air corps. after the war he turned to the enenvironmental field. in 1949, two colleagues and enders reported a breakthrough, meaning a vaccine was actually possible. enders later isolated the measles virus and successfully developed that vaccine. that's a man that saved lives forevermore, i would say. >> #velshiruhle if you have ideas. >> right now we turn to our friend andrea mitchell for "andrea mitchell reports." empire strikes back. mitch mcconnell and republican establishment close ranks to take on steve bannon and his rebel forces as republicans fight for their party in the era of trump. >> when it's about resentment, when you only focus on keeping your base solid to the extent of really alienating other people instead of trying to bring our nation together to bring out the

better angels in our citizens. typically presidents try to be aspirational. >> quick fix. the president will not declare a national health emergency for opioids as he promised, instead offering a shorter term fix. for a problem that is already affecting generations to come as infants are being born addicted. >> as adults will they be able to work? are they going to have families? will they have problems with addictions themselves? i don't know those answers. and open secrets. tens of thousands of classified records on the assassination of jfk are said to be made public today, 25 years after the last document. more than a half century after he was killed. and after the last documents said that there was no smoking gun, as nbc's tom pettitte reported at the time. >> about all the ultra secret stuff still held back by the

cia, it will be presented to a presidential review board as soon as the white house appoints one. in any event, all these conspiracy theories will go on and on. and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where president trump will unveil a long-awaited white house plan to fight the national opioid crisis without, though, declaring that the deadly problem is a national emergency. despite his promises to put more teeth into the crisis response. joining me now is nbc national correspondent peter alexander and capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt. first you, peter. this falls short of what the president promised only a week ago. why? >> reporter: the bottom line is that the white house doesn't believe a national state of emergency, declaring that would be the right fit for what they're trying to do right now which they view as a long-term problem. had they gone that route, that

would be similar to what they've done in the cases of hurricanes and tornadoes where they open up access to the federal disaster relief fund. what this does, instead it's a public health emergency right now, and the intention here is to do a variety of things. among them to try to waive regulations to give more states more flexibility in terms of the way they use federal funds and also to expand access to telemedicine which would specifically target those people in more isolated areas like appalachia where they could see doctors remotely over computer ports and be treated in that way where in the past they had relied on in-person visits to get prescribed medications. the fact the public health emergency fund only has about $57,000 in it right now and the likely means this administration will have to push congress to get involved in a budget for the end of this year to try to add more money to that effort right now. the bottom line is they believe this for the moment is the right fit. it's something that gives them

90 days to work with. it's something very easy to extend if they so choose. >> we're going to be talking about the budget now as well, so peter, you hang on. kasie hunt on capitol hill where the house has approved the budget by the narrowest of margins, one vote. and the speaker of the house in an unusual step had to cast a vote to make sure this 216 votes -- they needed 215 to pass it, correct? >> reporter: they did need 215 today, andrea, that's the magic number. it's very rare for the speaker to cast a vote himself. it's happened before on budget-related issues, but in this particular case ryan was out on the floor very active, looking over the floor of the whip, counting the votes there on the floor. i think the real question here was around lawmakers from new york and new jersey, republicans who represent areas where state and local taxes are pretty high. and right now the law says that you can write off -- you can deduct the amount of your state

and local taxes from your federal tax bill. and they're talking about ending that in this tax bill. the budget that they're passing now lays the ground for tax reform, does lay the groundwork to end those state and local deductions. and so in this particular case, the speaker and his leadership team wanted to let some more of these lawmakers vote no, so we were kind of watching there to see if they could get to 215 so they could let some of their members off the hook. it was closer than any of the republican leaders wanted it to be, and i think it does show you just how difficult the path forward is going to be on tax reform. we've talked a lot about how there is an imperative, a political imperative to get this done. i think that is going to contribute to the sense of momentum inside the republican party, but the reality is they have not laid out all the details yet. that's going to happen next week. paul ryan was just asked about this downstairs, if he was concerned that releasing that publicly was going to cause the president to tweet and maybe

upend all these very difficult negotiations, and he started off by saying, next week when we put out the bill, the president will be in asia. andrea. >> peter, just very quickly, the other issues also on the table are whether or not the 401(k)s are going to be protected, so there are big tax loopholes people want to close from a white house perspective because that, of course, will save money which the deficit implications of all of that, but the president has had statements that go both ways on some of these very controversial issues. >> reporter: yeah, the beginning of this week he tweeted saying any changes for the 401(k) were off the table, i think were his exact words. then when he reported on the south lawn, he said, well, it could be a negotiating tool, so for a guy who prides himself being a marketer and a deal maker, this deal remains open-ended. >> kasie hunt, a busy day on capitol hill, and peter alexander with the opioid announcement i guess around 2:00 this afternoon with the

president and the first lady. thank you. and connecticut democratic president chris murphy serves on the foreign relations committee and he joins me now. first of all, the niger classified briefing for both houses today. have you had your briefing? have you learned anything new about the mission, why they were not better protected and the larger issue of deployment in africa? >> so the briefing for the armed services committee, we're hoping to have one before the foreign relations committee as well, but there are these very tactical open-ended questions about why these soldiers were in harm's way for so long without help. but the broader question is you referenced as to why we have this large footprint in a country where congress has not authorized military action. it seems as if, through the reporting around this ambush, that we regularly have u.s. forces embedded with niger forces doing patrols, putting our soldiers in harm's way, and frankly the constitution doesn't allow for the president to put american soldiers in harm's way

without a declaration of war. so i hope there is some urgency here now more than ever around putting some parameters and definitions on u.s. military activity abroad, whether it be in the middle east or africa, because this president, as reckless as he is, can really one wild, it seems, given the lack of congressional debate so far. >> i wanted to ask you about russia on foreign relations. in august the sanctions were passed against north korea, russia and others. we see more sanctions today from the treasury against north korea. why so far nothing against russia over ukraine? >> reporter: so the president missed the deadline. on october 1st he was supposed to report to congress the problem of these sanctions and he frankly has just ignored it. that infuriates both republicans and democrats and makes them ask once again who is running the policy in this nation? is national security interest taking priority or is there something else going on?

this seems to be a no-brainer. russia interfered in our elections, republicans and democrats came together and applied new sanctions. the president has to implement them but he is refusing to do it and he is sending a signal of weakness to russia, to the kremlin, that is freaking everybody out around the world. i just came back from europe and they have no idea whether this administration will protect them if the russians come after them, and his inability to apply sanctions and his inability to just live up to basic reporting requirements of the law suggests he is once again deeply compromised, at least in a policy sense, with respect to russia. >> i want to ask also about gun laws, because of course coming from connecticut, you've been a prime mover after newtown to try to do something about gun legislation. now you have new legislation, a newbill proposed for broader background checks. after the horrors of las vegas, is there any better chance you have against the nra? >> so the anti-gun movement gets

stronger every day. back in 2016 we had four referendums on the ballot in four different states to tighten gun laws, and we passed three of them. i'm not naive. i understand the nra still largely has a vice grip on the house senate and the white house. but by introducing this legislation saying any commercial sale of a gun has to go through a background check, that's supported by 90% of americans. you put pressure on americans. they can sign on or they can sit on the sidelines. if they continue to sit on the sidelines and do nothing about this carnage around the country, they are going to pay the price at the polls. we're getting stronger as a movement so we can actually stand up to the nra and defeat some of their allies in 2018 and 2020. >> i also want to ask you about the ongoing russia investigation. there are reports that the judiciary committee is in such disorder, dissent over how to proceed that there will not be a unified response, that despite all the efforts of grassley and

feinstein to keep it together, that this is falling apart. do you have any insight into that? >> i think there was always a risk that republicans here in congress were going to act first to politically protect this president and work second to find the truth. i hope that's not what's happening here, but it's why many of us think that the most important work we can do is continue to protect the mueller investigation, to continue to send a bipartisan message to the president that there is going to be no allowance of political interference into the work that he is doing. congress is not frankly set up to be an investigatory body on something this complicated, and so we are always going to be hamstrung in our ability to get to the facts of whether the trump campaign was openly kohl le -- colluding with the russians in 2016. i want a bipartisan vote but first and foremost i want what

they need to get to the truth. >> the president has been holding job interviews with potential prosecutors from key areas, in manhattan and elsewhere, where he is under or his family are under investigation. >> the worry is that the president is trying to pick u.s. attorneys in order to protect himself and his family, and of course that would be par for the course given his very loud insistence to order the fbi and the russia investigation in a way that would best protect him and his family. of course, we can't stop him from interviewing potential candidates. if he wants to do that, that's his right, but it's more evidence for the american people that right now this white house is, first and foremost, in personal damage control. they are trying to limit the potential legal liability of themselves. they're looking out for the rest of us second. >> senator chris murphy, a busy

day on capitol hill. thanks for stopping by. we appreciate it. >> thanks, andrea. coming up, the magic number. the house does get the right number of votes to pass the budget, but can they come together on tax reform? the big challenge next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. burglars broke into her shoe. they stole her kids' mountain bikes and tablets along with her new juice press. luckily the geico insurance agency had helped her with homeowners insurance. she got full replacement on the stolen goods and started a mountain bike juice delivery service. call geico and see how affordable homeowners insurance can be.

a big legislative win for

president trump on passing the budget. congress has paved the way possibly for tax cuts. what was the atmosphere on the floor? >> reporter:. >> i thought it was pretty me melodramatic. it was close. i said all along the budget that would be passed by the house is whatever the senate could pass. that's exactly what happened today. >> the important procedural issue is this budget will make it possible for the senate to vote on something with 50 votes. they don't need the 60. >> that's correct. tax reform may be done through the reconciliation process that would only require a simple majority in the senate. i still hold out some hope that we might be able to do something on a bipartisan basis with tax reform, but i suspect that will be a tall order at this point. >> what about the whole issue of state and local tax deduction?

do you think you have the leverage coming from high tax states to try to preserve that loophole? >> i do not believe the state and local tax deduction will be eliminated as part of tax reform. there may be some kind of limitation on that particular deduction or some changes to it, but i do not believe that it will be eliminated. there are just too many members in the house republican conference who are in states like new jersey, new york and illinois where there is a very big issue. >> what about 401(k)s which a lot of people are asking me that the president has muddied up with his tweet. >> it wasn't helpful for the president to tweet that out. we can't negotiate tax reform by twitter. i will tell you there will be a lot of things on the table for discussion. it's hard for me to say just what will happen to any one particular tax credit or deduction. this will be very fluid. we'll have to look at this

comprehensively in total, and there will be some challenges for some of these preferences that are popular, but the goal here is to simplify the tax code and bring rates down. this tax code is 75 pages long. it is too complicated. most of us, you know, have a difficult time doing our taxes anymore, and we just hope that our preparers do the right thing because we just sign them and send them in, and that's no way to do your taxes. >> i'm into that. speaking of tweets, the president has famously attacked colleagues, republican colleagues in the senate, he's gone after people on twitter, and he was asked by hallie jackson on the south lawn yesterday, should he be more civil? this was his response. >> well, i think the press makes me more uncivil than i am. people don't understand. i went to an ivy league college, i was a nice student, i did very well, i'm a very intelligent person. >> does being an intelligent

person have anything to do with the way he behaves to people? >> no, it doesn't. actually, i think what the president ought to do is behave more presidentially. that is, he needs to engage far less in the name calling and the insults and the mocking nature that he has. he needs to stop it. i think he needs to stop that. it's that behavior, i think, that lareally does offend a lotf people. i'm not trying to sound like a prude here, but when you're president of the united states, your words matter. your words are policy. the insults, i think, are very unhelpful. it doesn't build relationships, it only creates enemies. i think that's what people are talking about. he's not civil when he insults and mocks people. >> what about the insult to see congresswoman wilson that went on for days on twitter? >> well, again, i don't think the president should have engaged there. he should not have engaged. he should have picked up the

phone privately and called mrs. johnson and talked to her about what had occurred and kept that out of the press. i think he should not have engaged with the congresswoman. i really think that was, again, not particularly helpful. we should never politicize the death of a soldier who has fallen in the line of duty. it's just unfortunate that we've reached this point now where we're having these political debates now at the time of a funeral of a soldier. >> and the message that steve bannon and others around the president are taking from what happened after jeff flake's speech and after the corker criticism is that they won because others did not join in, others from the senate caucus did not speak out. and bannon was quoted as saying, you know, that he had a scalp, won one scalp in that flake is stepping down. is that the message that people should be reading, that other

republicans aren't joining in and joining the criticism of the president? >> no. look, i think in the case of mr. bannon, you know, he glommed on to the race in alabama that mr. moore won for i think reasons independent to mr. bannon. but that said, look, there is a battle going on in the republican party. many of us do not like this nativist approach, and some might call that the bannon approach where this nativism, isolationism and protectionism, these are not attributes of a great nation. that's not a winning strategy for a republican party. we have to do better than that and i'm never going to associate myself with a wing of the party that's going to push that kind of agenda. that was not in our country's long-term interest and i don't believe most americans accept that and they will reject it. maybe not in the primary election, but they will certainly reject it in the

general election. >> congressman, thank you for being with us. >> great being with you, as always. secrets revealed. will a big document release from the national archives lead to answers or more conspiracy theories? this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. (avo) when you have type 2 diabetes, you manage your a1c,

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there is lee oswald. he's been shot! he's been shot! lee oswald has been shot. there's a man with a gun. it's absolute panic here at the dallas headquarters. >> this was tom petit live in dallas reporting when lee harvey oswald was shot by jack ruby when they were moving him from the city jail to the county jail after he shot john f. kennedy. there have been conspiracy theories for all the decades since questioning whether he acted alone. now more than 50 years later, we may finally learn more about

president kennedy's assassination. more than 33,000 top secret documents are said to be released today from the fbi website. a book called "bobby kennedy" is set to be released. chris, we've been waiting and waiting. we've got teams of people ready to go through thousands of pages. the memo has not yet gone to the white house of what the intelligence agencies still want redacted. there are going to be some redactions, and that has to be signed off by the president, so we'll be in a waiting game for a while. what are the main questions that you want to know about? >> first you want to know why they kept it from us, so there must be a reason. there are two reasons. lee harvey oswald. what happened when he visited

the soefviet and cuban embassie several weeks before the assassination? what records did they keep and what surveillance did the cia have on him? it would make the cia look less attractive by not tracking him carefully. the soviets knew about something, the the cubans knew about something. twoov it would have been hard to restrain the american people if they knew cuba or the russians assassinated our president. i do think the trail is going to end up where it always end up with lee harvey oswald. it's a question of who else might have been involved. >> do we think he was under surveillance? how would there not be surveillance going into the soviet embassy or the cuban

embassy? >> having been in russia for two years, i watched the americans, you probably do, too. he became disillusioned with moscow soviet communism, he became infat wauated with castr. he was pro-castro. he went out to shoot nixon one day to court his russian-born widow. a week before the assassination, kennedy gave a very strong anti-castro speech. all the evidence is there. but the real factor, remember jerry bruno who was the advance man for jack kennedy? he said they didn't announce the parade route that day. the motorcade passed the book depository, until the day before. it had to be a crime of opportunity. they didn't place lee harvey oswald in that job six or seven weeks before and then drive the

president by so he could shoot him. he was angry at the president and he took the action. >> what about the attorney general? "bobby kennedy," we can't wait to read the book. bobby kenedy was the attorney gener -- bobby kennedy was the attorney general so he was in charge of the fbi. >> the minute bobby got the bad news, he was out at his house in hickory hill in mcclain. he immediately had the same reaction we all did. it must be some right winger, it must have something to do with desegregation in the south and they were angry about it. his reaction was like everybody's reaction. there is so much bitterness in the country right now. bobby understood that was the atmosphere of the country. then he began to think cia. he calls mccomb, head of the cia, to come in, and he made him swear on his soul that they weren't involved and he took his word on that. then later on when he went to

crackow in poland and he was asked the question by crackow, he said, i believe lee harvey oswald acted alone. he was disillusioned with this country and he took it out on the president. >> single bullet theory. >> you're into arlen specter, but that is part of it. ted sorenson wrote in his book before he died that bobby kennedy could never quash the suspicion that there were other people. there were a lot of suspects out there. bobby had in his mind, even though he said it was the warren commission, who wouldn't? he might worry he had something to do with it. he was going after jan connor. >> bobby kennedy was really going after the mob guys, so he may have had some concerns -- or i should ask you, you're the expert. did he have concerns that the

mob was involved? >> i know what he did. there are facts he went to frank banquets, who we also knew very well, he was the press secretary. frank put up the district attorney in new orleans, but he was raising questions about the mob down there, clay shaw and all those people. and bobby said, keep your eye on it. let me know if something important pops up. so he was monitoring it, but you're right, he wasn't digging himself. he was monitoring it. maybe he didn't want to find out he had something to do with causing it. i don't see any hard evidence of a connection between the mob and his killing. i don't. i think lee harvey oswald did it. the question, of course, on all of our minds, what was lee harvey oswald's escape plan? how was he planning to escape justice having shot the guy and escaping from his job? they know he did it. did he man to take a bus ride somewhere and he went to a movie theater? that was his plan? >> so many questions. >> but bobby had questions. >> chris matthews, you'll be

around all day as this document comes out. the surveillance, the cia covering up for itself. that's been the suspicion. you and i lived this, generations did. >> our life will never be the same as it was that afternoon when we heard. were you at penn? >> exactly. i was in college. >> i got the word at lunch. somebody came up to me and i went to history class and this great professor said, you can take the cut. and i went home and watched cronkite the whole afternoon. >> "hardball," must-see viewing. watch chris matthews tonight and every night at 7:00 p.m. on msnbc. i'll talk to two senators from new hampshire, a state devastated about the opioid crisis, about the president backing out on the declaration. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

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that when people have family members who are struggling with addiction, they have no-oxone in their pocket ready to administer should they find their loved one in an overdose. >> dr. john torres getting a reality check about the deadly opioid crisis and the key role that physicians are playing to fuel this key role in the epidemic. the president is declaring it an emergency, but not a full emergency like he did back in august. >> it is an emergency, it's a national emergency. we're going to spend a lot of time, effort and money on the opioid crisis. >> joining me now are democratic new hampshire senators. new hampshire has one of the highest rates of opioid overdose deaths in the nation. i think the president said that as soon as last week but he

isn't going that far. is he doing an announcement this afternoon? >> we heard the president when he was campaigning in new hampshire during the primary and the general election talking about how devastating this substance use disorders are, the impact they've had in new hampshire. i'm pleased he's designated this as a public health emergency, but i really want to see the resources that need to come in order for our communities and families in new hampshire to be able to fight this horrible disease. >> and senator hatton, both of you know what goes on in intimate detail at the state level. will the governor of new hampshire, the governor of west virginia, other states so badly hit, vermont, have enough tools available for them with what the president is doing today? >> look, there are people dying every single day in our state and across the country because of this horrible epidemic.

we need resources, we need them now. people who have the medical disorder are not getting the treatment they need, so while the president declares it a health emergency, it's a first step. we're not going to get the kind of response we know we need and we will continue to push for real dollars to accompany this declaration so we can get people the treatment they so desperately need. >> i know you're going to the white house for this. are you going to have an opportunity to say something to the president, senator shaheen, about what is happening at the ground level? >> well, i hope so. new hampshire has the second highest overdose death rate in the country. so this is affecting families, it's affecting communities, and the reality is the most important step we have taken to address substance use disorders is the affordable care act and providing health care and the expansion of medicaid to people

who need treatment. i hope the president is going to stop trying to repeal the affordable care act, that he's going to stop trying to reduce funding for medicaid, because that's the single most important way to fight this illness. >> at the same time, the president referred to new hampshire a while ago, i guess in august, as a drug-infest ted den. is that an accurate reflection of what's going on in your state? >> we have a very serious epidemic, and as senator shaheen just said, one of the highest overdose death rates, in particular because of the onslaught of the drug fentanyl, which is a synthetic drug. the profit margins are very high for drug dealers and it is very, very deadly. so we need more resources. what is particularly important, though, is that the president stop speaking about people who suffer from this addiction in

pejorative terms. the stigma that comes with substance disorder is one of the reasons hard to fight martial resources about this epidemic. people stand up to us every day telling us about the family they've lost, this has devastated their businesses. we need them to be able to come forward with their stories, being able to speak about suffering from this disorder. we need to counter that with emergency reaction. the only thing we've been able to do is stand up to medicaid expansion and allow those who suffer through this to get help. we need to instead invest more resources.

we are trying to bring $45 million in additional resources to the front line. >> this is not a partisan issue. we all need to work together. the president needs to work with congress, we need to work with the government, our legislators. we need an all-hands-on-deck approach if we're going to deal with this to deal with this epidemic. >> there is a new investigative report about a famous american family, a family that's been glorified, really, with their work with museums and art education, the sachler family. now it turns out according to the new yorker's reporting, they have in their background the pushers, the promoters of oxycontin, they made a fortune out of these pills. the fact is that big pharma, the tentacles of all of this, are so deeply rooted in american society, how do you get at that, the political contributions?

i had no notion that the people who created those wonderful wings at the metropolitan museum and the museum here in washington that i treasure had any background in this. >> there is no doubt the pharmaceutical companies have responsibility here just like the cigarette manufacturers. and so we need to hold them accountable. there is legislation that would have the pharmaceutical companies pay a percentage of every pill sold to help fight substance use disorders, and we need to look at ways in which we can make sure that they are also responsible for the role that they play. >> and we also need to work with our medical prescribers as well so that they understand the full impacts. there is no doubt that the pharmaceutical industry, some of the players there had a major role in this. we have to hold them accountable. there are also states attorney general who are looking at that and i appreciate those efforts and the lifeboat that senator

shaheen just mentioned that new hampshire is, is a critical step to get them to pay for some of the treatment that our communities, our people, so desperately need. >> senator shaheen, senator hasson, thank you so much for what you're doing in this crisis across america. firing back. mitch mcconnell's allies speaking out against steve bannon. who is going to win this political war? stay with us.

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the republican establishment turning the tables, declaring war on former presidential adviser steve bannon. "the washington post" reporting today a major effort under way to protect republican leader mitch mccomb in his primary fight next year. let's get the inside scoop from "the washington post" political report robert costa who co-wrote that article. jonathan swan, for atioos. and jonathan dkaypart, msnbc contributor. this is your story about trying to protect mcconnell and others of course in his orbit from steve bannon's primaries. >> what happened in alabama in that race for senator luther

strange has been a wake-up call to the republican establishment. behind the scenes, they're really thinking hard about how do you go after bannon, how do you protect incumbents? and part of that process is targeting bannon personally, bringing up controversial element chs his pas of his past sure candidates know if they're going to embrace him, they're going to make him toxic. >> jonathan swan, what are the implications in terms of how the party's divided, how they reacted even after the senate lunches? >> well, i thought one of the shrewdist qo isist quotes was m used to work for jeb bush that said there's a war for the soul of the republican party but the only one fighting is bannon. we're now seeing the first signs there's willing to be some real pushback. you asked what are the consequences of this. there's only a finite amount of money. yes, there are some very wealthy donors. but they get tired when they spend $30 million trying to

elect mcconnell's guy luther strange and he loses to ray moore in alabama. >> bannon has an unlimited amount of money. >> he actually does have a very limited amount of money. >> really? >> yeah. he likes to say it's unlimited. the mercers are behind him. we don't know how much they're going to spend. they put 11 million into cruz super pac during the campaign. it's not like they're a $100 million koch network operation. there's limited money on both sides. they're going to start shooting at each other pretty early. my question is what's left over for the general election after you've exhausted the republican donor class in this, you know, feud. >> i've never heard the republican donor class at least not in recent cycles being exhausted though. and what are the implications here? >> look, i think what senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is doing is trying to protect his majority. as majority leader, you know, our friend todd harris said on a panel last week that the

ideology of mitch mcconnell is power. he has learned the rules, the mechanations of the senate to get the republican majority. he's got vulnerable members out there who are running for re-election. by taking the battle to bannon, he's taking the calculation that despite luther strange, that going against bannon and the white nationalism and the nativism he represents is, in the long term, a good thing for the republican party and his members. that's what i take from this. >> jonathan, i want to follow up with you and robert costa about this whole daily beast story that suggests that there was a connection between republicans in the trump campaign and julian assange which assange seems to be confirming, theme seeking confirmation on hillary clinton's e-mails. >> it's from the group that is owned by the mercer family you just discussed. >> exactly. >> disturbing how quickly the trump campaign hurried to distance themselves.

they put out this very curious statement where they basically said the only people who had any role in that campaign was the rnc. now, there is actually some troop to that. cambridge annaly the ka is brilliant at overinflating their own brilliance and importance. but it's hard to distance yourselves when they were embedded inside the campaign machinery and they were real money spent through them. so -- >> robert, you were on top of the campaign and all moments. what about the fact that bannon, kelly an enconway and others joined the campaign from that mercer operation? >> the mercer relationship with the republican party, with president trump and many of his associates including those you name remains a target of investigation, as it should. because there's just not a lot known about this wealthy family, what their agenda is. they've spent so much behind some of the most -- the biggest political names in the country, yet robert mercer, and his daughter rebecca, they remain in the shadows in most respects.

>> and do you have any notion or have you been doing any reporting on who was the republican by the way who might have launched the dossier investigation? that's the other thing we've been chasing all week. >> we're all looking into that. there are a lot of rumors which i don't like to speculate on, on television or on prince until we've confirmed. there's a lot of feeling in the republican party, the people i'm talking to, that what was likely a foe of president trump, then candidate trump, and was likely very wealthy. the way you have to piece together here is was the money paid directly to a researcher or opposition person or was it through a different series of super pacs or something like that. that's what we're looking into. >> jonathan kaypart, that's going to be one of the real questions, but the surprise that democrats would have been doing oppo-research as well as republicans is, you know, hardly unusual in a campaign. >> well, right, this is why i'm wondering why this has blown up into such an issue.

anyone who has followed politics, cares about politics knows that oppo-research is done by everybody against everybody. >> to be continued. jonathan, thank you. jonathan, the other jonathan, and robert costa. we'll be right back. thank you so much. thank you! so we're a go? yes! we got a yes! what does that mean for purchasing? purchase. let's do this. got it. book the flights! hai! si! si! ya! ya! ya! what does that mean for us? we can get stuff. what's it mean for shipping? ship the goods. you're a go! you got the green light. that means go!

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that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." thanks for being with us. follow the show online and on

twitter @andreamitchellreports. craig melvin is up next. >> good afternoon. craig melvin here at msnbc headquarters in new york. it is another very busy day on capitol hill. opoid emergency. just an hour from now, president trump is expected to declare the opoid crisis a public health emergency. what does that mean? and what it does not mean. also, lethal force. nbc news has learned that the u.s. military is beefing up its might in the new front in the war on terror in niger. senators were just briefed. also this afternoon, fight club. shocking allegations against florida's juvenile justice system, incarcerated teenagers allegedly being encouraged by their own guards to beat each other up. and it was all caught on camera. we'll get to those stories in just a moment. but we start with president trump's prescription for the opoid crisis in america. in about an hour, he is scheduled toel