this sunday, attack on syria. >> i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes. >> the u.s. and its allies strike syria in retaliation for last week's suspected chemical attack on civilians. >> these are not the actions of a man. they are crimes of a monster. >> the president declares mission accomplished, but is it? what's the point of doing something if it accomplishes nothing? i'll ask republican senator joni ernst of iowa. plus, is mueller closing in? a new report says the special counsel has evidence confirming part of the infamous dossier that the president's lawyer may have lied about a trip to prague

during the 2016 campaign. i'll ask former cia chief john brennan whether he sees evidence of collusion. also, paul ryan calls it quits. >> today i am announcing that this year will be my last one as a member of the house. >> this morning, my sit-down with the outgoing speaker of the house. when people right the history of the era, it is the triumph of trumpism over ryanism. it's got to be a bitter pill to shall shallow. >> finally our brand-new nbc news/wall street journal poll and the enthusiasm gap and the vote for congress. joining me for insight and analysis are kristen welker, mark leibovich, chief national correspondent for the new york times magazine and nbc news political reporter carol lee and republican strategist al cardenas. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history.

this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. good sunday morning. this is one of those times when we'd really like to look into the future and see how historians judge this week. the fired fbi director james comey's new book attacks the president's as quote untethered to the truth and institutional values. paul ryan decides to retire rather than face a possible future in the minority. the u.s. and its allies launch air strikes on syria in retaliation for president assad's use of chemical weapons. the fbi raids the offices of fbi's personal attorney, michael cohen, suggesting a new pathway for special counsel robert mueller. in what may be a huge break in the russian investigation, mcklatchy reports that mueller has evidence that michael cohen made a trip he's denied ever taking to prague during the 2016 campaign. that could be the evidence that leads to collusion. all of this comes as the polls show 39% approve of what the president is doing, while 57%

disapprove. the approval number is down 4 points and the disapproval number up four since last month. interestingly enough today's numbers are the exact set of numbers that our poll showed in january. it's more evidence that the president's approval numbers move up and down within a very narrow trading range. we'll have more on our poll later on in the show, but we'll begin with a week that started with a raid on the offices of the president's lawyer and it ended with a military strike on syria. >> i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes. >> on friday night, the u.s. and european allies launched coordinated air strikes on three of assad's chemical weapons facilities after a suspected chemical attack last weekend. the president even ratcheted up his rhetoric. >> we are prepared to sustain this response until the syrian regime stops prohibited chemical -- the use of prohibited chemical agents. >> but the pentagon quickly made

it clear that the strikes were limited. >> right now, this is a one-time shot. >> the air strikes come as mr. trump is mired in multiple domestic political crises, and he and his surrogates are launching a campaign against law enforcement. earlier on friday the president attacked fired fbi debt director james comey as an untruthful slimeball and the name calling kept on coming. >> comey will be forever known as a disgraced partisan hack. >> a disgruntled ex-employee who, after the fact, wants to clear his conscience. >> james comey is a dirty cop. >> the republican national committee rolled out a website called lying comey attempting to discredit comey with talking points and digital ads. all this, a reaction to comey's new book, "a portrait of a president obsessed with disproving a dossier filled with salacious and unproven claims and unconcerned with the russian threat." >> no one to my recollection asked, what's coming next from the russians?

it was all, what can we say about what they did and how it affects the election that we just had? >> speaking of the dossier, mcclatchy reports that special counsel robert mueller has evidence that mr. trump's personal lawyer, michael cohen, made a secret trip to prague in the summer of 2016, a claim that was made in said dossier which included a report that he met there with a putin ally. in the past cohen has denied ever visiting prague and on saturday he denied the again -- it again, calling the story bad reporting, bad information and bad story. nbc news has not confirmed the report. on monday cohen's office was raided by the fbi, a move that unnerved mr. trump who has always investigated a personal investigation into his business dealings a red line. some trump allies used the raid to argue deputy attorney general rod rosenstein should be fired. >> rod rosenstein is so incompetent, compromised and conflicted that he can no longer serve as the deputy attorney

general. >> and joining me now is republican senator joni ernst of iowa. a member of the armed services committee and a veteran who served in the middle east during the iraq war. welcome to "meet the press." >> good morning, chuck. good morning, chuck. >> let me start simply with your reaction to the missile strikes from friday night. >> yes. i am glad that the president has joined with france and great britain and took these strikes. i think it was important that we destroy that infrastructure that bashar al assad had used to deliver chemical weapons against his own people. so i am glad that we've taken this step. of course, we need to now have discussions, what should happen in the future. you supported the strike last year, as well, but i spoke to you right after that strike and here's what you told me about the next time president trump did this. here's what you said to me. >> going forward, i do believe that we need that notification coming to congress and if he

wishes to do anything further, he does need to bring that specific plan with his reasoning to congress before we move forward. >> president trump did not do that. he acted multilaterally as far as working with britain and france, but unilaterally as it comes here inside this country and did not notify congress. are you at all uncomfortable with that? >> well, i am uncomfortable going forward if he wishes to commit ground troops in the area. we do have an effort to fight against isis and the region and that is our main focus and this is secondary to that, but certainly if he wishes to go any further, he does need to work with congress. so the air strikes, i'm comfortable at this point with that, but as many of my colleagues have also stated, we need a new aumf, we need to address this situation and the president does need to come to congress and we need to have

those discussions. so for now, i am comfortable with the actions that they took with great britain and france, but again, we need to have these discussions because we don't see that bashar al assad will all of a sudden become a real nice guy. >> i know there wasn't an easy needle to thread here about trying to find this balance to send a message to assad so he doesn't do this again and not get drawn in too far. your colleague senator lindsay graham, republican from south carolina this morning in "the new york times" is worried about the result of the strikes. he says this, i fear when the dust settles this strike will be a weak military response and assad will have paid a small price for using chemical weapons yet again because we didn't take it all out. he will still have the capabilities. what do you say to that? >> i think we do need to find a way to make sure that syria is rid of all of its chemical weapons. they are not sticking to the chemical weapons convention.

we know that for a fact now. so we do need to address the situation, but we need to have a broader discussion. i am pleased that we have partnership with france and great britain, but we do have to, as the united states military, figure out a way forward and make sure that we have destroyed the capabilities that bashar al assad has to take these chemical weapons against his own people. so he is a war criminal and we need to have a very strong and resolute action in regards to this situation. >> is there an effective way in your mind, to deter russia's support of assad or is it too late? >> i think at this point they have been supporting for a very, very long time. it's unfortunate that they are so involved in that region, but we do have to find a way forward. if diplomacy, would work, i'd

say we always need to start with diplomacy. certainly, they knew there would be military action. it was made clear there would be strikes. we did not see a response from russia just yet. we do need to keep our eyes open to any sort of retaliation, but it does make this a very tenuous situation. >> let me ask you a couple of separate questions about the russia investigation. first, the legislation that's a bipartisan legislation and tom tillis, lindsay graham and cory booker, essentially to protect robert mueller's status as a special counsel and protect him from being fired. tom tillis making a case, an op-ed in the paper, that this is good nor the president to take away this speculation about whether mueller stays or goes. would you support that legislation if it came to the floor? >> well, it is my understanding that my senior senator from iowa chairman chuck grassley will bring this up in judiciary for a discussion. i would like to see the final text of that before i state whether i would support it or

not. we'll see where this goes. i don't believe that the president will fire mueller, we'll see, but i certainly want to see that text, and i'm glad that they will have the discussion. >> i want to get you to respond to some criticism. james comey laid out in all of congress in his book on the attacks of the law enforcement community. i know there are men and women of good conscience on both sides of the aisle who understand this, but not everyone is speaking out and they must ask themselves to what or to whom they hold a higher loyalty. to private interests or democracy. their silence is come police si. it is a choice. somewhere deep down, they must know that. do you accept this criticism that you and others have not spoken out enough in support of law enforcement as the president has at times rhetorically undermined law enforcement? >> well, i think that we do stand behind those men and women of our various agencies, and those that are truly non-partisan and those that are working for the good of the

american people. i have not read james comey's book. i'm sure at some point it will come out, and we'll be able to view that. but i would say, as the head of an agency, there is a need for a level of respect going both ways. i respect the men and women who do their job and do it in a non-partisan manner, and i wish we had seen that a little bit more from the heads of our agencies in the federal government, as well. >> senator johnny joni ernst, -- joni ernst, thank you for coming on and sharing your views. >> thank you very much. now what could be a huge break in the russia investigation this week. a report that robert mueller has evidence confirming parts of the infamous dossier. mcclatchy reports that he has evidence that michael cohen despite his initial denials was in prague late summer 2016. if this is true and cohen was

there to meet with a colleague of putin, as the dossier alleges, it could be a direct sign of collusion by one of president trump's closest advisers. joining me is one of the people who investigated the dossier, former cia director, john brennan. now an nbc news senior national security and intelligence analyst. welcome back to "meet the press." >> good morning, chuck. i should correct you. i never investigated the dossier itself. >> let me ask you about michael cohen. was he on your radar? >> i won't get into details who was or was not on my radar because that's not the cia's role. we would share that immediately with the fbi and then it would be the fbi's responsibility to pull the threads and do the follow-on investigation. >> all right. the raid happened to michael cohen's office on monday, and there was a hearing on friday where michael cohen filed a straining order on the government's ability to look at what they got. in their court filing, the government made public a couple

of facts. the biggest one to me, his main business is not being a lawyer, but the biggest one is he's been under surveillance for months. electronic surveillance. what does that tell you as an intelligence officer? >> it tells me that the fbi and department of justice would have had compelling evidence of potential criminal activity for them to conduct this type of surveillance against individual who has worked closely with mr. trump over the course of many years. the fact that he was going to be targeted by the fbi, as far as surveillance is concerned, again, they would have had to have met a high threshold for that. the fact he was under surveillance for this time gives the fbi some insight into his activities. >> they did not use a subpoena. they were afraid that perhaps he wouldn't comply with the subpoena for request for records. does that mean that they would have had to have evidence that he would have had records in the

past destroyed to allow something like this to happen? >> i think it would mean that they had evidence of some type of possible criminal activity. whether that was destroying destruction of evidence or something else, but there needs to be a basis or premise for the fbi to do something like this for an extended period of time especially for an individual like this who served as a lawyer which addresses the attorney/client privilege issue. >> mcclatchy is reporting that mueller does have evidence. that michael cohen was in prague at a time he had denied it very famously posting a tweet of this passport and things like this, but here's what supposedly happened in this prague meeting according to the dossier. the agenda comprised questions of how deniable cash payments were to be made to hackers who worked in europe under kremlin direction against the clinton campaign. and the person there is a gentleman by the name of kosacef, someone close to putin on foreign policy issues. what can you tell us about this

kosacef? >> there is a lot of concern that the rugs were working through various channels during the election campaign season of 2016 to try to influence the election and to use people in cutouts that they would interact with u.s. persons. so again, i'm not going to get into details about what might have happened at the time during my tenure as director of cia, but i can tell you if these allegations are true they are explosive from the standpoint that this provides the basis for conspiracy because you have to conspire with a foreign government for the charges to stick. >> the dossier, the salacious parts of it have been reported back and forth. it's an interesting part of james comey's book, but so far with this dossier, nothing yet has been proven untrue. how significant is that to you? >> it just shows that the mueller investigation has continued at pace and james comey said famously that these

were salacious and unverified allegations. just because they were unverified doesn't mean they they were not true. what mr. mueller as well as others have been doing is trying to pull all of the threads, some that may have been involved with the dossier and others that were independent of it. >> during his confirmation hearing to be secretary of state, mike pompeo, still the director of the cia says he has been interviewed by the special counsel. have you been interviewed by the special counsel? you've been part of the investigations and i'm curious if you have met with mr. mueller and his team. >> no, i have not. >> does that surprise you? that you haven't been called. because he seems to have talked to the other heads of the obama-era intelligence. >> no, it's not. mr. mueller would have had access to cia files that he needed and cia is to not look at activities of individual americans by any mean, but there is a record there and they can provide insight to bob mueller's team that they need. >> i want to switch to syria. you were head of the cia during

the obama era, during this time when the president almost conducted similar military strikes to try to punish assad for using chemical weapons in 2013. instead, an agreement was cut with the russians to get rid of the chemical weapons. were we, in hindsight, was the obama administration extraordinarily naive that the russians would do this? did you guys know then that they were hiding chemical weapons at the time, when they claimed they were destroying them? >> the ability to reconstitute the chemical weapons program is very easy. just the way -- strikes were taken last year by the trump administration. continued use of them. i'm sure the strike which was a tactical and surgical success, had to be a setback to the program, but it doesn't mean they can't re-create the weapons to use again. >> what were the point of the strikes if it's sent to try to deter, but it actually won't deter? >> well, it may deter.

i don't know if it will or not. it sends a clear signal, to damascus and moscow, that you can't do this without impunity. there will be costs. also, to the russians, this is going to be limited, tactical and surgical, and the next one may not be. >> was it a mistake not to follow through on the threat? did president obama make a mistake then? is president trump making a mistake now? >> i don't think either was a mistake. i think this administration's actions against syria were appropriate. i tend to be a critic of this administration, but the way they handled this was exactly right. it was proportional and necessary to send the signal. there's going to be great difficulty in trying to resolve the syrian situation. it's a very, very complicated one, and there needs to be a strategy for it. there's not an easy solution. we need to continue to put pressure on the assad regime, hit them when they use chemical weapons, but not get involved in another full-scale war in the middle east. >> you have taken to twitter and sometimes your language is pretty tough particularly with

this president and you got criticism from a former moscow cia chief. brennan's public staples carry -- state m m -- statements carr weight. he was doing putin's bidding in driving division dialogue, and he was not try iing -- essenti l essentially, your criticism is too harsh and only feeds into trump's critiques. what do you say to that? >> i disagree with that. i believe that i have a responsibility as an american citizen to speak up with wrong doings and i've taken issue with what donald trump has done. i'll continue do that. i hear many other comments saying, thank you, john, for voicing some of their concerns that they have. the fact that i'm critical of donald trump does not mean in any way that i'm trying to support vladimir putin. the exact opposite. i want to make sure that donald trump will take a tough line toward russia and against vladimir putin, and i will continue to put that pressure on

him publicly if i feel he's falling short as president of the united states. >> thanks for coming in and sharing your views. much appreciated. >> thanks. when we come back we'll go over all of this and the latest on syria and the investigation with the panel. later, my interview with paul ryan, who is stepping down as speaker of the house. when you called president trump, what did he say? >> he was disappointed but he understood. >> did he try to talk you out of it? whoooo.

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welcome back. panel is here. chief national correspondent to the "new york times" magazine. white house correspondent kristen welker. national reporter carol lee. and republican strategist al cardenas. we've heard from the president doubling down and saying mission accomplished with syria. it was a limited strike. i know they believe the tactical mission was a success, but do we know what the strategy is on syria going forward? >> well, the administration would argue that the policy

hasn't changed. they still want to defeat isis and they still want to stabilize the region. they want to ultimately see assad removed by political means, but when you ask members of congress if they have clarity, they don't, and you heard senator joni ernst say that. we want a briefing from the administration, what constitutes the necessity of another strike and when will they bring in congress into the process? >> if something accomplishes nothing, what was the point of the something? >> you have a situation where -- i mean, mission accomplished is a short-term declaration. when you tweet about it, this is not the substitute for a message or a strategy. we had, what, a five-part tweet this morning, sort of being defensive about mission accomplished. this is a situation on the ground that is developing. it could be completely different tomorrow, next week and so forth. that's why you need a strategy. >> well, look, what's a gas weapon consist of? chlorine which is commercially

available around the world, and sarin and in a few weeks assad could have these weapons readily available again. we've been declaring victory since john kerry about getting rid of chemical weapons in syria. i supported it on the humanitarian grounds. the world leadership can't allow this genocide to occur. it was done with the uk and france collectively, sending a message. this had very little, if any, military significant. for us to think it may have would be wrong. every day, i grow in sympathy with the syrian people. the courage to fight the regime. the suffering their immigrants have around the world is sad. there are other ways to do this, and i hope we can do more for the syrian people. this had no military significance. >> well, the thing of it in terms of humanitarian grounds, if the president was concerned about humanitarian issues, it

wouldn't just be chemical weapons. assad has lethal capabilities in terms of barrel bombs and those things. here is the question. where is the line? he's trying to walk this line of dealing with chemical weapons and yet also not getting sucked into the war. >> right. >> there is an event forcing it to be a focus. meanwhile, everything they're debating and the concerns being aired are there regardless. the question is, is this going to stick? are members of congress, who show no will to vote on anything in terms of military action, going to stick with this? will the president outline a strategy because right now, it's purely isis focused. >> the president is divided in his own mind, he said i'm going to get out of syria and then his military advisers convinced him that the u.s. can't just pull out right now because it would create a huge vacuum. so he's been pulled back in. where does it go from here? >> it's like it's okay to slaughter people conventionally. and that is over time a tougher and tougher stance to take. >> yeah.

>> i want to switch to the cohen raid and what happened on monday. the president's reaction to it, the federal court filing, and it's an significant event. adam davidson of "the new yorker" believes it's more significant than any of us are talking about. cohen knows everything. he recorded much of it. now, prosecutors will know it, too. there will be resistance and denial and counterattacks but it seems likely that when we look back on the week, we will see it as a turning point. we are now in the end stages of the trump presidency. michael cohen, always been important next to the president. do you think the mueller investigators see this, too? >> absolutely. there were few people who know as much as michael cohen does. even what we know publicly, which i always presume is a lot less than what is actually known. it shows how he was the president's fixer. he took care of things. the fact they have all of his

information, all his contacts, potentially, recordings of his conversations, you can see how it's been an existential threat for the president. you can see it in the way he's reacting about it. >> i want to play something, the allegation about him being in prague, when we look back at his initial denial he put up a tweet with his passport at the time when the news came out. i've never been to prague. fake news. president-elect trump at the time talked about it. >> i want to see your passport. he brings his passport to my office. i say, hey, wait a minute. he didn't leave the country. he wasn't out of the country. they had michael cohen of the trump organization was in prague. it turned out to be a different michael cohen. >> in hindsight it seemed to be too enthusiastic of a denial. >> this is so strange because this investigation of michael cohen was transferred to the

southern district of new york. and the folks in charge of that are in charge of the economic crimes division. there is a theory, as fruits from a poisonous tree, so whatever they find goes to mueller's investigation and investigators, which i think is what they're trying to do. it's easier to -- it's easier to get court approvals for evidence for the economic crimes than it is if the potential collusion where the evidence is not yet, perhaps, as complete. i understand their theory. >> right. >> and the investigation process. they're going down this rabbit hole, as well. we'll see where it goes. >> it's more than a rabbit hole. first of all, in the piece i read, which was terrific, people should read it, but it is not just adam davidson saying this. alan dershowitz has basically been one of the president's biggest defenders. he said, this is a huge threat that people might be underestimating. the president's own staff and

lawyers are also very concerned about this. arguably, more so than the collusions. >> news came out on the court filing that michael cohen has been under surveillance for months. it is notable the president spoke with michael cohen on friday. >> very notable. the white house was asked if the president continues to be in constant contact with michael cohen. they dodged that question. the president saw this raid as crossing a red line. we know in the wake of it, the talks carol and i reported on earlier this week, the talks between the president's leag e' team, the counsel's legal team, collapsed over an interview with the president and mueller. when you look at the significance of this week it can't be overstated. >> let me make this explanation point that part of scooter libby in this particular week was no accident. >> yeah. >> there say message there. -- there is a message there. >> we keep talking about the red line. the president doesn't get to decide the red line, and if he wanted to enforce the red line he could fire someone and that

may be the next thing we talk about. >> it may be too late. it may be that mueller has everything he needs. when we come back, my interview with the outgoing speaker of the house, paul ryan. -if you told me a year ago where i'd be right now...

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welcome back. it had been rumored for a while that house speaker paul ryan did not want to run for re-election, but would decide to do it out of a sense of duty. so it was a jolt to republicans when ryan confirmed the speculation this week because it seemed to send a message, intentional or not, that he doesn't believe republicans will hold on to the house in november. i sat down with the outgoing speaker of the house in his ceremonial office on friday in capitol, and i began by noting that he looks as if the weight of the world is suddenly off of his shoulders. >> i feel great. you know, just making a decision is important, and when we had our final family dinner last sunday night as a family to talk about it, it was just a great feeling. you and i are similar in that we lost our dads when we were young, and it just makes you think a little bit more about phase of life, family and so i'm -- i feel so good because i now know that my kids will not only know me as a weekend dad and that's important for me. >> you retired as a politician?

you said you probably won't run again. you're done. >> i'm going to -- never say never. >> there's -- >> there are causes i care about and there are issues i'll be involved in and i'll find ways of doing that. you never say never, i suppose, but i have no plans to do anything. >> when you called president trump, what did he say? >> he was disappointed, but he understood. he understood. >> did he try to talk you out of it? >> he was disappointed. we have a good relationship. we've gotten a lot done together. and i basically explained to him my family dynamic. i have actually gotten a lot done, and much of what i came here to do done. not everything, but much of what i wanted to do. >> let me ask you something, that you said you've accomplished much of what you came here to do. charlie sykes said, look, give him credit for the stiff upper lip, but no he didn't, referring

to accomplishing what you came to do. it will be trumpism over ryanism and that must be a bitter pill to swallow. >> i don't see things like that. one of the first things that i did was tax reform and it was not done since i've gotten my driver's license. it's done. since becoming speaker, i spent great time with our intelligence community, becoming greatly concerned about the state of the military. and so i really focused on the rebuild of the military and that is you in done and under way and i am very, very pleased with that. enterprise zones. i worked with enterprise zones when i worked with jack kemp. there are so many things and the one thing that obviously i care a great deal about is entitlement reform and in particular health care entitlement reform. i feel gratified that ever since i was budget chair of the house, every term passed a budget to balance the budget and pay down the debt. we have not gotten it through the senate or the white house.

he passed the health care bill through the house but didn't go to law. failed by a vote in the senate. one person isn't going to solve all those things. i feel like i've done a lot to advance that debate. i'm not going away from -- >> let's talk about fiscal discipline and i want you to respond about what corker said. congress and the administration will go down as one of the most fiscally irresponsible administrations that we've had and he's referring to the fact that this tax bill, despite the deficit, it's higher than everyone what we projected. you walk away with trillion-dollar deficits. >> the baby boomers retiring was going do that. -- to do that. these trillion dollar projections will be out there for a long, long time, why? because discretionary spending is going over $300 billion and tax revenues are still rising and income tax revenues, and corporate rate still rising and mandatory spending, entitlements, grows $2 trillion the next decade.

why? the boomer generation is retiring. we have not prepared these programs. so really, that's where the rubber hits the road. i think the most irresponsible congress is the one that created brand-new entitlement and that to me, is the big mistake. we can fix these programs and still meet the mission for them, but the way they've been designed in the 20th century doesn't work. that's the one thing that i really wish we could get done sooner rather than later and i'm convinced it will happen, why? because it's got to happen. >> let me ask you about jack kemp. believes strongly and inclusive, aspirational politics based on bringing people together and not exploiting divisions. not the brand of politics being practiced today. >> yeah. >> what's interesting, you're leaving. i mentioned bob corker, jeff flake. you all have the same tone. >> jeff is a buddy of mine. >> you have the same tone with american politics. you don't believe the other side is an enemy of the american people? >> yeah, i don't. when i speak to young groups all of the time, do not fall for identity politics. that's what i always tell young

people not to do and here's the problem. it was a craft of the left for a while. >> but you acknowledge -- >> absolutely. it is now practiced on the right. my concern going forward, if i have to be one of these people saying, here's my concern, of our politics in the state of america today, we should stop playing identity politics. >> james comey, a man of integrity? >> as far as i know. i don't know him very well. two or three briefings is what i had with james comey. >> would you trust his judgment? >> i'm not going to try to sell books. >> i understand that, but there's going to be questioning of his integrity and stuff. >> i don't know him as a slime ball. i don't speak like that. i wouldn't do that because you're going to help him sell books. i've met him two or three times in two or three briefings and i don't know the guy. i'm not trying to be evasive. i don't want to join some food fight, some book-selling food

fight. i don't see value in that. >> do you believe that if the senate passes this bill to protect mueller you'll bring it up in the house? >> i don't think it's necessary. >> insurance isn't necessary, but you buy it. you know, this is an insurance policy. >> first of all, i don't think he should be fired and i think he should be left to do his job and we've spoken about it. and we've had plenty of conversations about this. it's not in the president's interest to do that. we have a rule of law system. no one is above that rule of law system. i don't think he will be fired and i don't think he should be fired and i'll leave it at that. >> before i let you go. there's some chatter that you shouldn't finish as speaker. there are allies. tom graves, a member of the conference, who is a support of mccarthy. >> sure. >> they make the case that there's uncertainty and it's better to know who the team is going forward. what do you say? >> we've discussed this and we think the smart thing to do is to stay an intact leadership

team. there's so much more i can do to keep continuity. we have a great leadership team. there's more i can do to help keep the majority. >> do you have a preference? >> i think we believe kevin is the right person to be the next leader. >> we all? >> the leadership team. >> steve scalise, he believes kevin mccarthy should be -- >> yeah. >> 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 believe that's going to be -- >> i think kevin is the right guy to step up. one of the reasons i was comfortable making this decision is because we have a very capable leadership team. i sense -- >> why do you think he'll be able to get the votes this time? remember, you're speaker because he couldn't get the votes last time. >> i know. >> what's changed? >> we've gotten a lot done. we came together as a team in 2015, put together an agenda. we ran on the agenda and won the

election. we're executing the agenda, getting it done. what's changed, this leadership team has come together and gelled, the conference has been unified. we've moved the ball and gotten things done. >> you can see the complete interview with paul ryan on "memeet the press.com. how worried americans are about personal idnformation and how it's used online. and their trust of whether the government can do anything about it. discover card. hey, i'm curious about your social security alerts. oh! we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so you'll be in the know. ewww!

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welcome back. it's data download time with facebook ceo mark zuckerberg testifying before congress this week. yes, that happened this week. u.s. voters had good reason to pay attention because we're online a lot. data from our friends at simmons research shows a full 73% of americans use social media. 45% went online more than 25 times last week alone, and that doesn't count checking email. 43%, by the way, did some form of on-line banking in the last month, but americans hold deep concerns about what happens to our personal information online. 43% of those surveyed said once a piece of personal information becomes available online there's nothing they can do about it, but a majority of these folks, 63% of them, wish there was more control that they had. americans of different age groups have different concerns about the online privacy. 47% of millenials say the

information about them online is relatively harmless, perhaps referencing photos or social media posts. 30% of baby boomers agree with that. older adults could be more concerned about things like, say, banking records. folks with different levels of education show a split. 35% with high school diplomas look up a company before giving information about themselves. it jumps to 51% with people with college degrees. for politipolitics, 66% of demo and 68% of republicans say they want more control over the information companies have about them. neither party trusts the federal government on the issue either, though republicans are more skeptical than the democrats. no one wants to change their habits. 22% say they use the internet less because of privacy concerns. the bipartisan concern could be the reason we see some action on

capitol hill. you noted it against zuckerberg. elected officials know the public wants them to do something to protect their privacy. the question now turns to, what is the something? when we come back, end game and a voter enthusiasm gap that could make all the difference in the world this november. >> announcer: coming up, "end game," brought by boeing. continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire. i have to tell you something incredible. capital one has partnered with hotels.com to give venture cardholders 10 miles on every dollar they spend at thousands of hotels. all you have to do is pay with this... at hotels.com/venture. 10 miles per dollar? that is incredible. brrrrr. i have the chills. because you're so excited? because ice is cold. and because of all those miles. obviously. what's in your wallet? i'm not sure. what's in your wallet?

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>> announcer: "end game brought to you by boeing. continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire. >> back now with "end game" and a few more details from our new nbc/"wall street journal" poll and what it has to say about the midterm election. our poll says 47% would like to see democrats control congress, 40% would like to see republicans. 60% say they are highly interested in the election, 49% of republicans say the same thing about this year's mid terms. to show you the news gods have a sense of humor, in 2010 those same numbers conducted about the same period of time were exactly reversed. it was 66% of republicans in 2010 showing a high interest in the mid terms compared to 49% of democrats. remember this, in 2010, republicans gained 63 seats in the house and six in the senate.

al cardenas, this is why the ryan retirement was seen as sort of another piece of evidence, another shoe to drop. i know that wasn't his intention. is that the way you read it? >> you know, you look at the generic number 7% is not all that much. most of us believe you have to get into double digits for the generics to make a lot of sense in terms of a land slide. but when you start looking at the specifics, which are, you know, turnout and independents, then it starts -- the case starts to get a little overwhelming. that was the empirical proof in front of us. >> i want to talk about trumpism versus ryanism. republican officials are afraid to take on trump because their base still likes the guy. the base still likes the guy, in part, because so few elected republicans take him on. this is the harsh reality for movement conservatives. this was sort of, mark leiebovih

for the ryan years. >> trump isn't about tone. trumpism ostensibly is about identity politics which paul ryan explicitly said he hates more than anything. donald trump gave a voice to a lot of the rank and file republicans that felt frankly ail yen alienated by ryanism. >> he felt they didn't fight back. >> i agree. that will be a huge part of his legacy when people look back especially at the last two years. >> you're nodding. >> yes, it will be. and you saw him in your interview even doing the same dance that he and other republicans have been doing for the last year or so. you know, ryan is just a different kind of brand of republicanism and i think that if he could -- it's hard to imagine if entitlements were in the offing for him to achieve and the dynamics were different that he would be stepping down. >> i asked him the president marco rubio question. he deflected. anyway, i want to move to the

james comey book, kristin. the person you cover full time donald trump has had seven tweets this morning. five on jim comey, one on syria and one alluding to the michael cohen raid. one of the tweets he writes about includes basically -- is about one portion of the comey book where james comey writes this about the hillary clinton e-mail investigation. it is entirely possible that because i was making decisions in an environment where hillary clinton was sure to be the next president, my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if donald trump were ahead in the polls. but i don't know. obviously trump is all over that to say, aha, proof he was playing politics. >> what is so fascinate building that revelation and there are so many things, is that when you talk to or hear from the president, white house officials, or those who were on the clinton campaign, they are equally infuriated by that acknowledgment.

one former clinton campaign official said politics was at the root of this. we'll have to wait and see what the impact of the comey book is. there is an effort by the rnc and the president to kind of smear him in this moment. but it's clearly just feeding off of all of his impulses to lash out and there are a lot of people who are concerned this may push him over the edge when it comes to lashing out at the special counsel. >> the portrait, the portrait painted of him by a former fbi director basically saying the president is unethical and unfit to lead. >> it is a devastating portrait. i do think that, look, it's not a surprise at all they're going to lash out, try to discredit him. the problem is there are only so many people you can discredit. can you discredit bob mueller after saying -- first of all, donald trump hired jim comey or rehired jim comey -- james comey to be his fbi director. he hired rod rosenstein. he hired jeff sessions. i mean, there are only so many people you can discredit in your chain of command. >> the truth of the matter there is an effort the white house

encourages emissaries to disparage mueller and comey and so forth. all of this is part of an ultimate decision if a president has to go nuclear on this whole investigation that the approval rates and the public's image of these people has declined enough that he will survive the tempest. and so this is all predictable, but it's part of a larger picture. i think, you know, i think comey has gone through a lot. i think he by and large his whole life has been as a patriot. i've read only excerpts of the book. you know, some of it is very interesting. i thought he got petty at times, which devalued the message he's trying to bring. but we'll see what happens the days ahead in his interviews with y'all. >> the pettiness has been -- a lot of people pointed that out. >> yeah, he takes these kind of shots at trump about his hands or his height or that he's orange and that kind of overshadows his larger message to some extent.

and frankly, it is those kinds of comments have not worked for anyone who tried to take on trump. they only work for trump. >> that's right. trump gets away with it, everybody else gets punished. got to remember that. wow. that's all we have for today. thanks for watching. we'll be back next week. by the way, happy birthday to my son. thanks for april 15th mean something more than just tax day in my house. by the way, it f it's sunday, is "meet the press." it if it's sunday it's "meet the press."

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♪ ♪ funding to help grow your business... ♪ ♪ another way we have your back. ♪ ♪ the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. ♪ ♪ welcome to "kasie d.c." i'm kasie hunt. we are live from washington every sunday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. tonight, publish or perish? james comey is out with a bombshell new book as the feds release a report deeply critical of andrew mccabe. we're joined by congressman jim himes of the house intelligence committee who says the president doesn't have the right to shine james comey' shoes. plus sanctions coming for russia after america strikes targets in syria. but what remains to be seen is the