good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters in new york at the half hour. here's what we're watching for you. the fight against the deadly flames in california's wine country. gusty winds will tear through the region today making it even more dangerous for 9,000 firefighters working to contain tho blazes. the latest on the russian investigation. former white house chief of staff reince priebus was questioned yesterday. he said he was happy to answer all their questions. the downfall of move where mogul harvey weinstein could

reach new depths today. they will determining whether they will revoke his weinstein coming up. finally home after being held by a taliban group for five years in pakistan. an american woman, her canadian husband and three children arriving in canada last night. they talk to reporters about their horrific deal. >> authorizing the murder of my infant daughter margaret boyle. the threats the haqqani network made to me. and the subsequent and the stupidly and evil of the subsequent rape of my wife now as a lone action by one guard but assisted by the captain. >> the u.s. says pakistan secured their release with the

help of american. new reaction today from the president on on the iran deal. >> i am announcing today that we cannot and will not make thaeubg this solution. then the agreement will be terminated. it is under continuous review and our participation can be canceled by me as president at any time. iran's saying the move leaves the u.s. more isolated than ever. a good day to you. so what all is iran saying about how this is going to impact their participation in this deal?

>> reporter: the trump speech has not gone well. president rouhani came almost and blasted president trump saying his speech was ignorant, full of lies, that he has no understanding of iran or international agreements. he responded to the criticism he made of the revolutionary guard saying the government if the strongly supports the revolutionary guard and that they will ramp up their missile program in order to defend themselves here. but rouhani also went on to say as long as it benefits iran's national interests, iran will stick to the deal. the 64,000 already question, how long is iran going to feel this deal is benefiting itself? it has changed the playing field slightly. president trump tried to make a divide between the iranian people and the regime, but they

found his speech insulting. it galvanized support for the regime. ordinary iranians hit up social media saying trump is ignorant about iran. he referred to the persian gulf as the arabian gulf. that got everybody's goat up here. we were talking to people how they felt about trump's speech. for the most part it was negative. i think we have a sound bite from somebody we spoke to a little earlier in the street this morning. let's take a listen. >> he's a businessman. he's not really saying what he is going to do for us. all he is saying is good for him, not for us. >> reporter: alex, you can see people out there don't feel that trump has iran's interest at heart. in fact, they believe all the stuff he said supporting the iranian people was full of

insincere pathos. his idea of trying to separate the people and the regime, who is not always popular amongst the people, hasn't really worked. >> okay. thank you so much. we'll see you again. let's bring in peter baker, chief white house correspondent for the "new york times". thanks for joining me. >> good morning. >> take a look at your latest article titled "trump adopts obama approach while seeking to undo a legacy." it takes about the steps he is taking to dismantle the iran deal, daca, obamacare. so he is really become the d dismantler in chief. does he care it is difficult to identify anything constructive that he has done? >> i don't think he sees it that way. he is dismantling the damaging legacy of the last president as he sees it. he is so focused on what the previous president did. most come in and try to go in a

different direction. then criticize during the campaign but they don't spend much of their first year specifically trying to unravel, undo, perepeal the programs of their predecessor. that seems to be the singular focus at this point. as a developer he would say if you're going to build something new, you have to clear the land first. but you're right, we haven't spent a lot of time this year conducting new so much as trying to undo the old. >> you can point to the obama administration which used executive order rather liberally in the last two years of the presidency. this is right out of the gate for him, for trump. >> president trump is critical of president obama for overusing executive power, expanding the definition of what a president can do. he had to use it himself. he is very frustrated with congress. this is the beginning of his presidency and also with a gong of his own party.

that is rather stark. he has turned to his executive power to do that. on the other hand, what his white house will tell you he is using executive power to undo what were overly expansive actions by his predecessor. undoing the daca program, undoing some of the health care things that the previous president has done using executive authority, and the iran deal. so far he has completely canceled those things but is taking action towards that end. >> let's talk about an article in "vanity fair" entitled "i hate everyone in the white house" they fear the president is unraveling. what you are seeing, what you are hearing as you cover the white house, is there any truth to that? >> this is a white house full of drama and full of anger, frustration, and turmoil and rivalries and a constant sense of turmoil. it is a turbulent place. you see a president who is unhappy with his first few

months in office. i'm happy with congress, with some of the advisers he brought in. you see the team around him that feels bessette either by a president who doesn't follow the script or by each other in the various rivalries for power, influence, and position. some of that has gotten better under john kelly, the new chief of staff. he has put a clamp down on some of the kay on the on eubgs we saw in the first few months. there is real under current both on the part of the president and the people around him. >> you mentioned kelly. he did make a surprise appearance this week. let's take a listen to some of what he said. >> as i read all the time pretty consistently, i'm not quitting today. i don't believe, and i just talked to the president. i don't think i'm being fired today. and i'm not so frustrated in this job that i'm thinking of

leaving. i will tell you this is the hardest job i've ever had. this is, in my view, the most important job i've ever had. >> what does this say to you? how unusual is this to hear a white house chief of staff feeling the need to make these kinds of remarks in the first place? >> this is the second is time we have had a major figure come out over the course of two weeks to say, no, i'm not resigning. secretary of state rex tillerson did the same thing a week earlier. it is extraordinary. he said i'm not so frustrated that i'm going to leave. he didn't say he wasn't frustrated. he said i'm not so frustrated that i'm going to leave. of course it's a tough job. tough under any circumstance. he doesn't make it particularly easy by launching off new crusad crusades, jihads, various campaigns via twitter on any given morning. john kelly spent one day last week calming down the governor of puerto rico after it was

suggested the president might pull out federal resources after the hurricane they suffered. you are not going to be able to control donald trump. he believes that's how he got to the white house in the first place. he doesn't need people to tell him what to do. the best you can do as a staffer is manage the situation and keep things under control as best you can. >> well, part of the way he got to the white house of course is being very much part of the american culture. you write the headline "for trump, the reality show has never ended." and he called out the offending senator for being short and sounding like a fool. he challenged his secretary of state to an i.q. contest and insisted he would win. and his first wife and third wife waged a public war of words over who was really his first lady. are there elements of this that are strategic, or is this just

more example of internal frustrations that the public gets to see and year? >> he hosted a reality television show. he knows how to keep the story lines fresh, how to keep the audience coming back for more. he is a showman. part of what he does is to kind of keep people on edge. he has this reality show element. who might be voted off the island next? you know, it's not the typical white house. we have said that again and again the last nine months. it bears repeating. it does bear some elements as senator corker said, of the reality show. sit not surprising given where he came from, president trump. but it has worked for him as far as he's concerned. he doesn't seem to think there is anything wrong with it. his supporters cheered him on. so he has encouraged to continue operating this week.

>> okay. peter baker, always good to see you. thanks, peter. >> thanks. the latest actress to come forward with allegations of sexual harassment against harvey weinstein. and is president trump really taking us down the path of world war iii. looking for balance in your digestive system?

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the health care executive order, who wins, who loses, and who could pay the ultimate political price. but before we go, here's highlights of this week's political humor. let's take a listen. >> we have the results of the i.q. tests right here. tillerson scored a 120. it's above average. not genius but still pretty good. and donald trump's results right here. it is a drawing of a big truck that said maga. >> kellyanne conway said it's like golf.

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president trump signing an executive order thursday taking aim at obamacare's minimum coverage rules. the report by tom costello. >> reporter: mr. trump allowing insurance companies and unregulated associations to sell cheaper policies that offer less coverage than obamacare current live requires. potentially no longer requiring maternity or substance abuse coverage and they could charge groups with sicker employees more than others. who wins? jim and skraojulie, a barebones insurance policy would be cheaper but higher out of pocket

expenses. who loses? david and gail, 60s, higher medical expenses. with fewer healthy young people in the insurance pool, everyone else could pay more. >> joining me is former director of progressive media for the clinton campaign and now for sirius xm. jim watkins and former cruz campaign spokesman and political analyst. with a good morning to all three of you. >> good morning, alex. >> this executive order here, does the president now own the broken health care system much like the "washington post" headline? we will put that out there. >> he owns whatever we do. he owns it of course. what i worry about most of all, i'm a republican. i believe in free markets and the like. at the same time, i worry about the poorest americans, the americans who are most vulnerable. i passed through a church in a financially strapped community.

good people who don't have a lot of money. i worry about what's going to happen to them. i'm looking forward to seeing a health care plan that meets the needs of all americans, middle income and the poorest of americans, those who are drug addicted. i hope the president will work with democrats to fashion a health care system that works for everybody. >> okay. all right, guys, i want to talk about iran. aoe le elena, i will start with you. punting it into the hands of congress, what can congress really do? what could be behind this strategy? >> i'm really not sure. you know, with so many things when it can comes to president trump, i don't know that he's thought through the policy or the implications behind his actions. and particularly with the iran deal. it seems that he just wants to undo what his predecessor did, president obama. and he's not essentially trying to use diplomatic solutions to come to a resolution of this

situation. and all the members of his national security team disagree with him on this issue. i think it is alarming that the president who doesn't seem to have a grasp or the full dynamics of the policy is doing things in a brash manner, tweeting things that go against his own national security team. so i think this is a very serious situation just like north korea. and it seems to me that the president needs to speak to the experts and actually listen to what they're telling him. >> rick, if congress decides to stay within the confines of this deal, take no action at all, who gets the blame? >> the blame for what? >> the blame for just all of this upheaval. china, russia, specifically france, uk, and -- they're all saying the fact that we're isolating the united states right now. >> this falls into the president's problem. let's look from the perspective

of congress. let's pretend donald trump is a real estate developer, sticking with the analogy i heard earlier in the hour. and mitch mcconnell and paul ryan are the general contractors. he said i want to build this beautiful gleaming tax cut tower. by the way could you tear down the health care tower and we'll rebuild that. and across town, i need to to tear down this iran tower and build that. he is crowding out congress's own ability to get what he wants done, which is a tax cut which has to be done before the 2018 election. otherwise, this congress will run on absolutely nothing. >> also these critical comments, joe, from senator bob corker admonishing the president for an effort to cast trait secretary of state rex tillerson. all of these taking -- are these taking actions and pushing diplomatic efforts to the brink of world war iii? if corker is saying all of this openly, joe, how many people are behind the scenes that agree

with them and think we are being pushed toward world war iii? >> a lot of people who behind the scenes are concerned. i think there are some really excellent people that are actually on the ground doing our foreign policy. very, very solid people certainly as secretary of defense is a solid person, general mattis and dan coates, very solid. and secretary tillerson is somebody very capable as well. bob corker is voicing what a lot of people, republicans and democrats, secretly worry. i have said several times that i just thought the president has really been willing to play kind of the bad cop to tillerson and others good cop. talking in a tough way while at the same time hoping that working with our -- having our people behind the scenes negotiate with the other side. so i hope that's what's happening. i hope that the calmer heads are prevailing. the folks in these positions are

doing their job. >> do you get a sense that republicans prefer there to be a president pence? >> i do think that's true. i think republicans, certainly bob corker, can't be the only one that thinks these things about the president. just watching his twitter feed every morning, you're not really sure where he's going in terms of his comments in terms of foreign policy which have worldwide implications. and i think mike pence, while i disagree with him on basically everything, at least he is predictable in that he is not a madman. he is not going to wake up one morning and in a peak tweet something that will have global implications. republicans would like a little bit of consistency. trump does not give them that. but at the same time he's the president of the united states. so this is where we are. and i think as americans we either need to tell our government, we need to speak out against the policies they are trying to implement or take away and turn out in 2018 so this is

not our reality. so there is a congress that can push back more forcefully if republicans refuse to. >> do you think there is a bunch of republicans that would prefer a president pence? >> probably likely. donald trump has never been a republican. he is not ideologically a republican. i think this is lining up to be a correction election. it's a little too early to predict that. but you really could see the senate and house in play with the republicans can't get their act together and demonstrate they can be a governing party. >> well, your former boss, ted cruz, with those same sentiments yesterday. let's get to hillary clinton who just spoke about the harvey weinstein allegations. here's that. >> i was shocked and appalled. i have known him through politics, as many democrats have. he's been a supporter. he has been a funder for all of us. for obama, for me, for people

who have run for office of the united states. so it was just disgusting. and the stories that have come out are heartbreaking. >> what is the likelihood that all the democrats did not know something was going on. >> i don't know what's going on in their minds. it is fair to assume they didn't know the specifics of what he was doing, whether or not they had opinions of him personally. i think it is important they are giving back the donations. like i said, it's not a partisan issue. this is an important issue. we need to be more honest and tackling it as a cultural issue instead of political issue. >> thank you so much. the legal battles ahead. a legal expert explains how time may be the enemy in two ways.

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