yamiche, why the suspense?> he's someone who lives off suspense and wants to have people thinking about him, he wants to be the person who has the upper hand. in this way he's not answering this question by in some ways wanting to over shadow james comey's explosive testimony this week where he essentially said the president was a liar and said he was taking these notes unlike the other meetings he's had with presidents obama and president bush. in this case he really i think -- really hit hard as trump's credibility. this is really at the end of the day a credibility war at this point. you have james comey who is someone who -- both sides of the aisle are frustrated with, seen as someone who is very credible. then you have donald trump who has been called out by my newspaper and now a former director of the fbi as being somewhat of a liar. i think that's why the suspense is happening, because trump is trying to figure out what his next move is. in that regard he's trying to think about that. i should also say

and "new york times" reporter and msnbc contributor yamiche alcindor. let me start with you, yamiche. we finally get the president admitting he is under investigation. we went for a long period of time with statements and charges and rumors back and forward. and he kept really emphasizing, i have been told i'm not under investigation. now, it switches this week. he admits or concedes he's under investigation and then goes right after the investigators, saying it's a witch hunt. >> well, to me, it's a remarkable moment because now we have the president saying with no questions that he is now undeinvestigation. at's really important because he fired james comey for the main point that he wanted to get rid of this quote/unquote russia thing. so the idea that he now feels as though he's going to be under attack and his presidency is going to be questioned and the fact he made the statement, he acknowledged he was under investigation while also attacking essentially the deputy attorney general is really significant because at first he was using the deputy at

anyway, michael shear, yamiche al dcindo alcindor, jeff bennett, thank you.n we return, al franken. you're watching "hardball," where the action is. just like the people who own them, every business is different. but every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. whether it be help starting your business, vendor contracts or employment agreements. legalzoom's network of attorneys can help you every step of the way so you can focus on what you do. we'll handle the legal stuff that comes up along the way. legalzoom. legal help is here. there's nothing traditional about my small business. i count on my dell small business advisor for tech advice. with one phone call, i get products that suit my needs, and i get back to business. ♪ bring you more ways to helps reduce calories from sugar. with more great tasting beverages with less sugar or no sugar at all, smaller portion sizes, clear calorie labels, and signs reminding everyone to think balance before choosing their beverages. we know you care about reducing the sugar in your family's d

with us is mike barnicle, steve rattner, and andy card and yamiche alcindor. on board this morning. andy, before we jump into health care, this ominous warning put out by the white house unexpectedly about syria, what questions do you have about that? >> have the state department, the defense department, the intelligence community been engaged in this for a little while? or is this the first time they're hearing about this as well? >> we have reports of the dod that no. >> that's the bizarre thing. this is a call to action or a threat of action without understanding if there's an underlying cause. >> there was a report yet that sitcom on the tip of the spear was caught off card by this. >> i find it bizarre, and i can't imagine that a statement like this would have gone out without having been cleared by defense, state, and the intelligence community. >> clearly it wasn't. >> are we hearing there is any possibility that anybody cleared it? >> i haven't heard. >> the argument from the white house after the fact when they were pushed on this, it said there's a d

. >> joining me now, yamiche yeah cinder. how did these comments by putin impact the cloud of suspicion the president is under? >> i think it adds to the idea -- at one point he said it might have been a patriotic person. now he's trying to put the blame on other countries. i think it makes this large growing russia cloud on this administration grow even more. this idea that he doesn't want to at all try to say that russia could have been up to this or this could have been something that it's russia's fault even though so many intelligence agencies have pointed to the fact that this is russia. essentially it shows he's mirroring the same attitude we see from the trump administration. >> we talked about this in the last hour and i want to get your take on it. you can tell putin knows his audience by saying that? >> why should putin say anything other than what he's saying our own president says we don't know who it is. we do know who it is. i've spoken to the specialists who say it's russia, it's clear russia wanted us to know

. >> let's bring in the "hardball" roundtable, yamiche alcindor with "the new york times."hey can only afford to lose two votes. we understand there's two women, especially, murkowski of alaska and collins of maine. i'm sure different points of the map there who are having a problem with this. we also hear there's two conservatives, mike lee of utah and rand paul of kentucky, ready to vote against it too, too. how do they get 50? what's mcconnell up to except getting this behind him, even if it means losing? getting it over with? >> he wants to go on with something else. he wants to go up to a vote, because he wants to be able to put people on the record. and i think it's hard to get to 50 votes because of you have two people. two outliers. >> on either end. you have this party that they're the same party in name, but in reality, they have very different interests. and you have a lot of republicans, i would say, who are also very scared about the medicaid expansion part. you have a lot of people who are dealing with opioid crisis -- >> because working poor people who are be