good morning. welcome to "morning joe." i'm willie geist along capitol hill correspondent and the host of kasiedc, kasie hunt, i like that. strategist and political contributor rick ti ler. susan delpercio. you have your own sound effect. do you have a show you want to tell us about or something? treasury and economic analyst steve ratner with us and and now msnbc news national security analyst jeremy bash and associate editor for "washington post" david ignatius and washington anchor for bbc world news america katie kay. richard haus summed up yesterday with two tweets. in the late afternoon richard

first tweeted today is ending considerably better than it started. one, postponement of putin visit, two, possible u.s./eu trade truce, three secretary pompeo declaring u.s. -- richard tweeted this. i tweeted today ended better than it gan ignoring yogi's wisdom that it ain't over till it's over. now some congressmen claiming to be conservatives have move to impeach the deputy attorney general. we'll start right there. a group of republicans in the house have introduced articles of impeachment against rod rosenstein in connection to special counsel robert mueller's probe. the resolution introduced by house freedom caucus and nine other co-sponsors accuses

rosenstein of blocking oversight. they claim he withheld documents and made misleading statements on the matter. a spokesman tells nbc news it is not considered a privileged motion whether it comes up for a floor vote is in the hands of the republican leadership. last week house speaker paul ryan said rosenstein should be allowed to feninish his investigation. go around the speaker and impeach rod rosenstein. >> we hope it doesn't have to come to that. this is the first step tonight, but it it doesn't require consent from the speaker. quite frankly, it's either we hold him in contempt or we get the documents and we impeach him. the only thing we have control over is the ability to bring impeachment straight to the floor. >> last night in reaction, top democrats on intel committees

released a joint statement reading, this resolution to impeach rod rosenstein is a direct attack full stop. today special counsel mueller obtained five guilty pleas against a group that includes four trump officials and 26 russian nationals. the president should not mistake this move by his congressional enablers as a retext to take any action against mr. mueller or rosenstein. kasie, what is the freedom caucus up to here? a thorn in the side of rosenstein. didn't push it far enough in parliamentary terms to force a vote on impeachment for rod rosenstein. are they just sending a message at this point or did they mean it? >> 218 people to impeach him. that is never going to happen. i get text message from members of congress who maybe they don't

want to be out there criticizing jim meadows but they are all defending this investigation and rod rosenstein. some are starting to say it more publicly in statements, as well. this is not a legitimate possibility, at least not in the way that they did it. the reality that this isn't quote/unquote privilege. they're not forcing leadership's hands. they took one step back away from this. but at the same time, they are sending a signal to the white house. that's what you saw in that democratic statement. essentially saying, look, don't view this, mr. president, as license to go ahead and do this and think it's going to be okay. >> is this a way, jeremy, for republicans against the mueller investigation and want to protect the president to get one step closer to bob mueller if they believe, somehow, they can remove rod rosenstein? >> that may be their ultimate b objective. helsinki was a disaster also

politically for republicans on the hill and now you have the republican party essentially split. i know we'll talk about this who are questioning secretary of state mike pompeo. it's suspiciously so. and they were harshly critical of the president. so, here we have house republicans needing, i think, a key distraction from the events of this week. they roll out these articles of impeachment which are no more than a press release. >> majority of americans do not believe the fbi is unfair to the president. according to the latest npr hour, six in ten registered voters say the fbi just trying to do its job. a third of voters say the bureau is biest againas against the tr administration. 37 believe the fbi is doing its job. a little over half, 55% say the bureau is bias against the administration.

so, the freedom caucus members believe they have cover among their own voters. >> the problem is they're making it worse for voters who are in swing districts trying to hold on to their seats. this is designed to undermine the mueller investigation. they have no reason tew choir these documents. right now. i always believe congress has oversight over the executive branch and they should have oversight, but not during an active investigation. they had their own investigatory powers and in hindsight when the mueller investigation is complete, they can go review these things and see if things are done properly. to do it now and have these documents they will get out to the public and undermine the investigation and that's what it is designed to do. while it might help jim jordan and mark meadows their districts are frustrated, you have to do something, you have to do something. impeaching rosenstein seems to be the way out. i don't think it helps the republican caucus as a whole.

>> the idea that rod rosenstein appointed by this president is part of some great conspiracy to take down donald trump defies belief. >> it's absurd. let's not forget, also not a number three there. who will they replace him with? putting that all aside, i agree with rick. this is like a pr stunt and they're leaving for a month and going into recess. nothing is going to happen and they just kind of threw this out there as the last hurrah in d.c. >> so, jeremy mentioned mike pompeo's testimony yesterday. appeared before the senate foreign relations committee. the first time senators had a chance to question the secretary since singapore and helsinki summits. back and forths from pom ppeo a senators including policy in

other places, as well. >> today the trump administration is releasing what we're calling the crimia declaration. calls on russia to respect the principals and to end its occupation of crimia, end of quote. i want to show this committee that they do not recognize the kremlin's -- >> we do not have nuclear inspectors yet on the ground in north korea. is that correct, mr. secretary? >> that is correct. >> north korea continues to produce nuclear bomb material, is that correct? >> i'm trying to make sure i stay on that -- yes, that's correct. >> is there any verifiable evidence of progress towards denuclearization? >> oh, yes. absolutely. >> what is verifiable? >> we're sitting at the table having conversations. we had lots of discussions that i'm not going to get into here

today. >> i am afraid that at this point the united states, the trump administration is being taken for a ride. >> fear not, senator. fear not. >> no evidence to the contrary. >> no evidence. >> senator, fear not. >> has the president told you what he and president putin discuss in their two-hour closed door meeting in helsinki. >> i'm confident you had private one-on-one meetings in your life. you have chosen that setting -- >> i asked you a simple question. did he tell you whether or not what happened in those two hours? >> yes, senator. the predicate implied some notion that there was something improper about having a one-on-one meeting. >> i didn't ask you a predicate, i asked you a simple question. did he tell you what transpired in the meeting? >> i was also present when he and president putin both gave us a sense of what they discussed and the meeting that followed

immediately after. also had the chance to speak with lavrov of what happened -- >> did you speak to the translator that was at that meeting? >> no, i haven't. >> you drive distinction between the president's comments and u.s. policy. >> senator, the policies are themselves statements, as well. the most important statements that the administration makes. >> policies are statements and statements are policies. >> that's absolutely not true. i make lots of statements. they're not u.s. policy. the president says things. the president makes comments in certain places. we have a national security counsel, we lay out strategies and develop policies. how do i know the president sets the course? >> how do i know the difference between a presidential statement that is policy and a statement that is? >> senator, here's what you should look at? compare the following. barack obama speaking tough on russia and doing nothing.

>> not true. >> it is true. >> i understand you want to rewrite the -- >> can i clean that up, senator. >> if you want to clean it up. >> i'd love to. >> when he speaks -- >> i'd love the chance to do that. >> go ahead. >> i misspoke. it is the case. the president calls the ball. his statements are, in fact, policy. but it's the case that when all of us speak in informal settings in response to questions, we're not covering the full gamut of things that impact the world. that's what i intended to say. i saw the glee on your side trying to walk away and making a political point from that. that's silliness. >> so now we understand that when the president speaks, it is the policy. >> i can't say it more far forcefully. we need a clear understanding of what is going on. what our president is agreeing to and what our strategy is on a number of issues. from where we sit, it appears in

a ready, fire, aim fashion the white house is waking up every morning and making it up as they go. is there a strategy to this or what is it that calls the president purposely, purposely create distrust in these institutions and what we're doing. >> senator, i just disagree with most of what you just said there. you somehow disconnect the administration's activities from the president's actions. they're one in the same. >> i notice that you are not responding to what i am saying. >> i think i responded to everything you said, senator. >> no, you didn't. the fact is that you just didn't, okay. >> we disagree, senator. >> let's run the transcript, if you want to talk about it. >> we'll let the world decide. >> it's the president's public statements that create concern amongst senators on both sides of the aisle. and i was asking you if, in

fact, there was some, you know, some rhyme or reason that this type of distrust or discord could be created -- >> some of the statements actually achieve important policy outcomes for the united states of america. >> some of them do. some of them very damaging. >> so, david ignatius, a lot for you to chew on there as we watch the highlights of that hearing yesterday. the argument throughout from secretary of state pompeo was to ignore donald trump has continued to play with vladimir putin, including in public at helsinki and look at the policy. is the secretary right there? >> i think in that very testy series of exchanges what you really saw from pompeo was a kind of armed retreat from the positions that we thought president trump had taken in helsinki. now, the policies themselves haven't changed and can't really

tell you what he talked about with vladimir putin. we're announcing that our policy is to refuse to endorse the annexation of crimia. two weeks ago it seemed the president was heading towards support for that. now, nothing that has been decided on syria. we've been getting consistent reports that discussions between putin and trump. what we saw yesterday and all sorts of different ways was the administration pulling back from positions that have become very controversial. we'll talk later about trade. that is part of this. doing so in a way that seemed combative and insisting the president is being tough hasn't changed. i think the clearest sign of where they are is the decision to cancel the planned putin/trump meeting for the fall at the white house. that they're putting that off until after the elections. why? because they know it's unpopular. that they know that the pushback

that you heard from every questioner from menendez, the democrat, similarly from corcoran, the republican. just a lot of unhappiness in congress about the president's move in helsinki and since. pompeo was pulling back from the positions. >> but the stated reason yesterday from john bolton, the national security adviser for the postponement of that meeting or the invitation extended to putin is they wanted to wait out the, quote, witch-hunt. as mike pompeo is up on the hill talking about how tough they are on russia, the national security adviser is saying the investigation into our elections is a witch-hunt. >> yeah, the fact that you have the national security adviser using an official statement and the words witch-hunt is pretty staggering in and of itself. we don't know the mueller probe will be wrapped up by the beginning of next year, which is what mr. bolton seemed to be implying.

but, david's right here. the optics of having a putin summit in washington in the run up to the midterm elections was not going to play well for the president. and you've got this curious situation which you're hearing from both the pentagon and from the state department that increasingly decisions are being made in the national security council with little reference with what is happening to general mattis and secretary pompeo. and the cleanup jobs that are being done by the agencies and there's john bolton who is the one who is actually leading what is happening when it comes to national security at the moment and that's causing quite a lot of concern, especially at places like the pentagon. >> i point out that john bolton called it a true act of war and yesterday called the investigation into a witch-hunt. jeremy, this does follow a pattern. we see the president go out and make a mistake or be casual and light with vladimir putin or another leader with kim jong-un

and pompeo or nikki haley that come in afterwards that what the president said is not what is happening in this administration. >> they have no foreign policy process. he doesn't want preparation and read intelligence and get advice from his advisors. they don't know what the game is going into the bilateral or the summit. then when they come out, the president says things. it's their job to clean up aisle eight. the statements and positions he has taken welcoming a joint cybersecurity summit in which americans will be interrogated by the former kgb agent and, in fact, they're walking behind the elephant with the shovel in their hands at all times. >> let's not forget a couple things that happened in those exchanges that are unprecedented. back to the meeting where it's just the two of them one on one and pomp prpompeo whether he han

to the translator. our secretary of state has no idea what the actual true version of events, the unbiassed true version of events is. second of all, bob corker up there sounded like the democrats. you can see the difference in pompeo's gesture. they're on the same side, but, you know, we talk over and over again about when republicans will stand up. you saw that in a big way at that meeting. >> meanwhile while that was happening they dialed back trade tensions yesterday which began with tariffs on steal and aluminum experts and new promises of trade both sides agree to work towards zero tariffs in exchange for relatively minor eu concessions. with no firm agreement, europe agreed to purchased liquefied natural gas when the u.s. builds more export terminals down the

road and buy soybeans in the trade dispute with china. the 20% tariff is likely to reshape the global market and could mean brazil, the number two producer, will end up selling more soy as a result. the deal was announced shortly before trump's meeting with republican lawmakers, many of whom reject to his tariffs and the $12 billion bailout for farmers taking the brunt of it. later today, president trump tra travels to iowa and rural economic development. charting the trade story for us. so a lot of pomp and circumstance yesterday. news conference hastily arranged. when you cut through it, though, was anything achieved aside from buying soybeans which is good for our farmers and the promise of not having more tariffs down the road? >> essentially, no. the one thing you could say in the negative sense in a way that was achieved is that trump was put off on his 25% charge on

autos. the steel and aluminum tariffs stay in place for the time. at least it keeps the trade war from escalating and puts it on hold while they try to negotiate this. all those things you just read were happy, feely, things and not decisions. >> likely in response as he watched news reports over the last couple days of lobster men in maine and hearing from republicans senators saying you have to do something about this. >> you have a variety of things going on. companies that are being -- that would be affected by them are seeing lower profits already. the car companies reported yesterday lower prices. you're seeing stock prices of industrial companies like caterpillar that would be affected by this going down. and then, as you just referred from the other direction, you saw this enormous blow back to the crazy idea of paying our soybean farmers $12 million which blowback came more from

the republicans and the democrats because if you're a small government republican, how can you justify somebody handing out $12 billion to a bunch of farmers? >> you're not making america great again you're making america 1929, again. you have some charts for us. >> we have some charts to fill you in on what's going on on the trade front with europe principally. let's start with talking about having a deficit with europe. so, what you can see here is that essentially we have significant debt trade deficits with basically -- oops, wrong countries. basically with two countries. italy and germany. germany, of course, produces a lot of cars. italy produces a lot of pharmaceuticals and also some cars. when you drive your ferrari out on the weekend. >> only when i borrow yours. >> italian shoes. >> there we go. so, basically, with the rest of europe in the aggregate we're in

a trade balance. i would note that's roughly 15% of our total deficit. not surprisingly, of course, china is the real problem and issues going on with china. so, the point really is that this is a relatively small part of the trade issue that we're talking about. if you take a look at what we buy and sell to europe, you can see that, in fact, it really mirrors what the whole concept of trade means. that we're buying and selling a lot of the same things back and forth to china. so, for example, we sell boeing airplanes to china, to europe. and we buy airbus planes from europe. we sell things like engines and motors to europe, which you can see here. and we buy a lot of cars from europe. pharma shows up in both places. we do pharma business with europe. this is really the epitome of

where trade is. it is not simply something they make and we don't make and vice versa. and, lastly, let's just remember what we're talking about when we talk about tariffs. the size of the tariffs between the u.s. and the eu are actually almost identical. they are both less than 2%. they are about a tenth or 2/10 percentage point different. eu and canada have relatively low tariffs and so-called developing countries and you can argue whether china belongs in the developing category and should have lower tariffs as a result. but the whole point is between the eu and the u.s. the difference in tariffs is actually quite small. >> so, we're just a week removed from the president of the united states saying the eu is one of

the united states' greatest foes from him going after theresa may and what brought the eu to the table and to the white house yesterday? >> my reading of this from what came out from the commission president yesterday is that the eu got more out of this than the united states did. they came very determined to make a deal and they said, okay, we'll buy more of your soybeans that you now can't sell to china and somewhere down the road, if the conditions are right and the price is okay, we'll buy more of your liquefied gas, as well. this helps america and helps the president make the argument that we're buying more than the europeans are buying from russia. the big things the europeans wanted out of this and that's why 10% of america's deficit with germany is important, they didn't want to get slapped with big tariffs on expensive cars. we know president trump has said before, it drives him crazy when he's driving down fifth avenue to see all the muraercedes and s

and the europeans have sueded them for the moment to say, okay, we're not going to slap a big tariff on luxury european cars on those bmws and mercedes. that was a huge deal for the germans and the europeans and particularly for the germans. i look at this and say i don't know where it is going to go because it is a temporary truce. we don't know if it will be permanent. these can change from one week to the next. in the moment in the big negotiation and the art of the deal, this deal seems to me won much more by the europeans than the united states. >> we're just getting started this morning. still ahead, more questions about michael cohen's recorded conversation with president trump and whether there are more tapes handed over to investigators. plus, one of president trump's favorite false claims. >> when we won the state of wisconsin, it hadn't been won by a republican since dwight d. eisenhower in 1952. did you know that?

i won wisconsin. and i like wisconsin a lot. but we won wisconsin. and ronald reagan, remember, wisconsin was the state that ronald reagan did not win. >> i won wisconsin and michigan and i won states that a republican hasn't won in men decades, years. >> won wisconsin in a presidential race seven times since 1956 and ronald reagan was one of those. regardless new polling shows the president has a lot of work ahead of him if he will carry the badger state and some others in the upper midwest. again, we'll go through the numbers from three politically important midwest states. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. something . 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.

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fraud and the significance of that is if the client and the lawyer discuss the commission of a crime or discuss the commission of a fraud, there is no attorney/client privilege in that conversation. meaning, the tape can be used by anybody who can get their hands on it for any purposes. the conversation is about paying national, about paying "national enquirer" to buy her story and lead her to believe that the "national enquirer" is going to publish her story. but the real aim here is to bury the story by duping her into selling it to them and them not publishing it. that failure to be truthful to her and the involvement of donald trump and michael cohen and that decision. both civil fraud, criminal fraud are enough to burst the attorney/client privilege. that's where the giuliani

argument fails and the lanny davis argument prevails. >> do you think the president has something to worry about here? >> i do. >> based on? >> if there's no attorney/client privilege then all these conversations go right to bob mueller. >> his take on the leaked michael cohen tape calling it a civil fraud. may have released his most significant tape, president trump. cohen is going beyond words and action in his effort to make a deal with prosecutors. two sources familiar with the tapes tell "the post" the government has seized more than 100 recordings cohen made of his conversations with people discussing matters that could relate to president trump and to his businesses. and with trump himself talking, they say trump's voice is on several of the recordings but typically in snippets. typically when he's returning a call from cohen or asking on voicemail to call him back.

the only tape they have a substantive conversation is the one davis released yesterday. many of him and reporters discussing trump of a conversation about the stormy daniels payment with cnn anchor chris cuomo in which cohen says, quote, i did it on my own. that's according to people familiar with the matter. so, jeremy, let's take a step back. the cohen tape, the portion we saw yesterday we see and expect there are more tapes. what are the significance. you heard what judge napolitano said yesterday. >> and that's going to allow judges and prosecutors to pierce the attorney/client privilege and all that material will go to the office in new york and possibly the special counsel.

there's a broader point, though. if there are 100 recordings, it means that michael cohen believed was impropriety. that he had to record and he had to document to maybe use one day as a trump card. that's exactly what he's doing. one final point, willie, if he has recordings, bettia the russians have recordings and if they knew there was a proprietary that could be used as a potential blackmail tool and presidential candidate, what have you, they will use it it. >> i just want to go back to politically, though, i'm curious your take on this because if you dig into our "wall street journal" poll one of the numbers while the president's approval rating is going up among women, it has fallen dramatically. every time we talk about the cohen tapes hiss s his alleged does it still not matter at all? does the public care or does that have an impact?

>> it was built in to the election of donald trump. this is nothing new to us, these relationships. what it does affect is swing districts when we talk about the president's approval rating with women. women are turning out in higher and higher numbers because of these conversations these are motivating things for those voters and it will probably lead and be in part reason why the republicans lose the house next year. so, it doesn't help. but what it does help with with donald trump is keeping it on a shiny object like that. he's actually okay with it because it is all out there and we're not talking about russia. we're not talking about important security issues. his big failings on the tariff wars, on trade wars. >> you're saying he would rather talk about his alleged affair than a shiny, detracting object. >> it's old news and it doesn't hurt him as much as talking about what putin may have on him. because i think that is what he is really scared about. those conversations.

>> in fact, rick, we knew all this before the presidential election. in fact, it was fresh on voters' minds and they decided to elect donald trump anyway. the idea that this will change the dynamic for him now, unless there is a criminal element that comes into play. i don't think for republicans, anyway, it matters. >> legally it may be significant. politically, i agree with susan. it's old news. it was already accepted when they chose him. so, you get what you got. >> all right. we're going to continue on this and more this morning. members of the house republican party that have filed articles of impeachment against rod rosenstein as we told you. bill kristol reminding some people of what republicans have said about the attorney cepty gener recently. >> everybody across the board has unequivocally said this man is a man of upstanding character and essentially the gold standard of the department of justice. >> a man of extraordinary

independence and integrity and a reputation. >> earned so much bipartisan support to serve as a the deputy ag report on his nomination with all but one -- >> that is an ad from bill krist kristol's group and he joins us table next on "morning joe." who would have thought, who would have guessed? an energy company helping cars emit less. making cars lighter, it's a good place to start, advanced oils for those hard-working parts. fuels that go further so drivers pump less. improving efficiency is what we do best. energy lives here.

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joining us now at large bill kristol and washington reporter for "washington post" eugene scott. bill, before we go any further, you were hanging out in lower manhattan. >> when you're hip, you're hip. i don't like to talk about my late-night lower manhattan adventures. >> he was like, i was with fat joe last night. >> a show at 6:00 and then went downtown some after party. first anniversary of his show. >> that's amazing. can you do a verse of "lean back" for us or no? >> here we go. it's fun to be on and walk half a block through the streets of lower manhattan with him because

he's a well-known guy. >> like walking through d.c. with you these days. so, we played a little bit of the ad from your group coming in of republicans sarah sanders, mike pence, mitch mcconnell praising, heaping praise among rod rosenstein and now you have this freedom caucus proposition of articles of impeachment to get rid of him. what is your reaction? >> it's a joke. saying before they haven't offered us a privileged resolution where the speaker would have to bring it up. they couldn't get 30 or 40 political votes for it so a stunt to feed into trump's narrative that the justice department is corrupt and the mueller investigation is tainted. so, it's deeply irresponsible and good for republicans to vote because i think you would get a huge majority against this and it would actually show that republicans don't believe in pure -- >> phil, what do mark meadows

and jim jordan get out of this other than impressing the president or protecting their jobs in their districts? >> you do wonder. i guess they believe it somehow. really not complicit and really distressing and damaging discrediting of institutions. might be a moment to impeach some cabinet official. some congress might want to consider that for genuine misdeeds and remove someone who has clearly violated ethical norms and legal procedures. that's, obviously, not the case with rod rosenstein. >> i hadn't seen anything as of last night. i don't think he commented on it. >> i don't believe so, i will double check. one thing not to lose sight of here is that some of this, to your point, is the freedom caucus members striving to have appearances on fox news that the presidency allows them to get in front.

the ad that you did was very sharp because everyone seems to have forgotten that it's rosenstein who wrote the memo. they then predicated the comey firing and other things on. there was a time when he was a hero to republicans. >> if you're deputy general of the united states hero, nonhero, you can criticize the guy. but really a resolution of impeachment? so irresponsible and just lowers the bar for everything. if we impeach him, why don't they try to impeach the cabinet officials they like least. you cannot run a government that way. the pompeo clips are really striking. somehow you serve in the trump administration and you become nasty -- >> he's playing to an audience of one. >> senators are entitled to ask questions, a very reasonable question to ask about. what did the president tell you about the private meeting? doesn't mean you have some horrible agenda or terrible p m

premipre premise behind that question and even in contentious times the bush administration, obama administration, cabinet officials in a polite way, at least on the surface, to senators and congressmen and vice versa. you sort of do need that to have the government to work. >> one thing has gone by the wayside -- >> i'm totally out of it. >> fat joe and i -- not pompeo and the senators. >> i may never get over you and fat joe hanging out last night. i'll try. let's talk, jean, about what is happening on capitol hill with jim jordan and the freedom caucus. sincere, i guess, on their part that they believe the department of justice is withholding information. the department of justice says that's just not true. >> absolutely. i mean, these are talk points that we've heard coming from

these congressmen, in particular, and those in the freedom caucus. i think part of their frustration as a result to some of the conversation regarding impeachment of trump picking up after the summit last week in finland. but, also, this is a group of people who really are playing to their base. we saw the polling earlier showing how many republicans, especially conservative republicans just really do not support this investigation. and i think they want them to know that they hear them and that they're taking their concerns with them to washington. >> eugene, sit figtight, if you can. new polls out of the midwest raising some eyebrows in the white house this morning. we'll be right back on "morning joe."

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. donald trump broke through the democrats blue wall in 2016, but a new nbc news poll shows trouble for republicans in the midwest. in the battle for control of

congress in the 2018 mid-terms democrats have a nine-point lead in michigan, 12-point lead in minnesota and eight point lead in wisconsin. as for voters opinion of the president's job, he's down at 36% in michigan, 38% in minnesota, and 36% in wisconsin. majority of voters in all of those states disapprove of the job he's doing. asked if the president deserves re-election three in ten in all three states say yes and six in ten say no. so eugene scott, this, obviously, was the key to voirk for president trump. you look at a state like michigan, wisconsin, by the way he almost won minnesota as well. how concerned is the white house as it looks at these polls? >> quite concerned. i'll be in michigan next week talking to voters and a poll i wrote about yesterday that was a

maris poll, the biggest changes is with women. honestly because of some dislike towards hillary clinton. there's no hillary clinton now and so we're seeing a lot of these voters looking at donald trump and concluding that they don't like what they see and the only person they can blame it on is the president themselves. >> bill, what do you see in these numbers? >> there's some talk about how he's doing so great, consolidating the republican base, a smaller base than existed two or three years ago. >> independent numbers are striking. >> those are horrible. you need those in the suburban districts. two or three districts in the flip of michigan. interesting the mid-term, who do you prefer to control congress. for me the final point, i always thought this. 38% approval. 30% think he should be

re-elected. you can somewhat approve donald trump now. you don't like hillary clinton still, retrospectively. like the supreme court nominations, tax cut, whatever. done mean you want an additional four years of donald trump. whatever happens on november 6th, i think november 7th, 2018 we're in a new political universe because it's a prospective choice of what do you want four more years not to justify your vote against hillary clinton in 2016 or justify your vote for donald trump with your neighbors. >> so, we have to remember. this is donald trump running against nobody. so people have this idealistic, my ideal candidate, i would vote for that candidate. i was listening to two people last night in a restaurant, they were talking about donald trump and this gentleman was listing about all the things he loved about donald trump. his friend asked him would you vote for him again. he said no. that was surprising. >> a colleague of mine last week

in ohio, reluctant trump voters. they were asked do you approve. yeah, more or less. better than the alternative. i hate the media. i don't like nancy pelosi. what about 2020? i'm not so sure about that. >> huge story for "the washington post". one of the things he talked about a lot of trump triers. people were willing to try trump out of frustration not because they hated hillary clinton but they were frustrated. those were rubs and also some democrats who said let me just try. it can't get much worse. that's also what we're seeing in those numbers. we're seeing i tried it and i don't like eugene scott, if yo our poll, the president of the united states has 88 president approval rating among republicans. a few reluctant republicans and independent voters in the middle. >> absolutely. i think it's important for people to remember that

republicans make up only about 25% of the population. most people are independents. so while this group, this really conservative americans who really do align with what they see coming out of the white house, the overwhelming majority of americans do not, and all these polls suggest they would perform differently this fall. >> i think two other small things just to remember here. one is that i think there's a lot of concern at least among people i talk to who is trump going to be running against in 2020 and there's a variety of potential democratic candidates that could push some people -- >> and republican primary candidates. nikki haley-donald trump primary lit. >> already lit. >> but the second thing i would just mention is that if you parse through trump's policies it's hard to find anything that will help the voters who elected

trump, that mid-western guy or gal who lost his job, working in a coffee shop making $15 an hour instead of 35. find something that trump has done to make their life better. then throw trade on top of it. people haven't yet processed that. >> i hear you on that but i'm just not convinced that people who love donald trump will be convinced the democrat running against him is on their side. >> but those people are a small number who love donald trump. >> maybe. but, again, back to the point who is he going to run against. >> eugene scott of the "the washington post," great to have you. bill kristol, thanks for being here my friend. he stole your shades before the segment. >> he wanted to look more cool. >> still ahead, the trump administration banned a reporter from a rose garden event

yesterday after she asked the president questions about russia and michael cohen. nbc news chief white house correspondent hallie jackson gives us some perspective on that. "new york times" peter baker will weigh on that and much more when we come back. ♪ tired of constantly battling lingering smells in your home, like pet, shoe, and body odors? for long-lasting, continuous freshness, try febreze plug. febreze plug provides 45 days of freshness, with a unique dual chamber design that alternates between harmonized scents for a continuous renewal of fragrance.

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where we're changing withs? contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com. senator, i understand -- i've now been here three hours and you have a political -- >> i listened to you, as a secretary of state sitting at that table, demeaning some

members here. so please don't talk to me about politics. you want to talk about politics. if president obama did what president trump did in helsinki i would be peel underground off the capital ceiling. please. >> senator menendez of new jersey, one of the moments yesterday from yesterday's contentious hearing between secretary of state mike pompeo and members of the senate foreign relations committee. welcome back to "morning joe". i'm willie geist. still with us, capital hill kasie hunt. rick tyler is also with us as well as republican strategist susan del percio. steve rattner. columnist and associate editor for "the washington post" david ignatius, washington anchor for bbc world news america katty kay and joining our conversation former adviser to president

george h. w. bush and executive producer of the circus on showtime, mark mckennan and peter baker. got a full house. most important question, when is the circus coming back? >> labor day. nothing is going on now. >> putting that show together as you proved in your last season you got to do it right up to the last second because the entire story may change. >> we produce a documentary every week. when i first pitched it to people monthly no we have to be in the cockpit. we don't put anything later on sunday and showtime sees the show sunday morning, the final show. in this news environment amazing even by friday stuff we shoot monday and tuesday seem ancient. >> you have great wing men and wing women. >> alex wagner has been great. >> labor day. let's start this hour with that hearing on capitol hill. it was the first time senators

have had a chance to question the secretary of state since both the singapore and helsinki summits. the nearly three hour hearing included several tense back and forth exchanges between pompeo and senators from both sides of the aisle. >> has the president told you what he and president putin discussed in their two hour closed door meeting in helsinki? >> presidents have a prerogative to choose to have in those meetings. >> i asked a simple question. mr. secretary, did he tell you whether or not what happened in those two hours. >> yes, senator, the predicate of the question implied there was something improper to have a one-on-one meeting. i disagree. >> i squad simple question. did he tell you what transpired in the two hour meeting. >> i had a number of conversations. i was also presents when he and president putin both gave us a sense of what they discussed in the meeting that followed

immediately after. i also had a chance to speak with sergei lavrov. i have a complete understanding of what took place. >> did you speak to translator who was at that meeting? >> no, i haven't. >> you draw a distinction between president's comments and u.s. policy. >> senator, the policies are themselves statements as well. indeed they are the most important statements that the administration makes. >> policies are statements and statements are poilgs. >> that's not true. people make -- i make lots of statements. they are not u.s. policy. the president says things. president makes comments. we have national security council, we meet, lay out strategies, we develop policies. right? >> how do i know -- >> the president sets the course. >> how do i know a difference between a presidential statement that's not a policy and a statement that is. >> here's what you should look at. compare the following. barack obama speaking tough on russia and doing nothing.

>> that's not true. i understand you want to rewrite the obama policy on russia. >> i can clear that up the >> if you want to clean it up. >> when he speaks that's your policy. >> i would love to, senator. i would love the chance to do that. >> go ahead. >> i misspoke. the president calls the ball. his statements are, in fact, policy, it's the case when all of us speak, in informal settings in response to questions we're not covering the full gamut of things that impact the world. that's what i intended to say. i saw the glee on your side trying to make a political point from that. that's silliness. this president runs this government. >> now we understand when the president speaks it is the policy. >> i can't say it more forcefully, we really need a clear understanding as to what is going on. what our president is agreeing to. what our strategy is on a number of issues. from where we sit it appears

that in a ready aim fire fashion the president is waking up and making it up as he goes. is there a strategy or what does it cause the president to purposely create distrust in these institutions and what we're doing? >> senator, i disagree with most of what you just said there. you somehow disconnect the administration's activities from the president's actions. they are one and the same. >> i notice that you are not responding to what i'm saying. >> i think i responded to everything that you have said, senator. >> no, you didn't. and the fact is that you just didn't, okay. >> we disagree. >> we don't disagree. let's run the transcript if you want to talk about it. the fact is that it's the president's public statements that create concern amongst senators on both sides of the

aisle. and i was asking you if, in fact, there was some, you know, some rhyme or reason that this type of distrust or discord will be created. >> statements actually achieve important policy outcomes for the united states u.n. >> some of them do. >> yeah. >> some very damaging. >> david ignatius, it was a fascinating three hours. mike pompeo the secretary of state was very defensive as you saw, there annoyed by the line of questioning from republicans and democrats alike inside that room. how did we get from helsinki where the president was up at a podium next to vladimir putin refusing to condemn his interference in the 2016 election and by the way russia's ongoing interference in the american political system to that posture yesterday? >> that's the right question. that was the most undiplomatic performance by a secretary of state that i conscience in a while before congress. pompeo was prickly, not just

offensive but angry and sharp. you have to remember this hearing was supposed to be the moment at which congress learned what had happened in helsinki. all of their questions were focused on what they thought the hearing was all about, to get a report from the secretary of state. when we look carefully, what we see is that the impressions that president trump left in his press conference a week ago monday in helsinki about lots of progress with the russians on arms control issues, discussion of syria, turning a new page in relationship with russia, pompeo is now walking back, no there are no agreements, look at what we've agreed not to any other reports. very defensive. at the same time we have the white house cancelling or postponing the planned second meeting with putin that was going to take place in the fall. so i think what you're seeing is pompeo, yes was defensive but that really was walking back

policies that had met so much resistance from congress, from the public that they knew there had to be some adjustments. >> mark, this has been something that's a long time in the works. many mornings on capitol hill when in the last month where we've heard demands, wanting performance foam testify about this or that. this is really one area foreign policy where you have so much deep concern among traditional republicans, bob corker who had been a key voice. a lot will be gone after the mid-term elections. >> that's right. the interesting thing about this hearing and trying to get information about what happened at that meeting is that if i understand correctly, the way we actually learned about this since we didn't have anybody in the room and nobody knows including the secretary of state which was obvious from yesterday's hearings, is american intelligence services over listening to russia intelligence services debriefing the meeting. we're learning from russia

intelligent services. russian version of the meeting is all we're getting. >> peter baker, the objective of yesterday's enterprise was to figure out what happened in the room where there were only two people plus translators. secretary pompeo was defensive and annoyed by the question of why there were only two people in the room and said that's the president's prerogative. we may never know including mike pompeo what took place in that conversation between president trump and president putin. >> i watched that sequence. i see a secretary of state who doesn't know what happened in that room and not 100% sure what happened and cautious putting forward in a setting where he could be held accountable, you know, a version of events that wouldn't turn out to be true later on. he himself has been left in an awkward position. he's, obviously, was in a testy mood yesterday and took it out on the senators who took it out on him as well. it's an unusual circumstance. it's not that presidents haven't

won with foreign leaders one-on-one. it has happened from time to time. what's unissue have it in a situation with a president who is so willing to go off script, so willing to be spontaneous, make deals, may or may not have been born out by the other side. that leaves an entire foreign policy architecture in a bad state because they don't know what's going on. >> katty kay, a question for you, as we're looking at what lens we look through at. seems donald trump is offering his perception through a pr lens not a policy lens. we're trying to depict what actually is happening on the policy side from reporting and actually what other leaders are thinking about this. so can you expand on what other leaders around the world are trying to extract on the policy side? >> i think you're right about the pr side of things.

there always seem to be look i made a great deal, no one else could do this and that seems to be incredibly important for this president, whether or not a deal has actually been made. we had that around the helsinki summit and vladimir putin with the president repeatedly saying it's great i spoke to vladimir putin, i'm the one i can talk to him. we saw that again yesterday with the european union and walking back the coming back from the brink of a trade war even though it seems to me that the eu got more out of this than the united states did. you have the president casting himself as the person who has made the deal. sometimes, and we've seen this over north korea, it's making a deal and resolving a problem that perhaps hadn't been a problem in the first place that the president created. the president created this trade crisis at the moment because he was the one who imposed the initial tariffs. now he says he fixed the crisis he created. everyone is watching this with enormous amount of attention.

they know the details of what is happening and everyone is figuring out that the president will say one thing one week and say something else the next week. there's a lot of drama surrounding this administration and that he likes to be the person that presents himself as the deal maker. they are watching how to deal with this president. they haven't gotten satisfactory reasons. >> this so-called agreement which really isn't an agreement with europe yesterday is because the chaos that trump's trade polls have sovereign wn starting to spread. you see it in earnings reports from companies that do business internationally whether it's the automakers or companies like caterpillar. you saw this crazy proposal the other day to give $10 billion to farmers to help with the soybean losses. so i think the president, you

know, who, if nothing else knows at some point when he's getting backed into a corner had to do something to make it took like he was making progress. when you look at this deal, it's not a deal. it's a feel good, touchy feeley nice thing. we'll try to sell more soy beans. try to sell some lng which costs 25% more than the gas they are buying now. >> that's down the road. >> the europeans objective was to avoid these 25% tariffs on autos that president trump was threatening which would have been disastrous for all of us. rising prices for american consumers and hurting german carmake carmakers. yesterday was a little bit of a pull back. even trump realized this was going, a slippery spiral downhill. >> peter baker two days ago trump tweeted tariffs are the greatest. yesterday talking about this agreement he put together with temp u said we agree tariffs are not a good idea.

i'm paraphrasing there. how much pressure has he had about what tariffs were doing to people and their livelihoods. >> three automakers downgraded their projections for the year citing tariffs on the cost of their supplies. the one big thing that has lifted president trump politically since taking office has between economy, the one thing he has a brag point is the economy. the employment is low. growth is at least moderate. and heading into the fall mid-term election the last thing he wants to do is mess that you want. there's sort of a driving up to the brink and kind of pulling back quality to this trade negotiation. maybe that's the way he thinks he'll get eventually concessions on the part of partners in europe and asia and maybe it will work out that way. certainly i think his counterparts in asia and europe don't quite know how to negotiate with this guy and they are trying to figure him out.

we're watching this approach to this. we're not sure what the outcome will be. >> it's very clear two days ago when the president was at a rally and he says don't believe what you see and read. he was talking about a report, and he's talking to farmers and saying we're getting hit. trump heard that and that's why i think we're seeing the response. >> soybean prices are down 25%. soy beans are the largest agricultural crop. so imagine what's happening to the guy that grows those things. >> anyone who takes donald trump at his word i'll get you through this, ask all the vendors he stiffed along the way in his businesses. donald trump is saying trust me i got this. i wonder how many other people he said that to and left them hanging. my father said it's easier to bear the pain ever others and that's what donald trump is doing. he's not feeling it quite yet and asking people to take on that pain. >> pompeo hearing yesterday was something i would like to go back and focus on.

this idea what the president said is policy. notice in the beginning pompeo wouldn't admit that. the reason that's true is because the president users so many things that are contradictory. like having rain man as your boss. do you believe putin. yes. do you believe the intel. yes. it goes on and on. same with tariffs. tariffs are bad. but something happened where pompeo had to reverse himself and make very clear that what the president says is policy. and that's -- the president has set up pompeo and all his cabinet members, everybody speaks for him to this ir irreconciable policy conundrum. we don't know what our objectives are with putin. what is it that he's trying to

get done because he says so many contradictory things. take the intel. he's saying intel didn't interfere in the election, they did, they didn't. i believe the intel. he's not interring fering in th8 election. >> he don't know what he's talking about. >> presidential utterances can't be policy if they continue to contradict each other. it reflects the fact that the job of many of those especially those top white house officials and his cabinet secretaries, they are trying to convince him that the policy thaet thinks he wants is not a good idea and then they are at the mercy just like many of us of the tweets. >> come up and clean up after him. peter baker, speaking of a one-on-one meeting with vladimir putin, it was proposed an invitation was extended. yesterday we learned it was postponed national security adviser john bolton said we'll postpone it until the completion

of what we termed the witch-hunt which is robert mueller's investigation into interference. >> what changed between the time they issued the invitation and with drew it. the new factor was the russians were the ones who said not so sure. we're not interested in having this meeting. they got what they wanted out of the helsinki meeting but a little put off by the big storm that followed here in washington by the president's remarks and decided that it wasn't worth having another meeting at this point. so, you know, it's kinds of an awkward situation where you issue an invitation and then withdraw it a few days later. it's par for the course for this white house. the problem on russia is the disconnect between the president and the policy. it's true that the policy was put in place. they have been tough on russia. what you haven't heard the president of the united states articulate them or in any way reflect the thinking behind it.

>> peter baker, thank you so much as always great to see you. still ahead on "morning joe" what led to president trump's impromptu appearance in the rose garden yesterday. hallie jackson takes us behind-the-scenes with her new reporting. that's next on "morning joe". little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, ... with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. tell your doctor if these occur. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss.

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provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. >> this is why we agreed to work towards zero tariff, zero nontariff barriers and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods. this will open markets for farmers and workers, increase investment and lead to greater prosperity in both the united states and the european union. it will also make trade fairer and more reciprocal. my favorite word. >> president trump and european commission chief jean-claude juncker at the white house announced a cease-fire in trade

tensions. joining us now from capitol hill, hallie jackson. good morning. good to see you. that event in the rose garden which we just watched came together quickly. you guys remember scrambling. how did it happen? >> it did come together quickly. an announcement everybody from the press gather by the palm room doors. everybody started sprinting. the president felt like in this meeting he really got a win. that there was this idea that jun jean-claude juncker, the eu would cooperate more in the way the u.s. hoped. the president and his team decided well just bring everybody in and do a big announcement all at once. they figured it would be quick to set it up in the rose garden. members of the media ran in and tried to set this thing up. it was not a news conference, a joint statement as the president said we got a very big deal? was it? there's still not a lot of specifics. not a lot of details.

basically talking to agree to more talks and kind of of a cease-fire. the eu will buy more soy beans from u.s. farmers which is going to be a huge relief to folks especially in the midwest in some of these hard hit states that really have been feeling finch. watch for the president to talk about this deal today. he's headed to nest. he'll be in iowa and illinois. heading to a place, one of the few place that really likes his tariffs, a steel plant. he's been welcomed by the steel and aluminum industries. the president is heading to a steel plant to talk that up a bit as this is a focus. he's come under serious fire from republicans on the hill who have been very unhappy with this. >> quick fact check. was this a big deal? >> no. sort of an agreement to talk some more. look, by the way, let's take one small example, the eu as an

entity doesn't buy soy beans. what are they going to do with them? put them in brussels? people buy soy beans. so somehow they got to get eu farmers to buy it. i want to do a fact check. trump going out the a steel plant to celebrate the steel tariffs. only 10% of our jobs in the steel industry are in plants that make steel. other 90% are in plants that use steel and opposed to the tariffs same way automakers are opposed to tariffs and everybody else who uses the steel. trump is playing again to a very sliver of a base. >> there was a reporter not in that rose garden press conference. white house restricted access to cnn's kaitlyn collins when she asked about michael cohen. >> thank you all very much. appreciate it. >> mr. president.

>> thank you very much. >> did michael cohen -- >> thank you everybody. >> mr. president, are you worried about what -- >> thank you everybody. >> i call it an exchange. she didn't get any answers. if you're listening on the radio. let me repeat her question. she asked did michael cohen betray you, mr. president. did michael cohen betray you. mr. president are you worried what michael cohen will say to prosecutors. are you worried about what's on the other tapes. all news of the day. questions which prevented her from being allowed into as a reporter she had been open press event being allowed in that press conference in the rose garden. what is the white house saying. >> she also asked a question about vladimir putin and why the russian president has not accepted the invitation yet from

donald trump. the white house is saying well these questions, she didn't leave when she was asked to leave. there's a couple of things important note. number one, kaitlyn collins cnn reporter was there acting as a representative for everybody else. for all of us. she was the pool report per. today it's fox. tomorrow it's nbc. i want rotates every five days. she was in there asking questions. if she had not asked those questions it would have been problematic. any reputable journalist in her place would have done the same thing. i would have. anybody here at nbc would have asked those same questions. the white house didn't like it. it's possible the president does not like these unruly sprays. he's made comments about them before especially when he's sitting next to a world leader. these leaders give him a face this is crazy. this is what happens in the united states. this is what we do here when we go into the oval office we ask the president questions.

that's what happened. fact that the white house pulled kaitlyn collin cnn representative into a meeting and said this was inappropriate, highly problematic. let me say one other thing. she didn't leave when asked. i have been in that room in that position many, many times and here's the thing. the second the president is done talking the staffers who are there to do their job and clear the media out start yelling at the press to leave. the president will often, often answer questions. you will ask five or six questions the president may answer question three or question four. you don't know what he'll answer or not. if you're there in front of the president of the united states and his staff is trying to yell over him and he's trying to answer a question it's highly problematic. the bottom line is this is almost unprecedented. inexcusable for the white house to make this move. it won't be tolerated by members of the white house press corps. the white house correspondent association says this will not stand. the chief white house correspondent for nbc this is

not a good situation to be in. not okay. we've made that clear. >> not only was kaitlyn collins within her rights to ask those questions but you've been there. >> the president will answer questions like that. >> the president often enjoys that exchange. outrageous desplay by the white house. the story over the missing question in the white house's transcript from fortunate's news conference with put in helsinki. the administration now saying the blame belongs to a switch in the audio mixer and saying that others had the same problem. can you explain what happened and explain how the white house is explaining this? >> what they are doing. the important piece is what they are doing now. the deal is when you're in these rooms there's a translator. vladimir putin is speaking not in english, he's speaking in russian. there's a translator doing a live interpretation. the white house sevtenographer

doing a feed. because translator was finishing up translating something that vladimir putin had just said, the beginning of jeff mason's question from reuters who asked that question which was admitted from the transcript dew point donald trump to win the election, the translator is speaking over jeff's question, the mike switched over from the translation to english side after that question was asked and so that's the white house's explanation for why the second part of the question was written down. other people listening to that feed saying that's what happened. multiple feeds times of these things. i was in the room and listening to the head phones and live -- >> the feed we have has the question. that's why it was so confusing. >> we were unilateral. we're in the room and feeding it back from our cameras. here's the really important thing. the white house now knows it's wrong. are they going to correct the record? will they come out and publicly say we were wrong we'll correct

the transcript. my colleague peter alexander said yes they are correcting the presidential record. this will be incertained correctly. jeff mason did ask this question of put dew point donald trump to win. >> does that include the white house video because it doesn't appear on the video. >> similar issue with the feed and where it cut-out. we're working on whether the white house will reconfigure that. >> so the white house is not malicious and fix it. hallie jackson covering a ton of grounds for us this morning. thank you. good to see you. nice impersonation of jean-claude juncker. that was good. >> baloney. anybody that watched that press conference and coverage after knows put said yes i wanted trump to win. they knew the question and the answer and the white house knew the answer and this is baloney. >> that could have been somebody doing a transcript. >> the video seems to me -- >> of all the questions pulled

out of the transcript this is pretty amazing. >> that feeds into conspiracy. i'll trust white house. >> it's gone from thank you press, thank you press to get the hell out. >> in fairness it's usually always been. >> the important thing yesterday in the chorus of people saying this will not stand was fox news. >> absolutely. >> they put out a statement yesterday. still ahead, president trump was supposed to meet with lawmakers from farm states after his talk with the european commission president yesterday. instead those lawmakers got to attend that unschedule rose garden announcement. we'll talk to republican congresswoman who was there for all of it. ♪

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>> representative christie gnome, governor now. that was a great win. >> joining us now member of house ways and means committee. she's also the republican nominee for governor in her state not quite yet the governor. congresswoman good to have you with us. thanks for being here. many of your republican colleagues in congress said

about the tariffs number one and the bail outs that simply not free trade. that farmers in their states like nebraska and iowa, they don't want a bail out they want the markets around the world to be open to them. would you say the same? >> our farmers want to do what they do best and that's feed the world. opening up new markets is incredibly important. that's why the announcement made in the rose garden yesterday was so wonderful it shows that the president is going to continue to negotiate opening up those markets, sending more soy beans to europe having an impact on the markets today and we need to continue and keep that ball rolling inother markets. >> were those tariffs a mistake then? >> no, i think that honestly what the president is doing is fighting for more fair trade agreements. you know, we're in a situation in agriculture that's a crisis because we are coming out of four to five years of record low commodity prices. so the reason that this fight right now is so important is

because we need better agreements. we need better access and we need them to be fair. that's why i appreciate the administration has come forward, they've given us some assistance and also stoic their guns and make sure they will negotiate better agreements going forward. farmers want to be treated fairly. >> how about the tariffs themselves before the bail out wes had the tra we had the tariffs. >> the president said i don't like tariffs either but this is to bring people to the table to ha have negotiations. we have been treated unfairly by cline for decades. this is going make sure we deal with our trade deficit, we have better access to mayor markets. our farmers and ranchers understand the president is fighting for them. they appreciate the usda is giving them an opportune to have some assistance in the short term.

long term goal is to sell their products. this is a national security issue and we recommend and always talk about the fact that for to us feed our own country is incredibly important. incredibly important that we sell our market goods to other countries as well because then we create friendlier neighborhoods across the globe. >> interesting to hear what you said the president said about tariffs. a couple of days ago he said tariffs are the greatest. do you find that's a dangerous negotiating tool to use tariffs to bring somebody to the table. caught in the crossfire are the farmers in your state. >> the best negotiator we have is the president of the united states. he's doing an incredible job fighting for our farmers. there has been some consequences to this recent trade war, we've been very aggressive in making sure that the white house knows about the consequences that we're dealing with on the ground. our farmer and ranchers are seeing lower market prices and that can be devastating if it continues in the long term.

that's why they bond is an aid package but also we clearly said this is not a long term solution, we don't want aid packages, we want open markets. that's what the president's goal is. he clearly delivered that to us in the cabinet room yesterday that he wants to open up more markets for years we had administrations not fight this fight. he's determined to fight this fight and win for america's farmers. >> a little short term pain is the result of tariffs for farmers in your state and others is okay as long as it gets to you the golf open markets down the road and more free trade with place like china and the eu. >> no that's not okay. that's why usda has bond is help and brought us to the table and continued to listened to us. i talked about having ethanol markets to giving us a level playing field. i talked about yesterday that this is a goodwin to sell more soy beans into europe. we'll continue to open up new markets and look for more opportunities to sell our commodities across the globe. the president understands that.

he also recognizes the realities on the ground. >> just to follow up, again, on what willie has been talking about, to be very clear has president trump helped south dakota farmers? are south dakota farmers better off today than they were before this president took office? >> you know, president trump is fighting for south dakota farmers. >> are they better off? >> i believe in the long run we'll be in a better situation. >> so are you willing to acknowledge -- >> how unfairly we've been treated for decades. our farmers have been coming to capitol hill and talk about how china has not treated them fairly how they rejected their commodities, how we haven't had free and fair trade agreements. we had four to five years of record low commodity prices going into this administration. that's what the president is fighting for. >> are they better off today? >> no, we need much higher

prices for our commodities but this president recognizes that we need to turn this around and that's why i was grateful to see usda come forward and give us some opportunities to get through this crisis and open up new markets that will give us an opportunity to continue to feed the world. that's what we do best. >> do you disagree with ron johnson who called this bail out policy soviet? >> i do disagree with that because what we have seen consistently is that farm policy is a national security policy. we decided years ago that it was important that we grow our own food in this country, it was important that everyone be able to go to the grocery store and be able to buy their food and have a food policy that's affordable for them and their families. i've always looked at farm policy through that viewpoint. it's important we have farmers across this country that are diversified and can feed this country but then feed those around the world and do what we do best. when we trade with countries across the world it's friendlier neighborhoods and relationships we build. i believe the short term aid

package is helpful. it's not a solution. the solution that we all want and our farmers want is access to markets and to be treated fairly and that hasn't happened in a long time. >> 11 of your colleagues in the house introduced articles of impeachment for rod rosenstein. do you agree with them? >> i haven't read that resolution yet. when you talk about impeachment certainly is important to know all of the details. >> do you believe he should be impeached based on what you know? >> there are things i disagreed with him. >> if it came to a vote would you vote yes? >> i'll read the resolution and let you know. >> do you think he's done a good job >> i've been very disappointed on his performance on many issues. >> does he have it out for the president. >> i've been focused on trade and stocks policies. we all have our areas of expertise and study of details and that's something i'll continue to look at and when that decision comes i'll make

the right one. >> congresswoman no mercu orcnou for your time. >> joining us an nbc news and msnbc contributor. let me start quickly with you, pick up on that rod rosenstein question. these recalls of impeachment. what do you think is going on here? >> seems really clear that they are trying to impeach the credibility of rod rosenstein, of course, because he appointed robert mueller, he oversees the entire investigation. it's remarkable because arlgs of impeech -- articles of impeachment are supposed to be for high crimes and treason.

they are angry he didn't appoint a second special counsel to investigate hillary clinton. potential collusion between the democrats and russia. so this is something that's very obviously extremely parcy san and really is an example of how the length that they are willing to go toto completely undermine his credibility. i don't think this will ever come to a vote and house republicans are divided on this issue but symbolically it's remarkable. . it to talk about your latest reporting in the atlantic. you're writing about the senate's narrow confirmation of a trump appointee to head the criminal division. that person has ties with russia. walk us through this. >> so he was confirmed to lead the justice department criminal division during the week when the president was meeting with nato allies, when he was about to meet with the president of

russia. so all eyes were on this big european tour he was doing and the senate very narrowly confirmed him to lead the criminal division. he represented a firm calls alpha bank which is the largest private bank in russia right up until the moment essentially he was nominated to head the criminal division which is one of the most significant pieces of the justice department. democrats are raising questions over why he would have chosen to represent alpha bank which is under scrutiny because of paying servers between alpha bank and the trump organization during the election. he was hired essentially to defend them to look into whether or not they should sue buzz feed news for publishing the dossier and the dossier said there was some improper activity between alpha bank and russia. and a link to the kremlin and raising questions about the communication that the trump

organization had with alpha bank. this is all raising alarm bells with democrats because they want to know whether or not he's going recuse himself from the mueller investigation and of course he has not committed to do so nor has he committed to recusing himself to anything related to alpha group which is the parent company of alpha bank. but the bigger question is whether or not he's going be recused from anything related to alpha group swoind by mikhail freeman, peter khan who were placed on a treasury late indicating people close to the kremlin. >> just to be clear, this is to underscore he was a sessijeff sessions' guy.

>> he's genever been a prosecut. >> that's just a little thumb nail sketch. read the full piece. always great to have you here. >> still ahead, deadline day for the trump administration. on how exactly to to reunite hundreds of children separated from their families at the border. we're hearing audio of one mother's plea to get her daughter back. that's coming up next. you're turning onto the street when you barely clip a passing car. minor accident - no big deal, right? wrong. your insurance company is gonna raise your rate after the other car got a scratch so small you coulda fixed it with a pen.

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your home country. ma'am, i do wish you good luck in your home country. that is all. >> translato >> interpreter: and my daughter? >> where is your daughter, ma'am? >> interpreter: new york. >> would you want to take your daughter with you back to your home country? >> interpreter: yes. >> you might want to talk to the department of homeland security to see if it's possible to reunite you and your daughter. >> we do want to say nbc received permissioning from the woman's attorney to share that audio on the condition that they no not be identified by name. the justice department officials say they plan to reunite just over 1600 eligible families by tend of today. however, the las vegas times reports as of yesterday, the government still was working to

reunite more than 1500 parents with their children and about 900 parents were fighting final deportation orders. the aclu suspects the 463 parents already deer ported may have waved their rights to be reunited with their children without knowing their legal standing or what they were signing exactly. mark mckinnen, you listen to that courtroom and a judge is asking, oh, do you want your child to come home with you? >> this is a long, long way from the conservativism of president bush. it was specifically because of that policy that i joined the bush campaign in the mid 90s when he was running for governor's re-elect. so to see where we've come from to a policy that is intentional to divide families is a long way from the republican party that i joined. >> is there an urgency to fix

this? >> it's really faded. that's why i think staying on this story is so important and there are members of congress who are trying to highlight it. but the unfortunate reality is when there is not an immediate crisis in front of the congress, it's really hard to get them to act. we'll stay on it and we'll continue to stay on it. still ahead, after months of sustained attacks on rod rosenstein, house republicans take things to the next level. plus, secretary of state mike pompeo is in the hot seat being grilled about what president trump said to vladimir putin in that private meeting in helsinki. we'll talk to senator tom udall who was there for the questioning of pompeo. "morning joe" will be right back.

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these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com good morning. it is thursday, july 26th. we've got republican communications strategist and msnbc political contributor rick tyler, republican strategist and msnbc analyst susan delpercio, economic analyst steve ratner,

former chief of staff now security analyst jeremy bash and in washington, columnist and associate editor for "the washington post" david ignatius and bbc world news america's katy kay. our good buddy, richard haas, summed up yesterday with two tweets. in the late afternoon, richer ard first tweeted, today is ending considerably better than it started what with one postponement of the putin visit, two with u.s.-eu trade troous, three, secretary pompeo declaring u.s. does not/will be recognize russia annexation of crimea. i tweeted today had ended better than it began. now some congressmen claiming to be conservatives have moved to

impeach the deputy attorney general. a group of republicans in the house have introduced articles of impeachment against deputy attorney general rod rosenstein due to the probe into election interference. they claim the deputy ag has withheld documents from and made misleading statements to coming on the matter. a spokesman for meadows tells nbc news the resolution is not considered a privileged motion. that means whether it eventually comes you up for a floor vote is now in the hands of the republican leadership. last week, house speaker paul ryan said rosenstein should be allowed to finish his investigation. but last night, meadows suggested lawmakers can go around the speaker to impeach rod rosenstein.

>> we hope that it doesn't have to come to that. obviously, this is the first step tonight, but it doesn't require consent from the speaker. and quite frankly, it's either we hold them in contempt or we get the documents or we impeach him. and the only thing that we have control over is the ability to bring impeachment straight to the floor. >> so last night in reaction, top democrats in the house judiciary oversight and intel committees released a joint statement reading, this resolution to impeach deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is a direct attack on the special counsel's investigation full stop. to date, special counselor mueller has object stained 30 indictments and 5 guilty pleas against a group that includes four trump campaign officials and 26 russian nationals. the president should not mistake this move by his congressional enablers as a pretext to take any action against mr.

rosensteiner or mr. mueller and his investigation. what is the freedom caucus up to here? obviously, they've been a thorn in the side of rosenstein. we saw that in that congressional hearing. didn't push it far enough to force a force. are they just sending a message at this point? >> yeah. there would have to be 218 people who would vote to impeach him. that's never got to happen. there are republican lawmakers who don't want to be out there criticizing in public, but in private, they are all defending this investigation and rod rosenstein. first of all, i don't think this is a legitimate possibility, at least not in the way that they did it. and, in fact, the reality that this isn't, quote/unquote privileged, that's congressional speak for essentially they're not forcing leadership's hands. so they took one step back to -- away from this. but at the same time, they are sending a signal to the white house. i think that's what you saw in that democratic statement

essentially saying, look, don't view this, mr. president, as licensed to go ahead and do this and think that it's going to be okay. >> and is this a way, jeremy, for republicans who are against the mueller investigation and want to protect the president to get one step closer to bob mueller if they believe somehow they can remove rod rosenstein? >> that may be their ultimate objective, but look, let's take a broader look at this. helsinki was an unmitigated disaster from a foreign policy perspective and millie for republicans on the hill. and now you have the republican party essentially split. if you look at the republicans on the senate foreign relations committee, i know we're going to talk about this who were questioning mike pompeo, they were saying it is a disaster and it's suspiciously so. they were harshly critical of the president. here we have house republicans nee needing a key distraction. it's going nowhere. >> so let's look at a new poll that says the majority of

americans do not believe the fbi is unfair to the president. according to the latest npr/pbs news hour poll, 60% say the fbi is just trying to do its job. 34% say the fbi is bias. but among republicans, 37% believe the fbi is doing its job. a little over half, 55%, say the fbi is bias. >> the problem is, they are making it worse for voters who are in swing districts trying to hold on to their seats. look, this is nothing more than a pr stunt. this is designed to undermine the mueller investigation. they have no reason to acquire these documents right now. i've always believed that congress has oversight over the executive branch and they should have oversight over the executive branch, but not during an investigation. they have their own

investigatory powers. but to do it now, to have these documents, which means they will get out into the public which would undermine the investigation and that's simply what it's designed to do. and while it might help jim jordan and mark meadows in their particular districts, because their districts are probably frustrated that we have to do something. so impeaching rosenstein seems to be a way out. but i don't think it helps the republican caucus as a whole. >> and, again, as we take a step back, the point we've made many times, the idea that rod rosenstein appointed by this president is part of some great conspiracy to take down donald trump defies belief. >> yeah. it's absurd. there's also not a number three there. if they get rid of rod rosenstein, who will they replace him with? they can't get someone through the senator. but i agree with rick. this is like a good-bye gift to donald trump. they're leaving for a month, they're going into recess. so nothing is going to happen and they threw this out there to

hit all the fox shows, i guess, for the next 24 hours. >> so jeremy mentioned mike pompeo's testimony yesterday. the secretary of state appeared before the senate foreign relations committee. it was the first time senators have had a chance to question the secretary since both the singapore and helsinki summits. the hearing included several back and forths on topics including russia, north korea, and policy in other places, as well. >> has the president told you what he and president putin discussed in their two-hour closed door meeting in helsinki? >> the presidents have a prerogative to whose who is in meetings or not. i'm sure you've had -- >> i just asked you a simple question. did you -- did he tell you whether or not what happened in those two hours? >> yes. the predicate of your question implied some notion that there was something improper about having a one-on-one meeting.

i completely disagree. >> i didn't ask you a predicate. i asked you a simple question and i hope we're going to get through it. did he tell you what transpired in the meeting? >> i had a number of conversations about what transfire pier transfire -- transpired in the meeting. i think i have a pretty complete understanding of what took place. >> good. did you speak to the translator who was at that meeting? >> no, i haven't. >> you draw a distinction between the president's comments and u.s. policies. >> senator, the policies are themselves statements, as well. indeed, they're the most important statements that the administration makes. >> policies are statements and statements are policies. >> no, that's not true. that's absolutely not true. i make lots of statements. they're not u.s. policy. the president says things -- the president makes comments. we have a national security council. we meet. we lay out strategies. we develop policies. right? >> so how do i know the difference? >> the president sets the

course -- >> how do i know the difference between a presidential statement that is not a policy and a statement that is? >> senator, here is what you should look at. compare the following. barack obama speaking tough on russia and doing nothing. those were -- >> not true. >> it is true. >> i understand you want to rewrite the obama policy on russia. >> can i clean that up, senator? >> if you want to clean it up -- >> i'd love to, thank you. >> when he speaks, that is the -- >> i'd love to, senator. i'd love the chance to do that. >> go ahead. >> it is the case. the president calls the ball. his statements are, in fact, policy, but it is the case when all of us speak in informal settings in response to questions, we're fought covering the full gamut of things that impact the world. that's whey intended to say. i saw the glee on your sidewalking away trying to make a blil political point from that. that's silliness. this president runs this government. >> so now we understand that when the president speaks, it is the policy --

>> i can't tell it more forcefully. we need a clear understanding of what is going on, what our president is agreeing to and what our strategy is on a number of issues. from where we sit , it appears in a ready aim fire fashion the white house is waking up every morning and making it up as they go. is there a strategy to this or what is it that causes the president to purposely create distrust. >> senator, you somehow disconnect the administration's activities from the president's actions. >> i noticed you are not responding to what i'm saying. >> i think i responded to everything you're saying. >> no, you just didn't, okay. >> we disagree. >> no, we don't disagree.

hell, let's run the transcript again if you want to talk about it. >> we'll let the world decide. >> the fact is it's the president's public statements that create concern among senators on both sides of the aisle. i was asking you if, in fact, it was some rhyme or reason that this type of distrust or disser cord would be created -- >> some of these statements actually achieve important policy outcomes for the united states of america. >> some of them do. >> yep. >> and some of them the are very damaging. >> the argument throughout from mike pompeo was to ignore the foot' foot'sy that president trump continues to play and look at

the policy. >> i think in that testy exchange, what you saw from pompeo was an armed retreat from the positions that we thought president trump had taken in helsinki, now, no, the policies themselves haven't changed, can't really tell you what with he talked about with vladimir putin. we're announcing that our policy is to refuse to endorse the annexation of crimea just two weeks ago it seemed that the president was heading towards support for that. and no, there's nothing that's been decided on sear yeah. we've been getting consistent reports that there were discussions between putin and trump about syria. so i think what we saw yesterday in all sorts of ways was the administration pulling back from positions that have become very controversial. we'll talk about trade and that's part of this. but doing so in a way that seemed combative, insisting the president is being tough, hasn't

changed. i think the clearest sign of where they are is the decision to cancel the plan, the putin/trump meeting for the fall at the white house, the putting that off until after the elections. why? because they know that it's unpopular. they know the pushback that you heard from every questioner from na then d menendez, the congress, there's a lot of question about the president's moves in helsinki. i think pompeo was pulling back from the positions. >> but kady kay, the stated reason yesterday for the postponement of that meeting or the invitation extended to putin was they wanted to wait out that witch-hunt. so as mike pompeo is up on the hill talking about russia, the national security adviser saying the investigation into our elections is a witch-hunt.

>> yeah. you have the national security adviser using the words witch-hunt is staggering in and of itself. we don't know that the mueller probe will be wrapped up. which is what mr. bolster seemed to be implying. but david is right here. the optics of having a putin summit in washington in the run up to the midterm elections was not going to play well for the president. and you've got this curious situation which you're hearing from both the pentagon and from the state department that increasingly decisions are being made in the national security council with little reference to what's happening with general mattis. and perhaps even with secretary pompeo, but he seems to have a better relationship with donald trump at the moment. and the clean up jobs that have been done by the agencies and there's john bolton who is the one that is actually leading what is happening when it comes to national security at the moment and that's causing quite a lot of concern, especially at places like the pentagon. still ahead, "the washington

post" reports the government has seized more than 100 recordings that michael cohen made of his conversations. but the one made public this week could be the most substantive. we'll talk about the significance of that leaked cohen tape. but first, here is bill carin wes a check of the forecast. >> good morning to you. we're still watching two huge stories. the heat wave on the west coast and all the epic rains we've seen on the eastern this was in virginia. washington, d.c. was a huge mess. same with baltimore during the evening rush hour. that has improved through this morning. through pennsylvania, we have numerous rivers that have a lot of issues. hershey park, pennsylvania, was closed yesterday because of that river there. let's get into the flooding. this area of red is where we have river flood warnings. the small rivers collected all the water. they've flooded. from pretty much all of central pennsylvania, these rivers are

in flood stage. baltimore area, they're still under a flash flood warning. the rain is leaving. we're drying it out today. we have a risk of severe thunderstorms in this same region come tomorrow afternoon. 30 million people still under these heat warnings and excessive heat watches. that's where we continue to be very warm. today's high temperatures will be about 110 to 115 in the desert and even seattle will be 90 today and remaining near 90 friday through saturday. it's not how hot it's been. it's how long it's been hot that's been plaguing the west. new york city, time to put the umbrellas away, at least until tomorrow. , who would have guessed? an energy company helping cars emit less. making cars lighter, it's a good place to start, advanced oils for those hard-working parts. fuels that go further so drivers pump less.

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a crime or discuss the commission of a fraud, there is no attorney-client privilege in that conversation. meaning the tape can be used by anybody who can get their hands on it for any purposes. the conversation is about pay g paying -- it's about paying the national inquires to paying mcdougall. but the real aim here is to bury the story. by duping her into selling it to them and then not publishing it. that failure to be truthful to her and the involvement of donald trump and michael cohen in that decision is fraud. both civil fraud, criminal fraud are enough to burst the attorney/client privilege. that's where the giuliani fails and the lani davis argument prevails. >> do you think the president

has something to worry about here? >> yes. >> based on? >> if there's no attorney-client privilege, all these communications go right to bob mueller. >> that was on fox news yesterday with his take on the significance of the leaked michael cohen tape calling it a civil fraught. michael cohen may have already released his most significant tape of president trump. two sources familiar with the tapes tell the post the government has seized more than 100 recordings cohen made of his conversations with people discussing matters that could relate to president trump and to his businesses and with trump himself talking. they say trump's voice is on several of the recordings, but only in snippets. typically when he's returning a call fromco.en or asking cohen on voice mail to call him back. the only recording in which trump and cohen have a

substantive conversation t one released yesterday. so, jeremy, let's take a step back. the cohen tape, the portion we saw yesterday, now we hear and we spec there are more tapes. what's the significance? you heard what judge napolitano said yesterday. >> first, i think the judge has a point here which is that there is no attorney-client privilege when a lawyer and a client are plotting something illegal, improper and fraudulent. that will allow lawyers to pierce the attorney-client privilege. so all that evidence will come in against bob cohen and to bob

mueller. if there's 100 recordings, it believes michael cohen believes he had to document this as a trump card. that's exactly what he's doing. one final point is if he has recordings, i bet you the russians have recordings and many other intelligence service services have recordings, as well. if they knew there was a propriety that can be used as a blackmail tool, they will use it. >> i want to go back politically. if you dig into our wall street journal poll, while the president's approval rate has gone up among women, it has fallen dramatically. every time we talk about these cohen tapes, we talk about his alleged affair with a model over and over and over again. does that still not matter at all? >> its was built in in the election of donald trump. this is nothing new to us, these the relationships. but what it does affect or swing

districts when we talk about the president's approval rating with women because women are turning out in higher and higher numbers, which means because of these conversations, those are motivating things for these swing -- for those voters and it will probably be in part the reason why the republicans lose the house next year. so it doesn't help. but what it does help with donald trump is keeping it on a shiny object like that. he's actually okay with it because it is all out there. and we're not talking about russia. we're not talking about important security issues. his big failings on the tariff -- i mean trade wars. >> so you're saying he would rather talk about had his alleged affair than -- >> yeah, because it's old news. and it doesn't hurt him as much as talking about what putin may have on him. because i think that's what he's scared about is those conversations. coming up on "morning joe,"

president trump is heading to the midwest today. this comes as his approval ratings are sagging. we'll dig into those new numbers, next. welcome to holiday inn! thank you! ♪ ♪ wait, i have something for you!

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joining us now, bill crystal and eugene scott. donald trump broke through the democrats' blue wall in 2016. but a new poll shows trouble for republicans in the midwest. in the battle for control of congress in the 2018 midterms, democrats have a nine-point lead in michigan, a 12-point lead in minnesota and an eight-point lead in wisconsin. as for voters' opinion of the president's job, he's down at 36% in michigan, 38% in minnesota and 36% in wisconsin. asked if the president deserves re-election, about 3 in 10 in all three states say yes and 6 in 10 say no. so eugene scott, this was the key to victory for president trump. by the way, he almost won minnesota, as well. how concerned is the white house as it looks at these polls? >> quite concerned.

i'll actually be in michigan next week talking to voters. and a poll i wrote about yesterday, that was a poll saying one of the biggest changes is with suburban women. these are women who were boarded the trump train, shall we say, because of ivanka and some of the women surrogates and because of some dislike of hillary clinton. we're seeing a lot of these voters looking at donald trump and characteristiced that they don't like what they see and the only person that they can blame it on is the president themselves. >> so, bill, what do you see in these numbers? >> the talk of how he's consolidating a smaller base that existed two or three years ago. it's 10% of republicans. >> and those independent numbers are striking. >> and you need those in those suburban districts. so it's interesting that he's -- that the midterm who do you prefer to control congress

numbers. and for me, the re-elect, i've always thought this. he has like 38% approval in some of those states. but 30% think you should be re-elected in 2020. you don't like the hillary clinton still retrospectively. you like the tax cut, whatever, but that doesn't mean you want an additional four years of donald trump. so whatever happens on november 6th, i think november 7th, 2017, we're in a new political universe. not justify your vote against hillary clinton in 2016 or justify the fact that you've been defending trump with your neighbors for the last 18 months. so that the re-elect being so low is striking. >> so one thing we have to remember, we have to prosecute face this, this is donald trump running against nobody. so people have this idealistic, my ideal candidate, of course i would vote for that county. and i was listening to people last night in a restaurant talking about donald trump and this gentleman was listing off

all the things he liked about donald trump. and his friend asked him, would you vote for him again? he said no. it was surprising. >> there was a gentleman last week in ohio, sort of reluctant trump voters. they were asked were more or less, i hate the media, i don't like nancy pelosi. but what about to 2020.? i don't know about that. >> and one of the things he talked to a lot of trump triers is what he called them. there were a lot of people willing to try trump out of frustration, not just because they hated hillary clinton, but they were frustrated. and those were republicans and also some democrats would said, let me just try. it can't get much worse. and i think that's also what we're seeing in those numbers. we're seeing i tried it and i don't like it. coming up, we'll talk to one of the senators who grilled secretary of state mike pompeo yesterday. democrat tom udall joins us next.

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summit with slaed mevladimi someone who has violated the norms in the face of these hostilities, we saw an american president who appeared submissive and deferential. >> that was the senate of the foreign relations committee bob corker expressing his disappointment with president trump's performance last week before he questioned mike pompeo in that chamber. joining us now, senator tom udall of mexico. it's good to have you with us this morning. >> great to be with you. >> i want to ask you some specific pointed questions about president trump's tax return. first, more broadly, the idea yesterday was to get some answers from the secretary of state about what happened in what was effectively a private meeting between president trump and president putin with only translators in the room. did you get any closer yesterday after three hours to understanding what happened or

what was agreed to in that meeting? >> no, no, i didn't at all. that's the disturbing thing. what we end up having here is a president who is a walking conflict of interest. i mean, he has business interests around the world. he's been wanting to set up a tower, a trump tower there in russia for, i think, 30 years. he's tweeted out about that. his sons have actually said -- one of his sons made the specific comment that the russians are disproportionately represented in the deals that they do. and so i just wanted to know, and i think the american people wanted to know, is he working for the american people or is he working for himself? and what kind of discussion is he having with president trump, what is he having with putin there in that discussion when the two of them are meeting together. so i'm just -- i think everyone is mystified as to what went on. we are trying to get to the bottom of it.

and we really didn't. it's a very discouraging to see that the secretary couldn't answer our questions about what went on in that discussion for over two hours where there isn't a read out, there isn't a formal presentation. people understanding what were the exchanges that were made and what the agreements were made. that's the crucial thing. >> did you conclude, senator, that secretary pompeo was not willing to share what he knew about that meeting or the alternative being that he doesn't know what happened in that room? >> i think it's a little bit of both. i'm -- i think he told us what he was assigned to do, but then when you start asking him specific questions, when they got tricky and they got tough in terms of the questions, he would just avoid them. so it's very hard to tell. i mean, he's really got the boss from hell. this guy, i think, is our cia director. he's trying to do a good job.

he's trying to represent us. but he's got a president who is really unbalanced and doesn't really focus on what he should be doing in those meetings. >> senator udall, kasie hunt. based on your comments now, is there anyone in the president's cabinet who you do trust with our national security decisions and do you think any of those people, if they exist, are in the room with the president? >> well, i like the fact that secretary mattis is still in charge over there at the defense department. i think he's a very calming figure. i think he's widely respected in the department of defense by all the armed forces and i listen to him. when he comes up to defense appropriations and we hear from him -- >> do you think the president is still listening to general mattis? >> yes, i do. and i've seen several times where he seems to be

accompanying him to meetings and they're having good discussions. i fear that he's isolated because when you have bolton and pompeo and that kind of trium triumverate there is in the white house, i really worry that they're overwhelming mattis and that mattis doesn't have as much say any more with these big changes that have been made in his team there in the white house. >> senator, mark mckinnen here. you raised the question about the president's taxes and as we all know, he claims they're being audited. but that seems like a fundamental that we ought to know about, at least our president is an elected represent. is there legislation that you would support on or is under way that would require future presidents to disclose? >> i think we should do that. i think it's very important that people know if there are conflicts of interest that the president might have that we

clear that up. and the easy thing here is just disclose all the tax returns. you know, back to richard nixon, in 1970s, ever since then, presidents have disclosed their tax returns. jimmy carter, in fact, sold his peanut business off because he was worried about conflicts of interest. we have to have transparency here. we have to have accountability. and we're not getting it from this president. >> senator, just switching gears a little bit, can you tell us how these trade wars are affecting your state and your neighboring states? >> yeah, yeah. well, the most difficult thing is that farmers, ranchers, people that always relied on expanding markets are now seeing those markets cave in on them. and so this is a very, very difficult situation for new jersey as a border state and as an exporting state for some of these farm products. the other thing that is

happening that i think is a serious problem is we have businesses that export. there's a business in specific i'm talking about steel coil. and they did that business to export to mexico and now with the uncertainty in nafta and with the things that are are happening, they feel really threatened. they feel uncertain. they're not going to invest as much money. i'm just very worried that our economic expansion we're seeing is going to start cratering in on us. >> is, senator, you represent a border state, obviously. so i want to ask you about today's court-ordered deadline for the trump administration to reunite hundred hads of migrant children to separate their parents at the border. nbc news has obtained video of an undocumented mother's plea to be reunited with her child in court. let's take a listen here.

>> you are hear by ordered the decision of the asylum officer is affirmed. [ interpreter speaking ]. >> and the case is returned to the department of homeland security for you to be removed to your home country. ma'am, i do wish you good luck in your home country. that is all. >> interpreter: and my daughter. >> where is your daughter, ma'am? >> interpreter: new york. >> okay. do you want to take your daughter with you back to your home country? >> interpreter: yes. >> you might want to talk to the department of homeland security to see if it's possible to reunite you and your daughter. >> senator, what's your reaction to that exchange, number one, and number two, what is being done as of this morning, what is being done about reuniting these families? >> well, this is such a solemn,

sad situation that we got ourselves in, a policy where we're separating parents from their children and now, apparently, we have 500 where we don't even know where the parents are at this time. they're probably out of the country. and they can't be reunited with their children. so we're trying to work on legislation. i'd be willing to sign on almost any bill that would move forward to make this ps happens very quickly. i think they're going to start issuing orders and hold people in contempt if they don't work a lot harder to getting these families together. >> senator, we're with months into this crisis into the american people looking to washington for answers. it doesn't look like there's a sense of urgency there. do you pick up urgency from your senate colleagues?

>> i don't see the majority that's leading taking this seriously. i don't see them offering up legislation. i don't see them moving things through committees. i don't see the oversight hearings i would like to see. so i'm very discouraged on this issue. i have been out to the border. i've seen what's happening there. it's a very troubling, disappointing sad situation. >> secretary pompeo was pretty invested in saying that when donald trump speaks, that's not policy. yet later in the hearing, he reversed himself and said that he misspoke. can you give us any insight of what happened between the beginning of the hearing when he insisted those statements were not policy to the end of the hearing where he insisted and conceded that they are? >> well, i think what happens is he is always very careful to never criticize the president. and so i think he realized that when he said that, he had gone too far and that the president

was going to really take issue with that. so i think he tried to recover as we move through the hearing. but one of the things that's clear with the trump people, wherever they are in the government that he's picked, they never disagree with him publicly. there is an incredible deference in terms of making sure they don't get him upset with comments. >> well, senator, we keep you pushing for answers. >> we're keeping on going. >> coming up next op "morning joe" we go inside the timing of the president's announcement yesterday on trade. the reason the white house economic advisers were likely keeping a close eye on the clock. keep it on "morning joe." ♪ ♪ ♪

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for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪ joining us now msnbc testifyny ruhle and cnbc brian sullivan. good morning, steph. we teased with you coming in to you the time of the announcement between president trump and the european commission president about this not a deal but an agreement on tariffs. what's the significance of that timing. >> well it's extraordinary. you know what the president is great at. headlines, creating headlines, branding and drama. he is not so hot at policy. there you have it. just before the market closes it gets leaked out that the eu is offering concessions on trade. what do you see in great headlines for the president. and the market rallies. not long after eu officialically say hold your horses.

nothing is done until done. here we are this morning look looking at that and what were the concessions? imts it's a positive that you're not hearing the president call europe a foe. it's a cease fire. europe says if the price is right they may buy more soybeans which they are doing and they may by more natural gas. oerds we are taking mercedes and bmw off the list. but to say the u.s. got a win they didn't. we have to remember day in and day out fundamentally the president of the united states doesn't understand trade. when he continues to call it a loss, when it's we are spending money, the u.s. consumer and ber we are o we are getting goods that's a relationship. nobody comes home from the grocery store with their milk and eggs and sugar and says i lost to shop right. he doesn't get that. >> sully, the president is a

critic tare ifts i was. saying we agree with the european commission no tariffs. two days after he said, quote, tariffs are the greatest. >> the eu -- the eu european was the foe and now friend. and there are kiss z between the two sides. adding what steph was talking about. you have to focus on services. there is mostly talk about goods. you know we talk about the dechz in goods, stuff right that we make or they make and we buy. but we export a lot of intellectual horse power. it's about financial services attorney services. those are not included in the deficit conversations the president necessarily has. i think also the way to frame this is not a deal. you see the term deal a lot. i think this is an agreement to eventually have an agreement. but i would tap down one thing on this. you have to watch china. because overnight it didn't get any attention because of some factual basis news and eu stuff

is that china reject add $40 billion buy outof a company by a san diego company called equal cromme. they said no way that's the china shot across the bow. while the eu may have come closer we may have also you said the fight with china. obviously on a news day like today it's not playing. >> coming closer, we are not better than where we were when president trump took office. back when they were discussing t.t.i.p. there was talk of essentially getting rid of almost all tariffs between the u.s. and europe. we were not where we were two years ago. this is the president. kevin hassett in the white house could says in a trade nation. we'll see nobody is having a party. >> guys, the state with more to lose than any other state is not south dakota it may be south carolina. big soybean exporter. and almost every x 5 bmw is made

in greenville. if you want to focus on a state it's going to be skafl. >> steph i have to let you go. you start in two minutes. see you then. meanwhile sully, facebook as you mentioned yesterday reported growth in digital ad sales and numbers of user declined in the second quarter and warned the company's trajectory was likely not to kbrch. leaders of the social media giant said to an aim accumulation of issues security and privacy were hurting business. and those costs will play out. facebook stock tumbled more than 24% in after hours trading erasing more than shh 120 billion in market value in less than two hours. if the losses hold up through regular trading today the one-stock decline will be the biggest in the company history. how big are the problems for facebook. >> big. and this might be the trade war nobody is talking about. part of the facebook slowdown has to do with privacy rules enacted in europe.

also europe slapping google with a $5 billion fine. quietly europe is going after our big technology companies. nef a history of that. facebook blaming that for the slowdown. they grew 42%. but that's not good enough. to your point, in could be the single bigds one-day wipeout in the history of the global stock market. facebook on pace to lose a mcdonald's not a store, the entire corporation of mcdonald's value today. how will mark zucker berg feed his family? broien sullivan always good to see you. >> mark mckinnon we have a few seconds. >> i'm a prisoner of hope. positive developments. president trump talking to the european union about become being off tariffs and fox is backing cnn. >> i will take that too. forgive me for reading twitter

untied betsy devos's yacht and stet it adrift. that's the latest in and i civility. >> real quick what do you have susan. >> i was wondering why donald trump seemed more unhinged than usual lately. it's also shark week and we know the president does not like sharks. >> two words. vastle utterens. we have no policy on russia, traed. he just says things and they don't matter. don't change things. >> that does it for us stephanie ruhle picks up the konchal right now. >> thanks willie. i'm stephanie ruhle with a lot to cover. blinking on tariffs amp inflicting punishing on the eu. president trump taking credit for a deal with europe ending a trade war. remember a trade war he created. >> it will also make trade fairer and more risperadolle. my