joining the conversation is steve schmidt, a veteran republican strategist and an msnbc political analyst. steve, go. >> well, i thought what we saw today was extremely disturbing, nicolle. we see donald trump sitting there with his arms crossed like a dime store mussolini saying that an attack on the country is the result of a legally executed search warrant on his private attorney. what he really means there is that anything that endangers him politically or otherwise legally is, in fact, an attack on the country. that the leader and the country are synonymous. and that just goes to show the degree to which donald trump doesn't understand the united states of america. it is because the united states of america is a nation of laws, where the rule of law prevails, and no person, even the president, is above the law. and so what we saw of him today is using the senior military uniform leadership of the country as political props while he goes on this disturbing rant while at the same time speculating about the use of military force and sending america's fighting men and women into harm's w

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 harshest, 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 v

a, steve schmidt is a republican. b, the united states walked away from tpp. president trump said we're going to negotiate something stronger and better. we have not done that. do you know who stayed in tpp? canada. and the beat goes on for canada as they continue to trade with trading partners and we're the cheese, standing alone. >>> i need to turn to reports on special counsel mueller's russia investigation. according to "the washington post," the special counsel told president trump's lawyers that while he is still under investigation, he's not currently a criminal target. the president's attorney, ty cobb, declined to comment while his lawyer jay sekulow said, quote, we do not discuss real or alleged conversations between our legal team and the office of special counsel. i want to bring in the man who wrote this extraordinary piece for "the washington post." he is also moderator of "washington week" on pbs. roberto. this is so the people. i want to share this quote. in private negotiations in early march about a possible presidential interview, mueller de

and just a reminder to all, steve schmidt is a republican. >> when you hear steve schmidt, but he's a republican. you go back in history and think about firing halderman 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 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 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 absence 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 tha

let me pick that up with you, steve schmidt. first of all, that's close to a place where you and i both called home. >> sure was. >> california. >> it's hard to swerve back to the day's political news. and you and i spent a lot of air on the air together after parkland. let me just get your thoughts to the possibility that there's a -- another shooting at a workplace near silicon valley? >> i think that one of the features of american life is the certainty to know that at any moment on any day, anywhere in america, this can happen. and i don't think i'm the only person out there who when you see that breaking news kyron, shooter, to know another tragedy is unfolding. the sense of helplessness. >> the sick feeling that they said we've got some breaking news and my first thought was is it a shooting or a natural disaster? >> how many, is it a school, is it kids, little kids? and it will happen again. and it will happen many times more over the course of 2018. >> and, you know, the white house, i think, made a greater effort than n

that is lifelong republican steve schmidt. another break.ven presidents get buyer's remorse from time to time. racing isn't the only thing on my mind. and with godaddy, i'm making my ideas real. when i created my businesses, i needed a way to showcase it. ♪ with godaddy you can get a website to sell online. and it will look good. i made my own way. now it's time to make yours. get started at godaddy.com ♪ everything is working, working just like it should ♪ >>> one last thing before we go tonight. just a reminder of what it takes to be president. let's start with a bigger than average sense of self. running for president means, by definition, that at some point in your life you get up in the morning, look at the image looking back at you in the mirror and say, yep, they need me. i'm the person for the job. i'm the person who should run this country. and the post world war ii alliance while we're at it. but like most things in life, the job of president sure looks different from the cheap seats. some of our presidents have really disliked the

stephanie ruhle, steve schmidt, jake sherman. we had to say good-bye to peter alexander. steve, i want to ask you about all of that. he spouted off a big list of things. there was amazon, military patrol on the border, president xi, et cetera, et cetera. he has gone full circle back to the corey lewandowski days, in my opinion of let trump be trump. hays going to say whatever is on his mind. he's going to act however he's going to act. and his poll numbers are starting to tick up. why do you think that is? >> well, for sure, everything that he said, from the post office -- not true -- to the use of the military on the border. no military expert would say that's the proper use of the american. and it would violate the use of the military for law enforcement purposes in this country. but we are in the middle of a great national experiment, which is this. can a president this incompetent, this ignorant surrounded by people who are profoundly corrupt, equally ignorant, and inexperienced, can we have that for a period of time, years, without consequence? and so when we look at

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bob bauer and steve schmidt, its great to have you both here in new york city. come by any time. >>> next, roger stone claims he was just joking when he wrote an e-mail during the campaign saying he met with wikileaks founder julian assange. robert mueller has some new questions about this. details on the mueller probe in a few minutes. your letting go thing. your sorry not sorry thing. your out with the old in with the new, onto bigger and better thing. get the live tv you love. no bulky hardware. no satellite. no annual contract. try directv now for $10/mo for 3 months. more for your thing. that's our thing. visit directvnow dot com you wouldn't accept from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. flonase. >>> i actually have communicated with assange. >> no, i have not spoken to mr. assange. i have not met with mr. assange. and i never said i had. >> roger stone has frequently claime

donny deutch is here from "the new york times" and steve schmidt joins us and jeremy bash, former chief of staff at both the cia and the pentagon joins us from parts unknown, or perhaps indicated right there on the bottom of your screen. i have a clue. matt apuzzo, let me start with you and your interview with sally yates. it was great. i watched it last night. and i'm sure you know her better than i do, but i know that -- i asked john brennan, i asked a lot of national security figures who are unfamiliar and uncomfortable wading in domestic politics, and it's exactly what she detailed to you. >> that's right. and the way sally yates views this is through the lens of a career prosecutor. she absolutely served in a democratic administration, but she also served republican and democratic u.s. attorneys as a line prosecutor in atlanta -- >> friends with chris wray. >> prosecuted eric rudolph in domestic terrorist case. so, this is not somebody who is a partisan in the sort of traditional washington sense of the word. she talked a lot about how she's concerned when the president reaches int

bob bauer and steve schmidt, its great to have you both here in new york city. come by any time. >>> next, roger stone claims he was just joking when he wrote an e-mail during the campaign saying he met with wikileaks founder julian assange. robert mueller has some new questions about this. details on the mueller probe in a few minutes. and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ ♪ everything is working, working, just like it should ♪ >>> i actually have communicated with assange. >> no, i have not spoken to mr. assange. i have not met with mr. assange. and i never said i had. >> roger stone has frequently claimed some kind of contact with wikileaks or assange only to backpedal under scrutiny and deny, deny, deny. and now the mueller probe is investigating. the "wall street journal" reporting today the special counsel is looking at a roger stone e-mail from 2016 claiming he had dinner with wikileaks founder julian assange. stone told the journal the e-mail to former sam nunberg was a joke which is absolutely h

and just a reminder to all, steve schmidt is a republican. >> when you hear steve schmidt, but he's aublican. you go back in history and think about firing halderman 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. but

maybe steve schmidt has a reason for believing that. i admire the fact that she stood up to the president of the united states and said, no, i'm not taking the fall. in washington, d.c. when you work for somebody else, work for the president, work for the senator, it is kinds of your job to take the fall but she said, no, i'm not going to do that. i'm sure that probably got some noses out of joint in the white house but i kind of admire her for standing up for herself. >> congressman jim himes, thank you. >>> next we turn to the big question about the documents seized from michael cohen's office. who will decide what federal investigators see and what they do not see? former white house communications director anthony sca sca scarau. cci joins me live next. me. trying something new can be exciting. empowering. downright exhilarating. see for yourself why chevrolet is the most awarded and fastest growing brand, the last four years overall. switch into a new chevy now. current competitive owners can get five thousand dollars below msrp on

steve schmidt, quickly, i want to go to you.y we know -- and we've said from the beginning -- that donald trump built his foundation after switching from being a life long new york democrat to being a republican if 2011 by lying about barack obama and spreading this lie about birtherism. but as president of the united states just over the past week, since he's gone to his gut he's lied about the united states post office's funding, he's lied about amazon getting a discount rate that nobody else gets. he's lied about nato coffers being filled when there are no such things as "nato coffers." people don't contribute directly to nato. he's exaggerated to the point of lying about caravans. he's created a -- what he calls a security threat that requires a sending of troops down to the border, national guardsmen down to the border of mexico and talking about building the wall and renovating the wall because of a crisis of illegal immigrants streaming into the united states when steve, as we reported earlier today, actual border crossin

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

steve schmidt noted that many of the constitution would be thrilled by this.ways hated the bill of rights, those guys. >> if you listen closely tonigh tonight, you can hear the faint applause from heaven of this country's founding fathers who bequeathed to us a nation or the rule of law is supreme. we are a nation of laws. >> tucker: the founders wanted to know, did the money go to stormy daniels? what happened to stormy daniels? jonathan turley as a professional at george washington university's school of law and he joins us tonight. i think you were one of the trustworthy people in this conversation. i don't know what your politics are. i don't think we agree politically, but i trust her legal views. what do you make of this raid on the president's lawyer's office? >> part of this is of cohen is making. he players his relationship between a lawyer and a business partner. that's dangerous under any circumstances, but particularly if you're going to evoke client attorney privilege is. he may have trouble with that. when you look at the stormy daniels agreement

. >> our friend steve schmidt, intellectually gifted as you are, bemoans the loss, the absence of rigor in this administration. it's a word he uses all the time, and it really is perfect, and it's rigor that speaks to the problems of dr. ronny jackson, the lack of vetting. it's rigor that speaks to the problems of the epa director. would that help if this were a rigorous administration. >> the problem starts at the top, so -- but it wouldn't hurt. i mean, the ronny jackson thing, i've been watching your coverage. it's not going to be good, obviously. he seems to have been a popular white house doctor. president obama didn't say anything negative about him when they passed him on to president trump. so, in that respect, whatever his flaws might have been, they were presumably manageable within that system so that's one thing and it would be fair for the trump people to say if suddenly there was a huge assault on him as white house doctor, hey, wait a second, we inherited him from the obama white house, but to promote him to head of the veterans administration, $180 billion budget, a huge

. >> steve's met steve schmidt, o back to the horror of 9/11, and the complete reliance.e were in our tribes, our corners most of our lives. i think we just heard some gunshots. can we listen to that for a second, control room? not gunshots, okay. >> tucker: [laughs] "not gunshots." pretty funny. but listen very carefully. she lectures you about the second amendment because she knows that. pete hegseth is "fox & friends" we canan host, a former member f the u.s. military, a decorated one, and he joins us tonight. it's pretty simple question. we know the script, the way these things unfold, how they are analyzed in the press, we draw sweeping conclusions from a pretty limited set of facts. you are not hearing that tonight. you are not hearing the other channels say tacos femininity is a threat to america. why is that? >> the wrong bad guy. female of a rhenium dissent, a fitness buff, vegan, a peta member. not an nra member, not a member of thesc nra, as a result, doest fit their very convenient narrative. as a result, it is silence, tucker. nbc, cbs, negligent coverage. ab

our friend steve schmidt talks about the lack of rigor constantly, the lack of vetting among this crowd learned more about the rob porter case today, specifically communication with the white house that disagrees with the chief of staff kelly's time line. what do you think is the reason for all these personnel kind of errors and gaps? >> it's a sloppy white house, brian. they do not do due diligence. they look at -- i mean the security clearance issue alone that the rob porter scandal exposed is hugely problematic. i mean i think that spoke volumes about the level of organization inside this white house. remember, this resulted in the revoking of security clearances for numerous officials, including the president's son-in-law, jared kushner. i mean look at ronny jackson this week. there wasn't uncovered in this background investigation the allegations of workplace impropriety and giving out prescription drugs and drinking at work functions to excess. so you add all of this up, and it's a picture of disarray that has become all too familiar to really anyone in america who's been paying a

. >> do we have the tweet from steve schmidt, who tonight has been very active on social media.irst person to resign from this cancerous administration on principle will look back on that day the same way powerball winners look back on the moment they bought their golden ticket. trump has made haley look like a fool. if she stays, it will be at the cost of her dignity. jonathan, steve is often very direct. let's talk about damage to this. does kudlow, the new kid in the white house, someone known to a lot of us because he was at cnbc for many years -- does he suffer damage, and does haley remain kind of an untouchable? does she take on even more aura because of standing up in this case? >> well, the president is fond of the new toy, the shiny new object, and that's what larry kudlow is right now. he's only been there a couple weeks. he to this point is seemingly in the president's good graces, although it must be pointed out he was informed of the tariff decision after it was made. this was two weeks back or so when the president decided to up the ante against china. he made the

steve schmidt made the same point last night on twitter. officer that's gone through dozen of fitness reports. he's been reviewed again and again and again. these sorts of problems would not amount to a promotion and so to just say, oh, my staff gave it to me and throw it out there, he's under 50% montana, he's not particularly vulnerable. i don't think this plays well in montana and it doesn't sit well with me and i don't think it's appropriate. >> if the allegations are true, his career's over. he may not -- he may lose his medical license if you're caught just handing out opioids or writing your self prescriptions and all this stuff's just being thrown out there. >> let's not get -- let's not get ahead of ourselves. >> that's the point here. i don't know in this day and age, you can't put the toothpaste -- how do you walk it back and this is the world -- what i'm saying is, these are some just how do you walk them back? >> i don't think -- i don't think you can walk them back completely. you can determine whether they're accurate or inac

i don't think that was steve schmidt's intention. he brought something serious into question. haley must resign, the first person to resign from this cancerous administration on principle will look back on that day the same way a powerball winner look back at buying the winning ticket. >> i think haley is the exception to the rule. people have asked to be part of the administration and trnd it down for the sake of saving their own reputation. she came in as somebody who had previously been very critical of donald trump, wasn't afraid to stand up to him. phil is exactly right. she's in new york, not part of the daily political machine. she's able to, if she's ambitious, that's great. i don't think there is anything wrong with a woman being ambitious. that's a great spot to be at the u.n. she could pivot and be vocal with all the areas she disagrees with the president on, such as the response to sharl, i don't think necessarily she gets the taint other people in this administration might have. >> phil, i want to ask you about a story you broke about cia director pompeo's secret

. >>> yesterday i saw steve schmidt said nikki haley hurt her credibility.on't think that's the case. the world is saying she's the lone ranger out there trying to move forward and be productive. >> and she is resolute. she's not wishy washy. i'm glad jane harmon pointed out whatever your politics and whatever you think of nikki haley, when that confederate flag issue came up in south carolina, she was on top of that in a way that we don't always see governors handle. she was on top of her criticism of president trump when he was running for office. she decided in the aid of her country, she'll join this administration and she has been resolute in her job. she respects the institution that she's part of at the united nations. to undermine that is not good. >> unlike the president on tpp, nikki haley is not confused. >> you see this new trick? >> it's like the hook from show time at the apollo. >> they'll cut our mikes. >> president trump's mixed signals with asia. we'll break it down. at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence, covering virtually every part of

steve schmidt responded, ronna, do you mean democrats like seth maulton, who served five tours as a marine office in iraq? or medal of honor recipients senator bob kerry or purple heart recipients senator tammy duckworth? shame on you. yo your. >> border patrol agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the border because of ridiculous liberal laws like catch and release. however, the president tweeted the border is, quote, getting more dangerous. caravans coming. some view this phrasing as trump's reaction to a fox news segment about central american migrants where caravans appeared on skreep. oh my god. >> it's amazing. he sees caravan of immigrants headed to the u.s., which is just an absolutely preposterous story. and then he goes, jon meacham, then he goes to church. he makes a statement outside of church, repeats it verbatim as having all the facts wrong and saying he's going to destroy a trade deal with mexico and canada that helps farmers in iowa and across middle america as much as it helps anybody just because we now learn that trump is, quote, unleashed, quote unhinged,

steve schmidt said last night on twitter that perhaps tp it's time for her to step -- >> over and over again. >> that she has to resign. because i don't know whether or not trump has taken her legs out from under her in relation to the world. how can she represent the president and u.s. foreign policy in the united nations given what trump just did to her. >> any chance she steps aside? >> i hope not. i mean, first of all, the president needs to have strong people around him and maybe he doesn't want strong people, but he needs to have strong people around him. and she is a good role model for the world to see. she's also a great homework doer. she does her homework. she's not flying by the seat of h her pants or making things up as she goes along. she's very, very disciplined. she was a good governor of south carolina and i was glad to support her. >> i know me too will love, i don't get confused. >> that's right. she clearly was miffed by the perception that she didn't know what she was doing and that she'd gone rogue in some way. >> she's not afraid to speak up. >> right. >> i think

i said steve schmidt said, a lot of other republicans said we -- nicolle wallace said we can never, everban 1.5 billion people from coming to this country because of the god they worship. it's not that hard. paul ryan calls him a racist one day in the summer of 2016 and the next day endorses him. it's not that hard. >> it's not. >> so it's not just that evangelicals are that are selling out, it's republicans who i think are -- i would love them to explain this five years now from when donald trump is out of washington. >> that will be interesting. i think what is interesting, what we're listening to is people like paul ryan paul ryan resinate in any way, shape or form against the voters were talki talking about. paul ryan is a washington figure. he is a femoral to the conversation we are having right now. donald trump is a force, but the counter force he is coming into, given the level of disenchantment with politics in washington that existed when he started to run. >> sarah, thank you so much. very cool, really good. dispatches from the forgotten america. get it. jeremy peters, thank y

steve: oh. wow. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: he was voted most likely to bankrupt the tooth fairy. it's like -- [ laughter ] "i got nothing. i got nothing, dude." [ applause ] next for the vegas golden knights, we have nate schmidted most likely to be the evil judge from the end of "who framed roger rabbit." [ laughter and applause ] oh yeah, nailed it. next, for the tampa bay lightning, we have anton stralman. he was voted most likely to make this face at you in an elevator, and say, "ooh same floor." [ laughter and applause ] [ laughter ] i'll press the button. [ laughter ] >> steve: this is where i get off. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: oh. we'll both get off at the same time. >> steve: okay, get off! >> jimmy: next up, from columbus is david savard. he was voted lumberjack james van der beek. now that's interesting. [ laughter and applause ] next up from the winnipeg jets is connor hellebuyck. he was voted most likely to be the love child of satan, and adam driver. [ laughter and applause ] next up for the washington capitals is alex ovechkin. he was most likely to be standing next to a wooly mammoth in a diorama at the natural history museum. [ laughter and applause ] finally, from the penguins, we have phil kesse