what was he doing with lee harvey oswald shortly before the death before the shooting? all i did was point out the fact on the cover of the national ep choirer there is a picture of him and crazy lee harvey oz wald having breakfast. ted never denied it was his father. this had nothing to do with me, except i might have pointed it out. >> somewhere between birth second quarters and wiretap, donald trump hang out that conspiracy theory during heat of the primary. >> we will know the secret now. >> newly released jfk documents, so far, though, no sign of ted cruz' father on the grassy knoll. >> i suspect, though, donald trump is still looking for the documents that show barack obama and hillary clinton on that grassy knoll. >> maybe. george everyone, it's friday, october 27th. it's almost dunn funny, donny deutsche is with us, that helps,

heidi przybyl la, white house reporter. columnist and associate out of the walk post eugene robinson is with us. >> so gene, what, i got to ask you, you're a big nationals fan. since we talked about baseball dave, joe jiardi, the guy never should have been fired from the new york yankees. seriously? >> yeah. >> they got the hottest team if baseball and they fire him. it's inexplicable. i saw tom boswell, by the way, how do you look your coffee? because there are 6 million residents that would like to deliver it to you every morning. >> exactly. i'm one of them. i invite joe to come down. we will cook him a nice concern at our house, look the nationals are number one, the nationals should not have fired dust my baker. you win, 95, 97 games. if it wasn't his fault that his

slugging team didn't get in the playoffs. there's nothing he could do about. that i can argue about he's the manager of the bullpen,ia da,ia da, joe jirardi, i will take until a heart beat. >> i call everybody under 54 a kid. the kids in d.c. who are one of those talented teams in baseball. a guy like that, you can lead him to the world series. >> exactly. >> we shouldn't talk about baseball. mika wants to see if ted cruz' father -- >> i'm on to the endz edge of my seat. documents from the kennedy probe was partially delayed after a 1992 law mandated the release of 3,000 documents infall full. late in the evening, president trump held back and said scholars were most eager to see,

as for what was released, images of cia under surveillance photos from the early 1960s. a december 1963 visitors log from president lyndon johnson's ranch in texas, that included a cia officer and reports that lee harvey oswald obtained ammunition from a militia group and fbi j. edgar hoover dictated after oz wald was shot, quote, there is nothing further on the oswald case except that he is dead. among the document, apparently not in the release, in the file on the head of the dallas cia office of 1963, the businessman who met with jack ruby just before he shot oswald and notorious anti-castro cuban exiles. >> eugene robinson, for those following this and reading about it and looking at it. >> fascinated by it. >> fascinated by it, wanting to get to the bottom of it.

of course, i think everyone that's looked at this series believed oswald acted alone that said, the killing of jack ruby is the one thing that has just been the irritant, that has not allowed many, to put this. i'm wondering why they're with holing the jack ruby information? >> you know, that's a good question. there was a poll recently that said something like more than half, something like 61% of americans believe there was some sort of conspiracy involved in the assassination of president kennedy. i'm not one of them. i believe oz wald acted alone in the assassinations, by withholding these 300 documents yet again, what the government has done is essentially give more fuel to the conspiracy theories going on for 50 years, for longer than that, it's crazy and what i think ismind behind

it is the old cia, the cia and the fbi trying to cover up their mistakes, the fact they knew more about oz wald than they have told us before the assassination and the implication is they should have done something. >> right t. question, heidi, why would you withhold the document it was a pertaining to business person that met withiac ruby right before he killed oswald? >> well, i guess based on what i've read, the problem from the very beening has been the over classification of the documents. none of us can speculate. but i know that this is not just kind of like some fringe problem of people have been conspiracy theories because from the very beginning so much was withheld. i talked to my parents, for example, last night, obviously, i wasn't around for this i consider them very educated and informed people, who are not

prone to conspiracy theories and say why do you think this has been the case for so many years? my mom said well, he kind of fell forward and based on the direction that harvey oswald was standing, he shouldn't have fallen forward, he should have fallen back. there is something around so long and by the fact that they're still withholding these, i think it will continue. i guess they have another six months for these to come out, is that what the decision was? >> yeah. all of our parents, donny, my parents, i won't tell you who my dad said killed jfk. get on, joe, you will find out, fill in the plank killed jfk. but, yeah, it seems to me, get it all out there. and what national security secrets are you protecting 54 years later? it's ridiculous. >> i will be sitting, look, i'm a big oliver stone fan, i saw

the movie. >> it was the billy goat. c'mon. >> can i be sippical for a second, we have a commander in chief a shiny toy look over here, maybe he's keeping it in his pocket for a month or a day to kind of go, no, no, look over here, you say, why not now? particularly a guy who you would see, he would be the first one to say, look what happened over there, so maybe he's saving it for a rainy day. >> we also have a president who has dabbleing conspiracy theories, birtherrism, he was a triefg force behind that we saw the footage of him floating the idea that ted cruz' father was involved. there is no sthaugs in these documents he will fulfill trump's thoughts about ted cruz or his dad, this is something, long planned to be released yesterday and trump, of course, took credit far as he wants to do, for say, unhave a till shroud, here's all the secrets, at the last minute, we'll save some back for april.

>> well, you know. >> he loves keeping people hanging. >> there has been this conspiracy for some time. you look at 2017 when conspiracy theories abound. i saw a sick one yesterday, people harassing those that were shot at and almost killed in nevada at the las vegas shooting. >> oh, what? >> now being target and bully and harassed and threatened on facebook, on twitter, you are tragedy actors, or something like that. it's a sickness, this is another thing, too. facebook, twitter, should find those people, track them down and forever ban them from using their services again. meanwhile, ted cruz was pretty confident the new documents would not support president trump's past suggestions that cruz' father was connected to

the assassin as based and debunked in the national enquirerstory, oh, national enquirer. . >> oh, we have something in common ted cruz. okay, during a visit to geneva, this is great, secretary of state rex tillerson saw a statue of two people curled up in obama. he could relate to that. take a look. >> yeah, some days i feel like i

need to do that. curl up in a ball. >> we are re-assessing our views of secretary of state rex tillerson. we decided we like him very much. >> very much. we're shallow. no, we always have. and i don't like the way he's been treated. he hasn't been gemp a staff. he has been has been cut off at the knees there can i go back to cruz for a second? gentleman, i know you were very close to your dad as i was, our dads a deceased, how would you cozy up if any form. >> never. >> to a man that defamed your deceased father in the most disgusting way, to me a cowardice the spinelessness of all of these characterers that will not stand up to trump. ted cruz, that would be a work that would never go away.

>> you know what, guy, move on, i think this is hard for people watching the show, but in politics i was not all the time forgiving people who had wronged me too quickly, i was very tough, go in with no memory. my parents it drove them crazy, my campaign staff. but if you said something about my family, i never forgot it. there was a case where somebody said something about one of my friends who had passed away, very powerful north american washington. i never forgave him and i never will forgive him for peak tack family suffer even more. ted cruz' wife was insulted several times by donald trump on the campaign trail. his father was attacked. >> he probably doesn't fordifferent him. that's why people don't like politic, it's fought real. at heart. >> that's the point, what kind of a man are you that you then can show one face and to me

that's it as a man to your point, you many es with my family and i don't move on from that. >> as a pan, as a woman, if you insult a spouse, a loved one, i think everybody, a man, a woman and the fact that ted cruz is telling people in an interview bob corker and jeff flake need to shut up and fall in loon with donald trump, which is basically what he was saying is staggering. >> it is staggering. >> ted cruz should act like a human being and stop acting like a robot, a political robot. his dad was attacked, his wife was attacked, his family was attacked. >> what more do you need? >> women that worked for him were attacked. >> yet, president trump's poll footballs in texas are pretty

good, ted cruz will face an election, he is fearful of severeing that tie, of seeing the trump base turn against him and yes for those people watching. >>. >> are you saying poll numbers are more important to him than his wife or his father in. >> i'm not going to speak for the senator. >> that would be robotic and sad. >> there is a political calculation behind everything, a senator, not just ted cruz, he is clearly at least for now willing to put up with the personal and political insults in order to safeguard his future in the senate. >> if donald trump has taught politicians anything, if he taught politicians anything, it should be it's okay to go against the grain, right? >> yeah.

>> he defied expectations because he didn't fly by the rules. so what duping ted cruz should do? >> i don't know how to get into his head, i wish i could. he's not ifge to do the right thing the weekly standard is out with a new title, the surrender, everyone's talking about the civil war in the republican party. it seems more like a surrender to us. the great bulk of elected republican versus surrendered to the forces of donald j. trump. can i add he's a democrat and they didn't even put up much of a fight. has a hostile takeover of a historic institution ever been accomplished with less resistance the gop is being transformed because incumbents are accommodating their new masters before serious challengers are even on the horizon. robert thrust famotha frost fam

described a liberal as someone unwilling to take his own side in a fight. >> that's being written, mika, in october, october 27th, 2017. >> yeah. >> i remember when donald trump proposed a ban in early december, 2015, us saying on this set that the republican party can't go there. they've gone there and gene, few look at ed gillespie, i've known forever, a smart policy guy. you sit an arm's length away from trumpism. i think he'd be an effective governor and wouldn't embarrass me. he's ending his campaign talking

about defending confederate statues, including, i think, up with of a guy who started the kkk. >> yeah, you know, it's very sad to tell you the truth, because gillespie was walkish policy guy. i wouldn't agree with him, but on most things, but i previously had respect for him. i don't at this point the way he's ending the campaign. he's trying to have it both way, of course, he's trying to go towards that sort of rabl rousing white grievance thing that trump does that he did in charlottesville and at the same time he's accepting help from trump but wants to not be seen, accepting help from trump, it's not a profile in courage and it is reflective of the weekly around the is right, the

republican party is now donald trump's party. i was going to say for better or worse, it's a tragedy. >> what's happening is what is the headline, we can answer, it's white first. it's basically that is trumping no pun intended every other issue with republicans. you could see it as far as gillespie and the confederate statues, you see in alabama. at the end of the day that noise, however it is kind of served up is what is the ultimate red meat and that is tragic. we wound the clock back 50 years. >> this contrast is great. didn't gillespie write a book called "winning right"? he was aligned with the rnc, but he's got a book out called "winning right." the fact of the matter is if it hadn't been for this monument

fight, he would be in a much worse position in virginia f. you look at donald trump's numbers, they're pulling down any republican who would be in his shoes. i remember being on set when this whole thing exploded. we thought, you know what, this is going to gen some of that turnout in the south side soft state, which could offset what could be nice national advantage with trump's poll numbers in the tank there and the northern virginia demographic growing. >> before we go to break, something i need say. over the past 24 hours 24 hours, there have been more reports of mark halperins treatments, behavior allegedly occurred one to two decades ago and now we're looking at it, we're talking about it, mark and karen have been a part of "morning joe's" extended family for years, they're our friends, we believe it's important to stand with our friends for even the most

difficult of times, but it's even more important to demand the truth. even when the facts appear to be extremely painful. yesterday morning, we woke up to reports that unnamed sources telling cnn that mark made unwanted sexual advances and overtures towards them a. day later, more revelations pointing to a possible pattern of unacceptable conduct. i've spoken to and heard from some of these women. i feel their pain and understand the difficult position they were in, because i have been through enough in this business to know what i hear. we are at a pivotal moment in history where unacceptable harassing behavior towards women will no longer be swept under the rug. yes, we do remain a nation of laws where everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty and nothing has been proven or adjudicated here, but we're also witnessing a larger movement of women speaking up about sexual harassment because

the fear of being dismissed or not believed is melting away. i'll speak for both joe and myself. here our hearts break for mark and his family, he is our friend. we want to know more about these disturbing allegations, we want to know the stories, we ned to know what happened. we're not going to avoid the story just because he is our friend. we will cover it and we will pray for everybody involved. we'll be right back. for your r? start here. at fidelity, we let you know where you stand, so when it comes to your retirement plan, you'll always be absolutely...clear. it's your retirement. know where you stand. you'll always be absolutely...clear. 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,

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passing it by thanksgiving, just 27 days from today. but divisions remain over the impact across the board from the capping of tax breaks for the middle class to the corporate tax code and considering that president trump abruptly and publicly ruled out a proposal on 401k retirement accounts on twitter, speaker paul ryan joked yesterday whether the president's tweets could sink a bill. >> are you at all concerned with the rollout next week with tough choices, he will not maybe like something and tweet something about snit. >> he will be in asia, number one, that was kind of a joke, just sort of joking on that one, no, i'm not, pause we're working very, very closely with the white house on this. >> can i ask a question? >> sure. >> i know the republicans are saying the tax is the end all be all for the cure, there is everything that is wrong in this country. maybe i'm wrong, but the last

several years, the last six, seven, ache, nine years have been the biggest economic boom on anyway can you fwrad this country. >> it's ban recovery. i would call at this time biggest economic boom, pretty well into the ''80s and 'fence. >> we did. not quite sure why this tax change, whengys like me, i may be when i die hopefully 50 years from now i don't have to pay any tax, ki go on and many of the overwhelming benefits that benefits the rich, i'm not quite sure why that's so grit for this country. nobody's explained to me. >> i went to wartop, i'm an economic major, i don't get it. >> i always recognize an ivy league school. he's real smart. >> that's my point. i don't get it there i went to michigan state. >> please explain to me. i thought we explained this. >> c'mon, let's see it. >> and i have been interviewing reagan economists, once the president places an op-ned our

newspaper, i want to know, what do these folks think? none of them say that these individual income tax cuts that getting rid of the estate tax is going to do anything to deduce this economy. we are already at a very low unemployment rate. our debt, few compare it to the percentage of the gdp and the reagan era colossally higher, with reagan, they pannish iiced and decided to raise taxes to offset the tax cuts, none of these reagan economists think of it, why? plus the corporate cut is what they owe owe from talk about how hard it will be to pass this? because they will have plus 4 trillion dollars in loopholes. >> this will not be an easy sale, you saw it. there is great division township the party on this. there are some republicans, they're looking for political benefits. they just need a when. we have seen this, the republican agenda, the white

house agenda fall apart time and time again, health care, of course the greatest example. there have been others, they believe they need to show their voters next year, look, we passed tax reform, we bassed this tax cut, look, we did something, we deserve you to come into the ballots box next november, paul ryan in a joke, only half joking there, there is real concern on the hill, they're not going to get much leadership here from the president. he has shown himself to be scatter shocked on these issues, he has not been consistent saying, this is what we need, despite all the talk in the white house, first on every major issue, they say the president is going to go out there he's going to barn storm the countries and rally support for them. we actually very rarely seen that, those on the hill, her to concern is the president may get in the way sometimes. >> and the problem, gene, for the president, for paul ryan, for these reagan wasn't that bes is they're playing from a playbook literally 37-years-old, 37 years ago, when you had tax

rates when you had a middle class more flat, when the rich western so rich and the poor western so poor i made more sense and you had more tax cuts, now the tax cuts are you providing are going for the most part to the wealthiest americans, so you have two things going against these tax cuts. one is the economy is going, the president brags about it. this is not the tim for still lative tax cuts. two, the debt is $20 trillion. you pass these tax cuts, loopholes, which they won't, do you will cause the debt to explode even more. >> exactly. and they're not going to find $4 trillion worth of loopholes,

they're just not. there is a constituency. there are pressure groups and institutions and organizations that will defend every one of those loopholes of practically to the death. there is a reasonia comprehensive tax reform happens, it's really hard. the idea that this congress and this president is up to this task strikes me as really impossible. i just, you know, if paul ryan doesn't ask me for advice, if he did, i'd say, go for a quick corporate tax cut of some dimension, everybody agrees on that and declare victory. i think they will get mired in a sort of vietnam of legislation.

>>. >> they can do the corporate tax cut, that could maybe help the economy. the problem, truth in marking the president selling this as a middle cut tax cut t. way you will pay for it is by potentially taxing the middle class. you are talking 401ks, the state and local deduction, there is a lot of families we know, working families on the east coast who benefit from that sales tax, they're going to sit down with their calculators, physical out, guess what, these corporate companies will get a tax cut. my taxes are going to go up. >> from the east coast. the west coast from so that's a problem. >> where our tech industry is, in illinois, a state that's already struggling, certainly my home state in connecticut and new york, it already devastating for a lot of small business owners. so if you are going to put that burden on small business owners, so you can cut the corporate tax rate 20% or donald trump once

said to me, 15%, lots of luck passing that. >> it isn't, if you did, lots of luck running with that in your pocket. >> i go back to what bob corker toll us, mika, several weeks ago, before the dust-up with him and the president. he said, if you think that passing health care reform was difficult, wait until you tackle tax reform. it's going to be a mess. he wants it to pass. >> all right, coming up, it's been an extraordinary month for the republican party and for donald trump. the president denounced by two predecessors and this week alone, two members of his own party, it's the perfect time to bring in historian joining us next.

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. >> it's yet another astounding week in politics. at this point nothing surprises me, i'm saying astounding because it's sitting there. sitting u.s. senators from his own party defies demand for personal allegiance, they didn't take the oath. yeah. committee chairman john mccain

taking not so subtle digs at trump for avoiding service if vietnam. apparently trump deferred, got defrls. >> bone spurs. >> those can really, he still wrestles. >> he wrestled. he golfed. let me tell you something. >> he got out. >> i that you could to doctors, if have you tiny little feet those bone spurs, they're exaggerated in if you have tiny hands you can't massage four feet, even better. >> that's the problem. there you go senator chairman bob corker calling the president utterly truthful. >> that the truthful there a little truth coming from the republican party. >> jeff flake saying he would rather end his career than pretend the president is decent and respectful of the constitution. amen. >> that's harsh from the president's aide versus prepared an asia trip amid a nuclear standoff in the korean peninsula. are you going 'especially am going. >> that's going to be fantastic. let us know how that goes the republicans begin a sprint for a single major legislative

victory in the first year of unified control of washington, but with 27 days to write a tax bill, as we restructure our entire economy the weeks ahead could be even more historic. let's turn to author and nbc news historian michael beschlav. we are racing towards the ends of this year the smart money would predict, even though you never know what will happen, these republicans are desperate to get a tax bill done t. smart money would say they will not be able to do it. they will not be able to close $4 trillion in loopholes. >> right. >> and pass all of these -- let's just say tax increases on middle class americans so they can have a corporate tax cut. would there be any president if recent american history for a president not passing a single major piece of legislation his first year if. >> that's a no.

>> it sure is a no it's a real no for a president who's got both houses of congress. remember, go back to just after this election, paul ryan saying, welcome to united republican government. you know, we got a republican president, two houses of congress, you will see all sorts of stuff happen. it hasn't happened. >> michael, let me ask you something, moving beyond donald trump so we don't blame this all on donald trump. >> right. >> even ho for some of us that seems to be the thing to do. let's look at congress as a whole, let's look at washington, d.c. as a whole, can you name a major piece of legislation, can anybody around this table name or gene name a major piece of legislation that barack obama passed after 2010 in his last six years of the presidency? >> yeah, not a big record, but he didn't have congress and that's the big difference. you know, we historians, we look at presidents who have both

houses of congress and you know the big examples are fdr in '33 with a new deal and johnson in '65, a great society. throws the big capitals. usually, you don't see united party government and a record that's just zippo. >> and, gene robinson, it's stunning barack obama from 2011 forward, was really not able to pass any sweeping piece of domestic legislation, we are going into the end of the seventh year where congress has prevented two presidents from passing a single piece of major domestic legislation. >> and you know, that's really the big story from a historic perspective, i think, joe, is congress ain't doing nothing, this is a complicated country in complicated times, things

change. congress needs to be effective or at least functional. and congress has not been functional and able to do big things, does everybody think it is perfect? no, it would be a big thing to do. io everything this congress can do it and congress hasn't been able do anything. you know, in seven years. >> michael, this is donny deutsche. >> hi. >> how are you, sir? we're seeing, i'll use a nice word the fractureing of the republican party. from a historical perspective, have you seen a president where any party as far as their basic core principles, were in play as much as today? >> in history, should mean 1850s, little cases like this in history, donny, but what i

haven't seen is what i have been amazed by with donald trump, i thought that when trump was elected, he'd make a big effort to create relationships with chuck and nancy. he actually knew them before, gave money to chuck. i thought despite what had been said before, put his arms around ryan and mcconnell and say, what's past is past, let's get a lot done this first year, rather than from almost the beginning starting a civil war within his party in congress. you know, it's not the way to get things done, franklin roosevelt in 1938 tried to purge his party. he was unhappy after his landslide re-election '36 with the fact that he still couldn't get much done. he blamed it on conservative, mainly southern democratic senators and he went into state and spoke against them, didn't work at all. but that was after a huge legislative record, doesn't have much precedence for this. >> michael, heidi briz bill la,

how are you doing? >> hi, heidi. >> the dysfunction in congress and inability to get something done seems to correspond directly with the rise of the tea party. i'm wondering, have we seen any historical comparison in terms of an entire movement that is there really not to make government work better but to literally just tear it down and break it down? >> almost a party within a party? >> right. >> not to this extent. and the interesting thing, you know, we're getting way ahead of ourselves, but is the question of whether you will see a split within the republican party that is so major, for instance, george w. bush was quoted last year as having privately told people who would work for him, i think there is some chance i will wind up being the last republican president we pay see that. >> yeah, no doubt. >> michael, stay with us. we want to get your take on jfk documents that were released.

those that weren't as well, also ahead, republican governor chris christie joins us here on set t. top democrat on the house intel committee comes from adam schiff and the democratic nominee for the state's attorney governor, ralph northam joins us, "morning joe" is coming right back. [bell rings] every year we take a girl's trip. remember nashville? kimchi bbq. amazing honky tonk? i can't believe you got us tickets.

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. >> so michael, what was your take away from yesterday's release of the jfk documents? >> well, number one, ted cruz' father is exonerated. we have to say. >> i was looking at those documents for hours, didn't see one mention of rafael cruz. >> yeah. >> good news for him, the other thing is people had the idea that especially in this release lat night that the one document that would make everyone in the united states say, aha, we now know exactly what happened. that's not going to happen, so

whatt a least i saw last night were, you know, little revelation, i'd say, microrevelations. >> what was the most interesting to you? >> something that was almost not even of the period, 1975, within as you remember, there was a church committee, there were investigations of possible american plotting against foreign leaders and gerald ford is talking to the people that worked for him. and he says, i think we shouldn't release a lot of this, but not because the plotting was so bad, but because the plotting was so clumsy, it's going to make the cia look clumsy and incompetent. >> thank you very much for being on this morning. >> thank you, happy friday. >> thank you all. twitter takes aggressive new action to keep russian propaganda off the site and moscow is responding. >> that story and more when morning joe comes right back.

twitter is taking new action to keep russian propaganda off the social network effective immediately. twitter is banning ads from the kremlin backed news outlets. yesterday rt's editor and chief tweeted to twitter's ceo, quote, hope jack dorsey won't forget how twitter glitches -- >> meanwhile rod rosenstein is weighing on foreign efforts to influence american voters. >> i think people need to keep in mind there's a distinction between people trying to sway american elections and succeeding in it. american citizens are pretty savvy. i don't think they can be influenced by ads posted by foreign governments. i think people are more thoughtful than that in the way

they make their decisions. >> i don't -- >> am i over -- i'm sorry. am i overreacting that there's nothing more important than safeguarding our democracy over the next decade than the regulation of the twitters and facebooks. that without that, we do not have any -- you talk about fake news, lack of truth, the pillars start to fall apart. >> look, i think this is enormously important, and -- but it's hard. it's tough. it's tough to figure out exactly how to regulate. we have the first amendment. and we all believe in it and cherish it, but the whole fake news thing is -- it's incredibly rosi corrosive and damaging the our democracy. if twitter could get the russian propaganda presence, my notifications most days would be cut in half. it's like half russian bots

attacking something i've written here or there. but rod rosenstein is wrong. the american people are not in a position to be able to discern between what's true and what's propaganda. >> i agree. we had the same reaction when he said that which was are you kidding me? because i know we have a whole generation growing up on twitter, facebook, and i know what my kids read. they can't tell the truth between truth and gossip even about their own mother let alone -- >> that's right. electi election mettling means propagan propaganda, flooding social networks with fake news and entruths trying to sway voters. i think 2016 is an example that it played some role. can we quantify how much? of course not, but there's no doubt. scholar, election experts believe this propaganda played a part. to suggest it didn't seems out

of touch. >> why did we have a man show up with a semi automatic and try to shoot up a pizza restaurant in washington d.c.? that was because of fake news. we can't quantify the impact, but to say it doesn't have an impact is crazy. and we also have studies showing that a lot of, for instance, trump voters, maybe it's their distrust in the mainstream media. they get a lot of their news off facebook where a lot of people can't tell the difference between a real news story and an ad. >> one in two americans get their news from facebook. >> and the president believes any suggestion of election mettling or this propaganda undermining his win, suggests that makes him an ill legitimate president. he belittles it, and members of his administration. >> russia's foreign ministry vowed to retaliate against

twitter's move. the ra gene, thank you for being on. coming up the governor's race that brought barack obama and joe biden back into the political spotlight this month. we'll talk to the democratic candidate for virginia governor, raffle northam, plus chris christie is joining us onset. "morning joe" will be right back. s when you know what comes next. if you move your old 401(k) to a fidelity ira, we make sure you're in the loop at every step from the moment you decide to move your money to the instant your new retirement account is funded. ♪ oh and at fidelity, you'll see how all your investments are working together. because when you know where you stand, things are just clearer. ♪ just remember what i said about a little bit o' soul ♪

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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 draw it up and make it a national emergency. >> effective today, my administration is officially declaring the opioid crisis a national public health emergency under federal law. >> it's not just a question of semantics between national emergency and public health emergency. the difference carries real impact in the amount of speed of federal funding. welcome back to "morning joe." it's friday, october 27th. donny deutsche is still with us. >> chris christie requested i be here. >> of course i did. brings a whole lot of class. >> you and i together -- >> raises the level, baby.

>> heidi prisbella raises the bar. joining the conversation, chris christie of new jersey, the leader of the white house opiate tax force. >> this governor was obviously a serious issue for you. you talked about it -- >> i think one of your best speeches in the campaign was in new hampshire on this issue. >> thank you. >> incredibly moving. >> perhaps the best speech of the entire campaign. but we all knew. when my son went to school, there were good kids from good families that weren't, you know, whose dads spent college getting drunk and driving their car into a ditch, and instead, when they made a mistake, it might have been with their parent's, opioids, and they went to sleep and didn't wake up. that touched the lives of five people that my son and my family knew when he was in alabama five

or six years ago. i remember thinking what's going on? this is going on still. and it's worse. >> listen, it's -- 175 people a day in the united states die of drug overdose right now. 175 people a day. we have 9/11 every two and a half weeks. and so when i've had some people who are in my party argue with me about what do you spend on this. what i say to them is if we had a terrorist attack every day that killed 175 americans, how much would you spend to make it stop in and that's what's happening. it's a murder of our people from within. and we have to go after it. >> how did this start? heroin -- remember when we were growing up, heroin is what people on the outskirts of society in the worst parts of new york city did, and it -- that was supposed to be taken care of and drugs got lighter and kids were just smoking pot

and la la la. and now, boom, when i say just, that's not how i feel about smoking pot. don't even get me started on it. my son is -- my son and all my friends are going to be angry at me. >> totally opposed. i'm with you, joe. >> how did we jump to heroin? >> it started in doctor's offices and pharmaceutical companies. we consume 85% of the world's prescription opiates. 85% with 4% of the world's population. this is an epidemic that was started by our physicians, by our hospitals. by our pharmaceutical companies. that's what happened. and the fact is if we don't get at this root of it, think about this. four out of every five heroin addicts today in american started on prescription opioids. >> governor, let me ask you a question based on that. first, i've taken my shots over the years. i have to congratulate you. this is an amazing cause and an amazing part of your legacy.

i have to congratulate the president, yesterday human, self-afa self self-effacing. we have to start with the doctors. what do you do? what's the game plan? right now you're the drug czar, and we have to start with the dealers. >> we've recommended to the president they now require a couple things. every medical school in america, you need to have training for doctors including opioid addiction, how to deal with and prevent addiction. secondly, we have the dea giving out licenses to write the prescriptions and renewing them. there's no requirement for continuing medical education an how to deal with this. doctors are not being trained on assistance once they are addicted. a lack of training at the front end, a lack of ongoing training, and then a lack of treatment once people are addicted .

that's why we're in this situation. >> i had brought up marijuana, and i talked about my son libertarian, other young people, the republican party, the majority of the republican party, again, sort of a libertarian. they were talking about legalizing marijuana a long time ago. i talked to an educator this past week. he said he's worried about smart phones, because they're rewiring children's minds, and i'm worried about the legalization of marijuana. i said why. he said because the opioid crisis started when kids started taking their parent's opioids. that's how it started in high school and colleges. i fear the legalization of marijuana across the country will do the same thing. the parents buy the marijuana and 12, 13, 14-year-old kids start smoking it, and at that age, it rewires the brain.

what do you say to the libertarians who are going to kill me the rest of the day for even daring to bring up -- and a lot of people here that work here -- that would kill me for the rest of the day, but educators are saying, same thing is going to happen with marijuana. it doesn't kill you we understand. but it can rewire the brain. >> no partisan organization, just came out with a report that said you're two and a half more times more likely to be an opiate addict if you ingest marijuana. two and a half times more likely. >> who said that? >> national institutes of health. we're not talking about a republican or democrat. libertarian, liberal organization, they are the umpires of health in the country. >> and by the way -- >> they're saying. it's wrong. we should stop it because it's going to make this country more medicated. we don't need to be more medicated. >> the problem also is, and i don't want anybody to think i am

comparing opioids to marijuana. i'm saying also when you have more and more americans, i mean, the numbers are staggering, that are on drugs were psychiatric needs, and you start mixing those with possibly opioids or a heavy dose of marijuana, suddenly you are talking about the overmedication of america, and suddenly something that should be cool and i'm okay and you're okay, gets thrown into a toxic brew. >> it seems like we're barrelling down the hill. the snowball is barrelling down the hill. i wonder, governor, what does what the president did yesterday create, meaningfully that wasn't already underway, and then secondly, what kind of accountability is there, because i think this expires within 60 to 90 days? >> 90. >> what kind of followup is there going to be? what's new, and what kind of followup to make sure that this goes somewhere?

>> that's first. i think you'll see it renewed over and over again in 90 -day periods. it's the way the statute is. i think the president will continue to renew it. on what's new, one of the big things that hasn't been talked about a lot is he talked about giving waivers to the imd rule. that means if you have an institution in a state that has more than 17 beds in it, and you're giving drug treatment, medicaid won't pay based upon a rule that says that's a psychiatric hospital. there are thousands of empty treatment beds that are not being used right now because of the medicaid rule. that was the second recommendation we made in the report. he said yesterday he's ordering the waiver of that rule. what it will do in my state is open up immediately, not having to build them, but opening existing treatment beds to the poor in the hundreds. it will do that in every state across the country. that was something new that will mean a significant flux of federal money for the states to

match. >> some of the criticism is the budget, the president cuts medicaid. how do you square those two? >> i think that initial proposal was part of the aca changes and the rest of that. the fact is i've spoken to him. he knows this is an area where we have to invest. we have to spend money in this area, because if we don't, we're not going to get the people who are addicted. yesterday he made a key point #his speech when he said it's not just about preventing which he talked about, but he also said there are millions of addicted people, and we have no choice but to treat them. we have no choice but to help them. the president made some important statements yesterday that -- let me say this. no president in my lifetime on this issue has said. he gave compassion yesterday, and hope to those families that are suffering right now with people who are addicted let alone the people we've already lost. >> is he going to get the money he needs? there were complaints yesterday, from what i saw, that he talked about it, but they were just

words. that usa today, heidi's paper, opioid survivors seek more money. >> right. i think that will come. that's congress's job. that's going to be in this budget cycle. they're going to have to decide how much money to put in this. >> will this republican congress fund it? >> i think they will. >> how much? >> it's going to be billions of dollars that need to be spent. let's remember this. in the aca bill, the grant/cassidy bill that didn't pass, they had apportioned $45 billion for opioid treatment. congress is serious about this. the one thing that's treatment, the commission held a meeting with members of congress. we invited anybody who wanted to come. there were more democrats an republicans in the room. but only by three or four. this was a broad swath of republicans. democrats regardless of ideology. we had max and waters next to

rob portman. but they were. >> this is bipartisan. >> it's the five-year anniversary of sandy. we've got an interesting state of the republican party. i'd like you to complete this sentence. i am proud to be a republican because. >> i am proud to be a republican because we still believe in the idea that government is not the solution to every problem. and that the american people -- >> that doesn't seem to be the raise of the party. >> you're asking me. i can't speak for everybody else out there, donny, but what i would say is i'm still proud of the idea of being a republican, because i still think we believe in the idea that the american people are the ultimate solution to a lot of these problems. that government should be there to help but not to solve every problem. >> can i give you a much quicker answer? >> i am proud to be a republican because joe scarborough is no

longer a member of my party. much faster. >> no. no. >> it cuts through. by the way, it has universal appeal. >> it does have universal appeal, but not to me, joe. i've always been an outlier. i want you back, joe. i want you to come back. come back to the mother land, joe, please. come back to home. >> by the way, i said we're going to show poll numbers you aren't going to like. in part -- >> that's okay. >> every time you come on the show, if we have any civil conversation with you, we're bashed for the next 12 days. how could you let him off the hook. it doesn't help you that your poll numbers are at 3% in new jersey. >> they're not. >> i know. >> i'm not running for anything. it's liberating. >> i want to talk about many people thought you did a great job on sandy, especially the years after sandy. >> you're not going to talk about the monmouth poll, are you? >> i am.

let me get it out first. a lot of people thought you hurt your political career because you hugged barack obama because you said what i'm saying the governor of puerto rico has to do. >> i'm a lover. >> even if donald trump is treating puerto rico bad, i say it's still the governor's job to be positive. because that's the guy that brings in the money. whether you like them not, attack him later in your memoir. this polling are you satisfied or dissatisfied with sandy recovery efforts so far. very satisfied, 9. somewhat satisfied 35. 44% saying they're satisfied. about a third very dissatisfied. the numbers have changed a good bit since 2013. do you think that just tacks along with your personal approval rating? >> when you read the poll, what the pollster says, this is not a scientifically significant survey. so thanks for publishing it. seriously, let me tell you this.

365,000 homes damaged or destroyed in sandy. 1200 families left to go back. now, in five years to go from 365,000 to 1200 is a bapace tha outstrips new york, louisiana, mississippi. we're proud of it. now -- i won't be completely satisfied until those 1200 people are back. >> we know in any storm, there are people still hurting out there. so what do you need or want to do before you leave the governor's office to help those people, the third that are dissatisfied? >> the 12 00 families that aren't out, get them back. for all those families, they're still receiving rental assistance from the state of new jersey to help to pay their rent while they're not in their homes and to help to pay their mortgages. they're still getting mental health treatment for any mental health problems that persist because of their pain from sandy. we're still there every step of

the way with these folks. listen, if it were me, and i wasn't back in my home, i'd be dissatisfied. but if you go from 365,000 to 1200, that was probably a pretty good result from any government. >> how concerned are you about puerto rico and the recovery in puerto rico? it seems to be going at a slower clip? >> really concerned. i think the biggest reason is puerto rico was in such tough shape before the storm came. we have an island that was nearly bankrupt, functionally bankrupt. their infrastructure, they hadn't invested in in a long time. when a destructive storm comes into something like that, you're working from ground zero. >> you're not blaming the people of puerto rico? >> no. this is the state -- that was the state of what happened over -- from republican and democratic governors over 50 years there. >> and we have to tell our viewers that if you didn't focus on puerto rico before the disaster there, it's something that you heard policy makers sort of rubbing their hands about wringing their hands about

for years, the bankruptcy, the puerto ricans telling us all the time the situation is so bad. >> really bad -- >> it makes the tragedy even greater. >> and it makes the recovery even worse. we sent more people to puerto rico than any state in the country. we've sent 1100 national guard and state lpolice to puerto ric. they're doing two-week tours. they said the problem is logistically, they have all these supplies at the port. more than they know what to do with. the roads in puerto rico had been so washed out and di destroyed that until they rebuild them, they have to air lift stuff to people outside of san juan. that insfrur a problem. >> you were able to talk about all these things without any type of bad tone to it. i now ask you about trump. because a lot of people feel that he was really insensitive toward puerto rico and even his troops there were optically

disastrous. you're really good at getting the truth out there, going there. having the real conversation. senator flake, bob corker had tough words for the president and for the state of things, the state of the discourse over the past week. do you think it would be productive if more sitting senators and congressmen went there and spoke to what they really are seeing? >> what i think would be more productive -- >> with this president? >> what i think would be more productive is if they just got their job done. >> how can you -- >> what if the president just gets his job done? >> by the way, you asked that question, i would have said the same thing. i've said over and over again that this is a time in our history when we have enormous possibility to get things done that current republicans like myself and former republicans like you have been talking about for decades. right? and so the discouraging thing to me is this stuff is not getting done. and you can find plenty of blame

around washington for lots of different people doing that. i would say this. i've always been somebody called it the way i've seen it. and also said to folks, you know, when i thought they were jerks, i told them that. >> and then continued working. >> but you continue to work. in the end, both sides have to do that on capitol hill and in the white house. and as i've said, i think part of what's gone on here is education of somebody, meaning the president, who spent his life in new york real estate market. many of us interact with him for years. this is a different world. and you have to understand how to operate in the different world. i think yesterday you saw the president speak in a way about this opiate issue that will bring people together. and i hope that that extends to other things as well. but i think the reason he did it was because he personally really cares about this issue, and i thought yesterday you saw more of the personal donald trump that we know.

he's there. >> you saw that? >> i did. >> before you go, i want to ask you a couple of questions mika is going to hate. but i want to talk about one of the best mlb post seasons we've seen in a long time. let me start with the news, though, the daily news talks about "morning joe." they're talking about joe inj e girardi. i hate the yankees. i hate the evil empire. but you know what? when i saw girardi, i was like can't hate him that much. that is a good guy. he's a leader. i thought they treated him badly. what do you think? >> i agree. and i don't know who the great manager is they think they're bringing in. >> leslie baker for joe girardi?

i don't think so. >> let's talk about game two of the world series. was that one of the best world series you seen in a while. >> one of the best games i've seen in a while. 7-6? incredible. >> dodgers, are they going to win this? >> i don't think so. >> really? >> no. >> you think the astros are a team of decembernstiny? >> i do. >> you love this, mika. >> i don't. it's so stupid. you're talking about nothing. it's just mumbo jumbo. >> i haven't heard that in a long time. i love being around this table with mumbo jumbo. >> if girardi goes to washington, will the nationals win a world series in the next two to three years? >> no. >> really? >> no. because the nationals' players just can't win the big one. they just can't. >> their leading player does not make other players better, bryce

harper. >> a columnist said they don't hate losing enough. and for you to win, you have to hate losing. >> and matt weeder is behind the plate. please, i wouldn't let him box my groceries. did you see that performance. a former catcher? disgusting. terrible. >> i know. right. >> idiots. chris christie, thank you. >> that's terrible. >> the dodgers won by a touchdown? >> shut up. still ahead this morning, donny -- >> we're going to get the hate mail the rest of the day. >> member of the house intel committee congressman adam schiff and the democrat's nominee for governor, raff ralp northam. and we'll go live to the white house. will the republican party stick together in tax reform? "morning joe" is coming right back. in control? this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy!

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>> can you guarantee tax reform will not add to the deficit? >> no, but i can guarantee our budget gets less deficit than the democrat budget. >> there goes kasie hunt. that's a kasie question. it's innocent, and she just comes up to you. she comes up to you and she's like hey, and then all of a sudden you get the most honest answer. >> that was honest. we always say politicians aren't honest. >> noah, listen, i grew up like reagan-omics. we really did believe that tax cuts could outrun any deficits. it's not the truth. it's nice that he's telling people the truth. truth in advertising. >> well, growth is what's supposed to fuel the tax cuts. and ideally, you inject more

capital into the economy by letting people keep more of their money. that generates economic activity and then you tax that activity and it pays for itself. that's the theory. it hasn't always worked out 100%, but it gets soft shrift. it does generate activity. it depends on where it comes from. >> if you look at the reagan tax cuts, deficits follow, same with the bush tax cuts. i say this as a guy who believes it's close to immoral if not immoral for governments to take 50, 55% of people's earnings from their family and you have to give it back to state, local, and federal governments. it's basically what a lot of americans have to do. >> and it's also immoral to shoulder the next generation with burdens of debt they're going to have to make tough choices on. >> that's the balance. >> we've been talking about entitlement reform and the crisis coming and what's going to happen when we hit the wall,

the mandatory cuts we'll have to take on. that's the tradeoff we have to think about. this is a once in a generation opportunity the republicans have for a tax cut. >> the biggest failing the media, we in the media and politicians on capitol hill have made over the past decade as far as the financial situation of america, you said it. we have an entitlement crisis. we have a $20 trillion debt. we have $60 trillion of unpaid a little bits coming up. and we're not going to pay for it. it's going to be able in their -- my children, people in their teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, crippled with this, and the economy is going to collapse down the road. it will. if we don't doing? about it. >> you brought up the curve. i spoke to art laugher yesterday. i asked him about this premise of income tax cuts, and the whole idea when reagan cut taxes was that you were at 70%, and

the premise of the laugher curve is there's an optimal place where you fuel the economy and it is not an overhang on anybody in any income bracket or on the other side of the curve today. any additional cuts you do to income tax rates are going to have really diminishing returns in terms of economic impact. the big question is the corporate rate cuts. so that is where we're still higher than other parts of the world, but at the same time, many corporations take advantage of the loopholes we have in the code so they pay a lower effective rate. and by the way, the other part of the argument is the pass throughs, small businesses. they would pay a lower 25 % rate. here again, the statistics are that 86% of these pass through companies since their income, they're sole proprietors or people who don't make a ton of money, 80% are paying lower rates already.

i'm trying to find where in the model you're going to pack this big economic punch that's worth the deficit pending. >> we have to go to kristen welker right now. wis w kristen welker is at the white house. what are the next steps on this agenda item for the administration. >> reporter: i think it's going to be all hands on deck. obviously republicans weren't able to repeal and replace obamacare. the pressure is onto get something done on taxes. the president up and tweeting about all of this already today. let me read you the tweet. he says congratulations to speaker ryan. gop leader and steve scalise and to the budget passage yesterday. now for biggest tax cuts. as you were talking about, there are a number of sticking points not only on the deficit but also whether to repeal state and local taxes. you have lawmakers from new york and new jersey who say that's a nonstarter. congressman peter king saying that's going to actually increase taxes on the middle class, and then also around this

issue of 401 ks, what to do about them. should the amount people are able to contribute to their 401 k amounts change? a lot of republicans saying yes. the president sending mixed signals suggesting he may be open to compromise, but then initially tweeting this. there will be no change to your 401 k. this as always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works and stays. yesterday paul ryan was asked about whether the president could complicate the efforts to move forward on tax reform. take a listen. >> are you concerned that in the rollout next week when you detail the tough choices that he's not going to maybe like some of them and tweet something about it -- >> he's going to be in asia, number one. that was kind of a joke. sort of joking on that one. no, i'm not, because we're working very closely with the white house on this. >> reporter: the white house speaker having a little bit of fun with the fact that the

president will be traveling to asia in the next several days. the time line is tight. the house aiming to put forward their tax proposal within the next five days. back to you. >> all right. thank you so much. we really appreciate it. >> all right. coming up, the candidate who is trying to keep virginia in the hands of democrats. lieutenant governor ralph northam is asking voters in his state for a promotion. he joins us next. ( ♪ ) ♪ one is the only number ♪ that you'll ever need ♪ ♪ because one is the only number ♪

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yesterday president trump waded in virginia's governor's tweet tweeting ed gillespie lab great governor of v.a. his opponent doesn't even show up for meetings/work and will be weak on crime. northam tweeted i served eight years in the army, took care of sick kids and are running to build more inclusive virginia. don't talk to me about showing up. trump's tweet has loomed large. he refused to answer questions from the washington post about

trump's endorsement of him on twitter earlier this month asking the post to if he could, quote, go off the record. and ralph northam joins us now. thank you for being ant show. good morning. >> thank you so much for having me. it's good to be with you. >> let's talk about a couple of things. donald trump says you don't show up to work. respond to that. >> well, as i responded yesterday, i served for eight years in the united states army. i have taken care of sick children and their families for over 25 years. i served for six years in the virginia senate, and then four years as lieutenant governor. i didn't miss a day in the last four days. there's a contrast between my record and my opponent's record. my opponent, as you know, is a washington lobbyist. the only time he showed up is when he gets paid. i show up for my work. virginians know that. we're getting good things done in the commonwealth of virginia. >> lieutenant governor, ed gillespie seems to be ending his

campaign talking about how he's going to protect confederate monuments. donald trump tweeted out ed gillespie was going to protect, quote, our heritage. first of all, what is -- do you think the president is talking about, and secondly, what's your stance on the confederate monuments that ed gillespie is promising to keep up? >> we had a horrific tragedy back in august in charlottesville. a beautiful city. a wufrl wonderful university when the kkk marched in spewing their hatred and bigotry. i was proud to stand up with our governor and our attorney general and call these individuals out for who they are. that is a bunch of white supremacists, told them to go back where they came from, and never come back to the commonwealth of virginia. and we regret that our president did not do the same thing. i have asked ed gillespie.

he's had over 70 days to denounce the president for not standing up and making sure that we don't continue to promote hatred and bigotry. there's a tremendous difference. his advertisements that continue to just promote hatred and bigotry. that's not the virginia way. >> lieutenant governor, let me ask you. again, we've said today that we thought it was unfortunate that ed gillespie, i think a talented and gifted guy i've known for a long time is reducing this campaign, the final stretch to confederate monuments. so he's saying he's going to protect and defend confederate monuments. i'm asking you your position on the confederate monuments, the defense of which ed gillespie is basing his campaign. >> if there's a monument in charlottesville that gave the white supremacists an excuse to come into charlottesville, then we have to have that decision. these monuments that are

divisive need to be in museums with historical contexts. i have left that up to localities. they'll make the decision. the important thing for virginians is our campaign is based on jobs. virginians want a job they can support themselves and their families with. they want to know that their children have access to a world class education. and they want to make sure they have access to affordable and quality health care. that's what i stand for in virginia, and my campaign has been positive. that's why it's resonating with the virginians and that's why we plan to win on november 7th. >> it is interesting back in 2009, we were talking about bob mcdonald's campaign and how unbelievably effective it was, because it was bob's for jobs. he went around the state, all he talked about was jobs. he didn't get distracted by social issues or distracted by monuments. jobs, jobs, jobs. 2017, ed's for confederate monuments. it doesn't flow off the tongue as much.

does it? >> no. >> isn't it, for you, knowing ed gillespie, isn't it disappointing and surprising that he would end his campaign being the great defender of confederate monuments instead of bringing jobs to virginia? >> i understand the tug and pull of what it means to be in the republican party in 2017 and hard it is to navigate being the reagan-like policy guy that gillespie is with the social issues and immigration issues that animates the trump base. lieutenant governor, i wanted to ask you, i know the sanctuary city issue has come up. you said we're not a sanctuary city. this is a federal issue, immigration enforcement is a federal issue. do you believe you're comfortable with the trump administration's approach to immigration, how i.c.e. has handled immigration? >> we don't have sanctuary

cities. it was nothing more than a political ploy to say we do. i want to comment on the economy. we brought in over 215,000 new jobs to virginia over 18 1/2 billion dollars of capital invest. and our unemployment rate in virginia has gone from 5.4 to 3.7%. it's the lowest in nine years and the second lowest in the country. we're very proud of our economy. the direction we're headed in, and again, this is about the virginia way. that's what this election represents, and that's what virginians are paying attention to. they're not paying attention to the statues as mr. gillespie wants to continue to spew hatred and bigotry. and we don't have sanctuary cities in virginia. i have always stood up and said anybody that commits a crime in virginia will be punished, and if appropriate, they will be put in jail. we've always been tougher on crime in virginia and will continue to be. >> but i don't know if that's right that people in virginia aren't paying attention to the

monuments, because presumably ed gillespie is no dummy, and he's talking about this. this is in his closing argument to virginia voters. i'm just curious whether you think there is a correlation between some of the tightening in the polls and the rise of this issue. and the fact that gillespie is using it. >> well, what virginians care about, and certainly monuments has been a topic of discussion, but what virginians care about is jobs. they want a job they can support themselves and their families. they want to live in safe communities where there are not guns on every street corner. environments where the air and water are clean. these are the things that are important to virginia. we have a week left, a little over a week in this campaign. we'll continue to travel around virginia, listen to virginians and make sure we're taking care of their needs. >> all right. thank you so much, lieutenant governor of virginia, ralph northam. the polls -- the one last week,

didn't it have ed up by -- >> five or six points? >> something like that. >> but it's an interesting race. listen, as you guys don't know, while we're working here -- >> always working hard. >> we've got a control room, and they're digging really, really deep into policy and, of course, the latest polls you want to see, and they're basically working around the clock -- >> look at alex. he's exhausted. >> getting the most relevant information to you and your family. while the lieutenant governor was on, it seems that jack, jack came up with a very fascinating fact. >> this could swing the race. rothman is only a couple letters from a perfect anagram of ralph

north m. >> this is why people watch the show. new investigations linked to hillary clinton. democrats say it's all fake news. we're going to be talking with top democrat on the house intelligence committee, adam schiff coming up next. (avo) if you're burdened by belly pain and constipation, and you've tried any number of laxatives, probiotics, and fiber,

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with us now, a rankiadam sc of california whose name is not an anagram of noah rothman. >> we were talking in the last segment, i wasn't here, but i was watching. facebook has said no more ads from kremlin owned outfits, s t sputnik, russia. this company took it upon themselves to say we're not going to do that. does that suggest to you that

efforts to regulate the social media environment in the way we regulate cable and newspapers and what have you, is that overkill? is it unnecessary? >> i don't think it's unnecessary. and of course, those aren't only two companies. we want a uniform standard that requires when you place ads on social media as when you place them on other media that they should disclose who is paying the freight. broadcasters may agree to do that, but they may decide they're going to make the ads smaller or make the ads optional. having it -- a regulatory requirement, make sure this is not just a choice that can come and go as a platform decides, but rather something that society says we want that information. >> if we have regulation on networks, we have regulations on cable news, why wouldn't we have regulations on outlets where 60% of americans get their news to make sure that it's not misleading, that it doesn't

incite violence, that it doesn't help the russian government or other governments improperly influence our elections with false news? >> i think you're right. americans are getting their news in different ways. there's no reason we should have less transparency simply because a i think there's no reason we should have less transparency because a different platform is used. we may have to figure out how does that work in a soesh media environment where you may only have 140 characters or there are constraints by virtue how it operates or on senanapchat the content disappears. we'll have to figure out does one size fit all or do we have to look at each and what is technologically possible, doable and viable. >> congressmen, yesterday i felt as did many others, there was a huge piece of news vis-a-vis the russian investigation, as far as the head of an late ticks of the trump campaign admittedly reaching out to wikileaks as far as the clinton e-mails. to me that seems to ratchet up

significantly a step closer to the president in terms of his knowledge, his involvement as far as any russian collusion. what's your reaction? >> my reaction is you have to look at this in the whole, and that is, if this were an isolated piece of information, disconnected from everything, maybe it is, maybe it isn't. here you have not only the head of the data analytics arm of the campaign reaching out to someone our cia director says is basically a foreign intelligence agency affiliated and working with the russians, but you also have the operative, peter smith in contact with flynn apparently and also reaching out to likely russians on the dark web to look for these e-mails. you have russians, the kremlin through intermediaries reaching out to the campaign and offering dirt on hillary clinton. so you have any number of connections, roger stone reaching out to wikileaks either drektly or indirectly, reaching out to the russian gru in the

form of lucifer two. there are an extraordinary number of connections between the campaign and those who are stealing the e-mails, those who are publishing the e-mails and a picture begins to emerge. there's still a lot of missing pieces. >> i've just got to say, based on my own personal contacts of the trump campaign during the summer of 2016, anybody in the trump campaign saying they did not depend on cambridge to get their data is completely contradicting the very people who are in charge of running the data side of the campaign who told mika and me that they were relying heavily on the cambridge analytica, one, to find key voters and two, to assure donors we're serious about this, we're not using -- we're not depending on the rmc. they have contempt for the rnc.

to now say we were relying -- they had contempt for the rnc and basically said the rnc was nothing, they were backwards and we're having to build this all ourselves. they bragged about it all summer of 2016. they can't now say, oh, we relied on the rnc and didn't really rely on cambridge. they said just the opposite time and time again. heidi? >> we are almost now a year out from the election and we do not have autopsy really in the vaguest terms of specifically how russia tried to influence our election through social media. is that because of the tech companies not stepping up adequately, or is that because, also, of the partisan direction that some of these investigations on the hill are going? >> there's a lot of that autopsy, that you're right, still remains to be done. to joe's point, this is also part of a pattern, diminishing

the role of cambridge analytica. paul manafort, well, he was only in the campaign a short time. everybody that wasn't family has been disavowed as having a role in the campaign when it's shown they've had connections with the russians. in terms of forensic, we have a lot of work to do, for example, on voting machines, understanding how they operate, how vulnerable they are. >> is that taking place? that's what i can't tell. it seems to be the most important thing at this time and i don't know if it's taking place. >> it's not taking place to the extent it should. in that case i think some of the technology companies are not really willing to share in terms of how their software operates to allow us to do independent investigations and just how secure it is. so we're relying on a lot of white hat hackers to show us that actually you can hack these machines, they're not invulnerable. i think it's negligent not to have a paper trail for any voting machine these days. more than that, though, the single biggest step we need to

take to protect our election going forward is to develop the bipartisan consensus, and this gets to your latter point, that if a foreign power intervenes next time, we will all reject it. democrats and republicans, no matter who it helps or who it hurts. the single biggest impediment to reaching that consensus is the president of the united states who will not even acknowledge that this happened. there's no cyber patch for this. the biggest defense is a united public. obviously we have a lot of work to do. >> congressman, let's talk about the uranium deal that's come up in the news are russia. obviously some close connections with the clintons. you had, o of course, the canadian ally really close to bill clinton who had involvement with the deal, gave a couple million to the clinton donation. bill clinton got paid i think $500,000 by a russian interest, maybe a russian bank that had interest in that deal. are you guys going to investigate that? a lot of people saying that's being swept under the rug.

are you investigating that uranium deal? >> the house majority announced they're going to investigate the uranium deal, they're going to investigate the investigation of hillary clinton's e-mails. purportedly we will. now the question is this being done in good faith? it's very hard to reach a conclusion that this is done in good faith, that we have now suddenly six or seven years after the fact decided we've got to do another investigation of hillary clinton to try to prove that hillary clinton interfered in this decision to grant this uranium -- >> shouldn't that be -- of course, if she did, that's something you would want to know. we all would want to know. isn't that something that could be determined fairly quickly by seeing how far up the chain this decision went? i read in reports, i don't know if it's the truth or not. but i've read in reports these sort of deals usually didn't make it to the secretary of state's level. shouldn't that be something that we could quickly determine? >> the answer is yes, if you're

operating in good faith. look at benghazi. we did eight investigations and the goal in the gop was prove hillary clinton intervened with the security of benghazi and got americans killed. that was the narrative they wanted to tell, and they were determined to spend years and millions of dollars to prove it. now, they never could because it wasn't true. now we're going to embark on a potentially endless investigation to prove that hillary clinton interfered in this sif yus process, the process of approving or denying a deal when there's no evidence that she did. here is the thing that really concerns me, joe, there are reports within the last 24 hours that the president weighed in with the justice department and said lift the gag order -- in other words, let's let this informant speak, let's push this investigation forward. that's the kind of thing you do in a tin pot regime that is on the road to democracy. you punish the losing political candidate by interfering in the justice system.

that looks like what's going on. that needs to be investigated. >> unfortunately we're up against a hard break and i also need to look up the meaning of the word sif yus. it's a good word. alex, does jack know what it means? >> i'm sure he does. i'm sure he has eight anagrams for it. >> that's syphilis. >> oh, god. >> i get confused. >> i can see how you would. >> we'll be right back. thened your retirement score. so, that goal you've been saving for, you can do it. we can do this? we can do this. at fidelity, our online planning tools are clear and straightforward so you can plan for retirement while saving for the things you want to do today. nana, let's do this! aye aye, captain! ♪ and as you go through life -whoo! -♪ tryin' to reach your goal

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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. ( ♪ ) his father was with lee harvey oswald prior to oswald being shot -- what was he doing with lee harvey as would shortly before the death -- before the shooting? >> all i did was point out the fact that on the cover of the "national enquirer" there's a picture of him and crazy lee harvey oswald having breakfast.

now, ted never denied it was his father. this had nothing to do with me except i might have pointed it out. >> somewhere between birth certificates and wiretaps, donald trump hung out that conspiracy theory during the heat of the republican primary. >> well, we're going to know the secret now. >> pouring over the newly releas released jfk documents. so far no proof of ted cruz's father. >> he's still looking for the documents that show barack obama and hillary clinton on the grassy knoll. donny deutsch is with us, white house reporter for "usa today" heidi przybilla, white house reporter for the associated press jonathan la mere is with us and pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of t"the washington post" eugene robinson

is us. >> gene, you're a big nationals fan. joe girardi, the guy should never have been fired from the new york yankees. seriously? are you kidding me? he's got the hottest young team in baseball and they fire him. inexplicable. i saw thom boss well. he said, by the way, joe girardi, how do you like your coffee? there's 6 million d.c. residents that would like to deliver it to you every morning. >> exactly. i'm one of them. i'd invite joe to come down, we'll cook him a nice dinner at our house. look, the nationals -- number one, the nationals should not have fired dusty baker. you win 95, 97 games. it wasn't his fault that his slugging team didn't hit in the play-offs. there's nothing he can do about that. you can argue about manager of the bullpen, yada yada. joe girardi, i'll take him in a

heartbeat. >> that guy has been through it. he's been through the tough times. he would be a perfect match for the kids in d.c. right now that i call everybody under 54 a kid. the kids in d.c. right now who are one of those talented teams in baseball. a guy like that could lead them to the world series. we shouldn't talk about baseball because mika wants to see if ted cruz's father ended up being in this pile of jfk documents. >> on the edge of my seat. much anticipated release of classified documents from the kennedy assassination probe was partially delayed yesterday after a 1992 law mandated the release of nearly 3,000 documents in full late in the evening, president trump held back items that scholars were most eager to see. as for what was released, images of cia surveillance photos from the early 1960s, a december 1963 visitor's log from president lyndon johnson's ranch in texas but included a cia officer and

reports that lee harvey oswald obtained ammunition from a right wing militia group and a memo in fbi director j. edgar hoover dictated after oswald was shot, quote, there is nothing further on the oswald case except that he is dead. among the documents apparently not in the release, on the file of the head of the dallas cia office in 1963, the businessman who met with jack ruby just before he shot oswald and several files on notorious anti castro exiles. >> gene robinson, for those of us following this and reading about it and looking at it. >> fascinated by it. >> fascinated by it, wanting to get to the bottom of it. i think everybody who looked at this series thinks oswald acted amend loan. that said, the killing of jack ruby is the one thing that has been the irritant, that has not allowed america to put this

away. i'm wondering why they're withholding the jack ruby information. >> that's a good question. there was a poll recently that said something like -- more than half. something like 61% of americans believe there was some sort of conspiracy involved in the assassination of president kennedy. i'm not one of them. i believe oswald acted alone in the assassination. by withholding these 300 documents yet again, what the government has done is essentially give more fuel to the conspiracy theories that have been going on for 50 years, for longer than that. it's crazy. and what i think is behind it is, you know, the cya. the cia and the fbi trying to cover up their mistakes and the fact that they had -- they knew more about oswald than they told

us before the assassination. and the implication is they should have done something. >> the question is, heidi, why would you withhold the document that was pertaining to the business person that met with jack ruby right before he killed oswald? >> i guess, based on what i read, the problem from the very beginning has been the over classification of the documents. none of us can speculate. i know this is not just kind of like some fringe problem of people having conspiracy theories. from is very beginning so much was withheld. i spoke with my parents last night because i wasn't around for this. i consider them very educated, informed people who are not prone to conspiracy theories. i said why do you think this has been the case for so many years. my mom said, well, he kind of fell forward and based on the direction that harvey oswald was standing, he shouldn't have

fallen forward, he should have fallen back. this is something that's been around for so long. by the fact they're still withholding these, i think it's just going to continue. i guess they have another six months for these to come out. is that what the decision was? >> yeah. >> all of our parents, my parents -- i won't tell you who my dad said killed jfk. long after i'm gone, joe, you'll find out that -- fill in the blank -- killed jfk. get it all out there. what national security secrets are you protecting 54 years later? it's ridiculous. >> i'm a big oliver stone fan. >> oh, dear god. >> it was the billy goat who did it. come on. >> can i be cynical for a second in that we have a commander-in-chief who is the ultimate shiny toy, look over here thing. maybe he's keeping it in his pocket for a day or a month when

the russia investigation gets particularly heated to go no, no, look over here. why not now? particularly a guy who you would see -- he would be the first one to say look what happened over there. maybe he's saving it for a rainy day. >> we also have a president who has dabbled in conspiracy theories himself. birtherism, of course, he was the driving force behind that. we saw footage of him floating the idea that ted cruz's father was involved. there's no suggestion that in these documents he's going to fulfill trump's thoughts about ted cruz or his dad. this is something long planned to be released yesterday that trump took credit for, as he always wants to do, we're going to unveil the shroud here. here is all the secrets. at the last minute, we'll save some for april. >> he likes to leave people hangi hanging. >> there has been conspiracy for some time. you look at it in 2017 when con spir sigh theories abound. i saw a sick one yesterday.

people harassing those that were shot at and almost killed in nevada at the las vegas shooting. >> what? >> now being targeted and bullied and harassed and threatened on facebook and on twitter saying that you are tragedy actors or something like that. it's a sickness. this is another thing, too. just as far as policing the sites, facebook, twitter, should find those people that are posting that, track them down and forever ban them from using their services again. >> meanwhile senator ted cruz was pretty confident yesterday that the new documents would not support president trump's past suggestions that cruz's father was connected to the assassin as based on the debunk "national enquirer" story. >> are you confident that the release of the jfk files will vindicate your father? >> i look forward to seeing what's in the files and, you

know, politics is a strange process. there are ludicrous claims and then there are claims that go beyond ludicrous, and this one falls into the latter category. >> we have something in common with ted cruz. during a visit to geneva -- this is great -- secretary of state rex tillerson stau a stoo tu of two people curled up in a ball and he could relate to that. take a look. >> his mission has changed. >> some days i feel like i need to do that, curl up in a ball. >> we are reassessing our views of secretary tillerson. we have all decided we like rex tillerson very much.

>> we're shallow. we always have. i don't like the way he's been treated. he hasn't been given a staff. he's been given no ability to do his job. he's been undercut, cut off at the knees as bob corker would put it. it's ridiculous. >> can i go back to cruz for a second? joe, i know you were very close with your dad as i was and our dads are deceased. how would you cozy up in any way to a man that defamed your deceased father in the most disgusting way. this is a cowardice t spinelessness of all the candidates that won't stand up to trump. that would be a wort that would never go away. >> i will tell you, this might be hard for people to believe watching the show, but in politics i was knocked all the time forgiving people who had wronged me too quickly.

my parents drove me crazy, my campaign staff. but if you said something about my family, i never forgot it. there was a case where somebody said something about one of my friends who had passed away, very powerful person in washington. i never for gave him and i never will forgive him for making that family suffer even more. ted cruz's wife was insulted several times by donald trump on the campaign trail. his father was attacked on the campaign trail. >> he probably doesn't forgive him. that's why people don't like politics. it's like, it's not real. in his heard, i don't think he for gives him. >> what kind of man are you that you can show one face -- that's it. as a man, to your point, as a human being, you mess with my family, i don't move on from that. >> as a man, as a woman, anybody, if you insult a spouse, a loved one, i think everybody,

man, woman, everybody would be fiercely angzry and defensive about that. and the fact that ted cruz telling people in an interview yesterday that bob corker and jeff flake need to shut up and just sort of fall in line with donald trump which is basically what he was saying is staggering. ted cruz should act like a human being and stop acting like a robot, a political robot. his dad was attacked, his wife was attacked, his family was attacked. >> what more do you need? >> he was attacked, women that worked for him were attacked. and yet -- >> president trump's poll numbers in texas are pretty good. ted cruz is going to face an election. he's fearful of severing that tie and seeing the trump base turn against him. >> are you saying that his poll numbers are more important to him than his wife and his father. >> i'm not going to speak for

the senator -- >> that would be robotic and sad. >> a senator, not just ted cruz, any senator would say he is clearly, at least for now, willing to put up with the personal and political insults in order to try to safeguard his future in the senate. >> if donald trump has taught politicians anything positive -- we'll find something positive to say about donald trump today. if donald trump has taught politicians and political writers anything, it should be that it's okay to go against the grain, right? >> yeah. >> it's okay to not blindly follow poll numbers. donald trump was at 2%, 3%, 4%, he was never going to win. he defied expectations because he didn't play by the rules. what do you think ted cruz should do? >> i don't know how to get into his head. i wish i could.

he's not going to do the right thing. still ahead on woej, the weekly standard says it's not a civil war in the republican party, it's actually a surrender. how and why more and more establishment republicans are lining up behind roy moore who has been kicked off the court -- >> twice. >> and called for a religious test in the u.s. congress. we'll talk about that. first let's go to bill karins with a check on the fast. >> busy weekend forecast. we could be talking something in the tropics. hurricane center says 60% chance that this little area in the western caribbean off the coastline of honduras could become a tropical depression. why is that important? it starts to head northwards towards cuba during the day today and tonight and saturday towards south florida. don't worry, this is not going to become a hurricane or anything like that, may a low end tropical storm possible. that would be the worst case scenario. it does come over florida on saturday afternoon, saturday evening. it gets caught up on this front and then comes up into the

northeast and new england by the time we get to sunday afternoon and even sunday morning in areas of the appalachians. that could cause a lot of windy problems and a lot of problems there with rainfall, we're talking as much as two to four inches of rain widespread throughout the region. that will be one of the stories we'll watch as we go through this fall weekend. west is dry and middle of the country is chilly, but perfect for your fall activities, early halloween activities. new york city, a washout sunday. more on "morning joe." we'll be right back.

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"the weekly standard" is out with a new editorial entitled "the surrender." it reads in part, everyone's talking about the civil war in the republican party. it seems more like a surrender to us. the great bulk of elected republicans have surrendered to the forces of donald j. trump and they didn't put up much of a

fight. has a hostile takeover of historic institution ever been accomplished with less resistance. the gop is being transformed because incumbents are accommodating their new masters before serious challengers are even on the horizon. robert frost famously described a liberal as someone unwilling to take his own side in a fight. will that be what is said of conservatives and republicans, that they stood on the sidelines and watched the party of lincoln and teddy roosevelt and reagan was destroyed? >> that's being written, mika, on october 27, 2017. remember when donald trump proposed the ban in early december 2015, us saying on this set that the republican party can't go there. if the republican party goes there, that is a republican that should never win the nomination. they've gone there and gene, you look at ed gillespie, a guy i've

known forever and respected forever, a very smart policy guy. you sit there and think, well, he's a republican but he stayed arm's length away from trump and trumpism. he'd be a pretty effective governor and wouldn't embarrass me as a guy who has been a republican my entire life. he's ending his campaign talking about defending confederate statues including i think one of a guy who started the kkk. >> it's very sad to tell you the truth. gillespie was a won kish policy guy. i wouldn't agree with him on most things, but i previously had respect for him. i don't at this point the way he's ending the campaign. he's trying to have it both ways, of course. he's trying to go toward that sort of rebel rousing white

grievance thing that trump does, that he did in charlottesville. at the same time he's accepting help from trump but wants to sort of not be seen accepting help from trump. it's not a profile in courage. and it is reflective of what's happened to the republican party. the weekly standard is right. the republican party is now donald trump's party. i was going to say for better or worse, but actually for worse. it's a tragedy what's happened to a great political party. >> what's happened to the republican party, what is the headline, and we can dance around this any which way. it's white first. it's basically every -- that is trumping, no pun intended, every other issue with republicans. you can see it as far as gillespie and the confederate statues, you see what happened in alabama. at the end of the day, that noise, however it's kind of served up, is what is the

ultimate red meat in trump's everything in the republican party. >> this contrast is great because didn't gillespie write a book called "winning right?" he was not only one of the more establishment republicans aligned with the rnc, he has a book out called "winning right." the fact of the matter is, if it hadn't been for this monument fight, he would be in a much worse position right now in virginia. if you look at donald trump's numbers, they're pulling downey republican who would be in his shoes. i remember being onset when this whole thing exploded and we thought, you know what? this is going to gin some of that turnout in the south side of the state which could offset what should be his natural advantage with trump's poll numbers in the tank and the northern virginia kind of demographic growing. coming up on "morning joe," presidents and their parties, from watergate to iran contra to the clinton impeachment

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welcome back to "morning joe." there is a remarkable reality playing out in the u.s. senate as key republicans break with the president while many others stand by his side. nbc news senior correspondent tom brokaw puts it all into perspective. >> you would think he would aspire to be the president of the united states and act like a president of the united states, but, you know, that's just not going to be the case apparently. >> when such behavior emanates from the top of our government, it is something else. it is dangerous to a democracy. >> when republican senators flake and corker this week said donald trump wasn't fit to be president, that he was dangerous, we reached a new level of chaos in american politics. made all the more chaotic by the president's school yard tweets calling them losers and worse. this is not the first president to be tested within his own

party. >> i did not having sexual relations with that woman. >> reporter: bill clinton had the monica lewinsky scandal. many in his party were critical but they saved him in the impeachment trial. >> i told the american people i did not trade arms for hostages. my heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not. >> reporter: president reagan was betrayed by his staff in the iran contra affair and his party stayed with him. what about richard nixon and watergate. >> well, i'm not a crook. i've earned everything i've got. >> reporter: his most trusted aides were found guilty and went to jail as the president continued to insist he was innocent. prominent republicans had their doubts but they kept them private. it was not until the supreme court insisted he turn over incriminating tape-recordings that his fellow republicans said it is time to go. >> and a final wave -- >> reporter: and so he did.

>> let's turn to author and nbc news presidential historian michael besh losh. michael, we are racing towards the end of this legislative year. the smart money would predict, even though you never know what's going to happen because these republicans are desperate to get a tax bill done, but the smart money would predict that they're not going to be able to do it because they're not going to be able to close $4 trillion in loopholes and pass all of these -- let's just say tax increases on middle class americans so they can have the corporate tax cut. would there be any precedent in recent american history for a president not passing a single major piece of legislation his first year? >> that's a no. >> it sure is a no. it's a real no for a president who has got both houses of congress. remember, go back to just after this election paul ryan saying welcome the united republican

government. we have a republican president, two houses of congress. you'll see all sorts of stuff happen. hasn't happened. >> michael, let me ask you something moving beyond donald trump so we don't blame this all on donald trump, even though for some of us that seems the thing to do. let's look at congress as a whole and let's look at washington, d.c. as a whole. can you name a major piece of legislation -- can anybody around this table or gene name a major piece of legislation that barack obama passed after 2010, in his last six years of the presidency? >> yeah, not a big record, but he didn't have congress and that's the big difference. we historians, we look at presidents who had both houses of congress, and the big examples are fdr in '33 with the new deal and johnson in '65, great society. those are the big examples. but usually you don't see united

party government and a record that's just zippo. >> gene robinson, it's stunning that barack obama from 2011 forward was really not able to pass any sweeping piece of domestic legislation. we're going into the seventh year where congress has prevented two presidents from passing a single piece of major domestic legislation. >> that's really the big story from a historical perspective i think, joe, is that congress ain't doing nothing. this is a big, complicated country in complicated times. things change. congress needs to be effective or at least functional, and congress has not been functional. congress has not been able to do big things at a time when big things need to be done. does anybody think, for example,

that the tax code is perfect the way it is, all 87,000 pages of it? no. it would be a great thing to do, but i just don't think this congress can do it. and congress hasn't been able to do anything in seven years. >> michael besh losh, thank you very much for being on this morning. >> thank you, michael. coming up on "morning joe," politico calls our next guest the democrats' secret weapon. congresswoman sherry boos toes is so good that she's teaching other members of her caucus how to talk to constituents. the illinois democrat joins us next.

accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war,

and of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth. if that isn't a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president, then what has our government become? i'm tom steyer, and like you, i'm a citizen who knows it's up to us to do something. it's why i'm funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. a republican congress once impeached a president for far less. yet today people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger who's mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. and they do nothing. join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing what's political and start doing what's right. our country depends on it.

her the secret weapon democrats don't know how to kbrugs. cherry bustos of illinois has lessons how to win in trump

territory. congresswoman bus toes joins us right now onset. great to see you again. how are you? >> doing well, thank you. >> she reminds me we met at the congressional baseball game. i did throw out a good first pitch. >> i think it was a strike and had some heat behind it. >> a couple of bounces to the plate. >> you think i don't know about baseball. i maybe don't want to talk about it, but i like to play it. so what are they saying, secret weapon? what does it mean to really connect with voters, potentially in trump country? >> i little background of my district. i represent the entire northwestern portion of the state of illinois. illinois has 18 members of congress. all the democrats in our congressional delegation are in the chicagoland area except for me. if you picture the state of illinois, you have chicago in the northeast part of it. everything else is republican except for the district that i

represe represent. so the voters made a decision to vote for president obama in '08 and '12. and then there was an 18-point swing to vote for president trump in 2016. just a very big shift. >> yu peer in one of the districts that voted for president obama and then voted for donald trump. >> right. >> how did you win in the year of donald trump? >> so i ended up winning by 20 points. i think that is why some folks in my caucus say, what in the heck are you doing? joe, when we were talking just before this started, it's not rocket science. you show up. you go to towns that have 500 people, go to the cattle auction barn in fairview, illinois. you listen more than you talk. you take what you have heard and do something like introduce legislation that reflects that or you write legislation that reflects that and you work hard. i think people's expectations of

any elected official, whether mayor, city council, congress, you work hard because, in our case we make a pretty good wage, you fight when you have a fight on your hands because there's all kinds of fights, and then you get results. even though we're in the minority, there are ways to get results. >> let me ask you, what are democrats, national democrats missing? what are people around this table missing? what are most people in the media, national media missing on the question of why a voter would vote for barack obama and then vote for donald trump? and why, you can't say, they're racist or they're stupid or they're out of touch, because after all, they were the enlightened few eight years ago according to many of these same people. >> i would never think about saying that about the people in my district. the people in my district who have seen maytag ship all the jobs over to mexico or a company

like sin sada that bain capital bought out and shipped the jobs to china, people feel like we haven't been fighting for them. so what i do as far as when i do talk, i talk about nothing but the economy. if i'm asked about an issue that might be somewhat divisive. i answer it and answer it honestly. but then i say what i'm spending my time on is the economy, to make sure that people who have felt like they've been left behind, that they don't feel that way anymore, that we're listening and do something about it. >> translate that to talking points. right now you're in charge of the democratic platform. you've been the fair haired child that has done it right. >> i know you guys have talked about this, but we are offering a better deal and that is the -- the whole foundation, better jobs, better wages and a better future for americans. we have legislation that backs that up. >> jobs, jobs, jobs. >> i met with our editorial

board of the newspaper where i used to work. i was a newspaper reporter for 17 years, and i said, i'm talking about five things. that's jobs, jobs, education, jobs and jobs. that education part of it is we as democrats are calling for a doubling of our investment in apprenticeship programs, getting people ready for the jobs of the future. >> congresswoman, i covered hillary clinton, and i've got to say i feel she kind of did that, talked about investing in the future and green energy and creating a new generation of jobs. the more appealing message to these voters was bringing back the old jobs. is it also not just the message but the messenger? and what are you looking for in these new candidates that's different from the last wave of recruits? is it newcomers? is it like doing the version of what republicans did in terms of bringing in people who don't have any association with the national party brand?

what is it also in the messer? >> hillary clinton is as smart as they come as far as i'm concerned. but she did have -- i think the number is 298 different policy proposals. many of them did address jobs. we have to simplify this. to your point, it is jobs. it is the economy. and when president trump is tweeting in the middle of the night and we all wake up and look at our phone first thing and realize, well, today he's talking about kneeling or he's talking about disparagingly about a gold star mother or a member of congress, what we have to do is, if we get asked about that from the media and answer that and say, but you know what? this is one other diversion getting us away from focusing on the economy. i'm on the transportation committee. i've been telling people back home i still have confidence we're going to get a trillion dollar transportation package passed. and i hope that that will happen.

it's where democrats and republicans can come together. but we're not going to get anything done if we keep focusing, whether it's the president or whether it's the democrats or the republicans, if we're focusing on all these divisions. to your point about the candidates, we have amazing candidates running in these tough districts in the midwest, in the heartland. they fit those districts. and i think that is what the secret is going forward. it's got to be people who their views are similar to those of people who live in the districts. >> congresswoman, i hear jobs and the economy a lot. the economy grew at 3% last quarter. unemployment is under 5%. we're at full employment. is it possible this isn't about the economy? is it possible democrats have gone too culturally far left? >> tell that to people in a county that might have 15,000 people, an entire county, where the county is made up of towns of 200 people, where they have seen these jobs go to mexico and china, where they are losing

hope their kids will want to stay in that community and they're losing hope for the future of their entire region that might be the state of illinois or might be in the midwest. >> aren't we talking about a much more societial shift where you had jobs in your region that might have paid $30 an hour. they left. if they do come back, you're getting $14 an hour. >> working two or three jobs to support your family. >> and still not being able to. >> still not being able to. not knowing what they're going to do with their child care expenses. you know, the question i asked -- i do something called supermarket saturdays, i walk the aisles and have one-on-one conversations with people. the question i love to ask is were you able to take a vacation last year? and the other question i like to ask is what do you do for fun? that gets down to -- do they have any discretionary income? i met a home care nurse who has

a husband who works full time. she works full time. they have two little kids. i said what do you do for fun? her answer was we have cable television. that's good for msnbc, but her point is they can't afford to go to the movies and buy popcorn and soda. they get their entertainment by watching movies on cable, and msnbc i'm sure. >> there you go. congresswoman cheri bustos, thank you very much. >> that is a rough life. >> we can play baseball while they talk baseball. up neblt, what could be the largest health insurance deal ever? and twitter tries to keep russia from spreading propaganda on its network. "morning joe" coming right back.

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i was playing golf love golf.... i used to love golf. wait, what, what happened? i was having a good round, and then my friend, sheila, right as i was stepping into the tee box mentioned a tip a pro gave her. no. yep. did it help? it completely ruined my game. well, the truth is, that advice was never meant for you. i like you. you want to show me your swing? it's too soon. get advice that's right for you. investment management services from td ameritrade. let's go to business before the bell with cnbc's dominic chu. what's behind the soaring stock price of aetna? >> cvs health is in talks to buy

aetna. that's according to the "wall street journal." the headlines sent the stocks soaring yesterday. spokes people said they don't comment on rumors or speculation, but hypothetically, a combo of those two companies would would bring together america's third biggest health insurer with a pharmacy company that has 9700 retail outlets and a client list of 75 million insured members of its pharmacy benefits system. so that's a huge deal if it were to happen. >> dom, let me ask you a question. we just had a congresswoman on that talked about what we say people should talk about, job, jobs, jobs, the economy, the economy, the economy. but there are some republicans that are saying wait a second, the economy grew at 3% last quarter. what's the feeling on wall street? how is the economy not just on wall street but on main street? >> so the economy first of all looks like it's doing okay. everyone we speak to out here says things are going pretty steadily. it's not like it's going

gangbusters. but 2% to 3% growth in the u.s. economy is enough to make sure we're not really in a recessionary environment. there's not a lot of fear for that. most of the fears right now are centered around what could happen with the federal reserve, how that shapes up and whether the interest rate picture for america starts to look a little bit different under a new fed chair. remember, we got that big decision coming up early next month. i would also just point out, guys, twitter, also a big story on our end here. it's going to ban advertisements from russian news outlets. russia today rt and sputnik saying it found out both of those guys intended to interfere in the election on behalf of the russian government. twitter says they spent $1.9 million worth of ads and they're going to take that similar amount and donate it to a research fund to find out how twitter is used in things like civic engagement and elections, guys. >> appreciate it. coming up next, it's the conversation that stops and starts with the sentence thank you for your service. a new film explores a heavy

sacrifice made by a small percentage of americans who wear the military uniform and we sit down with the soldier who inspired the movie and the actor who played him. when i look in the mirror everyday. when i look in the mirror everyday. everyday, i think how fortunate i am. i think is today going to be the day, that we find a cure? i think how much i can do to help change people's lives. i may not benefit from those breakthroughs, but i'm sure going to... i'm bringing forward a treatment for alzheimer's disease, yes, in my lifetime, i will make sure. the updates you made to your plan strengthened your retirement score. so, that goal you've been saving for, you can do it. we can do this? we can do this. at fidelity, our online planning tools are clear and straightforward so you can plan for retirement while saving for the things you want to do today. nana, let's do this!

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it could be 6 to 9 months. >> are you kidding? you think these guys can wait that long? >> a scene there from the new film "thank you for your service" which looks at the struggles that american troops face as they try to adjust to civilian life, in this case, after the iraq war. the film is based on the experiences of sergeant adam shuman who join us now, a long with the actor who plays him in the movie miles teller. based on a book by the same title written by david finkle. he joins us also. gentlemen, thank you all for being here. sergeant, let me start with you first. three deployments in iraq. what did you think when david and others came to you and said we want to tell your story to the world? >> why me. you know, i did less than a lot. maybe a little bit more than some. i don't know why i was chosen. so it was interesting. >> what were some of the struggles you experienced when you came home? what did you feel when you got back? >> just, it's tough to go from

that environment, you know, to your home life. it's difficult. you're trying to help yourself and support your family at the same time. it becomes very gray. you don't know which side to go on. >> david, what did you see in adam that you thought this could be a great character to tell the story of so many thousands of men and women? >> yes, so it's weird. i met adam. it's almost ten years ago to the day. and i was over in iraq. embedded with an infantry battalion during a period called the surge. just writing about their experiences. it was a difficult deployment. there was a period in there when things were quiet. i asked around. who's a great soldier. who do i need to meet. there was somebody who said you got to meet this guy shuman. there's a guy in his third deployment. he was in combat for about 1,000 days. i stayed with him until i left the war. when it was time to write "thank you for your service" later about the experiences of soldiers and their families trying to heal from what had happened to them over there, it

was just an easy call to build a book around adam. >> and, adam, so many times we, you know, have been reading stories. i'm sure the same thing's happened after world war ii, the korean war, the vietnam war. there are so many books we've read or stories we've heard about service members that have come home and all they wanted to do when they were there is get home. >> come home, yep. >> and then when they got home, it felt like they were out of place and they needed to be back. did you -- did you struggle through that? >> absolutely. because you're with -- you're in the company of people that die for you, that would die for you at any given moment and you'd die for them and when you're pulled away from that kind of bond, you really feel isolated and alone. and it's tough -- you really need to refined yourself. >> you can't talk to anybody about that? >> you don't want to unload that on someone you love. it's a lot to carry around.

it's a difficult transition. >> so, miles, just listening to adam, knowing how much he sacrificed, what his family went through, reading his story makes me want to cry. how do you even begin to -- because he sits there and says i've done less than a lot. so his humility doesn't match the service to the country and the sacrifice that so many families have endured. how do you begin to try and figure out how to play this person? >> yeah, it's a lot. i mean, adam, you know, getting to know adam from the time he was a kid. he wanted to be a soldier. he wanted to jump out of planes. his father served and his grandfather served. it's in this guy's dna. it was a lot. luckily we had david -- david kind of did the, you know, all the research for us, you know, like you said, how as a civilian do you begin to try and understand, you know, and then for an actor like try and pretend to be this person. >> and you had to feel the responsibility too, that i got to get this story right. >> right. >> because it's not just about

adam. >> yeah. >> it's about hundreds of thousands of other people that have been through this. >> yes, absolutely. in the military, it's black and white, there's no gray area. and pretty much every film that has come out has been heavily scrutinized by the community regardless of, look, there's films that have been nominated and won academy awards and you talk to the vets and they're like, man, that's bs. if this movie were to make $1 million and we go to the screenings and vets felt like we had hollywood eyes on their story, manipulated it, that wouldn't have felt right, so i felt we did both. >> what did you say to somebody who goes to see this movie this weekend, to feel, to experience? >> if you look at the title of the movie "thank you for your service," it's a genuine sentiment that said a lot. but that's not the same thing. if you say those words, it's not the same thing as understanding what's going on and how soldiers across america -- not in the past, this is not history, this

is going on now. >> adam, what's the one thing you would like americans to know about what you've been true, what so many people have been through since 2001? what's the one thing that most americans and civilians get wrong? >> that, you know, statement, like david said, thank you for your service is the beginning and end of a conversation, and i hope at the end of this movie, people realize what they're thinking a veteran for. >> the film is "thank you for your service," and it's out today. adam shuman, thank you for your service. miles teller, thank you, david finkle, thank you as well. that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. >> thanks so s so much, mika. breaking news overnight. jfk assassination files released and adding fuel to the conspiracy fire, a mysterious phone call, who the soviets thought did it. and fbi director hoover pushing to make sure the public is convinced oswald acted