bush white house and state departments, alize jordan, senior political analyst for nbc news mark halperin and nbc news correspondent kasie hunt. joe, set the stage. that speech, abraham lincoln style, i guess. >> no. far from abraham lincoln style. i wish it were easy for donald trump to act presidential. we have six months of saying he's a failure of doing. as many people think he should be impeached as not. is approv his approval rating hovering at all time lows for someone at this stage of his presidency, 36, 37%. you have conservatives saying enough is enough. it is not fake news to say this president should be investigated and that he is treated a member of senate terribly, shamefully. and republicans come together defense of jeff sessions, people like lindsey graham saying enough is enough and saying what every republican senator should say and underline every day, that in america the bedrock belief of our constitution is has always been that no man is above the law. donald trump may not believe that, if you look at the way he's treated james comey and now his attorney general. so t

it looks like they were working with the russians. >> mark halperin. >> on the senate side appears toatic colleagues that senate republicans are now committed to get to the bottom of all this. do you have the same level of confidence in the house republicans and committee running this investigation? >> yes. mike conaway has steered us back in the right course. we are interviewing witnesses as we go through this week. and we've done so in the past weeks. and so obviously there are new individuals based on what we're learning who we want to bring in. as long as we show progress and we're independent and have credibility, i think that's a good thing. >> kasie hunt. >> congressman swalwell, there have been some questions here about what is coming out into the public domain is already part of the body of knowledge that congressional investigators or bob mueller, the special prosecutor, have available to them. i'm not asking you to reveal classified information, but can you give us a sense of how much new you are learning every day from the news and how much you have to bite your tongue to

mark halperin is analyst for nbc

mark halperin? >> david ignatius, i want to ask you about something that's important that "the times" story doesn't get into. don jr. says that the president of the united states didn't know about this meeting. you can bet that vladimir putin knew about it, right? >> the lawyer has very close kremlin ties and it's unlikely to me she would have reported on her efforts to lobby the top officials of the trump campaign about russian positions without reporting that back. i think one reason this surfaces is that she probably is a person who is subject to u.s. surveillance. >> exactly. >> so her conversations, her travels, her later discussions about who she met with and what they said are probably notable facts. >> so there's a flow of information now that is dangerous to the trump administration of u.s. intelligence intercepting things the russians are saying. presumably, the russians are delighting in what's going on. right? >> we're only in the imagining stage now but this is june 2016. donald trump h

people aren't nervous about nonscandals. >> mark halperin, that's another layer to the story, reporting that donald trump himself, the president of the united states on the trip back from the g20 helped write and oversaw the writing of the response which was that this was a meeting between donald trump jr. and this russian intermediate about adoption policy out of russia. obviously that's crumbled since then. but the point being, the president of the united states was in the room crafting the response to this which turned out not to be true. >> well, the minute we saw that statement the first one and then the second one a lot of us asked that question, it was asked on monday morning's "morning joe" where did that statement come from? i don't think we leaped to the conclusion that it was written by people in the government and approved by the president of the united states, but that's what "the new york times" is reporting. this goes to one of the many layers of the onion that we're not seeing right now. which has to do with how much coordination there is amongst those who are involved h

doesn't change the reality that this is a failing system and needs to be addressed. >> congressman mark halperinl, pass a bill that was voted not only by you on health care by nancy pelosi or rather pass a bill without nancy pelosi? >> well i'm not going to -- look, i've been willing to be part of deals. i've yet to be convinced that the democratic leadership is ever for anything that's not more spending and more government, and frankly, i have a lot more faith in the free market. >> from your point of view for the country? >> well look -- >> with her support or without her support? >> i don't know that we need her support. look. we have proven we can move on our own. i'm happy to work in a bipartisan fashion. but it's got to be for something that fundamentally fixes the system. our democratic friends, frankly, talk about fixing it. they have never made any fixes for it at all. they love the system. they bled and died for it. i get it. it's not working so i'm not going to buy into, you know, the obamacare system as is. i need to something a lot different that works for the people i represent rig

i don't think any of us are ready to take a knee. >> mark halperin?lly the states get to decide. under the current senate bill who are the americans who will be worse off? >> i haven't seen the current senate bill. that's a little bit hard to say. one of the ways to keep people from being worse off is by giving statsds large block grants, if you will, that they would wrap around those who might be negatively affected to keep them from being negatively affected. i would like to think that the people who would be worse off would be the special interests. that kind of benefitted under obama care. i would like to think that we kind of take dollars back from them and distribute to those who need it, but i have not seen the final bill yet. >> won't be poor be worse off if you are cutting $750 billion from medicare, and then in the underlying budget another $300 billion, $400 billion? it seems fairly obvious. you're a doctor. you strip $1 trillion from medicaid funding. i said medicare. excuse me. medicaid funding. it will be people disproportionately poor a

mark halperin is senior political analyst for nbc news and msnbc. john heilemann is national affairs analyst for nbc news and msnbc. i'm pleased to have them back at this take. so what is going on? (laughter) what is happening in america? >> you first. >> look, i've been traveling a little bit lately outside washington and it's clear that the velocity and pure insanity of events taking place in washington are captivating elites around the country. there is no doubt, we have never seen anything like it. >> underline elites. >> yes, because as i traveled around the country, whether both trump supporters and trump opponents, they're not paying nearly as much attention to this stuff as we are. so it's clear that this is an extraordinary period in american history. it's clear that the president and people around him are doing things we have never seen, not just in our lifetimes but in the history of the country, maybe in the history of the planet. but again, i say there is the trump reality show and then there is reality. and reality in america is still

with us, mike barnicle, senior political analyst, mark halperin, column iist christa sanderson and michael schmidt. joe, we'll get to that in just a moment but first the news that senator john mccain has been diagnosed with brain cancer. the senator underwent a procedure to remove a blood clot from above his left eye. it revealed he has giablastoma. his doctors say the senator is recovering from surgery well and his underlying health is said to be excellent. joe, your thoughts? >> john mccain obviously a giant in washington, d.c. but he's been a giant in american life for a very long time and he served his entire adult life for the united states people in vietnam and being a prisoner of war, someone who was allowed by the north vietnamese to leave because his father was a powerful add mir in the u.s. navy but john mccain refused and said he wasn't going to go until all of his men came home with him. he did come home physically broken but mentally and spiritually tougher then ever. he was a fighter his entire life, a fighter when he was with the rag va-- reagan administration. i'm not so su

that was october of 2016, joe. >> and mark halperin has said all along the greatest risk to donald trump, the greatest risk to the republican majority may not be the russian scandals, it may not be the indiscriminate tweeting, the unpresidential behavior, it may not be the question of checks and balances and throwing aside every sacred tradition of the united states government over the past 240 years, it may be the inability to get things done because donald trump's chief promise above everything else was i can make washington work. it's broken, but don't worry, i'm a deal maker, this is easy. we're going to do so much and we're going to win so much that you're going to get tired of winning. what he's actually finding is, as somebody said earlier this morning, that it's much easier to stamp your name on buildings, on steaks and on online university courses than it is to actually reason washington, d.c. and get significant legislation passed. and this was quite the failure, mika, after he continued to promise he was going to get it done. you remember the rose garden celebration a couple o

charlie: mark halperin and john heilemann are here, the co-creators of "the circus" that ended its second season in may. they're also the co-authors of "game change" and "double down." they're at work on the third episode in the series, recounting donald trump's surprise victory over hillary clinton. mark halperin is analyst for nbc news. i'm pleased to have them back at the table. what's going on? [laughter] what's happening in america? mark: i have been traveling a little bit lately outside of washington and it's clear that the velocity and pure insanity of events taking place in washington are captivating elites around the country. there's no doubt we've never seen anything like it. charlie: underline elites. mark: elites, because as i've traveled around the country, whether trump supporters or trump points, they're not paying nearly as much attention to this stuff as we are so it's clear this is an extraordinary period in american history and that the president is doing things we've not seen in our lifetime or maybe the history of the planet and there's the trump reality show and then

. >> with us here on capitol hill we have senior political analyst for nbc news mark halperin. from "the wall street journal," shane harris, kasie hunt and sam stein. >> sam, it's so good to see you. how you doing? >> it's great to see you, too, guys. >> i don't think he means that. >> he doesn't. he's a dartmouth man. >> let's move on. >> we love dartmouth. my eyes were caught by this "usa today" headline that talks about russia doesn't rate in trump company. that's something that you are hearing from a lot of members that people aren't really focused on that yet. that makes a lot of sense. people have to be worried about whether they're losing their health care, whether they're going to have to take a second or third job. obviously a lot of different concerns there but obviously that's how it was and during watergate, people shouldn't be sitting here worrying about what mueller's doing right now. they're worried about their own family, whether they can make nds me ends meet. but that said, the pace on the russian probe is quickening in such a way that i think people will be f

mark halperin is analyst for nbc news and msnbc.ohn heilemann is national affairs analyst for msnbc. i'm pleased to have them back at the table. what's going on? >> [laughter] charlie: what's happening in america? mark: i have been traveling a little bit lately outside of washington and it's clear that the velocity and pure insanity of events taking place in washington are captivating elites around the country. there's no doubt we've never seen anything like it. charlie: underline elites. mark: elites, because as i've traveled around the country, whether trump supporters or trump opponents, they are not paying nearly as much attention to this stuff as we are so it's clear this is an extraordinary period in american history and that the president is doing things we've not seen in our lifetime and history of the country, or the history of the planet. there's the trump reality show and then there's reality and reality in america is still going on. economy is still going along. kids are still going to school. stuff's still happening but

mark halperin is analyst for nbc news.

yahoo, and former ambassador to russia, michael mcfall, senior political analyst for msnbc news mark halperinnt for the washington post. phil mcfallen. >> david ignacious, why don't you share what you seen and that fascinating comment from angela merkel that the g20 needs to be filled with leaders that don't look at global affairs as a win-lose proposition but, instead, focus on compromise. >> joe, we've seen a fast setting tableaux in the world of the age of donald trump. we've seen donald trump as we've noted again and again more at his first meeting with leaders in brussels trying to accommodate others, talk to them, not stand apart from them. not push them aside. but that the part of this collectivity. we see in hamburg, germany, angela merkel as really the leader of this gather of nation, at least today, there is probably something larger. she has stressed in the comments you just referred to that she does not want to be in a world where there is a sharp division between winners and losers. that's a good definition of donald trump's world, you come away with a win or you are screwed. so

with us, mike barnicle, senior political analyst, mark halperin, column iist christa sanderson and michaelment but first the news that senator john mccain has been diagnosed with brain cancer. the senator

we have mike barnicle, msnbc's steve kornacki, mark halperin and policy editor sam

. >> welcome to the program, tonight we begin with mark halperin and john heilemann of nbc news an msnbcwe talk about donald trump at six months. >> the new incoming white house communications director who is not even taken his job yet, is he not even officially in the job yet, is publicly calling for an fbi investigation of the white house chief of staff. and and twitter. >> rose: and we conclude this evening with singer songwriter conor oberst and a performance from his latest album salutations. >> the hope of course is that i think all art is a communications, you are kind of like, you are putting on the little balloon and throwing it in the air and you don't know if anyone is going to receive it on the other side. but that is the hope, you know. >> politics, and music. when we continue.

with us we have senior police call analyst for nbc news, mark halperin and national analyst john heilemann. former director for the 2026 campaign and also with us you're okay. >> is it good? i think failure friday. >> i call it impotent friday. it's so stunning with all the huffing and puffing and blowing your house down, i amazing how impotent -- >> i'm going to stick with failure. >> no, it's impotent. our structure is holding. the system is working. >> it's a shame we have to test it. >> amidst all of this anger and evil and impotency, what it does show is the strength of this rab getting too -- it is amazing we a holding firm. debts go republicans again could afford only two no votes from their washington bureau us the third republican senator to ultimately bring down the so-called "skinny repeal" was john mccain. he had been huddling with vice president mike pence before making his vote and then he strolled out on to the floor. take a look. >> mr. peters. >> no. >> shortly after the vote failed, president trump tweeted. "3 republicans and 48 democrats let the american people down. as

. >>> mark halperin, final word.teresting the lieutenant governor didn't mention the relative lack of in-n-out burgers in the los angeles area. >> good call. >> but the ball is kind of in "the new york times" court, i think. they had several days of breaking news on this. we'll see if they break something else and how the administration responds. >> all right. that does it for us this morning. >> mark says we need to do this show at 3:00 as well in the afternoon. >> it's just -- >> it moves so fast. >> the incoming is unbelievable. in just a little bit brian williams will be covering the confirmation hearing for fbi director nominee christopher wray. first chris jansing picks up the coverage right now. >> thank you, joe and mika. i am chris jansing in for stephanie ruhle. this morning, damage control. don junior telling what happened in that meeting. >> in retrospect i probably would have done things a little differently. >> and whether or not there may

. >> so mark halperin, curious, it seems this all unfolded as the president first sought to undermineo undermine the attorney general, himself, it feels like some might argue that the president thinks he actually thinks the attorney general is his lawyer. is that what you are seeing or how, what does he think of the role of the attorney general? because his disappointment points to personal support versus working for the country? >> it's a complicated and nuanced relationship for any president, but for someone has never served in government, it's a difficult thing to get used to, but he's different than every other member of the cabinet. he's cornered on this. if he -- now he's put himself in a bad position. there is no food outcome at this point. the attorney general is not going to unrecuse himself. the attorney general probably can't be replaced in any practical way without creating a firestorm, it's occupying every bit of discussion on everything, so i believe they may have convinced him to stand down on the attacks. >> if the attacks on the attorney general were one after the oth

states most important allie at this point in europe, markal person, angela america em-- -- owe mark halperinenough to be heartened by, let's say relieved considering his past performance, we can talk about article 5, the missile shield that obviously vladimir putin is going to see in an antagonistic way. something again that was in the works. but still something he announced on stage in poland and underlining what david said, again, despite how tedious the speech was through most of it. the end, at least, if not in style in content could have been ronald reagan in 1984 talking about upholding western civilization and again, quite remarkably talking about the freedom of the press and the very things that he has been criticized the very values he has been criticized for trampling at home, he actually champions in poland and let us hope it sends a positive message to our allies because we are now hearing it from the president of the united states and not james mattis. >> there are all these specific things, trade, russia and nato, if you want to be optimistic is a thing of value. donald trump w