Transcripts For MSNBCW Deadline White House 20171004

Attending the concert. Although she was unarmed, as soon as the shooting began, she threw on a Yellow Police vest and began evacuating victims. And aaron stocker, a veteran, rushed to the scene to search for his loved ones. When he couldnt find them, he began helping every person he could. As he recounts, we used the plastic barriers as gurneys to carry the injured to transportation. I made splints out of whatever i could find and used anything to stop the horrible bleeding. Among the wounded was the mother of aarons girlfriend. She is still in the hospital, and we are all pulling for her. To every hero we helped, every hero saved so many lives. And believe me, a grateful nation thanks you. The example of those whose final act was to sacrifice themselves for those they loved should inspire all of us to show more love every day for the people who grace our lives. In the months ahead, we will all have to wrestle with the horror of what has unfolded this week. But we will struggle through it together. We will endure the pain together, and we will overcome together as americans. May god bless and watch over those who protect us. May god bring healing to the families of the wounded, the injured and the fallen. And may god bless our great country, america. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, governor. Thank you very much. Hi, everyone. Its 4 00 in new york. 1 00 p. M. In las vegas. Its day two for President Trump as consoler in chief speaking there in las vegas with local police and First Responders. Lets bring in the panel today. Msnbc contributor, and author charlie sykes, Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post, nick, New York Times political reporter, also an msnbc contributor and jonathan lamere, White House Reporter for the soerktsed press and msnbc political analyst. Gene it struck me watching those remarks how much more comfortable and how much more adept the president was in consoling this community as he seemed to be yesterday. Entirely different approach. He was today hes being empathetic. He is feeling the suffering along with the Community Versus yesterday, when he sort of said, you know, the death toll in the caribbean is 34 or Something Like that. And he said, gee, that was nothing compared to a real disaster. A real catastrophe. And he didnt show that sort of empathy. It was more fun and games almost yesterday which was totally inappropriate. George will said on this show that he hadnt yet shown an aptitude for the pastoral aspects of the presidency. To the degree he achieved that on that telefrompter speech, i wonder if that may be one of the variables between what we saw off script yesterday and what we saw just now. Really a beautifully crafted set of remarks there in las vegas. The first thing i noticed was him reading off a prompter and reading a speech. Still speaking as though hes speaking a foreign language. He doesnt quite have the rhythm of it. President trump is very good at feeling voters anger. Hes not very good at feeling your pain. It doesnt seem to be his natural language. Im not sure why. I cant speculate why. We saw in puerto rico him throwing paper towels like its a sporting event or rock concert. What do you make of what the white house set out to do . I know over the weekend the coverage of the president s response to puerto rico was really under their skin. He was in a war of words with the mayor. This unthinkable tragedy, the largest mass shooting in American History transpires sunday night. A president who consumes a lot of media hears all of us talking about how an outside event and the prlts response to it can transforms ones presidency as it did with bill clinton after oklahoma city, ronald reagans, one of his defining speeches was, i believe, the one drafted by peggy talking about the challenger. George w. Bush in the rubble. I was not a fan of george w. Bush, but i was very proud of that. And obama. Amazing grace and after newtown. So what do you think went into todays trip and todays remarks . The white house certainly managed this one differently. They knew that they had fallen behind the narrative. As well as the humanitarian crisis in puerto rico. This was managed carefully from the getgo with john kelly being the one to inform the president what happened in las vegas. Hes not seeing it on twitter or waking up to see it on television. Hes informed by his chief of staff. The president did strike the right notes in the initial hours after this tragedy. He delivered a fine speech that was again read off a teleprompter. He led the moment of silence on the white house lawn afterwards. Contrast that to watching the coverage of the hurricane and his response being to lash out on twitter against the mayor of san juan. And i think some of the other differences weve seen here today in las vegas as opposed to what we saw yesterday in puerto rico, some are logistics. Today the teleprompter speech as opposed to him ad libbing remarks and throwing paper towels to the crowd. Also today he was more in his comfort zone. He knows las vegas. Has a hotel there right off the strip. Feels a connection there. Also, this event allows him to praise law enforcement. This is something people he is always hes spoken very highly of throughout his life. Talks about how many of them, in his estimation, supported him in the Campaign Last year but these are people that he does view were heroic and valorous and this gives him a chance to praise their efforts. And im hearing that while he was reading from prepared remarks, its not clear there was a teleprompter in front of him but clearly reading from a text. Let me get you to weigh in on what i think you are alluding to which is comfort zone. This part of the job that george will referred to as the pastoral part of the presidency isnt about that which makes a president comfortable. Its about that which he does to make others who are suffering comfortable. How does it always come back to him . Well, first of all, yes, this was a beautifully crafted, scripted speech. And so he was scripted today, unscripted yesterday. Which was real, which is not . Yes, you had the president going into his mode as healer in chief. But give it a minute. Give it a day. Weve seen this president before thats what im afraid of. As the word beautifully crafted came out of my mouth i thought but, yes, again, remember, that were about to go into the most Divisive Political issue in our culture right now. This is at the center of the culture war. The issue about guns. So again, this is not the pivot. This is not the day the president becomes president ial. But i do think that, you know, this is a president , and i think this is what george was getting at, who seems to lack at fundamental empathy gene. He doesnt he has that inability to go into this situation and in a genuine, authentic way, show that he cares and understands. Now you are absolutely right. This was his comfort zone to be able to wrap himself around law enforcement, to be in las vegas. And this was a good speech. But it was written by someone else. It was not donald trump himself looking at people who are suffering and who are dying and who somehow he regards as props in his particular Reality Tv Show that he lives in. We wont really know how this plays out for at least 48 hours. Gene . Its true. Watch the twitter feed. What does he go on to next . Is it a feud with the evil media . Is it well, thats not next. Heres the other thing. He juggles, you know, plates. Thats how he started his day. Lets just be honest. I dont want to sugarcoat. He walked into puerto rico having been criticized for his governments response to disaster. Having been criticized by the mayor of san juan. But there wasnt anyone out there saying he had messed up a federal response to this mass shooting. He didnt walk in there spoiling for a fight, but he often does. And on the flight to las vegas, he spent that not tweeting condolences or thoughts and prayers to las vegas. He tweeted attacks on the news media about the Rex Tillerson story from earlier today. Thats a great point. Here is a president who likes to pick fights. Who thinks that he feels strong looks strong eer and more powerful the more scraps he gets into. Theres the cognitive disside e dissidence. You saw that played out today. Do you start a fight with the mayor of a city thats just been destroyed by a hurricane . Most people would say no. Let me put you on the spot and ask you, this is the biggest mass shooting in American History. Theres some tweet thats been haunting me all week. Someone in their 20s said i read this headline three times. Its been retweeted a million times. But i wonder if his response to this shooting, which is dramatically different from his response to the two Mass Shootings carried out by people with ties to islamic extreme simp curious to you. After the pulse nightclub and San Bernardino attack, he immediately sought to advance a policy near and dear to him. He was calling it the muslim ban then. He now calls it the travel ban. But there was no policy to advance so that was the reason that there was no policy debate permitted by Sarah Huckabee sanders in the wake of this shooting. I wonder if the white house will get pressed for the double standard they have on the advancement of policies when he likes them and theyre relevant after a shooting versus the advancement of policies he doesnt want to talk about after a mass shooting. I think people on the wrong foot on a policy always want to avoid the policy when its most rel vept and that includes gun control or gun safety, whatever you want to call it. A crisis is a great time to talk about policy. Its when failures of policy are most evident. If that shooter had a muslim name, what conversation would be happening right now . Would the president have been tweeting about it . Orlando, we saw that. Which conclusions would he have jumped to . Jimmy kimmel spoke to that. Hes become the conscience of the nation. He said just that. Would we be having a different conversation. Would they have been comfortable politicizing this mass tragedy if the shoot ear. We know the answer. It happened in orlando. It happened in San Bernardino. We know the answer to that. Sure. Period. Yes, he would have. And thats not right, but, yeah. He would have. And it just casts a moment like what we saw, which you have to give him the benefit of the doubt that a beautifully written speech in the moment he read it, he meant it but theres no string you can pull through anything that this president does. Not even a mass casualty shooting. Thats right. I mean, look. I think we said earlier that this event has not forced him to sit there with victims and empathize. I think every good politician that ive ever covered, at some point learns or was born with that ability to reflect back at people what they are feeling and need to feel. Its usually an essential skill in politics. I have not seen i have not seen him doing it except in the context of anger and rage at his own campaign events. With steve bannon agging him on. The story that put the president on the defensive today that got him tweeting before he was out of his jammies. Nbc news reporting of the secretary of state calling donald trump a moron. Well talk with a former white house insider whose boss was in the middle of the trump tillerson meltdown. Also the russia investigation. After interviewing more than 100 witnesses, what Senate Investigators say theyve learned about collusion and parts of that salacious dossier that are holding up under scrutiny. This is electricity. This is a power plant. This is tim barckholtz. Thats me this is something he is researching at exxonmobil using fuel cells to capture Carbon Emissions at power plants. This is the potential. Reducing co2 emissions by up to 90 . While also producing more power. This could be big. Energy lives here. When it comes to strong bones, are you on the right path . We have postmenopausal osteoporosis. And a high risk for fracture, so with our doctors. We chose prolia®. 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I cant wait for her to have that College Experience that i had. The classes, the friends, the independence. And since we planned for it, that student debt is the one experience, im glad shell miss when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. Ameriprise throughout history, the one meal when we come together, break bread, share our day and connect as a family. [ bloop, clicking ] and connect, as a family. Just, uh one second voice guy. [ bloop ] huh . Hey . I paused it. Bam, family time. So how is everyone . Find your awesome with xfinity xfi and change the way you wifi. Amid all the tragedy, spanning from las vegas to puerto rico, the president today took to wait twitter to bash th media and this network. The nbc news story based on reporting from a dozen sources in and close to the Trump White House detailed mounting tensions between the secretary of state and President Trump that came to a head this summer with tillerson, quote, on the verge of resigning his post. And Vice President pence being called in to deliver a pep talk to the beleaguered cabinet secretary. It elicited a rare oncamera response from tillerson. Do address a few specifics erroneously reported this morning. The Vice President has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of state because i have never considered leaving this post. Can you address the main headline of this story that you called the president a moron, and if not, where do you think these reports are im not going to deal with petty stuff like that. Let me tell you what ive learned about this president whom i did not know before taking this office. He loves this country. He puts americans and america first. He is smart. He demands results wherever he goes. Todays statement from tillerson was not the result of internal alarm about the president undermining his secretary of state on north korea as he did with these tweets over the weekend. Writing that he told Rex Tillerson our wonderful secretary state of that hes wasting his time trying to negotiate with little rocket man. And to, quote, save your energy, rex. Well do what has to be done. Nor was it an effort to knit together two men, one a boy scout, literally, and the other a president who talked to the boy scouts jamboree about hot parties at remarks that were universally panned earlier this summer. Todays statement by tillerson in which he did not deny calling trump a moron was in response to a media report that based on tweets and now comments directed at nbc news seem to drive trump bananas. About an hour ago, the president addressed the report in las vegas. Any response to rex tiller n tillersons comments . Im honored by his comments. It was a fake story. It was made up by nbc. Thank you all. Total confidence in rex. I have total confidence. Thank you very much, everybody. For the record, nbc has total confidence in its reporting. Lets bring in robert costa, reporter with the Washington Post and an msnbc political analyst and chief International Affairs columnist Susan Glasser. Let me start with you. It is the worst kept secret in washington that Rex Tillerson is unhappy basically reporting into the white house through Jared Kushner, his contacts with foreign leaders, and that the white house is unhappy with Rex Tillerson for taking so long to staff up, for dragging what they see as dragging his feet to put people at key posts. Is this a marriage that can be saved and does anyone want it to be . Theres a lot to unpack there. First of all, you have to go back to the trump statement you just showed us. Full confidence in somebody who is an embattled official can often mean the kiss of death and thats already happened not once but a couple times, even in this shortlived trump administration. So, you know, i dont think weve seen the end of the story here that, in fact, tillersons press conference will go down as a very memorable one in the history of the state department. No one, of course, has any precedence for a lot of this. Even so, the president is not a moron press conference where he didnt deny it is pretty remarkable stuff. Substantively as well as stylistically, Rex Tillerson and donald trump have not been a good fit for each other. I think that is acknowledged by partisans on both sides and right now we even have a flash point coming up. President trump has until october 15 tot certify this iran deal. He said he wants to blow it up. Rex tillerson is out there saying no and we believe we signed this deal and its in our National Interest to keep it. Robert costa, what are you hearing about the Vice President s role in giving the secretary of state a pep talk, one, some instructions on how to be respectful toward the president and his comments on the air and in meetings and on the insult itself that near the end of july, which was by any objective analysis, a bumpy summer for this president that Rex Tillerson made the assessment that a president , his boss, was a moron. Based on my own reporting, i can share that i know people in the white house and who work for the Vice President say he has become somewhat of an amateur student of President Trump and his method. His personality. And he does at times share those insights with colleagues and members of the cabinet. Im not able to corroborate what nbc has reported specifically with regard to a conversation with secretary tillerson, but pence is known as someone who believes that publicly showering praise on the president and even doing so privately has its benefits for an administration that is based in many respects on loyalty as much as it is on policy agreement. Charlie sykes, robert costa could have been talking about north korea there where people who are in service of the leader have to be trained and flatter the leader. Its remarkable. I never question Robert Costas reporting but its a remarkable state of play that the Vice President goes around and tells people how to shower the president with sufficient praise to stay out of this crosshair. This is not a rubiks cube. Hell lash out at people who criticize him and that formula apparently is obviously, well known domestically and in Foreign Policy. And the Rex Tillerson what does that say . Like eugene, we are facing an existential threat from Nuclear North Korea and were worried about the Vice President has to run around and teach americas secretary of state how to speak pretty to donald trump . Are you kidding me . Unfortunately, im not kidding you. Im not kidding. This is where we are . Thats where we are. And so, yes, we are at the dear leader phase of america. Where hes the dear leader or great leader. Those are your two options, and thats the way you have to treat it if you hope to serve in the administration. One man isnt having it. Bob corker today, do we have that . Bob corker today sticking up for Rex Tillerson talking about how the trio of men Rex Tillerson, secretary mattis and h. R. Mcmaster project to the world the stability that our tweeting president does not. I think secretary tillerson, secretary mattis and chief of staff kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos. And i support them very much. I see whats happening here. I deal with people throughout the administration. And he, from my perspective, is an incredibly frustrating place where, as i watch, okay, and i can watch very closely on many occasions, you know, he ends up not being supported in a way that i would hope a secretary state of would be supported. And thats just from my vantage point. Tillerson, mattis and kelly are separating this country from chaos . Do you mean from the president s chaos . Its just they act in a very they work very well together to make sure that the policies we put forth around the world are sound and coherent. There are other people within the administration, in my belief, that dont, okay . Im sorry. So, i mean, i hope, you know, i hope they stay. Theres nothing like retirement for a dose of truth serum. Nick, what do you make of bob corker speaking truth about the fact that, and i misspoke. It wasnt mcmaster, although ive heard him put in that category. Its general kelly, secretary mattis and secretary tillerson who separate this country from chaos. What were seeing here is a prominent senator of the president s own party saying he doesnt trust the president to handle Foreign Policy and is relying on the president s deputies and cabinet secretaries to do it. Hes also describing a reality. This white house speaks with four or five different voices on Foreign Policy and every other Foreign Policy and you can go down the list and count the examples where the ambassador to the u. N. Nikki haley has said one thing and the president has said something else. You speak to diplomats in other countries its very clear that people look and see what the president says and wonder if its true and then run around and talk to the cabinet secretaries and their staffs to find out what the real policy is. Robert costa, let me bring you in and ask you, one of the things i heard really irritated this white house was the reporting on the notion that tillerson was asked to review nikki haleys job performance. I heard from two white house sources they found that particularly offensive. I wonder, one if you heard any rumblings about that and, two if you have any assessment about how nikki haley ends up staying in the president s good graces, even though she parts with him sometimes, while tillerson seems to have really no running room to ever disagree with the president. And when he does, he gets called out on twitter almost immediately. Ambassador hailey has become a popular figure in this administration. Thats not to question nbcs reporti reporting at all, but shes seen as a confidante of the president and next in line for secretary of state should the current secretary of state step aside. She has a rapport with the president and this mrgss. That means a lot. The idea that mike pence was asking if she was doing a bad job, maybe at the time, but i havent heard that. What i do know is that haley is seen as someone who has trumps blessing to even if she sometimes steps further out on a limb than other officials, shes pretty safe because she has the president s personal support. And Susan Glasser if you can just weigh in on style. So much of this, i doubt that nickkkki haley and rex tillerso have policy disagreements but can you weigh in on how this president portrays style, press aptitu aptitude. I understand the white house to be not happy that its not at their direction that Rex Tillerson doesnt bring press with him on the plane when he travels around the world. Hes coming up short in the view of the white house on some style points that nikki haley is doing very well in. Well, i think thats an important point. If you think about it, its very amazing that listening to secretary of state tillerson today, you realize he never gives a press conference really that is in the middle of news stories. Hes been very rarely accompanied by cameras on some of his trips in a striking departure from what other secretaries of state and you have a president who sees himself as the communicator in chief, and i think he has loved the attention that nikki haley has brought to the u. N. Just a couple weeks ago in new york, trump was bringing haley around at his side. She was there and tillerson was almost nowhere to be found. Thats a striking difference from how it normally is. But i would say there is an interesting policy difference, too, in this current fight, and it has been, im told, a real fight in the administration on the iran deal and whether to certify or not. Nikki haley has been reported by multiple sources to be strongly in favor of desertifying and moving against the deal and Rex Tillerson has been almost left hanging out there semipublicly as one of the only guys, until yesterday, with jim matt whois was in favor of sticking with it. Thats a big disagreement thats been playing out right now. And i assume thats some of the context for the very strong nbc report. Robert costa and barbara glasser, thank you for spending some time with us. When we come back, the white house insider whose boss was right in the middle of this all between donald trump and Rex Tillerson. When we come back. At ally, we offer a credit card with unlimited cash back. But if thats not enough, we offer a 10 deposit bonus into an ally account. And if thats not enough to help you save, we could help you cut the cord. Thats right. Cancel it. What about my reality shows . Ok, if thats not enough, well give you reality. This is too real maybe a comedy . 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Stop taking victoza® and get medical help right away if you get symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing. Serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. So, stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area. Tell your doctor your medical history. Gallbladder problems have happened in some people. Tell your doctor right away if you get symptoms. Taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion, and constipation. Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Ask your doctor about victoza®. We are back now with mark water, the former press secretary for Vice President mike pence. The Vice President features prominently in nbcs explosive report on Rex Tillerson. Cureding to multiple sources it was the Vice President who acted as the adult in the room trying to ease tensions between the secretary of state and President Trump. Thank you for being here with us. Its my understanding that the Vice President plays this role often, translating donald trump to his former colleagues in the house. Translating donald trump in this instance to another cabinet secretary. The Vice President meets with the cabinet secretaries and other senior members on a regular basis. He plays a big role on the policy and in the communications and messaging role for the president around but is part of that role absorbing frustration with the president . There is solid reporting that no one has denied the president brought Jeff Sessions to near tears in the way he lambasted him over recusing himself. Solid reporting that no one in the white house, the former colleagues refuted that john kelly was screamed at in a manner hed never been screamed at in his career. Does the president play a consoler in house kind of role . What the Vice President does people dont go to him . He helps to make sure that our cabinet secretaries know how to operate in the framework that moves the president s message forward. What does that mean . You mean with a tweeting president . In terms of making sure youre communicating, working through the proper channels to make sure when youre out there speaking on behalf of the administration that youre echoing the message of the president of the United States. Sounds like youre confirming the nbc report that he talked to tillerson about being respectful in his onair appearances. Im not going to confirm the contents of the conversation. You wont deny after tillerson seemed to part ways with the president after his charlottesville response he said the president speaks for himself. The Vice President and secretary of state did speak. And they did speak about the need to come together and make insure that everyone is moving forward with the message in the framework that is echoing what the president of the United States wants to have communicated. Its not shouldnt be characterized as a pep talk. Shouldnt be characterized as whats your word . I would say advising. Advising. How is that different from a pep talk . Pep talk or woodshed. Those are the two choices. Im not going to get into putting the definitions and where that was. But what you are seeing is from the president , the Vice President , general kelly on down, youre seeing that this president , hes result oriented. He wants results and wants them yesterday. So when he gets the opportunity and we have people that need to be moving that ball forward in the message, in the framework, in the plan the president is laying out, this is the way that you can bring things together. You are saying framework. I have a white house official who described the framework which is youre talking about processes. Systems, strategies, plans for thats what they describe as under the line. Things general kelly can control. And then they put the president s tweets, the president s comments and comportment with his own cabinet secretaries and other officials, the things he says to russians when he talks about comey being in that job. They describe those as above the line. Out of the control of pence, general kelly. How do you deal with that part of the framework . I think at the end of the day, we have to look at the fact this is a president who communicates directly to the American People and directly around the world in with the message and in the work that he chooses to use. You have a leader who is saying were going to get results. I just saw a he doesnt have any results. What result does he have . I saw a pew study that let me understand what results you are talking about. Coverage of President Trump has been about style. And thats what im asking you on substance. What results . Give me one . Isis is on the run. Record stock markets, low what is the low unemployment. Jobs growing. What is the accomplishment that justifies the framework that includes pence having to take people to the woodshed, as gene said. Do you think theres any honorable dissent from the president . Do you think Rex Tillerson had the right as a grownass man to disagree with how donald trump responded to charlottesville . What i would ask is how would you respond, and how did you respond when the secretary of treasury questioned your bosses, president george w. Bushs commission to tax cuts . Nobody took him to the woodshed and nobody if you want to bring you want to bring the way george bush dealt with critics . Operate in a system where we have an agenda from the American People. The president was elected on he tweets attacks at his own cabinet secretaries. We have people focusing more on style. Who is focused on style. There was a pew study. I love pew but what are you who focused on style . You have no put style aside. Your style works for you. I say tomato, you say tomato. But who is the result youre pointing to . Im pointing to many results. Im talking about a record stock markets, low unemployment, isis on the run. Our enemies finally knowing that when the president of the United States, and america says something, we actually mean it. We are not going to just turn around and turn the other cheek and our allies know it. Ive had the privilege of traveling around the world with the Vice President during my service with him. Each worth leader that we met with when the cameras went away and we had the private conversations you know those conversations im talking about are all saying, thank goodness we know america finally has our back again and that when we say were going to go after terrorists or say were going to secure borders, say were going to deal with the scourge of drugs coming into our country, that we finally have a president who actually means what he says and is going to do it. Those are the things of things, and the American People are seeing that out there. They are seeing that beyond just the tweet stories of the day and all of the other distractions or style issues where many in the media seem to be focused more on the style. When they are looking at the results. I guess my point is were not focused on the style because its what we care about. The president started his day, you have to concede that yesterday was a deadly serious day. He was in puerto rico, scene of a humanitarian crisis. Today hes with grieving families and courageous First Responders yet he woke up focused on style and tweeted three times about the media. The president himself is obsessed with his own press coverage and tweets about it. What i would also tell you is he is focused on getting those results. He is focused on getting the recovery going in puerto rico. To going to was he focused on it early enough . Absolutely. There were people on the ground weeks before the storm hit. While the storm was there. This is a unique situation being on an island that we cannot have things just sitting outside the storm zone on a highway ready to roll in as soon as the storms moves away. I understand that. And you had the backtoback storms. But were now two weeks in. 95 of the island is without power. There are many infrastructure issues there that just simply cannot be overcome in a matter of weeks. We go to doha and set up bases in the middle of the desert and build cell tower n roads and were also building the cities that support those troops and those things in doha. Youre dealing with an existing infrastruct are wiped out by two hurricanes. Why cant we go to the airport and build a cell tower and all eight airports are reopened. 64 of 67 hospitals have reopened. 50 of the population has clean Drinking Water again. There are steps. There are processes that have to go in place. We have to clear the roads before we can get the supplies in. We have to make insure thsure w those distribution hubs. Thats what youre seeing under the leadership of fema in partnership with the department of defense. As we know, its a much different situation. What we saw in texas, what we saw in florida was and had been sent from the white house before the storms and during the recovery is that the federal government is there to assist local and state governments in areas where they cant and where they are overwhelmed. The entire area in the entire infrastructure of puerto rico was basically demolished. So we had to come in and reestablish all of that at a federal level where you had police, you had First Responders that were didnt have homes. They were dealing with their own issues. We had to provide all of that as opposed to just stitting on top. Seems like the kind of thing they could have seen coming down the pike but well pick up this conversation. Thank you for being with us. When we come back, the Intelligence Community that donald trump maligned before he took office turns out they got it right when it came to russian meddle, and trumps prorussia platform. That from the Senate Intelligence committees republican chairman. Well tell you what it means for the investigation after this. vo more doing chores for mom per roll more doing chores for dad per roll more earning something you love per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50 longer than the leading ordinary brand. So you get more life per roll. Bounty the quicker picker upper. When i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. I just snapped a photo and got an estimate in 24 hours. My Insurance Company definitely doesnt have that. You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance. The issue of collusion is still open. That we continue to investigate both intelligence and witnesses. And that were not in a position where we will come to any type of temporary finding on that until weve completed the process. Though we have been incredibly enlightened at our ability to rebuild backwards the steel dossier up to a certain date, getting past that point has been somewhat impossible. I recommend that every campaign and every election official take this very seriously, as we move into this novembers election and as we move into preparation for the 2018 election. The Senate Intelligence committee telling the public that russias meddling campaign was massive and sophisticated and their investigation is still very much under way. And that after nine months, over 100,000 pages of documents and over 100 witnesses, the committee cannot yet rule out collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia. Joining us now, former federal prosecutor renatto mariati. Im addicted to your twitter feed. If i wasnt on tv, id be searching you. What do you make of todays press conference . Well, it was interesting. It was very interesting. And i think that the way i would read it, nicolle is they were trying to, first of all, i think give a responsible warning to the public about the dangers posed by russian meddling and bringing people together on that. I think there was also a message of trying to calm the Republican Base a little bit. I think there was a concern by some in the republican side that this was an investigation seeking to overturn the results of the election, and i think the chairman tried to reassure the public. I will say, you know, the news all week long has underscored the seriousness of what the russians tried to do to undermine our election. And i think thats something that should be a bipartisan issue. I wonder whats you make of news about the dossier. When the dossier came out, and it was that wedge between jim comey and donald trump from the first time, i think, the two men were ever in a room together, jim comey telling donald trump of its existence, not of its veracity, then donald trump losing his marbles when a news organization, not this one, reported on it and put it online. The fact that that is now slowly, little pieces of it being corroborated by the Republicanled Senate Intel Committee blew my mind. I agree with you on that. I will tell you that when the dossier first came out, i was skeptical of it. Anybody thats a former prosecutor like myself would be. You often get intel background from sources but thats different from, you know, hard evidence or testimony under oath or testimony to an fbi agent that you could use at trial. What ive been seeing over the last several months is i followed this on twitter and also here on msnbc and elsewhere, i have seen piece after piece of that dossier get corroborated and here we have a bipartisan Congressional Committee saying that portions of it are corroborated and anyone who has looked at that dossier thats floating around online, there some are explosive allegations in there. And the reason that it was explained to me is that it was originally worked on by a very well respected, perhaps awardwinning former journalist from the wall street journal. It was not ever, you know, thrown together. And that there were some theories that hadnt been corroborated at the time. Some of the most salacious things. I remember ken delaney says forget the sex, follow the money. Is that what investigators are doing in following the parts of the dossier about financial ties . I think thats always part of every white collar investigation. I think every time i investigated somebody, i always was getting tax returns and going through their bank records. Thats just part of a good federal investigation. But i will tell you also, nicolle, another thing theyll be looking at is the public statements of these individuals which as you know from reading my twitter feed ive dissected those. You look at michael cohn, the president s former lawyer, hes very cagey about what he denies about meetings in europe with russian representatives. You couldnt have in susan page, usa today Washington Bureau chief. Susan, let me ask you react to this republican Led Committee saying theyre working backward to corroborate pieces of that dossier and really sounding alarms to anything getting ready to run for election or reelection in the next cycle about russias continued devotion to meddling in our democracy. Yeah, definitely some red flags there about what could happen in next years midterm elections and concern, i think, that not all states, not all agencyerize taking seriousliness. The opportunity to affect voter rolls or voting returns. Those will be the most serious forms of hacking. The other thing that really struck me about the press conference we saw today is senator burr did not exactly go into this as an enthusiastic participant or leader of this investigation, but what he said today was that they are kind of in for the long haul. He had previously said he hoped to wrap it up by the end of the year. He basically indicated at the News Conference that is not realistic. His new deadline is to try to wrap it up by the 2018 midterms and that he refused to rule out the idea that theyre going to find collusion, although he said they dont have any evidence of it now. All those things seemed important to me and worrisome to the white house. And one of the tells that this investigation is gnawing at donald trump is sort of his twitter rage. We saw an uptick this morning, and it might be tied to what we have been talking about, that the Republicanled Senate Intel Committee making clear today that the issue of collusion is still open. The issue of business ties in trump tower moscow, which mike cohen, i think thats what he was alluding to, is still open. While the obstruction matter is squarely in the bob mueller probe, this question of collusion and whether russians helped tip the election in his favor still very much an open question by a republicanLed Committee. Yeah, and as the evidence mounts about how dramatic the russian intervention was, it becomes harder and harder for trump and his supporters to dismiss this as a nonstory. But absolutely, you have to follow the money. And i think thats what donald trump is most obsessed about. Knowing that all the family, that the tax returns, the family finances, the business deals are going to be exposed at some point. So the bottom line of this is this thing is not over and in fact it has expanded beyond the original scope. Jonathan sorry, go ahead. I was going to bring up the whole question, which may be a central question. You know, all the facebook ad that russians placed, how did the russians know where to place them and how to target, who to target, how to target them, all that granular data. Where did that get that from . What are the theories . Did they get it from the Trump Campaign. Thats the question. Two theories on that. The first is they actually use their own Facebook Advertising and their own web pages and tracking bugs on the internet to build a list of targets and then use that and use basically facebooks own tools to find the voters they wanted. The other possibility is that they got a list of voters of targets from some other party, and the ultimate collusion would be from some, you know, somehow from the Trump Campaign or some coordination there. I think its unlikely, personally. I think there are lots of sources of that information. If you want to know where to target what states, read the newspaper. Or watch msnbc. We talk about the battleground states every day. We havent gotten the answers yet and were right on the bleeding edge of what the Senate Intel Committee is figuring out. One of the few predictable things in an unpredictable presidency is whenever the russia stuff comes up, donald trump kind of losing his mind. Kind of . I think were potentially facing that again. We co he feels any questions, any suggestions that russia interfered on his behalf undermined the legitimacy of his election. We know how much the popular vote bothers him. This is in the sail category. When you call the white house and ask about the fate of jared and ivanka, the status, the answer has been for nine months, theyre untouchable. Thats not the answer anymore. Is part of that what gene is talking about, the potential that the campaign and we know some of the Digital Campaign was under the direction of Jared Kushner, something he was proud of. Is thats something theyre increasingly worried about . Sure, that is. The president himself has suggested to people close to him he worries about jared and ivankas future in the white house. Theres some suggestion theres a magnifying glass on jared for this data operation which is something close around him were quick to tout to say this is something theyre behind. Theyre very proud of that effort. Its interesting even as kushners sort of biggest enemies in the west wing have departed in recent months, he perhaps finds himself ipmore trouble than he was before. Thats absolutely true. From what i heard, the legal interest of the president and soninlaw are no longer in the same page. Theyre diverging. And eventually, thats going to come down possibly to a question of who goes. And who is in deeper trouble, and who can this be pinned on. Who is there more evidence against . I think the lawyers for these two men have got to be talking about that internally. The president s son, don jr. , is also part of this. Three different camps of family members who may have differing agendas. Susan page, can you weigh in on this generational question with the investigation. Paul manafort and his soninlaw ensnared, donald trump and donald trump jr. Ensnared, Jared Kushner ensnared, mike flynn and mike flynn jr. Ensnared. The Trump Campaign turns out to not be a very big family builder, and one of the troubles they face now is once you have a special counsel investigation, even more than the Senate Intelligence Committee Investigations and the other inquiries on capitol hill, it goes on and on. It goes wherever it leads. It seeks to turn allies against one another, father against son. Campaign aide against candidate. And you cannot tell where it goes. Just ask bill clinton about whats happens once a special counsel is unleashed. I think thats biggest single threat to President Trump and he knows it. Were going to sneak in a quick break, but well be right back. Dont go anywhere. Fibromyalgia may be invisible to others, but my pain is real. Fibromyalgia is thought to be caused by overactive nerves. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. Im glad my doctor prescribed lyrica. For some, lyrica delivers effective relief for moderate to even severe fibromyalgia pain. And improves function. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. Common side effects dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, swelling of hands, legs and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those whove had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. With less pain, i can do more with my family. Talk to your doctor today. See if lyrica can help. All day and all night. My thanks to charlie sykes, Eugene Robinson, nick confessore, susan page, and ronoto, that does it for our hour. Im nicolle wallace. Mtp daily starts right now. Hi, chuck. Great show. Glad to see that the president only took about a minute of it. Give him more than that. He took a minute or two. That was it. Not bad. Thank you. If its wednesday, the chaos theory meets political science. Tonight, did Rex Tillerson disparage the president of the United States . He neither confirms nor denies. Can you address the main headline of the story that you called the president a moron and if not, where do you think these reports are coming im not going to deal with petty stuff like that. President Trump Defends his secretary of state. But for how long . Plus, did the Trump Campaign collude with russia . The Senate Intel Committee says its not sure yet. I thought i was pretty clear that the issue of collu