mike viqueira joins us this morning from the white house. >> reporter: good morning, frances. president trump and mrs. trump arrived back 9:00 pm sunday evening, spending most of a rainy sunday inside the white house. early on suny morninga series of tweets taking after some of his favorisubjects, so-called fake news media, telling his followers not to believe anything they read that's attributed to anonymous sources. the president face ace week ahead full of controversy. first he has to decide whether or not he will keep the united states in a paris accord. he will have to decide on an fbi director. joe lieberman withdrew his name for consideration while president trump was away. but perhaps the biggest controversy involves his son-in-law and top white house staffer and adviser, jared curbner, allegedly opening a back channel with russians in secret before president trump came into the white house january 20th. that now the leak from "the washington post." congress is away for the week. also the health care legislation is still stuck in the

joining us now from capitol hill is mike viqueira. mike, the republicans went over to the white house yesterday, certainly wanted to sell this as a victory. do they feel they have momentum now in this process moving forward? >> you know, it folks were just tuning into this debate yesterday and they saw that celebration with president trump, republican leaders and republican rank and file there in the rose garden, they might have thought, well, this passed the congress, it's now going to become law. that's not the case. obamacare is still the law of the land and steveenings i, i'mo say the odds are it's going to remain so for the foreseeable future. it has a bumpy road. here comes the hard part. i'm standing on the house of representatives side of the capitol. the other side might as well be hundreds of miles. the approach the senate is going to take is tremendously different than what the house is going to. already been republican objections. we've been looking at the sound bites. you saw senator cassidy there a moment ago. a range ofb

nbc's mike viqueira is on capitol hill for us. what more can you tell us about that, mike? >> well, chris, first on the political question, the shifting rationales and timelines coming from the white house surrounding the firing of james comey, only serves to undercut the support very tenuous at this point on the republican side and the resistance against democratic calls almost in unison for a special prosecutor to investigate this. obviously a special prosecutor as pete has reported is required to be appointed by the attorney general or the deputy attorney general in this case. you're absolutely right, the senate intelligence committee continuing its investigation. they're meeting today just behind me, going to be walking in any moment now within the hour this hearing starts, a previously scheduled hearing on worldwide threats. the twist here, james comey had been scheduled to appear before this hearing and instead will be andrew mccabe, the deputy director of the fbi, now the acting director of the fbi, sitting alongside the director of national intelligence dan coats an

mike viqueira is on capitol hill. kelly o'donnell at the white house. for analysis charlie sikes conservative commentator and an msnbc contributor. mike, let me start with you, bring us up to speed. where are we in the action? >> you heard the reference to "braveheart" behind closed doors the republicans met the leaders presenting the plan. you're right i'm stand nearing the house floor. they're wrapping up debate. the whip the chief whip for house republicans steve scalise speaking on the floor. "brave heart" one thing, kevin mccarthy put up general george patton to try to fire up his troops today. it's one thing, craig, when republican leaders or any congressional leaders say to the public they're moving forward and confident they will have the votes an here we have speaker ryan walking by. exchanging pleasantries with some of our producers here. i'm actually joined right now by the chief whip, mr. scalise, fresh off the floor, we were just watching you there. thank you for live on msnbc. this is a republican goal, since 2009, when obamacare the afford

mike viqueira and kristen welker, thank you. you three not going anywhere. did yesterday's vote solve the confusion surrounding the future of health care in this country, clearly not. we can't figure it out here. we're going to speak with the ceo of a major health care company about how the industry is responding to this new legislation. but first, many members of the house reportedly voted on a health care bill, we mentioned this, without knowing exactly what was in it and seth meyers couldn't help but see a similarity. >> house republicans today voted on and passed an obamacare replacement bill without knowing how much it would cost. though i'm not surprised, they also voted on an obama replacement without knowing the costs. so tell us your big idea for getting the whole country booking on choice hotels.com. four words, badda book. badda boom... let it sink in. shouldn't we say we have the lowest price? nope, badda book. badda boom. have you ever stayed with choice hotels? like at a comfort inn? yep. free waffles, can't go wrong. i like it. promote that gu

we had kristen welker and mike viqueira at the outer edge. i think mike was still talking there. i apologize. we could not hear him. senator joe manchin was able to escape that gaggle. but nicole, that answer from marco rubio is what we're talking about. >> marco rubio has a fully functioning communications staff. he also is able to sort of understand the political, the national security, and the legal aspects of where the story is heading in a way the president isn't. two remarkable things that i flar heard from marco rubio. he said, he was asked if rosenstein, based on the memo, that comey would be fired. he said wasn't clear. i've heard it had boss i think that it may have been on the white house lawn and surrogates reading from the memo as political cover for hing done the very act of firing james comey. the other extraordinary thing i haerld marco rubio say is we are a nation of laws. not of men. when asked about donald trump's early morning post tv show rage that seems to boil around 7:40 to 7:50 when he tweeted morning it was a witch h

mike viqueira, thank you so much. michael beschloss is here. you've got rosenstein, the new deputy director, deputy a.g., where sessions is supposedly recused and that's another issue, saying he would consider what the democrats are pushing for, which is some sort of independent counsel. but trying to work out the rules of the road so they don't cross paths and potentially and this has happened in the past, congressional hearings have messed up prosecutions because they get witnesses to say something which then makes it impossible to pursue a case. >> right. as you know that happened in iran-contra. a lot of worry about that, but that's a reassuring sign. but going back to what you had said earlier we've heard something that is astounding. the president is a candid man and he was with lester holt and he says, i had a dinner with jim comey who wanted to stay on. i said, i'm not so sure about that. we'll see. and i asked him, am i under investigation. i mean, if you listen to what he himself says, it's hard to interpret that in any other way that

mike viqueira there on capitol hill. mike, thanks for that. we said we're going to take a closer look here at this vote. again, as mike just told you, democrats on the house floor said these republicans who voted for this today, political suicide for them. let's take you through it in terms of what democrats, they're the ones trying to put republicans on the defensive here. trying to take back the house. let's look at thepportunities that they think they are presented with because of today's vote. what do you see here? what you see here are 23 republican members of the house. from across the country, what do they all have in common? every one of these districts that they represent voted for hillary clinton over donald trump in the november election. so on paper, these are some of the prime democratic targets looking ining 2018. they think these are districts their party can win. what can they pin on those members? they think this vote is something they'd very much like to. how did the republicans vote today? 23 here from clinton districts, 14

mike viqueira and mark murray. mike, walk us through it. lot of last-minute discussion. >> as of last week, i think any long time people in congress, if they saw how this was heading, people even on monday when they lost two key members on the republican side. they thought look, this won't happen for they will. it is rare to see it come back as it did. when they gave up the pros expects or the efforts to put it on the floor of the house. it is rare to see something revived like this. i can't remember when it has actually happened. over the course of the last couple days, and yes, due to much of the pressure and effort on the part, not tonight gop leaders and he the whip team and steve and patrick mchenry, but also the white house. vice president pence coming up monday, tuesday and wednesday, twisting arms behind closed doors. i think you put your finger on it. is this a long term momentum builder toward ultimate passage of the are coveted goal since 2010? if not a full out repeal of obamacare? certainly an alteration of their liking. or is

mike viqueira on the him. thank you. >> right now i want to bring in rick tyler, an msnbc analyst for senator ted cruz' campaign. rick, to you quickly. it seems the me quickly the next stage for this. it goes to the senate. the power now in a way in the hands of mitch mcconnell to see how he handles this, and what dole if there is an effort to try wrangle those republicans. some are speaking with their concerns. how do you see this playing out? >> well, mitch mcconnell made it very clear when he opened the senate that he was essentially backing up the president. he repeated his talking points. so i think mitch mcconnell will resist a special prosecutor. i want to make the point democrats may overplay their hand, as they often do, republican dozen also, when the roles are reversed. when you have a tsunami coming. you can neither hasten it or stop it. what you need to do is get out of the way. if you have some people saying we're going to hold up legislation or the appointment of a new fbi director, that's in a

let's start with mike viqueira on capitol hill. deputy rudy giuliani rod rosenstein will appear before senators, a closed door hearing. but what are they expecting? >> reporter: well, i think a lot of what they were going to ask has been diffused when you think about the genesis of this briefing and behind me you will o occasionally senators coming through to go into the briefing. every senator, republican and democrat, remember, it was last tuesday if you can believe it when the firing of jim acomey ht washington like a thunder clap. chuck schumer the next day demanded that rod rosenstein who had been confirmed a couple weeks earlier come before the senate and explain in a closed session exactly how it went down. twhoo what happened to jim comey and what was the justification and what was rod rosenstein's role in all of this. comeso fruition today. the briefing will start in about 30 minutes in aecure roomn the visitor center of the senate just below the senate chamber. but rosenstein is going to be coming in and speaking to all s

i love mike viqueira at the end of that clip. so no more speaking lyrics. just don't do it ever.ching. i'll be back here at 5:00 p.m. eastern. for now, the king of the poetry slam, alier velshi who does a rousing version of oops, i did it again. >> mike viqueira will be with us in a few minutes. 20 minutes ago i said i'll see new month. >> and now you're back. >> have a fantastic afternoon. here are the top three stories we're working on. republicans are still celebrating their health care bill that narrowly passed the house on thursday west just heard from the white house. earlier today president trump called it a big win. when everything comes together it is going to be truly great health care. the report getso the president's desk. some are talking about the senate writing a whole new bill. i'll break it down for new moment. plus we saw it yesterday after the vote. democratic members of congress taunting their republican members of congress the way katy tur just described, singing and waving goodbye. the cook report is already changing predictions for

mike viqueira for us on capitol hill. what are they saying?raig, republican members in particular want more information. with each thunder bolt and controversy that comes down pennsylvania avenue you see more and more reluctance for republicans to sort of defend what president was doing. marco rubio the republican senator from florida just walked by and says he's going to have a call with the white house later today to get more information. in about 20 minutes time at the top of the hour we will hear from senate leadership here. right now they're behind closed doors and at this podium telling us the latest information they have. also the cia director, mike pompeo, on his way to the house side. he's going to be speaking with the house intelligence committee, the senate intelligence committee, also meeting behind closed doors today. so a lot of moving parts, craig. meanwhile, republicans moving with caution. mitch mcconnell today said they could use a lot less drama coming from the white house. it's getting in the way of their agenda. we had an

chris jansing from 1600, mike viqueira, good to see you, my friend. >> thanks, craig. >>> during that speech, which again was supposed to be about the air force and football, president trump brought up the wall as well. he even seemed to politically threaten any member of congress republican or democrat who opposed it. >> and make no mistake, we are beginning to build the wall and we will keep out the gang members, criminals, drug and human traffickers, that threaten our citizens and that threaten our security. any member of congress who opposing our plans on border security, and i know these folks didn't, is only empowering these deadly and dangerous threats and we will not put up with it and the public won't put up with it. >> rodney davis is a republican congressman from illinois and a member of the transportation and infrastructure committee. congressman, i want to get your opinion of the speech in just a moment but first of all, do you think it was appropriate to go after members of congress using members of the armed forces as a backdrop there? >> well, let's give the president

. >>> mike viqueira is on capitol hill. what are members telling you? >> reporter: it's interesting. we're down here in the catacombs of the u.s. capitol. behind me members are streaming out of a closed door meeting. it was about the budget. what are we asking about? we're asking about the incident in montana. lot of these republican members don't want to talk about it. those that did talk about it don't condone the violence, but express some measure of sympathy for mr. gianforte because of what they term the liberal media. >> you know, we didn't have a course in body slamming when i went into school. i'm sorry iissed that course. >> the left has precipitated this tense confrontational approach throughout the country in recent months. i reject any kind of thing where we use physical violence in a situation like that. it should not have happened. the law will deal with it. >> i believe we should all treat the press with respect and i try to lead by example. i of course hope that the republican is successful today because i think his views are the views o

mike viqueira is standing by.he president is back and already back on twitter, so break down for us what is newsmaking and what is news faking. >> reporter: well you're absolutely right, thomas. the president and first lady melania trump arrived last night at 9:00 p.m. while the previous nine days the president went from saudi arabia to the g7 and back to andrews was sort of a twitter desert, the president is right back at it, bright and early this morning, tweeting about some of his favorite subjects, the fake news media, as he puts it, and some of the investigations and the reporting about alleged russian collusion by people very close to him according, including of course his son-in-law, jared kushner, most notably. he's also talking about as many people are this morning, the leaks that are coming out of the white house. and thomas, regardless of where you come down and whether you're willing to believe many of the reports about russian collusion, and the white house, and people close to the president, any numb

anne thompson in new york, mike viqueira on capitol hill and kelly o'donnell and vivian salama with the associated press. breaking news coming out of new york, anne thompson following the news that roger ailes died at age 77. walk us through what we know and any reaction so far. >> the news ce from roger ailes' wife' l elizabeth. saying in part "roger was a patriot, grateful to live in a country that gave him so much opportunity to work hard, to rise and to give back. during a career that stechd more than five decades his work in entertainment, in politics and in news affected the lives of many millions so even as we mourn his death, we celebrate his life." he leaves behind a complicated legacy. while he built fox news into a powerhouse, giving kwon conse e conservative politics a voice on cable tv in recent months he was best known for allegations of sexual harassment, allegations that he forcefully denied but nevertheless forced him to resign last summer. those allegations came most notably from gretchen carlsson, former anchor on fox news who ultimately settled with ailes and the com

>> joining me now from capitol hill where that hearing took place today, mike viqueira. mike, you can see obviously an impassioned defense from the fbi director. how did that go over with the committee? what else came up today? >> yeah, it was extraordinary, really, to see jim comey. you don't see him that animated usually. . clearly he expected to be grilled. particularly by democratic members and on that score, certainly we weren't disappointed. he wasn't disappointed, steve. he says he has no regrets, said it many times over. did admit to the mile case of nauseous, however, knowing the fact the investigation had been picked up again on october 28th may, in fact, impact the election. he said he couldn't let that enter into his mind as he made the decision. democratic members grilled him time and time again. they weren't buying this binary choice. you heard jim comey put forward. this conceal or reveal choice. he said he chose the best of two bad options, but not to reveal it after he revealed to the congress earlier in the summer that the investigation had concluded. th

joining us on capitol hill is mike viqueira. e, is pompeo on the hill as part of the white house cleanup effort? >> well, mike pompeo is supposed to be here at a previously scheduled briefing of the house intelligence committee. the senate intelligence committee just broke up, as well. but you can bet that these members, members of the house of representatives, just back now from a ten-day break are going to be peppering pompeo with questions about just what happened, what he knows, and how badly this breach of classified information actually is. you know, nicole, it's not as if republicans on the hill are turning their back on president obama at this point. but i have to say, this is a little bit different from even as recently as last week, in the jim comey affair. they're not rushing to defend him, either. there's always this balancing act, they're trying to find the right formulation to express just the right amount of concern, probably the word that we've heard most from republicans now is they're troubled or concerned about

joining us now from capitol hill nbc's mike viqueira and kristen welker. administration doing to try to woo any republican hold jouts on this bill and do they think there will be a vote tomorrow. >> reporter: they're hoping for that and the head line this morning is that the president is ramping up his engagement in this fight. i am told according to one of my sources that he was working the phones overnight. i asked how many lawmakers did he specifically speak to and the response was they don't want to put a specific number on t but a lot. and we know this morning he has invited two house republicans who are currently opposed to the latest version of this plan to the white house, representatives billy long and fred upton of missouri and michigan respectively. so what's the big sticking point? the big sticking point has to do with coverage of preexisting conditions. there is concern that this current version of the bill would allow prices to be hiked up for those living with preexisting conditions, that they could be priced out of getting insurance. that i

mike viqueira. jennifer. that wraps this hour for me."velsih and ruhle," stephanie and i bring you a unique take of the news cycle, lively debate and analysis. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. >>> hi, everyone, it's 4:00. president trump ses te's team i engaged in a -- with news that the president's son-in-law jared kushner is under fbi scrutiny bringing the russia investigation deep into the president's west wing and his family. donald tru will return to a gathering storm of legal and political problems when he returns home lattomorrow night. the president is currently dining with g-7 leaders in ly

mike viqueira? >> reporter: i think it can be summed up in one statement what we heard over the last three hours. i spent the bulk of the time in the hearing. when she said you don't want your national security adviser compromised by the russians. i think that pretty. put a fine point on it. from democrats but increasingly, a the hearing went on from republicans as well. we heard the sally yates recounted the tick tock around the end of january when she received this information. she went with him. was one of the national security experts from the department of justice to have that conversation in mcgann's office. a secure room withot the white house where she laid it all out. a subsequent meeting and then a phone call as jeremy pointed out. more than just a heads up as the white house previously characterized this. there were republican who's wanted to talk about the situation with leaks. they wanted to talk about the unmasking. we even had senator cruz go down the hillary clinton e-mail for a whil

and i want to take you first to nbc's mike viqueira on capitol hill. what are we going to expect to hear from sally yates today? >> well, good morning, stephanie. it was ten days when sally yates was the acting attorney general during the trump administration but she will offer potentially dramatic testimony this afternoon here in the senate when she comes before the senate judiciary subcommittee on sbenlsbenls intelligence. what did the white house know, what did she tell them and how did they react? it was five days into the trump administration when sally yates went to the white house counsel and warned them of intercepts of a conversation that occurred during the transition between michael flynn, who, of course, became the trump administration's first national security adviser, and the russian ambassador here in washington, sergey kislyak. what was the nature of those discussions? yates is said to have warned mccann that these were substantive discussions that had to do with the sanctions the obama administration, late in the administration, impose

let's check back with mike viqueira. >> reporter: you see nancy pelosi wrapping things up behind where'm standing. it is expected to pass. the only thing is would it have a veto proof? yesterday president trump surprised the world and washington yet again, not to mention government leadership saying perhaps we do need a shutdown come tomorrow. he could have one tomorrow if he wanted to veto this bill. that's not likely. the only thing is who will be taking credit for it? democrats say they had their way with the white house in terms of the funding for nih, reducing what president trump wants for the border wall. $1.5 billion for that. republicans say $15 billion to plus up defense, a big priority for them. they're calling that a win. the people that are really going to be against this when it does come to a vote will be conservatives. lindsey graham called this, said that republicans got their clocked cleaned in this negotiation. very little us is pence here. we're still waiting on the debate. when they do have this vote on the floor, a lot of arm twisting. it will be interesting to wa

mike viqueira for us on capitol hill. several local newspapers immediately pulled their endorsements and one started their editorial like this. we are at a loss for words as people who wrangle words on a minute-by-minute basis, that doesn't happen often. i want to show you another paper. jamie, thank you very much for being with us. tell me what went on for your numb to make the decision to walk this endorsement back. >> reporter: i'm not a member of the editorial board so i'm not a decision make order what the words were, but they don't condone violence from any candidate, regardless who the violence was against, and they made that decision separately all last night after the sheriff's office announced they had cited him for misdemeanor assault. >> what do you know about gianforte and his behavior in the past? >> reporter: well, his first run for public office was last year. and he has a history of sometimes getting testy with reporters or becoming flustered. which a lot of us just thought was him learning political grac

mike viqueira is standing by on capitol hill. allege usef always useful to remind that the budget proposal is put out in the spring when the government has been in place for longer. and it takes effect in october. and between now and then, much will change. >> right. and stop me if you've heard this one before, but the president trump's budget arriving on the hill today is dead on riflarriv. it's based on fuzzy math and smoke and mirrors. we've heard that from opposition democrats and republicans as well. there is something in short for everyone to hate in this budget, whether talking about medicare cuts, cuts to food stamp programs, to kids' health insurance, to farm subsidies to federal employee pensions. something in there that everyone will object to except perhaps his hardcore supporters and the freedom caucus here in the house of representatives. after all, it claims to balance the budget in ten years. there are massive tax cuts primarily for wealthy americans. the defense budget is up. there is border security money about

mike viqueira is on capitol hill. michael, tell us about these new details coming in? you're right. and that approach by president trump that nbc has confirmed to mike rogers, the director of the national security agency, admiral mike rogers, and dan coats, the director of national intelligence, to publicly push back on these aelllegations or e public information made public by james comey march 20th testimony to congress there was an active investigation into russian interference in the election. we will hear from the director of national intelligence can dotes coming before the senate armed services committee. this was a prescheduled hearing on worldwide threats and mike rogers, both men were concerned enough according to the reports, to compare notes on their encounter with president trump. however,ot were not concerned enough toeport it to higher authorities. and both say that neither man believed that they were asked to do anything illegal. so far, stephanie, the white house has refused comment. >> i want to bring in my panel to help me unpack all of this. two msn

i want to take you first to nbc's mike viqueira on capitol hill. do you think they got the votes? >> they say they do, stephanie, but it's really going to be touch and go. you'll see mibehind me members congress being chased by a hoard of press in the capitol as the republicans file into as closed-door meeting, their second one this week, trying to get the final details to hear it directly from their leaders who behind closed doors decided last night that they were going to go for it. that they are going to put this bill on the floor after weeks of arm twisting and lowying. the congressional budget office has not told anyone much less the public or members of congress how many people stand to lose or gain their insurance, what it's going to cost in terms of dallas and cents. the larger impacts of this bill, you're right, the last $8 billion was added on, seemed t get a lot more moderates on board for this bill who are holding out. they were concerned about those with preexisting conditions. their access to insurance and more importantly, how much they have to pay for premiums. app

let's start with kelly o'donnell at the white house, mike viqueira on capitol hill for us.us more about the meeting next hour. >> reporter: with the sequence of events that we've seen, it's hard to believe that this began just last tuesday with the sudden firing by president trump of jim comey, the fbi director. and rod rosenstein, the newly installed deputy attorney general what his role in it exactly was. remember, many democrats vilified rosenstein in the immediate wake of that firing. this a man that had been confirmed by the senate just weeks earlier by a stroke ofvot #-are 6. the day after the comey firing, chuck schumer took to the senate floor in a somber session demanding that rosenstein come bere t united states senate in a classified session and give his account of the tick tock, hugh it all we how it all went with down. many of those questions have been answered since then and sort lost in all the events that happened since then involving the trump campaign and their ties to russia, purported ties to russia. but rosenstein will be here in this about 45 minutes t

well let's go live to capitol hill and msnbc's mike viqueira. first to these senators meeting on health care today. what are they hoping to accomplish? they have a mountain in front of them. >> they sure do. a question about when and if they can come up with a solution. stephanie, the senate is fond of forming what they call gangs around some of the big issues. we saw the gang of eight around immigration, for example. the one difference, the gangs are bipartisan. this is all republicans and what's more all men as you can see here. republican leadership has been in no small -- under no small amount of criticism for doing that. i'm told this group has actually been meeting informally for some time even before the house vote. it notably misses two prominent senators here, moderate senators on the issue of health care, susan collins of maine and bill cassidy of louisiana who have been working on their own for a separate bill, been left out of this. it is aide range when you consider the demographics of it. rob portman against what the house bill is

katy is joining us, and mike viqueira is with us from capitol hill. the reaction from lawmaker, perhaps, as striking as anything so far. what have you been hearing on both sides of the aisle so far, among other things saying his mind was made up? >> well, i think republicans are on their heels over the last 48 hours. with these revelations pouring forth, the shifting time lines and rationale. i think you're seeing republicans trying to figure out how far this is going to go and whether the story has legs. as far as president trump'ser comments, impugning the character, calling james comey a grandstander, the person replacing him here testifying today, lauding james comey saying the rank and file had nothing but respect for him. the rank and file at the fbi. andrew mccabe, the person who is the acting director now saying he himself was privileged to work under james comey. then we confront the two top members of congress, the senators, republican richard burr, mark warner. they emerged with rod rosenstein to talk about the ongoing investigation. then w

. >> let's get to our nbc reporters mike viqueira on capitol hill, garret hake in bozeman, montana, where that incident occurred and peter alexander on capitol hill with breaking news of sorts on the fbi search and steve kornacki is here to break down that special election and the implications nationally. vick, let me start with you. republicans on the hill, they seem to be rejecting the violence, not so much the candidate, though. >> well, that's right, craig. i think the thing that shocks people on the hill, whether members, staff or the journalistic community that reporter was asking mr. gianforte the candidate for the house of representatives about his opinion on of all things a congressal budget office report. wasn't asking about malfeasance or misbehavior in any way, shape, or form. i have spent the morning speaking with republicans started the day speaking to each other behind closed doors and meeting of all things the budget, outside reporters only wanted to talk about this interaction or this incident that happened in bozeman, montana, last night. to a man and woman all of them c

nbc's mike viqueira is live on the hill. michael, what are people saying about this? a novice president, somebody new to politics and government, but those men and women on the hill are not new to this game? >> and if you're a republican you have to be concerned. this has been ongoing for the last several weeks, really peaking over the course of the last 12 to 24 hours, no question about it, just listen to mitch mcconnell, he's the republican leader and gave an interview a few minutes ago and he said, we could all do with a little less drama from the white house around here. he says, it's simply getting in the way of the legislative agenda. that's obviously an understatement as is typical of mcconnell. they've been knocked off balance, no question about it, they're trying to regain their footing. we've heard from bob corkers the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee say a downward spiral is happening as a result of the lack of discipline from the white house. susan collins a rrepublican fro maine on the senate intelligence committee, while the president h

mike viqueira is live on capitol hill. michael, what's the reaction to those sharp comments by the president about james comey? i mean, the showboat comment. >> yeah. >> that's a lot to take coming from donald trump. >> well, look, i mean it's no secret we're in new territory here, stephanie n terms of traditional notions of message discipline. that's been true for the last two years and certainly been true for the last three and a half or four months. and, you know, republicans rise and fall on the political fortunes of their president. they're nervous. they don't know how to react. what you see now is this pattern developing when the president says something or tweets something as he did this morning, republicans will sort of express concern but just enough concern to leave them enough room they don't want to burn ne bridges back to their base and the president's political base and supporters still stand up and applaud. witness the fact that mitch mcconnell now has given in to chuck schumer's insistence all senators be g

nbc's mike viqueira is live on the hill. what is going on here? yes, unprecedented, highly unlikely for a president to do something like this. we know that we elected someone highly unusual. could congress force him to put forward tapes if he actually has them? >> if there were enough senators in congressmen, a majority, to subpoena them or request them or demand them, certainly. that's always the question, of course, with republicans in charge here in both the house and senate. strange times indeed. no question about it, stephanie. shoot the messenger has been a theme since the time of the ancient greeks and sean spicer taking the fall or anybody else taking the fall in the press shop is not going to fix his problem here on the hill and that is for certain. three times president trump told jim comey by the president's own accounting comey told him he was not the subject of investigation. he's not an investigation. it's important to get the tapes to get insight into exactly what president trump's motivations were in firing jim comey. over the week

i was struck by spicer's comment as well but we got mike viqueira on the hill with reaction to these breaking stories. hi, mike. >> nicolle, we have reaction from speaker ryan's spokesperson ashley strong first on "the new york times" story. don't get too excited because there's not much here. ashley strong says, "house oversight committee has requested documents from the fbi related to mr. comey's dismissal." a reference, of course, to the investigation being run by jason chaffetz, the republican from utah, and elijah cummings on the democratic side in the house oversight committee. where those investigations are going incidentally, nicolle, as you know, since the appointment of bob mueller still very much up in the air. on the "washington post" story, on the person of interest that you and ari were just talking about, here's what ashley strong has to say. "the speaker cannot and will not discuss what is said in classified briefings. as it relates to ongoing investigations, the speaker has said many times that we must allow the career professionals at the justice department to do the

mike viqueira. jennifer. that wraps this hour for me. tune into "velsih and ruhle," stephanie and i bring you a unique take of the news cycle, lively debate and analysis. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. >>> hi, everyone, it's 4:00. president trump ses te's team i engaged in a -- with news that the president's son-in-law jared kushner is under fbi scrutiny bringing the russia investigation deep into the president's west wing and his family. donald trump will return to a gathering storm of legal and political problems when he returns home late tomorrow night. the president is currently dining with g-7 leaders in sicily, and we want to go straight to the reporters covering and breaking all of the news these kaydays. joining me from the white house, nbc's peter alexander. from italy, nbc's kelly o'donnell traveling with the president. from "the new york times" d.c. newsroom, white house correspondent and msnbc political analyst, glenn thrush. we may still be wrangling him. and white house -- and the "wall street

nbc's mike viqueira is live on capitol hill. seems there's only one name out there right now and it rimes with smeberman. >> right. you may have thought it would be a slam dunk in the estimation of republican senators we spoke with. john cornyn said he may be the only person in america who could get a 100-0 vote in the u.s. senate. not quite so fast. claire mccaskill minutes after cornyn told us that spoke for a lot of democratic senators who said, they want someone without a political background and seen as neutral with a law enforcement background. while it's likely that if this nomination of joe lieberman were to come to pass, perhaps in the next couple hours, he would be confirmed by the senate. remember they only need 50 votes or 51 votes and they have 52 senators. it's unlikely that he would get perhaps half of the democrats in the senate to go along. why? simple her rasy. 2008 he backed john mccain over bieb barack obama and criticized barack obama, the democratic nominee back then and there is a tradition in the senate,

. >> mike viqueira is back with us from the hill.ct is going on behind closed doors? >> we're standing by this briefing behind closed doors. every member of the house being briefed by rod rosenstein. you heard senatorcome out yesterday and i think you hit the two main points, and especially the difference between the democratic perspective and the republican perspective. you heard him talk about what did he know and when did he know it? democrats in something of an uproar or upset when they learned that rosenstein knew the bay before he wrote the memo that was held up briefly as evidence or at least the rationale for the firing of comey that he knew the day before he wrote that memo that comey would actually be fired. republicans for their part, lindsey graham heads a subcommittee that heads an investigation into some of this. he asked for comey-related documents and even comey testimony. but he wants congressional committees to back off why. this has gone from a counterterror investigation to a criminal investigation and that compli

. >> mike viqueira is not trying out for the golf network. senate leadership is talking behind him. mike, thank you very much. >>> let's go to our panel. malcolm nance, author of "the plot to hack america." a senior advisor at the state department, ron klain, and michael schmidt. michael, your paper was the one that first reported that this intelligence came from israel. elaborate on that. >> well, obviously the zerldz a israelis are very important to us in that region because they can do things that the united states can't. they have proximity that the united states doesn't. but the interesting thing here is actually if you look back at the campaign, the issue of the disclosure of classified information that mr. trump and his national security -- early national security advisor mr. flynn made about hillary clinton, there was never any evidence that anything that hillary clinton had, her mishandling of classified information, was ever disclosed publicly. and now this administration's forced to explain how it disclosed this information. so it is a bit embarrassing. >> michael, you're

mike viqueira is getting reaction from lawmakers there. >> greta, one of the first republicans in the house of representatives out there alone for a couple of days, adam kin singer, one of the first to call for a special commissioner, aan outside body to look at this russian affair, to investigate russian meddling, to look into the firing of james comey, he just came down the capitol steps, one of the stragglers after a vote in the capitol. here's his reaction after the news of the appointment of a special counsel. >> it was yesterday after you see the reaction from some of the left that yell impeachment, some on the right that yell fake news, it became obvious to me that we have to detox this. we have to take the politics as best we can out of it. we've got to give the american people confidence we're going to get to an answer, and they frankly don't have confidence it could be done in the current situation. robert mueller is, i think, a fantastic person. i don't know him personally, and this is the right move. >> it's important to note that kinzinger does not represent a majority vi

mike viqueira is up on the hill. it must be amazing to watch everybody jump into line. oh, we're all for a special counsel now. >> reporter: you're right, chris. you can almost hear an audible sigh of relief, coming especially from the republican leadership suites just behind me. i mean this thing is just dominating the news cycle up here. dozens of cameras following members of congress, particularly republican members of congress, every step of the way in the halls of congress as well. so what we see are relatively tepid statements, formal statements from the leadership. mitch mcconnell, paul ryan saying their investigations within the senate committee, the house committee, they're going to go forward, but they more or less welcome this development. but, look, this is something that will help take this off the table of congress, will perhaps give them some breathing room, an infusion of oxygen into these halls. richard burr, who is running the senate intelligence committee, whereas a couple of days ago he said, look, i don't want a special counsel. i've got my own comm

. >> mike vic vi -- viqueira. let's bring in the panel.dor, kevin barrett, founding executive editor dense 1, gail le mond author of "ashley's war" and msnbc contribute nick confessore. nick, let me start with you. my apologies to all of you if i have to cut you off and go to spicer there. the future of health care. it would seem it's squarely on the relationship between president trump and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. what do we know about where these two men are on what needs to be done and what can get passed through congress? >> i think it's safe to say president trump just wants a bill he can sign. i think the white house is relatively indifferent on the broader strokes of policy. not totally indifferent but relatively compared to the senate and the house because the senate and house have to actually pass the bill and get the members on board and deal with the direct fallout in 2018. i think mcconnell is also driven in the same way that paul ryan was to get this done and find a way to drive it through his conference but i t