this sunday, the growing russia investigation. new reports that president trump's son-in-law, jared kushner, tried to set up back channel communications with russia to avoid u.s. monitoring. the reaction, former deputy cia chief john mclaughlin. >> if an american intelligence officer had done anything like this, we would consider it espionage. >> the trump administration responds, but not in front of cameras. >> we're not going to comment on jared. we're just not going to comment. >> this after former cia chief john brennan testifies that russia can lure people unwittingly into treason. >> people who go along on a treasonous path do not even realize they're on that path until it gets to be a bit too late. >> my guests this morning, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee bob corker,

former director of national intelligence, james clapper and homeland security chief john kelly. and the congressional race in montana, the republican won, the democrat closed the gap. which party has reason to celebrate. joining me for insight and analysis are joy reid, kimberly strass strassel, charlie sykes and amy walter. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." good sunday morning on this memorial day weekend. the president came home late last night from his first overseas trip in office, and when he did, the russia investigation got much closer to home as well. so much closer, in fact, that it now involves the president's son-in-law, jared kushner.

president trump faces a growing scandal. consider what has happened in just the last week, monday. "washington post" reports that mr. trump had asked his intel chiefs in march to push back specifically on then fbi director james comey's comments on the russia investigation. john brennan testifies that he saw contacts between russian officials and trump campaign members that he thought deserved investigation. thursday nbc news reports that jared kushner is now under fbi scrutiny in the russia investigation, though he is not a target. friday night, the bombshell that kushner and russia's embas amba discussed a secret back door channel so that their conversation would not be picked up. the trump administration went out of its way yesterday to field reporters' questions off camera even if they didn't actually answer them. >> we're not going to comment on jared. we're just not going to comment.

>> national security adviser h.r. mcmaster did try to defend kushner without saying his name. >> generally speaking about back channel communications, what that allows you to do is communicate in a discrete manner. >> it's very concerning that they wanted to have these communications at russian diplomacy facilities using russian phone lines. that shows that they were really trying to conceal this from the obama administration and from u.s. intelligence. >> the reactions to the kushner story include just simple shock from the intelligence community. >> i can't keep out of my mind the thought that if an american intelligence officer had done anything like this, we would consider it espionage. >> reuters is also reporting that kushner had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the russian ambassador, including two phone calls before the election some time between april and november. kushner's attorney did not deny the story but responded this way. mr. kushner participated in thousands of calls in this time

period. he has no recollection of the calls as described. on thursday nbc news reported that kushner is under fbi scrutiny though not a subject of the investigation like former trump aids paul manafort and michael flynn. john brennan publicly acknowledged for the first time his concern that campaign associates wittingly or unwittingly may have been cooperating with russian operatives, though he says he saw no proof of collusion. >> i saw information intelligence that was worthy of investigation by the bureau to determine whether or not such cooperation of collusion was taking place. >> now the senate intelligence committee has asked trump's political organization to gather and produce all documents, e-mails and phone records going back to his campaign's launch in june 2015. mr. kushner was also in charge of the campaign's data operations. >> we knew exactly where our 14 million voters were that we needed in key swing states. jared was an incredible leader

to help make this all happen. >> at home the president will not be able to avoid questions as he did overseas, beginning with his own party in congress, many of whom were already losing confidence in his ability to lead. >> i think we have a situation on our hands where you, every few days, there's a new revelation. >> the idea that congress continues to do nothing about russia interference in our election is completely unacceptable to me. in the next work period i'm going to do everything i can to make sure that we sanction russia for interfering in our election. >> former house speaker john boehner told on energy conference wednesday that foreign policy aside, everything else he's done has been a complete disaster. joining me now is republican senator and the chairman of the foreign relations committee bob corker of tennessee. senator, welcome back to "meet the press," sir. >> good to be with you. >> let me start with the allegations involving jared kushner and these meetings that he had where either he suggested or somebody suggested that a back channel be put together in

some form, possibly using russian facilities. can you think of any good reason to do something like that in a transition period between one presidency over another? >> look, i think jared has said that he's more than willing to answer any and all questions. they reached out to us yesterday to make sure that we knew that was the case and i'm sure he's willing to do so. i look at what the reports have said about asking questions of him. it seems to me that based on just the reporting that you and others are making, he's not a target. so i think i would just wait. sounds like he's more than glad to talk about all of these things. instead of getting wrapped up into a lot of hyperbole as these things can sometimes do, i think talking with him directly and getting him to answer any and all questions as he said he

would do would probably be the prudent course of action. >> i understand that but can you think of any good reason -- let's take, as you know, "the washington post" bombshell and clearly the white house hasn't said much publicly. they seem to be talking anonymously to the "new york times" and they implied that, well, the meeting, it wasn't clear who suggested a back channel and that it was going to involve mike flynn and syria. here's what i don't understand. why would anybody want to set up something like that if it was about syria and not let the pentagon know about it? >> yeah, i have no idea. again, i think it's best to talk directly with these people. i know that from a military standpoint obviously we have ways of deconflicting with russia on things relative to syria. again, chuck, because i just don't know, these things are -- these sources are not people who are willing to give their names. it's just hard to respond to things like this that, again, no

names attached, no dates attached. look, let's let this unfold and -- i've spent a lot of time with jared. he was over just recently in a bipartisan way briefing us on the upcoming trip. they achieved all of their goals. he seems to me to be a very open person, and again, i'd let him speak for himself when the time is right on all these issues and at that time we can actually render judgment on the reality of what did or didn't take place. >> the time is right. i guess i'm a little concerned, do you not have a sense of urgency about this? let's think about the time period here. you just had 17 intelligence agencies report that russia interfered in this election. these interactions in the month of december, senator corker, you would think would trouble many people if they thought that, geeze, there's been accusations that maybe they were trying to -- the russians were trying

to assist one campaign or the other and then to have these meetings and have them talk about the idea of avoiding american eavesdropping i guess if you want to call it that. none of this troubles you? i mean, do you want to wait until it unfolds? >> no, no, no, no, no, chuck. these recent reports is what i'm talking about. again, as i understand it, jared kushner is more than glad to talk about all of these things. as it relates to the interference in the election, no question. and as you know, we've been allowing for a short period of time for secretary of state tillerson to see if he can change the trajectory in syria, but this next work period, we very much, unless there's some major change in russia's action in syria, plan to double down on sanctions with russia, so absolutely not. couldn't agree more with that. i'm not disagreeing that they interfered with our election and we need to do something about that. if you're trying to tie me into that --

>> i'm not trying to tie you into knots but you connected it to the behavior in syria. should that be connected or should russia be punished for election interference, period? >> they should and sometimes, chic chuck, what we want to do is make sure that we're having a good outcome for our nation, so we can act with passion over an issue. on the other hand, if we know that there are some negotiations taking place with our relationship with russia is at the lowest point ever since 1991 for good reason, if there are some negotiations taking place relative to that, does it make some sense to give the secretary of state some time to see where that goes. there are going to be sanctions against russia or at least a codifying of existing sanctions on ukraine and crimea. that is going to happen. but i think my job and many people in the foreign relations community in general is to make sure we have good outcomes.

so, look, these -- russia is going to be punished for what it did in interfering in our elections. there's an investigation that's under way. i talk each week multiple times with senator burr and senator warner as to how that is unfolding. but again, to give a diplomat, everybody is going nuts over the 1% issue that we spend on diplomacy and aide, we care about diplomacy in our country, want to make sure that it works. we're want to give it every opportunity, and to wait a few weeks at the request of the secretary of state to see if he can change things in syria seems to me to be an appropriate thing to do. that's what we've done but next work period we plan to take it up. >> you said a few weeks. it's been four months since they've taken office, so in your opinion, is it now time to decide the russians aren't going to change their behavior in syria? >> well, we'll see.

unless there's something demonstrable that occurs, i read the intelligence on wednesday morning down in the skif. it doesn't seem to me that they've changed their behavior in any way, so i think we're going to be moving on with this. the banking committee plans to do the same, but again, chuck, i don't know what you're getting at here. obviously, yes, it has been six months, so does waiting two or three weeks for the secretary of state to see if he can negotiate a change, does that affect our ability to focus on what they did on the elections, i don't think so. by the way, we're not going to wait for the senate investigation, but there is an investigation under way in the intel community. typically you wait until those things are complete before you take action. in this case, we're probably going to go ahead just because of the clamoring for this to occur, rightly so, we're going to take up sanctions this next work period. >> let me ask you a question about the -- speaking of your

next work period, john mccain made this interesting analysis of all the things you guys got to get done in the senate before labor day. here's the reality. we've got 11 weeks between now and the end of september. we've got a repeal of obamacare. we're talking about tax reform, talking about a defense bill, talking about -- there's about three other things, a looming debt limb iit. i've seen no plan for doing so. there seems to be a lot of concern among your colleagues that you have no idea how many of these things are going to get done in the next three months. >> well, it's obvious that not all of those things are going to get done in the next three months. there is a lot to do. we're right now meeting on health care. the meetings have been, i will say, very substantive. i would have liked for them to be more in the public so you're bringing the public along. there seems to be some consolidation beginning to take place on tax reform. i had a great discussion this

week with fred smith at fedex who's working with many business associates. there seems to be something gelling there. but, no, we've got a lot to do, there's no question, and we're going to do the best that we can. but we have a full two-year congressional cycle here to get many of those things done, and again, i think we're moving along in a thoughtful way with way too much work, you're right, to get done. a lot of people to get confirmed nomination-wise, spending issues, a lot to get done. it's a privilege to serve in the senate to try to accomplish those things and we'll move along as quickly as we can. >> all right, senator, i'm going to leave it there. got a busy show this morning. senator bob corker, thanks for coming on. earlier this morning, i spoke with homeland security secretary john kelly and i began by asking him about the jared kushner news. >> i know jared. he's a great guy, decent guy.

his number one interest really is the nation, so there's a lot of different ways to communicate, back channel, publicly with other countries. i don't see any big issue here relative to -- relative to jared. >> even with somebody that was at the time our own intelligence community had collectively said this was a country that had infiltrated our election, did this show good judgment? >> well, you know, it was before the government was in place during the transition period, i think, from what i understand. i think any time you can open lines of communication with anyone, whether they're good friends or not so good friends, is a smart thing to do. >> had you ever in your lifetime of government service both in the military and outside of it, had you ever used another government's communications facility, the idea of sort of

going around american communications? >> well, no, but i didn't have to. i mean, in my previous life we wouldn't do that kind of thing, but politics being what they're, a better way of putting it, not politics but the kind of interaction here in washington, there's a lot of ways to communicate with people. >> intelligence sharing is something that's extraordinarily important to your job. if you get to the point where you now have our own intelligence community not very comfortable with how this administration is dealing with intelligence, how problematic is that for you? >> for me, and again i don't necessarily accept this -- the issue of -- the issues related to intelligence being a problem right now, but for me, i mean, i interact with my counterparts overseas all the time. i rely on all the intelligence

community to make decisions that i make. it's not an issue for me for sure. >> did you -- i want to just one more time go back to the russia thing. are you concerned that if there is a back channel over here that it is going to actually disrupt our ability to know what the russians are up to? >> just because you have a back channel, if indeed that's what jared was after, it doesn't mean that he then keeps everything secret. he shares that. but the back channels, as i understand it and of course every administration has had it forever. back channel communications with people are ways to communicate with people, again, not in front of the press as an example, but that information is not necessarily kept secret from the rest of the government. >> does jared kushner have the same level of security clearance that you do? >> i don't know. >> on intelligence? >> i don't know. >> is that something you should

know? >> not necessarily. everything we do in the security world, classification world, of course before i would start talking to anyone, i would make sure that they had the requisite security clearance. i'm cleared for top secret compartmented sci, that kind of thing. >> is jared the same way? >> i don't know, but if i had to talk to him or anyone else about the intelligence, i would make sure that they had that clearance before i talked to them. >> i got to ask you about a comment you made on friday. here it is. let me get you to explain. >> i was telling steve on the way in here, if he knew what i know about terrorism, he would never leave the house in the morning. >> i have to admit, it was a little jarring. i don't know if you meant it tongue in cheek or not. what do you mean by that? >> there are incredible plots against the united states, terrorism plots against the united states.

the really, really good news is that we have incredible men and women that are protecting us every day. the away game overseas, department of defense, cia, nsa, the home game fought by dhs, local law enforcement, fbi, every single day there are people plotting to try to hurt us from a terrorism point of view. and every single day we beat them, the men and women of the law enforcement, again i say the dhs, fbi, dod, we beat them every day, but we have to be perfected. they just have to be lucky once. >> it was interesting to me that you seem to say that you wouldn't sleep at night. i mean, how serious -- if we had a threat level the way the u.k. has it, would we be at the highest level? >> well, i mean, we have no specific threats right now. otherwise we would be at a higher level. but there's always a threat and

we just are vigilant every day. again, the 99.9% of americans can sleep safe in their homes at night. their children are protected, they are protected, but it is a relentless mission of our law enforcement, intelligence, military people to protect america. >> did british prime minister theresa may have a point when she kplancomplained to the unit states about leaks? >> she did. >> it did come from our side? >> i don't know where the leak came from but i will tell you this. my immediately called my counterpart in u.k. after offering my condolences about the attack in unbelievably the third time in 120 days i've done that, i've called the minister and offered my condolences. she immediately brought this topic up, and if it came from the united states it's totally

unacceptable. i don't know why people do these kind of things, but it's borderline if not over the line of treason. >> you believe it's treason to leak some of this stuff, you believe that? >> i do believe it is. i believe when you leak the kind of information that seems to be routinely leaked, high, high level of classification, you are telling -- >> what was leaked in this manchester bombing you believe maybe even meets a treason -- >> i think it's darn close to treason. >> mr. secretary, we've run out of time. i have to leave it there. coming up, how unusual is it for an incoming white house to attempt to arrange a back channel with a foreign government to allude u.s. monitoring? i'll ask my next guests, former director of national intelligence, james clapper. but first, throughout the show as we go to break on this memorial day weekend, we pause to honor our fallen men and women in uniform since last

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welcome back. as questions continue to swirl about the trump transition team's communication with the russians, i want to walk through the timeline of when specifically all of these events took place because we have learned more at least through the month of december 2016. it was onn the 1st or 2nd that mike flynn met with sergei kis ls lee -- kislyak. later he meets with sergei korsof. calls take place between flynn and kislyakislyak. joining me is the former director of national intelligence, james clapper. welcome back to the show. >> thanks, chuck. >> before i get to the rest of the story, you just heard secretary kelly talk about the leaks that took place. we know the u.k. complained

about the manchester bombing and they recovered to these leaks as walking up to the line of treason. some might say, hey, they're just leaking out something that they think the public should know. where do you draw that line? >> well, i think, first of all, i have to say that leaks are damaging. they're corrosive. they risk compromising sources, methods and trade craft. as we've seen recently, they damage relationships with crucial partners. u.k. and israel come to mind. this is particularly serious now because in my experience, 50-plus years in intelligence, i don't know of a time when we depended more on friends and allies for sharing information in intelligence, particularly with respect to terrorism. i know secretary kelly takes it quite seriously and he should. the legal definition of what's

treason, i'll leave that to the lawyers, but just from a pra practitioner's standpoint, leaks are bad. >> let me go through the issue that's been the bombshell this weekend, the issue that jared kushner, a private citizen, a private adviser at the time to t the president-elect was having meeting with the ambassador, sergey kislyak. we also learned that he met with the head of a russian sanctioned bank. are these things that you would have known? >> yes, they would have, and just to reinforce john brennan's -- former director of the central intelligence agency -- his comments before the house committee on intelligence, i have to say that without specific -- specifically affirming or confirming these conversations even though they're in the public realm,

they're sill classified, but just from a theoretical standpoint, i will tell you that my dashboard warning light was clearly on and i think that was the case with all of us in the intelligence community. very concerned about the nature of these approaches to the russians. if you put that in context with everything else we knew the russians were doing to interfere with the election, and just the historical practices of the russians who typically almost genetically driven to co-opt, penetrate, gain favor, whatever, which is a typical russian technique, we were concerned. >> and this is what's likely triggered the fbi's now extra attention to jared kushner that we've been reporting, that they believe he has more information,

they're saying he's not a target. it would have been intelligence like this that would have triggered it? >> i think so. i think john alluded to his concerns that he expressed to the fbi which is the proper channel. i have to say, you know, at the time i left i did not see any smoking gun evidence of collusion, but it certainly was appropriate for -- given all the signs, certainly appropriate for the fbi to -- and necessary for the fbi to investigate. >> sergey kislyak, the russian ambassador to the united states, there's been different ways people have described him. does the intelligence community believe he basically is an agent of the kgb -- excuse me, the fsb, the old kgb? >> given the fact that he oversees a very aggressive intelligence operation in this country, the russians have mortemor

more intelligence pray tioperat still after we got rid of 35 of them. to suggest that he is somehow separate or oblivious to that is a bit much. >> why didn't we kick him out? why didn't he specifically get sanctioned? if he basically is viewed not as the ambassador to a country, not as a diplomat but as basically the american head of an intelligence agency, that's sort of what you just described. >> i'm reflecting an intelligence perspective. intelligence people are paid to be suspicious and of course that -- whether to expel people or declare them png, at least in the last administration, was an interagency determination. so what we did do was get at 35 of the more notorious intelligence operatives and ask them to leave quickly. >> one of the caveats in "the

washington post" bombshell story was that the russians frequently will do misinformation, even in intel channels. how often does that happen? how likely is it in this case? >> it happens a lot. it happens overtly and covertly and certainly that was one of the tools that the russians used in the run-up to our election, was fake news, misinformation, paying trolls to insert phony information in social media. so this is standard practice of the russians and the soviets before them. >> if jared kushner's meeting with somebody that you referred to that sort of oversees a large intelligence operation, and while you said you didn't see any smoking gun on collusion, how close to the line is that in your mind? >> well, it certainly arouses the concern about what's going on. given russia, at least for my

money, is our primary adversary. they are not our friends. they are in to do us in. i have to say as well, chuck, we have kind of a time-honored custom in this country that we have one president and one administration at a time. oncoming administrations don't get a head start before the end of the current president's incumbency. >> what would you like to see? what's the appropriate action now that you would like to see take place against russia? is sanctions enough at this point? >> well, i think really not for me to say what happens now. i think certainly sanctions are a compelling, powerful weapon. the russians don't like them. i think the actions the last

administration took, the sanctions and the other actions on the 29th of december i always thought were a first step. i haven't seen any change in russian behavior anywhere that would merit a relaxation, and if anything, an increase in those sanctions as we've learned more about -- more has become public about what they're going to do. as i said at senator graham's subcommittee hearing on the 8th of may, they are only emboldened. they're going to continue to interfere in our political process, and to me that's the big story here and what american people should be concerned about. >> james clapper, i have to leave it there. the former director of national intelligence. you're almost going to be referred to as a member of congress. we see you up there. >> oh, i hope not. >> anyway, mr. clapper, thanks for coming on and sharing your views.

>> thanks, chuck. when we come back, much more on the russia investigation. plus, republican greg gianforte who infamous body slammed a reporter won that congressional rate in montana. but the democrats closed the gap, so which party has more reason to smile this weekend? first, we continue to honor those who have fallen since last memorial day. fallen since last memorial excuse me, are you aware of what's happening right now? we're facing 20 billion security events every day. ddos campaigns, ransomware, malware attacks... actually, we just handled all the priority threats. you did that? we did that. really. we analyzed millions of articles and reports. we can identify threats 50% faster. you can do that? we can do that. then do that.

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kimberl kimberley strausser. >> lets get people up to speed with this. not specific to what he's referring to but you will get the idea. it is my opinion that many opinions coming out from the white house are fabricated lies and made up by the media. >> fake news is the enemy. >> okay, amy walter, it is not!a specific. we don't want to assume that he's refer to a specific story of what's going onto his son-in-law. >> what we are learning is we don't know that there is a fire, we know there is a whole lot of smoke and the cloud is block everything. i think if you are the president right now trying to get back on course, you saw that that going over seas and having a foreign trip, nine days, this is going to reset and we'll be talking about that trip today. we are not talking about the nine days he spent over seas.

we are talking about what's happening here and we'll continue to talk about it. one of the most important things that he talked about with senator corkel that this black cloud is blocking out what republicans need to reset. it is getting points on the board with something legislatively. the one thing that have passed is the house healthcare bill, it is not popular, it is stuck in purgatory right now and the senate. all these other things and tax reforms and the budget. they're not going anywhere either. if you are thinking of running for re-election 2018, you are not worried about russia peace, what are you go i think to talk about when you go home and what you have been able to accomplish. >> there is been chatters or the

president is going to have somebody vetting his tweet. i think he got this. we did a cursor research. he has never used that phrase or "i think" in his tweet before. you think of these are low energy tweets from the president. we know the president aor the lawyers are going to be looking at his tweets. the nightmare is not the -- you have the family and finances. we are not talking about drip, drip, drip, anymore. it is a torrent. the difficult of this white house dealing exponentially raised by the fact that it is jared kushner and listening to the folks you had on earlier, the reluctant of republicans, remembering of the administration to criticize jared kushner because this is family. this is one of the reasons why

you avoid nepotism generally because he's the one guy that you cannot fire. he's so close to the fire. this raises the threat level exponentially. >> i think we are having a discussion that's divorced from reality this week. it is a stonishing. >> 2008, we are having an election. candidate obama since william miller -- this is a private citizen going to foreign soils to evade u.s. intelligence monitoring and6wváup!lishing bak channel with a sworn enemy of the united states who was actively disrupting our efforts in the military and the middle east. is that bad judgment or a badx? thing. back channel are completely normal, they happen all the

time. reagan did them and obama did them. i am not sure why at least the president is now elected setting up a back channel with the russians, it is somehow out of balance. here is one key difference. in october, months before this latest meeting and it was 18 separate contacts that we know of between the trump campaign. in october, the collective judgment, russia have been taken active measure interfering in our elections quite a difference. october. the now,+ólb president-elect decided he's going to name jim matt mattis. the son-in-law decided to open

this back channel. you don't go to the adversary country and up inside your facility security and in your embassy. we set it up in your security facility which takes them aback. that's bizarre. the idea that we'll do this on your facility, you send them to do that without jim mattis and then is it a channel about opening up negotiations in terms of something realistic and in terms of foreign policy. why are they back channelling a bank. a kremlin connected russian bank and why is the reuters support saying was a possibility of opening up opportunities for financing for trump related -- >> we don't know the answers to any of those questi questions. >> that's not a back channel. >> you have to follow the money and meetings and the lies and the attempts. >> we adopt hadon't have any of

information. >> the reality here is jared kushner and the trump administrations trusted the russians more than the intelligence committee. how could this not be suspicious? >> why would you trust? we cannot forget that the intelligence services and also the defense department are being run by the obama administrations. they have plenty of reasons not to#p$u want the obama add mi e administrations. >> what did they want to talk about? >> why would you not want to have all of these people in the department? >> in december, the election was over. in this country, we have a continuity of government, we hand over peaceful power. are you telling me that the now elected trump administration did not trust john brennan that some

how these straight arrow guys are working to under mind, are they seeing them some sort of d disdent. >> one of the most interesting news that came out. the obama administrations have been engaged in abusing fourth amendment protection by unmasking people identity which they did not acknowledge to the courts that brought up major /gv concerns. >> you are not talking about what i just mentioned. >> i am going to pause this conversation because i do have to go to break because i do have to pay for bills. let me do that. coming up, hillary clinton's first full throw criticism of president trump. >> denying things we see with our own eyes, like the size of

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welcome back, is donald trump remaking the republican party or is the party remaking itself. in a way allowing donald trump to walk in. our data guru analyzing the polling going back to 2010 helping us to understand this helping us to understand this education is a key measure. 41% of college graduates calling themselves republicans while 39% say they were democrats. a six point jump when you look at it. democrats now have the edge with college educated voters. republicans have seen a five point jump with that group of democrats have seen a five point drop. also, a significant swing. education gap follows some geographic trend that we have been following and helps explain

some of the most vulnerable rank. other areas where republicans have seen the most growth, men over the age of 50 of five points. rural voters up to five points, those are between the ages of 50 and 64. now, for the democrats, there is been a 7 point jump for those making 30 or $50,000 a year, in the middle class. 18 to 34 years old, not just millennial and those of post graduate degree are always up six points. we are in a political realignment. we are in the middle of it and it is not clear. it is going to take more than one election to figure it out. these trends help explain why barack obama won two terms and why donald trump won in november. this process is still fluid and making our elections

unpr1,h;able than we have become used to. >> we want to know the passing of former senator and hall-of-fame jim bundy died yesterday yesterday. the only member of congress to throw a perfectw:

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back now with end game, we have to try to get all of these stuff in. montana and amy walter, republicans won by six points that hasqewú a democratic demographic. looks like a trump state, who should feel good right now? >> on the republican side, they got a win. it is good for recruiting and retaining. this is the time of the year where people trying to get

candidates to run and getting donors the support candidates and getting members incumbent to run for reelections. >> on the republican side, the bad side, if you are democrats, what you are looking for is the margins of a lot of these regions. democrats over performing a traditional democrat can be. twelve points in montana. democrats got to perform nationally and some where between five or eight points. it will help in the lighter shade. >> charlie, i does seem as if, georgia is a must win for the democrats, is it? >> very much so in terms of set th that narratives. we moved the line of acceptable behavior. you are referring to the body

slamming reporter. >> yes. >> so many republicans felt that triable loyalty demanded that they rationalize this. what's been happening. whether you want to call donald trump the role model or the fact that you have so many now republicans conservati republican conservatives and i am one of them. this thin skinned, nastiness. >> mark sanders put a voice to this. i submitted the president as unearth some demons. if the president can say whatever, why cannot i say whatever? he's giving them license. >> i don't think you can blame the body slamming of a reporter on president trump. we listen to a president setting tones and standards. all of us would be happier if president trump is exuding of a

respectful term to everybody. people like that he's blunt l7ñ spoken. there is a difference between blunt spoken or crude or courteous. >> words have consequences and ideas have consequences. it is one thing to be upset with the biassed of the news media. we moved the line to just pure raw loathing. >> last word. >> you had donald trump this morning tweeting that journ journalis journalists, he meant journalists of washington times making up source. a gentleman at a trump rally that had a shirt on that says "rope journalists." he sets the tone. >> that's all i have for today. we'll be

on this memorial day president trump unleashes a twitter storm on multiple fronts. tragedy for one of the navy's elite leap frogs as a parachute malfunctions over new york harbor. unbelievable airborne crash at the indy 500 and drivers involved are all okay. caroline kennedy reflects on her father. on this memorial day between the barbecuing and long weekend we say thank you to all who have served. "early today" starts right now. good morning. >> we appreciate you being