reports." stay dry out there. right now -- is it over? police identify the man they say caused three weeks of terror in texas. the suspect as the s.w.a.t. team closes in. >> we don't anywhere the suspect spent the last 24 hours. therefore we still need to remain vigilant to insure no other packages or devices have been left through the community. congratulations are not in order. president trump congratulates vladimir putin on his sham election victory. reportedly ignoring the explicit warning from his national security team, and not even mentioning the kremlin's suspected nerve agent attack in england. >> the fact that the president did not even bring up the topic of our election security when he called vladimir putin to congratulate him on his victory in a pre-cooked election i believe is extremely troubling. >> no, i don't blik thlike that

did it. you know what i like even less? somebody leaking this stuff out. >> i'll ask jeh johnson about all that and russia's m.d.lerus. silent no more. stormy daniels says she is not going anywhereas two more women chime in, including a former playmate whose lawyer is speaking out. >> karen mcdougle had a sexual relationship with donald trump for ten months. it was a romantic relationship. they were together very often. good day on a snowy day in washington, d.c. i'm andrea mitchell. austin police are telling residents there that their nightmare may be over. the critical moment coming earlier this morning when 24-year-old suspect mark anthony conditt rigged a fourth package bomb explosion, set off another

bomb allegedly inside a vehicle as s.w.a.t. officers moved in to make an arrest. federal investigators working with local police believe the suspect built all the bombs but has not officially ruled ut him having some assistance. the key concern right now whether the suspect sent any additional packages before being located. nbc's gabe gutierrez has been tracking the story from texas. gabe, what are they now saying whether or not this was a lone wolf or someone might have been helping him? >> reporter: good afternoon, andrea. investigators are checking to see if he might have had any accomplices. this is very fast in the investigation right now. investigators are at the nearby home of mark anthony conditt's parents trying to find out if he did have any contact or left any packages behind. we understand his home is not far from his parents' home, just a few blocks away, we understand.

according to governor greg abbott, they are cooperating with investigators at this point. we have new exclusive reporting from the nbc investigative unit. we can report according to senior -- multiple senior law enforcement officials that one of the ways that law enforcement was able to connect all of these bombs -- the five explosions in the last several weeks is that the bomber used a foreign exotic battery in each of these bombs and one senior law enforcement official says that they apparently came from asia and that they were bought online. it is extremely critical to understand how police were not only able to tie all these bombs together but also how they were able to track the suspect. we also understand the suspect's biggest mistake was going to a med fedex facility here in the austin area and mailing two packages. agents were able to use

surveillance video to zero in on the suspect. also according to senior multiple law enforcement officials the suspect in the hours before the final confrontation actually turned his cell phone on and law enforcement officials were able to use cell phone towers to ping his location to here, round rock, texas and this hotel parking lot not far from where i'm standing where there's been an active investigation going on all morning. they were able to find him in a hotel parking lot, police say. then they were waiting for tactical vehicles when he decided to drive away. police say they chased him and he pulled over into a ditch just off i-35 here just north of austin. that's when police say he detonated one last bomb. one officer was injured in that explosion. he is expected to be okay. another officer did fire his weapon. so right now not clear what killed the suspect. but the big concern right now is

whether there could be other bombs out there. authorities are working right now to find out if that is the case. back to you. >> gabe, thanks so much. amazing work by the fbi. here in washington, sharp criticism from republicans, as well as democrats, for these comments from president trump about a congratulatory call he made to vladimir putin yesterday. >> i had a call with president putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory. the call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future. >> those congratulations were a shock to the president's only national security team. "the washington post" reporting today the president ignored clear warnings from his own advisors, including the message, "do not congratulate," written in all capital letters. it also addressing condemning putin for the poisoning of a russian spy on british soil.

nbc correspondent brinkristen wr joins me now. his actions are inexplicable. ignoring his own national security advisor's advice. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. this highlights this discrepancy here at the white house. on the one hand several days ago they announced they were enacting thoeenact ing those sanctions against russia for meddling in the election. yet critics say the president is being non-confrontational, as you pointed out, going against stern warnings of his national security team not to congratulate president putin, not raising the issue of russian meddling. senator john mccain had some very stern words about this saying an american president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. senator marco rubio earlier today had some very strong words as well about this, but he said

what bothers him more are the leaks. the fact that this was leaked out. we now this was roiling a number of people in the west wing. our own peter alexander got this statement -- if that statement is accurate that means someone around the president is leaking papers and a fireable offense and likely illegal. sara sanders was pressed yesterday on why the president didn't raise the issue of russia's meddle. she said, look, it is not the job of the u.s. -- >> kristen, let's just play that because it is so striking. it is really extraordinary. >> does the white house believe that the election in russia was free and fair? >> look, in terms of the election, there we're focused on our elections. we don't get to dictate how other countries operate. what we do know is that putin has been elected in their country and that's not something that we can dictate to them how

they operate. >> why doesn't the president and white house believe that's something they should be discussing with the russian leader? >> i didn't say we couldn't discuss it with the russian leader. i said it didn't come up on today's call. >> only today vice president presence was scheduled to speak today here in washington against venezuela's rigged election. >> right. >> we always have a history if the united states of presidents speaking out against unfair elections. >> and last year, andrea, the white house was very firm on that point that you raised, venezuela, calling for free and fair elections. so a lot of people were saying, well, why not russia? so it is coming under a lot of scrutiny. worth noting that former president obama did congratulate putin when he won back in 2011 but a lot of people say, look, the circumstances were so different then. it wasn't coming in the wake of russia's meddling in the u.s. election. this continues to be a real focus here at the white house.

now we don't have a briefing because it is a snow day. so essentially the federal government is closed but we'll ask her about that tomorrow when things resume here, andrea. >> kristen, get inside. warm up. jeh johnson, former head of homeland security under president obama who joins me now on prevention of future meddling this year, 2020 and going forward. first of all, thank you, welcome and good to have you here on the set. >> straight from capitol hill. >> straight from a snowy capitol hill. the comparison of president obama, i'll let you respond to that. but this is before the ukraine invasion. it is before our sanctions against them for ukraine. obviously before the elections meddling and before everything is known about what they are doing and did last year. >> correct. one thing i have to point out, we've got some real tension spots with russia right now, and

as i just said before the senate intelligence committee, super powers respond to deterrence. they respond and refrain if they know that the behavior is cost prohibitive. that message really does have to come from the top. the treasury department issued sanctions last week, but leaders of governments like russia take their message -- they take their cues from the counterpart, their person at the top. and if they're not hearing that from the president of the united states, then a lot of the things that his administration is doing to try to send a message is undermined, frankly. >> in your testimony today, you were questioned by dianne feinstein and others about how openly you warned before. let you a play you a little bit of that exchange. >> the american people were never told. why? >> well, senator, the american people were told. >> not sufficiently in any way, shape or form to know that there

was a major active measure going on, perhaps by a foreign power. >> on october 7, 2016, the director of national intelligence and i issued a pretty blunt statement saying that the russian government was interfering in our political process directed by the highest levels of the russian government. that was a pretty blunt statement. it was below-the-fold news the next day because of the release of the "access hollywood" video. >> do you think it would have been above the fold if the president and vice president had said something? with all due respect, you were a cabinet secretary. if it had come from the oval office would it have gotten more attention? >> a lot of people have asked that question. i continue to believe that in that particular campaign, as heated as it was, with one of the candidates saying the

outcome is going to be rigged, and all the things we were wrestling with at the time, if president obama had himself gotten into this and made that statement, in many respects we would have been playing right into candidate trump's rhetoric. so the judgment was made that it should come from the intelligence community and the homeland security community, and that's what we did. the statement was very blunt. it was very plain spoken. but as i pointed out, and i pointed out a number of times, it was overwhelmed, frankly, by "access hollywood," by the video, by the debate two days later, the speculation over the weekend, he's going to drop out, he can't possibly withstand this. there was very little follow-up from journalists. not until december. on what we have said. >> what we know now about facebook, what it did not do in terms of making sure cambridge analytica had deleted those files that were out there in

full view from people who may have -- of whose data they had acquired. all of this now, what does that tell you also about the russian connection since cambridge analytica also was in business with lukoil and other of the oligarchs? >> andrea, this aspect of the russian interference having to do with collection of data, microtargeting, fake news, is the aspect of it that i think we havy et to fule yet to fully un. it may be months, if not years, before we fully understand the full extent of what the russians launched and we're in jeopardy of the exact same thing happening again, according to our intelligence chiefs. it is ongoing right now and the 2018 mid-terms are ongoing right now. primaries have already started. >> in your conversations with your successor who testified alongside you today, the head of

the administration at the nsc level, had they done an administration-wide agency-wide effort to defend against -- >> our democracy depends on it. we certainly had countless meetings on this subject in the obama white house. at the nsc level, at the principals' committee level. >> what about now? -- i can't count them all. now i'm concerned this is not getting sufficient attention at the top. i think what the treasury department did the other week is a good sign. but the message has to come from the top. it has to come from the president of the united states in terms of issuing sufficient deterrents. president obama had a direct conversation with president put been this in 2016. and they're still at it, they're still doing what they are trying to do to interfere with our democracy. >> president trump, after his meeting with vietnam with president putin, seemed to indicate his denials -- at least

he repeated his denials. yesterday the president ignored explicit capital letters warnings from his own national security team. what's your reaction to that? >> well, i can understand the temptation sometimes to want to try to establish a warm personal relationship with another leader, and then your staff gives you -- here are five things you must say. and sometimes you feel like, well, i don't want to say those hard things. i'd rather just have a nice, easy conversation. with you when you a but you're not just representing yourself. you are representing the entire united states government and the interests of the american people. so if it is incumbent upon a cabinet secretary or a president to deliver a hard message, the whole nation really does depend on it. >> do you think there is a nefarious reason? is there something sinister going on or just donald trump having great confidence in his own personal diplomacy?

>> that's a great question that i don't think we fully understand the answer. that's one reason why the special counsel's investigation is so important. >> how worried are you about it being interfered with or mueller being fired? >> well, the rhetoric has not been helpful and director mueller is somebody who will persevere. he is immune from political pressure. >> you work with him closely. >> i have worked with him in the past. i believe he is being very thorough and he is going to reach whatever conclusion he reaches. and literally he will go where the evidence leads him. i have a lot of confidence in him. i hope and believe that most of the congress does, too. >> what do you think should happen if he is fired? wouldn't be by the president but it would be a series -- >> it would be a serious game changer as a number of democrats and republicans in congress have said. >> jeh johnson, as always, thank you for being with us today. digital divide. new insight into who really

drove the trump campaign victory and the critical timeline from wikileaks. john podesta joins me next. you are awatching "andrea mitchell reports. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. no one burns heon my watch! try alka seltzer... ultra strength heartburn relief chews. with more acid-fighting power than tums chewy bites. mmmmm...amazing.

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now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. mark zuckerberg is finally said to break his silence at some time today as facebook is facing growing pressure from

lawmakers and employees over his relationship with cambridge analytica, the campaign that worked on president trump's digital campaign. the ceo has been suspended in the wake of the controversy and newly released video obtained shows alexander knicks bragging about his role in electing donald trump. >> have you mentioned this to donald trump? >> cambridge analytica denies collecting information improperly saying it never claimed it won the election for president trump, it's patently absurd, we are proud of the work we did on that campaign. facebook issuing a statement saying the entire company is outraged, we were deceived. we are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people's information. joining me now, nbc reporter anna schecter from our investigative unit who is tracking all of this. what do we now know about how

zuckerberg is likely to respond? >> i've just been heard from a facebook insider that he's been planning to respond to the cambridge analytica scandal all along but it's been five days of silence. no word on exactly the format that he will address the public but we do expect that later today. >> obviously the markets are having their say. they've lost some $5 billion in value. reputationally it's really stunning that they haven't said anything compared to other classic cases, marketing cases where american companies faced up to problems quickly and that that was determined here. >> absolutely. what i'd like to note is this could be so much bigger than cambridge analytica. in fact, there are thousands of apps that had access to facebook user data without consent before facebook changed its policy in 2015. cambridge analytica is one entity that we now know about. this has been a snowball effect where facebook is under fire on both sides of the pond. members of congress, uk parliament want to ask mark

zuckerberg himself questions. what we know now is that cambridge analytica might be the tip of the iceberg. >> the fact is that what cambridge analytica did on the other side of the atlantic, they believe had a big role in the brexit referendum. >> that's right. now one of the brexit campaigners says that cambridge analytica pitched themselves to brexit but that they weren't hired. that is in dispute. but certainly they are known for using cyber graphics to affect elections. >> anna schecter, thank you so much for being on top of this investigation for us. a critical part of course of the covert social media campaign affecting the campaign was wikileaks. the first of stolen e-mails only minutes after "the washington post" published the "access hollywood" tape and only two hours after the intelligence community sounded the alarm that

jeh johnson just referred to over russia's election meddling. john podesta joins me now. john, welcome. a lot has been revealed. this is all new to you, as well. >> i think we knew but i think we're finding o you the a lot more information now, particularly the fact that private information of 50 million facebook users were pilfered using a ruse of having an academic come in and try to access the data. and we learned that that's been transferred to cambridge analytica. and they evidently used it during the course of the campaign. they sometimes deny it, sometimes admit it, sometimes tout it, sometimes say they were responsible. but i think we're learning more every day and there are a lot of questions still to be answered. >> the data from your e-mails, your e-mail dump came out only minutes after the "access hollywood." >> late on a friday afternoon. >> and just to set the context, most of those wikileaks dumps

were early in the morning to drive the news cycle here in the u.s. so this was unusual from the get-go and you guys noticed it right away. >> oh, absolutely. and i think it was done to try to divert attention, at least to give the anchors on fox news something to talk about other than the "access hollywood" tape. and i think that the question is whether there was coordination between the campaign and wikileaks, at least through intermediaries, about the timing of the release. >> wikileaks has connections to russia, but how does that arouse your suspicions about russia's role? >> clearly the wikileaks obtained -- and i think all the u.s. intelligence community believes that wikileaks obtained those e-mails as a result of them, russia's intelligence agency's hacking into my account and the dnc accounts and then providing them to wikileaks. one interesting line of inquiry

that still needs to be pursued is we now know mr. knicks, the ceo of cambridge analytica, was in touch with mr. assange. we don't know the full extent of what they communicated with one overbut clearly mr. knicks was trying to get access to what mr. assange was talking about. we know that the same thing was true with roger stone trying to contact wikileaks, and others, lucifer 2.2 which was a direct russian front. so yeah, there are a lot of questions out there with a lot to be answered for. i think one of the things that -- again, this is sort of new news, a revelation by mr. wiley, the whistle-blower at cambridge analytica, noted that steve bannon was directing the acquisition of facebook information during his tenure as board member and both secretary of cambridge analytica. they were meeting in the

department of rebecca mercer with robert mercer who are the backers of cambridge analytica. >> and also huge funders of the trump campaign. >> huge funders of the frump campaign. huge funders of breitbart news. so i think one of the things that was clear i think in the sting operation that your partner, organization in the uk, ran, was kind of how laughable the house jennings committintele into this was. mr. knicks was sort of laughing about the fact that they only asked him three questions and they with kind of done with him. i think it is time to re-open that investigation, as democrats have suggested. it is time to bring up the mercers back, bring back mr. bannon and ask them what they knew and when they knew it. >> there are other connections. the academic from cambridge who initially provided the app and this pathway for them is also -- was teaching in st. petersburg,

russia. >> russian-american -- >> at the russian-american organization there, rather. also another, whether clients of lukoil or had meetings with russian oligarchs? >>. lukoil connection is odd because lukoil only seemed interested, again according to mr. wiley, the whistle-blower, in the political attitudes of the american public. and this is at a time when russians had -- the ukrainian situation had blown up simultaneous with mr. mueller sending delegations over here to find out what they can learn so they could run the russian operations against the campaign in 2016. and in the meantime, cambridge analytica is talking to lukoil which is led by another kremlin-friendly oligarch. and they're asking them not

about how do we sell more product, but more about political attitudes of the u.s. citizens and how do we learn more about that, how do we learn about the prejudices that may be there. and then when you look at what they were, again, in that sting video, what they're touting, putting information into the bloodstream of the internet, letting it push out the whole idea that the russian operation was built around the same thing of trying to push fake news into the -- into that bloodstream and let it rattle around and affect people's attitudes. the idea of psycho graphic information that might affect people's tendency to be fearful or to send racial messages. all that is sort of a piece. what we don't know is was there a direct connection between the russian operation and cambridge analytica. >> to be continued. john podesta, real good to see

you. thank you very much. >> thanks, andrea. still ahead, the porn star -- the playmate, the reality tv contestant. president trump facing legal action from three women fighting to tell their stories. how damaging could their lawsuits be? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ ohh ♪ crawl inside ♪ wait by the light of the moon ♪ ♪ come to my window ♪ i'll be home soon ♪ ♪ i'll be home, i'll be home ♪ ♪ i'm coming home ♪ ♪ come to my window ♪ ohh applebee's to go. order online and get $10 off $30. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. and get $10 off $30. dad! dad! can you drive me to jessica's house? (groans) ♪ "welcome to my house" by flo rida ♪

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contestant. then the adult film star. now the playmate. two of them now engaged in major legal battles surrounding the president. latest accuser to come forward, former "playboy" playmate karen mcdougle. she said she was paid $150,000 by the "national enquirer's" parent company to keep quiet about their alleged affair that took place more than a decade ago. the company's ceo is a close friend of mr. trump. now mcdougle is sue ugg the media company for the right to tell her story. parallels are similar to stormy daniels paid $130,000 in hush money paid to her by the president's personal lawyer. this 2011 photo of daniels taking a polygraph test back

them. two parts of which she says she passed. all of this as a former "apprentice" contestant gets the green light from a judge to proceed with her defamation case over mr. trump calling her a liar during the campaign regarding her allegations that he kissed and groped her. mr. trump, his lawyer and the white house have denied all of the allegations of affairs and sexual misconduct. joining me now is barbara mcquaid, former u.s. attorney and msnbc contributor. i think neither of us thought we'd ever be having this type of legal discussion. >> no, you're absolutely right, andrea. >> but there is a legal issue here and there are implications. what are some of the possibilities, especially with this defamation case being permitted to proceed? >> yeah. i think that might be the most significant news of the recent days is that the defamation case is allowed to proceed. the judge denied a motion to dismiss based on immunity for the president.

real lly similar to the paula jones case. the only difference is that was a federal case. the state judge says that makes no difference and the case can proceed. and just as we saw in paula jones, i think this raises the very real possibility that donald trump will be sitting for a deposition in the coming months. you'll recall that it was there that bill clinton made the false statements about monica lewinsky and got himself into a lot of trouble. given president trump's loose relationship with the truth, sitting for a deposition could be very harrowing. >> it was those false statements that led indirectly to impeachment. those were the grounds the house proceeded on and led to the trial where he was acquitted. >> there would be an attorney there who could object. but it is very wide ranging in a deposition. you are really only allowed to object to answering the question based on grounds of privilege. anything that might lead to the

discovery offed admissible evide is relevant. relationships with other women, stormy daniels, karen mcdougle, it would be okay to ask him in that scenario. it is very difficult to be under both and being asked very personal questions about personal matters that you've already talked about how the public record. >> in this state court case, this decision could be appealed though. >> it could. that could result in some delays. but nonetheless, we do have the precedent from the paula jones case that talks about the idea that a sitting president is not immune from a civil lawsuit, that it does not so badly disrupt the functioning of the executive branch that it can't continue. so it seems like a fairly strong legal basis to go forward. that could result in a delay but i result it will result in a change in the outcome. >> thanks so much. still ahead -- brothers in arms. the president touts saudi weapons purchases from the u.s. but is he ignoring the young

heir to the throne's apparently brutal heir war in yemen? coming up, i speak with the saudi foreign minister about that and a whole lot more about our complicated relationship with saudi arabia. you're watching "andrea mitchell you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ (shrieks in terror) (heavy breathing and snorting) no, no. the running of the bulldogs? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money aleia saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. not in this house. 'cause that's no average family. that's your family. which is why you didn't grab just any cheese. you picked up kraft mozzarella with a touch of philadelphia for lasanyeah! kraft. family greatly.

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with jared kushner and others from the white house last night as republican senate leaders block the bipartisan effort to halt an american military attempt -- attempt to block saudi arabia's deadly bombing campaign, or u.s. support for it, in yemen. defense secretary mattis personally intervened to lobby against that vote. following the crown prince's white house meeting, i sat down with the saudi foreign minister to talk about the dramatic changes in the kingdom. there's been criticism that the crackdown has been too severe. some of the princes were arrested, their wealth expropriated. how do you respond to criticism of some of the more radical changes that have taken place? >> there are actual changes. not radical changes. they are quantum leaps in terms of taking saudi arabia into the modern era. >> what about due process? >> you do to deal with corruption from the bottom-up.

it didn't work. people were shown the evidence and were told if you acknowledge your wrongdoing and give back the funds you stole, you can walk. if not, you go to trial. the public press will take care of it and you could end up in jail for many, many years. they were during this time accommodated to a seven-star hotel rather than a jail cell. >> it is a seven-star hotel, yet there are credible, multiple reports that there was some harsh treatment, some were even beaten, tortured. can you respond to that? >> absolutely not true. absolutely not true. we have a number of clinics in the hotel to deal with people with medical conditions. some of them were people with medical issues, medications and so forth. we make sure they have all the health care. the idea of physical abuse is absolutely totally rejected. >> let me ask you about jared

kushner and the relationship between the crown prince and jared kushner. he had been notably in the kingdom just before the first arrests took place. how close is this relationship? how important is it to the u.s. and saudi arabia to have this close connection between these two young figures? >> we have close connections with many, many u.s. officials and jared kushner was designated to be representative of the president, to work on the issue of peace process in the middle east. and as such he came to saudi arabia self-times in order to touch base, solicit ideas. >> there are being questions raised of course in the investigation that the kushner organization has tried to get funding for some of its projects, from saudi investors, even from the government. >> that's not true. that's not true. >> how do you feel about this administration recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel and opening the embassy so quickly in may in jerusalem,

which would seem to make it impossible to have a two-state solution with a palestinian capital in east jerusalem. >> we have made our position very clear when this happened. we said that this is contrary to the principle of not taking action, you prejudge the outcome of final talks. we have said this is a provocation and would undercut the move the process forward. >> many experts in america are comparing your engagement in yemen in a civil war with our own tragic history in vietnam. that it is a morass, a quagmire. is there any impetus to try to wind up that involvement in the yemen civil war? >> this is a war that we didn't seek. it is a war that we didn't want. it was a war that was unimportant to us.

it is just two years after it commence that we are beginning to see history. why do people call what's happening in yemen a quagmire and what's happening in iraq and syria not a quagmire? isn't the united states and the international coalition, having been in afghanistan for now almost 17 years? >> again, the senate has blocked bipartisan efforts to stop air support for that brutal air war that's been a disaster for yemen. coming up, chris wray tells pete williams whether he feels any pressure to quash the russia report. a coconut water company. we've got drinks for long days. for birthdays. for turning over new leaves. and we make them for every moment in every corner of the country. we are the coca-cola company, and we're proud to offer so much more.

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president trump is escalating his attacks on special counsel robert mueller today. this as crihristopher ray tells nbc news pete williams in an interview he's not allowing politics to influence decision making at the fbi. >> do you feel any political pressure from the white house? >> no. >> the president has never asked you to say anything about it or clear him? >> about the russia investigation? >> yes. >> he's never asked me to do anything with the russia investigation. >> it's been reported you

threatened to resign over being urged to fire people. is that correct? >> i have been very clear from the minute i was nominated to the minute i u walked in the door to countless opportunities since then that i am unwaveringly committed to doing this job by. the book independently following our rules, our processes free from political or partisan influence. >> it sounds like you're saying those reports are not wrong. >> i'm not going to talk about specific conversations. >>. >> let's get the scoop from justice correspondent pete williams. congratulations on on that interview. pete, this pressure obviously has to be felt, though. chris ray is being strong in testimony. but people under him must be tealing the. pressure as the president keeps tweeting about robert mueller. >> i asked him. . doesn't it hurt when the

criticism comes from the boss. people rather they not be criticized, but he's felling fbi people to embrace the criticism and try to do everything right and do everything brt. he insists the brand of the fbi hasn't suffered. he says the fbi remains very selective in recruiting agents approving only 5% of them. which as you know is is about the acceptance rate of highly selective universities and he says the fbi's retention rate is .8%, which would be the envy of corporate america. >> part of the attrition most recently is is andy mckad. what about the fallout throughout the agency over that. >> he didn't discuss it directly when i asked him if he supported the fire iing. the answer was interesting. he gave a long answer about the process and how he. months that i can mur the

process from the fbi is as had says by the book. he support ed the firing. >> and the political fallout from a lot of this as you watched the white house and the president has been tweeting it's becoming apparent that more and more republicans are uncomfortable. they are not willing to support a stand alone bill to protect robert mueller. but mitch mcconnell said as he joined yesterday. >> everyone has been waiting to hear mitch mcconnell says about that. he and paul ryan had been pretty quiet on this subject. they had become more and more vocal. they are still the by far the loudest voices.

you had jeff flake tweeting he was begging the president not to fire robert mueller. we have no recourse in congress to stop you from doing this. the only thing we can do is impeach you afterward. don't go there. these are strong warningings. and yet they do not come from the leadership. what happened yesterday was mcconnell edged towards a warning to the president. and ryan did as well. a lot of people interpret the president's tweet oefrs the last week or so as ratcheting up pressure on congress to see how far he can go. >> any changes or more changes expected tr the legal team. there was an outreach reporting yesterday to a prominent ted olsen being a former solicitor general who is is is prom nebt in appeals and argue iing cases

before the supreme court who said he's not going to take that job. what about any other changes? >> not that i know of, but it's interesting the president's tweet says the special council was appointed to find crimes. the special counsel was appointed to investigate possible meddling and if anything resulted from that to file charges. so you may think that's the same, but precision and these issues matters. >> this is the first time that the word impeeach was used by some of the republicans as well. >> ab sloutly. it's been a word tossed around by democrats for some time now. that was a very, very strong statement from jeff flake. i mean, he's telling the president, look, this is actually what could be on the table. >> ann and pete williams, thank

you very much. you can see more of pete's interview with chris ray on "nbc nightly news" tonight. stay with us. you tell your insurance company they made a mistake. the check they sent isn't enough to replace your totaled new car. the guy says they didn't make the mistake. you made the mistake. i beg your pardon? he says, you should have chosen full-car replacement. excuse me? let me be frank, he says: you picked the wrong insurance plan. 'no. i picked the wrong insurance company.' with liberty mutual new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car plus depreciation. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. you or joints. something for your heart... but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.

thanks for being with us. that's it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." chris jansing is up next here on msnbc.

>> i am chris jansing. do not congratulate. did someone inside the white house break the law leaking information that president trump reportedly ignored the advice of his national security team, which was do not congratulate vladimir putin on his reelection. the administration wants to know who did it. and demand iing answers, facebook under intense scrutiny from lawmakers who want to know why the company didn't protect users' privacy and they want to hear it from mark zuckerberg. he will respond in the next 24 hours. plus surrounded by scandal, three women locked in a legal battle with the president. how his team is dealing with these questions that are obviously not going away. is and the escalating focus on trump's personal lawyer, michael cohen. that's an interest ing part of the story. we start with the white house on