remember the comments he made about john mccain, a hero, a true hero.don't understand how this guy has any support from veterans but he does. veterans kind of like him but i don't know if they will continue to like him with these cuts. these cuts are going to be very harmful for people trying to get information and phone calls. you try to make a phone call now nobody answers it. it is you know -- human beings i don't know why he's cutting these jobs especially veterans. but the cuts from some one who dodged the draft and did not respect john mccain. what do you expect. thank you. host: nick is in new york on our line for republicans, good morning. caller: how are you doing for it, veteran. i'm recently retired from a veterans administration hospital as an employee. and -- i just wanted to say that i'm glad that they are getting rid of the waste, fraud and abuse hopefully they will focus on the veterans administration's , especially the one in new york. long island, i was just very unhappy with all the management there. i feel like they really did not ca

remember the comments he made about john mccain, a hero, a true hero.don't understand how this guy has any support from veterans but he does. veterans kind of like him but i don't know if they will continue to like him with these cuts. these cuts are going to be very harmful for people trying to get information and phone calls. you try to make a phone call now nobody answers it. it is you know -- human beings i don't know why he's cutting these jobs especially veterans. but the cuts from some one who dodged the draft and did not respect john mccain. what do you expect. thank you. host: nick is in new york on our line for republicans, good morning. caller: how are you doing for it, veteran. i'm recently retired from a veterans administration hospital as an employee. and -- i just wanted to say that i'm glad that they are getting rid of the waste, fraud and abuse hopefully they will focus on the veterans administration's , especially the one in new york. long island, i was just very unhappy with all the management there. i feel like they really did not ca

the late senator john mccain kept breath mints and cough drops and hard candy at his desk.etween 1987 and 1989. in indiana, senator todd young kept sour candy and gummies at his desk. from 2023 until he moved this year. here's a picture of him announcing his seat assignment by passing out candy to reporters. oklahoma senator markwayne mullin now occupies the desk. he stocks it with sour patch kids and nerds agreeing on keeping the candy stocked. might be all the bipartisanship we can hope for out of congress at this moment. that's it for this edition of matter of fact, i'm soledad o'brien. i'll see you back here next week to watch more stories like this. any time, head to matteroffacttv. attention. billions of dollars are being paid out to people like you. we should know. we're whites in luxembourg, the law firm that already won over $9 billion for men and women just like you. that's right. over $9 billion for mesothelioma sufferers and their families. we know you're short of money, and we know you're short of time. so we fight hard. call whites in luxembourg at 917 lawyers

it is a sad day for american foreign policy for people like reagan, john mccain, all of those guys are spending in their graves. host: that is dan in california. somebody who is very much an influence on foreign policy is the united states national security adviser, was on cnn yesterday going on sunday shows in the wake of this blow up in the oval office. this is michael waltz yesterday. secretary waltz: let's ask, what will this look like a year from now? the patients of the american people to keep giving billions with no end in sight is not unlimited. we also made that clear to president zelenskyy at the end of that meeting. what i'm saying is this war needs to end. that will take concessions on territory, russian concessions on security guarantees. that is going to take all sides coming to the table. we are working very hard to drive these negotiations forward. we had our engagement in riyadh with the russians. we thought we had a deal with the ukrainians and then we will bring all sides together, not only president trump. >> you just mentioned a specific concession potentially that

john mccain killed it with his thumbs down. later this year, they made another run through reconciliation and were successful in passing the trump tax cuts. they only went for a certain number of years. that's why they are going to expire at the end of this year. republicans are once again dealing with this tax issue in reconciliation. host: here's what happened in the 2018 election. guest: yeah. there was backlash to efforts to repeal obamacare. there were townhall protests. there was backlash to the trump tax cuts. democrats positioned this as a tax cut for the wealthy. they are doing the same thing here with the renewal of these tax cuts saying that republicans are only looking out for the special interest of the wealthiest americans in our country. therefore, want to raise -- cut taxes on the backs of working-class americans. the republicans challenge here is they will have to figure out how to pay for this massive tax cut. basically, the reconciliation budget that the house has passed states that they need to find cuts wor

. >> one of john mccain's former aides, mark salter, wrote this on twitter. i haven't referred to john mccain in my previous criticism of lindsay, but i will tonight. john would be ashamed of you, lindsay. i doubt he'd ever speak to you again. you've betrayed everything he believed in. so that's the reaction from somebody who knew those two men who were once very good friends. reena ninan. alexander vindman, thank you both very much for joining us. lieutenant colonel vindman new book, the folly of realism how the west deceived itself about russia and betrayed ukraine. it is out right now, and everyone else stick with me, because coming up next, we have so much more to talk about on this topic, including how a wardrobe choice apparently started this meeting off on the very wrong foot. that's next. >> welcome back. >> have i got news for you? new tomorrow on cnn. >> if you have heart failure or chronic kidney disease, vasica can help you keep living life because there are places you'd like to be. serious side effects include increased ketones and blood or you'r

the statements trump made about john mccain, the statements he's made about people who serve, who werended in combat, he as someone who got out of serving this country because of bone spurs, that was not an anomaly. that was an indicator. and you are now seeing the harvest of that, those seeds, the treatment of veterans is not going unnoticed by veterans themselves. there were a lot of them that spoke up last night and they feel the same way. >> what's so interesting? i mean, you conducted those interviews last night. tim kaine was on my show an hour ago, and he described it as a war on veterans. >> yeah. >> this is this is for all the laws of gravity and how i talk about this all the time that have fallen by the wayside, right? that we no longer abide by the one that even trump, i think, seems to act like he knows is still in place, is that we hold our veterans up above everybody else. right. they've done more. they went out and protected our way of life. they deserve the best that we have to offer. what's amazing and what is, to your point, sort of a feature of trump 2.0 is no preten

lindsey graham has always been a big defender of ukraine, as obviously john mccain was.ey were very close and they worked on a lot of this stuff together. and for him to jump in there with the president in this, what what feels to me like like the united states suddenly switched sides in this conflict. we've never done anything like this before. so i'm disappointed in some of my republican colleagues, but not all of them. lisa murkowski put out a statement last night. and, you know, and very plainly said why this is important to the united states, that we fix this. and sounded like she was rather disgusted about what happened in the oval office. >> senator mark kelly, let's hope there's more like her, even privately. thank you so much for joining us. it's really important for people to understand this issue. >> and. >> you know a great deal. >> i know, i know there are there are more like like her and they need to speak out. >> i hope they do. thank you, senator, so much for joining me. >> thank you jen. >> coming up, why does elon musk actually want to gut the federal g

people like reagan and john mccain, coldwater and all those guys are right now to make the security advisoray show in the oval office president trump and zelenskyy. >> what will it look like a year from now? for the american people to get billions with no and insight is not unlimited made that clear at the end of that meeting. that is going to take some sessions on the security and all sides coming to the table and we are working very hard to drive negotiations forward. we are working to have an engagement and then all sides together. >> you just mentioned concession they would like putin to make, could you elaborate on that? >> wee can't get specifics from ukrainians but this will clearly a territorial concession for security guarantees going forward. that's's when discussed in previous rounds. a router can work. >> and needs to be permanent, not temporary. european led security guarantees going forward in part about his contribution for its own defense so has capability to do that. let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, the support provided negotiated but one thing is clear we do not s

said that late republican senator john mccain said that. >> yeah.. you said the white house takeover of the press pool is a brazen attack on the first amendment. this was not when the white when the white house press corps was formed, when the white house correspondents association was formed, these were not partizan things. and not only that, the members of the pool are not one organization. i think the public might be surprised to know that sometimes it's the new york times. sometimes fox is involved because there's an agreement. >> it's the daily caller, correct. >> if you are part of that pool, you have a responsibility to all your fellow journalists and the american public to report accurately. tell me about this from your perspective, because you were on the other side of this on the white house side. >> absolutely. you know, there is a there's an african proverb that says, until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. acclaimed african author wrote those words. and the journalists, especial

the statements trump made about john mccain, the statements he's made about people who serve, who were indicator. and you are now seeing the harvest of that, those seeds. the treatment of veterans is not going unnoticed by veterans themselves. there were a lot of them that spoke up last night and they feel the same way. >> what's so interesting? i mean, you conducted those interviews last night. tim kaine was on my show an hour ago, and he described it as a war on veterans. yeah. this is this is for all the laws of gravity. and holman and i talk about this all the time that have fallen by the wayside, right? that we no longer abide by the one that even trump, i think, seems to act like he knows is still in place, is that we hold our veterans up above everybody else. right. they've done more. they went out and protected our way of life. they deserve the best that we have to offer. what's amazing and what is, to your point, sort of a feature of trump 2.0 is no pretense that they too are fair game. >> no, not only fair game, but you sense in all of these cuts that there's, as i think it w

and john mccain on might on squared, handing out freedom cookies, and this time the other and for years and years i've been paying the salaries of the social services that are in ukraine and the rod as well. so i put in the said years ago, hey, but you break it, you buy it in america essentially bought it a long time ago. but now with a new leader in the white house, it's almost like what we've done with this over to your you guys. and take care of it. now, it is astonishing to see the way this disconnected has suddenly erupted between the traditional allies of the united states and its friends. in the e, you want to ask you about the illusion, a calling the law offices of the armed forces of ukraine in this conflict. quote, critical clay means that the countries stuff at about 50000 killed in action and more than 300000 wounded. i dare to say those numbers a way off. why? why do you think he would touch donald this delicate topic? what do you think is the illusion he's trying to achieve in the science of for so long? seems to show that nothing and such so badly friend. that's wonderful

leaders like justice sandra day o'connor, governor raul castro, senator john mccain who guided our state and nation. there spirit carries on today. it continues with arizonans like a member of the tribal council. when devastating floods swept through the village last summer and collapsed the surrounding trails, felicia guided more than 100 tourists to a nearby elementary school for shelter. throughout the night, she fielded calls from first responders about people stuck on trails and families looking for loved ones, communicating names and locations to the tribe rangers. her service and heroism show how even in our most devastating moments, arizonans are there to offer hope and a helping hand. felicia, please stand so we can thank you for your bravery and kindness. [applause] thank you. resilient individuals like these and millions of other good hard-working people built our beloved arizona. a special place that values opportunity and freedom. a place where entrepreneurs, mom and pop businesses, farmers and international companies launched their next big idea or provide critical services

my partner john mccain in the house and the senate.research overseas and we got to chase that so we introduce hr six 21st century here's act projects but that it the devices and 45 billing dollars more in health research for the nih. you bet it was bipartisan and not only the rank-and-file members of the grassroots across the country. [cheering] we relied on the leadership on both sides to get them, mccarthy, steve scalise, nancy pelosi, mitch mcconnell and joe biden and president obama. [cheering] , the last bill signed into law and they don't impact republicans or democrats, it impacts all of us. [cheering] one of the problems americans are losing our edge and researchers overseas that somehow they were getting more resources competing with us and winning china or the other side of the atlantic and included the brain initiative or younger researchers to find a place in the nih and fda. we ought to be the gold standard in the golden age in research, no question about it. i'll and on this, he said it this way. look in your medicine cab

fellow republican known for civility john mccain, called it totally disrespectful and demanded he apologizeay, 16 years later this week, equally tacky behavior, this time by democrats as president trump addressed congress, they came to disrupt and to embarrass jeering, booing, wearing signs and walking out. republicans weren't any better, taunting members across the aisle and chanting usa, usa like they were at a gold medal olympic hockey game. both parties complain about the divisive political atmosphere in washington and in the country. the definition of the word lead includes to set an example. but if those who lead model this behavior, what should we expect? what really matters? we should demand better from them and they should of themselves. i always love to hear from you. let me know what you think. follow me on social media at dan ashley abc seven. >> that is going to do it for this edition of abc seven news. thanks for joining us. i'm ama daetz. >> and i'm dan ashley for sandhya patel, larry beil, all of us here. we appreciate your time. hope you have a great evening and that we see

i want to bring in mark mckinnon, former adviser to george w bush and john mccain and creator of thecus. joining me here in studio. msnbc legal correspondent lisa rubin. mark, i want to read a little more of the post's reporting on this pretty wild scene in d.c. i'm quoting as agency personnel waited outside and huddled together at a nearby business. some received calls from nate kavanaugh, the 28 year old tech entrepreneur working with doge, who requested employees return and grant him access to the computer systems. but no us atf officials returned to the office. president trump has called this small foundation unnecessary, but bringing in the us marshals seems to be quite an escalation. where does this kind of thing heading? >> the courts, i guess. >> you know, the one thing. >> that donald trump is doing is keeping his pledge to move fast and break things, and they are moving at lightning speed and breaking a lot of things. and they are, you know, going up against not just conventional wisdom and past sort of performance about how you go about these things, but they're they're be

these attacks came from the usual suspects folks like lindsey graham, john mccain, republican senatorsin the end, obama turned out to be right. and ironically, his position was just summed up nicely by none other than trump. >> i would rather negotiate a deal. i'm not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. >> now trump, like obama before him, knows that talking to adversaries is not a sign of american weakness. it's actually a sign of american strength and prudence. which brings me to the other item trump got right this week. axios barak ravid reports that trump's administration has been negotiating directly with hamas, both over the release of u.s. hostages still held in gaza, and on the possibility of a broader deal. of course, as you can imagine, this news did not go well with the israeli government. benjamin netanyahu's top aide, ron dermer, reportedly erupted in a call with trump's hostage envoy objecting to the talks and to making proposals without israel's consent. and this followed a report by israeli jour

and by the way, john mccain must be so horrified. to see what his friend is doing right now from wherever he is, is watching this. >> but, you know. >> you think about people like lindsey. >> graham, who i'm sure. >> have been telling. >> themselves over the years that, you know. >> i need to suck up to donald trump because i need to be in the room. i need to be the adult that stops. bad things from happening. and yet over the last week, what has happened? we have abandoned our allies. we voted with russia in the united nations. we humiliated not just simply berated president zelensky, but humiliated him in a way that world. leaders do not do. what happened in the oval office has never. happened in american history. no american. president has behaved that way in in public. lindsey graham knows. >> this and. >> yet has decided that he's going to continue his sycophancy. >> his his. >> his bending of the knee. and again. at one time you could say, okay, he's being transactional. he's going. >> to prevent us. he's going to prevent. >> d

is there a is there a john mccain in congress now, someone who has the bona fides who who will stand up and say, despite maybe not having the greatest influence, but we'll say, mr. president, you are wrong on this. we need to stand by and behind ukraine and zelenskyy. is there that figure on the hill? >> there's certainly a few people who could be victor. it's just a question of how loudly do they want to use their voice against trump in this political atmosphere, where he is so clearly the leader of the party? somebody like don bacon, he's a congressman from nebraska. he's a republican, serves in the house. he put out a statement on friday after that oval office clash, saying it's clear that russia is the aggressor in this situation and that ukraine is the one that needs our support and that ukraine stands for freedom. and russia does not support the u.s .'s western values. we also heard similar, similar account from brian fitzpatrick, a republican from pennsylvania, who also serves in the house. somebody like john curtis, republican from utah, he's a senator. he also expressed regr

. >> and john mccain are turning in their grave. >> right now to see. >> that this is. >> what has. >me of the republican party. we know that negotiations. >> are important. >> and i think. >> we all want to get to a just and. lasting peace. but to do that, we need to make sure the ukrainians are in the best possible position to be able to negotiate a peace that will actually last. instead of what i'm concerned this will be, which will be a giveaway to vladimir putin, who will then just use the time and re invade ukraine when he feels his military and economy are stronger again. >> what about could this be some kind of public pressure campaign on zelenskyy to get a better deal for the united states? >> if this was a negotiation between the united states and the ukrainians? maybe. but the fact of the matter is, this is a negotiation between the ukrainians and the russians. and, you know, alex, you know, i used to work in international conflict resolution. we know from lots and lots of history of peace negotiations that actually a negotiation stands to the test of time. it will last lon

on russia and was constrained by republicans up on capitol hill, including the then still living john mccain. i think it's a sign of how far the republican party has become donald trump's republican party, that even in 2018, when trump met with putin in helsinki, there actually was quite an outcry. there was even, you know, public pushback from members of trump's own administration as well as republicans on capitol hill. now, what trump has done in the last few days, in the middle of an active, deadly war in ukraine, that's the deadliest war since world war two. that's far more serious than the words that he said in helsinki. and yet we've seen literally almost nothing from any members of donald trump's party. and i think that's a sign of how far we've spiraled as a country. but the stakes couldn't be higher now because it's not just words, but very, very disruptive acts that we're in the middle of. from the trump white house, only six weeks in. >> so, leanne, take us to capitol hill. right. think about all those republicans who pushed back when all it was was sort of donald trump whispering

. >> and i remember the late senator john mccain in 2015, along with, you know, senator lindsey graham the. >> dire situation at that time in ukraine. let's listen first to the senator from arizona. >> it's shameful. vladimir putin has not paid any price. even the. ceasefire was violated. >> until he. >> achieved his objective. ukrainians aren't asking for american. >> boots on the ground. that's not the. question here. they're asking for. >> weapons to. >> defend themselves and they're. >> being slaughtered. this is a shameful chapter. >> i'm ashamed of my country. >> i'm ashamed of. >> my president. >> and i'm ashamed. >> of. myself that i haven't done. >> more to. >> help these people. >> it is. >> really, really heartbreaking. >> and just just real quick on that. you had headlines screaming at that time in washington times, lindsey graham and mccain blasting the obama administration for waffling on arming ukraine. and then today, after this, you have lindsey graham saying this. >> i have never been more. proud of the president. i was very proud of jd vance standing up for our count

also with us, former adviser to george w bush and john mccain, mark mckinnon.isn't just a blue state governor. he's been a gay rights warrior for decades, right? he's been i think he was one of the first public officials to officiate at a gay wedding. right. what does this say about 2028? and maybe the perceived lessons of 2024? >> so to. >> pick up on what. >> you were just pointing out, this is a. >> big. >> deal, because gavin. >> newsom, when. >> he was mayor of san francisco, infuriated the party back. then when he started issuing marriage licenses to same. >> sex couples in. contravention to what the law said at the. >> time. >> and then turned out. >> to be. >> at the forefront. and i think. >> what the governor. >> is doing. here is he's. >> diving headlong. >> into an. >> issue that. >> cost the democrats and. >> cost the. >> harris campaign some votes. the transgender. >> issue, as horrible as the trump. campaign made, that issue, was. >> an. >> issue that. >> hurt democrats and hurt. >> the harris campaign. >> what's striking about what the governor.

john mccain killed it with his thumbs down.er this year, they made another run through reconciliation and were successful in passing the trump tax cuts. they only went for a certain number of years. that's why they are going to expire at the end of this year. republicans are once again dealing with this tax issue in reconciliation. host: here's what happened in the 2018 election. guest: yeah. there was backlash to efforts to repeal obamacare. there were townhall protests. there was backlash to the trump tax cuts. democrats positioned this as a tax cut for the wealthy. they are doing the same thing here with the renewal of these tax cuts saying that republicans are only looking out for the special interest of the wealthiest americans in our country. therefore, want to raise -- cut taxes on the backs of working-class americans. the republicans challenge here is they will have to figure out how to pay for this massive tax cut. basically, the reconciliation budget that the house has passed states that they need to find cuts worth $

i must tell you, my last meeting with john mccain, there were two things that were on his mind. one was the continuing threat from vladimir putin, which he talked about at great length. he brought up the names of all the political leaders that vladimir putin had killed and all the treaties that he had broken. and the second was his heartbreak with lindsey graham for basically selling out all of his values for a round of golf with donald trump. >> the first. >> sound we heard there from. >> lindsey graham was just. >> two. >> weeks ago. >> at the munich security conference. that's when he praised zelensky sitting alongside him, saying he was. a model ally. and then. >> the last bit was. >> friday after the. >> meeting where graham, like so many members. >> of the trump cabinet. looked like they were handed talking points. they all took to twitter, they all. >> praised trump. they all thanked trump. >> for how tough he was in that meeting. that includes. >> secretary of. >> state rubio. >> do you think marco got out of his like days to actually type in the words that were handed t

he used to travel with with john mccain and the late, great joe lieberman to reassure fledgling democraciesld make of men like lindsey graham? >> i mean, i think we can we can agree that much of the world doesn't know who lindsey graham is. and so maybe that's that's a reassurance for. i do think there is there is something people who do follow us politics and watch it closely and talk a lot to americans. i think people are disturbed by this phenomenon of americans who are the frankest, brashest, boldest people on the planet. you know, the people who say what they think and who aren't shy. i think there is something disturbing to people who know and love americans about this sudden cringe, you know, in this, people watching their words and speaking very carefully and suddenly falling in line. i mean, it's just not a way that people thought americans behaved. and as i was saying previously, there is a there's a general feeling that we're suddenly seeing something new in the united states. and one of them is this level of cruelty and brutality, but also this willingness to, to, to toe the lin

mitch mcconnell and john mccain stopped him from lifting sanctions on russia in his early days of the they had republicans who were willing to speak out and say things that might be considered to be, you know, unacceptable in the trump white house. and they survived, but today they're gone, right? he has purged the party of the of the mitt romney's and the liz cheney's and the adam kinzinger. and to the extent that they say anything that they that they disagree with him on, they do it in a very muted tone. they don't want to offend him. they don't want to get on the wrong side of a social media blast. and so, yeah, this is donald trump's republican party. now, it's also interesting. remember that the last time he gave a state of the union, genuine state of the union, he was on trial in the senate for withholding aid to ukraine, right, in order to achieve a political end. now, this time, he's withholding aid to achieve a geopolitical end in terms of like forcing them to defer to his view of how a peace deal should be made. but it's a remarkable thing, actually, that we're here again, o