five years? -nope. comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. powering five years of savings. powering possibilities. comcast business. trump delaying. >> his. >> harsh tariffs. >> on. mexico by a. >> month after talking. >> to that. >> country's president. >> who promised to tighten controls. >> on their border. >> but another call. with canada's prime minister trudeau is scheduled for today. we'll see. >> what. >> happens there. also, elon musk saying president trump is shutting down. us aid, which the president slammed. >> last night.

>> it's been run by a bunch of radical lunatics and we're getting them out. usaid, run by radical lunatics. and we're getting them out. and then we'll make a decision. >> and a massive. >> purge, potentially. >> of. >> thousands of fbi. >> agents who had anything to do with. >> the january. >> 6th investigation. >> joining me. >> this hour for insight. >> and analysis, former treasury. >> secretary larry. >> summers and former. cia director. >> and defense. >> secretary leon panetta. >> good day, everyone. >> i'm andrea mitchell in washington. the president has just delayed his threatened 25% tariff on mexican goods for one month. after talking to mexico's president and assigned secretary of state marco rubio, to lead negotiations on tighter border controls, u.s. >> stocks are rebounding. >> after a big drop in today's market. >> opening on. >> fears of a trump trade war.

>> now there's hope. >> of a similar. >> 11th hour. >> deal possibly could be reached with canada after a planned call between mr. trump and prime minister justin trudeau this afternoon. trump's threatened 25% tariff on most canadian. goods is scheduled to start just 12 hours from now, along with an additional 10% tariff on china. also in washington, elon musk and the president are wiping out u.s. aid as. >> a separate agency. >> musk posting has the president's approval to, quote, feed u.s. aid into a wood chipper. the federal agency has played a crucial role in u.s. diplomacy since president john f kennedy created it more than 60 years ago. it now coordinates $40 billion. >> in. >> overseas humanitarian assistance every year, several sources telling nbc news. the trump administration plans to strip down the agency, then move what remains into the state department with a diminished role. but even some republicans say those cuts violate the constitutionally mandated power of congress to control how money is spent and to create or change

agencies. musk's announcement comes after five sources telling nbc news the agency's two top officials were put on administrative leave for refusing to grant d.o.j. employees access to classified government systems. musk's team reportedly threatened to call in the u.s. marshals before. >> eventually gaining access. >> we begin all this with nbc news senior white house correspondent garrett. hey, garrett, so much going on just today. that call with mexico's new president apparently delaying a deal by one month. marco rubio is supposed to negotiate tighter border controls there. what do we expect from trump and prime minister trudeau's call, with whom he's had a much tougher personal relationship. >> that's right. andrea, he's already had one conversation today with prime minister trudeau. we know with another one scheduled for 3:00 this afternoon, it's possible that this deal with the mexican government could provide some kind of blueprint for a similar arrangement with canada to avert, at least temporarily, the tariffs that donald trump has been threatening really, since

the campaign, but in earnest since last week. it was also just last week that the president said there was absolutely nothing. and that's a, quote, nothing that these countries could do to avoid the imposition of tariffs that mexico now has successfully avoided in the short term with this agreement, to send 10,000 troops to their northern border with the united states. there's also a provision, apparently in the agreement, based on the readout from the mexican side, that the u.s. would do more to control the flow of arms, heavy weapons into mexico that are often used by the cartels. there's no mention of that part of the agreement from donald trump's truth social post. and so we await a little bit more information here about exactly what has been agreed to now and what future negotiations will look like. but it's clearly pretty clear that despite protestations to the contrary from the president, this tariff threat is an opening move, if you will, in negotiations that appear likely to continue for some time. >> and talk. >> to me about what's. >> going on with. >> u.s. aid or. >> usaid, as. >> it always used to be called,

but. >> it's been called u.s. aid in the last couple of administrations. garrett, because, you. >> know. >> the. >> website was taken. >> down. >> the offices. >> are closed. >> people are being told to come. back from overseas. this is, you know, complete shutdown, apparently, or at least a diminishing of it. and we expect it's going to be folded into the state department. >> well, andrea, i'd say you've pretty much summed up what we know at this point. you're right. the employees were told not to come to work today at their headquarters here in downtown washington. the agency agency's website has been dark since this weekend, when our team first got word of the top two security officials at usaid being placed on administrative leave after they first refused to allow staffers from the elon musk led doge effort inside the white house access to their computer systems. that access has since been granted, and we've heard a great deal from musk on x overnight and into today about how he believes this organization is so corrupt. he has said it needs to die, and he

said it was fed into a wood chipper over the weekend. as to where u.s. aid ends up when this is all said and done, it's a bit of an open question. you mentioned some of this reporting, suggesting that the agency, in some fashion could be moved over to the state department. this is an agency created by congress, and it can't just simply be moved on a whim with the stroke of a pen by a president or by a staffer, which is what elon musk effectively is at this point, at least. if congress is going to stand up and exercise its prerogatives here, which so far the republican controlled congress has shown absolutely no interest in doing in these early weeks of the trump administration. >> andrea garrett. >> hake at the white. >> house, thank you. >> so much. >> and joining us now is. larry summers, former director. >> of the national economic. >> council in the obama administration. >> also the former treasury secretary in the clinton administration, now a professor at the harvard kennedy school. well, very. >> good to see you. >> larry summers. >> let's. >> talk about. >> the tariffs. first of all, because donald trump has, under all questioning, just disputed

economic, you know, economic understanding that tariffs create a. burden on the consumers here. the tariffs. are not paid by the country. >> that. >> is hit by. these tariffs. but donald trump seems to be believing that this is a weapon that will actually raise money. >> for the u.s. >> and not cause inflation. >> look. >> tariffs are a. self-inflicted supply shock. >> to our economy. they'll raise the prices. because they're like a sales tax on. >> all the imported. >> goods that will raise the margins of the. firms that. have to compete with imports. it will make. >> a mess. >> of the production of automobiles in north america, given that the chassis go. >> back and forth across the. >> border a number of times before a car is produced. so this will raise the price level. this will make american families poorer. the yale budget.

>> lab estimates. >> by more than $1,000 per. american household. >> this is. >> a strategy of being a bully, and sometimes you get your way in the very. short run by. >> being a bully. >> but ultimately. >> it rallies everyone against you. others get. >> their backs. >> up, and whether it's the. >> playground or the international. >> arena. being a. >> bully backfires. >> the biggest winner from. >> these policies. >> xi jinping. he gets an excuse for the. economic difficulties china's happening having, because he'll be able to blame. >> it on the. united states. >> he gets much. >> more receptivity. >> to chinese. investment to chinese. >> led borrowing. >> to chinese trade. because we're being so truculent with countries that are our traditional allies. >> one of the. >> things that donald trump.

>> has. been saying this weekend is that the last time he put tariffs on china and those tariffs were continued to a great extent by president biden, that it didn't cause inflation. true or false? >> it raised the. >> price level relative. >> to what it. otherwise would have been. but we didn't have the kind. >> of inflationary. >> psychology that we have today. we didn't have the kind of tightness in. >> the economy. >> that we have today. and those tariffs were pretty easy to circumvent. when he does it with multiple countries. >> those are. >> going to be much. >> harder to circumvent. >> so i think. >> there's every reason to think that the price. >> level is. >> going to. >> be higher if we do this than. >> if. >> we don't. >> and at that point. >> we. >> didn't have. >> an inflation. >> psychology that had. >> defined the nation's politics. >> today, unfortunately.

>> we do. >> and. >> you know, whether you're whether. there are people on his. >> side or. >> whether. >> there are. >> people on the democratic. >> side. >> the view. >> is that high cost of. >> living was. >> a large part. >> of. >> what drove. >> the last election. so the decision. to raise. >> the cost of living. as our central. economic strategy. is inexplicable to me. >> now. >> he has. >> spoken to the president of mexico today and agreed that secretary rubio will be negotiating tighter border controls by them, and that that will delay the tariffs there. he's going to speak to prime minister trudeau later this afternoon about the tariffs on canada. does this bullying or threatening as you describe it, does it work? is he getting what he wants? >> i don't think so. >> you know. i've studied. pretty closely. >> what happened. >> with columbia.

>> he portrayed that as a great victory. >> but it wasn't. >> there were plenty of planes that were repatriating illegal. >> immigrants to the united states. >> back to columbia during. >> the. >> last 12 months. all he did was try to make a big drama out of making it a military. plane and set off this whole incident, but there wasn't any problem. repatriating colombians. >> before he. >> had made one. >> we'll have to see what the. >> substance of this is, but. >> i don't believe he's achieved anything. >> that will meaningfully reduce the amount. >> of fentanyl in the. >> united states. >> fentanyl is. >> so small. >> in physical. >> terms that. >> this is really a demand side issue, not. >> a supply. side issue. so i. >> don't. >> think he's. >> likely to. >> have gotten any meaningful. >> victory with respect. to mexico either. and in the process, he has.

>> unsettled all. >> kinds of economic relations. >> who should or will trust us in. >> the future when we're. >> behaving like this? >> when the same president who. reached a new treaty. >> with mexico and canada is. >> now violating. >> all the terms of that. >> treaty with. his threats. >> yeah. >> one of the things i wanted to ask you just just quickly, i know you've got a lot of meetings to go to. is he is linking. trade to border control, tariffs and punishment for border control. and how complicated is that? because it was his team personally who negotiated the new the new nafta deal with mexico and canada. >> this is. >> there's extra this is extra legal. it sets a. >> very problematic. set of precedents. >> and. >> is going. to alienate countries around the world. >> i actually. >> think. >> the alienation is. probably going to be.

>> small compared. >> to what he's doing with. >> a.i.d. >> where, make no mistake, because of the. shutting down of these programs. people are going to die and they're going to die because of a choice that the american president made. >> larry summers. >> former treasury treasury. >> secretary, thank. >> you so very much. and next, more on elon musk's threats to us aids future and president trump's ultimatum to panama's president on the panama canal. but first, i share it with you all. before the election, i've decided to shift from anchoring this hour every day to focus more on reporting and covering the major news of the day for all platforms at nbc news. so friday is going to be my last day in this anchor chair after 17 years to mark the last years, those great 17 years for me, and i hope for you all week, we're going to look back at some of the most memorable moments of andrea mitchell reports. take a look. >> i don't think there's any. >> precedent for anyone just. >> relying on a personal email

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number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. a potential preview of what the trump administration might have planned to do to remake the federal government u.s. aid website, what we always used to call the usaid has gone dark over the weekend, and a stripped down version is now housed deep within the state department site. we're back now with new york times chief white house correspondent peter baker and the atlantic editor in chief, jeffrey goldberg. welcome, both. so, peter, usaid, foreign, humanitarian and development aid is a small part of the budget. it's less than 1%. but the agency's impact on diplomacy is so much larger, exponentially larger if usaid is dismantled. and i've seen it all over the world. i've traveled with linda thomas-greenfield, with samantha power, with other people in previous administrations. is how hard is this going to be to

rebuild and how is it being viewed overseas? >> well, i. >> mean, look. aid to foreign countries. >> is not. >> about altruism, or at least not. only about altruism. right? obviously, it has an interest for the united states government as well. that's been the bipartisan consensus among republicans and democrats for many, many years. obviously, there have been criticisms on the right that some of it is excessive. but as you rightly point out, is a tiny fraction of our federal budget. but it actually has a force multiplier because people around the world are more predisposed to the united states if they believe the united states is on their side, who's going to fill the void left behind? if u.s. aid foreign aid is cut off in a permanent way? >> well. >> that would be china. for one thing. we're in a we're in a war in a way, with china for the, you know, hearts and minds of a lot of the planet on in africa and latin america and elsewhere. and china is saying, hey, great, go ahead and cut your aid, because we are happy to fill that, that vacuum there. and

other countries are going to turn to other places to, you know, to get assistance that they need. the other thing that aid accomplishes, aside from better, you know, relations and goodwill, buying cooperation on a variety of things, is it keeps people from coming to this country illegally, which is, in theory, a top trump priority. right. if your home country conditions are worse and worse, the incentive to come to a place like the united states, even across the border, illegally go up and up. and so a lot of presidents have believed, again, from both parties, that foreign aid is helpful to us to help build stable environments in other places, to keep our own country safe. >> and in fact. >> the state. >> department budgets. have been. >> increased and the aid budgets have increased. on foreign aid by congress, by bipartisan votes in congress. jeffrey, more than what the biden and obama administrations, for instance, and the bush administrations wanted, and george w bush on

pepfar, which is part of, you know, broadly, it's a separate program. but broadly, foreign aid is a george w bush republican program that is also was also one of the things halted temporarily. >> this used to not. >> be very controversial. >> there were controversies on the. >> margins. >> as peter mentioned. >> there's some waste. there's some spending on programs. >> that don't work. >> but but. >> that's. >> that's that's the normal. >> course of events in government. >> alas. >> but but these are. >> programs that. >> people like ronald reagan and george h.w. bush. >> put aside. >> george w. >> bush not only. >> supported for. >> humanitarian reasons. >> right. >> shining city on the hill. >> we have a lot of money. >> we have a. >> lot of resources. >> we have a lot. >> of food we. >> can distribute. >> we have. >> a lot of medicine. >> this was also national security. you know, these. >> are these. >> are ways of. >> keeping of letting populations. across the developing world and. >> africa and latin america and asia. >> know that americans.

>> care about their. >> futures. >> about whether they eat, whether. >> they have good medicine or not. and it's just. >> it's quite. stunning the degree to. >> which this. >> has. >> not even been explained. >> because. >> again. >> this is not. >> a liberal. >> program. >> a liberal agency. this is an agency that is embraced by generations of republicans. >> and democrats for the important. national security. >> and. >> humanitarian mission. >> that it performs. >> and in fact, not only is it not being explained, it's being misinformation. >> yeah. >> is being presented to people. you know, peter, in her first briefing, i think caroline leavitt was questioned by peter alexander about this and came up with that, you know, some untold number of million dollars, 60 to $90 million was spent on condoms. not true at all, according to the washington post. you know, fact check, which we you know, it got four

pinocchios from from the washington post. but it's you know, all of us have looked through this and it's just not true. aid into gaza is one of the things we're in. all of these multiple missions that i traveled with secretary blinken last year, he was trying to surge aid in after israel had frozen food, water, fuel in the opening days of the invasion, weeks of the invasion, nine days in. maybe, maybe it was a little later than that. secretary blinken spent hours and hours arguing that that should be lifted. and as part of this cease fire deal, as you guys both know, a surge in aid in trucks going in. you know, israel doesn't trust the un, the world food program and un agencies unwra. but us aid and care and the world food program have all been critical to that effort. >> peter. >> absolutely. >> yeah, absolutely. >> and steve witkoff, who is president trump's new special envoy to the middle east, has just traveled to gaza. no

american official of his stature, anyway, has been to gaza for quite a long time, and i think he came out of there expressing, you know, what an extraordinarily devastated place that really is and how much work is going to need to be put in to rebuild it. he i think what his statement emphasized was that america has a role in that. now that america is not the only the only one that has a role in that. both the biden administration, i presume the trump administration will try to recruit arab countries in the region to play a big role in that. it won't be just the united states, but there's obviously a national security interest there in the united states, rebuilding or at least finding a way to deal with the crisis, the humanitarian crisis in gaza, because that simply, of course, destabilizes that region even more. the more gaza is, you know, left to be a wreckage and a wasteland, the more possibility there is for insecurity, for terrorism, for conflict. so again, as jeff said, this is not just about helping people in destitute situations, although obviously there is a historic role for the united states doing that. there

are strategic interests at play with the use of foreign aid, and have been for a long time. >> and peter marco rubio, i'm told, has just confirmed that he is now the acting director of usaid. now, i just returned very early this morning from panama, where he was, and he was also there this morning. watching a migration event, which was the deportation of colombians, colombian migrants back to colombia. and this was all set up under the biden administration, a memorandum of understanding in july last year. last july, planes started taking people out of panama, back to colombia and other countries starting in august. so this was just watching an event that showed that, you know, panama was cooperating on migration, but there was a real showdown there this weekend where he met with the president, the rest of the government, all the ministers, and said that

president trump has decided that china's involvement, operating two ports among the five ports along the panama canal mean that china is a direct threat to national security, and it's a violation of the panama canal treaty of 1977. and therefore they're going to be taking some action. so this is the first time he's talking to the press. i believe since this whole trip started, he didn't in panama at all. panama canal again, jeffrey is, you know, a showdown over this. from my reporting, i was there for five days. five nights. panama runs the canal. it's very clear and has five ports and has for decades. >> somehow our goods keep. >> getting through. >> 70% of the goods that go through go to the us customers, and they're making a very big deal about the threat. right? and it seems like they're going to say and maybe take legal action, that this is a violation

of the treaty. and panama's president pushed back very strongly. >> right. let me. >> just lift up for. >> one second. and sort of ask. >> the ask the maybe. >> or the larger. >> question here. >> which is that if you remember. and obviously. >> you. >> do president trump, before he was president again promised to end the ukraine war on the. first day back in office. so that hasn't happened. but what's happened is he has picked fights with. allied countries. >> canada, denmark. >> panama and so on. >> big trade. >> partners like mexico. and so. >> i'm just. >> trying to figure out the. >> methodology here. there are. >> there are. >> true rivalries, true adversaries. >> that we have. >> canada is not one of them, and panama is not one. >> of them. >> no one has brought proof yet. and it's possible, right? china is an adversary. no one has brought. proof that having the chinese manage who. >> unloads and. loads goods. >> on ships in panama is a

national. >> security threat. >> to the united states. there's been no there's no been. >> no proof of. >> that yet. >> so these. >> are mainly. >> manufactured crises with. allied countries. but on the main issues geopolitically, the ukraine war, taiwan and so on, we haven't really seen. >> that much. >> action on the part of the administration. >> and i think you're going to start to see more about ukraine next week when the munich security forum convenes, which is an annual meeting, and i'll be attending that. but in fact, no, you're absolutely right. and, peter, just to wrap this up, peter and jeffrey, what we are seeing is that there is a backlash, certainly in latin america. and people i've been talking to for the last week pushing in ironically, in panama, which is probably the closest ally that the us has had in latin america in that region, on immigration and other issues on fentanyl, illegal drugs, pushing them towards china. and

china has been in panama. they started building the canal, they and france, before we took it over the construction in 1904 and completed it in 1914. it's pushing them towards china, which has been trying to make inroads all over the region. as we know for many years now in their belt. and, you know. in road operations around the world. anyway, we'll leave it there. but peter baker, jeffrey goldberg, it's so great to have you both on. thank you so much. and coming up, the latest on the brewing crisis within the fbi call by some, an even bigger crisis for the principle of an independent law enforcement in the united states than occurred during the nixon administration. during the nixon administration. you're watching andrea mitch carl: believe me, when it comes to investing, you'll love carl's way. take a left here please. driver: but there's a... carl's way is the best way. client: is it? at schwab, how i choose to invest is up to me. driver: exactly! i can invest and trade on my own... client: yes, and let them manage some investments for me too. let's move on, shall we? no can do.

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>> as the same day. >> your. >> loan is on deck. >> and now to the fbi, where employees are being told to fill out a questionnaire by 3:00 this afternoon about whether they were involved in any cases related to january 6th and the attack on the capitol. it comes after the trump administration forced out several senior fbi officials and january 6th prosecutors on friday, including the head of the washington, dc field office. senator mark warner, the top democrat on the intelligence committee, is warning about the repercussions. >> if you are. >> suddenly taking out. >> the most experienced. >> folks at justice. >> or. >> at the fbi, how does that make us stronger? and what he's saying is every fbi. agent that somehow touched the january 6th investigation, if you're

suddenly going to get. >> rid of all. >> of those, that could. >> be thousands. >> yeah. what does that mean for cybersecurity? what does it mean for our trafficking and stop against fentanyl and other drugs. what does it mean in terms of, you know, serious crime investigations? this would be devastating. >> that was clearly on face the nation with margaret margaret brennan. and joining me now is nbc news justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian. ken, let's talk about how many people could lose their jobs. and you know how unprecedented this is, because i think the acting director put out a note saying that there could be thousands of people involved because so many fbi agents all over the country had even minor roles serving papers, doing investigations on, you know, this broad january 6th case. >> that's right. andrea. in fact, i obtained an internal fbi document today that said that they had identified 2400 january 6th cases open and closed, did that by going through the fbi's

sentinel case management system, looking for names. so they identified 2400 cases. and that's a universe. i'm told of about 5000 fbi personnel. and that's not even everybody who worked on the cases. it's just the main participants. and then they. so they use that to send a questionnaire, a 12 question questionnaire to each of these people, asking them exactly what they did. so it looks like they're looking for, you know, they want the substance of what you did on these cases. so this is unprecedented in american history. we've been saying that a lot. but this is fbi agents being selected and apparently targeted because of a case that they worked on in many cases, were ordered to work on, were assigned to work on. and then the second remarkable thing, andrea, as you alluded to, is that bureau leadership is in open rebellion here. the acting director, brian driscoll, who was appointed by the trump administration, issuing remarkable guidance to the bureau yesterday, saying that he is not sure why they are asking for these names, but that no one should consider it evidence of misconduct that you were on the list. and he also pointed out

very clearly that fbi agents who are career civil servants can't be fired without due process. and we're told that behind the scenes, he pushed back forcefully against a plan to just summarily fire a lot more people than have been fired now eight to date. and then secondly, the director of the new york field office just sent a blunt email to staff yesterday saying, essentially, we need to dig in. we're in a fight here. people are targeting our folks because of cases they worked on. and that's not right. we've never seen this before. and it's remarkable. and, you know, we were told on friday and over the weekend we were told a lot of stories about potential mass firings. we have not seen that to date. and the society of former fbi agents is now reaching out to its members saying, call your congressperson. tell them that this should not stand. andrea. >> well, congress has at least on a lot of these issues. i've seen a lot of complaints and statements from the foreign relations committee, democrats, for instance. but i haven't seen very much from the republican side. i don't know if you have,

ken, but that's certainly what one of the things we're going to be pursuing. >> well, andrea, i have asked every republican member of the judiciary committee today for comment, and i have not gotten any back. you're right. the democrats have raised concerns about this. the republicans have been silent. and kash patel, the nominee to lead the fbi, has not said a word about any of this, even though he assured senators under oath that he was aware of no plans for retribution or mass firings. andrea. >> during his testimony, i think there is. isn't there a committee vote scheduled for him this week? >> that's right. andrea. absolutely. >> thank you, ken delaney. and then joining us now, leon panetta, the former cia director and defense secretary in the obama administration, former white house chief of staff for president clinton, also the former director of the office of management and budget. in your long career, your storied career. so in that role also, how do you explain the legality of what is happening with whole departments today? us aid being shut down, moved over, money being frozen, congress

appropriates, not the executive. >> well, the president swore an oath to faithfully fulfill the duties of that. office and to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. all of that is in jeopardy. now as. >> they go. >> after people, particularly. >> in law. >> enforcement. >> and try to fire. >> them. >> for doing. their job, which. >> is outrageous. >> these are agents. >> who were. >> doing their job. >> of enforcing. >> the law. particularly on january 6th. >> which involved. >> a. >> riot to on. >> the in the. >> capitol and. >> the attack. >> on 140 security officers and the destruction of property. that was a violation. >> of the law. that's what they're supposed. >> to do. >> and my view is. >> you cannot fire somebody in

the fbi. >> for doing. >> their job. >> and i hope they do stand up to this and make clear that they're entitled to due process. >> what message does this send to our allies, to our adversaries, when suddenly the justice department in particular, is being targeted for particular prosecutions that this president and his team do not like? >> well, you know, i think the credibility of the united states is based on our adherence. >> to the. >> law and our respect for individual. >> rights. >> and that's what makes the united states unique in the world. and that's why it's important for the american people to make clear that our first obligation is to adhere to

the constitution and adhere. >> to the. >> rights that people have when it comes to law enforcement. i can't tell you, you know, how many times we made clear to our allies the problems that were involved in dealing with autocrats in the world and dealing with russia, dealing with china, dealing with north korea, and how they blatantly ignore the rule of law. and that's what gave us strength in terms of working with our allies and in making clear that autocrats will not prevail when we do this here at home and behave like an autocracy, it undermines our credibility. >> let's talk about tulsi gabbard, who is the president's choice for director of national intelligence. she was asked during her confirmation hearing last week if edward snowden was a traitor for leaking highly classified information to russia and others, and she refused to

answer that question directly. and i think a vote has been scheduled on her in committee tomorrow. is she qualified? >> that's a that's a. >> very important vote because it involves a very important position in our intelligence. foundation. really, the dni is critical to the coordination of intelligence information. and there are three problems with chelsea gabbard. one is that she has absolutely no experience in intelligence. she never worked in intelligence. and in that job, she's got to coordinate 18 intelligence agencies. so she she just doesn't have the intelligence background. number two, she has serious credibility problems, having visited with

assad, a dictator, having made comments about putin that were favorable, having opposed the ukrainian war, she is clearly somebody who has serious credibility problems because the purpose of intelligence is to look at intelligence involving our adversaries. so she certainly undermines that approach. and then lastly, you've got to have command experience. i mean, you are now coordinating 18 agencies and working to make sure that the president gets the very best intelligence as a result of that. she doesn't have that kind of command experience. so i'm really concerned that we cannot put somebody with that kind of background as head of our intelligence agency. dni is

critical. what we've seen lately are people who know how to make the dni work, because they know it's about coordinating intelligence. and they all had deep backgrounds in intelligence. she's lacking that. and i think we would pay a heavy price in terms of the quality of intelligence. if she's approved. >> leon panetta, former cia director, thank you so much, and good. >> to. be with you. >> thank you. and next, an update on the investigation into the horrific plane and helicopter collision here in washington as crews are working today to salvage the plane's wreckage from the potomac. plus, the latest in the deadly air ambulance crash in philadelphia. you're watching andrea ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term

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pack today. just call 888. >> 44. >> stay dry. >> right now. special salvage crews are on the potomac river. they are removing the wreckage of last week's tragic, deadly collision of an american airlines flight and an army

blackhawk helicopter. crews are hoping to find the remaining victims. 55 of the 67 victims have been already identified. their families gathering yesterday by the water and runway at reagan national airport for a memorial service. and as they are mourning in washington, coming from all over the country, so are the families of the victims of that fiery plane crash in philadelphia. this was friday night. six of the seven who were dead were mexican citizens on an air ambulance heading home when it crashed onto a busy street row house neighborhood near a mall, killing one person on the ground, injuring at least 22 more. the plane went down shortly after leaving the airport, and officials from the ntsb and faa are investigating, and transportation secretary sean duffy is visiting philadelphia today. joining me now are nbc news senior correspondent tom costello and former faa and ntsb investigator jeff guzzetti. so, tom, this has been just horrendous, i know. i

can't even imagine how hard you and everyone has been working on all of this to try to get to the bottom of it. in the dc crash, what are we learning now about both aircraft's altitude? i heard your reporting that the helicopter was at least 100ft above the required altitude. i guess they'll know more from the black box. >> well, there's. >> that's exactly right. there's a. >> discrepancy here. >> but can. >> i first take you. >> out onto the river to show you what's happening at this. >> very moment? >> because this. >> morning we've. >> had salvage. teams out there. >> from the u.s. army corps of engineers working with the coast guard, metropolitan dc fire and police, as well as a flotilla, a. flotilla of teams from around the. greater washington, d.c. area. and there you see right there a piece of wreckage. >> that has. >> been already. >> pulled up. >> we've already. seen them pull. >> up a one of the engines from. >> the regional. >> jet and a. >> big chunk. >> of the fuselage. what they're hoping, andrea, is that as they

remove that fuselage, they will find. >> more of the victims. >> who are missing. >> 12 of them as of this mornin, were still missing. they believe. >> that they are likely in the fuselage. >> and so they. >> want to remove the fuselage, lift it, and. >> then they describe. >> this. >> as a very dignified and slow. >> process of removing. >> the victims. there's a. >> blue tent out there on. >> the barge, and we believe that they will put. >> those victims. >> into the tent. >> and then, of course, the medical examiner would. >> be. >> involved in removing the victims and taking them on to. the medical examiner's office in washington, dc. separately, you talked about the black boxes, and this is critical information and evidence. >> we know already. >> that the. >> ntsb has found the black boxes from. >> both the chopper and the plane. the plane's black boxes. suggest that. >> the. >> crash occurred at about 300ft. >> more or less. now, that. >> would be 100ft above where that chopper should have been. >> the chopper. >> should not have gone above 200ft according to the faa. rules and regs. here. we want to look at. what the black. box from. >> the. >> chopper says. >> about. its altitude.

>> that will be the most precise reading. and if that in fact shows that. >> the chopper was. >> above 200ft. >> then this is. becoming obviously. >> there's a there's a concern here that this. involved a. possible pilot. >> error on the part of the. >> helicopter or instrumentation failure on the. part of the helicopter. >> we simply. >> don't know. in the meantime, as you know, helicopter traffic up and down the potomac river is now limited to just police and medevac activity. no army activity whatsoever, no military, no diplomatic activity. and the ntsb. >> is also going. >> to be. focusing on. air traffic control staffing. as you know, we've. >> talked about this. >> for 12, 15 years, a shortage of controllers nationwide. and the d.o.t. secretary confirming that there was a shortage of controllers. and there is right now. >> in the. >> tower here at reagan national. andrea. >> thanks so much, tom. and i want to ask jeff, is it unusual to have a discrepancy in data like this at this stage of the investigation? what if the is it

possible that the that the black box from the helicopter would show a different altitude than the one from the from the plane? could there have been. >> a. >> you know, a bad. >> equipment that. >> it's. >> not the. >> the, the. >> flight data recorders on aircraft are pretty pretty precise. they beam a radar signal down to the ground, it bounces back up, and it's pretty precise. what they. >> see in. >> the tower was reported that the tower controller saw 200ft on their radar controller, but that's likely from a radar antenna that's way out by dulles international airport. it's plus or -100ft on those radars, so i'd be more apt to trust the flight data recorder altitude on the airplane. and i bet you it's going to be very similar. the 300ft. it's going to be very similar to what the helicopter determines also. so i think with those, the ntsb will be very good at triangulating and

verifying the altitude data through many different means. and i think that we'll have a solid answer here shortly. >> and tom, can i just quickly ask you about the black box that has been recovered in philadelphia in that terrible crash of the medical evacuation jet? >> yeah, that's. >> a cockpit. >> that's a cockpit voice recorder. >> they didn't have a flight data recorder per se on that on that plane. so what we're going to be interested in hearing or investigators want to hear, what were the last few seconds of conversation between the pilots? was there any conversation about i've got this problem or we have this medical emergency or any clues at all into why that plane suddenly went into a nosedive friday night. this was, of course, a learjet, a medevac mission headed to mexico. at this hour, we understand that five people remain hospitalized. you mentioned seven people had died when they found that black box. it was literally in an eight foot crater. this was just

a terrible crash, literally into the terrain there, into the cement. >> into the roadway. >> so they're going to be looking closely at that cockpit voice recorder. >> they've also. >> recovered the engines already. they're going to be looking at whether there might have been an engine problem there. there there are so many possibilities on that crash. and honestly not a good leading theory at. >> this hour. >> thank you so much, tom costello and jeff guzzetti, and i know how busy you've been on all of this, so thank you for getting us up to date. and next, a live report from tel aviv as israel celebrates the return of more hostages, including the first american, keith segal and prime minister netanyahu get set to arrive in the us ahead of tomorrow's big meeting with president trump at the white house. you're watching andrea mitchell reports. this is msnbc. what do you think. >> vladimir putin. >> is. >> up to? >> he's up. >> to. >> asserting his role. >> in. >> the middle east. what we

should be doing and saying to the russians is that we're going to fly anywhere, anytime, anyhow we want to in order to stem the flow of isis. isn't it clear yet that putin is going to do what he wants to do, because. >> he believes. >> he can do it with impunity? let me emphasize. >> andrea. >> he's not putin is not strong. we have an overwhelming advantage of him. but what he's doing is ryan crocker. said he's doing is ryan crocker. said he's playing his cards skillfully. at bombas we make the most comfortable sock in the history of feet so comfortable you'll wish you had more vist bombas.com and get 20% off your first order if you're living with diabetes, i'll tell you the same thing i tell my patients. getting on dexcom g7 is one of the easiest ways to take better control

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more hostages were released by hamas over the weekend, including the first american to be released in this cycle since actually last year. keith siegel, who was welcomed in a tearful reunion by his wife of siegel and she, of course, was a former hostage for more than 50 days herself and his three daughters have been here many times on the set, and i've visited with them in israel as well. hamas also releasing over calderone, a dual french israeli citizen, after nearly 16 months of his captivity, and jordan bibas was taken hostage along with his wife and two very young children. their fate still remains unknown. there are great fears about them. and joining us now from tel aviv, nbc news chief foreign correspondent keir simmons. so how significant is it that netanyahu is first, the first foreign leader to meet president trump in this new term? he didn't have a meeting with president biden for four years. he wanted one. he didn't have one at the white house. he

they met in new york at the un. and is this going to help netanyahu at home, where he is under considerable political pressure with israel divided and a lot of people wanting hostages to be emphasized more than continuing or resuming activity in gaza, military activity. >> well. >> i. >> think it is. >> incredibly significant. potentially a pivot meeting. >> i think it is designed. >> to help. >> prime minister netanyahu. >> who. >> as you say. >> is under the pressure, under. >> pressure from. >> the right in his government. i should just mention, andrea, that we have just. >> heard from. >> for the. >> first time, speaking at a news conference. >> from keith siegel's wife, aviva, keith siegel. of course. >> the american. >> released over. >> the weekend. she has described. >> the dark. >> days when. >> she. >> was held captive, how determined she. was to. >> stay strong. >> after she was released and her. husband was not. she thanks

president trump from the. >> bottom of her heart, and then she goes. >> on to say something. that many of these families are saying. i think they. >> see it as. >> very important. >> and that is urging. >> president trump to continue the process so that all of the hostages are released. all of the other 79. she says she thinks that's important because it is. there are others here in israel who think that the task is not finished in terms of taking on hamas, that at some stage it's going to need to be to be they're going to have to reengage militarily with hamas. now, talks are underway and will get underway more comprehensively for the second stage in the coming days and weeks. and the pressure is really going to be on to see if they can get this peace process through to all of the hostages being released and then what comes next? >> you know. exactly right. keir simmons, thank you so much. and that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. remember follow the show on

social media at mitchell reports. you can rewatch the best of our show anytime on youtube. just go to msnbc.com slash. andrea. chris jansing report starts after a short break. >> some people like. >> doing things. >> the hard. >> way. >> like doing their. >> finances with. >> a spreadsheet. >> instead of using quicken. >> quicken pulls all your financial info. financial info. >> together in your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. our advanced matching helps find talented candidates, so you can connect with them fast. visit indeed.com/hire ever feel like a spectator in your own life with chronic migraine? 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more. botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. in a survey, 91% of users wish they'd started sooner. so why wait? talk to your doctor. botox® effects may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms.

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game. >> good day. i'm chris jansing, live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. trump versus trudeau with tariffs against mexico off the table