right now , lawmakers are opposing more money for ukraine. >> mr. satzelenskyy said, if we don't get aid, we will lose the war. >> speaker mccarthy giving in to more demands with no guarantee he can get the ball rolling and

another embarrassing failure on the defense bill just moments ago. >> if you are the person who has failed ten times, you have to be the person to come forward with something constructive that says, here is how you can count on it and rely on it chuck schumer getting a new chairman of the joint chiefs confirmed after a four-month delay because of republican senator tommy tuberville he says he is still going to block 300 other military officers and is denying he is hurting national security. >> democrats have never shown me one fact to show that we were behind on readiness. to be clear, my hold is still in place. there's movement on a complicated deal in which the u.s. would promise to defend saudi arabia from attacks if it recognizes israel. could that lead to an historic breakthrough to end the

arab/israeli conflict after decades? good day i'm andrea mitchell in new york. critical talks for president zelenskyy in washington. on capitol hill, he was pleading with house republicans and some senators threatening to block money for the war. >> i thought it was a very good, direct, productive -- i raised issues with him. we are concerned about accountability he was direct by where it stands and what plans are going forward. >> at the pentagon, arguing he needs long-range missiles and soon plus a stop at the 9/11 memorial before heading to the white house to see the president joining me now, peter alexander and former obama deputy national security advisor ben rhodes.

mike memoli is joining us as well mike, nearly 30 lawmakers, six senators, are pushing back on a $24 billion request. speaker mccarthy rejected a request by zelenskyy to address congress to make a broader appeal how is the white house responding >> reporter: it's striking as we will see president zelenskyy shortly visiting the 9/11 memorial outside the pentagon, how different this visit to washington for president zelenskyy compared to nine months ago when he came here, that surprise visit last december it was a visit white house officials felt was a triumph you had the address with speaker pelosi presiding over an address to a joint session of congress as they were putting the finishing touches on a new funding bill for ukraine now you have speaker mccarthy in power. you have him denying that

request from the president for that address to congress, saying that he is really speaking for a significant number of his caucus who want to see greater accountability if they want to see any funding at all so that's why the visit to the pentagon is significant. that's something we did not see last december. the visit to the white house also going to be notable there have been some slivers of daylight between this administration and president zelenskyy. we know that this year was meant to be a year in which ukraine demonstrated significant progress on the battlefield. because this popular support here at home and also among some of our allies is beginning to slip the response from the ukrainians would be, we need more capabilities we need more ammunition, and we need potentially more sophisticated weaponry like the atacms the focus at the white house today will be, yes, announcing a drawdown of additional capabilities, including ammunition, including cluster munitions.

the question around this meeting with president biden later at the white house, will he make that decision to provide those atacms, a more sophisticated ballistic missile system, which the ukrainians say is essential. if they don't get that kind of assistance, they will lose this war. >> ben, the polling shows 55% of americans are against this ukraine money. it's now trapped in the continuing resolution fight and the government shutdown fight. it isn't even a standalone issue. it's a casualty of that, if you will he is not getting the speech to congress that might have gone over their heads to the american public he is a very effective speaker i saw him last night at the global citizen awards. extraordinary. >> i think what it tells you is american politics is now a front in this war, essentially they will have a hard time

getting this money, over $20 billion. it will probably, as you know, be hostage to the government shutdown and wrapped into some huge spending package that squeaks through. the message is, that's probably the last funding they can get out of congress before our election with kevin mccarthy showing his hand, he isalways doing -- reading the winds where donald trump is going donald trump is against this what that sets up is a dynamic where you have a stalemate on the battlefield. we have vladimir putin knowing that if donald trump wins the election, ukraine is probably cut off. so suddenly, our election, our politics is very relevant to what is happening on the ground in ukraine given the dysfunction in our politics, that's a tough place for president zelenskyy and the ukrainians to be. >> with a decision on the atacms, the long-range missiles sort of in the balance here, it takes time to get these things through the supply chain then it takes time to train the

ukrainians out of country in neighboring germany or poland. these are critical weeks, especially in the fighting season >> yeah. i think what the ukrainians would say is, if we had given this assistance earlier, maybe, maybe they would have more success in the counteroffensive. tanks we committed are just getting there. they are being trained on f-16s. the biden administration understandably wants to make sure that they know how the weapons might be used. when you have longer-range capabilities like the atacms, it's clear the ukrainians, because the front line is so frozen in some places, they are trying to strike deeper into crimea, trying to strike sometimes into russia. i think those are the conversations that are taking place. as the ukrainians get more aggressive in going beyond those front lines and potentially into russia or crimea, what is the comfort zone of the biden administration i'm sure that's the focus of some of the talks. >> that slowed it down for all of these months, the fear that

long-range missiles would get putin to overreact at one point there was the fear of tactical nukes. at this stage, putin sees the possible handwriting on the wall with donald trump standing in the wings and the polling indicates he is the favorite for the republican nomination. what's the impetus for him to come to the negotiating table? none. >> i think that's a really important point. you know me. i'm open to diplomatic solutions. i think people should talk people have to understand that vladimir putin has very little, if any, incentive to negotiate because he knows that maybe donald trump is coming back to the white house. you could have fractures in nato and ukraine cut off. president zelenskyy knows there's a big chunk of his country occupied by russia, that that chunk connects crimea to parts of eastern ukraine that the russians were in before the invasion and that he politically, i don't think, can

tell his people we will live with a frozen conflict there's not a lot of overlapping space for diplomacy. that's why i think the meeting is at the pentagon that's what ukraine wants. they want assistance to get more territory over the course of the next few months and wait for a break. >> apparently, he had a good meeting with senators, even republican senators. there's that split mccarthy is the one who is isolated, split off from his own caucus in a lot of ways, not able to get votes. losing again on the defense appropriations bill, it looks like i don't know if it's a final vote it may have just happened. it's a final vote. he lost again. the day before yesterday also. if he can't get that through, he will not get a cr through. you have senate support for zelenskyy, including from mitch mcconnell. >> it's extraordinary that the fate of ukraine's war effort might hinge on kevin mccarthy's deals with the likes of matt

gaetz. there's something dysfunctional about that part of what president zelenskyy is doing -- i'm sure he had a direct meeting i don't think speaker mccaccarthy' concerns are about accountability i think the strategy is to fortify that republican support that as you know is in the senate and there in parts of the house. it's not a majority of the republican caucus, but it's there. i think what zelenskyy and the white house wants and the senate and house democrats is those republicans to really tighten the screws on mccarthy and say, at some point, you can make a show of this, you can hold it up, it's tied to the broader funding package, but at some point this is going to get through. if it has to get through with democratic votes, you will have to let that happen we are playing politics here with a war and the survival of ukraine. that's a very dangerous game to be playing. >> dangerous, indeed mike memoli, all the messaging

from the general assembly, from zelenskyy and from president biden was that if they don't stop putin at the border -- the ukrainian border, poland could be next, the baltics could be next, the rest of europe. >> reporter: that's right. that's the message about what happens if we allow -- as the president said in his speech to the general assembly -- for ukraine to be carved up. that's why you saw president biden meeting with the group of central asian countries, those other former soviet republics, kazakhstan, uzbekistan, among them to sort of make it clear that they are continuing to be engaged in this region with former soviet republics. it's worth noting the politics here as you know, it's been some time that perhaps even two decades since we saw foreign policy be a major issue in a presidential

campaign what did we see just two weeks ago? the biden campaign launching an advertisement in which he showed his visit to kyiv earlier this year, talking about how he is willing to stand up for democracy around the world and warning that as he puts it, the maga republicans would be bowing to dictators we saw that in some of the president's rhetoric as he was holding fund-raisers, talking about how the former president and his allies want to destroy american democracy this is very much on the ballot next year as the president is saying >> thanks so much to mike. joining us, chris coons, a key member of the foreign relations committee. we have been talking about the resistance among house republicans to president zelenskyy's message and to the need for more aid, the $24 billion, and his emploplea for e atacms from your perspective, can it get through the senate if you could overcome the objections from the house republicans

should house democrats join in to try to get this thing through, including preventing a government shutdown? >> the entire senate just gathered to hear from president zelenskyy in the oldsenate chamber, a very intimate setting where there hasn't been an address from a head of state in more than 50 years he made a passionate, very compelling case for our continued support of ukraine's brave fight against russian aggression both senator schumer and senator mcconnell and members of both the democratic and republican caucuses spoke in favor of this badly needed continued funding a few simple points, if you could. our 50 partners and allies in this effort have contributed more than we have. president zelenskyy made it clear that if we were to stop our support, it would tragically, critically harm the ukrainian war effort and encourage putin, and it would weaken our allies around the

world in their confidence about the united states being willing to stay the course as you just said in your question, it's a different matter in the house of representatives where speaker mccarthy and some members of his caucus, who are far to the right, are listening to the siren song of former president trump, who is questioning why this is our fight and why we should care. i think the bottom line is simple, ukraine is on the front lines of freedom, and if we don't stop putin in ukraine, we will have to have engagement in fights with him elsewhere in the region if we don't stay the course in supporting ukraine, we will simply encourage xi jinping and other auto conautocrats around e world. it will be open season if we don't stay the course. >> senator schumer said this publically that if they don't get the money, they lose the war. i see that senator loomis from

wyoming, mike brown from south dakota, praised his performance. you have rand paul saying he will not vote for it i want to bring up something that i have been working on and that is becoming more and more apparent i was on "morning joe" today with secretary blinken he confirmed what i was hearing and others are hearing about a very complicated three-way deal in the middle east saudi arabia would get a defense agreement with the united states they would get civilian nuclear power with some limitations on the level of enrichment they could do and how this would be contained. israel would be -- would get recognition from saudi arabia, which is the keeper of all of islam and the holy sites, would lead to all of the other arab countries joining in basically, it would end the israeli/arab conflict with a land agreement of some undefined sort to the palestinians, and

presumably this would be a bulwark against iran by the saudis, by the u.s., by israel would this get through the senate it would have to get 67 votes. >> that's right, andrea. an agreement like that with that significance and that scope would have to be reviewed and approved by the senate a number of us have been discussing this agreement. it's possible. it's still in the early stages of negotiation in recent days. a few core points here one is that there has to be some significant provisions for the palestinians, for the security of their position in the west bank and investment in their future something that makes a two-state solution a sustainable possibility into the future. there has to be active engagement by israel by ensuring whatever nuclear technology is shared with the saudis and whatever the arrangements are

for for this, deepening of economic ties between israel, the saudi kingdom and the rest of the arab world. that would be one of the real promising prospects of this. it also raises real and serious questions given saudi arabia's human rights record, given the core values that seem to have animated the kingdom in recent decades. that's a topic of active and vigorous conversation here about how we would ensure that this would be a lasting and fundamental realignment of the saudi kingdom and israel towards democracy, towards the united states and away from some of the recent both dalliance by the saudi kingdom with china and other global powers, their cooperation with russia on energy policy, how we would ensure there would be a movement

towards a more transparency and improved human rights record and away from their potential alternative engagement with china and russia very complex deal. i have confidence in secretary blinken and president biden in the choices they have made so far. i'm very much looking forward to engaging in this debate and discussion here in the senate as the negotiations move forward. >> very, very interesting. of course, the timing would probably be the beginning of the year, but not too long into the new year because of the politics of it all, closer to the election let me just ask you about this confirmation of the secretary of the army there are two. the chairman of the joint chiefs and the secretary of the army. that would leave 299 more officers and their families and all of the other issues that potential staff -- the other national security implications and morale for the troops and

the officer corps being held by tommy tuberville, one senator. >> senator tuberville is doing something that's unprecedented, never before has anamerican senator held the promotion, not of one or two or three but of hundreds of the entire flag rank officers, generals and admirals. i respect he has a policy disagreement with president biden. that's part of what we do here in the senate. we have disagreements. his path forward should be asking for and getting a vote on the senate up or down. he has been offered that in the past one of the foundations of our democracy is civilian control of a non-partisan, non-political military this is taking hundreds and hundreds of senior military officers and inserting them into the middle of a partisan dispute and holding up them and their families from being able to move to new posts, to new places of

service in accordance with the promotion process. it's about 300 right now by the end of the year, it will grow to almost 600 senior officers senator tuberville should abandon his hold, ask for and receive a vote on the floor of the senate and have an up and down vote on this policy disagreement that's the right path. this has never happened before it should never happen again >> senator coons, thank you so much for all of that appreciate it. >> thank you >> ben, you know how fraught the relationship was between president obama and prime minister netanyahu over settlements, the iran nuclear deal, which he still derides and so do you think that this could actually come together it seems to me from what i'm hearing, secretary blinken was very favorably disposed to it when i talked to him this morning.

the palestinians might get something. i'm not sure that they are the central issue right now. >> i think that you have two leaders that will get a lot out of this. given that those leaders will benefit, there are questions that will have to be scrutinized as details come together what is it in it for the pales palestinians some promises of aid in the west bank is it something tangible, something that -- as senator coons said, related to the two-state solution, related to a pathway towards a palestinian state. we have not seen any indication this israeli government could say those words out loud that's going to be hard. the other question i have is, what is in it for the united

states normalization is good for everybody. it's good for the united states. we are giving a security guarantee to saudi arabia, never mind a nuclear program that's something that future presidents will be held to as well i would like to know, what are we getting out of this how do we know are there permanent things that saudi arabia is going to commit to we will give them a permanent security guarantee it's not like we need them to come to our defense. i would like to hear what they will put on the table and lock themselves into as a part of this deal. >> ben rhodes, thank you so much party crashers the so-called dysfunction caucus, will they prevent a government shutdown. the latest from capitol hill coming next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists photographing thousands of miles

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the federal government will run out of money in nine days. that will trigger a government shutdown at the end of the month. that's october 1st, only nine days from now. as the shutdown looms, another blow to republicans. in the last hour, speaker mccarthy bringing up a vote to advance a defense spending bill, which is usually automatic, it failed for the second time. >> it's frustrating in the sense that i don't understand why everybody votes against bringing the up and having the debate

we have all the amendments this is a new concept. it doesn't work. i know it's an obstacle, but i find it as a challenge we will solve it >> garrett haake joining me now. what is going on up there? is this just the payback for how difficult it was for kevin mccarthy to go through 15 rounds and finally win the speakership? >> reporter: there's a lot going on up here the speaker is half right. he does have a group of people who are comfortable with the idea of burning the whole place down he is wrong it's new this has been a recurring treatment with a small minority in the house republican conference for some time never has this republican group been in the majority and a slim majority that those half a dozen or so votes, it rises and falls depending on the issue, have been so pivotal. mccarthy is in what may be an impossible jam

he cannot move single subject spending bills like many want, like this defense bill that failed twice, which is not the kind of thing you see in the house of representatives on a rule vote. he can't move the spending bills in a batch or in a cr to buy l himself more time because a group of the same rebels won't go along with that plan either here is what a conservative from tennessee told me yesterday. i think it holds what do you say to people back home that expect you to get this basic function of your job done and fund the government? >> we are dysfunctional. >> reporter: it's that simple? >> we are so dysfunctional >> reporter: i don't think you will hear a lot of argument to that point from anyone up here, lawmakers or journalists who have been watching it. i think what we may be seeing is a situation where basically every republican only option may have to fail here before the republican leadership can convince their hard right members they might need to turn

to democrats and move something in a bipartisan way, which is where this process is destined to end up anyway it's a question of whether it's before the government shuts down or after. >> is there an option of taking the ukrainian money out? there's a report from jake sherman she woulthey would take ukraine money out. >> reporter: they can try. they can take it out and the senate will put it back in that's part of the problem here. in fact, in this defense bill, there's not even what you would call typical ukraine aid there's concern among some members like marjorie taylor greene that there's other money in here appropriated for other means that's dressed up as dollars that will be back channelled to ukraine. there's layers to this that would get one vote but perhaps loose others the defense bill is almost a

lower priority they need to prove they can pass something. the defense bill will not keep the government open. they need something more broad based to extend government funding for a week or 30 days or six weeks or else the lights turn off overnight into next weekend. once the shutdown starts, it's harder to see how they get out of it than to see how they could avoid it now >> it's like a strike. how do you get out of it there's news on that thanks for all the work from capitol hill there's a possibility a deal could be in the works to bring the hollywood write ers strike o an end talks on wednesday were productive sources close to the negotiations tell cnbc that writers and producers hope to finalize a deal today. the main sticking points remain, wage increases, residuals in the streaming era, and, of course, the use of artificial intelligence

coming up, open arms the biden administration wanting to keep the supply of lethal weapons flowing to ukraine how can they do that as republicans threaten to pull funding? be right back here on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnb (vo) if your thyroid eye disease was diagnosed a long, long time ago you may think your eyes will be bulging forever.c. like a never-ending curse that can't be broken. but even if you've been told it's too late, treating your thyroid eye disease may still be possible. and a new day is within sight. learn how you could give your eyes a fresh start at stilltreatted.com. (ella) fashion moves fast. setting trends is our business. we need to scale with customer demand... ...in real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon to take our operations to the next level.

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only hours after ukraine's president denounced russia for war atrocities in the u.n., russia answered with major attacks across ukraine russian missiles pounding five cities, starting fires, killing at least three people, trapping others under the rubble. the latest attacks as president zelenskyy was preparing to meet with president biden in washington today opposition is growing in congress to more military aid. joining me now is amanda slopes, senior director for europe for the national security council. thanks for being with us

what can president zelenskyy do to turn around this situation where kevin mccarthy, the speaker, didn't even let him address the house? >> what can president zelenskyy do to turn around the situation? >> in congress with growing opposition to more aid, what can president biden do to try to get this aid package through >> the administration is very actively engaging with congress on the broader budget, including the importance of getting ukraine funding through. i think as you started your segment here, the terrible attacks that we saw russia launch against ukraine's energy infrastructure, the most significant attacks we have seen in the last six months, undercun underscore the importance of this the fact that president zelenskyy is here in washington, was able to spend time on the hill this morning with members of the house, with members of the senate, making the case to them directly, explaining ukraine's ongoing plans in the counteroffensive, is an opportunity for him to reinforce

to congress the continued appreciation that the ukrainian people have for the american people and the support that they have given and the critical importance of that funding continuing >> administration is considering another package, $24 billion will zelenskyy get the atacms that he said he needs, the long-range missiles? >> the president today, as part of president zelenskyy's visit, will be announcing an additional package of security assistance it's the fourth package that we will have announced in six weeks. there is expected to be a very significant amount of air defense included in that package which is the most critical capability that the ukrainians need now to your specific atta atacms are not part of the package. >> more cluster munitions? >> i will not get ahead of the announcement later today i can say there will be an

additional package of assistance we remain in close touch with the ukrainians about the capabilities that they need. certainly, they need continued ammunition, artillery. as i said and as the events overnight showed, air defense remains important as well. that's one of the capabilities that we are continuing to prioritize in this package and going forward. >> what is the reason for not giving them the long-range missiles >> i'm not going to get ahead of deliberations that are continuing in the administration president biden himself has said atacms are not off the table that is not something that we are going to be announcing today. we continue to have very active conversations with the ukrainians about their counteroffensive today in the meeting, president zelenskyy is bringing his military cabinet with him. we will have secretary austin, chairman milley in the meeting with the president today it will be an opportunity for the presidents, as well as their military advisers, to talk in person about ukraine's current

counteroffensive and how it sees the coming critical months >> thank you very much one on one, my interview with melinda gates about the ongoing efforts to keep new mothers healthy in the developing world and here in the u.s. coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports" right here on msnbc. i have moderate to severe crohn's disease. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up ♪ ♪ i've got symptom relief ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me. ♪ ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ feel significant symptom relief with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements at 4 weeks. skyrizi is the first and only il-23 inhibitor

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it's a false choice to say it's ukraine or it's the global agenda we have to do both and we are doing both >> secretary of state tony blinken responding to criticism the war in ukraine is overshadowing attention to other critical needs at the u.n. that was this morning on "morning joe." world leaders at the general assembly are voicing concerns the global south is being left behind the goals that the u.n. laid out eight years ago to end world

poverty and famine and clean water and clean energy by 2030 are falling behind, mostly because of the pandemic interrupting a lot of progress that had been made i moderated a panel this week sponsored by the bill and melinda gates foundation, focus on what governments and private philanthropy can do. melinda gates joining me to talk about her own mission to improve maternal and infant health there's a lot of attention on the global south and the lack of progress on the sustainable development goals, reaching those goals, especially on infant mortality and maternal health talk to me about that with your work in africa in particular why has progress been so slow? what more can the world do >> thanks for having me. i think one of the things we have to realize coming out of covid is that the wealthier

countries could invest in their health systems and invest in their people and rebuild these were fragile health systems across the continent of africa so covid really ravaged those systems. if a government had a lot of debt, which many of them did, they couldn't rebuild the health system really saying, how do we help these countries rebuild the health system, because they have an unbelievable opportunity. there are youth growing up in these countries, i see whether they get educated what businesses they are creating and the vibrancy that's there. we have to help them get on a path that debt is not sustainable >> you have made improving maternal health a passion, a critical goal. talk to me about that mission and why it's so important to have healthy women and healthy children growing into healthy women. >> first of all, 800 moms dying in childbirth every single day, that's one every two minutes

those are needless deaths. those are deaths we know how to prevent and can prevent. the saddest thing is, if you lose a mom in childbirth, that child's chance at 1 years old of growing up healthy is 37%. you have devastated the family right there, both with the grief, but also the outcomes for their health and economic well-being going forward >> one of the things i saw when i was in chad with the ambassador were the refugees coming from the civil war that's erupted again in sudan they are coming -- the children are not vaccinated no one is vaccinated the children, toddlers, infants are stunted because they can't take in nutrition. the moms are starving. they can't nurse where do you start we have 400,000 refugees just

coming since april when the fighting erupted into chad and 600,000 others going into mali and our surrounding countries. >> you are bringing up a really good point anywhere there's conflict or war-torn countries, you see devastating health and economic affects. where you start is as soon as those refugees come into another country, make sure the moms and babies are fed and the children. you start revaccinating, giving them economic opportunity. there are partners who are doing that work. i just met one as a goalkeeper who is here at our event who is literally helping people get skills online and connect them to jobs. she's a refugee herself. i think one of the important th things to say across the country is, the opportunities that are there, if we help those governments invest in their health system and their education system, the

opportunities for people to live where they are and create economic well-being, you won't see them get up and migrate. you will see less conflict people can live more peacefully because they have enough to eat. that's why investments are so important. >> here in the u.s., the cdc estimates that the death rate in childbirth for black women is 2.6 times higher than for white women. how is that acceptable in 2023 in the united states of america? >> it is not acceptable. it's an outrage. because of the inequality in our system and the bias in our system, the fact that we are not caring well for those women, this came home to roost for me about five or six years ago when i read an article that serena williams almost lost her life in childbirth in our system this is one of our top athletes in the world

she wasn't listened to in our own health care system we need to fix that. we don't want any mom to die no mom should die in our country, anywhere in the world, but certainly in our country >> talk to me about women leadership you are such an example of that, of a woman taking hold of these issues that are not funded properly, that are not expressed publically and using your platform and doing something about it in my own profession, i have seen such an evolution of women in journalism. what can we do to have more women leaders? in my own experience, women work cl cl in the way men don't. >> women have a difference lens on society where we have come from it's when you see women in positions of power, whether they

are in parliament or legislatures, they make different policy when you see women in the news, they are bringing a different perspective, they are presenting a different perspective that let americans decide what they think. i believe women should be in all places that means they should be able to make decisions in their home, in their community they should control resources. they should shape policy and perspectives when you do that, even in the home, you start to see -- we have good data now you start to see the children are healthier and the family becomes wealthier. i think we are at a point where you are seeing female leadership we are not seeing enough of it yet. we are getting there we need to see enormous momentum i believe you would have less conflict-ridden places right there, you see

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after four months, the senate confirmation of charles brown as the joint chiefs of staff comes barely a week that general mark milley's four-year

term is going to run out he might be remembered most for saving democracy that's the focus of the atlantic's new cover story, "the patriot," how general mark milley protected the constitution from donald trump jeff goldberg wrote the piece and is with me now let's talk about general milley. he broke with donald trump after that walk across lafayette park. it was june 1st. protests over, you know, george floyd, and -- >> he realized he was being abused. >> they were both duped into participating in the highly political event. i think he had a lot of people had his suspicions about donald trump's understanding of the constitution but after that, that was a break

point. and he apologized the next week, if you recall, and that apology served to reset his relationship in a good way with the rest of the military, but it destroyed his relationship with donald trump. and then for the six months after that, he became kind of the focal point of a lot of ef efforts to make sure, to put it colloquially, the current didn't run off the rails. when donald trump said he won, general milley did a lot of things domestically and internationally to make sure we didn't have reckless wars, for one thing. it's an interesting progression from lafayette square to joe biden's inauguration. >> that was the day where before he walked across the square, he was talking about invoking the insurrection act and using the u.s. military domestically against civilian protesters. >> trump and his loyalists love

the insurrection act, love the idea of the insurrection act, and this is of course when trump said why can't you just shoot them in the legs he said that to mark milley. he said it to mark esper, and you know, these officials, senior officials in the government are like, well, you know, mr. president, we don't shoot american citizens in the leg legs when we can avoid that, and we don't want to use the insurrection act because all of them are not burning down. and so it was a constant tug of war between -- and this is the strange part historically, it was a tug of war between the military leadership that wanted the civilian leadership, the military reports to the civilians, they wanted the civilian leadership to calm down and honor the constitution >> the possibility that a president would try to foment or provoke a coup to remain in office in the american citizen, it's the voters, courts and congress that are going to serve as

checks on a president's behavior, not the general's, so, milley, in fact, after january 6th with other members of the national security team got together and informally agreed that they would prevent any reckless national security agreements, even though the commander in chief is supposed to have unilateral ability to do that. >> to be fair, what they said, you know, they never disobeyed an order from donald trump, they would try to work around it or try to convince him it was a bad idea there was talk of trying to attack iran. there were the famous phones calls to the chinese military leadership saying, you know, we're not going to war here. don't believe whatever you're hearing in order to just calm the waters those became very controversial, but they were actually in the security interests of the united states we weren't going to war with china. and we didn't want the chinese to think we were attacking them. that would have been devastating and led to an all out con

confrontation. >> will the military still stand up to a future donald trump? >> that's the $64,000 question i imagine that, yes, because these senior officers know their role in the american system. they are trained to believe in civilian leadership, but the challenge is there's nothing in the system that prevents the people of the united states from electing someone who's not fit, morally, mentally, intellectually, for serving as president. >> or legally. >> and this is the challenge for the american people and their congress right? we're in new territory because we haven't had a president like that one we had before joe biden was elected. >> well, the fact is one more quote to you, he said, if the

president alone decides to launch nuclear weapons, he doesn't launch them alone. >> right >> so saying he can't do that on his own. there's a chain of command, a double key system. >> there's a chain of command. let's not kid yourselves the president is a nuclear monarch, he unilaterally decides. it's very very hard, this is all theory but it's very hard for a secretary of defense or senior military leadership to tell the president no and it might be illegal to tell the president no this is why everything else pales in comparison of who we choose to be in charge of our nuclear arsenal. >> you know, jeff, right now, we have almost 300 military officers who have not been confirmed, with huge impacts down the line. it's a domino, and now we just have the secretary of the army just confirmed this morning, but it's one by one, and that's going to take forever. >> right

it's interesting because people talk about general milley politicizing the military. senator tuberville is doing something no one has done before these generals and admirals and colonels up for promotion, they're not making the abortion policies or reproductive rights policies in the defense department these are the war fighters, and tommy tuberville is politicizing the officer corps by holding up these nominations. >> your profile of general milley is the cover of the atlantic, right now on the web site, and it's just extraordinary as everything you do and friday night, is that tomorrow night >> friday night is tomorrow night. i can report that. >> and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports," follow the show on andrea mitchell report "chris jansing reports" starts right now. ♪ good day i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york