Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20170718

President trump short on legislative wins, still claiming that he beats all his predecessors. We have signed more bills and im talking about through the legislature, than any president ever, for a while harry truman had us. Now i think we have everybody. I better say think, or they will give you a pinocchio. You wouldnt want those pinocchios. Good day, im Andrea Mitchell in washington where Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell is running out of options, falling back on a 2015 plan for a straight Obamacare Repeal now that the first two senate bills are dead. The Trump White House stunned by monday nights tweets from republican senators jerry motra and mike lee, minutes after the president wrapped up a dinner with senators who were already on board with the legislation. The president tweeting, pushing for full repeal, blaming democrats, calling on senators to let obamacare fail. Joining me now is casey hunt on capitol hill and Kristen Welker at the white house. Welcome, both. Casey, what is going on up there today . Mitch mcconnell coming out with this plan, repeal, place later, repeal effective later in fairness and replace during that duration. Already were sensing opposition. Is there enough opposition to stop it from getting to the floor . That is a distinct possibility, andrea. Were still trying to figure that out. One top gop aide who i spoke to said, look, the lunch theyre about to have behind closed doors, all republicans with mcconnell, is going to be explosive. And i think thats really the sense here, i talked to many senators who say, look, i want to hear this from Mitch Mcconnell, i want to hear what is his plan, how does he think that this is going to go forward. They leaders said all the way along that there are not the votes for a repeal without replace. That has been the underlying truth that has caused all of this debate that we have been covering. Their strug le to write a bill that would repeal and also replace simultaneously obamacare. So it is pretty clear that that support that has not changed. So the question has become, okay, are there enough republicans who are willing to try and let this process play out, the thinking being if Mitch Mcconnell can get this bill on the floor, then you will see anything could happen. Perhaps they could actually get it done. But now we know that Susan Collins is not willing to do that. It seems like Shelly Mar Capito isnt willing to do that either. Were waiting to hear from other moderates, waiting to get a definitive anser from rand paul. This entire enterprise feels like it is teetering on the brink. Senator blunt who is close to mcconnell, a member of leadership, told one of our colleagues, frank thorp, that he sees this as being on a path to normal Committee Processes that would involve trying to get 60 votes. That seems like a remarkable admission to me about what might go on next. But, again, that lunch that is set to happen here in just about an hour, i think, is going to be crucial and tell us everything we need to know or potentially everything we need to know about the future of this bill. You have been staking people out, talking to people along the way, let me play a little bit of rob portman and Susan Collins, two very important voices on this. Im concerned about something that would simply repeal and its impact on cost and choices in health care. Im going to oppose the motion to proceed. I voted against this approach in 2015. But there was a majority in favor of the approach in 2015, not all were members of the senate at the time, though. And youve got back to your last point there, john mccain issued a statement from his sick bed where hes recuperating from surgery, saying lets go to regular order, lets have hearings, lets have, you know, debate, lets work with democrats basically. And thats probably where they should have started in first place maybe, but for mccain to have someone issuing that or he issuing that, from where he is in arizona, recuperating, is very telling indeed. I want to go to kristen, though. What was the heads up to the white house crack legislative Strategy Team that lee and moran were going to defect after that dinner at the white house last night . They didnt get a heads up, andrea. They were completely surprised by the tweets. They were left flat footed. I spoke with one Senior Administration official who said, look, they didnt get a heads up at the same time. They knew this bill was in very perilous condition. The question becomes, why was the president meeting here with senators who supported the bill . Well, i have been told that the strategy and the thinking that it was full steam ahead, that President Trump wanted to consult with veteran senators like lamar alexander, roy blunt, john cornyn, people who were no stranger to tough legislative battles, he thought he could map out a strategy and then move forward and get this bill over the finish line. It is a miscalculation on the part of the white house. And obviously a big defeat and setback for this president who has campaigned on a promise to repeal and replace obamacare. Thats why youre seeing the white house really push this new strategy, andrea, to repeal and then replace later. Because the president feels as though hes got to fulfill that campaign promise. Remember, he doesnt have any major legislative victories yet. This was the first victory he was looking for. And without Getting Health Care reform, without getting rid of those obamacare taxes, it makes broad tax reform very difficult. And it complicates the rest of his domestic agenda, frankly. So that is why youre seeing this plan b go into effect. But as you and casey have been talking about, it is very politically perilous. There is no guarantee theyre going to get the votes and even if they did, there is no guarantee that at the end of the day democrats would come to the table and try to work with them on the replacement plan, andrea. And, of course, john mccain and his message last night, there is another message to john mccain and i dont mean the one that the president issued saying he is crusty, but they need his vote. This is a tweet from mitt romney. Want to share that with everybody. Mitt romney saying, spoke with this morning with john mccain at john mccain re his health, tax reform, syria. A true timex hero, he takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Thats the john mccain we all know and respect and wish him well. They need his vote, but need him more than just his vote, they need his brain and his spunk and his intelligence, especially on russia and a lot of other stuff. Classic mitt romney too, i might say. But, yes. And, look, as we talked about yesterday, the halls of congress not quite the same with john mccain missing. I think there are senators on both sides of the aisle who would feel that way. And, look, i think, you know, he has been hes somebody he and mcconnell have been around a long time. They know each other. Mcconnells office is frustrated by mccains willingness to say what he thinks. Often in very quotable terms. And so that has been something that has frustrated them from time to time. At the end of the day, mccain has usually been with Mitch Mcconnell and he was somebody that they were counting on to try and move this bill forward. Look, if they get to the point where they actually think they can undertake this new plan, it is looking like they will need mccain to be back and able to vote for this because we do have those two people, suez san coll and Shelly Mar Capito. He is joining the chorus and has been pushing mcconnell to do it this way, to go back and do this through regular order, try to get 60 votes, try to get democrats on board. That is kind of the attitude hes taken all the way along. I think as one that clearly, you know, he would prefer, even if hes willing to be with mcconnell on tough votes at the end of the day. I think there a question around the strategy here, is mcconnell saying to the white house, hey, look, im going to prove to you this strategy is going to fail or something he wants to do. Well find out on what he says to senators behind closed doors. Any chance well see the president today or hear from him . It is possible they will add some events. Look, we dont have any Public Events on this schedule yet. And so it is possible they could add something. I know that ive been talking to white house officials here who say this is something that the president would potentially would want to weigh in on. It is possible, though no word on that yet, andrea. Kristen welker, casey hunt, thank you for starting us off. Joining me now here is ron kl n klain, chief of staff to Vice President biden and michael steel, former press secretary to speaker john boehner. He must be the happiest man around. Happy, happy man. He saw this coming. He called it. Looks like the way it is playing out. A lot of merlot and golf and other things not connected to repeal and replace. When you look at strategy here though, michael, Mitch Mcconnell has pulled so many rabbits out of so many hats over the years. And this may be another tactical act of genius, but it looks more like desperation than genius. I think that when voters gave republicans control of the house, the senate and unexpectedly the white house last year, they laid out an aggressive strategy to move a partisan repeal and replace effort, only gop votes, using reconciliation process. They felt they owed voters that attempt. It faltered in the house, the house persevered, they did its job. Now it looks like casey it probably right theyll fail to get to enough votes for the motion to proceed to get on the bill in the senate. I think this wail probably lead to this being put on the back burner, while trying to work with democrats, go through the Committee Process and make progress on Health Care Reform that way. What happened to them needing the savings from Health Care Reform to get to taxes . There is no question it makes it more difficult. It doesnt reset the baseline the same way, makes it much more difficult to hit the goals in tax reform. Tax reform has been tough and there has been ongoing discussions, even while health care has been on the front burner. Their ongoing discussions among secretary mnuchin, mr. Cohen, the speaker, senator mcconnell, senator hatch and chairman brady. No conversations with chairman brady. Of the ways and means committee. You got to bring democrats into this to try to get past this kind of gridlock. People voted to disrupt the system and drain the swamp. Those who voted, you know, for donald trump, clearly. And they are the base is still sticking with them. 50 of trump voters staying with them. Hes got those approvals and even higher approval in the swing districts that really went big for him. Yeah, i mean, look, trumps core voters are going to stay with him until the bitter end, whatever that is. He won the election because a bunch of voters expected him to deliver results. He was going to be the art of the deal president , going to make deals and get things done. When he won primaries, he said, ill work with democrats, get things done. Instead, were seeing no work and no deals. The spectacle yesterday, so out of touch with what was going on capitol hill, that he was playing in a fire truck, as a signature legislative plan was going down the tubes, shows just how out of touch he is. He is a twitter president. Twitter is a one way means of communicating. He needs to get on the phone, get in the room, if hes going to be effective, he needs to communicate two ways with the people on capitol hill, not just one way. And part of that problem is here he brings the House Republicans into the rose garden to celebrate the success of a one house vote on legislation. He keeps pretending these are bill signings, theyre not. Whether theyre executive orders or announcements of a survey, or some kind of study, and then he demeans them by saying, they voted for a mean bill, hes lost the trust of a lot of House Republicans. I dont know in is any question we havent seen the sort of sustained focused disciplined effort from the president himself that is usually necessary to get big things done in washington. Isnt that the staff . Doesnt he from the chief of staff on down legislative strategy have to have a team around him . Ronald reagan didnt know all the players, but he was given note cards and eventually learned their names. If you look at the diaries, he was meeting day in and day out, personally engaged on make prog gres a progress, and he had a couple of big priorities and worked tirelessly on those goals like tax reform and got them done. Kid reporter at the southwest gate, staking out all the arrivals for people coming in at night to go upstairs to the yellow oval room and meeting with them one by one by one. And having been a white house staffer what the staff needs to know is where the boss wants to go. The problem with donald trump on health care is, he just contradicts himself every single day. The house bill was too mean, the senate bill needs more heart. We kneneed to get rid of all ofe rules. Staff cant execute on trumpism if it is incoherent, intere contradictory and changes every single day. Ron, you also worked in white houses where there were multiple Power Centers, for instance strong first lady competing with a strong Vice President or strong secretary of state competing with another strong Vice President on Foreign Policy. How do you navigate all of these Power Centers when it is family, not just a spouse, which is a big player obviously, but also the children. I think the setup is completely untenable to have, you know, his soninlaw, the principle adviser, his daughter is another senior adviser, the whole white house engaged in rewriting or changing statements by another son who is under investigation, i mean, it is a terrible, terrible setup. But i do think the core problem is there is no core here at all. If there is no plan for the staff to follow, it is hard to know where theyre supposed to go. Thats what were seeing on the health care thing. All trump wanted was a bill to sign, send me something, and thats not president ial leadership. The president has to say what he wants in it, how he wants it done and engage people. We havent seen that from donald trump. To Mitch Mcconnell taking the floor, why didnt donald trump come out last night or this morning, command the podium in the rose garden, and say, okay, enough is enough. I was elected to get stuff done. Theyre not getting it done. And were now going to sell something i think he should have. I think he should have been doing that working over the weekend rather than at his club. I think he should have been calling senators, working the phones, trying to find consensus, trying to provide the encouragement to coalesce around a solution. Were not seeing that. Thats why im reluctant to blame staff or anyone else. Vice president pence seems to be doing a great job. The white house staff seems to be doing everything it can. Michael steel, ron klain, great to have you both here, thank you so much. Coming up, compound interest. Russias new threat over their suspected spy outposts. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. Your joints. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol® theres nothing more important so when i need to book a hotel, i want someone who makes it easy. Booking. Com gets it. And with their price match, i know im getting the best price every time. Visit booking. Com. Booking. Yeah for years, centurylink has been promising fast internet to small businesses. But for many businesses, its out of reach. Why promise something you cant deliver . Comcast business is different. We deliver superfast internet with speeds of 250 megabits per second across our entire network, to more companies, in more locations, than centurylink. We do business where you do business. Russia today threatening to retaliate if washington does not return two large compounds. Those mansions that the u. S. Seized to punish moscow for hacking the 2016 election. Former intelligence director James Clapper telling me on this program ten days ago there is hard evidence no doubt that the maryland compound in particular was used for espionage. Joining me is michael carpenter, a former Deputy Assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia, the senior director at the pan biden center for diplomacy and global engagement. Good to have you here. There has been so much speculation about was there collusion, whatever that means, not a legal term. Is there any doubt from what you know about russias abilities that they needed some american help . Some u. S. Help from some sector whether it was the campaign or elsewhere to understand the really precise microtargeting that they made into precincts in the midwest that really could have turned the tide . No doubt in my mind, just as the campaign would need a ground game to be effective, the russians needed their own ground game. They dont know these districts in mccomb county and, you know, grand rapids, michigan, how to get the vote out in wilkesbarre, pennsylvania. They could sequester a bunch of intelligence agents in moscow and have them study watch msnbc and study nate silvers blog for six months. The reality is they try to penetrate u. S. Political circles. That is their mo. Thats one of their number one goals. And it is clear that thats what they were trying to do. And meeting with donald trump jr. Is one example. There are many others of russian cutouts reaching out to u. S. Persons to gain more information. Is this witting or unwitting or both . Could be both. And when they reached out to don jr. , classic mo, so someone who knows him well, with whom hes done business, reaches out to him, the most illustrative indicator of his intent, his motive, is his response. I would love it, especially later in the summer when the election is heating up. But we dont know very much more about what happened because there have been so many changing stories. The initial story was about adoption. Adoption is sanctions because it is code for sanctions, yeah. This is a classic modus operandi for the Russian Intelligence Services to reach out through someone who has an established relationship, get a meeting, and then pitch this dirt on Hillary Clinton in order to see what they could get in return, the problem is not that they wouldnt deliver that immediately, but down the road after further conversations. What we know from the american side is that this was the top level, this was the brain trust of the Trump Campaign at the time in june. Absolutely. They got into the inner circle of as close as you can get to the candidate himself. We also know that there are so many different investigations going on, we dont know what mueller is doing, but they are following the money on manafort. What do we know in the past from manaforts connections to russian interests in ukraine. Well, manafort worked for the most corrupt leader of ukraine in its independent history. And he worked for the party of regions. They are known as being a very corrupt actor in ukrainian politics. The fact he was working for them for so many years, he was embedded in that system of corruption, of patronage, and so thats where he came from when he came to the Trump Campaign. And no doubt brought a lot of the contacts with him as well. If youre hiring Paul Manafort, is it is it believable . Is it credible they were hiring Paul Manafort because he was a great delegate counter in the 70s when he was in earlier republican campaigns . Could be that hes great at pr and thats why they hired him. But clearly he came out of that system and so he was embedded in that sort of corrupt entourage. Im not making any specific allegations with regards to him personally. I dont know him. But he came from a system that was as deeply corrupt as any country that ive ever worked in or with. And had not filed as a foreign lobbyist until way after the fact. The other piece of it is mike flynn, hasnt been mentioned lately, but he was the national secured adviser. And had been cleared for that by the trump team during transition. Yet at the time with representing interests in turkey. Yeah. There has been a lot of changes of stories about who met with whom or didnt, what their conversations entailed. And to my mind, this is all the more reason why we need not just the mueller investigation, but we really need an independent commission. We need a 9 11 Style Commission to get to the bottom of the totality of what russia was up to in its influence operation in the United States. We need to look at everything, the cyber, the disinformation, the covert operations, so that we can reconstruct all of this and prepare ourselves the next time they try and do this. I have no doubt they will try again. What do you say to those including the president of the United States who says this is just Opposition Research, it happens in all political campaigns . I dont think most political campaigns do Opposition Research with foreign adversary government. Thats just that just doesnt happen. And youve never in your experience heard of anyone getting this kind of overture from russia or if they did, they would have gone to russia makes these sorts of overtures all the time. I see this all the time in the countries i use ed to work on at the pentagon and before at the nsc and the state department. This is exactly how they operated in places like georgia, or mull dooldova or ukraine. They try to penetrate circles they think are sympathetic or aligned with their interests and this is exactly,0 how they operate. It is rather bold and brazen they tried it here in the United States. But it is unusual for an american political candidate to accept this sort of offer of information from a foreign government. And not just a foreign government, but an adversary of the United States. Russia views the United States as enemy number one. And, you know, as a pentagon official, ive seen them target us in so many ways. Militarily in terms of military equipment and new systems coming onli online. This is not just working with the uk or friendly government. This is one of our number one adversaries. Michael carpenter, former pentagon official, invaluable, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Thanks for your expertise. Coming up, wired to inspire. Twice denied entry into the u. S. A girls roboticsngineers a story sure to inspire around the globe. Whoooo. Finding the best hotel price is now a safe bet. Because tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites so you save up to 30 on the hotel you want. Lock it in. Tripadvisor. Bill assumed his mayo was the best choice. Assume nothing. Just like the leading brand, kraft real mayo is made with high Quality Ingredients at a price you can feel good about no wonder kraft is so good. Only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol® and were back with break news from the Washington Post, which is reporting the identity of an eighth person previously undisclosed in the room at that meeting with donald trump jr. At trump tower last june. Quote, an american based employee of the russian Real Estate Company took part in a june 2016 trump tower meeting between a russian lawyer and donald trump jr. , bringing to eight the known number of participants in the session that emerges as a key focus of the investigation of the Trump Campaigns interactions with russi russians. It was confirmed by scott barber. Barber said that he worked for the agalarovs company and was a representative. He said he received a phone call from a representative of special Counsel Robert Mueller over the weekend requesting the identity of the representative, which he said he provided. The request is the first public indication that muellers team is investigating this meeting. Nbc news has not independently confirmed that report. Michael carpenter is still with me. The significance of this is you have a representative of the agalarovs, we have seen them at Birthday Party for the son, and now he was represented as well at this meeting with the campaign. Well, this is sort of, again, the classic russian mo, bring someone in with some sort of connection to the two parties so he knows the agalarovs, and the agalarovs or the older one is fairly close with mr. Trump. What concerns me more is the russian Intelligence Officer and how he may have been relaying information to the group that was assembled there in trump tower. He described as a former Intelligence Officer, someone who lives here in the u. S. , but very few former Intelligence Officers in russia. Once youre part of the family, thats it. Thats it. Michael carpenter, thanks again for your expertise. And meanwhile, a team of six teenage afghan girls are here in washington this week, competing in their first robotics competition. This is a day the afghan girls thought would never come. Their visas were rejected twice by the state department. They made two dangerous 500 mile trips to the u. S. Embassy in kabul from their home. But at the last minute, President Trump intervened and made sure the visas were granted. And today on the final day of competition, ivanka trump stopped by at Dar Constitution Hall to wish the girls good luck. The afghan girls are up against teams from 157 countries. Theyre eager to prove themselves. Why was it important for you to be here . It is important to be here because im showing the talent and ability showing the talent and ability of afghan women . Yes. And can improve in robotics section. I want to keep our flags on. You wanted to show that afghan women could compete in the robotics . Yes. And make a robot . Yes. And also to show the flag of afghanistan. What . You wanted to show the flag of afghanistan . Yes, yes. The they were wonderful. Theyre learning english and also learning science, s. T. E. M. Under the taliban rule there was no education for children for women and girls. And then finally with laura bush and karen hughes and others under george w. Bushs white house they began to get coeducation and girls education. They had much less time to prepare because of the visa problems, the afghan team is not expected to take top honors but they can win one of the prizes today for teams that have a can do attitude who have shown they can overcome obstacles and certainly these girls have shown that. For more, tune into to nbc nightly news. Well show you more of the competition. Ready to deal. With the Senate Health care bill dead at least for now, will democrats be willing to work with republicans on a new Health Care Plan . 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Tylenol® and joining me now from capitol hill is maggie hasan, a member of the health, education, and labor and pensions, front and center in key part of the health care cris i the crisis, opioid epidemic. I want to talk to you about that. We do have breaking news at this moment, we understand that another senator murkowski is saying that she would oppose the motion to proceed. We dont know, you know, the numbers yet, but doesnt appear that they have the 50 votes for a motion to proceed. Well, thank you, andrea, for having me on today. Thats what im hearing too. And, look, the plan that senator mcconnell has been putting forward since last night, this repeal bill from 2015 would cause premiums to skyrocket, 32 million americans to s ts to lo Health Insurance coverage and eliminate Medicaid Expansion so critical in my state and many others in addressing the heroin crisis. It is an irresponsible plan. Im heartened to hear that senator murkowski joined senator collins and capito to say she wont proceed. We need to really talk about how we move forward to improve the Affordable Care act, fix what isnt working well and build on the Health Care System we have so all americans have access to affordable Health Insurance so we can all be healthy and strong and our country can thrive. I wanted to play a little bit of the comments we got in. Let me play that for you. Sure. Motion to proceed on this repeal and then replace . Im not there. Not there . Nope. Would you vote against a motion to proceed. I said in january we should not repeal without a replacement, and indefinite hold on this just creates more chaos and confusion. Thank you, senator. I think we also heard from rob portman he had some concerns about it, doesnt mean hes a firm no. Doesnt appear this is going to go anywhere unless he can turn some democrats. Well, i dont think youre going to see any democrats voting to proceed with a bill that would as senator murkowskis comments just indicated create chaos in the marketplace, Rip Health Care coverage away from 32 million americans, cause our premiums to skyrocket and undermine seriously our efforts to combat the opioid crisis. We have ideas in the Democratic Caucus about how to move forward and Bring Health Care costs down and stabilize the market. Among other things we have to bring Prescription Drug prices down and so we should be allowing the importation of safe and affordable Prescription Drugs, we should allow medicare to negotiate with form supharmal companies for prices. Those are some ideas we have to help us bring down costs. We have other ones, just on the floor talking about how we could stabilize the Insurance Market and further bring costs down too. Thats where our attention should be. And i am hopeful that this means we will return to regular order. Im a member of the help committee that sets Health Policy in the United States senate. We would like to have a hearing on Health Care Reform and how to move forward. You as everyone lives it day in and day out, but you have a special interest, tell me about your son ben and how people like ben benefit from the coverage, coverage that would not be available if obamacare is repealed. Right. So my husband tom and i are blessed with two terrific children. Our oldest is ben who is 29, and happens to have very severe and invasive pae ivive cerebral pal. Ben cant speak or walk or use his fingers to access a keyboard, but he has a smile that lights up the room and he can communicate with very basic gestures. You know, ben obviously has a lot of preexisting conditions. Should the protections for people with preexisting conditions go away, he would be deeply impacted. He has a lot of medical care that is actually covered by medicaid, not our familys private insurance because even though our private insurance is excellent insurance, most private insurance doesnt cover the kinds of supports and extra care that someone like ben needs in order to be able to live at home and be a member of his community. My husband and i are incredibly aware of both the strengths and the flaws of our Health Care System. At times ben had as many as nine or ten doctors and up to 20 medications, so we know that there are improvements we need to make, we certainly have to do more to bring the cost of health care down. But, you know, in order for us to be productive as a country, people have to be able to be healthy. We heard story after story as i just did in New Hampshire on friday from people who got coverage through Medicaid Expansion, whether for Substance Abuse or some other kind of health care need, and are now working some of them working for a private entity and getting private insurance now. So there is really a possibility to move forward. It starts with the basic principle that every american counts, every american deserves access to Affordable Health care and when we do, we get healthy and thrive together. Thank you so much, senator, thanks for your perspective, your first person experience with them, with your family and what you have done as a family. It is very meaningful. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Take care now. You too. Coming up, deal breaker, the effort to repeal obamacare goes down again after a long engagement. Could it be that Senate Republicans got cold feet . Our reporters have the inside scoop. Stay with us. 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I said in january we should not repeal without a replacement, and just an indefinite hold on this just creates more chaos and confusion. Thank you, senator. So lets get the inside scoop from casey hunt, robert costa, Washington Post National Political reporter and moderator of Washington Week and msnbc political analyst and sam stein daily beast politics editor and msnbc contributor and ruth marcus Washington Post deputy Editorial Page Editor and columnist. You have so many titles, i cant keep up. Sorry. First to you, casey, is murkowski the final significant no vote . The count puts her at number three, which as you know very well, andrea, is enough to mean that this motion to proceed on the latest iteration of mcconnells plan to repeal obamacare is seems destined to fail. They could only lose two votes, first lost collins, then capito and Lisa Murkowski with garrett sench hi saying this plan will not go forward. Mcconnell proprosed shoredup conservatives. Since i saw you last, we spoke to senator rand paul who said hes inclined to be supportive. Senator paul, lee, all those conservative senators on board but these moderates it looks like are sending this plan to the dust bin before theyve even had a chance to sit down to lunch and talk about it. So robert costa, how did the white house get so blindsided . The president was having dinner maybe with the wrong senators, with the senators already on board, and then did not even know what lee and moran were about to tweet. Monday nights scene was really telling. You had the president invite these leadership allies like senator cornyn to the white house for a cozy dinner, for a gut check, an assessment about whether everything stood on the health care bill. Meanwhile, while the establishment allies are having dinner with the president , senator lee and senator moran and others are prepared to break from the bill. You had this disconnect throughout the Republican Party and throughout this entire whipping process where they never really were close to the votes because of the schism that exists within the gop. Ruth marcus, what does it tell you about the legislative strategy and about the disconnect between the president and capitol hill . Well, usually at the very least, if you were going to do this to the president of your party you might give him a heads up. Theres no indication of that. You might give him a chance to let the president talk you out of this position or something. Or call the chief of staff. Yeah. And how could they have not known . I dont think we know the whole story, but it is one of the many befuddling aspects of the last 24 hours. And the president has just spoken at a photo opportunity, sam. Well be hearing that momentarily. He was with Vice President pence and mcmaster. You also have disagreement on the Foreign Policy front where his own team arguing with him about the Iran Nuclear Deal. They had to recertify it by midnight last night. They werent sure what to do because the president wanted to tear it up as he said. But iran has been complying and every other member of the International Coalition and the International Energy Atomic Energy monitors say iran is living up this deal, no matter what else theyre doing. There is something poetic and much to the delight of the Obama Administration officials that ive spoken to today about both Health Care Reform failing on the same night that the Iran Nuclear Deal is formally certified as iran being compliant. The obama legacy here is the president. Sure. Lets hear what he had to say. Thank you very much. Thank you. Mr. President , are you angry at the republicans who wont sign on to the bill . Disappointed. Very disappointed. [ inaudible question ] im certainly disappointed for seven years ive been hearing repeal and replace from congress and ive been hearing it loud and strong and when we finally get a chance to repeal and replace, they dont take advantage of it. So thats disappointing. So im very i would say im disappointed in what took place. It will go on and well win. Were going to win on taxes. Were going to win on infrastructure and lots of other things that were doing. Weve won and are winning the war as you know on the border. Were very much decimating isis. You can see that. You see that better than anybody sees it. The soldiers that are with us today. Weve had a lot of victories, but we havent had a victory in health care. Were disappointed. I am very disappointed because, again, even as a civilian, for seven years ive been hearing about health care and ive been hearing about repeal and replace, and obamacare is a total disaster. Some states had over 200 increase, 200 increase in their premiums. And their deductibles are through the roof. Its an absolute disaster. And i think youll also agree that ive been saying for a long time let obamacare fail and then everybodys going to have to come together and fix it and come up with a new plan and a plan thats really good for the people with much lower premiums, much lower costs, and much better protection. Ive been saying that, mike, i think youll agree for a long time, let obama fail. It will be a lot easier. I think were probably in that position where well just let obamacare fail. Were not going to own it. Im not going to own it. I can tell you the republicans are not going to own it. Well let obamacare fail and then the democrats will come to us and say how do we fix it, how do we fix it, or how do we come up with a new plan. So well see what happens. Theres some other things going on right now as we speak. But i am disappointed because for so many years ive been hearing repeal and replace. Im sitting in the oval office right next door pen in hand waiting to sign something, and ill be waiting and eventually were going to get something done and its going to be very good. But obamacare is a big failure and it has to be changed. We have to go to a plan that works. We have to go to a much less expensive plan in terms of premiums and something will happen and it will be very good. May not be as quick as we had hoped but its going to happen. Okay . [ inaudible question ] well, they were not disloyal. They had their own reasons. I was very surprised when the two folks came out last night because we thought they were in fairly good shape, but they did. And, you know, everybody has their own reason. But if you really think about it, you look at it, and we have 52 people. We had no democrat support, which is really, you know, something that should be said. We should have had democrats vote. It was a great plan for a lot of people. We had no democrats aboard. We are 52 people. We had four noes. We might have had another one somewhere in there but eventually the vote would have been pretty close to, you look at it, 484. Thats a pretty impressive vote by any standard. And yet off vote of 484 or Something Like that and you need more. Its pretty tough. So the way i look at it is in 18 were going to have to get some more people elected. We have to go out and we have to get more people elected that are republican. And we have to probably pull in those people, those few people that voted against it. I dont know. Theyre going to have to explain to you why they did and im sure theyll have very fine reasons. But we have to get more republicans elected because we have to get it done. We got it passed in the house. We would have gotten it very much you cant use his head as a stand, right . We dont want that to happen. Youre messing with the wrong guy here. I think were going to do very well in 18. I would be not surprised if something were done long before that. But in any event, because the margin is so small, the majority of the ma gin is so small, we have to get more keps elected in 18 and ill be working very hard for that to happen, okay. It would be nice to have democrat support, but really theyre obstructionists. They have no ideas. They have no thought process. All they want to do is obstruct government and obstruct, period. And in this case, think of it. So many good things we didnt get one vote and their plan has failed. And by the way, obamacare isnt failing. Its failed. Its gone. So i think somethings going to happen. Well find out. Stay tuned. Thank you all very much. That is a remarkable exposition. Sam, i interrupted you p the president of the United States blaming democrats for the failure of the Republican Party to pass their version, which they did without letting democrats into the room. Amazing. He could have theoretically started this process by going to a joe manchin and saying what do i need to get your vote . He never once stepped into west virginia, a state he won by 40 points. He will let obamacare fail and try to get democrats to the table in part by letting it feel. That is a deeply cynical strategy that could result in a lot of people losing insurance coverage, higher premiums, it could roil the markets and hes willing to roll the dice. Robert costa, there was a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield this weekend attacking the ted cruz compromise amendment saying it would destroy the marketplace. That was the big lastminute option from Mitch Mcconnell. There was talk on the right wing of the Republican Party about getting rid of some of these relegations as a way of lowering premiums. That was never able to really cobble consensus together. And ruth marcus, for the president to talk about the midterm elections is conceding that they arent going to get anything done until 2018 . There were so many remarkable things there. That among them. In that context, i mean, he can talk about how hes going to let obamacare fail and the democrats are going to own it and it would have the sort of human consequences that sam talked about. But i wonder from the political point of view if youre a republican senator or house member up in 2018 and you are listening to the president assert democrats are going to own it, youre thinking, whoa easy for you to say, buddy naps not so clear to me. When you have unified government and republicans in control of anything, when Peoples Health care goes south, i think that betting on them to blame democrats is a very dicey bet. Going to have to leave it there. Ruth marcus, sam stein, kasie hunt, robert costa, that does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. A lot of news today. Follow the show online on facebook and twitter. Chris jansing is up next right here on msnbc. Hey, chris. Understatement, lot of news happening. Thank you so much, andrea. Good afternoon. I am Chris Jansing at msnbc headquarters in new york. So here we go. Weve got a lot to talk about starting with that broken promise. After two more republicans derail the gop Health Care Plan, Republican Leadership is scrambling to deliver on their sevenyearlong promise to repeal obamacare. Can Mitch Mcconnell get enough of his party to back a repeal and delay plan . Alternate reality. President trump blames democrats for health care failure, sees record low Approval Ratings as not bad, and his press secretary on the record with an explanation for the russian meeting that don juniors own emails disprove, even as questions are raised about his physical fitness for the job. And minneapolis mystery. Mounting questions about a Police Officer who shot and killed an unarmed