outfront tonight, jeff mason, reuters reporter that broke this story. jeff, you spoke to the president moments ago. there are a lot of headlines here. let's begin with the bombshell that the president told you i could run the mueller probe if i wanted to. >> yeah. that is one of the more interesting things he said in the sbinterview with me and my colleague. he talked about the probe. he said again it was a witch hunt. he interrupted us when we started to question to be clear that's how he viewed it. i mean, this quote is getting a lot of attention with good reason, but actually the run up to the quote is he said he was staying out of it, that it was better if he did. so it is interesting, he was making it clear that he viewed it as a decision, and that he had made the decision to stay out, but it wasn't the only option he had. >> right. he has long said that he wants to sit down with mueller. he has nothing to hide, wants to answer mueller's questions, it is his lawyers that won't let him, they're trying to negotiate. the response from the president ton

reuters white house correspondent jeff mason. and ron complain, a former chief of staff to vice president joe biden. jeff, let me ask you first, how to explain this president, refusing to lower the flag, refusing all of those opportunities, and only yielding after the american legion, the veterans of foreign wars, and other groups spoke out so strongly against what he was doing in the aftermath of the death of john mccain, a period of national mourning. >> absolutely, andrea. and, you know, it's very difficult to explain. i think the way to start perhaps is just to look at how president trump reacts to things like this. his animosity for mccain was extremely well-known and he did not back down from that even in death, which drew a lot of criticism from people who knew senator mccain and who know president trump. it was very unusual yesterday to be here at the white house and to see the flag not at half-staff. i can tell you, just having spoken to some other white house officials about it yesterday, before the flag was taken down a

jeff mason joins me as well as harry litman, and chuck rosenberg, along with nbc correspondent kristen welker. kristen, let's talk about the aftermath of two stunning decisions yesterday. >> i can tell you, andrea, it's tense here. a number of top officials have been huddled in meetings throughout the morning. that's not necessarily unusual, but clearly this is something that is consuming this administration. and the question is what happens next, how will they respond. we're getting a sense of how the president and his legal team plan to respond, and that is to essentially paint michael cohen as a liar. i've been talking to rudy giuliani as well as others who are familiar with the strategy, who say, look, the bottom line is cohen is on tape, including with some journalists in instances saying he made the payments, so-called hush money payments, on his own, not at the direction of the president. and now he's essentially changing his tune. that's what they're planning to argue, andrea. and so they're going to say, was he lying then or is he lying now? they're going to try to attack his

fellow and government toids at the bookings institution, and editor and chief, carrie johnson, and jeff mason, reuters correspondent. we've had development in the last hour, reaction to the report that's come out so far. what? >> richard, the top-line takeaway from "the new york times" report is the white house counsel don mcghan, over the fear that the white house was setting him up to take the fall over any obstruction of justice, is now cooperating with the special counsel. it's a fairly breathtaking revelation. "the new york times" is reporting that in a series of interviews totaling some 30 hours, mcgann is telling the special counsel about the president's outrage, his anger over the russia investigation and how he has urged mcgann to respond to it. this includes things like firing james comey, pressuring the attorney general, jeff sessions, to do the president's bidding. also attempting to fire robert mueller, the special counsel. so mcgann in deciding to cooperate with the mueller team is really taking the view of the president's first team, his first outside team of attorneys, who too

well, jeff mason, thank you so much. i know you were on the south lawn for this departure. >> with peter. >> with peter, you rushed over here, we thank you for that. peter, we thank you for everything you do. harry litman, have a great weekend. we'll all be standing by, all of our legal eagles like harry and watching what's going to happen, we'll talk about that later, with the manafort jury. >>> an important announcement to make. tonight, in his very first appearance on television since the president revoked his security clearance, former director of the cia john brennan sits down with rachel maddow for a one on one interview, her first interview with him, tonight live at 9:00 eastern, only on msnbc. >>> coming up next, america's longest war. president trump growing increasingly irritated with the lack of progress in afghanistan. now being pressed to privatize the war. i'll talk to the founder of that controversial blackwater firm, now out of business. he wants his new security operation to take on the job in afghanista

jeff mason was on the reuters team that interviewed the president. >> he was out of it. it was better if he did. it is interesting. he was making it clear he viewed it as a decision and he made the decision to stay out. it wasn't the only option he had. >> president trump also said he is concerned about falling into a so-called perjury trap. if he consents to the interview with the special counsel. he worries mr. mueller would compare his statement with others like james comey who trump said was best friends with mueller. in that situation, the president said even if i'm telling the truth, that makes me a liar. this comes after his lawyer rudy giuliani who said the perjury trap truth isn't truth. giuliani attempted to clean that up monday saying he was referring to the classic he said/she said dilemma. a perjury conviction requires someone willfully telling a lie. >>> white house counsel don mcgahn's cooperation with mueller's team has unsettled president trump. the president approved the interview, but the president did not know the interviews stretched for 30 hours nor

jeff mason from rigeuters, as well. again a very busy hour here and it is only going to get busier the rest of this afternoon about an hour from now we expect that guilty plea in federal court from michael cohen. i am going to wrap things up here for my part. don't worry, ali velshi is standing by. >> what an interesting point you just discussed. if michael cohen did something that constitutes a campaign violation act, interesting to find out whether the person to who benefited from that donald trump, is deemed to have accepted that. and, of course, i think that's what prosecutors are going to be very interested in hearing if there is a campaign violation aspect to the charges that michael cohen is going to be pleading to or we expect he will at 4:00. thank you for your coverage of this. good afternoon, everybody. i'm ali velshi. one of the president's closest aides. somebody who has worked closely with him for years has made a deal with federal prosecutors. a deal that

for what he calls attempted economic coup, joining me now jeff mason, white house correspondent for reuterssee you. i recognize it's a muslim country and he's a christian that would be easy step to ease tensions with the u.s., no? >> officials in the white house who have been pushing for this for some time including not only the president but vice president pence who has made this a really big cause who are dumb-founded really that turkey is not letting him go. it's turned to really a war of wills and personalities between president trump and between president erdogan, worth noting that turkey is a friend technically, turkey member of nato and u.s. ally and to have crisis like this with two countries that are aligned in many ways certainly in terrorism and national security within nato is quite unusual and having major impacts on the turkish economy. mike: this is clearly an irritant for president trump who tweeted thursday, turkey has taken advantage of the united states for many years, they are now holding wonderful christian pastor who i ask to represent country as great hostage, we will

jeff mason, white house kr correspondent for reuters. good to see you, jeff. >> reporter: good to be with you. >> the first lady's presence at events such as today's cyber bullying summit elevates an issue that is important to children and families across the country. she's committed in all that she does. is she doing this in spite of her husband or because of her husband. >> reporter: it is a note worthy that this is the cause that she chose and she has been working on it for some time now. the president has been a prolific user for some time listening before he became the president of the united states, he used that platform to criticize others and he continued to do so in strong terms. >> "the new york time" did an interesting profile for the first lady. the president suggested mrs. trump chooses a different topic and could lead the campaign to spotlight of antibullying. he warned her that she's opening herself up to such cheers. people were familiar of the conversation held at "the new york times." she rejected and she said she was a

joining me now is jeff mason, one of the reuters correspondents who interviewed president trump. jeff, thanks so much for being with us. we didn't know microsoft was coming forward with this news of this new russian attack on the united states political system, but it's very interesting to hear the president once again equivocate to you hours before that came out saying if, if it was russia. how did it sound to you when you first heard it? >> well, that was in the context yesterday of just a broader discussion about the mueller probe. we were talking about whether he was considering or would consider taking away mr. mueller's security clearance after having done that with john brennan and to the president sort of interrupted us as we were asking the broader question and said again, you mean the witch hunt which, of course, were his words. so he expressed his long held skepticism of that probe. in the answer you were just showing on the air, just inserted that clause, if it's russia. so, that again goes to show that it's something that for him is not 100% clear that russia was resp

jeff mason, you covered senator mccain. we expect at any moment to see his family walk the east steps of the capitol there before the ceremony begins at the rotunda in about 25 minutes from now. >> yeah. i was just thinking about some of the highlights of the campaign and the relationship he had with obama. it was certainly a heated campaign, and they disagreed on lots of issues with regard to policy, but there was an underlying respect there. it came out in moments like the famous one where john mccain was at a campaign event where a woman said she didn't trust obama because he was an arab. mccain gently but very forcefully said, no, man, he is a family man. we just have big disagreements. i also remember a lighter moment where both senator mccain and then senator obama were speaking at a dinner. they were hilarious about each other. sort of poking fun at some of their own foibles and what they'd said about each other, and also about the other candidate. i think that underlying respect continued in the years after mccain l

too, is the new interview we've been talking about with president trump, conducted, in part, with jeff mason, who is currently sitting next to me. we'll get to him in a second. the president echoed something rudy giuliani has been saying for weeks, which is the idea that tennessan interview with r mueller could be a, quote, perjury trap. the president is listening to at least one of his lawyers, echoing it in these discussions. >> reporter: it was interesting to hear president trump use the term perjury trap. what is he talking about? what they are casting as a he said/he said between him and his fired fbi director james comey on a range of critical topics, but specifically about michael flynn, the former national security adviser. whether or not president trump essentially urged james comey to let that part of the investigation go. the president indicating that he has a very different version of events. rudy giuliani saying, look, that's what he meant when he was talking about the truth isn't truth. he says he misspoke. he really meant to say it was a he said/he said. bottom line though, ha

jeff mason covers the white house for reuters and katy fang is an msnbc legal analyst. what's your perspective about what changed this week? being described as guilty tuesday. one of the darkest weeks of the president's tenure so far. what changed vis-a-vis robert mueller's investigation this week? >> regarding what was referred by team mueller to sdny new york, a mueller adjacent component, not necessarily part of the mueller probe itself, but the president with the michael cohen plea became an unindicted cospe co-conspirator in a crime, according to michael cohen's guilty plea. that is a big deal whether or not the president of the united states or his team want to acknowledge the gravity of that or not. this week, the president was going around phoning friends and telling people within his inner circle, well, you know, this doesn't really affect me or my presidency, so i'm not thinking about it even that much. that is obviously belied quite a bit by the repeatedty of the tweets he is sending out. but he and his inner circle are trying to downplay the gravity of this.

we'll see. >>> still ahead on "morning joe," we're going to hear more from jeff mason on the heels of his wide-ranging interview with the president including the president saying he has the power to run bob mueller's investigation. >>> plus, new reporting says you can add another name to the list of people from whom president trump is considered revoking their security clearance. and that person is president obama. we'll tell you, who will reportedly get president trump to back away from that really wise move. first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. looks like it will be rough tomorrow in the northeast? >> thunderstorms rolling through, joe, today and tomorrow depending where you're located. also hurricane that could possibly have a direct impact in hawaii. more on that in a second. first things first, stop that causes all the problems is right in the middle of ohio valley sending heavy rain and bands of thunderstorms into the great lakes. spotty showers in northern virginia. this is the area of concern later today. roughly 16 million people at risk of severe storms today. wi

let's bring in jeff mason and white house correspondent for the daily caller, thank you both for being here tonight. i want to play more about what the president had to say. >> these are dishonest terrible people. i am telling you that. not all of them. not all of them. i would say 85%. >> are we in the 15%? >> not sure. shannon: at the white house -- >> there's frustration that there hasn't been a briefing in a while. we are still getting opportunities to ask questions of donald trump and that is good but we always want more access and more ability to ask questions because there is no dearth of news. shannon: here is what the vice president had to say. >> all i know is for a lot of liberals the national media met their match, the american people elected this man because he had a vision for this country and because he is a fighter. shannon: if it benefit both sides of the president loves having an opponent the matter who it is, he loves that back and forth with them on the media side, because of the constant war with the president. >> it is unfortunate on both sides, it can be played u

in the meantime let's bring in jeff mason, a white house correspondence. this is a big deal for this white house. >> it's absolutely a big deal, otherwise president trump would not be there. it's a sign that they are all in for the election. also for the november midterm election i think it is a sign that they are going to be hitting the trail a lot in the weeks and months to come. >> it is anybody's guess as to why the race has turned so tight. balderson had a bout a ten-point lead a month or so ago. it is now a one point race according to the polls. this in a state where president trump one and has been republican for decades. why so tight? >> that's a good question. it could be a number of reasons. despite the economic success that president trump has seen that there is concern about the tariffs they are talking about. that there is general concern with the trump presidency. it's a state that supported trump but it is a swing state. it is a sign or a part of the democratic trends going into the november election. some people think it will be a blue wave

the white house correspondent for reuters jeff mason is joining us right now. e said then. vice president pence has apparently a different view right now. >> he doesn't talk about it much now. when he made those comments he was not a politician, he was a radio host in indiana. if you look back at his sort of tenure with president trump during the 2016 campaign, he did criticize then candidate trump after the "access hollywood" tape came out. since then he as absolutely aligned himself with the president on everything from policy to moral issues. he stands behind the president. he gives his support to everything that he does. it's pretty much his -- that's who he is now is president trump's number two. >> even when he's been asked about stormy daniels, karen mcdougal and so-called hush money and all that was paid. >> yeah. >> what does he say? >> yeah, he's dismissive of that. he questions the allegations that have been made. he does not come out and talk about moral arguments. if this was a democrat in office congress or governor in indiana that his tone and cri

and jeff mason. big welcome to you both. jeff, you first here.rious what you make of the president's tweets, in the midst of all these legal troubles. is it deflexion, frustration? >> i think it's a little bit of both. he's been expressing his frustration with the mueller probe for ages now, he uses twitter to allow that frustration to come out. he targets the justice department, jeff sessions in particular. and then he targets others who he thinks the justice department should be looking at more closely. he often targets the media, and targets his former opponent, lrn hrn. all of those things are part of his playbook, when he feels under siege. >> in his tweeting repertoire, that's for sure. i'm curious, laura, the overall reaction from folks on the hill. on all that has unfolded this week, especially on the republican side. is there any clear strategy, going-forward, how to navigate all of this? >> i think republicans are in a tough position right now, they've been suspiciously quiet this week for the most part about the cohen and the manafort

jeff mason, with reuters, summed it up this way.s probably isn't the way they wanted it to go, but bring in the media to slam the media. >> i think this is kind of a -- that is a normal day in the white house. that is a slow news day when just that happens and not a million other crazy things. and so, you know, you're actually going to see a bunch of major newspapers, including "the boston globe," in the next couple of days, issue a -- denude -- they are coordinating to say we don't deserve that this type of treatment that we are valid part of democracy and we are just trying to do our jobs and hold power accountable whoever it is. >> daniel lippman, good to have you back. thanks so much. >> thanks, victor. >>> later this morning, the president's attorney rudy giuliani is on ""state of the union" with jake tapper at 9:00 a.m. on cnn. >>> cnn has exclusive reporting that twitter admitted the fringe media info wars violated its rules but did not remove the problematic tweets from their website. we will tell you what we have learned. w

is focused on this trial wanting updates from his team and you can sense if you look at the way jeff masont the president's mood. he's unnerved. waiting for the manafort trial is part of that and donald trump is hoping that paul manafort ma calls a good man, 1 n is not convicted. >> if manafort is acquitted we have not fully understood what the president will do with it. maybe he'll issue a pardon. if he is found guilty to that mind-set it's clearly rattled him. >> we are in such a precarious moment in time in this presidency right now. the manafort trial, figuring out the determination about whether or not mueller will issue a report before we get into the election season. this is a moment of time where the president is feeling the heat. just watch what he's doing everyday. >> we will and you will, david chalian, thank you very much. >>> the grand exercise in incongruity, melania trump's anti-bullying message. president trump's bullying message on twitter. the stark contrast next. this i. this is not a screensaver. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system,

united states with me alone saying i hope this, i took it as this is what he wants me to do. >> jeff masonsay this, i know you have covered several administrations in the front row for reuters and one thing that i'm always struck by is when -- i think you and i were in a room one saturday where we were in a briefing and you're all sending out headlines in all caps all over again and this is the president of the united states and white house and all of a sudden every single word has meaning and clearly robert mueller is sifting through all of them. >> absolutely. when i read that tweet one of the things that came through my mind was imagine being the president's attorney right now. imagine being on his legal team and seeing the tweets come out. >> we need an animation of rudy giuliani with sparks flying out of his head. >> clearly this is a sign that the president is upset about this issue. it's the same thread that you were just talking about with swrob th jonathan. he lashes out at the media when he's upset about something and he's clearly you set about this. but by giving that informatio

. >>> we'll dig into the reuters interview with president trump with jeff mason, the reporter who askedthat's good! i could put that on an airplane banner. hmm. maybe. nice work. was that...? yeah, king midas. yeah. at midas, we're always a touch better. which is why our $19.99 oil change also includes a tire rotation. book your appointment now at midas.com get your groove on with one a day 50+. ♪ get ready for the wild life ♪ complete multivitamins with key nutrients that address 6 concerns of aging, including heart health, supported by b-vitamins. your one a day is showing. >>> you know how we like to end the show. no matter what, there's always good news somewhere. we think good news ruhles. last night, davis asked a fan to sign his djejersey before the g. anthony loves him. he is in remission from cancer. apparently, the signature gave davis extra strength. in the third inning, he hit a monster home run, helping the a's take a 4-0 lead. anthony's name was still on his shoulder. we love that. that wraps up this hour. i'm chris jansing in for stephanie ruhle. right now, more news with

appears according to jeff mason that tweeted a picture of the president dialing the phone he has done that, he dialed the president of mexico to congratulate him on the deal giving all appearances that this is a finalized deal with mexico at a time when he is trying to pressure canada to get on board. the president saying he is open to adding canada to this bilateral deal we'll see what the level of support is on capitol hill for this presumably republicans on the hill will be encouraged by the president making some negotiating progress, encouraged by the idea of being able to guarantee something for american workers, may want to move quickly on this. we have to wait and see what leaders on the hill say about all of this and digest the specifics of whatever is coming here from the white house. >> eamon, how unexpected is this i know we're sitting here at the stock exchange and surprised to hear nafta name is being dropped, and this is a deal with mexico that could extend to canada was there any signal this could be a possibility today >> today, we never know when these things drop. ka

also, political reporter from x axi axios, alessi, along with the correspondent for reuters, jeff mason. thank you for being here. congresswoman, i want to start with you for the latest developments on what we heard yesterday in the briefing room. the fact that sarah sanders couldn't deny there is a recording somewhere with donald trump using the "n" word. >> i think for many of us observing the president, i think as an african-american, i believe that he has used the "n" word, but it was still stunning to listen to the press secretary speaking behind the podium at the white house, unable to confirm that. you know, i think for the american public, i don't know now that we actually need to hear the tape to know that he said it. >> i think you bring up an interesting point. we learned so much from then-candidate trump on the campaign trail. this is someone who launched his career by questioning the citizenship of the first african-american president. a new clip of donald trump has emerged from the 1980s. i want to play it for everyone and then discuss on the other side. take a look. >> a

jeff mason from reuters and ruth marcus, "washington post" editorial page editor and columnist. close to reality is this change, julia? >> pretty close, andrea. we understand this will be published in the federal register in coming weeks. it doesn't need to go through congress. what they're doing is redefining the term "public charge" that was first used in the 1800s, think ellis island time. they didn't want immigrants coming in who would be a burden on the country and not able to support themselves. but under this new rule, they would vastly expand that definition, meaning that any immigrant likely to become a public charge, whether they themselves have been on a social program or someone in their family has or their household, that could now be used against them getting citizenship or green cards. these are people who entered the u.s. legally and are following the steps. what a lot of immigration lawyers have pointed out is the programs on this list, the drafts that have been described, it seems that the programs actually would increase that poverty level. right now if you ma

let's bring in one of the reporters who took part in yesterday's interview with president trump, jeff masonwhite house correspondent for reuters. being in that room -- did the president really mean, i could replace robert mueller with myself? >> well, all i can say is what he said. that is what he said. the context of that, the in between part that was question is he said that i have decided to stay out. i wouldn't have to, but i have decided that it's better for me to stay out. he made clear it was an option and the fact that part of the option at least in terms of what he said yesterday was to run the thing is understandably getting a lot of attention. he said -- the overall context of that comment was, he is keeping himself at arm's length despite feeling like he has another option not to do that. >> in terms of robert mueller, he brought up mueller and security clearances. what did he say on that front? >> we asked him about that. just last week, on friday when he was boarding marine 1, he spoke to reporters and in the same breath talking about the next person, mr. ohr at the justice he

jeff mason, you were riding the straight talk express back in the day, and probably have a lot of storiesure how many of them are clean enough to tell on television. you're at the white house today for reuters. those are the days when john mccain cemented his reputation as a maverick. >> he certainly did. it was quite an experience covering that campaign with kelly o'donnell and a bunch of other great washington correspondents. we all had a chance to develop a relationship with the senator and to get stories with him. one of the ones that i remember, sitting on the straight talk express with him one day, i asked him, and i'm not sure why at that point, but i asked him if it he was in favor of changing u.s. laws so that people who were born abroad such as arnold schwarzenegger at that time could run for president. and he said, oh, i don't think it's a priority. and then i told him that i happened to be born abroad because my dad was serving in the air force. without missing a beat he said, oh, then i'm for it, i'm for it. and that kind of sense of humor and quick wit was characteristic of

jeff mason is here. white house correspondent for reuters, usually with us from washington.re, shep. >> shepard: i don't know who this is a surprise to that the north koreans are rolling on with their nukes, apparently they are and now they are mad at us. >> mad and being very clever how they express that anger by trying to sort of engender or lead to some divisions within the administration. those divisions are probably between ambassador bolton who said recently that north korea had knot done what it needed to to stop its nuclear weapons. and secretary pompeo who has been a little bit more open-minded, a little bit more urging of patience with north korea. >> shepard: is there a concern among any of those with whom you correspond that this will become a problem or is this just the same old north korea stall tactics? >> well, number one in terms of concern. president trump really wants this succeed. if there is concern, it's related to that bolton has a his history of being a real hawk with north korea. >> shepard: until about five minutes ago it seems like. >> his advisors

we just heard vladimir putin in response to my colleague jeff mason from reuters a question in helsinki say, yes, i wanted donald trump to win. i thought he wanted to improve relations between our countries. therefore, i was rooting for him. and it to have trump say that, to continue the claim that russia didn't want him to win, remember his tweet a few weeks ago where he suggested they were trying to help the democrats win perhaps in these midterms, which another thing that defies credibility. it puts the white house in a very difficult situation. those are the moments where they try to explain it away or, frankly, don't take your calls. >> ken dilanian, jonathan lamire, jonathan baker, thank you very much. >>> start your countdown clocks to t-minus 10 days maybe. fely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? ol

jeff mason joining the party with along with carol lee. matt, let me start with you, you listened to these recordings and you've watched this and heard them. what did you learn new from them? >> actually not much. this is really just devin nunes putting into words what his deeds have shown. he's made it pretty clear he sees his job as protecting the president at all costs and not getting to the bottom of what happened, whether with regards to russian interference and with regards to whether any members of donald trump's campaign participated or assisted in the russian interference. that's been obvious for a year and a half now. it's remarkable to come out and admit it privately, not publicly in a setting where you often hear politicians slip up and say what they really mean. and i think what it shows is this argument you see democrats making across the country which is the republican party in no way is willing to be a check on donald trump. no way willing to investigate corruption or malfeasance or impropriety in his administration and dev

jeff mason from rigeuters, as well. again a very busy hour here and it is only going to get busier the rest of this afternoon about an hour from now we expect that guilty plea in federal court from michael cohen. i am going to wrap things up here for my part. don't worry, ali velshi is standing by. >> what an interesting point you just discussed. if michael cohen did something that constitutes a campaign violation act, interesting to find out whether the person to who benefited from that donald trump, is deemed to have accepted that. and, of course, i think that's what prosecutors are going to be very interested in hearing if there is a campaign violation aspect to the charges that michael cohen is going to be pleading to or we expect he will at 4:00. thank you for your coverage of this. good afternoon, everybody. i'm ali velshi. one of the president's closest aides. somebody who has worked closely with him for years has made a deal with federal prosecutors. a deal that includes at least one campaign finance charge. the

comes down to the president after he made an astounding claim on plond telling reuters reporter jeff mason he could "run the special counsel's investigation if he wants." an avalanche of tweets in recent days calling robert mueller disgraced and discredited. like the claim he could take over the investigation seems to lack any evidence. let's have a look at this. don't take mire word for it. look at the special counsel's investigation and the president's claim he could "run it if he wanted to." it's unclear if he means he can be the special counsel himself or if he can take oversight. so let's talk about the qualifications first for being special counsel. according to the 1999 stampt, anyo statute, must be a lawyer. he isn't. and must be from outside the u.s. government pull all govern. all of these things et president is not maybe means give robert mueller orders and take oversight of the investigation. it's the attorney general who does this. the one special counsel reports to. and this, special counsel may be disciplined or removed from office only by the personal action of the attorney

. >> and reuters interviewed the president yesterday, jeff mason and colleagues, and said that he again blame russia for the hacking. >> every intelligence agency has said it's russia. the whole notion that the president keeps doing the back-off and the dance and this and that. it's not just the american people who can see that. it's vladimir putin who can see it. >> the president told reuters he can run the mueller investigation if he wanted to, he could take it over. is the senate -- are the senate republicans, they're in the majority, are they going to do anything to stop this from happening? >> i don't know. what i do know is that donald trump cares about exactly one person in america: donald trump. and he will do everything he can to protect himself. and that's the direction he keeps heading. and whatever it does to rule of law, to our established agencies, to law enforcement, it's all about donald trump for donald trump. >> he promised to drain the swamp, memorably, in the campaign. you came out with an initiative today against lobbyists, against government rulemaking. why? why is

trump said he's chosen not to be involved in the investigation, telling white house correspondent jeff mason, i've sided to stay out. now, i don't have to vai out. as you know, i can go in and i could, do whatever, i could rin it. trump is asserting he could run the investigation of donald trump. this is looney tunes. im i am joined by republican strategist michael schmidt, eugene robinson, and a white house correspondent for pbs news hour. why don't we go in the order of your faces there, what is rudy talking about, he could be running the investigation, himself, this is the newest as rudy guiliani denied such a thing as objective truth. rudy went i believe to the manhattan college, one thing you learn in catholic school is a lot of philosophy. lot of time trying to figure out the meaning of truth and the objective truth and a total commitment to the idea there is such a thing as truth. i'm sure owl religions believe this. certainly his did. how can rudy walk out and say there is no such thing as objective truth f. my guy says something it's just as good as anybody else. that's what he asse

i don't think this story is going away. >> bill: jeff mason. thank you for your time from the north lawn at the white house. thank you, sir. sandra. >> sandra: busy morning. we'll keep this conversation going with today's headliner, white house deputy press secretary hogan gidley. he will join us live at the top of the 10:00 hour 15 minutes from now. bill. >> bill: looking forward to that. >> sandra: a long list of things to talk about. >> bill: another friday in august. we have plenty. our list is long. president trump up and tweeting slamming governor andrew cuomo over this comment from this week. >> we aren't going to make america great again, it was never that great. >> bill: about an hour from now the president comes here to the empire state in new york and congressman lee zeldin will be there to greet him. his reaction on that in a moment. >> sandra: the search for a missing mother and her two daughters may now be over following a disturbing discovery yesterday. >> bill: president trump's veteran's day military parade on hold now. when it

joining us now, white house correspondent for reuters, jeff mason good to see you. >> good to be here>> you cover the white house very closely. how much has the president trump been watching on cable news, paul manafort going through his trial ant sees his son don junior might be in some trouble as well. how obsessed, concerned is the president with the mueller investigation? >> really obsesses with it and the fact he's sort of on vacation now, although the white house doesn't want to call it vacation in bedminster, even more time to watch television and weighing in on that. people have been asking me also, why is -- seems like the escalation. an escalation between the media and the president in the last few weeks and that's maybe why as well. he likes to choose a scapegoat. often the media or somebody else when really upset about something and this is likely one of the things really on his mind. >> what was discussed during his hour-long meeting in helsinki last month with putin, although, again, coming from moscow. a document obtained by politico, putin presented president trump wit

mason university. --will now join to their turn to their remarks which will be followed with time for questions and discussion. michael. thank you, jeff. i want to thank chris pope for coming in to speak with me about this important issue. i want to thank all of you for coming. we are here to talk about a change that the federal government has made in how it a moment's health insurance policies and regulations. this is a change that has not received the attention it deserves. it really is a big -- a bit revolutionary. it is a victory for those fighting for more affordable and more secure health care. it is a victory for those trying to provide relief to consumers from obamacare. it is really a more significant step than anything congress or the president have done so far. it is a more significant step in congress has repealed the individual mandate penalty, for example, at the end of 2019. it is a change that could alter the political dynamics of the issue of health care reform in a leads to more innovation, makes health insurance and health care -- access to medical care more affordable and more secure . three things. first, how this

mason university. remarks as to their we followed of course with plenty of time for questions and discussion. with that, i turn things over to michael. >> thank you, jeff. thank all of you for coming as well. we are here to talk about a change that the federal government has made it how it implements federal health insurance laws and regulations this is a change that hasn't really received the attention it aserves because it really is bit revolutionary. it's a huge victory for those who are fighting for better and more affordable, more secure health care. it's a huge victory for those who are trying to provide relief to consumers from obamacare. and on that score, it's really a more significant step than anything congress or the president have done so far. it's a more significant step in congress is repeal of the individual mandate penalty, for example, which lifts at the end of 2019. it's a change that can alter the political dynamics of this issue of health care reform in a way ovations toto mourn make health insurance and health care -- access to medical care better and more affordable and more secure. i want to talk about three things. first come o