joining us now our political reporter eugene scott and abby livingston. >> eugene, all this and only one house republican thus far saying hey, we should have at least look into this. why is that? >> we know and we have said it multiple times when ever the president says something that truly attracts outrage for most americans, many republican lawmakers do not speak out against the president in part because republicans are overwhelmingly with the president. they do not want to hurt their base and voters and lose reelection knowing if the president comes out vocally against republican lawmakers, they'll be sent back to their districts and out of office. it is always worth noting that while there has not been multiple republicans beyond the usual key holders, game players should we say that have come out defe defending the president. most republicans have been silent. one of the reasons they have been silent, the whistleblower's complaint has not been investigated or pair veri verif true. >> it makes them feel they should wait out a bit and figure out what happens as they voice their op

is very important to, that's what they need to do in order to force action. >> joel payne and abby livingstonhis morning. >> thank you. >>> any second now the national hurricane center will release the latest information on hurricane dorian. is it headed for florida, or is it turning out to sea? >>> also at the top of the hour california authorities will update us on that dangerous boat fire off the coast of california. multiple people are dead. dozens still missing as authorities release dramatic pictures from the scene. hiv controlling, joint replacing, and depression relieving company. from the day you're born we never stop taking care of you. from the day you're born ♪upbeat musieverything was so fresh in the beginning. [sniff] ♪ dramatic music♪ but that plug quickly faded. ♪upbeat music luckily there's febreze plug. it cleans away odors and freshens for 1200 hours. [deep inhale] breathe happy with febreze plug. [dog barks] [dog panting] [dogs barking] [dogs growling] [dogs whimpering] (vo) the subaru crosstrek. dog tested. dog approved. [dog barks] big dreams start with small steps... ..

for more we're happy to welcome to the broadcast abby livingston and you know the other guy, steve kornacki political correspondent. welcome to you both. abby, who's making waves and generating interest on the ground in iowa, and who is not and maybe should? >> i think the one who is not and should is senator kamala harris. she's basically said in certain terms she's going to relocate to the capitol. the one on everyone's mind -- i don't know if it's on iowa -- but the name on everyone's list right now is elizabeth warren. it started in june where it was this sort of sheepish i think she neighbor dark horse. now there's sense there's so much momentum in her favor right now, while she may not be at the top of the polls, everything is going in the right direction for her. >> steve kornacki, how does iowa differ from the nation at large, and what's the danger inherent with the iowa caucus process is its own world, but what you say and do out there often counts toward how people see you in the general election? >> it's interesting. caucuses, not a primary, show up for three hours, stay in the r

a and abby livingston. could congress pasa background check bill?bout >> i would sayt is highly i put out a cal to a friend in midland which is where the shooting got start. i said is there any change of e sentiment of the people on the ground who felt this? he said absoluty not. on the flip side you go to t ate of texas and you go to houston, the suburbs of houston is where these elections are being fought. and democrats think they have a real shot of luring republican women to vote for the candidates. and so i just don't see i jt happening. my ink several members of delegation have been in a mass shooting at the basebl practice. ifhat didn't move the on the issue, i don't see how any other mass sotings where. petepe more mass sotings in texas. three of them so far. has that changed the views of the texaselation in any way? getting in front of it this week. senator john cornyn who's an ber of thepowerful m senate. there was a surge soting in sutherland springs and it seemed to rock him. he made changes but nothing sweeping. pete: the agencies givin

wendy davis joins miss, and john burn you and abby livingston.port of this. there's a sense that the administration is throwing spaghetti at the wall with legal maneuvers. this is another case where the noodle didn't stick? >> well, it didn't. critics of the president's immigration policies are heartened by this that they're not able to detain children along with their families if these big detention centers in south texas, but david, it's kind of a moot point. there's been a sea change in the arrival of migrants in the last few months. the acting director called it a game changer. the united states has outsourced the immigration enforcement to mexico. it has exported the humanitarian crisis. so the numbers have just decreased dramatically in terms of the asylum seekers primary comeses from america, asking for protection here. they're in mexican border cities which are rife with crime and extortion, and many are choosing to go back home. yes, this ruling by judge guy in california does protect children from being held more than 20 days in detenti

joining me now, abby livingston and back is the panel of beth, zerlina and elise. rt with you. it's interesting. really of the five, and let's put up our list of the five here, because we also have how trump did in the 2016 elections. you would say will hurd is probably the one that is in the most trouble. he's in a democrats' plus 3 seat or at least clinton plus 3. but everybody else has been in, you know, their lean republican seats but marchant and olson and even flores, are they nervous something is coming? what do you make of all of this and should we connect these dots? >> well, i don't really put flores in that much of a competitive category. anything can change in this era and we had a lot of shocks this cycle. >> it's austin east. >> and it goes up to waco which is very conservative and then to college station, which is also conservative. but what i think is happening in texas, and texas is a leading indicator because our filing deadline is before everyone else's. i think we're starting to get into territory in the house republican culture where this is a s

as my colleague and a really smart political journalist from texas abby livingston also points out thatk thornberry is the ranking member of house -- there are term limits for this. so mac thornberry probably thought this was the right time to go. being in the minority and term limits have played a role here. >> thornberry announcing that retirement in a statement, served for 25 years. first elected in 1994. for everything there is a season, thornberry says, and i believe that the time has come for a change. >>> mark murray, thank you, mark updegrove, a big thanks to you as well. >>> facing the washington fuselage, how "the post" describes the onslaught of attacks joe biden is facing from the president and his allies. it's raising new concern from some of biden's supporters. is he up to the challenge? >>> plus, 2020 democrats sprinting to the midnight deadline that could decide the fate of their campaigns. we're talking fund raising. - body, mind and spirit. that means aetna is helping you get ready to be the best grandmother the world has ever known. we simplify medicare by connecting

joining me now, austin goolsby and abbi livingston.n saying for a long time the president's re-election chances are tied in fact to the economy. he's now under water just by one point but as an economist, do you look at that number and does it tell you anything about the politics of this? >> yeah, a little bit. you know the economic mod elels who people vote for historically have been tied to how the gdp is going, unemployment, whether it's going up or down. and by those measures, you would think the president would havely higher approval ratings than he has now or than he has had all the time he's been in office. so i think that same model would have said he should have done better in the 2018 midterm election than he did so i think if you're in the white house, if you're a strategist, you got to be pretty nervous about these numbers because the president has not been re-elected with that kind of approval rating in a very long time. >> just last night, he kind of indicated that all of this report, all these reports about concern about

joining me now is nbc news correspondent ken dilanian who has exclusive reporting on the story, abby livingston and also josh campbell, author of the new book that will keep you up at night, cross fire hurricane, inside donald trump's war on the fbi. ken, because you are my colleague and i desperately need to take a drink of water, take it from here. tell us exactly what we know. >> sure will. first of all, to play off the president's tweets, it is not accurate that u.s. intelligence agencies are listening in on the president's phone calls. in fact if the nsa was overhearing a foreign lead are's call and found a u.s. official was on it, they would drop the call. but what is true is that when the president calls a foreign leader, someone in the national security council, usually a senior director, is taking notes about that call for a transcript that is later circulated to some officials. now, early in the trump administration, some of those transcripts leaked and trump shrunk the audience of people who would get access to that. but nonetheless other people do see these transcripts. and what we

. >> joining me now, abby livingston, washington bureau teach for the texas tribune and jeff mason, whiteget into it here. all of you i want some response on this because some debate on whether the president hinted he did, indeed, talk about joe biden and his son in the phone call. what is your read? what is the significance of this? olivia, you first. >> well, the white house's read out from that call did not mention anything about corruption. ukraine's read out from the call did. this is certainly a new development from the president seeming to hint that they did talk about this. he said a number of conflicting things on this. i think it's going to be a pretty long slog trying to get any level of transparency on this. he does not want to release the transcripts even though he acknowledges they have them. >> did you interpret the sound bite to mean he spoke about joe biden's synonym. >> i saw him being defensive about what he discussed in that phone call. also he said it was perfect and it was appropriate and then seeming to be indicating as well there shouldn't be transcripts because th