was largely being iterated by donald trump. they know exactly how to do this and they're buying ads that are targeting people and it's been highly effective. >> do we know the status of any effort being made to force facebook to be more forthcoming, more transparent about their nonintentional role in helping to foster this? >> facebook has been criticized a lot because they've been rue luckettant to release the ads. but i think congress and the vice chair of the committee has indicated he wants facebook and twitter executives to testify

about what they knew. >> this is one group in one state. you have to imagine there are many more that will be uncovered. thanks so much. that does it for us this morning. peter alexander picks up our coverage right now. good morning, i'm peter alexander. in today for my friend stephanie ruehl. she is on assignment this morning. deal or no deal. democrats emerging from the dinner with the president saying they've got a deal to help the dreamers. the white house says just wait a second. we're talking to someone who was in that room last night. >> if you look at some of the greatest legislation ever passed, it was done a bipartisan manner. >> the president heading to florida told to see the irma damage firsthand. as a criminal investigation opens into the deaths of eight people in a nursing home. >> that someone in a staff would not know that a frail elderly person is dying of