[applause] have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians?

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? i just hope the final determination is a truly honest one, which is what the millions of people who gave us our big win in november deserve and what all americans who want a better future want and deserve. democrat lawmakers will have to decide. they can continue their obsession with the russian hoax, or they can serve the interests of the american people. >> about this continuing investigation, and the ongoing threat that the president might attempt to fire robert mueller, members of the senate are now pushing to get a law on the books to protect mueller's job in place. two separate bills are in the works. each coming from a pairing of a democrat and a republican. with that let's bring in the starting panel. shall we. washington bureau chief for the associated press julie pace. chief white house correspondent for the "new york times." for the "new york times." peter baker jeremy bash former cia staff and former counsel for house inte

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio, or pennsylvania?re there any russians here tonight? any russians? they can't beat us at the voting booths, so they are trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. they are trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us, and most importantly, doing to our country and our constitution. >> dana: tough words for democrats. >> democrat lawmakers will have to decide, they can continue their obsession with the russian hoax or they can serve the interests of the american peopl people. try winning at the voting booth. try winning at the voter booth, not going to be easy, but that's the way you're supposed to do it. >> dana: the president covered a lot of ground to that, that is certainly with the media will be looking for. laura ingraham spoke about this earlier tonight with a special report when she was on the panel, let's listen to that. >> it's not good news, it's not surprising. i would caution the trump legal team, this is where

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians. >> so originally, guys, it was we're not talking with russians and then it's we talk with them but we don't get any information out of it and then not russians on the campaign. this is a little goal post shifting? >> goal post moving alongside a red herring. the constant moving of the goal posts here is pretty obvious. they made statements before that have been disproven. the idea, by the way, that there were no russians on the campaign. nobody suggested that there were russians on the campaign. we've reported this story as it's come along but the idea that there was physically a russian person on the campaign or that somebody was, you know, acting on his behalf in these states is just pretty ridiculous. >> i think what this is, is exactly what we saw with the don jr. meeting from the beginning. first it was about adoption and then had to change the statement several different times as a defensive mechanism. >> nick, very quickly to y

from neutrogena >>> have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania?any russians here tonight? any russians? they can't beat us at the voting booths, so they're trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. they're trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us. >> president trump firing up his supporters at west virginia rally last night with an aggressive new attempt to d discredit the investigation. joining me is chuck todd. chuck, that speech last night was not just another rewarmed campaign rally. because this time he was saying they're trying to take the government, the leadership away from you. it was -- there was a different tone to that to my ears. >> i think -- there's no doubt this president knows how to talk to his base. i think you're going to progressively see this president use the russia investigation and every -- no matter how bad it looks to those of us in washington and all that stuff. but use it as a grievance and use it in just that way. saying they're tryin

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any rugs? jesse: the president's working class base is eating that up. does that show what real americans are feeling? joining me now marjorie clifton and bre peyton, staff writer at "the federalist." when you look at that video and see president trump swimming out there with that beautiful crowd. he has a very strong bond with his army of supporters. the media can't do anything about that bond and it just drives them crazy. >> all throughout the election, all of their coverage said america you will vote for hillary clinton and she'll win and america said no. now i think they are upset by the and they are trying to take it out on americans. you have seen a lot of snotty remarks. the "the boston globe" did a story where they lamented the spot that some of the best viewing spots for the solar eclipse happen to be in areas that overwhelmingly voted for donald trump. they are stretching so hard in order to insalt these people. -- to insult these people

adoring crowd in west virginia, the problems of russia, collusion, special counsels and grand juries a long way from these country roads. have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohioe any russians here tonight, any russians? cheering and applause. the russia story is a totalfabrication. it is just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics, that's all it is. he didn't mention the special counsel by name but had him in his sights when he said this. i just hope the final determination is a truly honest one. a grand jury is made up of members of the public meeting behind closed doors to consider the evidence that has been gathered. they can force people to testify or to hand over evidence. they will decide whether the material is strong enough to proceed to a criminal trial. but crucially, they don't decide if a potential defendant is innocent or guilty. that is done by a conventionaljury. of course, it may be the grand jury meeting at this courthouse will come to the conclusion that the evidence doesn't add up to much and there is no need for further action. but the fact that a grand jury has been called is a sign that this investigation is

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania?re there any russians here tonight, any russians? they can't beat us at the voting booths, so they are trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. cheat you outg to of the leadership that you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us, and most importantly, demeaning to our country and the meaning to our constitution. i just hope the final determination is a truly honest one, which is what the millions of people who gave us our big win in november deserve, and what all americans who want a better future once and deserve. german lawmakers will have to decide they can continue their obsession with the russian hoax or they conserve serve the interests of the american people. try winning at the voter booth. the voter booth. not going to be easy, but that's the way you are supposed to do it. our agenda is the pro-worker agenda. bordersto control our and lift our people from welfare to work. we want to support our police and make our communities safe. andan

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or russians here tonight in any russians? they can't beat us at the voting booths so they're trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. by the way if there were russians there they didn't fall for the trap, so good for them. you you a the big turnout. it was huge. a lot of enthusiasm for the president. he promised a big surprise for the rally but then word started to leak out what the surprise was. it came in the form of -- yim justice is no longer going to be a democrat , he's switching to the republican party. really he's just switching back because he was an independent and then a republican in 2015 and then he ran for government as a democrat and even news of the surprise broke. the the president really built up sue pence for the crowd . the good news keeps pouring important anunsment to make tonight. does anybody know what that announcement is in we have a very, very large announcement all right, so the president then brought governor justice on stage to make the announcement for himself. my mom

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania?ans here tonight? any russians? they can't beat us at the voting booths. so they are trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you won. they are trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us, and most of importantly, demeaning to our country and demeaning to our constitution. i just hope the final determination is a truly honest one which is what the millions of people who gave us our big win in november deserve. and what all americans who want a better future want and deserve deserve. democrat lawmakers will have to decide. they can continue their obsession with the russian hopes or they can serve the interests of the american people. try winning at the voter booth. try winning at the voter booth. not going to be easy. that's the way you are suppose to do it. our agenda is the pro work agenda. we want to control our borders and lift our people from welfare to work. [cheers and applause] we want to support our police

have you seen any russians in west virginia? or ohio? or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? >> reporter: as he went on offense, the president even returned to a common theme from his campaign. hillary clinton. >> be looking at are hillary clinton's 33,000 deleted e-mails. [cheers and applause] [ crowd chants "lock her up" ] >> reporter: the president's defiant tirade comes as special counsel robert mueller has convened a grand jury to investigate meddling in the 2016 election. the top white house lawyer dealing with the situation seems to be a bit caught off guard by the news. special counsel ty cobb said he was unaware he was using a grand jury but the white house is dedicated to fully cooperating. diane and kendis? >> our thanks to arlet there, his other lawyer said this is a standard procedure, they expected this to happen, but there is another thorn in the president's side, newly-leaked transcripts of his calls with two world leaders shortly after his inauguration. >> those transcripts show that the tension on those call

russian investigation is heating up a and so is the president. >> have you seen any russians in west virginia, or ohio cnn financial links could create a more path to criminal prosecution. >> i own nothing in russia. i have no loans in russia. >>> the presses president's senior policy adviser

[applause] have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania?re there any russians here tonight? any russians? they can't beat us at the voting booths, and so they are trying to cheat you out of the future and the future you want and they are trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us. >> sean: good for the president fighting back in his rally in west virginia. we continue with sarah carter and gregg jarret. inside of the white house, why would mr mcmafrter allow susan rice who is being investigated for unmasking, like samantha power and ben rhoeds and james baker and comey and so many other deep state people, why would he grant a waiver and true that mcmasters disagree with the president on the iran and deal. ? >> in is a concern, according to the sources in the west wing and intelligence community, hr mcmasters is completely at odds with president on the iran deal. there is concern within the intelligence community and west wing that he's moving people out that would give reason or cause

supporters in west virginia, and once more ridiculed any suggestion his campaign team colluded with the kremlin to beat hillary clinton. have you seen any any russians in west virginia, or ohioa? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? they can't beat us at the voting booths so they're trying to cheat you out of the future, and the future that you want. they're trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us and, most importantly, demeaning to our country, and demeaning to our constitution. mr trump, in west virginia. his lawyer has said again there is no reason to think the president himself is under investigation. i spoke just now tojonathan turley, professor of public interest law at george washington university. he told me this development does move the whole investigation onto a higher level of risk for the president himself. there's every reason to believe that the president is a target of the investigation. the investigation is clearly on multiple fronts. one of them is indeed an obstruction investigation, whether there was an attempt to obstruct the russian investigation — that was one headed by former fb

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? y russians here tonight? any russians? >> important to note here west virginia is the state that gave president trump his largest margin of victory over hillary clinton, and he won by 42 points there, and this stop was all about rallying his base, and here is this report filed from huntington, west virginia. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: i am at a trump rally for west virginia, and in a state where the president has his highest approval rating, and are these supporters happy with the president? >> the president, i think he's working hard to do the american people a good job. >> i think he's doing an amazing job. >> everybody knew what they were getting when they voted for him. >> there is a lot of scandals and stuff like that, nothing really big. >> pleased with what he has done, and as soon as he got into office he got hit the ground running. >> and then in west, 13,000 miners back to work, and that's good enough for me. >> thanks to lewis for that report. back with us, sarah fisher. i want to pla

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania. are there any rush shoes here tonight at iraq's strong. the rush to story. is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse. for the greatest loss in the history of american politics at so. he didn't mention special counsel by name but how the mini sites when he said these live shows still. the final determination. is a truly honest won. a grand jury is made up of members of the public meeting behind closed doors to consider the evidence that's been gathered. they can force people to testify or to hand over evidence. they'll decide whether the material is strong enough to proceed to a criminal trial. but crucially they don't decide if a potential defendant is innocent or guilty that's done by conventional jury. of course it may be that the grand jury meeting at this courthouse will come to the conclusion. that the evidence does not up to much and there's no need for further action. but the fact that a grand jury has been cold. is a sign that this investigation is intensifying. i will lost

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio? or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? >> well, russians might not have been in west virginia but they were certainly in trump tower last summer meeting with the president's son and son-in-law after promising dirt on hillary clinton. those are facts. the assessment of the u.s. intelligence community concluded that moscow, quote, developed a clear preference to elect donald trump. and even president trump's own director of national intelligence said recently, there's no dissent inside intelligence agencies about what russia did. the president can continue to dismiss the investigation as a home and a witch hunt but cold-blooded robert mueller isn't listening to it at all. axios national political reporter jonathan swann is here with me and the "boston globe's" national political reporter. do you think trump wants an honest investigation? he said so right there to his crowd. >> so, chris, he can spin and he can mislead and lie all he wants in front of his adoring fans or at a

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? >> well, russians might not have been in west virginia but they were in trump tower last summer meeting with the president's son and son-in-law after promising dirt on hillary clinton. they concluded that moscow developed a clear reference to he elect donald trump and even president trump's own director of national intelligence said recently there's no inside intelligence agencies about what russia did. the president can continue to dismiss the investigation as a coax or witch hunt but robert mueller isn't listening to it at all. congressman, do you think trump wants an honest investigation. he said so right there to his crowd. >> so he can mislead or whatever he wants in front of his fans or press podium for that matter. he cannot lie to the fbi or the grand jury. nor can his lawyers. nor can his associates. attend of the day what he says in his tweets and public utterances are irrelevant. this is about matters of law. that's what bob

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight, any russians. they can't beat us at the voting booths so they are trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. they are trying to cheat you out of the leadership that you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us. >> sean: good for the president fighting back earlier tonight at this rally in west virginia, you heard the crowd reaction. we continue with sara carter, gregg jarrett. let me go back to your piece. inside the white house, why would h.r. mcmaster allow susan rice who was investigated for unmasking like samantha power, like ben rhodes, like the general counsel of the fbi, like comey and so many other deep estate people. why would he possibly grant a waiver and is it true mcmaster disagrees with the president on the issue of iran and the obama deal? does he support that? >> this is the concern. according to the sources that i've been speaking with in the west wing and the intelligence community. h.r. mcmas

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? russians here tonight, any russians? they're trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us and most importantly, demeaning to our country and demeaning to our constitution. >> molly: let's bring in our media panel. the debbie online editor thank you both for being here. to kick things off, we know the mueller investigation has stepped up a notch. people looking at this from the establishing of the grand jury and the president is really talking to his supporters, saying we are on the same team, going up to the media the press, the leakers. what's his strategy there in the long term? >> he's ready for a fight. he is not backing down, it's interesting that throughout all this russian news, he has not backed off. he hasn't been shied away from the issue and frankly, what better place, what better ring to fight that in front of a hometown type crowd? he's bringing two of his greatest supporters, a community where he won very handedly an

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania?us at the voting booths, so they're trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. they're trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us and most importantly, demeaning to our country and demeaning to our constitution. i just hope the final determination is a truly honest one, which is what the millions of people who gave us our big win in november deserve, and what all americans who want a better future want and deserve. democrat lawmakers will have to decide they can continue their obsession with the russian hoax or they can serve the interests of the american people. [applause] try winning at the voter booth. try winning at the voter booth. not going to be easy but that's the way you are supposed to do it. our agenda is the pro-worker agenda. we want to control our borders and lift our people from welfare to work. [cheers and applause] we want to support our police and make our communities safe. we want to re

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania?t, any russians? cheering and applause. the russia story is a totalfabrication. it is just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics, that's all it is. he didn't mention the special counsel by name but had him in his sights when he said this. i just hope the final determination is a truly honest one. a grand jury is made up of members of the public meeting behind closed doors to consider the evidence that has been gathered. they can force people to testify or to hand over evidence. they will decide whether the material is strong enough to proceed to a criminal trial. but crucially, they don't decide if a potential defendant is innocent or guilty. that is done by a conventionaljury. of course, it may be the grand jury meeting at this courthouse will come to the conclusion that the evidence doesn't add up to much and there is no need forfurther action. but the fact that a grand jury has been called is a sign that this investigation is intensifying and will last

no one has said rouvs in west virginia or ohio or michigan infiltrated. it's creating these vstraw men. he's making arguments nobody's making. >> just quickly, we can say that's a smart frame, an attempt to refocus and deflect and distract but let's not lose sight of the big per picture. the president of the united states at a campaign style rally decrying an ongoing investigation is something that is well outside the norms of american politics. it's something we've seen in our countries. with bad overtones, but not here to date. >> panel, thank you all very much. so, up next, they vote ed against the senate's effort to repeal obamacare and now susan merkowski is talk defying the party, what that meant ant what the president has said. >> he tried to intimidate you on twitter, very directly. specifically. maybe having his interior secretary call you. >> did you feel he was trying to intimidate you? >> dan into bash's exclusive interview next. because tripadvisor searches... ...over 200 booking sites - so you save up to 30% on the... ...hotelock it in. trip

[cheers and applause] have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania?re there any russians here tonight? any russians? >> ed: former democratic state senator . they join us live. you are actually from ohio. did you see any russians? >> not on a daily basis although we do have a significant eastern european population in northeastern ohio. >> ed: doesn't the president have a point, that russia is an excuse for an embarrassing clinton loss. makes people in your party feel a lot better. repeat after me. russia, russia, russia. >> definitely true for some democrats. i come from northeastern ohio, a rustbelt community similar to huntington, west virginia. the reason why donald trump won was because he had an economic message. hillary clinton didn't show up and she didn't work hard and she basically abandoned the communities that really put donald trump over the top. i often say that was not republicans that elected donald trump commit was democrats, blue-collar democrats. >> ed: the president claimed these russia probes are a total fabrication. that doesn't

. >> have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania?y russians here tonight? any russians? they can't beat us at the voting booths, so they're trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. they're trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us, and demeaning to our country and demeaning to our constitution. >> we heard him at that rally making a political argument against the russia investigation. do you see this as a new strategy? >> yeah, very interesting. while he did kind of restrain himself on twitter, when in front of a largely adoring crowd and i don't think the president could resist. >> now he's on the 17-day vacation. congress is home for the august recess. tell us who had the worst week in washington? >> you mentioned it earlier and i do think we tend to forget because these weeks feel like months. but it was only on monday that anthony scaramucci was jettisoned as white house communications director by john kelly, one of the shortest stints in that jo

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania?> are there any russians here tonight. we didn't win because of russia. we won because of you. that i can tell you. greg: every reporter should listen to that especially the cheers. [cheering] greg: what does that tell you? it tells you that they don't give a rats ass about russia. if you oust a president over russia, you will deal with the flip side of the cheers which looks like this. i don't want those people to get angry. the big reveal at that rally on thursday was this. >> today i will tell you as west virginians i can't help you anymore being a democrat governor. tomorrow i will be changing my registration to republican. greg: hold on, hold on. i want to see that again. can we have a spot shadow? >> today i tell you as west virginians, today i tell you as west virginians. greg: from now on that is how i am putting my add-on. that democrat governor became a republican but was this a surprise? a billionaire cole baron turned republican? it's a shocking to find out that old rich gu

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? >> you think you are onto something but you are onto nothing. heather: looking at the response online and people questioning how can you now aur going off on people call attention to, another area talking about financial disclosure and that type of thing but they can't. the opposite of what we are used to. peter: an investigation in search of a crime, bob mueller bringing in a grand jury. it may be developing but you can do what you want with your investigation, i know i am innocent. heather: should be more like this across the country. in a few hours attorney general jeff sessions will make an announcement about the permit of justice's efforts to crack down on leaders, it has the president's supporters upset, bob corker, to drain the swamp. >> i encouraged the president and encourage that through general kelly to fire every single person, anything whatsoever to do with backbiting, for their own benefit or leaking and not to be cautious about it. g

[cheers and applause] have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania?here any russians here tonight? any russians? >> tucker: so there he is talking about the campaign and people say oh, trump, he never stops talking about the campaign. maybe true. but it's also true that there are a lot of people who still to this day have not accepted the election results. i mean, that's real. >> the danger here, the pity here is that we are still discussing the legitimacy of an election of a president six months in. that is never healthy for a democracy. >> tucker: no. >> it's happened to other democracies where you end up with the removal of the head of state. it's happened in france and other places or you get generations of the rump electorate that has its candidate taken away, resenting and not accepting the legitimacy of the country. this has never happened to us. and that's why i hope people will tread carefully. this whole speech was russia closing in on me in washington. versus you the people. that's how he set it up. he is very good at this. and what he is s

west virginia to stir the populist pot. >> most people know there were no russians in our campaign. there never were. have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohiosylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? >> stephen: okay, no russians. so trump is replacing the cia with an informal show of hands. "anybody here gay? no? okay. gay people don't exist. ( cheers and applause ) mike pence was right." ( laughter ) and trump made it clear that this trump rally was not about "him." >> since our election, not mine, since our election, we are working every single day to heed and honor the will of those millions and millions of voters who came out and voted for us. not for me, they voted for us. >> stephen: "yes, they voted for "us." okay. so "us" better lawyer up because we're in some deep doo doo. ." ( applause ) speaking of dee-dee -- ( laughter ) fox news. ( laughter ) the "huffington post" is reporting that co-host of "the specialists" and guy who's cologne you can smell through the tv, eric bolling, sent coworkers "an unsolicited photo of male genitalia via text message." oh, my god. whatever happened to old fashioned courtship when

have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight, any russians? >> and the leaks, which the president thought were awesome when preceded by the word wick i are now totally, totally awful. >> we are taking a stand. this culture of leaking must stop. i have this warning for would-be leakers. don't do it. >> understand this. if you improperly disclose classified information, we will find you. >> let's dive in. i'm joined now by republican congressman charlie dent of pennsylvania. and i was thinking about how we were putting this together, the fact that there are two realities, and i knew i had you on. i thought, boy, your district truly is sort of two realities all in one district. so let me ask you this. which reality is it? >> well, which reality? the reality is this. i think that my constituents are not obsessed with the russia issue. i would say they are concerned with it, very concerned with it and certainly they're paying attention to the investigation, but i think most people are still focused

. >> have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? >> let's bring in our panel, cnn political commentators. anna, i'll start with you, the president taking on the investigation with a political argument. his rhetoric familiar when it comes to russia. he isn't just wishing the investigation away. do you think this is a new strategy to fight it politically head on, making this us against them? >> yes. which has worked for him in the past. yesterday was a big day on the investigation. robert mueller empanelled the grand jury. that means this thing is not going away. it is going to be around for a very long time and we are all going to wait to see what the outcome is. president trump is going to continue attacking it, attack bob mueller and angry at jeff sessions for recusing himself. he is going to depict it as fake media and call it a witch hunt. this thing will grow and become much more serious. >> if this is all fake, as he says, why not allow the investigation to go forward and event