that wraps up this hour of "msnbc live." andrea mitchell reports starts now but with ayman mohyeldin. loyalist to be the next intelligence chief after a rocky relationship with dan coats. some republican leaders are concerned that congressman john ratcliffe is too political, after his questioning of robert mueller. >> americans need to know this, as they listen to the democrats and socialists on the other side

of the aisle. volume ii of this report was not authorized under the law to be written. >> the racial divide, donald trump doubles down on his inflammatory language, attacking a leading democratic congressman. the city of baltimore and the reverend al sharpton, while republican leaders all stay silent. >> calling me a troublemaker. yes, i make trouble for bigots. i made trouble for him with central park. i made trouble for him with birtherism and i'm going to keep making trouble for bigots. a father's grief. a mass shooting at a food festival in california leaves three dead, including a 6-year-old boy. >> i lost my son. there's nothing i can do except try to be with him until i can put him in his resting spot, wherever that is.

good afternoon. i'm ayman mohyeldin in for andrea mitchell. congressman ratcliffe, president trump's pick to replace dan coats. the announcement coming, as can you imagine, via twitter. a potential administration position in recent months, made a big impression with his interrogation of former special counsel robert mueller in last wednesday's judiciary hearing. watch this. >> respectfully, director, you didn't follow the special counsel regulations. respectfully, by doing that, you managed to violate every principle in the most sacred of traditions about prosecutors not offering extra prosecutorial analysis. i agree with the chairman this morning when he said donald trump is not above the law. he's not, but he damn sure shouldn't be below the law, which is where volume two of this report puts him. >> joining me now, nbc news correspondent kara lee, david g

ignatius, chuck rosenberg, former fbi official, u.s. attorney and msnbc political contributor ben rhodes, former national security adviser in the obama administration, all-star panel to break this down for us. we've seen some reporting in the "new york times" that primary republicans, including the chair of the intelligence committee, richard burr, they've got concerned about ratcliffe being, quote, two too political for this position. what are you hearing from your sources about the president's affinity for the congressman? >> well, it's clear that the congressman made a good impression on the president you outlined in the interim. and i think that's going to be the white house's main argument to the senate for confirmation, is that here is a guy who can connect with the president. understand what the president wants. it's the president's choice. i do not expect him to have

serious confirmation difficulties. there will be flags raised, though. and not least because dan coats, frankly, is beloved by many of his senate colleagues. he is a two-time senator and last of the kind of old guard to serve in the trump cabinet. the last of the so-called grown-ups around him in the national security cabinet and there will be senators, burr included, who want the white house to think carefully about that. >> david there's an interesting aspect to all of this. there's some uncertainty about who will bridge the gap between coats and ratcliffe's confirmation. interestingly enough in the president's tweet there was an announcement that a new acting director would be announced. some were expecting sue gordon. that's not going to be the case, according to the president. what does this mean, david, in terms of the overall shake-up that the president is trying to bring to dni?

>> i'm afraid it's politici politicization of the job, director of national intelligence was created so as to reduce political mistakes, disorganization, the factors we're seeing that contributed to 9/11. this was one of the great reforms. sue gordon, currently the number two to dan coats, is one of the most respected officials in the intelligence community that i know of. she ran the directive support at the cia, the organization that rents the safehouses, the runs the shooters through company agents and very clandestine missions. she's the real deal and people trust her. the idea that donald trump is going to move her out of the way, not simply to put in congressman ratcliffe, but some other person as acting dni, i think, will disturb people in the intelligence workforce even

more than they already have been disturbed by what they've seen. >> kara lee, i want to play you a sound bite picking up on what david and ann were saying about the character of dan coats, why he was so respected. you were there at the as pen institute where he talked to andrea mitchell. he had that famous or infamous line about talking about vladimir putin coming to the white house. >> people came to me, dan coats came to me and said it was russia. i spoke to putin. he said it's not russia. i don't see why it would be. i have great confidence in my intelligence people but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> i'm wonder iing, when you wah that in helsinki, what was your gut reaction, watching him validate vladimir putin's

assessment over yours? >> my thoughts there were that i believed i needed to correct the record for that, and that this is the job i signed up for and that was my responsibility. >> so to hear a senior intelligence official say i needed to correct the record talking about president trump in helsinki, that speaks to the personality that dan coats was but it sheds the light into the differences between these two men. >> that was the real flashpoint in the relationship between president trump and dan coats. it wasn't just that moment but another moment in aspen where he seemed to mock the president about having a potential meeting with president puten at the white house. the president was really angry about that. there was a flare-up. it wasn't the first time. this was really a relationship that was fraught from the start. dan coats when he first came in, and my colleague, kelly cobiella and i reported on this, that he

was really close to resigning when president trump said he would withdraw from syria. vice president mike pence asked him to stay on until the summer, which is now. there were other points he got frustrated with the president and the president got frustrated with him. he thought that he didn't respect him, that he was kind of crazy. early on one of the first things the president asked dan coats to do was find evidence that former president obama wire tapped him and dan coats wouldn't do that and was baffle ed by it. it's been a rocky relationship for many months, for basically his entire tenure. we're seeing the ultimate result of that. >> finally coming to a boil. b ben, i'm curious to get your thoughts on this. obviously, this white house runs on a very different frequency than the one that you served in. what are your concerns, as a former deputy, national security adviser on the inside, of having a team that includes people like john bolton, mike pompeo and

potentially someone like john ratcliff, all of them considered to be highly political, highly partisan, advising the president on so many critical issues on national security here and abroad? >> i think it's very concerning. i used to be in the presidential daily briefing every morning and i can tell you every morning, jim clapper, who was dni for us, would tell president obama something he did not want to hear. something going wrong around the world, a problem with our policy. if you don't have intel people who can speak truth to power you're not going to make good decisions and you're also not going to be trusted around the world. the rest of the world will doubt the credibility of the findings of our intelligence community if they think that the intelligence community just sang what the president wants. imagine if there's an incident with iran and this dni, the new one, has to come out and make the case to the world on behalf of president trump. that's not going to have the same credibility with the international community that we need. that should be very concerning to americans. >> let's talk, chuck, about what

david mentioned, the increased politicization and the morale factor, if you will, of the intelligence community if someone like john ratcliffe is confirmed. rank and file workers there not to be partisan. does ratcliffe need to prove in order to get confirmed by the senate -- you know him a little bit. can he possibly be an unbiased leader of such an important intelligence agency? >> i do know him, ayman. we served together as u.s. attorneys. if you asked me a couple of days before the mueller hearing what i thought of john, i would have told you although i don't share his politics i thought he was a decent man. that hearing unnerved me. i thought it was incredibly disingenuous what he did to bob mueller and, by the way, i thought he was flat out wrong. to david's point and ben's point, the intelligence community not only has to be perceived as apolitic al, it ha

to be apolitical. intelligence is not political. it's not left, right, democratic or republican. intelligence is just our ability to collect the best information and present it to the decision maker. and so i hope john rises above the politics he displayed at the mueller hearing. i hope he's better than that, and i hope he grows into the job. i will give him the benefit of the doubt. i hope i'm not wrong. >> we talk a little bit about this -- in the first response to this in terms of his confirmation process. republicans have been silent on so many other controversial issues that the president has talked about, whether it's race, attacking members of congress. are we likely to see enough members of the republican party potentially stand up and say no to an appointment of john ratcliffe in such a position? >> i don't think so. i expect that if he is -- he will be the nominee, that the white house will make an argument for him that the president should have the

cabinet members he wants and absent some external factor, which we have seen come up in other confirmation fights, you know, something about ratcliffe himself, his background, something else that derails it, i do expect him to be confirmed. >> david, let me get your thoughts on appointing somebody without experience in the intelligence community. he does sit on the intelligence committee in the house. not having the institutional knowledge of the broader american intelligence agencies, in your experience of reporting, have we ever seen somebody achieve such a high-level position without having that kind of experience? what could that mean to, excuse me, understanding how the intelligence agencies and community works at large? >> i can't remember anybody who had this really complete lack of direct background. perhaps as a u.s. attorney, some cases. i think the intelligence community, for better, sometimes

for worse, does kind of run on its own. it has its own momentum. the analysts who report up the chain to the director of national intelligence, the mission managers who run each component of our intelligence collection take their jobs seriously and pride themselves on pushing back any kind of attempt to steer analysis for political direction. so he will face some pushback from people in the intelligence community, in the odni structure if he tries to steer it trump's way. i think the basic point i would make is this is a big job. it requires judgment. our intelligence community is essential in this period of terrorism and other instability. and you need somebody who is comfortable and competent at the top. and we're just going to have to see a lot more from ratcliffe in the confirmation process to have that confidence. >> finally, ben, your thoughts

on this as well in terms of the importance of having somebody with the institutional knowledge of some of the intelligence capabilities and the work of the u.s. government in terms of how it impacts the decision-making processes that this president on issues like north korea and iran, when you're surrounded by a lot of what would be considered hawkish viewpoints on some of these regional areas of tension. >> well, first of all, as david said, the intelligence community is sprawling. you've got the nsa, cia, elements of the fbi. you have all the military intelligence components and to come in without any real background or expertise, and how to manage that sprawling enterprise, i think, is a huge gap. if you look at the history of who has been dni, we've never had someone whose basic qualification for the job was that they appealed to the president because they shared their political agenda. and we know president obama -- president trump, sorry, will be shopping for intelligence that validates his world view. looking for intelligence that

maybe russia isn't interfering in our election, looking for intelligence that north korea is not continuing to build nuclear weapons, which they are. what concerns me is that this person, ratcliffe, does not have the experience of managing this degree of intelligence collection and analysis, and also he seems like someone, based on that mueller performance, who is going to go looking for what the president wants to hear. and that is the opposite of what you want in an intelligence leader. and i think it bears serious scrutiny from, obviously, democrats in the senate but also republicans, such as senator burr. this should be a tough confirmation process. i don't think this is the kind of person you want in that position. >> we'll see how all of this does play out if, in fact, he does go ahead with that appointment. kara lee, ben rods, chuck rosenberg, thank you for your time. racially charged attacks on members of congress, this time accusing elijah cummings of

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president trump sparking another political firestorm again, steering debate over race after his latest attacks on a democratic member of congress. this time, the president taking aim at house oversight committee chair elijah cummings, who has initiated several investigations into the trump administration. the president lashing out in a

tweet storm saying cummings' district in baltimore is, quote, a disgusting, rat and rode enter-infested mess, adding no human being would want to live there. he took it one step further, calling cummings racist without any explanation. his respon a scathing response, it's better to have a few rats than to be one. and a new attack against reverend al sharpton this morning, calling sharpton a con man. he fired back during a news conference in baltimore. >> he attacks everybody. i know donald trump. he is not mature enough to take criticism. he can't help it. but he has a particular venom for blacks and people of color. elijah cummings' district is the most well educated and middle class aspiring district of blacks in this country, and he

doesn't even know what he's talking about. >> eugene scott, jonathan capehart and charlie sykes, editor in chief of the the balwirt. the governor of maryland has come under criticism for not responding forcefully enough. in fact, what he just said, he says the comments are just outranlgs and inappropriate. enough is enough. people are just completely fed up with this kind of nonsense and why are we not focused on solving the problems and getting to work instead of who is tweeting what and who is call hog what kind of names? i mean, it's just absurd. let me begin with you, charlie, first of all. i want to get the perspective a little bit among why republican vbs reluctant to come out and be very critical of what everyone is saying or at least most

observers are saying are racist comments against the chair of the judicial committee. >> look, the strategy here is to divide the country on racial li lines, to divide the country between rural and urban and republicans either support that strategy or they are simply afraid to stand up to this president. i think it's a combination of that. there's a certain amount of cynisism. everything the president does is a moral test for the party and for the country. >> and a correction on my part, chair of the oversight committee not the judicial committee. that's jerry nadler. it seems the president is tweeting today essentially saying that democrats are quick to call everything racism, saying reverend al will show up to complain and protest. what is the president's strategy here and what he is doing in going after elijah cummings, and going after the squad?

>> the president knows that his base do feel negative things about urban areas, primarily -- or minority areas and wants to respond to those cultural anxieties by letting them know he will support policies and ideas that play into their fears. he knows this works and that they support his attacks on those four congresswomen. this is what his white house aids have said. >> we get some democratic reaction to this. in fact, senator kamala harris just spoke out on the president's comments while campaigning in detroit. listen to this, guys. >> the idea that this president would attack the city of baltimore and elijah cummings is just, you know -- and the way he

has done it is just a further example of the fact that the guy plays low ball. he is doing what he has done from the time he became a candidate. which he is trying to divide this country. >> jonathan, how should democrats respond to this, and all these other racist comments that the president consistently makes against members of congress and people of color? >> they will have to do two things once. one i agree with the tactic that you can't ignore the president, either on twitter or at rallies, you name it. you cannot let the president's racist comments stand. they have to be pushed back against. we are americans here and this is not the america we want to live in or the america that the world has looked up to for 200 and something years. the other thing is that while

democrats are not ignoring the president's words, they have to tell the country where they want to take the country. not just in terms of changing the tone but in terms of policies. we have people in this country who are -- say that they don't like what the president says or they don't like the tweets, but they like what he's doing. or in the post, in our story yesterday about the tactics here that one strategist was saying, you know, people call republicans racist because of their ideas. people are reacting to what the president is doing by caging children at the border and having them live in their own fill the with nothing to clean themselves. families being torn apart at the border or the everyday menace that people of color, particularly african-americans, feel around this country. democrats have to talk about not

only how they're going to change the tone, but what policies are they going to put in place to get this country back on track to what we thought it was>> cha here, fox news poll, the president's tweets about the four congresswomen of color crossed the line. 27% say it was an acceptable political attack for him to do that. i'm interested to get your thoughts on this. is there a political calculus that this could backfire for the president and republicans who, we mentioned, have remained largely silent about it? >> yes, it definitely could back fire, by driving away those suburban swing voters. no question about it that president trump is emboldened by the fact that he can get away with this with his base and elijah cummings, who is so

widely respected on both sides of the aisle in congress and the fact that elijah cummings' republican colleagues have not spoken up more forcefully is telling. whatever think about al sharpton, he is one of the most polarizing figures in america. i'm sure that democrat the president is loving watching democrats rally to support al sharpton. isn't it always the faces of black and hispanic representatives d hispanic representative elijah cummings thing is interesting. we could have a debate about policies around the city of baltimore but that's not what this is about. this is a personal, vicious attack by the president of the united states on somebody who i think should be -- that congress

should rally around because of elijah cummings importance and the respect with which he's held. >> you brought up the reference to al sharpton. let me read you some of the tweets the president has tweeted about al sharpton. i've known al for 25 years, went to fights with him and don king. always got along well. he loved trump. he would ask me for favors often. al is a con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score. just doing his thing. must have intimidated comcast nbc. hates whites and cops. al sharpton would ask me to go to events, a personal favor to me. seldom but sometimes i would go. it was fine. he came to my office in t.t. during the presidential campaign to apologize for the way he was talking about me. just a con man at work. jonathan, your thoughts on that? and even the language that he uses to describe al sharpton. again, it has this racial tinge to it. >> yeah. those tweets reflect the language of a new yorker, who

has the sort of 1980s, early 1990s view of rerch sharpton who, as you said, or as charlie said, was a polarizing figure in new york city and remains a polarizing figure to those who might be ensconced in the viewership of fox news, but the idea that if you know rev sharpton as i know reverend sharpton and i have koved him since i was a little editorial writer on the new york news editorial board since 1993. one thing you know about al sharpton, he's not going to anybody's office to apologize for anything that he has done. the president, as always, is lying. he is tweeting out racist thoughts and we should take them for what they are. >> jonathan capehart, eugene scott and charlie sykes, appreciate your insights. thanks, guys. tragedy in california. at least three people killed and

more than a dozen injured at an ambush at an outdoor festival. we'll get live reports from the scene. we'll get live reports from the scene. ♪ applebee's all you can eat is back. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. can't imagine doing it any other way. this is caitlin dickerson from the new york times. this isn't the only case. very little documentation. lo que yo quiero estar con mi hijo.

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welcome back, everyone.

we expect an update from police in northern california at the top of the hour. new details after another terrifying mass shooting. garlic festival in gilroy, california, where a gunman opened fire and killed three. among the victims 6-year-old steven romero, attending the festival with both his mother and grandmother. both women are believed to have been injured during the shooting. molly, good to have you with us. talk more about the questions that are out there, who this individual was, was he acting alone? did he have a clear motive at this point? we are expecting a press conference later today but what have you been able to learn? >> hey, ayman, good afternoon. a lot of answers hopefully will come from that press conference happening behind me in 20 minutes. his name, santino wilman. we don't know his age, if he was a local.

he entered the perimeter fence, used some sort of tool to get into this festival. as we were talking about this morning, security was fairly tight for a food festival. you had to go through a metal detector and had bags checked. everyone walking in had already been checked. he had to get in a different way. what we heard from eyewitnesses was horrifying, absolute pandemonium. eyewitnesses say he was looki i looked ready for an attack. we'll hear more from police about why he decided to go there, who he was, how old he was. looking for a lot of big answers. the other thing we heard is that police are searching for a possible second suspect. not necessarily a second shooter but accomplice, someone who supported him. eyewitnesses have told police they thought there was someone else involved. >> we can sadly add food

festivals in america that are no longer safe, including churches, movie theaters and schools. how black voters will be a key force in the 2020 race this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. n msnbc. this is not just the flu. it's meningitis b... and you're not there to help. while meningitis b is uncommon... once symptoms appear, they can progress quickly and can be fatal... sometimes within 24 hours. before you send your teen to college... make sure you help protect them. talk to your teen's doctor... about meningitis b vaccination. stimulant laxatives forcefully stimulate i switched to miralax for my constipation. the nerves in your colon. miralax works with the water in your body to unblock your system naturally. and it doesn't cause bloating, cramping, gas, or sudden urgency. miralax. look for the pink cap.

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but family can only tell you sot much... about your history. i found some incredible records about samuel silberman... passenger manifests, census information, even wwi draft registration cards. the records exist... they're there, they're facts. that made it so real for me, it wasn't just a story anymore. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com all right. as president trump fans the flames of a racial firestorm with his relentless attacks, race has now become a center

point in the 2020 campaign. now democratic hopefuls are zeroing in on african-american voters, powerful and influential voting bloc that could be decisive in choosing a nominee. joining me now is steve kornacki at the big board. i know you've been digging up long history of exit polls in democratic primaries and showing us the evolution of how african-american voters have become a force to reckon with in the democratic party. >> that's right, ayman. we always talk about the importance of black voters in democratic primaries. all the numbers up on dot com, nbcnews.com. it looks at every modern democratic presidential race going back to 1976, the first time you had widespread exit polling and you could start to look at individual groups, how they're voting in these primaries. the period of 1976 where we pick things up and the most recent

presidential election, span of 40 years, black voters were less than 10% of all democratic primary voters in 1976, single digits. by 2016, that number reached an all-time high in the clinton/sanders primary. 24% of democratic voters across the country were black. and in 2020 we expect that number at least that high, maybe higher. basically now one out of four votes cast in a democratic presidential primary are black. carter, kennedy, jesse jackson. he ran twice in the '80s. one interesting note there, even starting here in 199, when bill clinton wins the black vote overwhelmingly, wins the democratic nomination. starting in '92 and going all the way to the present date, every winner of a democratic presidential race has won the black vote.

no one has won the nomination without winning the black vote. generally, you see the margins have been overwhelming. that's something to keep in mind as we turn toward 2020. could be the largest share of black vote ever in a presidential race. we talk about south carolina, that critical early primary where more than 60% of the electorate is african-american. >> extrapolate that and try to move it to the big picture of the general elections, give us that perspective, how the african-american vote translates. >> it tends to be democratic in presidential elections. the question there is how much turnout will there be? how many black voters will turn up and vote? it's a key question. what you see here are the four most recent general elections, democrat versus republican. what you see is the two in the middle here, 2008, 2012, the turnout rate for black voters, 65%, 67% in '08 and '12, the two obama elections. that number is much higher.

obama won in '08, won in 2012. 2004, john kerry narrowly last to george w. bush, when hillary clinton narrowly lost to donald trump, the numbers are lower. black turnout went up, democrats won twice, it went down, democrats lost narrowly. we talk about these trump tweets. will that motivate trump's base? you hear that discussion. another way of looking at that discussion, though, is how much attention trump's tweets, is it also going to be something that creates a backlash among black voters that could raise that level? democrat does better with black turnout. >> impressive turnout there. you can read more by going to steve's report. journey to power, history of black voters, 1976 to 2000. be sure to logon to nbcnews.com/black voters for much more. coming up, the world -- third highest ranking -- excuse

me, the one word. the "i" word. that's what it is. third highest ranking democrat calls for impeachment proceedings to begin. you're watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. reports on msnbc [beep] you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade which isn't complicated. their tools make trading quicker and simpler. so you can take on the markets with confidence. don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today. don't get mad. let's see, aleve is than tylenol extra strength. and last longer with fewer pills. so why am i still thinking about this? i'll take aleve. aleve. proven better on pain.

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the third highest ranking democrat in the senate, senator patty murray, is calling for the house to launch impeachment proceedings against president trump, tweeting last night as we have learned more about the gravity of the potential threats to our democracy identified in special counsel mueller's rep t report, it has become clear the house should begin proceedings to determine whether the president's actions necessitate impeachment. joining me now is debbie dingel of michigan. congresswoman, thank you very much for your time. let's begin with the topic of impeachment. calls for impeachment against the president are escalating. you, yourself, have not called for impeachment hearings. why? >> well, you know, i did vote no, not to table the green

amendment because i was so angry at the president. when he goes after the squad and these americans, he goes after a community i live in. when he goes after elijah cummings he goes after a city. nobody is above the law, but at the same time we have to stay for example used on what people care about across america, health care, prescription drugs, fixing the roads and infrastructure. addressing bad trade deals. so, i think we've got chairmen that are continuing to follow the facts. they've got to continue to do that. but we also have to focus on issues that matter to working men and women. >> some say that the house leadership is being too cautious. do you agree with that? a lot of people have been making the case that a lot of crimes have been committed and that is grounds for impeachment.

>> nobody is above the law. and that's clear. but i also want you to know, i went to ann arbor's farm market saturday morning and within a period of literally three minutes, three people up to me f the vendors and one woman tells me democrats are being tooty d timid and you need to get on. and a third person telling me to get off this impeachment. you need to be working for us. i turn to my vendor friend and said, there goes america. we got to be clear of what he's doing is not okay. that's why you follow the facts and nobody is above the law. we need to be delivering for the american people on issues that matters to them.

>> to that point you just rai raised, i want you to take a listen to chuck todd, on "meet the press" of the argument of no matter what you think of african-americans. if you believe there are impeachable offenses you are setting a bad precedent. if you don't move forward, there are political costs. listen to this. >> well, there is i think a great way to the argument that this is the strongest one. if we don't use it, what message does it send to the generation. i worry of the message of taking the impeachment case to trial and losing that case and having the president acquitted and having adjudication that this conduct is not suitable. >> are you worried that if this does go to the senate and he's acquitted? >> yes, i am very worried about it. that reflects of the way i feel

strongly. what he's doing is unacceptable. there are other thing in ts how need to talk about it, too. about how russia is trying to divide us as a country. very few are talking about that. he was strongly that russia is still trying to interfere in our 2020 elections. we have to look at this whole big picture. nobody is above the law. we need to make it clear. i am speaking out so strongly right now of the tone of his rhetoric is how he's dividing us and his hate rhetoric is dividing us. we got to be smart in how we do it. we don't want to contribute further dividing us in this country. >> coming up, president trump surrounded by first responders, signs the authorization of t the 9/11 victim compensation

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how can i help? a data plan for everyone. everyone? everyone. let's send to everyone! [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? -ahhh. sure, why not? how'd he get out?! a camera might figure it out. that was easy! glad i could help. at xfinity, we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. permthe president are surrod by first responders who spent years lobbying under the congress act. one of the latest activist, john fields dedicated in the rose garden event for those who died fighting for that funding. >> sealvarez is a selfless man.

ray and louie, they chose to be with us and testifying in front of committees and -- this one is for them. >> all right, joining me now is geoff bennett, good to have you with us. so much emotions today as we saw that little clip. many responders including john fields have been advocating for this for a long time. there were not any new york democrats. many were key supporters of that legislation in the crowd at the rose garden today. what happened? >> reporter: i noticed it the same thing as we watch lawmakers filing in. didn't notice a single democrats as you pointed out. those were the folks who sponsoring and supporting this legislation. none of them were on hand and there has been some reporting to

suggest that the white house did not invite those democrats to come. the white house official i spoke to in the last hour is pushing back on that entirely. i am told the white house invited every single member of congress by way of an e-mail that was sent to the legislative state affairs because this event is rescheduled late last week, a number of lawmakers and republicans who are not abl ablable able -- the senate minority leader and gillibrand and both democrats tell us that they receivered the received their invitation at the white house on saturday. the sense we are getting from democrats that this is not that big of a deal. they're trying to keep the focus on the first responders.

>> reporter: the president made an awkward comment about himself and his involvement in 9/11, watch this. >> i was down there also but i am not considering myself a first responder, i was down there also chl. >> reporter: the white house is offering any kind of clarity what that comment meant? >> in the moment i was looking around at some of the first responders who were there in the rose garden. that comment did not illicit much of after response. the president is aligning himself with the overall effort of the lower manhattan in the weeks and months after september 11. for these officers and other personnel, they are getting the rescue they have been demanding for years. this has been a 10 or 15 years effort to get this compensation funds permanently authorized and there was one first responders there. he now has an nypd, dennis pd,

his cancer, he's on the fifth round of chemo. >> that does it for us here on "andrea mitchell reports," remember to follow us online and on twitter. i will hand it over to my good friend, stephanie ruhle. >> congratulations on your piece on "vanity fair." >> thank you. >> coming up on "velshi & ruhle," a deadly shooting shatters another american town. live to gilroy, california where police will give us an update on the shooting. this has the community there mourns their victims. another big shake up, the dan coats resigning as the president nominates a key ally and very vocal robert mueller cri