mueller or if he wants mueller fired he has to order somebody to do it, brand goes and there is no one who is confirmed below her who has that position or that authority in the chart to do it. >> the question is who he can get confirmed into any of these jobs. >> never a boring moment. my thanks to jeremy, reverend al sharpton and i'm nicolle wallace, "mtp daily" starts right now. >> it would only have to be a recess appointment. >> and he's compressed willingness to outside advisers to do so. and i wouldn't rule out congress yielding to his will. they did so on the memo a few short days ago. >> nicolle wallace, we will find out. that is just the secondary story on what is a wild day. these abuse allegations and the white house reaction seems to be changing by the moment. john kelly, we'll get to that in

a moment. nicolle, good to see you. >> have a good show. >> and if it is friday, the president stands by his man. >> tonight defending rob porter. >> did a very good job while at the white house. >> president trump praises the former senior white house aide who is facing spousal abuse allegations. >> he said he's innocent. and i think you have to remember that. >> plus the black hole in the white house. why the trump orbit keeps swallowing up careers and ruining reputations. and why the u.s. is still not ready to fight russia election meddling as midterms quickly approach. this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. ♪ ♪ good evening. welcome to "mtp daily." i'm katy tur in new york in for chuck todd. no, it is not a monday. i'm here because chuck is

getting inducted into the miami-dade county public schools alumni hall of fame so we're sending our congratulations to chuck. we're jealous you are in sunny miami. but we begin tonight with the black eye on this white house. the president staff initially stood by rob porter, a top aide accused of spousal abuse and it backfired. the white house is now trying to clean up the mess insisting that this kind of alleged behavior has no place in the white house. but that wasn't the message we got from the president today. the message from him was -- well, it was something. >> well, we wish him well. he worked very hard. found out about it recently and i was surprised by it. but we certainly wish him well. it is a -- obviously a tough time for him. he did a very good job when he was in the white house. and we hope he has a wonderful career and hopefully he will have a great career ahead of

him. but it was very sad when we heard about it. and certainly he's also very sad now. he also, as you probably know, he said he's innocent and think you have to remember that. he said very strongly yesterday that he's innocent. so you'll have to talk to him about that. but we absolutely wish him well. did a very good job while at the white house. >> him, him, him. no her her her. and unfortunately this is a well-documented pattern for this president. he defends him over her. last november he defended roy moore. he said it didn't happen. last year he also defended bill o'reilly. i don't think bill did anything wrong. two years ago he defended roger ailes, he's a very good person. trump defended bill clinton during the lewinsky scandal. he is really a victim himself. trump even defended mike tyson in the early '90s from allegations of rape. mike tyson was railroaded.

which brings us back to porter. multiple sources tell nbc news that president trump is frustrated with the staff and he's openly musing about replacing kelly as his chief of staff over what has happened. why? is it because kelly and white house counsel don mcgahn knew about the allegations but they didn't do much about it? is it because the white house press shop run by hope hicks who is reported to be dating porter aggressively stood by porter. guys, based on the president's reaction you have to wonder if he is mad because he had an accused spousal abuser on his staff, or if he's mad because it is a story. i'm join the now by sam nunberg a early political consultant and an adviser to the trump campaign. sam, it is great to see you. >> thank you very much. >> why does donald trump eckive okay on spousal abuse and never defend her or she. >> in this case, today, when he is president of the united

states, it was unmitigated mistake. i don't know why he did that. if i interpreted knowing him, if he says something like that, he means i'm not here to defend him -- he said he was innocent, we didn't know the full facts, we didn't have the pictures, i didn't know about this. that is how i interpret it. >> you were listening just then. before donald trump was president of the united states he also defended the him and not hers. why does he defend him and not her. >> friends of his. >> so if it is a friend of his. >> mike tyson he was successful and had championship fights at trump casino. >> does that make it okay. >> it doesn't make it okay. i'm not defending this. i'm telling you my interpretation and perhaps i'm wrong. >> um, i'm going to raise this because you've raised it. not because i think it should be raised but you raised in the "fire and fury" book. you asked is trump a good person. and an intelligence person and a

capable person. trump's long time political aide, i don't know. but i know he's a star. so is he a good person? >> he can be. certain times he is and certain times he's not. certain timesco be -- i've seen him be veryalityuristic and i've seen him give money to the pastor's wife being held prisoner, he took care of that family for a long time. a lot of people don't know that in iran -- the gentleman in iran. he's done -- and he didn't want credit for that when i worked for him. he's done very nice things. he's helped employees pay for their kids' schools. i know that for a fact. so there is that side of him. but there is another side of him. >> i want to -- about the other side of him. the side that doesn't defend women who have been -- who are accusing husbands or whom ever of beating them up. these are serious allegations. besides with the women, he didn't do it moore or o'reilly or roger ailes or mike tyson and if he sides with the women, is he inviting somebody to

apparently -- or to side with his accusers? because it shows that he could be credibly accused if he allows somebody else to? >> that is a good question. i never thought of it that way. i thought with roger ailes an o'reilly, he knew them and were friends and perhaps this is not behavior he was familiar with. but that is a very good question. and ai think these are issues that will come up. they will come up longer into -- if the democrats take over the house, which i think they're likely to, especially with this budget deal coming out, and this is a major issue to help him. he wasn't served well by his staff and there were other issues going on here. >> so you think this is a staff issue more so than an issue of judgment. >> you're bringing up the judgment part. i don't believe he knew about this. or had any idea. i don't think did -- about an fbi clearance for rob porter was taken to him nor should it have been. i think that if i was john kelly and i came into the situation and i inherited it, and i had

heard there were these fbi clearance issues and i had not seen the pictures and heard it was being investigated, i would have given him the benefit of the doubt without knowing the full facts, especially because he was dating the communications director. >> you think that is what -- is that at issue here, he was dating hope hicks. >> i think that helped porter navigate this issue for the time until it became very public. >> what does it say about cory lewandowski. >> what do you mean. >> cory lewandowski, there is rumors about the two of them. >> they had an affair. i believe they had an affair. >> do you think this comes down to hope. a lot of people are wondering about her. you heard nicolle wallace say her sources are questioning hope's judgment more so -- >> i saw that during the election. you were there covering the election. there was an incident with michelle fields, and cory was going to be charged and booked and hope issued that knee-jerk statement with her name on it attacking michelle fields and that did not serve then candidate trump well. >> you say this is a hope thing.

donald trump himself is defending people who have been accused. he defended bill clinton before he didn't defend -- when he was running against bill clinton. >> and people defended bill clinton, including on this network by the way. >> what about those who decide to get -- lack of a better word, into a bed with donald trump and into the white house, those he hires, he said he was going to hire the best people. the best people. we have him on tape saying i'll have the best people doing all of the best jobs. michael flynn has pled guilty of lying to the fbi and paul manafort indicted and rob porter accused of domestic abuse and ommar ossa fired and now dishing about it on big brother and price accused of insider trading and using taxpayer money for private jets. brenda fitzgerald resigned after she bought tobacco stocks and carl icon pushed for changes to

benefit his portfolio. are these the best people, sam? >> well, i r th-- are they the best people. i don't think mike flynn should have been fired or i don't think steve bannon thought flynn should have been hired. but out of loyalty, he wanted to give him a position and he knew he couldn't get confirmed. >> does he have the best people on staff right now? >> i have a -- i think they have a difficult job. i'm not here to criticize. i saw cory on fox news criticizing cali and he's planting stories, ike e i'm n-- not here to talk about john kelly, it wasn't a situation that a four star general marine there to bring in order and this is the troops he and what he int -- inherited. >> should don mcgahn resign. >> i don't think he could in light of the investigation. >> should anyone resign. >> should anyone resign in this white house over this. perhaps i think they should

conduct a real internal review and it shouldn't just focus on john kelly but there are other players in this. >> sam nunberg, good to see you and get your insight. and we have more reaction from inside and outside of the white house of the controversy involving rob porter. chief of staff reince priebus spoke to hugh hewitt and mike pence sat down with lester holt in an exclusive interview while on the side lines of the olympic games in south korea. take a listen. >> there are questions about chief of staff kelly, of what he knew about these accusations that porter had been abusive to his ex-wives. are you concerned he may have had this knowledge and didn't act on it? >> well, i was appalled when i learned of the allegations against rob porter. at time he resigned is when i first became aware of the allegations of domestic abuse and there is no tolerance andn -- in this white house and

no place in america for domestic abuse. that being said, i think the white house has acknowledged they could have handled it better. when i return to washington democrat, i'll look into the matter and i'll share my counsel with the president directly. >> did he make a mistake? and is it a firing mistake? because i think more than two chief of staffs in the first year would be a disaster. >> i don't know what anyone really knew after i left. but it is hard to say. because i don't know what was discussed. i don't know the specifics. what i know, though, is the rob porter that we all knew in the west wing. one of those sort of moments where people just said that -- you're kidding me. we're not talking about rob porter are we? >> let's bring in the panel. caitlyn burns with real clear politics. susan dell mercio and iesha moody mills. we had to have women with three names on today. that is the bar that we needed to overcome.

let's start by getting to the president's response to rob porter. the president not saying the words "she" or "her", it is all about the man accused of beating up his ex-wives. >> what a disapointing pattern that we have. where we have a president that doesn't show empathy for women period. and that is so problematic and i think that all of his supporters who have been women are watching and they're seeing this. all he had to do was say, you know, we really feel for women in domestic violence situations. we feel for women who feel like they have been abused. but he can't do that -- because woe deal with the fact that people accuse him of that behavior. >> is it all about him. >> of course it is. we're talking about donald trump, right. >> and the problem relationship

with women but on topp it he has a problem in that he put this concept, this twisted sense of concept of loyalty above competence, above moral right-ness. he doesn't care if he likes, he will make an excuse for you to be around. michael flynn is a perfect example of that. jared kushner still does not have security clearance and yet is exposed to all of this. there is a lot of problems with this white house that needs to look at, as your earlier guest. they need to do a proper investigation of those handling classified information and really the communications staff needs to take a hard look at itself. how they thought this story wouldn't get out is beyond me. i just don't know -- >> this is a staff issue or is this -- an issue with the top? >> there are so many layers to this issue. really, you have the -- what the president said today or didn't say today with the back drop of the metoo movement and you have the question of the security clearance, how a top level

staffer handing the president his daily information does not have the top security clearance and was possibly exposed to blackmail. because everybody else seemed to know about his background. it just -- it defies any sort of common sense that they weren't able to kind of just deal with this. the least they could have done today was have the president address the women's issues. >> hold on. let's talk about that for a moment. that was not on the schedule to have reporters called into the meeting and called into the oval office. they did that at the last minute which means they knew and donald trump knew that he would be asked about rob porter. that is what was anticipated. they knew it was going to happen. and that was the response that he gave. all about him, all about he, not about she, not about her, and it is the same thing that he's been criticized in the past for. so is there not a single person

on this staff -- i don't know maybe the chief of staff getting a whole lot of fire who may have whispered in the president's ear, in order to make this a little bit better, you've got to show some sympathy for the victims. >> and just like donald trump. and you covered him his whole chaim -- campaign. and he doubles down on the wrong thing because he feels i'm going to say it the way -- this was a good guy and i'll get behind him. it doesn't make any sense. it is wrong and that is why he hovered around 35 to 37% in the approval ratings. because he wants to do it his way and prove he was right. >> what do women do in 2018 and 2020. he won white women in 2016. he won them. he did not win minority women. do they come out in the same numbers they did for the white women -- come out in the same numbers for donald trump or do minority women come out and overshadow them and take the presidency away. >> let's be real. black women have been saving america from itself for sometime now. white women have been voting for

the republicans cycle after cycle when things like this happen, they're voting behavior hasn't changed. >> i'm talking about -- >> in 2017 it did change. look at virginia and we see it in alabama. >> now it is a party thing. >> i'm talking about alabama. >> but with the women it is. if you look at the data, if you look at the presidentials, the majority of white women vote republican, but to your earlier question, we're talking about an incident of today. but this is just a complete lapse of morals, generally with this administration and with this president that we key seeing play out over and over again. this guy has no values. and i think that that is fundamentally what women will be looking at in the midterms. and i think this will connect with women and families. the fact that the guy leading the country doesn't have any values they could relate to. >> let's talk for a moment about john kelly because there are questions how long he will last. according to washington post, he's trying to rewrite history

during a staff meeting he said he took action to remove porter within 40 minutes of learning the allegations brought by the two ex-wives were credible according to the officials. he told the staff he took immediate and direct action one of the officials said adding that people after the meeting expressed disbelief with one another and felt his latest account was not true. we're also getting this statement from john kelly directly. he said he didn't know more about the allegations until tuesday when he learned it was true and 40 minutes later he was gone. on tuesday night at 9:00 p.m., this is john kelly's statement attributed to his name. rob porter is a man of true integrity and honor and i can't say enough good things about him. he's a friend, a confidant and a trusted professional. i'm proud to serve alongside him. did he learn about the allegations after 9:00 p.m. and was he gone on tuesday night or are -- or john kelly trying to make things better for himself? >> and remember after the photos had been released, and he came out and said there is no place for domestic violence.

but i stand by my statement about porter. i think that was very telling. and remember this comes after john kelly has already been under fire for various missteps. remember just earlier this week he had the comments on immigration. >> lazy dreamers. >> exactly. and consistently brought into the white house to temper the mood. not necessarily restrain donald trump, but at least keep everything else in order. and we've seen over the past few weeks him at the center. >> lazy dreamers, robert e. lee was a honorable man and smearing frederica wilson and the list goes on. lazy dreamers again. and a larger question that i think folks have is if there were photos would this have played out the way it did. were the photos the nail of the coffin for rob porter. if there were no photos would he still be allowed to be there and if you are a woman and you don't have that sort of proof, that

does mean this white house will not believe you. guys? there is so much more to talk about. so stay with us. we're going to come back. ahead, could this be the beginning of the end for john kelly. what his possible departure could mean for a white house already in turmoil. this new day looks nothing like yesterday. trails are covered. paths aren't what they used to be. roads nowhere to be found. ( ♪ ) and it's exactly what you're looking for. ( ♪ ) and it's exactly what you're looking for. you might be missing something.y healthy. your eyes. that's why there's ocuvite. ocuvite helps replenish nutrients your eyes can lose as you age. it has lutein, zeaxanthin and omega-3. ocuvite. be good to your eyes.

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ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. welcome back. some breaking news in the last few minutes. nbc news has just confirmed that rachel brand, the associate attorney general which is the number three at the justice department is stepping down. just last week we told you about brand who would be tasked with overseeing the special counsel's -- bob mueller's russia probe if the president fires rod rosenstein. brand, a republican, has spent a number of years inside and outside of the d.o.j. just last week attorney general jeff sessions praised brand and rosenstein saying they both represent the kind of quality and leadership needed at the

justice department. we're back in 60 seconds with more "mtp daily."

welcome back. president trump is openly speculating about potential replacements of rod rosenstein after the departure. the president is increasingly venting about kelly and contemplating a staff change. in "the new york times" best-seller, gate keeper, chris whipple spoke with 17 chief of staff about their experience in the west wing and joins me now. chris, it is great to have you. i want to get your top line take on what is happening in the white house right now. >> this is a broken white house for a year now. it is unable to do anything right. and now it is free fall. and of course kelly is the guy who famously said that he wasn't put on the earth to manage donald trump. he was going to be the guy who made sure that the information flow was efficient and he was going to make the trains run on

time in the west wing. now the trains are completely off the rails. if you asked me six months ago who was the worst white house chief of staff i would say don regan had a lock on that title. i think kelly is giving regan a run for the title. >> wow! >> i just think that he's failed on many levels. >> because he is not a political person. >> that is a lot of it. i think he's been -- he's been politically out of his depth from the day that he stepped up to the podium and the white house briefing room and attacked representative wilson with a fake story. >> it is not politically out of depth or is that just not right. he's attacking frederica wilson for something she never said and refusing to apologize and saying dreamers who didn't sign up for daca and you could understand if they don't want to be deported were too lazy. and saying the civil war as a failure -- these -- are these just not political or is it --

>> it is just wrong on every level. it is politically inept. it is morally wrong. and it shows also -- i mean, if one of the big problems here is that we all thought he would be -- or people thought he would be the grown-up in the room. he would rub those rough edges off of donald trump. that's with unrealistic. instead he's been the opposite of that. he's doubled down on every worst instinct that donald trump has. donald trump is a human wrecking ball. he has no idea how to govern. and kelly is his enabler. that is campaigning. that is not governing. to governor, you have to reach out and build coalitions. kelly didn't seem to get that. >> what do you make of the new york times report that donald trump has called reince priebus to vent about kelly. priebus denies this but the new york times is standing by the story, it doesn't surprise me. >> it doesn't surprise me and i bet you he has because he talks to priebus regularly on a phone not monitored -- >> do you think kelly is worse

than priebus. >> i think -- reince priebus had almost mission impossible because -- and maybe kelly does too. but for kelly -- for reince it was even worse because donald trump never empowered priebus to do the job -- he never had the authority. what makes kelly's failure all the more glaring is that kelly was empowered by trump and kelly has failed to do time and time again -- he's failed to do the most important thing to tell the president what he doesn't want to hear from charlottesville to the release of the nunes memo, which was a partisan smear. time and again he's failed that test. but he's even failed by his own limited definition. which was to make the west wing run smoothly. >> i have two really important questions. one, should john kelly resign? there is reporting from the new york times and abc news that he is expressed a willingness to

resign and nbc news has not confirmed that but we do have a entertainment from the white house from hogan gitly, the deputy press secretary saying general kelly has not offered his resignation but has expressed the willingness to resign, not to my knowledge, no. >> well, it is -- >> do you think he should. >> it is up to kelly. every chief of staff should be prepared to resign. and every chief of staff who thinks that he's outlived his usefulness should be prepared to do it and prepared to offer his resignation. whether or not trump would take it, accept it at this point. who would want the job. >> who would replace him. we're talking about mick mulvaney. who could go to the white house and make things better. >> maybe somebody like jim mattis could walk into the oval office and close the door and tell donald trump hard truths. i can't really think of anybody else off the top of my head who

could do that. but it may -- >> fred trump, his father coming back. >> so somebody was close to me -- close to -- forgive me, to donald trump once said that john kelly was fred trump reaching from beyond the grave. this was the guy that he wished donald trump had grown up to be. and yet kelly has been a huge disappointment. >> chris whipple, great to see you. see you at 10:00 p.m. ahead, are we ready for russia? secretary of state rex tillerson said more election meddling is all but guaranteed and it is not clear the u.s. can do anything about it. we'll talk about former homeland security secretary jeh johnson about what the u.s. needs to be doing now. liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. liberty did what? yeah, with liberty mutual all i needed to do to get an estimate was snap a photo of the damage and voila! voila! i wish my insurance company had that... wait! hold it... hold it boys... there's supposed to be three of you... where's your brother? where's your brother?

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ahead, things get awkward in the olympic vip box for vice president mike pence.

welcome back. it has been 16 months sin the country's top intelligence agencies told us that russian -- that the russian government hacked into our election system. it was that day, october 7th, 2016, when they said state elections systems were also compromised. since then multiple congressional investigations have been launched but now only weeks from the first votes cast in the 2018 midterms, those investigations have yet to produce any findings or its findings. when it sounds like the senate intelligence committee will come

out a report -- with a report in the last few weeks of this month. but is that too little too late? this week rex tillerson appeared to say yes. >> is the u.s. better prepared this time around than 2016. >> i don't know that -- i don't know that i would say we're better prepared because the russians will adapt as well. if it -- if it is their intention to interfere, they're going to find ways to do that. and we can take steps we can take, but this is something that once they decide they're going to do it, it is very difficult to preempt it. >> joining me now is jeh johnson, who wrote that big intelligence report about russian hacking way back in october of 2016. secretary johnson. >> it seems like a long time ago. >> it feels like a lifetime ago. first off, what is your reaction to rex tillerson saying that -- is seems like he's shrugging his shoulders a bit. >> it is good that he beginning

to sound at alarm. and that actually is probably the most forceful statement i've seen from this administration about russian hacking into our democracy. when it comes to super powers, we all tend to behave the same way. if you make something cost prohibitive, then you deter the actor from doing it again. and we're -- we've yet to do that when it comes to the russian government. we've yet to say to them, hey, don't do this or else. we began that in the closing days of the obama administration. but it is really up to this current administration to follow through on those actions. >> i've asked you this before and so i know the answer, will russia try to interfere again and the answer has been yes. >> i'm very concerned that in the midterms, in the 2020 election we could see russian influence because basically they've been given very little reason to stop. >> let's talk about what we know to have happened. jeanette manfra who worked under you, the head of cybersecurity at dhs was -- in an interview

with nbc news talking about the targeting of the 21 states and she am fassized th -- emphasize things have been done to bolster those 20 states. and some of the states say they were never interfered with. there is a discrepancy between dhs and the states that say, no, we're not -- we're not one of the 21. we haven't had any problems. can you clarify any of that for me? >> well, yes. we have to be careful here. first, there is an excellent report that just came out authored by the center for american progress on what states are doing to improve their election cybersecurity. and it grades all 50 states. nobody got an a. and a lot of them were in the middle of the pack. b., c. and d. and a couple of f's. now what we saw in 2016 was scanning and probing of voter registration data bases. and in several instances, and we

said this in 2016, we saw the russians gaining access to voter registration data. as i sit here, so far as i know, the russian government did not alter voter registration data or delete it in some way. but we know that they gained access to that information. because much tv does exist online. and that is the real vulnerability here. >> how confident are we in that, that russians were not able to manipulate or we're not -- >> that is why i give you that very lawyerly answer as i sit here. this is what i know. i've been out of government -- i've been not reading intelligence reports now for over a year. at this point i have to say, not a lot would surprise me. >> so what would be the red flags in 2018 when we start really voting in earnest. >> well, first of all, the primaries for 2018 are not that far off. >> they are not. >> we're talking may or june. and the primaries for the presidential election are now less than two years away. january 2020.

i think we have to be concerned about two things. one, efforts to alter voter registration data and what we know to be efforts to disseminate information, positive or negative, about candidates in these elections, promoted by foreign actors. we saw that in 2016. and it is something that i think we have to be very concerned about in 2018. >> the senate intel election meddling report is coming out potentially at the end of the month, soon. is that too late? >> well, better late than never. that is what i would say. i'm very concerned that what is happening in congress is degenerated into a lot of partisan back and forth and partisan bickering about the whole russia issue. but lawmakers ought to care about foreign efforts to infiltrate our democracy, whether it is a republican or a democrat. and we shouldn't have to wait

again until we see this happening to do something about it. 2016 was the wake-up call. >> the other day you told cynthia mcfadden that states haven't done enough to protect themselves and jeanette manfra disagrees. i want your response. >> that could be a glass is half full and glass is half empty way of looking at things. as i said, there was an excellent report by the senate for american progress that was just authored that a a comprehensive 50 state evaluation that graded each state and shows there is a lot of work to do. i'm pleased that a number of states are getting their message, doing things but not enough is being done. >> let's talk about the pdb. in today's news, the presidential daily briefing. good d-- did you get if and sit in while you were dhs secretary. >> every morning when i got to work at 6:30 my intelligence book is sitting there on my desk and the first thing that i went

through, i read it, and then two hours later i would have a meeting with the staff and they would highlight what i've already read and then if i had time, with all due respect to the press, i would look at what the newspapers say so see how the press was covering what i -- >> so we would be third in that line. >> somewhere -- third in that line, correct. >> what do you make of donald trump not reading it every day and -- and get oral briefings sometimes and -- and this is according to the report, 11:00 a.m. he's up all morning watching fox news before that. do you think that -- are you concerned that what he sees on fox news is kroring or skewing what he might be -- >> i know from personal experience when you are in national security, your daily intelligence briefing are your ize an ears for doing the job. and if you are not reading the intel, you are flying blind. it really is your eyes and ears for what we need to know about threat streams, about weak

spots, about what foreign governments are doing, terrorist plots on the homeland and so in a thick book, the briefer can highlight certain things. there are ways to call out certain data that is particularly important. i saw that for three years when i was reading this stuff on a daily basis. but in my opinion it is indispensable for the president or the secretary of homeland security or anybody else in national security to have access. >> could this be the most concerning thing about this presidency, that he's not paying close attention to the pdb. >> well none of us -- none of us know what he told -- it does concern me that anybody in his position should be taking very seriously the obligation to understand threats to our homeland and in my experience, a part of that is reading the daily pdb. >> i asked that because pdb, bin laden determined to attack

within the u.s., that was set to have not been acted upon properly back in 2000 and 2001. could we be seeing something -- are you concerned that we could see something like that again in these pdb and it is not properly focused on? >> our -- i'll answer it this way. we've come a long way since 9/11 in our ability to connect dots. and to see threat streams at the earliest stages to the point where you have to sort out the noise from the reality. we're able now i think to do a much better job in the intelligence community to see plotting in the early stage an it is up to those who deliver the intelligence to the president, whether it is verbally or in writing, to highlight for him what the real threats are. >> secretary jeh johnson, good to see you. thank you for coming in and laying this out for us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. and this sunday chuck will look at whether we're prepared to stop russian election

meddling and the growing chaos at the white house. make sure to watch "meet the press" this sunday on your local nbc station. ahead, tension in the vip box at the olympics opening ceremony. vice president pence seated feet away from kim jong-un's sister. this is something that i'm really passionate about- i really want to help. i was on my way out of this life. there are patients out there that don't have a lot of time. finally, it was like the sun rose again and i was going to start fighting back now. when those patients come to me and say, "you saved my life...." my life was saved by a two week old targeted therapy drug. that's what really drives me to- to save lives.

welcome back. the olympic games are underway in south korea. the temperatures were frigid

during the opening ceremony and they seem to be a few degrees colder even in the stands. that is vice president mike pence watching the ceremony with his wife karen. seated just behind them was the sister of north korean dictator kim jong-un. kim yo jong is leading the north korean delegation despite being just feet apart, the two did not speak. but vice president pence did speak to my colleague lester holt for an exclusive interview catching tonight on nbc "nightly news." and in a moment, we'll have more "mtp daily." stay with us. this new day looks nothing like yesterday. trails are covered. paths aren't what they used to be. roads nowhere to be found. ( ♪ ) and it's exactly what you're looking for. ( ♪ )

and it's exactly what you're looking for. i needthat's whenvice foi remembered that my ex-ex- ex-boyfriend actually went to law school, so i called him. he didn't call me back! if your ex-ex- ex-boyfriend isn't a lawyer, call legalzoom and we'll connect you with an attorney. legalzoom. where life meets legal. welcome back, it's time for the lid, the panel is back. kaitlin, susan and aisha. let's talk about -- she's also first in line, or was at least if rod rosenstein got fired. >> yeah, i mean look, this is a

very ill lustroustrious job. i would wonder why she's backing out of this so soon, and it's not a surprise, obviously. >> rachel brand will soon announce that she plans to take a job that she describes as a job you don't turn down, is there a job you turn down when you're number three in the doj? >> this is not just reflective of what's going on in the justice department, this is r reflective of this administration, not only are they finding it hard to bring talent, one is people don't want to work there, and number two is they black balled most of the people who probably do most of the jobs within the white house and especially in the department of state. this is really a reflection of

not wanting to have anything to do any longer with this administration. and when people start leaving and sending those kinds of signals. the job she had there will be available in three years. >> let's remember, this comes out after the republican memo. . >> uh-huh. >> has been released. targeting the doj and the fbi saying they're corrupt and they're all out to get donald trump. >> this is an administration that has been repeatedly attacking its own justice department for the past several months, that memo that came from the republican committee, the republican side of that committee, as you mentioned, really kind of laying it on the justice department and officials, without knowing exactly what's going on here, i think we have to kind of consider what this backdrop could signal. >> what does it mean for the mueller investigation? for looking at it through the lens of mueller investigation, rod rosenstein not being on the most secure footing, what does this mean? >> i think it's clear what the

president is trying to do in terms of derailing this, and this is just another red flag around the administration. i hope it doesn't change what's happening internally in terms of the work that's being done. but it's really curious that such a top official is backing away, to me this signals that something thhas been said or zd in the white house that has caused this and i would like to know what that is. >> how does donald trump put up an appointment for that position without rachel brand taking it over. >> you have on the house side, house republicans consistently trying to undermine this investigation and kind of go the donald trump way of thinking, but you have senate republicans kind of taking a different track, remember, you have a couple of different republicans saying they didn't want that memo to be released, that there were some concerns about kind of the nature of this partisan way of doing things and sharing classified information or declassifying this information.

so there is that kind of divide. i think there's some kind of confirmation because this is what they have to deal with. but avenue the repofter the rep president wanting to fire robert mueller, you -- >> the question would be, could they find someone to get confirmed who would then be able to fire mueller? which is the problem, because the president can't quite do it. >> are you confident that the senate would stop that from happening? that they would be very critical, of some kind of measure that donald trump would put forward, are you confident of that? i can't be confident of anything that's happening in this administration right now. >> i don't see anybody getting confirmed. >> well, yeah, that's true, but moving quickly, you never know when somebody's out the door in this administration. you know what? it could be happening this right

this second. it could be on our phones right now. >> donald trump has some timing to move quickly because he probably wants to get whatever he's done out there before we start getting too deep into the 2018 election. >> kaitlin burns. aisha moody mills. ladies, thank you very much for being here, great panel today. ahead, senators in the olympics? hmm, has a ring to it. i have type 2 diabetes. i'm trying to manage my a1c,

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in case you missed it, congress doesn't have term limits but lawmakers still think about life after the hill. with the olympics on everyone's mind, some people seem to have olympic gold medal dreams. senators choose your sports. >> bob sled. >> curling, if you can take a bo broom out on the ice. >> you got to have the need for speed. >> answering burning questioning like luge or skeleton. >> luge or skeleton? >> luge, just because it's cool. >> it's huge to luge. >> luge, feet first all the way. >> i think i go luge for sure. >> probably luge, going in headfirst seems a little bit dangerous. >> i have just learned what the skeleton is, and to think you would go headfirst down that is

insanity, so it would have to be the luge. >> skeleton. yeah, lead with your jaw. >> i'm with him, i have done the skeleton before at lake placid and it was fun. a picture with bernie sanders and ted krusz cruz in a bobsled. don't miss chuck this weekend on "meet the press" on nbc. i'm also going to be here at 10:00, filling in for lawrence. stay tuned for that. right now "the beat" with ari melber. the top doj official in line to replace bob mueller's boss is out at the justice department tonight, you may have heard her name before, she's the number three at doj, she's the highest ranking woman there, rachel brand,