Transcripts For MSNBCW Deadline White House 20170713

Trump today defending his sons actions in a joint press conference with president macron. I think from a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting. Its called Opposition Research or Even Research into your opponent. I have had many people i have only been in politics for two years but i have had many people call up, oh, gee, we have information on this factor or this person or frankly hillary. Thats very standard in politics. Politics is not the nicest business in the world but its very standard where they have information and you take the information. Somebody said that her visa or her passport to come into the country was approved by attorney general lynch. Now, maybe thats wrong. I just heard that a little while ago, but i was surprised to hear so she was here because of lynch. Many people that sounds like an awful lot like the Anonymous Sources that the president doesnt like a lot. Theres a lot to unpack there. Our team of reporters and analysts is here. Hallie jackson on the ground in paris. When i say working overtime working 24 7. Along with nbc intelligence and National Security reporter ken dilanian in d. C. And Washington Post White House Bureau chief who has been writing feverishly over the last week, philip rucker. Hallie, what do you make of President Trumps i would say rather tame comments . Well, lets at least say consistent, right . Because this is what the president has said publicly at least for the last 24 hours or so. Not just in interview with reuter but at air force one overnight. The president held an off the record 60 minute conversation with the small team of reporters, the pool they call it who travel with him. Those some of those comments have been put on the record and its very similar to what we heard from the president publicly and on camera today. Consistently i would say. Again, he seems to be saying the meeting happened. Nobody disputes the meeting happened, because he has to, because donald trump jr. Tweeted out the evidence that it occurred but also because nothing came of it. Because there was no dirt on Hillary Clinton, it was just politics as usual. Lets just do a quick fact check on that. Political operatives on both sides of the aisle we have spoken to said thats not politics as usual. Yes, Opposition Research happens, meeting on oppo happens, but not with foreign nationals and not particularly from russia thats why youre hearing the backlash on capitol hill this should have raised more red flags. Donald trump jr. Said hey, in hindsight, in metro specific, hindsight is 20 20 essentially. But at this case moving forward the president is obviously defending his son. And then doing what he often did on the campaign trail and in his administration, turn the blame back on Hillary Clinton and barack obama and that the doj allowed this russian lawyer into the United States in first place. It was an interesting moment here in paris. I have to mention this. He is actually here at the eiffel tower having dinner right now with the french president and the french first lady along with melania trump. We just saw a little bit of a glimpse of them from the pool. The trip has been very good, and then the reporters were ushered out so the four of them could have their dinner before the bastille day celebrations, that big parade here tomorrow. We do need to put into perspective, President Trump said that the meeting happened because donald trump jr. Tweeted it out. Donald trump jr. Tweeted it out because it was later disclosed a meeting that he previously hadnt. Right. Philip rucker, you have covered many campaigns. Is that a valid defense that the president is trying to use, this is simply Opposition Research . You know, not exactly. A lot of Campaign Operatives will hear tidbits like this and they do conduct their own Opposition Research. They have consultants and staff that go out and do their open research. Very rarely does Research Come through somebody representing a Foreign Government. And an adversarial government at that. This is highly unusual. But what i think the president is trying to do in his public statements over the last 24, 48 hours is muddy the waters a little bit and signal to his base, the voters who support them, this is much ado about nothing in his view and try to explain it away as sort of the normal business of politics which of course it is not. Okay, muddying the water or delegitimizing his opponent, ie the press is Standard Operating Procedure for the president. When does it become a legal issue . For mueller is it more than its unprecedented its highly unusual, is it a real problem . Well, stephanie i would be shocked if bob muellers team hasnt already subpoenaed the emails, the phone records, the calendars of everyone involved in this meeting. And perhaps beyond that with the trump team. Because if he didnt have it before, he now has black and white evidence that the russian government offered to help donald trump and hurt his opponent and the trump team accepted that offer. What happened in the meeting thats what the emails say. Now, that collusion may or may not be illegal. Theres a legal debate about whether its a Campaign Finance violation or some other violation but it could become part of the conspiracy, could part of another offense and its exactly what bob mueller is investigating many other things and you have to believe hes looking hard at this. Hallie jackson, you have to got to weigh in the comments. Released by the white house in the last hour from the q a held last night with the reporters on air force one. Specifically asked directly his view of russian hacking and the wake in the wake of last weeks meeting with Vladimir Putin he replied he didnt say a 400 pound guy on the bed somewhere, he did say im not saying it wasnt russia, but im saying we have to protect ourselves no matter who it is. China is very good at this. North korea is very good at this. Look what they did to sony studios. They did the whole deal to sony. You know were dealing with highly sophisticated people. Muddy, play to his base. But is he holding Vladimir Putin responsible at all . So i think in the excerpt that you just read from the first off the record and then on the record conversation that he had with reporters, the president appears to be confl e conflating sort of hacking in general and with the specific 2016 election interference and this goes back now i think a week ago when we were in poland and the president said something similar about other countries. Although at the time he declined to name them. Whether intentionally or not, it does appear that he is conflating some of these issues and perhaps as philip talked about in a different issue muddying the waters a bit. When its comes to Vladimir Putin, the responsibility of president putin with election interference, it is clear that this came up according to what President Trump said, according to what the russian government said in the meeting with president putin at the g20. In the comments you just read and the expanded excerpts from the conversation on air force one, the president said he pressed putin at one point he told reporters and im paraphrasing, what are you doing to do essentially keep fighting the point after he kept pressing putin again and again. He says a couple of times on whether or not russia did it. It should have been no surprise and perhaps it wasnt that Vladimir Putin denied being behind the election interference. That has been moscows line for months now. So that is fairly standard at least for russia. Except of course in the Intelligence Community here in the u. S. But President Trump is not the kind of guy who says lets move on. He holds grudges and holds vendettas. But he said it. He has said he wants to move on, stephanie. He wants to go to work with russia on syria and the other issues, even republicans on the hill said thats not the right move. Russia is a foe. Which is extraordinary because its not what we see President Trump do. Not what we saw him do in his business career. What stood me out to the most, trump jumping to don jr. s defense but saying nothing about Jared Kushner who is also in that 2016 meeting and this morning i thought it was very interesting what democratic senator chris murphy said with regard to Jared Kushner and why he shouldnt get a security clearance taken away by but he should get fired. He was potentially compromised inside the white house. If he doesnt get fired then theres clearly a double standard. Michael flynn was fired because he was compromised in the sense that he had met with the russian government. He had not disclosed that to his superiors and thus he could be in a position to be corrupted. It appears that the same thing occurred here. Mr. Rucker, its true. That would be a double standard. Well, look, i dont think Jared Kushner is getting fired any time soon. Hes the president s soninlaw. And one of the most powerful advisers in the west wing with a pretty influential Foreign Policy portfolio. He doesnt seem to be going anywhere. I dont think thats any retaliatory action that the president plans to take. Unless im missing it in the reporting. Does that mean that jared is hanging on to the security clearance . It does even though as nbc news is reporting today he amended his security clearance form to disclose a hundred lets say that number one more time. He amended it to include how many . 100 more more than a hundred is what Peter Alexander additional foreign contacts that he failed to disclose. I dont know a hundred people from Foreign Countries that im going to throw out. Hes an International Business man. But the point here is that a regular person with a clearance who did that, a lawyer who practices in this area told me today would have immediately had their clearance pulled. Theres clearly a double standard here, but the bottom line the president of the United States can give the clearance to whoever he wants. Thats our system. Even in the fbi said to him, sir, we think mr. Kushner is compromised, he didnt december close disclose the meetings but President Trump can blow it off. No one expects him to revoke the security clearance of his soninlaw. Hang tight, guys. I have the best panel with me today and im telling you, megan murphy is here. Shes about to paw across the table. Msnbc political analyst mike taylor. And i just said megan has something to say. Nicholas christophe and donna ed wards. Nicholas, we have to start with you. All roads lead to the one and only jared. Take us there. By the way the president is going to love a headline like that. Look, the discussion until now has been largely about was there attempted collusion or not . Were beyond that now. We know that there was an attempt at collusion. Its clear from the emails, so then the thats just our life. The question becomes how far does it go . And so the next step has tock looking at the connections with President Trump himself. And in particular to Jared Kushner. And the fact that jared was, you know, informed of a meeting whose stated purpose was to advance a russian attempt to interfere in our election. And who then attended, who then omitted that meeting from his f86 clearance form. And who then, you know i mean the most bizarre thing is then he attempted to set up this secret Transmission Scheme with the kremlin. And there are some really interesting theories about what that entailed. When this was first reported thoroughly in may it appeared that the idea was that jared would go to a russian consular facility and then have conversations with the kremlin and now totally normal. And that was so weird, but now one of the theories based partly on something that jim comey said that what he was attempting to do and perhaps did was that he obtained mobile russian scrambling devices and used those to communicate with russia and those may have created an eavesdropping risk. So look, i mean, there are so many uncertainties here. But when you have someone who attends a meeting to undermine our election and who then omits that and then set up the secret Communications Channel using russian equipment and still is privy to some of our deepest secrets, then something is truly profoundly wrong. Profoundly wrong. But what is President Trump going to do about it . The New York Times reported earlier today that President Trump is distressed because his babies his babies, don jr. For example, 39 years old, are now swept into this vortex. This isnt like were talking about the obamas daughters who are in grade school. These are senior white house advisers. That is what Jared Kushner is. So is President Trump and yes, you dont have a crystal ball, but given what you have learned so far is President Trump going to fall on the sword in any way for jared . Even don jr. . He said hes a good kid, but trumps lawyer was saiding that President Trump never saw the emails. Only learned it about today. I think the bigger issue is with don jr. With don jr. Its stupidity. People saying that we accept that Opposition Research. That is that is not common. That is not politics. That is not when someone tells you it comes from the crown prosecutor and the second half of the email says as part of an attempt to russia to help donald trump win the election. You think red flags would have sprung up there. With jared, youre exactly right. It becomes a far more serious thing. This is someone who we know failed to disclose his contacts. Was trying to set up some type of apparatus and he was certainly a much more involved, engaged, more sophisticated operator whether that was in the business realm and not quite in politics. Whether or not the president is going to do anything about this of course hes not going to do anything about this. Hes calling a 39yearold man a good kid who wants the best for the american people. By the way, jared in his middle east land im sure thats getting done along with the tech titans and the media barons and the way forward for the palestinian people. As hes White Water Rafting between tim cook and sheryl sandberg. But we know that donald trump is going to defend his family. What is the gop leadership going to do because they have used the excuse before President Trump and his family, theyre new to politics. And having ivanka and jared there for example theyre the mediating forces in the president s ear. Donald trump is saying that anyone would have done this. Jared getting deeper and deeper in this, is the gop going to say, yep, everything is okay . This is like watching a movie ishtar. Far sexier. Warren beatty. Look, the gop has to take a stand here. The idea that we discussed that Jared Kushner would want to set up the back channel for the russians he shouldnt come near National Security issues. He shouldnt come anywhere near the Palestinian Peace plan. And what youre seeing donald trump do, the fact that what he does is he says a lot of things that are true and then mixes them with things that arent true. So the things that he said is true, yes, oppo Research Comes into the campaign every single day. Of course it does. You send it down to the lowest level. And then he says, do people do Oppo Research . Yes, but they hire professionals, why . Because it has to be vetted, you dont spill it out do you think Ron Goldstone was a professional . No, thats the whole point. Heres the thing that was remarkable it surprise z me t t that it surprises me who was the chairman of the campaign in the meeting . Paul manafort. He was in the meeting. The idea that Hillary Clinton who was secretary of state first lady, u. S. Senator, ran for president in 2008 and 2016. Theres no more Oppo Research on Hillary Clinton its done, its all known. Its ridiculous to think, this is it. We have got it. Its silly. Like the movie ishtar. Well take a quick break and well talk about the beltway reaction to this and go inside the white house. Because inside the administration its more than just the trump family. When we come back, President Trump he is in damage control mode. But what about are people inside the white house doing . More on the fallout of don jr. s emails when we come back. Onds , down by one. Championship on the line. Erin the sharpshooter shanahan fakes left. Shes outside of the key, she shoots. She scores uh. Yes, erin, it is great time to score a deal. We need to make room for the 2018 models. Relive the thrill of beating the clock. The volkswagen model year end event. Hurry in for a 1,000 bonus and 0 apr on a new 2017 jetta or passat. Only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol® yeah, and i can watch thee bgame with directv now. . Oh, sorry, most broadcast and sports channels arent included. And you can only stream on two devices at once. This is fun, were having fun. Yeah, we are. No, youre not jimmy. Dont let directv now limit your entertainment. Xfinity gives you more to stream to more screens. Did the Vice President ever meet with representatives from russia . The Vice President is not focused on the areas where, you know, on this campaign. Especially things that happened before he was even on the ticket. Just come back to this question. If it wasnt a private citizen from russia did he ever meet with representatives from the russian government during the campaign . You know, thats stuff that the special prosecutors and counsels are looking at. To nail this down, is that a yes or a no . Did he or did he not and was it relevant in fact . Im not aware of anything that i have seen. Good on you, bill hemmer of fox news. That did not sound like a denial. Vice president mike pences spokesperson clearly dodging questions over whether pence met with russian officials over the course of the campaign. The panel is here you to weigh in. Donna, lets start with you. Thats a wow. Well, to me it sounds like a yes. Because otherwise, you just say no. And that is you know, thats clearly what his spokesperson did not say. I also think, you know, the fact is that these people one after the other they move the goalpost. They say, you know, the that its one thing and then the next thing down the line, you know, that its something else. I think that thats whats happening here. And, you know, frankly people on the hill right now the ones you can imagine that theyre running away from answering russian questions and theyd prefer to answer health care questions. Thats when you know youre in trouble. Wow. When you prefer health care questions you have a problem. Let me push back. I dont think that was a wow. He maybe didnt know, he wasnt clear. I would be very skeptical that pence was involved in whatever was going on with the trumps. Trump and pence are not particularly close. This is such an unusual event, the idea that you were colluding with an adversary power youre going to keep that close knit. And maybe he was hedging because mike pence has been lied to twice . I think mike pence has been lied to right and left but i would be very skeptical if mike pence is playing an Important Role in what i think may well have been a conspiracy. Somebody who is quite close or has been in the past, corey lewandowski. Chuck todd spoke with him and i want to share what he had to say. Let me be as clear as i can be. If anybody and i mean anybody did something with the Foreign Government that materially impacted the outcome of this election that person should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Because we cannot have individuals who are meddling with Foreign Governments to potentially impact the outcome of the election. Megan murphy, what did you hear there . Well, the former lawyer hears the word materially. The administrations line has been even if there was attempted meddling they never acknowledged it was russia. We heard trump saying it could have been china or north korea. But the consistent line has been that even if there was attempted meddling or meddling itself, it never impacted the integrity of the democratic process, it never affected a single ballot box. If there is a little shift in the words smithing, well, it had to be Material Impact or was there the degree of collusion required to prove was there the intent we didnt know what they were doing, thats going to be then thats when you need the lawyers in. Thats why i have been so surprised how much don jr. Has been talking about it. This should go into the legal realm. This is really serious stuff. But i mean, its really clear theyre not listening to their lawyers because no lawyer very clear theyre not listening to the lawyers. They would not be advised to go on fox, tweeting. I mean it was crazy. It was three weeks ago a team of lawyers would be vetting President Trumps tweets before they came out . I mean youre not noticing a change in the tweets . I am noticing an tase amazing statement i have to share. The mood in the white house is fantastic. We have done more in five months than practically any president in history. The white house is functioning beautifully. Now, im going to say from my own reporting i speak to people inside the white house who say the exact opposite. Who say i came here to work on tax reform or deregulation. We cannot get to our agenda. The president is muddying the waters and theres a massive amount of infighting so when the president makes a Statement Like this, who exactly is he speaking to . His base. And theyre going to hang with him. I mean, hes a minister of propaganda for them. We can point to Different Things they can get done, but what they dont have the power to do is get a legislative agenda done. I know well talk about health care later on. But you have to use the press. The reason msnbcs ratings are up as well as many of the other cable net works and the New York Times and the all the anchors, theyre all good. The reason is people get their information through the media. And they just leave it on the table. If they think they can communicate to just their base, and move a major piece of legislation Like Health Care and tax reform, like immigration reform, theyre crazy. Its not going to happen. Take the base out for one minute and Jonathan Swan from axios reported even the biggest trump koolaid drinkers are the white house. Theyre panicked at this point. While the overall Approval Rating has remained reasonably solid at 40 or the high 30s the strong approval has dropped almost in half for trump voters. Theres a strong diminution of trump in the base which i think is important. I do think that he has completely shot his credibility. When he makes statements like this, then i think it does change how we view everything else. When he says that donald jr. Is releasing those emails because of transparency when we at the we have told them were about to release them. I think it puts all these other things in a different context that theres so much circumstantial evidence of very bad things that have gone on. At this point since there is zero correlation between what the white house says and what later proves to be correct, that gives all the circumstantial incidents much more weight. In terms of the legislative agenda you have in the last couple of days fewer and fewer republican members willing to stand in front of a camera and defend him. I think you need that in order to move the legislative agenda. He wont get that done either. Its great that people went into the white house with the infrastructure, health care reform, lowering taxes but they have no one to blame themselves for not knowing what they were getting into it. What donald trump says is what goes on. If they thought that they were getting to get a changed president that adhered to the normal norms that we expect from this office they should have been watching the campaign as its unfolded and they have no one to blame but themselves. He reads a scripted speech and then he goes home and he picks up his smartphone. If we have we have to take a break. Congratulations, a fantastic piece. If you havent read it, please do. All roads lead to kushner. Hours after Senate Republicans released the new revision of the Health Care Bill, its fate is looking bleak as some key lawmakers vad theyll vote no. Mitch mcconnell cannot afford to lose one more vote. Well from my perspective, it does not make sense to do a major rewrite of a vital Entitlement Program without having any hearings or consideration of the implications so thats something that is a major reason that i find myself unable to support the bill. For your heart. 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. A trip back to the dthe doctors office, mean just for a shot. But why go back there, when you can stay home. With Neulasta Onpro . Strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection, which could lead to hospitalizations. In a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17 to 1 . A 94 decrease. Applied the day of chemo, Neulasta Onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the next day, so you can stay home. Neulasta is for certain Cancer Patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta if youre allergic to neulasta or Neupogen Filgrastim . Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries, and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. Report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. In patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. The most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. So why go back there . If youd rather be home, ask your doctor about Neulasta Onpro. We cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. And at 4. 95, you can trade with a clear advantage. Fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. Repeal and replace, i am sitting in the oval office with a pen in hand waiting for our senators to give it to me. What will happen if they dont . Well, i dont even want to talk about because i think it will be very bad. Ill be very angry about it. Pen in hand. President trump calling on congress to deliver him a bill, but the latest senate stab at reform, well, this thing sounds like its landing with a thud on capitol hill today. Our own Garrett Haake is tracking votes. What have you got . Heres what i think we know. So far, weve got two no votes that seem like theyre hard no votes for different reasons. Susan collins from maine told me about 45 minutes ago shes not going to vote for this bill unless its substantially changed. Rand paul told our colleague kasie hunt essentially the same thing about an hour ago. They want different sets of things but theyre very much in the no column. From the other original nos we had, it sounds like ted cruz has come around. And a lot of the other senators who were nos are on the fence. Theyre reviewing this bill with their staffs or theyre waiting for the cbo score. Several of them the moderate, so rob portman, dean heller among others were in Mitch Mcconnells office today going through the finer points on this. To me, i think the two wild cards that are going to be really interesting to watch here are dean heller from nevada and jerry moran from kansas. Heller was one of the first people to come out against this bill and the president backed him into the corner when its sounded like the super pack aligned with the president was going to run ads against him. And the other spoke to one of our colleagues from the National Governors association meeting. He is sill not this this and jerry moran we havent seen or heard from him all day today. His last tweet is about a barbecue sandwich and i can tell you its pretty delicious. So we dont know where he stands. Joining us is lonnie chen, a former aide in the department of health and human services. He has been advising the senate on Health Care Legislation over the last few weeks. This new bill out this afternoon sounds like it is dead on arrival. Whats your view . Well, the slight complication as garrett alluded to you have different factions. You have moderates and conservatives who want Different Things and sometimes those differences may in fact be irreconcilable. One thing ill say what senator mcconnell is trying to do is get the procedural vote across the finish line. Remember, they have to vote first to go to debate on the bill. And what hes telling everybody is look, hes telling them lets get to debate on the bill and then we can talk about all of the issues that you care about. If you want more money for opoids or more money for medicaid wait until next week. Well see how that bid goes. But the bill we saw today in my mind only really includes one substantial change which is the addition of some language that senator cruz wanted around competition of plans. Then is there something specific missing that could get him over the line . Seeing that hes got a battle, conservatives and moderates who have such a different view. I havent even mentioned the trump voters who want Something Different than both moderates and conservatives. Is there something they could put in there to get them over the line . Well, this is a process of deal making. Well see this play out over the next week. Which is why he has to get passed the initial hurdle of people saying yes, were going to move to consideration on the bill. Then they can all come up with the amendments they want. The various things they care about and remember the other piece of this which is when the Congressional Budget Office looked at this legislation they said there was about 300 billion in deficit reduction in the bill. That number is likely to go up even more given that theyre holding back on some of the tax cuts for wealthier americans. So that pot of money is essentially a pot of money that Mitch Mcconnell has to help members understand why this bill might be in their interest. So this is going to be a very interesting set of deals that are going to be cut over the next week. Lonnie, hang tight. I want to bring in matt welsh from reason magazine. Matt, like you, rand paul, libertarian hes basically out before hes in. He says this thing isnt going to work for me. Mike lee is undecided. But some critics have said you better take a closer look at this because the next stop, democrats aring go to be weighing in. It will be worse. Is rand paul making a mistake . Rand paul has been the hard no. Whont whats who wants to be the 51st vote to tell President Trump he cant get this passed . Susan collins becoming the 50th is interesting because shes a moderate and represents that faction. So its more difficult to blame one side or the other for this. Unlike the first time in the house when the bill failed. When they could just blame the Freedom Caucus right now. So yes, thats the mcconnell play to everyone saying, next time this comes around, it will be Chuck Schumer writing this bill and theres already been preliminary discussions or comments by collins, john mccain and others saying hey we need to work with democrats here. So thatll be the threat. Do you want to face that pressure from donald trump to not give him the cookie, or you want to face the threat of voting for a bill that only has 20 public support . Nobody wants to be on the 20 80 split. At the risk of bipartisanship, what people voted for . There are people who want to repeal it and include ted cruz and mike lee in that and that amendment pushes in that direction and others want to improve it. Keep the basic structure in place and tweak it. Those things are irreconcilable. Then a third group, americans who want health care. We have to take a break. Lonnie, thank you so much. Panel, please stick around. Up next, escape from d. C. With Jared Kushner facing even more scrutiny and calls to revoke his security clearance. Well, they have jetted off to mingle with billionaires. I said billionaires. Some investors, some media, tech titans, totally normal. Wouldnt that seem they would do in the midst of this . Well take you live to that exclusive conference in sun valley, idaho, where their presence is raising big questions. Noo introducing the easiest way to get gillette blades text blades to gillette on demand text to reorder blades with gillette on demand. And get 3 off your first order binders, done. Supercool notebooks, done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, get this ream of paper for just one cent after rewards. Taking care of business. Only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol® turn up the volume for this. Titans of the tech industry, the Media Industry and some of the biggest investors in the world im talking billionaires are gathering this week in the super exclusive ski town of sun valley, idaho, for the annual congregation of wheeling and dealing hosted by allen and company. But also i making an appearance among is of the moguls in the country, Jared Kushner and his wife ivanka trump amidst all of this scrutiny that Jared Kushner is under in the white house. Hes in idaho. Cnbcs julia boor steen is joining us from the conference. Im astounded in terms of messaging that jared and ivanka would choose a trip like this. Put it in perspective what this conference is. When i think of the criticism, things like the World Economic forum if davos get, in davos theyre there trying to address some of the biggest problems that plague the world. I dont know about any problems that get addressed in sun valley. Besides horse back riding or Whitewater Rafting. Well, the horse back riding and Whitewater Rafting is whats happening right now in the afternoon. I have to say many of the ceos we have spoken to here have been surprised too. They were on the list, people werent sure if they were going to show and they did indeed show. But the people who are here are really the biggest names across media, technology, finance. From Warren Buffett to tim cook and entertainment space, les moonves and Jeffrey Katzenberger is here, sheryl sandberg, oprah winfrey, its a whos who. Snaps evan segal is here too. Although we havent been able to capture him on video. Heres the thing. There are serious topics tackled in the morning, there are panels. Theyre closed to the press, but what we have heard from the sources theyre about economy, science, the environment. Sometimes theyll have big speakers come in and in the past couple of years theres a lot of politics. King abdullah of jordan is speaking and the attendees are going to hear from colombias president , Juan Manuel Santos and then cia director mike pompeo is speaking. While Jared Kushner and ivanka trumps appearance is raising some eyebrows its not uncommon to have attendees with political ties. General mcchrystal was here along with Prime Minister trudeau and then the secretary of defense, ash carter he spoke here two years ago. In the afternoon some go horse back riding or Whitewater Rafting and there are a number of private meetings. Havent they said theyre not there representing the white house, theyre paying their own way, theyre private citizens. If a big merger gets announced, big mergers will have regulation around them. They need government approval. Isnt that a little sticky . Im sorry, is it a little sticky, look, the deals that are made here are generally made behind closed doors. I mean, i know randle stephenson the ceo of at t which has the pending acquisition of time warner is supposed to be here today. Im sure what we well see them. So i think the question of what the regulatory stance is going to be, something thats going to be, you know, in this very much in the spotlight here, stephanie, because of the ceos we have talked to, there is this expectation that President Trump is bog to take sort of a is going to take sort of a regulatory touch that will enable more deal making. As to what happens behind the closed doors between randle stephenson and ivanka trump i cant say. Nobody wants to be behind closed doors. What do you make of this . I used to work at the chocolate store at the resort. A lawyer working at the chocolate store. Yeah. Look, its elite of the elite. I find it astounding theyre there because of whats going on domestically in terms of getting the Health Care Bill through and Jared Kushners role in the white house and secondly, exactly the reason that you just discussed there. Big deals are done. These are deals that are going to require we see a changing of the antitrust landscape like we have never seen, like amazon acquiring whole foods, how the deals will be looked at by the department of justice. At t time warner to name just one. They get announced by sun valley and the kind of deals that need to get through any type of antitrust and you have jared and ivanka hobnobbing with the guys. God knows what theyre saying in closed doors. I think it sends a horrible signal to the commitment, to the domestic priorities they have Like Health Care. Sends a horrible signal for what kind of role theyll have in huge deal making thats why you go to sun valley is to strike deals. Its extraordinary to me that the white house would okay it. But from those i spoke to in the white house, theyre just as surprised. All right. Well take a break. Next, the man who wrote the book breaking down the inner workings of washington. What does he think of the town now . His newest take on d. C. In the trump era. Thatll be next. Thank you so much. Thank you so were a go . Yes we got a yes what does that mean for purchasing . Purchase. Lets do this. Got it. Book the flights hai si si ya ya ya what does that mean for us . We can get stuff. Whats it mean for shipping . Ship the goods. Youre a go you got the green light. That means go oh, yeah. Start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Were gonna hit our launch date scream thank you goodbye let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. Liz assumed all dressingsrust so you cwere made equal. Done. Assume nothing. Just like the leading brands, these kraft dressings are made with high quality ingredients, at a price you can feel good about. No wonder kraft is so good. 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. Janice would have dropped backoff all four of her kids at soccer practice after a sitdown dinner. But janice is a mother today, so all four of janices kids are on four separate paths of selfdiscovery which occur at four different times in the afternoon, leaving a total of four minutes for her kids to eat. Even though dinner time has become less strict, we remain strict as ever when it comes to our standards. Made with premium cuts of 100 kosher beef, so you can feel good feeding your family, no matter what time dinner is. Hebrew national. We remain strict. Welcome back. Im stephanie sitting in for nichole wallace. Six months so far for the Trump White House and the russia cloud doesnt appear to be moving out of washington anytime soon. Mark leeb wits in this New York Times magazine cover story titled quote this town melts down quotes. Look at President Trumps writing in trump land washingtons process resides purely with the winds of one man. It is all about trump. Everything is at his mercy and little about it is comfortable. Lets bring in New York Times magazine chief National Correspondent into the conversation. Mark, incredible piece. I know jared is in charge of the business portfolio of the trump administration, but what do you think hes really doing in all of this mix . Youve got jared. Youve got gather cohn, dean apowell and then youve got some washington regs like a sean spicer in the mix. So take us into this d. C. Look, the cocktail of humanity in the white house right now is the subject of pretty much every other weekend you get some advance chronology of how its working or how its not working or who is in imminent departure. The fact is a lot of is just kind of shuffling because its all about the capriciousness of donald trump, and nares no process behind it. Theres no predict ability behind it and i think the whole town at this moment kind of turns on the axis of whatever the wild card is that hell do. You know, in the day to day, this is the same extremely deck dent, extremely wealthy community, washington, d. C. That has been growing up here for decades. The difference is now its just on a trump news cycle. But has washington changed . Has President Trump been able to change waushshington in any way . This is a guy who said im going to show up here and drain are the swamp. Has he solved anything . No. I mean, i think first of all every administration brings new and different people spuz the mix. If you walk around here, theres as much wealth as theres ever been. You know, i make the point in the story that the trump the swamp is not so much as drained as it is sort of been refashioned into a gold plated hot tub. I mean, its just we just have different kinds of points and different permits who because of their access have greater authority. But its really the staple stew. And government contracts are as fat as ever. The bull market wealth is everywhere. Its a very, very comfortable city as much as its ever been. Well, take us stot originals because while ivanka and donald trump may be familiar with a gold plated hot tub, sean spicer isnt. And you started the article sort of detailing the changes you saw with the sean spicer who is well versed in d. C. Pretrump and now he is deep in the trump mix. Yeah. I mean, scene, i sort of posit as my transitional figure. He is someone who was a sort of fixture of the Polite Company of the swamp. This is exactly the kind of sort of amiable hack that donald trump ran against and this is just the kind of politics as usual guy that, you know, he would always expect. And so he and rains priebs and a few others went in the white house and became these crossover figures and tried to merge whatever it is about their old identity, their old aleej yansz into this new model that just right now so uncertain in the day to day. I sort of looked at sean in sort of a snip it anthropology of what this experiment has done to a person like this. And obviously we can see, at least when he goes on tv these days, which is increase dpl less frequent what it does to him and really how okay, though. How impacted it is. Dont we just need to put that in perspective before we talk about how this process has changed sean so much . This is a voluntary job. Every person in the white house chooses to be there, and this access to the president , what so many are submit enby, this isnt a mandatory draft. So match welch, i turn to you. There is this constant jock i go to have access to the president. Does it matter whether or not you have access . One person who has not changed in this mix is the president himself. You could bring in speech writers and all these globallists and people with different ideas. At the end of the day, you get right back to Campaign Trump when the rub ber hits the road. Say that again. Power attracts people who are ready to apologize for and defend power no matter how it we have seen this over the last five days. You interviewed is he bas chan gorka. My god, the way that man has acted on television over the past few days shows people are willing to say just about anything in order to defend their boss if they believe what hes doing. The size of washington hasnt just changed. Its nearly doubled in the last 12 years. So of course youre going to have the mass there. The diplomat is going to be a restaurant instead of a laundromat. I happen to like that restaurant. Washington, d. C. Its a whole new world. Mark leeb wits, great piece. Sh has to read it. Were going to be right back. This is deadline white house. Uh. Yes, erin, it is great time to score a deal. We need to make room for the 2018 models. Relive the thrill of beating the clock. The volkswagen model year end event. Hurry in for a 1,000 bonus and 0 apr on a new 2017 jetta or passat. Only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol® its about moving forward, not back. T. Its looking up, not down. Its being in motion. In body, in spirit, in the now. Boost® high protein its intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For when you need a little extra. Boost® the number one high protein complete nutritional drink. Be up for it all right. Thank you to my panel. Im stephanie rule in for nichole wallace. Mtp damy starts right now. Good evening, charles. Awe, look who is ruling the four oclock hour. Nice work. Thank you, maam. Nice to see you. If its thursday, here is the question with would President Trump have taken that meeting with the russian lawyer. Tonight, the president defends his son. Its very standard where they have information and you take the information. But wait until you hear what mr. President trumps former Campaign Manager has to say. If anybody, and i mean anybody, did something with a Foreign Government that materially impacted the outco