republican thom tillis and chris coons. thank you for joining me. tillis, let me begin with you. you heard kellyanne conway. no commitment from the president not to fire robert mueller. she says you're going to have to go to his lawyer for that, although she says it's not being discussed. your legislation would give a judge the ability to review any decision by the president to fire robert mueller. why do you think it's necessary? >> i think it's a necessary part of just continuing to improve the reputation of independence for the department of justice. this is something that lives beyond the special counsel. it provides the president with the opportunity to consult with the ag and the department of justice, potentially have one removed but have that subject a judicial review. so that we make sure it's done for proper cause. >> the president is calling and you heard kellyanne conway repeat it, the entire russia story, a fabrication, a witch hunt and hoax. do you agree? >> i'm not sure i agree with the witch hunt and we'll let the facts lead us to wh

i agree with senator tillis, with thom.in everyone's best interest for mueller to be able to carry forward this investigation to its conclusion so we can work in a responsible way to address the real issues facing this nation. it's in president trump's interest, in protecting rule of law for bob mueller to be allowed to continue this investigation until it's conclusion. >> do you see anything that would suggest robert mueller has a conflict? >> no i haven't. i have not seen any evidence to suggest that and that's why i want this investigation to just follow through to conclusion again so we can get back to fulfilling the promises we made the american people that the president is already working on. we need to be solely focused on that. >> what would it mean if the president fired robert mueller? what would the consequences be? >> i think it's another example -- to me, the reputation of the department of justice has suffered hits in the past. it would be another piece of fotter for people trying to discredit one of the most

again, senator thom tillis, really? we haven't even heard his name since he was elected. kevin, thank you so much. and you were very kind and generous, i thought, with your appraisal of him. good to have you with us. >>> joining now, to north korea, u.s. spy agencies detected the communist regime loading two anti-ship cruise missiles aboard a patrol craft on the country's eastern coast. here now to discuss whether this may lead to another missile test in the days ahead, my first guest form u.s. ambassador to the united nations, fox news contributor john bolton. ambassador, great to have you with us. first, your reaction to what's going on in the great district of columbia. i mean, these people are amazing. you can't get them to work while they're there, once they're gone, there's nothing they seemingly won't do or say to get their name in ink. >> honestly, what congress needs to do is pass a tax cut, tax reform bill. the obamacare debacle, i think, will haunt them in districts as i believe you were saying. but honestly for the sake of the economy, this tax cut is critical

we've also now confirmed the president reached out to senator thom tillis as well. tillis why he was working on separate legislation protecting the special counsel, robert mueller. that conversation, however, is said to have been cordial. with us to discuss this and more, white house reporter for the "washington post" david and cnn political director david chalian and for bloomberg politics. are all of these clashes public and private with republicans one theme seems to be underlining so many of them -- the russia probe. >> yes. clearly the president is consumed by this. i don't blame him. if i was under investigation by a special counsel i'd be consumed also and it would weigh on my mind a lot. it's understandable what he seems incapable of doing, though, is, as aides talked about many months ago, try to dual track things, and wall the investigation off from the business of the white house and trying to pursue the agenda. donald trump doesn't seem capable of doing these walling offs, from these conversations. the other curious thing here is why is the president's a

our next guest, republican senator thom tillis, cosponsored a bill this week to do just that. senator , why did you introduce the red legislation and how would it work? >> senator tillis: the reason we introduce the legislation, it's something i talked about last year in the year before under the obama administration, what this legislation does is codify the current procedures within the department of justice. the only thing it adds is a review after the fact, after a special counsel has been removed, subject to a three-judge panel so that we can make sure it was done for proper cause. >> chris: your cosponsor, democratic senator chris coons said that the reason this bill was introduced, this is up on the screen, to expressly designed to restrain the president's power to act in an abrupt and inappropriate way. if you say you've been thinking about this for years. there seems to be some belief, and there certainly is backed up by what senator coons said, concern about this president and his reaction, very negative reaction to special counsel robert mueller's investigation. >> s

. >> up next, thom tillis has introduced a new measure. constipated? trust #1 doctor recommended dulcolax. use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. suppositories for relief in minutes. and dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax. designed for dependable relief. that's why at comcast we're continuing to make4/7. our services more reliable than ever. like technology that can update itself. an advanced fiber-network infrustructure. new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. >> a look outside the beltway at the queens city. charlotte north carolina. as robert muller's investigation heats up there is a moved by senators from both parties to protect his special counsel from being fired. our next guest, thom tillis cosponsored a bill this week to do that. senator, why did you introduce the legislation and how would it work? >> well, the reason we introduced legislation, this is somet

bob corker and thom tillis are not exactly squishy moderates. the fact that they are saying that tells you about where republicans' minds are. and if i'm trump, i would be very worried about that. >> and ron, to the issue we first started to talk about last night, the issue of obstruction of justice when it comes to congressional investigative committees, in this case, senate investigative committees, there's the president on the phone complaining to mitch mcconnell about what the investigative committees are doing in the senate and why isn't mitch mcconnell shutting that down. first of all, he doesn't have the power to shut down those committees but it does raise this interesting issue about is that obstruction of justice. >> yeah. it's a two-fer because it looks like he's pursing a criminal conspiracy and he's doing a poor job of it. yes, mcconnell is the wrong call and mcconnell's obviously calling him out on that. the effort with tillis to stop legislation to protect mueller is trying to block a path to prevent trump from shutting down the c

when we talk about your show this morning, you've got a very interesting guest, senator thom tillis,ublican from north korea, introduced a bill for robert mueller if he's fired by president trump. is this seen as an act of agr aggression by the white house? >> republicans are much more apt to buck the white house on issues of health care, russia. they passed that russia sanctions legislation. the president was forced so sign, even though he didn't want to. and this is pretty remarkable that senator tillis has joined chris coombs, a democratic senator from delaware, to put in legislation if the president fires mueller, there will be a chance for some judicial review. you're also hearing from so many republican senators that would be crossing the reddest of red lines. >> if he fires -- >> if the president fires robert mueller. there will just be an explosion. i would even wonder with the new white house chief of staff, general kelly, would do, if the president tried to take that step. >> george, thank you. a lot to talk about this morning. we appreciate it. george has a big show this m

our next guest, thom tillis cosponsored a bill this week to do that.enator, why did you introduce the legislation and how would it work? >> well, the reason we introduced legislation, this is something that i talked about last year and the year before under the obama administration. for the legislation does is codify the recent procedures in the department of justice for the only thing it as is a review after the fact, after special counsel has been removed subject to a three-judge panel. so we can make sure that it was done for proper cause. >> your cosponsored democratic senator chris coons says the reason that this bill was introduced and is on the screen, is to expressly design to threaten the president's power to act in an abrupt and inappropriate way. he say you have been thinking about them for years. but there seems to be some belief in this and it is certainly backed up by what the senator said about this president and his reaction. very negative reactions to special counsel robert muller's investigation. >> i think that is right. that is wher

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north carolina republican senator thom tillis supporting that bill to protect the special counsel fromg bipartisan support. and here's what chris coons, a democrat, said this morning on "morning joe." >> thom tillis came across the floor of the senate and said i really want to legislate on this, and i want to do it today. it was a striking moment for me. we have all gotten used to the idea that there is a number of republican senators who are standing up to the president. >> joel, do you think that it's -- i'll let you say what you think it is, that the one thing that we seem to get out of this congress, not health care, not infrastructure, not tax reform, not any clear thing about how we're going to deal with the debt ceiling, but we're going to stop our president from hurting himself? >> well, i don't know if that's the only thing. and i think the reason for this bipartisanship here is because you've got people on both sides of the aisle in congress, in the senate, in the house, who think that what happened with russia meddling in our election is a serious threat to our democracy. an

you have bipartisan members of congress, including thom tillis and chris coons, now introducing legislation to protect the special counsel, robert mueller, saying that any decision by the president to fire mueller, if, indeed, comes, should be reviewed by a judge. what does the president think of that legislation? >> well, why are we engaging in hypotheticals? the entire russia investigation is a hypothetical. the president has called it a fiction. total fabrication to excuse the colossal and unexpected, unwanted defeat of hillary clinton in last year's election. people just can't get over that election, george. it's corrosive to our body politic. the president is going to continue to talk about america, and i suppose others, sadly, will continue to talk about russia. but ty cobb, special counsel to the president in the white house, has made very clear, as recently as this week, that the president and others around him will continue to comply and cooperate and provide any information they have. but he also was not made aware of the grand jury proceedings until we all were. these are suppose

he's starting to make this drift between them even larger and you're seeing thom tillis, a reliable republican, he introduced legislation to make sure that, make it harder for trump to fire the special prosecutor this week. that seems significant to me, because if rank and file republicans are now kind of going against the white house, that shows that they're seeing that their base is not demanding them be as aligned with trump. >> john, to pick up on that point, here's what ned ryan, a former speechwriter for president george w. bush told me about this earlier this morning. >> if republicans do not pass a piece of major legislation by the end of the year, whether it's health care, whether it's tax reform, let's face it, speaker pelosi is not out of the question. so i'm also convinced that if speaker pelosi does happen that in january of 2019, democrats will be a significant part of democrats in the house that will want to pursue impeachment proceedings against donald trump. >> i'm curious, john, do you think that's a stretch? do you think he could be right? the two pieces of legislation he di

>> thom tillis came across the floor of the senate and said i want to legislate on this, and i want tomoment for me. we've all gotten used to the idea that there's a number of republican senators who are standing up to the president. obviously john mccain, lindsey graham, jeff flake, ben sass, others. but this is the first time that senator tillis with whom i've worked on other issues has chosen to step forward and introduce a bill that is expressly designed to restrain the president's power to act in an abrupt and in an inappropriate way. >> senator chris coons, thank you very much. up next one of the president's fiercest critics. congresswoman mac se congresswoman maxine waters joins the conversation, and we'll make sure she gets her time. >> you're claiming my time. let me just say to you, thank you for your compliments about how great i am, but i don't want to waste my time on me. wise man, i'm nervous about things i can't control... affecting my good credit score. i see you've planted an uncertainty tree. chop that thing down. the clarity you seek... lies within the creditwise app

lou: thom tillis himself comes out as a republican sponsor of this legislation.ave got to say, i am going tonld as kind as i can. he's not particularly bright here. mike: i spend a great deal of time in the carolinas. i hear on my radio show from north carolina residents who are so livid at him. the word is rage. they can't believe it. his voters, his constituents. north carolinaians say it's intended just for president trump. he said on the sunday morning shows saying we'll have this around for long time. this is directed at president trump. voters will have long memories over these acts. lou: tillis is shocking. he's obviously a sellout and not being very bright here. and i just can't even imagine how dumb the republican party leadership is until i start looking at some of the rank and file like tillis. what in the world? and of course -- charlie: maybe there is some good principle here and some sort of principled stance here. i don't know. but the idea that this is what they are going to prioritize their efforts is stunning to knee when they can't do the simpl

>> coming up, counselor to the president keldly lyanne conway n "this week" and chris coons and thom tillis a new bill allows any special counsel to challenge the firing. "this week" begins at 8:00 after "good morning america." >>> east bay democratic congressman spending his summer vacation so to speak talking with constituents. he spent yesterday in union city choosing to use his off days to get to know people in his district and bringing them up-to-date on the investigation into russia and the presidential election. >> house intelligence committee is making progress. we've brought in a number of witnesses, we're trying to understand how we were so vulnerable, whether any u.s. persons were involved and when we can do to make sure it never happens again. >> he also hosted a town hall in livermore and last week he went on a hike with people in castro valley. >>> the u.s. government has called off the search for three missing marines after their aircraft crashed into the sea off the east coast of australia while trying to land. 23 people aboard the aircraft were rescued. the mv 22 osprey sim

the vote was delayed not by a liberal but by thom tillis of north carolina who placed a hold on the nomination to keep it from being voted on. why? why is he holding cecina hostage? he wants the trump administration to break a campaign promise and agree to grant more h 2 b visas that program allows companies to import foreign workers for temporary gigs in fields like landscaping, tourism and construction the jobs poorer americans could benefit from. intended to fix labor shortages. in practice it is easily abused with employers using it it to displace american workers. tillis' gamut has worked so far. grant extra 15,000 visas. 15,000 more jobs going to foreigners rather than merge the ailing working class. we invited senator tillis on this program to tell us why he was so committed to. the returned to party last fall. so far he has declined but of course that invitation remains open as always. new email suggests hillary clinton's state department mishandled classified information while giving favorable treatment to donors to her family foundation. we will take a look at those emails because th

here two of the senators sponsoring the bill, thom tillis and chris cooms. listen. >> i think we've already heard strong interest from colleagues on both sides of the aisle supporting this legislation. senators graham and booker also introduced a similar piece of legislation before we went out. >> senator tillis, have you seen anything in this investigation so suggesting robert mueller has a conflict? >> i haven't. i sit on the judiciary committee along with chris or senator cooms and have not seen any evidence to suggest that and that's why i want this investigation to just follow through to an expedient conclusion. >> now, fred, kellyanne conway has come out and pointed out again that some of the attorneys that robert mueller hired on his investigative team have donated to democrats in the past. she actually went on to say the president hasn't even discussed potentially firing robert mueller, but the fact that congress at least some members of congress are taking it as a serious possibility that the president may pursue that course of action, is interestin

>> coming up, counselor to the president kellyanne conway is on "this week" and chris coons and thom tillisel to challenge the firing. "this week" begins at 8:00 after "good morning america." >>> east bay democratic congressman spending his summer vacation talking with constituents. he spent yesterday in union city choosing to use his off days to get to know people in his district and bringing them up-to-date on the investigation into russia and the presidential election. >> house intelligence committee is making progress. we've brought in a number of witnesses, we're trying to understand how we were so vulnerable, whether any u.s. persons were involved and what we can do to make sure it never happens again. >> he also hosted a town hall in livermore and last week he went on a hike with people in castro valley. >>> the u.s. government has called off the search for three missing marines after their aircraft crashed into the sea off the east coast of australia while trying to land. 23 people aboard the aircraft were rescued. the mv 22 osprey similar to this one went in to the water during tra

show this morning going one-on-one with kellyanne conway and chris coons and republican senator thom tillisand will discuss the new bill which will protect mueller. thanks. >> we want to move to a scare in midair. severe turbulence. tossed passengers and crew around the cabin. the ceiling covered by drinks that went flying in the air. >> at least ten people taken to the hospital and abc is at laguardia at new york. about all of this this morning. eva good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, those passengers were 30 minutes out when they felt a huge drop. a free-fall sending drinks and people flying. >> there was just very slight turbulence for five seconds and then it felt like the whole plane was in free-fall. >> terrifying turbulence tossing a commercial airliner around and at least ten people taken to the hospital. >> a good ten seconds where we thought it was bad news. for sure. >> reporter: 299 people onboard american airlines flight 759 traveling from greece to philadelphia. when it hit rough air. >> hit and started shaking and took a big drop. babies screaming. people hitting

also learning of a call with republican senator thom tillis of north carolina working on a bill to protect special counsel bob mueller from any attempt by trump to fire him. bring in senior congress many reporter for cnn manu raju. what are you learned about this call and the relationship between trump and mcconnell? >> reporter: well, jake, mitch mcconnell is doing everything he can to avoid a public back and forth with president trump, even as the president himself continues to go after the senate majority leader. remember the last time mcconnell has spoken publicly about trump was on august 9th when he made rather mild criticism against the president saying that he had excessive expectations coming in as president. perhaps didn't realize the art of legislating, and can't really set deadlines to get things done. we know now from sources that tell us that that really set off the president who went on a tirade against mitch mcconnell. really laid into him. more so about the issue of russia than about health care, despite the president's own tweet this morning. now, we do know that both men

thom tillis is, a republican working on bipartisan legislation making sure mueller has hayes job. listen to what he said this weekend how he views the investigation. >> i'm not sure that i agree with the witch-hunt and we'll let the facts lead us to whether or not it was a hoax or a distraction, but we where we are and i want to see this investigation concluded so that we can get on to doing the good work that had presidential already started with regulatory reform, health care and tax reform. >> he's hardly an outlier as it refers to republicans pushing back on the president calling his a witch-hunt. >> absolutely. the fact he's come out with a bipartisan bill to say essentially, if you do fire up a special counsel, there has to be a judicial review to make sure that this is actually done legally, and some sort of recourse to prevent them from doing that. it shows that there is significant concern about the president taking the steps, something they claim he has not discussed, but has not ruled out, the question for me is -- does this actually get a vote in the senate judiciary c

. >> once "fox news sunday" thom tillis defended his bill that would let any special counsel challengeheir firing in court. >> is some of this directed at president trump? >> well, there is no question that it is. because of clearly the day that we made the bill retroactive to. this is about the department of justice. >> the president also blasted the media on twitter today. this time for citing new quinnipiac polling that showed his approval ratings at just 33%. the trump base he tweeted is far bigger and stronger than ever before despite some phony fake news polling. indeed, since his inauguration, the president has crisscrossed the country, energizing and arguably reassuring his base by the thousands, including stops in key battleground states like iowa, florida, ohio, and pennsylvania. those rallies, trump aides say, are a far better barometer of the electorate than unfairly weighted polls. the latest fox news survey found the president's support among his base is very high with 88 % of trump voters from 2016 approving of his job performance. a performance presumably enhanced by hi

thom tillis, not exactly sort of a maverick thus far this time in the senate joining with lindsey graham going to protect bob mueller. there would be a huge outcry if donald trump did anything with bob mueller. that doesn't mean he won't. this is donald trump we're talking about, but i think he'd have huge problems in the senate. even within his own party and even among many republican senators we're not talking about. not the lindsey grahams, susan collins, john mccains of the world but others rank and file down the line republicans i think would object to this. so does that mean donald trump won't do it? no. but i think he is at least aware it would face significant opposition among republicans in the senate and in the house, if he did something like this, to penalize bob mueller for violating what he called the red line. >> and dan, i also want to ask you about the russia sanctions bill as well that we've recently talked about in which the senators and house members, republicans and democrats, passed bipartisanship and essentially tied the president's hands when it um cans to negotiat

. >> you could argue the alienation, that's why thom tillis feels comfortable sponsoring a bill. >> isn'tld trump is simply being donald trump and lashing out at anyone that he perceives as an enemy? he employed mitch mcconnell's wife. if he is angry, he lashes out. i don't think he does it for strategic reasons. i think he can't control himself. >> we got an example during the health care debate what happens, how the chickens come home to roost when you had lisa murkowski. >> one important -- it's interesting. all senators seem to be taking mcconnell's side over trump. the voters may take trump's side. >> they are taking trump's side. when you talk to voters as i have been, look at the data, when they say why are things not happening in congress, why is trump agenda not going forward, it's republicans in congress. he wins in the short-term. the president's brand wins in short-term. in longer term, it's his party. >> wow. what a week. what a show. thank you all. i appreciate it. that's all we have for today. back next week because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." back next week beca

and then trump dialed up senator thom tillis on the 7th two days before a joint call. tillis is working with chris coons on a bill designed to protect robert mueller, the independent counsel investigating the president's russia connections. a senior political aide also told politico, the president, it seems he is just always focused on russia. one of the reporter who is broke this story from politico, josh s do joins me now. what's the context? >> it seems like the president, when he sees folks on television or hears about a controversial policy or sympathetic that will affect him, he will just immediately dial them up. he will say, get me and so on the phone and he'll express when he's frustrated or concerned or when he wants them to change something. now new chief of staff john kelly is trying to change that a little bit, to try to have a senator breathe, to try to have the call scheduled. to try to put some form and structure into these settings. but president trump likes to call people. and these senators, he sees them as his republican allies. and he often express

. >> "politico" is also reporting that the president "dialed up senator thom tillis who is working withis coons on russia connections by any attempt to fire him. the mueller bill came up during the tillus/trump conversation. trump was unhappy with the legislation and didn't want it to pass." a senior republican aide said this, "it seems he is just always focused on russia." tonight's report follow as "new york times" report about an august 9th phone call the president initiated with mcconnell, "the senator's refusal to protect him from investigations of russia interference in the 2016 election, according to republicans briefed on the conversation." joining us now, adam, former deputy chief of staff through senator harry reid, currently at the senator for american progress action and also with us, ron klain, former chief counsel and chief of staff to attorney general janet reno. ron, we just picked some of your resume for each introduction. >> appreciate it. >> and ron, i wanted to go to you on what you're hearing in these reports. the sourcing is clearly republicans. all of the sourcing

republican thom tillis is one of the sponsors. >> we don't want to restrict the administration's authority or the department of justice from removing a counsel, we just want to make sure to the american people they can be convinced it was done for the right reasons. >> reporter: amid all the turmoil in the trump administration, a growing number of republicans are gearing up for possible presidential runs themselves in 2020. and there have been reports that vice president pence might be among them. while he has now issued a report categorically denying that, calling any suggestion that's mounting his own campaign laughable and absurd. da president in bedminister, new jersey. >>> meanwhile, russia is signaling it's ready to engage further with the united states even as it faces new sanctions. >> the secretary of state has set a date to issue an official u.s. response. we are joined now with the overnight developments. good morning. >> good morning. september 1st. that's the date that rex tillerson says the u.s. will respond to russia's recent call to drastically cut its diplomatic presence i

. >> you could argue the alienation, that's why thom tillis feels comfortable sponsoring a bill. >> isn'te that donald trump is simply being donald trump and lashing out at anyone that he perceives as an enemy? he employed mitch mcconnell's wife. if he is angry, he lashes out. i don't think he does it for strategic reasons. i think he can't control himself. >> we got an example during the health care debate what happens, how the chickens come home to roost when you had lisa murkowski. >> one important -- it's interesting. all senators seem to be taking mcconnell's side over trump. the voters may take trump's side. >> they are taking trump's side. when you talk to voters as i have been, look at the data, when they say why are things not happening in congress, why is trump agenda not going forward, it's republicans in congress. he wins in the short-term. the president's brand wins in short-term. in longer term, it's his party. >> wow. what a week. what a show. thank you all. i appreciate it. that's all we have for today. back next week because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." >>> peop