cal or dental procedures. i'm still going for my best. and for eliquis. ask your doctor about eliquis. ♪ welcome to "kasie d.c." i'm kasie hunt. we are live from washington every sunday. tonight, spring cleaning in the trump administration. rex tillerson gone. andrew mccabe, gone. is the special counsel far behind him? and what about other key members of the trump administration? senator chris van haul enjoins me live to talk about what all of this means as the foreign policy obstacles mount for the united states. plus, democrats pull off a serious upset in trump country. new polling just out today shows why pennsylvania could be just

the beginning. but we start with a restive weekend in the white house. that is an understatement. andrew mccabe fired hours short of his retirement, and he kept his receipts. reportedly handing over notes on the president to the special counsel. the special counsel subpoenaed the trump organization as the president's lawyer wondered aloud whether isn't it time for the special counsel to be ended? and now the president is fuming on twitter. why does the mueller team have 13 hardened democrats, crooked hillary supporters and zero republicans? worth noting that mueller, james comey and rod rosenstein are all republicans. so, with that out of the way, the president went on to golf at one of his properties, and across the globe the russian elections went off without a hitch. vladimir putin running for another term as president, winning another term as president. if he completes it, he will have held power in one way or another for nearly a quarter century.

we have quite the set of by lines with us tonight. white house bureau chief for the washington post nbc political analyst phil rucker. pete williams. reporter for "the new york times," michael schmidt. jonathan swan and staff writer for the atlantic natasha bertrand. thank you all for being here tonight. i hardly know where to begin from the events that have unfolded over this past week. but, pete williams, can you layout for us what exactly is going on behind the scenes at the fbi? there's so much noise, so many accusations flying. but cut through it. what are the most important things that we should be focused on here? >> well, i think the most important things are the work that chris wray is trying to do to sort of reshape the fbi. now, the whole thing with andrew mccabe, remember, was sort of set in motion before chris wray became director. and what we saw as the

maturation of that in late friday. it all began with -- in october of 2016 when andrew mccabe did an interview with a reporter for the "wall street journal" who was asking about, he was trying to check out what he had heard which was that the fbi was slow rolling an investigation of the clinton foundation. so, he called the fbi and said, is this true? mccabe authorized talking to him to say, no, it's not, that the fbi was pushing ahead, but they were getting resistance from the justice department. the meantime, after the election, the inspector general, the justice department decided to do an investigation of how the fbi did the whole hillary clinton case and found out about this, and what we're told now -- and the trouble we have here is none of us have seen the inspector general report that triggered the mccabe firing. but what we've been told is when mccabe was asked about this, he didn't tell the truth and that's why they fired him. >> there have been some republicans out today saying it's possible that there is and even adam schiff who is a democrat saying, we haven't seen the report you've put out and there could have been cause.

>> that's the trouble. we just don't know. i will say this, though. a lot of the things that we've heard out of the white house the past few days about mccabe and about the whole russia investigation have nothing to do with what we are told is the reason that mccabe was fired. the whole question about the russian meddling and everything else, other things that they've raised have nothing to do with his very singular surgical reason they got rid of him. >> the statement from mccabe i thought was stunning where he essentially said, look, this has become political. i told the house intelligence committee that i could back up james comey and therefore i've been fired for political reasons. >> he has really latched into comey in sort of -- to make the argument that he's done nothing wrong here, so sort of say i am a victim of trump. and it's sort of an interesting political play. mccabe is much more skilled than your average fbi agent. it's sort of knowing how to be a politician. he's a good speaker in public. and he's sort of taking a

comey-esque way. he kept memos just the way comey did. and he's sort of banking on that as a way of trying to flex from what could be some damaging things here in an inspector general's report. he was pointing out to me before we came on set, the most senior career person at the justice department signed off on this and that's not a political person. >> right. phil rucker, takes us behind the scenes at the white house over the past couple of days. the president's lawyer, john dowd, comes with a stunning statement taking on the special counsel in a way that is really a marked departure from the strategy they had applied so far. >> that's right. the strategy all along had been not to antagonize mueller. you notice president trump never mentioned mueller by name in his tweets about the russia matter. that seems to have shifted. it started with john dowd, the president's personal attorney issuing a statement saying the mueller investigation should come to a close. he initially told "the daily beast" he was speaking for the

president. he quickly backtracked, no, no, i'm speaking for myself, not for the president. donald trump has done this before where he'll have surrogates, his spokespeople, his advisors to float bold ideas to test them in the market place. i have no doubt that trump had something to do with that statement. >> i can't imagine he would put the statement out trump wasn't okay with it. >> it's what trump believes. i've talked to a number of senior white house officials over the weekend who said the president for a while now has wanted this investigation to be over. he thinks it's becoming a giant fishing expedition. and then again today and late last night we saw tweets where he invoked mueller's name and really ratcheted up the aggression. >> jonathan swan, what do you know from your reporting about the president's mood kind of behind the scenes in all of this? >> people -- his mood is variable. that's like a vast understatement. people say, you know, he's fuming and -- often he's just

watching tv, like often it's him in real-time tweeting from tv. last week, he was positively giddy. he had been on the rampage with the north koreans where he told john kelly to shove it with his organizational principles, it was trump's white house. and was careening around the building doing what he wanted. this stuff gets under his skin, particularly when you see reports that talk about the trump organization or anything that starts to encroach upon his personal business dealings. >> right. >> that's when steam really starts to go out of his ears. and also whenever he sees people that he does care about, like hope hicks in the news, that's another thing that kind of triggers him. >> well, and john dowd had been described in reporting that several of you around this table had done, as somebody who was calming the president down by saying, this is all going to be over, first by thanksgiving or christmas, then the new year, obviously now still going. and we have trey gowdy was on

"fox news sunday" this morning with an interesting comment from -- about john dowd, mr. trump's lawyer in which he called for an end to the mueller probe. >> i think the president's attorney frankly does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way. so, to suggest that mueller should shut down and all he is looking at is collusion, if you have an innocent client, mr. dowd, act like it. >> natasha bertrand, if your client is innocent, act like it? >> it's a really fair point, and that is something that, you know, the president should take to heart as well with all of his tweets over the past two days, slamming the mueller investigation. it really raises questions about, you know, whether or not he is laying the groundwork to kind of fire the special counsel. i think that with regard to john dowd's statement yesterday, it doesn't seem like it was entirely premed traited. -- premeditated. these are lawyers that came on to represent him as part of the

special counsel investigation. these are lawyers known for kind of playing fast and loose. we saw john dowd and ty cobb have a loud conversation at a restaurant one day last summer about the investigation. ty cobb of course has been known to go off in e-mails on reporters, myself included. now we have john dowd who kind of issued this statement to the daily beast, at first saying he was speaking on behalf of the president and then saying that he was only speaking for himself. and ty cobb, of course, would not comment on the record to me, i think it is safe to say this is not something he anticipated and something he had actually consulted with the other lawyers about. so, whether or not -- i think that jonathan was right when he said that perhaps all of this is kind of just trump watching tv. and perhaps john dowd filling his mind a little bit with, you know, negative thoughts about the special counsel. but it doesn't seem like anything entirely kind of planned at this point. >> john? >> it's also worth pointing out, john dowd, to give viewers a sense, this is a guy who writes

his e-mails in purple comic sense. he quoted cat on the hot tin roof from tennessee williams. >> which you pointed out was on turner classic movies last night. >> reference this part of the scene equals the bureau, this part is comey. this is not your usual sort of lawyering that we're seeing, to say the least. >> pete, what do you know about these lawyers? you've obviously -- they've been in this orbit, your orbit for many years. >> it's wishful thinking the mueller investigation was going to be over by thanksgiving or christmas. i'm not sure it's going to be over by this thanksgiving or christmas. we certainly hope so. it's going to go until he figures he doesn't have anything more to go for. the idea they would try to calm down the president with that hopeful eventuality was unfortunate. >> a pipe dream. michael schmidt, you reported this week special counsel bob mueller has subpoenaed the trump organization in what's the first known instance of the special counsel demanding records directly from the president's businesses. president also told you over the

summer that prying into his business, his finances, could be a red line. >> mueller is looking at your finances and your family's finances unrelated to russia, is that a red line? >> would that be a breach of what his actual charge is? >> i would say yes. by the way, i would say it's possible -- i sell a lot of condo units and somebody from russia buys a condo, who knows. i don't take money from russia. >> what would you do? >> i can't answer that question because i don't think it's going to happen. >> and you and maggie haberman, michael, are reporting trump's lawyers got a list of questions from the mueller team. what's the rationale there? they are still working on this negotiation, right? >> that's the thing about dowd. for the past few months dowd's most important job on the day-to-day basis has been negotiating with mueller's office about the interview. what are the terms going to be? how long is it going to go for? they don't even want the president to sit down.

they've been having to deal with the president who really wants to go and explain himself. now dowd has to come back to the table with mueller, who he just said over the weekend should be shutdown, and come to terms on this interview. and i think the white house -- i mean, i think the president would really like to sit down because he sees that as sort of the end to this and he thinks he's his own best spokesman and he can really explain t. the laurds s lawyers see it as a huge problem. i was lucky enough to sit with him in july. he starts talking and he doesn't stop. >> by the way, on that red line business, looking at the questions again refreshes my memory. if they look at your finances unrelated to russia. so, i don't know what we make of whether the subpoenas last week are, in fact, crossing the red line. >> it's sort of a faultily built red line. as we saw under obama, the whole red line thing is a bit -- >> a mirage. >> a bit contrived. so, i don't know, i wish we could go back and drill down a little bit more on the red line. >> pete williams, there is some new polling out from nbc

news/"wall street journal" that shows the fbi's approval rating with the public dropping, 5% since january, when it had seemed before as though they were becoming more popular. and it is still, you know, we should point out, positively viewed way more than most other institutions -- >> more than the press, for example. >> for example, and the congress and the president for that matter. what is your sense of what the danger is to the fbi here? and, you know, as somebody who has covered it for many decades, how extraordinary do people in the fbi feel this moment is? >> so, on the first question of what's going on with the polling, it's interesting because i had been watching it over the past -- i went back and looked at our own nbc news polling. it steadily had gone up. i suppose we started polling around the time of the whole church pipe committee thing when the fbi was in serious trouble. it is interesting it is rising. clearly the fbi is worried, that

they need public confidence. they need people to come to them. they want people to have confidence, that they can tell the fbi about trouble. and, by the way, you know, there was this whole screw up about nicolas cage, this florida shooter. i'm told by the fbi since that happen, since the fbi mea copa, the numbers to the tip line is up. >> that's a positive sign. phil rucker, what do you see as the next iteration here? there's been a lot of reporting and speculation about who may be the next to go in the white house. the members of congress, there are renewed calls for potential legislation to protect mueller. how far do you think the president is going to take this and how quickly? >> i don't know. it's interesting. in congress we see some vocal calls to protect mueller, but there is actually legislation to try to protect him that has not come to the floor. it does not have the support of the republican leadership of either chamber, either the house or the senate. i don't know in that changes this weekend. but i think the president is sort of testing out how far he

can go. he clearly wants this to end. he's bothered by the russia investigation. he feels like it's a cloud over his presidency that is really inhibiting his ability to get some things done and his ability to have credibility with the majority of the american people. so, he'd like it to be over. i don't think he's actually getting to the point where he would pull the trigger and order the firing of mueller. that would be a huge, a huge move that as many lawmakers said today would spark a constitutional crisis. >> and there are many calls from democrats to say get out in front of that kricrisis. pete williams, thank you for your time tonight. we appreciate you coming in. there is so much more to come, as you have gotten a taste here. did a company owned by trump take advantage of facebook profiles? we'll look at that. trump has new fiergz and new hirings power the rumor mill. as we go to break, it was another break neck week of news, the flight of the bumble bee

takes us through it. >> and some breaking news in the stormy daniels saga. >> she's offered to give back the hush money, that 130 grand. >> that is breaking news from theresa may. >> the british government has identified the likely source of the poison. >> breaking news today. house republicans ending their russia probe. >> good morning. we've got breaking news. >> rex tillerson is out as the nation's top diplomat. >> stormy and her lawyer set a deadline of noon today to respond to her offer. >> the white house has fired the -- >> john mcindee -- >> it's election night in southwestern pennsylvania. >> right now the race is too close to call. >> just another tuesday. >> we have some breaking news here in washington. >> we are now declaring connor lamb the winner. >> students threaten to walk out of their classes. >> stormy daniels talking about

a possible donald trump deposition. >> larry kudlow is set to replace gary cohn. >> a senior advisor to hud secretary ben carson resigned today. >> in treasury department is finally sanctioning russia today. >> breaking news now. >> mr. mueller is now subpoenaing -- subpoenaing the trump organization itself. >> the president is about to remove national security advisor h.r. mcmaster. >> was she threatened in any way? >> yes. >> was she threatened physical harm? >> yes. >> president trump is expected to call for the death penalty to punish some traffickers. >> russian hackers are targeting the u.s. power grid. >> jeff sessions has just fired andrew mccabe. i just got my cashback match,

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i understood early that facebook was how donald trump was going to win. twitter is how he talked to the people. facebook was going to be how he won. >> and facebook is how he won. >> i think so. i mean, i think donald trump won, but i think facebook was the method. it was the highway in which his car drove on. >> after mr. trump won, cambridge analytica said it was key to the victory, but parscale said he never used psycho gravgs. he said it doesn't work. so, you didn't use it because you didn't think it really worked as opposed to you didn't use it because you thought it was wrong, that it's manipulative or sinister or something? >> i don't believe it's

sinister. >> you just don't think it works? >> i just don't think it works. >> want to dig into new reports that cambridge analytica, a firm backed by millions of dollars from the mercer family and contracted by the trump campaign harvested some 50 million profiles from facebook during the 2016 campaign. for their part cambridge analytica said they fully complied with facebook's terms of service that no data obtained by a third-party was used for the 2016 trump campaign and all the data in question was deleted. but on friday night ahead of the story's release, facebook announced it was suspending cambridge analytica. natasha, can you help us walk through why that happened and what are the most -- this is as everything we've been talking about tonight, an incredibly complex narrative and web. what should we be focused on right now as it relates to the trump campaign? >> well, the trump campaign has

attempted to kind of distance itself from cambridge analytica. they said they never used any of the raw data that cambridge had compiled for the campaign itself. they said they relied mostly on republican national committee voter files for that. but it is -- i think it is really important to remember that this was a -- this was the result of a $15 million investment by the mercers who were huge backers of the trump campaign and trump's presidency and steve bannon, of course, was on the board of cambridge analytica. they provided all this money to the firm in 2014 in an attempt to figure out how to profile voters and target them with ads. now, this is not, you know, this is something that facebook, of course, has had to answer to because back in 2014 when they were trying to get all of the voter data, they did an experiment basically and they had 270,000 facebook users kind of consent to have their data taken by cambridge analytica, but there was a loop hole and cambridge analytica managed to

obtain the voter data -- user data of 50 million facebook users. now the question is, was any that of data despite what the trump campaign says, was any that of data that was essentially si essentially siphoned off from facebook without users consent used during the trump campaign. that interview that brad parscale gave to 60 minutes how it was pivotal to the trump campaign victory could be discovered if this data was used in the campaign without the users' consent. >> jonathan swan, can we talk about facebook's role in this for a second? they seem 4i7behind the 8 ball. i feel like a broken record on this. understanding their political position now and their role in the system and, you know, quite frankly marco rubio was on "meet the press" saying these companies have too much power. this seems like a rolling snowball of pain for them. >> it has been because mark zuckerberg has always historically been of the view

that this is a completely open platform and i can't be responsible for anything that happens on it, effectively, that was his default based position. he's sort of been dragged step by screaming step from there to now where we have this sort of recognition across the organization, it is no surprise they came out with that statement last night. they now at a high level in that organization, very, very concerned about what's happening on capitol hill, about the scrutiny on them, about the role they may have played in the election, about what happened on their platform with russians and other bad actors using their platform. so, it is caused this huge internal reckoning, but they still haven't really gotten ahead of these things. it's always reactive. it's always reactive. >> mike schmidt, one thing behind the scenes, the suggestion is facebook is cooperating extensively with mueller and his investigation. how interested is bob mueller in these kinds of story lines? >> i think he's very interested because the problem that mueller has is that whenever he closes up shop, if anything comes out

that he didn't look at, he's going to look like he missed something. so, he's going to turnover every rock to make sure there is nothing there. so, there are so many different tent consolidat tentacles of this. the social media part, the co-lieco collusion part, obstruction part. if you're mueller, you have to look at every little piece because there are so many accusations about so many different parts of it. and you have to be able to safely say at the end of the day, you looked at it all. or you could be embarrassed in the end. >> michael schmidt, natasha bertrand, thank you both so much for your time tonight. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> just ahead, senator chris van hollen joins me live on set to talk about how how domestic drama is shaping our standing abroad. first we'll get a report from richard ingles in moscow as vladimir putin wins yet another term in office. no need for a "the new york

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election day has come and gone in moscow, and to exactly no one's surprise, vladimir putin has once again been elected president. for more, let's bring in nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard englu richard engel. richard, we knew there was never a doubt about putin winning. is there anything that stood out to you about the results or we should be paying attention to here? >> reporter: well, i think you should be very much paying attention to what is going on here. it means we have six more years of vladimir putin to start with. he got, according to the results that have been coming in, over 75% of the vote. there have been widespread allegations that there were voter fraud, that there was ballot boxing stuffing, the electoral commission says they

were individual localized incidents. but putin does have support and he's already set the tone for what his agenda is going to be. if you listen to his speeches recently in his public events, he's made it clear he wants to use these next six years, if not longer than that, to confront the west. he sees the west right now, particularly the united states, as weak. he sees the u.s. is in turmoil and that this is an opportunity for russia to spread its influence. and i think that's what we're going to be seeing russia do starting now. if not sooner, if they haven't already started it. >> to that point, richard, i want to ask about other reporting you've been reporting. a terrible bloody story. you went to the u.s. base in syria attacked by russian mercenary forces. can you tell us about the tensions between the u.s. and russia on that front? >> reporter: so, it's one of the strangest and probably most

mysterious incidents of the syrian civil war. syria is in chaos right now and different countries are opportunistically grabbing territory. the turks have grabbed land. the syrian government is taking area. the u.s. still has 2000 troops in syria, mostly special forces. a lot of these are not often discussed, very little access is given to reporters to visit these troops. and russian mercenaries are on the ground. they went to grab resources, and in the process got into a fire fight with u.s. troops. we're traveling inside eastern syria on an exclusive trip with u.s. special forces. general jonathan braga tells us this rural at the rain was isis's hard land and that the

extremists have been driven way back. but now there are fears the u.s. could end up in a direct conflict with new adversaries, russians. we drove to the conoco oil and gas refinery, now a u.s. base. it's the first time reporters have been here since american troops came under attack on this spot last month by 500 fighters, including russian mercenaries. an international incident shrouded in secrecy until now. >> so, on that night we started receiving artillery rounds right where we're standing up to 30 different artillery rounds. >> reporter: the general said he immediately picked up a hot line to the russian military. so, you called and said stop this? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: what response did you get? >> those are not our forces. >> reporter: u.s. forces were unconvinced. braga said they gathered in this building to launch a counter strike, reigning down artillery and air strikes.

2 to 300 of the russian force was killed sthach. is that accurate? >> that's close to what we know. >> were you concerned about war with russia? >> we were concerned. >> reporter: the russian mercenaries were from the wagner group linked to yevgeny known as putin's chef. they captured intercepts complaining about their heavy losses. they tore us to pieces, put us through hell said one. the yankees made their point. and it seems the mercenaries haven't given up. general braga took us to the edge of the base, pointing out to where similar forces have come back. >> hope it doesn't happen again, but if it does, we'll be ready. >> reporter: now, the kremlin continues to insist that none of these soldiers -- none of these mercenary forces were russian soldiers, not part of any official army, not part of the

russian army. but russia has acknowledged that a small number of russian nationals did die in the attack. kasie? >> richard engel, thank you so much for for your great reporting. i appreciate your time tonight. joining me on set, democrat senator chris van hollen of maryland. senator, thank you for being with us tonight. appreciate it. >> thanks, kasie. >> we have quite a bit to talk about. in slightly broader lens and richard was focused on a remarkable story in syria. i want to talk to you about russian influences on our elections and what is happening here at home. the events of this weekend, the president tweeting at bob mueller by name for the first time, do you think this is a significant turning point? and have you and your colleagues discussed trying to take more dramatic action to protect mueller in the wake of these tweets? >> i think it's a very dangerous sign. as you said this is the first time the president has gone after mueller by name. it comes on the heels of

reporting that the mueller team has subpoenaed documents from trump enterprises. it sounds like the white house and trump is getting very, very paranoid about what's going on. and as many have said today, if you're not really worried, if you've got nothing to hide, why are you getting so upset about this, right? if you've got nothing to fear, you should have nothing to complain about. but yet the president is acting very guilty. >> do you think that mccabe was fired for political reasons? he's essentially saying this is all political. or do you think there could be a justifiable cause for him to be removed from his post? >> i think it comes in a very political context. we won't know the facts, but here's what we know. we know the president of the united states for months targeted the number two person in the fbi, someone who served for 21 years. and the president demanded that he be fired. and then we have the attorney general who the president has also threatened to fire, fire mccabe.

and then you have all these tweets by the president of the united states. you don't -- that is not the normal behavior in a democracy. that is the kind of behavior you see in authoritarian regime. putin just won an election, surprise, surprise. that is the kind of thing you would expect to see from a russian dictator, not a united states president. >> speaking of putin, you are working with some of your colleagues on measures to try and avoid russian meddling again in the 2018 elections. what do you think that the country should be doing at this stage? and is the president doing remotely enough? >> so, the president is doing virtually nothing, right. he finally ordered some sanctions on some russian oligarchs, but only after congress overwhelmingly passed legislation saying he had to do it. and when they finally did it, they put sanctions on people who had already been sanctioned by president obama, or already indicted by mueller. he has said that he has not

ordered the head of nsa to take steps to try to prevent meddling. the state department has been allocated tens of millions of dollars to come up with a plan to prevent russian meddling. they haven't spent one penny. so, the president has done nothing. senator rubio and i have introduced legislation to try to prevent, to deter interference in our next election. and every one of the president's own intelligence heads has said, be prepared, because they're going to do it. so, it's very simple. we would say within 30 days of the election, the director of national intelligence reports to congress. have the russians interfered or have they not? if they've interfered, they cross a trip wire and automatic nonwaivable tough sanctions go into place. not against some oligarchs. the russian banking sector. so, if you're putin and you've been reelected and you're thinking of interfering in the u.s. elections, you will know if you get caught this time, you will pay a very big penalty. >> assuming the president of the united states, of course, believes their intelligence

community assessment. the one -- i want to switch gears with you a little bit. we have not tonight touched on another huge story this week which is the special election in pennsylvania and what that -- the signals that sends you. what everyone thought was going to be a really tough job this year defending a lot of red seats as the chairman of the dfcc, what was your top take away from the lessons out of pennsylvania '18? conor lamb ran against red seats, against pelosi. >> he ran against key bread and butter kitchen table issues. he said the paul ryan republican budget is going to cut your medicare, threaten your social security. republicans tried to play up the big tax cut. people of pennsylvania recognized the tax cut went overwhelmingly too big corporations and that they were going to have to pay the price at the end of the day whether it's cuts to medicare, whatever

it may be. so, that did not work on the republican side. so, you had, you had our candidate winning a congressional seat that trump won by 20 points despite the fact that trump came and campaigned against him. trump is actually 0 for 2 in campaigns where he actually showed up. one is pennsylvania and he showed up on the florida/alabama border trying to defeat doug jones. >> very close, very close. >> a win is a win. and 0 for 2 for trump. when he shows up, he obviously is not as persuasive as he thinks he is. >> who are you most concerned about of your incumbents, joe manchin, heidi, claire mccaskill? >> i know they're fighting really hard. they're great incumbents who have fought for their states. we look at the folks in states that donald trump won. i mean, just like you would look at pennsylvania '18. in a lot of these states that trump won, we've got candidates, we have incumbents who are

standing up every day for their constituents and they always take the position that if trump wants to do something good for their state, they'll work with him. but if he's going to undermine something important to their state, if it's going to undermine medicare, they'll fight him. we also have pick-up opportunities in nevada, arizona, tennessee. we have a big race going on obviously in texas. and we have candidates in all these other races. so, look, you see a lot of momentum out there, but you also have many more months to go to get to election day. >> i almost want to ask you, is democrats taking back the senate more or less like umbc winning the entire thing. are you the only person in america selecting them to take the championship? >> i'm not going to make any predictions. you have umbc going all the way. >> there's your bracket. what did you know the rest of us didn't know? is this a hometown school? >> i'm a loyal marylander. i've been there many times. they have a great school spirit. and in this case, freeman, the

president of umbc, has done a great job putting them on the national radar on academics. he's obviously getting a lot of attention right now. they have a game tonight against kansas state, so i've been tweeting already at the senators from kansas, asking if they're ready for the retrievers. they're going to take the wild cats tonight. >> nobody here, though, change the channel. although we can report, i believe, that unc has now lost to texas a&m. >> mark warner owes me not a beer, but a case of beer for winning in that bracket, that round. >> senator chris von haul en, thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> good to be here. >> when we come back we'll sort through the help wanted ads at the white house. van hollen ♪

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i was asked about that. i'm not going to deal with that kind of petty stuff. >> do you understand by not answering the question, some people thought you were confirming the story. >> i think i've answered the question. >> you think you answered the question? >> i've answered the question. >> perhaps rex tillerson's original sin, reportedly calling the president a moron, and then never explicitly denying it. joining us at the table, joining us at the table to take us through the revolving door of the u.s. trump administration, jonathan bennett. of course jonathan swan and philip rucker. there was so much news this week i almost forgot rex tillerson was fired. >> early in the week. >> i don't know about you. but what is the next sort of shoe to drop here? i mean, it seems like there's a couple -- first of all, there are a lot of rumors. you've been reporting on some of this about h.r. mcmaster and

others that the president has said i'm close to having the cabinet i want which suggests he still needs to make some changes. i think there is trouble ahead for pompeo and gina haas pel on the state and cia on the hill. even further problems. what do you see as the next step in this story? >> the president doesn't have the team totally in place that he wants. we were told friday at the white house that there were no personal announcements at this time, but this is a new week. something new could happen. we'll see. we know that he's still mad about a number of bad headlines sort of optics problems that some of his cabinet secretaries have had. do that doesn't mean they're going to get fired necessarily, he's not happy about the way david shulkin handled things at federal affairs. he was told he made a decision to fire h.r. mcmaster, to remove him as the national security advisor. we reported thursday night the white house then sort of said, no, no, no he's not going

anywhere just yet. it might be the president takes time to orchestrate that move. he wants to line things up and avoid humiliating mcmaster. clearly he's decided his days are number. >> jeff bennett, where is nbc's reporting right now on, you know, where the president stands on mcmaster, also john kelly? there were some reports he was on his way out the door, then some reports that was actually inaccurate. >> yeah. interestingly the unsermon ious way rex tillerson was fired by tweet, that was really unsettling to the trump officials he likes to refer to as his generals. john kelly, hr mack master and defense. that led to john kelly thinking he was next on his way out the door. that's what he told people in and around the west wing. now it stands kelly is on thicker ice than mcmaster, than ben carson, than david shulkin. kelly, as jonathan has reported, has given indications that he will be at the white house for a bit longer.

but interestingly, in so many of these issues it is not an issue of competence. it is an issue of personality. personality clashes between the president and his top aides. with mcmaster, you have a guy who is aggressive, relentless, he is also a personality clashes with the president and his top aide. with mcmaster he's aggressive, relentless and all transmit, likes to lecture a lot. rubs the president the wrong way. >> jonathan, you were in a behind the scenes meeting with john kelly. >> i wasn't. >> you weren't. you were the one who wrote about it. >> i was there. >> you were in the room. >> you will not be asked about it. >> i can talk about it. >> you agreed to snowing. what happened? mon tu zuma's revenge?

>> kelly had a couple reporters for an off the record, among other things and brought it up and mentioned rex was on the toilet wa stomach bug when he was told he was getting fired. >> why do that? why say that? >> i'm told he said it in a sympathetic context, his dad died, and it was a strange detail to share with reporters. he also in that same meeting said the president -- the president himself is probably responsible for a large number of these stories about chaotic stuff, changes, because the president talks to people outside. >> and it circulates back around. >> that was another thing he mentioned in that conversation. >> i promise i won't ask you about any of this off the record things you agreed to. thank you for coming on tonight. appreciate it. back after this.

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it was a week of high profile firings in washington. >> speculation at the white house. >> who will he fire next. >> the firing of fbi director, andrew mccabe. >> just hours away from retiring with his full pension. >> mccabe says this is all part of president trump's war on the fbi. >> a great day for democracy. >> a horrible day for democracy. >> i don't like the way it happened. >> our intelligence agencies have become politicized. >> i think we have to see the inspector general's report. >> the timing can only be influenced by the attorney general. >> the special counsel's job may

be in danger. >> do you think the president will fire mueller? >> the mueller probe may have been started. >> calling for the mueller probe to shut down. >> i don't think anyone in the white house is suggesting not to cooperate with the investigation. >> if you have an innocent comment, act like it. >> i don't think the president will fire robert mueller. >> you're not going to fire robert mueller. >> if the president stops the investigation that is a constitutional crisis. >> this undoubtedly will result in a constitutional crisis. >> i think it will be a true constitutional crisis. >> welcome to the second hour of kacie d.c., where our panel back for another round is wondering what mary pat christie thinks of christy's wardrobe selection this morning. our editor for "the daily beast"

and jonathan swann and congressional reporter for "politico." and former fbi special agent and nbc national security analyst, clint watts. thank you all for being here tonight. clint, i want to start with you. i asked pete williams this question, you having worked inside the agency, all of the events over the last couple of days, how significant a moment in history is this for the fbi? how are people inside reacting to this? is it viewed as something that is surmountable, that the institution will, you know, absorb and move forward with or is it something that people are worried could fundamentally change the way the country relates to the agency and trusts it? >> i think it's both. for the fbi in itself, it has really battened down the hatcher's. they watched their director and deputy director now be fired.

both have been related to incidents in 2016. it's always opaque, not clear exactly as to why this happened. i imagine the agents have more resolve. they're going to do their job very thoroughly and watch it very closely. i really think it's about protecting the institution and making sure they're following the letter of the law. around the country this has damage on the fbi in terms of how they protect americans. imagine you are someone very loyal to the president, one of his voters and all you hear over the last year is how everyone is corrupt, the fbi can't be trusted, a broken organization and this damages all relationships with the public and makes it harder to build informants or talk to witnesses or lead cases. i find it interesting the president says he's going to be tough on crime and makes it harder for crime fighters to be tough on crime. it's a double-edged sword.

in some ways it can help the fbi if they pursue this case aggressively in terms of the russian interference. >> many democratic and republican politics that have been on in the past 24 hours have been asked whether they think mccabe was fired for cause or as he says, it was just political. where do you come down on that? this was an investigation in the office of the inspector general of the fbi. we haven't seen that report. do you think there is a story different from the one mccabe put out? >> i honestly have no idea. until i see the report it's hard to judge. within the fbi for opr to make a recommendation of a firing would be a very serious offense, it would have to be very extreme to justify the firing two days before retirement of the deputy director of the fbi, the first time a deputy director has ever been fired. it would have to be a gross violation. with that, the timing and pressure we've seen from the president, he has repeatedly, he

forecast this months ago, i hope mccabe makes this to retirement. he said this. that really looks like it was a hit job on mccabe in particular. until we see that report we have no idea where this falls. i really don't understand why the attorney general who would take this move would obviously blow up in the news, would not put that report or got out there yet he rushed to do the firing. this could blow up in the attorney general's face if it's not what he says it is. >> isn't it true mccabe went so jeff sessions could stay in his job? >> i suppose that's the argument. there's many twists and turns here. for instance, being fired for a lack of candor is the official reason here, jeff sessions was less than candid in his hearing for confirmation, as exposed by al franken. donald trump has notoriously been very loose with the truth. we're talking about lack of candor, may not be the biggest

offender here. that being said we do have to wait for the report. this was not handle by doj hacks, this was handle by people careerists in the office. >> clint watts used the office of professional responsibility. >> there's no indication they were there to oversee a political vendetta. this is context we have to consider this and the context of donald trump weighing in here, andrew mccabe will potentially be a critical witness against donald trump. what donald trump has essentially done is spoiled him as a witness. all he has to do is say, weren't you fired for lack of candor and mccabe has to say yes and suddenly his credibility is diminished. not totally lost but diminished. >> you had spoken with mccabe in the course of reporting on this. how do you view him? there's been back and forth, how political of an actor is he and what is the strategy of him going forward with these memos? >> it's fair to describe mccabe

in his own words as personally devastating what's been going on we remember pre-dates this selection. even on the campaign trail donald trump had trouble with his wife 7thiaccepting this mon. house democrats are offering him a job. he might do that or pursue legal action. one thing to remember mccabe's state of mind right now, when i talked to him he didn't allege direct influence by the president. he said, see this in the broader context, look at the timing, why was i fired without the ig report not out in the public eye, it's just not usual. >> white house press secretary sarah sanders used the term, "bad actor" a couple times. and it would appear vladimir putin gets to decide if he is one or not but mccabe did not. >> is putin a friend or foe of the united states? >> that's something russia has

to make that determination and decide whether or not they will be a good or bad actor. >> does the justice department feel they've to act by sunday to fire andrew mccabe? >> that's a determination we will leave up to attorney general sessions. we think it is well documented he has had very troubling behavior and by most account, a bad actor. >> seems like yet another example the white house is given an opportunity to talk about what many members of congress would describe as enemy of the united states and they are instead focused on people who have worked for the united states government for 20 years. >> there are people who say sarah sanders, before she walks in to give the briefing she is told what to say. i'm always wondering how much of that is given directly to the principal himself. for all the attacks with mccabe

it clears the patience with the russian investigation is running out partly because his legal team told him it would be wrapped up by the end of 2017. certainly, that hasn't happened. we have seen a dramatic shift away from they were cooperating with the special counsel to the president saying the investigation should never have started. >> how much of this, john dowd's statement, he seemed to have come out and put on the table the firing of muller in a way we haven't seen the legal team do. in many way's been mueller's main defender in the white house and walks it back today, kind of, it was just a little bit of a joke. what explains that? is it the legal team jockeying for trump's favor? >> the reason i was checking my phone, there is a statement literally just out in the last, must be 5, 10 minutes from white house lawyer, ty cobb, he says in response to media speculation

and related questions the white house again confirms the president is not considering or discussing the firing of special counsel robert mueller. you have one lawyer coming out on saturday morning and basically firing a shot, no other way to read it. it was aggressive saying he's talking on behalf of the president and then he walks it back, then the president turns the heat back up and you have ty cobb coming out. i don't have on this particular question any inside knowledge what's happening, just on its face in the public square they're all giving us different stories every few hours. >> there is one distinction in that dowd represents donald trump the man and ty cobb the office of the presidency and a government lawyer. they have different motivations for the things they say which could explain the discrepancy here. >> one test i was watching for this morning, first of all, will republican leaders say anything. mitch mcconnell has said nothing. >> you were watching for that?

>> well, paul ryan's spokeswoman, ashley strong, put out a statement that the speaker supports mueller's ability to do his job. i was pointing to the fact most republicans who were on tv this morning did say mueller needs space to do his job. >> yes, that's true. by and large, that was the usual suspects that said that in the past. jeff flakes and lindy grahams of the world -- lindsey grahams of the world. and gowdy is a conservative hero in some respects. >> led the benghazi probe. >> if you read between the lines he was saying, don't act so guilty because it doesn't look good. to me, that was important. it was a signal that maybe a sort of brushback to the administration. i think it's pretty clear. trump is sending out dowd to a certain degree but putting it out in the stes to see what kind of response he can get

especially among the gop leadership and see if he can get away with this stuff. these are trial balloons. today, gowdy more than anyone else may have punctured one of those. >> i wouldn't rule out john dowd saturday morning in purple comic sans -- it may not have been part of a slaughter -- >> i don't know why. >> i'm just going to throw that out there. >> i don't know why you would take a shot at purple comic sans. >> throwback to aol and instant messenger days, if you use common sense? >> do i still use common sense? maybe. >> sure. what's next in congress, do you think? i've been talking to sources about whether or not there's any chance that somehow there might be a smoke signal sent from one of the committees dealing with this legislation that could potentially protect mueller, what are you hearing?

>> when you talk about the mueller legislation, americans want nothing to do with this and might stop taking meetings and the president's lawyers saying there's no plans. republicans would say, no, this is president trump blowing off steam, we do not want to devote senate floor plan to this. i am watching a potentially of a judicial hearing on mccabe and chuck grassley mentioned it and could stress out the president. >> not that they don't want to inoculate mueller. democrats are having a hard time getting them to talk about it, actively moving way from it. real concern of aides that they are abandoning the principle mueller needs inoculation and the principle trump would never cross that red line. >> why is that?

>> i don't know. there is pressure from the base you don't want to be associated with anything against the president, he made these entities toxic in a way we're not accustomed to and we don't want to be seen as deferential. this is protecting the special counsel's office. there's been a bit of surprise among my sources at the hill how skittish republicans are about this. >> clint, can i get you to weigh in on this, from your view, the perspective you have in law enforcement, how important would legislation or attempts to protect mueller be? >> for the politics of it, it could go either way. you protect mueller and then the president tries to fire him and looks like, okay, the democrats are protecting him. at the same time, democrats at this point may say, hey, if he fires mueller it proves our point, this guy is out of control, trying to suppress the

investigation. ultimately, i think firing director mueller would be catastrophic for the trump team and lindsey graham mentioned that before. director mueller, i was shocked he was negotiating questions with the trump legal team. i'm surprised by that. it may be just a strategy they're using, hey, here's some questions for you to look at and consider. you really don't know what they will ask until they get in the room that day. interesting, here's some questions to consider. what do we see the president doing this morning? tweeting like crazy, getting really stirred up. that could be part of an obstruction investigation, you're watching how your target reacts, he's acting pretty crazy, what did he cough up in terms of evidence there. i'm not sure the president has done himself any favors since he started this over a year ago firing director comey.

it will be fascinating to watch the spring and summer of this year. >> almost a year ago, i think, although quite frankly, my sense of time has been completely destroyed by the first year of the trump presidency, right? >> it's tuesday, right? i don't know what day it is. >> me neither. andrew mccabe's firing came just before his retirement and jeopardizing his ability to receive full pension benefits. he has received job offers from a number of lawmakers in order to restore that eligibility including representative mark pocan, andrew, call me, i could use a two-day report on the biggest crime families in washington, d.c. the congressman joins me now from madison, wisconsin. thanks for joining us tonight. i appreciate it. walk us through your decision-making here and explain. there could conceivably be

people who would see this as, hey, you're not actually hiring him to do real work. what is this offer on the table? >> we actually put a legitimate offer beyond the tweet, we have nonpartisan work behind election integrity. bottom line, i think people are tired of the way this president operates, tweets like a petulant manchild or ruthless demagogue, to fire someone a couple days before their retirement, that's attacking a person and their family and pension. people are tired of that. this president lacks the human qualities of compassion and everything we expect to have in a president. he doesn't do it. all i'm trying to say, look, if he comes and works for me or anyone, we need to make sure he has his pension at minimum. what the president did is wrong. >> have you gotten any response back from mr. mccabe? >> believe it or not, it's hard

to get someone high up in the fbi's phone number and hoping by monday, since mine is very public, we'll get a call. we are aware of the offer and i think some people have made offers, too. bottom line, human decency to make sure this person gets a pension. you can't act like a bad mafioso movie. if you cooperate with this mueller investigation, i will crush you. that isn't presidential. >> congressman, mark pocan, thank you for your time tonight. appreciate it. >> jeff bennett and clint, thank you for coming on this sunday night. appreciate it. just ahead, inside the latest on the stormy daniels case. plus, speaking truth to party power in pennsylvania. we'll talk about the undercurrents of connor lamb's win and continue our series of women running for office and

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welcome back to kacie d.c. this week, the lawyer for adult film star, stormy daniels, made public shocking new allegations surrounding his client, including miss clifford being physically threatened to stay quiet about her relationship

with president trump. >> it's not an allegation, it's a fact. when the american people are permitted to hear from my client and hopefully they will hear from my client shortly, they will hear the details relating to these threats and judge for themselves whether she's telling the truth and can be believed. >> you may recall clifford filed suit last week against the president over a non-disclosure agreement she claims is now invalid though mr. trump never signed it though his attorney, michael cohen did. on friday, the president's lawyers moved to get that lawsuit moved from a california state court to federal court and claim clifford owes the president $20 million in damages one million for each alleged agreement. joining me now, kevin mclaughlin. i can't imagine you ever thought

you would appreciate being introduced such as that about a porn star and the from of your party. >> i never thought in my life i would be having this conversation let alone on tv. one thing that amazes me about that other than that. >> other than the fundamentals. >> i'm not a lawyer, i can barely spell law school. all it seems is trump's legal team has confirmed there is a secrecy agreement and want to keep something secret and therefore something happened. everything about this blows my mind. >> good thing we brought in the expert on porn stars here. a very bizarre way to handle this whole thing, isn't it? >> yes. the whole point of this was -- >> there was a point to this? >> the first point was to keep

her mute about this and ties the president right to it. this is the story of the b block -- >> we haven't talked about, the second hour of our show. >> what's crazy is the president is in a legal dispute over hush money a porn star and it's at the back of end of the show. >> bill clinton must be shaking his head right now. >> this is wild. we're down the rabbit hole. >> comedy aside -- >> i wasn't trying to be funny. >> just a natural comic, very serious -- potentially serious problems here particularly with how it was financed, if this was money from the campaign. we don't know a lot of these things. this is a continuing problem for the president and one advisor

heavily involved in the pushback against trump's female accusers they expressed intense bemusement or bafflement to me they paid her money. he just said to me, we denied everything so why didn't we add stormy daniels to the list of things that we -- >> maybe something more significant happened. now this pre-dated -- this is pre-dating the campaign, part of the problem. the other big issue, this is not a small story, a big story, is the potential other women or someone else have other ndas and the precedent set by this is the big thing here. >> does it even matter? honestly, he has defied political conventional wisdom time and time again. i just don't -- unless he gets into a legal problem and that changes everything. >> of course it matters, though. >> does it a matter voters? >> okay. we look at things in a prism, right, we say, he hasn't lost support and therefore it doesn't

matter, to be fair, he hasn't gained support either. he's restricting his growth. if in fact he has been lying about having an affair with a porn star and she can prove it with texts and phone calls, it does matter, you have exposed the president as having lied about having an affair with a porn star. i don't want to live in a universe that doesn't matter. >> and we should take serious the allegation her lawyer said there are possible physical threats involved. >> i will say one thing there and not suggest i have inside knowledge there, that may not be directed at the president. he does have notoriously pretty heavy dudes who hang around with him. who knows where that allegation will turn up. coming up, is it time for a changing of the guard for democrats. we'll talk about whether the new kids on the block in congress are setting the stage for a future without nancy pelosi in

charge. and -- >> my friend, hillary clinton, is wrong. 30% of the people who voted for donald trump had voted for president obama. >> democrats quick to distance themselves from hillary clinton after a speech she gave painted a bleak picture of middle america and its voters. back after this.

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you voted for donald trump? >> yes, i did. i voted for him because i agree with america first. i believe in bringing our jobs back to america. >> who are you going to vote for in this special election? >> it's going to be connor lamb. >> absolutely. he comes across extremely credible. >> his opponent, i've seen his record in pennsylvania. he's anti-union, anti-education, anti-social security, too. anybody against social security, you can forget them. >> if there is one thing that's worth watching coming out of last week's special election in pennsylvania it's how democratic candidates across the country will handle being tied to nancy

pelosi. democrat, connor lamb at this moment, still the parent winner, distanced himself from the pelosi campaign even though ads tried to tie him to her. he did it with ads like this. >> my opponent wants you to believe the biggest issue in this campaign is nancy pelosi, it's all a front lie. i already said on the front page of the newspaper i don't support nancy pelosi. the real issues are the ones that affect your lives. >> connor ran an ad saying i do not support nancy pelosi. he ran against you the entire time. would that pose a problem for you if you take back the house? >> i don't think he ran against me the entire time. he ran on his positive agenda, protecting medicare, preeminently that. working families, strong support from labor. >> on this show we asked a number of democratic candidates for congress if they would

support nancy pelosi to lead the democratic caucus. their responses have been mixed. >> yes or no, will you support nancy pelosi as leader of the democratic caucus in the house? >> i can't answer that right now. i can tell you this. >> no yes or no? yes or no. >> probably not. i'll tell you right now, probably not. >> i have to tell you that i'm interested in seeing a diverse slate of candidates up for leadership of the party. i can say that that's a decision to be made if at such point i am fortunate enough to be elected but not now. >> i'm not going to say i would not support her, a lot of the stuff i do necessarily is contrary to what the d triple c is doing. i want to win my election. >> so, i found nancy pelosi's answer to this to be contrary -- this may not end a problem if democrats take the house, they'll be riding high and if there is a wide enough margin.

if there are enough of these candidates that say, no, i won't back nancy pelosi, she will have a problem on the house floor. >> she may but she is tough as nails. i wish we had more on our side, hard to rein our guys in. at the same time, the special elections, they're special. even more so now than usually. pennsylvania 18, to me, it was a rube, let's call a spade a spade and be honest. it doesn't dismiss what an amazing victory it was in a plus 20 trump district. at the same time, candidates matter. if we're going to nominate rubes, we will lose. >> a couple things we heard from the beginning the millers i spoke to them when i was in the district earlier this week, feels like longer than earlier this week ago, they were quite

aware of rick saccone's voting issues on union issues. it felt to me this was a swing back toward what has been the natural home for union voters in the democratic party. >> it was pro union, pro social security, pro medicare, the issue of union pensions was huge in this race. to a degree, it does give democrats a blueprint in the industrial midwest. now, to the point of nancy pelosi, i look at it slightly differently. i don't think it's an electoral problem. bear with me, precisely because they ran against him because he didn't work. a lot of democrats say i don't support her, an easy way to take the issue off the table. if they were to take back the house, yeah, you do have a legitimate problem on the floor if they elect another speaker because you have all these

people on the record saying, i can't do it. >> to your point, she may be the right person for that job. >> she's incredible at it. call me crazy, i don't see the math as democrats the way they say, i see a lot of seats in play and they have to run a perfect election and in the primaries and specials hasn't been great for the establishment wing of democrats in texas 7 and pennsylvania in 18. they ran against them. so they're going to have huge problems regardless. i also just think i don't know if they get there. they have to run a perfect election. they have history on their side, but as umbc taught us the other night- >> you're crazy, you're crazy, you're crazy. >> it's a long shot. >> one thing you might have missed in the midst of all the crazy news coming out of washington this week was hillary

clinton's crazy speech in india. >> if you look at the math of the united states, there's all that red in the middle trump won, i win the coast and illinois and minnesota, places like that. i won the places that represent two-thirds of america's gross domestic product, so i won the places that -- [ applause ] >> -- are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward, and his whole campaign, make america great again, was looking backwards. >> her fellow democrats, notably, ones from middle america, slammed clinton for those comments. senator sherrod brown for ohio. i don't really care what she said. i just think that's not helpful. senators mccaskill said, come on, you're killing me. senator heidi heitkamp was asked, when will hillary clinton go away, and she said, not soon enough. not to be left out. clinton's 2008 campaign manager,

patty solis doyle told cnn she was wrong and clearly, it's not helpful to democrats going into the mid-terms and certainly not going into 2020. what's your read on what hillary clinton was doing with this speech? >> totally thing i take from this and pretty much every time she says something like this is she truly is untethered from any political aspirations and feels free to say what she really thinks. we saw that come out in that one moment of the campaign she described half of donald trump's supporters as drowning in a basket of deplorables. i think that's what she feels. i think she feels the sophisticated enlightened america voted for her and that the backward ignorant fearful racist america voted for donald trump. it's hard to read anything else into it because that's what she said. >> that's what she said, plain and simple what she said. it does give every bit of

credence to her critics who said she was out of touch, was incompassionate towards a large swath of america and barely hid it during the campaign. she is proving her critics right. >> i would say it's a sickness or illness i see from people among both parties who travel in the same global elite. they all go to the same coverses and give each other the same compliments at the same parties and surround themselves in this warm bath of mutual praise and acceptance. they never hear much dissent, it can be an intoxicating environment. >> i was in connonsburg, pennsylvania with truly lovely people kind and generous and welcoming and some voted for connor lamb and most of the people voted for donald trump. i appreciate their hospitality. still to come, an uncivil war among democrats as mid-terms play out.

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welcome back to kacie d.c. right now. one of the hottest and most fiercely fowg fiercely fought races is in illinois. both candidates going at each other for weeks. we got a glimpse how nasty it has been when they faced off friday. >> i don't think the little sisters of the poor should be forced to provide abortion

inducing drugs, things that go against their belief. >> it's called birth control. when you provide birth control it's general healthcare. 92% of the country supports affordable accessible birth control. >> and i have also. >> you just said you did not. >> i said the little sisters of the poor should not -- >> they are not inducing drugs. they're general healthcare and provided by the little sisters of the poor which is a good thing. >> by the way way, those candidates are both democrats. we'll talk about that race and the search for the soul of the democratic part. i marie newman you just saw joins me as we continue our series of women running for congress up next.

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you could have money for repairs within a day... wow! that was really fast. huh. ...so it doesn't have to hurt for long. hmm. that's insurance for the modern world. esurance. an allstate company. click or call. welcome back. joining me now, democratic candidate for congress in illinois's district. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. good to be here. >> let's start. this is possibly the most intense democratic primary against a sitting democratic incumbent. there used to be quite a few democratic members of congress

who opposed abortion rights who were members of the democratic caucus. do you think there should still be room for people like that in the party or do you think that the opposed to that to accept them? >> i don't think it's about that at all. i think that we have great examples in the party. tim kaine, joe biden where personally they are pro-life and they vote their district. the real point in my race is that mr. lipinski voted against the affordable care act because he doesn't believe in birth control. he's on the record saying that. he votes consistently against working families and he votes against health care for all as well as immigrants. the real issue here is that you have to vote your district. you have to be in alignment with your district. i'm in alignment with the district. mr. lipinski is far to the

right. most people call him a republican. >> we spoke to the dnc chairman tom perez about this race. the democrats tend to take a slightly different tact than the republicans. >> one thing i've learned from primaries in the past is that when the dnc gets involved in those races, then we sometimes get accused of trying to put the thumb on the scale of one over another. that's one of those races where we will see what happens. again, i think it's really important for the dnc moving forward. we're building the infrastructure to ensure that whoever wins that race will be able to win in november. >> is it helpful for you that the dnc is saying they're staying out of this, they're not helping your opponent. have you asked for help from any of the party groups and have they been willing to support you in any way? >> let's be clear about the dnc

and the other party infrastructures. i'm not an elected member of the party yet. in their bylaws i'm sure i'm not allowed to have support. it is helpful that they're staying out of the race because it makes it democratic and fair that way. mr. lipinski has far more money than i do. to have him have more money would be very challenging. i appreciate them staying out of the race and letting democracy play out. >> just a quick question. we're talking about people staying out of the race. one person who has endorsed is nancy pelosi. she endorsed dan lipinski. how did that make you feel, first of all? and secondly, do you think that she meant it? >> that's a good question. you would have to ask her that. i have other endorsements. i feel as though the party is really thinking in a very independent way. certain members really believe

in just supporting what they believe in. >> you've said you don't want to make a judgment on what you would do with her potential speakership election and you'd save it to see who else was running. would this affect your decision, the fact that she's endorsed your opponent? >> no, i wouldn't. i really believe you take it on the merits. i would interview each of the individuals that are stepping up and look at all of them. >> marie newman, thank you very much for your time tonight. >> thank you. when we return, what to watch for. i saw the change in rich when we moved into the new house.

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and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. welcome back. a miraculous buzzer beater last night in wichita, kansas, propels michigan into the sweet 16. the last second shot giving the wolverines a victory over houston. watch. >> extra pass. and it goes for the win! the three-pointer by jordan poole. >> yes. go blue. on that note, jonathan swan, what's in your -- >> how is that a segue? >> it's my show. >> i'll take the segue.

did you not feel a little bit bad for the houston players? >> no. why would i? is that mean? >> from one great athlete to another maybe. >> no. >> so the week ahead, this is not strictly in the week ahead but it's something very much on trump's mind. it's the most controversial dangerous trade idea he has, dangerous in the mind of the people who oppose his trade agenda. trump wants congress to write legislation that would give him the legal authority to match any country on any product at the tariff level. trump doesn't have the legal authority to do that now. what he wants to be able to do is say, okay, china, you put 25% tax on american cars. i can do the exact same thing to you. there's a thing called the world trade organization which gets in the way of that. this effectively blows up the world trade organization.

it has no chance on capitol hill but he keeps returning to it. >> what are you watching? >> tomorrow big speech on the drug wars which will be happening up in new hampshire. widely expected that he will call for stricter penalties including the death penalty for drug dealers. it should be a remarkable thing to watch. >> can the would shite house me around trade effectively? >> my week will be dominated by whether or not congress can fund the government. there is a giant spending bill they have to finish by the end of the week. there are definitely some potential hurdles. i want to leave all of you at home with sawyer who is watching "kasie dc." i think he's watching pete williams as well. thank you to both of you for

watching. send us your dogs watching "kasie dc." we will be back next week from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. go blue and good night from washington. ♪ the first time i saw her, i thought she was beautiful. we just loved being together. we were always together. our kitchen back door was open and the glass was broken. >> i need an ambulance now. 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