taking issue with a tweet from senator bob corker, she let the president skate on his part of the feud. most republicans are steering clear, despite corker's share of the concerns about the commander in chief. meanwhile, there is a major development out of las vegas, police are rewriting the deadline of the mass shooting there. we will have a live report on what changed so dramatically it did take some time, but hollywood is starting to speak out about harvey weinstein, they say the disgraced producer begged tofor a second chance before he was fired. we can go back to bob corker versus the president of the united states. >> you know, some of the years, we've heard of a coming civil war within the republican party from democrats, from a lot of their detractors and the media and it's always been a phony war. but the war is not phony anymore. bob corker versus donald trump.

it is completely out there in the open, but you look at the other senators, too, that find themselves in that position, whether it's john mccain or jeff flake or lisa murkowski at times, heller at times, you can go down the list. two things are really significant. one, people really do believe this guy may be setting himself up to be, the not named, but in reality, an independent president a. guy that's completely plane up, his voting coalition. that's the second most significant thing, willie, how does he get 50 votes on tax reform? how does he get 50 votes on infrastructure? right now, nobody even inside the white house knows, because these wars actually upend his majority, his governing mo jaert. >> that's the frustration we heard from mitch mcconnell's office yesterday, they are trying to get things done this

certainly doesn't help. with us to talk about it all, president on the foreign relations, author of the book a world in disarray. national political reporter carol lee, senior politics reporter at usa today, heidi brin prysbilla. mikas that day off. there are explosive comments about for corker about president trump. so far not going nearly as far as corker did with the "new york times". >> . >> that's senator corker talking to the "new york times". most republican senators want to

move past the unsettling comments and get back to work, it appears. senate judiciary committee senator construct grassley said, i don't see how it's productive and i think it would help if the president problem the first to cool it. i think it would be better if we stuck to the issues and let personalities out of it. senator marco rubio responds, quote, you'll have to ask senator corker what led him to make that statement. i haven't made that statement. speaking alongside senator rubio, senator jeff flake said any of us who have worked with corker know he speaks his mind.

during all of this, senator lindsey graham, who had been one of the presidents biggest critics, went golfing with the president, tweeting afterwards, really enjoyed a round of golf with the president, real donald trump today. president trump shot a 73 in windy and wet conditions! joe. >> oh dear lord and it's unbelievable, he also is going to talk about his, wasn't it mnuchin who said his genetics, his dna was vastly superior to mere humans, a 73 in windy conditions. yeah. i think anybody that's played with donald trump knows that's new math that he's using on that score. how did he -- new math as the

kids used to call it. heidi, so, what is so fascinating is, you have these republican senators saying absolutely nothing and yet when the cameras are not on, when they could just talk to you and other reporters on the hill and not be quoted, they sound exactly like bob corker does when the cameras are on. you talk the level of hypocrisy of these statements that we just read really is mind-boggling. r. it is really striking, gentleman. because corker professed in that video to speak for the entire republican conference and the headline here is nobody disagreed with him. grassley just said, it's not productive to talk like that. and that is what you hear when you talk to these members, joe, is they have to strike a balance here between essentially informing the public about what

they are experiencing behind closed doors, what their observations are about this president and the trajectory that we are going down with our policy and our foreign policy and the consequences for that when they do speak out, which is that they only reenforce that behavior, that the impulsive behavior, the behavior of lashing out against them and at the end of the day, many, many more of them make the calculation that it's better, not to speak out in terms of just trying to keep their heads down and get something done and not stir this president's ire. >> yeah, gone robinson, what's so interesting, heidi brings up a great point, yes, nobody came out and strongly defended bob corker. but nobody came out and strongly defended donald trump either and even the president's spokesperson kellyanne conway, whenever she would be on our

show, would criticize him en when the cameras were off. so everybody in washington, d.c. has said for a very long time the very things that bob corker finally said in front of the camera. you know, a couple dies ago. >> no, that's absolutely right, gentleman. i thought no comments or those anadigm spoke volumes. the strongest was marco rubio who said, i haven't made that statement. that's not the same as saying that statement is not true. nobody came out and said, oh, this is all untrue and, in fact, by not denying it, the senators basically confirmed it and just said, icksnay telling the troops about donald trump. that's it. let's not upset the apple cart. he's already raging, you know, sort of hate tweeting this show and love tweeting "fox and

friends" every day and spinning out of control in some ways. and really the question, we're only nine months into this thing. right. and he's got three years left of this. in addition to making all of us just totally exhausted, what does that mean for the country? and how are we going to sort of make it through this long yawning period in front of us? >> and the ugliest part is ahead, because we will be talking, willie, about elections and you are going to have donald trump going out trying to campaign for people or being angry at republicans to try to distance themselves from donald trump on the campaign trail and it's going to happen in places. it may not happen in a lot of places and it will happen. i want to get back to corker. nobody defending the president against this charge.

>> that donald trump's petyou lence and his child-like behavior and his horrific temperament could start world war iii. think about that for a second. the chairman of the foreign relations committee, the united states senate says we got a president that can start world war iii. nobody pushes back on that. until can -- is this a remarkable time we live in -- with republicans running for the corner, dark corners? with the most powerful republican on capitol hill in foreign policy says, we got a commander in chief that can start world war iii. yet, they don't push back on what bob corker says. >> well, obviously, if richard haase, bob corker has a couple things happening, he's not running for re-election and he knows he will not become secretary of state. which was something perhaps on the table in the past. he is liberated to say what he want itself.

he indicated in that interview with the new yo"new york times, of the colleagues are afraid to share the same sentiments out loud. what do you think about them expre expressing their own criticisms ought president? >> i think by not speaking they usually did. i think what bob corke has done is brought forward the entire question of the president'ss fitness to be president. you put aside all the legal issues. you say it's the ideological civil war of trump runs as on outsider one day. what this is about is this gentleman's ability to be commander-in-chief looking at vis-a-vis north korea, we're a day or two about a big decision about iran. they're basically saying put aside world war iii, these are truly consequential decisions, what corker is saying i have no confidence in his ability to get them right. what is motivating him, the kind of judgment he is bringing is

simply not what is needed. >> that is a big, big, big deal. i think that's finally on the table. it's the fitness criteria rather than the liam or impeachment criteria. >> there is a razor thin margin for republicans in senate. 52 votes if they want to get anything done. that's the frustration i heard from mcconnell's office and other offices, they really do want to do tax reform by the end of the year, alienating bob corker doesn't achieve that aden da. does donald trump care or is the personal fight in the answering of a criticism more important to him than getting that through? >> well, the president is impulsive. he tends to as we've seen before react in this way when he feels slighted. he clearly felt slighted when corker said last week that the defense secretary mattis and secretary of state tillerson and the chief of staff john kelly were the only things standing between chaos. so he still feels that corker

threw the first punch and he is a counterpuncher. so that's what he did. but you know, as he continuously does things like this, that are counter to his agenda, which is to try to get something done, he hasn't gotten any significant legislation so far in his presidency and the comment that i thought was most interesting was mitch mcconnell who was throwing up his happened, corker is a valuable player. this guy needs to whip up votes. as you said, he needs to get his members to support a tax reform bill and potentially someone in health care or immigration. now you throw into the mix, this is all coming when the president will do this ricky gamut on iran the iran nuclear deal. he is kicking that to congress. so things are piling up on the hill and the president keeps piling up the insults towards the hill. >> meanwhile, the trump white house former chief strategist steve bannon joe alluded today responded to for corker's

criticism. here's what he said. >> if bob corker has any honor, any decency, he shouldry sign immediately. he should not let those words stand about the presidency. >> calling for the res igation is of senator corker. it's not just corker, bannon continuing his war with the entire establishment, declaring he will support candidates in as many as 15 senate republican primaries in order to build a caucus to overthrow majority leader mitch mcconnell. several incumbents are in his line of fire, several lower profile senators like nebraska's deb fisher and wyoming's joe borasso as well plaquewater founder eric prince and pro proeting prince on bannon's breitbart network. last night bannon spoke about his next step in the evolution of the republican party. >> there is a coalition going to challenge every challenger,

except for ted cruz, orrin hatch in utah. they're spending a ton of time with the grass roots to make surer that fully vetted. they will have an experience in government. some outsiders are authentic. it's not like 2010. that was the beginning of the tea party when things were first getting going. we are declaring war on the republican establishment that does not back the agenda that donald trump ran on. it's a new game in town. we're going to cut off the oxygen to mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell's biggest asset is the money. we're going to make at this time biggest liability. we're going after these guys tooth and nail. >> so, joe, bannon said only ted cruz is safe. there is one senator we probably won't primary. that's ted cruz. otherwise, open season on sitting republicans. >> well, you know why he said that he said that because the mersers are gaville airs that a

-- gazillionairs. he is playing this dime store populous, i don't know why he does that, nope still knows why he does that, hey, look at me, i'm a man of the people, a man of the people. he walks off. who knows, maybe the demurrerer is -- demercers have a hock. he flies off to wherever he flies off to. he's not a populist. he is funded by gazillionairs, he is doing it, who is he using? he is talking about getting erik prince to fly out in a state where he doesn't live to go after one of the most respected republicans. one of the leading republicans and heidi then you look at who he goes to in alabama. he gets a judge that was too radical for alabama.

he got stripped of his position as judge twice in alabama. in new york, he's going to an excongressman who also is an excon. a guy who like, grim, appropriately the appropriately titled congressman and convict victim and as frank bruni wrote this weekend in the "new york times," steve bannon doesn't want to reform the republican party. steve bannon wants to destroy the republican party and he's even talking about it, a really good source tells me about threatening to move to utah, himself, to run against mitt romney, if mitt romney runs for senator. if mitt romney runs for senator. all i can say is the mercers don't have enough money. they don't have enough money to betemitt romney in his home state. >> reporter: well, i think you summed up the bill of goods

being sold right now to these conservative voters, very nicely. first of all, the myth of this being a start-up grass roots kind of pup list insurgency, big money with the mercers, it's a cut secret brannon is also courting a number of other traditional big money donors, because they won't be able to pull this off without it. to your point here, joe, what is the ends goal here? what are these people like ray moore going to do once they get to washington? they are riding this wave of discontent with photoe voters fed up because washington is not getting anything done for them, the average people. yet when these people get here, does anybody think that roy moore is going to be hosting, you know, get-togethers and soares at his house they they can get good things done for people? no, they are coming here to throw sand in the gears of congress and to kind of proceed up the process.

so these people who are up wittingly, essentially elects them, don't understand they are here to do exactly that. to bring the kind of dysfunction that they find so infuriating and frustrateing? >> and willie, it's not like these people are conservatives, they are all over the place. they are pop you lists and -- populists and will be one more vote against any republican plan out there. again, it's inexpolitlicable. the winner will be the democrats. talk about a motley crue confederacy of gun constituents running them in 20 each. they couldn't have set this up any better for them. hey, let's go to las vegas where an inexplicable development in the timeline has sort of risen and you kind of wonder why it took so long for us to find this

out. >> yeah. this is pretty stunning. there are now questions whether a communications breakdown preventing officers from storming the suite of the las vegas gunman much sooner. he says he shot a hotel security guard through the door of this suite, hitting him in the leg six machiinutes before shooting crowd. he immediately notified security. the police officers didn't know he was shot until they found him in the r in the hallway. it was originally believed he shot him after his attack on the crowd and the security guards a arrival may have taken his attention from the 22,000 people oak. now the sheriff says he does not know what caused the gunman to stop shooting after ten minutes, also unanswered, once on the floor at 10:12:00 p.m. what took them so long to figure out which room the shots came from?

>> from the investigation, as i conveyed to you from the very beginning in in your zest is some things are going to change. they are minute changes. there is not this all encompassing answer associated with the information that we've presented before. in other words, it's not completely inaccurate. but what we have learned is mr. campos was encountered by the suspect prior to his shooting to the outside world. >> it was previously reported that bullet holes were found in a nearby jet fuel tank. investigators believe they were targeted possibly as a diversion a. motive has yet to be found, a lot of people asking the question after the security guard was shot and told security why that message was fought relayed to police as to exactly where the shots were coming from until much later and the shooting had begun from that window. we are also following a state of emergency in california this morning as more than a dozen

wildfires rage from one state to the other n. northern california, police say 11 people have died and at least 1,500 homes and structures have been destroyed. in california's famed wine country, flames were able hop scotch across neighborhoods, thanks to fast-moving winds. the state highway patrol says more than 40 people had to be rescued by helicopter. in sonoma county more than 100 people have been reported missing as of this morning. two hospitals in santa rosa had to evacuate because of the flames. one moving 130 patients in southern california, thousands of people living near anaheim had to leave their homes because of the so-called canyon fire. rescue crews have been going door-to-door evacuating people. more than 1,000 firefighters are expected to be on the scene this morning. still ahead on "morning joe," robert castas joins us with his reporting. a pressure cooker about to explode. a growing course of outrage surrounding harvey wieinstein wo

is accused of rampant sexual misconduct. what it means for women not only in hollywood but across america. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. you know who likes to be in control? this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy! oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender. (vo) go national. go like a pro. knowing where you stand. it's never been easier. except when it comes to your retirement plan. but at fidelity, we're making retirement planning clearer. and it all starts with getting your fidelity retirement score.

in 60 seconds, you'll know where you stand. and together, we'll help you make decisions for your plan... to keep you on track. ♪ time to think of your future it's your retirement. know where you stand. ♪ time to think of your future ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their... ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. build a better website - in under an hour. with gocentral from godaddy. bp developed new, industry-leading software

to monitor drilling operations in real-time, so our engineers can solve problems with the most precise data at their fingertips. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. a nation's technology will determine its power. in its economy, in medicine, in science and in national security. one company designs and builds more supercomputers than any other. an american company. hewlett packard enterprise. leading the way to discover... to innovate... and to protect. hewlett packard enterprise. a national asset in supercomputing. ♪ ♪ you nervous? ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

welcome back to "morning joe." the fallout over the sexual harassment allegations against former hollywood executive harvey weinstein continues to grow. sources tell nbc news it is moving to take harvey weinstein's names off his television programs. one of those sources added there have been internal discussions how to reorganize the weinstein company saying it is still a viable one even without harvey. meanwhile, a new report is shedding light on the behind the scenes action as the board worked to fire weinstein t. hollywood reporter published an e-mail the publications owner janice mims claims was sent to hollywood ceos and moguls

pleading for help hours before his firing. she tweeted out and iteration read to herbie a quote disgusted male recipient. she claims it read, in part, quote, my board is thinking of firing me. all i'm asking is let me take a leave of absence and get into heavy counseling, whether it be a facility or something else, allow me to resurrect myself with a second chance. a number of actors speaking out are growing. gen close felt sad about the statement. and kate winslet says it's appalling and very, very wrong. judy d'oench credited weinstein with launching her news career, told "newsweek" she had been completely unaware of his conduct, she found it horrifying. jennifer lawrence told the "hollywood reporter" she is deeply the disturbed and

clarified she did not experience any harassment personally and jessica chastain tweeted out yesterday, i was warned from the beginning t. stories were everywhere, to deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again. george clooney speaking out on the matter, the actor says the accusations are disturbing on a whole lot of levels, actor and director kevin smith weighed in, tweeting weinstein financed the first 14 years of my career. now i know while i was profiting, others were in terrible pain. is makes me feel ashamed. fashion designer donna karan told "daily reporter" it's not harvey weinstein, you ask what women are presenting themselves. how do we present ourselves as women? what are we asking? are we asking for it by presenting all this sense weiua

and said her comments were taken out of context and quote i am truly sorry to anyone that i offended and everyone that has ever been a victim. heidi, let me go to you on that. we can start with donna karan if you like. also the slow role of hollywood coming out saying publicly what apparently a lot of people have known privately for many years? >> i hope she was misspeaking. because that is the worse possible thing and kind of the stereotypical response used against every single rape survivor whose had the confidence to come forward and speak with it, she's asking for it. let's move beyond that and talk about the response, i think it's great that so many stars are starting to speak out. i still do see a disparity, though, in the fact that most of them are women. i think that with every story like this, that is exposed, whether it be bill cosby or harvey weinstein, it is good in

that many more women feel liberated to speak out if you see what is going on, online, for example. there's #being created and women speaking out about when they met their own harvey weinstein. but i also wonder why we have to get to this point before these things are exposed that these incidents are not just garden variety sexual harassment, but they are really kind of grotesque caricatures of sexual harassment before they are exposed. which also shows us just how far really we still have to go. >> it's really unbelievable and carol lee, you do look at the daily mail piece, and what donna karan said. and everybody now is rightly shocked and deeply offended by what she said. but if you read, there's a weekly standard piece not an ideological piece.

democrats are welcome to wade in and watch, by lee smith, and it's extraordinary, lee smith says, that reporters in new york around harvey weinstein, they knew all along and they can say whatever they wanted to say. they knew this was happening all along and i think the most remarkable story is this woman who asked harvey ween stein a question pack in 2000. he didn't like the question and he started screaming, he was verbally abusive to her. then physically abusive to her boyfriend, beat him up in front of 20 reporters and photographers and none of those pictures ever saw the light of day because harvey weinstein owned them all. i mean, this sounds like turkey, actually, or it sounds like russia. i can't believe that anybody would have that much power and there would be this many people that were such cowards and so

greedy that they would let this go on when they know this was happening. >> you are absolutely right. one of the biggest questions out of all this, is how you do have 30 years where there was this open secret and now it's just now coming out. and it's not just, you know, the people in the industry, it's what you were just talking about. and i think that if you look at the politics of this piece, either democrats are also going to start being asked, what did they know? was this an open secret they were aware of? those questions will be asked there. that's not to say with all of these hollywood folks coming out, now saying, well, harvey weinstein did is terrible. you know, they're doing this after they knew he was going to stay. you know, and that he was going to be fired and they didn't do it when it was unclear if he was going to stay and that just kind of, if you are one of the victims of this, i think that you would not sit well with you.

and it doesn't look like they're speaking out in a very courageous way, because it seems a little easy to do now that it's clear that harvey weinstein is gone and not only that, they're thinking of reorganizing the company and changing its name. in that fact, you also look at his e-mails and just how unself aware he was about what position he was in and what he's done, you know the fact that he was pleading to keep his job and at the same time it was the people around him were realizing how bad this was and they're thinking of reorganizing the company. you know the whole thing, i think this is going to continue and more sort of things will come out about this. >> willie, the most disturbing part of this is, is what carol brought up. i think it was in the first "new york times" story. there is only within reason why this is braking now. it's because harvey weinstein lost his ability to have this

monopoly over stars, over magazines, over the sourcing of news, over all the things that he had figured out how to have a monopoly over, because facebook and google and basically silicon valley blew up his world, so, this would have never happened if harvey weinstein was the power player he was ten years ago and if he was still delivering academy awards, you know, it's the story of, he the get matt damon and russell crowe to call the "new york times" to kill a story about harvey weinstein being sexually ap abusive. that's just shocking to me. who are these people? >> you are talking about the allegation that one former new york sometimes reporter made she had written up this story in 2004 and that harvey, through himself and through people he knew in hollywood bought the the

story effectively spiked at the "new york times." if we want to look at something positive, joe, i hope this era we are in right now with donald trump, with what happened at fox news, with bill cosby, with now harvey weinstein, i hope this is opening up a new chapter, where these guys can't get away with this stuff anymore. they know they won't have safe harbor, women feel empowered, they know they will have the support of men they work with. i hope because all we have seen so publicly that something will change here. but we will see. we know mika has been writing about this. >> willie, yeah, i know it's a sacred cow at nbc, but c'mon, i'd be a hypocrit if i didn't say this you have loren michaels saying this is a local story. this is a new york story, so he killed all reference toss harvey weinstein and "snl". you know, they bravely go after politicians, we could update his turn to an anti-trump editorial and good for them.

but loren michaels says this is a local story. that's like saying the czech church scandal was a central rome story. the people have to stop protecting harvey weinstein, if we're really going to move forward, that i have to say things that are uncomfortable. i'm not really sure why harvey weinstein losing his power for people to start doing that. >> i hope it stops the next harvey weinstein or encourages somebody to speak out about the next harvey weinstein. mika is speaking out on one of the published esays on think, powerful writing, check it out at nbcnews.com/think and on twitter on nbc news think google is now the latest tech company to find election heads linked to russia on its network, including on youtube. is there a way to regulate political advertising on social media, we will talk to a former u.s. attorney about that and more next on "morning joe."

throughout my career, i've been fortunate enough to travel to many interesting places. i've always wanted to create those experiences for others. with my advisor's help along the way, it's finally my turn to be the host. when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. ameriprise

and the wolf huffed like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. you should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. watch out, piggies! (child giggles) symbicort. breathe better starting within 5 minutes. get symbicort free for up to one year. visit saveonsymbicort.com today to learn more.

hey. what can you tell me about your new social security alerts? oh! we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so you'll be in the know. ooh. sushi. ugh. being in the know is a good thing. sign up online for free. discover social security alerts.

>> welcome back to "morning joe." joining us is joyce vans, unanimously confirmed by the senate. she retired, though in january, hours of president trump was sworn in office. good to be with you. >> great to be here. >> you are a professor ought the university of alabama. you want to get it out of the way? >> roll tide. >> i want to ask you, joyce, about this google story. just another social media outlet turning up russian-backed ads, political ads, what could be done there? is there anything that we can do to moderate what's happening on twitter, face boong and google in terms of our politics? >> it's an important issue suddenly hitting all of us at once. the problem that we have is that the technology developed faster tan the law did. so we don't necessarily have protections in place. what we ned to see now is a focus on what sort of, whether

it's regulation or whether it's information being brought to the public will help people consume this information in a way that makes it influence less pervasive. >> you think government has a role in that? is there a law to be passed? is there a governing body that should exist? >> what we don't have in the intersnet is other source of information. we don't have disclosure of where information comes from, for instance, senator blumenthal proposed some sort of legislation that reports this is russian or wherever it comes from. what we need to see here is a bupartisan effort. this is one of those issues that can't be politicized. it's the future of our country at stake. we need to go to the american people with disclosure about the source of information and understanding how it can be manipulated. >> joe. >> yeah, i know, one of the things, it has to be frustrating to law enforcement officers is that the internet has this false

barrier this false wall that has been built up and we as a people, news organizations, prosecutors, courts, have to act differently towards it. we're talking about facebook now. we said before if walter cronkite had 67% of americans getting into u.s. from cbs in 1974 and allowed russians to come on and spit out russian propaganda, congress would regulate. they simply would. you look at the san bernardino shooter. they had his phone. apple wouldn't even cooperate with them. they had his property. apple wouldn't let them get in the phone, wouldn't help them get in the phone when they knew all the steps to get into the phone, yet what people understand is, the government has the ability to kick down your door, search your rooms, turn everything upsidedown with a search warrant. you have a search warrant for a

phone, silicon valley says, oh, no, there is nothing to see here. doesn't that have to clang? >> this is a concept called going dark in law enforcement. it means that technology has reached the force where law enforcement can't see what's going on inside of the iphone. you are exactly right, gentleman. we need to have some effort to catch the law up to the technology. so that law enforcement with probable cause protection of people's privacy rights under the fourth amendment. one there is probable cause, law enforcement can access information about criminal activity to protect the public. >> that's the thing, you know, richard, that's the thing, if law enforcement has probable cause, then law enforcement can go in, they can seizure bank records. >> that i can go into your house, seize everything in your house. there is nothing you have on your phone, e-mails, tech, you name it, that law enforcement can't get. so i have to push back a little bit and say that law enforcement can't go in and toss everything

and take everything. but they can with reasonable restrictions access this information. >> right, i'm talking about witness have you probable cause, if they have probable cause to go in and do that they've got the ability to do that. but for some reason, we're seeing it with facebook, too, here. for some reason, again, that phone is treated differently under the law than everything else. it just doesn't make sense, richard. >> i agree i think it's a part of a larger thing. are you getting at it. these companies have been treated with a kind of privilege, they have been free from anti-trust. they are going to allow to not cooperate with law enforcement when apple decided not to. now they're basically, their communications or broadcasters. they're immune from that. i think the biggest debate in america over the next year or two, i will be curious your view on this is we basically say the year when these companies are

unregulated, they are essentially free to decide how they operate is over t. question will be, what do you go after? what do you protect? i think that issue is emerging big time. i think it will be something that left and right we'll both start targeting. >> i think you are absolutely right. we seen that focus on this issue start in the last week, where it goes over the next few months will be important. we don't want an over reaction. that's always the risk in these situations. >> gene robinson. >> my question is just that how do you do this in a constitutional way? how do you protect freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association and those basic freedoms and at the same time give law enforcement license to root around in a way that some people would say would see as intrusive? >> you know, it's a tall order and this is a real moment in american history given that

could be the moment we are all looking for, where a bipartisan effort on the hill, to have hearings to examine these issues thoroughly to take them to the public results in productive legislation, also a real understanding of how the russians manipulated our election. how they tried to manipulate american voters. this could be a coming together moment that we need if it's handled properly by responsible adults. >> carol. there yeah. you know, talking about the russia investigation, you know, how do you, you are saying this could be a moment, how do you see -- what would be a good prescriptions for this and what are types of things that you think, you know, democrats and republicans could actually agree on? >> it will be important i think to keep everyone in their lane. bob mueller has a lane, engaging in criminal investigation here. but prosecutors have always played a role in looking forward, in seeing what sorts of

new legislation we need. so i think that there can be some insight that comes out of the mueller investigation, that can be used by folks up on the hill. they'll then need to really assess and i think the most important point is, from this very fair-minded point of view, protecting first amendment rights, access to the internet, but also thinking about how do we help americans become smarter consumers of information, which can be manipulated as we've unfortunately learned here. >> and joyce, i want to go back. i want to circle back to something i said before about what the government can and what the government can't get. if you, i guess, if you ask most people, well, what's in a phone? and this upon the is protected and the government can't get inside the phone, that's not the case. everything that you have on your phone and this is what makes no sense, your bank records, they can go to the bank. mueller can get your bank records, just ask donald trump

all of your texts, they can get all of your text, all of your e-mails, again, with a proper and measured search warrant that's focused on what they need, they can get your e-mails. they can get everything that you carry around in your phone, except for information like on what'sapp, which is special used to frustrate law enforcement officers, which is why terrorists who want to kill americans use something like what'sapp. it's like richard said, at what point do we start treating technology companies like every other company in america? >> so i think you are exactly right t. what'sapp problem is a well-known issue for law enforcement, particularly when they are protecting sensitive investigations, where they need to access information quickly. and we're long overdue for a conversation about regulating these companies in a reasonable way that permits law enforcement

to keep all of us safe. at the end of the day, law enforcement isn't breaking into your phone to see what's in your photo library, they're really trying to do their job and keep the american people protected from harm. >> joe, if we don't do it here, it's going to happen anyhow. we're seeing the free reign of the companies coming to an end. this is happening globally. we'd better figure out what we want in this country. >> it's so important, and will, we've been talking about this for the past couple of weeks for a couple reasons. there's a law enforcement side, an app made to frustrate law enforcement officers which is why terrorists love those sort of encrypted apps, but also, again, with facebook, i will say it again. this is a company that more people, more americans get their news from facebook than any other outlet. over 50%. there's not been any news outlet that powerful in american

history. and yet, they're free without any government oversight at all to publish whatever they want to publish. and it's very problematic, and like richard said, it's something that our government is dysfunctional as it is, they need to fix this. >> you have to balance the privacy versus security is what we're talking act about. joyce vance, always good to see you, u.s. attorney, and more impressi impressive, someone who owns a parking space in tuscaloosa on game day. they are investigating the use of private jets by the president's cabinets. we'll talk to the top democrat on the committee coming straight ahead on "morning joe."

braden: so, i was at mom and dad's and found this.g) cds, baseball cards. your old magic set? (sigh) and this wrestling ticket. which you still owe me for. seriously? $25? i didn't even want to go. ahh, your diary! "mom says it is totally natural..." $25 is nothing. (alert beep) abracadabra, bro. pay back a friend day is october 17th. get the bank of america mobile banking app today. we're on a mission to show drip coffee drinkers, it's time to wake up to keurig. wakey! wakey! rise and shine! oh my gosh! how are you? well watch this.

i pop that in there. press brew. that's it. so rich. i love it. that's why you should be a keurig man! full-bodied. are you sure you're describing the coffee and not me? they'll...never...stop. paul ryan and washington's establishment republicans. catering to drug companies and special interests. coming after your health care. increasing your out-of-pocket costs. a devastating age tax if you're fifty or older. ending guaranteed coverage for preexisting conditions. paul ryan and the washington republicans. it's the same thing, every time. the rest of us have to change washington. dccc is responsible for the content of this ad.

what are you looking at this morning, carol lee? >> well, at 12:30, rex tillerson has lunch with the president at the white house. >> oh, wow. >> yeah. that should be interesting. defense secretary mattis will also be there. there will be a little bit of a buffer. this is the first time that we know of that they've seen each other since we reported that tillerson had called the president a moron over the summer. so we don't know what's on the menu. maybe there will be an iq test or something like that. >> have they spoken privately or is this the first face to face? >> this is what we believe is the first face to face. they haven't really ironed things out. we saw the president's comments oh over the weekend saying that he wishes rex tillerson was tougher sometimes. and this comment about the iq test which the president says he would win. >> i'm shocked he would come to that conclusion. coming up, bob costa joins

us with his reporting. the president showing flashes of fury leaving his chief of staff scrambling to manage the outburst. and senator corker says his colleagues mostly agree with his assessment of the president's fitness for office in private, but they're not coming out in public. what started as a passion... ...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. what's in your wallet? our guests can earn a free night when they book at choicehotels.com and stay with us just two times? fall time. badda book. badda boom. pumpkin spice cookie? i'm good. book now at choicehotels.com it's time for our fall sale on the only bed that adjusts on your sleep number setting.omfort does your bed do that? and right now queen sleep number beds start at just $699.

save $200 during the final days our fall sale. ends sunday. at bp's cooper river plant, employees take safety personally - down to each piece of equipment, so they can protect their teammates and the surrounding wetlands, too. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. knowing where you stand. it's never been easier. except when it comes to your retirement plan. but at fidelity, we're making retirement planning clearer. and it all starts with getting your fidelity retirement score. in 60 seconds, you'll know where you stand. and together, we'll help you make decisions for your plan... to keep you on track. ♪ time to think of your future it's your retirement. know where you stand. ♪ timeand it's also a storyure mail aabout people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business

the united states postal service. priority: you eight hundred dollars when wet switched our auto and home insurance. with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey. oh. that's my robe. is it? you could save seven hundred eighty two dollars when liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance. a nation's technology will determine its power. in its economy, in medicine, in science and in national security. one company designs and builds more supercomputers than any other. an american company. hewlett packard enterprise. leading the way to discover... to innovate... and to protect. hewlett packard enterprise. a national asset in supercomputing.

be if it's not bad enough that we have the most powerful reason on capitol hill talking act the coming of world war iii, something worse happened yesterday at fenway. i kid. you're still asleep on the west coast, i kid. i took my kids to see the red sox yesterday. i was at the game. i have to say it was cold and rainy and misty. it was a really special game the last two games two of the most special games, really. houston revailed at the end. they're such a great team. here you have in the ninth inning, a ball hit off the ball. it's misjudgment. he hits an inside the park homer. i thought my children were going to absolutely pass out. of course, which would have been bad. i had already passed out. it was incredible. the yankee's are a team that

started scaring me in the red sox last series with them. because they just look so good, and i thought they were two or three players away from being one of the best teams in baseball. you know, if they beat the indians in cleveland, they're one of the best teams in baseball. >> they are, and this season has been a pleasant surprise to yankee's fans. we had a lot of young guys. it didn't take long. they play loose. they're having fun. they don't play tight. we should have ended the series last night. that's another conversation. game two we blew a huge lead, a decision by the manager. a replay, there are a few things there. and now we go back to cleveland against one of the best pitchers in baseball. >> we got cc. it's hard to be critical of joe and the red sox. he was uncharacteristically generous. i'm at a loss for words. >> he took away your weapons. >> exactly.

>> always do that. and gene robinson, i've never had an emotional attachment to the nationals. you always see through the 1970s, bring baseball back to washington. but i never really have gotten this emotional attachment to the nationals like i should, and all i can say is every post season, thank god, because i feel so sorry for their fans because they remind me of the atlanta braves in the 90s. always one of the best teams in baseball, and then every year except '95 the braves would fold in october. i hope that's not going to happen again. it has to be heart breaking to be a nationals fan in the fall. >> i hope not. what a gem with pits by scherzer. we have scherzer, gonzalez. we had a great year. tremendous pitching and during the regular season all the offense you could dream of, and

then the offense has gone away in the post season. and all of a sudden we can't score runs, and so we hold teams -- we held the cubs to two runs. you ought to be able to win that game, yet our offense just sort of withers away in the post season. however, season is still alive. going to win this next game, and then the deciding game, but come on, guys. come on. >> yeah. >> season is still alive. willie, i have to say, fall baseball, even though you have to go up and down your channel every night to try to figure out where the games are being hidden by mlb, mlb do us a favor. pick a network and stick with it through the fall. it is madness. i found it on nickelodeon 3 two nights ago. it's insanity. they need to pick one channel in the post season. if you want the division series on tbs, great. if you want fox sports 1 for the

championship series, fine. but it is madness. that said, willie, this fall for people that don't love baseball, we have some of the greatest collection of teams. the dodgers are unbelievable this year. they won again last night. the indians have had an extraordinary run. the yankee's coming out of nowhere. you have so many good teams. the cubs are there, and they're such a good team, world series champs. the nationals are really potent from top to bottom. this -- and i forgot them for some reason. and yes, you rub salt in the wound, and the houston astros. what a great physical powerful team. we've got a great lineup of teams here left in october. >> they are. you mentioned the dodgers. they swept their series last night against the d-backs. they're plowing through the playoffs. they look good in the post season. let's turn to politics. with us the president of the

counsel on foreign relations, heidi bisbella, and robert costa, and here in new york the editor and chief of the atlantic magazine celebrating its 160 anniversary this month, jeffrey goldberg. happy birthday. >> thank you. >> he looks good for his age. >> thank you. >> and our other founders. >> you don't look a day over 0 150. >> it's the tv makeup, obviously. >> we'll talk about atlantic in a minute. first new reaction to bob corker's comments about president trump. other republicans not going nearly as far as corker did with the new york times. >> sometimes i think he feels like he's on a reality show.

and he doesn't realize that you know, that we could be heading toward world war iii with the kind of comments he's making, and it's like he -- it's like it's an act to him. >> again, it's bob corker warning the president's rhetoric could be leading us toward world war iii. most republican senators wanted to move past the comments and get back to work. chuck grassley said i don't see how it's productive and i think two words would answer your question from my point of view. cool it. i think it would help if the president would be the first to cool it, and i think it would be better if we stuck to the issues and leave personalities out of it. marco rubio responded. quote, you'll have to ask senator corker what led him to make that statement. i haven't made the statement. senator jeff flake said any of us who have worked with senator corker know he speaks his mind.

rob portman told "the washington post" bob corker has been a leader in congress on issues as diverse as deficit reduction and combatting terrorism. he's a man of unwavering integrity, and he said they have to work together. lamar alexander avoided it. i work with bob corker nearly every day. he's a terrific united states senator, and i'm disappointed he decided not to seek reelection. mitch mcconnell said senator corker is a valuable member of the senate republican caucus and he's also the budget committee. lindsey graham, one of the president's biggest critics on the republican side went golfing with the president tweeting really enjoyed a round of golf with president trump today. president trump shot a 73 in windy and wet conditions. hard to shoot 73 with the wind swirling. got to keep the ball low. >> he did a lot better on the

back nine, trump did. i mean, but for a guy his age, 73 on the front nine is pretty good. he doesn't seem to be really healthy. a lot of people say he cheats a lot on the golf course. i not going to comment on that. yeah, but anyway, congratulations, mr. president on your front nine score of 73. it was nice of lindsey graham to put it out there for us to hear. bob costa, as the old song goes, second verse same as first. donald trump angry, and bouncing around the white house screaming about people, and making new enemies by the day and not understanding that politics is a game of addition nature and so he just -- you know, in the senate the math has to add up to 50. and here he is, bob corker now, in the same position that john mccain's in, in the same position that jeff flake is in. you got three right there.

that's not even counting heller who he's been talking about primarying as well as, of course, lisa murkowski who he's gone after. this is, again, we could talk about all of the rich pageantry of what is trump the musical. still need to do that. but at the end of the day, it's about math. and donald trump isn't he putting himself -- aren't people in the white house worried he's putting himself in a position where he's not going to be able to pass anything because he keeps making new enemies in the senate by the day? >> inside the president's inner circle, friends and advisers tell me they keep trying to put out fires. they know his legislative plan is on the rocks. and there's a limited time to get things done on issues like tax reform. but the president keeps trying to start his own fires. he was in north carolina over the weekend for a fundraiser. he was telling his confidants, why don't i have a rally. let's go to the base and fight

the republican establishment. he wants to go to war, almost establish himself as an outside independent type person. >> what's the practical impact? you had mitch mcconnell publicly being a little bit vanilla and milk toast in his comments but privately saying dude, i only got 52 republicans to work with here. i don't need you running off bob corker. >> the question is whether this is a slow burn or are we going into a fast burn. bob corker is talking the way most of the senators talk in private. he brought it out publicly. all the senates you discuss in the opening statement, to my knowledge believe the president is to some degree unstable to use bob corker's word. the big to me is when do we see more fishers? when do we see more breaks and when do we hit a tipping point where the republicans in the senate actually come to a public agreement that the president is

a dangerous person who is leaving this country to possible war, possible nuclear war with north korea? that's the only question that matters who my mind. >> and corker was getting at that in his tweets. he was suggesting certain things the president was doing was increasing the odds of a confrontation with north korea. doesn't even have to go nuclear to be awful. >> you kill a million people conventionally on the korean peninsula. >> exactly, even if it doesn't escalate to something worse. here we are eight months into this administration. why is it we have not tabled any diplomatic offer. it's not as though living with the north korea that has dozens of missiles that can reach us is a great future. why is it that rather than undermining a secretary of state, why isn't this president empowering his secretary of state. that would be an interesting conversation for lunch today. >> it really would, and gene, we have to underline this, because we talked about it last hour and some people may just be tuning

in out west. you actually have the most powerful republican on capitol hill when it comes to foreign policy. bob corker saying donald trump's words, donald trump's deeds, donald trump's actions could possibly lead to world war iii. and nuclear annihilation. not a single republican disagreed with him in front of the cameras yesterday. they said let's not talk about it. let's just pretend he never said -- no. let's pretend he did talk about it. let's face the fact that he did fey it that we have a commander in chief whose recklessness and whose radical personal behavior could lead to a nuclear war. >> it's extraordinary. we have bob corker essentially saying we have a president who is unfit to occupy the office, and is dangerous occupying that office. extremely dangerous, and we have not a single leading republican

who came out and said that's not true. the best they could say is i didn't say that, but nobody says it's not true. this is an extraordinary situation. and one that i think calls on both houses of congress to step up. right? i mean, i hear from a lot of people who are looking at their watches and saying when does impeachment begin or when is the 25th amendment invoked or whatever. and look, people, you know, it's not clear that any of that stuff is ever going to happen, and -- but there is checks and balances built in. congress can exercise overnight. congress be investigate. congress and the senate advises and consents. the house has the power of the purse. congress needs to step up and do its duty in a situation that is potentially perilous for the whole world. >> heidi, do you think this

dynamic will change, the dynamic jeffrey was talking about. will the slow burn become a faster one? will we hear from other senators willing to go on the record and talk about donald trump. maybe not going as far as bob corker but expressing some of the sentiments pub electrlicly y privately? or he doesn't need anything anymore. he's not going to be secretary of state, and he can say things other ohs can't. >> i think maybe republicans feel a release in that corker can speak for him. that he's in a position to speak for him, and there's no good that comes from additional people piling on. it only helps instigate the type of ir rationnonrational behavio. when you look at explaining why dump look aim at his secretary of state. it could have been as simple as

he was angry at rex tillerson for freelancing in terms of making comments about the north koreans. that's when we saw the president lash out and make the tweets against rex tillerson. and i think the most important thing that corker is trying to tell us here, and we all need to listen, is that there is no genius madman theory strategy going on behind the scenes. this is exactly as it looks which is that the simply freelancing makes tweets, undercutting rex tillerson, undercutting our foreign policy. there is no good cop bad cop. and that the consequences of this are really serious. this is someone corker who knows what's going on in those meetings. he knows -- he's close with rex tillerson. he knows what's going on in the situation room. and these very important meetings on north korea and iran and he's trying to tell us here that this is a dangerous situation with the president kind of just breaking with his

top brass who should be informing him on what we should be doing with our diplomacy. >> and bob costa, let's talk about the steve bannon part of the story, because as frank wrote this weekend, this guy doesn't appear to be wanting to reform the republican party. his moves make him seem like he wants to destroy the republican party. you have a guy in alabama that got stripped of his judgeship twice. the excon in new york that bannon is meeting with that he wants to get in kocongress. talk about the head of black water he's trying to get to move to wyoming to run against a person. and word i heard is bannon is telling people he'll move to utah to run against mitt romney if romney decides to seek the senate out there. talk about the steve bannon part

of this story, and how that's going to make a tough situation for the republican party even more difficult moving forward into 2018. >> what they're experiencing with bannon is a power play. this is not just an ideological fight with bannon who is more on the populist nationalist wing of the republican party. that's how he defines himself. but he's really looking at the leadership and he's saying i'm coming at you. i'm going to up end you and try to take over power on capitol hill. and yes, he's just one person. and he has a website in breitbart news that has a reach, but it's not a party in and of itself. but he is in a way making his whole wing of the party an option for the base voter to say we're going to replace the entire republican apparatus with this outsider group. and they scored a win in alabama. they're going to have wins and losses across the map in the coming year, but they probably will pick up a few more seats just because the base is so

anti-establishment right now in it posture. >> and jeffrey goldberg, how rich is it that steve bannon is trying to push himself as a populist? this is a goldman sachs guy that became a hollywood guy. got a cut of zillions of dollars that people made in "seinfeld," and now he's being backed by the mercers who are some of the biggest money people in all of politics. i mean, this is populism 2017? >> maybe he eats at a waffle house. i don't know. >> sure he does. >> waffle house is great. yeah. it is a little bit rich, but we have a broad taste these days for hypocrisy, as you know, and he's playing a populist on tv. but that's fine in a way, because we have a president who is playing a president on tv, so

we've entered a new realm that we're living inside a reality tv show in that sense. >> well, jeffrey, i like your role the best. i like the role that you're playing right now. >> thank you very much. >> the editor of 160-year-old news magazine. >> my staff thinks i'm just playing editor on tv. that's funny. >> you do a good job. >> willie, what's coming up next. >> with all this going on, the president this morning is tweeting about espn's ratings tanking. robert costa, thank you very much. thank you to the others as well. still ahead on "morning joe," president trump once told us on "morning joe" he, quote, seeks with himself on foreign policy because he has a very good brain. now he's comparing his i.q. with that of his secretary of state. it's not surprising who the president thinks comes out on top. we'll go live to the white house with that story next on "morning joe." how do we say that this fall,

our guests can earn a free night when they book at choicehotels.com and stay with us just two times? fall time. badda book. badda boom. pumpkin spice cookie? i'm good. book now at choicehotels.com

i knew at that exact moment ... i'm beating this. my main focus was to find a team of doctors. it's not just picking a surgeon, it's picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. visit cancercenter.com/breast knowing where you stand. it's never been easier. except when it comes to your retirement plan. but at fidelity, we're making retirement planning clearer. and it all starts with getting your fidelity retirement score. in 60 seconds, you'll know where you stand. and together, we'll help you make decisions for your plan... to keep you on track. ♪ time to think of your future it's your retirement. know where you stand.

dire foreign policy issues percolating around the world, who are you consultants with consistently so you're ready on day one? >> i'm speaking with myself, number one, because i have a very good brain, and i've said a lot of things. >> exactly. >> two lines here. i'm writing these down. i kind of look like rachel. i'm writing down studiously here. one, i'm speaking with myself. >> yep. >> that's obviously cause for concern. and two, something you say all the time, every time we're watching bob costa's show, willie, how did you know he was going to say that? what do you say? >> i got a good brain, man. >> i have a very good brain. >> you have one of the best brains. >> one of the best brains. >> that was president trump speaking with us on "morning joe," march of last year, 19

months ago. now he's comparing his i.q. with that of his secretary of state, rex tillerson. joining us now from the white house, nbc news national correspondent, peter alexander. >> reporter: as long as he likes speaking to himself, he doesn't need lunch guests but it turns out today he's inviting rex tillerson and james mattis for what should be an interesting lunch especially given a jab at tillerson in the just released addition of forbes magazine entitled inside trump's ahead responding for the first time to the exclusive reporting that tillerson privately described trump as a moron that past summer. here's the quote. president trump says i think it's fake news, but if he did that, i guess we'll have to c e compare i.q. tests, and i can tell you who is going to win.

he talks about some of the opposing views the two men had. i was on the south lawn when the president was leaving town. he said we have our differences at times. i wish he would be a little bit tougher. as for those opposing views, he says ultimately my view matters. that's the way life goes. in terms of the big clash points between them, north korea just a week ago the president seemed to undercut his secretary of state after tillerson talked about private diplomatic connection between north korea and the u.s. the president said don't waste your time. the president said i think irm strengthening authority. those are some of the best nuggets out of this edition as we get a better look inside the president's mind. i'm reminded as you pull out some of the old quotes back in december of 2015 when the president said he was highly educated. he says i know the best words. >> so do you, peter alexander.

thank you very much. by the way, coming up in the next hour -- >> wait. willie, hold on. willie -- we need to have "morning joe" t shirts. we're going to write down for kids at home, we'll get that sort of, the ten, the circular ten they made up for us. we need to have these trump quotes. i'm speaking with myself. that would be a great t shirt, first in the series. a second one would be i have a very good brain. wouldn't that be -- wouldn't that make you the envy of all the kids in the upper west side, and the last one, i have the best words. >> he has the best words. >> it'll be a hit. next hour the author of that forbes article where the president was quoted talking act his i.q. and it was better than tillerson's will joino us on "morning joe." >> what's the implications of having the secretary of state

and the president at odds like this? >> you have a president who doesn't respect the secretary of state. you have a president who disparages diplomacy and a secretary of state cutting back the ability of the state department to carry things out. we're facing a north korean threat, an iran threat, russians are setting in ukraine. on and on. what we're doing is disarming when it comes to using diplomacy which is one of our baysic tool. this is irresponsible. we are denying ourselves an essential tool of america's involvement in the world. >> elise jordan is joining us. is it true we surrendered diplomacy or is rex tillerson attempting diplomacy and others are and it's being undermined by the president? >> i think at the top level, rex tillerson is attempting to pursue diplomacy but he's being undercut by the president constantly, but to richard's

point, tillerson is essentially dismantling the state department as it has existed in modern american history, and so you look at countries where the embassies in the country, there's not an ambassador, and so local authorities aren't going and using the resources at the embassy. we aren't building those relationships. we have nothing at the country level that goes back to you look at the state department just the assistant secretary positions that are open. >> it's an amazing thing where you don't have specialists right now in state department and permanent positions on issues like north korea and europe issues. a whole bunch of middle east slots. and so there's no advice being filtered up to the white house, but, of course, in the white house coming back to this, and it's not a joke. the quotes are serious. although they would make great t shirts. no you have a president who doesn't want the advice of

experts. a guy who won't listen to people who aren't there. >> there's a member when theresa may's cabinet said we don't need experts anymore. we now have the american equivalent of the brexit debate. >> that's what kushner has said. he doesn't need to -- exactly. >> as authors of books about the middle east, we take personal offense. >> that one's personal. >> coming up next, the ranking member of the oversight committee, congressman couplings joinings our conversation. "morning joe" is coming right back. i can't wait for her to have that college experience that i had. the classes, the friends, the independence.

and since we planned for it, that student debt is the one experience, i'm glad she'll miss when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. ameriprise hi, i'm the internet! you knoarmless bowling.lt? ahhhhhhhh! you know what's easy? building your website with godaddy. get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. build a better website in under an hour. during the yellow tag sales event, you can get $3,500 off a hard day's play. from now until october 31st, save on a world of possibilities with deals on select 2017 can-am vehicles. only at your local can-am dealer.

joining us now the ranking member of the oversight and. congressman cummings, always good to see you. i want to talk about the committee's investigation in a moment. interested in your impressions of what we've seen, bob corker coming out and alerting the country that donald trump's loose rhetoric could lead us into world war iii and saying many of the senators he serves with say the same thing he's saying publicly behind closed doors. what do you hear from your republican colleagues in the house when they talk about

donald trump ? >> i hear the same things that senator corker said. and i have been asking them why don't they say these things in public? i think many of them are concerned about being the victim of a tweet. other ones are worried about having somebody run against them from the right. and there are others who are basically saying boys will be boys. but as one of my constituents said to me this morning, she believes that president trump is playing russian ruoulette with her destiny. >> what are their concerns? what do they worry about with president trump? >> they worry about the thick i hear the most -- thing i hear the most is about a war with north korea. they believe that someone like the president of north korea and with our president going back and forth, that one moment could

cause war. and that war would be quite destructive. they also worry that the business of the american people is not being done. in other words, the people who are laying right now in the hospital trying to figure out how to pay their bills. they're wondering what's going to happen to themselves. they're wondering about -- they look at things like folks plying all around the country cabinet members flying around the country, on their tax dollars, and trying to figure out what ever happened to them? in other words, they're spending so much time living the lavish lives that they've forgotten about why we're here, and i think -- >> some people -- >> wait a minute. let me finish. let me say one thing -- >> i want you to -- hold on. we've got a delay. i want you to go into the last thing, but you touched on something that i think is important. i can't begin to imagine with bill clinton's cabinet flew

around the country on private jets and military jets for bizarre reasons like this. you have the treasury secretary that goes with his newlywed wife. they stand on the top of a pile of gold at fort knox to see a total eclipse of the sun. you have a vice president who does what may end up being a $500,000 pr stunt. they actually tell the press, sit tight, he's going to be right back down. he uses the secret service, government planes, flies out to indianapolis and back to l.a. you have the interior secretary and the epa, head of the epa, you have all these people living like rock stars on taxpayer's dollars. i can't imagine what republicans would say if barack obama or bill clinton's people did that. >> let me be clear, joe. the republicans in our congress and the senate are aiders and

abettors to donald trump. he couldn't do all the things he does in his cabinet, the things they do unless in the congress they sat back and said there will be no accountability. and that's basically what is happening right now. when donald trump made that comment about being able to walk down the street and shoot somebody and people would still be for him. when he said it, i don't believe it, but now i do. because there's no accountability. >> willie? >> let me ask -- let me get into some of this. we touched on the air travel. i know you've asked proof that tom price has, in fact, reimbursed the government and taxpayers for all the flights he took. what have you found as you requested the documents? did he reem burimburse the tack payers? >> i can't tell you. we haven't gotten all the documents in yet.

according to press reports, apparently he paid $52,000. but come on now, i mean, the guy has been flying around at the expense of the american people from washington to philadelphia when he could have taken the amtrak train and gotten there probably faster. come on now. there's something wrong with this picture, and at some point the american people and the through their kocongress people have to speak up and fight against this, because basically like i said, we're in a culture now of unaccountability. there's no accountability whatsoever. and i think the president knows this. the more important thing is that while all of that is happening, the people's business is not being done. they rushed away from the affordable care act straight to try to do this tax cut deal, and

so -- and then they complained that the affordable care act is not working while the president does everything in his power to undercut it. give me a break. >> congressman -- >> you are better than that. >> congressman, elise jordan here. on a separate pressing and very disconcerting issue, you have called for oversight of some of the white house staffers who have used private e-mail for government work. what's happening with that? >> well, as you know, we had chairman gowdy and i had sent a letter to ivanka trump and jared kushner a few weeks ago and said, look, we now hear from press reports that you have been using private e-mails. we ask you to preserve them. do not relocate them. and within 24 to 48 hours of our notice to them, they then relocate them to the trump organization that is run by

ivanka's brothers. there's something wrong with this. in other words, what they did was take their e-mail accounts we wanted to look at and transfer them to an organization that they say -- they said that they had broken ties with because of conflicts of interest. and basically i'm asking them what do you have to hide? and we will continue to pursue this. we want to know whether those documents were classified. what was done -- how the trump organization protecting those documents? and so, again, joe, going back to what you were talking about, let me tell you something. if democrats did one -- did this and republicans would go crazy. they would be all over it. we would be spending million and millions of dollars, but they are absolutely silent. you hear nothing but silence.

so when corker said what he said, i understood it. i mean, but this is what i knew all the time. but one of the things i tell my constituents, let me say this, is that while president trump is playing hocu s pocus, we have to keep our eyes on what we're fighting for. that is fighting for our destiny and our democracy. >> all right. thank you so much elijah. as always, we always greatly appreciate you being here. elijah cummings and willie, i sat on the government reform and oversight committee. i can tell you that republicans were shocked and stunned and deeply saddened by wasting tax dollars in a far less egregious ways than how trump's cabinet is wasting it. t really unbelievable that these are the people that said they were going to drain the swamp, and i have never in a quarter

serc century of being and reporting on politics, i've never seen a cabinet as out of control and as entitled to waste tax dollars on travel as this cabinet. it's just -- it's unprecedented. >> and across the board, self-described fiscal conservatives. not a lot conservative about some of those trips. coming up next, nick christoff is shaking off jet lag. he's just back from north korea and has remarkable new reporting that he'll share with us next on "morning joe."

we come into this world needing others. then we are told it's braver to go it alone. ♪ that independence is the way to accomplish. ♪ but there is another way to live. ♪ a way that sees the only path to fulfillment- is through others. ♪ that our time here can be deep beyond measure. ♪ no one who chose interdependence ever found despair. ♪ because what the world taught as weakness, is in fact our greatest virtue. ♪

a nation's technology will determine its power. in its economy, in medicine, in science and in national security. one company designs and builds more supercomputers than any other. an american company. hewlett packard enterprise. leading the way to discover... to innovate... and to protect. hewlett packard enterprise. a national asset in supercomputing.

you for four years. you named it brad. you loved brad. and then you totaled him. you two had been through everything together. two boyfriends, three jobs... you're like nothing can replace brad. then liberty mutual calls... and you break into your happy dance. if you sign up for better car replacement™, we'll pay for a car that's a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

that's why at comcast we're continuing to make4/7. our services more reliable than ever. like technology that can update itself. an advanced fiber-network infrustructure. new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. here's a healthy young man who visits the dprk, commits a crime, and ends up in a coma in a vegetative state on your watch. how can americans think of that and not feel some kind of deep resentment about the country that arrested him and imprisoned him, didn't let his family visit him, didn't let the swedish

beside have access to him? [ speaking foreign language ] >> that was nick christoff speaking a w a senior north korean official who said americans let otto warmbier die to stir up anti-north korean sentiment. a five day trip to north korea gives a glimpse at life inside the country. nick, good morning. >> good to be with you. >> you've been in north korea before. most recently in 2005. you're always watched and minded there, you say this trip was much different. >> yes. look it is always a very bizarre

place. this time there was a military mobilization that i have not sensed before. there was a menace in the air i have not sensed before. everywhere you go in the capital, pyongyang, there are posters pyongyang, the capital, there are posters showing missiles striking the u.s. capital and maybe -- i mean, the thing that kind of shocked me the most. we were isolated in the foreign ministry guest house. at first i thought this was to separate us from people so we couldn't do our reporting. i gradually came to realize, no, this was to protect us. the foreign ministry was engaged in outreach to american journalists. >> did they suspect you were a spy of some kind? >> one person in the militarial agreed to get me interviewed, this time, they refused. i was told that's because the security forces regarding every american journalist as a spy and they didn't want things to go wrong.

>> given that, imagine, we had an incident, between, say, an american ship and an american ship, and north korea flying in northern american airspace, this happened a few weeks ago. what is your sense of this? do you think there's any ability or any interest on the part of north korea to manage the crisis with the united states. do you think with the united states, if something happens, it's a spark? >> so, i think that there are forces within north korea who would like to manage a crisis who understand the risks. i think that's why the foreign ministry is reaching out. but i think the foreign ministry, and the state department in the u.s. are both, quite frankly, marginalized by hard-liners. and that kim jong-un in leveraging president trump's comments to back his own narrative. that he needs nuclear weapons for defensive reasons against these american imperialists who want to attack them. so, everybody is on a hair trigger and when you have that

kind of hair trigger things go wrong. >> you quoted a man on the street that he believes they would destroy it it's dedelusional obviously, but does the north korea leadership believe it has the capacity to destroy how -- engaged in the reality? >> clearly that's hard to know. clearly, i think they're engaged in a certain bluster that parallels what president trump is engaging in. but it's also clear that they are steeped in a narrative in which they have repeatedly defeated the u.s. their narrative -- you know, went through the history museum there that shows the u.s. attacking north korea to start the korean war. and north korea defeats them. no mention of chinese help. repeatedly, confrontations, north korea outmaneuvers the u.s. one challenge, dictators come to

believe their own propaganda. so, it seems to me, and again plausible that they seem to believe these things they tell me that they can survive a nuclear clash with the u.s. but event triumph. >> mitch, do you think there needs to be talking, and that would be with factions in the u.s., how do you see that path proceeding? >> well, unfortunately, i don't see it as likely proceeding. i think it is you know, maybe a last-best hope to avoid some kind of a confrontation, or long-term difference. but i don't think there's appetite either in washington or in pyongyang another kind of talks. i must say i was kind of surprised that the north koreans, when i was pushing this line or pushing aversion of the koreans, that they weren't very interested. >> this is very grim. you do not seem optimistic remotely? >> i've got to say, i came back

from -- i mean, i went to north korea not feeling particularly optimistic. i came back really feeling that we are not going to be able to stop them. that talks -- meaningful talks, some kind of a deal is not possible. and we're -- nobody really wants a war, but we could well have one because of mismanagement. >> joe? >> so -- and that's what i wanted, nick, to ask you about. donald trump obviously confronting the north koreans in a way that even the top republican in the u.s. senate on foreign policy says, could lead to world war iii. from your unique vantage point of obviously reporting on donald trump, and doing what we do every day. but then going to north korea and getting an unique perspective, how do you look at donald trump's tweets? how do you look at his words? how do you look at his insults, his petty attacks, differently,

after coming back from north korea? how could this lead into a war that if not world war iii, could still end with the death of hundreds of thousands of americans, and hundreds of thousands of south koreans? >> well, joe, i think that he is trying to intimidate the north koreans. and aims to get them to pull back. i don't think that's going to happen. and in fact, it's counterproductive. this is their turf of the kind of threats. and it does play into their narrative. this gives them legitimacy to pursue the kind of policies that they are pursuing and puts us all on all on the edge of cataclysm. i'd say that the sanctions are making a difference. gas prices have approximately doubled. there are power outages all the time, even in pyongyang, the

capital, half the day they have no power. business people are clearly talking about it. but it's a pinch. but the larger context is the north korean economy is growing largely faster than the u.s. economy partly because they've been liberalizing their economy. >> nick, thank you for sharing this with us. you can read his full account and you should online at new york times.com. and tell us about the anniversary of "the atlantic" we wanted to switch it up, the science of creativity, walter iverson, very creative pieces. to show there's things happening in america that aren't particularly grim at the moment. we'll go back to grimness probably in your regular programming but we're very excited to reach 160 years, in for the bicentennial now, and things are going better than

ever at "the atlantic" proud to say. >> the outlier edition of this. still ahead, president trump up and tweeting this morning. and another senate republicans not saying much either. one person who is, former white house chief strategist steve bannon calling on senator corker to resign while declaring a war on the republican establishment. plus, las vegas police make a dramatic revision to the time line of last week's shooting leading major questions including whether or not there was a breakdown in communication that may have prevented more deaths. "morning joe" coming right back. . press brew. that's it. look how much coffee's in here? fresh coffee. so rich. i love it. that's why you should be a keurig man! full-bodied. are you sure you're describing the coffee and not me? do you wear this every day? everyday. i'd never take it off. are you ready to say goodbye to it? go! go!

ta da! a terrarium. that's it. we brewed the love, right guys? (all) yes. we brewed the love, right guys? that can fix itself? is that the work of wizards? yes. technical wizards. who, with the visionary engineers at ge, developed predix- giving plane engines the ability to self-diagnose problems, and alert those who can fix them. and that's no illusion. magic can't make digital transformation happen.

but we can. that's the power of pivotal, part of dell technologies. looking for clear answers for your retirement plan? start here. or here. even here. and definitely here. at fidelity, we're available 24/7 to make retirement planning simpler. we let you know where you stand, so when it comes to your retirement plan, you'll always be absolutely...clear. ♪ time to think of your future it's your retirement. know where you stand. ♪ time to think of your future (vo) do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light. do not go gentle into that good night.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ your bbut as you get older,ing. it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory.

prevagen. the name to remember. we've all worked with senator corker over the years, we thank him for his service but i find tweets like this to be incredibly irresponsible. it adds to the insulting that the mainstream media and the president's detractors almost a year after the election, they can't expect the election results. it adds to their credibility and their cover to speak about the president of the united states in ways that no president should be talked about. >> that's kellyanne conway taking issue with a tweet from senator bob corker but she let the president skate on his part of the public feud. so far, most republicans are steering clear despite the concerns shared about the commander in chief. meanwhile there's a major development out of las vegas

where police are completely rewriting the time line of the deadly mass shooting there. we'll have a report on what changed so dramatically. and it did take some time but hollywood is starting to speak out about harvey weinstein. a new report said that the producer begged for a second chance before he was fired. we've got a lot to go to with joe in the past 24 hours, we go back to bob corker versus the president of the united states. >> well, you know, for so many years, we've heard of a coming civil war within the republican 35er9. from democrats, and a lot of their detractors in the media and it's always been a funny war. but the war is not funny anymore. balk corker versus donald trump. it's completely out there and in the open, but you look at the other senators, too, that mind themselves in that position, whether it's john mccain or jeff flake or lisa murkowski at times. haller at times.

you can go down the list. there are two things that are significant, one, believe really do believe this guy may be setting himself up to be if not named, but in reality, an independent president. a guy that's completely blown up. his voting coalition. that's the second most significant thing, really. how does he get 50 votes on tax reform? how does he get 50 votes on health care reform? how does he get 50 votes on infrastructure? right now, nobody even in inside the white house knows because these wars actually up-end his majority. his governing majority. >> and that's the frustration we've heard from mitch mcconnell out of his office and others yesterday. they try to get things done and this certainly doesn't help. with to us talk about it all, president of council on foreign relations, author of the book "the world in disarray. richard haups. pulitzer prize winning

commentator and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. mika has the morning off. all right. there's new reaction to bob corker's explosive comments about president trump. but so far, most republicans not nearly going as far as corker did with "the new york times." >> sometimes, i feel like he's on a reality show of some kind when he's talking about these foreign policy issues. and, you know, you got to realize, that you know, we could be heading towards world war ii with the kind of comments that he's making. and it's like it's an act to him. >> that's senator corker talking to "the new york times." most republican senators want to move past the unsettling comments and get back to work it appears, senate judiciary chair chuck grassley saying, quote, i don't see where it's productive. and cool it. i think it would be help if the

president would be first to cool it. i think it would be get he at the stuck to the issues and left personalities out of it. senator cruz said you'll have to ask senator corker to explain what he meant by that statement i haven't made that statement. senator rob portman of ohio telling "the washington post," bob corker has been a leaderer in congress on issues combatting terrorism. and he's a man of integrity saying they all need to work together. and lamar alexander, avoid the issue completely. i work with bob corker every day. he's a terrific senator. i'm disappointed he's decided not to seek re-election. and saying, quote, he's a valuable member of the senate republican caucus and during all

of this, senator lindsey graham one of the president's biggest critics on the republican side went golfing with president trump yesterday. tweeting afterwards, really enjoyed a round of golf with president donald trump today, president trump shot a 73 in windy and rainy conditions. >> oh, dear lord. wasn't it mnuchin that said his genetics, his dna, was vastly superior to mere humans. a 73 in windy conditions. yeah, i think anybody that's played with donald trump that's new math that he's using on that score. >> let's bring new math as the kids used to call it. heidi, so, what is so fascinating is, you have these republican senators saying absolutely nothing. and yet when the cameras are not on, when they can just talk to

you and other reporters on the hill, and not be quoted, they sound exactly like bob corker does when the cameras are on. you talk -- the level of hypocrisy in these statements which we just read really is mind-boggling. >> it is really striking, joe, because corker professed in that interview to speak for the entire republican conference. and the headline here is nobody disagreed with him. grassley just said, it's not productive to talk like that. and that is what you hear when you talk to these members, joe. is they have to strike a balance here between essentially informing the public about what they are experiencing behind closed doors. what their observations are about their president and the trajectory that we're going down with our policy. and our foreign policy. and the consequences for that, when they do speak out, which is they only reinforce that

behavior, that -- the impulsive behavior, the behavior of lashing out against them. and at the end of the day, many, many more of them make the calculation that it's better. not to speak out in terms of just trying to keep their heads down and get something done and not stir this president's ire. >> yeah, and jim robinson, heidi brings up a good point, yes, nobody came out and strongly defended bob corker. but nobody came out and strongly defended donald trump either. and even the president's spokesperson, kellyanne conway, whenever she was doing our show, was criticizing when the cameras were off. so, everybody in washington, d.c. has said for a very long time, the very things that bob corker finally said in front of a camera, you know. a couple days ago. >> well, that's absolutely right, joe.

i thought the no comments or those anti-dine issues about the senators spoke volumes. the strongest was marco rubio who said i haven't made that statement. that's not the same as saying that statement is not true. and nobody came out and said, oh, this is all untrue. and in fact by not denying it, the senators basically confirmed it and said ixnay on it. he's saying let's not upset the apple cart. and tweeting this show and mug tweeting "fox around friends" every day. and spinning out of control in some ways. really the question, we're only nine months into this thing, right? >> whew. >> he's got only three years

left on this. in addition to making all of this totally exhausted. what does that mean for the country? and how are we going to sort of make it through this long yawning period in front of us. >> and the ugliest part is ahead, because we're going to be talking, willie, about elections. and you're going to have donald trump going out trying to campaign for people. being angry at republicans that tried to distance themselves from donald trump in the campaign trail. and it's going to happen in places. it may not happen in a lot of places, but it's going to happen. i want to get back to corker. nobody defending the president. against this charge. that donald trump's petulance and his child-like behavior and his horrific temperament could start world war iii. now, think about that for a second. the chairman of the foreign

relations committee united states senate says we've got a president that could start world war iii. nobody pushes back on that. is this a remarkable time we live in with republicans running for the dark corners? when the most powerful republican on capitol hill and foreign policy says we've got a commander in chief that could start world war iii, and yet, they don't push back on what bob corker says? >> well, obviously, richard haass, bob corker says a couple things will happen, he's not running for re-election and he knows he's not going to become secretary of state which he's lib greerated to say what he wa. but he's reiterated what he's expressed what his colleagues have fail to say publicly out loud. why do you think he's going to express their own crediticisms

the president? >> by not saying especially that he did. what bob corker did, willie is brought to the forefront the possibility of the fitness of the president. and i think joe correctly pointed out the 80ological war. and what this is about is this gentleman's ability to be commander in chief. and to make these big decisions with people looking at the tweets vis-a-vis north korea a day or two away from a big decision about iran. and they're basically saying, put aside world war iii, these are truly controversial decisions. and what corker is basically saying i are no confidence in his ability to get them right. but what's motivating him, the kind of judgment he's bringing is simply not what is needed. that's a big, big deal. i think that's finally on the table. it's the fightness criteria and not leadership ability. >> and carol, with the 52 votes

if they want to get anything done, which is the frustration i've heard, they really do want to do tax reform by the end of the year and al al yen naturing bob corker doesn't help. is that the fight or is the criticism more important in getting that through? >> well, the president is impulsive, and he tends to, before, react in a way when he feels slighted. and he clearly felt slighted when corker said last week that defense secretary mattis and secretary of state rex tillerson and the chief of staff john kelly were the only thing standing between chaos. and so he feels that the corker threw the first punch. and he's a counterpuncher. so that's what he did, you know, he continuously does things like this that are count toer to his agenda which is try to get

something done. he hasn't gotten any legislation so far in his presidency. and the comment i thought was so interesting, mitch mcconnell who was saying corker say valuable player. this is a guy who has to whip up votes, as you said. he needs to get this party, his members to support a tax reform bill and potentially cement health care or immigration. and now you throw into the mix, this is all coming at a time when the president is going to do this risky gambit on iran, the iran nuclear deal. and he's kicking that to congress. things are piling up on the hill and the president piles up the insults towards the hill. still ahead, steve bannon looking to capitalize on that turmoil. he's calling on bob corker to resign and setting his sights on several other republican incumbents. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ know who likes to be in control? this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy!

oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender. (vo) go national. go like a pro. knowing where you stand. it's never been easier. except when it comes to your retirement plan. but at fidelity, we're making retirement planning clearer. and it all starts with getting your fidelity retirement score. in 60 seconds, you'll know where you stand. and together, we'll help you make decisions for your plan...

to keep you on track. ♪ time to think of your future it's your retirement. know where you stand. ♪this is a story about mailure and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ our guests can earn a free night when they book at choicehotels.com and stay with us just two times? fall time. badda book. badda boom. pumpkin spice cookie? i'm good. book now at choicehotels.com the unpredictability of a flaree may weigh on your mind. thinking about what to avoid,

where to go, and how to work around your uc. that's how i thought it had to be. but then i talked to my doctor about humira, and learned humira can help get and keep uc under control... when certain medications haven't worked well enough. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. raise your expectations and ask your gastroenterologist if humira may be right for you. with humira, control is possible.

♪ welcome back to "morning joe." now to another angle playing

out, to senator bob corker's criticism of president trump. former white house chief strategist steve bannon responded to senator corker's criticism this way. >> if bob cocker has any honor, any decency, he should resign immediately. he should not let those words stand what he said about the president. >> calling for the resignation of senator corker. but it's not just corker, bannon continuing his war with the seemingly entire republican establishment. declaring he will support candidates in 15 senate primaries in order to build a caucus to overthrow mitch mcconnell. and several incumbents are in heir air of fire, including arizona's governor jeff flake and dean heller. and encouraging black waerts founder erik prince to seek that seat and promoting prince on bannon's breitbart network. last night, bannon discussed him in the next step in the

evolution he says of the republican party. >> there's a coalition coming together that's going to challenge every recumbent candidate, other than at the time cruz. a ton of time with the grassroots organizations to make sure these camps can are fully vetted. you're going to see people announce they're going to have experience in government. you're going to see some outsiders who are authentic. it's not like 2010, 2010 was the beginning of the tea party when things were first getting going. we're declaring war on the republican establishment that does not back the agenda that donald trump ran on. it's a new game in town. we're going to cut offer the oxygen to mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell's biggest asset is the money. we're going after these guys tooth and nail. >> bannon said last night only ted cruz is safe. there's only one senator that we won't primary and that's ted cruz.

otherwise, open season on senate republicans. >> you know why he said that, because the mercers are gazillig gazillionai gazillionaires. he's playing a dime store populist. wearing five or six shirts. nobody knows why he does that. it's like hey, look at me, i'm mad at the people, mad at the people. and he walks off. who knows, maybe the mer mercerd the helicopter on top of fox news and he flies off of where he flies to. this is a guy that's funded by gazillionaires. he's playing the populist game. and he's doing it -- he's talking about getting erik prince to fly out and run in a state where he doesn't even live. to go after one of the most republicans, one of the leading

republicans. and, heidi, you look at who he goes to in alabama. he gets a judge that was too radical for alabama. he got stripped of his position as judge twice in alabama. in new york, he's going to an ex-congressman who also is an ex-con. a guy like -- >> grim. >> yeah, grimm, the appropriately titled congressman and convict grimm. and as frank bronny wrote, steve bannon doesn't want to help the republican party. he want to destroy the republican party. and he's even talking about, a really good source tells me about threatening to run to utah himself to run against mitt romney if mitt romney runs for senator. if mitt romney runs for senator, all i can say is the mercers don't have enough money.

they don't -- they don't have enough money to beat mitt romney in his home state. >> well, i think he summed up the bill of goods that's being sold right now to these conservative voters, very nicely. first of all, the myth of this being a startup grassroots kind of populist insurgency. big money with them. it's a big secret here that bannon is also courting a number of other traditional big money donors because they're not going to be able to pull this off without it but to the bitter point here, joe, which is, what is the end goal here? what are these people going to do likely when they get to washington? they are riding this wave of discontent from voters who are fed up because washington's not getting anything done for them, the average people. and yet, when these people get here, does anybody think that roy moore is going to be hosting, you know, get-togethers and soirees at his house on how

to get good things done for the american people? no, these people are coming here to further throw sand in the gears of congress and to kind of blow up the process. so, these people are unwittingly sernlsly electing them don't understand that they are here to do exactly that. to bring the kind of dysfunction that they find so infuriating and frustrating. coming up on "morning joe," deadly wildfires raging out west. destroying entire communities in california. we'll get an update on the disaster there. plus, there are new developments surrounding the mass shooting in las vegas. police originally said a security guard helped to distract the gunman. but a new timeline is completely reshaping that account. welcome! how's it going? hi! okay, so you've got two friends here. yes. this is the j.d. power award for dependability.

now i want you to give it to the friend that you think is most dependable. ohhhh. ughh. wow. that's just not fair. does she have to? she doesn't have to! oh, i don't? no, but it's a tough choice, isn't it? yes. well luckily, chevy makes it a little easier. cause it's the only brand to earn j.d. power dependability awards for cars, trucks and suvs - two years in a row. that's amazing. chevy's a name you can trust! bp engineered a fleet of 32 brand new ships with advanced technology, so we can make sure oil and gas get where they need to go safely. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.

a nation's technology will determine its power. in its economy, in medicine,

in science and in national security. one company designs and builds more supercomputers than any other. an american company. hewlett packard enterprise. leading the way to discover... to innovate... and to protect. hewlett packard enterprise. a national asset in supercomputing.

there are now questions of whether communications breakdown prevented officers from storming the suite of the las vegas gunman much sooner. the sheriff now says the gunman shot a hotel security guard through the door of his suite, hitting him in the leg, six minutes before he then opened fire in the crowd. the share river said the guard immediately notified security but the police officers on the scene didn't know he'd been shot until they arrived on the floor and found him in the hallway.

it was originally believed that the gunman shot that security guard after his attack on crowd. and that the security guard's arrival on the 32nd floor may have taken the attention away from the 22,000 people on the ground but now the sheriff says he does not what caused the gunman to stop shooting after ten minutes. and also once on the floor at 10:15 p.m. why it took six minutes to learn from the security guard which room the shots came from. >> through investigation, as i have conveyed to you from the very beginning and you asked for information, and my zest to procure the subsafety and the calming of minds, some things are going to change. now, they're minute changes, it's not an all-encompassing answer in association with what we presented before, in other words, it's not completely inaccurate. but what we have learned that mr. campos was encountered by the suspect prior to his shoot to get outside world. >> it was previously reported

that bullet holes were found in a nearby jet fuel tank. investigators now believe those tanks were targeted possibly as a diversion. a motive is yet to be find. a lot of people asking the question why the security guard was shot and told security why that message was not related to police and told exactly where the shots were coming from. we're also following the state of emergency in california this morning as more than a dozen wildfires raged from one end of the state to the other. in northern california, state officials have said at least 17 people have died. in california's famed wine country flames were able to hop scotch across neighborhoods thanks to fast moving winds. the state's highway patrol says more than 40 people had to be rescued by helicopter. in sonoma county more than 100 people are reported missing as of this monk. two hospitals in santa rosa had to evacuate because of flames.

one evacuating 130 patients. and in southern california, thousands in anaheim had to leave their homes because of the called canyon fire. rescue crews have been going door to door evacuating people. more than 1,000 firefighters expected to be on the scene this morning. coming up on "morning joe," president trump sakes another shot at his secretary of state. this time, questioning rex tillerson's i.q. and that's just a start, this morning on "morning joe." we're on a mission to show drip coffee drinkers,

it's time to wake up to keurig. wakey! wakey! rise and shine! oh my gosh! how are you? well watch this. i pop that in there. press brew. that's it. so rich. i love it. that's why you should be a keurig man! full-bodied. are you sure you're describing the coffee and not me? [burke] abstract accident. seen ♪ video-it. covered it.c we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ when you're close to the people you love,

does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. in fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. do not use if you are allergic to taltz. before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. including worsening of symptoms. serious allergic reactions can occur. now's your chance at completely clear skin. just ask your doctor about taltz.

the vice president has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of state because i have never considered leaving this post. i served at the appointment of the president, and i'm here as long as the president feels i can be useful to achieving his objectives. >> can you address the main headline in the story that you called the president a moron, and if not, where do you think the reports -- >> i mean, i'm not going to deal

with petty stuff like that. i mean, this is what i don't understand about washington. again, i'm not from this place. but the places i come from, we don't deal with that kind of petty nonsense. and it is intended to do nothing but divide people. i'm just not part of this effort to divide the administration. >> president trump is said to have lunch with secretary of state rex tillerson at noon. along with jim mattis. since nbc broke the news that tillerson called trump a moron. joining us dexter philconvincki. titled the breaking point will donald trump let rex tillerson do his job. randall lane is out with a new interview with president trump in which he takes on the secretary of state's intelligence. gentleman, good to see you.

dexter, let's go inside that lunch today. what is the real story of the relationship to the extent there is one between rex tillerson and donald trump? in other words when i go to china and i make a deal to stab off a war with north korea, are you going to humiliate me again. >> what makes them believe that things are any different. what makes them believe they will not persist in tweeting that diplomacy is a lost cause? >> i don't think he has. i asked them about that. he basically says that the president says something i don't expect, i have to live with it. all right. so, he's got to carry on, how do you -- look, we're at a terribly

dangerous moment with north korea and we're heading there towards iran. we're either going to solve tell through diplomacy or war. and tillerson say diplomat. he's got to get a little more help than that. >> we put on that face. publicly, we put on a clip yesterday. what is the level of frustration with the job. not just because of his relationship with president trump but because he's run exxon all the years and he's been a man at the top who's made decisions. >> well, those are very different jobs. >> yeah. >> yeah. one is exxon, one of the world's great corporations, $400 billion in revenue every year. but when he gives an order to people, people follow it. and it's a top-down organization. the state department is not right, more important, the diplomacy is not right there. it's a complicated world. it's a mess. i think he's having a hard time. i think he's having a hard time primarily because he doesn't have enough people around him. he can't fill the jobs.

the state department at the top is kind of an empty shell. >> randall, i want to read a piece from your piece entitled "inside trump's head," you write, over the course of nearly one hour, interview with foshs in the oval office, president trump stays true to the same citizen trump form that foshs has seen for 35 years. he counterpunches. he calls it fake news. i guess we'll have to impair i.q. tests and i can tell you who is going to win. and man is the most vicious of all animals trump told foshs the first time he spoke. you've got an hour with president trump. >> if you ever want a real experience, sit in the oval office with president trump and ask him what it was like if he believes the secretary of state called him a moron. >> did he appear --

>> he was very calm. through the hour, he paused and thought about it, he said i don't necessarily believe it, but if i do, i keep papers on the paper, and i, of course, will win. >> he, went to great lengths to read your piece and project that he's having a good time. i'm having fun. i enjoy this job, he said look at "forbes." it's interesting because i said, are you having fun. that was bayh first question and he goes how successful i am. donald trumps is not been a touchy-feely get in touch with myself innerguy. he immediately went to numbers. it's numbers, numbers, numbers. the whole point about the piece, if you look at president trump he's a transactional guy. he's always been a transactional guy. if you look at every action he takes, you talk about diplomacy, and state department.

he's never been a win-win guy. he's i win, you probably lose guy. and that's tough to scare with the state department. >> the atmosphere in his interview did seem a little more formalized in contrast to where there's a lot of staffers by trump's side. his daughter wanders in. and this does seem to indicate that general john kelly has had an impact at least in some procedures in the white house. now, today's lunch is with general mattis accompanying secretary tillerson. what kind of role do you think mattis -- i'm sure that you've interviewed secretary mattis on numerous occasions in iraq or afghanistan. what kind of impact do you think he is having in the relationship with tillerson, in trying to help trump keep tillerson on board. or is he just trying to navigate the political waters himself? >> right there, tillerson and mattis are very close. they talk several times a week.

they have lunch every week. mattis is the stick. and tillerson is the carrot. so, one of them is going to make a deal, tillerson's either going to make a deal with north korea or iran. if not then, it falls to mattis. and so, they're very -- there's a very good relationship between them. and so, it's kind of interesting because i think there's two of them, and i think there's only one of the president. so, maybe they're just going to try to bring the temperature down. >> and the president said in the interview basically that he doesn't really see the need for a lot of people at the state department. >> i asked him specifically that, you know, when is the cavalry coming? he said, never. that he doesn't see the need for these positions, government there's too many staffers, they've got hundreds of thousands of employees and i want to show that i can do it with less. it's not a -- people have been talking about when dot appointments come. what he said, affirmatively, the answer is, i keep on saying this, nobody's listen to me,

they're not coming. >> honestly, tillerson is desperately trying to fill those jobs. and the whole top tier, he's 21 out of 23 assistant secretary of state are empty. and he's desperately trying to fill those jobs and can't. can't do it. because the whole republican foreign policy establishment signed public proclamation was unfit in the office during the campaign they're black balled. so, there's nobody out there. >> we had nick kristof here a while ago, painting a bleak picture on north korea, and the ineffectiveness of sanctions in north korea. they're bold now and feel they've been elevated by president trump. the secretary of defense james mattis speaking in washington about the standoff with north korea. >> ladies and gentlemen it is right now a diplomatically led economic-sanctioned buttressed

effort to try to turn north korea off this path. how, what does the future hold? neither you nor i can say. so there's one thing the u.s. army can do, and that is, you've got to be ready to ensure that we have military options that our president can employ if needed. we currently are in a diplomatically led effort. and how many times you have seen the u.n. security council vote unanimously, now, device in a row, to impose stronger sanctions on north korea? the international community has spoken, but that means the u.s. army must stand ready. >> so, i guess to what you were talking about, which is this effort on the diplomatic side from tillerson and others to work on the north korea problems with china. in other ways we have donald trump putting out a tweet saying diplomacy is not going to work, they only understand one thing?

>> yeah. >> is the state department, is rex tillerson as concerned about the prospect of war with north korea as so many people in this country are? >> yes. >> they are? >> yes. and i spoke to general mattis about north korea earlier this year and i have not forgotten what he said, if we have to go to war for north korea it will be the worst casualties that we'll know in our lifetimes. >> here in the united states? >> no, i think he meant primarily on the peninsula. he's very, very sober about what would happen if we go to war. >> over the course of reporting this piece, how much do you think tensions and fears about war with north korea, how heightened has that become? i feel right now everyone is at a real point of deep general concern that there's going to be war. >> yeah, i think -- getting back to what willie said which is tillerson has been going to china because that's the way to squeeze north korea. it's basically the only opening

that north korea has to the rest of the world. the only -- certainly, the only economic opening. and so, the point then is to squeeze china. but the last time tillerson went there, the president tweeted out, you know, my friend rex, i told him you're wasting your time. i mean, i hope he's not wasting his time. >> i asked him about that directly, he said he's wasting his time, he'll reinforce that. that was not an off the cuff tweet. asking him in general about policies he inherited whether it's iran, tpp, he does not believe that he's necessarily obligated by treaties or deals that predated him. and that was interesting because we discussed, i specifically said, you know, you're ceo of america. you inherit a lot of goodwill and deals that the previous administration had. he said, the bad deal, i don't

think that's my obligation. and that's a big difference from decades and decades where you have continuity, and even if you have disagreement on policy, you accept what happened before. and you tweak and he's like if i don't agree with it, it's a nonstarter. >> there is some whiplash across the president's tweeter feed, as we take completely different topics. he started after 6:00 a.m. suggesting the nfl should lose its tax breaks. and five minutes later, democrats don't care about safety. and another 12 minutes passed before congress took don't care about health care. and he then took on espn and its new rating, and the highly respected author of the book. joseph, it's been a busy morning for the president? >> yeah, it's like a guy running a business sitting at home

wildly tweeting things out trying to remain relevant. he doesn't understand, i guess, that he's president of the united states. and every word still matters. he just -- i don't know, willie, it seems to become more erratic by the day. >> well, and that's the point bob corker was making in his initial comments and in his interview with "the new york times" that the president needs to understand that things he says have implications around the world and indeed do lead to war with north korea. dexter, nice see you, randall lane, thank you as well. his interview with the president must-read now in "forbes." coming up next, it's been about 60 days since president trump said he was declaring a national opioid emergency. public health officials are still waiting. that story when we come back.

dad: molly! trash! ( ♪ ) whoo! ( ♪ ) mom: hey, molly? it's time to go! (bell ringing) class, let's turn to page 136, recessive traits skip generations. who would like to read? ( ♪ ) molly: i reprogrammed the robots to do the inspection. it's running much faster now. see? it's amazing, molly. thank you. ( ♪ ) thank you. sarah: every year we take a remember nashville? both: kimchi bbq! amazing honky-tonk! i can't believe you got us tickets! i did.

i didn't pay for anything. (sigh) you never do. send me what i owe. i've got it. i mean, you did find money to buy those boots. (alert beep) are you serious? is that why you don't like them? those boots could make a unicorn cry. yeah! tears of joy. (groan) pay back a friend day is october 17th. get the bank of america mobile banking app today. hi, i'm the internet! you knoarmless bowling.lt? you got this, jimmy!

you know what's easy? building your website with godaddy. pick a domain name. choose a design. you can build a website in under an hour. now that's a strike! get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. build a better website in under an hour. i love you. looking for clear answers for your retirement plan? start here. or here. even here.

and definitely here. at fidelity, we're available 24/7 to make retirement planning simpler. we let you know where you stand, so when it comes to your retirement plan, you'll always be absolutely...clear. ♪ time to think of your future it's your retirement. know where you stand. the opioid crisis is an emergency. and i'm saying officially right now it is an emergency. it's a national emergency. we're going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis. >> that was president trump two months ago today, saying he was preparing to officially declare the u.s. opioid crisis a national emergency. that declaration has yet to happen. governor chris christie who chairs the white house's opioid commission has said there's no timeline for when the official declaration would occur. that commission faces a deadline, though, of november

1st. for a final report and recommendations on the epidemic. all of this as first lady melania trump makes her first visit to a drug treatment center later today visiting the nation's first nonprofit infant recovery center for babies born addicted to drugs. kate snow joins us for the ongoing nbc news series "one nation under dose" kate is looking at the epidemic. good morning. >> i've been to places like the first lady's visit. i've actually been to that hospital. neonatal institutions across the country care for newborns whose mothers used opioids during pregnancy. they've learned a lot how to use cuddle rooms to shorten the amount of time it takes to treat babies with withdrawal. there's an entire generation of kids including toddlers, older kids being raised in a home where parents are using opioids. we spent time with a young woman in dayton, ohio, who know, all

too well. >> reporter: tory brinkman has always been a survivor born 15 weeks early, a tine in pound and a half. for the first ten years of her life she lived with a mother addicted to heroin. their history together shows how savidge the grip of addiction can be. today, tory is a remarkably composed 14-year-old telling her story her way. do you remember about those early years and your mom? >> she never ate. she had maybe a coke a day. no water. and she never took care of me, never feed me. i had to feed myself. i considered myself the parent and my mom the kid. >> reporter: do you think your mom sold drugs? >> yeah, i know she did. >> reporter: did she get in trouble for that? >> yeah, one time, when i was 7 or 8, she actually made me do a drug deal for her. >> reporter: a drug deal? what did she ask you to do? >> she put either heroin or

cocaine in a napkin and said run up to the house, give this to him. >> reporter: tory said she never got any health care. >> never went do the dentist before. >> reporter: what about a pediatrician doctor? >> no, nothing. >> reporter: tory now lives with her grandparents and really important to point out that her mother knows she's sharing her story. her mother has been sober for three years now. tory says she's proud of her mom. guys, the whole family sat and watched when that piece aired on "nightly news" they watched it together. and the grandparents told us they're so proud of tory for speaking out. >> she looks great. she sounds composed. how is her physical health? >> her physical health is good. she playing volleyball in school. she's in middle school. look, she's in therapy because there are emotional impacts from

all of this, psychological impacts that will probably never go away for her or the rest of the family. but she's a strong little kid. >> you can tell. as you look at the big picture, kate, and we talk about this national emergency declared by the president or the promise of a declaration. >> right, actually declared. said he would. >> said he was going to. where does that stand if they have a report due in a couple weeks here? >> yeah, i think that may a critical marker, november 1st and chris christie and his commission come out with a federal report. the white house tells me there's no declaration yet because the legal process -- think about it they usually declare an emergency over a hurricane, an earthquake, some natural disaster, to declare opioids an emergency, technically, legally is tricky. so, they've got lots of layers of bureaucracy working on it, apparently in washington.

and there's just no big pot of money sitting there ready to go if they declare an emergency. there's not an automatic place for congress to turn for money. some of that money is being released from the obama administration to localities, so it's helpful. but everybody says to me, this crisis is so big, so huge that there's not enough dollars. >> so, is there really a funding issue at the local level? >> yeah, it's a funding issue. it's resources issue. there aren't enough treatment facilities. i mean, every place i go, i've been all over the country for several series about opioids, there's not enough -- there's not enough treatment. there's not enough places to turn to that are working. that said, there are community-based initiatives, there are things happening in local communities that are amazing. we're going to be profiling one tonight in cape cod in massachusetts. a school, an elementary school, where just in the fourth grade alone they've lost six parents. think about that.

so, they are dealing with a crisis in their elementary school. and they're doing so well at helping please kids so there are individual examples. >> this is just great reporting. we've seen, you all have reported on places in ohio. you go down an entire block and you can't find a single house that hasn't been touched in some way. >> i can't find a single person. don't you guys know people? everybody knows people? >> kate is taking a closer look at these issues all week on msnbc news. joe, as we close out the president just added to his list of tweets this morning, posting this one, quote, the failing "the new york times" set little bob corker up by recording his conversation. was made to sound a fool. and that's what i am dealing with. what do you say about that? >> interesting spelling i think is my oenl. >> two "d"s instead of "t"s?

>> yeah, that is more typical donald trump because this is clearly an orchestrated interview. there were staff members sitting in there. this is a conscious effort of the senator to speak out. >> the implication it was a secret recording a setup by "the new york times." just to be clear this was a prepared and prearranged interview between "the new york times" and senator corker's office. you know, we talked about this all morning but this, again, is a vote he needs in the congress and senate. he's got 52 of them on the republican side. but he seems to be all in on the burning to the ground of bob corker. >> he only has one mode. and he's going to learn over the coming months that he should have perhaps held back a little bit with senator corker, i think. >> we will see. it's only 9:00. and that's all we've got. we'll see what we've got. stephanie ruhl picks up our coverage right now. good morning, i'm stephanie ruhl, with breaking news

overnight starting with fast moving wildfires engulfing northern california. at least 11 people already confirmed dead. more than 100 reports of missing people. thousands forced to flee and watch their homes be reduced to ash. >> i couldn't stay because i couldn't breathe. and a war of words. rex tillerson headed to the white house today for his first face-to-face with trump since the nbc report where he called the president a moron. the president hits back this morning saying they should compare i.q.s, that's right, the president did that. this as the feud between trump and corker escalates. >> if bob corker has any honor, any decency, he should resign immediately. hot kettle, wow, and 85% of puerto rico still powerless. now some silicon valley's