that's about 13/100 of a percent. that does it for me this afternoon. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. >> hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. since white house communications director hope hicks left the white house three weeks ago, the president has been functioning as his own communications director. the result? spilled state secrets, legal battles careening out of control and policy whiplash stoking more internal strife within his cabinet. and that's just in the last 24 hours. the chaotic news cycle began when trump spilled the beans on his cia director's secret meeting with north korean dictator kim jong-un and got some of the details wrong. trump tweeting that the meeting we were never supposed to know about in the first place happened last week, forcing the white house to come out and correct him. it actually happened over easter weekend. another trump tweet this morning could get him in trouble with his lawyers.

the president responding to the sketch stormy daniels released yesterday of the man who allegedly threatened her on trump's behalf. in response trump tweeting, quote, a sketch years later about a nonexistent man, a total con job as stormy daniels's attorney michael avenatti pointed out, that tweelt could land trump in another legal battle, this time over defamation. perhaps the most consequential white house mistake over the last 24 hours centers on the administration's decision to throw nikki haley under the bus as they walk back her announcement of new sanctions on russia sunday. economic advisor larry kudlow suggested haley was suffering from some, quote, momentary confusion. her response, the mic drop heard around the world. she replied, quote, with all due respect, i don't get confused. joining us now from the washington post white house bureau chief and pulitzer prize winning reporter phil rucker. congratulations. we got to mush all over ashley

parker. i haven't seen you yet. congrats. >> thank you, nicole. >> at the table with us donnie deutsche who has been dispatched to cover all things michael cohen and brings us journalism today. kimberly atkins, chief washington reporter for the boston herald, washington post political reporter philip who has written a stack of stories this week. good lord, you're not sleeping. and john that lemire who has a bunch of scoops under his belt, white house reporter for the a.p. phil rucker, let me start with you. just take us through this sort of white house madness around nikki haley's announcement on the sunday show, and i don't even think in this administration people wing it on sunday shows. i'm sure somebody at the white house knew that she was going to articulate what she said about russian sanction. your papers had an incredible body of reporting about the president's reaction contemporaneously while he was watching the sunday show shouting furiously as you and your colleagues have reported. who told her to say this? you and your colleagues have

also reported i think through your correspondent in moscow that russia was immediately reassured right after those comments through a back channel -- >> that's right. >> -- that there would be no sanction and to ignore nikki haley. >> yeah, so, first of all, when we're talking about ambassador nikki haley, she is not somebody who wings it. she is among the most cautioned disciplined members of the cabinet and usually speaks to the president directly about what she's going to say before she goes on television for an appearance like that on a sunday show. so, to backtrack what happened, we had the strikes in syria last friday. there had been a preliminary plan within the administration to impose economic sanctions on monday against russia in retaliation for the chemical gas attack in syria. and as punishment for russia's backing of the syrian government there. at some point over the weekend, trump got cold feet, decided not to go forward with those sanctions. nikki haley went on the sunday show on cbs face the nation as

planned to announce that the sanctions were coming. this was part of the administration's talking points. it was stated policy to the best of her knowledge. something happened there over the weekend and we're not entirely sure what it is yet where this plan got halted, where the president decided not to impose these sanctions. there was a communication from the white house on sunday to the russian government to let them know that there would be no sanctions. and what you saw, in turn, was a dialing back of the rhetoric out of moscow and some reassurance there. and then the white house decided to present this as a misstatement that nikki haley made. as you put it, nicolle, to throw her under the bus. you saw what larry kudlow, the top economic advisor at the white house said yesterday. you saw that clap back from nikki haley, she's not someone who gets confused. >> let me just advance this a little more and share with our viewers, larry kudlow's apology. he said she was certainly not confused. i was wrong to say that, totally

wrong. as it turns out, the policy was changed and she wasn't told about it so she was in a box. so, i think -- i don't think he meant to do this, but the result of that statement is now to suggest that the ambassador at the united nations, the person in most frequent contact with representatives from every country around the world, is either out of the loop or going rogue. >> yeah, that's the impression left from kudlow's remark. and you understand why he apologized for that because that leaves her in a very weakened state. look, she's usually pretty in the loop on this stuff. i think there's more to it and i think we're going to find out there may be more to the story than simply her not having the latest information. we know this is a president who changes his mind a lot on a lot of issues and can be motivated to change his mind for all sorts of reasons. and we still don't have clarity yet from officials in the white house about exactly what happened over the weekend, exactly when president trump

decided not to move forward with those sanctions against russia and there may be more to the story to come. >> all right. i'm going to give you one more line from your story about all this. you write, there were curse words, one individual said a lot of curse words. you don't have to share those with us. do you know what those were? >> that's what i'm here for. >> did someone take you inside the room, you have a good sense of how that went down, his eruption when he watched her on tv, phil? >> he erupted -- the eruption, it's a family show. we're not going to get into that. >> i know that you know. >> this is a president who uses a lot of curse words in private with his friends and advisors all the time so that's not terribly surprising, but it does speak to how emotional this russia issue is for him. how much he has invested in it. >> that's one way to put it. phil rucker is a responsible journalist. i'm not sure you and i fall in that category, donny. >> you do, i don't.

he freaked out they were going to be tough on russia. he threw the ambassador under the bus. he screams at television. sounds likes he's worried at what russia is going to do. >> typical day at the office, scream at the television, management style changing his mind, major bromance with putin. obviously that level -- i think the cursing part is an interesting part of the story because it was an emotional response. it wasn't just oh, wow, she got this wrong. we shouldn't be out there. it sounds as there was this almost fearful reaction. >> you know what, let me read "the new york times" description of that. president trump was watching television on sunday and saw his ambassador nikki haley. he grew angry, this is not the first time trump yelled at the television over something he herd haley said. sharply criticizing intervention in russia. who wrote that for her, mr. trump yelled at the screen. >> nikki haley was the one

person -- of all the people in trump's orbit other than hope hicks, she's the one person there has not been one negative taint. she had his confidence. she has the world's confidence. she was come in a very special place. now she's one more in the same. you can start to see the relationship fraying. we'll see where nikki haley is six months from now. >> what's different from trump who has lashed out at a lot of people on his team, from jeff sessions to rex tillerson, nikki haley said i'm not the one. she stepped back. she didn't remain quiet in the attempt to throw her under the bus. she stepped up and said -- she has her own reputation to protect. >> we keep talking, but these are all of the current and former officials with warning messages on russia. and you're right, she is of that list. i guess secretary nielsen might still be in the president's good graces and secretary mattis. >> right. >> most of them have either been fired, replaced or reprimanded.

>> yeah, and they're used to getting this push back from president trump being marginalized, rex tillerson is the best case scenario. and i think that nikki haley is conscious that she does president wa-- doesn't want to d up being rex'd. >> one thing about donald trump that i respect about him, he's fearless except when it comes to russia. he is fearful of what they have -- >> clueless. >> i think it's fearful. i do think it's a dossier thing. and i do think it's a history -- everything that is going to be uncovered is going to come back in a lot of ways to russia. he knows that. he knows they know that. and he's operating from fear which he does no place else in his life. >> i want to ask you about nikki haley because our colleague here, joe scarborough, talked about how nikki haley could primary donald trump, in joe's estimation win. he has his finger on the pulse of where the base of the republican party is as well as anybody. bill crystal tweeting the primary challenge 2020 is going

to be something. what do you think this has made her a cult hero among disaffected republicans who enjoy her fortitude saying, no, sorry, i wasn't confused? >> with all due respect i don't get confused. she persisted. it's a rallying cry for disaffected women. she has stayed in his good graces to your point. the part about her that rubs people in the wrong way is she has tremendous ambition. there is a belief nikki haley is running for president. the question is when, is it 2024, could it be 2020? she is someone who is a popular figure who can galvanize certain republicans ho may not be particularly fond of this president. this is not a moment -- it's not just the west wing sort of palace intrigue. this is also one of the leading

american voices on the global stage, again, being undermined by this white house. yes, rex tillerson is nodding along silently to all of this. this is a very familiar feeling to him, and it makes another example where america's word can't be trusted on the world stage like it should. >> i want to ask you about nikki haley's response because it does stand apart. i cannot think of anybody else who in real-time rapidly responded to the president's deputies throwing them under the bus. if you can, let me know. but i think this was the quickest clap-back to an attempt to do something they do to people all day long. the reason all of our stories and our own reporting here at this news organization are populated by 16 to 19 to 20 sources on everything is because they never stop reaching out to tell you their side of the story. nikki haley didn't wait to get her side of the story out. she said it in public and she said i don't get confuszed. she didn't let it become the

snake pit it usually does for the truth to get out. >> i think there was an incident or two with rex tillerson -- >> let's talk about that. >> sure. >> someone on -- a former national security team member said to me exactly that incident. that nikki haley isn't to be trifled with. when rex tillerson and his advisors insulted her and there was some reporting about the vice-president and rex talking about her, sort of evaluating her job performance, she stood up for herself. so, she does have a record internally for standing up for herself and prevailing. >> i also think it's fascinating this is happening now that rex is gone -- i should say mr. tillerson, mr. tillerson is gone. she played him effectively as a nial foil to some extent. nikki haley was able to stay close to president trump in part by positioning herself in contrast -- >> there are words that are going to stick with us.

2020, 2024, remember those words, i don't get confused. every ad she does, they're confused. let's say trump is out of office. she can own the me, too clarity, a southern woman pointing, i don't get confused. >> remember i told you that. >> let me bring phil rucker back in. it seems if there is an achilles heel other than what your colleague ashley parker had to tweet out over the weekend, somebody had to write the pee-pee story. it was my favorite. i actually saved it. i took a picture of it, i'm low-tech. if there isn't an achilles heel that bothers him more than that, he's attleed. there's ashley's tweet. someone had to write the pee-pee

story, it was me. it is this idea, this narrative that he is somehow atled or off his game. nikki haley went right to the heart of his soft political under belly with that retort. >> yeah, i think that's exactly right. and she showed her own power of her political person a. look, she's kind of in the sweet spot in new york where she is in trump's administration, a voice to the world. she doesn't have to deal with the white house every day. she's 300 miles away. she's a little bit removed from all of that drama and the knife fighting sometimes. this week is a time when she's been brought into the middle of it and had to fend for herself. she showed -- i followed her for years in south carolina. she showed down there she was willing to stick it to the gentleman's club, the old southern white boys who ran the legislature there, she ran circles around them, beat them with legislation and she's a

pro. trump should know what he's messing with here. >> let me not sugar coat this, though. i think in trump world, if you make the mistake of having a good day in the media, you're certainly to get whack-a-moled. i don't think that was steve schmidt's intention. he brought something serious into question. haley must resign, the first person to resign from this cancerous administration on principle will look back on that day the same way a powerball winner look back at buying the winning ticket. >> i think haley is the exception to the rule. people have asked to be part of the administration and trnd it down for the sake of saving their own reputation. she came in as somebody who had previously been very critical of donald trump, wasn't afraid to stand up to him. phil is exactly right. she's in new york, not part of the daily political machine. she's able to, if she's ambitious, that's great.

i don't think there is anything wrong with a woman being ambitious. that's a great spot to be at the u.n. she could pivot and be vocal with all the areas she disagrees with the president on, such as the response to sharl, i don't think necessarily she gets the taint other people in this administration might have. >> phil, i want to ask you about a story you broke about cia director pompeo's secret trip to north korea. the president all but flashed in knee on in his enter skss with the media, not saying it is a scoop you should be congratulated on. talk about how the white house had to clean up the things the president disclosed that ended up not even being accurate. >> yeah, so, i wrork with a number of colleagues here yesterday afternoon and evening to try to confirm that it was, in fact, mike pompeo the cia director who went to north korea. all we knew based on what trump

said in the afternoon, there were high-level talks. but pompeo made that secret trip. it is remarkable he flew out. it was before his senate confirmation hearing. in that hearing not a single senator asked him, have you spoken with quill june. have you been to north korea, anything that might elicit an answer to break this news. after the story broke, the white house could confirm it. they just said we're not talking about the cia director's travel. it was pretty clear to our other sources this would true. excuse me. my throat is a little dry. president trump the next morning in his tweet, he got the date wrong. he said that this trip had happened very recently. it did not. it happened over easter and the president had to clean up. >> this would either be the most spectacular foreign policy breakthrough really in modern history for the korean

peninsula, or another calamity. >> trump loves the idea of making history, right. so much of what he has done is fueled by the idea of not just to break with president obama, though that drives a lot of what he does, but to become the first president to do anything. this is what he's focused on. he does want this summit to happen. there's been great skepticism in the international intelligence community whether it could. clearly we're taking steps down that road to where the residents at mar-a-lago this week, the mr. abe, and he even to the point there is reporting they nehr oied it down to a short "the list" of four or five locations, had he hope to have this done by june. in an administration this would be seen as a foreign policy possible. i find it amusing, the white house wouldn't comment, then the president himself confirms it on twitter. >> it is completely in line with

how -- they were afraid he was going to tweet them out. >> one of the ironies of him being under fire, if you're trump and let's say it's stuff that's treasonous, brooke landau and white. on the other hand, if it's some campaign finance, it's a little fuzzy. he's taking nuclear fed off the table. obviously there are legal actions in congress. if i'm him, i'm going on offense and trying to save the world, cure poverty. >> he said he isn't interested in -- you have the last word. >> one other thing in relation to his tweet and getting the date wrong, it is so trump. ghet this little thing wrong seemingly about having gotten that thing wrong.

he is the president kneeling over the details he is the well, you know what i meant kind of interest. sorry your throat went dry. we congratulate you on the pulitzer. the west wing office space is the most valuable currency. washington post reports sean hannity practically has a desk in the place. also ahead, donald trump and jim comey's duel takes a fatal attraction-like term, he's the break up that trump captain get over. swapping memories and stories about the real bab bra bush. someone i knew dearly, with one of the most authors she loved most. she believes in research. it can take more than 10 years to develop a single medication. and only 1 in 10,000 ever make it to market. but what if ai could find connections faster. to help this researcher discover new treatments.

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with trump installed as communications director, it only makes sense fox news personality sean hannity is the de facto chief of staff. that is essentially how a new washington report describes hapt's role in the west wing. quote, the phone calls between president trump and sean hannity come early in the morning or late at night after the fox news host goes off the air. they discuss possibilities for his show, the special counsel probe and even at times what the president should tweet. it's all making sense. the revelation this week the two men share an attorney is just the latest sign of how hannity is intertwined in trump's world and i am creasingly powerful confidant who offers the media driven president an ear. egs so close to trump that some white house aides have dubbed him the unofficial chief of

staff. one more nugget from the post. one presidential advisor equipped, the frequency of hannity's contact with trump -- i'll give you the first bite of the apple. >> i don't know anyone who is familiar with sean hannity's body of work is particularly surprised by this. but it's sort of fascinating that of all the people at fox news and fox news has a stable of folks generally complementary to the president he would latch onto shanean hannity. sean hannity has been there from the beginning. he has been in trump's circle for a long time over the course of this campaign, even preceding it. but then sean hannity, sean hannity who is i think the most extreme version of a fox news host who has a fox news show, i think is remarkable. i think to a lot of folks is alarming. there is a quote from david bosse he likes sean hannity because of his intelligence and his ability to capture the tone of the base. the latter part of that is

certainly the case. it's just sort of sean hannity's overlap with what trump wants to say is basically like donald trump gets an hour of fox news every night. is that what we want to see from a president. >> i know from my own reporting from at least two sources sean hannity plays a big role in personnel decisions. mercedes slap, anthony scaramucci and john bolton were recommended by sean hannity. >> he's all the things president trump likes. he's on television, he gets good ratings. we know the president cares about that. fox news has become essentially half a step beyond state-run tv -- >> it's the opposite. is tv running the state? >> i think it's a little of both. i think they certainly have an influence of what the president does and says, his decision making. but they've gotten that place at the table by being basically in line with the president so that he's turning to those folks, to the larry kudlows, to the john

boltons and the sean hannitys is not surprising at all. >> but it feels like we get that wrong. we look at -- we stare out at fox because it's outward facing and we say state-run tv. we should be staring more closely at the white house and saying, fox runs state. >> a long time trump confidant told me it's a symbiotic relationship. they can't exist without the other. fox does something, the president reacts to it. fox news reacts to the reaction and so on. >> out of that comes policy. and sometimes -- but i think it cannot be overstated how important fox news is to the day-to-day operations of this white house, and sean hannity most of all, who spends also not just they speak on the phone together, spend time together. sean hannity was at mar-a-lago, he spends time at the white house. "fire and fury" talks about going inside to work at the white house. although an argument can be made he has more influence with the president staying on tv.

>> it is a fascinating moment in time. your hair can go on fire. oh, my god, look what's happening here. the reason it's somewhat harmless is it's transparent. foksz is self-contained. it has 3 million viewers. whether trump is speaking in his ear or hannity is speaking in his ear, that's baked in already. this is not news going out to the world. yongs fox has reported about anything that has changed -- >> can i disagree with you a little bit? here's what i think is dangerous. the nunes memo was ratings for fox. it was among disgraces the most disgraceful thing he has done. christopher wray went to paul ryan and said please for the love of god don't release the nunes memo. it's incomplete, inaccurate, it's about the secret fisa court. fox isn't state-run media. the state is run by fox. sean hannity needed that story and i think he ran the president like an asset the way people are

wondering if the russians are running the president. >> you think that that story, hannity forced that story? my feeling is that story would have -- >> hannity certainly gave the president encouragement to overrule his brand-new fbi director christopher wray. sean hannity -- the president is on the record questioning the role of his officials at d.o.j. in the interview at mar-a-lago where the truth always comes out, "the new york times," i wanted my guys there. my point is i think we sometimes give them less scrutiny than they deserve and i think looking at fox is a reflection as the white house -- >> it's a dual relationship. we know that, it's just been made official at this point. maybe i'm too inside baseball or i'm a media guy or i'm skeptical. but i laughed and i went, oh, yeah, and? it's baked in at this point. did you ever think it was anything different? >> i think it's dangerous.

>> it's very dangerous. >> another piece from your paper. topic from hannity venting about the russia probe and senior figure a.g. rod rosenstein, hannity accused rosenstein of launching a war -- a war, this is his appointee. and has called mueller parliament of a deep state crime family. those are lies. i think he puts those lies in the president's head and the president abuses his own appointees on twitter. >> three things. the first is hannity is the overton window shifter at fox news. he's the one who says the most extreme things and allow tucker carlson and laura ingraham to say less appealing things. the cycle goes something like this in general. the primetime folks drive the new way of talking about things. trump reacts to it in the morning and fox and friends claps for donald trump. that's sort of how it works overnight. the third thing i'd say is this is not just 3 million viewers. suffolk university does polling regularly. they ask people what is the most

influential news program, 50% of republicans consistently say fox news is their most trusted news source. that's haft of the republicans in the country. >> they also see donald trump -- >> i look at it that way from a pure media -- when you start to fan it out, i guess the net-net is what i was trying to get to is let's stop pretending it's anything else. call fox. there's no pretensive news. let's understand this is a due at. this is a coconspirators in this and let's manage through this. i think the fox buyeviewers are going to buy anything. a tweet, there is a willing audience to accept whatever donald trump has to deliver. donald trump is a master communicator will figure that out one way or the other. your point, nicolle, the barking is from the other end. >> just a theory. coming up, former director jim comey continues to press his case against the president's conduct, he lets a bit of

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- ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit what i took away from it there were many moments that made you deeply uncomfort alan and in your telling the president is doing things that are inappropriate. why wouldn't you speak up to president trump? >> well, i guess what does standing up mean in that context. i stared at him, didn't blink, make a sound. >> is it appropriate, asking you to let go of an ongoing criminal investigation? >> if he didn't know it was inappropriate why did he kick out my boss the vice-president and attorney general? i didn't know if i should have done it differently, but in the moment it seemed like the thing to do was to make sure you're not agreeing to do something inappropriate. >> a lot of looking back in that answer. for most of his book tour, former fbi director james comey

insisted he made the best decision based on the information he had at the time. he pressed about the clinton investigation. he wonders about his actions in the days leading up to the election and whether they changed the course of the race. watch. >> look, it makes me feel nauseated which i guess is the right way to say it. it may sound strange to say, but it wouldn't change how i thought about the decision at the time. i'm on october 28. i have facts in front of me and a decision to make. i wish i had a time machine, but i don't and i didn't. >> matt apuzzo joins us now, another pulitzer prize winning journalist, congratulations on that, another msnbc contributor. matt, are you seeing something in james comey's answer to savannah's question about the time machine? we're having audio problems. let me put this to the table. john that lemire, you first. was there something about the

time machine that felt more reflective about his handling of the clinton e-mails from his first appearance sunday night with george stephanopoulous? >> he's certainly taken a lot of push back this week. he doesn't have a lot of constituency. republicans are angry with him. the buick tour has revived some of the democrats' ill feelings. some were cheering him on, they saw him as a thorn in the president's side, they rehe it reminds them of the 2016 election, not in their good graces. he thinks he did the right thing. he may wish he had done it a little differently. i don't know that is going to make a lot of people feel better about his decision, but he is someone who has become -- this sort of long media tour he's become a flash point. the rnc blasted out talking points based off of this interview saying that he did savannah guthrie rattled him. he proved he wasn't truthful or he seemed cowardly and so on. and i think that he is someone who is someone who is banking on

his credible, someone who is obviously part of this investigation. you know, he's potentially a witness this this investigation, bob mueller investigation. and i think he's coming under a lot of scrutiny right now. >> matt apuzzo, let me argue the other side. in taking on the president, he's, one, fired guy who wrote a book. he's talking to everyone and anyone about it. our colleague savannah guthrie did a great job. in some ways it seems the more he talks about it the more human he's getting. the ability to acknowledge if we had time travel i might go back. seemed like a pretty major development for someone like jim comey who is so cautious. what did you think? >> i read those quotes this morning with my cup of coffee from his interview with savannah guthrie. i immediately texted a colleague. i said, this is the first time i think i've heard jim comey even hint at the idea that he wanted a do-over on this. you know, he faced incredible criticism for that, for that

press conference in july and also for his handling of the reopening of the investigation in october. and he has stood by -- stuck to his guns. he said he felt constrained by forces around him. he felt like it's the only thing he could do. this was the first time that anybody has teased out this idea he might want a do-over. and you're right, on the question of he's out there a lot. he obviously feels dush you and i talked about this before. he and john brennan feel like there's no benefit in kind of just like sitting by. you've left government and sort of sit idly by, you feel things compelled to speak out about, they obviously feel very strongly about the way this president is running the country and is running the intelligence law enforcement agencies to be specific. so, they are speaking out about that. so, i would e was just surprised. i thought that to am i was the take away of the today show.

>> let me just follow-up with one question for you, matt. can you just put -- i feel like the coverage of the comey book tour is like watching a scaramucci book or a cory lewandowski book. you cover the men and women of the justice department. you will covered them through republic administrations, democratic administrations. you made a point getting lost on the comey book tour. these are the kind of men and women who leave work and go on interviews on "the view." he wasn't the conduct around -- even the conflict wasn't so alarming that he went out -- he really is a man on the island. can you speak to the konsz institutional reluctance of people like the two men you just named, former director brennan and jim comey and people like them or who work for them to be

making these points at all? >> two stand outs here. bob mummer preceded jim comey a fbi director. i remember when he was leaving, i was asking everybody in, you know, in his world, hey, is mueller going to write a book? because frankly the transformation of the fbi in mid flight from a law enforcement agency to a counterterrorism agency is a remarkable story. i was laughed out of the room. >> you could have been my press secretary. i could have written that for you. >> then the flipsid3 to that is louie free who his relationship with bill clinton and the scandals of the clinton years was so bad that he wrote a book about becoming an fbi director and basically being persona non

grata in the white house. it takes that level of animosity with the level -- bill clinton was impeached, right? it takes that level of skorn and that level of distrust between the white house and the fbi director to see that kind of a book. so, for jim comey, it's not surprising to me jim comey wrote a book, but the way he's speaking out and the way that john brennan is speaking out, to a lesser degree sally yates along those lines. i know this isn't really what we do, i feel this is important that i have to say this. i want you to respond and i want you to answer the question -- this is comey and kolbert talking about break ups. >> he's tweeted at me probably 50 times. i've been gone for a year. i'm like the break up he can't get over. he wakes up in the morning -- [ cheers and applause ]

>> i'm out there living my best life. he wakes up in the morning and tweets at me. >> i think that's an oprahism. the response tweeted slippery james comey, the worst fbi director in history was not fired because of the phony russia -- heerre's the presiden contradicting himself. >> regardless of the recommendation, i was going to fire comey. there was no good time to do it. when i decided to do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> two points. one, and i want to bring this eerily back to the handy thing. when you see comey on kolbert casual, we have come to a complete blurring of politics and law enforcement and media. it's surreal. the other point where i don't

want us to overreact to what comey said this morning and what he's going to say the next ten days, part of it is a media issue. when you're doing a media junket, hour after hour, from a communication point of view, you want to twist things. i don't think comey had a reflective moment. i think comey was doing hour number 3. by hour number 9 he's going to be talking about maybe heard the voice of god had something to do with it. it's a natural thing that happens under the tour. >> he's a former fbi director. we're talking about the former fbi director and the president going back and forth like mariah carey and eminem. he cares about his reputation how he is looked at. he had to be more media savvy than this. >> i thought i heard you again. >> i was just going to say, look, yeah, for somebody who has felt so strongly for so long that he had no choice, yeah, maybe -- i just don't see jim comey wearing that -- he didn't wear down, he testified for the senate intelligence community -- committee, he didn't break down

there. the idea that he flicked -- maybe if i had a time machine. look, you don't second guess yourself unless you think maybe you have to second guess yourself. i thought that was significant. >> all right. my thanks to matt abuse owe, phil bump. barbara bush, someone whose heart is heavy as mine today, someone she knew and loved. that's next. this is the ocean.

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ai had a lot on my mind. could this happen again? was my warfarin treatment right for me? my doctor told me about eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots... eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis had both and that turned around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness,

or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. both made eliquis right for me. ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. i hope you don't feel sorry for any of us. particularly me. i am at peace with what took place. and the reason why is my mother was at peace for what took place. she, she believes in an after life and, and was joyously looking forward to that after life. she's pretty funny to the end, so i went over to see her in the

hospital, laura and i went over there, and she was her feisty self. one of the things that tend to enrich our conversations with her needling me and me needling her. and so she was needling me and the doctor walks in. nice, pleasant woman. mother said to the doctor, do you want to know why george turned out the way he turned out? and the doctor kind of looked, you know, somewhat perplexed and nodded her head. and mother says, because i drank and smoked when i was pregnant with him. [ laughter ] >> we had to start with that laugh. shortly before we came on the air yesterday, i learned that barbara bush was nearing her final hours with us and along with the heartache and the sadness that those of us who were lucky enough to know her felt, came the stories. and today less than 24 hours after her death at 92, the

accounts of her humor and her mischief and tenderness and strength are pouring in. there is also her legacy as a political force of nature and advocate. most recently on the campaign trail for her son jeb. >> he's honest, dependable, loyal, relatively funny, good-looking, but phenomenony. he's got the sa-- but funny. he has the same values that america seems to have lost. he is almost too polite. if i gave him advice i would say why don't you interrupt like the other people do. >> a freaked guest at events is the man to joins us now one of the most gifted writers in the land, who has written 30 novels, all of them number one best sellers. two of them include my two

favorite novels ever written, home, and hold tight. if you reason is read them, go read them. my friend, and more importantly, barbara bush's friend. >> it's good to be here, but on a sad occasion. >> you and i met around books. you were on a book tour. you were the famous person who when barbara bush asked me to come on a book event with her, she said harlan was here last year. >> when she asked you, you would always go. she was a force for literacy. we talk about how great of a matriarch and how funny she was, and we should. but literacy was her thing. her thing on two levels. you have to be able to write to get a job, to fill out an application, the basics. but she was such a voracious reader herself she didn't think that a huge part of life to be empathetic, entertained,

enlightened and that's what a novel or a book could do for you. it was both thing she wanted to promote. more than anything else that was her life work. >> my interactions with her around the literacy events was there she was with peoplous authors people like herself and people who benefitted from the foundation's work. and she wanted everyone together, the famous authors to meet the people who had been served by the foundation's work? >> there was never a time when i was there that she didn't introduce me to somebody who learned to read because of br p barbara bush. >> talk about the reviews she gave you on your books? >> she was kind to me. i was looking through my naturals. she had sort of a super natural charisma. >> for sure. >> not to knock the rest of the family but you could be in a room with both presidents and barbara dominated. something drew you to her.

i think it was her authenticity. you sensed that she was a real person, that she felt, that she believed, that she cared. and she was funny as hell. >> funny. of 2016.is this morning, if you >> we all went up. she started to not feel well. i think i was there three times. >> i was watching her as the people went through the line to take the picture. she could deliver so much with one kind look. after the line went through,i she called my four kids over and toured them around the house. she is over 90 looking back. and she said i want to give you advice. i tweeted this today that she said this to my kid. she said, be kind. the moments i most regret in my life from the moments i could have been kinder. an interesting legacy she wanted to share with my kids at that. >> here she is with her kids. you talk about her in a room. it was her husband and her two

sons that went into flits and learned how to work a room but you are right, she was a magnet. >> dominated every room. and i don't think 43 or 41 would argue. >> no, no. where he was the trichkel she was sort of the shining light you couldn't not move forward. >> you felt the warmth. she called us there. the first time i went to their house -- it's not a modest house but it is on a normal street it is a not set up like mont shello. we are driving through trying to figure out what house it is in she was out there on the front lawn waving to us. they had a great normalcy to them. forgetting politics or wherever else, they were dignified, decent people and she was the leader of that group, she was. >> we were heading to see them at kenny bung port and they interviewed jeb. they kept calling to say where are you?

you are late? they were so normal. that is desperately missed. what do you think of had he you think of 41 without her. the news came from his office that he held her hand all day yesterday before she slipped away. >> i think we all until about a year or so ago suspected that 41 would go first. inmaybe he did, too. i think it's going to be -- he is strong. he has a great family. and you know mrs. bush wouldn't want us talking maudlin about her. >> she would be mortified. >> talk more about the barbara bush foundation, have people give to literacy. keep that -- so many authors that are friends of mine we all went to it. we were all so proud to be part of it. they treated you like gold. but it's such an important legacy and i think that's what she would want us to keep talking about, she loved books and wanted other people to hoff them. she would yell at us right now. >> she would be embarrassed but she would be happy that it wasn't just people in politics

talking about her, but writers like yourself. we are grateful to come in and talk to us. can i tell one secret about you? >> sure. >> you read your am reviews. it made me feel so much better. >> no. >> i just spilled classified information. we need to sneak in a break. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ (baby crying) ♪ ♪ don't juggle your home life and work life without it. ♪ ♪

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i'm micolle wallace. "mtp daily" starts right now. hello, chuck. >> if it's wednesday, the president is predictably unpredictable. tonight, strategy, or winging it? from the hayley/custody low clash to the pompeo/kim jong-un meeting. >> i think mike pompeo is extraordinary. >> what can we decipher about the president's foreign policy plans. plus, the profile of a fixer. we peel back the curtain on the president's attorney, michael cohen. and later, remembering the wisdom and humor of first