green light. that means go! oh, yeah. start saying yes to your company's best ideas. we're gonna hit our launch date! (scream) thank you! goodbye! let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open. morning, glory, america. i'm hugh hewitt. you hear me on the radio network 6:00 to 9:00. but saturday morning i am here on msnbc. i returned from the united kingdom late last night and have been following the news through the british media. to catch me up on the national news i have asked three of the belt waugh's best young reporters all rising stars in the craft of journalism to bring me and thus you on what mattered most in the past two weeks and

the week ahead. they are james hol mapp of the "washington post" annie lipsky, and politico playbook he every morning. welcome to all three of you. i have to begin the news of the day as president trump is tweeting this morning. let me bring people up to date with what he has had to tweet. john mccain never had any intention of voting for this graham/cassidy bill. he campaigned on repeal and replace. let arizona down. arizona had 116% increase last year with deductibles very high. chuck schumer sold mccain a bill of goods sad. large block grants to states in is a good thing to do. better control and management. great for arizona. mccape let his best friend l.d.

down. i know raupbd paul skpeuplg he m and i think he may come through. >> a lot of drama. >> let me start over here with you, ana. does it pass? >> no. >> it's not passing. >> no. it is barely on life support, if that. at this point basically donald trump is unaudible to convert on this, right? his problem is he is making phone calls to senators like john mccain who he has zero credibility with. personal animosity towards each other. he had no ability to close the deal. >> this is about reflecting blame. this likely isn't going to get through. i wouldn't say nephew. you could have rand in your back pocket as we saw trump alluding to. i would say don't say it's dead, but this i think is trump trying

to say i tried. >> any. >> the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. we have seen this twice already. nothing has really changed. the same players are making the same moves. and you're not going to see collins or murkowski turn around on this. >> i am the optimist. i think you can get murkowski and rand paul becomes a key. james, you followed this relationship. how much of this would a psychiatrist is john mccain unable to see his friend lindsey graham achieve the great legislative achievement in 20 years that eluded john mccain. >> that's a good question. obviously lindsey and john are so close. two of the three amigos. mccain doesn't like donald

trump. never has. even pwredz he wasn't a hero for getting captured in vietnam. i know he didn't want to be the deciding vote against his best friend's legislation. he didn't want to be the guy that killed it. he didn't want to be there. he is thinking about legacy. he has brain cancer. i really believe he is thinking about his obituary, what is going to be the conversation after he passes away. and i think he wants to be seen as a statesman. he thinks going -- >> let me ask you about the other person at the center of this rand paul. he tweeted he will not be bullied or pwraoeub. he is party of one. he can be persuaded. from a constitutional conservative point of view, this is the greatest thing everment it would turn the 50 states into

volcanos of explosive innovation. it's hard for me to see how can't make the case to him like donald trump can. >> annie, let me go to the last person who is senator murkowski in alaska. she's a must have. susan collins worked for "the boston globe". you can tailor for maine a federalism approach that gives them whatever they want, and they are an odd people. >> you did see collins say she is going to delay her decision on whether she will run for governor. because of this vote. so it isn't just a slight dynamic change, but it is is hard to say. i was up in maine with her over

the summer. and she was surprised by the conservatives who came up to her and said, thank you for supporting obamacare because my kid is sick and i need it. that hit her i think very hard. >> graham/cassidy is not the first to appeal. significantly different. we'll see. let me go to the underreported story of the week. i've been gone. what did i miss? >> i think alabama senate debate was one of the most interesting things that i watched this week. >> judge moore. >> absolutely. it was fascinating to watch. luther strange essentially for one hour just said one thing. his message is donald trump is behind me. he said nothing else the entire time. and people in the audience were laughing. at some point he was saying it so often they were saying, gosh, he's going to go to that. >> the endless loop.

>> and we're going to find out on tuesday when that primary is held who wins. and i think you will see the difference here is you're either going to have a teleprompter trump which will be the result if luther strange wins or the twitter trump which i don't think roy moore represents. and i think that's going to be very important. what lesson trump learns from that, what lesson republicans learn from that. >> it will be interesting. >> virginia governor's race. i watched gillespie and northam. >> i'm glad you can remember the democrat's name. >> this is the off-year governors race. trump sucks up all the oxygen.

alabama, georgia special election got more attention. virginia governors race, neck and neck. ed gillespie, former top official in the george w. bush white house, he could win this even though the democrats carried the commonwealth the last three elections. chuck todd of nbc moderated and pushed gill there's my hard. do you want trump to campaign with you? he dodged three times. gillespie hasn't firmly broken with trump ever. he is trying to thread the needle. >> the western front. >> exactly. >> american civil war that no one pays attention to. >> virginia is one of our bigger states. it's an interesting window for 2018. if gillespie wins, it will make a lot of republicans nervous in house and senate races. you aren't going to own donald trump. >> ana, underreported story?

>> i think tom price private jets, politico story. if if was any other administration other than the donald trump administration, this would be wall to wall coverage. spending $300,000 of tax payer dollars. this is i think one of the most under reported stories. >> i saw it in london. they all take private jets. >> it's different because in particular he is a congressman railed against this issue. >> that's true. >> saying nobody in the members of congress, the white house should be doing it. none of his previous srb sebelius. they are paying for it out of their own pocket. i think this is one of the biggest stories that isn't going to get any prep because we're in

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xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit or go to xfinitymobile.com. we are back with my panel james, anna and any. which numbers are driving the news this week and which are covered partly in the shade right now but moving soon to the center of attention. who is the person that matters the most not named trump? >> rocket man. >> why? explain. >> first of all, we all had to google dotard this week and what did it mean.

obviously this is very seriousment we keep going closer and closer to nuclear war with them. i think this is going to be the international issue. >> you said we are closer and closer to nuclear war with them, which i believe to be true. i don't think it penetrated the minds of america. >> i think it is very disturbing, very scary. it is something i don't think the vast majority of americans are paying attention to. >> bob mueller. significant developments while you were gone this week. they basically are on a phishing expedition. 13 different categories of things that mueller is interested in as part of his probe to potential obstruction to justice. we learned a lot of new developments about the way that mueller, how aggressively he is going after paul manafort. they did a no-knock search of his apartment in alexandria in the summer. we learned mueller was taking pictures of manafort's suits in

the closet. they were really going hard. they were going hard after michael flynn too. former national security adviser announcing a legal defense fund. lots of developments. >> special counsel mueller did not request surveillance. i asked to do those applications when i worked for the attorney general. they authorize the use of the most amazing material. stuff in the 80s that is classified. who knows what they can do now. they know everything about him if they had a fisa warrant on him. >> i'm going to play off what anna said. jim mattis is the most important not named trump because of the threat from north korea that ana mentioned. how the united states will react to this threat of a hydrogen bomb being tested in the pacific, something that hasn't happened in 60 years will be sort of chilling to the entire world. on friday, hugh, i had coffee

with a former senior -- very, very senior person at the defense department who left quite recently. and i can tell you they are nervous over there. this kind of talk is something that strikes them to the core. it's a very serious story that has people -- >> secretary mattis is one of the best people to ever serve. he knows wars begin with muss calculation. if rocket man hits the wrong thing, stuff happens. my person is theresa may. probably because i have been in the uk. her government is falling apart. boris johnson was going to leave. pulled everyone on a plan to get out. she is presenting it in florence. it appears she pulled it off. i thought she was the walking dead. former chancellor on osbourne said about her. she is back to the grave and putting it together. tell me what you're working on? >> tax reform next week.

from administration, congress. it's a plan that from what we have heard will affect states like the one in new england. could be quite significantly. these are places that have very high real estate taxes. and so we're going to be looking at that really closely. >> state is and local tax deduction will destroy california and new york. >> massachusetts. and new hampshire. which relies quite heavily. >> it can't go away. the entire country. james, what are you working on? >> alabama senate race. we talked about it in the last block. >> what are the polls? >> internal polls that i have seen show the race tightening. recent show roy moore up nine points. but i think it will end up being close. they expect 20%, 25% of the elect rat will turn out. >> it is a close primary. >> it is a close primary in can you register on the day of? >> i don't think so. which makes it harder for some

of the traditional trump vote stories show up. but also there's a lot of -- we talk about this a little bit with virginia for 2018. bob corker, tennessee, chair map of the foreign relations committee, he said in recent weeks he is considering retirement because he doesn't want to have a nasty primary challenge from the trump populist part of the party. >> judge roy moore is like judge roy bean. he is like a hero. his people will not not come. ana, what are you working on? >> i think the big story is mitch mcconnell right now. what happens on tax reform. what happens on health care. what happens with this alabama senate race which he has gone in full force with his entire

political operation. he either is the winner next week or right now it really looks like he could be the loser with graham/cassidy and what's going to happen. >> i'm working on the same thing. governor of kentucky, rising star, super guy, wonderfully smart sitting down with rand paul saying you can be a hero. you can be the father of the new federalism. we will go to a new segment, measuring. i'll come back and ask the panel what book the beltway is reading and you should be reading right now. 10:00 a.m. eastern, joy reed's interview with hillary clinton right here on msnbc. i'll be right back.

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and we may not know much about medicine, but we know a lot about drama. we also know that you can avoid drama by getting an annual check-up. so go, know, and take control of your health. it could save your life. cigna. together, all the way. welcome back. we're back with my panel. believe it or not, people inside the beltway do read books.

reread a lot of books. we try and read books. the book that you are reading or ought to be reading and people ought to be reading. >> hillary clinton's memoir, "what happened". it is the book to read on her. it is very honest, very real. >> when joy sits down with her in an hour, former secretary of state clinton in the hour, it will be raw. joy reed is a very, very good interviewer. secretary clinton has gotten more and more open about this. is she more expansive as she goes along? >> when you're not the candidate you can be a lot more honest about what happened, the problems on the campaign. she is very reflective. we often don't see that in candidates when they are elected and saying these are my problems. these are my warts and this is what happened. >> i will be joining you in

reading that soon. james, what are you reading? >> i recommended the hillary book. that was a good window into her. the new biography bunny mellon. >> she was most recent in the news with john edwards. she was funneling money to help him take care of his love child. they called it bunny money. she died a year ago, close to 100. big socialite. jackie kennedy's best friend. she kind of had a close relationship with lady bird johnson. she loved ronnie reagan, hated nancy reagan. it has great stories. there's so many things named after mellon. a window into 50 years of washington, a different era. >> what's the title again? >> "bunny mellon." >> elizabeth warren's latest book "this fight is our fight."

it has the word fight in it a few times. i'll be honest with you, it is just sitting on my bedside table because i can't get into it. it's just not that good. but if you do want to read a good book by elizabeth warren, i would recommend her first book she wrote with her daughter called "the two-income trap." she wrote it before she was running for anything. it gets into her research about income equality. it is a bit academic but written for a general audience. >> her students loved her. i get the last word. the last minute. this is unbelievable. katy tur. for people like we are journalists. it's the real deal. ate many doughnuts for dinner is my favorite line. i have never been a road

warrior. you three have. if you are at syracuse, ma dill, stanford daily paper and you think, i want to do that. did you read it yet? >> no. i'm going to steal it yet. >> you can't have it. i interview her on the radio tomorrow. it is really a remarkable book because it drives home. she was part of the campaign as well reporting on it. it's a great read. katy tur. tweet me @hughhewitt. we'll right back.

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keep the conversation going on msnbc.com/hugh-hewitt. see you next week on saturday morning here on msnbc. over to alex witt. i get to lead to the most approximate beautiful week washington has had. >> we have a gorgeous day. great for the global citizens

festival. just beautiful. we look forward to seeing you next saturday morning. good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt at msnbc world headquarters at the half hour. in hurricane-ravaged puerto rico, a failing dam is forcing authorities to evacuate up to 70,000 people. they live in a valley downstream from the dam which has been breached. there is little doubt that dam will break. another official said thousands of people could die. in mexico, the death toll has risen to 295 from tuesday's earthquake. search, rescue and recovery efforts drag on amid the hope of finding more survivors. officials say 115 people have been rescued in mexico city's ruins. iran state media follows an unveiling of a missile. president trump spoke out against iran's missile program in his u.n. speech tuesday.