Doesnt resign, i hope hes not fired. If you look at so much of what the president of the United States wants to accomplish on his agenda, sessions is central to that. The weakness is that the president is trying to not use his power. Hes trying to get sessions to quit and i hope sessions doesnt quit and if the president wants to fire him, fire him. Do you think the president is demonstrating weakness by his handling of sessions . Absolutely. Lets get to our reporters covering all of this today. Nbc newss Kelly Odonnell at the white house. Kimberly atkins from the boston herald. Vivian salama. Kelly o, let me start with you. The men that we just played youve covered a lot of them. You have covered sessions, you have covered a couple of president s. Set up this standoff between sessions former colleagues, republican senators, some of the most conservative ones in the u. S. Senate, and the president he now serves. Well, Jeff Sessions had a reputation in the senate of being someone who was amiable to deal with and very, very conservative. So Jeff Sessions was someone to count on. So he gives up his seat to serve at the pleasure of president. He was the first senator to support donald trump during the Campaign Season and that had been repaid with this very uncomfortable, protracted sort of shaming of Jeff Sessions done by the president through his twitter feed and interviews. Frustration over his recusal in overseeing the russia investigation, although certainly as my understanding that sessions was relying on the department of justice guidelines in his recusal. That he was in some political hot water at a level he hadnt seen in a long time when he had testimony before the confirmation hearing for his own seat and had that problem where he didnt fully disclose his meetings with russian officials. So he thought he was doing what the department of justice would require of him and that recusal has set off this simmering and now maybe full boil anger from President Trump towards Jeff Sessions. Well, that has brought out support that you might not have expected from fellow senators who knew sessions as someone they would work with. And sessions has been a politically charged figure over time. But for those colleagues who worked with him, they see this as an unfair treatment. One of the things we saw playing out today is more and more questions about the president s choice of handling a very high profile Personnel Matter in this way. Not firing sessions but miking him certainly making him certainly uncomfortable day to day. Sessions was here for a small Principals Group meeting, so cabinet officials who come and meet and talk about issues in their area. But the president was not a part of that were told. And of course, at the briefing now back on television with press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders now fully in that role. She was asked about this todayed about why the president seems to keep needling and poking at sessions when he could simply fire him. If hes so frustrated and so disappointed in him, why doesnt he just ask him to resign or fire him . Why does he continue to tweet about him instead . Look, you can be disappointed in someone but still want them to continue to do their job. Thats where they are. Doing their job . I think i made clear last week there comes a point he doesnt hell make that decision. One of the challenges if he were to remove sessions from office or if sessions were to resign, if you have a very big vacancy and theres a line of succession at the department of justice and how quickly would any replacement be confirmed if at all . Would they need a recess appointment which means when senates out of town putting that person in the job. The political ramifications of those who were also part of the campaign, that would be challenging to get through given the russia connection to the campaign and that investigation. So its a bit of a mess for the president and one he keeps seeming to expand by the way he treats sessions publicly. And an attorney general as you know can operate almost in his or her own orbit. Doesnt need to interact with the white house on a day to day basis. Certainly a Good Relationship with the president helps. Kelly o, stay with us. Well go up to capitol hill though for some breaking news. Garrett haake has some news. Seven republicans voting against the repeal only bill. Whats the latest . Nicolle, the republicans needed at least 50 votes to get this repeal only vote passed and theyre going to fall well short of that. We had thought coming into this vote we knew three moderates had come out and said this is definitely something theyd not vote for and others were under pressure not to change their votes from 2015, the last time this bill was up. Everybody on the Republican Senate side except Susan Collins voted for it, knowing that the president would veto it. So theyre under pressure not to change their votes and now we have six republicans who have changed their votes on this. So a cascade of no votes including john mccain, interestingly a no on this. And Lamar Alexander one of the folks closest to leadership, closest to working with Mitch Mcconnell to put together this entire repeal and replace effort. Were not done counting here. Thank you. Stay with us. Vivian, you have been covering the slow motion train wreck thats the republican effort to actually pass a Health Care Repeal and replace bill. Talk about these sort of twin political crises that the white house is staring down right now between the sessions standoff and now the losing vote once again on health care. Its been a lot more than that. The morale at the white house is not at the peak. You have seen a couple of people let go this week. A new you know, the press secretary resigned and a lot of changes afloat because frankly theyre just trying to get back on track. The Health Care Debacle that we have seen now playing out for months at a time, its really strained this administration that essentially promised during the campaign its voters that repeal and replace would be their primary target from day one. They would get that going and now we have seen month after month, roadblock after road block and not from democrats, and the president s keeps on saying theyre obstructionists, but from the republicans thats a major set back and something very frustrating and frustrating for President Trump who once upon time was a chief executive of a Major Corporation and, you know, the buck essentially stops with him. He had the final say in the matters and now hes learning he has to answer to the judiciary. He has to answer to the legislative branch so that has been a major process for him in terms of learning what it is to be the president. And so its been a frustrating process. Hes not been able to kind of get the narrative in a positive direction yesterday he was in ohio. I was there in the crowd where he was trying to assert to them that hes delivering for them. Hes bringing back jobs, you know, hes going to repeal and replace an get health care that people voted for. But were not seeing that essentially. So thats something that theyre really going to have to figure out in the next couple of weeks if they want to maintain the is support of their core voters. Mark leibovitz, i think the sessions fight being on the other side of i hate to call it a red line, but sort of the other side of the danger zone for donald trump doesnt get enough attention by people who dont understand the holy grail that Rush Limbaugh and some of those conservative Media Outlets play in republican politics and even donald trump has to sort of abide by the laws of gravity in conservative media land. This has been the first fight they had a few skirmishes over immigration. I think ann coulter spoke out against him, but this is the first big fight over a big personality. Rush limbaugh and people like him, influential radio hosts see Jeff Sessions as the one guy on team trump whos actually delivering on all of the Campaign Promises and its a controversial agenda. But for the people that voted for trump they see sessions as the one whos delivering on immigration, on the other law and order issues. I mean, the president s entire Convention Speech was really about the basket of issues over which sessions could you know, could wield full control. Absolutely. I think, you know, its also more than just being seen. Its true. I mean, as far as domestic policy goes, theres not a cabinet secretary more you know, in a position to enact its own policies and the attorney general than the attorney general and sessions has been an activist in that regard. Seemingly very in sync with what donald trump has talked about and also what the base wants. And its not just a media issue. This isnt just conservative media. This is conservatives period. These are the conservatives in the senate and in the house. This is a lot of Donald Trumps base. And i guess on many levels its makes no sense whatsoever. The other thing is, why the timing of this . I mean, he recused himself months ago. I guess what it does underscore is that for donald trump in this relatively young presidency, although it feels like its been going on for ten years now, this is about two things. I mean, one, its about donald trump. Its about his own sense of whether he thinks he served well, whether someone is being loyal to him and part two, its russia. Its russia russia russia. At least as far as what the president thinks about and where hes devoting a lot of his Mental Energy to. Mark, let me add one more element to what youre talking about. Mo brooks who is running to replace Jeff Sessions in the senate seat hell clear the way for Jeff Sessions to get his seat back, offering to withdraw if the others will concur, then we clear the way for the Republican Party of alabama to be the republican nominee for the december general election. Hes so beloved that the guys running to be in his seat will all bow out and let him have his seat back. It feels like donald trump has picked the wrong fight. Well, also, again, it doesnt make sense. Its unclear what it gains you or who it gains you with, maybe it makes you feel better you can be seen pulling the wings off a fly in the most public way. It being a sign of weakness was interesting, because in one way, its true. I mean, you can fire someone. Its the president s prerogative to fire someone. You know the other part of that, i mean, the president if the president were to have heard a clip like that, that would have made the president fire Jeff Sessions which would be a major crisis if you asked any republican senator right now. One, they dont have the time to do all the things they want to do and getting through another attorney general that would suit the various constituents would be a disaster. Kelly o, i want to bring you back in on the vote thats just happening because i feel like these might be the next targets for Donald Trumps tweets. Senator capito, senator heller and senator mccain and senator alexander and portman, they were no votes. Do you think the president continues with his Cyber Attacks against republicans that dont bend to his will . Well, dean heller of nevada who was seated to the right of the president directly when he had senators here for a lunch and sort of jabbed him publicly saying he wants to keep his senate seat, so hell vote for it. Dean heller has been a target perhaps the most vulnerable republican up for reelection in a state that votes very blue. So heller is certainly someone who could draw the ire of the white house. Portman of ohio is someone who obviously is also listening to the governor of that state, john kasich. Shelley moore capito one of the republicans who is also dealing with the issue of Medicaid Expansion. John mccain the argument he makes about arizona is that Medicaid Expansion is something that you cant roll back. Without careful planning and also protecting those who are most vulnerable. Its not as simple as just simply scrapping what was the obamacare law. In this way, it is not unexpected to see these particular republicans voting in the way they did today. Watch the Twitter Space because were monitoring it live here. Let me bring Kimberly Atkins into the same conversation. Lisa murkowski was another no vote. She was a target of the president s twitter ire this morning. Can you weigh in on the twin set backs for the white house, the public rebuke basically for the attacks on Jeff Sessions, someone liked an respected by conservatives and the media and sort of in the conservative movement. And this losing vote, another big failure on health care. Yeah. I mean, senator murkowski made it pretty clear that she was more interested in governing than worrying about twitter comments from the president. She is in a place where shes not up for reelection this year. Some other senators are. But i think on their side the people who vote against it is the fact that this bill is so unpopular with americans. And they are standing up for their own constituents and their own district where they think its more important to Pay Attention to the president on this. I think in that sense, Jeff Sessions also is in a somewhat secure place. Initially when the first New York Times article came out that the president lashed out at him i thought maybe his days were numbered but because he has so much support from within the gop, not just the gop, but supporters, voters who voted for President Trump. The fact that he is as you said carrying out the agenda of that that the president campaigned on when it comes to immigration and law and order. I dont think hell probably step down. I think hell keep on doing what hes doing, which is letting other people, his supporters defend him for him and keep doing the job at the department of justice and i think the president is going to keep twitter attacking him because the president can. Kimberly, weigh in on the point that senator graham made and the point that mark underscored about how weak it looks. Simply i mean, its not like hes the leader of the free world. Hes the chief executive of the country. He could simply call him and say, hey, jeff, it didnt work out. I appreciate everything you have done for me. But lets part ways now before this gets uglier. But the president is the one making it ugly. Hes publicly shaming him, Cyber Bullying him. Its so diminishing for the office of the presidency. How long is this sustainable, this sort of state of play between the two men . Yeah, it does diminish the office for sure. Go ahead, kimberly. It does diminish the office for sure. Thats what the president is relying on. I think in his eyes he sees himself as governing in a new way. Using twitter as a direct line to anyone he wants to send a message to. And hes going to continue to do that. Hes not listening to people from within his own white house who are telling him at least specifically when it comes to Jeff Sessions, hey, why dont you lay off of him. He is upset, he is angry and hes an executive who is used to telling people what to do and expressing his displeasure. I think he knows that firing Jeff Sessions would be politically perilous for him right now. He doesnt have anyone necessarily who he trusts and who he thinks will be loyal enough to replace him so i think the next best thing is for him to take to twitter and torture him a little bit. All right. Thank you. Mark is staying with us. Again, the breaking news the senate has rejected the repeal only health care amendment. Seven republicans voting no. When we come back the mooch effect. If the first cabinet meeting, where they went around the room and praised the president , that was a few weeks back youll love what they did in the Briefing Room today. A new power structure. Are scaramucci and former Campaign ManagerCorey Lewandowski spear heading the let trump be trump strategy and is it work . You cant believe how president ial the president can act. Well show you when we come back. Rays always been different. Last year, he said he was going to dig a hole to china. At t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques. Remote moisture sensors use a Reliable Network to tell them when and where to water. So that farmers like ray can compete in big ways. China. Oh. He got there. Thats the power of and. Todays Senior Living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. And theres never been an easier way to get great advice. A place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. A place for mom. You know your family we know Senior Living. Together well make the right choice. How is this better . Were going to win so much, chris, youre going to get tired of winning. But were not going to start with health care. Did that sound familiar . The mind meld of the two complete after five days on the job and the mooch effect may explain what happened today where Sarah Huckabee sanders began her briefing with a personal statement. To the best of my knowledge, im the first mom to hold the job of the White House Press secretary. That says less about me than it does about this president. Empowering working moms is the heart of the president s agenda, particularly when it comes to things like tax reform. As a working mom its not lost on me what a great honor and what a privilege it is to stand here at the podium and i thank the president for the opportunity. I hope to send my daughter a message and to every other kid in america, dont listen to the critics. Dream big and fulfill your potential because in this country you still can. Lets bring in our panel, joining us msnbc contributor and Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart, twitter star, bill kristol. Michael allen, former staff director of the House Intel Committee and carol lee, were so happy youre here. Thank you. And Mark Leibovich is still here. So crystal, i have to start with you. Nothing against Sarah Huckabee sanders, but these pronouncements of loyalty fr from you know, the white house podium is symbolic the world over. To use that as place to praise your boss is a, weird, and b, seems to illuminate what may have been missing in trumps evaluation of sessions. Inadequate loyalty. Yeah, i guess. I mean, the north korean aspect of the Trump White House is distasteful. Your leader. Yeah, its creepy. And damages the country in certain ways. I mean thats all. It just damages the country. Constitutional republic. You work for the you are loyal to your boss. Obviously in the normal sense but you work for the country, not for the guy in charge. You dont prostraate before himr her. And he wants to fire bob mueller. If you want to fire him, you have to get the Deputy Attorney general to do it. But i think sessions would resign if trump went around him to fire mueller. Sessions has defended mueller and sessions pledged at his own conofficialmation hearings confirmation hearings he wou would i dont like the shaming sessions. Cat fight between the two men. Thats not fair to sessions who is entirely the victim of this. But anyway, he wants to fire mueller. Whats the standoff . The attack on sessions is a test by trump. I think hes a crazy in his own way, but hes cunning like a fox in some degree. Clever like a fox. He wanted to test the waters of how far he can go. If he can get support among his base for firing Jeff Sessions then i think pushing him out, if sessions resigns then he tells rosenstein to fire mueller and rosenstein says no. He fires rosenstein and mueller and i think rachel she would stand up for the rule of law. Im not saying its if donald trump i dont think he can pull this off, but i dont think hes entirely being just you know, he has a plan in mind. His plan is to get rid of bob mueller because as Mark Leibovich said hes scare odd of the russia investigation. Go back to crazy for a second. I mean, you posited you stood at the fork of the road. I mean, if hes crazy, is it possible that his lawyers have told him that mueller is going to look into his businesses. Right. Mueller is going to get your tax returns. Mueller is going to have access to all of these things that you ran for president and you cant say he paid a political price with his voters but he did pay a bit of a price. I mean, it was a constant story line. Do you think that when the scope because as many people have said the recusal happened months ago. But the revelation that mueller is now going to follow the money and look at the businesses seems to me what lit the match behind the fire Sessions Campaign on trumps part. Yeah. I agree with that. I mean, i think that trump one way or the other got much more alarmed about the investigation ten days ago. Maybe its the finance, maybe his lawyers know things about other things they have learned as defense lawyers that we dont know yet. But trump very alarmed about muellers investigation. I do think the assault on sessions is part of his vanity and trump being a bully but i think he was trying to test the waters to see how far he could go into getting into the justice department, getting rid of sessions and rosenstein and muler. We know rachel brand. If he thinks that things will get better with rachel brand there will not be a saturday night massacre. Well, she would then quit. She would resign. She would know more going into this. I wonder about the crazy like a fox theory. I think russia is inside trumps head. I have heard scaramucci talk about his golf game, his basketball and thinks of a football going through a tire. Winning in politics is message discipline. Not letting your opponents get inside your head. It is going out, its recognizing that you have a vulnerability and saying im more upset about this than anyone is. Im not going to get to the bottom of this. It doesnt mean that Hillary Clinton beat me fair and square. Look, this presumes theres nothing there ultimately so why is he behaving irrationally . Lets use okams razor, hes scared. Hes desperately trying to push it off. Mueller requested to get his tax returns that would be i think the tax returns are part of it. I think theres ample reporting about who may have bailed him out in the past. Its gotten close to his home, don jr. Is now deeply ensnared because of the meeting he set up with many russians. Whats the number up to . Eight, seven . It was several russians with ties to russian intelligence agencies. So talk about what might be under that you know, behind that curtain. The familys vulnerabilities. Well, i think it gets to what bill has been talking about. The president went bananas ten days ago because clearly hes afraid of whats what bob mueller is going to find. Because bob mueller has a whole lot of power here he could bring forth things that he could under normal circumstances keep out of public vie. Ie as bill brought up the tax returns. With the tax returns we find out a lot of things. We find out a lot of things we wouldnt necessarily need to know because it would be nice to know where his money comes from, but as commander in chief, okay, fine. Hes a millionaire or a billionaire. We get confirmation of that. But what happens if we find out that he is in hock to russian bankers or connected to the russian mob or any number of scenarios. I could say anything right now and two years ago would have been farfetched but today it could happen because things have gotten so bizarre. Let me ask you about what donald trump sort of pressure points are. Theyre not a constitutional crisis. That doesnt freak him out at all because it looks like hes comfortable taking us to the brink, but its not the sort of specter of firing the ag. It is people asking questions he doesnt want to answer about his businesses and his family. Well, not only that, it is this is a president who very much likes to be in control. He likes to call the shots. Thats where he feels the most comfortable. And his whole life he has been able to do that and now hes in a position he cant do that and somebody else can call the shots on him and he doesnt know where thats going to lead. For him he has been stewing about this for months. I mean, early on when Jeff Sessions recused himself, we knew at the time that he was irritated by that. And now theres misdirected anger thats happening and being targeted at Jeff Sessions at this stage because this continues to be something that he sees about in the white house. Can you weigh in on all of the time spent talking about Donald Trumps taxes during the campaign that never happened. What if an investigation that was put into motion by basically donald trump himself is the impetus for the thing he doesnt want us to see getting released . Right. Their catch all answer during the campaign and even after the campaign is that, oh, no one cares. I guess on election day that proved to be largely true. I mean, the other side of this though, the reason he didnt want to disclose the tax returns is because it would have exposed whatever his financial and revenues are to how ever many tax attorneys, you know, investigators are out there who would get a look at this. And now i mean, this is why its important. Its not so much for, you know, the coal miner in ohio to look and pour through the tax returns but for people who actually can see where the business leads, can actually look at it. So i think this is the kind of thing that actually underscores why its important to have tax returns before an election. Mark, thank you. Up next, the president announcing where else on twitter that he plans to ban Transgender Americans from serving in the military. It appeared to catch many in washington off guard. But was that really the case . Senator cotton, can i get your reaction to President Trumps decision to transgender people . I havent responded to the tweet. Do you think transgender people should be banned from the military . We should have a hearing about it, not a tweet. Underwear toddlers see things a bit differently thanks to pampers easy ups while they see their first underwear you see an easy way to potty train pampers easy ups our first and only training underwear with an allaround stretchy waistband and pampers superior protection so youll see fewer leaks and theyll see their first underwear pampers easy ups, the easiest way to underwear. Pampers take the zantac it challenge pill works fast . Zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. Nexium can take 24 hours. When heartburn strikes, take zantac for faster relief than nexium or your money back. Take the zantac it challenge. The president of the United States woke up and tweeted, changing years of policy after consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the u. S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you. Michael allen, what did you think when you saw that . Well, look, i have heard working with you in the white house so policy making via a speech, this was a subversion of the interagency process and the generals were supposed to be doing consultations with and policy making by tweet its like he rolled out of bed this morning and decided, hey, you know what . Im not happy with the way things have been going lately. Im going to shake things up and keep people guessing. You cant help but think this is another product of a larger dysfunctional white house. Theres some reporting that supports your theory. It comes from politico saying that behind the scenes this started an idea or a seed planted on capitol hill. The report says, quote, this is like someone told the white house to light a candle on the table and the white house set the whole table on fire. Said one senior House Republican aide let me bring hans nichols in for some fact checking. Was the pentagon caught off guard by the president s threetweet policy announcement . It depends what you mean by the pentagon. It seemed like a lot of officials here were taken aback by it. Whether or not there was a conversation between secretary mattis and President Trump over the last 48 hours, i cant really speak to that in part because secretary mattis is on vacation. Heres what i can tell you, nicolle. July 14, secretary mattis came by the Briefing Room. First time through there wasnt any reporters and he came back later. He said he spoke to representative harts her on july the 13th. Thats the amendment to this military Defense Authorization act that was slowing things up. Hes opposed at the time, matt advertise was opposed to this amendment just be clear about what this amendment did. It restricted funding for gender reassignment surgery. It said you cannot spend any money on transgender individuals. As of july 13, mattis was opposed to that. We also know that the chairman of the joint chief of staffs said that there were no reviews taking place. And that it wasnt a problem integrating Transgender Service personnel into the military. Now whether or not something happened in the last few days we dont know. It seemed like there were a lot of raised eyebrows at the pentagon and now the urgent task is how to implement it. Because frankly they havent gotten any guidance and they need to figure this out. Let me read you how john mccain responded. He tweeted, any american who meets current medical and readine readine readiness standards should be allowed to serve. Joe biden said everyone who is able to serve should be able to serve. This is from democrats and the republicans. Not just about the military qualifications. The other thing i would say this is i dont even know what number of example of this white house rolling out a policy that on its face you could envision the scenario in which theres a process and you build support for it. And then you outline it and you help people understand what youre trying to do. And from the for this president s first full day in office with the travel ban, we have seen policies put out there with no explanation. If youre a transgender member of the military serving, youre obviously caught off guard by this. You dont know what this means for you. This is or your family. I mean, you rely on your job and its not even a policy. Its not. Its not clear. Its a tweet. Literally just a tweet. Its not clear what the legal basis for this would be. What the House Republicans are debating is a much narrower question is whether taxpayers should pay for gender reassignment surgery, fine. Thats one debate. Im not sure what thousands of people . To separate 2,400 people from the military based on what incidentally . Based on their own how do you know what peoples gender preferences are . In fact, a couple hours after the president s tweet the Defense Department website has up on the website, Transgender Service members may serve openly and they can no longer be discharged or separated from the military solely for being transgendered individuals. That was the policy four or five years ago. If they want to change that, theres executive branches in the congress it was congress that changed dont ask dont tell. I dont know what the legal basis of trump saying this is. To carols point, the reason we dont have dont ask dont tell anymore, president obama directed the Defense Department to discuss the issue and to lead to the point where gay men and lesbians can serve openly in the military. What the president did today was despicable and reprehensible. I said Transgender Americans now in the military have already displayed more courage than the current current in chief who never served. Not every transgender person undergoes gender reassignment surgery. And the third thing and my colleague at the Washington PostChristopher Ingram put out the stats. 41. 6 million in the pentagon budget for viagra. 22. 8 million wait wait wait. Read that one more time. 41. 6 million for viagra, 22. 8 million for seual us. How much is viagra . Sorry. I dont know. I dont need to know. But if youre talking about how much transgender medical care costs in the pentagon budget, 8. 4 million, this is not a burden on the military, this is not a burden on anyones budget. What it will do by keeping Transgender Americans who are already serving and those who want to serve out of the military makes us more i should say it makes us less safe. I dont believe that trump has the ability to discharge the people from the military. But the message this sends is dangerous. Hans, let me give you a quick lap forward on where you think this goes from here . Im glad you did not ask me about viagra because i have nothing appropriate taking on the viagra question. You saved me there. Look on the number that bill is talking about the 8. 4 million, that comes from a rand study and that rand study here at the pentagon theyre saying the number is inflated. So what theyre trying to figure out another the pentagon how many people this currently affects. The number we are hearing is in the numbers but that could be on the low side because thats just individuals who have selfidentified. The rand study on the upper end says up to 7,000 individuals could be transgender who are currently serving. So thats part of the challenge here at the pentagon. Theyre trying to figure out the numbers who this affects and is this just guidance from the president . Is this aspirational . When we come back, did President Trump compare himself to abe lincoln . Laquinta presents how to win at business. Step one. Point decisively with your glasses. Abracadabra the stage is yours. Step two. Choose laquinta. Where youll feel like the king of the road. Check out our summer rates now at lq. Com. Duncan just protected his family with a 500,000 Life Insurance policy. How much do you think it cost him . 100 a month . 75 . 50 . Actually, duncan got his 500,000 for under 28 a month. Less than 1 a day his secret . Selectquote. In just minutes a selectquote agent will comparison shop nearly a dozen highly rated Life Insurance companies, and give you a choice of your five best rates. Duncans wife cassie got a 750,000 policy for under 21 per month. Give your family the security it needs, at a price you can afford. Since 1985, selectquote has saved over a million families millions of dollars on Life Insurance. Sometimes they say he doesnt act president ial. Its so easy to act president ial. But thats not going to get it done. In fact, i said its much easier by the way to act president ial than what were doing here tonight. Believe me. With the exception of the late, great abraham lincoln, i can be more president ial than any president thats ever held this office. That i can tell you. Bill kristol, first thing i thought is abe lincoln is dead. Presumably. Some yeah. But seriously, this idea that Anthony Scaramucci and Corey Lewandowski whos been around a lot, i understand that his contact with the president has never really diminished but hes been on the plane this week, this idea that the president wants to reassemble the band theres a spirit of let trump be trump hes not in a situation he has because he hasnt let himself speak freely on twitter and other ways, but he is more off the rails. Scaramucci was widely received, and hes more fluid than sean spicer. Spicer is glad he doesnt have to do the briefing today and defend this craziness. I think scaramucci will be worse for trump because hes more like trump. He is cocky and hell say things that are not true. I come back to the transgender thing. Im so infuriated by it. Because there are questions about women in combat, paying for certain operations. Those are debated, i would say very seriously and in a dignified way over the last six, seven, eight years. Dont ask dont tell, and grappling with the tensions between the small combat unit an outpost and then the integration of the genders and we have been at war. It shows deeply though he thinks its a dictatorship. He thinks he wakes up and decides we should expel 2,400 in the military as if there are no ways to discharge people, that people dont have the rights, that the military doesnt have concerns about those who signed up under an expectation or the congress its very small. But its deeply revealing about trump i think. We worked in the white house i had the job of communications director. And the job was about getting your arms around all of the ways that the president communicated. So to me the First Mission for Anthony Scaramucci is either responsible for the tweets that are of questionable sort of you know, reprehensible on the substance level and questionable legally. But what do you think about just the early signs that scaramuccis direction is to, you know, if trump has been sort of drinking you know, like drinking out of a fire hose to digest his messages they have now flooded the basement. Theyre going full trump. I keep coming back to the statement, a maxim of politics. What scaramucci and say, let trump be trump thats code for we we cant control the guy anyway, so lets call this a strategy and move forward. Whats more interesting i think and you see congress being more is it working . I mean the health care went down in flames. I doubt for all the reasons that bill raised out, i doubt the transgender law will become law. Its not working. Heres where some republicans are. They were glad that Hillary Clinton didnt win. Why, is this what they wanted . No. Well write the policy, hell sign it. And whats happening now is the dysfunction of the white house and the inability to hold a message to drive a legislative agenda is actually causing congress to be less fearful of his ability to tweet. I think over time youre going to see a more reassertive congress, especially as his twitter feed becomes a diminishing asset. Carol, when he wants something done, Corey Lewandowski is still one of the lieutenants. He picks up the phone and calls. Yes. And badgers and does i mean hes very, very aggressive. Thats right. You know, the interesting thing about Anthony Scaramucci he came in and he was saying that hes going to have a big vision and give the president credit for his accomplishments. Within hours hes engaging in essentially what is the traditional hand to hand combat of, you know, slapping down things, minute by minute. And theres no big picture pict. And so you have a white house that continues to be messaging on defense and has not created any sort of platform for mej messaging on office. They dont show signs of changing. Take these two speeches as an ensemble, the boy scouts and last night where he went on with some pretty vivid pictures of victims of violent crimes. I mean, hes just back to sort of hes obviously aching for his primary self, primary campaign self. And thats the point ive been itching to make here. Listening to the boy scouts speech, link to the Youngstown Ohio speech, i felt like i was transported back a year and a half ago. Were back on the campaign trail. To hear scaramucci in the thaw just showed of him saying youre going to be so tired of winning. Thats literally out of donald trump candidate Donald Trumps mouth. The stuff there about i can be more president ial than abraham lincoln. He said those exact words during a Campaign Speech a year ago. Its almost as if weve gone back to the future. I think i had agree with you. Let trump be trul. We cant control this ming, so lets just let it go. Lets just call it a ploon. I do hope youre right that congress will start being more assertive in protecting its perg activities but also in protecting the republic because what weve seen with the transgender thing that he did today and some other teets hes done in the last 48 to 72 hours, im kind of fearful of who is sitting in the oval office and what trouble he could possibly get why . Why are you afraid. Just on this point, one trump advisor was quoted i think to politico say this is clever. It will appeal to our mid warn base. Let the democrats run trying to defend transgender individuals v. Chuck grassley and joni ernst, herself a veteran, married to a veteran, the other senator from wai iowa both came out against trump. The other thing you can almost see with the president picking this fight with Jeff Sessions that its given republicans an excuse to say things that theyve been wanting and itching to say for some time because it feels okay and everybody supports that the president has gone too far. Do you think its one off ar opening of a flood gate. I think were going to look back at the congress saying, heck no, donald trump, we are not changing the russia sanctions legislation, we are moving forward with tying your hands visavis the russians. I think this transgender announcement is going to offend the prerogatives of the house and Senate Armed Services committees, whether they agree with it or not, and i think youre beginning to see a more reassert active congress, and were beginning to learn now more than ever why our founders wanted checks and balances. I agree with you, bill kristol, it took a very long time for republicans to wake up to the reality of what theyre dealing with. I dont know if theyre there yet. Im starting to see you got my hopes up. Tea leaves. You got me all hopeful. All right s. Up next, this really happened. Ned by three be. Ned by three be. She ate some porridge, broke the baby bears chair, and stole some jewelry, a flatscreen tv, and a laptop. Luckily the Geico Insurance agency had helped the bears with homeowners insurance. They were able to replace all their items. Including a new chair from crate and barrel. Call geico and see how easy it is to switch and save on homeowners insurance. Atmore than one flavor, oruch texture, or color. Ing. A good clean salad is so much more than green. And with panera catering, more for your event. Panera. Food as it should be. Giving ukraine more options with some of our technology is i think in everyones best interest, with the exception of the russians, but thats okay. That was just a snip pet of the 22minute phone call that Energy Secretary rick perry had last wednesday with someone he presumed to be the ukrainian prime minister. But little did en it was not the leader on the other line or for that matter anyone in the ukrainian government. Was actually on the phone with two russian prank sters who duped him into discussing Energy Policies and even pig man youre. The Energy Department spokesperson confirmed its authenticity to various members of the media saying these individuals are known for pranking high level officials and sbreb ritz not in line with their governments. In this case the Energy Security of ukraine. To rick perrys defense the prank sters have reportedly targeted other wellknown names before. And the nato secretary general. But then, it is rick perry s the man who heads the department that oversees our nuclear womens. Jonathan, i was waving at you because i feel like if anyone has a list of other politicians who have been pungd before, it might be you. I mean, i think sarah pay lynn got a call from these guys. Yes. Thats a name that came to mienld. Sarah pay lynn is the one that jumped to mind immediately. But the thing i wonder is how are these people getting pungd all the time, and especially by russians. Shouldnt the energys secretary people around really screen the calls to make sure that the secretary is talking to like real people . Yeah. Bet they will now. You hope. In six months well be talking about another cabinet secretary who is getting pungd. Bit bill kristol, does it always have to be russia . Why is russia always the punch line . Yeah, well, ask donald trump, you know. Rick perry this happens now and then. First few months in office you dont have your system set up very well. Donald trump doesnt have that excuse. Trumps damage is entirely from him. Hes not being deceived by anyone. And i bet this played pretty big in russia as all of these things do. I think one of the more disturbing and pretty unfunny aspects of everything weve been talking about is no one is laughing at the kremlin. We, i think, have had a lot of selfinflicted wounds here in the United States. I think we need to get back to basic principles and i think that weve been able to unite two parties, bhoesel two parties around the ideas that the russians have been a pernicious influence and opposed to our interests all over the world. Two parties except for the leader of the Republican Party, the sitting president. Yeah, but the Democrat Party has become more unified on russia. We just jammed down a huge russia sanctions bill through the congress. I dont think anybody saw that coming this year before this happened. This has allowed russia to show its true colors and americans know it. Thank you to Jonathan Cape heart, bill kristol, Michael Allen and carole lee. That does it for this hour. Im nicole wals and mtp daily starts now. Nicole, how are you . I missed you when you were gone. I hope you missed me when i was gone sbloo of course i did. See, i had to just force that out of you even if you didnt. Thank you. Well done. If its wednesday, the art of the repeal fails again. Tonight the health care debate. The repeal only vote fails. Can Republican Leaders come up with anything that can pass the Republican Senate . Plus, defending sessions. And i hope sessions doesnt quit, and if the president wants to fire him, fire him. Republican senators forced to take sides in the trump sessions feud. And why did President Trump move to ban transgender people from the armed forces today . Shes very rude. This is mtp daily and it