way saying, i'm not going to let that happen. >> and that same andrea mitchell on the eve of taking a long, long overseas trip. andrea, we always appreciate having you on the program. >> you bet. >> thank you. as we thank -- >> wouldn't miss it, brian. >> ali, michael, thank you all for being here with us. and coming up, after our next break, what about that wall? will mexico really be paying the bill? when "the 11th hour" continues. >>> i will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and i will have mexico pay for that wall. mark my words. congratulations, mexico, you're paying for the wall, just so you understand. who is going to pay for the wall? 100%. 100%. they may not know it yet, but they're paying for the wall. we will build a wall and, yes, mexico will pay for the wall. 100%. >> last thing before we go here tonight, one of the hallmarks of candidate trump's campaign was a wall. you may have heard of it. to be built along the southern border, paid for by our southern neighbors in mexico. but how mexico is allegedly going to pay for that wall? that aspect of this stor

way saying, i'm not going to let that happen. >> and that same andrea mitchell on the eve of taking ng, long overseas trip. andrea, we always appreciate having you on the program. >> you bet. >> thank you. as we thank -- >> wouldn't miss it, brian. >> ali, michael, thank you all for being here with us. and coming up, after our next break, what about that wall? will mexico really be paying the bill? when "the 11th hour" continues.j e anything is possible here in upstate new york. ( ♪ ) at corning, i test smart glass that goes all over the world. but there's no place like home. there's always something different to do like skiing in the winter, jet skiing in the summer. we can do everything. new york state is filled with bright minds like samantha's. to find the companies and talent of tomorrow, search for our page, jobsinnewyorkstate on linkedin. search for our page, oh...ncome on...och method! what's going on here? you know how ge technology allows us to fix problems before they... they slow production, yeah. well, no more catchy business acronyms. wait, we don't need to smooch? i'm

liberty mutual insurance. >>> we're back with "andrea mitchell reports" and we're watching the weather washington and up and down the east coast. however, andrea is in tokyo. what are you watching for with rex tillerson's first big trip as secretary of state? >> a lot of things. and i got away from the snow so that's a great deal. rex tillerson will be traveling to south korea and chin fa and japan. north korea is preparing for another nuclear test and the northeast threatening action against the u.s. and south korea for their joint military exercises that started today. you can see that plane taking off today off of the "uss carl vincent." also, a new announcement that the u.s. will station armed drones in south korea as well. today, because of all of this, north korea is threatening merciless attacks if the u.s. or south korea infringes on their military exercises which have been going on for 40 years but tensions are indeed high. joining me now is max baucus, a former u.s. senator. ambassador baucus, first to you. china is very angry about the droe drones and missile defenses which

>> good day, i'm andrea mitchell at headquarters of nato in brussels. secretary rex tillerson called on nato to do more against isis and he tried to reassure that the u.s. is not retreating from the world, but most officials here are a little be wilderred by the goings on in washington. how do you explain michael flynn, one of president donald trump's closest advisors seeking immunity to give testimony to the justice department. and the president echos flynn's lawyer claims that this is all an unfair prosecution tweeting that it is a democratic witch hunt. peter alexander is following all of this, and joining us now, nbc news national security analyst jeremy barb as wesh as well. all of the machinations through immunity. he said he has a story to tell, what is the message there. whom is he messaging, and the reaction that is being reported from the hill that they're not having it right now? what do you make of it? >> yeah, andrea, i was chief council, and we looked at immunity offers by witnesses in a number of investigations. when a lawyer says my clie

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right now on msnbc "andrea mitchell reports." >> thank you, ali. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," critical condition. now it's the republicans who are fighting each other over the white house plan to replace obamacare. >> this returns power from washington back to doctors and patients, back to states. this is what good conservative health care reform looks like. >> we've only had this bill in public for 36 hours, and to try to rush it through this week and then vote on it within the next few weeks really harkens back toment so of the problems that obamacare was created under. >> we can't pay for the current medicare. it's $35 trillion in the hole. the current medicaid is unfunded and we're going to add new entitlement programs to that? >>> can you hear me now? wikileaks revealing what it claims is the cia's full hacking arsenal. devastating security breach, if true. perhaps privacy concerns are no joking matter. >> is the cia listening to me through my wife wave oven and tv and cell phone? are they doing that, sir? >> no. >> if they were, would you say yes? >> yes. >> still no p

andrea mitchell is covering secretary tillerson. d peter alexander, pete williams, and casey hunt. andrea, a big emphasis as you know on hard power, the defense budget big in this. but one of the big losers, massive proposed cuts to the state department. from what i just heard tough from secretary tillerson, he's putting a kind of positive spin on it during his press conference. what can you tell us. >> reporter: exactly. that was the press conference we covered in tokyo before flying here very late tonight my time. the bottom line is he is saying they can do this, that he welcomes thele change willingly to spend less. this is the first secretary of state ever in my memory to say he wants less money to spend for the state department. he says they can do this because there will be fewer military conflicts in the future, his words, under donald trump, and because he thinks that the rest of the world will willingly jump in to spend foreign aid and global document and make up for what the u.s. will no longer do. because he is basically s

i'm andrea mitchell. defining day in the first two months of the trump presidency and an inflection point in the president's relationship with the second most powerful man in washington, house speaker paul ry ryan. join me kristen welter, kelly o'donnell on capitol hill, all night, and "washington post" national political reporter robert costa. first to you, kelly o., you've been watching the comings and goings, the mood swings from the speaker. where do we stand right now on the health care bill? >> reporter: well, my gut is telling me that they don't have the votes yet. they still have about a guesstimate of five hours is their goal amount of time to be finished with this today. some of the big questions, it passed the initial procedural vote getting us into the debate, part of the theater of this day and the chance for members to be on the record, but there are signs that i'm seeing that give me concern about the ability to close this deal. let's look at a couple of them. mike pence, the vice president

andrea mitchell. >> i'm reading the sentence. and what it doesn't say is as important as what it says. i never met with any russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. so basically they're -- he's not denying that they didn't -- that they met. >> right. >> it's just saying it wasn't to discuss issues of the campaign. i have no allegation h idea what these allegations are. that's going to become an issue. >> if there were these meetings during the campaign, what does senator jeff sessions member of armed services talk about with the russian ambassador as a matter of course. >> let me give you the press dented to this. loretta lynch spent 25 minutes on the plane and they discussed golf and grandchildren and other things and she had to recuse herself. that led to the fbi director james comey being in charge of that investigation. certainly, no matter what they discussed, it doesn't really matter whether they discussed politics or armed svs committee matters, he is going to be under increasing pressure to recuse himself. wha

andrea mitchell has more from washington. andrea, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, alex. this is a major breach and a counter intelligence challenge for the fbi and a damage assessment from the cia. the cia and the fbi racing to find out who is behind what could be one of the worst u.s. intelligence breaches in modern history. that bombshell release of thousands of documents wikileaks claims were stolen from the cia. nbc news is now learning from a senior u.s. official the documents contain authentic information about the cia's top tools for hacking. >> if i were inside the agency today i'd be looking at what was disclosed, who had access to that information, what would be their motivations and abilities to reveal it and whether or not a foreign country like russia was zblofd two u.s. intelligence sources telling nbc news russia is suspect because of moscow's ties to wikileaks and the hacked e-mails during the 2016 campaign. could russia have hacked the cia? or worse, could there be a mole inside the cia working for vad mir putin. or the u.s. consulate in frankfurt. >> it

thank you for watching msnbc live, right now on msnbc, andrea mitchell reports. andrea? >> thank you. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," judgment day, republicans scrambling with the health care bill at stake. the white house meeting right now with servetive house members to try for a last-ditch deal. for every arm twist there is a defector. will they have a vote. >> we need to partial rerepeal this, replace it, retain parts and overhaul parts. i feel this bill misses the mark. >> the house republican chair apologizing today for blind siding his democrats colleagues and sharing suspect information with president trump. >> judgment call on my part. and that's the -- at the end of the day that's -- sometimes you make the right decisions sometimes you make the wrong one, but you have got to stick by the decisions that you make. >> but has his decision sabotaged the credibility of the house intelligence investigation he leads? >>> and for the first time, the committee's democratic leader saying there is real substance to those russian connections. >> there is more than

i'm andrea mitchell in washington. as the political fallout continues over attorney general jeff sessions misleading answers about his meeting with the russian am was for. president trump remains steadfast in supporting his earliest senate endorser after the attorney general's selective memory of his september meeting with sergey kislyak. >> i don't remember a lot of it but i do remember saying i had gone to russia with a church group in 1991. we talked a little bit about terrorism as i recall and somehow the subject of the ukraine came up. he said something about inviting me to have lunch. i did not accept that. i don't recall any specific political discussion. >> the top democrat on the house intelligence committee adam schiff telling rachel maddow his committee briefing with fbi director comey did not go well. >> we're asking pertinent questions about that investigation, and the answers we got today from the director were "i won't answer that, i won't answer that, i won't answer that." we can't become the fbi. we ne

welcome back to "andrea mitchell reports" and let's go back to andrea in tokyo. >> thanks, chris.w hours ago, secretary of state rex tillerson arrived in tokyo kicking of a tour and to see for myself i went out on the water to see the u.s. seventh fleet which is a big tourist attraction here. the u.s. and south korean joint military exercises also toed t north of here in south korea taking place. there you can see the pictures of the tourists but then as well we have new pictures today of the "uss carl vincent," the joint exercises with south korea. 17,000 u.s. troops involved in those exercises. that prompted a warning from the north that they would unleash merciless attacks if the ships stray near the north korean territory. that's the backdrop as tillerson arrives. the first foreign policy test for the trump administration. joining me now is undersecretary of state for political affairs and senior counselor and rick steingle and political analyst and expert on nuclear issues relating to north korea and adviser -- former adviser to president obama. welcome all. the combined expe

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joining us now, andrea mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports." thank you for being with us. >> thank you, this is an education. you've shared with this with me and i'm reading a lot. >> department of homeland security authenticated this. they told us that it's a real document. it's obviously not a complete document nor was it apparently prepared for public consumption. reading through it, what's your take? >> well, the policy implications are fat nating because their conclusions are first of all that people do not enter here radicalized. second that parents do not come and are not radicalized when they arrive nor do that become radicalized. who becomes radicalized? the children become radicalized some 16 years later and how can we intervene? well, they have proposals. there are policy implications for this. that working with religious groups, working with community groups, working with adolescents could prevent the eventual radicalization of those who do become violent years later. but they do not learn this from their parents and they do not a

i'm andrea mitchell. they complained about a record number of cease fire, apparently a very tough meeting. in turkey today, tillerson failed to resolve big reasons over how to combat ooiisis on northern syria. and president trump dropping a twitter bomb. calling on his followers to fight the welcome caucus. bob corker called out house speaker paul ryans saying president trump should not work with democrats on legislations, speaker ryan responding moments ago. >> they are not for repealing obama care and we are. we work with democrats all of the time. so we have lock histories of working with democrats, but i don't think there is a stretch of the mind to suggest. >> all of this as the senate intelligence committee opened their hearings into the trump campaign collusion. they are holding down the fort in washington. also joining us, kacie hunt on capitol hill. and kier simmons are vladimir putin denied any involvement in the election. >> yes, i was speaking to someone close to president trump who says he ha

what andrea mitchell was asking there -- what did she say? "do you think you will have a deputy any time soon? when do you think you will have a deputy? can you do your job with the kind of budget cut this is president has proposed. do you think you'll have a deputy?" you know what, there is no deputy to rex tillerson at the state department. and his public appearances really are just silent tableau vivant of smiling men shaking hands and not answering reporters' questions. that's it. when rex tillerson first arrived at the state department he gave a speech to employees in everybody thought he seemed nice but he hasn't held a press conference or made sustained public remarks of any kind since then and immediately after he introduced himself and said "hey there, hi there" to the state department staff, they immediately started firing all the top people at the state department. particularly the career people who hadn't been there through president obama. they were there through george w. bush before that and clinton before that and george h.w.

of andrea mitchell reports.n leading the charge in trying to get tillerson to answer a question or two, maybe one even, and at every chance she can, every press opportunity, press photo op that she can. andrea, so spicer's blaming the fact that the press can't go on the plane with secretary tillerson as a cost saving measure on the face of it, that might seem legit. >> no. it isn't. the secretary of state flies on a -- military brand of the 757, we have flown on that plane since 1996. before that, it was the 707, every secretary of state uses the same plane, unless there is a short trip or some other trip where they take the military equivalent of the gulf stream jet. on this, he is going to asia on the gulf stream. which is, i guess the way he's used to traveling as a former chief executive of an oil company, but there never has been a trip of this nature. no secretary has ever take an long trip without generally 13 to 15 reporters. still photographers, the basic press pool has always traveled with the sec tars

you're watching andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.ou do all this research on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates... maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. liberty mutual insurance. >>> and just moments ago, the senate judiciary committee wrapped up a fast meeting to postpone the committee's confirmation vote on supreme court nominee neil gorsuch to monday next week after chuck schumer declared he will require a filibuster requiring 60 votes to try to delay the confirmation. joining me now is james pindell boston globe political reporter. and ruth, i defer to you first. i don't ow if james is an atrney but i know ruth is. speaking of the la and looking at this nomination hearing as compared to predecessors who went before the court, he was more evasive, less forthcoming than most? how would you put it on a scale? because the criticism from democrats could very well be partisan

andrea mitchell has those details. >> reporter: tonight, the president responding for the first time to the father of the navy s.e.a.l. ryan owens killed in that raid. his father refusing to meet with mr. trump. >> this was a mission that was started before i got here. this was something that was, you know, just -- they wanted to do. and they came to see me. they explained what they wanted to do, the generals, who are very respected. my generals are the most respected that we've had in many decades, i believe. and they lost ryan. >> reporter: those comments raising eyebrows. first, the president not taking full responsibility for the mission he approved. bringing up his generals, defense secretary mattis and joint chiefs chairman dunford. but the obama officials say they did not approve the raid. it was never green-lighted by the obama administration. >> with responsibility comes accountability. the president authorized that mission and it did not go well. i think that's fairly clear at this point. >> reporter: and second this claim. >> it was a very successful mission. they got a lo

i'm andrea mitchell.e are following the breaking news here in washington on the expanding political crisis over russia for the trump white house. this time it is at the top of the trump cabinet. the former senator jeff sessions, in charge of the fbi counter-intelligence investigation into russia's campaign hacking as attorney general, now in the political cross hairs after explosive reporting from the "washington post" about session's meeting with russia's ambassador at the height of the general election campaign even as questions were being raised in print about possible trump connections of trump advisors with russia, but denying his own meeting under oath during his confirmation hearing. our team has it all covered. national correspondent peter alexandre at the white house. casey hundred, and pete williams. pete, let me start with you. you cover the attorney general. you cover the fi. you know the law. whether or not he misled under oath, whether or not it is a legal issue of perjury as democrats are o

good day i'm andrea mitchell at the state department taking a back seat on national security and faces massive budget cuts. this afternoon i'll be at the first state department briefing in six weeks since the inaugural, an absence of public diplomacy not seen since 1953 when dwight eisenhower was president, when this tradition started of speaking out from the platform here at the state department to the rest of the world. more on that in a moment. >> first to capitol hill and the first big step for republicans to repeal and replace obamacare. the new house plan would strip the health insurance mandate but keep two popular provisions, coverage for people with preexisting conditions and coverage for young adults up to age 26 under their parents plan. obama cair's medicaid expansion would end in 2020, a major sticking point even for key republican senators. it calls for a 30% premium on individuals who let their insurance lapse and establishes tax credits based on age. joining me is peter alexander and kasie hunt. kasie, first to you as this is being unveiled today. the reactions coming f

>> andrea mitchell in seoul. thank you. >>> turning from the tensions with north korea to another world crisis confronting president trump, the battle against isis. tonight, nbc news has been briefed on the secret plan the president requested from the pentagon to, in his words, obliterate isis. nbc news senior nbc investigative correspondent cynthia mcfadden by why president trump might be surprised by what's in the report. >> reporter: according to two senior officials who have reviewed the document, what may have surprised the president is that the new military plan seems to be a lot like the old obama plan, just more of it. what one administration official calls an intensification. >> the current plan to defeat the islamic state is like that old saying, plan "b" is just try harder at plan "a." we have not come up with new ways of approaching this. we need more creativity in our attack ideas. >> reporter: during the campaign, donald trump made crushing isis a signature issue. >> they're going to be gone. isis w

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we get more from nbc's andrea mitchell. ♪ >> reporter: tonight, north korea warning of a pre-emptivetrike from its accelerated nuclear program. on top of a fiery north korean propaganda video portraying their troops supposedly blowing up the "uss carl vincent." the aircraft carrier on military exercises with south korea. a new response to rex tillerson's tough talk. >> can you say whether you think that's a dangerous escalation? >> no comment. >> reporter: tillerson just back from asia now walking into a diplomatic firestorm at home after his surprise decision to go to russia but skip his first nato summit. the military alliance created to defend the west against russia. a snub nato secretary general is sidestepping diplomatically, but experts say will be most welcomed by vladimir putin. >> do you want your first trip to europe to be moscow and not to the nato alliance? i just think that's a bad message. >> reporter: tillerson was already playing damage control for president trump who just in the last few days has insulted nato's most important allies. germany's angela merkel on frid

andrea mitchell has late details from tokyo. >> reporter: tonight with f-18 fighter jets taking off from the uss carrier, unleashing merciless attacks if they stray into north korean territory. the navy calling these routine military drills. >> the purpose of the exercise is to reenforce our alliance with the south korean republic. >> reporter: all of this as secretary of state rex tillerson is set to arrive in japan tomorrow. tensions rising quickly. carrying drones in addition to a new missile defense system. all after the young unpredictable dictator kim jong-un last week fired missiles into the sea of japan. calling them a test run to hit american bases nearby. 50,000 u.s. troops are based in japan. 28,000 more in south korea. the white house is working on a north korea strategy, including those military steps and cyberattacks to try to sabotage north korea's missile launches as this is shaping up as the first major foreign policy test for the new administration. lester? >> andrea mitchell from tokyo, thank you. >>> help is on the way and the big change that could send your credit sc

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and i think you're now going to see other media stand up and begin doing exactly what andrea mitchelle secretary tillerson, we're not getting responses from him. so he's going to have a hard time with how he's managed the media, his interactions, but they're not going away. and we'll find an opportunity to continue to try and ask him the questions the american public really needs to on hear responses to. >> steve, all of this follows reports of downsizing within the state department's administration. rachel maddow summed it up best. take a look. >> right after secretary tillerson was sworn? four top diplomats were told their service was not longer needed, follow by more senior staff layoffs. and so fash the people being let go are not being replaced. tillerson positihimself still h deputy. latest plan from the administration call for a 37% cut to the agency's budget. 37%. and so far there has been no sign of any public push back against that from the secretary of state. >> what are the potential ramifications of having our dlo diplomatic arm operating like this? >> you're seeing in re

andrea mitchell has more on this. >> reporter: james comey not only saying there is not evidence to back the president's tweets, saying president obama had my wires tapped in trump tower, but saying it's not possible. >> he could not order a wiretap of anyone? >> no president could. >> reporter: as for the tweet this is mccarthyism by the president and presumably the fbi. >> were you engaged in mccarthyism? >> i try not to engage in ism's of any kind. >> wiretapped him is utterly ridiculous. would you agree? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: they are investigating coordination between the president's campaign and russia's hacking of democrats, a lengthy probe that could lead to the white house. russia's motive? >> putin hated secretary clinton so much. the flip side is he has a clear preference for the person against the one he hated so much. >> reporter: for democrats, it was about russia and the trump campaign connection. >> this was, in part, an inside job from u.s. persons, willing american accomplices or terribly naive ones or probably both, who helped the russians attack our country and ou

lester. >> andrea mitchell. thank you. >>> now to the intense battle over health care playing out in washington. millions of americans wonder what will happen to their insurance. today house speaker paul ryan rolled up his sleeves trying to beat back a revolt from within his own party, as nbc's hallie jackson shows us. >> reporter: tonight, after two days long debates on changes that could affect millions of americans, the republican replacement for obamacare moves two steps closer to reality. >> this is the once in a lifetime opportunity. this is the closest we will ever get to repealing and replacing obamacare. >> reporter: the determined house speaker underscoring the urgency. today armed with charts aimed at an audience of skeptics inside his own party. the powerpoint pitch plastered all over tv with the president perhaps watching, tweeting at the same time. despite what you hear in the press, health care is coming along great. we're talking to many groups and it will end in a beautiful picture. that picture

this is not andrea mitchell's first rodeo. covering speakers and majority and minority leaders and countless cabinet secretaries, both democratic and republican. so on that note, that is our broadcast for tonight. thank you for being here with us. "hardball" begins right now. >>> dawn patrol. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. this isn't like covering politics anymore. it is more like doing guard duty in a jungle. there are strange noises but dawn brings the real danger when the large animals come out to feed. donald trump likes the get up early and roar. since getting up saturday morning, he's roared about president obama wiretapping him during the campaign, though no one around him from his press secretary to the head of the house intelligence committee will confirm it ever happened. he, trump, tweeted, now this is the president of the united states. some vindictive crap about arnold schwarzenegger losing his

andrea mitchell has more. >> reporter: julian assange the founder of wikileaks. >> the central intelligence agency lost control of the entire cyber weapons arsenal. this is an historic act of devastating incompetence. >> reporter: warning he has a lot more to release saying he got the stolen document frs a former government contractor working for the cia. >> that material spread around contractors and >> there are tools so we can then pinpoint who might have been responsible. if i was the individual involved, i would worry a great deal about the fact that ultimately, they are going to be found out. >> reporter: the cia relies on dozens of contracting firms for cyber operations plus help from the security agency and british intelligence partners. officials tell nbc news, the majority of the cyber force are contractors who undergo less gruelling background checks. >> they are not working in the inside. they may or may not have the same loyalty to the mission of that organization. >> reporter: now the cia under pressure and under fire from the president. >> he believes that the systems at the

>> andrea mitchell starting us off, thanks. >>> now that the fbi confirms it is looking into possible links between russia and trump associates, the white house today sought to distance itself from some former senior advisers. for more on the possible russian connection that investigators may be looking into, we turn to nbc news white house correspondent hallie jackson. >> but maybe someday -- >> reporter: the questions president trump tried to shake for months aren't going anywhere. >> i have nothing to do with russia. to the best of my knowledge, no person that i deal with does. >> reporter: director james comey is now confirming an fbi inquiry into trump aides' links to the kremlin started last july, months before the election. that's when headlines swirled surrounding people like paul manafort who had business ties to pro-russian ukrainians and today is denying any involvement with the russians. tonight the white house is working to minimize his role. >> paul manafort, who played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time -- >> reporter: but for six months, roughly one-

we also have kasie hunt on capitol hill, andrea mitchell sticking around, she is of course nbc news's chief foreign correspondent, host of msnbc's "andrea mitchell reports," and she's also traveling with secretary rex tillerson in seoul, south korea. hallie, let me start with you and play a few clips of what president trump has said about angela merkel. this is during the campaign. >> we defend jeremy. it's a behemoth, meaning an economic behemoth. of course in angela merkel keeps allowing the initiation grants if it's not going to be a beme moth it's going to be a civil war. i used to think merkel was a great leader. she blew it. what's going on there is disgraceful. hillary clinton wants to be america's angela merkel. >> it is of cour angela merkel. hallie preview the news conference for us if you can. are we expecting bygones to be bygones? >> reporter: that's what we're going to find out. angela merkel is certainly somebody who has interacted on the world stage if she tips her hand to how she is feeling about this, it will be done in a subtle manner but you got to pick up on her c

andrea mitchell has more. >> reporter: fugitive julian assange the founder of wikileaks saying the cia breach is far more devastating than the agency knows or agency lost control all of its entire cyber weapons arsenal. this is a historic act of devastating incompetence. >> reporter: warning he has a lot more to release. saying he got the stolen documents from a former government contractor working for the cia. >> that material being spread around contractors and former american computer hackers for hire. >> reporter: the fbi and cia working on an urgent mission. a former cia director says tracing a digital trail to track down the culprit. >> there are tools so that we can then be able to pinpoint who might have been responsible. if i was the individual involved, i'd worry a great deal about the fact that ultimately they are going to be found out. >> reporter: the cia relies on dozens of contracting firms its cyber operations plus help from the national security agency and british intelligence partners. in fact, u.s. officials tell nbc news the majority of the cyberforce are contractor

nbc's andrea mitchell has more on this. >> reporter: james comey not only saying there's no evidence to back the president's tweets claiming president obama had my wires tapped in trump tower, but also saying it's not even possible. >> so president obama could not unilaterally order a wiretap of anyone? >> no president could. >> reporter: add to mr. trump's tweets that this is mccarthyism and presumably the fbi. >> were you engaged in mccarthyism. >> try very hard not to engage in any isms including mccarthyism. they wiretapped him for obama ridiculous? would you agree? revealing they're investigating possible coordination between the president's campaign and russia's hacking of democrats. a lengthy probe that could lead all the way to the white house. russia's motives? >> putin hated secretary clinton so much that the flip side of that was that he had a clear preference for the person running against the person he hated. >> reporter: admiral mike rodgers, the tale of two hearings. for democrats it was all about russia and the possible trump campaign connection. >> this was in part a

what andrea mitchell was asking there, what did she say? do you think you will have a deputy anytime soon. can you do your job with the kind of budget cuts this president has proposed. do you think you'll have a deputy anytime soon? there is no deputy to rex materiali tillerson at the state department. they are smiling men not speaking or answering reporters' questions. when rex tillerson first came, he gave a speech but has not any remarks since they listen to immediately after he introduced himself and said, hey, there, they immediately started firing all the top people at the statement, particularly the career people who had been there through george w. bush before that and george h. w. bush before that. they fired people who don't turnover with a new administration. there were 150 years of institutetial experience. now they're telling me i have to go? those are the people they cleared out, people with 20, 30, even 40 years at the state department. all the institutional people. the career people, the core. these have been the headlines.

we have it all covered starting with nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: today james comey not only saying there's no evidence to back the president's tweet, claiming president obama had my wired tapped in trump tower, also saying it's not even possible. >> so president obama could not unilaterally order a wiretap of anyone? >> no president could. >> reporter: as for mr. trump's tweet that, this is mccarthyism by the president and presumably the fbi -- >> were you engaged in mccarthyism, director comey? >> i try very hard not to engage in any isms of any kind, including mccarthyism. >> the british have called the president's position he wiretapped them for obama is nonsense, do you agree? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: the fbi saying they're investigating possible coordination between the president's campaign and russia's hacking of democrats. a lengthy probe that could lead all the way to the white house. russia's motive? >> putin hated secretary clinton so much that the flip side of that coin was, he had a clear preference for the person running against the person he hated so much. >> reporte

as part of that we have documented the steadfast efforts of andrea mitchell to try to get a questionte, only to get more silence before she get pushed out of the room. today there was progress. she got seven words from the u.s. secretary of state. ask, ask, ask, and you shall finally receive. seven words. it a start. that does it for us tonight. now it time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >> it is fun watching andrea get those words up on the board, finally a total of seven. rachel, rex tillerson is accustomed to having zero reporters in his life and here he is with andrea mitchell. it way more than he's prepared for. >> andrea mitchell will be a barnicle on him like he has never seen before in his life. >> she's going to the biggest tillerson word count of anyone.

as apart of that we have documented the steadfast efforts of andrea mitchell to try to get a question off to the secretary of state, only to get more silence before she get pushed out of the room. today there was progress. she got seven words from the u.s. secretary of state. ask, ask, ask, and you shall finally receive. seven words. it a start. that does it for us tonight. now it time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >> it is fun watching andrea get those words up on the board, finally a total of seven. rachel, rex till everson is accustomed to having zero reporters in his life and here he is with andrea mitchell. it way more than he's prepared for. >> andrea mitchell will be a barnicle on him like he has e r never seen before in his life. >> she's going to the biggest tillerson word count of anyone. >> well, dronald trump, big, scary donald trump, every republican member of congress was supposed to be afraid of crossing donald trump, of disagreeing with donald trump because he would tweet them to death instantly or, if necessary, fly into their district in air force one