this is how the market is closing, look at that, if took an uptick, we are now only -- imagine when you say you're only closing down 480 points. 1.83% on the dow. thank you for watching. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. it's 4:00 in new york. the white house to congress this afternoon, this is war. the white house declaring don mcgahn's documents, donald trump's taxes, the unredacted mueller report and possibly robert mueller himself offlimits for congress. it's the administration's most blatant and aggressive set of moves to obstruct congressional oversight of the executive branch. the news breaking this afternoon, that the white house is reserving its right to exert executive privilege over former white house counsel don mcgahn's

documents. he is cited more than any other witness. today he finds himself caught in the crossfire between the white house and congress, which could lead him to face a contempt citation for refusing a subpoena from congress, for his documents. new york times reporting today, the white house's stance increases pressure on mr. mcg n mcgahn, a crucial witness to mr. mueller and house democrats. ultimately decide whether to defy mr. trump and cooperate with the committee or hold the administration's line. and the fight over mcgahn not the only front on which the white house is fighting congress. treasury secretary steve mnuchin's refusal to turn over donald trump's taxes to congress is likely to end up in the supreme court. while the fight over an unredacted copy of the mueller

report may result in a contempt citation for the attorney general. william barr would become the second attorney general in u.s. history to be found in contempt if congress takes that extraordinary step tomorrow. here with us in new york, nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. it's a treat to have her, as well as former federal prosecutor for the southern and eastern districts of new york bara berger. plus, frank figluzzi. and mike schmidt whose byline is on that report willing about don mcgahn's documents. what are you reporting about the white house posture about don mcgahn's testimony and availing himself and his documents to congress? >> well, the white house is basically saying, hey, the documents that mcgahn has are ours, they're protected by

executive privilege and congress, you need to come through us, you can't go to mcgahn, it's a legalistic thing that's not important to the larger picture, which is the fact that here's another impediment in the way of democrats. this is something that's going to slow down their ability to get new information, to get things to investigate, they want to use the mueller report as a launching off point to look at these issues about abuse of power, witness tampering. when the white house says that the witnesses can't talk they're in a difficult spot, where do they turn? they have mueller and the report. and they don't have a mcgahn to sit down and talk to before congress. how will they handle mcgahn's testimony. the white house will try to stop that as well. whatever it is, it will prolong -- it will slow down any type of momentum the democrats think they have. >> it's dangerous to get any

legal analysis off twitter, i'm going to throw it to you anyway. what about the idea that the white house has already waived executive privilege by allowing don mcgahn to spend 30 hours with robert mueller contemporaneous notes about anything that went down in the sordid west wing? >> what the white house would say to that is the difference between intraand interbranch sharing. in the case of the mueller investigation, mueller was part of the executive branch, if the white house shared stuff with mueller, it stayed within the executive. in this case, you're bringing in congress, which is a different branch. and what the white house would say, is that they did not wave privilege by sharing it within its own branch. so a little bit complicated. but basically the fact that mueller ultimately was part of the justice department, the justice department answers to the president is the reason that allows the white house to make the argument that they have not gone outside the branch and

haven't pierced the privilege. the democrats would say that's ridiculous, because mueller has made it public, it's almost a public document, it's out there in a way that's far different than quietly sharing it with an investigators. >> frank, they doth protest too much. the mueller report has been delivered to congress, no? >> right, the president is trying to have it both ways. i ordered everybody to cooperate with the special counsel, they were interviewed for hours and hours, and now i don't want anyone to really hear what they said. that's a serious problem, nicolle. it's not overly dramatic to say we're about to watch an example of what it means to have three equal branches of government. we're going to learn what congressional oversight is going to look like moving into the future, and at the center of

that is going to be the supreme court. that's where all of this is going to be headed in an environment where the attorney general, the secretary of treasury are going to hold up a contempt of congress citation as badges of honor this is playing out before our very eyes. we're watching american history unfold here. >> it would seem we're watching -- i'm old enough to recognize patterns here, the pattern i recognize is that obstruction wasn't just what donald trump tried to do to robert mueller, obstruction is the code by which he governs, he's now obstructing the congress's very efforts to their constitution ali mandated oversight function. >> yeah, if you are not my ally, you must be my enemy. there is no in between. here's, again, what's troubling so many of us in the law enforcement and legal world that have spent careers in the justice department. we expect a president to be

partisan, he's a politician, that's how we got there, occasionally, we're going to get presidents that we severely disagree with, but they're going to move on, when it comes to the attorney general of the united states that is almost a sac sackrosanct position. and to see that denigrated where they're representing a president to many of us is the troubling part of this scenario. >> the denigration of the rule of law seems to be what inspired 700 former doj and federal prosecutors to sign on to a letter saying, if donald trump were anyone but the president of the united states, he would be an indictmented conspirator here. >> leaving politics out of this, many of these former prosecutors have charged obstruction cases to patterns with which robert

mueller laid out in the report. this is not just because the facts would justify a prosecution, it's because this president is president. that's the reason he's not being prosecuted here. >> these arguments seem to be rooted in these legal arguments, the president watched christine blase ford and was not moved by her testimony. what drives him is his fear of the optics of don mcgahn on capitol hill, the optics of robert mueller. the optics you can read about. >> i think that hits the nail on the head to a large extent. think about the optics not just

with christine blase ford, michael cohen, president trump was overseas o on a trip. and it sucked all the attention away from his trip overseas. he's concerned about that and frankly he sees this as politically energizing from his base. if he's taking fire over don mcgann over special counsel robert mueller testifying. we haven't heard mueller speak since he started this investigation. think about what those optics would look like. not only fighting this legal battle to try to run out the clock but to make that case to his constituents. i'm an embattled president, all the more reason you should support me. >> you reported this as the rudy

giuliani strategy. it was all about politics for them. it also -- if you sort of peel back the onion a little bit. what is the degree of alarm, how much pressure is on the president's white house counsel and the lawyers at doj, to prevent all these things from happening, to prevent mcgann from ever testifying to prevent mueller from telling the story of what's already available innage obstruction report, that they're relying on people not reading. >> the thing about giuliani, when juligiuliani came in a yeao now, he made this calculation, this was a political problem. that has turned out to be right, as the president does not have any legal exposure here, now that he's been cleared by the justice department. maybe another justice department would come after he's president. at least for now, it's all political, and sort of the way they are fighting this now, is

similar to how they have done things over the past year, the idea was to muddy the waters, throw a lot of stuff at the wall, make things confusing, make them difficult for people to understand. make them appear political. and now they're basically saying, look, mueller did his work, why do they need to continue to investigate, this is ridiculous, the president cooperated more, that's not really an accurate characterization when the white house says the president says he cooperated. i mean, he didn't sit for an interview. but this is raw politics here, and the thing that really helps them is that the republicans have stayed with them. if you watch the bar hearing and barr's testimony, every single one of those republicans were all on the same page. >> frank, if you watch the barr hearings, you also saw the attorney general lie about the content and the substance of the mueller report, particularly around some of the flash points involving don mcgann. let me put some of those up. what don mcgahn if he were to

testify before congress in the court of public opinion. is the investigation into mike flynn. the conducts between the president and jim comey around that. public denials, a request to correct the record this seems like a complicated story, we should just describe what that is. this is another case where if he were anyone else, it would be called witness tampering, right? or asking someone to falsify, because the actual truth would constitute obstruction of justice. talk about what that might sound like to a television audience? >> well, it -- as hundreds of prosecutors have already said in writing, it's essentially a slam dunk on at least charging obstruction. if the american people were to hear this play out, in their living rooms at home on television, they'd be hearing a

very credible witness or series of witnesses explain what they were directed to do by the president of the united states, they would hear the moral and ethical dilemmas they were placed in by the president. they would hear the pushing back that went on against the president. and it would be almost irrefutable evidence. when you contrast that with how the attorney general has depicted all of that and simply said it's not there, the president has been totally exonerated. there 00 would be such a gap between reality and what the president has said that the american people would feel compelled to do something about it. i think that's what's put great fear into this white house about even as early as this morning, everyone's read the report, we don't need to hear if again. i can assure you, most of america has not read the report and that's exactly why we all need to hear it, and hear it soon. >> you and i should read the

report to them. >> i guess the point is, whenever the white house jumps up and down it's just a tell, it's a tell that they are terrified of something happening. don mcgann would be asked about. saturday night massacre, the president directed him to tell rosenstein, who was then overseeing the investigation. not only that conflicts existed, but mueller has to go, mueller spoke with the president twice and understood the directive the same way both times. he described as akin to the saturday night massacre. he told reince preeb us he was the chief of staff that the president asked him to do crazy s-h-i-t and informed priebus and bannon that he was leaving.

you cannot overstate the potential to change the politics, if someone who is a lifelong republican who was loyal to donald trump tells this story of being asked to fire mueller and being told to do crazy [ bleep ]. >> it's so much more powerful to hear the live witness testify. >> can we stop assuming that anyone's read the mueller report except the six of us? i mean, that's it. to have him on the stand to tell the story, but to have follow-up questions, to get to probe all of the contours of that story would be incredibly powerful. would shed light on some how some of the inner workings were going on in the white house at this time. don mcgann was president to conversations that would quite

frankly shock the american people. that would lay out this picture of this sort of systematic pattern of obstruction. >> if you look at all the people who laid a glove -- poll numbers are at their lowest points. they all track with republicans taking him on. the anonymous op ed came out a week after bob woodward spoke fear. the mattis resignation at the end of the year last year. the high level resignations from within the president's team are where he always takes the biggest body blows to his political strength if you can call it that. >> you almost get the sense that he's absorbing the enormity of what this might look like in realtime. i asked him on friday if he thinks mueller should testify, that's up to the attorney general. >> i'd leave it up to him too. >> but then a day later, he

changed his mind on twitter, and said, he shouldn't testify. and he got back up today from the senate majority leader, from mcmitch connell said time to move on. the thing you can't underestimate how significant it was that the attorney general came out and gave that press conference an hour before it was released. what they heard first was from the attorney general. >> any predictions or any reporting about the state of a mueller hearing on capitol hill? is that something we're likely to see this month? >> it's out there, the democrats really want it to happen, there's a date out there this weekend about the middle of the month, look, i think at some point we're going to hear from mueller, maybe it takes some time, maybe it takes some other events, i find it hard to believe that mueller will not testify, if he is as frustrated as the reporting shows. you could see where he'd want to get out there, at the same time, mueller is not the person to go

out there and air differences publicly. who knows. >> just to follow up on that point, you reported on two letters he wrote to this attorney general, he was uncomfortable with the public discourse, not the justice department -- the media conversation about it, there was something out there in this period before his report was public. any sense that the justice department dug themselves a hole by trying to spin too hard? >> i don't know. there's few examples in mueller's life, if any, where he has gone out and aired differences publicly. and really taking someone on in the ways that comey did. or the way that comey has testified publicly. that's not mueller's style. i find it hard to believe at the end of his career he would do something differently in terms of that. at the same time, if his team is upset, and he feels like there was some injustice here, you could see him coming out and saying more publicly.

>> suspense is going to kill us all. thanks mike schmidt for starting us off. elizabeth warren defies nancy pelosi's warning and calls for impeachment. we'll bring you that important testimony which contradicts testimony from his boss, and the 2020 democrats bet on voter's ability to cut through the noise as pete buttigieg makes his case to black voters.

travel and dining now kayak and opentable let you earn travel rewards every time you dine. with just one reservation on opentable, you can start saving money on hotels with kayak. get started at kayak.com/diningrewards.

>> tech: at safelite autoglass, we every chip will crack.. this daughter was home visiting when mom saw a chip in her windshield. >> mom: honey is that a chip? >> tech: they wanted it fixed fast so they brought it to us. >> mom: hi. >> tech: with our in-shop chip repair service, we can fix it the same day... guaranteed. plus with most insurance a safelite chip repair is no cost to you. >> mom: really? drive safely. all right. ♪ acoustic music >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, ♪ safelite replace.

history has chosen the democratic party at this point in time to be the only party in

america who will stand up and defend the rule of law. the only party. there is no one else there. and as a form irrepublican and a guy with a lot of republican friends, it makes me sad. but this moment in history has provided us only one political party that can stand up and defend the rule of law? that's the democrats. whether it's the smart political calculation or not. the constitution requires it it. >> it's all on you, democrats. that was our colleague joe scarborough this morning, as donald trump sends the country careening toward a constitutional crisis today. michb mcconnell revealing how far the republican party will go to obstruct any oversight on the part of congress. oversight that may very well have been the intended outcome of the 22-month long special counsel investigation that ended in robert mueller's refusal to exonerate donald trump.

that refusal inspiring more than 700 former prosecutors to sign on to a letter saying that based on mueller's findings, donald trump would be prosecuted for obstruction of justice if not for the office he holds that protects him from indictment while in office today. a top democrat picked up the mantle, elizabeth warren reading from the mueller report for nearly an hour, calling for trump's impeachment. >> this is not a fight i wanted to take on. but this is the fight in front of us now. this is not about politics. this is about the constitution of the united states of america. we took an oath not to try to protect donald trump. we took an oath to protect the -- and serve the constitution of the united states of america. and the way we do that is we begin impeachment proceedings now against this president. >> joining our conversation,

alexei mchammond. and doug thornbow. i don't understand why the democrats don't see the political unpopularity of impeachment as their cover to simply do the right thing if it were popular, they would be accuses of an expedient play to punish the president. that it's popular gives them all the cover they should need to do the right thing. joe scarborough is right, there is no functioning republican party. >> if you're looking at congress, the issue of p populari popularity, it is popular with a lot of progressives. what democrats are trying to do, and systematically here, is to mount the case against trump without going to impeachment unless it's absolutely necessary. and i think they can do that, you have tough guys there, jerry nadler, you have elijah

cummings, these folks have been litigating a very strong case against the president. what they need and we were 25 talking about this earlier, they need mueller in front of a camera. and they need him to testify, because right now all that we have, the three people who have gotten the most coverage have been michael cohen who is damaged goods, you have william barr who is trump's lap dog. and you have donald trump. >> who's trump in. >> that's it. and who's trump? >> what democrats need and the american people need is bob mueller under oath testifying before congress. >> take your analyst hat off, though, and tell me why? why wouldn't democrats see it as an opportunity to do just what joe said. just what they do in aaron sorken's scripts. we're not fighting the fights that are popular, we're fighting the fight that needs fighting. >> i disagree that dems aren't

fighting it. >> pelosi's position is not to be goaded into impeachment. >> i think what her position is, if we go to impeachment, we need to make the case, the american public needs to be hinned it, and there needs to be some sense that senate republicans would actually -- even a handful of them, would vote to convict the man. >> and i think otherwise we do impeachment and maybe mitch mcconnell likely wouldn't bring it up. >> when i talk to democrats and democratic aides on the hill, something that kept coming up was how some democrats were conceding that they lost the messaging battle on impeachment by ignoring it and ignoring it until the last moment possible which was the mueller report coming out and the investigation concluding. i think that nancy pelosi is sort of struggling with that now, if they had been talking about impeachment -- it is an

investigation in and of itself, it's not to move him from office, it's to hold him accountable. they weren't doing that. they're avoiding all costs. >> let me bring frank figluzzi in. even the justice department, when you ask the justice department, are you going to turn over the underlying evidence. we would only do so as part of an impeachment proceeding. i think eastern the justice department was prepared to get on an impeachment proceeding, and the democrats have balked and blinked and hedged. >> i get the political reasons that the democrats are struggling with. it's because this president is a much better victim he is a victor. he's not a really good winner, but he's an outstanding victor. when he's upset, he wines and complains and tweets, and people side with him. if we go forward with impeachment, we are handing him this victim persona, that he's

so good at and could really play against the democrats, i get that but nicole, i'm a rule of law kind of guy, i don't like to hear political reasons for doing the right thing or the wrong thing. you should do them on a matter of principle, and that's why i think is happening. >> president trump has embraced the term impeachment. >> of course he has. >> when we started talking about it on the 2018 campaign trail. i do think, when you talk to democrats, they say, look, we are moving systematically toward looking at that seriously. if we were to do it right now, not only would it be politically wise, it wouldn't be wise in in terms of winning over bipartisan support for this. there are more steps that need to be taken and mueller is central to that many. >> i guess the hat i put on is not about the politics, and what shocks me is that the entire impeachment conversation is about politics.

you talk to law enforcement officials, you talk to barr staffers in the justice department and there is a separate conversation that's been totally swamped. you are all brilliant. and you're all talking about the politics. the politics conversation is totally swamped, the fact that robert mueller spent 22 months and at the end of it couldn't say he hadn't committed a crime. >> to some extent your point is, they may have to start these, if they want to do any in1re69 gating. the only framework they're actually going to be able to make any progress is with impeachment proceedings. because we know these is a peens that are just piling up on the desk. nothing's being done with them. the house can vote on the contempt citation, nothing's going to come of is that. what is the framework that you're actually going to be able to get your witnesses there. to get the dumbs you need. unfortunately, it's an impeachment framework. >> i guess i think like a mother here, sneaking out is like, well, we can't do anything, it's

unpopular to be a mean parent and then taking the keys and sneaking out. oh, but he won't like me, he'll be mad at me. and taking the keys and sneaking out and buying beer and crashing the car drunk. when do you say i may not be popular for doing this, but it's a fight i need to have. >> if you say, i'm going to count to three and i'm going to do something, have you to have something you're going to do. what does congress have after it counts to three? i don't think the contempt citation is what they have. >> that's been taken off the table. >> yeah, but it's like, it's over here. >> i'll tell you this, there are a lot of democrats who do feel like this is part of a trump strategy. you know, having bill barr go out there and be a total figure head, not letting mueller testify, all of these things, there are a lot of democrats that feel like he is goading

dems to impeach him, because he thinks that is going to be the surest way he's going to totally solidify his base, i think his base is already solidified. but also turn off some of those independent voters that we want in 2018. >> all right. hope it works out. you know my position, kristen, thank you for spending the time with us. chris rey knocking down attorney general william barr's conspiracy theory that's spying on the trump campaign actually occurred. my skin... it was embarrassing. my joints... they hurt. the pain and swelling. the tenderness. the psoriasis. i had to find something that worked on all of this. i found cosentyx. now, watch me. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are getting real relief with cosentyx. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. cosentyx treats more than just the joint pain of psoriatic arthritis. it even helps stop further joint damage.

don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms. if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. i got real relief. i got clearer skin and feel better. now, watch me. get real relief with cosentyx. what is that? uh mine, why? it's just that it's... lavender. yes it is, it's for men but i like the smell of it laughs ♪ but dad, you've got allstate. with accident forgiveness they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. indeed. are you in good hands? need a change of scenery?

kayak searches hundreds of travel sites - even our competitors - so you can be confident you're getting the right flight at the best price. kayak. search one and done. ♪

when will fbi agents conduct investigations against alleged mobsters, suspected terrorists, other criminals, do you believe they're engaging in spying when they're following investigative procedures? >> well, that's not the term i would use. lots of people have different phrases. i believe the fbi is engaged in investigative activity.

to me, the key question is making sure it's done by the book. >> at this had time do you have any evidence that any illegal surveillance into the campaigns or photos associated with the campaigns occurred? i don't think i personally have any evidence of that sort. >> this is really important, guys. that man right there, chris wray nothing to gain, everything to lose by refuting the testimony of his own boss, when barr said spying did occur on the trump campaign. >> we want to make sure that during -- i think spying on a political campaign is a big deal i think there's spying did occur. yes, i think spying did occur. i don't think it has any pejorative connotation at all.

>> i could my those two pieces of sound over and over again i think it's ilus triv of what is happening in p the republicans war on the campaign. he was interviewed after a long list of people that did not want that job. spying did not occur, and know that is not a word i would use to describe. the authorized surveillance on a national security investigation. you hear it right there, william barr's testimony, oh, yeah. spying occurred. that is a line straight in a sean hannity prime time hour. >> christopher wray has been one of the only bright spots in the past couple weeks that have been rough for the concept of justice, i applaud him for speaking out and doing the right thing. you have to understand what the word spying means to real intelligence and law enforcement

professionals. when the attorney general says, i don't see any pejorative definition or connotation for the word spying, it's nonsense, it's like calling someone a racist and saying, i didn't mean anything bad about it, it's that strong. for those of us that have been in the profession, spying's connotation is that it's extra legal, it's outside the boundaries of laws, regulations and guidelines, it's what gets you put in prison. when cia officers abroad go to great risk, personal risk, to collect intelligence they realize they could get caught and imprisoned for breaking that nation's laws on bee landfall of our country. the fbi doesn't spy on u.s. citizens. that's what the fbi director was trying to say today. my message to the attorney general, if you have evidence of illegal investigation, or un lawfully predicated investigation, bring it on or be quiet about it, the connotation of spying is that you're in bed with trump, and your part of

that spin and narrative that's being put out there. >> let me put up another example of the attorney general with a very, very, very, very different take on another topic that wray was asked about today. let's watch. >> if any public official or any member of any campaign is contacted by any state or anybody acting on behalf of a nation state, that's something that the fbi would want to know about. >> do you agree with me the campaign should immediately contact the fbi? >> if a foreign intelligence -- >> or an intelligence service? >> a representative of a foreign government says -- >> yes. >> we have dirt on your opponent. >> yes. >> should they say i love it, let's meet? >> if a foreign intelligence service does, yes. >> frank, that turned out to be a gotcha for the attorney general. clearance from wray. i guess my question is, where is

this taking us? >> first of all, i'll go a step further, i would like to see legislation or election guidelines that say if you're approached by a foreign government you need transparency and reporting. this is a national security matter, we've got to stop foreign services, foreign governments from penetrating elections and possibly putting forward a candidate that's alined with someone else. i'd like to see that codified, i think congress should be working on that, and let's not forget there were multiple security briefings provided to the campaign, including the candidate himself, during the campaign by the highest ranking fbi personnel, they knew what a solicitation looked like, because it was described to them, they were told they were being targeted and yet when it was happening, as it continued, there were no phone calls back reporting it to the bureau. >> can you weigh-in, barrett on

the rigor that goes into getting any sort of authorization to sur veil someone as part of a prosecution cushion or investigation? >> yeah, it's important to note, this is not just a matter of semantics, this is not just a matter of, he calls it spying, you call it surveillance. it's not that, anyone who's actually gone through this process knows this is not something you wake up in the morning and say, i want to listen to someone's phone calls. you have to go in front of a judge, warrants, evidence. this season the something that's done on a win. this is why so many people take objection to this use of the word spying, it implies something that is just not connected with the reality of what goes on. and barr knows that about. >> thank you for spending time with us. after the break, pete buttigieg takes his case to black voters and kamala harris puts her faith in all voters.

i felt i couldn't be at my best wifor my family. c, in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured and left those doubts behind. i faced reminders of my hep c every day. but in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured. even hanging with friends i worried about my hep c. but in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured. mavyret is the only 8-week cure for all common types of hep c. before starting mavyret your doctor will test if you've had hepatitis b which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after treatment.

tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b, a liver or kidney transplant, other liver problems, hiv-1, or other medical conditions, and all medicines you take including herbal supplements. don't take mavyret with atazanavir or rifampin, or if you've had certain liver problems. common side effects include headache and tiredness. with hep c behind me, i feel free... ...fearless... ...and there's no looking back, because i am cured. talk to your doctor about mavyret. (coughing) need a change of scenery? kayak searches hundreds of travel sites and filters by cabin class, wi-fi and more. so you can be confident you're getting the right flight at the best price. kayak. search one and done. if your adventure keeps turning into unexpected bathroom trips you may have overactive bladder, or oab. ohhhh... enough already! we need to see a doctor.

ask your doctor about myrbetriq® (mirabegron). it treats oab symptoms of urgency, frequency, and leakage. it's the first and only oab treatment in its class. myrbetriq may increase blood pressure. tell your doctor right away if you have trouble emptying your bladder or have a weak urine stream. myrbetriq may cause serious allergic reactions like swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, or trouble breathing. if experienced, stop taking and tell your doctor right away. myrbetriq may interact with other medicines. tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems. common side effects include increased blood pressure, common cold or flu symptoms, sinus irritation, dry mouth, urinary tract infection, bladder inflammation, back or joint pain, constipation, dizziness, and headache. need some help managing your oab symptoms along the way? ask your doctor if myrbetriq is right for you, and visit myrbetriq.com to learn more. when you start with a better that's no way to treat a dog... ...you can do no wrong. where did you learn that? the internet... yeah? mmm! with no artificial preservatives or added nitrates or nitrites, it's all for the love of hot dogs.

pa. the 2020 democrats holding down the middle of the pack are fighting to climb. if that much was clear today for senator kamala harris and pete buttigieg. >> i've seen a number of your rallies, they are fairly homogenous. how do you plan to speak to african-american voters specifically. >> part of it is by laying out an agenda on the issues that black voters are asking me about most often. >> i think the voters are smarter than pundits give them credit for. they're able to distinguish who can best do the job at this moment. and they are able to overlook who has traditionally done the

job to who should do the job. >> let me start with you, garrett haake, kamala harris having a moment. making the right point, i think. voters are smart enough to figure all this out. we sometimes -- i won't put you in this category. but people in my chair, sometimes look at the polls and we rush on the air, here's some of the -- those voting for many months, it would appear that all these candidates are trying to address their own weaknesses and spread their own appeal among their growing pockets of support. what are you seeing out there. >> yeah, that's absolutely right, i'm struck by the number of people who are still shopping. we go to these events and i'll see people at beto o'rourke events and they'll come to three or four of his events in a row, it's not because they're super fans of beto o'rourke, they want to hear these candidates out.

this is may and this is iowa, you're dealing with a very involved group of voters, caucus goers here, people are not making their decisions. people, i think the sense i get is, folks are fighting the last war a little bit. there's a little bit of that feeling about joe biden, yes, this is a guy we could get behind. if and when we need him. we want to look at these other candidates. i think we've seen this with the folks going up and down. beto starting big and dropping off. pete buttigieg starting to drop off a little. what we're going to see over the next few months, how do you sustain that, how do you make the most of what you've got. it's doing five or six events on a workday in with a wash when his competitors are back in washington for elizabeth warren or kamala harris. they've got to find a way to stay in that conversation, i think the top 6 or 7.

after that, i think there is a really big drop off, where it's so hard to get purchase if you're 1%. the same not quite super fans are not going to those events for candidates that can't get off the ground. they still want someone who can beat trump. >> we'll try to make it every day here. the voters who will be the only people making this decision, not any of us, are shopping, it's like, you're buying a car, and you don't even know if you want it to have two seats, four seats or six. they don't even know how many people they want to ride in the car. it's so early for the voters. >> that is not always fun for us reporters who are covering the 2020 election. yep, people don't know who they want and they're shopping, as we said, part of my 2020 election coverage is doing monthly focus group

groups with romney/clinton. >> and they go to hillary? >> i talked to obama/trump voters. tell me what they're looking for. >> they're not excited by anyone running, the name that comes up that they wish for running is michelle obama. >> get in line. i mean, michelle/oprah is all of our dream ticket. >> something they talk about a lot is the idea of personalities. they don't mind trump's politics but they don't like his personality. they're not too hot on their personalities, they seem boring or mondo tone or too ambitious. they're really looking at personalities more so than politics in a way that i think is surprising, maybe because they're swing voters and i think you are so decisive in these elections, i hope you're looking more into policies than personalities. there is an overwhelming sense of, there are so many people running, things aren't that normal and they're chaotic, i want to get back to a sense of

normalcy and stability. whoever can make me feel that is who i'm going to gravitate toward in the beginning. >> within the party, there's a lot of enthusiasm for the 2020 election. i think democrats feel like thee their options. they're very happy with them. the reality is they don't know who most of these folks are. they know joe biden because he was vice president. they know bernie sanders because it was his previous campaign. they don't know pete buttigieg and elizabeth warren or kamela harris. we talk about them, like everyone should know who they are. a lot of these candidates really up until iowa is that retail politicking where they have to weigh out their vision and what they want to do with the country. less about donald trump, more about them and their contrast with really, quite frankly, starting off with the other democrats in the field. and i have been very impressed, so far, with biden's rollout. i think he's done a good job. but yelz yelsz elizabeth warren

some surge soon, too. >> stay with us, we will talk about the biden factor. his entry has taken from just about everyone. stay with us. we'll be right back. about everye stay with us we'll be right back. with moderate to severe ulceratiyour plans... crohn's, can change in minutes. your head wants to do one thing... but your gut says not today. if your current treatment isn't working... ask your doctor about entyvio®. entyvio® acts specifically in the gi tract, to prevent an excess of white blood cells from entering and causing damaging inflammation.

entyvio® has helped many patients achieve long-term relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio® may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. tell your doctor if you have an infection experience frequent infections or have flu-like symptoms, or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio®. ask your doctor about the only gi-focused biologic just for ulcerative colitis and crohn's. entyvio®. relief and remission within reach. woman: ahh! need a change of scenery? kayak searches hundreds of travel sites and lets you see how your baggage will affect the cost of your flight, so you can be confident you're getting the right flight at the best price. kayak. search one and done.

like... a business borrowing solution to help get a little more space with a lot less mom. or home insight, to search for a new house within your budget. because, they really need their space. pnc - make today the day.

alexi, doug and garrett are all back. i want to ask you about the biden factor. all the polls zoeing biden is way way up at the top. he's taken a little chunk out of everybody. a morning consult shows him at 40% and everybody getting a

piece taken out of them. bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, beat buttigieg. how does it feel out there? >> reporter: the voters i talk to these are typically in other candidates all say joe biden is the nominee. they'd rather vote for somebody else first. there is absolutely the this jound swell for generational change, but joe biden is safe harbor. the idea that biden is out there. he's the only person in this field with 100% name i.d. the sense i get from the other candidates with a few exceptions, bernie sanders and elizabeth warren have contrasted with biden, they seem relatively content to see if his bubble deflates too, if he comes back to earth. it's not worth taking sho itself who is popular and connected to barack obama when it seems like he has nowhere to go but down.

>> biden started big, donald trump's racism. how do you sustain that? how do you stay big? >> i think his team talks about how they start with that message, going after trump and taking down all that he has done, ten getting to a point where they are restoring norm else and what america used to mean under president obama and vice president joe biden. that's very much the transition and their team and messaging strategy is financial through. sort of starting out with that charlottesville message and joe biden has been leading the polls, now he's in the race, we seen how that has just skyrocketed. i think people are intrigued by him. even though they know him. they want to see what he will bring to the table. i think that momentum will beget more momentum. >> what are the consequence for bernie to go after democrats not to focus on trump? >> the consequences is his favorable numbers drop vls, i

think his he is an optimistic candidate. at least in 2016 he was. i think that starts to go i a way. >> do you think he is optimistic today? >> i don't think so. >> i think that's how he started out in 2016. >> garrett, thank you for joining us. we will be right back. ing us we will be right back. i add pro, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. all with guaranteed great taste. and now try new boost® peaches and creme natural flavor. with 27 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. boost®. be up for life™. i was told to begin my aspirin regimen, blem. and i just didn't listen. until i almost lost my life. my doctors again ordered me to take aspirin, and i do. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

listen to the doctor. take it seriously. >> tech: you think this chip is well sooner or later... every chip will crack. >> mom: hi. >> tech: so bring it to safelite. we can repair it the same day... guaranteed. plus with most insurance, it's no cost to you. >> mom: really? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, ♪ safelite replace. introducing zero account fees for brokerage accounts. and zero minimums to open an account. at fidelity, those zeros really add up. ♪ maybe i'll win, saved by zero ♪ at fidelity, those zeros really add up. travel and dining now kayak and opentable let you earn travel rewards every time you dine. with just one reservation on opentable, you can start saving money on hotels with kayak. get started at kayak.com/diningrewards. hey allergy muddlers... achoo! ...do your sneezes turn heads? try zyrtec... ...it starts working hard at hour one... and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day.

zyrtec muddle no more. dad, it's fine. we have allstate. and with claimrateguard they won't raise your rates just because of a claim. that's why you're my favorite... i know. are you in good hands? it's toughcold turkey.king so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures,

new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or life-threatening allergic and skin reactions. decrease alcohol use. use caution driving or operating machinery. tell your doctor if you've had mental health problems. the most common side effect is nausea. talk to your doctor about chantix. thank you to you the last two standing. >> that does it for now. hello, chuck. >> hello, nicole. >> happy tuesday. >> thank you. >> if it's tuesday, the answer is no good evening, i'm chuck todd here in walk. welcome to "meet the press daily." democrats are demanding the full mueller report, it's underlying documents and trump's tax returns. they've