and steve schmidt. both gentlemen are msnbc political analysts, eugene, to you first.re people seeing this as something pernicious? >> well, you know, because it walks talks and quacks like a duck. start with the census. it's supposed to count everyone who's here, regardless of citizenship. >> it's the whole ball game. >> everybody who's here. a lot of decisions apportioning federal benefits and representation in congress, and things depend on that census, so it's very important. to put a citizenship question on the short form that goes out to everybody, not the long form that goes out to a sampling, but on the form that goes to everybody, can only intimidate and discourage those who are not citizens. >> what would that be? >> you're going to answer that, no, i'm not a citizen, if there's any question about your right to be in the country or even if there isn't a question, you're nervous before it, because you know that donald trump is president and jeff sessions is attorney general and you think they may try to kick you out, you're going to be a lot less likely to sen

and steve schmidt is back with us today. courtney, let me start with you on your reporting, and i think this is a development since your story broke. i'm sure prompted by the incredible detail in this account. but i understand that the much now expulsion of russian diplomats didn't have anything to do with the number of russian diplomats in this country at all. the head count could very much remain the same. it seems like another data point in the picture you paste -- you paint of a very conflicted donald trump when it comes to russia policy and russia p.r. >> that's right. so, he was presented last week with -- president trump was presented with three different options and he ended up going with the middle one, the one that was in the middle of a lighter option against vladimir putin and the one that was the harsh est and that included expelling the diplomats from the united states. what we found here was president trump has to be really pushed along when it comes to doing things -- when it comes to any kind of response to

about what happened last night, we'll talk to steve schmidt in just a moment. >>> i think any republican that isn't running as if their life depended on it is doing it wrong. >> if you're a republican -- >> the republicans cannot win a district that donald trump won by 20 points. if that does not send chills through the republican party, i don't know what would. >> some of the reaction from three republicans to the drama we covered here last night. by the way, while we heard conor lamb's victory speech live on our air last night as we watched, here's where we have this race. nbc news is calling him the apparent winner in an extremely tight election result. millions of americans who never had any reason to think about pennsylvania's 18th congressional district were experts on it by late last night. and with us tonight to talk about what it is we're witnessing here is steve schmidt, republican strategist and political veteran of the bush white house and mccain presidential campaign. steve, we'll start local. this guy was a democrat really in title only. anyone else, any other democrat who

about what happened last night, we'll talk to steve schmidt in just a moment.et it for jean who's always cold. for the sales team, it and the warehouse crew. give us the data we need. in one place, anywhere we need it. help us do our jobs better. with domo we can run this place together. well that's that's your job i guess. ♪ fthere's flonase sensimist.f up around pets. it relieves all your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist. the lsave up to 50 percent onon hundreds of your favorite items. all at the lowest prices of the season. train well... be well... live well... only at gnc. hello. give me an hour in tanning room 3. cheers! that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel sites to help me plan the best trip. so i'm more than confident. forgot me goggles. kayak. search one and done. a wealth of information. a wealth of perspective. ♪ a wealth of opportunities. that's the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. straightfo

cecilia munoz with me now and steve schmidt, republican strategist and msnbc contributor. steve, i'll begin with you. it seems like jeff sessions is under tremendous pressure and basically trying to thread a needle here. that's my interpretation. what's yours? >> he sure is. look, and the pressure's only going to intensify as this investigation continues to move closer and closer to the oval office. the one thing i suspect is almost certainly true is that there will be additional indictments that robert mueller knows much more about where this investigation is, what its focus is than we do. and that all through the time of donald trump's presidency, we have seen revelations denied over and over again by administration officials, those stories fall apart. and what we see are this unusual connection between russians, the campaign, the active measures under way to attack the country, the country's election process by the russian federation. so this investigation is deadly serious. it poses an existential threat to this president. and for some time, we've seen republican member

>>> steve schmidt joins us today from parts unknown at the table. mark leib vits is here, chief national correspondent for "the new york times" magazine and msnbc contributor who we don't drag to new york often enough. heilman is here, nbc news and national affairs analyst. jim mussina, deputy chief of staff for president obama, also former campaign manager in 2012. and rick sting l, former under secretary of state republic diplomacy, now an msnbc analyst. let me start with you, john heilman, on the news of this. the news of this is that a 17-year-old insulted and really denigrated by laura ingram who as whoopi goldberg would say is a grown as woman taunted a 17-year-old on twitter about not getting into colleges with a 4.1 gpa. i've never seen such a swift come uppings in the court of public opinion and the one that matters to her among her own sponsors. >> laura ingram, the thing she said about david hogg would be pathetic of any adult to any child his age in any circumstance. forgetting about on television and the politics of it. like really? sad

the transformation in what you hear from steve schmidt has been incredible. but the thing is, steve's still a republican. he still has those republican values. i think what we've seen in this white house is really -- it's something we've never seen before, the tumult. you go back in history and think about nixon firing halderman and erlich in '73, a huge moment. you think about the saturday night massacre at the justice department a few months after that. every week in the trump administration is like the saturday night massacre. so he said he had the best people. they're all gone now. so what are they being replaced by? and the answer according to "the washington post" is nothing. there's a lot of open space there. it's not helpful for policy and certainly not helpful for the stability of the government, certainly not helpful for the way the united states appears overseas. >> indira, i first got to walk through the west wing as a very lucky intern in the late '70s and i got to do it many, many times and years since, covering the place and visiting the place.

. >> steve schmidt is just getting started. he's not going anywhere.either is anybody here at the panel. >>> when we come back, the porn star and the president, the friday edition. new threats and new allegations. stay with us. oh, manatees. aka "the sea cow"" oh! there's one. manatees in novelty ts? surprising. what's "come at me bro?" it's something you say to a friend. what's not surprising? how much money matt saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® how'd i get this yard? behind pete's great looking yard, is his secret weapon... the scotts turf builder program. all it takes is 4 feedings, with a scotts solution for every season. it's that easy. this is a scotts yard. at planters, we put fresh roawhich has its drawbacks.an, guys, know anything about this missing inventory? wasn't me! the cheeks don't lie, chet... irresistibly planters. have discovered more ttheir irish roots...unity which

. >> steve schmidt is just getting started. he's not going anywhere.either is anybody here at the panel. >>> when we come back, the porn star and the president, the friday edition. new threats and new allegations. stay with us. liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. with pg&e in the sierras. and i'm an arborist since the onset of the drought, more than 129 million trees have died in california. pg&e prunes and removes over a million trees every year to ensure that hazardous trees can't impact power lines. and since the onset of the drought we've doubled our efforts. i grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly it's heartbreaking to see all these trees dying. what guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. >>> was she threatened in any wa

and just a reminder to all, steve schmidt is a republican. >> when aiohear fryou hear stev, but he's republican. you go back in history and think about firing haulderman in april 1973, that's a huge moment. you think about the saturday night massacre at the justice department a few months after that. every week in the trump administration is like the saturday night massacre. they're all gone now. so what are they being placed by? and the answer according to "the washington post" is nothing. there's a lot of open space there. it's not helpful for policy and certainly not helpful for the stability of it government and certainly not helpful for the way the united states appears overseas. >> vera, i first got to walk through the west wing in the late '70s and covering the place and visiting the place. the absent of noise is so striking. there's an intentional quiet and softness in the west wing. and the solemnity and solitude. >> first of all, i want to make the point, brian, you have assembled the best people tonight to talk about this subject. >> there you go. >> so thank you for that.

with me now republican strategist steve schmidt and adam davidson. before we get to that story about the steele dossier and the way in which the mueller investigation is taking shape, i'm just curious your reaction watching a former associate of the president's doing doh what -- sam nunberg do what he has done all day on national television. >> your mouth just hangs open. you can't believe these were the people who were in approximate positions to the president of the united states. it's just extraordinary. and this "new yorker" story today just in the depth of its reporting is extraordinary. certainly the notion that the russians vetoed mitt romney as the secretary of state, and the story implies would have a veto whoever the president nominated in that. if that's true. >> and it's an f. >> if that's true, certainly. those are the grounds necessary to remove this president from office beyond any discussion, beyond any doubt. and then i think the other thing that the story lays clear is who is christopher steele? we have all this smoke and all this t

thank you, steve schmidt. i would be b a little tougher if i were mueller. >>> up next, trump that's lawyers claim stormy daniels should broke her agreement. this is "hardball." right. so who sent you? new guy. what new guy? watson. my analysis of sensor and maintenance data indicates elevator 3 will malfunction in 2 days. there you go. you still need a pass. there you go. we're all under one roof now. congratulations. thank you. how many kids? my two. his three. along with two dogs and jake, our new parrot. that is quite the family. quite a lot of colleges to pay for though. a lot of colleges. you get any financial advice? yeah, but i'm pretty sure it's the same plan they sold me before. well your situation's totally changed now. right, right. how 'bout a plan that works for 5 kids, 2 dogs and jake over here? that would be great. that would be great. that okay with you, jake? get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change from td ameritrade investment management. but prevagen helps your brain

. >>> plus, steve schmidt on the republican plot to stop mueller.mp's lawyer's lawyer just give up the game on stormy daniels. >> the president was not aware of the agreement. >> whether he "all in" starts right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. the latest person to be dumped from the trump administration is now blowing the whistle on what he says is the real reason for his dwoun downtown fall in an effort that traces directly to the koch brothers. david shulkin will join me live in just a moment. shulkin the now former secretary of veterans affairs who once had a sterling reputation. a obama holdover renominated by donald trump. he was confirmed by the senate to lead the va in a 100-0 vote. like so many people have come into contact with president trump, shulkin who joins me momentarily now finds hi

steve schmidt, the wheels seem to be coming off of this bowes and they have been coming off for the past. >> now they're rolling down pennsylvania avenue. >> rolling down pennsylvania avenue. people keep asking how much longer can this continue. >> we've been having this discussion for the last year, which is how low can go? and each week we find a way to hit a new low. sam nunberg, what we saw yesterday is this "star wars" can seen that bar scene of these characters melting down on national tv every 24 or 36 hours. but the congressman is right here. the united states has been attacked in a new type of war, an information war, a cyber war. and the president of the united states and his retainers, his loyalists around him, they refuse to defend the country. they don't defend america's election process. they don't defend our rule of law. they don't defend our important institutions. in fact, donald trump and his apologists constantly are attacking these essential institutions that are necessary for the security of the country. it's a remarkable moment in the history of the country. >> stev

steve schmidt, the former mccain campaign manager for president back in 2008, a republican now an analyst saying tonight on twitter, seriously, someone more technologically more competent than me where good americans can fund this great patriot's full pensi pension? you have never trumpers saying he deserves the pension. how is that possible when the office of professional responsibility was saying he needs to go? >> we don't know. we haven't seen the details. everybody needs to calm down for a second. if t if the office of professional responsibility lays out the case, i don't think that you want to argue. it's interesting, of course, the way that you set it up was to say that the democrats wanted this. michael horowitz has been there. guess what? it was president trump that questioned jeff sessions about horowitz credibility? they asked why don't you have staff people doing investigating here? sessions made the point that he thought it was michael horowitz in his i.g. responsibility. what we come back to, this is what you're picking up on from democrats and the never trumpers, ed, is a

let's listen to a republican presidential campaign operative, steve schmidt giving his assessment of this personnel situation rj from a personnel perspective we've never seen the assemblage of crooks, weirdos, wife beaters, drunk drivers, complete and total incompetence that's been assembled. if you took the ten greatest hr managers in the history of the world and said we want to form a 1927 yankees of incompetence, it's not possible they would have done a better job than assembling this team and it's not possible this team could have let loose more chaos than they have. evan is right, as we get right to the hour of tragedy that will come from these type of people around an office where life and death decisions are made. >> jason johnson i'd like to say he took the words out of my mouth but it's more eloquent than anything i could come up with. and, of course, wife beaters and drunk drivers, he meant it literally. >> it's like a police academy, there's a level of incompetence. i'm waiting for a guy making voice impressions and someone with a squeaky voice. that's the only thing they

. >> in 30 seconds of brilliance, steve schmidt's favorite word is rigor. he keeps saying as a lover of words i know you will concur at some point, he keeps saying that the lack of rigor in public life right now from this administration right now is appalling to him. >> well, it's "mad max." it's not real, except it is. another way of putting it is washington seemed to be acting like a reality show, it didn't seem to be taking the concerns of the people as seriously as it should and so the right number of voters in the right number of states and electoral college system sent a reality tv star there. but be careful what you wish for. anyone who was paying attention during 2016 should not be surprised about what's happening right now. that doesn't mean it's acceptable. it means we have to stay as united as possible and try to insist on those norms against all odds. >> we're in your debt, john, jeremy, john meacham, thank you so much. this was an on-the-fly hour of television as we're reacting to these dual breaking news stories and then some. and that is our

ed: you had steve schmidt who was the campaign manager for john mccain not too long ago campaign managerriot and we need to, you know, basically raise money, start a drive, a go fund me basically to get his pension. rachel: unbelievable. ed: are you kidding me? a patriot? pete: where is that same argument for michael flynn. rachel: michael flynn didn't have those defenders in the media. email from renee mccabe deserved to be fired. about time someone in the swamp has accountability. all the mainstream media going nuts blaming president trump. pete: email from burt, is he said this is what happens when the elites, the political class believe they are immune to those laws by which the rest of us must abide. this decision is necessary if we are truly a nation of laws. bert. amen. ed: we want to know what you think about this. was this fair? andrew mccabe is saying that the president is trying to destroy his credibility as a witness before the mullen probe. is that true or is it andrew mccabe destroying his own credibility with his actions as a deputy fbi director? rachel: is this just a dra

steve bannon, michael cohen, rick gates, hope hicks, corey lewandowski, carter page, keith shiller and roger stone. what do you make, michael schmidt, of this line of questioning and something you and i talk about all the time about the two tracks of the mueller probe, the collusion investigation, the obstruction investigation. clearly there's more attention being paid to what director brennan testified to last spring, the witting or unwitting cooperation between russia and some members of the trump campaign. >> i mean in some ways the subpoena makes sense. these are all folks that are in this orbit and mueller wants to gather everything. and he knows that if there is one stone that he doesn't turnover, that if he ever closes up shop and anything else comes out, then he's going to get criticized. so he has to look at everything and he has to cast his net far and wind. the thing about the number thing that just always reminds me is that we have so little insight into mueller. we have so little understanding. all of a sudden a few weeks ago he pops the indictment against 13 russians no one thought that was coming. so, we're basing ou

(steve) the bridge collapsed near florida international university yesterday. as of right now-- we know at least six people were killed. emily schmidt reports. deputy mayor maurice kemp / miami-dade county: our primary focus is to remove all of the cars and all of the victims in a dignified manner, and not compromise the investigation in the process.emergency officials working slowly and methodically friday to recover the bodies of the victims still stuck underneath this pedestrian bridge that collapsed thursday.meanwhile local, state, and federal investigators have begun their mission -- preserving evidence and figuring out what caused the 950-ton bridge to fall. robert sumwalt / ntsb chairman: i do imagine that our investigators will be on scene five to seven days. this will be a very detailed investigation. our entire purpose for being here is to find out what happened so that we can keep it from happening again. the pedestrian bridge had only recently been installed and was not scheduled to open to the public until next year.florida senator marco rubio, who was on-scene thursday tweeted, "the cables that suspend the #miami bridg

steve rattner. joyce vance, law professor at george washington university. jonathan turley and new york times reporter michael schmidt who had another big scoop. >> what's new. >> he'sincredible. >> mike, we could talk about so much right now, but first let's talk about day five of the president. i guess it's day five. maybe even more than that, that this stormy daniels news has frozen the president of the united states yet again. this is yet to happen. i know i was critical of the legal techniques stormy daniels' lawyer was taking but if you look at it through the -- through the lens of politics, my gosh, this guy has done to donald trump and stormy daniels as done to donald trump what donald trump was able to do to people like marco rubio and jeb bush and other political giants for a year and a half and that is freeze them, tongue tie them and get them trying to fig dwrur out, how do i respond to this because he has no response and he's hiding. >> you have that exactly right, joe. the lawyer for stormy daniels is doing to the president of the united states and the presidency exactly what donald trump did to nearly