earlier today in new port richey, florida, affordable care act and many heated exchanges. >> here's the problems i have with the affordable health care act. number one, there is a provision in there that anyone over the age of 74 has to go before what is effectively a death panel. yes, they do. yes, they do. it's in there, folks. you're wrong. okay, children, all right, children. >> i am 77 years old and i think it's unconscionable for this politician to tell me that at 74, i will be facing death panels. wrong, wrong, wrong. >> i'm on your side. >> i deal with end of life issues on a regular basis. these are heart rending decisions and there's no such thing as a death panel. >> everyone here has had great points. we all want health care. our goal is all the same. health and affordable care. that's what we want. i don't care whether we call it aca or obamacare or if we say repeal, replace, fix, it doesn't matter. whatever it winds up being, is we need it to have all of the provisions we need to give us the coverage we're all talking about. so. >> thank you. >> my request to you is to rip

tammy leitner on the ground in new port richey, florida. we're also jealous of you. you are in florida. we are not. thank you. joining me no now, our two gues. i think we can all say we're jealous of the folks in florida right now. would you agree? >> i'm from miami so i'm always jealous of people in florida. >> we've gotten that out of the way. matt, talk about the protests and whether or not you think this is going to have impact on republicans and how they carry themselves back to d.c. on issues about the repeal and replace of obamacare. >> absolutely. jason chaffetz is a unique character in that he's ao the held of the house government oversight reform committee, and there's a lot of concern about that on the ground there. but there are a thousand people not just in the build bug outside of the building. we saw this with justin amosh, who got a friendly reception in michigan, but he had 600 people with another couple hundred outside too. everyone is motivated here. what republicans are being reminded are what democrats learned in 2009, is when you make a large-sc

tammy leitner, nbc news, new port richey, florida. >>> nationwide protests today against planned parenthood and abortion. thousands showed up for protests and counterprotests in more than 200 cities around the country. nbc's morgan radford met with demonstrators on both sides of the issue. >> what do we want? >> body autonomy? >> when do we want it? >> now! >> now! >> reporter: duelling rallies across the country. thousands taking to the streets to voice their opinion on abortion. ♪ we are family and whether planned parenthood should receive federal money. >> this is a slaughterhouse. >> reporter: first the defunding rallies. where hundreds of anti-abortion demonstrators took to the streets in cities like pembroke pines, florida. >> and i'm pro-life. 100%. [ speaking spanish ] pro-life. >> reporter: indianapolis, indiana, and new york city. planned parenthood doesn't use federal fund for abortions. that's been prohibited by law in almost all cases since 1976. but many are calling on congress and president trump to reallocate funds to health centers that don't perform abortions at all. >> re

nbc's tammy leutner in new port richey, florida. thank you. >>> a new development this afternoon on president trump's national security team. national security adviser mike flynn's top aide denied critical security clearance to the national security council. according to a former government official familiar with the situation, this move by the cia to deny clearance to senior director foreafrica robin townley essentially ends the deputy's time on the national security council. this comes as general flynn faces fallout for revelations he discussed sanctions against russia with its ambassador before president trump too office, despite flynn denying that. joining me now, nbc news intelligence and national security reporter ken dilanian. whach ken, what's the latest? >> a rough couple of days for mike flynn, the president's national security adviser. he's lost his african director on the national security council. we're not exactly sure why. what reason was cited for denying rob townsley, a former marine special operator a clearance but

listen to this from a town hall a short time ago in new port richey, florida. >> i would like to see the affordable care not replaced, but tweaked because there are good parts of it and not good. and i'd love to meet to share with you and had at least four patients since they were able to get insurance, come to me and one came with metastatic mel kn anoma. i was in pinellas county the day he took his last breath. i take my job very seriously. there are no death panels. i know there are people who think there are. i have absolutely never had to make that decision with the patient. i did have one and i will tell a quick private story. a man whose wife had end stage rectal cancer, wife was in icu for 31 days and every day he came, she was clinically, she was on a trak, not treatable. and every day her husband said, i hate the government. i want to keep my wife alive to bankrupt obamacare. i cry every day, my husband will tell you. i cried for that woman because she would look at me and blink her eyes and say she was ready to go. she did finally pass a natural death, nobody excavated her

congressman gus bilirakis wrapped up a town hall where he face add raucous, rackous crowd in new port richeyorida. take a look at this. constituents inside the roomy rupted in boos, repealing obamacare. right now to nbc's tammy leutner, who was there through all of the action. i understand there were hundreds that attended today's town hall. easy to see. >> reporter: hey, jacob. yes. several hundred people showed up here today for this town hall. emotions have wr high. i can tell you the atmosphere was hostile at some points. a lot of people sharing their personal stories of why they believe aca needs to stick around. we heard from one woman whose daughter has a genetic disease and they were paying $10,000 a year before the aca, and another who said her medical payments were more than a monthly mortgage and a man who says he works three jobs and none offers health insurance so he relies on aca. listen to this man. >> when i first came in 15 years ago i would see very few self-pay patients. through the recession, two, three, four a day. since the aca, hardly any, any longer. they would wait u

you're looking at live pictures right now at a new port richey, florida.r most are talking about the repeal and replace efforts of obamacare. >> we need to get this under control. i paid for it before. obamacare was not bad. i head to say it. it was not as bad as it is today. we need to do something to make it affordable. this is not. i look at my situation -- >> you get a sense there. people have their own personal testimonies as to whether they like or don't like the affordable care act. you hear from that gentleman there who sounds like he has been a proponent of it. we're seeing quite the migs x o opinions at the town halls. an official has confirmed mike flynn did speak to russian's ambassador before the inauguration of the president and sanctions with russia did come up. exactly what flynn said is unclear. they say there's nothing indicating flynn made any promises or acted improperly during the call. the president declining to respond to the report saying, quote, he was unaware. the kremlin called the reports incorrect. to talk more about all of thi

tammy leitner is in new port richey, florida, just north of clearwater. describe or give us a forecast of what people are expected to see and say today. >> reporter: good morning. that's unclear, but i can tell you law enforcement is take nothing chances. there will be extra sheriff's deputies on hand today as well as a security plan in place for the congressman just in case they need to get him out of here. as you know, these town halls have been heated all week. in salt lake city about a thousand people showed up at a high school auditorium. there wasn't enough room for everybody. about 200 people were outside chanting open the doors opening to get in. representative jason chaffetz spoke for about 75 minutes. things got extremely heated. and that wasn't the only place. in cincinnati, ohio, protesters showed up at a chamber of commerce event where senator rob portman was set to speak. he never showed up because of the protesters there. in sacramento, representative tom mcclintock answered some tough questions. back here, we're about two hours away still,