reporter: to speed up the reunification process deputy director for children's programs commander jonathan white says they're using dna testing to verify family connections. >> hhs and in some cases dhs health care personnel collects those via cheek swab. it is painless and harmless to the >> reporter: jonathan ryan is executive director of raices, a group working closely with families separated at the border. >> this is really an invasion into the most intimate private matter, data that we have about ourselves, our dna. it is irresponsible. it's a sign of the ultimate incompetence of the administration. >> rep and her daughter may be back together, but they're still fighting for asylum in separate immigration cases. now two out of a 300,000-case backlog. in several cases we've heard of parents being detained in one state and then their children being shipped across the country. bianna, today hhs confirmed they are trying to move those parents closer to their children in i.c.e. detention facilities. that way when they make that biological connection they can reunite those families a lot faster.

. >> reporter: to speed up the process, commander jonathan white says that're using dna testing to verifyin some cas d.c. health care personnel are collecting cheek swabs. >> reporter: jonathan ryan is a director of program working closely with families separated at the border. >> this is the most intimate and private matter we have about ourselves, our dna. and it's irresponsible and a sign of the incompetence of the trump administration. >> reporter: they may be back together, but they're still fighting for asylum in separate immigration cases. now two out of a 300,000-case backlog. in several cases we've heard of parents being detained in one state and their children being shipped across the country. hhs confirms, however, they're trying to move the parents closer to their children. that way once they make a biological connection, they can quickly reunite that family. mireya villarreal, cbs news, los angeles. >>> coming up on "cbs this morning," psychologist and cbs news contributor lisa damour tells us about the constructive ways teenagers can spend their summer months. >> plus we'll

>> joined now by white house reporter, msnbc jonathan lemire and carol lenning washington reporter. white house in full damage control mode and today's meeting, all hands to walk it back. was that hard to believe i used the wrong word excuse. >> i have to say, think about what a big deal it is for the president to correct himself. he hasn't showed himself to be interested incorrecting his own statements in the past. it was clear that a lot of people laid into him yesterday and today. and we were told at the "washington post" a great team

reporter: to speed up the reunification process deputy director for children's programs commander jonathan white says ayey're using d.n.a. testing to verify family connections. >> h.h.s. and in some cases d.h.s. health care personnel collects those via cheek swab, it is painless and harmless to the child. >> reporter: jonathan is executive director of raices a group working closely with families separated at the border. >> this is really an invasion into the most private data that we have on ourselves, our d.n.a. and it's irresponsible, it is a sign of the ultimate incompetence of the administration. >> reporter: develasquez and her daughter may be back together but they are still fighting for asylum in separate immigration cases. now two out of a 300,000 case backlog. e haeveral cases we have heard of parents being detained in one state and their children being shipped across the country. bianna today h.h.s. confirmed they are trying to move those trents closer to their children in ice detention facilities, ayat way when they make that biological connection they can reunite those families a lot

frank figliuzzi, and with us at the table jonathan lemire associated press white house reporter and evan mcmullen, former cia operative and former candidate for president as an independent. >>> the rally, even his friends describe that version of donald trump as slightly pathetic, as someone who is so desperate for attention, so desperate for the cheers and hoots and hollers from the crowd that he puts on a show that really isn't even remotely close to anything presidential. >> yeah, there is a show on comedy central where a guy makes an entire show of impersonating donald trump. that was like president trump impersonating himself. i've done dozens and dozens of these rallies. i was surprised by the me too moment, elizabeth warren, to make a joke about something that is obviously been a ground swell in the last year or so for a lot of people and has meant a lot of

jonathan, white house reporter for the associated press. eli is here, former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york and former assistant attorney general in the great state of new jersey and anita, white house correspondent. are we, in fact, watching, as has been theorized, an evolving policy? no collusion, no collusion, no collusion, if there was, it sure wasn't a crime. >> rudy giuliani is the president's lawyer but he's the attack dog that is filling the air waves, sometimes confusingly. but this does seem like a deliberate step, that we have seen as you just traced there, since 2016, these meetings, there was no collusion, no collusion, the president's mentioned that a few times and yet suddenly today we have giuliani trotting out a new line suggesting that, well, even if there were collusion, that's not a problem. because it didn't get anywhere. nothing happened. it's not illegal. now, i think that i'll defer to my legal colleagues on the set to tell us. >> i'm about to. >> in terms of whether that's actually true but i think what we're seeing from

that career official, jonathan white, testified that the highest levels knew about the concerns that he and other career officials raised about this policy. so the explanations have been totally unsatisfactory. and from the day that i went to the border, which was now six weeks ago, there has been no plan, no system to reunite these children. it amounts to official kidnapping. and child abuse. >> and i should say these homeland security officials testified before your judiciary committee in the senate today, and a lot of people emerged very, very disturbed by what they heard. senator blumenthal, thanks so much for joining us. >>> just ahead, we'll have more on paul manafort's trial and what it may reveal about robert mueller's strategy as his russia investigation moves forward. >> and we'll also have a full report on facebook's discovery. dozens of fake accounts likely linked to russians. is it 2016 all over again? my car smells good. it's these new fresh-fx car air fresheners from armor all. each scent can create a different mood in my car. like tranquil skies. armor all, it's easy

one is from commander jonathan white from hhs today who acknowledged while testifying up on capitol hilla number of concerns internally in advance of this zero-tolerance policy taking place. concerns internally about the trauma potentially that it could have on the children being separated from their families. the harm, he says, the psychological injuries that could come to children. and this was certainly an interesting exchange with senator blumenthal that was prompted by blumenthal's question. did anyone within the administration say, maybe this wasn't a good idea? here's what he had to say in response. >> during the dlib ative process -- deliberative process over the last year, we raised concerns over any policy that would result in family separation due to concerns we had about the best interest of the child as well as about whether that would be operationally supportable with the bed capacity we had. >> now, i'm going to translate that into what i would call lehman's the administration tht kids would suffer as a result, that pain would be inflicted, correct? >> separation of childr

. >> jonathan lemir, white house reporter for the associated press. msnbc's analyst to join me now. jonathan, take me inside the room, were you surprised by that answer? >> it was certainly one in the history book after president trump decided to say that he sided with u.s. intelligence and their finding and russia was responsible for the 2016 -- that in itself is already a moment in the room, it was sort of electric. and there at the end as you know there is unsubstantial -- of the dossier something to be true and something is not. vladimir putin you heard his answer and he did not exactly deny it. he had some fun with it and he alluded to his past as a member of the kgb earlier in the press conference. the take away here is is -- incredibly and he had the opportunity to defend the united states services and what russia did in 2016 and warned vladimir putin no t t to do it again and did not. excuse the noise here, i have to go a minute or two. >> jonathan, we heard that response and you spoke to many journalists, take me inside the room and the reaction. for us i mean for the presid

. >>> a troop swept in to evacuate rescue workers known as the white helmet. jonathangliotti has more. >> reporter: they say it was a human taurean gesture done at the request of the united states. the military evacuated hundreds of white helmets and their families from southwest syria through the volatile area. they were then transported to jordan in a convoy of buses. the white helmets have long been celebrated by the west for their volunteer work rescuing tens of thousands only people during the conflict. but syria's government and their ally russia have claimed they're terrorists helping the rebels. over the years the syrian ghost has launched targeted attacks o. as the syrian government gains control of its country, there's been worry about their safety. they'll be there for a few months before being relocated to the uk, germany, and canada. the u.s. will not be taking in any of the families but will assist in the vet progress says. jonathan vigliotti, cbs news, london. >>> well, coming up on "cbs this morning," new details about a missouri driver accused of lives

jonathan lamere white house reporter for the the associated press. former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. and anita kumar, white house correspondent. are we, in fact, watching as has been theorized, an evolving policy? nocollusion, no collusion. >> we shouldn't be thinking of him in legal terms. he is all about the public relations battle. he is the attack dog filling the air waves. this does seem like a deliberate step that we have seen, as you traced there, since 2016. there was no collusion. and yet suddenly today we have giuliani trying a new line suggesting that, well, even if there were collusion that's not a problem because it didn't get anywhere. nothing happened. i think that i will defer to my legal colleagues on the set -- >> i'm about to. >> in terms of whether that is true. i think what we are seeing from giuliani is two things happened today. he gives us the mysterious other trump tower meeting. people i talked to today don't know what he is talking about and they are certainly frustrated. these are trump advisers who wonder wh

abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl starts us off at the white house. >> reporter: he was front and center at the white house fourth of july picnic just yesterday, but now, scott pruitt, one of the most embattled cabinet secretaries ever, is gone. in his tweet announcing pruitt's resignation as the head of the environmental protection agency, the president said, "within the agency, scott has done an outstanding job, and i will always be thankful to him for this." but pruitt's tenure has been beset by scandal after scandal, including a story abc news broke earlier this year about pruitt renting an apartment on capitol hill for just $50 a night from the wife of a lobbyist. >> this was like an airbnb situation. >> you only paid for the nights you rent, you were there? >> that's exactly right. >> but that's kind of a sweetheart deal. >> reporter: all-told, pruitt was facing at least 12 separate investigations by multiple government agencies, and was repeatedly accused of using his position for personal benefit. he installed a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his governmen

jonathan, nbc has not confirmed that it is president trump's voice on the audio, but the white housealso not saying that stuttering john's account of the phone call is false. so are you willing to give the white house the benefit of the doubt that this could have happened, possibly in any administration? >> yeah, it could have happened in any administration, but you would like to think that it wouldn't happen in any administration. and it did happen in this administration. and you know, from some of the reporting from other outlets, there was an effort to stop it from happening, and jared kushner pushed the call through. i think what's most notable here is that president trump commiserating with senator menendez about the failed justice department attempt to convict senator menendez, saying he was treated unfairly. i think that would be surprising, not only to a lot of people at the justice department, but also to many republicans who thought that bob menendez had done some at least unsavory things, if not illegal things. >> and melanie, president trump says he doesn't exactly know w

nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house. jonathan lamire is a white house reporter for "the associated press." nick compasori a reporter for "the new york times." and daniel goldman, a former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york and also an msnbc legal analyst. kelly, what is the white house saying? what is the white house not saying about this? >> not engaging. we just saw the president who had a chance to respond to questions asked by reporters part of the small pool inside the oval office when he was meeting with the european commission president jean-claude juncker and the president did not engage, did not respond, and thanked reporters. after a bit of back and forth of the thanking and no responses, they exited the room. so the white house is pushing everyone to the outside lawyers for the president and rudy giuliani has been saying that this is information that is exculpatory of the president because it did not, in his view, come to a conclusion of a payment being authorized, a decision being made. what

. >> joined now by white house reporter, msnbc jonathan lemire and carol lenning washington reporter. white house in full damage control mode and today's meeting, all hands to walk it back. was that hard to believe i used the wrong word excuse. >> i have to say, think about what a big deal it is for the president to correct himself. he hasn't showed himself to be interested incorrecting his own statements in the past. it was clear that a lot of people laid into him yesterday and today. and we were told at the "washington post" a great team that i work with, that inside the bubble that was traveling with the president, there was shock and astonishment that this press conference, they knew it would be freewheeling, but didn't know it would go so far off the rail to have the president attack his own government in front of an adversary. >> most of america has heard the exchange. does the president think we didn't hear the rest of the press conference. i want to play what else the president said yesterday. >> the united states has been foolish. we have all about foolish. we should have had

troops swooped into ayria this weekend to evacuate war zone rescue workers known as "the white helmets." here's jonathanigliotti. >> reporter: demarco, the sraeli military said the operation was an exceptional humanitarian gesture done at the request of the united states and ovnigh theit allies. evacuated hundreds of white helmets and their families from southwest syria through the volatile frontier area of golan heights. they were then transported to jordan in a convoy of buses. ( explosion ) the white helmets have long been celebrated by the west for their volunteer work with the tens of thousands of people during syria's seven year conflict. but syria's government and their ally russia have claimed they are terrorists helping the rebels. over the years, the syrian government has launched targeted attacks on the group and their facilities. as the syrian government regains control of the country, there's been growing concern about the white helmet's safety. last night's rescue operation was israeli's only intervention in the war. the white helmets will remain in jordan for a few months before being rel

white house reporter for associated press jonathan lamere and white house correspondent for reuters jeff. gentlemen, good morning. great to have you both with us and great job yesterday. let me start with you, jonathan. take us inside the room. we were all watching on television. it struck as as extraordinary and unprecedented. all the things said this morning. what was it like being in the room? >> a lot of energy in the room, a tense spot. coming after the two leaders had a two-hour meeting that ran longer than expected followed by a short meeting with advisers. a sense of anticipation what would happen in the room, and it was packed with security as i expect 3 expect. even an incident a reporter acting as an activist was thrown out by security at some point, holding a sign. a lot of sort of chaos in the room before they came out. any presidential press conference is a big deal, serious event, always prepared for it but this had larger stakes. vladimir putin does not take questions from american journalists often. donald trump standing a few feet away as he said they tried to help trum

. >> the white house reporter jonathan swan said he spoke to the senior white house officials about this subject they were of the impression that they had convinced the president it was not in his political interests to shut down the federal government six weeks before an election. >> the government funding technically runs out on september 30th. the president may see this as a play to return to a signature issue but a shut down is exactly what gop leaders in congress are trying to prevent with concerns it may anger voters especially independents just before the midterms. >> i don't think it would be helpful so let's try and avoid it. >> a looming threat would make life more complicated for senate republicans. in washington, doug luzader fox news. >>> coming up, the head of cbs is the latest hollywood mogul to be accused of sexual misconduct. the latest on the allegations against him. >>> bart riders still on edge following last week's deadly stabbing. what one community group is doing to try to make riders feel safer. at ikea, we believe your perfect student deserves the perfect room fo

white house correspondent jonathan karl wrote in a recent review for the "wall street journal" spicer's memoir is much like this tenuous press secretary. short littered with inaccuracies offering one consistent theme. mr. trump can do no wrong. here's one example. john carl points it out to us. "mr. spice hear not been well served by the fact checkers and copy editors referring to the anger of the infamous trump dossier and michael steele who is in truth the former chairman of the republican national committee and not the british ex-spy christopher steele. >> although possibly one of the co-authors of the dossier. >> michael steele was an mi-6 agent for a time. michael, good morning. what hand did you have in the dossier and why have you kept it quiet so long? >> i just have, only thick -- thing i have to say is steele. michael steele tlrchlts . >> there it is. >> and mr. stein, welcome. >> thank you. donny the suit is greater than your entire -- >> probably. >> even when i show the proper respect for the show and dress wa is a torial splendor i still guess abused. >> i'm not abusing yo

white house where that joint press conference is about to take place. ken dilanian is an intelligence and national security reporter. jonathan verneer a white house reporter for "the associated press" and danny cevallos is an nbc legal analyst. kristen, what is rudy giuliani talking about? >> before i get to that, a little bit of a scene setter here, which is that the u.s. delegation is entering. secretary of state mike pompeo, national security advisor john bolton, who has referred to the russia probe as a witch hunt, as well as press secretary sarah huckabee sanders. so we do expect that president trump and the italian prime minister will be close behind. in terms of what rudy giuliani is doing, we are seeing a couple of things. we are seeing giuliani and the president himself really ramp up their attacks against not only special counsel robert mueller, the president calling mueller out by name over the weekend, but giuliani increasingly trying to undercut michael cohen, the president's former attorney and fixer, calling into question the validity of that tape, suggesting it could have been doctored. of course, that tape i

white house. president trump is likely referring to recent hire, jonathan krafis, who worked in the white house counsel'sice back when barack obama was president. jonathan krafis is one of at least a half dozen additions to robert mooueller's team, all experts in their fields. >>> up next, the rush to reunite. the white house is just four days to reunite all migrant families separated at the border. can the trump administration make that deadline? and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ something important. it's not going to be easy. quicksilver earns you unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. actually, that's super easy. my bad. that's super easy. booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and

abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl tonight. >> reporter: when it comes to the russia investigation, there is one message above all where president trump has been perfectly consistent. >> there was no collusion. at all. there was no collusion. at all. everybody knows it. >> reporter: but now, former trump lawyer michael cohen seems to be prepared to tell prosecutors that the president knew in advance about the infamous trump tower meeting organized by donald trump jr. after he'd been promised dirt from the russians on hillary clinton. and today, the president's current lawyer, rudy giuliani, offered a new message. it doesn't matter if the president colluded, because collusion, giuliani says, is not a crime. >> i've been sitting here looking in the federal code trying to find collusion as a crime. >> it's not. >> soluticollusion is not a tri. >> reporter: it's a message he repeated throughout the day. >> i don't know if that's a crime. you start analyzing the crime. the hacking is the crime. the hacking the crime. >> that certainly is the original crime. >> the presiden

here's our chief white house correspondent jonathan karl tonight. >> reporter: president trump congratulated himself today on a supreme court pick he predicts will get support across the board. >> brett kavanaugh has gotten rave reviews, rave reviews. actually, from both sides. >> reporter: on capitol hill, judge kavanaugh set out to win over the senate. >> we're going to have a thorough process, hopefully it's efficient. we get it done quickly. >> reporter: republicans, for the most part, are giving rave reviews. >> not only would you want him to be a judge, if you're a reasonable person, i think you'd also like him to be your neighbor. >> reporter: but with republicans clinging to a single vote majority in the senate, democrats are gearing up for an epic battle. >> i'm going to fight this nomination with everything i've got. >> reporter: and no issue looms larger than abortion. >> there's every reason to believe he would overturn roe. >> reporter: kavanaugh himself seemed to address that as his nomination was announced, talking about the importance of precedent, respecting past court decis

with us at the table, jonathan lemire, associated press white house reporter and sliding in as only he can do, john heilman is back. >> i've been here all day. >> you've got seven titles i'm not going to read because i didn't think you'd make it. we're glad to have you back. we missed you. mike schmidt, if you contradiction underscore the significance of learning that donald trump was aware months before the election of these hush money payments to karen mcdug daal. >> in early november of 2016, "the wall street journal" wrote a story about this payment and the campaign said that it knew nothing about it. it said this was news to them and whatever. well, what the recording shows is that the president clear will i knew about it at the time. this was something michael cohen had updated him on in september. he was briefed on what was going on. this is obviously something they were trying to do to keep this quiet leading up to the election. it now raises these legal questions, whether there were campaign finance violations or campaign finance laws that were broken because these payments we

abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl on what they are saying tonight. >> reporter: the president's joint press conference was over for just a matter of minutes when fellow republicans starting pouncing. one of the first republican ben sasse, releasing a statement, saying, "this is bizarre and flat-out wrong." and then senator jeff flake -- >> it was shameful. i never thought i would see an american president throw the intelligence community under the bus like that. >> reporter: and before the president left helsinki, the republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee unloaded on him -- >> the president's comments made us look as a nation more like a pushover. >> reporter: the top democrat went so far to suggest that putin must have something on trump. >> the americans are scratching their heads and saying, if that is not the explanation that putin has something on him, what is it? what the heck could it be? >> reporter: weighing in from arizona, senator john mccain called the president's press conference a "tragic mistake." and quote, one of the most disg

here's our chief white house correspondent jonathan karl tonight. >> reporter: it was just after his big summit with kim jong-un that president trump declared, quote, "there is no longer a nuclear threat from north korea." but now, one month later, their handshake agreement could be falling apart. >> we still have a long ways to go. >> reporter: that was secretary of state mike pompeo today after his tense weekend trip to north korea. in pyongyang, the top north korean negotiator even suggested that pompeo may be losing sleep over the talks. >> so thinking about those discussions, you might have not slept well last night. >> director kim, i slept just fine. >> reporter: on his two previous trips to north korea, pompeo met directly with kim jong-un. friendly encounters. not this time. no meeting with kim. still, leaving pyongyang, the secretary sounded upbeat. >> these are complicated issues but we made progress on almost all of the central issues. >> reporter: but shortly after pompeo flew off, the north koreans put out a scathing statement, calling america's attitude "regrettable" a

jonathan swan covers the white house for axios and gillian turner. how big a deal is this gdp growth and is enough for republicans to hang their hats on as they try to hold on to control of the house in november? >> normally you would think it would be and it is a big number. the problem is is that where the republicans are suffering most are among essentially why college-educated women in suburban districts. they seem to be immune to the boom in the economy and the gender gap is unprecedented for congressional candidates. so the idea of the economy he alone is what these women will vote for when they are the ones providing the margin of difference, i think it's unlikely and probably very worrisome.>>chris: there's been a lot of talk about a blue wave this november. a big democratic ticket. maybe control of the house and even the senate. i think you'd agree on where the absence of where the economy is always the top issue.when you have historically low unemployment numbers, isn't that a pretty strong record for republicans to run on? >> first of all,

lets bring in jonathan allen. ken thomas, white house reporter for the associated press. barbara mcquaid, former u.s. attorney for eastern direct of michigan. now a legal analyst. ba barbara let me start with you. on the news rudy giuliani is making tonight, the president might agree to an interview with robert mueller, saying essentially, mueller has to have proof the president committed crimes, his testimony may be essential to the investigation. is giuliani saying this is not going to happen? >> it seems like he is. every time the deadline comes and goes he moves the goalpost further down the feel. it seems like another stall tactic. these are conditions that are not illegally required. giuliani is trying to put in place some terms mueller can agree to. i don't see why mueller would agree to, show his whole entire hand to giuliani to get trump to sit down with him for an interview. no doubt he wants to talk to him, his other option is to serve a subpoena on him. that brings the potential of litigation and contenscious arguments. i'm sure he'd rather secure his testimon

. >>> joining me now white house chief correspondent hallie jackson, jonathan, opinion writer for "the washington post," also an msnbc contributor. again a live look here inside the briefing room. sarah huckabee sanders expected to take to that podium roughly 25 minutes or so from now. alle al halle, i imagine she will be asked about this exchange that happened about an hour ago. >> is russia still targeting the u.s., mr. president? >> thank you very much. >> let's go. we're finished here. >> press, let's go. >> thank you very much, everybody. >> make your way out. >> we're doing very well. we are doing very well and we're doing very well, probably as well as anybody has ever done with russia. >> no. no, they are not still targeting the united states. have they tried to walk that back just yet? >> not yet, craig. as you noted, at 2:15, this briefing has been delayed a little bit, sarah sanders will come out at the podium and presumably asked about this. i think you are a cautious odds maker. if she is not asked about it, i think there will be some exploding heads in the briefing room.

now, this is a small example but really representative of the president we have in the white house. >> jonathan lamere, though, people in the audience are cheering for his lies, and so many times know he is lying. like what is this? is it like -- is it like a rock concert or like an act where he's just delivering lines and -- they just like the lines that are being delivered even though they know he is lying to them? >> yeah. a couple of things going on at once. donald trump, since his real estate days, asserted a reality which, of course, is not true. >> hold on. they are -- this is a smaller crowd. do we have numbers on this crowd? >> 14. >> it looks like they had to squeeze the room smaller. he puts curtains around everybody, squeezes them in, pulls them in closer when less people show up. >> we don't know how many but will get a number on that. >> trump, even from real estate days, would assert something is true even though it wasn't and go with that as his reality. that is something he has done throughout and certainly carried it over into politics. in terms of the crowd believing those th

the white house then walked that back, actually an hour before that vote. this was, again, if you plot the data points of this week as jonathan noted there. this was a remarkable rapid-fire week in terms of how the white house was communicating, russia-u.s. policy and how the intelligence community was responding to the shifting comments on u.s./russia relations and how a republican controlled congress was acting in realtime as well. >> also, a quick and amazing moment where andrea mitchell knew more about the u.s. intelligence plans with russia t meetings with vladimir putin than the director there. no wonder his jaw was hitting the ground. >> the timing was incredible on that. >> when the trump/putin meeting was over, many suggested members of the administration should resign. you touched on this. so far, there's nothing on that front. do you think people are staying out of duty? they are committed to protecting the nation. >> it is impossible to count the number of people in this administration who believe they are the last person stretched across the breaking dam, keeping some sense of normalcy in the white house and this

jonathan swann, who covers the white house for axial's and fox news correspondent gillian turner. jonah, how big a deal is this 4.1% number gdp growth in the second quarter, and is it enough for republicans to hang their hats on as they try to hold onto control of the house in november? >> historically normally you would think it would be, and it is a big deal. 4.1 is a big number. the problem is that for the republicans are suffering most are among essentially white college educated women in suburban districts. they seem to be immune to the boom in the economy and the gender gap is unprecedented for congressional candidates so the idea that the economy alone is what these women are going to vote for when they are going to be the one providing the margins of difference when they are going to hold onto the house is very unlikely. >> chris: there has been a lot of talk about a blue wave, a big democratic pickup, may be control of the house, maybe even control of the senate, but i think you would agree in the absence of where the economy is the top issue and when you have strong econ

with us at the table, jonathan lemire, associated press white house reporter and sliding in as only he can do, john heilman is back. got sechlt entitles i'm nven ti to read because i didn't think he would be here. if you could, underscore the significance of learning that donald trump was aware months before the election of these hush money payments to karen mcdougal. >> in early november of 2016, w "the wall street journal" wrote an article about the payment. they said it was news to them. what the article shows is the president clearly knew about it at the time. this is something michael cohen updated him on in september. he was briefed on what was going on. this is obviously something they were trying to do to keep this quiet leading up to the election. it now raises these legal questions, whether there were campaign finance violations or campaign finance laws that were broken because these payments were made and they were not disclosed and done in secret. >> we've had a lot of conversations in the weeks and months since that cohen raid that the president described as an attack on t

rise up and demand they do something, maybe they will, but it has to start coming from the white house. >> jonathan, thanks. thank you, ruth. >>> more ahead on "andrea mitchell reports." only on msnbc. we'll be right back. better. actually, it's bulkier. always discreet doesn't need all that bulk to protect. because it's made differently. the super absorbent core quickly turns liquid to gel, for drier protection that's a lot less bulky. looks like good things really do come in small packages. always discreet. for bladder leaks. i knew at that exact moment, whatever it takes, wherever i have to go...i'm beating this. my main focus was to find a team of doctors that work together. when a patient comes to ctca, they're meeting a team of physicians that specialize in the management of cancer. breast cancer treatment is continuing to evolve. and i would say that ctca is definitely on the cusp of those changes. patients can be overwhelmed ... we really focus on taking the time with each individual patient so they can choose the treatment appropriate for them. the care that ctca brings is the kind of care

this event, and we want to chew things over with two of the most plugged in journalists, jonathan swan covers the white for axio axios. michael gordon is national security correspondent for "the wall street journal." at michael, how big a shadow do you think the indictment of these 12 members of the gru, russian military intelligence, how big a shadow does not cast over the summit? >> i do think it will cast a very large shadow over the summit, but i think both president putin and president trump are pretty much determined not to make it as a principal issue in their consultation and to be able to come out of the meeting and somehow put it to the side. how they are going to do that i really don't know, but that's not the reason either of them came here. >> chris: jonathan, as we pointed out in the last segment, president trump continues to call the mueller investigation a witch hunt. he says that while he will raise russian meddling with putin, he doesn't seem to be -- any indication of whether he will d. is that enough? does hegher if only for domestic consumption in the u.s.? >> certainly has advisor

jonathan lemire is a msnbc political analyst and ap white house reporter. bin gaye and jonathan podohoretz. >> bob corker's analogy is apt, because what donald trump is doing is he is emulating the authoritarian instinct that he admires in vladimir putin. we still don't know, katy, exactly what the two men talked about. but one of the standard attack lines by the kremlin against the united states is that we are too beholden to our own intelligence professional cadre. and why is that? that's because the intelligence community actually puts forward facts. and facts sometimes contradict the conspiracy theories and sort of the international relations theories that the russian federation has wanted to advance. the big picture here, katy, if you look over the last month, starting with the g-7 in quebec, in brussels, and now the helsinki summit with putin in which the united states was embarrassed on the world stage, there's a fundamental realignment of american foreign policy against our traditional allies in europe and canada and with the russian federation. and

joining me now from london, white house reporter jonathan lew mere and theer evan mcmullin.ran as an independent candidate for president in 2016. "new york times" op-ed columnist and msnbc contributor bret stephens and former republican congressman david jolly. jonathan, let's start with you. you're there with the president. any word whatsoever from the administration on this summit with vladimir putin changing, not happening on monday? >> the president left england a short time ago. he has since landed in scotland and making his way to his golf course in turnberry where he is spending the weekends before that summit in finland on monday. in fact, sarah sanders recently said that summit is still on. that is still planned for monday. there's been no change to that itinerary in light of today's indictments it shows you this president is always shadowed by the russia probe and the questions of possible involvement with his campaign with russian officials in 2016, whatever links he may have to putin will be that much at the forefront as we go into monday. you heard the president

jonathan, that's a record for even this white house. it's walkback week. >> it is walkback week.ructure week. this is a president who we all know hates to say he's sorry or made a mistake. but yet time and time again the administration has had to furiously back pedal to get out from something he said. this is the best example yet. it's nonsensical walkbacks about whether he said no or not in what he was responding to, the would or the wouldn't. at the end of the day, none of that approaches the heart of it. if anyone watched the news conference from helsinki on monday, even if you quibbled with a word here or there and you believed him, the other 99% of the press conference backed up the other viewpoint. >> the republicans found his walkbacks -- not all, but a lot of them found his walkbacks to be just fine. marco rubio, yeah, the clarification does it for me. >> they needed something to hold onto. this is not a president they want to break with. they feel very clear, for the most part, right, for the most part republican elected officials do not want to get on the wrong side bet

jonathan karl leading us off tonight from the white house. >> reporter: reeling from a torrent of criticism after his disastrous press conference in helsinki, president trump came before the cameras today with a carefully scripted attempt to control the damage. >> let me begin by saying that, once again, the full faith and support for america's intelligence agencies, i have a full faith in our intelligence agencies. whoops, they just turned off the light. that must be the intelligence agencies. there it goes. okay. good.oka that was strange. but that's okay. >> reporter: then, he did something he almost never does. clutching his prepared remarks, he said he misspoke when he answered this question. >> president putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. every u.s. intelligence agency has concluded that russia did. who do you believe? >> my people came to me, dan coats came to me and some others and said they think it's russia. i have president putin, he just said it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> reporter: today, a cl