in july 2018, she saw scott pruitt, then head of the environmental protection agency in a restaurantn though she was with her husband and kid, she knew she had to say something. >> we need somebody who does protect the environment and believes in climate change and takes it seriously. >> that's my son, brooks. >> i think i saw her in a viral video. >> i saw her as a parent who knows how to multitask with the complicated list of things. raise the kid, save the world. >> the video of you walking over to scott pruitt to as we say, read him for filth. and it was such -- i think it was a mom moment. such a parent moment. >> on many levels. >> that's what made it great. as a real person, it was not a rehearsed speech. what you did shows how the regular people of this area get pulled into this. >> my husband took the video for me and after he walked away, i was like that was a boring video. nobody is going to watch that. >> why do you think it was boring? >> i just came up and said what i wanted to say and i was polite and he was like -- and i sat back down. you gotta post it. >> new tonigh

the crazy things we learned about scott pruitt and the mattress and the $50 room we've all forgotten about. the press pressure, the public pressure, and ultimately congressional oversight can hold some of these folks accountable. but it really is like a game of whack-a-mole these days. so many things pop up and given the swirl of news about trump, it's hard to keep track of all this. >> agreed on every point. chris lu, former cabinet secretary in the obama administration. i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> much more to get to tonight. stay with us. i had no idea why my mouth was constantly dry. it gave me bad breath. it was so embarrassing. now i take new biotene dry mouth lozenges whenever i'm on the go, which is all the time. new biotene dry mouth lozenges. freshen breath anytime, anywhere. new biotene dry mouth lozenges. what do all these people have in common, limu?oug [ paper rustling ] exactly, nothing. they're completely different people, that's why they need customized car insurance from liberty mutual. they'll only pay for what they need! [ gargling ] [ coins hitting the desk

so you have scott pruitt, for example, right? he lost his job for serial ethical abuses.ts. there was a section flagged as coziness with big energy companies and tom price, he used the chartered flights, there was a section entitled criticisms of management ability and quote, dysfunction and division has haunted his leadership of the house budget committee. then you have others which -- people who didn't get jobs but it's quite ill levi's stadiumine vetting team considered as red flags. you have general david petraeus -- >> yeah, amazing. >> he was under consideration for secretary of state, national security adviser. petraeus is opposed to torture. >> wow. >> kris kobach, former secretary of state in kansas, he was in the running for homeland security secretary and again, recently they listed in his vetting form as a vulnerability quote, white supremacy. >> unbelievable. >> it cited accusations from past political opponents that he had ties to white supremacist groups. and then you had, you know, laura ingraham, fox host, she was in serious contention for white house pre

mean, this -- the first year, 2017, you know, scott pruitt was confirmed in february, march, 2017. the second e.p.a. career -- not career -- the second e.p.a. person confirmed was not confirmed until november. that has never happened before the agency. we usually have four, five people confirmed in the first couple months of a new administration. so our administration with the first year at e.p.a. with only one senate confirmed person, that's a huge problem. the head of our emergency response office has been awaiting confirmation now for over 500 days. you know, this is the person in charge of the office that responds when there's a tornado or a flood or a hurricane. it's a shame. it's almost a crisis we don't have that person confirmed yet. when there is an emergency anywhere in the country and that person is not on the job to go out there and respond, and that is -- he's been held up by the senate democrats since last year, and that's a real problem. alison: well, we are almost out of time. before i ask my last question, i'd like to bring your attention some upcoming events. on j

the documents mention cabinet members like like scott pruitt who was cozy with big energy companies,r fired and tom price, criticism of management ability. he later resigned as hss secretary. rudy giuliani and david patraeus were under consideration for secretary of state. patraeus, his documents had these three words, "opposed to torture." >> president trump has done more to improve the lives of the american people than past presidents have done in eight. d.c. swamp creature's cowardly leaks can that i think that. jonathan swan of axios. one of the reporters that broke the story. good to see you. you say some of the contenders were quote, referred to strikingly swampy. who were these people and what is it about that that made them swampy. >> let me go down to the swampy section for you, ali. seema verma is one of them. trump appointed to the administrator for medicare and medicaid, the top of her vetting dossier, she was simultaneously advising indiana $3.5 million contract on issues impacting how it would spend medicaid funds while she was being paid by clients that receive medicai

scott pruitt had a section in his vetting form titled allegations of coziness with energy companies as if then what happened was a surprise. mick mulvaney, several red flags, including his assessment that trump quote is h not a ver good person. petraeus who is being considered of course for secretary of state and national securityor adviser was flagged because he was quote opposed to torture. soos that's a red flag. also, chris kobach, who was in the running for the homeland security listed white supremacy as a vulnerability. what does the white house say about this and their pledge of best people? >> well, chris, this is just another reminder that so many of the people who werere recruitedo join this administration and are serving in the top levels of the government have red flags in theird past, those vetting documents are actually reviews oftu publicly available recordsy andy large. it's a lot of news reports and things that were out there in the public domain and there could be even additional red flags if you startbe looking at people'sng tax returns or, you know, some of the priv

the crazy things we learned about scott pruitt and the mattress and the $50 room we've all forgotten about. the press pressure, the public pressure, and ultimately congressional oversight can hold some of these folks accountable. it's like a game of whack a mole. so many things pop up and given the swirl of news about trump, it's hard to keep track of all this. >> agreed on every point. sir, thank you for being here. i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> much more to get to tonight. stay with us. onight stay with us liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. nice! but uh, what's up with your partner? oh! we just spend all day telling everyone how we customize car insurance because no two people are alike, so... limu gets a little confused when he sees another bird that looks exactly like him. ya... he'll figure it out. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ nueven if you try to eat well,. you might fall short in key nutrients. get more by adding one a day. it's the #1 multivitamin uniquely designed for men and women. one

and then he paid the price for that later on with people like scott pruitt, people like mike flynn.n. so in the end, this is a monumental staff failure that failed the president and as a result failed the country. >> gloria borger. it's stunning reporting by axios on hbo and we just wanted to run that clip. and just to highlight, jonathan highlighted kris kobach, for example, in the running for homeland security secretary, had the words white supremacy listed by his name as a vulnerability, not a disqualifier. >> not a disqualifier. >> your reaction. >> first of all, kudos to axios for getting these files. when you vet people, brooke, and i'm sure you know this, you have the fbi file, you have an ethics file and then you have a political file. and, of course -- >> not google? lexisnexis? >> these are the political files. if you ask me, the original sin in all of this vetting problem was firing the man you just showed on the air. was chris christie. because they fired chris christie, because they disagreed with him over mike flynn, for example, whom he did not want in the administrat

remember scott pruitt, he was fired thanks to a wave of ethical abuses and close ties to lobbyists. a section in his vetting form was titled allegations of coziness of big energy companies. similar story of former hhs secretary tom price, fired for wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on chartered flights. a section in his dossier, criticisms of management ability and dysfunction and division haunting the leadership of his house budget committee. the list goes on and on and on. mick mulvaney, rex tillerson and several others. the transition team was so worried about rudy giuliani that they compiled a separate 25-page document called rudy giuliani business ties research das dossier. let's bring in the reporter with the scoop, jonathan swan, national political reporter of axios and hbo fame. take me through what we haven't mentioned yet. and that's a great clip of you and christie. >> well, i'll pick a few at random. general david petraeus. a red flag for general david petraeus, who was under consideration for secretary of state national skusecurity advi. this was in the red flag

so the scott pruitt -- i'll give you an example.y had the sections in the documents called red flags. we looked through the scott pruitt vetting dossier it actually had a section in his dossier flagging quote, coziness with big energy companies. there was also -- i mean, you know, it was really interesting to get a sense of what the trump team considered to be problematic. so one red flag for general david petraeus who was under consideration then for secretary of state and national security adviser direct quote, petraeus is opposed to torture. the -- kris kobach, former secretary of state of kansas he was in the running for homeland security advise -- sorry, homeland security secretary and they listed quote white supremacy as a vulnerability for him. it cited accusations from past political opponents that he had ties to white supremacist groups. >> well, i mean, thank god -- thank god they put that in the -- in the ledger, right? thank god for small favors? you can respond. >> he is trying to keep a straight face. >> is there a que

agency last november but his tenure leading the agency started months earlier when his predecessor scott pruitt resigned. wheeler's first job in washington was at the epa where he work on chemical regulations, pollution prevention and right to know issues. he went onto serve as a staff member to senators. and finally as chief counsel and staff director at the senate environment and public works committee, the committee with jurisdiction over the epa. during that time he worked mostly to reduce environmental regulation. he left capitol hill in 2009 and headed to k street where he served as a lobbyist and one of his biggest clients was the coal company murray energy. mr. wheeler returned to epa last year when president trump nominated him to become deputy administrator and took over when mr. pruitt left. he recently told cbs news that while he thinks climate change is an important issue, the threat is too far in the future to focus on today. instead he said the epa and its colleagues around the world should focus on ensuring that everyone has access to clean drinking water. i'm sure we'll have lo

those were the case when the president and his epa and administration at the time led by scott pruitt. the trump administration has other priorities. this thing is headed to court. the new state attorney general plans to file a lawsuit to fight this. >> halie jackson, our chief white house kr's correspondent. >>> we'll be speaking live with candidate and governor hickenlooper and get specifics on his plan to help american workers. >> we'll look at his comment and what preparations are really ahead. you are watching "velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc. velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc so do your. ♪ and with bank of america and merrill, the benefits you get can grow, too. as a preferred rewards member, you can enjoy priority service and exclusive discounts... so your growing life can be more rewarding, too. ♪ what would you like the power to do? ♪ that's ensure max protein, the power to do? with high protein and 1 gram sugar. it's a sit-up, banana! bend at the waist! i'm tryin'! keep it up. you'll get there. whoa-hoa-hoa! 30 grams of protein, and one gram of sugar. ensure max protein. >>> welco

axios says that former epa administrator scott pruitt who lost his job because of a wave of ethical abuses and close ties to lobbyists had a section in his vetting form titled allegations of coziness with big energy companies. former health and human services secretary tom price who was ousted from his job after president trump lost confidence in him after his use of chartered flights, had sections criticisms of management ability and quote dysfunction and division has haunted price's leadership of the house budget committee. axios says that the president's current acting chief of staff mick mulvaney had a striking assortment of red flags, including his assessment that trump is quote not a very good person. when it comes to president trump's lawyer, rudy giuliani, axios says the trump transition team was so worried about him that they created a separate 25 pa page document, rudy giuliani, business ties, with copious accounting of his quote foreign entanglements and one red flag for general david petraeus was under consideration for secretary of state and national security adviser is petrae

the first year of 2017 when scott pruitt was confirmed the second epa person confirmed not unconfirmedntil november that has never happened before usually have four or five people confirmed the first couple months so that was the first year with only one senate confirmed a person is a huge problem. emergency response office awaiting confirmation for over 500 days. this is the person in charge of a tornado or a flood or hurricane it's a shame it's almost a crisis we don't have them confirmed yet if that person is not on the job to be held up from the senate democrats and that's a problem. >> we are almost out of time so first i would like to bring to your attention some upcoming events. june 19 news maker with adam schiff and then another lunch in the us army secretary so please come back and for you we have a highly coveted gift. [laughter] i chief of staff has to clear this for ethics. [laughter] . >> the department of energy has rebranded fossil fuels as well as fuels of freedom while they follow suit? . >> we don't brand like that. we have a level playing field and not be energy spe

scott pruitt, he had a whole section about allegations of coziness with big energy companies.th the epa over ethics questions over decisions he made. tom rice was flagged over concerns of his management abilities. he resigned after it came out he spent a bunch of taxpayer money on chartered flights. and rudy giuliani had 25 pages dedicated just to his business ties, including details about his foreign entanglements. the white house tells nbc news president trump assembled a tremendous team who in spite of 93% negative news coverage has accomplished undeniable successes. one of the reporters who broke that is alaina tree, along with npr reporter kelsey snow and ken vogel. thank you all for being here. alaina, to you first. explain why these documents were created in the first place. who put them together and why? >> right. so we'll start with how initially chris christie was assigned to head up the trump transition team. he was originally in the spring of 2016 starting to put together a lot of these documents. >> normal. any campaign would do that. democrat, republican. >> it i

, say, michael flynn, a convicted felon who's your national security adviser or ryan zinke and scott pruitt who are guys who i think were so corrupt they'd make my own hometown, chicago, old-style politicians blush or my parents' politicis in their indian villages blush. this is really absurd to think that's the mistake and i think it goes to the larger pattern, brian, that you're indicating. when itle comes to judges, fbi director, the attorney general or the rule of law, itself, this is a president who thinks he's above that. and that everything is tied back to that simple thing. whether it's executive privilege, whether it's impeachment, whether it's obstruction of justice, or how he talks about his own cabinet and the federal judiciary. this is someone who has an assault on the rule of law. and it is up to our congress to stand up for us and to say, this is not who we are as americans. this is not a party thing. this is simply a foundational principle that our country is built on. >> our thanks to a veteran rule of law guy, neal katyal, for coming back on the broadcast. >> thank you. >>

how about ryan zinke using his office -- how about scott pruitt?funded travel. >> jesse: idling anyone is denying that it was scandal free. >> juan: i'm saying i think if you want to go on about things like benghazi, irs. these are like pimples. you ignore -- >> katie: four dead americans in benghazi. >> juan: what happened in niger? >> katie: democrats are a little bit disrespectful when they try to downplay no scandals, considering a number of scandals in the obama administration got people killed and they are still working on it. the irs scandal ruin people's lives. it's funny to joke about and they're going to keep saying it but there were serious life or death consequences to a lot of what the obama administration did. they can say all they want that it's not true, but it is. families that were affected are still dealing with it. >> jesse: grounding out the cringeworthy moments is cory booker. no one can forget this. >> i'm going to release the email about racial profiling. i understand the penalty comes with potential ousting from the senate.

>> what led to scott pruitt's firing, i believe it was a tweet from laura ingraham, not more than a dozenations into his apparently unethical conduct. >> and he reminds us who is not secretary of defense, which is jim mattis who reassured people when he was there. >> and resigned as protest for a policy decision by the president. the gk "the best people in the trump cabinet." stick around. the plans seem to be paying off. that's next. hello to the best part of the day.... with italian quality pizza. get two medium, one-topping pizzas for just $6.99 each. every store. every day. the italian way. hello primo. when crabe stronger...strong, with new nicorette coated ice mint. layered with flavor... it's the first and only coated nicotine lozenge. for an amazing taste... ...that outlasts your craving. new nicorette ice mint. "csaid alice.d curiouser," "the rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way." "i've seen a cat without a gri, but a grin without a cat." hey, mercedes, end audio. change lighting to soft blue. the completely reimagined 2020 gle. with intelligent voice control a

meanwhile, you had ryan zinke, tom price and scott pruitt running roughshod over the perks of their officeayer dollars to take private flights, get police escorts to restaurants, have staff pick up dry cleaning for them and trump isn't bothered by any of that. the person on his staff who sticks out to him as the worst decision is the person who actually tried to do his job ethically and with honor for public service. >> well, i agree with you completely. i'll go to vivian, though. why did he pick so many people with sleaze problems if he said he was going to get rid of sleaze? >> well, it's a vetting problem ultimately. this is something not just from the first year in office. he's talking about jeff sessions. we just saw this play out last week with pat shanahan, the acting defense secretary, where all of a sudden all of these issues started to bubble -- >> he had personal family issues that go way back. >> personal family issues. >> well known. >> the president last tuesday told us -- the reporters at the white house that he had only found out about those issues the night before pat shan

one of our producers pointed out scott pruitt was ultimately undone by the inspector general's report, you know, what this is going to lead to. >> if you're concerned the delays, there's something inappropriate or foul, aren't you at least somewhat relieved they're looking into it. >> i guess so. sometimes we worry that these looking into, these committees, these commissions and research are cover for something else. we'll see. >> thank you for watching "velshi & ruhle." we'll see you tomorrow from miami where the big debate will take place. >> stephanie is on her way there. i have another show to do. i'll be here at 3:00. we'll interview two presidential contenders while we're there, andrew yang and john hickenlooper. >> and i'll be interviewing mayor pete buttigieg. >>> right now kasie hunt picks up our coverage. >> thank you very much. good afternoon. i'm kasie hunt in for katy tur. 2:00 p.m. here in washington. we begin with breaking news. the acting commissioner of customs and border patrol has announced he'll be stepping down from his post. john sanders broke the news in a lette

those red flags ranged from allegations that people like former epa administrator scott pruitt and secretaryue had conflicts of interest that they were regulating. when former secretary of state chris kobuck who was in the running for homeland security secretary, veterans listed white supremacy as a vulnerability and said he had ties to white supremacist groups. tonight the hill has released an interview with president trump in which he denies the rape allegation against him that you heard on this program friday night from the journalist and author e. jean carroll, and on sunday morning, e. jean carroll also told her story to joy reed on joy's show here on msnbc. in his interview with the hill tonight, the president said it never happened. the president actually began his response to the rape accusation, his response to the hill in that interview with a lie. the lie was his first words. "i'll say it with great respect." the president has never said anything with great respect. and what he said about e. jean carroll's accusation was not said with great respect. and so after that first lie, he

take scott pruitt who ultimately lost his job heading the epa after elthics complaints.e was flagged for coziness with big energy companies and this research came right after donald trump won the presidency in part, of course, by promising this. >> we're going to get the best people in the world. >> we're bringing in the greatest people. >> we're going to use our best people. >> we're going to make -- we're going to be so smart. >> we need our best people. i know the best people. >> but trump's own aides are flagging the reasons they were concerned in their own writings they didn't think these were the, quote, best people and reportedly donald trump was in the loop. president-elect trump reviewing many of these documents before he would sit down face to face for interviews with these candidates and made some of the hires anyway. for example, donald trump's team was writing down their concerns about rudy giuliani and he was under consideration for the big job of secretary of state. they even drafted a 25-page document going through business ties and foreign entanglements.

controversies from his administration, including cabinet members, former cabinet members like scott pruitt at epa and so the idea of the swamp he just continues to rally as he did in florida this week that he is going to drain it. but the details of that story are of course more complicated because his administration has had many problems over the past two and a half years. >> indeed they have. brian, i want to play part of what the president said about his enemies last night on fox. >> the fact is they were spying on my campaign, using agencies to -- intelligence agencies to do it, going after others. we're trying to find out whether they actually listened and that would be the ultimate. if they spied on my campaign and they may have, it will be one of the great revelations in history of this country. >> brian, does it work for the president to paint himself as a victim of his political enemies as opposed to giving people vision of how he is going to help them live better lives? a lot of people voted for him for the latter. >> this is a personal obsession of the president. he continues to

the mistake that some of them have made including scott pruitt, the former epa administrator, ryan zinkethey can be mbe mini. they can't. no. they have less power. but they've all tried. some of them have fallen by the wayside. others continue to be in this administration. wilbur ross, steve mnuchin. those are people who have largely escaped our scrutiny because how much scrutiny do we have? i mean -- >> it's a fire hose. right. we're so distracted with trump's chaos that they are busy being corrupt in the open. >> and trump loves chaos. >> clearly. he's benefitting from it. >>> alexander, the book is the best people, check it out. trump's cabinet and the siege of washington. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> more after the break. >> more. of a lifetime. it's "progressive on ice." everything you love about car insurance -- the discounts... the rate comparisons... and flo in a boat. ♪ insurance adventure awaits at "progressive on ice." tickets not available now or ever. at "progressive on ice." what's going on? it's the 3pm slump. should have had a p3. oh yeah. should hav