there are fewer people involved in the manufacturing process. >> that's a great point. whirlpool and whirlpool's robots might like it, but it might not help that american worker who doesn't get paid more money, doesn't get his job back, and cannot afford a washing machine because it costs more. >> i like my whirlpool washer and dryer. >> there you go. i can't tell you what the brand on mine is, to be honest with you. john, thank you so much for watching. thank you for joining me. that wraps us up. i'm stephanie ruhle. ali velshi in davos right now. "andrea mitchell reports" is here but andrea mitchell, overseas. she sat down with vice president mike pence this morning and the person in her seat is a very special host, my dear friend and colleague, steve kornacki. good afternoon. right now on "andrea mitchell reports" cabinet confidential. for the first time, robert mueller reaching inside the white house cabinet, interviewing attorney general jeff sessions in the russia probe. he himself recused himself from

leading it. >> there's a small number of these folks and mueller is going through them, as he moves towards interviewing the president. look, this could be a sign that this is coming to an end or it couldn't. we really don't know. victory lap? the trump administration is calling the end of the government shutdown a win for their side. vice president mike pence gave his readout from the president in an interview with andrea mitchell. >> i know having spoken to the president since the government reopened, he's absolutely determined to take what was a clear win for the president, a clear win for republicans, and make it a clear win for the american people. and blame game. while some in congress are toasting their success, the finger pointing begins with the progressives and some 2020 hopefuls saying their party caved. >> you know, democrats are pretty good at articulating values, but a little weak on defending them. >> dealing with dreamers, this is not politics. this is a moral moment for our

country. so right now, we have to use these three weeks to press that moral moment forward. good day. i'm steve kornacki in new york, in for andrea, who is traveling with the vice president. we will hear more of andrea's interview in just a moment. we begin, though, with big news in the russia investigation. nbc news now confirming attorney general jeff sessions met with members of special counsel robert mueller's team last week. this story first reported by the "new york times" and by the reporter and msnbc contributor michael schmidt, who revealed sessions spoke to investigators for several hours alongside his own legal representation. sessions, a former alabama republican senator, recused himself from overseeing the russia investigation back in march of 2017. he cited conflict from his role as a top adviser to the trump presidential campaign. bringing in nbc national

political reporter, kara lee, kristen welker at the white house and msnbc contributor ashley parker, white house reporter "the washington post." kristen, i understand you have some news for us that possibility we raised in one of the clips there that hey, if jeff sessions, the attorney general, is being interviewed by the special counsel's team, does that give us some clue on where this investigation stands in terms of the timeline? what do you know on that front? >> the answer is it may be a clue. i spoke with a lawyer who is familiar with the legal proceedings who essentially said it's an indication that this investigation may be wrapping up. the fact that the special counsel would interview the attorney general. obviously someone within the president's cabinet, someone who is that high-ranking, an indication that this investigation may be entering its final phase. as i put the emphasis on the word may, steve, because of course, we don't know exactly where this investigation is.

now, officially, the white house lawyer who handles all things russia, ty cobb, put out this statement out of respect for the special counsel and its process and because of the privacy obligations we owe to potential or actual witnesses, the white house does not comment on witness appearances before the special counsel. now, the expectation here is that sessions would tell the special counsel that he supported the firing of former fbi director james comey, thereby removing that inference or any suggestion of obstruction of justice. now again, that's the thinking about what sessions told the special counsel. we don't have that confirmed. did sessions give the white house a heads up? it's still not clear, according to a source familiar with the proceedings. it is our understanding that mueller did not give the white house a heads up. so all of this is still unraveling in real time but again, i think the big headline

here is that it is the perspective from at least some who are familiar with the legal proceedings that this may be a strong indication that this investigation is entering its final stages and i will just add one more note. we have been reporting for quite some time that conversations have been ongoing about a potential interview with the president. what form it would take, the length and those conversations are ongoing. that's my understanding. >> so kristen raises people trying to figure out what questions, what topics might have been raised in this meeting. the attorney general being interviewed by the special counsel's team. there is obviously that question of the firing of james comey, of interference, of pressure, whatever you want to say, from the president there. what is the range, though, the full range here of possibilities in terms of what went on inside this interview? >> well, it's a pretty broad range, as you mentioned. there's two kind of buckets of this investigation. there's the piece about obstruction of justice, did the president take any actions that

were designed to obstruct justice in this investigation and then there's the whole piece of russia and its intervention in the campaign, was there any collusion with members of the trump campaign. and jeff sessions would be of value on both of those fronts. obviously he had a very significant role in the firing of james comey, the fbi director, and he was somebody who was intimately involved in the trump campaign, and there are a number of reasons, you know, he was part of that meeting in march of 2016, the national security meeting where george papadopolous raised the prospect of brokering a meeting between russian president vladimir putin and then candidate donald trump. he had meetings with then russia's ambassador to the u.s. and he was a fixture on the campaign trail almost daily. he was a very high profile surrogate. so for any number of those reasons, jeff sessions would be very significant value to prosecutor. >> also interesting here, some of the comments, the stories obviously about the relationship between the president and jeff

sessions, talking about on the campaign, going from his earliest and sort of most trusted supporter and adviser to maybe an acrimonious relationship. trump in december talking to michael schmidt, the same reporter breaking this news today, talking about his attorney general. he said this, i don't want to get into loyalty but i will tell you that, i will say this, holder protected president obama, totally protected him. when you look at the things they did and holder protected the president and i'll have great respect for that, i'll be honest. ashley, there was a pretty clear shot at his own attorney general, suggesting maybe he's didn't protecting, didn't see him protecting president trump. how do you think the white house, how do you think the president is reacting to this news today? >> first, i would just add that what the president said to michael schmidt in that interview was actually one of the nicer things he's said publicly about his attorney general. that relationship has been quite acrimonious from the day jeff sessions recused himself from

anything involving russia, which the president thinks is sort of the original sin that led to mueller and that investigation. so the president right at that time he was publicly scathing, privately had even more harsh words. if you remember, he sent out a number of tweets that undermined his attorney general and that's sort of been the constant. that relationship has not recovered. people familiar with it, aides, white house advisers say it will not recover but whenever jeff sessions appears in the news, whether it's for routine testimony before congress or in a story like this, it just reminds the president in a very visceral way how angry he is with his attorney general and leads to sort of more of these flareups. >> kristen, in terms of trying to figure out where this stands, when this investigation might wrap up and we might hear something more definitive from mueller, you mentioned one outstanding issue is will president trump himself be interviewed. that's still hanging out there. what are the other outstanding

issues here, now that we know the attorney general has talked? >> well, of course, it's our understanding that he wants to speak with other people within the president's inner circle, including his former top adviser steve bannon. based on our latest reporting, that interview has not yet happened. so likely that is another agenda item for the special counsel, and then there may be other interviews within the president's inner circle. what we have seen is this investigation consistently get closer to the oval office, to the president himself, and that is why you have seen this president react so forcefully, i think, in some cases. this really gets under his skin for a whole range of reasons, in part because he feels as though it overshadows his policy agenda, the things he wants to be talking about. he continues to refer to this as a hoax. so this is something that the administration has said they believe will be wrapped up quickly. again, this is one more data point, the fact we now know the

attorney general has been interviewed. just how quickly it will be wrapped up, though, that remains to be seen. >> yeah. again, this process in some ways has been very opaque from our perspective. every few months it seems we will hear something from mueller and say oh, they're looking over here now. we'll see what the next surprise is. this obviously is a significant development today. thanks to all of you for joining us. maine senator angus king, an independent who caucuses with the democrats, serves on the senate intelligence committee. he joins me from capitol hill. thanks for taking a few minutes. let me get your reaction to this news that the attorney general last week was interviewed by special counsel robert mueller's team. >> well, i want to touch on that but i think there's an important point that the american people need to realize. what happened with the russians in 2016 hasn't stopped and won't stop. we have data, this is publicly available, of russian troll farm tweets and you know what, their biggest tweet in the last couple days was schumer shutdown.

the russians are into this in a big way and they still are, and i think that's something we all need to keep in mind. in terms of these interviews, first i want to make clear, mr. mueller's investigation is separate from our investigation in the senate intelligence committee. he's looking for whether or not there's criminal wrongdoing. we are looking for the overall structure of what happened, how did it happen, how do we prevent it and whether or not there was some kind of relationship, collusion, cooperation between the trump campaign and the russians. i suspect, and in fact, you said it's been opaque, with all due respect, that's what it's supposed to be. i'm glad that the special counsel is not operating in a leaky kind of way and that he's being very professional about this, and we only know when something like this breaks into the public. but i suspect they are looking at really two things. your reporter hit on this exactly.

one is, the issue of the firing of james comey, was that done in order to squash an investigation and does that equal obstruction of justice. i'm sure they want to talk to jeff sessions about that, because he was very much involved in that whole process. the other piece is, what were the connections between jeff sessions as a key part of the foreign policy team of the trump campaign, what were his relationships, if any, to the russians and what light can he shed on that process over the summer and fall of 2016. but i'm like everyone else, i'm speculating here as to what the special counsel is investigating, but he's going to follow the evidence where it leads. >> let me take you back to a moment i think a lot of viewers may remember. certainly you were part of it over the summer when jeff sessions, the attorney general, your former colleague in the senate, was before your committee, you were asking him a series of questions about conversations he had had with the president. he didn't want to answer, citing executive privilege. let me play some of that clip and ask you about it. >> has the president invoked

executive privilege in the case of your testimony here today? >> he has not. >> then what is the basis of your refusal to answer these questions? >> senator, the president has a -- >> i understand that. the president hasn't asserted it. you said you don't have the power to assert the power of executive privilege so what is the legal basis for your refusal to answer these questions? >> i'm protecting the right of the president to assert it if he chooses, and there may be other privileges that could apply in this circumstance. >> let me ask you this way. what were you hoping to find out about his conversations with the president and is that something that mueller now and his team, in being able to interview sessions, might have been able to find out? >> i suspect mr. mueller will be asking very many of the same questions. i was a little frustrated as you could tell, because jeff sessions was asserting what i call the second cousin of executive privilege. it doesn't exist. executive privilege has very clear constraints on only the president can assert it. the president had not asserted

it. there was no legal basis for jeff sessions not answering those questions. but my guess is robert mueller isn't going to tolerate that and is going to go through and get the information that he needs to have, unless the president exerts executive privilege, in which case, we will eventually know it. but that exchange that you saw, there was just -- that's why i kept saying what's the legal basis and you heard none enunciated. >> let me change gears here while i have you and ask about what was the biggest topic in washington before about a few hours ago, the shutdown that played out over the last few days. you were one of those senators on friday night just before midnight who voted against that house bill from the republicans, their version of the funding bill. there is now this process apparently in place to try to reach some kind of deal on daca before the next government funding deadline of february 8th. if there is no deal on daca before that next deadline comes, are you ready to go to a shutdown again?

>> well, i think i have got to clarify what the deal is, because it wasn't that -- we are going to very much try to reach a deal. in fact, i'm involved in negotiations, i had two meetings yesterday, one this morning, again this afternoon, to try to work through the border security and daca question so that we can have an agreement. but mitch mcconnell's agreement was if we don't have that agreement before february 8th, then he's going to bring a bill to the floor on a neutral basis, i think he used the term level playing field so that we can have this debate and discussion on the floor of the senate. that's a big deal. that's a commitment that we didn't have in that kind of clarity, and the other important thing about it is if you recall, i'm sure you have got these clips, all week for the past two or three weeks, mitch mcconnell has been saying we're not going to do anything on daca until we know what the president wants. we don't even know what he's for, something like that. well, now he's parted ways with that argument and he's willing to take this up regardless of where the president is.

what i hope will happen is that the president will stay quiet, which he did over the weekend, let us work through this in the senate. i think we can come up with a strong bipartisan bill, getting more than 60 votes, and then the president and the house have an opportunity to weigh in. but that's the strategy. but no, i don't think there's much likelihood of another shutdown or threatened shutdown on february 8th. one other technical thing. there will be another continuing resolution on february 8th even if we get all of these things worked out, because one of the parts of this deal is an overall budget deal and it would take two or three weeks for the appropriations committee to do the paperwork to make that effective to give us a bill we can vote on. that's a kind of reasonable continuing resolution. what i don't like is using these things repeatedly just to kick difficult decisions down the road. that's why i'm talking to my colleagues about forming a no more c.r. caucus.

>> yeah. i don't think many viewers, democrat, republican or anything else, are wild about the government being run the way they have seen it being run the last number of weeks, months, maybe even years. senator king, we appreciate you taking a few minutes. coming up, pointing fingers. vice president mike pence defends his public blaming of chuck schumer for the shutdown. we will have andrea mitchell's one-on-one interview with the vice president coming up. this is "andrea mitchell reports." for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. i'm the one clocking in when you're clocking out. sensing and automatically adjusting

to your every move. does your bed do that? i'm the new sleep number 360 smart bed. let's meet at a sleep number store.

stay at la quinta. where we're changing with stylish make-overs. then at your next meeting, set your seat height to its maximum level. bravo, tall meeting man. start winning today. book now at lq.com

the trump administration declaring victory today on the end of the government shutdown. president trump tweeting out big win for republicans as democrats cave on shutdown. now i want a big win for everyone, including republicans, democrats and daca but especially for our great military and border security. should be able to get there. see you at the negotiating table. this as vice president mike pence defended his laying the blame on senate democratic leader chuck schumer, as he stood next to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. this morning pence heaped praise on the president during an interview with andrea mitchell in jerusalem. >> mr. vice president, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you, andrea. >> on this trip, you, in front of israeli television, standing next to a foreign leader, slammed senator schumer by name for the shutdown. was that appropriate? >> well, the reality is that this was an unnecessary government shutdown and the american people know it. fortunately, president trump

stood firm, republicans in the house and senate stood firm and 81 members of the senate came together to reopen the government and allow us to begin to move forward with the priorities this country really should be dealing with. first and foremost, a long-term spending bill will allow us to increase funding on our military at a level that we haven't been able to do so for many, many years, fund critical domestic priorities and now, we are also going to be able to move on to the issue of daca, the issue of a border wall, the issue of immigration reform. but it was important for us to set the record straight. the schumer shutdown failed. the american people know it and i thought it was the right time for me to make that -- >> you don't think you were being too political when you broke precedent and on a military base overseas, forward base, you told the troops that it was the democratic minority responsible for the shutdown. >> i said there was a minority in the senate. but andrea, i was standing in front of americans in uniform. americans who every hour of the

day are taking off and flying sorties in the fight against isis, and they were people who were facing a question of whether they were going to be paid, whether they and their families were going to get the benefits they earn. i wanted them to know president trump and i were standing with them, fighting for them and we were going to get the government reopened and we were going to stand with them every step of the way. >> correct, you did say the minority in the senate to them and clear you were talking about the democrats. it was a political statement. you have been criticized for that. >> i just thought it was important. here are americans in uniform on a far distant battlefield defeating the isis enemy in record time. it's extraordinary to think of the progress we have made against isis in the last year. 98% of the territory that isis had taken down over the last three years has been reclaimed by exactly those soldiers i was standing amongst. i wanted them to know that whatever was happening in

washington, d.c., the commander in chief had their back and we were going to make sure this government reopened, they and their families got the benefits they deserve and we welcome the bipartisan effort in the senate, the strong support in the house to do just that. >> the rhetoric in washington around this shutdown, there's a campaign ad, the trump campaign, which says that the democrats will be responsible. they stand in the way. they will be complicit for every murder from an illegal immigrant. is that kind of language going to help the chances of making a deal by february 8th, getting a budget deal? >> the american people want to see washington come together and solve the problems that we haven't been able to solve -- >> doesn't that hurt the chances for that happening? >> honestly, i believe the american people know that we need to deal with the issue of illegal immigration. we need to reform the diversity

lottery program and chain migration that very recently brought people into this country that did harm to americans. president trump made a commitment to build a wall, winning a national election with that as a central promise and the american people want to see border security and a border wall. i also want to say the american people also want to see us with compassion solve the daca issue and solve the issue of the status of hundreds of thousands of americans who were brought into this country as children through no fault of their own. i truly believe now that we have reopened the government, we will be able to bring parties together and i know having spoken to the president since the government reopened, he's absolutely determined to take what was a clear win for the president, a clear win for republicans, and make it a clear win for the american people. >> that is a big part of andrea's interview with vice president mike pence. there is more. we will show you more comments the vice president had to say a little bit later. coming up next, 2020 vision. could democrats eyeing

presidential runs become a thorn in chuck schumer's side? [ click, keyboard clacking ] [ click, keyboard clacking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ click, keyboard clacking ] ♪ good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours.

like you do sometimes, grandpa? we're band puffed... future. well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement

of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. you should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. watch out, piggies! get symbicort free for up to one year. visit saveonsymbicort.com today to learn more. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

monday's vote to end the

government shutdown did not end the daca debate. some of the biggest names in the democratic party with an eye toward 2020 made a political statement that could pay dividends in the presidential primaries to come but could also complicate what happens a few weeks from now. let me take you through it. the headline yesterday was the government did reopen, it was a wide vote in the senate but there were still 16 democrats, about a third, almost a third of the democratic caucus, that voted no. what's interesting when you look at these 16, almost all of them, 15 of the 16 are from blue states but look at this. beyond that, how many of them, elizabeth warren here, bernie sanders, gillibrand from new york, booker from new jersey, harris from california, that's five possible presidential candidates, all of them still saying we wanted to keep the government shutdown, we wanted to keep this fight going yesterday. that tells you something about where they think the democratic base is, where the energy in the democratic base is and that raises an issue potentially a few weeks from now. if these folks are still in that posture, if daca is not

resolved, if funding is coming up again, you can look for the candidates looking at national office, the blue state democrats, the national aspirants to say they want to have this fight again. on the other side, here's what you have. the tension here potentially, these are ten democrats up for re-election this year and all of them are in states that donald trump carried. i think here, you will see whether it's manchin in west virginia, mccaskill in missouri, heitkamp in north dakota, you have democrats that maybe are thinking about shutdown politics a little differently. so it raises a possibility of a little bit of tension there if daca doesn't get resolved, if funding is coming due february 8th and democrats have to make this decision again, some of these folks might be saying are we sure we want to go down this road, some of those candidates, potential candidates for president may want to go in an opposite direction. so that's something to keep an eye on. i think something that may have been a factor in the politics of this thing being resolved at least temporarily yesterday. let's bring back or bring in, i should say, our panel. with us, mack mccarty, former

chief of staff to president clinton, adam jentleson, chief of staff to harry reid, and rick tyler, communications director to the cruz 2016 presidential campaign. mack, let me ask you. we have the white house here, we listened last segment to the vice president, mike pence, trying to make the case to andrea mitchell this is a win for the trump white house, a win for the republicans in this shutdown. how do you see it? >> it's not a win for the 800,000 young men and women that deserve to be recognized as citizens of our country under daca. i think we need to get politics out of this, move forward and get daca done soon and get a budget in place. let's try to put politics aside. this is no way to run the proverbial railroad. it's no way to govern. i don't think president trump has made the transition yet from the campaign to governing. i think that's what the vast majority of the american people want. >> we can put this up on the screen for folks. we got a new poll, the nbc news

survey monkey poll just out in the last few minutes here, asking who do you blame for the government shutdown. three options there. you see trump at 38%, congressional democrats at 39%, congressional republicans at 18%. you could add those up and you see a little more on the republican side. adam, the senate democrats, that dynamic of look, democrats eyeing national office, they were still voting to keep this fight going yesterday, some of these red state dems with a different perspective. how does that factor in to what's going to happen the next few weeks? >> i think it points out one of the most difficult dynamics senator schumer has had to navigate, which is a mismatch between extremely conservative senate map in 2018 where he has to help defend states like montana, missouri, north dakota, paired with a party and a base that is moving, that is very strong rising up very powerfully from the left. it's a very tricky dynamic to navigate and i think it will continue to be tricky.

but i think all this spin is much ado about nothing. what you saw yesterday was not a resolution, just a reprieve, because we are going to be right back at this fight three weeks from now when we reopen the government in 2013, we did it for a year. that was a real resolution. right now, this fight is very much still alive. >> one of the most interesting sort of poll findings i saw, there were two questions here a couple days ago. let me put them on the screen. first was a basic question about daca and you see right there, just overwhelmingly popular, 84% want to keep it going. then you ask folks about priorities, what's more important, is it keeping the government open or is it maintaining daca and that's where things maybe got a little dicey for democrats. a lot more folks saying just keep the government open. rick, let me ask you now, with the government open, and this issue of daca now on the table, does that shift the equation and put more pressure on republicans to just get something done here, that 84% of the public says they want done? >> it may to some extent. i agree that this fight isn't over, but look, part of the

thing is when you poll on government shutdown, you really get bad data. the reason is, you can't poll and say are you for a government shutdown. everybody says no. so it's really hard to determine what that means when you start comparing it to keep the government shutdown or give daca. i don't think that's really good data. i can remember, i think this is really devastating for the democrats and chuck schumer because i can remember back in 2009, i talked to a lot of hispanic leaders when the democrats controlled everything and there was a lot of talk and optimism and hope that the president and democrats would really do something on immigration and solve daca. well, here we are nine years later, they still haven't solved daca and what's happening now is the progressive base is beginning to think this thing keeps getting, you know, the leverage, we'll have leverage this week, then we'll have it next week and we'll get it again, and they just have stopped believing them. i think that's going to be a problem for, as you pointed out, those presidential candidates potentially who are going to run in 2020 against trump.

who do you believe, because nothing's really happened on immigration, when there's been lots of opportunity for it to happen, and in this case, schumer really flinched and actually, the republicans were making it easy for him because they made the shutdown so painless that no one was even really bothered for it. what was the urgency to reopen the government without getting a deal? >> we showed a couple tweets on the subject of the shutdown from the president. that is not all he's been tweeting about today. let me show you this from this morning, the president saying thank you to general john kelly, his chief of staff. he says he was doing a fantastic job and all the staff and others in the white house for a job well done, long hours and fake reporting makes your job more difficult, but it is gralalways great to win and few have won more than us. it was interesting to see him singling out his chief of staff. there has been a lot of reporting and there was a pretty public rebuke from the president to his chief of staff last week after comments that kelly had made about the president's stance on immigration. you are former chief of staff, the perfect person to ask this question to, what do you make of

that relationship? what do you make of what the president's saying now? what do you make of how long this can last? >> well, time will judge on your last question, thank goodness i never had those kind of uncomfortable moments where president clinton and i had a public disagreement. there's got to be a sense of rapport, a working relationship and a trust between the chief of staff and the president. if you lose that, you really just can't function effectively. having said that, i think general kelly has done a good job as chief of staff. i know general kelly, i like and respect him. he clearly put forward some ideas that the president has evolved on the wall and so forth. i think most of us viewed that as sensible and good news and of course, the president quickly, quickly drew that back. so i think this is kind of president trump's step forward to say we are all united now and going forward, i hope that proves to be a positive. >> it was interesting, too, in this shutdown fight, the president active on twitter but not in public, not out there at

rallies, not out there making public statements. some people wondering, we heard angus king in our earlier segment saying this is a good model going forward legislatively. what do you think of that? >> yeah, i think the biggest difficulty democrats have had in this is one democrat was quoted as saying negotiating with president trump is like negotiating with jell-o, and that was borne out in this process. you never know where he's coming down, causing a problem on twitter due to something unrelated or having senator schumer go into his office on thursday, think he was walking out of the oval office with a commitment from the president of the united states,then have his chief of staff call him to walk it back a few hours later. the president has been a source of instability and uncertainty in these negotiations and not in a productive way, so probably the more he stays out of it, the better. but there's not a lot of evidence so far to suggest that he's going to be willing to sign off on much of anything that's

acceptable to democrats. >> all right. thanks to all of you for the time. appreciate that. still to come, in session. we will talk to the vice chair of the senate intelligence committee, mark warner of virginia, as we learn today the special counsel has interviewed attorney general jeff sessions, getting even closer to the oval office. first, path to peace. has the trump administration's announcement of moving the u.s. embassy to jerusalem jeopardized talks between israel and the palestinian palestinians? more of andrea mitchell's interview with vice president mike pence, next.

♪ there's nothing more important than your health. so if you're on medicare or will be soon, you may want more than parts a and b here's why. medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses.

the rest is up to you. you might want to consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any medicare supplement insurance plan, these help pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and, these plans let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. you could stay with the doctor or specialist you trust... or go with someone new. you're not stuck in a network... because there aren't any. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide and find the aarp medicare supplement plan that works for you. there's a range to choose from, depending on your needs and your budget. rates are competitive. and they're the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp.

like any of these types of plans, they let you apply whenever you want. there's no enrollment window... no waiting to apply. so call now. remember, medicare supplement plans help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. you'll be able to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. whether you're on medicare now or turning 65 soon, it's a good time to get your ducks in a row. duck: quack! call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today.

vice president mike pence announcing the new united states embassy in israel will open in jerusalem next year. that is earlier than first expected. the move has been slammed by the u.s.'s arab allies but this morning in jerusalem, the vice president told andrea mitchell it will improve chances for peace in the middle east. >> in your speech, the israeli parliament, you gave unconditional support to israel, and the palestinians feel that this is adding insult to injury. they now say that the u.s. is no longer an honest broker to negotiate a peace deal. >> the united states has played a leading role in seeking peace

here in the middle east now for decades. >> you have changed that with your speech yesterday. >> i don't believe so. what i said yesterday is long-standing american policy. the american people cherish our relationship with the state of israel. we stand with israel for her security and her prosperity. but in the same breath, i said yesterday what president trump said on december 6th. even while he announced we are recognizing jerusalem here as the capital of israel, moving our embassy here, he also said that we are committed to peace. we are committed to maintaining the the status quo on the holy sites, committed to allowing a process to go forward before there's any final status with regard to boundaries and also, that if both parties agree that we will support a two-state solution. my hope is that that message got through as well. and the palestinians will find their way back to the table, that they walked away from the negotiating table in 2014 but my

hope, i think the president's hope, is that the palestinians will see their way clear now that we have taken the issue of recognizing the capital of israel off the table, to move on to the issues that should be able to be negotiated to achieve a lasting peace. >> sir, you are a man of such deep faith which is so apparent, especially here in the holy city, and even the coptic christians whom you wanted to meet with say that that decision about the embassy in jerusalem has undercut the chances for peace, not improved the chances for peace. they wouldn't even meet with you. >> you know, as i talked to president el sisi in egypt and king abdullah in georgia on this trip, i heard from friends with whom we have great common cause and a strong alliance that they disagreed with the decision that president trump made to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel, but they moved on and my hope is that all of our friends in the region, whether they be in the christian

community, the jewish community, the muslim community, or in the palestinian authority, will recognize that president donald trump is committed to peace and the man who wrote "the art of the deal" would love to be the president and finally reaches a peace deal between the israelis and palestinians. coming up, sessions questions. does robert mueller's interview with jeff sessions signal he's getting closer to the president? the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee, senator mark warner, joins me next. shawn evans: it's 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get.

(vo)just one touch.ith with fancy feast creamy delights, she can have just the right touch of real milk. easily digestible, it makes her favorite entrées even more delightful. fancy feast creamy delights. love is in the details.

now that we know robert mueller's russia probe has reached attorney general jeff session, how long until the president himself faces questions from the special counsel? joining us now is the vice chair of the senate intelligence committee mark warner of virginia. let me first start just, again, with the news of the hour, that the attorney, jeff session, last week was interviewed by agents of robert mueller, the special counsel. what's your reaction to that news? >> well, special prosecutor mueller doesn't give us a heads up who he's going to interview, b but, you know, i think it's appropriate. the attorney general, remember,

got himself partially into these problems because he was not forth coming in terms of his contacts with the russians. he's had to recuse himself. from oversight of the investigation. and i think it's very appropriate just as our committee wanted to talk to the attorney general, that special prosecutor mueller would. >> do you take -- because we had some reporting at the top of the hour, some legal experts suggesting this could be a sign the investigation is near its end stations, that that would be the moment to talk to somebody like the attorney general. do you have that sense? >> i'm not going to weigh in on the mueller investigation. i know we've got a number of additional witnesses that we have scheduled. we continue to see new threads of information. we're going to want to see back some of the principals that the senators themselves have a chance to question them. i still think -- and not knowing the particulars of what mueller and where he's at, but i think there's more to come.

again, i fundamentally believe that mike flynn would not have gotten off with a single perjure count and not having a son even be subject to any indictments, if he did not have more stories to tell. so i believe there's more to come. but time will be the judge of that. >> we have your colleague from the committee there angus king on earlier. last year when jeff sessions appeared before the intelligence committee, there was some frustrations about jeff sessions and what you saw as his unwillingness maybe to be forthcoming in conversations with the president, some other matters. let me ask it this way. do you have a hope there is information you were trying to get from him that the special counsel perhaps was able to get from him? >> well, the special counsel has a lot more tools. very at ability to prosecute. so i absolutely hope that he's

able to extract more from a number of these witnesses. but the one thing that we know is true is that this president and this administration has done everything they can to try and impede the russia investigation. you've got not only the attorney general's failure to disclose, but you also have these more recent reports that it sounds like, again, at the instigation of the president, the attorney general trying to convince the new fbi director christopher wray to go out and fire a long-term, you know, career fbi senior official, andy mccabe. this is just not right. this is not the way the legal system operates in the united states. and what continues to bother me is not only the administration but with some really loose cannons coming out of the house of representatives. that are leading this full-fledged attack on the credibility of the fbi and the

credibility of the department of justice. i think that is dangerous activity. that doesn't happen in a democracy where we basically trust the integrity of our law enforcement entities. i think some of the damage this administration, more particularly some of these characters in the house are doing, will be felt long after this particular investigation. >> i want to ask you quickly about the shutdown. you were among the senators, many senators yesterday voting to end the shutdown. look, february 8th, we've got another deadline there. the terms of this deal yesterday were that the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has agreed to a process that may potentially get to some kind of bipartisan deal on daca. but even then it would only be a senate deal. there's still the question of the house. look, if this question of daca is not resolved by february 8th, are you ready to go to a shutdown again? >> listen, steve, what i think we got out of this was a commitment from the majority leader and i would echo what angus king, my friend, said, who i think paraphrased ronald reagan, you know, trust but

verify. and to my mind, and what made one of the major reasons that i voted for reopening, beyond the fact that i saw the damage that was being done to constituents across my state, where we've got a lot of federal employees or folks that didn't get meals on wheels yesterday because of the shutdown, was that dozen moderate republicans we met with for hours on end on saturday and sunday who kind of looked us in the eye, individual to individual, senator to senator, and said hey, we want to work with you to get a bipartisan solution. to mack sure that these 800,000-plus daca kids have a right to stay in this country because it's the morally right thing to do. honestly, the economically right thing to do since 97% of these kids are either working, going to school or serving in the military. >> all right, senator mark warner from virginia. by the way, you were also in an interesting -- one of the more interesting reports i read about this shutdown. i guess a meeting in susan collins office.

she has a passing stick that's passed around when people talk. there you see her showing it off. the report here that lamar alexander tossed the stick to you at one point and he missed and it chipped her glass elephant ornament. we have five seconds but let me ask you, is it you or lamar, who's paying for the new glass elephant? >> listen, lamar's a great guy, i'm glad it was lamar throwing a stick at me. some of the other members, i might have been a little more worried. lamar actually brought a basketball the next day so we could make sure as we exchange the stick, that we wouldn't maybe do as much damage. >> all right, there you go, mark warner, senator from virginia, thank you for taking a few moments. this is andrea mitchell reports. . i even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, . a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. but whatever trail i take, i go for my best. so if there's something better than warfarin, i'll go for that too. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis had both. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to,

as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... ...and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. i'm still going for my best. and for eliquis ask your doctor about eliquis. ♪ you or joints. something for your heart... but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.

that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. peter alexander up next. take it away. >> we appreciate you being with us this afternoon. from washington, d.c., i'm peter alexander in for craig melvin. president trump scheduled to speak this hour from the white house. expected to announce new tariffs. but will likely be peppered with questions about today's big story in the russia investigation. nbc news confirming that attorney general jeff sessions has spoken to the special counsel office. sessions becoming the first member that we know has done so. that means seven top officials in the trump white house and campaign has now spoke within robert muel