in the end, that's what a dni is called upon to do. the dni is not like any other cabinet member. the dni is not there to advance the president's agenda. he is there to bring forward the best possible analysis to the president. that's what i would ask him. >> thanks to our panel. >> richard, let me just -- if i may. i want to put in a word of caution that it was expected that this might happen sometime in september. there is some indication -- we were talking to as many officials we can, that it may not be as imminent. if this is what the president wants, he can fire him on twitter the way he did rex tillerson or dan coats -- we have to wait and do more reporting. >> thank you so much. always great to have you. thanks for calling in. thank you, frank, for calling in as we had this breaking news hit. hans and nick, thank you. appreciate all of you. >>> we're counting down to the next democratic sdays away. john delaney joins us live trump's attacks against congress people of color. congress people of color. you need. nice. but, uh... what's up with your... partner? not again. limu

his role in congress is different than it will be dni. pompeo who sat with me on the intelligence committee, now secretary of state, in each of his positions he's had a different role and he's gentlem intelligent enough that he adapts and begins to fill the role. his role and responsibility as member of congress and the intelligence committee is very different than it will be at dni. he's very brought and he has the president's trust. he understands how congress works and he understands the overall picture of how these 17 agencies work. and i'm very confident he'll be able to provide the leadership. and one other thing if i could just very quickly, i don't believe at all that it was his performance on wednesday that made the difference. i think this is a conversation that's been going on for quite a while and i think john has impressed the president for a number of months. >> it's cnn's reporting. we can disagree on how the president made this decision. i do want to get to the role of the dni and the other intelligence official, because y

up and immediately become acting dni.ning to bring somebody in from the political sector and that's very troubling. >> i was going to ask you, robert ignatius, you have studied this closely and talked from time to time about the crisis of confidence inside the intel community. how does this stack up? >> i think this is the most serious attempt yet by the trump administration to politicize intelligence. it's something donald trump did from day one almost. he went out and gave a very political speech in front of the wall of cia fallen heroes. there are a lot of cia officers to this day that resent that. this is the latest and probably the most serious attempt to bring political figures into control of our intelligence community. ratcliffe has been very much a party line man. his comments on mueller you discussed earlier. i just want to say briefly what the danger of this is. dan coats was an unlikely hero. he was a politician himself but he won the trust of his workforce by push ing back. the day of the helsinki summit when

why has the president not been supportive of his dni lately? >> coats has actually been a misfit inside the administration from the beginning. he's a russia hawk from his years in the senate representing indiana. he's been out of touch with the president both in relations to vladimir putin and also the broader intelligence operations of the government. he's somebody who has daily access to the president -- not quite daily because he doesn't do the intelligence briefing every day but coats is in the room with the oval office when he gets those briefings but they never really developed a warm rapport. coats has always been this sort of bulwark, protecting the integrity of the intelligence community, much the same way jim mattis protected the military as defense secretary and he's one of the last guardrails now. >> this is an intelligence community this president has repeated attacked and undermined. >> that's right, and when the president undermined the intelligence community in helsinki, coats issued a statement from the office of the dni disagr

that's why the dni -- we've had a parade of dnis who have been not very memorable, largely ineffective. it's just another layer of bureaucracy so if the president wants to have someone as close to him, that's fine. if the person we should really care about is the national security advisor in head of the cia. mr. ratcliff i think is welcome to the job. i don't think is going to make a big difference. >> mike: one thing president trump clearly likes about ratcliffe is his ability to handle himself on camera. watch this. >> so now they're moving on saying they want to pursue obstruction by the court system and get grand jury information. look, it's becoming a joke. i think people see that. nadler and adam schiff are starting to look more like laurel and hardy. it's time to move on. >> mike: your thoughts on this nomination, doug? >> he's obviously an effective advocate of the president, a great communicator. i give him that. but the statute creating the director of national intelligence says you need to have substantial national security expertise and i think by most circumstances and mos

remember dan coats a year ago perhaps when he put one of the first nails in his coffin as dni said he will remain in the role as long as he could speak truth to the president and we knew he did that on occasion particularly with regard to the russia investigation to a degree the president was not comfortable with so this raises the question about how the president sees this role. we know what the intention of this role was when it was created. it may be that the president has a different view. >> all right, jim sciutto reporting for us. jim, thank you very much. >>> congressman don byers is joining us, a member of the ways and means committee. i want to get to the director of national intelligence but let me get your reaction to what the president said over the weekend about your democratic colleague elijah cummings. the tweets that he posted about cummings and baltimore. >> just absolutely reprehensible. i keep hearing back to do you have no decency. elijah cummings has been an extraordinary public servant. it is terrible to mock him by calling him king elijah and remarkable that eve

imagine if there's an incident with iran and this dni, the new one, has to come out and make the case to the world on behalf of president trump. that's not going to have the same credibility with the international community that we need. that should be very concerning to americans. >> let's talk, chuck, about what david mentioned, the increased politicization and the morale factor, if you will, of the intelligence community if someone like john ratcliffe is confirmed. rank and file workers there not to be partisan. does ratcliffe need to prove in order to get confirmed by the senate -- you know him a little bit. can he possibly be an unbiased leader of such an important intelligence agency? >> i do know him, ayman. we served together as u.s. attorneys. if you asked me a couple of days before the mueller hearing what i thought of john, i would have told you although i don't share his politics i thought he was a decent man. that hearing unnerved me. i thought it was incredibly disingenuous what he did to bob mueller and, by the way, i thought he was flat out wrong. to david's point and

and my understanding of the dni position, having briefed the dni throughout my career. ratcliffe's come after the investigators. he wants to investigate the investigators. he harangued mueller wrongly so. he's advocated for going after those in the intel community and fbi and doj who the president disagrees with and so what kind of environment does that create now in the intelligence community if the big boss coming in is someone who says, you do the wrong thing, i don't have your back. you come at this from a true unvarnished fact-finding perspective, you send up to me raw intel that's bad news, i may end up advocating going after you. moral is low enough already in the intelligence community and i think it may drop further. >> carol, we go to break but i want to get this quick thing to you. people say it was like he was auditioning last week in the hearings. do you think he was auditioning in the hearings? had we heard anything about ratcliffe being up for this job before last week? >> there were certainly discussions about that. yes, there was an awareness, absolutel

we have a lame duck dni in dan coats. president trump puts more trust in vladimir putin than dan coats and trump is the ultimate client for the intelligence community. he's not looking for a director of national intelligence he's looking for someone to fit his political talking point so if dan coats leaves, whoever comes in next will face the same challenges. he'll call on intelligence community to fit a campaign slogan and undermine them and discount what they are saying if it is not censored before it meets his desk, if it doesn't fit again with the 2020 campaign slogan. >> and you remember in helsinki the president clearly didn't accept dan coats' view about russian interference. he accepted putin's view. >> aibbsolutely and that is onef the many sources of tension in the intelligence community. dan coats is a professional and a former senator and former congressman and he's one of the last men standing of the people who president trump brought in at the beginning to give him a sort of sturdy foundation, the

the dni is supposed to bring them together to rationalize and integrate.f tremendous dignity and good judgment army vet, congressman, senator, ambassador to germany and he's objective. so i think and jeremy i know knows a lot about this the biggest problem you can have is when you're intelligence system tells you things they want you -- they think you want to know. so i don't know mr. flight general dunford's name is floating around. mr. trump doesn't like independent objective advice. >> jeremy bash, dan coats and your old boss are polls apart kind of personality-wise i do believe dan coats was kind of unfairly dismissed as a kind of chamber of commerce republican from indiana look at what his challenge has been under this boss and the ramparts he's built up around this job so jeremy, same question to you, address what his loss would mean. >> i couldn't agree more with general mccaffrey. dan coats is a highly capable, highly honorable public servant and comes from the political side of the house having served as a republican senator and republican ambassa

and he is rumored to be up for dni and other positions, possible. i don't think you can attribute necessarily wanting a specific job to anybody's performance. these are people who have been pretty protective of the president over the last two years. it is worth noting a fraction of the behavior by president trump and his aides, the same republicans would have been correctly calling for investigations. and yesterday, you know, to jeffrey's point, if congress isn't going to do anything, i'm not sure what there is to do. >> right. and this a choice that they have. congress not the only group of democrats with a high public profile right now. there's also the presidential candidates who will take the stage next week in two cnn debates which we will carry live. i'm curious about how they handle this. >> so am i. they seem to be following by and large the pattern that the democrats followed during the midterm elections which is talking about health care, which is talking about the issues that affect people's lives. joe biden is somewhat different. i mean,

confidence and do you think washington will have confidence in ratcliffe as the new director of the dni have confidence, eric, but i think that whether washington has confidence will be the subject of the hearings that come up for when he goes before congress for confirmation, and that that's the reason, no doubt, the president will have an acting dni in in the meantime. because he may face some tough questioning, and he may have a tough the time getting confirmed if there are, you know, if some people in the senate are not convinced that he would be strong enough in this area. that said, it's the president's prerogative to choose the people that he want advising him. and for the most part, i think we've seen certainly over the last few years that republicans in most cases on the hill are happy to support their president on things like this. eric: jeff mason, always insightful. thank you for joining us this afternoon on the news that chief d the ni -- dni dan coats will be replaced by congressman john ratcliffe on august 15th. we'll have a lot more when we come back. stay with us. oblem

and that has nothing to do with the sort of independence that we expect from the dni. someone who for instance, with coates' dni, when the president came out and said rush yad wasn't responsible for election interference, coates was quick to sigh no, we've got direct evidence. that's what the intelligence community needs because the dni is the person who leads the intelligence community. that mission was created after 9/11 and this is sort of the person who replaced the director of the cia passed individual who leads the combined intelligence agencies. what we don't need is for donald trump to place a bill barr at the head of the intelligence community. >> all important food for thought. former u.s. attorney joyce vance. thank you so much. >> thanks, ari. >> we're going to fit in a break and turn to a beat exclusive. barbara rez on the false statements about 9/11. >> i was down there also. and i'm not considering myself a first responder, but i was down there. spent a lot of time down there with you. n there. spent a lot of time down there with you eaf blowers. [beep]

ultimately you have seen dnis with lots of experience and those without much. was senator and had more experience but he wasn't an intelligence professional. the reason he did a good job is he saw his role as protecting the country, not the president. he spoke truth to power and defended the intelligence community. those things are more important than whether or not this guy has had direct experience dealing with intelligence cases. a little bit more experience would be nice. >> i hear you in saying the congressman has been auditioning for a while. according to our cnn reporting we know trump was considering him as dni pre-mueller but was impressed with ratcliffe's hearing performance for this president. why does that seem to be a deciding factor -- you know, how he performed and his loyalty to this president which we know trump holds as a priority. why might that be a reason why he picks him? >> you hit upon the crucial question. we are headed into a phase of the trump administration where the president will be running for election and his mission is to underm

every dni since the creation has tried to become the head of all intelligence. the boss of all intelligence. i was on the committee when he created it. it was created to, if you will, stop the stove piping. encourage communication. create a situation -- it's a management situation of letting the cia and the nsa, all of them, do their job and making sure that there aren't gaps. so, who better for that than a former u.s. attorney and someone who served on the intel committee doesn't pretend that he is going to be the chief spy? but rather, just like a u.s. attorney, figure out how to do case management? is he the right choice? is a very good choice. should they look at that rather than go back to, "well, we've got to have somebody disagrees with the president." i want someone that disagrees with this kind of group thought where there is either no problem or they all agree on a problem. we had this leading up to the iraq war, where they all agreed that saddam had nuclear weapons. unfortunately, he didn't. so i want somebody who's got a u.s. attorney background who

for the attorney general about the investigation of the investigators. >> only five people have been dnince, since it was created. congressman ratcliff is cut from a slightly different cloth. less security in the national security field then is predecessors and less bipartisan support. >> bret: but they have the throats to get them through? >> he has the support of the one person that matters in this, potus. >> bret: when we come back, we've seen all that video, police soaked with water. if this time it's a good thing. ♪ geico and saved hundreds. that's a win. but it's not the only reason i switched. geico's a company i can trust, with over 75 years of great savings and service. ♪ now that's a win-win. switch to geico. it's a win-win. times change. eyes haven't. that's why we created new ocuvite eye performance. between screen light... sunlight... and our always-on world... eyes have never been more stressed! ocuvite delivers nutrients that can help strengthen your eye's natural protective filter. and with new ocuvite eye performance you get 7 protective nutrients vital for today's eyes.

>> i don't think the dni is the position from which to do that necessarily.at doj. but who knows. i think if history is prologue, that he is going to do and say whatever it is that thinks the president wants him to do. i hate to use the tortured analogy or metaphor, but it's kind of like asking how high when the president says jump on the way up. >> yeah, well, meanwhile, the first democratic tv to capitalize on the mueller hearings was launched today. let's take a look. >> did you actually totally exonerate the president? >> no. >> isn't it fair to say that the president's written answers show that he wasn't always being truthful? >> generally. >> do you believe that you could charge the president of the united states of obstruction of justice after he left office? >> yes. >> the campaign welcomed the russian help, did they not? >> yes. >> and then they lied to cover it up? >> generally, that's true. >> well, that ad, which was run by billionaire candidate tom steyer comes as a number of democrats favoring the impeachment inquiry has gone up to 113, accordin

one more thing, stephanie, the law on the dni says the dni must have extensive national security experience up to the senate intelligence committee to decide whether ratcliff has the requisite experience. >> i mentioned it before. let's play some of congressman ratcliffe's questioning of robert mueller from last week's hearing. >> respectfully, director, you didn't follow the special counsel regulations. respectfully, by doing that, you managed to violate every principle and the most sacred of traditions about prosecutors not offering extra prosecutorial analysis. >> respectfully. was ratcliffe questioning robert mueller or was he auditioning for the job because president trump was watching? >> it certainly appears that that exchange had some impact on president trump because president trump retweeted a clip of that video. people close to ratcliffe tell me that performance was not just political theater. he actually believes that the special counsel investigation was in effect meaningless and as a member of the house judiciary committee and a member of the house intelligence committee he ha

attorney in a new role at dni and that is to put any partisanship to the side and to lead with great honor and integrity. lou: we're watching -- speaking of honor and integrity, john solomon who has been at the forefront of the reporting as you well know on spy-gate in all of its various forms. chris wray appears to be trying to cover up for james comey and to cover up, for example, suing to block the release of documents that are frankly -- that contain mostly information that has been in the clear. absolutely open sources. >> yeah. so those -- that's a very interesting lawsuit. and i think, you know, oftentimes you're are trying to protect your methods or sources or if you receive some intelligence from a foreign intelligence source. but in this case it doesn't appear to meet those qualifications. and the good news -- i hate to say this because sometimes we want it to be immediate. but a court will probably take that and review it in camera, a see what the arguments are and made a good decision. you have the right to appeal. ultimately the information will get out. we need more tra

it speaks to public safety talk about dan coats and the job of dni >> you know our intelligence collection services are simply unbelievy good it's coordinated there are 17 different intelligence agencies. it's supposed to bring them together to rationalize, to integrate. dan coats is a public servient of tremendous dignity and good judgment army vet, congressman, senator, ambassador to germany. and he's objective so i think -- and jeremy know as lot about this but the biggest problem you can have is when your intelligence system tells you things that they think you want to know. i don't know general dunford's name is floating around there. i think mr. trump doesn't like independent, objective advice. >> jeremy bash, dan coats and your old boss, leionpinetta are world's award. i think dan coats was dismissed as a chamber of commerce republican from indiana. look at what his challenge has been under this boss and the ram parts he has built up around this job so jeremy, same can question to you. address what his loss would mean >> i couldn't agree more with general mccaffrey. dan coats is a h

andrea mitchell speaking with director coats in aspen was perhaps the most obvious of all of them, but dni coats, former senator coats has been direct to the point in one of the accolades on the hill, particularly among senators from both parties for being a straight shooter on russia, on north korea, and elsewhere, and sometimes that means that the president's sort of rhetoric and the president's view of say the north korean leadership or vladimir putin didn't line up with the intelligence and didn't line up with what then dan coats was going to say. >> it's interesting, dan coats is the guy who stood in front of the president and basically said north korea will continue to pursue or will continue to have its nuclear arsenal. iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons and russia did, in fact, involve himself in the elections in 2016. all things, the president as we well know said did not happen or will not happen. basically everything the president was putting out there politically. >>> the latest on the push for impeachment. >> house democrats want access to grand jury evidence of robert muell

the dni director, dan coats expected to step down. he's get to details right now. at the white house. >> reporter: according to the new york times dan coats will be stepping down as director of the dni, that's director of national intelligence. this coordinates the difference intelligence agencies that come in. it was created after 9/11 to make sure you have someone over seeing the cia. nbc news has not confirmed this. we know dan coats and the president haven't had the smoothest relationships. he was one of the original members of the president's cabinet. he was ambassador to germany. he's very well respected. he and the president never really got on a personal basis. you saw that when andrew ya mitchell asked dan coats about the upcoming summit that was just announced by the president at the time between vladmir putin and donald trump. he was reaction was oh gee, that will be interesting. he had an awkward pause that made a lot of television news a lot of time on cable television. this is another cabinet official leaves the trump white house. we'll work to pin th

mitch mcconnell of being a russian asset are the same people who think ratcliff is politicizing the dni office. a disturbing trend of mixed politics and intelligence and use these terms and irresponsible ways when we are having is a political fight over the best policy issue in the federal government, being in charge of election the policy. >> does involve attacks on maternal? >> i support enhanced election security. i agree with what senator schumer said at the clip that was played but i don't believe for a second that mitch mcconnell is a russian asset. i agree with john to the extent that i don't think we should so effectively weapon ice partisanship when we have policy disagreements but i see the case of mitch mcconnell who i disagree with very different from mister ratcliff who i'm not sure is qualified it is you say we will find that out in the hearings but the washington post went too far and i was disturbed when i read it. >> many thanks. the executive director of the democratic congressional campaign committee handing her resignation tonight quitting the house democrats campaig

it's a very important job, the dni, that oversees all the intelligence at a time that we need intelligencee that we need the president's direction on declassification, it's just not happening. the bottom line is i think the president needs his own person there. gregg: he absolutely does. ed rollins, good to see you. have a good weekend. >> you too. gregg: president trump urging the radical dems in congress to move quickly on his trade deal with mexico and canada. plus, the u.s. coast guard manages to catch a submarine they refer to as the white whale. sometimes people with disabilities feel invisible... would she like some coffee or tea? hi, i'll have tea, please. thank you. i think this is yours? but everyone should receive the same respect and consideration. can i get the door for you? oh my! yes! thank you! happy to help! brought to you by the united spinal association to learn more, download our disability etiquette booklet at unitedspinal.org cuz, um, i thought that was what i needed to do. we got our orders to go overseas and i went to baghdad, iraq. we were transporting a bomb sniff

he met yesterday with other senior dni officials at their headquarters in northern virginia. to have a meeting with sue gordon. she is the second in demand and would be the natural picked to be the acting head of the dni once coates leaves. gordon is absolutely revered within the intelligence community, one of the most respected senior intelligence officials in the u.s. right now. and if ratcliffe is able to persuade her today that he is somebody who can carry the torch and defend the ics that coates did, that's confirmation, but let's wait and see. >> thank you guys both very much. great to have you. >>> another house republican decides it's time to leave the hill. "one more thing" up next. lot that needs to get done today. small things. big things. too hard to do alone things. day after day, you need to get it all done. and here to listen and help you through it all is bank of america. with the expertise and know-how you need to reach that blissful state of done-ness. so let's get after it. ♪ everything is all right what would you like the power to do?® ♪ all right what wou

it's a very important job, the dni, that oversees all the intelligence at a time that we need intelligenceime that we need the president's direction on declassification, it's just not happening. the bottom line is i think the president needs his own person there. gregg: he absolutely does. ed rollins, good to see you. have a good weekend. >> you too. gregg: president trump urging the radical dems in congress to move quickly on his trade deal with mexico and canada. plus, the u.s. coast guard manages to catch a submarine they refer to as the white they refer to as the white whale. fun fact: 1 in 4 of us millennials have debt we might die with. and most of that debt is actually from credit cards. it's just not right. but with sofi, you can get your credit cards right - by consolidating your credit card debt into one monthly payment. you can get your interest rate right - by locking in a fixed low rate today. and you can get your money right. with sofi. check your rate in 2 minutes or less. get a no-fee personal loan up to $100k. and i recently had hi, ia heart attack. it changed my life. but

the second problem is, there is a statute that says sue gordon is to be the inexacting director of dnidon't know how the white house plans to get around that. perhaps they plan to fire her so they can make someone else acting director but it seems clear they do not intend to follow the statute as it is written. >> she is so well deserving. thank you for all your great reporting and before we go to break, a reminder. yes, there is some hope in individual acts of kindness at the border. an artist has built seesaws inside the border fence so kids from both sides can play with each other. he calls it the teeter totter wall. the artist hopes it helps remind people, children and adults on both sides of the border are connected, literally, in this case, in meaningful ways. you have to love it. >>> up next, an msnbc news exclusive showing how the administration, namely steven miller, is trying to make it even harder for asylum seekers. you should be mad at people who forget they're in public. and you should be mad at simple things that are unnecessarily complicated. but you're not mad, because

congressman john ratcliffe, the incoming head of the dni if he's confirmed, is the opposite of coatsat he's a staunch defender of the president's policies. he has an intelligence background from the george w. bush administration. he made headlines op wednesday with his aggressive questioning of robert mueller. listen. >> can you give me an example other than donald trump where the justice department determined that a person was exonerated, that their innocence was not conclusively determined? >> i cannot, but this is a unique situation. >> reporter: the president tripling down on his attacks with baltimore congressman elijiah cummings. yesterday the president called the city rat-infested, meaning baltimore, and december gusting in -- disgusting in a tweet. cummings is a fierce critic of the president's border policy. all of this comes as the president gears up for a busy week. tomorrow he will sign the 9/11 victims' compensation bill into law here at the white house, and later this week treasury secretary steve mnuchin will head to china to continue those tariff talks from a few mont

. >> and the senator who coauthored the post 9/11 bill creating the dni position. >> i want to make suree have a person of independence, integrity and intelligence at that vital spot. >> prior to congress ratcliffe served as a small town mayor and u.s. attorney where according to his congressional website and resume the "put terrorists in prison. some reporters questioned that claim. >> i haven't met congressman ratcliffe and we are going to get together and discuss all of this. >> what ratcliffe does has is what is predecessor dan coats did not, the president's loyalt loyalty, especially after his grilling of robert mueller last wednesday. >> can you give me an example other than donald trump or the justice department determines that a investigated person was not exonerated? >> i cannot, but this is unique. >> the president claimed his interest in ratcliffe predates last week's hearing. >> months ago i spoke to him long before the mueller fiasco. >> records may be able to overcome g.o.p. reticence with meet and greets but democrat doubts run deeper. >> he is so partisan and he has belie

it's a very important job, the dni, that oversees all the intelligence at a time that we need intelligenceat we need the president's direction on declassification, it's just not happening. the bottom line is i think the president needs his own person there. gregg: he absolutely does. ed rollins, good to see you. have a good weekend. >> you too. gregg: president trump urging the radical dems in congress to move quickly on his trade deal with mexico and canada. plus, the u.s. coast guard manages to catch a submarine they refer to as the white they refer to as the white whale. all money managers might seem the same, but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money managem

how different is he expected to be as the director of dni, beyond the obvious experience? what else do we expect to be different? >> so ratcliffe is expected on the much more docile and friendly to trump. that video you showed of how andrea mitchell asked coats about that putin meeting, he would probably not even agree to that interview in the first place and, "b," he would be much more praising of how great a move it was for trump to meet with putin and how they were going to -- you know, solve world peace. so that is raising a lot of concerns in the intel community because you need someone to speak truth to power and ratcliffe doesn't look like the person to do that. >> all right. we'll talk to you in a bit. >>> still ahead the very latest on the push for impeachment. house democrats want to access -- want access to secret grand jury evidence as the party weighs an impeachment of president trump. >>> and kamala harris and former vp joe biden face each other again and now an unusually personal tone to the growing rivalry. we'll talk about that and plus a check of the weat

it's a very important job, the dni, that oversees all the intelligence at a time that we need intelligence time that we need the president's direction on declassification, it's just not happening. the bottom line is i think the president needs his own person there. gregg: he absolutely does. ed rollins, good to see you. have a good weekend. >> you too. gregg: president trump urging the radical dems in congress to move quickly on his trade deal with mexico and canada. plus, the u.s. coast guard manages to catch a submarine they refer to as the white whale. we'll explain after the break. ♪ ♪ award winning interface. award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. ♪ here i go again on my own ♪ goin' down the only road i've ever known ♪ ♪ like a-- ♪ drifter i was ♪born to walk alone! you're a drifter? i thought you were kevin's dad. little bit of both. if you ride, you get it. geico motorcycle. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more. i'veand still goingazed bfor my best,t. even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not cau

initial steps towards firing the director of national intelligence, dan coates now, dan coats, the dni is one of the peopl in the president's cabinet that regularly and only complains about all the time but the tlurs of this new reporting abou dan coates potentially being fired is that the white house is basically floating a trial balloon about who they might want to replace him if in fact trump fires him. according to axios and nbc news today, trump wants for his new director of national intelligence, this guy seriously, he wants the author of the book "obamabomb" to be the new director according to today's reports. his name is fred fleitz. it's okay if you don't remember that name. he did briefly make headlines when trump's newest national security adviser, john bolton tried to bring him on to the national security council for about five minutes the freakout in national security circles was palpable. and it gave rise to lured stories about mr. fleitz but now, it was one thing had to put guy in a staff job working for john bolton, even if it was a staff job on the national security co

intel, said today, "he is the most partisan and least qualified individual ever nominated to serve as dni." we've already watched the top of the department of justice come to control as a trump loyalist who clearly sees his job as protecting the president above all else. now, imagine the entire intelligence apparatus of the united states government doing the same. issues at tomorrow night's not getting in today. not on my watch. pests never stop trying to get in. we never stop working to keep them out. terminix. defenders of home. they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again! here, hello! starts with -hi!mple... how can i help? a data plan for everyone. everyone? everyone. let's send to everyone! [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? -ahhh. sure, why not? how'd he get out?! a

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. >> truly one of the greatest sound bites of the trump era courtesy of dni dan coats.hat was coats in 2017 being asked in the senate about trump putting pressure on him and pressure on the head of the national security agency, mike rogers, about the russia investigation. senator richard blumenthal asked coats in an open hearing, so when both of you got pressure about the president on the russia matter, did you guys ever talk to each other about that? have you talked about this issue with admiral rogers? at which point, dan coats paused for nine seconds, which as you can see, is an eternity in congressional hearing time. dan coats actually scored a second hall of fame nominee for sound bites in our -- of our insane era in american politics and it came during a conversation he had with nbc's andrea mitchell. criticing aspects of trump's meeting with vladimir putin in helsinki. >> i do want to say, we have some breaking news, the white house has announced on twitter that vladimir putin is coming to the white house in the fall. >> say that again? [ laughter ] >> you -- vla

the president likes to see that. >> how do you read the shift, dana, from someone like dni coats -- iard nancy pelosi say he's respected on both sides of the aisle someone democrats could live with to someone now who's partisan. >> coats was a first-stringer to use that metaphor. what we have seen in the administration is we are down to the third and fourth string. ratcliffe was chosen in the usual way. he liked what he saw on fox news. i think there will be a question of, you know, have we gone too far down? it's the equivalent of saying, okay, you passed your first aid course. now we'll have you do a heart transplant. that's the situation we are in now. will people go along with that? there is no question he liked what he saw on tv. he knows the guy will be loyal. >> do republicans worry he doesn't have the expertise he should? >> there is some uneasiness. we saw republicans come out with statements in the wake of the announcement coats was leaving that praised dan coats but not necessarily praising congressman ratcliffe. that's an indication they maybe don't think he's the best per

coats has served as president trump's dni since 2017. during his tenure, mr. trump has publicly criticized coats over policy issues. president trump also tweeting thatom he will be ninating congressman john ratcliffe as his replacement. the texas republican making headlines this week for his grilling of former special counsel robert mueller. >>> presidenkstrump's attac on longtime maryland congressman elijah cummings i onlytensified today. yesterday, mr. trump, if you remember, slammed part of ummings e which represents calling it rodent infested. today, the president cald cummings a racist. nbc's jennifer johnson explains how the white house is defendinp mr. tr latest attacks. >> reporter: another showdown between president trump and a member of congress. the president now attacking the powerful chair of the house oversight committee. congressman ejah cummings. president claiming while cummings constantly investigates him and trump's immigration policies, hisaltimore district has become a disgusting rat and rodent-infested mess. a top white house aide, once a

. >> reporter: frances, a little about john radcliffe to head the dni, he was united states attorney in eastern texas. now, he does sit on the house intelligence committee, so he is familiar with the issues but going in front of the senate intelligence committee, that has a reputation for asking tough questions during confirmation hearings frances? >> all right, hans, thank you. >> it's a crime that has shocked the nation two american teens locked up abroad for stabbing an italian police officer to death. an alleged drug deal gone wrong, in rome they paid their respects later today a funeral service for the 35-year-old officer will be held in his hometown. in the same church where he was married. sarah harman is following the latest developments. >> reporter: frances, phillip, good morning it's a disturbing case two american teens locked up abroad after italian police said they confessed to a murder but on sunday, their case took a surprising turn and it's calling the integrity of the investigation into question. >>> a disturbing twist after two american teens were arrested in the ki

intel committee is saying, to what robert mueller is saying what the fbi director is saying what the dni is saying, to what the cia is saying, to what the united states military intel community is saying. how can they moscow mitch keep denying that vladimir putin continues to try to subvert american democracy? >> i love you're calling him moscow mitch -- >> what am i supposed to call him? cocaine mitch. you know, people call him cocaine mitch. maybe -- i don't know. maybe he's -- i mean, he's only cocaine mitch if he's running cocaine to moscow because he's moscow mitch. >> because, joe -- >> seriously, he is -- he is aiding and abetting vladimir putin's ongoing attempts to subvert american democracy according to the republican fbi, cia, dni, intel committee, all republicans are all saying russia is sub verting american democracy and moscow mitch won't let the senate take a vote on it. that is un-american. >> joe, you're doing this because it's something you started yesterday. i want to wind back yesterday because to me, i have been on if show ten years frankly and i have listened to a l

. -- dni it would be a coordinating and bringing everyone together effort. it does not show any signs of being in charge. the intelligence community. over which it is supposed to be if you will presiding, if not directing. your thoughts here on radcliffe and his talent and ability to get it done. >> he understands about the crisis caused by the weaponization of the intelligence agencies. at the same time the same agency were bending over backward protect hillary clinton. you know, i see devin nunes talking about the agencies coming clean. we're still being stonewalled on a lot of these issues and documents. they know things in the classified set we don't, but there has to be a public reckoning in terms of getting these dimes ou document out the. jim: in two sentences, nunes say they came clean. yet, reserving some space for john brennan. >> clear brennan was a key guy pushing this fraudulent dossier. this whole russia gate scandal. and idea that russia sinister fearing in our e-- russia is interfering in our election. i don't believe anything they have to sa

the president says he will nominate john ratcliff of texas to be the next dni. an acting director in expected to be named shortly. >>> we move on the to the deadly night club collapse in south korea. american athletes among the injured. at least 2 killed and 16 hurt when the upper floor gave way. here's marci gonzalez. >> reporter: tonight, members of the u.s. water polo team returning to los angeles after surviving that deadly balcony collapse inside a south korean night club. this video obtained by swimswam.com showing partygoers at coyote ugly trying desperately to lift the collapsed dance floor, and free people trapped underneath. >> it was a really scary situation and very dangerous. >> reporter: two people were killed, more than a dozen others injured. among them, four members of the u.s. water polo team who were out celebrating the women's win in the world championship. >> the next thing you know, the floor collapsed beneath us on the second floor, and we were suspended 10, 15 feet in the air and sort of fell down. >> reporter: johnny hooper speaking excl

the new head of dni. some people say he's too political for that position. you have served in cia.do you believe he's too political for that position? sec. pompeo: i know john. his first term was my final term in congress. i know him reasonably well. he's very smart. i'm confident he will do a good job. i'm ever people saying i would be too political to be cia director. i hope history will inform us that that wasn't the case and that i did my job and delivered on behalf of the american people in an appropriate way and did not allow politics to interfere with delivering important, timely fact-based intelligence , to the president the united states. mr. rubenstein: you are first in her class at west point. had he become first in her class at west point? that's pretty tough. what happened to all the people who were second, third, fourth. did they become anything? [laughter] sec. pompeo: one is secretary of defense. he has a classmate of mine as well. i give him a hard time about our relative order of finish. mr. rubenstein: you went to harvard law school. why did you abandon the pract

especially given the job of what the dni does.e administrative. >> sandra: lauren. >> i think john ratcliffe, he comes from a conservative district, receiving a lot of criticism that he may be to pro-trump, but speaking to some of his colleagues, everyone has amazing things to say about john and the work that he has done, and especially the role that he has taken on. also his previous role as a u.s. attorney, who worked on counterterrorism cases. this is a case that he is unfamiliar with. it is an administrative role that is mostly collecting and consolidating intelligence reports from the different agencies. he will be able to lend a prosecutor's life. >> bill: so much of this cannot escape politics. elizabeth warren says "from day one, he has made his disdain for the intelligence community clear. our director of national intelligence should be about partisan politics." he doesn't fit that bill. he said this late last night. "i'm deeply grateful to the present for this opportunity to lead and work behalf on all of the public serv

he had been considering him as dni premueller hearings but was impressed with what he saw in the questioning of the former special counsel last week. a chorus of folks has claimed he's not qualified. in watching, did you feel that was a total audition for the job? >> i mean, it's what was in his mind at the time. i can say as much as it impressed the president it made democrats more militant and put some republican senators in a very uncomfortable position if they are up for re-election in swing states. it will be an interesting way this will play out. we'll get closer and closer to the 2020 elections. >> establishment rebel. i have never heard that one before. abby livingston with the texas tribune, thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >>> republican senator leader mitch mcconnell just moments ago defending his decisions not to tackle election security bills as he gets attacked for doing vladimir putin's bidding. we have that for you just in. and the countdown is on for the cnn debates. former congressman john delaney joins me live in detroit to talk medicare for all and the pre