>> i was texted by a friend a moment ago, why is michael cohen who is under criminal investigation having a more enjoyable afternoon than i am. >> we saw him wandering leisure lee up madison avenue. >> wearing a dapper jacket. >> maybe that was the call with the president. >> looks like he is having fun. >> my thanks to evan, alicia, betsy and the rev. "mtp daily" starts right now. hi chuck. >> hi nicole. lordy lordy lordy. lordy is back. >> right. >> i know, if it's friday, lordy, there's a book. tonight, president trump slams jim comey's new book, calling the former fbi director act i looer, a leaker, a slime ball. >> i think that we have been very clear though how we feel about some of the leadership at the fbi, particularly james comey. plus, we talk exclusively with paul ryan who names his pick to succeed him as speaker.

>> that's right. that's right. well, i fully anticipate handing the gavel over to the next speaker of the house. and does the ryan departure signal that the blue wave is getting bigger? this is "mtp daily," and it starts right now. ♪ good evening. good friday the 13th evening. welcome to "mtp daily" i'm chuck todd here in washington where we are nearing the close of an extraordinary week even by trumpian standards, one that began with the fbi raiding the offices of president trump's long-time personal lawyer and fixer, michael cohen. and it ended with former fbi director james comey questioning the president's fitness for office. the president was already fighting a multifront war over the special counsel's investigation. fighting against resident mueller, against deputy attorney general rob rosenstein who is you no telling confidants he is prepared to be fired and against the d.o.j. itself which raided

his lawyer's home and office and which now says his lawyer is under a separate criminal investigation. now comey's book has reopened the president's fight with the former fbi director n. his new book, comey faints an exceedingly dark portrait of a man he belief is unfit to lead the country. he wroets quote donald trump's presidency threatens much of what is good in this nation, this president is unethical and untethered to the truth and institutional values. his action is ego driven and about personal loyalty. we have asked this question before, is this a tipping point for how the public perceives president trump? or will we all just collectively slug our shoulders. comey writes quote it is also wrong to stand idly by while a president brayenly seeks to undermine law enforcement.

a message to congress in that one. while there may be a lack of collective outrage comey him seems angry personally and isn't above doing mud slinging of his own. on his first meeting, his face appeared slightly orange where half moons under his eyes have aassumed he placedan at thatting goggle. when he extended his hand i made a mental note to compare to it mine. he compares mr. trump to notorious mobster, he recounts the president's fixate with the salacious parts of the christopher steele dossier. in an interview with abc news comey says the president was more concerned with pr than with national security when it came to the russian election interference. >> president-elect trump's first question was to confirm that it had no impact on the election.

then the conversation, to my surprise, moved into a pr conversation about how the trump team would position this and what they could say about this. they actually started talking about drafting a press release with us still sitting there. no one to my recollection asked, so what is coming next from the russians? how might we stop it? what's the future look like? it was all what can we say about what they did and how it affects the election that we just had? >> the president fired back on twitter this morning, calling comey a proven leaker and liar, and also dismissed him as an untruthful slime ball saying, it was my great honor to fire james comey. we heard a similar reaction from president trump's allies. >> it seems to me like he sounds like a disgruntled ex-employee in a the book is going to be on the dust bin soon. it is a political actor taking a political stance. >> he will lie to no end to

advance his own position. >> comey will be forever known as a disgraced partisan hack that broke his trust with if president of the united states the dedicated agents of the fbi and the american people who he vowed to serve. one of the president's greatst achievements will go down as firing james comey. >> joining us now mr. wittis. welcome back. you have gotten through i assume much of the book as you can. >> i only got it this afternoon. i'm sort of making my way through it. >> everybody is scrambling. i understand that. what's the biggest surprise to you so far? >> so i have not been surprised actually by a lot of the tone of it because, you know, unlike a lot of people, i was kind of talking to jim through some of this period. and a lot of the tone of this book is -- it's fully consistent

with the tone of our conversations at the time. and this is a guy who was, you know, situated between the president of the united states and an investigation that he took very seriously and an agency that he felt the need to protect from the white house and the president himself and the people around it. and i think that is the -- that is the tone of the book. and that is you know exactly the story i expected him to be telling. >> what's his goal? what's the goal of this book? is it to sound the alarm? is this a five-alarm fire, he is trying the tell us the country needs rescuing? he paints the picture of a president that's destroying the country's rule of law? >> i think the first goal is to tell the truth. i think it's really interesting that the whole white house response to this is to describe him as a liar. right? rather than to respond to the

essential claims that he is making. jim comey is many thing of one of them is not a liar. i think the first goal is to lay out the story of what happened, and what it is that this president tried to do and has been doing to federal law enforcement. and some of that story of course he told in his congressional testimony. but he's sort of laying it out here for, you know, in a richer kind of way. i think in addition to that he is raising a moral and political and legal concern about -- or alarm as you say about the health of our institutions b the effect of our president on them. >> i will admit i was surprised by the personal shots that comey took at the president. i understand why he's angry, and personally so, his character is being desmirched. it's character assassination in some ways, what is happening.

but it is one of -- the guy who we all nicknamed st. jails, if you will, the catholic choir boy, i'm surprised he went to hand size, to orange skin. it's not the james comey we have seen in public before. >> okay, first of all, i don't speak for him. i speak for myself. and you know, i cannot answer for every line of the book. >> i understand. >> and every, you know, every line that, you know, somebody may find could have been worded differently. >> sure. >> or may be cheap that said, i do think it is kind of rich that we are here clucking about a few lines of the way comey cosmos to ma -- chose to make a physical description of somebody who we are dealing with a president who hurls a hom nymph insults at people every day. >> this is the trap of the trump era. from the top down you have a president who has no down buries

on what words he will say, how he will talk to people. >> we did to the know. >> and we all hold ourselves to higher standards. when we see somebody -- you are like, wait a minute, you are right, we would not even blink if the president did these things. >> the president today tweeted the words slime ball that disgusting. >> i think, you for example it is a 300-page book. i'm sure those two lines will get a lot of attention. and i'm not even going to say i wouldn't prefer that he would have worded that differently. >> fair enough. what did you learn in the book. >> there is a lot of interesting stuff about comey's childhood, you know, including this harrowing incident that i had sort of generically known had taken place in which he was, you know, held at gun point in a home invasion situation, about his early career as a mob prosecutor, which i actually didn't know very much about. you know, that predates my

knowing him. >> sure. >> and so, you know, i think there is actually a lot of biographical stuff, among other things, he's a very good writer. and so it's actually an engagingly told story. >> look, we've learned this. we know he's a good writer we learned this from his congressional testimonies over the years. he is incredibly good at narrative of he was good at it as a prosecutor. good at laying out a story. and he's good at it here. >> that's true by the way, orally as well as in written form. which is one of the reasons why i think this is going to be a bad weekend for the president as he starts giving these interviews. >> rod rosenstein is telling colleagues he is prepared to be fired. and he's -- he said something interesting. he said that history will judge his decision, his role in the comey firing much kind he than he has been treated today saying there are things that we don't know that went into the decision to fire comey. >> you know, i obviously have an opinion about that episode.

>> right. >> and i will of course revisit that if new facts come out. i think that rod rosenstein did not perform well in that episode but that he has done a lot of things since then, including the hiring of bob mueller and the asid use and careful protection of that investigation and the one in new york of michael cohen and allowing them to do their work. and i think, you know, a traffic strooe for rod rosenstein to be fired. -- a travcity for rod rosenstein to be fired. i hope very much that is not the situation we are looking a of the. >> michael cohen, you brought it up just now. there is a new filing. michael cohen is trying to seek, basically the ability to look at all of the papers first that the justice department took from his -- look at all the material first and let him decide what's material and what isn't. what we learned in the government's case to basically deny that motion from him is

that this doesn't have anything perhaps to do with the mueller investigation. s that separate criminal investigation of michael cohen. >> it's separate. and it's old. it's several months old. >> months old it tells us yep. >> the other interesting thing in this document is the claim by the government that a lot of the material seized has very little to do with the practice of law. it has to do with other businesses that cohen is engaged in. >> right. >> including the fact that he doesn't really have that many legal clients. and so, you know, the president tweeted out the other day that the attorney klein privilege is dead. the government seems to be saying here that the attorney/client privilege may have relatively little to say about a lot of this material. >> what we are learning is michael cohen's job wasn't lawyer first. that was a job that he. not the job he had. inthat's the government's case here. ben wittist, thank you. >> good to see you.

let me turn to rhonda romney mcdaniels. on point here, on comey book pushback, madam chairwoman, welcome back to the show. >> thank for having me. great to be here. >> are you here in our role as chairman of the republican party or defender of trump? you are rareman of the rnc. are you speaking for the republican party here in calling james comey as a liar? >> imi'm speaking as the chair of the republican party and pushing back on an fbi director that discredits him and is now pushing a book trying to make money. i think it's important that the american people review his actions. if you look at our website, lying comey.com most of the criticism comes from democrats. this is the one thing that there has been bipartisan agreement about in d.c. in the past year

and a half is that james comey acted in a way that was not befitting the office of fbi director. >> what's the lie? i hear the accusation that james comey is liar. what did he lie about? >> first of all he went under oath in the congress and said he had never leaked. then a month later he said that he had given his memos to a friend to give to the press. i think that's a lie. and there's many opportunities that -- or examples of him not being forthcoming throughout these investigations. he started an exoneration memo of hillary clinton before interviewinger had. i think that's a little dishonest. >> why is that dishonest? could that be part of the investigation. i feel like there is a lot of leaps that get made here. basically the one thing that i hear is what you just said about well he said he didn't leak and then later he said he leaked. which means later he said. >> don't you think he lied the first time if he said he didn't leak and then he comes back and he said it under oath? i think that's a lie.

i mean that's what he said to congress. i didn't leak. i think giving your memos to a friend to leak to the press is a leak. and he lied about night is this a big deal to the president? i ask that because he pardoned somebody who is actually a convicted liar and a convicted leaker. i'm referring to scooter libby. >> i'm not familiar with all the things that went into scooter libby's pardon but you do know in the libby case judith miller who was the main testimony against libby recanted her testimony. she said he was not the person who leaked. the cia offed his name to her. i think that is one of the reasons that he was pardoned of the but i'm not familiar with all the reasons that went into why the president pardoned him. >> is one of the things that the president said about scooter libby, he said he was treated unfairly. said that about michael michael flynn and michael cohen. are more pardons in the works? is the president sending a

message to his former aides that have been swept up in the mueller probe that he will pardon them when necessary? >> i'm not privy to that. i have heard nothing on that account. that's certainly not a conferring i would be part of as rnc chair. >> republican senator thom tillis wrote an op ed in the "washington post." he is one of the cosponsors of this bill in the united states senate to essentially protect mueller from being fired. to make it difficult for the president to directly fire mueller. and he makes the case that this is actually in the best sbrz of the president that all the speculation about will he or won't he, says letting the investigation run its course is in the best interest of the country and is the only oopgs to ensure that the american people have trust in this process but also it's good or the president. do you concur? >> what i have heard from the white house over and over again is that the president not going to fire mueller.i don't think it is a necessary step. he said if i were going to fire him i would have fired him a

long time ago. what i would say, it is time for this investigation to come to a conclusion. we haven't seen any evidence of russia collusion. we are now seeing the investigation go outside the scope that it was initially intended for. and we are coming up on an election. and it's important for the american people that we get a conclusion as to this investigation so that they can go to the polls in november and understand once and for all that there was no collusion, what was the extent of the russian meddling that they tried to do in our election and complete this investigation that's gone on for too long. >> i understand asking for the investigation to end. but we don't know what we don't know. and you are making assumptions that they haven't found this or that. how do you know this? >> based on the many leaks that we have had from the democrats i think if there were any shoes collusion, any evidence of that, we would have heard it. >> that has nothing to do with the mueller probe. you are talking about the stuff in congress, that house mess which is nothing but a leak fest

on either side. and there was nothing useful out of there. the mueller probe is a whole different story. >> there has been no evidence of russia collusion. i do know that. we have not seen it. we have not heard of it. if they have it, then they would need to put it forward. there was no collusion. i don't believe there is collusion. the president has said there was no collusion. i think that's important to put out to the american public. but it is important the get this investigation over in a timely fashion. we have an election coming up, and not prolong it. it's been going on almost two years now and it's time to put it to an en. it is an investigation in search of a crime. >> i want to ask you about a tweet that was put out in your name. and i say this because i've heard other stories that it maybe wasn't meant in the moment it was sent on march 31st a tweet went out in your name that says democrats hate our president more than they love our country. what was the point of that tweet. >> it was a retweet, it was something i said after the state of the union. i was referring to democrat

leadership at the time of the state of the union when they wouldn't stan as our president talked about veterans. it was appalling. it was misrd woulding. it should not have been referring to all democrats. many president including in my state support this president. >> do you regret the way the tweet was worded? >> i think it would have been worded. now as michigan chair and rnc chair i recognize the coalition that the president trump has it built. he is focusing on higher wages, more jobs, he is unhappy with trade deals that tonight vapg the american manufacturing community. he is championing the average american family. democrats, republicans, he wants to bring people togetherful and that tweet was not worded in the way that i wish it had been. and it will be better in the future. >> i want to ask you about your finance committee. it seems to be a bit of aist

mess. steve wynn resigned from it. brody took over and he now resigned. would you have fired mr. brody from the finance committee if he did not resign today? >> let me first clarify, these are volunteer positions. there is one officer, it is the finance chairman, todd ricketts. we have finance people in all of our states. elie and i spoke today, we had a long conversation and we both agreed that was the right thing to do. we don't want to disvakt from our purpose, which is to elect republicans to keep this majority, keep this comeback alive with record low unemployment, with our national security being strengthened, with the militaries being funded. these are the thing that republicans are focus on. and nothing is going to distract us from our mission.

>> would you like michael cohen to voluntarily resign. he is also a finance chair. >> i have not seen all the allegations. this has been unfolding. i would like a chance to talk to michael. i'm not going to comment yet. >> you were quick to tell the dnc to give back harvey weinstein's money. why are you keeping steve wynn's money? >> weinstein admitted doing something wrong and went to rehabilitation. >> if he did something wrong, do you think -- >> there are investigations. this isn't a hollow thing. there is several investigations. let's let them take this course. if proven true we will absolutely return the money. >> okay. >> thieu process is a cornerstone of our judicial process. i don't want to abandon that. >> rhonda romney mcdaniel, ircha

of the rnc. >> the bombshells in james comey's new memoir are making headlines worldwide. that's why we are taking an in-depth look at his life and career. watch headliners this sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. and on thursday, james comey joins rachel maddow in studio. still to come, part of my interview with the outgoing speaker of the house, paul ryan. the person he says should take his place when it comes time to hand over the gavel. we'll be right back.

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we have the comey book. ryan quits. i think this week will be one we write about in ten years. >> i don't think there is any question about it. you didn't even mention syria. >> thank you. what about poland. sorry. >> we could be launching a multinational attack on syria any day. >> and president will address the nation 10:02 on sunday night. >> i think it's interesting he cleared it totally i think to do battle. >> uh-huh. >> i think the big picture, leaving syria out of it for a minute is there are two big squeezes going on, one of them is legal in which mueller is doing the class i have investigative things of working from the outside in and from the bottom to the top. and he's got cohen on the hook here now. and even if those investigations aren't directly related or even related substantively at all to the mueller investigation of russia, it's a squeeze on another important person in the

orbit just like the manafort thing. exactly the same. so that's the legal squeeze. mean while there is a big political squeeze on the other size where donald trump is trying to labor the entire investigation as political. i must say i think to some extent james comey gave him some ammunition. >> interesting you say that. >> gave him ammunition. >> i thought so too. i thought he went -- i was surprised at the tone at times that he took. granted, the president goes much farther, as ben wittis pointed out but all of ourselves hold ourselves to different standards. >> i think it was unnecessary for him to talk about the president's hair and question his marriage and the size of his hands. i think that was a little bit flip this surprising coming from st. james. >> right. it's not the portrayal he has put up him in contrast to the president. but there were a lot of serious allegations that he made about the president. that's what is ultimately going to going to stand the test of time, what history is going to

consider when judging this president. it looks like we are at a credits senna in this russia investigation. i don't know what bob mueller is about to put out there but the raid on michael cohen, the way this happened, the president's fierce reaction to it makes me feel like something is up. it makes me wonder how is the president going to get to his end game if he wants to shut down the investigation if he tries. the rule says only the attorney general can do it. session is recused of the i goes to rosenstein. if he tries to replays rosenstein you are not going to get the senate to confirm somebody unless they promise to keep the special counsel investigation going. how does he get to that end game, even if he tries? >> i'm with you. how do you feel about the pushback. i'm surprised they are using the rnc chair. then again, they are an arm of the trump white house. >> they are an arm of it.

and they are an organization that has a good team of communicators in it. and right now you want a full-court press. trump is a brilliant communicator. he knows to discredit comey. he is using the rnc to effectively help him to do that and push out more than they can push out at the white house. it is the politically smart thing to do. what worries me is about how this further erodes the trust that we have in our national security officials. that's an unintended consequence of this. he is smart to discredit your opponent. that's what we teach, political 101. >> we are sinking into muck, all of us, we can feel night the difference here is these aren't just normal political components. >> this is the fbi director. >> the director of the fbi, the entire investigative and legal apparatus of the united states government. if you heard sarah huckabee sanders today she was to the just talking about comey. she said we have a lot of problems with the fbi, speaking in the present tense.

>> yeah. >> that's a big part of it. i think comey is playing tough here. one of the things that fascinated me in the book is where he says that by the way, john kelly called me. >> yeah. >> and said these are dishonorable people, maybe i should -- do you want me to quit sort of thing. and that is rolling a hand grenade right into the oval office because that man is chief of staff. >> probably the most interesting thing douches. >> what is trump going to say looking at him. >> the most interesting part of the book the me was comey's allegation, first person on the record, we her this whispered that trump had little curiosity about the russia investigation. i think that's going to matter a lot when the verdict is written on this presidency. >> that's a damning allegation is that not curious about an insid use attack on american democracy. >> you have heard from prosecutors before, when they don't ask about the crime -- you inform somebody that hey your

spouse dead and the person deny say what, just goes oh, yeah. >> had he you don't have the immediate emotional reaction you feel like there is a there there. >> that bothered comey. >> i want to go back to the erosion had and the politics of personal destruction. it's not anything new. >> clinton/starr. the dnc went after starr. >> it has been going on and getting worse and worse and worse. that's why we are here. that's what the american public was sick of the part of politics we all hate. >> the white house is talking approximate, sarah huckabee sanders the white house spokesperson called comey a disgraced partisan hack. partisan is not the issue here. t's life long republican. the fbi director is a republican. the deputy attorney general is a republican. partisanship is not part of the

art here. >> that's donald trump's entire intent. knowing that he can fire mueller. i think donald trump sort of understands that to the extent he is consistent about anything but he is going to rough him up and squeeze them politically as hard as he's able in any way he can. that's why the rnc chair is out there. that's why he cleared his schedule. he is going to go to battle with comey on twitter over the weekend. >> and he has to make a decision. that kind of courtmentalization i don't know if he is capable of. >> lose/lose for him. >> stick around. up ahead the gop tipping point, could speaker ryan's exit from the house mark the beginning of a shift during the mid terms, or did the shift happen and this is just ryan reading the tea leaves? we'll be right back. but for cyber criminals it's plenty of time to launch thousands of attacks. luckily security analysts and watson are on his side.

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this sunday on "meet the press" the end of the paul ryan era. i sat down with the outgoing house speaker today to talk about his accomplishments and who might take his place. do you have a preference? kevin mccarthy. >> i think we all believe that kevin is the right person. >> to be the next leader. >> we all think. >> you say everyone. >> our leadership team. >> steve scalise? >> yeah. >> he believes kevin mccarthy should be the heir apparent, whether it is leader or speaker. >> that's right. i fully anticipate handing the

gavel over to the next speaker of the house after this term. >> and you think it's going to be. >> kevin is ready to step up. >> don't miss my full interview with paul ryan this sunday on meet moet on your msnbc station. we will have more on what ryan's retirement could mean for red's chances of taking back the house. that's next we make sure you're in the loop at every step from the moment you decide to move your money to the instant your new retirement account is funded. ♪ oh and at fidelity, you'll see how all your investments are working together. because when you know where you stand, things are just clearer. ♪ just remember what i said about a little bit o' soul ♪

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and accessories for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit it is easy it is easy to say that paul relationship's exit has to do with republicans having no chance. at the same time, i have spent a lot of time with paul ryan and i know he hated the job itself. both things can be true here. that he had no desire to keep doing this job and he is reading

the writing on the wall. >> i think that's right. i don't believe that ranee rice chased paul ryan out of the house. i think donald trump chased paul ryan out of the house for the most part. >> why he. >> although the job sucks. consider the chain of events. february 19th a court order a friendly map for pennsylvania. march 3th, republicans lose a district that trump won by 20 points. and april 18th paul ryan retires. how does this keep getting worse for republicans? the reason it's not a mirror with 2010 when democrats lost is that it was apparent early on given trump's unpopularity that the republican majority was in deep trouble and we have still got a lot of filing deadlines left in the states. >> let's look at them. big states, too. new york, michigan, florida, we had a new florida retirement on the same day by the way as paul ryan, dennis ross a district that should be fine.

but you never know in florida. washington state. there is a couple of vulnerable republicans potentially up there. arizona. there is a lot of filing deadlines still left. i mean could we see a dozen more retirements or to the? >> i don't know about a dozen. >> stivers admitted to me that there might be a couple more. he said less than ten. he believed there would be less than ten. >> chuck, if you were a republican member why would you want to run for re-election in this climate. >> maybe to serve in con. i mean, there are some reasons to, it's not all about being in the majority. is it? >> you are getting mobbed at town halls. you have to answer for every tweet that trump sends. by the way, i don't think donald trump cares whether republicans lose their majority. i think he cares first and foremost about protecting himself had. that's a big problem for republicans who need to go he the trump base out to vote. >> some house members, messily mccarthy supporters and maybe it's mccarthy egging them on say

hey we want to know the new team in advance. i thought it was interesting for paul ryan to basically endorse mccarthy but say hey i'm not leaving. >> i don't think republicans want a war for leadership during the election season. so what ryan is trying to do is exit as -- exit with as much certainty as he can leave his party. >> right. >> we currently rate 53 republican-held seats in lean, toss up or worse. we only rate six democrats seats in lean-toss up or worse. 53 that's double the number that democrats need to pick up. >> let's net 47. basically twice what they need. >> seats are in play. every week we are seeing new polls that throw these races into more competitive categories. >> have you seen -- it's interesting. what is the path for the republicans to hold their majority? there is all this doom and gloom and we have a new poll coming out next week. and one of our republican polls

saying, you know, it's like -- we are asking ourselves that question. help me out here. what does that look like? what suddenly changes that republicans could suddenly hold the house. >> i don't know that it's in their control other than making the democrats look bad. >> scorched earth. >> ryan's leaving hurts their ability to the that. ryan's pac, and other fun were counting on that money. republicans have to get the congressional national ballot to about a six-point spread. that's the threshold where they can plausibly hold onto the house. and that's base on trump's approval rating. why the gap may have narrowed in the first three months of the year and trump's approval rating ticked up to 40, 41. we have been talking about comey, michael cohen, putin, russia, talking about tariffs.

that's not what swing voters want to hear about. >> they want to hear about health care. >> they want to hear health care. and want to here about tax cuts. >> i heard mcconnell is going to say the house is over, we need your money over here in senate races. could that be the ultimate fallout here of the ryan exit? >> that could well happen. i think one thip i don't have looked in 2018 is how historically little overhappen we have between house and senate battlefields, right. we could have an election in which democrats pick up 40 seats and lose six seats and it could be plausibly consistent. >> i don't think it's that wide in the senate but you are right it could be something like that. david wasserman, it only gets more interesting. thanks for being here. lordy, what a week. back in a moment. he night.

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need a change of scenery? the kayak price forecast tool tells you whether to wait or book your flight now. so you can be confident you're getting the best price. giddyup! kayak. search one and done. when president trump pardoned scooter libby, was he sending a message to paul manafort and mike flynn that they don't have to cooperate with special counsel bob mueller? or is it a bull. of people that just took advantage of president trump in a weak moment. a lot of people think there was a message sent. we will look at that when we return.

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time now for "the lid."

panel is back, sahil ka pure, gretchen and howard. no offense, gretchen, i feel like only i and howard can talk about scooter libby. we have to remind people who scooter libby was. no coincidence to me that scooter libby who was appointed by a special counsel appointed by james comey gets pardon obed today. coincidence. >> i think you are justifiably connecting the dots there. all those things that donald trump is afraid of, he is sending a message to them and i think he is sending a message to others that he is willing to pardon. >> work of john bolton? did they take advantage of the president in the weak moment?

>> i think john bolton had some influence here but this is trump he's had had a hard week. he is changing the that i remembertive going into the weekend. >> is he, though. >> i think somewhat yes he is, he is at least stirring it up right, and trying to throw people to of comey. he is doing his best in trying to change the narrative. >> optics are terrible. >> leaker and liar. >> leaker and a liar. >> a convicted leaker and a liar. >> president trump . >> i think on this one he has just given democrats ammunition to say this shows as nancy pelosi says his contempt in for the rule of law. >> i think more a message to the people investigating donald trump. that's what this is about. it is an inside message.

>> overall, the president is very attuned to the pr of the russia investigation. that's why he has tried to jen up his base against it and try to discredit it. it hurts his cause. >> meanwhile a lot of people are under the, woulding assumption whatever we are doing in syria happens this sunday. gretchen, i get the sense they are trying to solve a puzzle that may be impossible. the president doesn't want there longer but you have to send a message that's bigger than the message you sent last time i don't know if you can do that without staying a long time. >> that's the puzzle, how can you be there and not doing something long term. look at all the polling. americans are war weary, they are tired of these long engage interest here as a nation. >> i think that's what they haven't figured out what the

objective is. >> how do you take down assad without having isis take over the place while countering iranian influence, while bolstering this coalition of groups that are disconnected that we call the moderate opposition. nobody has been able to figure that out. the president struggled with this mightily and he did not come out -- >> there is a way to do it. you just don't want to do it which is full-scale invasion. >> i think on some level he wants to do that. >> this train is being driven to some extent by macron in france and by may in britain. they are the ones, my sense of it is, who want the coordinated strong attack here. that doesn't necessarily comport with what donald trump really wants to the extent we know what he wants. remember the big military parade macron had. donald trump's love of the military in france and all that. macron wants to go. he wants to go. and that presents an interesting problem for trump. >> we'll see. i do think that of all weeks for him to be debating this, this

has to be more difficult than any. he doesn't -- >> i have a feeling his face is going to be buried in his phone tweeting. >> early this week, vice president pence chaired a national security meeting. the president was somewhere else. that's the distraction here that a lot of us are concerned about. gretchen, howard, thank you. happy friday. >> yes. ahead -- lordy, what james comey just said to us.

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in case you missed it, there is much to debate about james comey. are his meetings with president trump believable? did he handle it appropriately? do you know what is without question? his impact on our national political lexicon. >> i've seen the tweet about tapes. lordy, i hope there are tweets. >> james comey brought "lordy" back. sure there were the initial headlines all those months ago. unlike the flash in the pan that was cofefe, lordy has staying power. he's made it part of the staying power. lordy, ian bremer is so glad his book isn't coming out next week. comey has spawned a cottage industry of lordy merchandise. how bay lordy t-shirt or coffee tumbler. comey is my homey is also available as a t-shirt. so how long will this latest buzzword stick around in the d.c. bubble? lordy only knows. that's all for tonight.

yes, it was that kind of week. we'll be back monday on "mtp daily." if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." it will be a big show. "the beat with ari melber" starts right now. breaking news right now. the feds confirming iing michae cohen is under investigation. we'll hear from a man inside the courtroom today. cohen's adversary in the stormy daniels case. michael afnaugvenotte. what went down and when michael cohen could plead the fifth in this case. i'm going to turn to it momentarily. it comes amidst this rising heat on trump. james comey taking on the president and going there. >> honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but i don't know whether