Transcripts For MSNBCW Meet The Press 20180211

Reportedly john kelly has offered to resign. Whats going on in this west wing . Ill ask legislative director marc short and republican senator jeff flake of arizona. Plus Russian Election meddling. President trump says he doubts Vladimir Putin did anything wrong. I believe that he feels that he and russia did not meddle in the election. And secretary of state tillerson seems to shrug his shoulders. Once they decide to do it, its pretty difficult to preempt it. Is the administration saying theres nothing we can do . Ill talk to nbc analyst clint watts. Always, the Winter Olympics are under way. Who is most interested in the game and what does what you watch say about your politics . Joining me for insight and analysis are wall street journal columnist peggy noonan, eddie glaude, chair of the center for african studies, Kristen Welker, and Erick Erickson, editor of the resurgent. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. Good sunday morning. It wasnt just the stock market that experienced wild swings this week. Consider the last few days at the white house. White house staff secretary rob porter resigns amid charges by his two exwives of physical abuse. Chief of staff john kelly reportedly offers to resign over his handling of the issue. We learned that White House Counsel Don Mcgahn has known for a year about the alleges against porter. White House Communications director hope hicks who is reportedly dating porter takes part in crafting the initial statement supporting him, and white house chief writer David Sorensen resigns after his exwife claims to the fbi he was physically abusive. Yesterday, President Trump tweets in an apparent defense of both, quote, peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Is there no such thing any longer as due process . Finally on friday, as if all the staff chaos wasnt enough, the president chooses to block, at least temporarily, the democratic memo attempting to rebut the republican claims that the fbi abused its authority as part of its russia probe. All of this as many on both sides of the aisle wondering, is this a white house west wing right now that is spinning out of control . Well, we wish him well. He worked very hard. President trump defending former top aide rob porter on friday who resigned after allegations of Domestic Violence went public. As you probably know, he says hes innocent, and i think you have to remember that. Porters two exwives accuse him of physical and emotional abuse. Both women describe his abusive behavior to the fbi. He definitely let me know that i was going to be contacted by the fbi once he was tapped for the white house, and he was curious what i was going to say. I told him, im going to tell them truth. Now a second white house staffer is out, speechwriter David Sorensens former wife told the fbi during a background check that he had been violent and emotionally abusive. He denied the allegations but he resigned. The president , who has denied allegations of Sexual Misconduct from a variety of women they have no witnesses. Theres nobody and. They just come around. Some are probably doing it for a little bit of fame. Has come out against Sexual Violence against women. Now mr. Trump is venting, reportedly on how he is unhappy for the way john kelly handled rob porter. He said it could prevent him from passing a background check. But in a statement on tuesday night, kelly was still defending him calling him a man of true integrity and honor. Some white house staffers are accusing kelly of rewriting history by claiming that he acted quickly. Tuesday night. That the accusations were true. 40 minutes later he was under. Also under scrutiny is White House Counsel Don Mcgahn who first learned about the allegations against porter more than a year ago. And Communications Director hope hicks who is reportedly dating porter and was involved in crafting the original statements defending him. I dont care who you are. Even if youre a rhodes scholar. You cant beat the hell out of your spouse. Now mr. Trump is openly musing about potential chief of staff replacements. Kelly denied to nbc news friday evening that he has offered his resignation, but if kelly goes, he would be the latest in a long string of President Trump administration departures. With the white house in chaos, there is a real question of who can take control. That was supposed to be kellys job. The general is there to put in policies and processes and procedures, and in this case those didnt work, and we need to find out why. Joining me now is the white house legislative director marc short. Mr. Short, welcome back to meet the press. Chuck, thanks for having me back. As Vice President pence and others have said that the white house could have handled this rob porter situation better, what were some of the missteps now that you can outline here that you hope to correct . Well, lets put things in perspective. I think that rob is a friend to many of us in the administration. Rob is somebody who is a rhodes scholar, is a harvardeducated guy. He did a great job as secretary, but there can be no tolerance for domestic abuse, no tolerance for violence against women. We have to be absolutely clear about that. I think there is probably in the process there was probably a lack of communication between different elements in the white house, but keep in mind, chuck, this is the same process of the administration that the Obama Administration used, the Bush Administration used, and others, and that the fbi runs this clearance process. When they provide somebody an interim clearance, that means theyve done an initial vet and said this person is okay, theres mitigating circumstances, were going to continue to investigate. We had not received a final investigation. When general kelly learned the depth of the nature of the accusations tuesday night, by wednesday morning, rob porter submitted his resignation. Explain why john kelly only found out on tuesday night when theres been plenty of reporting now that indicates that don mcgahn, the white House Counsel, he knew. The fbi informed him of the two allegations and then he was contacted by a former girlfriend in november saying, hey, take these charges seriously. So is don mcgahn not informing the chief of staff or is somebody not wanting to hear bad news . Its a fair question, chuck. I dont know, to be honest. I dont know who knew what at this point. Let me pause you here. Why . If we dont know the ticktock, then, how can you defend any of this . Because john kelly didnt know until tuesday and by wednesday rob porter was out. Should he have known earlier . I they we are following the same investigative process the other administration followed which is the fbi does the investigation, they complete it and they come back and tell about the investigation. Theres been people in the last two years who have had a wrath of Sexual Harassment investigations, including of your own network, that you say they could have didnone better. I guess the white house has gone through that same experience. I guess i want to go back to the idea that you say the fbi is the final say. The fbi raised plenty of red flags here. How do you guys vet staff . Do you just outsource it all to the fbi . In previous administrations, white House Counsel actually led the vetting of staff with the assistance of the fbi investigations. The fbi is the final investigation. They had not completed that investigation, chuck. Who gave the ability of rob porter, since he only had interim status, which meant on paper that doesnt give him the highest security clearance. Somebody would have had to have waived that. Did the president waive that and did he know why he had to waive that . The president didnt waive security clearances. I think we all had full confidence in rob and i think because he had been provided interim clearance, there were mitigating circumstances. There are some who dont even get that interim clearance because theres something that comes up in their background and he doesnt get that final step. Right, well, Jared Kushner does not have full security clearance and supposedly getting able to read the president ial daily briefing. Again, the fbi is saying hes not theyre not ready to sign off on a full security clearance for him. Why is this fbi report basically only taken as a suggestion . So my understanding is that this is typical in the beginning of the administration, chuck, that yes, these sort of review processes begin to get faster. When you start an administration, youre flooding the fbi with hundreds and hundreds of requests for security clearances that take longer. So i think there will hopefully be an expedition of several that are outstanding. Did john kelly want porter fired or not . I dont think that because his at tuesday changed. On tuesday he was almost lamenting the resignation, calling him a man of integrity. Then by wednesday he said he was shocked by the allegations. Again, we went through why he didnt know at the time, but what changed there . Chuck, i think were all saddened by this. Were all saddened by the nature of this. When you work with somebody for a year, your first instinct is to say, that doesnt match up with the man i know in the office. But it doesnt mean you can have tolerance for it, and general kelly had no tolerance for it. Why did President Trump never talk about the victims of rob porter . Chuck, as i said, i think that probably theres more reason to go back and talk about the victim gist as im sure that nbc learned about the way they handled the matt lauer situation. This isnt about nbc. I understand why youre doing trying to do that. We knew rob for years in this white house, so yes, when we learned about it, we were sad and shocked and didnt think this was something rob would be capable of doing. But if it is true, there is no tolerance for it, and he has since left the white house. That happened between tuesday night and wednesday morning. There are other Republican Party members who went on some of the president s favorite programs last night and blamed the fbi. Does general kelly blame the fbi . Were not blaming the fbi. The fbi did its job here . The fbi, we wish we could all expedite this process, but i think thats incumbent on all of us to see what we can do to make sure it goes faster. So members of congress who are trying to deflect blame, and put it to the fbi, theyre not blaming the fbi . Im not blaming the fbi, chuck. Fair enough. Let me ask you one more question about the president. He seems to hesitate accepting the story of an accuser. Let me show you an array of responses hes made over the years. Its my opinion that to a large extent mike tyson was railroaded in this case. Its very sad. Because hes a very good person. These people are horrible people. Theyre horrible, horrible liars. Roy moore denies it. Thats all i can say. He denies it. And by the way, he totally denies it. He said very strongly yesterday that hes innocent. Does the president believe rob porter is still innocent . I think the president is shaped by a lot of false accusations against him in the past, chuck, but in talking to the president , i think hes very disturbed about what happened to rob, hes very disappointed and i think he believes the resignation is appropriate. Does he have confidence in general kelly . He has confidence in general kelly. Did general kelly offer to resign or not . Theres been confusion in other reporting. Did he unofficially offer to write the Resignation Letter but not officially hand it to him . What can you clear up . General kelly in my mind is an american hero. There are few families that have sacrificed more for our country. John kelly knows he serves the president and he will step aside any time the president doesnt want him to be there. But john kelly has not offered his resignation. John kelly has done an outstanding job. In the last four months weve seen 1. 24 million americans get bonus or wage increase. Weve seen isis flee over 100 of its territory that it had between iraq and syria is gone. General kelly is doing a great job. Let me ask you about the memo and the decision by the white house to delay the release of the democratic memo or essentially not release this version of it. This is what you said before the release of the republican memo, you and a bunch of your colleagues. Take a look. I do think that we typically prefer transparency. We want full transparency. Its what weve said all along. This president has said from the beginning and certainly since ive been the chief of staff of six months now, i want everything out. I want this thing i want the american people, a, to know the truth. This president is for transparency and accountability in the main. That was the message before the release of the republican memo. Yeah. Democrats write a memo. Nope. No transparency. Why is the president afraid of transparency on this one . Were not afraid of transparency. You can see us release the memo, chuck. What the president said is that we believe congressman schiff intentionally put in there methods and sources that he knew would need to be redacted. And if we redacted it, there would be an outcry that says the white house is trying to edit it. So we said take it back, work with the fbi, clean it up and well release it. I think we have every expectation why do you not need to do that for the republican memo . The fbi basically issued a primal scream about the republican memo and you didnt respond to the fbis there were not sources and methods of concern in the republican memo. There were concerns of us releasing it because they didnt want transparency. Its different. Talk about highway pk sy. Hypocrisy. They offered to release the republican and the democratic memo. Democrats in the house only voted to release their memo. They voted against the republican memo. There is a hypocrisy here, chuck. We will be releasing that memo. Weve asked them to clean it up. Marc short, ill leave it there. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for having me, chuck. Joining me now, republican senator jeff flake of arizona. He joins me from phoenix. Senator flake, welcome back to the show. Thanks for having me on. Let me start very quickly with what youre seeing in the white house. Do you have faith in john kelly as chief of staff right now this morning, sir . I think the white house said they could have handled the situation better. Thats a bit of an understatement, yes. They could have done a lot better particularly with the rob porter situation. It seems do you worry that this is a pattern here, that it seems as if, particularly with the president , that, number one, accusations are not believed, its sort of a knee jerk response always and, you know, you could decide whether its projection or some other reason, but it seems as if women are never believed when it comes to an accusation to the president or somebody close to the president. I do think if you put on a political hat that that is a big problem. Certainly how we are viewed as republicans in the next election, i think that that is a big problem. And certainly, substantively, its a big problem not to show any concern or empathy for the potential victims of these incidents. That is a problem. And thats something i think the president ought to correct. There seems to be also another thing weve discovered in all of this which is weve got a security clearance backlog, the fbi is clearly theyve had to spend a lot of time doing background checks on some people in the administration. Theres also a backlog of some others. Does this process need to be reformed in some way, and, you know, its not clear to me if the white house views fbi background checks as suggestions or as definitive. Right. I think there are signs that it does need to be reviewed. I think were going to have to talk about that with the judiciary committee, certainly in the senate, because to have so many, dozens of people who are on an interim clearance over an extended period of time that are certainly viewing and considering classified material is a problem. So if we do need to reform the process, lets do it, but this Current Situation shouldnt continue. I want to move on to a couple other topics. One has to do with the president s use of the word treasonous and criticizing democrats who didnt clap. You went on the senate floor this week and said treason is not a punchline. And yet, the white house has said many times that, actually, some of these most controversial tweets should be treated just like that. Take a look. The president was clearly joking with his comments. He made a joke. Maybe you guys should get a sense of humor and try it sometime. I believe he was making a joke at the time. Can you say affirmatively that whenever the president says something, we can trust it to be real . If hes not joking, of course. And he was making a sarcastic point about those 33,000 emails. Let me ask you on the treasonous comment. Do you think we need to get a sense of humor, or does the president need to watch his words . No, i think the president stops needs to stop calling democrats or republicans or others who dont stand or applaud at every line that he has, that they are unamerican. He also used that term, or treasonous. Words matter, and when he talks about fake news, for example, i gave another speech where i talk about how that gives aid and comfort to authoritarians around the world who are labeling their position or dismissing real dissent as fake news. So those things matter. I dont think its a joking matter to say that somebody is treasonous and he ought to stop it. Youre one of the few republicans who spoke up on that issue. Not many others did, and it seems that fewer and fewer are able to criticize the president when he does some of these sort of unusual attacks on his opponents. Why is that . I think the real problem, as i tried to mention, is we are seen now as normal, things we shouldnt see as normal. And this degradation of the political culture is a real concern where were no longer outraged when we ought to be. And thats a problem. So i do think that more of us ought to stand up and say, hey, this is beyond the bounds of where politics ought to be, and the longer we go without doing that, you know, the further politics slides into areas that just are unhealthy. Let me move to immigration. Youre already publicly talking about a backup plan. I know Lindsey Graham is talking about a backup plan on daca, some sort of temporary extension. Youre talking about three years that would coincide with three years of significant border funding. Is this basically admitting defeat . No. I do think that we can get something done this week. Were going to have something in the senate that we havent had in a while. Its a real debate on an issue where we really dont know what the outcome is going to be. We havent done that for a while. But there will be proposals put forward. The president put together a framework that i think is constructive. There are bipartisan groups working, several of them in the senate, to come to a solution. I think that we can, but if there is a problem in the end and we cant reach that, i think that these dreamers need to be protected. You said something earlier this week. You said that the president claimed to you, i had the meeting with chuck and nancy but then the base went crazy. So let me ask you, can you trust the president s word that he will stick by what he wants here when it comes to daca and an immigration compromise . We sure hope so. Like i said, what he put out a couple fridays ago, the framework was actually helpful. I think there are some changes that need to be made to it, for example, Legal Immigration cannot go down significantly if were going to have a work force that we need for the economy going forward. So there is some changes. I hope that he sticks to it. We have had some issues of him saying this looks good, and we hope you in the house and senate will work it out and ill sign whatever. And then later saying, no, i dont like this proposal or i dont like that. But i do think that this week is going to be, like i said, something we havent seen before, and im looking forward to it, as are my colleagues and its a lot of hard work. Does it matter if the house wont put a bill on the floor . I do think, i still think, that if we put a good bill to the president that has the support of 65, 70 members of the senate that the president will accept it and the house will like it, as well. By definition, if we can get something with support of 65 to 70 senators or maybe more, its going to be a good, broad bill that will address, i believe, the concerns that the president has outlined, but also, take into account the things that we need for our economy going forward. Well, you were a member of the gang of eight. You got 68. Im guessing you better get north of 68 on that one. Senator flake, as always, sir, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. Thanks for having me on. Much appreciate it. When we come back, could this be the end for john kelly as chief of staff . You just heard the president has full confidence. But has he actually reached his sell by date for donald trump . Thats next. Welcome back. Panelists here eddie glaude, chair of the center for african studies, nbc reporter Kristen Welker and Erick Erickson of the insurgent. All right. I want to start with the idea there are sell by dates for people that work with donald trump and Kell John Kelly may have reached his. Corwin lewandowski was with trump for 369 days but hes the outlier. Paul manafort sent 144 days before he was fired. Steve bannon was the chief white house strategist there for 211 days. And Reince Priebus lasted 290 days. Today is john kellys 199th day as chief of staff. Kristen welker, how you heard marc short express, say the president has confidence. Okay. When a Sports Team Owner says they have confidence in a coach, it doesnt mean they dont get fired the next day. It doesnt. We know the president has been disappointed with his chief of staff not only with the handling of the rob porter situation, but because hes had a numb of missteps. He referred to the dreamers as lazy in recent days. That created a firestorm. The president openly musing about replacing him with Mick Mulvaney, for example. Im told one thing that might hold the president back, he doesnt want more drama in his white house right now. I want to tee up something you wrote, peggy. First of all, they thought the atlantic captured something that makes this one different. Both porter and kelly in the cross hairs this year. A scandal that exposes the white house, quote. You write this. You cant really blackmail donald trump on personal conduct because nothing said about him would surprise or shock. Mr. Porter, however, was blackmailable. Why did they let him stay on . Maybe because they were desperate. He was a respected establishment pro that could do the job. The administration struggled to attract such people. Without them, it was all omarosa. There are two things that are true. One is that the white house had a lot of trouble because attracting really good workers and high level staffers early on in the first six to nine months, in part because there were many people in washington who just thought this administration isnt going to work, i dont want to get the cooties on me. Im not going in there. But there was another thing that was brought on the Trump White House by trump himself. There were fabulous people in washington, experienced and accomplished and serious. Real patriots. They had opposed trump in 2016. They said when he was elected they said, im available. If you want me to come in, ill go into state. Ill go into defense. The white house was very nice to them until they found out that those people had been critical during the 2016 campaign. Signed letters from Foreign Policy people posing trump or catholics opposing trump. They would not let anyone in who was not a fierce loyalist. And because of that they lost a lot of talent and that is all trump. And think about that. Its a fbi they cared more about vetting politics than what the fbi was saying. I think its not only the question of talent, its also the question of character. There is a sense in which there are just indecent people in the white house. When we think about the melodrama of this reality show that is the west wing, that is the white house itself, it keeps coming back to the question, why are these people, these particular kind of people in the white house . People who beat women, people who seem to have questionable financial dealings, folks who seem to have really noxious views about people who are different than they are, folks who seem to be insensitive to other people who are suffering. It just brings up the question of character. Who are these people and are they a reflection, actually, of the president himself . Erick, is it top down here . Its interesting. Ive talked to people inside and around the white house because i wrote the other day maybe it is time for john kelly to go, but if so, a lot of other people, as well. Theyre like, please dont. Hes the guy keeping the trains running around here. Isnt that how rob porter ended up there because it goes to peggys point. It goes to peggys point. There is a side issue here of why was rob porter allowed to have such a Senate Career . With republicans. What is going on in the house and senate related . I get what marc short was saying, that we looked at this guy, this doesnt comport to what we knew of him. I feel the same way about john kelly probably did that. If its true he acted responsibly immediately upon learning the information and 40 minutes later or whatever, he was gone, why did it take so long for general kelly to find out the information . Again, there are people in the white house who really feel john kelly is being set up to be pushed out the door. Talk to lawmakers on capitol hill, though, and they do not want general kelly to leave for the exact reason youre saying. They say, look, we got something done on tax reform. They attribute that to john kelly keeping the president in line to some extent. So theyre concerned, and i have to say having covered the white house, he did bring a measure of stability that i think there is a lot of concern about losing. What is the stability, though, peggy . If im Reince Priebus here, whats the difference between his sixmonth reign now and the sixmonth reign of kelly . Theyre both chaotic. This administration started out in chaos and order. It evolved to chaos and disorder. It is in now chaos and disorder. The president brings chaos and disorder. I think he thinks he flourishes well in it. I think no one else really does. But weve been able to get things done with chief kelly, including tax reform, that we werent able to get done ahead of time. Im sorry. Why are Mick Mulvaney and others afraid to see him go . Theyre just as competent capitol hill guys. We wont know the answer to this question until hes gone and thats the question. We dont want to bring up that book. Fire and fury. Remember the palace intrigue. There has always been people who didnt want john kelly there. Thats right. They lost power. When general kelly came in, he took power from some people, they want to get it back. So there is that. Constant in trump world, though. The ousted tribe wants back in. Thats right, but i do think in terms of chaos its a measure of degrees. During the first six months, it was chaotic every second of every day. This is the first week weve really seen it devolve to this level of chaos. Let me play the thing that i will admit set me off. Here is omarosa. I was haunted by tweets every single day. Does anybody say to him, what are you doing . I tried to be that person and then all of the people around him attacked me. We are worried but i need you to say, no, its going to be okay. Its not going to be okay. Its not. Not a saturday night live parody. That was not from snl last night. That was real, erick. Two letters that come to mind are b and s. She was there the entire time. She was part of the chaos. Remember, general kelly, one of his first jobs was to keep her out of the white house. And suddenly we have this wave of people now wanting general kelly gone. Again, it comes back to we see the chaos on a daily basis, and given the fears of people in the white house, how much worse would it be if he wasnt there . God help us. Go ahead. Quick point. Quick point, it wasnt scary that she went on that wacky show. It was scary that she had been head of office and a public liaison in a white house significant job, and she is that person. All right. When we come back, russia attacked our election systems in 2016 and is expected to do so again this year and in 2020. So why is secretary of state Rex Tillerson saying there might not be much we can do about it . You not only want a clean feeling every day, you want your denture to be stain free. Did you know theres a specialty cleanser thats gentle enough for everyday use and cleans better than regular toothpaste . Try polident cleanser. 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Grandpa looks great tech thanks for choosing safelite. Grandpa thank you child bye tech bye saving you time. So you can keep saving the world. Kids safelite repair, safelite replace welcome back. This week nbc news reported that russia was able to actually get into Voter Registration rolls of several states in 2016. In fact, heres what the head of Cyber Security at department of Homeland Security told my colleague cynthia mcfadden. We saw targeted in the United States and 21 were actually penetrated. Also this week, secretary of state Rex Tillerson was asked on fox news whether the United States will be better prepared the next time russia attacks. We can take steps we can take, but this is something that once they decide theyre going to do it, its very difficult to preempt it. Tillersons answer prompted some to ask, whats the Trump Administration doing about russian interference . Does it want to do anything about it . Joining me now is clint watts. Hes an Nbc News National Security analyst and a senior fellow at the policy institute and a former fbi agent, as well. Mr. Watts, welcome back to meet the press. Thank you. Let me start with the basics here. About a year ago you were on this show. We talked about the russian interference and you sort of talked about things that needed to be done. Has anything been done to protect future elections . No. Theyve worked on the Critical Infrastructure designation, but the number one thing we got to do is ensure the integrity of the vote. You just said designation, which means they were just trying to decide what should we try to protect . We havent even started any actual protection. Exactly. This is the feds reaching out to states and locals who dont have the resources in Cyber Security and probably cant detect a hack to help them protect the vote. Right now we cant ensure the vote is accurate or not changed. We need paper backup to always ensure the vote is correct. We learned this week there had been denials for a year that, oh, the russians sort of well, they may have tried to penetrate election systems but they didnt get there. Then we learned later, well, it was 21 states, first it was a few states. Now were learning, actually, they got into a what was her quote i think it was a small number of states, which is still plural. I found this with facebook, too. Every three months their story changed about the russian interference here. Do we have the full story . No. And i dont know that we ever will. Its a minimization strategy everyone is using in public relations. It wasnt that bad if one vote gets changed. Weve seen the russians do this. They did this in ukraine. They changed the actual vote. Luckily the ukranians caught it before it came out. But the goal isnt just one candidate or other. Its undermine our democracy so we dont trust the election results. Its two parts. Make them think the vote might be changed and then influence them with voter fraud election rig. So theyre incentivized for us to almost realize that they got in the voter rolls to report. Russia got into the voter rolls. Thats what youre saying. Yeah. Probe, probe, probe, hit. Have somebody not show up and not be able to vote and then have them say, hey, how do you know the election wasnt rigged . How do you know your vote counted . All right. One of the things you have said that if were going to have a collective response here, the Administration Needs to be on the same page when it comes to russia. That is something the administration is not. Take a listen. They have either interfered or they have attempted to interfere in a number of elections. I think it was russia, and i think it could have been other people and other countries. Russia is engaged in a very Sophisticated Campaign of subversion to affect our conference in democratic institutions. I believe president putin really feels, and he feels strongly, that he did not meddle in our election. Russia did meddle in our elections. Mattis, mcmaster, haley definitive. The president not. Him not being definitive about russias guilt. What does that do to our response . We cant make a decision unless were at the leadership level. We have to be not only in unity, we have to put together a plan to march forward. What is our response . We saw tillerson say, hey, we see what youre doing. You better not do it. If youre putin, its a zero sum game. You keep pushing until theres a response and theres not a response. I want to get into why we dont have a 9 11 commission or an Iraq Study Group or whatever you want to describe, any other time in our history when weve had a catastrophic event that impacted our country, we tried to study it in response. Thats not there. But walk me through. If that existed, what do you think the first three or four steps we could take to at least mitigate what russia is doing . First thing we would do is protect the vote. This is paper ballot backups, making sure theres no hacking going against the systems. The next part is the tougher part which is influence. Are we looking at how russia is trying to influence Senate Candidates or congressional candidates . By the way, they did the congressional candidates in 2016. People forget this. They actually impacted a democratic primary with stolen information in the state of florida. If youre a congressman right now thats very antirussia or antiputin, you better bet youre going to get an influence effort levied against you. This really is having a bad effect because your president is saying, no, this doesnt happen at all, so who has the congressmens back if youre a mccain, a graham. Rob portman from ohio, republican. He was one of the first ones out on front on this. What would that mean, though . Is this something for the Political Parties . Thats a fine line if you want the federal government to help secure campaigns, right . Thats something that would make some people uneasy. Its really political and Civil Society and the social Media Companies that will win this battle. Social Media Companies have to Work Together. Part of the reason they keep minimizing and keep making discoveries is they dont share data. When we do cybersecurity hacking, we share data with one another. Companies do. Social Media Companies have to Work Together to find this signatures of influence. In the political campaigns, they have to be using encrypted apps. They have to secure their communications. And the big thing above all is americans have to stop doing falsehoods against each other. Release the memo is a home run for the russians. They dont need to make a false narrative. Americans are making false narratives against each other. They just repeat them. We keep seeing these reports that how effective do you believe these russian bots are, or are some american Political Forces almost overblaming russian bots . Americans do active measures to each other. Thats what americans should worry about. The honest ads act has not been passed. Were seeing politicians use this warfare against each other. The russians dont have to manufacture falsehoods. They can just repeat what americans are saying about each other. Clint watts with that uplifting analysis there at the very end. Clint, as always, thank you for coming on. Thanks for having me. When we come back, actual uplifting music there, right . The Winter Olympics are under way. Whens most interested and what does what you watch at the games say about your politics . Factor more than a thousand workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. 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But real confidence comes from feeling good out there. Get a coupon at depend. Com why create something this extravagant . Or make a back seat that feels nothing like a back seat . Why give it every feature you could want, along with a few you didnt know you needed . Its simple. You can build a car, or you can build a cadillac. Come in now for this exceptional offer on the cadillac ct6. Get this lowmileage lease on this 2018 cadillac ct6 from around 549 per month. Visit your local cadillac dealer. Theres a Common Thread i see every time im in the field. While this was burning, you were saving other homes. Neighbors helping neighbors and strangers alike. This is what americas about. Sometimes its nice to see all the good thats out there. Bringing folks out, we have seen it in community after community. Let the games begin. Its Data Download time. For the next two weeks most of our eyes will be on pyeongchang, south korea, and the 23rd Winter Olympics. New data from gallup tells us who may be paying the most attention. Only about a third of younger americans are planning to watch a great deal or fair amount of the olympics this year. That number jumps to double digits when we look at middle aged to older americans, and over over half of those 65 or older do plan to watch more of the olympic games. There is even a divide among older americans. 50 plus in age of men are planning to watch regularly while a majority of women in the same age group say theyll be frequent viewers. Older americans grew up watching the olympics at a time when it was more of a singular event than it is today. These numbers are evidence that the olympics still has a strong hold over this group of folks. There is also a political element here, but the divide is not quite as stark as you might think. 40 of liberals, 40 of moderates and 37 of conservatives all say theyll watch a great deal or a fair amount of these olympics. This lack of a divide may be a bit surprising since folks on the left tend to be a bit more active in the Winter Sports than those on the right. For instance, liberals are 15 more likely than the average american to skate and theyre 25 more likely to ski. While conservatives are 35 more likely to participate in target shooting. Look, i know what youre thinking. Is target shooting really a winter sport . In a sense, yes. Dont forget the biathlon, the event with both intense amounts of Cross Country skiing and target shooting. So if youre looking for a sport that can truly unite the left and the right, this could be it. One problem, it is the only winter sport the United States has never meddled in. Has never medaled in. When we come back, its end game time. President trumps Approval Rating is up and the democratic advantage and the generic congressional ballot is down. Why they may not mean what you think it means. Coming up, end game and post game brought to you by boeing, continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire. You wto progress. Move. To not just accept what you see, but imagine something new. At invisalign®, we use the most advanced teeth straightening technology to help you find the next amazing version of yourself. Its time to unleash your secret weapon. Its there, right under your nose. Get to your best smile up to 50 faster. Visit invisalign. Com to get started today. End game. Brought to you by boeing. Continuing our mission back now with end game, i want to quickly do a round on russia. Look at this poll we had earlier this week. Large majority believe it is likely russia will attempt to influence the 2018 midterm election, 57 overall. Look at that, a larger majority of republicans, 64 , do not believe its likely. For what as p worth, 87 of democrats believe it, 57 of independents. Kristen welker, this lack of belief on this partisan split here is probably explains why we dont have a plan. Right, theres no plan. As you pointed out, the president still hasnt definitively said that he wants to do something about it. If you talk to lawmakers, they say hes got to get tougher. Hes got to get tougher on sanctions, for example. He still hasnt imposed those sanctions. He needs to convene a commission to actually hit this head on and he hasnt done that yet and it could hurt in the mid terms. Erica, explain why so much of the president s base i know why they dont want to believe it, but does it bother them at all his odd denials . No, it doesnt because he fights. You hear this over and over. But gorsuch on and on, they have felt this existential cultural crisis against them in this country from transgenders and gay marriage to everything washington influencing every part of their life. Here comes a guy saying, washington shouldnt influence your life. Im going to fight back against all the people that have been fighting you. Theyre loyal to him. To a degree you can understand. Im old enough to remember when the republican candidate was denouncing russia and the democrats were laughing at him in 2012. I would say, heres my big concern. We are as we all know a deeply divided country. We have these partisan fights. They are very rough and tough. This side watches this, the other side watches this, were not in the same information flow. One thing that could damage this nation terribly is having a National Election where the outcome is unclear because we got hacked. The states is a National Election. Right away we should start saying, youve got to go paper ballots. Well figure out all this internet magical technological stuff, but for now, paper ballots in america so ohio knows how it voted. I think that is absolutely right. But i think there is something even one step back. For distrust to be the background condition for politics is one thing. But for distrust to be the currency of politics is another. And so now there is a sense in which both sides, democrats, you cant trust what republicans are saying. Republicans, you cant trust the deep state. The russia kind of stoking that distrust. Distrust is now a kind of political currency that threatens the very fabric of our democracy. Really well put. I want to put a bullet on there and a button there. According to real clear politics average, President Trumps Approval Rating saturday net minus 21 points december 13. Now its a minus 12. A pretty big improvement. The democratic generic advantage has fallen from a high of plus 13 on december 26 to now just plus 7 now. The caveat, of course, is we dont know what this latest drama because a lot of times trump drama suddenly reseeds any advantages republicans have, kristen. Absolutely. Privately republicans already say were bracing for potentially losing the house. The comments that we heard from the president this week in responding to the rob porter crisis didnt help in the eyes of republicans and democrats frankly. They feel like hes missing the moment, like hes being tone deaf. At this critical moment where there is this national reckoning, this me too moment. You speak to folks who say, look, he could have said something about the accusers, about the exwives. And at the same time said, and we wish rob porter well, but he didnt do that and they feel like thats something that could cost not only him, but the entire Republican Party. Eric, i feel like you represent this swing group about President Trump because when he vacillates, its like youre disapproving and it gets you back. Im going to put up two different tweets of yours because i think you exemplify this sort of back and forth. President trump is not perfect you write in november. He was not my choice to be president , but i am thankful he put neil gorsuch on the bench. Im thankful for policy appointment. You write, the gains conservatives have seen have come from the Trump Administration but trump has been an undisciplined distraction. The gains have become despite the president than because of him. You warn it could actually set conservatism back. Where are you . Look, i think that when he does good things he should be praised. And when he does bad things he should be criticized. It is harder and harder now because people think you can only criticize or you can only praise. Thats not my person a. He has done good things. His administration has done good things. But i do think ultimately you risk getting conservatism, even evangelicalism in this country set back by a Party Standard bearer, these people rally to, who is ill mannered, badly behaved and not a role model. At some point you want your kids to be proud of the president regardless of party. Its really hard to be other than hes the guy who fights. Well, i dont want my kids to fight that way. I kind of believe theyre going to be held accountable on the last day and they shouldnt behave that way. The thing is this. Just talking about democrats in this next cycle, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is deeply skeptical about how schumer and others are behaving with regards to trump. So, these numbers are actually an indication that you think there are base democrats there are base progressives who are really nervous about what these folks are doing and they need to be very careful. Interesting. I think with the democrats in 2018, something id keep my eye on, at the moment, i used to say its unclear what they stand for. Now i would say, they stand for daca right now, okay. Thats one issue. That seems to me to have both pros and cons with it. Second point, mark short said just a few minutes ago, 4. 2 million americans have received a bonus or a pay increase with tax reform of the tax bill. However you put it, that is going to reverberate do you think the road in 2018. If that is right, the economy is better, watch it. All right, guys. Thats all i have for today. Thank you for watching. Big thanks to my friends in miami, deeply touching weekend for me with miami dade public schools. Enjoy the olympics and well be back next week because if its sunday, its meet the press. You can see more end game and post game sponsored by boeing on the meet the press facebook page. Game on the facebook meet the press page. Your brain is an amazing thing. But as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. 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With audible. Audible has the Worlds Largest selection of audiobooks. For just 14. 95 a month. You get a credit good for any audiobook. And you can roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. Audible members get free no hassle exchanges. And use the mobile app to listen anytime, anywhere. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Listening, is the new reading. Text audio22 to five hundred five hundred to start listening today. Tonight the eagles win the super bowl. People are eating laundry detergent. And omarosa is back on reality tv. What a time to be alive. This is kasie d. C. Welcome to kasie d. C. We are live from washington every sunday from 7 00 to 9 00 p. M. Eastern. Tonight, a staff Inflection Point in the white house. Palace intrigue comes roaring back as the man who was supposed to bring order to the west wing finds himself mired in scandal. Plus breaking tonight,