investigation grows. two indictments, one guilty plea and the promise of more. president trump denies any involvement with russia during his campaign. >> all i can tell you is this, there was no collusion. >> and lashes out at his own justice department. >> i'm really not involved with the justice department. i'd like to let it run itself, but honestly they should be looking at the democrats. >> my guests this morning, two members of the senate intelligence committee investigating russian involvement. the chief democrat on the panel, mark warner and republican james lankford. plus, democrats in disarray. the former head of the dnc says the clinton campaign was so dysfunctional she wanted to replace the

with joe biden and cory booker. i'll talk to dnc chairman tom perez about that and about the democrats' must-win governor's race in virginia on tuesday. >> this is ned brooks inviting you to "meet the press." and celebrating the 70 years of "meet the press" sf." >> i have no doubt i'd beat mr. nixon. >> elections matter. i think votes matter. >> the elections, the presidents, the candidates and the news makers who have made history right here on "meet the press." joining me no insight and analysis are nbc special correspondent tom brokaw, peggy noonan, "washington post" columnist eugene robinson and nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt. welcome to sunday for 70 years and counting, it's "meet the press." from nbc news in washington, the longest-running show in television history

i ing its 70th year. >> good sunday morning. welcome to our anniversary broadcast. 70 years ago tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. that the first moderator of "meet the press," mara roundtree brought viewers what we call america's press conference of the air. it was brought to you by maxwell house coffee. good to the last drop. a long time political aide to fdr and a former chairman of the democratic national committee. we have the current dnc on the today's broadcast, by the way. throughout the morning we'll bring you some of the familiar faces who have appeared on this the longest running broadcast in television history. we have a job to do and we begin with the russia investigation and the walls closing in on people close to the trump campaign and the white house. the more we've learned about the trump team's ties to russia, the more people in the president's circle have changed their

stories. attorney general jeff sessions, former national security adviser mike flynn, mr. trump's son-in-law jared kushner, his oldest son donald trump jr. and foreign policy advisers carter page, j.d. gordon and george papadopoulos, whose pled guilty to lying to the fbi. in fact, it was papadopoulos' guilty plea in particular, along with two other indictments this week by special counsel robert mueller, that seemed to unnerve the white house and to prompt president trump to lash out at his own justice department. >> i'm really not involved with the justice department. i'd like to let it run itself, but honestly they should be looking at the democrats. >> as the special counsel's russia probe begins to put pressure on mr. trump's inner circle, the president is stepping up his attacks on law enforcement. >> the saddest thing is that because i'm the president of the united states i at not supposed to be involved with the justice department. i'm not supposed to be involved with the fbi. i'm not supposed to be doing the kind of things that i would love to be doing, and i'm very

frustrated by it. >> after robert mueller unveiled his first criminal charges this week against mr. trump's former campaign chairman and two other former aides, mr. trump lashed out in a flurry of tweets. everybody is asking why the justice department and fbi isn't looking into all of the dishonesty going on with crooked hillary and the dems. >> all i can tell you is this, there was no collusion, there was no nothing. it's a disgrace, frankly, that they continue. >> meanwhile, the number of contacts between the trump campaign and the russians continues to grow. and stories keep shifting. trump campaign volunteer adviser george papadopoulos pled guilty to lying to the fbi by denying he was involved with the campaign in april 2016. when he was offered, quote, dirt on the hillary clinton. including thousands of e-mails by russian contacts. mr. trump once praised papadopoul.

oil and energy consultant. excellent guy. >> but though the president frequently boasts about his memory, including last week -- >> one of the great memories of all time. >> the president now says he has trouble remembering a march 2016 meeting at which papadopoulos floated the idea of a campaign sit-down with vladimir putin which never occurred. >> i don't remember much about that meeting. it was a very unimportant meeting. it took place a long time. >> youth campaign adviser j.d. gordon who was also in the room tells nbc that mr. trump listened with interest but then senator jeff sessions, who is now attorney general, opposed the idea. this new information contradicts statements by the president. >> can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia during the course of the election? >> no, nobody that i know of. >> and it contradicts what sessions has told congress under oath. >> you don't believe that surrogates from t

the russians? is that what you're saying? >> i did not and i'm not aware of anyone else that did. >> joining me now is the democratic senator from virginia mark warner. he's vice chair of the senate intelligence committee. senator warner, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. first of all, congratulations to you. you and your team for 70 great years of journalism. >> that i appreciate. hopefully we'll be here for another 70. let me start with what we learned this week or what you learned this week from the special counsel's indictments. do you believe that the fact that we've already seen some stories change this week or additional information about either contacts with russians or ideas of meeting with russians, do you feel like that's all coming from the indictments, that this is the impact of those first indictments from the special counsel? >> well, the committee itself has been aware of some of this information and we've been continuing to work. i know you're going

friend james lankford on later. i'm very proud, our committee is the only bipartisan group still looking at this. what we did see this week, though, was one more example of at least where the russians had what appeared to be a fairly organized effort in terms of trying to reach out to folks affiliated with the trump campaign to share, quote, unquote, dirt on e-mails about hillary clinton. we've seen it with the case of mr. papadopoulos. we saw it in the case of the so-called june 9th meeting with donald trump jr. we've got a lot more questions to get answered. we've got a number of other individuals that we're going to want to interview. our effort is separate obviously from the special prosecutor's, but i think we're both proceeding ahead. >> but i'm curious, does the threat of more indictments to come, which i'm sure many folks believe is happening inside the mueller probe, probably you expect them as well. is that going to make folks more cooperative with your investigation or do you fear now that because the mueller probe is

legal jeopardy will actually make them clam up with you? >> well, we've actually interviewed literally a couple hundred individuals. many times without actually even the knowledge of the press. we've worked with a lot of these individuals cooperatively. we've got more to do. obviously mueller's got a different lane and as people fall into the realm of legal jeopardy, they may be less willing to talk to us, but i've been very pleased so far in terms of the level of cooperation we've had from virtually everyone. >> is there a point, though, where you're going to run into each other? >> listen, just as we -- if you look back in the days of the watergate, there was a special congressional committee. there was also a special prosecutor. >> yeah. >> we've got different lanes. you know, they're looking for criminal indictment. we're trying to make sure that we find out what happened in 2016. was there collusion? we've got a different factual basis that we're trying to hit at and i think we're going to

and i think we will do that. >> have you interviewed george papadopoulos? >> listen, i'm not going to talk about which witnesses that we've seen or not seen, but the chairman and i did indicate that mr. papadopoulos had been on our screen for a long time. >> okay. so you're not confirming or denying whether you've interviewed him? >> again, what the chairman and i have said is we don't comment on specific witnesses, but we put out a joint statement that mr. papadopoulos had been on our screen for a long time. >> let me ask you about former national security adviser michael flynn and his son michael g. flynn. i know there were reports that your committee was meeting resistance from them when it comes to cooperating with your investigation. are you still meeting that same resistance with the two of them? >> chuck, again, the way we get the kind of cooperation with the witnesses is frankly to not share the kind of weekly box score of who we've seen and who

we've got a lot of folks that we have seen. we've got more folks that we need to. at the end of the day, what we owe the american people is the truth, and most importantly how we make sure that we don't have a foreign power and a foreign power like russia intervene again in our elections. that's really important, whether it's the potential issue as round collusion or the kind of questions we've seen in terms of interference with 21 states' electrical syste electoral systems. >> let me quickly ask you about the steele dossier. you're the chair, your partner there republican senator richard burr said you've hit a brick wall on the steele dossier. you confirmed or have been able to rebuild it i think it what he said going back to june. but you'd hit a brick wall in part because you haven't been able to speak to mr. steele. have you still hit that brick wall or have you broken through it? >> listen, the steele dossier,

in who paid for it. we've got information now there were republican payments, democrat payments. at the end of the day, what i want to know and the what's true in the steele dossier and what's not true. this is a fairly damning indictment and i wish mr. steele would talk to our committee. we've reached out. he's refused to do so, so far. we hold out the option that the chairman and i have said we'll meet him any place, anywhere. >> i want to ask you something about the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said about social media companies. i know you want to try to come up with some legislation that makes advertising more transparent. listen to an idea he brought up with hugh hewitt on saturday. >> what we ought to do with regard to the russians is retaliate. seriously, retaliate against the russians. and the -- these tech firms could be helpful in giving us a way to do that. >> what do you think of that idea? getting the tech companies to cooperate in a retaliatory strike of

russians? >> well, chuck, i actually agree with the majority leader that we need a cyber doctrine for a long time i think we have had incoming whether it was russians, chinese, others where we've had cyber attacks, misinformation, disinformation attacks. we need to have both defense and offensive capabilities. but i also believe we need to make sure that we apply at least the lightest touch possible. i was in the tech business for 20 years. i'm pro-tech, i'm pro-innovation, but i think at the basics we ought to make sure when we're receiving political advertising these companies would work with us to identify if a foreign power is behind that advertising. think americans have a right to know. >> all right. senator warner, i have to leave it there for time. thanks for coming on. >> thank you chuck. >> joining me now is republican senator james lankford of oklahoma. he too is also a member of the intelligence commi

"meet the press," sir. >> good morning. you don't look a day over 60 honestly. i'm surprised you're there for 70 years. >> well, we're benjamin button here. we're growing older as we get younger. let me ask you this, it's a similar question to what i asked senator warner. at what point are you concerned that the special counsel's investigation gets in the way of your investigation? >> i'm actually not concerned about that at all. we have individual lanes. we have deconfliction that happens regular. they're focused on criminal investigations. we're focused on armchair quarterbacking, making sure every witness has been seen and we're going through the policy aspects. long-term we have policy issues how we handle elections, how we handle social media, how we're handling classified information and that is getting out in the public sfeef. the special counsel has things that he will uniquely work on as well. >> about a month ago on "mtp daily" i ask you do to define collusion and you said it's

with a foreign power to be able to influence our election? that's the key question that still has to be resolved. the george papadopoulos news and guilty plea on lying to the fbi and at least making contact with a russian, at that point -- do you look at that as attempted collusion? >> well, what i look at that is actually no surprise in this. the russians were reaching out trying to find some way to influence it. the big challenge that i mentioned at tat time was an american reaching back and trying to engage with that. that's something that george papadopoulos told the fbi he had not participated in that obviously the russians reached out to them. he seemed to reach back out to them and say, okay, sure, i'd be very interested in that. now the next challenge is did anyone else from the campaign do that? he was a volunteer. he seemed to advertise himself around the world for being more fluent in the campaign than he was and it looks line the russians took the bait on that. >> i know you've been

get information out of both the national security adviser mike flynn and his son mike flynn jr. what role do you believe mike flynn jr. may play in this investigation? >> that's actually what we're going to try to ask and find out. we want to be engaged in all areas of that and ask them both every question we can possibly get out. as you and i have talked about before, a lot of americans are going to say did you ask this person that question? we're going to make sure that gets out. >> are they being cooperative? >> i'm going to leave that up to the chairman and the vice chairman to be able to determine how cooperative they've been in coming in and out. there is a lot with any investigation where we build a lot of information before you meet with the final principal so you have the right questions to ask at the right time. >> i want to ask you about a group of house republicans that is pushing for bob mueller's resignation. it's only three strong today, but given the narrative being pushed more aggressively than ever about democrats needing to be investigated here. how concerned are you that mueller will be

maybe the president is upset. maybe it becomes some congressional resolution. is that something that should be discussed? >> that's -- that's not a threat at this point. bob mueller needs to be able to finish his investigation. the challenge of any investigation like this is how long it could go on and how broad it could be. again, you go back to the reagan administration, that special counsel was in place for six years. they extended even past the reagan administration being in office. we don't want to see that but i do think bob mueller needs to be able to do his investigation, do it independently, stay in mace, use the resources he has as he gets to all the facts. >> do you think congress needs to sort of codify his role to protect him? >> no, i don't. there has been a lot of back and forth to say -- at some point the president said he needs to -- he doesn't need to be there. i don't think that's the white house position. the white house has said over and over again they have no desire to push him out. that shouldn't be an action of congress as well. let's let him finish his job. >> i want to get your action to the frustration i guess that

president can't order the justice department to do an investigation or can't order the fbi to do it. these attacks on the justice department, are they proper and what is your reaction to it? >> i think it's a natural reaction of a president who doesn't have a political background on it. i understand that full-well. i don't either on that. he's stepping in and saying, hey, that's not my role. they've got to do their job. we hat similar conversations when president obama dressed down the supreme court. when he made comments to the fcc and the fcc was an independent body. i think this is a natural reaction. president trump says it a little bit more blunt. president obama was a little more nuanced but he also spoke about independent agencies and spoke about the court. we'll allow the president to be the president. >> i want to ask you about the attorney general, though. at least one time he's been caught misleading under oath. there are some questions whether he did it a second time. i think that would be an argument for some trial lawyers to have, but on its face it leads to be some

that? >> i'm actually not concerned about it. some of the statements about jeff sessions saying that he didn't know of anyone on the campaign. for george papadopoulos to be -- to pop out during one of the foreign affairs committees that they had that was this advisory group and to say, hey, we should get access to the russians. i have access to someone in march i don't think is that big of an issue. it was a volunteer group. it was something the campaign turned down. it was an individual that was a volunteer that made that comment. what we're looking for is internal within the machine, within the paid staff as a strategic thing. not did some russian reach out to a volunteer and did that volunteer try to oversell their position? that is an issue that the fbi needs to address. we're looking for systemic issues. >> one question on the tax bill. you yourself said you know there are going to be a lot more iterations of this that come out. i'm curious, do you have a red line? you've been a big deit

that something you're comfortable with supporting, even if the debt is increased, given that you have been a pretty tough critic of increasing the debt in the past? >> i'm actually not comfortable with increasing the debt. this has been a behind the scenes conversation for a long time. it's one thing to be able to cut taxes. it's another thing to say how are we going to deal with our debt and deficit? my main focus has been whatever economic growth model we put in place has to be reasonable to do it. if we cut taxes right now, we're expecting a .4% growth in the economy to be able to offset that. that's a pretty conservative estimate of economic growth. our economy for the last ten years has not grown above 2% -- above 3% a single year. we are stuck in a rut. we're going to have to bump the record player to get something going on the economy again. >> if this tax bill increases the debt too much, you're a no? >> i am a no. i want to make sure that we have reasonable assumptions in the process for growth

senator james lankford, republican from oklahoma. the state that hosted one of the craziest football games of the day yesterday. thanks for coming on. appreciate you. >> it was a pretty amazing day. >> that's for sure. when we come back, president trump keeps saying he's not under investigation. is that still true? and throughout this anniversary broadcast, we're going to show you some of the great moments and familiar faces that have appeared on "meet the press" over the years. we're going to start with some of the men who have taken up residence just a few miles from our studios at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> ronald reagan. >> george bush been w. >> barack obama. >> mr. trump, welcome back to "meet the press." >> that segregation is unconstitutional. >> the watergate matter should have been handled properly. apart from the fact it was wrong, it was stupid. >> some people when you say conservative, they automatically assume you're talking about a monster who eats his young. >> i don't think the president gets anywhere by

>> first of all, i expected to find the weapons. >> when i take executive action, i want to make sure it's sustainable. >> it will work out so well. you'll be so happy. if your years you'll be interviewing me and ♪ interviewing me and ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ another day of work. why do you do it? it's not just a pay check, you actually like what you do. even love it. and today, you can do things you never could before. ♪ ♪ you're developing ai applications on the cloud.

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xt era belongs the next energy toto power our dreams,re will be american energy. welcome back. panel is here. a man who has sat in this moderator's chair, tom brokaw. "wall street journal" columnist peggy noonan, kasie hunt, of course, nbc's capitol hill correspondent and host of msnbc's kasie d.c. i'm going to try to come up with a kasie reference. and "washington post" columnist eugene robinson. welcome back books welcome all to the anniversary show. let's get to work here. i want to put up a graph that i -- i'm curious if you all see this the way that garrett graff in "wired" sees it about bob mueller. the approach then and now has almost always been similar, work

encourage them to cooperate with the government against their bosses in exchange for a lighter sentence and complete the process until the circle has tightened closely around the godfather or the criminal mastermind. >> i've been talking to members of the white collar crime bar here in washington, d.c. and that's pretty much how they see it, but what we don't know is what the endgame is going to be. so i think we always have to be very careful during these kinds of situations not to speculate about what is going to happen. we can deal with the process, but we don't know what the endgame is likely to be at this point, but everybody in washington i've been talking to thinks there is no way that papadopoulos is not singing his heart out at this point and that manafort and gates will have something to say as well that will help them in some fact. prima facie, they're in a lot of trouble based on what know right now. >> peggy, after the indictment it is sounded like people's mees

>> that will happen. look, i think the real headline here is that it is becoming clear that with a great deal of seriousness mueller and his special prosecutor office is going forward kind of thoughtfully, which is a very good thing. i think it's clear that this whole russian question is a real cloud on the horizon of the trump administration. every day they're getting up looking at the horizon and the cloud is there. what one would hope for as things progress, and i sense also they may be speeding up, is that mueller's office will go forward understanding that about half the country or more thinks that he's doing a necessary investigation, a good one. it will be helpful. and maybe less than half but still a number of americans will think this is just the swamp hitting back. >> you know, kasie, i asked james lankford about tha

republican effort. it's only three-strong right now. james lankford wanted to almost be very dismissive of it. what is the mood on capitol hill about mueller. >> i think there is a sense they really want the white house to stay out of the way. i fink if the president were to try to interfere he may be surprised by how much pushback he would face. partly because i think they just like the rest of the country want to know where mueller is going here. both investigations on capitol hill to a certain extent i think have started to fade into the background as much as they don't, you know, mark warner -- >> you don't want to say that. >> wouldn't want to say that. they have learned more than you would expect from the press and that has helped drive some of the questions that they are asking, but the seriousness and the speed with which mueller moved, i think a lot of them were surprised by the news last weekend with papadopoulos. it tells you a little bit about where things are going. >> i'd say that's exactly right. a lot of people on the hill and

about papadopoulos. we didn't know anything about that. what is else don't we know about? i'm convinced there is something. he's very good at keeping secrets. there is a name that wasn't mentioned last week, michael flynn. >> right. >> the flynns are, you know, in some peril. are they cooperating? is he talking to them? one assumes he's talking to them. he wants to. who knows. >> this president doesn't compartmentalize anything, tom, so the minute there is something, he speaks. and it did seem as if he just lashed out. i can't believe i can't order the fbi to investigate the democrats. i can't do these things. obviously that makes republicans on the hill a bit nervous that he keeps doing that. >> it's always someone else's fault. this president more than anyone i can remember in my lifetime is pointing fingers at everybody else except himself. the president is elected not to just be the king, the president is elected to be our principal political leader in this country and to work with the other branches of government to get something done on behalf of the american people.

but his whole modus operandi is to get up in the morning and say, i'm great, it's all their problem. and even members of his loyal circle and it's a very much smaller circle these days said stop tweeting. we don't need to hear from you anymore. i was out in wyoming where people were saying just shut up for while. the single biggest issue in a macro sense is how do we bring the country back together again? what he is doing is constantly trying to divide the country. >> do you think we can brynn the country back together before the mueller probe ends? i don't, peggy. i feel like that sits out there almost as a wet blanket on that issue. >> i think if at the end of the mueller probe people understand it was done not in a showbiz way, in a dramatic way, in a debt trump way, in the swamp hits back way, but it was done soberly, patriotically, in a kind of moderate way where you're not looking to do dumb stuff. re

conclusions and a serious report, it will come to be respected and that will bring things together on this issue. >> okay. on this issue alone. well, those other issues we're going to get to in a bit. when we come back, actually, word that the former head of the democratic party wanted to dump the clinton/kaine ticket as late as last september. i'm going to talk to the current chairman of the dnc tom perez about that and more. but as we go to work on this 70th anniversary. a look back at the moderators of "meet the press" over the years. >> now ms. martha roundtree, producer of "meet the press." >> now who has the first question? >> this is ned brooks. >> this is bill nonrow. >> i'm roger mudd. >> what is george bush? >> hello again, on "meet the press" today, the middle east. >> you are seriously thinking about running for president of the reform party. >> well, it may very well be. >> if it's sunday. >> it's "meet the press."

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your medical history. gallbladder problems have happened in some people. tell your doctor right away if you get symptoms. taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion, and constipation. side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. ask your doctor about victoza®. welcome back. just days before democrats face what many consider a must-win race for governor of virginia, former chairwoman of the democratic national committee

party. two, actually. donna brazile claims in her new book that before she took over the dnc, the process was essentially rigged in favor of hillary clinton over bernie sanders. and perhaps more alarming, brz writes that after clinton's september 11th fainting spell, she considered trying to replace the struggling clinton/tim kaine ticket with vice president joe biden and new jersey senator cory booker. now the clinton campaign team responded last night in an open letter signed by a number of staffers, quote, it is particularly troubling and puzzling that brazile would seemingly buy into false russian-fuelled propaganda spread by both the russians and her opponent about her candidate's health. tom perez is the current dnc chair and he joins me now. >> good morning. happy anniversary. >> thank you, sir. you and james farley first guest to last with 70 years in between. let me ask you this, oe

account of flipping the ticket. donna brazile says she was under enormous pressure to have a backup plan to do this. is that a fair -- is that a fair response to all of this criticism that she's been getting? >> well, you know, chuck, first of all, let me say -- i will answer that question very directly, but everywhere i go right now we're focused on elections on tuesday in virginia and new jersey, and what people are telling me is they want to know how they're going to get their good jobs back, how they're going to get health care, how they're going to make sure they feed their family. that's the focus of democrats across this country. let me get back to your very important question. i have great respect for donna. consider her a friend. she's done a lot for the democratic party. the charge that hillary clinton was somehow incapacitated is quite frankly ludicrous. hillary clinton was a tireless senator, a tireless secretary of state and a tireless candidate. >> you agree with the clinton campaign that donna brazile fell for russian propaganda? >> i don't know what

under the rules and bylaws of the democratic national committee, she couldn't have done this. hillary clinton was anything but incapacitated. she was tireless. she was a workhorse. and, frankly, what saddens me about this as much as anything is i think people who read that charge, which is just without merit, are going to perhaps start wondering about other claims in the book. >> all right. let me ask you about other claims in the book, including this idea that essentially the dnc was playing favorites. the process -- she says it wasn't a criminal act but she thought it compromised the party's integrity. there has been some stiff reaction from progressives. nina turner, jeff weaver, the former bernie sanders campaign manager called it a laundering operation. senator elizabeth warren told me that you're being tested and your vice chair said this. donna brazile's account cannot simply be dismissed. okay, elizabeth warren says you're being

trust with sanders supporters that the dnc is going to be a fair place to -- going to be a fair abettor here for the party? >> i accept every test. i ran for this office because i believe in this party and i knew we needed to up our game -- i'm thinking of tim russert. i'm a buffalo guy. you've got to understand that, chuck. here's my view on this, when i hear the word rigged, let's be very clear, hillary clinton won the democratic primary by 4 million votes. the democratic national committee does not run elections for primaries. the republican national committee does not run elections. states run elections. and those elections were run by the states. we run caucuses and bernie sanders did very well in the caucus. where i think both senators warren and keith ellison and myself, where we agree is we have to earn the trust of the voters. and during the process of the democratic primary, we fell short in

i accepted that responsibility. here's what we're doing about it. number one, in the future moving forward to 2020, we're going to be announcing our democratic debate schedule before we know who the candidates are. because the number one goal has to be to be fair and transparent. all of our fund-raising agreements, our partnerships will be available to everyone, as they were actually in 2016. and then what we have to do is make sure we're also working with voters up and down america, rural america, urban america, everywhere in between to earn their trust. >> don't you owe the sanders campaign an investigation? i mean, donna brazile put that charge out. don't you and keith ellison, shouldn't you guys look back and see if her charges are true? >> well, again, i totally agree, chuck, with the notion that the dnc fell short during critical moments. >> so they did play favorites? >> i think we have to do better is what we have to do, chuck. and that's why i was very clear during our pry

during the campaign for dnc chair that we have to make sure that everybody feels at the end of the process that everyone got a fair shake. that's what we're about, chuck, and that's what we have to do. that's how we earn people's trust. >> i've got to ask you about tuesday's elections here. there have been a lot of charges about who is running a hateful or angry campaign. terry mcauliffe called ed gillespie's campaign racist. i've got to play this ad that a latino group ran and you're going to see a virginia governor candidate response to it. take a look. >> run, run, run! >> drive a pickup truck? democrats think you're a racist. support the president? democrats think you're a racist. it's despicable and it's wrong. >> i'm sure you've been familiar with the ad itself and the controversy around the ad. and the republican party's response, that it was

like it when, you know, when republicans stereotype. aren't you stereotyping? i drive a pickup truck. are all pickup truck drivers racist? that's what the ad -- do you understand why some people think the ad implies that? >> well, you know, let's be clear, chuck, about what's happening in the race in virginia and all too many other races, dog whistle politics. steve bannon just endorsed ed gillespie in virginia this morning. and throughout this campaign ed gillespie has been fearmongering. he's doing the same thing that donald trump did. that's not fair. that's not right. virginia under ralph north am's leadership and justin fairfax leadership, they're looking for ways to unite people. when you hit the bully back and the bully starts crying, those are crocodile tears to me. >> does the party have to do some soul searching if don't win virginia governor. >> we're going to

with justin fairfax. we had people from our revolution there. people from swing left there. we had people from the dnc there. the people across america that i see every day in virginia, new jersey and washington state and district 45, they're moving forward. they want us to focus on the future. we're building that infrastructure of success. we've knocked on twice as many doors as we did four years ago when terry mcauliffe one and i'm confiden confident we're going to win this tuesday both in virginia, new jersey and many other key race as cross the country. >> we'll we watching. it's going to be close and interesting. tom perez, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. quick programming note. my "nbc nightly news" colleague lester holt is going to be reporting from south korea tomorrow and tuesday. of course president trump is in the region as well. coming up, why democrat so desperately want to move away from fights over 2016 and figure out a strategy for 2020. of course maybe they need to

figure out one for 2017. this is it, the final 48 hours. in the next administration, if i should be elected president -- i have no doubt that i can beat mr. nixon. >> most vice presidents don't do very much even of that. >> there is no way my campaign would end, short of death or inability to function. >> you want to be president? >> i do. >> will you serve your full six-year term as u.s. senator from illinois? >> absolutely. some of this hype has been a little overblown. >> do sarah palin and i disagree on a specific issue? yeah, because we're both mavericks. >> where do you think things are? >> i think we're making real progress. >> i'm going to keep focused on donald trump because i will be the nominee. >> you replied, shot is trump and it is sold-out performances everywhere. >> and it has been for a long time. >> is it?

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43. throw those who appeared before and after and seen 12 presidents at "meet the press." herbert hoover in the '350s, and each and every one of the last 11 presidents. 82 heads of state from 37 different countries have appeared on "meet the press" in the last 70 years from fidel castro to vladimir putin to gandhi w endurea gandhi. emphasizing the show's importance to political leaders across the country and right here in washington. it should come as no surprise then that our interviewed guests with the most appearances are all elected congressional leaders. senator john mccain tops the list with 73 appearances on the show. he's followed by bob dole, newt gingrich, joe biden and chuck schumer. and, of course, there would be no "meet the press" without the

and the show's older format where a panel of reporters asked a guest questions, these were our top panelists, may craig and david breeder leading the way with over 200 appearances each. the format you know today with our regular political roundtable was introduced when the show permanently expanded to one hour in 1992. our most protect roundtable guests since that time, david breeder again, william sapphire, david brooks, doris k. good win and robert novack. we can't forget our own team here at nbc. andrea mitchell has appeared on the broadcast 207 times with tom brokaw and lisa myers rounding out the top three. there was too -- we have four competitors now, all anchored by serious journalists. nbc news started something here and that's the legacy we're most proud of. we'll be back with endgame

as we go to break, a little more "meet the press" history with our coverage of civil rights and social change throughout the years. >> "meet the press" focuses on the country's number one domestic problem, civil rights. >> we have waited for 345 years for our basic constitutional and god-given rights. we're were knocked down. >> everything i did during the war was to try to bring it to a close. >> ever since the inception of the republic have you had a woman seriously running for the presidency. >> what kind of choice is it after all to be able to go out and earn half as much as the men. >> everyone is entitled to the same exact rights. this is electricity.

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ll, because it tells us something powerful about progress: that whether times are good or bad, people and their ideas will continue to move the world forward. as long as they have someone to believe in them. citi financed the transatlantic cable that connected continents. and the panama canal, that made our world a smaller place. we backed the marshall plan that helped europe regain its strength. and pioneered the atm, for cash, anytime. for over two centuries we've supported dreams like these. and the people and companies behind them. so why should that matter to you? because, today, we are still helping progress makers turn their ideas into reality. and the next great idea could be yours.

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it's why we give back to communities that have lost everything. and why you'll see us working with emergency crews. and why we'll be there, every day, until service is restored. when disaster strikes, people need to connect. it's why we're proud to partner with firstnet, the nationwide public safety broadband network. connecting those in need & those who can help. that's the power of &. back now with end game. gene, donna brazile, what did she -- what did the clintons do to her? >> that's a good question i'd like to

>> i don't know what other way to ask this question. >> no, it's a good question. she just said this morning on another network anybody that didn't like her telling her story can go to hell. so she's determined to tell her story and i too think there must have been some interaction between her and the clinton campaign, between her and clinton, some interaction that left a very sour taste in her mouth. >> i think this is a manifestation of all that is wrong with the democratic party, frankly. this is a time they ought to be talking about the future and organize themselves for what they want to do with the country. we go back and we've got this fight going on about something that happened some time ago. donna is well-known, as you all know, for kind of ready, fire, aim on a lot of the stuff she does. but to go back over this now when they're trying to win congressional races and trying to get ready for '18 seems to me to be beyond counterproductive. >> well, and if virginia

you -- >> and it could. >> 100%. let me read you andrew sullivan, by the way, on virginia, kasie and peggy. north am seems to be almost a classic democratic politician of our time. i have no idea what his core message is and neither does he. he has negative charisma. more to the point, he is running against an am fibbion swamp creature ed gillespie, and yet the washington lostist and outflanking him on policy. i don't know if you could have written that. >> that's amazing. that's wonderful. think it's all true. i think one of the interesting things about virginia is that it went by six points for mrs. clinton in the last cycle. now we have a republican and a democrat neck and neck. if trump were the issue or part of the issue as many democrats in virginia have suggested, it wouldn't be a neck and neck

>> you've got a 37% job approval. >> i think the democratic nominee has simply made some mistakes. those commercials you showed parts of very much one of the statues controversy, very much bringing that up. when people -- assuming people were going to agree him him and people sort of went, oh, did we have to do this? can we do economy? can we do other things. i don't think he had a great campaign. >> if northam losing, i think they're going to realize they made the exact same mistakes in virginia that they did in the presidential campaign. we chose the candidate we thought was going to win at the expense of the progressive that we thought was going to win. this dnc controversy, every democrat tries to ignore questions about it. they pretend they're not even seeing it. they have their heads in the sand about the state of their own liberal base and watch the republicans self-emulate so they're ignoring their own problems. it's going to ce

>> i can make this counterargument about the brazile book and the allegations, which is that this was going on beneath the surface. >> yep. >> whether or not, you know, it wasn't clearly visible, but perhaps it was a boil that had to be lanced at some point and a fight that democrats have to have. >> that said, look, ed gillespie is running away from donald trump the individual, tom, but he has run on trumpism a little bit. he's going hard on immigration. and going hard on this monuments thing. if he wins, emulated around the country for republicans? >> well, in the republican party there is still the core trump believers that are out there. if you look at this latest poll where his numbers are historically low except in his base where they're very high at this point. i said earlier i was in powell, wyoming. they voted 70% for trump. i went back a month ago, they now vote 69.8% for trump. they're still there with him. they want him to stop tweeting, but they believe the country is broken and they think that things are not gettingdo

know, on this side of the hudson river, a lot of people out there and especially in a state like virginia which is still having the north/south battle going on, the southern part of the state versus the northern part of the state. >> ed gillespie the man is one of the republicans who is least like president trump. chuck, you and i have been working with him in his capacity for years as somebody who is a part of the system here. if you watch his ads on television, he is running as donald trump. >> all right. let's have a little anniversary fun. all of your first appearances on show show. tom brokaw, october 31st, 1973. the morning after the saturday night massacre. 24 times as moderator. how about that? pretty good there. peggy noonan, yours was june 6, 2004. >> the challenger had blown up. one of the first things he said was -- >> 26 times. very ni.

2005. 40 times for you, sir. >> very interesting. >> showing the style, different glasses. a little goatee. >> kasie hunt, you've changed so much since january of 2014. >> focus on trying to figure out, okay, would i be okay with donald trump? >> you've been on this show throw times. tom, you're wearing a very special tie this morning. tell the story. >> i actually selected this knowing we'd be coming here. this is a tie that was designed by vineyard vines after we lost timorous the. they were the true founders of "meet the press." and then reinvited -- reinvented "meet the press" and made it really must-see television. ran away with the ratings. he brought you to us, which i thought was very important as well. you're continuing in that tradition. so this tie has got the capitol, it's got the buffalo bills and he fished up in

knew was timorous the. >> that's it for our 70th anniversary broadcast. since our panelists shouldn't be the only ones embarrassed, we're going to leave with my moment on "meet the press." for the last 70 years, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." >> here to help us is chuck todd of national journal's hotline, what is a blog. >> the actual term itself, by the way is short for web log. you drop the "w" and you get the blog.

we35 mules,ur doors with 70 mega-watts, and an ice plant. but we brought power to the people- redefining what that meant from one era to the next. over 90 years later, we continue to build as america's 3rd largest investor in infrastructure. we don't just help power the american dream... we're part of it. ralpand as a doctor, nobody ever asked if i'm a democrat or republican. they just want my help. so if donald trump is helping virginia i'll work with him. but donald trump proposed cutting virginia's school funding, rolling back our clean air and water protections, and taking away health care from thousands of virginians. as a candidate for governor, i sponsored this ad because i've stood up to donald trump on all of it.

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