tonight -- there is no agreement on how to fix daca. no plan to keep the government opened. but at least there's no ballistic missile inbound to hawaii. this is "kasie dc." ♪ welcome to "kasie dc." i'm kasie hunt. we are live from washington every sunday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern time. tonight, i sit down with republican senator jeff flake who is leading the charge on daca. and he's about to take to the senate floor to scold the president for how he treats the media. plus, an exclusive interview with freedom caucus chairman

mark meadows who says the president is not a racist. plus, russia investigations heating up this week with steve bannon set to go before the house intelligence committee. we'll talk to committee member mike quigley about that and also senate intelligence committee member james lankford about the steele dossier. we start with the uncertain future for hundreds of thousands of people living in america. it was an open-door meeting on daca that started off this past week. a rare look behind the curtain as president trump presided over the debate from top members of the house and senate. just two days later behind closed doors, it's what he said about immigrants and that one word in particular that, yes, is causing outrage but also up ending the policy debate. the president now tweeting, quote, daca is probably dead because the democrats don't really want it. they just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our military. joining me now, reporter for "the new york times," jeremy peters.

white house reporter for "the washington post," ashley parker. columnist at "the washington post" and msnbc contributor eugene robinson. and former chief of staff for the cia and department of defense and msnbc national security analyst jeremy bash. thanks to all of you for coming in on a sunday night. eugene, i have to start with you. because the questions all morning this morning have been, is this president a racist or not? >> that was certainly horrendously racist thing he's said. it's not the first racist thing he's said. he's got a long history of saying and doing racist things. so you don't have to try to get to the existential core of a person because in the end, that's an unanswerable question. you can judge and assess what he says and what he does and what he says and what he does is racist. >> ashley, is this out of line with behavior we've seen from the president before? does it stand apart worse than some of the other examples eugene referenced? >> it's not out of line at all. if you look back on this

president, a lot of people think the original sin when it comes to racially related -- >> you mean not out of line with things he said in the past. >> yes, not out of line with what he said in the past. he was the chief birther and in a lot of ways there would have been no candidate donald trump without him repeatedly going after president obama and refusing against all evidence to believe and accept he was born in the united states. so someone who made that their early initial campaign platform, it's not necessarily too surprising to see that along the way he's made a number of other comments people view as racist or upsetting. >> i remember sitting at harvard university a postmortem for all of the campaigns. and this particular one, breaking down the 2016 race was particularly emotional particularly because two of the women involved in the campaigns got very -- into a very emotional conversation about whether or not the trump campaign had tapped into white supremacists and essentially

used that to get elected. and it does seem as though it's a theme we've been pulling on this entire presidency. you've covered conservatives for many, many years. what is the next turn of the screw here? >> i think there's two separate things going on here. one is what you always see after incidents like these when the president makes racially charged remarks and that's the white supremacist groups, the daily stormer. the richard spencer types piling on, drafting in behind the president saying, see, look. he's with us. he speaks our language. he's one of us. and that kind of, i think, has more to do with their own self-promotion than any type of direct link to the trump campaign. then you have the president's history. it's undeniable. like ashley was saying, it's not just the birtherism. when he dealt -- the way he responded to the central park five back in the '80s. the way he threatened in palm beach to sell mar-a-lago to the munis who were koreans in an

effort to get the neighborhood all up in arms because they wouldn't approve a zoning request of his. there's no doubt that donald trump understands racial animous very well and knows how to push those buttons. >> we have a tweet from eric eriksson. there was a tweet about whether the president was bragging about this and people in the room don't remember trump using that. the president thought it would play well with the base. >> well, you know, maybe it will. that certainly has been the bet he has made consistently through his political career these past few years that, indeed, taking the position that this is basically a white christian country and essentially forming his political stances around that notion. that's all donald trump. and he believes that worked for

him and that will continue to work. he believes he's saying things that maybe other people would say if it weren't politically correct not to say them. >> jeremy bash, what does this mean for our standing in the world? world leaders, we're hearing reports of diplomats being called in across the world to various foreign ministries to essentially be asked, what is your president doing? >> well, our president has effectively condemned an entire continent. and that's never good for the standing of the united states of america. he's also condemned a country in our own hemisphere, haiti, and he's condemned everybody who traces their lineage to both of those places. so it really undermines our values and undercuts our standing. it's part of this longstanding year long now concern about the way the united states is looking at the rest of the world and the way we're treating the rest of the world and the moral smorals values we're projecting. >> various republican members have had talking about this whether or not the president made these comments, has become

a he said/they said scenario after senator dick durbin told reporters president trump did, indeed, use language that described haiti and african countries. senator graham seemed to verify that account. in a statement, graham said following comments by the president, i said my piece directly to him yesterday. the president and all those attending the meeting know what i said and how i feel. but other recollections seem to be shifting. at first, senators tom cotton and david perdue who were in the meeting did not recall the president using that language. this morning, they were a little more definitive. here's what they had to say on the sunday shows followed by homeland security secretary kristin nielsen. >> i am telling you, he did not use that word. >> i didn't hear that word either. i didn't hear what senator durbin has said repeatedly. >> you're saying it didn't happen or you don't recall? >> i didn't hear it. >> it was an impassioned conversation. i don't recall that specific

phrase being used. that's all i can say about that. >> purdue's colleague isakson forcefully condemned the president saying he owes the people of haiti and all mankind an apology. that's not the kind of statement a leader of the free world should make, and he ought to be ashamed of himself. many republicans may be weary to go after the president after fear of backlash. on the same day senator graham released his statement, breitbart, of course, dug up an old clip of graham using the term hellols when talking about mexico. senator rand paul referenced that comment on "meet the press." >> there are two different standards here. in 2013, lindsey graham said the exact same thing the president did except he used the word "hellhole." >> the people coming across the southern border live in hellholes. they don't like that. they want to come here. >> eugene robinson, is this -- it is kind of amazing to me that before -- suddenly they just don't remember if this word came

out. but this came out of the president of the united states. >> maybe a train passed or something like that and drowned out the word. >> a helicopter. marine one. >> right. >> chopper blades, yeah. >> you know, it is astounding to me, and disgraceful, frankly, that more republicans have not spoken out. especially if they value the history of this country, if they understand the history of this country. the idea that -- what the president was saying was we don't want people from these poor countries. we want people from a rich, white country like norway. and to know anything about the history of this country and to say, well, you know, we just don't want people from poor countries. you know there would be no irish people of irish heritage here. no people of italian heritage. no people of polish heritage. there would be no america if that were our immigration policy. >> and paul ryan, i was surprised. he was in -- back home in wisconsin, and he essentially said exactly that.

my an seftscestors were unskill immigrants from a country not considered to be a particularly nice place to live and they have contributed to this country in great many ways. >> yeah, it's strikingly similar the debate that is playing out now to the one that played out in the 1920s. i would encourage you to read this wonderful story in "the new york times" today about the way the language that people use in the '20s describing immigrants from europe is very similar to how trump is describing people from latin american countries, african countries. they're not sending us their finest. they're sending us their rapists. it was that type of comment. no, we need to keep these western europeans out. look what happens when they send these irish people here. when they send the spaniards. it is all very coded. >> send me your tired, your poor. i want to come back to the policy debate. senator jeff flake says his

six-member bipartisan group of senators has reached an agreement on daca. this agreement sent them down the street to the white house that led to this meeting. i asked him about this tentative meeting when i sat down with him this week. >> unless it's a bipartisan bill. unless you have a bipartisan group of people sitting down and drafting it, it's not going to pass. and so that's why we have been intent on having a bipartisan bill from the beginning, and we've got agreement on those principles. we're shopping it among some other members but the six-member bipartisan group has reached an agreement. >> so the six-member group has, but the white house is saying that it's this group of four, includes dick durbin who is one of your six bipartisan members. do you get the sense that they could get to a place they need to be to give a solution to these kids before this march deadline? >> the only bill that's going to be ready to be introduced is the one that we produced. the one that we are working on now, that we have agreement on.

i can't see how, you know, what the process that's starting in the house now with partisan bill. i don't see that that gets us anything. keep in mind, we've got a short runway here, march 5th these protections run out for d.r.e.a.m.ers. we've got to get a bill on the senate floor and the commitment i got during the tax debate is we'd have a bill on the senate bill, a bipartisan bill by the end of the month. we'll have that bill ready, and i hope the leader keeps that commitment to get it on the floor. >> do you think that democrats would be in the right to hold up government funding in favor of trying to help these kids? >> i won't tell them what to do. a government shutdown never works very well. republicans, when we forced them, we ended up getting the blame. we don't save any money. we end up back filling everything. i hope we don't see that. but certainly they'll use whatever leverage they can. this is a big priority for them. >> jeremy bash, do you see a way that they can possibly get to a

deal on this after the heated rhetoric of the last few days? >> the only way is through lindsey graham. lindsey graham has to go to the president and say, mr. president, we have a bipartisan solution and you can be a hero for these d.r.e.a.m.ers. and, you know, 100 or more d.r.e.a.m.ers lose their status every day. by march, all of them will be out of status. most people don't appreciate the fact that in the united states military today, in the army, 900 d.r.e.a.m.ers are serving in uniform risking their lives for all of our freedom. in if this bill doesn't pass they could be stripped of their uniform and deported. think about tomorrow we'll honor the legacy of a great american hero, dr. king. there are heros in our midst as well. there's, on december 28th at the fire in the bronx, a private first class army soldier, emmanuel menza went into that building and saved individuals and lost his life. when he enlisted in the army he was not a citizen yet. there are people in our country that will be deported if this

does not pass. up next -- will the romney ramblers ride again? brand-new reporting from "the new york times" that mitt romney has been texting friends, quote, i'm running. plus, senator jeff flake plans to go after the president and his treatment of the news industry, invoking josef stalin. i'm going to talk to him also about whether he plans to run for president in 2020. he does not say no. and congressman mark sanford joins the conversation. "kasie dc" is back after this. 'sup, world? it's the box with 30% savings for safe drivers. coming at you with my brand-new vlog. just making some ice in my freezer here. so check back for that follow-up vid. this is my cashew guy bruno. holler at 'em, brun. kicking it live and direct here at the fountain. should i go habanero or maui onion? should i buy a chinchilla? comment below. did i mention i save people $620 for switching? chinchilla update -- got that chinchilla after all. say what up, rocco. ♪

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senator jeff flake has been one of president trump's most outspoken critics in the republican party. just this week he posted on twitter that mr. trump's profane comments about immigration were, quote, abhorrent and repulsive. on tuesday, flake will give a speech on the senate floor in which he will condemn the president's treatment of the truth and the press. he gave me a preview comparing the president's words to those of dictators past. >> when you have an administration that is, you know, added the term alternative facts to the lexicon, we have something different. i talk about in the speech the importance of calling real things real and fake things fake. and how damaging it is to have this term fake news around the world that authoritarians everywhere have adopted it and

will dismiss their opposition. well, that's fake news or legitimate grievance or protest. that's fake news. >> do you think the term fake news is un-american? >> i don't think it's helpful to our discourse. particularly in the international realm when you have 21 journalists around the world being held, detained, jailed because they are producing what is called false news. that's not a good export in terms of what we're telling the rest of the world. >> in the speech you compared president trump to josef stalin by calling the free press the enemy of the people. >> i'm saying he borrowed that phrase. it was popularized by josef stalin, used by mao as well. enemy of the people. it should be noted that nikita khrushchev who followed stalin, forbade its use saying that was too loaded and maligned a whole

group or class of people, and it shouldn't be done. i don't think that we should be using a phrase that's been rejected as too loaded by a soviet dictator. >> are you calling the president a liar? >> no. i don't use that word. you'll note in the speech when i deliver it, i never use that word. that's for others to use if they want, but i don't. >> you also point out that it's particularly important for members of this president's party, the republican party, to stand up in opposition to these alternative facts. at what point do you think you have to consider leaving the republican party if president trump is the head of it? >> i am a conservative. this has been my party for my whole life. what i'm trying to do with the speech is basically nudge the president back where i think we elected officials ought to be. and i think that's a role that i should have as a member of the senate. we can't just retreat into camps

like we're doing. people need to stand up and say this is not right. this is not normal. and some of the things that are happening have a lasting impact. >> do you think you would be a better president than president trump? >> i'm not saying that. i'm just saying that people in congress like me and the president's party, when we see things that shouldn't be happening, we ought to stand up. >> you are saying you should oppose him when you think he's wrong. do you think there's a moral obligation or duty for someone nels your party to challenge him for the nomination in 2020? >> i don't want to put it that way, but i think he will have a challenge. >> is it going to come from you? >> he'll certainly have a challenge, somebody as an independent, but i think he'll likely have a challenge in the republican party as well. i'm not the only one, not the only republican who is saying, you know, i'm not sure this is my party. we used to stand for limited government and free trade.

free enterprise and not this nationalistic, protectionist party. and i think -- >> will you completely rule out challenging the president for the nomination in 2020? >> i'll rule it out. it's not in my plans but i'm not ruling it out. i don't think anybody should. >> anybody else you would like to see throw their hat in the ring? >> some that ran last time, i'm sure, may be thinking of it as well, on the republican ticket. and like i said, as an independent, i'm sure there will be some who are independents who -- as an independent and run. that's probably certain. >> when you look at some of the audiences cheering for republicans, sometimes you look out there and say, those are the spasms of a dying party. what do you mean about that? >> after the mitt romney loss, we got together as republicans and produced the autopsy, where we said we've got to appeal to a broader base, particularly minority groups that we haven't done that well with.

and when you look at every election cycle, we are 2% less white as a country. and unless we, as republicans, figure out how to appeal to a broader electorate, then we're just not going to succeed in the long term. you can win an election here or there by, you know, whipping up the base. i think california in the early '90s proved that. but in california, you have only had one statewide republican elected in the last 20 years. and i'm afraid that's where we're headed if we don't start appealing more to minority groups, as well as do better among young people and women. >> in your home state of arizona, the former maricopa county sheriff joe arpaio has announced he'll run for your senate seat. do you think arpaio could win a general septembernator election arizona? >> no, i don't think so. he lost a run for sheriff in maricopa county.

he lost that election by double digits and now to run statewide, which is much more democratic, that would be extremely difficult. >> former governor mitt romney has been considering running for orrin hatch's seat in utah. do you think that romney would be a strong voice potentially against the president? and what do you think the president could bring to the debate? >> run, mitt, run. i'm a big mitt fan. always have been. i met with him a couple of weeks ago. i think he would be a strong independent voice in the senate. conservative independent voice. >> what did you talk about? >> some of what's going on. the need to get things like daca, immigration reform done. a lot of the priorities here. and, in particular, our position in the world and on trade issues. governor romney had strong feelings on that and it will be, you know, somebody who gets here with immediate gravitas and authority. and he'll be a great senator.

>> that was senator jeff flake earlier this week. the president has apparently briefly at least answered a couple of questions from reporters down in mar-a-lago where he's having dinner with the number two house republican kevin mccarthy. we'll bring you those remarks once we have them. in the meantime, ashley, i want to talk about mitt romney's reported -- >> my favorite topic. >> -- in "the new york times." you and one of your colleagues did a sweeping story about mittism versus trumpism is how you put it. >> yes. >> how would you -- what would it mean if romney were back here in d.c.? >> it's a great question. it would mean a number of things. there are people hoping or expecting that mitt romney, if he wins, comes to washington as a never trumper or anti-trumper. that is just not who he is temperamentally. he's sort of a cautious, methodical guy who as senator flake says has gravitas. we both covered him. he was sounding the alarm on russia during --

>> greatest geopolitical foe. >> he was sounding it afterwards at his salt lake city retreats. everybody laughed at him. that's an issue he feels passionate about. and he's someone who will come to washington. there's stuff he cares about. he'll stand up to the president where it makes sense to stand up to him. he's not someone that's going to vote against the president's agenda to spite trump. he's going to git good deals where he can and take convicted stances when it makes sense. >> i think we have the tape of the president now. let's take a look at that and talk about it on the other side. >> a lot of things. a lot of things to talk about. we'll be talking about daca also. >> [ inaudible ]? >> honestly, i don't think the democrats want to make a deal. they talk about daca but they don't want to help the daca people. now we used to say the daca children, but the children -- i think you have a lot of sticking points but they're all democrat sticking points.

we're willing, ready and able to make a deal. they don't want security at the border. we have people pouring in. they don't want security at the border. they don't want to stop drugs, and they want to take money away from our military, which we cannot do. so those are some of the sticking points. >> do your comments make it harder? >> did you see what various senators in the room says about my comments? they weren't made. >> [ inaudible ]? >> no, no, i'm not a racist. i am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. that i can tell you. >> are you going to make a deal, mr. president? >> i don't know if there will be a shutdown. if there is, our military gets hurt. we cannot let our military be hurt. >> mr. president [ inaudible ]? >> that was a state thing, but we're going to now get involved with them. i love that they took responsibility. they took total responsibility. but we're going to get involved. their attitude and what they want to do. it's terrific. they took responsibility.

they made a mistake. >> [ inaudible ]. what will you do to make sure something like that -- >> we hope it won't happen again. people are on edge. eventually we'll solve the problem so they won't have to be on edge. >> how do you communicate with kim jong-un? can you clear up your comments? >> we'll see what happens. a couple of meetings scheduled. we'll see what happens. hopefully it's all going to work out. we will see. >> have you talked directly to him, mr. president? >> "the wall street journal" quoted it totally wrong but we're going to see what happens with north korea. we have great talks going on. the olympics, you know about. a lot of things can happen. >> [ inaudible ]. is it your responsibility, mr. president? >> we're ready, willing and able to make a deal on daca, but i don't think the democrats want to make a deal. the folks from daca should know, the democrats are the ones that aren't going to make a deal. okay. thank you, everybody. enjoy yourself.

thank you. >> hearing from the president of the united states who is in mar-a-lago, of course, at his home there with kevin mccarthy, the number two republican in the house. making some of the first comments we've seen from him on camera about that reported remark that he made about haiti and african nations in a meeting at the oval office. eugene robinson, he says they weren't made. and he also says, quote, i am not racist. >> right. he said he's the least racist person you'll ever see and that's not true. i mean, that objectively is not true. interesting that he is now at this late date apparently attempting to deny that he said what others clearly heard him say. there was no denial until now. there was no -- >> the white house didn't deny it in its first statement they put out. >> no, it doesn't. white house reporters were

saying that, you know, inside the building there was no pushback on the fact that he had said what he said. so i think that's, you know, historical fact and this is a president who doesn't necessarily respect historical fact but there it is. >> the eriksson tweet where he said that the president had called friends and said this is going to play well with my base. do you think we're seeing him absorb news coverage and attempts to recalibrate? >> i think that's what we always see. no, i think the news coverage is what it's all about. and if the news coverage is everybody is jumping on him, he finds a way to rationalize it and say it's positive for me. if the news coverage as it was today is people -- a couple of people in the meeting saying i didn't quite hear that, then that allows him to say, oh, it wasn't said. it's very interesting. he is first of all, a tv

consumer. >> eugene robinson, thank you for your time. >> great to be here. still to come -- what happened in hawaii? and later, i catch up with senator james lankford to talk about the russia investigation and the controversial steele dossier. believe it or not, that was in the news this week, too. we're back after this. i just got my cashback match,

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i apologize for this. this is my responsibility and my team. but please keep in mind that again, the threat is there. if this comes out, i'm going to have 12 to 13 minutes of warning for an actual event and please take this to heart. >> hawaii officials are taking serious heat for yesterday's false ballistic missile threat alert that, of course, caused widespread panic. the fcc launched an investigation to find out how a false alert was allowed to be issued and why it took so long to correct the mistake. jeremy bash, can you walk us through, how could something like this possibly happen? how is there a system that can alert millions of people there's an incoming ballistic missile and it takes one person to push one button to have this happen? >> clearly there needs to be a

two-person rule or hold it down like three seconds like you have to do to turn off your iphone. it's important to note the actual system to knock missiles down and to retaliate is not based on one person's potential for human error. but it does point out that human error can infect our theoretically infallible systems. and i do worry less about the united states. i worry about north korea. i worry about them misunderstanding something that's happening and them launching an attack based on something we say or do. >> fingers crossed, i suppose. >> we have to leave it there because we lost a little time earlier with the president. we'll meet the woman who at 28 years old could become the youngest member of congress. she's got big backing as she tries to flip darrell issa's seat in california. sarah jacobs joins us just ahead. when standing in charleston, you can see to ft. sumter. now a new fight is breaking out.

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welcome back to "kasie dc" live from washington. joining me now, congressman from south carolina, republican mark sanford. thanks for your time. it's great to see you. >> you as well. >> sir, i need to start with the

comments the president just made to reporters at mar-a-lago about, of course, this closed door meeting where he is said to have made disparaging comments about immigrants and nations in africa and haiti. the president is now saying, quote, i am not a racist. i am the least racist person you will ever interview. do you agree that the president is not racist? >> i don't know what he is. i can't judge his heart. i can judge him by what we can all be judged by our actions and our words. and his words are unfortunate. i think they've been roundly condemned. there was -- it was interesting. i went to a service this afternoon and two data points. one, as it turns out, the head of procurement at the medical university in south carolina, which is a big deal in charlt ton is from haiti and folks there had things to say on that front. afterwards, the woman came up to me and her daughter was in the peace corps and said this is a real problem for me because she's, you know, in a foreign

land and now having to explain herself and she feels threatened. it's problematic at many different levels. at the same time, the coverage has been breathless and a lot of people would say, okay, the guy said something stupid. a lot of people were disappointed what the way he said it and what he said. but we have huge problems that are well known whether it's with the debt or what comes next on entitlements or a whole host of things that don't get the same level of coverage. there's some degree of frustration. at breakfast i went to on that point yesterday. >> you said his remarks were stupid. do you think the remarks were racist? or just stupid? >> again, everybody -- i just stand by what i said. unfortunate. disappointing. you wouldn't have made them. i don't think i would have made those comments but everybody is going to make a dumb comment at some point in their life.

what we have to judge is his actions and we'll all stay tuned on that front. >> your colleague mia love from utah this morning did say that she thinks that these comments were racist. her family is from, her parents were immigrants from haiti. what do you say to her? >> i mean, i'll see her on the house floor this week. i'm sure if she wants to bring it up, we'll have a conversation on it. but i go back to this larger point. you have both extremes. he said something that again has been roundly criticized. at the same time, you deal with four or five days of coverage on one thing when there's so many big issues out there. things like the debt that get no coverage. at some point, that's what causes, again, i went to a barbecue and people are like, i get it. i don't like what he said but can't we see coverage of other things that matter and directly impact our lives. >> let's talk about that then. let's talk about the national debt. there is potential looming

government shutdown this week. the funding for the government runs out thursday night into friday morning. and at this point it seems as though leaders are talking about another continuing resolution to keep the government open for a couple more weeks while they try to make a deal on spending. do you think supporting another continuing resolution is the responsible fiscal choice? >> no, but i think it's going to be the fiscal choice. it's -- fixed battle lines, as real as those you saw in gettysburg. you have folks sayinging daca, these kids came here not of their own volition and shouldn't be held captive to a larger discussion on border security. we don't want to create successive waves of daca kids. we have to tie this in with border security. and nobody has given it until this point and until somebody does we'll see another kicking this down the -- kicking the can down the road until february.

>> sir, let's talk a little bit about offshore drill chicago has been very important to you and that you've focused on. the president has essentially opened up u.s. coast to offshore drilling. the state of florida has been put under different rules partly because there are some trump supporters who have appealed to the president. you are a governor of south carolina has asked for special dispensation. what do you think the consequences for your state will be if this offshore drilling is allowed to continue? >> well, it's not to continue. this is in the future. so nothing is happening tomorrow. it's really problematic, though. a couple different levels. one, people's voices won't have been heard. republicans have long believed in this notion of federalism that the government is the most local government's best and all decisions should not be made in washington. so in this instance, every municipality along the coast of south carolina has drawn up a

formal resolution. this is a debate about federalism and voices heard. it's also about equality of law. our founding fathers were so deliberate about laws and not men and not appealing to -- as a plaintiff to a king or despot. we're going to ally it one way in florida but a different way in south carolina. my point has been if it's good enough for the view from charleston or hilton head and what you don't want to have is unequal protection under the law that, you know, we're going to make an except whereion for flo but not south carolina. it has just as much impact as it does in so many counties in florida. >> congressman mark sanford, thanks for your time tonight. we have to leave it there. just ahead on states of play. democrats see a glimmer of daylight as one of the

wealthiest members of congress won't defend his seat in 2018. we'll talk to sarah jacobs who is trying to become the youngest member of congress. don't go anywhere. we're back in just a moment. your spending too. and if that's not enough to help you save, we could start a carpool. look at this traffic. don't worry. ok, if that's not enough we'll start a trainpool. oh i have a meeting in five minutes. and if that's still not enough... i got it. we'll just create a shortcut. we'll do anything, seriously anything to help you save. ally. do it right. talking 4th quarter? yes.

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winning back the house than california. the state has as many as nine competitive house races this year. one of those districts in play is california's 49th. republican congressman darrell issa has held that seat for 15 years but this week he announced he won't run for re-election. issa narrowly won two years ago by over 1600 votes but issa's political career may not be over. issa is thinking of running in the 50th district as derek00er steps down. hunter has been under investigation for personal use of campaign funds. hunter said it was an innocent credit card mix up and has no plan of stepping down. joining me down is the democratic candidate for the 49th district sara jacobs. i want to start by asking you about the news that's just come

in here tonight which is the president insisting that he is not a racist. do you believe the president is a racist? >> i do. and i think donald trump does not share the values of americans, and when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. >> miss jacobs you are one in a crowded field here and there have been some in your home state that have written about the connections that you have that your family background, and inis s insinuated you had it easy getting clinton jobs. what is your response. >> first i worked at the state department under president obama and united nations and unicef. i was ceo of an educational none profit and i worked under secretary clinton during the

presidential campaign. what you won't hear i'm the only democrat who has experience working in public policy and worked in the federal government and i think it's no surprise that the men i'm running against are not being asked these same questions and their qualifications aren't being questioned in the same way. i'm used to being underestimated and what we're seeing from voters across the district is that they are really excited to have a young woman candidate who they know will actually look out for them and their families. and growing up in san diego, i was very, had a lot of access to opportune and i believe it's actually my responsibility to use those advantages to make things fair. >> you worked for hillary clinton as a foreign policy adviser in the 2016 campaign. would you like to see her come out on the campaign trail for you >> well, i think i would love to see her as a mentor of mine, as someone who has done an incredible job breaking glass

ceilings and making it that much easier for the women running after her to get involved. >> ashley parker has a question for you. >> thank you for joining us. there's a number of open seats because republicans have somewhat unexpectedly resign, stepped down, decided not to run for re-election. i'm curious what you make of that environment and if you think that gives you or democrats in general a leg up when it comes to this year's mid-terms? >> what i think we're seeing is republicans recognizing that they no longer share the values of the voters in these districts in california, including the 49th. these voters are looking for something new and they are tired of a broken system that's giving unequal access to some while leaving so many others behind and the republican policies that are only making that inequality worse and they are looking for something different and that's what we're hoping to give them.

>> miss jacobs, you worked for some time in ghana is my understanding and i'm wondering how that experience and what you learned while you were doing that helps inform your view for what the president has had to say over the last couple of days. >> well, as you mentioned i lived in ghana. i was going research on the government transition from a civil democracy to a military coup. the people there are so entrepreneurial that there is an incredible spirit of trying to make things better and they want to move to the united states remember want to bring that entrepreneurial spirit with them and i think that's exactly the kind of people we want here in the united states. >> sara jacobs thank you for your time. we'll be hearing from many more of the women who are running for congress from both parties across the country this year. sara jacobs thanks. thanks to you both as well.

we have another hour of kasie dc ahead. plus my interview with mark meadows. believe it or not it was this week that steve bannon resigned from breitbart. done it feel more like a year ago. now he's set to go before the house intelligence committee. plus our crack team producers is ready with the bleep button, watching the sun shows so that you don't have to. d then... i'm really sorry. i wrecked the subaru. i wrecked it. you're ok. that's all that matters. (vo) a lifetime commitment to getting them home safely. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

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the nation's capital is still reeling from president trump's remarks about immigrants from africa and haiti. >> the white house did not deny the president's statement. >> did the president say that. >> i know comments were made. >> i heard about the comment before the comment went public. >> he didn't use that word. this is a gross representation. i'm saying this is a gross misrepresentation. it's a gross misrepresentation. >> people jumped a little bit to conclusion. >> i didn't hear that word either. >> you say it didn't happen? >> i didn't hear it. >> i don't recall hearing him saying that exact phrase. i don't recall that specific phrase. >> the president reacted with pretty tough language. >> the president will use strong language when it comes to this issue. >> it was hurtful, harmful, shouldn't be said. let's move on. >> his comments re-ignited the debate whether the president is a racist. >> stunning remarks.

>> is the president of the united states of america a racist? >> do you think president trump is a racist. >> people misinterpreted he's a racist. >> what he's showing us is he's a racist. >> no question what he said was racist. >> that's ridiculous. >> i think he makes racist comments. >> you don't help somebody with an alcohol problem by constantly calling him a drunk. >> i take a little bit of offense and suggestions that the president is racist. >> were the comments racist, do you think? >> um, well i think they were, yes. welcome back to kasie dc. president trump spoke to reporters last hour in wet palm beach, florida where he denied making those profane comments about immigration and he answered that question for himself about whether or not he's a racist. >> did you see what other

senators in the room said about the comments that were made. [ inaudible ] >> no i'm not a racist. >> he says i'm the least racist person you have ever interviewed. joining me now senior writer for politico and co-author of the politico playbook, jake sherman. former democratic congresswoman from maryland donna edwards. nbc news political editor and former chief of staff to the cia and department of defense, msnbc national security analyst jeremy bash. thank you all for being here. congresswoman the president says he's not a racist. go. >> i'm not a crook. i think if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and it's a duck. the president demonstrated not just with these comments but with a series of comments over a long period of time and behavior

dating back long before he became president of the united states that he's a racist and i think the euphemisms is tiring. it's not necessary to use them any more. >> jake sherman i couldn't help notice kevin mccarthy standing next to him. i remember when paul ryan endorsed the president back during the campaign and the "new york daily news" used the same word for the president, we've been talking about here. what is the mood among republicans on capitol hill right now about this discussion? >> god this is a discussion they don't want to have, i would say. listen the president keeps bringing it up. the republicans tell me all the time they need to spend the next 12 months selling tax reform, hammering into the public conscious they lowered many people's tax rates. we're looking at a political landscape where republicans can lose 40 or 50 seats. to have discussions about racism

and immigration and anything besides what the president has done for the economy, i don't think republicans want to have period. >> you are paying close attention to the math and to jake's point about whether or not this is really where republicans want this conversation to be. and we're talking a little bit earlier how there's been some suggestion that the president initially when he made these comments thought he was making a play to that core base of supporters. he re-evaluated it since then and said i never said that. >> part of the issue for democrats is not just the math it's the fact that democrats have a big advantage when it comes to intensity. when you ask voters how involved are you in the mid-term election, how much attention are you paying to the mid-term elections and particularly dislike of the president. so the percentage who strongly disapprove of the president right now is 48. percentage of republicans who strongly approve of the president is half that. that's the kind of motivation

that brings voters out that keeps them motivated. every time the president is in a news cycle with an outrage obvious comment it keeps those people who are already paying attention to the mid-terms it keeps them engaged, keeps them wanting to pay attention, searching the ad to know where their polling places are. >> it's a really good point. this also of course putting republicans in difficult positions as we showed you. earlier today on "meet the press" with chuck todd senator rand paul of kentucky offered the following explanation for the president's comments. >> unfair to draw conclusions from a remark that wasn't constructive is the least we can say and unfair all of a sudden to paint him as a racist. the only thing i regret although some people in the media have gone completely bonkers, but what i regret i do want to see an immigration compromise and

you can have an immigration compromise if everybody out there is calling the president a racist. >> jeremy bash what do you make of the position this is putting republicans in. president wins fights he picks with the media. >> i don't agree with rand paul it's unconstructive to label the president's actions. if the president is acting in a way to affect his ability, then, yes, that's a problem. the problem is not his words. the problem is lack of actions. >> let's talk about -- where does the rubber meet the road on daca deal? this came out of a private meeting about trying to hammer this compromise. we've been going along with tuneding that both sides did actually want to reach a bipartisan deal. do you think that is the -- the chances of that are out the window or is there still a way to get this done. >> we're now four days ahead of a government funding deadline

when congress comes back on tuesday and they are nowhere. i think at some point in the very near future democrats are going to fine it not in their interest to cut a potentially controversial immigration deal with a guy who is talking behind the scene, the president is, about immigrants wane that a lot of them find detestable. i think that's a big dynamic. there's no question, though, the president is getting one thing wrong here. i think it is -- democrats want a daca deal. they are the most fired up about a daca deal. nancy pelosi and chuck schumer have been promising since september. so i think the president has his incentive structure a little bit off. >> do you think, congresswoman the democrats have given up too much in this debate, even the contours of the bipartisan deal that included additional border security, changes to family migration. are democrats giving away too much as they try to get this

deal or not? >> i don't think so. i think democrats had assumed republicans were negotiating in good faith and there was always going to be a compromise on daca, but democrats are also serious about daca. you heard already some senate republicans and democrats and house democrats saying, you know what? no daca, no deal. so i think that they are -- since the president's comments they are actually digging deeper and make it much more complicated to get a deal. >> what's your sense of the political calculus here for democrats? i mean to a certain extent chuck schumer is in a difficult position. caught between -- first of all and we shouldn't minimize this. there are hundreds of thousands of kids that are really at the center are of all of this. but there's a lot of pressure on the left for democrats not to be seen at all with the president. whereas chuck schumer has a handful of moderate democrats he has to protect in 2018. >> one thing about this particular issue, the dreamers,

it's an extremely sympathic position. extending these conditions for daca has remained popular throughout president obama's tenure and trump's tenure. 70% of americans want to see these protections extended. i think for people on both sides what is very tricky about this is exactly what you said. these are hundreds of thousands of people. they have compelling stories. as democrats continue to publicize those stories that takes front and center beyond any of the, you know, of the other parts of border security, et cetera. the human element of this is very compelling for democrats and is what they rely on. >> this week is going to be a big one on capitol hill to say the least. on tuesday steve bannon the former white house chief strategist is scheduled to testify before the house intelligence committee. let's bring in democratic congressman from illinois. he sits on the intelligence committee and is planning to be there during bannon's testimony. congressman thank you very much

for your time tonight. i would like to know first, what is your top question for steve bannon? how does he fit into your investigation? >> well, not confirming who is appearing before us but obviously mr. bannon is a great interest given his role during the campaign and administration. the main interest is something that the investigation hasn't touched on. money laundering. i thought it was just fascinating he pulled that out of the book that he said this investigation is going to end up being all about money laundering. i think he mentioned mr. kushner in there and deutsche bank. fascinating combination given that deutsche bank was fined $630 million for their involvement in a $10 billion russian money laundering scheme and, obviously, mr. manafort has already been indicted for money laundering. so there's a lot to learn and i hope mr. bannon will share some of that with us beyond what we learned in the book. >> did that book, i mean one of

the comments that, obviously, got under the president's skin it seems was talking about donald trump jr. talking about donald trump jr. and that meeting with russians at trump tower being treasonous and unpatriotic. would you say your interest in steve bannon based on that assessment is heightened maybe? >> i would like to know what he knows and if knows anything about what the president learned about that meeting before it happened or after it happened. i thought it was interesting he mentioned that it was zero -- i think he said something like zero chance that he didn't take those people he met with right up to meet his father. i don't know if that's true. but i find it very hard to believe that at least the president's son didn't share that that meeting was going to take place, what the purpose of that meeting was, and what happened after the fact. very hard to imagine that given

the significance of that meeting and what they were trying to accomplish, get dirt on hillary clinton, he didn't share that with his father. >> congressman, jeremy bash has a question for you. >> if steve bannon does appear before the committee and i under you're not confirming who will be before the committee but if you have an opportunity to question him will you ask him about what the president did in term of the decision to fire jim comey, the obstruction question that bob mueller is also investigating? >> given the role that mr. bannon played in the campaign and, again, in the administration, it's pretty easy to imagine that he had a ring side seat to what took place so that's just one of the many questions we would like to know. why did he fire mr. comey. what about general flynn? obvious question about general flynn. we now know and he's pled guilty to lying about meeting with the russian ambassador about those

sanctions president obama put on the russians for what they did during our election. so there's a multitude of questions, obviously, all of those are fair game. >> congressman jake sherman, from politico has a question. >> this investigation has dragged on many months. i wonder if you can give us an update on when you think it will wrap up and what's the mood between democrats and republicans on the panel. obviously, been contentious at points. can you give us an update on that. >> probably not going bowling any time soon. in fairness, mr. conway has tried to do the best he can despite the fact the white house and chairman of the committee has made it extremely difficult. i think we interviewed about half as many witnesses as the senate investigation. we obviously have a lot more that we have to do. i challenge the word drag. i would like this to go a lot quicker but the fact is many of

the subpoenas would have sent out, witnesses we would like to bring back. that's not happening. some witnesses like mr. kushner were rushed in when we didn't have all of their documentation. so if we move back to the beginning of this investigation -- if the president of the united states had said we're going to cooperate fully, he could have said what he said all along that this is a witch-hunt but we're going to cooperate fully, meaning his campaign officials and everybody who worked for him at the white house. this investigation would have gone a lot smoother and we would have been a lot farther along. then the president could know whether or not we found anything that hurts his administration. >> congressman mike quigley of illinois, thank you for your time tonight. i appreciate it. jeremy bash, i want to ask you about the mueller investigation and the president's willingness it seems as though he changed gears on whether or not he's willing to talk to mueller. how do you think that plays out? is it possible that the president will be able to get

out of doing an interview with him? can he just straight up refuse? >> he could try to refuse but ultimately mueller has the grand jury. if there's a subpoena from the grand jury for the president's testimony the president's lawyers could file a motion in federal district court to walsh that subpoena. that would be litigated up to the supreme court. i don't think ultimately the president of the united states could avoid answering questions but he may be able to delay it. >> certain lir interesting. up next my interview mark meadows of north carolina. his take on daca and the president's comments behind closed doors. and later democrats look to ride the wave of republican departures in congress. we'll map out the races in place. kasie dc will be back right after this. you loved brad. and then you totaled him. you two had been through everything together. two boyfriends, three jobs... you're like nothing can replace brad. then liberty mutual calls...

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welcome back to kasie dc. earlier this evening just a little bit before the president made those comments defending himself as not a racist i spoke to congressman mark meadows.

he insisted he does not believe the president is a racist. first of all, i want to ask you about the president's reported comments, he referred to immigrants from african countries from haiti using an expletive. what's your reaction? was that comment racist? >> we won't be debating what he said or didn't say in the oval office, we'll be talking about daca and how to fix that. so, i don't see the president as a racist at all. i've probably spent more time with him on one-on-one than most members and i can tell you he's never, never had a racist comment in private and so i have it on good authority that some

of the contextual comments that have been put forth by senator durbin may be not what they are reported to be. >> with all due respect senator graham has confirmed he made these comments as well and again do you believe that these don't were racist? >> well, you know, whether we're debating whether a country, you know, has certain type of plumbing or not or whether we're debating whether nancy pelosi's five guys comment is racist, i think you have to get to the bottom line. what americans want us to do is to deal with the problem that faces us, and really this is a problem that we've got to find a solution to. i don't know that dick durbin releasing this information was helpful in terms of that process. but i can tell you, the president is not racist. i've had a number of conversations with him. i have zero tolerance for that

and as we -- we know on capitol hill this coming week is all going to be about funding and about daca and how we get some resolution on those two items and that's what the american people want us to address. >> is this language that you would use to describe these countries? >> you know, i use all kinds of different language. normally not as colorful. i'm on the foreign affairs committee, kasie as you well know. i enjoy a great relationship with a number of ambassadors all over the country. overall what we'll see is that the united states is a good friend to developing countries as well as those allies abroad and at the end of the day you'll find us come together on that particular issue. >> do you agree with the substance of what the president said here that the united states should have fewer immigrants from countries in africa, from haiti, from el salvador than it should from countries like norway? >> i can tell you what the

president has been very vocal. i actually have been dealing with him on immigration for several weeks, actually several months as we've done that and met with him in the oval office multiple times. one of the things that i find really interesting and it's an interesting dichotomy as we look at this particular issue, he's continued to come back to me and asked me to do two things. try to find a bill that dick durbin would be happy with in the senate but the other thing that he's been consistent on is bringing in merit based immigration. when you look at merit based immigration, it doesn't have any particular threshold for a country here or there, it's all about making sure that we get the brightest and best coming here in addition to our normal refugee program that would reach out for humanitarian purposes. so he's been very consistent on the merit base side of things which would indicate that he's open to having immigrants come here from every where.

but i will say that we've got to get a system that actually works, kasie. you know that for decades under republican and democrat administrations we failed to deal with this. i feel we're like at the threshold of finally being able to address it. if we can get a bipartisan agreement before the president i'm sure he'll sign it. >> up mentioned this bipartisan agreement. the president tweeted earlier today daca is probably dead because democrats don't really want it they just want to talk and take desperately money needed away from our military. do you agree with the assessment that this daca deal is probably dead and, again, what role do you think the president's inflammatory comments play in how this debate will go forward? >> i mean whether a private conversation in the oval office ended up being on headlines really is probably came from dick durbin not from the president and so any fallout

certainly would rest equally on dick durbin's shoulders if he's really trying to negotiate in good faith. let's look at history. you're a reporter, kasie and you know each and every day if you ask a democrat what they are saying, they just want to deal with the daca issue first and then deal with the rest of the immigration issues later. they have been consistent, almost -- >> sir they have said they will support border security. that has been something that many democrats voted for in the past. >> well, the definition of border security, their idea and really what most americans and what this president campaigned on is very different as you well know. i mean when we're looking at border security we're really not only looking at just a physical wall but we're looking at making sure that what we do is we can keep track of the people that come here. that we can have a legal immigration system that makes sure that those that really seek to do us harm do not come in. but beyond that, they have been

very reluctant to do any of that. i think that's what the president is talking about. he's saying negotiate in good faith. i'm willing to go all in and have gone all in, perhaps sometimes pushing a little bit further than what i'm comfortable doing to say let's get a fix and make sure that we deal with these individuals who have had deferred action but let's also deal with the underlining problems so we don't have to come back in a few years to deal with it again. >> the principles that were negotiated by that bipartisan group of six senators including lindsey graham and dick durbin presented at the white house is that framework something that you potentially could support or do you think supporting those principles would amount to the president breaking his promises on immigration? >> well, i wouldn't support it and it would be breaking the promises that the president made and if you really look at it, it's not a serious proposal, kasie. i mean, you know, let's look at

this. when you say we got a bipartisan agreement and listen senator lindsey graham is a dear friend of mine. i enjoy working with him on a number of issues. but when it comes to immigration this is all wrong. it's not making the case to move forward. bob goodlatte has a bill that's been introduced. if he start there and look at that particular bill and find where we can fine common ground with our democratic colleagues. >> congressman, before i let you go i want to ask you about the possibility of a government shutdown later on this week. you have been somebody who has been very critical and leading the charge on these government spending issues. we're looking at another resolution to keep the government open. are you at the point where you could support that as these negotiations continue onward or not? >> you know, we're going to be meeting, kasie, on tuesday night, not only as a conference

but as a freedom caucus. i am concerned that we continue to kick the can down the road. >> congressman mark meadows i'll see you on capitol hill. thank you so much for coming in tonight. i appreciate it. >> great to be with you. when we continue, the retirement house. we'll talk about what big changes in congress do and don't mean for the mid-terms.

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welcome back to kasie dc. president trump said back in june that he would be quote glad to speak with special counsel robert mueller. but this week he seemed a little more reluctant. >> we'll see what happens. i mean certainly i'll see what happens. but when they have no collusion and nobody has found any collusion at any level it seems unlikely that you would even have an interview. >> those comments came after the president attacked the top democrat on the senate judiciary committee. senator diane feinstein for releasing the transtestimony of testimony of clint simpson. she even got her own nickname sneaky diane. here's what james lankford told

me how he views the significance of that dossier. >> i think it's important to find out if it's factual. that's the issue from the very beginning. this dossier come up with these sordid details and wild accusations where everybody immediately asked where did this come from? for the longest no one knew. now we know the sources were russian in the clinton campaign and dnc paid for it so then it becomes a question of who knew who paid for it cane verify it. >> details are verifiable. does it matter. >> details are verifiable. it doesn't matter who paid for it. details not verifiable it certainly matters who paid for it. that's the challenge. if sources are russian sources we don't know who they are and why they were getting the information and what they knew about the product then we don't know. the challenge that we have is that the russians historically for the last several decades have played both sides of the

elections, have prepared themselves to attack whoever they want to on whatever side. >> do you think the president is blind to this? do you think the president needs to talk more about this? >> the president is two fold on this. that's my perception. he and i don't talk about these issues a lot. in the times i've been around him and heard him speak about it heard him say if the russians were involved we should confront. i didn't do anything. there was no collusion. if the russians were reaching in to do something that's one issue we need to address but we need to be clear i didn't do it. >> he's willing to believe vladimir putin. >> i think the president still feels that there are individuals saying woe never have been president except the russians. the president is constantly pushing back on that. there's no evidence the russians changed any votes and if the russians were trying to reach and interfere there needs be consequences. i won the election fair and square. people to undercut his election. >> do you think that the president should sit down with

robert mueller? >> that's a tough call. quite frankly it goes back to bill clinton's testimony, meeting with special counsel. again that was supposed to be closed, that leaked all out. that was on the other side from republicans. wrong thing to do at that time as well. >> leaks were the wrong thing. >> leaks transparent wrong thing, that's correct. i would say to the president and he's obviously got good counsel much better than i. if he can answer the questions in writing to make sure it's perfectly clear, no secret that the president is not always careful in how he says things and people come back and say i'm confused you said this. he comes back and said no this is what i meant the whole time. if he can make it very clear so there's no dispute about what he's trying to say. but i don't think he has anything to hide. he's been very clear on that. >> jeremy bash the senator says it's a tough call. >> it's an easy call. the president if he has to tell his side of the story he should

do so. tell the truth and to be done with it. >> what is your take about the steel dossier, if there are details in that dossier that's not true then it does matter very much who paid for it. when i talk to democrats it's almost the exclusion of all else. >> what they should talk about we know there were conversations between trump campaign officials and individuals working on behalf of the russian government. papadopoulos has pled guilty and we know there was the trump tower meeting. does it amount to full collusion -- and the president and his senior advisors wanted to reach out to russia quietly secretly during the transition and mike flynn lied about it. the fact that the steel dossier has certain details that are correct, certain details that are not correct bears on the president's culpability. >> thank you so much.

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go to breatheright.com today to request a free sample. the announcement from republican congressman darrell issa he'll not be seeking re-election means there are 30 house republicans either retiring or running for higher office. the announcement last week from issa's fellow california republican ed royce he'll be retiring mean eight gop are kwaulg it qui-- calling it quit. this is what you spend every day doing behind-the-scenes here. can you put this in a little bit of historical context. how does it help us understand whether or not there will be a democratic wave. >> we look at previous waves. there are 30 open republican seats right now.

more than in 2010, more than in 2006, more than in 1994. already starting with playing field where republicans have to play defense. looking into these seats obviously not every one of these 30 is going to be competitive, although having an open seat is never something you want to have as an incumbent party when your president is in the white house. but of those 30, right, so five of them are in districts that hillary clinton won. 23 districts nationwide that are represented by a republican that hillary clinton won, five of those are now open because of these retirements. additional three were within eight points of hillary clinton winning. so, obviously, you got just eight of those 30 already are beginning as places where democrats will have an advantage. then you look inside the demographics of these districts where there are open seats. two places that democrats are going to do better than republicans are districts that are more diverse than the national average and ones where the college educated is above

the national average. 12 are diverse, 11 of them have a higher college educated. you're starting with a map with those seats that democrats feel are competitive. a lot of those places are expensive to advertise in. california is pricey. republicans will have outside money advantage but still for democrats great way to make republicans spend their money all over the country. >> donna edwards it seems if these districts are more diverse than usual then the debate between the president's approval rating and the things we've been talking about every day seems to point to a wave. >> i think it does and i think one of the things that carey said earlier the intensity among democrats is really high. i think you look at a state like california it's fertile ground for democrats. you know, i think democrats feel really confident but it's early in the year. we couldn't predict this is where we would be right now in

2018 at this time in 2017. >> jake sherman you had a scoop in playbook about paul ryan's challenger. i do think it's interesting hat you reported about the speaker's democratic challenger. >> randy bryce raised $1.2 million. he's won and lost for office many times over the last couple of years in wisconsin. what people don't realize paul ryan has a competitive district in wisconsin. he's just been a good fit for that district for a very long time and i believe still is a good fit for the district according to people on both sides of the aisle he doesn't have a real challenge. bryce is raising a lot of money because of the mood. a couple of data points. you see across the country republicans who have never had any problems politically in a lot of trouble. some one like john culberson is

in trouble. i want to point out this immigration deal to bring it full circle. if you had an issue what would depress the base -- immigration depresses the republican voter base so you have both a national mood where republicans are in trouble, plus the base might not even say hey listen these people supported an immigration deal we don't lying. a lot of things in the stew that makes for what cary said right. things are shaping up to be historically bad for republicans. >> nancy pelosi and chuck schumer when asked them about this they seem more than happy to talk about this. when we continue from rocking in the suburbs to rock the symphony orchestrate, ben folds join us on set to get millennials to care about classical music. back after this. hing.

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set of accolades. he's toured around the world. yes even opening for bernie sanders. now he's the first-ever artistic advisor for the national symphony orchestra here in d.c. he's a guest here on kasie dc. what brings you to d.c.. you are now working with the national symphony orchestra. why is that so important to you? >> i've been playing with the orchestra, youth orchestras when i was a kid, 8 years old i was doing this. it means a lot to me to keep it alive. and maybe last 15 years been playing loads of orchestra shows and so the national symphony orchestra asked if i would be interested in putting together some series for them to try to take classical music and pop music and put them together in a

new audience could hear classical music. >> right. so one of the things -- it's not this song you guys are performing now in the clip we're showing but when you came into the show that was "brave." i was having flashbacks i was at your concert friday night covering the hillary clinton campaign that was a song they used to play quite a bit. how do you think and you, i believe, performed or appeared at both political conventions. how do you view this intersection between politics and music. why did you decide to go to both conventions. >> i was going to bat for the national endowment of the arts. there's a lot of support on both sides for that. i was interested in both perspectives and saying what i thought. something i cared about a lot. i found a lot of support on both sides that's why i was there. >> what do you think the role -- you supported bernie sanders in the primary and i think we actually have some pictures of you opening up for bernie sanders. you and i were at the same event

on super tuesday. i turn out bernie sanders for quite some time. but, obviously, our political environment is very different than anybody expected going into election night. is the role of music and art -- put it many the context of your own political view. how do you view it? >> well, i mean, i think music is -- a musician, as an occupation, has the same right as anyone to express how they feel about it. and i think it also has the same responsibility to speak when they know what it is that they are speaking about. last night's show was about the voice, about expressing yourself. and we played a couple of old classics -- you know, classical music that has no lyrics that has to do with how you speak out and what you mean.

i think tit's important. >> you had a relationship with mike huckabee. >> we were working on the nea. we spent a day going to bad for the national endowment for the arts. i think he is very eloquently spoken about it. he makes a good economic argument for it as well as the human one. i think people need to listen to what he says about it. he's right. >> what is your -- i'm curious. i'm a child of the '90s. i grew up listening to a lot of your music. what has changed about the pop music scene in the last 20 years? how is it different being an artist today than ten years ago in. >> technology is always changing the music business. it always has from the time that we decided maybe it would be cool to put piano rolls to have a piano player to multi-track recording. everyone who has an idea has to get on with that. so to me, that's the main

change. i think talent remains -- there's always amazing amazing . the reason i'm interested in keeping the symphony orchestra alive is because there's nothing like it. it's the great artistic symbol of civilization. it's people working together doing something that's greater than the individual. i feel like if we lose that, that's a symbol we can't afford to lose. so as the music scene changes, i really want to keep the orchestra in the middle of it. >> for what it's worth, i completely agree with you. ben folds, thank you for your time tonight. when we return, what to watch for in the week ahead. doeo protect your house from a lighting strike give me the same rush as being golfball-sized hail? of course not. but if you can stick to your new year's resolution, then i can stick to mine and be the best road flare i can... what? you couldn't even last two weeks? in that case, consider mayhem officially back.

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we're back with more breaking news. parents if you are watching with children, you might want to mute for the next 35 seconds. >> s-hole countries. >> s-hole countries. >> s-hole countries. >> they would say sinkhole -- >> it's not sink. >> s-hole countries. >> black countries. >> black hole countries. >> blank countries. >> blank hole -- >> these people from bleep countries. >> bleep hole -- >> these are -- you get the point. you know what he says. >> oh, dear. before we go, we want to talk about what you are watching in the week ahead.

first, i want to go to an unbelievable finish in tonight's vikings and saints game in minnesota. take a look. >> pass is caught. diggs! sideline touchdown! unbelievable! vikings win it! >> that's a 61-yard completion from keenum to diggs on the final play of the game giving the vikings a victory over the saints. amazing. they are going to go on to play my philadelphia eagles at home in philadelphia. if the vikings were to win, they would play their first super bowl at home in minnesota. can i just say, fly, eagles, fly. now that we are done with that, what are you watching? >> government shutdown fight. they run out of money friday. congress will be in session for four days. they don't have a history of getting things done quickly and efficiently. late nights tonight. >> people are still saying,

there's not going to be a shutdown. again, i feel like i'm going into this not quite fully having my head around how they solve it. >> if democrats don't get a daca deal they will not vote for funds. republicans have to do it on their own. they have done it once on their own. i don't know how they do it again. there's a lot of animosity between the daca stuff and not getting a long-term spending deal. >> what are you watching? >> we're at this number of retirements that's a record for republicans going into a mid-term year. they may not be out of the woods. there are a couple more weeks before we get into filing deadlines. primaries start in march. if you decide you want to throw in the towel, fur a membif you member on either side, we might have more coming. >> we talked about this earlier, historical indicators. it does feel to me -- jake, you are up on the hill every day as well -- as though democrats are -- i don't know they're counting their ducks already. i feel like every time you ask nancy pelosi or chuck schumer

what's going to happen, they both seem to think the democrats basically are going to walk to this. >> i mean, there's the -- the average -- if the president's approval rating is under 50% over the last decades, the party in power has lost 40 seats. that's a baseline that democrats are eyeing. it's early. but the signs are kind of edging that way. >> thanks. that does it for us. we will be back with you next week from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern live from washington. for now, good knignight. we leave you with this from "saturday night live." >> steve, you think they will let you back into politics? >> yes. as a king maker. i convinced this country to elect donald. and i can do it again. already auditions candidates. got some prospects. logan paul. martin strelli.

the subway guy, he is back. he is electable. it's time for america to slide down the bannon-ster. first time i saw her, i thought she was beautiful. we just loved being together. we were always together. our kitchen back door was opened and the glass was broken. my wife. oh, my god. >> it was he who found her. >> i just didn't know how to handle that. i wish i could have been there to protect her. >> a wife murdered. and later, a husband under suspicion. >> he was such a nice guy. you would have