an from attacking the saudis again. >> if they don't pay a price for bombing a neighbor's oil fields then all hell is going to break out in the mideast gaining ground elizabeth warren narrows the gap with joe biden in our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. is the frontrunner hearing footsteps? >> it's going to take millions of people pushing from the outside. it's going to take somebody leading from the inside to make the kind of big structural change we need and shock treatment. the parents of sandy hook promise present a gut wrenching picture of the new back to school reality for america's schoolchildren >> this jacket is a real must-have. >> my parents got me the skateboard i wanted. it's pretty cool [ screaming >> these scissors really come in handy in our class >> these colored pencils too

and good day, everyone, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president trump says he is ramping up the economic pressure against iran, ordering the treasury to come up with a new round of sanctions in response to the attack on the saudi oil fields that the u.s. says came from iran. iran denies it is responsible and already trump's senate ally lindsey graham, chairman of the armed services committee, says today's action is t strong enough >> we're looking for a response that would restore deterrence and it's my belief additional sanctions fall short it's my belief they are not worried about a war. they believe there is no stomach in the region or in the united states to confront aggressive behavior >> secretary of state mike pompeo will be arriving shortly in saudi arabia at this hour to talk about what the next steps should be with saudi crown

prince mohammed bin salman u.s. experts have been studying the debris field from the drone and missile attack to help verify just where they were launched and the saudis displayed those fragments at a news conference today, claiming the evidence of iran's involvement is now undeniable. all this as the president replaced john bolton with a new national security adviser, hostage negotiate and washington lawyer robert o'brien. nbc correspondent kristen welker joins me now, and a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations, welcome, all. kristen, let's talk about robert o'brien. in the midst of this whole crisis with iran, saudi arabia, and rouhani, president rouhani, claiming today he still does not have a visa to go to the u.n. meetings nor does foreign minister zarif, and if he doesn't get them in the next

couple of hours he will not go to new york, so there's a standoff there what about robert o'brien and his qualifications to be the national security adviser? >> everything you've just mapped out, andrea, underscores why this appointment of the new national security adviser comes at such a critical time for president trump, because he is navigating all these foreign policy challenges. iran is chief among them robert o'brien, someone, as you have stated, who has served as a special envoy at the state department, hostage negotiator, someone who's worked very closely with secretary of state mike pompeo. and it's believed that he's going to be a real counterpoint to the former, the outgoing national security adviser john bolton he's someone who will be a close ally of pompeo's you won't see the same types of clashes that the president had to grapple with john bolton, particularly over the issue of iran of course whether to invite the taliban to camp david, something john bolton was very opposed to.

o'brien, someone the president appears to believe would be in line with his agenda and of course it does come at this critical moment as the president is preparing to leave for the u.n. general assembly. we've reached out to the white house to try to get some basic facts about his decision to appoint o'brien as the national security adviser, like when the offer was officially made, and so far no response >> and of course this is not a confirmable job so this is a done deal. i just wanted to share with everyone, i know you were there and you know this, kristen, what o'brien said most recently, it was march 6th in the oval office, a public appearance, a hostage being returned, and the way he was operationi inpraisine president was noteworthy >> the president has had unparalleled success at bringing prisoners home through force of will and the goodwill he's generated.

>> the ambassador is the greatest hostage negotiator in our history. >> so the president quickly grabbing on the fact that o'brien called him the greatest hostage negotiator in history. >> and we know that that type of language is something that fits in with what we have witnessed from president trump he likes to have advisers who fall in line with him and eventually that is what it would appear he is getting with o'brien. and of course most notably, in addition to what you just played there, you saw o'brien really n navigate the release of rapper asap rocky who was being held in sweden on assault charges. that got attention, he was seen as instrumental in negotiating that release although of course that was not a hostage situation. again, andrea, what you're seeing, he had someone in john bolton who clashed with him, something that he said he welcomed, but now it appears as though even though o'brien is

someone who is widely rapid among hawks, he is someone who is seen as being an official who will fall in line with the president and with his secretary of state, frankly. >> and a former close ally and colleague of mitt romney and others in the republican field thank you so much, kristen to admiral mccraven on the subject of iran, we know from our reporting that the pentagon, in the national security council meeting on monday after the attack, advised strongly, although laying out the options, and many of them are already prepared, longstanding options, that the military was very reluctant to engage in a war here with iran, to attack, there would be a counterattack there is talk that the saudis would take military action with u.s. intelligence without us firing a shot. but the saudis, tell me how well are they positioned to go up against iran, and doesn't this show that the patriot missile batteries, whether in the right

or wrong direction, they did not direct these drones and low-flying missiles. >> first, andrea, i commend the pretty for not overreacting to the situation. i'm happy to think the military may have been a little bit cautionary in discussing the options available to the president. this is not something we want to go to war over the iranians don't want to go to war with us, we don't want to go to war with iran i don't think the saudis want to go to war with iran. in the worst case scenario, you're looking at a proportional strike, not something we need to take, but the saudis, if they're going to react, if they have firm intelligence that this was in fact the iranians, i would offer they should think about a proportional response as opposed to something that is an overreaction and spins us out of control. nobody wants war in the persian gulf area, now is not the time for the last 40, 50 years we have managed our relationship with iran.

what goes on in the gulf, what goes on through the strait of hormuz, and we can continue to do that in a thoughtful fashion even when we have strikes like this >> what would be a proportional response, though there's talk of going after iranian oil refineries the president famously did not attack or retaliate for the attack on a u.s. drone and was criticized, and i misspoke, calling him armed services chairman, he's of course judiciary chairman, lindsey graham, tweeting last night that that showed weakness to iran >> on the contrary, the whole point of having drones is they're unmanned aerial vehicles therefore the opportunity to lose an american citizen is not there. so the president did exactly the right thing. again, i don't want to be an apologist for the president, but i think he took the right steps in not overreacting when the drone got shot down. i think, once again, i think he's taking the right steps here

if he puts additional sanctions on iran, that is probably the best we can do from the united states' standpoint the saudis will have to think about where best to have a proportional poin aal response. but they better think about the consequences of doing that, because if this escalates the tension in the region, before long we get drawn in whether we want to or not >> gail, you know this region so well, you travel frequently, you're going back to syria, you know the iranian factions there. iran believes that they were attacked first by the american sanctions after the withdrawal from the jcpoa, from the iran nuclear deal that's not the view, of course, of the white house and the administration which always views them as the aggressor. from their perspective, if you're inside the head of zarif or rouhani, they're the vick tir tims here. >> we have maximum pressure, extreme precision, and

attribution. al qaeda tried to hit the same region with suicide bombers and failed with the difficulty of attribution, you're allowed to live in the gray, and that's where iran is thriving you don't have to have a conventional force conversation. you can live in the gray with a series of proxy forces that's been going on for years in iraq and syria. we'll see what happens does new york happen, does u.n. general assembly happen, can escalation lead to negotiation, as the admiral was saying. you do see all sides agree they don't want direct confrontation. >> gail, there's so much that is involved here. if you look at the region, your expertise, most recently, you know the whole region, but you've been in syria, you've dealt with the iranian-backed forces there, as well as isis, the resilience of isis now after the u.s. withdrawal from syria where does this place us as we have a new national security adviser whose experience is as a

lawyer, a negotiator >> i think with the new national security adviser, the thing i've heard all morning is he's the right temperament, this is someone who knows the region, did some work in afghanistan, is not unfamiliar with the players in the region. in fact in april he gave an interview to the uae paper talking about austin tice in the syrian regime. you have a region that is incredibly volatile. right now you're seeing people look for an off-ramp on all sides. watch secretary pompeo's meeting with the uae later today, because i think that will be critical >> admiral mccraven, you have a study, and gayle, you're also involved, in new technologies, and one of the options being considered in iran is cyber, and we've done it today. >> the report that comes out today from the council on foreign relations is about innovation and national security what we bring out in the report is, this really is our sputnik moment if you think about the launch of

sputnik, when we realized the soviet union was beginning to outpace us in terms of our innovation after world war ii, we woke up, we began to put more federal funding into research, into basic research, we began to build these s.t.e.m. pipelines early on that's tapered off in the last several decades. now we see the rise of china, and it's not that we think china has surpassed us, but we need to pay attention to the rise of china and we need to be in a position where now we are reinvesting in our universities, reinvesting in basic research, rebuilding s.t.e.m. programs in k-12 and higher education so we don't lose this edge in national security this report lays out a lot of recommendations in that area >> i should point out of course that admiral mccraven led the team that got osama bin laden, as we think, in the aftermath of 9/11 again, this latest

anniversary. your thoughts, as the families are finally beginning to get some clarity, not everything they wanted, as to finding out who you the secret names possibly of saudi officials are, but 18 years later, where are we >> yeah, well, i do think we are safer 18 years later and i think a lot of this, after 9/11, the 9/11 commission laid out a lot of important steps we needed to take to build the relationship between the interagency, as we talked about, the relationship between the federal government, the state and local government, our five eyes partners, our international allies providing us intelligence we have built this kind of layered defense. having said that, make no mistake about it, this is a generational fight, and anybody who thinks it's over has not seen the reports of the casualties that we've had here just in this year alone, in syria, in iraq, in afghanistan, and other parts of the world that are still fighting the global war on terrorism. you know, there is no way that we can ever forget what happened on 9/11.

and i'm afraid we're just going to have to be in this fight for the long run >> and maybe not invite the taliban to camp david. >> and maybe not invite the taliban. >> admiral cravmccraven it's an honor to have you here, thank you very much. gayle, safe travels, we'll all be at the u.n. next week, presumably, and maybe president rouhani will be there as well. kristen welker, of course thanks to you coming up, the front runners. joe biden adding to his lead, elizabeth warren surging in our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. is there room for anyone else in the field? and later, sandy hook promise releasing a chilling back to school psa that's ahead stay with us right he eron "andrea mitchell reports" right here on msnbc. panera's new warm grain bowls are full of good.

full of flavor. color. full of... woo! full of good. so you can be too. try our new warm grain bowls today. now available for delivery.

for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease, stelara® works differently. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection or flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. talk to your doctor today, and learn how janssen can help you explore cost support options. remission can start with stelara®.

explore cost support options. here, hello! starts with -hi!mple... 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.

in the hot democratic primary fight, a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll taken after thursday's debate exposes the deep generational and ideological divide among the top ranked contenders. elizabeth warren now surging, closing in on joe biden, while bernie sanders falls behind.pot. the sharpest divide is now among black voters biden is dominating but warren is gaining traction for the first time in double digits. older, more moderate voters are sticking with biden.

warren has the edge among whites, liberals and younger voters joining me now, yamiche alcindor mark murray. and sam stein. mark, you've studied this poll take a look back at your analysis of where these shifting positions leave us today >> yes, andrea, you look at who looks good in this poll, there are really only two people, it's joe biden and elizabeth warren who have gained ground since the debate that ended up occurring they are both building some formidable coalitions but very different coalitions too joe biden is doing very well with moderates and conservatives, small change democrats, older democrats, african-americans. elizabeth warren, liberal democrats, younger voters. and so to me, i have no idea how this actually is going to play out over several months but right now we're looking at the makings of a potentially very

competitive election season with the idea that our poll also shows that only 9% of democrats have fully made up their mind. so there is still fluidity i do think this gives us a snapshot of where things stand in september >> and yamiche, let's talk about the primary calendar elizabeth warren has reportedly a very strong organization on the ground in iowa she's the neighbor next door, of course, to new hampshire when you see the first caucus and the first primary, she could pick up iowa and new hampshire, and the firewall in south carolina would be for joe biden with the african-american voters, but voters in south carolina would also watch the winners in those first two races. and it might divide somewhat >> that's critically important the idea is that while elizabeth warren might be gaining, even if she won iowa and new hampshire, there is this idea that there are people who look at that as

echoing obama and hillary clinton. hillary clinton, people say she had this firewall in the south, where barack obama essentially continued to gain traction and gain traction. the number one thing in this poll, i think, is that 9% of democratic voters have not made up their mind. people are still very much open to shopping around i think about president carter, president jimmy carter, who said, yes, i voted for bernie sanders in 2016 but even i'm also looking around and i'm most concerned with who is going to win. that's the bottom line for democratic voters, they're really looking at electability and i think that can change over time we could see multiple front runners as this is still very early. >> and as you point out, only 9% have made up their minds, which leaves certainly most of the democratic voters still looking around, still shopping let's take a look at what jimmy carter had to say, it was pretty

interesting. >> you know, if i were just 80 years old, if i was 15 years younger, i don't believe i could undertake the duties that i experienced when i was president. for one thing, you had to be very flexible with your mind you had to be able to go from one subject to another, concentrate on each one adequately, and then put it all together in a comprehensivwa ji any day. but look at all he has s >> he looks great. >> doesn't he look great all of the cancer operations, the brain operations and the brain cancer treatment what about what he has to say? that seems to be -- >> did you interpret it as a dig at biden >> biden and bernie sanders. >> and bernie. i did too. it's interesting, in the past

couple of weeks we've seen democrats be much more comfortable, at least some democrats, be much more comfortable bringing up the issue of age and mental acuity >> thanks to julian castro >> and cory booker in the aftermath mentioning it too. obviously president carter wasn't referencing biden explicitly there, but this has been talked about behind the scenes and increasingly in public this is something biden will have to address head on. elizabeth warren is not a spring chicken, she's 70 years old, but she's created a contrast without trying to deliberately do so she has these four-hour selfie lines. they're a social media play but also a show of endurance, physical endurance it's not so subtle that she's standing there, showing that she can handle the rigors of the campaign trail as a contrast to some of her fellow competitors >> she's practically doing aerobic selfies, she was just all over the place, it was

amazing what they were doing there, and it also showed a ground game, significant organizational skills. >> she was having trouble fundraising in the early months. even then she was devoting a huge amount of her budget, near 90% of her budget was being spent on staff she has put in the investments to have that groundwork that could pay off now that she's raising more money >> and let me also point out, she's for the most part escaped criticism from her more liberal supporters for transferring senate money over to the campaign so that she could disavow big fundraisers and all of that. this is a dig that she seemed to be taking at biden on rachel maddow last night. >> i think broadly, that was perceived as you talking there about vice president biden was it >>e' going to turn backwards and just say the only problem is trump, we get rid of trump, everything's going to be just fine >> what democrat choice would imply that >> we can't do it and we can't

even think of the problem that way. >> also she's got a big enthusiasm advantage right now >> yeah, our poll shows that 35% of democratic primary voters are enthusiastic about voting for her. only 23% for joe biden so, a gap there. to me that clip you just played really does i think have a great demarcation line in the democratic primary, where you want big change. it's not removing trump is enough one of the questions that elizabeth warren has, particularly if she becomes the general election nominee, there are now so many people in the democratic coalition because of trump, a lot of suburban voters who have moved over to the democrats because they want trump removed, but may not want the big changes she wants. does everyone want that big structural change? that is a question for her if she becomes the nominee. >> mark murray, sam stein, yamiche alcindor, thanks very much coming up, democrats seizing the senate floor to demand action on gun laws

will their five-hour marathon session spur change? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc >> we all have a responsibility to do the right thing and stand up to the nra and stand up to the agreed and corruption that is in this country today that makes every decision about whether we have a vote on common nssee gun reforms. ke 'cuz i'm way too busy. who's got the time to chase around down dirt, dust and hair? so now, i use heavy duty swiffer sweeper and dusters. for hard-to-reach places, duster makes it easy to clean. it captures dust in one swipe. ha! gotcha! and sweeper heavy duty cloths lock away twice as much dirt and dust. it gets stuff deep in the grooves other tools can miss. y'know what? my place... is a lot cleaner now. stop cleaning. start swiffering.

they give us excellent customer otservice, every time.e. our 18 year old was in an accident. usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. if i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. we're the gomez family... we're the rivera family...

we're the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. get your auto insurance quote today.

a new public service announcement released by gun safety advocacy group sandy hook promise highlights the harrowing new reality that students face at schools across the country. take a look. >> this year my mom got me the perfect backpack for back to school >> these binders help me stay organized. >> these headphones are just what i need for studying >> these new sneakers are just what i needed for the new year >> this jacket is a real must-have. >> my parents got me the skateboard i wanted. it's pretty cool [ screaming [ sound of gunfire ]

>> these scissors really come in handy for class. >> these colored pencils too >> these new socks can be a real lifesaver. ♪ >> i finally got my own to stay in touch with my mom [ crying ] [ door opens ] >> that is so powerful joining me now, nbc's geoff bennett, elise jordan, former white house aide and msnbc political analyst, and fred guttenberg whose daughter was killed in the parkland shooting. geoff, first to you, we understand the administration is floating a new proposal for background checks. it does not close the private sale loophole. let's go through some of the details and whether you think

there's some chance of a compromise >> here is what we know, andrea. we know the attorney general bill barr and the white house legislative affairs director were here on the hill yesterday, meeting with key republican lawmakers over this measure that would expand background checks consistent with the manchin/toomey bill. right now most americans live in states where anybody, even people with a violent background, a criminal background, can purchase a gun from an unlicensed seller whether at a gun show or an unlicensed sale. at the moment there is general consensus, i don't want to oversell it, but there is broad agreement on the hill, the doj is behind it the sticking point is still the white house, president trump has not signaled what he will support. sources tell us the white house adviser running point on this, michael williams, his background, he used to work for

gun silencer company, that's the industry he comes from and he's concerned that expanding background checks would leave a paper trail that could then be turned into a gun registry that could then be turned or then allow lawmakers to confiscate guns when you heard lawmakers say a couple of weeks ago that beto o'rourke's comments about buying back ar-style weapons was unhelpful, they were talking about it was uns h s hahelpful s current debate given concerns expressed by white house advisers >> fred, that's the nra talking point from the industry, which is really what they represent, not the rank and file which are in support of background checks, largely. it's the manufacturers that make these silencers who have made the argument that anything that could expand background checks could end up in your guns being taken away >> it's the super silly slippery slope argument

i'm sorry, i'm not going there i've talked about this before. the slippery slope depends on where you stand. we've been on a slippery slope my daughter was born in 2003 in 2004, the ban ended and in the years since you've had a further weakening of gun safety laws that led to where we are today where my daughter and 40,000 other people die every single year. we've been on a slippery slope now it's time to come back to equi equilibri equilibrium. background checks will save lives. closing this private sale look hope will save lives if anybody doubts it, look what happened in odessa >> fred, mitch mcconnell yesterday making it very clear they're not doing anything without the white house, without the president signing on this was the majority leader yesterday. >> i want to know what the president supports it's not unimportant to my members. >> reporter: what do you understand to be the sticking points

>> what i would like to know is, you know, what he thinks would make some progress and he would sign and until we get that kind of guidance, we're in a holding pattern, so to speak >> elise, is a holding pattern good enough? you've got the president tweeting, by the way, seizing on what beto o'rourke said, a viral moment from thursday's debate, the president today tweeting, dummy beto made it much harder to make a deal, convinced many that democras just want to taker guns away. we'll continue forward is that where we stand >> donald trump needs to give these republicans in the senate political cover for their 2020 senate races and mitch mcconnell is being very clear that he doesn't want to risk a contentious vote, granted a vote that would save lives, if these senators are going to be left out to dry

because donald trump doesn't actually back any change and just because we've seen this act so many times, where donald trump can change his opinion on the flip of a coin, this is what the gop senators are worried about. they don't want to be bullied if they do come out and they are with the american public but not necessarily with the american president. >> what's your message, fred, to president trump, and mitch mcconnell? >> they're worried about this silliness and they're not worried about saving lives that's the stupidity of what they all say mcconnell, and i won't call you leader mcconnell because what you said yesterday, you failed to earn it when i was in school, we were taught the way democracy works is the house and senate come up with a bill, pass a bill, and send it to the president to sign or veto. they don't look to the president for permission, okay so mcconnell is just simply giving up his responsibility to

be a leader. that is what he has said, i don't want to do this. so you know what, mcconnell? we'll come and fire you. enough >> fred guttenberg, thank you very much. elise jordan, and of course geoff bennett on capitol hill. coming up, urgent concern. why is the acting director of national intelligence withholding whistleblower complaints from the house intelligence committee and later, bibi, one more time can israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu manage to hold on to power after yesterday's election stay with us on "andrea mitchell reports. you're watching msnbc. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance,

so you only pay for what you need. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ...6, 7, 8 ♪ ♪ ♪ big dreams start with small steps... ...but dedication can get you there. so just start small... start saving. easily set, track and control your goals right from the chase mobile® app. ♪ ♪ chase. make more of what's yours®. i felt completely helpless. trashed online. my entire career and business were in jeopardy. i called reputation defender. they were able to restore my good name.

if you are under attack, i recommend calling reputation defender. vo: there's more negativity online than ever. reputation defender ensures that when people check you out, they'll find more of the truth, not trash. if you have search results that are wrong or unfair, visit reputationdefender.com or call 1-877-866-8555. and my side super soft? be firm? with the sleep number 360 smart bed you can both... adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. so, can it help us fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet. but can it help keep me asleep?

absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. will it help me keep up with him? yup. so, i'll wake up ready for anything? oh, we've got your back. so, you can really promise better sleep? not promise... prove. and now save up to $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. only for a limited time. you get more than yourfree shipping.ir, you get everything you need for your home at a great price, the way it works best for you, i'll take that. wait honey, no. when you want it. you get a delivery experience you can always count on. you get your perfect find at a price to match, on your own schedule. you get fast and free shipping on the things that make your home feel like you.

that's what you get when you've got wayfair. so shop now! and we have breaking news. secretary of state mike pompeo this hour just landing in saudi arabia, landing to talk to their crown prince we'll bring you any developments as we have them. meanwhile, expensuspense on cap hill building as the national director of national intelligence is not turning over a whistleblower complaint or is not agreeing to testify, i should say, after a whistleblower complaint to the house intelligence committee, refusing to testify tomorrow at a congressional hearing. according to letters obtained by nbc news, the acting dni says the complaint involves something done outside the intelligence agencies' jurisdiction

joining me is ned price and shane harris shane, you cover the agency, you know joe maguire from the counterterrorism center, he's in an acting role, being appointed to stand in after dan coats left what is your take on this? because this is legalistic but it is a showdown between house intelligence and the dni >> that's right, andrea. i'm sure this is not where joe maguire wanted to find himself here the allegation, we should say, we don't know what the allegation is. it appears to be bsomething significant enough, however, that when the inspector general for the dni received this, he called it an urgent matter under the law, thought it was credible as well. what we've deduced is it seems to have been made by someone who works in the intelligence community, so at one of the spy agencies, but who was detailed at one point in time to the national security council and the white house. this has set up this interesting

jurisdictional question where the dni said, well, this appears to be a complaint outside of our purview, so they then went to the justice department which said, you've got some issues here that might involve privileged communications. well, there's not much in the way of privileged communications that the dni would not have in his purview above the dni level so that kind of points to the president. we're doing a little 20 questions here, and it seems now like not revealing about an allegation possibly involving misconduct by president trump. >> joe maguire, well-respected former head of the count counterterrorism center, but the justice department ruling, so you have william barr involved here, possibly protecting the president involving an intelligence officer working

there on assignment. >> andrea, this is the most important political story of the day. it's bigger than any single whistleblower. it's bigger than any single subpoena fight this is about our democracy and specifically how we as a democratic society in a democratic context will allow an intelligence apparatus with extraordinary capabilities and extraordinary authorities to operate in this democratic context. the bargain we've struck in the post-watergate era is we have this empowered intelligence community but it's subject to oversight. some of that oversight comes from the executive branch, the white house, doj some of it comes from the judicial branch, the surveillance court for example but most of it comes from congress congress is the most important oversight element to which the intelligence community is subject. and my concern here is it seems the acting dni may be trying to thumb his nose to that rigorous congressional oversight. it's bad for congressional oversight, of course it's bad for the intelligence

community. most importantly, it's corrosive for our democracy if we don't have this rigorous oversight at play >> in your personal experience, you worked for the cia but were detailed to the national security council, am i correct >> that's right. >> who did you report to the national security council, the national security adviser, the political appointees in the white house, or the cia director >> so day to day, i would report to the national security adviser, the obama white house was very discrepancyscrupulous us away from political decisions and reporting to political officials. but i was paid by the cia. i would consult with the cia who remained my bosses at the time and importantly, if i had a whistleblower complaint at the time, i would go to my home office and that would have been the cia. it would have been either the cia inspector general or the dni inspector general. >> shane, how does this get resolved, when you've got the attorney general again saying that adam schiff and his house

intelligence committee is not entitled to some very important classified information >> we've got a real standoff here the dni is essentially saying he's not going to comply with a subpoena we learned this last night, that chairman schiff on the intelligence committee has served him with -- chairman schiff has said he expects joe maguire to come and testify tomorrow, if he's not going to reveal what this information says the dni is trying to put this off and has said, we'll try to work this out in time. it's not entirely clear how that happens, though, because the executive branch is pretty dug in on this so i think this is going to be a real test of separation of powers and really how far the oversight committee is willing to go to try to dislodge this information. >> shane harris, thanks so much for helping us out here. ned price, thanks as always to you. coming up, voice for change. how one 16-year-old girl is pushing congress to fight the climate crisis first, bye-bye bibi? israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in the fight of his life you're watching "andrea mitchell

reports" only on msnbc they're america's biopharmaceutical researchers. pursuing life-changing cures in a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs... like a way to fight cancer by arming a patient's own t-cells... because it's not just about the next breakthrough... it's all the ones after that. billions of problems. dry mouth? parched mouth? cotton mouth? there's a therabreath for you. therabreath oral rinse and lozenges. help relieve dry mouth using natural enzymes to soothe and moisturize. so you can... breathe easy, there's therabreath at walmart.

[horn honks] man this is what i feel like when i wear regular shoes, cramped and uncomfortable. we can arrange a little upgrade. which is why i wear skechers... wide fit shoes. they have extra room throughout. they're like a luxury ride for my feet. try skechers wide fit shoes. on the line with a do over

election hoping for a stalemate. neither side is enough to support the government benjamin netanyahu is not claiming victory or conceding defeat to benny gantz. israel's president can decide dh candidate has a better chance to form the government. joining me now bill neely from tel aviv this is unprecedented, another do over and a stalemate. >> reporter: at work today, still the prime minister and still in power but only just as you may say he's in office but hardly in power. significantly, today he'll not represent israel at the united nation general assembly in new york therefore, he'll not meet

president trump significantly because that has not happened in ten years and of course he loves that stage and as you remember a few years ago holding up a sign with a bomb on it to show everyone iran is close building a nuclear bomb it is still a dead heat more or less here with 91% of the vote cast he had 31 seats. his main rival gantz got 32. for the first time in ten years we are seeing a way in which benjamin netanyahu era may be over this also clears the way for him to lose his freedom or at least to be indicted at pretrial hearing on october 2nd on corruption charges and fraud and bribery and so on.

this is not just by his political future it is above his freedom, andrea. >> at the same time benjamin netanyahu may have a way of getting out of this box because benny gantz's coalition would have to include israelis and they would not be acceptable to other members of the coalition, correct? >> that's correct. the arab party told particularly and strongly and there is an extraordinary scenario which we have never seen before israel's official opposition could be the arab party for the first time in israel's history that'll give the arab's leader the right to be police on

security that'll be an extraordinary development. >> bill neely, all the actions have israel, thank you so much a political mess, coming up. greta goes to washington, the 16 years old environment activist tells congress they're not doing enough for climate change. that's all ahead, stay with us on msnbc >> i don't want you to listen to me, i want you to listen to the scientists i want you to unite behind the science. i want you to take real action ♪ - [woman] with shark's duoclean, i don't just clean, i deep clean carpets and floors. so i got this. yep, this too. even long hair and pet hair are no problem. but the one thing i won't have to clean is this. because the shark self-cleaning brush roll

removes the hair wrap while i clean. - [narrator] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans, now cleans itself. now available in our new uplight model. doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacist-recommendeding? memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. that's ensure max protein, with high protein and 1 gram sugar. it's a sit-up, banana! bend at the waist! i'm tryin'! keep it up. you'll get there. whoa-hoa-hoa! 30 grams of protein, and one gram of sugar. ensure max protein. to severe plaque psoriasis get clearer. and tremfya® was proven superior to humira® in providing significantly clearer skin. don't use if you're allergic to tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb.

tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya®. get clearer. janssen can help you explore cost support options.

a test before congress and a meeting before the former commander in chief is not a bad few weeks for a 16 years old, i am referring to our greta thunberg in the capitol to raise awareness. this week greta also met president obama who says she's unafraid to push for action. moments ago, she spoke to congress about climate change. >> i don't see a reason to not

listen to the science such a thing we should not be taken for granted. we listen to the current united science. it is just something that everyone should do this is not political opinions or political views this is science. we already seen the consequences of today and it will only get worse the longer we delay action unless we start to act now >> a 16 years old is telling the senators what to do tomorrow of course and on friday ali velshi and chris hayes will moderate our climate forum which will stream live on msnbc. perhaps they c grown up can taka

page from the 16 years old girl. that does it for "andrea mitchell reports," remember to follow the show online and on twitter, at mitchell reports here is ali and stephanie for "velshi & ruhle. >> we'll take that clip and show it to our kids today that's kind of impressive. >> amazing >> no one in my house wants to do homework or take a shower or clear the dishes from the dinner table. i am going to play that for them >> good going, mom >> andrea, have yourself a great afternoon. >> hello everyone, it is wednesday september 18th, coming up on "velshi & ruhle," brand new 2020 polling from nbc news and the wall street journal, who's up and who's down after the latest debate. senator rohm was behind th