joining us now, reporter for the "washington post," eugene scott. great to have you with us. so either way you look at it, just bad language on the part of the chief of staff to refer at least in very negative stereotypical way about immigrants in that language. what kind of reaction are you hearing to the white house chief of staff's comments and what is your reaction when you hear one of the guys who was supposed to be a calming factor inside the white house, voice of reason, use that kind language? >> reporter: i think john kelly has revealed himself consistently in the last several months to be one of the administration's or at least the white house's hard liners on immigration. and he has repeatedly said things that i think resonate with the base of trump support who got on the trump train because of some of the comments the president made in the ermiest days er earliest days of his campaign. at best kelly would say some saying too afraid, some saying too lazy. but it seems as if he was affirming that world view as opposed to negating it. for me, i'm just baffled by the

joining us now, eugene scott.witching gears here, eugene, let's look at these student activists that we've been seeing emerge in the wake of the parkland shooting. how are lawmakers that you're hearing reacting to them? how seriously are they being taken and could this once and for all be the tipping point, even though we thought newtown would be that tipping point? >> it's attracted quite a bit of attention. the identity group that has been most vocal in this version, unfortunately, of gun violence and mass shootings in america have been the students. and so i think lawmakers and policymakers are paying attention to just how much attention that these young people are getting. ultimately, these decisions about gun rights and gun laws are influenced in part by donors, by lobbyist and by individuals who seek to gain something financially from decisions made related to these laws. those people are not students. so it could be very possible that what is being given to these students is lip service. and i think that wi

here with me is eugene scott, report for "the washington post." michael allen used to be a staffer on the house permanent select committee on intelligence under change of name mike rogers. and shellby holiday. i want to play sound of trey gowdy. he announced his retirement from congress. he was on "meet the press" this morning. let's take a listen to what he had to say. >> the dossier has nothing to do with the meeting at trump tower. the dossier has nothing to do with an e-mail sent by cambridge analytica. th dossier really has nothing to do with george papadopoulos' meeting in great britain. there's going to be a russia probe even without a dossier. >> mea cull parks that was face the nation. this isn't just about the dossier in question written by christopher steele. how much of an outlier is trey gowdy? >> we have seen a lot of republicans announce their retirement and they feel liberated to say whatever they want to say. that didn't help his republican colleagues on the hill saying the investigation was tainted and partisan. the problem for r

matt slap, maria and eugene scott. back after this. you're watching "hardball." it pays to switch things up. you can switch and save time. [cars honking] [car accelerating] you can switch and save worry. ♪ you can switch and save hassle. [vacuuming sound] and when you switch to esurance, you can save time, worry, hassle and yup, money. in fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved hundreds. so you might want to think about pulling the ol' switcheroo. that's auto and home insurance for the modern world. esurance. an allstate company. click or call. when you have something you love, ♪ you want to protect it. at legalzoom, our network of attorneys can help you every step of the way. with an estate plan including wills or a living trust that grows along with you and your family. legalzoom. where life meets legal. the things we do rising before dawn. sweating it out. tough to do it all. but we can always find time to listen to great thinkers and explorers whose stories take us places our hamstrings can't. all we have to do is listen. download audible to s

following the russia probe very closely, matt puzo and from the washington post, eugene scott.e start with you. the president tweeting out a column by michael goodwin about the indictment released yesterday. writing here, after summarizing some of that article, there was no collusion with the trump campaign, he quotes michael goodwin, she lost the old-fashioned way, by being a terrible candidate. case closed. you've written about this and say the indictment painted a picture of a russian operation that was multi-pronged, well financed and relentless. what did we learn yesterday about the role that russia played from 2014 until election day of 2016? >> what we really learned here is that when the president has, for the past year plus sort of edbatt away questions about russian interference in the election as fake news, that's basically at the window now. it's clear in ways nobody has ever seen before, nobody has ever seen in black and white -- the public anyways -- that a foreign government directly interfered with an american presidential election with an eye towards helping el

. >>> i want to bring in a panel for 55 minutes, eugene scott along with ya piece sha citizen odor. guys i want to play with you, sticking with the student discussion. part of kerry sanders interview, my colleague. her name is samantha fitness fuentes, she's a sr. who was shot in both legs and left with a piece of she rap nell behind her eye. watch. >> i don't know how the shootings were not enough with the pulse nightclub was not enough or how any of it was not enough. but now it is. this is enough for me. this is enough for my message, this is enough for my platform and i'm t not going to let anyone stop me. you don't know the pain until it happens to you. you don't know the fear with the sorrow and the disappointment and the complete and utter rage until it happens to you. and the truth is is that, it doesn't have to keep happening. >> will student like samantha be enough to break this still meat on guns? >> i certainly hope so. i remember being in high school when the shooting happened on columbine. it's leading people to believe this is enough and perhaps lawmakers will listen

. >> eugene scott, political reporter for "the washington post," is joining me now. entertaining to see president obama back here as we so often now hear from this new president just the way they sort of engage in different moments like this. let me talk about this moment. this is what "the new york times" noted today, ordinarily the event would barely pass notice and the collection would have been so undistinguished that the tradition of installing a new portrait after a leader has left office is now little more than a ceremonial routine. not so much today. why do you think this is? >> this is a nontraditional presidency and pushed norms in america and we expected to see that in the art as well. i heard some critics say they would have liked to have seen the president around books or in a library or behind a desk. i think anyone expecting that, perhaps, hasn't been studying this presidency when it comes to culture and what they were trying to do in terms of art. >> the obama presidency? >> yes. we saw new artists brought into the white house that perhaps wouldn't ha

eugene scott's paper had an article that said he wasn't going to manage up. he was going to manage down. >> as to eugene's question, i would love for you to comment. >> it's probably right. this is mission impossible. as reince priebus, what it was like the first six months. kelly has outlasted him, barely. we'll see how much long he lasts. when you're white house chief of staff, you have to be able to -- kelly has failed on so many levels, in my mind. first of all the most important job, leon panetta would tell you, is to tell the president what he doesn't want to hear frchlt charlottesville to the release of the nunes memo, he has failed time and again to do that. beyond that, he has reinforced all of donald trump's worst partisan instincts. trump doesn't understand the difference between governing and campaigning of the campaign something demonizing, disrupting. govern something building coalitions. it's the chief's job to try to help the president figure that out. to navigate capitol hill. and kelly has shown he's out of his depth. >> let me ask you lastly

. >> joining us msnbc contributor for daily beast, jordan fabian and eugene scott, political reporterthe washington post." betsy, let's start with that exclusive rebuttal coming from jerry nadler, the important point here is he has seen the fisa warrant. nunes has not. >> right. and it's one of the biggest surprises from yesterday of course was nunes revealing that he hadn't actually looked at any of the understood lying intelligence, the fact that he was so open and candid about that was really interesting. and points to perhaps a larger role for trey gowdy in putting together this memo then we'd initially expected. that said, i think when we look at this rebuttal that nadler has put forth, it's important to put it in a bit of context. nadler only recently rose as the top democrat on the house judiciary committee. he took that post after john conyers left once he was facing serious accusations of misconduct involving several women. this was probably the first major public headline grabbing step that nadler has taken since he rose to that position. it's interesting that he's taking th

adrian elrod, john brabender, and eugene scott, a reporter for "the washington post." let me ask you, there's two issues. one is the democrats and the special counsel and everybody else have the enough on trump to begin to impeach him. the other is, what is the question of russia's involvement clearly established in the 2016 election? whatever effect it had? did it turn it against hillary? whatever it was it was there. the american people know it was there and most believe it's coming back at us in '18. how is that going to affect this administration's history in the books? >> i think it's going to affect very negatively president trump's history. look, it is infuriating an that our president does not seem to care about this, despite collusion or not, the fact that he doesn't seem to care. he's had two major intelligence officials testify in the last two weeks he has not directed them to do anything. it's going to have a dismal effect. >> what do you make of that mike rogers all of them saying he's never told me to do anything about the russians. >> the bigger problem.

>> eugene scott, nick confessore and laura bassette. i'm david gura at headquarters in new york.tes saying he's guilty and the plot thickening for paul manafort as robert mueller zeros in. >>> gun for gun. president and nra want to arm teachers and staff. a survivor of the florida shooting is pushing back. >> we have police officers that didn't step in to take action to stop this horrifying individual, why would a teacher? >> what's the hold-up on kushner's security clearance? will the chief of staff hold back classified information? >>> rick gates guilty plea, third member of trump's campaign to strike a deal in robert mueller's investigation and the focus now shifting to paul manafort, the one-time campaign manager, who faces additional charges. jeff, what's the white house said about this? yesterday they were tight lipped about this latest development. >> they still are. let's start with the point you just made, david, the fact that rick gates is now the third member of the trump campaign to strike a deal in the special counsel investigation. and while gates' cooperation with

yamiche alcindor, eugene scott from the "washington post," and sam stein, politics editor for "the dailystart at this end. trump was pushing it the nra line today talking about emotional problems, that's the soft that doesn't deal with guns. also the idea to arm teachers. he says you should be packing to use the term. in other words, on you, the teacher when teaching arithmetic orifice sicks they have a gun on them. every student. imagine schools where that would be a fighting issue. every student as a tough kid feels challenged by a teacher. i know you're armed. i know you're a tough guy. imagine the conversations that get started in the school. >> that's the traditional republican way. that's the nra way that the nra bought. the nra bought politicians to say that. >> do we ever have teachers packing walking around the classroom with a gun? >> to be fair, there were parents in there that also spoke about the idea they would want their teachers to be armed. it's an idea an that is out there, but obviously, it would cause shoot-outs obviously. >> when is a teacher allowed to shoot? becaus

in his column about billy graham, eugene scott writes about that. in 2002, the richard nixon presidential library released tapes containing or marks from graham that many found anti-semitic, including his criticism of the jewish american influence in the mainstream media. a lot of dudes are great friends of mine, but they do not know how i really feel about what they are doing in this country, and i do not have any power or way to handle them. released,tapes were graham apologized, saying "they do not reflect my views." willnt on to say i continue to strongly support all future efforts to shoot vance -- advance understanding and mutual respect between our communities. we also want to show you some of the comments from those who came to know him, including president -- former president george herbert walker bush, who paid tribute to graham back in 2007. [video clip] >> billy has and continues to impact our nation and the world, let me also briefly note that he has had a profound impact on your family, and he has certainly had a profound impact on my

shannon peteypiece and "washington post" reporter eugene scott. jake, let me play a part of what the vice president had to tell you. >> i will tell you, i've always believed in the public's right to know. and i stand by that principle. but we'll respect whatever decision the president makes concerning that memo. >> so, jake, respect whatever decision, but does he think the memo should be released? has he talked to the president about it? >> we asked him that actually at the tail end of our interview here at the greenbrier in west virginia. he did not answer. he smiled, kind of a tight smile, and didn't really get into whether he has spoken to the president about the memo in and of itself. i will say, though, i will find it hard to believe he will say that last part of that sentence, i believe in the public's right to know, if the president was not planning to release this memo. that's just me reading between the tea leaves. listen, i've covered mike pence for a long time. actually when he was a congressman, he fought for transparency and fought fo

the post's eugene scott wrote approval from white women has fallen since the president's first 100 dayshite women voted for trump in 2016, his approval rating has fallen 10 points since then. meanwhile, the atlantic reports and another troubling sign for the president, white women in the rust belt are also turning against him. the report notes his 2017 approval among blue collar white women in the rust belt represented some of his largest declines anywhere. let's bring in the round talk. eugene for "the washington post." and senior politics reporter for u.s. news and world report. eugene, is it me too? is it just trump's manner? does it go back to the commentary -- i can call it the commentary on the bus. i wouldn't call it the commentary. what it is? >> there are a couple of things happening. every time someone brings up problems that the white house is having with women voters or black voters, they pivot all the time to the economy and jobs. the reality is women voters care about more than just jobs. and so they're seeing that their president supported roy moore in december. and in ja