of course jonathan swan and philip rucker.was so much news this week i almost forgot rex tillerson was fired. >> early in the week. >> i don't know about you. but what is the next sort of shoe to drop here? i mean, it seems like there's a couple -- first of all, there are a lot of rumors. you've been reporting on some of this about h.r. mcmaster and others that the president has said i'm close to having the cabinet i want which suggests he still needs to make some changes. i think there is trouble ahead for pompeo and gina haas pel on the state and cia on the hill. even further problems. what do you see as the next step in this story? >> the president doesn't have the team totally in place that he wants. we were told friday at the white house that there were no personal announcements at this time, but this is a new week. something new could happen. we'll see. we know that he's still mad about a number of bad headlines sort of optics problems that some of his cabinet secretaries have had. that doesn't mean they're going to get

>> it's been in the works a long time as jonathan swan mentioned. fr fox news reported last fall rex tillerson would probably leave in the new year. we thought it might have been shortly after the anniversary of the inauguration but we always knew the president didn't have full confidence in rex tillerson and the relationship was one of free-flowing communication. the relationship between the president and mike pompeo are much closer. these are people who see each other every day if not every other day depending on where they're travelling, but this went down on friday when rex tillerson came back from his trip. the president saying i'd like you to step aside. the reason for that is the cat last for all this happening right now is the announcement made by the south korean national security adviser when he said kim jong-un asked for a meeting with the president and we heard from the white house the president said yes. that was the tripwire for this happening because the president wants to head a new team in place for the north korean meetings and neg

joining us now from washington with a look at axios, jonathan swan.os's one big thing heading into this morning? >> well, donald trump's expected announcement today of as much as $50 billion a year worth of tariffs on hundreds of chinese products, this is a big deal on its face economically, but analysts fear it could lead to a trade war. chinese is threatening to retaliate. a little bit of inside dope on this which we reported last week in an oval office meeting on thursday, trump's team brought him about $30 billion worth of tariffs and trump turned to his economic advisor and said, quote unquote, kevin, you've got to make the number bigger. so it's going to be bigger than 30 billion. i'm told it could be in the $50 billion ballpark. >> so let me ask you really quickly, what has axios learned regarding the most recent leak regarding trump's unhappiness with the spending bill? >> this was one of the remarkable -- you see this so often, the tension between the trump administration and capitol hill, but this played out in real time yesterday. i was get

joining me now, white house correspondent kristen welker and axios contributor jonathan swan. kristen, aides, among others, are telling you that they are reassuring the president that the stormy daniels "60 minutes" interview is not going to damage his politically. >> reporter: that's right. this is striking because of course president trump lashes out at just about anyone who antagonizes him but we haven't seen one tweet in the direction of stormy daniels. of course, that was that broad tweet yesterday in which he said "so much fake news." but a senior administration official told me overnight, andrea, that the president has been asking his advisors how he should respond and the advice that he's getting from them is that he should hold his fire, essentially, that it doesn't rise to the level of a presidential response. this is an adult film actress that the president should be above the fray, should stay focused on policy. but they are making another point, andrea, that i think is significant here, that's the political point that you just alluded to. the fact they say, look,

joining us from washington, jonathan swan, good to see you. appreciate you joining us. one big thing is this morning? >> washington is amping up its demands on big tech with senate intelligence chairman saying last night that the ceo specifically must be held accountable and this is just a huge unfurling story. we've got capitol hill and the federal government, all the regulatory bodies honing in on these big bodies particularly facebook. now it's dramatically broadening to data privacy and protecting consumers. >> let me pick up on senator mark warner. they've been demanding answers from facebook and other technology companies, but let's talk about what realistically could we see leaders on capitol hill take against some of these technology companies particularly in the wake of the cambridge analytica scandal? >> well, we spoke last night to a house leadership aide and they said that facebook should expect the same scrutiny that other major companies have had who have deceived their customers so in the short term, i think facebook's biggest concern is the ftc investiga

i want to start with the jonathan swan on this. give usificatioramifications, repercussions, if you will, of the craziness in the white house, everyone seems to be an enemy of the president. he has to show he's still the boss and will do anything to do that. >> i want to emphasize for your viewers just how chaotic it was when "the washington post" to their credit broke that story that trump was going to have a bunch of steal executives around the white house the next day to announce major tariffs on steal aluminum, i started calling senior white house officials who should have been involved in the discussion. nobody knew a thing. nobody knew a thing. wilbur ross knew about it. donald j. trump knew about it. frantic scramble to find out what is trump doing. what is he planned. one thing they said he's not going to sign because there's nothing for him to sign. there's no paperwork. paperwork hasn't gone through a legal process. there's been no interagency process. this stuff was planned out for weeks and weeks and weeks in advance an

joining us now from washington, d.c., national political reporter jonathan swan.hat is the one big thing for this morning? >> well, president trump and some of his senior aides are stunned and in some cases generally rattled by that washington post story yesterday which was an incredible leak from what is really a small group of officials who see trump's briefing materials. his national security advisors told him not to congratulate vladimir putin on his electoral success. they also advised him to raise the issue of the nerve agent attack and russia's nefarious activity. he did none of that. he congratulated putin. there's a tense atmosphere, hostility among aides and this has just inflamed that situation inside the west wing. >> what has been the reaction to the leak in the west wing given what you just outlined? >> some of it is unprintable because so many expletives were involved but there will be -- this is really one of the most shocking -- from their perspectives one of the most shocking leaks that's occurred for a long time certainly under the kelly era. th

we discuss it all with jonathan swan of 25 axios. abby philip of cnn. peter peter of "the new york ustimes," and glasser of politico. >> this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand theof challenge today and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> on an american cruise lines journey along the columbia and snake rivers, travelers retce theoute forged by lewis and clark more than 200 years ago. americanruise lines' fleet of paddle wheelers travel through lericanandscapes to historic y landmarks, whe can experience local customs and culture. amica cruise lines, proud sponsor of "washington week." >> additional funding is provided by newman's own foundaon, donating all profits from newman's own food productsa to charity nourishing the common good. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundion. koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridgg cultural differences in our communities. the corporati for public broadcasti

wel discuss it th jonathan swan of 25 axios. abby philip of cnn. peter peter of "the new york times," and susan glasser of politico. >> this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- t >>heir leadership is instinctive. u nderstand the challenges of today and research the techlogies of tomorrow. some call them verans. we call them part of our team. >> on an american cruise lines journey along the columbia and snake rleivers, trs retrace the route forged by lewis and clark more than 200 years ago. american cruise lines' fleet of paddle wheelers travel through american landscapes to historic landmarks, where you can experience local customs and culture. america cruisees lin proud sponsor of "washington week." >> additional funding i provided by newman's own foundation,al donatin profits from newman's own food products to crity and nourishing the common good. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. koo and patricia yuen through the yuenio found committed to bridging cultural differences in our cemunities. corporation for public broadc

and jonathan swan is national politico reporter. paul have, you ever had a client who put his chin out like this? the mussolini kind of chin he does, i can do it better than you, i know what i'm doing. >> like most d.c. lawyers, i would decline a client like that. the president is this atrocious combination of having really bad judgment and not being willing to listen to people who could guide him through this morass that he is in. he is lawyering down when he needs to be lawyering up. he's got all these huge decisions to make about whether to cooperate or whether to go in for an interview. any lawyer worth your salt will say mr. president, don't do that. he apparently wants to. and that's why he fire 1 of the few competent lawyers that he has. >> he faces so much exposure, a word you guys use, on every front. his children are exposed. at least two of his sons, one son-in-law. that's three people in the family could all be indicted. he has three top guy, papadopoulos, manafort and flynn all out there talking. he has three women thro

jonathan swan, i want to talk about the basic nuttiness of this behavior by the president. coming up, the russian investigation, roger stone, remember him, reportedly talked to the founder of wikileaks and knew in advance about that hacked democratic e-mails. it comes amid new reporting about a proposed meeting between candidate trump and vladimir putin. it's more damning evidence just one day after republicans on the house intelligence committee denied there was any collusion between at trump campaign and russia. nice try, gops. plus in less than an hour, polls close in the race for pennsylvania's 18th congressional district. democrats are hoping a win in trump country will late groundwork for a big blue wave come november. and trump's clearing his head, certainly clearing his head with today's firing of rex tillerson, the president sent a message if you're not on his decide be prepared to get out of the way. imagine if mitt romney had taken the job. he would be humiliated today just like rex. let me finish tonight with trump watch. this is "hardball" where the action is.

. >> joining me tonight, our national political reporter, jonathan swan. white house's chief phil rucker a and our republican strategist. >> i want to start with jonathan on this. give us the consequences of this craziness in the white house. he has to show that he's still the boss and will do anything to do that. >> well, i just want to emphasize for your viewers how chaotic it was. when the washington post broke that story that trump and wilbur ross were going to have a bunch of steel and announcing major tariffs of steel and aluminum. nobody knew a thing. wilbur ross knew about it and him and navarro knew about it and donald trump jr. knew about it. what is he planning and what us he doing? one thing everybody says that well, he's not going to sign anything because there is nothing for him to sign and there is no paper work and there is no agency process. this stuff was planned out for weeks and weeks in advance and was still being litigated among this trade team. this is not a small decision. 25% tariffs on steel, we don't know, this is something james

jonathan swan who wrote the story for axios is a good reporter.longs and shorts all the time. by the way, here's the thing, would it surprise that you donald trump was going after bezos because of the "washington post" coverage when he's clearly going after time warner, at&t deal because of cnn. it's just not that much far of a reach. >> there has been people on our air, nyu professor scott galloway making a case where big tech should be broken. he's coming tat from a very academic angle and sounds preposterous when you hear it. when you hear the stumbles that facebook had with data and privacy, cynically, i think the -- neil: what is he basing it on? the fact that every industry that amazon steps into it kills an industry? >> yeah, hurting nextgen much as microsoft hurt today. >> let's say axios was a bigtime donald trump supporter. would donald trump care about the antitrust or the implications of tax treatment and everything else? i just doubt it. you know what i'm saying? i think everything trump when it comes to the businesses, listen, he mak

this postal service element he mentioned today, my colleague, jonathan swan has reported that people inside the white house have been telling him that's not actually the case, that amazon is not bankrupting the postal service yet he keeps saying it publicly. and then there's the washington post angle as well, jeff bezos is kind of a central figure there. and president trump doesn't seem to be a fan of his, particularly. as far as who has more to lose, you know, i don't think amazon is going anywhere. you know, their stock has taken a dive but they're here for the long haul. and president trump will probably move on to another feud at some point soon. >> so, do you think that this is more personal than anything? >> it does seem to be. this is now something he has been talking about privately for a while. he is going publicly with these concerns with amazon and at the center of it seems to be this issue with the washington post. >> how do you see this playing out? >> i think he will keep criticizing amazon probably and i think he'll keep criticizing coverage he sees in the washington p

national political reporter for axis jonathan swan tweeted last night, one immediate point, it's unclear how he is remotely qualified to run the second largest agent in the federal government based on the feedback i've seen so far from white house sources. it's pretty clear people inside share this exact concern. >> let's talk about this morning. joining us now from "the washington post," eugene scott. thanks for joining us today. so we have shulkin out, ronnie jackson in, the white house physician. what's been your reaction so far? >> i think most people view this change as another reminder that the most important qualification to have to be in the trump white house is a personal loyalty to the united states. this is a -- quite accomplished military man, a physician who as we reported earlier has zero management experience. this is not the first time we've seen the penalty make a move like this. this mirrors what we saw with ben carson and the department of housing and urban development and quite a few other offices in this add a administration. >> we've seen lots of staff shake-ups wit

not true, wasn't discussed, the source says, from jonathan swan. >>> richard hosz summed it up this way. donald trump is now set for war on three fronts political versus bob mueller, economic versus china others on trade, and actual versus iran and/or north korea. joining us now tom nickels a professor and author and also with us betsy woodruff a politics reporter and msnbc contributor. i want to get your reaction to the possible shooting war that's reduced to twitter exchanges with john bolton and did he really have to promise not to get us in a war. >> john bolton can't start any wars on his own. there's nobody in his chain of command. he doesn't command the state department, the cia. what he can do is convince the president that military action is important and that starts that ball rolling. but then a lot of other people get their say. john bolton can't go to war by himself but he can make the military conflict more likely by the kind of advice he gives the president. which is the advice i think he's going to give the president. >> betsy, this president saw what kind of distraction

our friend jonathan swan at axios is out with a new report tonight with new specifics on what special robert mueller is asking for. this is a courting to a grand jury subpoena that mueller's team sent to a witness last month. axios says mueller is issuing a subpoena for all communications, meaning e-mails, texts, and handwritten notes that this witness sent and received regarding the people that you are seeing now on your screen. that includes president trump, paul manafort, rick gates, steve bannon, hope hicks, and others. the subpoena reportedly asks for all communications from november 1st, 2015, up until next. nbc news has not yet independently confirmed this report. we should put that caveat out there. ken dilanian, what do you make of this new reporting? what's he looking for here? >> well, he wants all communications from everyone for all time. we should not assume that just because he's asking for this stuff from one witness he doesn't already have it or a lot of it because what's been very clear from our interviews with people who have been before robert mueller is that those

jonathan swan i think reporting someone told him off the record this is harriet meyers again, he trieder to the supreme court and republicans said no. >> right. well, unfortunately, that sort of check on the system doesn't happen much. and although i think there are good and real policy debates that are going on and will be going on, i think shulkin very much like the other people that senator boxer named did dig his own grave. abusing once gent taxpayers' money by paying for a vacation for himself and his wife. perhaps not being entirely honest and then becoming kind of a paranoid lunatic having people stand guard, going to war with his staff to the point it was becoming an embarrassment even for this white house i suppose. so i would go back a couple steps and say listen, shulkin may not have been the right person for this president toe have appointed but we know as we know with pre other position whoever comes next is going to be worse. and that's going to be the pattern throughout the administration. he was starting with a very local talent pool to begin with because people who wer

according to new reporting just in from jonathan swan at axios, trump is trashing succone behind the scenes. why? trump thinks saccone is a terrible, weak candidate according to sources who have spoken with the president. the president nearly piling on after politico reported earlier this week that leaders in the republican party had also turned on saccone. they've been telling me that as well this week. nbc's vaughn hillyard is with us from carnegie, pennsylvania. how bad is it on the ground for saccone? what do you know that might not be obvious to those of us here? >> reporter: kasie, i want to start with connor lamb. he had about 300 mainly union workers, coal miners, a ruckus rally down the road. was also with connor lamb here in carnegie. they had canvassers. the campaign hadn't talked to but they were coming in off the streets, going out canvassing, phone banking. it was an operation much like we saw with doug jones in alabama in those closing days. compare that to the get out the vote effort for rick saccone. outside of the rally he has been nowhere to be seen this weekend. n

jonathan swan, national political reporter for axios.ngway, senior editor at "the federalist." and olivia knox, washington correspondent. critics say because 13 of the 19 who were sanctioned by the administration today were from the mueller investigation, that the administration is essentially saying that the mueller investigation is a-ok. >> there are parts of the investigation i think nobody has a problem with. the whole idea about investigation is to look into meddling in the u.s. election. the 13 indictments had everything to do with meddling. where people are concerned are when mueller goes far afield from the election and the narrow confines people understand as being a good thing to investigate. if people met old, they should be held accountable. not just by charging them with the crime nobody will ever see them take her spots billed for. sanctions or something like that. >> bret: is this the new take on russia on stepping up, what nikki haley said at the u.n., what we are seeing today? and the revelation of the cyber attacks on u

the axios news site, their cracker jack news reporter jonathan swan says the white house chief of staffohn kelly had an offyou have the record session with some reporters. swan wasn't invite touted session. so he wasn't found by the off-the-record ground rules. but he heard from somebody who obviously leaked it to him. one of his colleagues that the chief of staff was saying all the speculation that the president may be behind it because he likes to kind of spit ball. he likes to, you know, talk about gee, i'm not happy with this person. talks to various friends, you know, in that executive time when he is not in the oval office and says well, what would you think of so and so for secretary of state or so and so for national security advisor. he says i think up some of those friends have been feeding this is, o conversations and also this off-the-record session which is now on the record the chief of staff has said there is not going to be any change with when it comes to general mcmaster and the national security position for some time. >> shepard: it's interesting, chris, because it w

. >> jonathan swan >>> so we are sort of in a tricky time. we've got the payrolls number tomorrow, we are still a waiting resolution or clarity on the issue hachlt are we doing? >> just be clear, if anything for all the pushback on tariffs, it's because it's growth drag, growth negative. that maybe alleviates pressure i don't think we'll see that for six to nine months in terms of trade but i think tomorrow's payroll number, everybody knows the wage component is massive. i think regardless if that's a benign number, what we're saying on this desk, i agree with the statement that says i think markets are choppy to sideways and what's being clear is for all the people that said we're going to test the lows or test the 200 like we did and set new highs, it's not that simple. the vix continues to close lower and that's something that's very interesting. >> i think if it's a benign number tomorrow, it's not a marketed chase i wouldn't be chasing it we're sideways to possibly even lower levels i'm looking for catalyst and looking at biotech names t

look i want to start with jonathan swan on this. give us the big ramifications, repercussions, if you will, consequences of this craziness in this white house where everybody seems to be an enemy of the president and he has to show he's still the boss and will do anything to do that? >> well i just want to emphasize for your viewers how chaotic it was. when "the washington post" today broke that story that trump and wilbur ross were going to announce a engage tariff on steel and aluminum, i called officials who should have been involved in this discussion. nobody knew a thing. nobody knew a thing. wilbur ross knew about it. donald trump jr. knew about it. there was this frantic scramble what is trump doing. what is he planning. what is he going to announce. one thing that everybody said, he's not going to sign anything because there's nothing for him to sign. there's no paper work. the paper work hasn't gone through a legal process. there's no interagency process. this stuff was planned out for weeks and weeks in advance and we're s

we'll bring in jonathan swan, political reporter for axios, heidi, correspondent for nbc news, and michaele, an nbc political analyst. i want to start here and down the row. he is like a little kid angry at the day, upset, throwing his toys in the air. i don't like the way things are going. i'm getting rid of people, i want a whole new thing, i want to do my own legal defense. and the word even got out he wanted to get rid of general kelly, he didn't want a chief of staff, he wanted to be his own chief of staff a couple weeks ago, and now he's firing the national security adviser, bringing in a hawk to talk his language. it does seem like he's on the verge of doing anything he feels like, which means finding a way to get rid of mueller. >> he certainly has felt that he can get rid of people and he's tired of having people that he disagreed with. h.r. mcmaster disagreed with him on iran, trying to persuade him to stay in the iran deal. on north korea, they clashed at certain up points and you showed some of it there, but the interesting thing about john bolton, i love this. all the enemies

jonathan swan reported the trump family and don junior in particular was angry at the overwhelmingly negative coverage about jared last night and feels general kelly is hanging jared out to dry. is he? you in your sourcing, do you sense or sniff out the possibility that mr. kelly doesn't love mr. jared kushner? i don't think he does. >> based on my reporting, he says i'm the chief of staff. you can be family or you can be employees. if you choose to stay, you're going to be employees. of course, that has caused tensions. you can fully be an employee and still be the president's son-in-law or his daughter. this has created all this tension within the white house. even general kelly with four decades of experience in the military is finding it troubling to try to move forward and make some decisions. >> there's an irony -- go ahead. >> it's not just that this is some vendetta family versus staff. kushner has huge security vulnerabilities. the reporting we saw that foreign governments are trying to influence him through his business. >> what did he do wrong that won't allow the fbi to c

me first bring in the panel, byron york of the washington examiner, susan page of usa today and jonathan swanf axuous. i think it's fair to say while the timing may be a bit of a surprise, the fact that mcmaster was going to be out sooner rather than later, the surprise at the timing of it. jonathan, you've been covering this, as to whether mcmaster was going to be out, your thoughts? >> i tell you, this has shocked people inside the building. again, it's the timing of it. there was an assumption at some point he was going to remove h.r. mcmaster. they never fortunateli fortunatelied -- formed a chemistry. he never figured out how to brief the president. this is not about ideology. john bolton is about as hawkish as they come. this is about chemistry with the president of the united states. he thinks he's strong, he sees him on television, likes him and, again, h.r. mcmaster never really gelled with this president. never became as toxic as with rex tillerson as the secretary of state but he was seen as a dead man walking inside the white house. >> chris: i want to talk more about this but gen

jonathan swan, thank you. >> thank you, jonathan. >> we'll be looking for your reporting in axios, includingitled "peter navarro wants gary cohn's job, terrifying d.c. "that is terrifying, actually. bob woodward and jeffrey goldberg, stay with us. >>> still ahead on "morning joe," we'll go live to the white house and the pentagon for details about what led up to the president's north korea announcement and the key officials blindsided by the move to deflect from stormy. you're watching "morning joe." y we'll be right back because i want my children to know it's all so that they can have a better life. oh my gosh. this is amazing. we're so much closer to home ownership. this is amazing. bp's natural gas teams use smart app technology to share data from any well instantly. so they can analyze trends and stop potential problems in their tracks. because safety is never being satisfied and always working to be better. >>> welcome back to "morning joe," we have reporting from both the pentagon and the white house on this north korea story. nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nichols is with us, a

jonathan swan, how did this go down? because if h.r.aster was in the white house yesterday, we are hearing he was in the building, and the president was in the oval, that's a short walk in the west wing. i've done it myself. so i'm sure he went down and told him in person. >> source with direct knowledge told me that the president informed him of a decision by telephone. >> so so quick that he picked up the phone and called him and then tweeted is what we're hearing. >> i know from sources with direct knowledge that after his meeting with bolton he informed mcmaster by telephone. the communications staff mostly found out after 5:00. around 5:15. >> so the president appears to be putting together a war cabinet. >> well, when you look at the combination, this is not in isolation. when you look at the come binatn of pompeo replacing tillerson, what you're seeing here is displa displace of career professionals. the first wave of staff are the loyalists and what you're seeing here is a reverse situation where he's actually displacing these g

. >> with us now, jonathan swan of axios. to "power lunch." >> thank you. >> what do you think of what sarah sanders said >> what she says is very careful, carefully worded and accurate they do not have any specific policies they are pushing forward with as of this minute what i reported wasn't that. it was that trump is obsessed with amazon. that's in the words of sources who have spoken with him at length about the company and keeps brings it up when they talk anti-trust law or media mergers. we'll bring up amazon. is there a way to use anti-trust law to crack down on amazon? he talks about making amazon pay their fair share of taxes. that's something he brings up. it's not well formed thoughts. he has a deep-seated feeling which has been reinforced by his wealthy friends that amazon is being subsidized by the u.s. postal service he believes amazon is killing brick and mortar retail businesses, grocery stores. >> is this related to the fact that jeff bezos owns "the washington post" which is critical of the president? >> he

sent sandy hook in connecticut hundreds more, lisa, and swan 29 in new haven, jonathan 19 of new haven. make well at bridgeport camera 22 company 22, daniel 22 of bristol, michael 26 at bridgeport, kia, 15 of hartford, dion, 30 bridgeport, kelly davis, 30, jackson 36 of hartford, 49 in bridgeport, this is just the tip of the iceberg. as to what has happened since sandy hook just in my state of connecticut representing only 1% of the population. my six-year-old should not be locked inside a bathroom smooshed together with 24 classmates preparing for the day when the shooter potentially walks into his public elementary school. we have a duty to act. i yield the floor. >> i rise among my colleagues today to address what has become the norm for our kids in schools and across this country. october 1 in las vegas we saw the worst mass shooting in history of the country. innocent concertgoers attending and entertainment venues outdoors. fifty-eight were killed, 500 were injured. at the hands of a madman with an assault weapon. in the past five years we have lost an average of ten children eac