and nbc paul 63% said they fall behind, 63%, and nbc paul, you can't walk away, and and his handlers often have to walk it back. he said the pandemic is over. within hours, karine jean-pierre said there is a lot of work to do. she would not repeat the pandemic is over and when the president said us troops wouldn't defend taiwan, he was in its before the staff contradicted him. so who is really in charge, what really is the policy? so long as president of confusion continues and staff keeps changing statements, we cannot be sure who is really calling the shots. third hour of varney just getting started. ♪ stuart: gentlemen on the right-hand side of the screen from texas, will cane joins us now. who really is in charge? >> i think the answer is the united states is on autopilot. i think there is an administrative state the remains regardless of election cycle, remains somewhat regardless of political party, that really ends up making not conspiratorial man behind the curtain calls but the inertia of existence justification for who knows what number of acronyms and bureaucracies, dhs an

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white house where president biden will meet with the wife of brittney griner and the sister of paul whelan. nbced the u.s. has offered to exchange them for viktor bout. but officials say they want numerical parity but have not come up with a serious counter offer. carol lee joins us this morning with more. what is the goal of these meetings? >> reporter: jose, the president is trying to demonstrate here that he is engaged on this issue, that he's focused on it. that this is a priority for him to bring home these americans and he's going to convey that to them directly. he's been under a lot of pressure to get these americans free from not just the families of paul whelan and priority but but all the americans that they say are from around the world. and now sitting down with sister of paul manafort whelan and the wife of brittney griner. and we're told he's going to have that conversation and try to convey this is something he's focused on. the white house said he's regularly briefed on this but it's something that has really risen to the top of the president's priority list with all of this pu

with us now to talk about this is nbc news investigative correspondent tom winter, and paul butler aral prosecutor who is now a professor at georgetown university law center. he is also an msnbc legal analyst. so tom, what did the judge propose when it comes to reviewing the documents, and what are both sides saying about it? >> well, a couple of different things. we don't have his specific proposal. but we know from what the justice department filed last night as well as trump's own attorneys that we have a pretty good sense of what's being talked about here. one is the schedule to not only review the documents but litigate them for any potential privileged material between now and november 30th, which is really this deadline, jose, for this review to be completed, this especially master to be done with what they need to do in order to get these documents presumably back over to the justice department and federal investigators so they can move forward with the investigation into what we now know they found at mar-a-lago and documents that they received prior to that. so that's the f

joining me now is nbc news justice reporter ryan riley and former frol prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst pauls team has responded to d.o.j., taking this request to take classified documents out of the special master review. >> can you tell us. >> the broader question on the back burner and let the appeals court handle that. they want to focus on the 100 or so classified documents that amount to hundreds of pages, because they say those are the urgent matter that they need to move forward on those. and there is no question of whether or not these are donald trump's personal records. they are all records which have classification markings on them. so they really want to focus on that, and move that forward, and are basically telling the judge, hey, you know, if we can just set that aside, as we argue out these broader issues to the appeals court, that would really save us all a lot of hassle here. >> what's trump's team saying? >> trump's team wants to say, saying there is still some deliberation about whether or not those classify the records are in fact classified. they say that is the questi

. >>> joining me now from capitol hill, is nbc news correspondent ali vitali and georgetown school of law professor and msnbc legal analyst paul butler and eugene daniels. let's talk about the comments. why is the panel choosing to distance itself from what he is saying? >> that's exactly what they're doing, joe. you're right. they're throwing cold water on, this trying to say it is just one of thousands of revelations that they have had during the course of their investigative work according to congressman jamie raskin on "meet the press" yesterday and trying to do, to say that this is something they knew about despite the fact that he is calling it a ah-ha moment rolling out the new book, and they are looking at the short duration of time that they worked on it, that this is not something for them, who understand the full context and the scope of the revelations that they found, this is not that kinds of a moment for this committee, which i think if you look at the totality of the hearings over the past summer and the past few weeks, we have seen that this is a committee that doesn't often bury the lead, and so clearly, what

two americans released two senior officials tell nbc news, russia is demanding a two for two deal, brittney griner in exchange for viktor bout and paulxchange for an unnamed russian spy. that spy is in u.s. custody right now. >>> and now another live look at westminster hall where queen elizabeth lies in state. thousands of people waiting in line right now valerie castro saying the miles long line has now stretched to four 1/2 miles the queen's death bringing a focus on the next generation of the monarchy there are many more royals carrying on the queen's legacy from london, here's nbc foreign correspondent molly hunter. >> reporter: to the world, queen elizabeth was britain's longest reigning monarch, but her children, grand children, even great grand children too all united in grief for their queen. kate princess of wales told her her son louie said, don't worry, mommy. the queen is now with grandma. the line of succession on display. after prince william, his three kids are next in line for the throne, including his youngest who made a splash at this year's jubilee celebrations, undeniably stealing the show. following suit after p

nbc news that russia is demanding a twofer to deal. brittney griner in exchange for victor boot, and if in this arms dealer, and paul whelan in exchangey. sources say that spy is in u.s. custody. >>> now another live look at westminster hall where queen elizabeth license day. thousand people waiting in line right now. the miles long line is now stretched almost 5 miles. the death of the queen bringing a new focus on the next- generation of the monarchy. there are many more royals caring on the legacy. >> reporter: to the world, queen elizabeth was the longest reigning monarch in britain, but she was the ultimate matriarch within her family. they're all united in grief for their queen. over the weekend, the process of oil saying her four-year-old son told her, don't worry, the queen is now with great grandpa. the new royal line of succession on full display as the next-generation steps into the spotlight. after prince william, his three children are next in line to the throne, including his youngest four-year-old, prince louis. following suit, following prince harry and his children, is princess beatrice and princess eugenie. they were

star brittney griner and former marine paul whelan at the white house as the administration continues to push for their release from wrongful detention in russia. nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander live at the white house. a meeting today, symbolic, the president sitting down with these families. what about the progress to get the two of them out of russia? >> reporter: the aides say this more than anything is an effort to ensure the families that the administration is committed to securing the release of their loved ones and they remain front of mind. this is the first time the president will meet in person with the families. it will be a pair of separate meetings, one with brittney griner's wife, chenelle. whelan was sentenced to 16 years on spying charges he denies. the meetings underscore the pressure the president is facing to bring these people home. talks have not moved as quickly as the u.s. would like. russia has balked at the prisoner exchange the united states offered this summer to trade griner and whelan for convicted russians arms dealer, viktor bout. the russians have wanted a two-for-two person exchange, but u.

want to bring in nbc's ryan reilly, nicklaus wu a congressional reporter with politico, matt miller, former special adviser to the national security council and former doj spokesman. and paul butler, former federal prosecutor and msnbc analyst. the judge says there's no evidence of trump's disregard. what is the impact on the doj's investigative efforts and what happens next? >> i think this is going to definitely delay things a bit, especially when they get into the question of executive privilege. that's a really, really unprecedented ruling we have there. it's going to be very difficult to find someone who is going to be able to perform that role when there's no roadmap. basically these questions should be handled before a d.c. court. it's not something that a court necessarily in florida should be handling under the presidential records act. this is all supposed to come back, any questions about the handling of the materials with the national archives is supposed to come back to d.c. it's a really, really complicated matter. the judge's ruling, and i'll read a quote from it here, seems to be very concerned with donald trump's tests but not necessary the interests of th

paul whelan in russian prison since december 2018 the u.s. had proposed a one for two prisoner swap back in the summer, offering to free viktor bout in exchange for the pair. nbcs reporting that the kremlin wants two russians released to free both of them. russia has not responded to the offer formally but john kirby said negotiations continue >> we made a serious offer we want them to accept it. but we understand that there's -- that's probably going to have to be the result of a negotiating process, one that we're willing to participate in honestly and fully >> reporter: secretary of state antony blinken is expected to meet his russian counterpart next week, and blinken would welcome a discussion of the detainees if it came up. but a senior administration official tells me this evening the general assembly serves other purposes, and negotiations like this don't traditionally happen on such a crowded stage tyler? >> kayla, thank you. >>> tropical storm fiona moving towards puerto rico, five years after hurricane maria devastated the island what the people there should prepare for. >>> plus, a missing woman in wyoming. her fiance, a person of interest what he'

paul butler and mark leibovitz. to the ongoing controversy over republican governors busing and flying migrants from the u.s. mexico border to blue states up north. it comes as the new nbcll shows how voters feel about each party's approach to these issues. 56% of those surveyed say that republicans are better handling border security compared to 20% over democrats approach. when it comes to immigration, republicans have 46% of -- democrats have 29%. joining me now is don calloway, democratic strategist and ceo of pine street strategies, susan del percio, republican strategist, an msnbc political analyst and former congressman from florida david jolly who is also an msnbc political analyst. democrats say what governor desantis is doing is a political stunt. how do you interpret what is happening? how might this so-called political stunt affect the voters? >> it's extraordinary that political stunt. it underscores what we do all the time about the administration and its accolades, which is that the cruelty is the point. i think and hope and believe that it would cost republicans very badly in the upcoming midterm. what we saw with to scientists and the migrants is nothin

paul whelen back home. the russians have not responded to that offer. that doesn't mean we're not still in negotiations and we're not still trying. >> reporter: two u.s. officials tell nbcthe kremlin wants an additional russian prisoner turned over in exchange for the two americans. seeking an even trade. the diplomatic discussions continue as former governor bill richardson, who has been involved in past detainee negotiations, traveled to moscow last weekend, but did not coordinate his trip with the u.s. embassy according to the state department. >> our concern is that anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to hinder the efforts that we have undertaken to see the release of paul whelan and brittney griner. >> reporter: overnight, griner's wife released a statement thanking the president for meeting with her and for the administration's efforts to secure brittney's release, saying she's felt every minute of the grueling seven months without her. she looks forward to the day her wife is back home safely. >> monica, the families are trying to keep the focus on bringing loved ones home. >>> meanwhile, there is also news on another