it's very clear, joe maguire could have stayed until that person was confirmed.here was no urgency in pushing him out. he tried to be on the president's team by holding back the whistle-blower complaint. but when you pick someone like ric grenell who's known as a press person who doesn't have a lot of experience to intelligence to this job, you're undermining the role of the director of national intelligence whose job it is to referee fights between the different intelligence agencies and trying to come up with a cohesive picture of what's going onto present the president with. and grenell is not up for this job. >> and a cohesive picture without political impact, straight annulus, and it's subjective. they're deciding, is it more than 50%, more than 60% likely. it's a matter of judgment. but that requires experience and the real problem i'm told is cash patel who is the devin nunes right-hand man. >> right. >> and he's the person who is the red line for a lot of those professionals at dni. >> that's right. and people who are following impeachment, he was the one

and joe maguire held that position in an acting capacity. there is no director of ntct right now.ber three official was told to get out and leave the building last week. we have a hollowing out of our national security architecture and when a crisis comes and it will, we will be in some trouble because the facts will not be presented in unvarnished way and the decisions will not be able to be made in a way that can protect the country. >> robert, you know what brett is saying there he says in such a calm, measured way, but this really should be very, very worrisome. things happen. we know active adversaries working against our elections and maybe that's not important to everybody who is watching this this morning. maybe they think the system is rigged anyway. we are talking about real things. 9/11 was a real thing that cost lives and got us into a war that we're still in. what in your opinion is the thing that should get people most worried about this? >> i think what's most worrisome about this is being the dni is a complicated job. it involves administering a budget of tens of b

>> sure, wolf, the president berated, as jim said, joe maguire, who is no longer the director of intelligence last week after he had heard that officials from the intelligence committee had briefed house intelligence committee members on election interference, part of the that briefing was a statement about russia and ongoing activities to try to influence the 2020 election that their interest is in seeing president trump reelected and the president was angry in large part for two reasons, and there might have been others that we're not aware of but what we know is he is upset because, you know, he continues to get angry when he hears about russia in connection with his election or reelection campaign because he sees it as delegitimizing him, and adam schiff, the ranking democrat who led the impeachment effort in the house, the inquiry there, that schiff would use it to weaponize the information against him. this was his argument to maguire. our reporting is a little different than some others on how big a factor this was and why rick grenell was brought in to take over for maguire, which the

joe maguire and andrew hallman.t's a virtual decapitation of the intelligence community. >> joining me is clint watson, always a pleasure to talk to you about this. because you're one of the leading experts on russian interference. you wrote the book on it. how alarmed do you think americans should be about as the former director of the cia said, decapitation of the intelligence community. how should they extract left versus right politics from how they think about what is happening right now in this country? >> think about how we deliberated to protect the elections. the dni's job is to brief the president, brief folks about threats. they do that and then they're fired or rebuffed or screamed at or whatever in terms of negative reactions. so what do you if you can't tell the truth to the people that are the decision makers out there? it's very tough. we pay billions of dollars in taxes. the taxpayers do this to get good information, great intelligence so that we can defend ourselves against threats. and i just don'

but at the same time the administration has great respect for joe maguire.served our country admirably. the president is looking for another place to continue to see inside the trump administration. >> if he has such respect -- let me finish, why was he not only fired but told the clear out a 9:00 o'clock the nextt morning? >> it is not firing, his positin is supposed to be completed by march 12, he will not be renominated, he in fact when his position came on was reluctant o serve in the role so the administration has been looking for 70 consistently. announce contemporary capacity d announced. chris: and tell you to clear out your office the next day. >> i have not heard that. chris: retired admiral, former head of u.s. special operations command the oversoul who killed osama bin laden wrote this, he n known maguire for 40 years and n this administration, good men ad women do not last long, joe was dismissed for doingis his job, overseeing the dissemination of intelligence to elected officias who needed that information to o their job, are you saying that

maguire for 40 years. in this administration, good men and women don't last long. joe dismissed for doing his job overseeing the dissemination of intelligence to elected officials who needed that information to do their jobs. are you saying that bill mcraven just made the story up out of whole cloth? >> marc: with all due respect to the admiral, he doesn't know. he wasn't there. i'm telling you, i was there for the briefing. there's not -- the way this media has reported, some sort of hostile encounter. the president of course was saying why did the house get everything before i did? >> chris: nobody is objecting to that. the question is whether or not the president hadcans, hey, brii said. let me just ask that question, to the president have information from the dni that he was disturbed about in terms of at the house have been told? >> marc: no. >> chris: didn't happen? >> marc: i want to be clear as well for the briefing with the president is in a classified environment too. i'm not giving details about what was said and what wasn't said. as far as the question abou

that's the joe maguire you are talking about, catching everybody up, congressman.a minute, you are pursuing "the washington post"? >> i don't have any choice. how do you make up a story like this? i went to the white house? i didn't go to white house. maguire was leaving anyway as you just said. let's walk everybody back. john ratcliffe was nominated, the press went to it. mcguire was put in temporaril temporarily. he's acting. they are bringing the german ambassador mr. grenell to be in that position. >> harris: temporarily. >> how are people getting classified briefings, how did as it stand up in the pages of "the washington post" and "new york times"? all i can tell you is that it's total garbage and demonstrably false. i didn't talk to the president, okay? you have cnn, "washington post," all the usual suspects claiming i went somewhere where i did not go. this is not stopped and that's why the courts have to step in. >> harris: you are going to sue "the washington post." you say that a story has been made up with you at the center of it, you are going to sue o

look at the number of days joe maguire has been in, not going to get a senate confirmation on a new dni do, go to someone i've known for decades, turn around and look at some of these, although stories of palace intrigue, the fact that he says russia is going to metal, thank you. it's a flop of a story. >> melissa: it is perfect russia meddling if they say we want to help president trump because that's going to get underneath his skin because he doesn't want anybody to believe that they are rooting for him. he's also, if you look at his actual policies -- >> harris: the democrats don't want that either. >> melissa: they would want people to think that russia is meddling on the side of the president. if you look at what the president has done, president obama's ambassador to russia said the president has held a tougher line, the toughest sanctions in venezuela, screwed up their gas pipeline to europe with sanctions, that was a disaster. he's ramped up military spending, questioning treaties which seem to have only held russia. >> david: vladimir putin is at times a strategic competitor t

he removed joe maguire, a career veteran. he removed them. this guy still had a month left on his acting tenure. the administration did not have to remove him now. they had about a month left to a point or announce a more permanent nominee, and what they installed in there is someone to do the partisan work of the president, to ensure that the upcoming testimony in congress that the community -- intelligence community is going to be undertaking with the president's world view and his statements and his tweets and also that anything published about this intelligence as it was back in january 2017 does not go down that road again pointing the finger at russia. this is an ominous moment, chris, i agree with what you said, what steve said that here we have the underpinnings of our nation's defense being eroded before our very eyes. >> once again, it's on a partisan basis. "the new york times" reports tomorrow morning that representative chris stewart, a utah republican member challenged russia's support. mr. stewart said he has aggressively confr

i think he's affected by very close friendship, long-standing friendship of decades that he and joe maguire have, but he makes a good point about here is the acting director of national intelligence, an honorable man who served his country with great distinction in the navy as a s.e.a.l. and didn't campaign for this job and then just tried to do his duty as he saw fit living up to his oath of office and was trying to convey truth to power and his reward for that was he got fired. >> yeah, i mean he wasn't attacking the president. he wasn't, you know, speaking behind the president's back. he was reporting to congress, which is what the job is. >> exactly. as required in the law, you know, you're supposed to keep the congress fully and currently informed. and that's what the office of director of national intelligence was doing. now as i'm hearing, the purge is under way at odni is purge of professionals and so i think the objective here is to neuter odni as much as possible. >> you know, it seemed like, i don't know, a year -- time seems to all blend together now, but, you know, it wasn't so

. >> had with trump heard about that he hit the roof anded at joe maguire and that spelled the end of his candidacy. >> and john brennan saying we're now in a full blown national security advice is. >> you and your -- >> reporter: after reaching a fever pitch, russia is working to influence the democratic primaries. one more worry for candidates battling the nomination with the nevada caucus tomorrow and super tuesday in a month. the president mocking the candidates. >> how about klobuchar, did you see her? she choked. >> reporter: and defending roger stone sentenced on thursday to more than three years in prison for hindering the investigation into russian interference in the last election. >> how can you have a jury pool tainted so badly. it's not fair. it's not fair. and you know, it's not happening to a lot of other people. >> reporter: the president, after handing out pardons to nearly a dozen high-profile criminals not ruling out a pardon for stone. >> in a tweet the president thanked richmond grennel ambassador to germany for stepping in and will be nominating a new candidate s

. >> the president was not angry with joe maguire. thinks very highly of admiral maguire and would have liked him to stay in government in a different role. >> reporter: maguire resigned friday after being pushed out as director of national intelligence. he's now been replaced by a trump loyalist, the former u.s. ambassador to germany, richard grenell, who has no intelligence experience. president trump has tried to discredit the intelligence report from his own administration by claiming democrats were behind it. >> they said today that putin wants to be sure that trump gets elected. here we go again. >> reporter: the president has instead highlighted reports that russia is trying to help bernie sanders. for his part, sanders acknowledges he has been briefed by intelligence officials but has made it clear he does not want russia's help. >> we were told that russia, maybe other countries, are going to get involved in this campaign. and look, here's the message to russia -- stay out of american elections. >> reporter: these latest comm

democratic primaries the president fearful that the democrats would use this against him pushed out joe maguire out of that job as director of national intelligence and replacing him with rick grenell. he's ambassador to germany and again a fierce trump loyalist although the president did tweet earlier that he plans to nominate another candidate to take that job permanently. but this is all coming from a former intel official briefing nbc news many intelligence officials current and former are very concerned about these developments for one, former cia director john brennan calling thi securis cori >> susan mcginnis for us in d.c. thank you. >>> federal authorities are once again shining a light on the dangers of pointing a laser at an aircraft. a man is in custody accused of targeting a california highway patrol plane earlier this week nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: it happened monday night. a sharp blue laser lighting up the cockpit of a chp plane near napa county airport. >> i'm still having residual effects with my left eye i can feel that something has happened where pilot jan s

. >> you mensed t ementioned the there is new reporting because right now joe maguire he is out.re is an acting dni rick grenell, he's in now. and the president said he's considering a handful of folks to take the -- to fill the position. cnn has two sources saying that one of the people he's considering is texas congressman john radcliffe. again, like, he would be revisiting the concept of putting radcliffe into that position. your thoughts? >> i know john pretty well. i would say that at least john, unlike the current acting dni has some exposure and experience in intelligence. he's only been on the committee for over a year, but that's more than ambassador grenell has. >> there were issues with expertise and also padding of his resume. i believe. why he dropped out last time. >> when you put in place a guy like rick grenell, this is not personal against rick grenell, i met him in munich, a guy with zero intelligence experience, known for being an aggressive supporter of the president politically, that's a bad appointment. john radcliffe could name the 17 intelligence agencies

was the one who gave the briefing to lawmakers and the president in the oval office chewed out joe maguire who was the director of national intelligence. ric grenell took over the job today. i am told that this briefing did not in any way affect the potential for maguire to become the permanent director of national intelligence. it was well known around the white house that he was never up for the permanent position. i was also told by somebody who was with the president yesterday that the president didn't seem to have any lingering hard feelings about all of this but he does welcome grinnell in that position. >> bret: thank you, we will have more on ric grenell and his position a little later in the show. we will bring in our panel early. marc thiessen, susan page and byron york. we should point out "the washington post" first reported the oval office confrontation between president trump and the dni maguire. let's start there with this story, what we make of it, it's breaking, byron, you have talked to people on capitol hill. >> there's two aspects to the story, whatever the president di

he found out about it on the house of the republicans, did you hear that we were just briefed by joe maguireearson about the russian interfering in the election in 2020. but they said on behalf of you. so a lot of people who looked at the intelligence said where did you get on behalf of trump? they have a candidate, but why trump? we do not know who the president is running against, what do you not think that russia wants to be with a nice list named bernie sanders who vacation to a honeymoon and that then soviet union? wouldn't that make more sense? why jump to the conclusion? the senses from the white house you walk into an infection that was about to heal. between that, adam schiff, he seems to be exercised about the president and russian interference into the election. >> you make a good point, because the whole fear is that the white house is going to go through this, and quoting, we count on the intelligence committee to inform congress of any foreign interference in our election if reports are true and the president is interfering, he is jeopardizing our efforts to stop foreign meddli

and with the result that the messenger got shot in the form of joe maguire being asked to leave. >> so what are the real world consequences when that messenger is someone who may very likely toe the line of the president when maguire is out. >> i mean, i sort of think of this as three audiences. the first is, of course, the briefers themselves. and their willingness to tell donald trump what's going on in the world. we're not just talking about election security. we've got terrorism and war and all sorts of issues that, if you are the briefer, you don't want to get fired but you also want to provide information. the second is that trump clearly only wants to hear things he wants to hear. there's a real world out there that donald trump has to sort of look at, which is not going to -- not consistent with the world that he wants. so he -- that gap creates, i think, risks for all of us. the third, i want to say, is us. we are the beneficiaries of the intelligence agencies. they protect us, whether it's election security and how we vote and whether we're going to be able to vote in a meani

. >> yeah, so andrew hallman, he's been the acting number two under joe maguire since last august whenn was asked to resign. and he's been seen as a steadying hand in a relatively turbulent time. the fact that he is leaving this acting number two job shows in a rick grinnell, the new acting dni is going to put his own team in at the top and so he's going to really try in whatever he has there to sort of shape the management of the odni. >> i mean, asha, it's a pretty stunning thing, the statement we just have from that former senior intelligence official saying, what the intelligence community sees as reporting the truth. several statements of fact in evidence without judgment. the president sees as undermining his legitimacy. he would be able to silence it, to silence the reporting of those facts? >> that's what it sounds like he wants to do. i don't -- it sounds like he wants a dni or subordinates of the dni to lie, to promote the narrative that he wants. you know, it is the intelligence community's job to present the intelligence they've received and the conclusions they have drawn

and, of course, what's recently happened with the firing, essentially, of joe maguire -- >> the directorligence -- >> and his acting director, well, this plays perfectly to putin's hand. so now he has weakened the intelligence community and has them cowed into reporting on those very activities. the winner in all of this is vladimir putin and russia. >> it's no surprise the president has pounced on this. can you fault him on that? >> can i fault president trump? >> yeah, for jumping on this. i mean, it does seem clearly whatever happened in this briefing -- i mean, it's not really clear what happened, i guess. >> well, it's not. obviously it is. it plays to his paranoia and insecurity, i suppose, but, i mean, it's correct for him to be sensitive about it. at the same time by overreacting to this, which i guess is the objective, the end result will be suppress further reporting on the russian activity. now maybe that's what he wants. he just doesn't want to hear about it so that comports with his world view better. >> there's a report the acting dni richard grenell has yet to communicate

yesterday, president trump did not prorate or in any way yell at that then national intelligence joe maguire also been told that contrary to some published reports, maguire was not in line for the permanent dni position, and was scheduled to leave the office on march the 11th. that's what is 210 days of acting were up, we were told that he was not removed from his position because of the bri. but one source does say that the president thought maguire was not robust enough at addressing political leaks of intelligence, and that could be one of the reasons why he was replaced a little bit earlier. two days ago, the president appointed the ambassador to germany as the acting dni, that is expected to be just a temporary assignment while the president nominates ane individual to the senate confirmed position, tweeting this morning "four great candidates under consideration for the dni, decision in the next few weeks." the only thing i have picked up here about this at the white house, other than the president, he has been upset about 2016, the only reason he is president is because russia was int

democrats to make the most of that, to support them and to utilize that work, and if that means calling joe maguire to an unclassified hearing with talking points prepared by those career people about what russia really is doing in the 2020 election, i think they need to do that right away, frankly. >> yeah, it's a question on so many people's minds as we get closer to november. will my vote count? what is russia up to? we need to get to the bottom of that, josh and katrina, thank you both. >>> we are just hours away, speaking of the primary so far, the big next primary contest is in nevada. it could be make or break for several of these candidates who are bleeding cash fast. those new details ahead. >>> and does it pay to cheat in america? my next guest says look no further than major league baseball and the president's pardon spree for the answer. >>> and why is the president complaining about the south korean film "parasite" winning the oscar for best picture of the year? let's talk about that. it's friday, you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. back in just a moment. memory loss related to ag

i would like to thank joe maguire for the wonderful job he has done and we look forward to working withlosely perhaps in another capacity within the administration." he won't need to be confirmed by the senate. the president declared himself chief law enforcement officer of the country, the white house now doubling down. a senior official telling real clear politics this narrative that the president is not allowed to direct the doj in a criminal matter is preposterous. join they may now as republican senator mike lee, a member of the judiciary committee. does the president have the right to direct the doj? >> the president is the head of the executive branch of government and all senior personnel within the executive branch of government including federal prosecutors, the attorney general and every u.s. attorney is appointed by the president and after a senate confirmation serves at the pleasure of the president. he can fire any of them at any time he chooses, this is part and parcel of the executive branch authority. it necessarily follows that along with the power to pardon and commut

that is the message he is sending by firing joe maguire as director of national intelligence and putting in rick grenell who's utterly unqualified who's a total trump sycophant, and he's doing this because one of admiral maguire's subordinates briefed congress that the russians are trying to intervene again in our election and again to help donald trump, and instead of trying to protect our country, donald trump is saying, no, basically, the message he's sending is let the russians come in. i don't want to stop them, and so if you're a dedicated member of the intelligence community, what do you do under those circumstances? >> it harkens back to we've talked about justice, right, and what's happened within the justice department, and i think of those four prosecutors who withdrew from the case with roger stone because they -- i would imagine it would be tough to sleep at night, right, when you're dealing with something like this. what do these members of the ic community, intelligence community do? do they resign in protest or do they stay the course and wave, you know, red flags in thei

ground like an ostrich. >> what's happened in the last few days is frightening because by firing joe maguire trump is basically sending a message loud and clear he does not want anybody in the government, certainly nobody in the intelligence community trying to stop russia from attacking our election again as they attacked it in 2016. telling it truth about what the russians are up to, that is firing offense, and it was very striking to me when this news came out about bernie sanders and the russians perhaps helping him which i would surmise they might be doing because they think bernie sanders might be a candidate donald trump could defeat in the fall, but at least bernie sanders to his credit said putin has no business interfering in american politics and as president i will ensure he does not do that. have you ever heard donald trump say anything remotely similar to that? of course not because donald trump is abdicating his responsibilities as president. he is actually tacitly once again encouraging russian interference. this is very frightening moment, don. >> susan, you heard what max s

by donald trump apparently berating an admiral, admiral joe maguire who gave his life to this countryity, berating admiral maguire and ultimately replacing him sooner than expected because he wasn't happy about a briefing. if congress isn't getting information, there is no way to look over the shoulder of the intelligence committee to know the answer to your question. is there political interference? are things getting in the way of our national security? >> thanks for being with us. much appreciated. >> we'll be right back. stay with us. [crackling fire] [wood rolling] alexios, add toilet paper to the shopping list. [chiseling on stone] oh, and camel milk. and a chicken. and moisturizer. alexa: thanks, guys. i'll take it from here. >>> it is nevada caucus's eve. get a good night sleep. you have to get up early tomorrow. it is all very exciting. that's all for us now. >> i know your friday night ritual is of course to rush home and immediately rewind the dvr so you can watch every minute of this hour. i have to warn you tonight, there is something that might not be the right way to st

in his vengeance tour on friday came the resignation of acting director of national intelligence joe maguiree integrity of the intelligence community whistleblower. one of his subboard naptss briefed the house intelligence committee about continued election interference by russia and asserted the russians have a preference for president trump. that's a charge the national security adviser told me may have been a mischaracterization since the intelligence is that the russians have no preference, though they do think they can work with president trump. maguire was just replaced by u.s. ambassador to germany richard grenell who has been a vicious pro-trump attack dog. grenell forced out the number two intelligence official in the u.s. government andrew halman and brought into the inner circle 29-year-old former body man john macintee, fired from the white house in 2018 because of security clearance issues, now he's the president's new personnel chief and on thursday macintee told cabinet officials to be on the lookout in their department and agencies for appointees who are disloyal. one aide sa

joe maguire, he's 30 plus years navy experience. this is the first time we've ever seen somebody with absolutely no experience except with being loyal to the president in a job as important as this. how do you support it? >> well, the ambassador has more experience than you state. he's served several presidents. he's been an advisor to people like mitt romney. certainly served well in his position as ambassador to germany. but the president has the authority to pick anyone he wants. >> yes. >> i think if you look at what's happened with the intelligence community over the past three years, this is an entity that needs to be disrupted. and what the president signalled today is he's going to send someone in on a temporary basis to evaluate it and try to begin the process of disrupting it. >> what does that mean disrupting it, congressman? and i want to understand what you mean by what you think his job is. >> well, what we've had with the intelligence community is just, for example, the fisa abuses. this is something that a lot of ame

>> this is why he has removed acting dni joe maguire because he began to speak the truth.e started to tell his officials to go to congress and say, look, give them a briefing on what's happening here. trump has installed this loyalist, ric grenell, who will not -- is known to be fair as a russian hawk in his past, but he was promoting the wikileaks exposures and he won't push back on trump's instinct to downplay this. >> let's talk about the philosophy at work here. you know and i know back after world war ii even ho chi minh modeled his declaration of independence on. let's have free speech, let's have free press, that's the goal. is that what the real jealousy is all about? putin has a lame state with a gas station and he can't make anything sew he's so jealous of our culture which is a hell of a lot more dynamic that he has to screw us up? is that what it is all about, just smearing us by saying we can't run straight elections? >> i can't get inside putin's head, but i would point to the more practical point that he has. which is it's estimated about half the wealth tha

but look at the case of the current acting or outgoing acting director of national intelligence joe maguiret inquiry that the whistle-blower at the center of all of this did the right thing, that he took the right steps in blowing the whistle on the president's phone call with the leader of ukraine on july 25th. the president obviously didn't like that. in the words of one official i spoke with this evening who has been keeping tabs on the situation, the president essentially is filling the gaps, finding people that weren't viewed as sufficiently loyal and replacing them with fierce loyalists. that's what's happening right now, anderson. >> if he is just the acting dni, he doesn't have to go through senate confirmation. how much support does he have among not only members of the administration but congressional republicans? >> reporter: well, certainly inside the white house, among the political advisers who talk to the president, around the president on a regular basis, they like this pick. they see rick grenell as being one of them. when you talk to a trump adviser like i talked to a trum

i had intentionally skipped mentioning this guy, he's joe maguire, the current acting dni put into place by trump after trump fired coats. i didn't think maguire was worth mentioning but it turns out maguire is key to all of this. "the new york times" was the first to report that maguire gave a classified briefing to both parties in congress that the russians were planning to interfere in our 2020 presidential elections just like they did in 2016 and the russians were supporting donald trump's re-election. the times said trump was irate and fired maguire in response. now we have absolutely known the russians planned to interfere in our 2020 elections. congressional hearings, warnings from the fbi, independent reporting, we've known this is coming. we knew the russians wanted president trump to win back in 2016. his own son acknowledged that in a series of emails before meeting with russians alongside trump's campaign manager paul manafort and jared kushner. emails that said this will be part of russia and the government support for mr. trump. and promised dirt on clinton if it is what yo

i had intentionally skipped mentioning this guy, joe maguire. he's the current acting dni put into place by trump after trump fired coats. honestly i didn't think yesterday maguire was worth mentioning. turned out maguire is the key to all of this. "the new york times" was the first to report and now nbc confirms maguire gave a classified briefing to both parties in congress that the russians were planning to interfere in our 2020 presidential elections just like they did in the 2016 elections and the russians were supporting donald trump's re-election. trump was irate and he fired maguire in response. the big thing to take away from this, the thing that has washington in the latest upset is the president fired the u.s. head of intelligence because the president didn't like what the head of intelligence had to say. the blockbuster news is not that the russian support trump. we've known that for years. congressional hearings warning from the fbi, cia, dni, independent reports all say they interfered and warned they would be back to interfere in 2

stop in his vengeance tour on friday came the resignation acting director of national intelligence joe maguireed for the integrity of the intelligence community whistle-blower. one of maguire's subordinates also briefed the house intelligence committee about continued election interference by russia, and she asserted that the russians have a preference for president trump. that's a charge a national security adviser told me may have been a mischaracterization, since right now the intelligence is that the russians have no actual preference, though they do think they can work with president trump. maguire was just replaced by u.s. ambassador to germany ric grenell, who has no intelligence expertise, but has been a vicious pro-trump attack dog. grenell immediately forced out the number two intelligence official in the u.s. government, andr andrew hallman. also brought in john mcatee. he was fired from the white house because of security clearance issues. now he's the president's new personnel chief. and on thursday, mcatee told cabinet officials to be on the lookout in their departments and agenc

wasn't in the oval office, but by donald trump, you know, apparently berating an admiral, admiral joe maguiregave his life to this country, in service of this country's national security, berating admiral maguire and i guess ultimately replacing him sooner than expected because he wasn't happy about a briefing. you know, if congress isn't getting information, there's no way for us to look over the shoulder of the intelligence committee to know the answer to your question, which is, is there political interference? are things going in a way that is inconsistent with our national security? >> congressman jim himes, member of the intelligence committee. sir, thanks for being with us. much appreciate it. >> thank you, rachel. >> we'll be right back. stay with us. ♪ ♪ all around the wind blows ♪ we would only hold on to let go ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ all we needed somebody to lean on ♪ the new xc90 plug-in hybrid electric. xc90. recharged. >>> it is nevada caucuses eve. get a good night's sleep. you got to get up early tomorrow. it's a

remember joe maguire was a part of what led to the impeachment in that he had a role to play when it to the initial whistleblower complaint, that going to his office and then maguire coming to the white house and alerting the white house before congress was aware, so is this a part of a larger plan that the president is trying to root out those that he believes were a part of in some way, shape or form, touching impeachment, perhaps, but there was also the pressure of time clock and a way for the president to put someone that he knows has the same kind of trump megaphone on twitter that the president likes and enjoys in a position that's highly sensitive when the president has so often been tangling with the intelligence community. mika? >> nbc's kelly o'donnell, thank you very much for that report. let's bring in white house reporter for the associated press jonathan lemire, and the president for the counsel on foreign relations, richard haas. we know you have concerns over this pick, we want to hear them, and also wondering, does the role of acting have a time limit on it, or can an

. >> president trump fire that national intelligence joe maguire who sued for 36 years as a navy sealnued their attempts to interfere in the 2020 elections. he said it is now nothing left to stop the triumph of evil. an interview with abc national security a visor says he has not seen any evidence of russia helping president trump and it says helping bernie sanders could be credible, that is no surprise. jon: lucas, thank you. the u.s. is also making russia for spreading this information on the coronavirus. the state department officials say thousands of russia linked social media accounts are posting false information on the deadly virus including a conspiracy theory that the united states is a reason for the outbreak. it is reportedly being done to damage the image of the u.s. all around the world. more on the latest of the coronavirus next. ♪ hey. you fell asleep with your sign again. "you fell asleep with your sign again." no, i didn't. okay. switch to progressive and you can save hundreds. you know, like the sign says. it made her feel proud. they saw us, they recognized us. ance

he replaces joe maguire also in the role as an acting capacity because he is acting, he doesn't need to be confirmed by the senate the senate top democrat claiming the president is trying to sidestep the senate's crucial role of proving such consequential figures. the president's relationship with the intelligence community has been rocky the critics warn the president politicizing this post with this hire, but it will give him an outspoken ally overseeing agencies. he's expressed a suspicion. >> peter alexander, a lot going on at the white house. thank you. >>> turning to breaking news tied to the coronavirus virus. this morning we're learning two people have died who were on board "the diamond princess" cruise ship and more people have been infected in japan nbc's janis mackey frayer has the latest on this hey, janis, good morning >> reporter: good morning, hoda, more passengers were able to come off the cruise ship, and they were relieved their quarantine is over there are a lot of concerns coming with it with so many confirmed cases on board, another 13 being revealed just in the

joe maguire, thank you very much. —— john maguire.ndrew sabisky has resigned, following criticism of alleged past remarks on pregnancies and race. labour had called for mr sabisky to go for reportedly saying black people had lower average iqs than white people. our political correspondent jessica parker is in westminster this morning. jessica, the story emerged very quickly and a resignation too has happened very quickly. take us through edge? andrew sabisky is a self—described super forecaster, somebody who can supposedly predict future trends. he was hired by downing street after the prime minister's senior aide dominic cummings put out a call for misfits and weirdos to join the government operation, he wanted to shake up whitehall. but then past comments made online and elsewhere by andrew sabisky reportedly emerged —— regulator emerged online. they suggested compulsory contraception could be used to stop a permanent underclass, women sport is more comparable to the paralympics than men's sport and that black americans have a lower

and to ensure that people, joe maguire should be among those called to testify, current dni, whoeverit may be at that moment in time also should be called to testify. but to a talking point prepared for them by the rank-and-file of the intelligence community who i firmly believe continue to do their very best to identify and track these threats and help inform policymakers on how to address them here what can be shared at the unclassified level should be because we're all sitting here 30 wanted to know and really deserving to know in the context of our functioning democracy. >> okay. thank you. thank you kevin, josh, emma. [applause] all right, so let's grab some lunch and come back in. you can bring your lunch in here. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> so a break in this conference on election security hosted by penn state university. this will be about ten to 15 minutes we understand as attendees get a chance to grab some lunch. when they return former home executed director tom ridge will host an open discussion on steps to secure u.s

but, joe maguire is a very excellent guy. he is a very good man.arch 11th where he would have had to leave. >> was he forced out because he wasn't sufficiently loyal to you. >> no. not at all. not at all. he was pushed out because frankly -- he wasn't pushed out he would have who have get out. march 11th he would have had to leave. we'll be making a decision on dni very shortly. go ahead. please. >> that's not nice. let her do it. i know, you ripped the mic out of her hand. you can't do that boy, that wasn't very nice. >> president trump, i hope you are having a good visit here in india. we have heard from prime minister modi as well as you on a long impending trade deal. it's still not happened. even today we heard both you and him talking about how in future there is going to be one. have you been able to figure out the kind of differences that were there especially on data localization? >> sure, sure. we know the problems. i know the problems. previous administrations had no clue. they didn't know the problems. i know the problems. we are being

brian: just started berating joe maguire the acting director of national intelligence now he is goingbe replaced. maybe by doug collins right afterwards. steve: pretty messy right now down in georgia with the senate race. that would help the republican party if doug collins got that job. brian: he has a military background, too. lisa: if the alleged concern is undermining americans' faith in electoral system. maybe don't call for the abolishment of the electoral college. maybe if you are nancy pelosi's daughter don't lead the charge in -- those undermine america's faith in the system. brian: ticked off about this whole thing. trey gowdy understands it. he was on with ed henry who filled in for martha last night. >> i don't know anyone who really thinks that russia prefers donald trump to win over comrade sanders. i don't know a soul that really thinks russia wants donald trump to be the president instead of the guy that hon honey honey a monday in russia. is this the intelligence community that libya. and promise you had weapons of mass destruction and same intelligence community that

of national intelligence and director of national counterterrorism center concluded last we want joe maguire spent 36 years serving in the navy. his leadership record including seal team 2 and the u.s. special navy warfare command where he guided some of our nation's most sensitive military operations. admiral mcguire retired from the navy in 2010, but it was not long before public service came calling again. in 2018, the president asked him to direct the nctc, the senate confirmed him on a voice vote, and he took on an even more challenging assignment last summer when he agreed to follow our former colleague, senator dan coats, and act in the role of the d.n.i. our nation asks our intelligence community to fulfill an enormous array of sensitive mission. these men and women work day and night to protect the homeland from terrorists. they fight nuclear proliferation, they keep watch on dangerous adversaries like russia and china p. they guard against what hostile intelligence services are doing in our nation, and they work to protect american elections from foreign interference that seeks to