mark halperin, where does all of this put us?es, there's going to be -- people will be screeching about paris for a day. that's the reason why -- trump set this up, i'm going to talk tomorrow at 3:00. >> let me get a jazz band. >> and then he goes in and blabbers about things that aren't true. then the ideological world is distracted and everybody is hyperbolic for 15 minutes and we're back to russia. >> there's no doubt if the white house is trying to get his footing back, they're looking to get russia out of the news. they feel it's a good day if they can do that. the congressional investigations will go forward and we'll see when comey testifies, that will be a big moment as we said before. but it's the independent counsel, like every president who has faced this kind of thing, that is the relatively quiet, we're only seeing a sliver of what he's doing, and these leaks which the white house complains about. why do we even know about that meeting? because someone wanted it out. >> somebody in the white house. >> someone in the

let's take it to mark halperin. donald trump is learning very slowly and way too late that these men and women who work for him are not his caddies, they are not his valets. they are not going to do exactly what he tells them to do. dan coats, a united states senator, respected ambassador to germany, respected in washington. rod rosenstein, the same thing. we heard jeff sessions, hey, if you don't want me to work for you, i won't work for you. on top of that, i can't work for you unless you give me some space. all three of these men have something in common, just like sally yates. they had a life, they had a career, they were respected people before donald trump rolled into town on january 30th, 2017. coats is just the latest example. like comey, to say no, no, we're in the going to interfere with a federal investigation. this is a remarkable charge again, isn't it? >> there are a lot of strands. the most important one is the underlying facts which will be investigated by both capitol hill and the independent counse

mark halperin, please. >> no, no, no, no. see, that's the shrillness. >> i'm trying to level you out. you're acting like you just scratched yourself. it's not like he got a lawyer, let's move on. in other news, flowers grow. i mean, come on. >> i said this several weeks ago. >> it makes you knowledgeable about how bad this situation is. >> there were a lot of innocent people in the clinton administration that paid a lot of legal bills. there were a lot of innocent people in the bush administration that paid a lot of legal bills. they had to do it. >> do you think that's what's going on here? >> yes. i think mike pence has to get a lawyer because if he goes before the senate he's going to be having six, seven, eight, nine lawyers asking him questions. if he is interviewed by the special prosecutor, he's going to have four, five, six, seven lawyers interviewing him. he would be a fool, as would anybody, not to hire a lawyer. i'm not saying -- who knows? maybe he speaks russian. maybe he was a kgb agent. maybe he's the worst hum

as mark halperin has said, i believed that he was going to be in more danger much more quickly than mark trump being unable to put any points up on the board, to pass legislation, to pass this travel ban. those are the sort of things that will make people in middle america that are still defending him saying, we just can't have a president that can't get anything done. >> he wouldn't do this this morning if he didn't think this was still his secret weapon. i think his poll numbers will have to crash a lot more than they have for him to get off of it or somehow a new chief of staff says mr. president, give me the phone. or i'm not going to take the job. it's going to take something like that, because he thinks it work. >> mika, it doesn't. >> like a little kid thinks punching someone has worked. >> he has hurt himself now on what he calls his travel ban. >> travel ban. >> you look at the people he has attacked across the globe the past month or two. macron wins big, makes history. merkel, strengthened more in her country now than ever before. she will win re-election, thanks to donald tru

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>> senior political analyst for msnbc mark halperin. >> halperin. >> halperin.t the washington examiner, kristen anderson, good to have you back on this show. >> bad to be back. >> well, i mean, it's really something. >> yeah. >> they're going to have to work with democrats. like what a horrible idea? they might have to work with zra itself is there they're going to find it easier to work with democrats than their own president who undermines them, slams them, says bad things about them for fun to bully them, throw them under the bus, make up new plans, have rose garden ceremonies, humiliate them. i mean, could it be worse? why don't you work with democrats. >> >> so there it went. mark halperin, okay, mika, halperin, you also -- >> yes. >> hi. >> he also doesn't understand any of the policy. >> no clue. >> mark halperin. >> what was the question? >> the problem is, he doesn't understand the policy, all he has been telling people all along, he told people, i don't care about any of the details. it doesn't line up with anything he promised on the campaign trail.

senior political analyst for nbc news and msnbc mark halperin.urn to the other big story this morning what's called the turning point into the investigation into russia. the washington reports the special counsel is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether the president himself attempted to obstruct justice. fbi director james comey confirmed for the first time last week he had indeed assured the president earlier this year on three occasions that he was not under investigation. but now that may have changed. the "post" reports say that the obstruction investigation began just days after director comey was fired. the trump legal team responded to the "post" report saying, "the fbi leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal." the paper also sources five people who say the director of national intelligence, dan coats, and mike rogers, the head of the nsa, and his former deputy, have agreed to be interviewed. and the "wall street journal

with us, senior political analyst for msnbc and nbc news mark halperin. economic analyst steve rattner. former aide to the george w. bush white house, elise jordan, and donny deutsch is with us. played out on our show yesterday morning, president trump's renewed push for a travel ban following the terror attack on monday. on saturday night he tweeted, we need the travel ban as an extra layer of safety. yesterday morning he fired off a series of tweets evidently responding to a segment on msnbc's "morning joe" as the "wall street journal" editorial board points out. he called the travel ban a watered down version of the original and criticized his own department of justice. last night he said, that's right, we need a travel ban for certain dangerous countries. legal experts say trump's tweets could complicate the administration's effort to defend that travel ban in court. even george conway, a prominent conservative lawyer and the husband of white house adviser kelly aanne conway is suggestin the president's comments could significantly hurt his case. he w

that's where this gets real dangerous. >> mark halperin, that was a fascinating part. i thought there were two really fascinating takeaways, one where trump sounds like a corleone in "the godfather" saying i need your loyalty, i demand your loyalty. but the other was when trump said, hey, if somebody around me did something wrong, go ahead, throw them under the bus, send them to jail, i don't care, basically is what he said. he wasn't trying to obstruct that investigation. he just wanted to make sure that nobody thought he was under investigation. >> think about trump's time on the national stage, joe, he's taken on jeff zucker, taken on jeb bush, john mccain, taken on the pope. he's taken on a lot of people. >> more important than that, he's taken on mika. >> no, i would say that was accurate. >> he's now up against a guy with a laptop and a reputation who is going to command center stage. there's things in the statement that are damning, some that are exculpatory. this is a mano-a-mano fight. this is a bit of a sideshow. trump is going up against somebody today unlik

mark halperin? >> we'll see. this is troubling, very troubling. you know that. ll of you there -- mark, i'll go right to you, but i was hoping that everybody came away yesterday seeing that that was a bipartisan, professional approach to what we should be doing in the committee. i always felt so strong and so good about being on that committee. both richard burr and mark warner have done a gentleman's job of holding it together in the most professional manner. >> what was the current theory of the case about what was going on with michael flynn in russia and michael flynn in turkey? >> michael flynn, all of a sudden, shut down. first of all, he wanted to tell us his story. that came out first. i want to tell my story, tell you exactly what happened. all of a sudden he got lawyered up and now we have to subpoena just to get his records, if you will. >> based on what you know, what's your theory about his relationship with them? >> with the russians? >> and with turkey. >> is that the question? >> turkey? >> what's tyour view of his relationship with russia and tur

. >> my morning is made now because we zoomed in on mark halperin. >> that was t.j. over at cbs news. come on, t.j., stop hacking the feed! god, t.j., what's wrong with him? he's the worst. inside joke. we love you, t.j. >> the future of federal health care policy is uncertain this morning after republicans were forced to pull their overhaul plan yesterday. it became clear the votes simply would not be there. to get the bill to the floor and maur majority leader mitch mcconnell addressed the press. >> we will not be on the bill this week but we're still working toward getting at least 50 people in a comfortable place. >> mr. leader, is your effort to repeal obamacare dead? >> no, we're still talking about it. i remember how challenging it was for the democrats when they were enacting this back in 2009 and 2010. it's a complicated subject. we have a lot of discuss going on. >> will your ongoing discussions involve democrats at all? >> we're not interested -- >> so they just weren't happy. >> this is the bus they get thrown under. pool video shows the president flanked

mark halperin. what do you got? >> two tweets this morning. one on health care.gram. he said the reason president obama did nothing about russia after being notified by the cia of meddling is that he expected clinton would win. >> somebody doesn't just watch fox and friends. how are you doing today, senator? skbloog well, that was a good tweet. >> that was a good tweet. >> of course, actually, yeah. i think they do think hillary would win, and i think they didn't want to look like they were putting a thumb on the scale and that's why they didn't do more. i wish they had, obviously. what's interesting now is i think -- is this the first trump has acknowledged that russia -- >> yes. we've been -- you were talking about it earlier. you referenced cave man lawyer. we've also been talking about barack obama's extraordinary jedi mind tricks where he comes out of retirement and comes down from the jedi temple where luke was and all he has to do is just wave his hand and trump admits the health care bill is mean and admits that russia is medicine willing in the election.

senior political analyst for nbc news and msnbc, mark halperin.ublic policy, former democratic congressman, harold ford jr.. >> good morning. >> and associate editor of commentary magazine, noah rothman. and willie, this really shows just how much work the democrats have to do. >> yeah, what's the message, i think, is one of the big questions. it can't just be anti-trump. harold ford, you're a perfect guy to talk to. a guy who was elected to congress many times in the south as a democrat. what did democrats take away from these races? granted, these are republican districts, we should stimulate that up-front. montana, kansas, last night, also in south carolina -- >> a very close race there, too. >> and they were closer than thes previous races. tom price won by 23 points, karen handel by 26 points. but still, with all the money and energy that democrats threw at this race still not to win, what do they need to learn to take back the house as they claim they can in 2018? >> a couple of things. one, i think joe summed it up well. i would emphasize t

. >> my morning is made now because we zoomed in on mark halperin. >> that was t.j.., stop hacking the feed! god, t.j., what's wrong with him? he's the worst. in

with us in washington senior political analyst mark halperin. >> you go to his apartment in new york, in the corner playing. >> like a

senior political analyst mark halperin. national affairs analyst more

i'm mark halperin of nbc news. joe is battling a case of laryngitis. mika is tending to a family matter and willie is going to join us momentarily. he had a bit of a late night last night. he'll explain that when he gets with us. with us, katty kay. lots going on in the republican's vote on health care. >> the shock and sadness of the death of otto warmbier. he was convicted in 2016 for attempting to steal a propaganda poster. he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. he was returned with brain damage. they claim he contacted botulism. president trump, who once said it would be an honor to meet kim jong un weighed in on warmbier's passi passing. >> otto warmbier has just passed away. he spent a year and a half in north korea, a lot of bad things happened, but at least we got him home to be with his parents where they were so happy to see him, even though he was in very tough condition. but he just passed away a little while ago. it's a brutal regime and we'll be able to handle it. >> senator john mccain was more direct in a statement saying in part l