. >> mike memoli was at that event today, still down in biden country. mike, he's now given a second speech where you are, midtown, this morning, the biden center, the public policy center, his alma mater, the university of delaware. clearly he had the fire on the budget issues and issues that will work well on the campaign trail for him. >> yeah, that's right, andrea. as you say, he just finished remarks here to a group of professionals affiliated with the biden center, a much more subdued event, nothing like what you saw at the firefighters' convention. but even in this event he was signaling his intentions in 2020. he mentioned dark money in politics and was talking about the loss of faith that many americans have in their government, frankly. he said, as he put it, a lot of republicans have been trying to undermine public confidence in government and many of them have been elected to government to therefore prove it. what we heard from him very clearly in that firefighters' address is setting the tone for what would be the campaign, which advisers say

joining me now, nbc white house correspondent kristen welker, nbc national political reporter mike memoliron klain, former chief of staff to vice presidents joe biden and al gore, and ruth marcus, deputy editorial page editor at "the washington post," and the former chief of staff to dan quayle in the bush white house. barbara bush speaking out so clearly against donald trump, it was obvious in 2016 that they didn't get along, but this is the most specific revelation that we've had thanks to susan page's extraordinary interviews. >> it's remarkable, andrea, to hear her level of disdain for the now-current president. we have reached out to the white house. so far they're not commenting. but certainly this is just one more data point that i think underscores the divisions between president trump and what was known then as the establishment republican party. i think that on the campaign trail was when we really started to understand the ways in which then-candidate trump was going to break with traditional establishment republicans. and i think we were reminded of that recently, andrea, when

joining me now garrett haake and nbc national political reporter mike memoli. event this morning. joeb w joe biden was speaking to a group very excited union workers. if he announces he's running, will he get that union support after democrats lost so much of it to trump in 2016? >> it certainly sounded like it from the reception he got from the international association of firefighters. we talk a lot about lanes in a crowded democratic field. biden advisers believe they can play in many lanes. there's the progressive lane. he's proposing potentially a $15 an hour minimum wage, tax reform to help benefit the middle class, free college tuition. they think he has a particular appeal to african-american voters, a very important constituency in the party given not just his views on policy but the fact that he was a very loyal partner for barack obama for eight years in the white house. what they feel especially sure of is more than any other candidate in the democratic field, he can appeal to the kinds of voters we saw in that hall today, middle class, middle age m

joining me is mike memoli and shannon pettypiece. mike, i want to start with you.now if it's appropriate to call you the biden whisperer, but i feel like that is the role certainly we are so grateful for your great reporting on all of this. what's the thinking behind the scenes on making a decision like this, and where does the thinking about it stand? >> kasie, i think the fact that we're starting to see all this speculation like an early running mate announcement is indicative of the fact that we've gotten to a new phase in biden's own decision about the race itself. i think it's fair to say we've moved beyond will he or won't he run to when will he announce, how will he announce and how will he run. i reported as far as a year ago that among the ideas to address the potential vulnerabilities in the race around his age would be announcing for just one term and also announcing the identity of his running mate. we saw last week the vice president had lunch with stacey abrams. that renewed some of the speculation that that might be something he'll consider. what sou

that, according to the reporting from our mike memoli at nbc, is a list that was narrowed down from 150 or more entities, so again, trying to exercise some restraint. of course it still comes across as something that is overwhe overwhelming. again, i do think they have been walking this very careful line to try to make sure they don't lose the support of the american people, because they of course remember what happened with bill clinton, he ended up leaving office, more popular than, you know, he was before. and that's partly because a lot of people came to his defense because they thought the process was unfair. so that's weighing on democrats' minds throughout the whole process. >> today you have rasheeida tla and others on the hill pushing for faster impeachment which nonprofits and other leaders are trying to avoid. >> that is what they're trying to avoid, and you're right, andrea, rashida tlaib holding a protest with activists. and you see it bubbling up on other issues as well, the emerging division between the progressive members of the caucus, some of these new freshmen members

mike memoli has breaking news. >> hey, guys -- >> mike?er about the mueller report which we will share shortly. once again, that's chairman of it's house judiciary committee jerry nadler. one of the four lawmakers who received that notification of the summary from the attorney general. he's now tweeting he received that summary. he says it is a very brief letter. that's an important point. one of the questions that lawmakers had been asking as they await what they were waiting for from the justice department is this just top line summary? a multipage summary? a full-on report from the attorney general? we're getting at this early instance from nadler the signal this is a very brief letter. democrats will not be satisfied with that. we heard speaker pelosi say in a conference call with her caucus yesterday that simply his offer of a summary is insufficient. she also said she will not accept any classified briefings as part of the gang of eight with the justice department. they want everything to be unclassified to speak about this publicly.

and mike memoly when will he or won't he just say something? >> that's the question, kendis.e president biden closely more than a decade now. he has an expression. no one doubts i mean kbha i say. the problem is i say all that i mine. that's one reason why i was paying very close attention to two speeches he gave this week. one there. i was in dover when he spoke to the dover, delaware party and earlier addressing firefighters union. friendly audiences, audiences he has a long connection. while the plan wasn't top announce this week i thought maybe the moment would capture him just like we saw perhaps again, now what is the plan? biden advisers continue to tell me the announcement if and when he makes a decision to run would likely come in early to mid-april giving the green light right about now. we're at that point. he has to give them the time they need to execute that game plan. to the degree there's uncertainty deciding no to the run harks to do with the question you saw addressing there in the remarks. where he fits into the democratic party. you've heard him refer to t

. >> great question and thank you mike, memoli. charlie, that's to you, is this going to influence biden's decision on whether or not he runs? look, he is still well above the rest of the field in the polls but he has yet to announce. >> well, joe biden his strength and his weakness as a potential contender in 2020 is the long history he's been in public office, and how he took positions and did things that, where the culture shifted over time. this issue of maybe he's too handsy or a little creepy around women and sort of hugging them too much has been a thing before this. that's why this seems sort of believable, there's a million pictures of vice president biden behaving this way. on the other hand, on the spectrum of things from a little handsy to, you know, criminal, this is way on the left into that spectrum. the broader thing, though, is that he has a mixed history. he is the joe biden who authored the violence against women act and that's how he wants to be thought of going into this primary, if he does put his hat in the r

. >> geoff, let's go to the story you wrote with nbc's mike memoli about getting the report. democrats are using techniques first used by republicans when they were in power. >> house democrats are using their newfound authority to compel the justice department, potentially legally, to make the mueller report public. not just the report itself. house democrats want access to the underlying material. all of the information the special counsel team gathered to write that report. so, yes, they're taking a page from the gop playbook. remember back in 2017, when devin nunes controlled the house intelligence chit teommittee, t compelled the doj to give sensitive information to them. democrats are saying, look, if it was good enough for republicans, it is good enough for us. president trump, of course, has been lashing out in light of this heightened democratic scrutiny. of course, he gave that two-hour tour of grievances on saturday before that friendly cpac crowd. he said he felt he was being unfairly targeted as it relates to obstruction of justice. take a look. >> if you use you