Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20170711

Was part of a russian effort to aid his fathers candidacy. Good morning, its tuesday, july 11th. Welcome to morning joe. With us, we have columnist mike barnicle, former fbi special agent clint watt, katty kay and author of a world in disarray, and from msnbc news, Mark Halperin. Last night the New York Times reported before arranging a meeting with a russian lawyer he believed would offer him compromising information about Hillary Clinton, donald trump jr. Was informed in an email the material was part of a russian government effort to aide his fathers candidacy, according to three people with knowledge of the email. The author of the reported email was Rob Goldstone, a publicist which helped set up the meeting, which took place in june of 2016, before trump became the nominee. The russian lawyer said she had information about purported Illegal Campaign contributions to the Democratic National convention that she thought donald trump jr. Might find helpful. The source doesnt go deeper on moscows attempts to tilt the election and the paper is careful to point out there is no evidence to suggest the information is related to hacking that led to the release of the dnc emails, if youll remember that. So Mark Halperin on the hill, if you look at this story, it seems its just somebody is releasing a little bit of information every day. On saturday don jr. Comes out and says hes talking about adoption, on sunday hes talking about this meeting. Without a whole lot of details, he didnt even know what to tell poor Paul Manafort, hey, just come to a meeting. There was actually email saying this is part of a larger russian effort to actually help your father be elected president of the United States. Whats the response been on capitol hill . Don jr. s lawyer puts out a lengthy statement that doesnt refute the essence of the new times reporting. I talked to republicans and democrats on capitol hill yesterday even before, as mika suggested, the revelation before last night. People are shaken by this and not only are there a lot of unanswered question, but this is one of the biggest revelations so far. Don jr. Is in a very tough place now because every day whoever is providing this information to the times is coming out with somebody else. Either said he knew this story was out there or he didnt and either way that presents a lot of troubling questions for him Going Forward and for the wider operation for him to deal with Going Forward. The defense from some people yesterday was its fine to get help from the russians in a Political Campaign, all take oppo from anywhere it comes from and i do not think that will be a sustainable position if that turns out to be what happened. I actually saw somebody, richard haas, yesterday on another network saying, oh, sure i would have taken help from russians if it was opposition reself. First of a research. First of all, thats a lie. Nobody would. Ive run those campaigns. If somebody said, hey, the russian government would like to get the hell out of my office. Anybody would do that. Republicans were already in full lying mode yesterday. And then last night this story comes out. And so now are the republicans going to follow donald trump and his family down a rat hole to say, why, yes, why yes, i would have taken this meeting if i had known that it was part of a russian government conspiracy led by the kremlin to get me elected president of the United States or congressman of the United States or senator of the United States . Who follows them down that rat hole . Not very smart people. Im sorry, i cant not very smart people. And a not very smart party. So theres both sides here. Coming at that time from both direction, youve got the people of the campaign, the son and others, the fact that they were willing to traffic in that stuff but this tells you more about russia. This is not a onedimensional russian effort to influence the american political market. This could be scratching the surfaced of a multidimention effort to influence the campaign. As Richard Blumenthal said yesterday, he suspected its not this first meeting, katty, its all those that follow. We want every single meeting or any person in this white house has had with the russians. Clearly the kremlin felt that the Trump Campaign was vulnerable to be penetrated or at least targeted in this cam pan. There must have been something that made them think this was worth a go. Mike barnicle, you have this meeting with a kremlinconnected lawyer, a contact comes forward that says, hey, the criminal wants to help you out here, talk to this lawyer. You got Paul Manafort running the campaign, Jared Kushner, the president s closest sayyid during the closest aide during the campaign and then you have don jr. How does kushner forget to put this on any of his disclosure forms thats jared calling. Exactly. With the answer. When he knows that theres been an email sent to the campaign, to don jr. Saying, hey, the russian government wants to help you get elected president of the United States. So youve got Jared Kushner forgetting to put an ambassadors meeting down on his disclosure form, then you have them forgetting a meeting with one of the top bankers connected with the kremlin and the attorney general forgetting to put it down on all the forms. I mean, if youre bob mueller, theres so much smoke, theres got to be fire there but right now you got to go outside to get a breath of fresh air. It is whirling all around this administration. Clearly theres a lot going on here and one of the telltale signs that theres so much going on is its fairly obvious that the leaks, the information from these times stories comes from within either the white house or the justice department. This has choked off whatever small pieces of progress the Trump Administration has been making. They continually revise their statements. Donald jr. s tweet yesterday belittling the fact that he met with the russians, ill tell you what, ive covered a lot of c campaigns, i know a lot of people who worked in campaigns, if someone comes into the office to see the Campaign Manager or brother or son of the candidate, you know, i have some great stuff from the russians, you call the clintons. This is part of a bigger scheme to influence an election. Again, if somebody on my staff said we got this russian guy connected with the russian government, i would say, okay, call the fbi and ive got to go vote. No question about it. Exactly. Its all pretty shocking and horrifying, especially for the Republican Party, but what are the real questions here from your perspective, clint . I think its this silliness about its okay to just meet with russian businessmen and there are no consequences with this. Is it okay to use the word collusion . Collusion. So they keep parsing this out. Does collusion mean i take or coordinate with an online persona to get Hillary Clintons emails out or Opposition Research out there . If a consultant in florida gets them and posts them online, is that collusion . A russian operative knows how to push this. Theyre going to do exactly what were seeing here, theyre going to go all the way around the periphery to everyone in the family, everyone politically connected and business interests and try and put leverage on them. Whats of interest to bob mueller there . The connections now in the business realm. The one thing you cant hide are financial connections. Thats what you see him staffing out a team with. Hes bringing on a lot of prosecutors with white collar experience. The other thing hes going to do is bring these people in for interviews and see where theres interconstitue inconsistencies in their stories. How many inconsistencies have we had in three days are they looking for connections with putin directly or russian banks or r. T. Or what . Youll three. Youre going to look at r. T. , how were connections used and these political efforts. And stupid of don jr. To go on twitter when he is clearly in legal jeopardy. This time yesterday morning everybody knew he was clearly in legal jeopardy. He goes up on twitter again yesterday only to be undercut by the New York Times last night because people inside his own white house, inside his own administration are leaking on him. Well, the president s been silent on this. He tweeted out on a lot of topics yesterday but not on this. But you have to imagine that he and his legal team have to be trying to figure out not only whos leaking this stuff but what else might they have . You think about who would have access to this email . The times didnt print the email but his lawyer didnt deny it exists in a long email. Perhaps it was intercepted or perhaps someone has turned it over. Thats a private email to a american citizen who has now had the New York Times characterize an email, which is really the biggest single document i think that has come out i think in this entire investigation of the potential russian influence. This is an email allegedly to a Family Member saying the russian government has an effort to help your father get elected president during the campaign. Assume the best case for the others involved, that don jr. Is telling the truth, he didnt tell Jared Kushner or Paul Manafort what this is about. Eventually theres going to have to be an accounting of that meeting. If his account is different than what hes given so far and if there are subsequent meetings, this is as big a thing as has occurred in this entire story. Youve spoken with several republicans, many of whom have defended donald trump every step of the way and you said even would back george w. Bush but yesterday they said something quite different, didnt they, that this was different from everyone else that had gone before. Just assuming the facts that are already known, theres a lot of unease about where this could go because of the nature of the communication and because of the series of times stories. This has a different feel for some republicans yesterday and the president s silence on it is making people wonder what is he thinking about all this . Where does he think all of this goes . Donald trump jr. Now has an aattorneying writing in my view, this is much ado about nothing. Late may and early june 2016 was an intensely busy time for don jr. Robert goldstone contacted don jr. In an email and suggested that people had information concerning alleged wrongdoing by Democratic Party frontrunner Hillary Clinton in her dealings with russia. Hes saying he knew it was t the russian government. The money came from russia. Don jr. Had no knowledge of what specific information, if any, would be discussed. Further at no time was there any understanding or commitment that he or anyone else would find the information to be reliable, credible, of interest or would either survive due diligence. That lasted nothing. And the meeting lasted 20 or 30 minutes. Oh, wait, that was about the same amount of time as what, Mark Halperin . Its exactly the same length of the Loretta Lynch meeting and the accounts of that meeting have never changed from the bill clinton side but people want to know what was actually portrayed. Its a long meeting as it was characterized. And if you look, richard, at what was said in that statement, actually preReince Priebus, in of his most embarrassing performances ever, if you go back and look at it, its one false statement after another. This statement is a nothing burger because in the statement youre saying we got this email saying the russian government had information and was going to try to defeat Hillary Clinton and get involved in this campaign, but we didnt even know if anything would come of it. We didnt know whether the blackmailing information or colluding information was even good information. We wanted good collusion and we werent sure if we had it. Two things. One is it reinforces the historical lesson that its always what you do at the time and how you react to what you do and thats when you get into the obstructions, the perjuries and management of the past. Theres as an achilles heel here. One of the areas the republicans had split was over the russian angle. How do you think john mccain, marco rubio, how do you think i mean, i would hope rob portman, how do you think bob corker are going to respond to don jr. , Jared Kushner and donald trump saying, organization yes rkoh yes, of course we got an email said they were going to influence the election, of course we took the meeting. How are we going to respond . That changes this into a fundamental National Security question and it gives republicans cover behind that to challenge the administration. Lets make no mistake. One other thing, mika, don jr. Went into that meeting, lets strip it down. He went into that meeting expecting help from the russian government. Stop. Stop. Full stop. Full stop. Thats why the lawyers statement, the attorneys statement is so misleading because all it says is people said they had information. Take out people and say the kremlin said it had information because thats really what were talking about, thats what don jr. Understood clearly going into that meeting that they were talking about. You talked about the financial side of this and thats what bob mueller is going to be looking at. I was wondering about don jr. And he knew it was the russian government, arent we no longer looking at just at Just National dealings because clearly this is different . Whats going to happen as they go into the interviews, what was this transaction, what was this interaction, what was all of this about. When a russian attorney, a Russian Oligarch shows up at your door, theyre acting as an agent the russia. Im tired of them saying, well, were so new at this, we didnt know. If you dont know this, maybe you shouldnt be leading this country. Paul manafort certainly knew. I found the white houses position fascinating. Look at this. Im saying that the president s campaign did not collude in any way. What do you say about that, don jr. , the names coming out. I would certainly say don jr. Did not collude with anyone. What about flynn . To my none, he did not collude with anyone. Our position is clear, no one within the Trump Campaign colluded in order to influence the election. The response from the president s legal team was brief and word for word the same answer to the times article that came out sunday, quote, the president was not aware of and did not attend the meeting. Thats the most quiet hes ever been. He has. Looks like the lawyers are silencing him now. The lawyers comment was a purely lawyerly comment. It said nothing really. Said absolutely nothing. The interesting aspect of this in terms of the Ongoing Investigation i think would be partially donald jr. s tweets, especially the one where he describes the meeting about to take place and says he did not know who he was meeting with. So whats the motivation for a meeting . And there are consistent statements during the exact same time saying, russia, if you have these emails, we would like to see them. Hes essentially confirming whats going on behind the scenes. President trump said if president obama knew about this effort by russia to get me elected, why didnt he do something about it . We should be asking, President Trump, if you knew, if your son knew russia was trying to get you elected, why didnt you do anything about it . Why would your inner team even entertain any of this . Whats your sense about the source of these stories, the leaks of these stories, whats your sense . It makes no sense to me. I am tired of hearing about this deep state leaking intelligence. Theres only one way to get all these dots connected and you have to have someone in the center. We hear about nsa, a memo being there, the dni memo being there, the comey having memos about being pressured. That comes from the center. Its very difficult to get sources that want to give up their entire career and potentially go to jail in six or seven locations in the intelligence community. I dont believe our intelligence professionals are coughing up this information. I believe its in Donald Trumps house. This does look like its coming from the inside and i dont know, who is that . Whos trying to Mark Halperin, who is leaking all this from the inside . Whos trying to get john jr. And Jared Kushner out of the way . Im pure lily speculating bu dont agree with clint. Im speculating its the Intel Community and most likely the russians. And coming up, keir simmons sits down with the russian lawyer at the center of this explosive story surrounding donald trump jr. Thats coming up at the top of the hour at 7 a. M. Plus the Ranking Member of the house Intel Committee, congressman adam schiff joins us here on set and democrat joe manchin. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Trust 1 doctor recommended dulcolax. Use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. Suppositories for relief in minutes. And dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. Dulcolax. Designed for dependable relief. Binders, done. Supercool notebooks, done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, get this ream of paper for just one cent after rewards. Taking care of business. Type 2 diabetes with fitness, food and the pill that starts with f. Farxiga, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. Lowering a1c by up to 1. 2 points. Do not take if allergic to farxiga. If you experience symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking and seek medical help right away. Do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. Tell your doctor right away if you have blood or red color in your urine or pain while you urinate. Farxiga can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast infections in women and men, serious urinary tract infections, low blood sugar, and kidney problems. Stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have signs of ketoacidosis which is serious and may lead to death. Ask your doctor about the pill that starts with f and learn how you can get farxiga for free. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Intrzero alcohol™. Ine® it delivers a whole mouth clean with a less intense taste. So it has the bad breath germkilling power of this. With the lighter feel. Of this. Try listerine® zero alcohol™. Show epic battles. July. Ferocious families. Dangerous dragons. Experience game of thrones and all the rest of hbo for free from july 10th through the 16th with xfinity on demand. From action, to comedy, to drama. This summer hbo and xfinity have you covered. And catch the game of thrones season 7 premiere on july 16th. Winter is coming to xfinity. Rob goldstone, a British Foreign music promoter and tabloid reporter confirmed for the Washington Post he asked for the meeting at the trump tower at the request of a russian pop star with close connections to the kremlin and president putin. There you go, america. Look at that. The family has reportedly done business with the trump family in the past. What is that outfit . Goldstone was involved in the 2014 Miss Universe pageant. Don jr. Did say they get an overwhelming amount of their money from russians and then eric trump was it in golf magazine said they got a great deal of their money from russians as well. Its all coming down to that. Its all and, by the way, they can try to brush that aside but as clint said, this is financial. Theyre going to be able to track it down. Can you lie and talk about fake news all you want to, make quotes and then try to run from them, its out there. And theyre going to be able to track it down. Theres so much russian money around these people. There has been. You know how we know . Because theyve admitted it in newspapers back before he was going to run for president. Hindsight its remarkable that during the course of the campaign and coverage of the campaign, shame on us to a certain extent, the fact that the trump family and specifically donald trump and element of his family as they grew older have been enmeshed with the russians for 30 years. Think about how angry the president got when you continued to be critical even after you had lunch at the white house. Im getting to a point here. Can you imagine what types of dealings he has with russian banks and whatever, whoever over there, that are far bigger than lunch and he feels if he can blow up about a lunch gone awry, good lord about whatever relationship he has with the huge financial transactions. Hes not able to make good decisions because he is enmeshed with them. Favors have been done. If you have had for years, as mike was describing, complicated financial dealings with the russians, would that tend to make you vulnerable automatically to some kind of blackmail or influence or leverage that the russians might have over you . If your house cards were built on russian money and russian finances and you were donald trump, then, yes, perhaps he would. And did they feel you owed them, too . Agalorovs father helped sponsor that pageant. Trump received a portion of the 14 million that was made to bring the pageant moscow. Trump said i was with the toplevel people, both oligarchs and generals and topofthegovernment people. I cant go further than that but i will tell you that i met the top people. Lets stop it there. Donald trump was so tight with the russians that he couldnt even get into it. It was almost a state secret that he met over there, on paper and talk about wanting to start a relationship with putin that he subsequently denied. The danger is so many threads including bringing back all the questions about the trips that the trumps took to moscow and the importance of their relationship there. If you look at his videos on youtube, this is not the guy you would want the fate of the republic to rest upon. He seems like a pretty frivolous guy. But the questions are now bagged about all the ties and how this meeting too place, what was the predicate of the meeting and as you said at the top of the show, what you said subsequent to the meeting, the accounts by donald trump jr. Is nothing, that this led nowhere, nothing came of it. Its striking how much members of congress now want to get to the bottom of this specific meeting and presumably how much bob mueller wants to get to the bottom of the meeting. Its impossible to explain on Foreign Policy or National Security terms, why first the candidate, now the president , which has held this position against russia, which is sanguin or we had to stay after the president to get to repudiate the assassination of journalists, but he did it reluctantly. And then he told bill oreilly when he said the same thing later, he said, yeah, well, our soldiers kill people, too. Its inconsistent with his own political party, with every party. The Washington Post said after the pageant the algalarovs family said they were going to build a tower in russia. They kept saying every time there was friction between the United States and russia, it bad for both countries. For the people to benefit, this should be federal governmentixee friend. And after amin congratulated him, he and trump jr. Had exchanged messages as recently as january. Now that he ran and he was elected, he do not forget his friend. No, mike, apparently he does not. As he said in his own statement in 2015, he has a lot of friend there, a lot of oligarchs, a lot of top government officials. Donald trump has admitted that. Yesterday, i went back and watched all the president s men, more than four decades ago. Its a great film. And bill goldman, the screenwriter, he wrote the line, no wb one uttered the line duri the course of the investigation but bill goldman wrote the line follow the money. And today with another investigation and another scandal on the horizon, follow the money. Coming up, donald trump suggested his meetings with the k kremlin was business as usual. Why his first call should have been to the fbi. [vo] progress is seizing the moment. Your summer moment awaits you now that the summer of audi sales event is here. Audi will cover your first months lease payment on select models during the summer of audi sales event. When a fire destroyedwith us everything in our living room. We replaced it all without touching our savings. Yeah, our insurance wont do that. No. You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Can we at least analyze customer can we push the offer online . Legacy technology can handcuff any company. But yes is here. Youre saying the new app will go live monday . Yeah. With help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. With the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. Chances are, the last time yoyou got robbed. An, i know i got a loan 20 years ago, and i got robbed. Thats why i started lendingtree the only place you can compare up to 5 real offers side by side, for free. Its like shopping for hotels online, but our average customer can save twenty thousand dollars. At lendingtree, you know youre getting the best deal. So take the power back and come to lendingtree. Com, because at lendingtree when banks compete, you win. [music playing] across the country, we walk. Carrying flowers that signify why we want to end alzheimers disease. But what if, one day, there was a white flower for alzheimers first survivor . What if there were millions of them . Join us for the Alzheimers Association walk to end alzheimers. Register today at alz. Org walk. Partnering with putin on a Cyber Security unit is akin to partnering with assad on a chemical weapons unit. Thats like tweeting out hed like to fight drug abuse in america by starting a new drug interdiction conference with el chapo. Its been an incredible week so far. There were plenty of analogies to describe President Trumps idea that he blurted out on twitter to team up with russia on a Cyber Security unit. Lindsey said that may have been one of the dumbest ideas hes ever heard in his life. Almost the dumbest. But the most disturbing part of it is he just blurts it out on twitter and Steven Mnuchin talked about it on a morning show. Never seen anything like it. Two white house officials go out with statements yesterday that they or two days ago that they have to completely pull back on. Within the same news cycle and not just two white house officials but the white house chief of staff and the treasury secretary on a trip that this white house said was such a successful trip, those two thing, one central with putin and one the big distraction theyre dealing with. Why did those two guys go out in the sunday shows and say what they did . Was it the plan at the time or were they doing the best they could in a tough situation . And youre talking about Reince Priebus . Reince priebus had a different statement than don jr. After he said he checked with the team about what happened. Between that and what mnuchin did, it was an historic sunday. Whats so worrying is the idea that Something Like that could have been introduced in the first place. There is something fundamentally flawed with the Decision Making process that allows an idea like that to be surfaced in a formal setting. What do you mean a formal setting . With the russians. If anyone was dumb enough to think it up, the idea it could be put forward and discussed with the russians, something is wrong. This is so improvisational and this is why you dont have the National Security adviser in there because you want to be able to float your own crazy theories. Putin floated it and trump dressed it up. Maybe thats a good idea. If you doesnnt have the com sense to say no at the moment, at least say well get back to you. We have no more idea of what happened in the meeting with donald trump than we have with the meeting with don jr. And this attorney. We do know he was played. Obviously when he came out talking about a joint Cyber Security force. You can assume that putin went in with a fairly clear list of items on his agenda. And some say there are allegations you meddled in the election. Putins response is always very smart saying i did not do that and please show me the evidence. What putin wants america to do is cough up the sources. That trail of dead russians is going to grow really quick. I get nervous when i see an amateur President Trump go in there that one of these times he going to go in just like had he talked about israel being the source. Hey, here is the insttel that ss you guys are meddling in the election, putin will say, no, i didnt, let me hand this off to my team. Theres a reason there were only two americans in that room, the secretary of state and the president of the United States, so thinly stashed. You would never have a meeting like that without a note taker. Meetings like that cannot happen. Well, he didnt want to have a clear record of what happened and he succeeded. Just ahead, were going to bring in nbcs keir simmons who sat down with a lawyer about the heart of this situation surrounding donald jr. Well be right back. David. Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. Everybody two seconds dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. Bp uses flir cameras a new thermal imagining technology to inspect difficulttoreach pipelines, so we can detect leaks before humans can see them. Because safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. All right. There is a good question about Steven Mnuchin commenting on the president s Cyber Security idea. Why do you have the treasury secretary talking about a Cyber Security plan with vladimir sp . Either he was told to or almost like a odd opening of the cabinet meeting, people feel compelled to come out and support the chief. It was look that strange tweet that pence sent out when trump was on his way out. It was fawning. Donald trump juniors defense of his meeting, its a spell. In defense of his meeting with a russian lawyer that he was just engaging in a typical Campaign Practice of seeking Opposition Research was rebuffed by a number of high level members of past republican president ial campaigns. Nicole wallace, Communications Director for the bush chain said i handled oppo, a reality but never ever from a foreign adversa adversary. Rick tyler wrote senior president ial Campaign Officials dont take meetings with nameless people. Doesnt happen. It does not happen. Michael steele Senior Advisor to jeb bushs 2016 bid said aside from the candidate himself, the Campaign Managers time is among the most valuable resources for any campaign. It would be very odd for the Campaign Manager to appear at a meeting with a more or less random foreigner claiming theyre peddling Opposition Research. Romney ryan Campaign Manager wrote from experience when working on a president ial campaign and contacted by a foreigner, prudent to mention to one, your Foreign Policy team and two, the fbi. The chief strategists on the 2012 romney ryan team wrote on twitter, if you can find someone in other president ial campaigns who has received oppo from foreign interests, please share. Stop on stevens. Keep that up there. This is really the challenge. This is what this is the challenge. We could have all these people saying weve never done it, weve never done it. Stuart actually puts this the right way. If anybody who is listening to this show and most the people that are influences in washington, a lot of them listen to this show. A lot of people have run president ial campaigns, listen to and watch this show. If you know in your lifetime a Political Campaign, a president ial campaign receiving Opposition Research or support from any Political Campaign or from any foreign power, especially a foreign power thats hostile, russia, china, iran, syria, let us know. Let Stuart Stevens know. I can tell you, mike, weve been around a lot of campaigns in our richard, in our collective 3,000 years on the globe. Ive never heard of any president ial campaign, any senatorial campaign, any congressional campaign, any campaign of the thousands and thousands of campaigns ive come across, never once have i heard of a foreign power coming in, especially a hostile foreign power coming in and offering help. Well, a couple of things. First donald junior is taking a meeting with information from a Foreign Government, russia. His father is not running for selectman from new jersey. Hes running for president of the United States. The second thing is the only thing in my memory that comes remotely close to this would be 1968 with the Nixon Campaign with information about the paris peace talks, how to delay them. Thats the only thing remotely close. Richard, can you name a time that a foreign power came to a Domestic Campaign and said were here to help . Were here to help. No. Obviously not. Again, it would set off every warning light you would have on your consult. The idea that you would actually do it t not a close call. Theres a lot of close calls, 60 40 calls in campaigns. This is not one of those. This is easy. If somebody came to me and said they have information from the russian government on my opponent, i would immediately say call the fbi and give a few more choice words. Stuart who is also a veteran of the bush chainny campaign recalled when Gore Campaign was sent bush debate briefing book, they called the fbi. If foreign interests offer you information on the former secretary of state, you call the fbi. Still ahead, nbc news foreign respondent keir simmons just sat down with the russian lawyer who met with donald trump junior in 2016. Keir joins us with the details of his exclusive interview in just minutes. Morning joe will be right back. Im karen, im a teacher. Olfer. My Psoriatic Arthritis caused joint pain. Just like my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. And i was worried about joint damage. My doctor said joint pain from ra can be a sign of existing joint damage that could only get worse. He prescribed enbrel to help relieve pain and help stop further damage. Enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. Serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. Tell your doctor if youve been someplace where fungal infections are common, or if youre prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for Heart Failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. Dont start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. Joint pain and damage. Can go side by side. Ask how enbrel can help relieve joint pain and help stop joint damage. Enbrel, fda approved for 18 years. That 100k is not exactly a fortune. Well, a 103 how long did it take you two to save that . A long time. Then its a fortune. I told you we had a fortune. Get closer to your investment goals with a conversation. Even if youre trying your best. Be a daily struggle, along with diet and exercise, oncedaily toujeo® may help you control your blood sugar. Get into a daily groove. Lets groove tonight. Share the spice of life. Baby, slice it right. From the makers of lantus®, were gonna groove tonight. Toujeo® provides blood sugarlowering activity for 24 hours and beyond, proven blood sugar control all day and all night, and significant a1c reduction. Toujeo® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. It contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. Dont use toujeo® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar or if youre allergic to insulin. Get medical help right away if you have a serious allergic reaction such as body rash or trouble breathing. Dont reuse needles or share insulin pens. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which can be life threatening. It may cause shaking, sweating, fast heartbeat, and blurred vision. Check your blood sugar levels daily. Injection site reactions may occur. Dont change your dose of insulin without talking to your doctor. Tell your doctor about all your medicines and medical conditions. Check insulin label each time you inject. Taking tzds with insulins, like toujeo®, may cause Heart Failure that can lead to death. Find your rhythm and keep on grooving. Lets groove tonight. Ask your doctor about toujeo®. Share the spice of life. flourish spray noise flourish spray noise flourish spray noise flourish spray noise the joy of real cream in 15 calories per serving. Enough said. Reddiwip. flourish spray noise share the joy. Zbl im saying that the president s campaign did not collude in any way. So when we go to different people, what do you say about that . Anyone, the names that are coming out . I would say don junior did not collude with anybody to incluns the election. What about flynn . To my knowledge, he did not collude with anybody to incluns the campaign. Again, i think ive been very clear. Our position is no one within the Trump Campaign colluded in order to influence the election. The white house says theres nothing to see here, but donald trump junior isnt exactly helping them make that case. She didnt exactly leap to general flynns defense either. I mean, for general flynn, its rough inform. She really hedged. You have her hedging. You cant see her face, but you can hear it. Right before general flynn is fired, the National Inquirer says trump finds a spy inside his white house. A few days later hes fired. Maybe they should distort their voices. So we dont know who they are . And you cant tell what theyre saying. Thats next. With us mike barnicle, clint watts, catty cay, richard hoss, mark halprin, and peter baker. Peter baker, this is quite a story from the New York Times. Whats your take on it . It is quite a story. Because it does suggest that the attempt to collude with the Trump Campaign at least began early on. Whether or not the campaign itself colluded certainly the email that were reporting this morning that was apparently sent to donald trump junior offering information that was explicitly coming from the russian government suggests that from the june 2016 the Trump Campaign was at least aware that the russians wanted to participate in the campaign as richard hoss and others have said. Its hard to think of too many parallels like that in previous elections. I think its one of these things that certainly shifts the story once again, and it demonstrates the dangers to a president who has his family close to him who are not seasoned veterans of campaigns or international diplomacy. Any idea on what were going to get to see that email, when we would get to see that email . I know its not your story, but can you tell us anything about that email . As soon as we get it, youll see it informal well put it out there. My guess is investigators all over town right now are either looking to get or already have the email. My guess is its not the only one they have. All right. Lets go through this step by step. Last night the New York Times reported that before arranging a meeting with the kremlin connected russian lawyer he believed would offer him compromising information about Hillary Clinton, donald trump junior was informed in an email that the material was part of a russian government effort to aide his fathers candidacy. According to three people with knowledge of the email. The author of the reported email was Rob Goldstone a publicist who helped set up the meeting which took place in june of 2016 before trump became the nominee. Earlier in the day he told the a. P. The russian lawyer said she had information about purported Illegal Campaign contributions to the Democratic National committee that she thought donald trump junior might find helpful. The times notes while the russian government was identified as a source of the information, it doesnt go deeper in moscows attempts to tilt the election, and the paper is careful to point out there is no evidence to suggest the information was related to hacking that led to the release of the dnc emails, but wow. I mean, too stupid to collude . Is it an attempt to collude that went you cant, begun, they cant use the were stupid because this is our first campaign, because Paul Manafort had been in Political Campaigns since the mid 70s. He worked for perhaps the best campaigner. And he was at the meeting. Best white house chief of staff, james a. Baker iii. Hes been around professionals his entire adult life. So when an email comes to the campaign, promising deliverables brought by the russian government, thats fairly straightforward, isnt et . A it . And whats the big e concern when the email surface . Donald trump junior is still based on his statements, hes saying this was all my deal. I didnt really tell them what it was about, and maybe hes going to try to insulate manafort and Jared Kushner from this email, but the reality is that the president s son was a big part of the campaign. I disagree a little bit with this notion weve talked about some of the tweets from before from past republican operative. Trump tower was a loosy goosy place. People could just walk in, but if youre the candidates son or a Senior Campaign official, any Foreign Government should raise flags but we have to go back to russia interfered with the election. You say its a loosy goosy place, but you werent going to get a meeting with paul manaformanafort Jared Kushner and don junior unless they knew what you were coming for. Thats a pretty important meeting . Again, im not minimizing the cullability of all of them. All im saying is i bet you there are lots of meetings that took place with that cast of characters or comparable people that were not vetted the way a normal campaign would vet them. This is of a different order, different magnitude, a different significance, but this operation did not have in place the kind of structure that a Bush Campaign or Romney Campaign would. Of course not because they had Paul Manafort in there. A guy that had connections all across russia and the eastern former soviet block. And hes particular with campaigns. He worked with ford, reagan, bush, goal, trump. And heres a guy who from the very beginning had suspicions swirling around him about russian contacts. This show, every other show, had suspicions about russian connections with the Trump Campaign from the very beginning because of his fawning statements about Vladimir Putin. And a lot of people were asking during this time what does Vladimir Putin have on donald trump . In realtime. Its amazing just, again, theres so much amazing about this. Its amazing the meeting took place in light of the email. If you wanted to collude with russia, its amazing that they would get in the room with that person and it shows you how loosy goosy was and the extent to which as republicans, as you pointed out, started to say yesterday, no problem from the point of view of some people taking help from the russian government to try to win an election. It will not be a popular view on capitol hill. And just how arrogant they were at the same time, that they would take meetings with people saying we come bearing gifts from Vladimir Putin and his government to help you defeat Hillary Clinton. That is stupid, and that is arrogant, and could be illegal. It could be illegal. I mean, they will try to make the argument we didnt get anything, so it wasnt collusion. If you go into a meeting with the intent of colluding, lawyers are going to have an interesting time trying to make the difference between colluding and the intent of collusion which is what the white house is asking. For me what fascinating is what was happening on the kremlins end. They must have realized they had a weak link here in the american political system that was vulnerable to an approach like this. And it worked. Whether it was manafort and they knew manafort and knew they could get into the Trump Campaign through him because of a long dealings with him or whether it was with the business dealings of trump junior and the trump business, i dont know. But they realized this was a campaign worth approaching. And also that this is a potential president worth having as president of the United States because theyve been able to play him. Maybe they have something on him. They wanted him in there. Theres reason they were working very hard to elect donald trump. And they werent hiding it. They went into the meeting having said this is who it is. We have to put context around this. First of all, there have a lot of talk during the summer. A lot of talk of the rug russian trying to influence the campaign. There was a lot of talks about planks at the rnc being changed to help Vladimir Putin. Also the context around not only these meetings with russians but all the other meetings with russians. Weve talked about it before. Everybody lied. On their disclosure forms, everybody lied in the Trump Administration about this meeting, about other meetings. The trump story is inconsistent and the russian story is very consistent. In july of last year, everything they were doing was part of a strategic plan. They were at the ambassador level in diplomats sending them into the campaign. Now were sending in lawyers to give compromising information. We are communicating with hackers on twitter and leaking emails out at strategic times after the convention to sway the voters. Everything is consistent. We have the dossier which talks about the strategy from russia. A russian think tank said this was our strategy, to try to get trump elected. Everyone knew this and yet, on the trump side the story is inconsistent in every single mark and everyone thats touched by the russians has a different story after they initially come out. Its always nothing and then a little bit of something and then its we dont even know what it is. Its a rolling disclosure. Go back to Jared Kushner. I never met anybody. I forgot i met the ambassador. That said, it was just a mistake. Wait, i met the banker. Then you have to put that down. Then theres wait a second, i met a kremlinconnected lawyer who promised to give us dirt on Hillary Clinton from the russian government. Then you put that down. Whats the next rolling disclosure . How many more rolling disclosures do there have to be before people understand whats going on . Peter baker alluded to that when he said he strongly suspects as would i that there are more emails in this. And in this conversation were having, it gets back, part of it gets back to the president s meeting with Vladimir Putin on the foreign trip, and the foreign trip itself. Let me ask you, and this is just my impression from observing it on television and reading about it. Did we have a president who was a president alone on this trip . Was he separated from the group both physically and intellectually . It seems to me they played very little part in mingling with him. I saw him standing aside in meetings. What was the intent of the trip . What happened on the trip . What was different about this trip with this president than past foreign trips with past president s . Yeah. I mean, whats interesting is in past summit meetings like this with multiple meetings you see the american president generally trying to shape the conversation and shape the direction of the Financial Communication that will be issued by the group. In this case, the american played a part in this final communication but it was Angela Merkel shaping the message, and it was about climate change. It was about trade. And on these issues the president of the United States obviously stood apart. Thats by plan. Thats by design. Here in the white house they thought that was a good thing and made him look like he was standing up for american interests against foreign competitors and that previous president s had gotten so sucked into this idea of being friends with foreign leaders that they forgot who they represented. Thats the thinking inside the west wing, but in europe and around the world, its led to a situation where the american president is not necessarily the leader but the outlier. Is it policy now within this administration that we are now engaged in the deconstruction of 70 years worth of effort around the world to it further peace and further prosperity, the the construction of all that . Obviously steve bannon talked about deconstruction of the matterive sta matt matter administrative state. Thats the philosophy that has infused what trump has been about. Its an antiglobalist thinking. Its the idea that these International Bodies and these International Constructs that have been created over time have, in fact, not worked out to the United States benefit, and that in and of themselves that not going to be President Trumps priority, that hes going to get out there and get in your face and advocate for a different set of rules that benefit the american worker. Now, theres a big debate about that, obviously, and inside even this white house theres a big debate between what we might overly simplify called the globalists and the nationalists. Well see that on the coming days. Thats a big fight right now between those two sides. Are they going to try to build up wall to protect americans against what they consider to be dumped steel and if that is the case, that will be a provocative move among our international partners. Richard, though, the spin that a lot of trump apologists are making, the spin inside of the white house, he goes alone, he doesnt care what europe thinks. Hes his own man. He was isolated. He was alone. And what did donald trump tell us from the beginning . Im a deal maker. I can make deals with anybody. Im going to go to china and make the most beautiful deals. Im going to make the greatest deals with china. No. He made no deals in fa. He was like the kid left alone in the class. Nobody wanted to talk to him. Theyre figuring out how to work around him. The socalled deal maker was a complete flop. He didnt make any deals. In fact, he didnt even make a deal on north korea. He didnt even push Vladimir Putin because he was so scared of Vladimir Putin. He was so cowed by Vladimir Putin that he didnt even push him on north korea. So this whole argument, richard, that donald trump wasnt going to follow the europeans blindly is insanity, because it goes against what trump promised the American People which was im a deal maker. I can be tough with these people, but then get them to work with me. He did get the second part of that. Instead, it was the g 19 and america was left in the cold because he couldnt make a deal with anybody. It is the g19. And we have abdicated American Leadership, and its not just on climate and trade. Those are two particularly big things. I agree what happens on steel tariff could be pulling a thread on the entire Global Trading system which would have all sorts of consequences for American Growth and Foreign Policy and the rest. Youre right. Going into the g20, i would have predicted it would have been high yjacked by north kore. I would say put together a coalition of the willing to deal with north korea. We left. South korean president made his own speech policy of the north. China and russia pushing against us in the security council. We left germany more isolated than before. But donald trump didnt bring it up why . Because Vladimir Putin didnt want him to bring it up . Russia has emerged in some ways. Its not just china that is unwilling to use the influence with north korea. Russia is increasingly entered, and russia now is a spoiler yet again, yet again, they have become something of a spoiler. So he kowtowed to Vladimir Putin on north korea. Well, effectively it appears. The russians are stepping into that space and blocking american efforts at sanctions in the United Nations on the issue of north korea, and it is a question of american pullback. Other people are going to take that opportunity, and the opportunity that is being taken is being taken increasingly by authoritarian regimes. Well have a word where its not American Leadership and values pushing the agenda, its authoritarian regimes pushing the agenda. Its changed the way americans will not only look at north korea but the world from now on. Thank you. Usa today, richard hoss. Mark, lets talk about the Human Element of donald trump junior. Obviously thats going to be playing a role in how the white house handles this. Yeah. Look, the president s soninlaw has been as much under fire as anybody on the investigation on capitol hill we believe through the independent counsel as well. The president is close to his soninlaw, but hes closer to his son, and don junior now combative in the media over the last couple years but now is in a very vulnerable position. As i said, ive heard many people comments on the fact that the president has been silent. Hes been absolutely silent on this topic. No public appearances, using twitter for other purposes. People are looking to see will he come to his sons defense and how vulnerable is don junior personally and politically. Theres a real Human Element within the trump family of how they will try to rally behind a very vulnerable now oldest son. And you think they would because this president responds to the smallest of things on twitter. Hes very robust on twitter and talks about anything and everything that hes feeling, so im sure he has deep feelings about his oldest son, and we will be hearing from the president shortly. I think we actually might. Okay. Peter baker, thank you. Still ahead, we go live to moscow where keir simmons has an exclusive interview with the russian lawyer who met inside trump tower with the promise theyd get information from the russian government. Plus we go live to casey hunt and Peter Alexander. Well be right back. [brother] any last words . [boy] karma, danny. Karma [vo] progress is seizing the moment. Your summer moment awaits you, now that the summer of audi sales event is here. Audi will cover your first months lease payment on select models during the summer of audi sales event. Intrzero alcohol™. Ine® it delivers a whole mouth clean with a less intense taste. So it has the bad breath germkilling power of this. With the lighter feel. Of this. Try listerine® zero alcohol™. Type 2 diabetes with fitness, food and the pill that starts with f. Farxiga, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. Lowering a1c by up to 1. 2 points. Do not take if allergic to farxiga. If you experience symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking and seek medical help right away. Do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. Tell your doctor right away if you have blood or red color in your urine or pain while you urinate. Farxiga can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast infections in women and men, serious urinary tract infections, low blood sugar, and kidney problems. Stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have signs of ketoacidosis which is serious and may lead to death. Ask your doctor about the pill that starts with f and learn how you can get farxiga for free. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Binders, done. Supercool notebooks, done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, get this ream of paper for just one cent after rewards. Taking care of business. We cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. And at 4. 95, you can trade with a clear advantage. Fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. And at 4. 95, you can trade with a clear advantage. The future isnt silver suits anits right now. S, think about it. We can push buttons and make cars appear out of thin air. Find love anywhere. Hes cute. And buy things from, well, everywhere. How . Because our phones have evolved. So isnt it time our networks did too . Introducing americas largest, most reliable 4g lte combined with the most wifi hotspots. Its a new kind of network. Xfinity mobile. From the kremlin connected lawyer to met with donald trump junior last year. Joining us live from moscow, keir simmons. Keir, you spoke with Natalia Veselnitskaya this morning. What did she have to say . Reporter thats right. We just wrapped up that interview with Natalia Veselnitskaya, and she tells a fascinating story of getting a phone call from a man she didnt know and being told to come to trump tower for a meeting with the Trump Campaign. She says they wanted information, particularly Financial Information about the Clinton Campaign. Information she says she didnt have. This is the woman, Natalia Veselnitskaya, at the center of a storm over a meeting with Donald Trumps son in june, 2016. Translator i wake up one morning and find youre the focus of all the high ranking upstream media. Reporter on june 9th, two weeks after trump secured the nomination, his son and soninlaw and Paul Manafort met with the russian attorney. In june you met with donald trump junior, Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner. What was the purpose of that meeting . Translator i never knew who else would be attending the meeting. All i knew was that mr. Donald trump junior was willing to meet with me. I could recognize the young gentleman who was only present in the meeting for probably the first seven to to ten minutes, and then he stood up and left the room. It was mr. Jared kushner, and he never came back, by the way. And the other person at the same meeting was always looking at his phone. He was reading something. He never took any active part in the conversation. That was mr. Manafort. And they had the impression, it appears, that they were going to be told some information that you had about the dnc. How did they get that impression . Translator its quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information. They wanted it so badly. Reporter this morning she denies claims shes connected to a russian government effort to aid Donald Trumps presidency. Reporter have you ever worked with the russian government . Do you have connections to the russian government . Translator no. Reporter what she was doing, she says, was lobbying against sanctions imposed by the u. S. On russian individual sanctions she claims are unfair. This was a long interview. We are still picking through it. Well have more through the day. All right. Keir simmons, thank you very much. We look forward to hearing more about that. Joining us now from capitol hill, kasie hunt. Kasie, youve been following how members of congress are reacting to this. I would take it this would be a bridge too far. This would be the time they part with trump, right . You would think that there might be some resistance based on all of this. I havent had a chance to talk to many of them hopefully here in an hour or so. The initial reaction has raised a lot of questions. You have republican senators, Susan Collins of maine saying i want to talk to donald trump junior in front of the Senate Intelligence committee. I want to raise an issue of context. While all of this is going on, and these allegations are unfolding, the white house behind the scenes is lobbying to water down a russia sanctions bill. Remember, the senate a week or two ago passed a bill saying dont loosen sanctions on russia by yourself. Tieing his hands. It went to the house where it got hung up on what was initially described as a procedural issue but since then has been the subject of focus by the white house. And thats all taking place as all of these new questions are being raised, and at a time when its not even clear exactly what was discussed in that meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. The president said over the weekend, look, we didnt talk act this issue of sanctions against russia, but Sarah Huckabee sanders contradicted that yesterday. Take a look. I know theres a little bit of a question there, and there were sanctions specific to election mettling that i believe were discussed but not beyond that. So thats a pretty direct contradiction of what the president had tweeted. And i think its going to be very telling to follow now how this bill winds through the house. So far youd had paul ryan essentially defending the delay in the house saying were not trying to do anything that would make major changes here. I think that considering everything going on with don junior, the pressure is going to ramp up on him. Yeah. Im also just wondering politically when this becomes too radio active for members of congress and senators, especially those who might be interested in getting elected again. Is this still not . Its one of those things i feel like every half the days im going to capitol hill its to ask questions that are difficult. In the beginning members of congress would say i dont respond to the president s tweets. I dont respond to this or that. I think that dynamic has shifted with time, and i think especially heading into the midterm elections, there are members that are going to start to get nervous that theyre going to appear to be soft on russia in their districts. This is a bipartisan thing right now, and the Republican Party has been historically maybe more hawkish. I think a lot of them are starting to feel uncomfortable. When their own personal political interest start to come into direct conflict with President Trump and their fear of President Trumps base starts to wane, thats when youll see a sharp divide. Yeah. Thank you. Before you get elected, you have to get nominated. The question is how the political dynamics here really work out. The other thing, i sit here and criticize this administration for a lack of consistency. I will say one thing. Their policy toward russia has been consistent for two years. Weak, soft, an it seems like Something Else is going on. Thats the consistent policy. Well, we have in the next hour, coming up, congressman adam schiff, and there was one quote that just jumped out at me during keir simmons going through the interview, and he is still sifting through the interview, but the woman, the lawyer says to keir simmons, they were looking for information. They wanted it so badly. Yes. I heard that. That would indicate, at least to a casual observer, that it seems they were requesting more than they were looking for. That seemed to be what keir was saying before the clip. He also said that they had approached yes. Absolutely fascinating. All right. Whats the white house saying act all of this . Nbcs Peter Alexander joins us next with his latest reporting. Morning joe is coming right back. I realize that ah, that 100k is not exactly a fortune. Well, a 103 yeah, 103. Well, let me ask you guys. How long did it take you two to save that . A long time. Then its a fortune. Well, im sure you talk to people all the time who think 100k is just pocket change. Right now were just talking to you. I told you we had a fortune. Yes, you did. Getting closer to your investment goals starts with a conversation. Schedule a complimentary goal Planning Session today. And in this swe see. Veryday act, when we give, we receive. Abdominal pain. And diarrhea. But its my anniversary. Aw. Sorry. Weve got other plans. Your recurring, unpredictable abdominal pain and diarrhea. May be Irritable Bowel Syndrome with diarrhea, or ibsd. Youve tried overthecounter treatments and lifestyle changes, but ibsd can be really frustrating. Talk to your doctor about viberzi,. A different way to treat ibsd. Viberzi is a Prescription Medication you take every day that helps proactively manage. Both abdominal pain and diarrhea at the same time. So you stay ahead of your symptoms. Viberzi can cause new or worsening abdominal pain. Do not take viberzi if you have no gallbladder, have pancreas or severe liver problems, problems with alcohol abuse, longlasting or severe constipation, or a bowel or gallbladder blockage. Pancreatitis may occur and can lead to hospitalization and death. If you are taking viberzi,. You should not take medicines that cause constipation. The most common side effects of viberzi. Include constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain. Stay ahead of ibsd with viberzi. When this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. Yeah, my dad says our insurance doesnt have that. What . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. They had the impression, it appears, that they were going to be told some information that you had about the dnc. How did they get that impression . Translator its quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information. They wanted it so badly. That was part of the nbc news exclusive interview with the russian lawyer who met with Donald Trumps son and soninlaw during the heat of the campaign. It all folds into a new report in the New York Times that says donald trump junior was sent an email saying that material he might be given in a meeting with that lawyer was part of a russian government effort to aid his fathers candidacy. Joining us now from the white house, Peter Alexander. Peter, the white house is working to try to down play the significance of this meeting. What else are they saying . Mika, thats right. The real challenge for this white house is that their blanket denials no longer are believable at this point. We heard from Sarah Huckabee sanders saying there is no evidence of any collusion here, and it may prove there was, nfrt, no collusion. That remains to be determined but there certainly is evidence of contacts and conversations with the russians, and repeatedly through the course of the campaign as recently as the last couple months the president , the Vice President , and others have said that no such thing occurred. We are hearing from the attorney for donald trump junior. I exchanged several messages with him and he released a statement in line with the white house. He said the following. This is much adieu about nothing. He said don junior had no knowledge as to what specific information if any would be discussed. His father knew nothing about it referring to the president. The bottom line, he writes is that don junior did nothing wrong. I have been representing people for almost 30 years in investigative matters and i see nothing here. The president s outside council released the same statement as before saying the president was not aware of and did not attend the meeting. Basically theres a wall being built around the president. Many people will have to answer for themselves if they think its possible donald trump junior was acting without any conversations with his father as he learned the information. Whats striking is now much the same way with james comeys memos and the question of obstruction in the case, the memos offered a paper trail. Now its not he said she said. There is a paper trail with this email that raises questions about whether donald trump junior replied and whether others in the campaign replied to that email and whether there were more meetings that we dont know about. Mike, so the lawyer for don junior says hes represented other clients through the years. Who else has he represented . Hes a lawyer. Hes represented extensive organized crime figures. Several other quite notable figures who have been in the headlines. Hes a lawyer. He is specialized in crime families, right . Yes. Peter, what kind of pressure, if any, does the white house feel internally about the need for the president of the United States to speak to the country about what is going on . Well, as evidenced by the president s own tweets, apparently not a lot, at least not yet. Since this story broke, we by our count, i think its 26 separate tweets or retweets. He loves to fight back on twitter. He went after Chelsea Clinton and james comey in the last several days and hours, but on this topic in terms of protecting his son, hes been notably silent. Thats the question that Everyone Wants answered right now, what he knows about this specifically. We may not get our first chance to pose those questions to the president until this week. Later this week he heads to france. The belief is that he would hold whats described as a two and two. A News Conference with macromac the french leader, but this drip, drip, drip from the white house or story is increasingly turning into a gusher. And mark, im looking at the president s twitter feed. He has become social media director for fox and friends. He has tweeted head of the nypd blames someone for skipping vigil. And white house calls out Senate Democrats for obstructing nominees, and then yet another fox and friends retweet. Three in a row. Senator cruz says its crazy to have an august recess without having obama care repealed, and then he follows up with a fox and friends story about Senate Democrats confirming only 48 of 197 nominees. All topics near and dear to his heart, but not as near and dear as his son. As mika suggested, this is the president s greatest tool. He talks about how valuable it is, and it is. And for him to remain silent now going on a third day about whats going on with his son is just its a little bit head scratching and one possibility is he doesnt know what to say about it yet. That interview that keir simmons has, that lawyers account is at odds with don juniors account some some points. At some point the p. R. And legal team around the trumps are going to have to decide how to push back. The lawyers Statement Last night is not on point with the central accusations raised by the new york typthe new york t particularly was he informed in advance that whatever information presented was part of a russian government effort to help his father get elected. The response yesterday didnt make sense. It wasnt a defense. And then the response following the email story didnt make sense either. What theyre saying is we were hoping to get information and what don junior said yesterday in his statement, and his lawyer said, the story after the email story was we were hoping to get information from the russians, and possibly collude with them. But there was really nothing there, so we called off the meeting when she started talking about doadoptions. Last nights statement basically said the same thing. We were hoping to get information from the russian government, but we got nothing. That was it. Thats your defense. Theres political peril going to capitol hill, embarrassing news stories, but because bob mueller is up and running and because of the nature of this alleged email, were not talking about potential legal peril. When you get into potential legal peril of a president s son, that could be one reason why hes not tweeting. This longawaited molt in which the president s lawyers would know do not tweet because youre creating legal problems. That could be the explanation. It look like the thrust of everything donald junior has said is they were approached through this guy and so forth. Listening to the lawyer, she said it was the opposite. That it was it cape from the other direction. That rather than the russians taking the initiative according to her story, it was the americans taking the initiative. And the other is different. The other big discrepancy is that the initial account was she led off with some incomprehensive vague things about ties between the Clinton Campaign and the russian money and the dnc. Her account is she got nothing like that to present at all. Thats a big difference. Espionage business, they can be very much pulling a reverse. They set up the meeting. Now you create an open for compromise. You let their story come out first. The trump family story come out first. Then you come back and say thats not what happened at all. They approached me. You dont know what the truth is. Look at this email. The taking of the meeting puts you in this situation. This is the same with the flynn situation. He travels over there, shows up at r. T. , on camera, hes there next to putin. Hes in a position where he has to defend it, and they can shape it anyway they want. Peter, one question the white house seems to be making the difference just listening to Sarah Huckabee sanders. You can hear their argument. There was no collusion because we didnt get anything from the meeting. Is that an accurate portrayal of what youre hearing or are they not even going that far . I think thats not unreasonable. We did hear something of that effect from Sarah Huckabee sanders here yesterday. The bottom line is that the story from the white house has evolved. Initially it was that there were no contacts or conversations with the russians of any kind. The president during his News Conference back in february said i dont have any ties to russians and no one in my circle does either. Now theres evidence that there were ties. The story keeps evolving but the backstop in effect for the white house is you can say whatever you want, but there wasnt collusion because we didnt get anything out of this. This is normal operating procedure as others have suggested. If someones offering you opposition on your opponent, you take it. But all republican and democratic operatives weve spoken to have said under these circumstances when that information is coming from a Russian Foreign national, its a different circumstance. Still that doesnt make sense. They are saying it wasnt collusion because we didnt get anything, but theyre also saying well, it actually was perfectly normal for us to try and get Opposition Research from the russians anyway. Yeah. And therefore, they would say if we had got it, that would be fine. Everything argues against itself. It doesnt make any sense. Doesnt make any sense. Peter, thank you. The big question is how were republican going to be reacting today on capitol hill . Now are they going to be reacting to the news that this administration during the campaign Family Members actually got letters, emails, promising help from the russian government . And set up the meetings under that scenario . And what will it mean for the house of representatives . When it comes to the sanctions bill . Coming up, we have congressman adam schiff, the top democrat on the Intel Committee. Hes going to join us straight ahead. Morning joe will be right back. Award winning interface. Award winning design. Award winning engine. The volvo xc90. The most awarded luxury suv of the century. Visit your volvo dealer today and get up to 4,500 in allowances. Bp developed new, industryleading software to monitor Drilling Operations in realtime, so our engineers can solve problems with the most precise data at their fingertips. Because safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. When youre close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment . If you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. Taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. With taltz, up to 90 of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. In fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. Do not use if you are allergic to taltz. Before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. Taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. Inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. Including worsening of symptoms. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Nows your chance at completely clear skin. Just ask your doctor about taltz. Nofinding the best hotel price completely clear skin. Is now a safe bet. Because tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites so you save up to 30 on the hotel you want. Lock it in. Tripadvisor. Its about moving forward, not back. T. Its looking up, not down. Its being in motion. In body, in spirit, in the now. Boost® high protein its intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For when you need a little extra. Boost® the number one high protein complete nutritional drink. Be up for it yogigspeed internet. Me . You know whats not awesome . When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids. And these guys. Him. Ah. Oh hello that lady. These houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh. Sure. Still yes you can get it too. Welcome to the party. Introducing gigspeed internet from xfinity. Finally, gig for your neighborhood too. So when is the vote . Next week. Specifically well, i would expect it will turn to it perhaps as early as tuesday or wednesday. Its important we get this done and get it done soon. Next week is my expectation. I think theres still a path. Im not polly annaish about this. Its difficult when you can only lose two votes and there may be two that are irretrievable. Were in a tight spot, but we have to give this every effort. I dont think that we can fix this bill by a tweak here and a trim there. It needs a complete overhaul in order to garner my support. Congressional sources are telling nbc news that republicans are hoping to release a second draft of their Health Care Legislation by thursday. With us now from capitol hill, dr. And senator bill cassidy, doctor, senator, very good to talk to you. Where are we sitting right now with this Republican Health care bill . I think you kind of had clips from the spectrum of opinion. We got to get it done, and its all lined up to oh, my gosh, we cant do this particular bill. It shows a continued divide. Hopefully the new should have the same solution as louisiana, new york, or california seems crazy. We should allow the state to come up with a solution for their state, and i continue to say thats a good republican principle, good conservative principle. That may be the way forward. Mike barnacle. Senator, what are the odds that the United States senate or before you go on your august recess that Mitch Mcconnell takes a knee on this bill, just a tko . Gets counted out and thats it and you move on to Something Else . Mitch is not the kind of guy to take a knee. Now, granted, it might occur, but i would like to think, mike, that there would still be a path forward. If not, this bill and another. I dont think any of us are ready to take a knee. Mark halperin . Your conception if you dont get your conception basically the states get to decide. Under the Current Senate bill who are the americans who will be worse off . I havent seen the Current Senate bill. Thats a little bit hard to say. One of the ways to keep people from being worse off is by giving statsds large block grants, if you will, that they would wrap around those who might be negatively affected to keep them from being negatively affected. I would like to think that the people who would be worse off would be the special interests. That kind of benefitted under obama care. I would like to think that we kind of take dollars back from them and distribute to those who need it, but i have not seen the final bill yet. Wont be poor be worse off if you are cutting 750 billion from medicare, and then in the underlying budget another 300 billion, 400 billion . It seems fairly obvious. Youre a doctor. You strip 1 trillion from medicaid funding. I said medicare. Excuse me. Medicaid funding. It will be people disproportionately poor and lower income that will be impacted, right . Two things about that. If this bill works, the way it will work, is if you pull back on medicaid, you actually create a private insurance option which is as effective as good for these folks as medicaid expansion. A private option will be as effective for the working poor . Yeah, possibly. There are some people who do not take a better paying job because they do not want to lose their medicaid. Theres a cliff, if you will, between medicaid benefits and that on private insurance. That should not occur. Right, but there are single moms that but there are single moms that dont have a job, and you know that, and they go into Emergency Rooms at 11 00 at night because they dont have any other option for their children who are suffering. Those are the people totally. On the other hand those are the people that will be hurt, arent they . If shes not working she may still qualify for medicaid. Its incomebased. Number one. Number two, children would still be covered under chip and other programs. Number three, what i tried to say earlier is that the cuts to medicaid that people are talking about dont occur until 2025. Not all, but major portion of it. When the inflater rate goes down. We have eight years. If the medicaid inflation rate is still high, we can increase that in the out years. By the way, i have not seen the final bill, have not committed to voting for it, but i do think its important to clear up misconceptions. Senator, how much is the whole russia investigation and the president s preoccupation with russia. The white house being distracted by that. How much is it getting in the way of business in the senate . Best as i can tell, not at all. Ive had three town Hall Meetings. Two last week and then a telephone town hall last night. Not a single question came on russia. Its all about health care, the economy. National Flood Insurance program. Were in louisiana. We have some problems with flooding. I was just struck listening to your program beforehand. In a telephone town hall and two town Hall Meetings not a single question about russia. Im not sure that that is as much play in the senate or at home as on tv programs. Are you concerned about don jr. And other members of the Trump Campaign meeting with russian lawyers claiming to be representatives of the russian government or claiming to be part of a bigger plan for the russian government to influence the president ial election . I think we have to all be concerned about russian influence in our election, whichever form it took, but i have confidence that the various people investigating will come to the bottom of it. In the meantime, if we get distracted by something for which theres an Ongoing Investigation and dont tend to the issues at hand, obama care premiums, skyrocketing, for example, are the economy, jobs related to the economy. One, were not doing our job, and, two, were being too easily distracted. We need to focus on the matter at hand. All right. Senator bill cassidy, we have to go. Wish we had more time. Thank you so much for being with us. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you all. Still ahead in the words of the russian lawyer who reportedly offered up a research into Trump Campaign they were longing for such information. They wanted it so badly. Plenty more of the nbc exclusive interview with that attorney straight ahead on morning joe. Plus, all the headlines are swirling, and you would expect President Trump to be tweeting, and he is. Working hard to get the olympics for the United States. L. A. Stay tuned. Binders, done. Supercool notebooks, done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, get this ream of paper for just one cent after rewards. Taking care of business. Can we at least analyze customer can we push the offer online . Legacy technology can handcuff any company. But yes is here. Youre saying the new app will go live monday . Yeah. With help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. With the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. Why do people put why does your tummy go grumbily, grumbily, grumbily . No more questions for you ouph, that milk in your cereal was messing with you, wasnt it . Try lactaid, its real milk without that annoying lactose. Good, right . Mmm, yeah. Lactaid. The milk that doesnt mess with you. Explore your Treatment Options with specialists who treat only cancer. Every stage. Every day. At Cancer Treatment centers of america. Learn more at cancercenter. Com experts jr. . Absolutely, absolutely. Or a campaign and president who continues to say theres no there there, but virtually every week or two theres more stories of meetings undisclosed meetings with russian officials that beg the question, if theres no there there, then why arent more people coming clean at a more regular fashion . The vice chair of the Senate Intel Committee wants to have a word with the president s son, and that was before the New York Times reported that don jr. Was sent an email saying that material he might be given in a meeting with the kremlin connected lawyer was part of a russian government effort to aid his fathers candidacy. Author every the book, a world in disarray. Also on capitol hill, senior political analyst for nbc news and msnbc Mark Halperin. So last night the New York Times posted a piece reporting that before arranging a meeting with a kremlin connected russian lawyer he believed would offer him compromising information with Hillary Clinton, donald trump jr. Was informed in an email that the material was part of a russian government effort to aid his fathers candidacy. According to three people with knowledge of the email. The author of the reported email was Rob Goldstone, a pebble cyst who helped set up the meeting that took place in june of 2016 before trump became the nominee. Earlier in the day he told the a. P. The russian lawyer said she had information about reported Illegal Campaign contributions to the Democratic National committee that she thought donald trump jr. Might find helpful. The times notes while the russian government was identified as the source of the info, it doesnt go deeper on moscows attempts to tilt the election, and the paper is careful to point out theres no evidence to suggest the information was related to hacking that led to the release of the dnc emails, if youll remember that. Right. Mark halperin, on the hill, this story, it seems that its just somebo somebody. Poor Jared Kushner, hey, just come to a meeting. Then after that he is going to have to revise his statement again because we find out last night through the times reporting that there was actually emails saying this is part of a larger russian effort to actually help your father be elected president of the United States. Whats the response been on capitol hill . Don jr. s lawyer put out a statement that doesnt refute the essence of the new times reporting. We talked to democrats and republicans on capitol hill even before the revelation from late last night, and people are shaken by this. So far don jr. Is in a tough place now because every day, whoever is providing this information to the times is coming out with Something Else, and if you go back to saturday when he first responded for the saturday story, either he knew this email was out there, assuming the email exists, or he didnt, and either way that presents a lot of troubling questions for him to deal with Going Forward and for the wider operation to deal with Going Forward. The defense from some people yesterday was its fine to get help from the russians in a Political Campaign. Youll take oppo from anywhere it comes from, and i do not think that will be a sustainable position if that turns out to be what happens. I actually saw somebody on the nets work saying, oh, sure, i would have taken help from russians if it was Opposition Research. First of all, thats a lie. As a congressman from florida, nobody would. I have run those campaigns. If somebody said, look i would say get the hell out of my office. Anybody would do that. Republicans were already in full lying mode yesterday. They led by the kremlin to get me elected president of the United States. Who follows them down that rat hole . Not very smart people. Not very smart im sorry. Its just not very smart people. And a not very smart party. We are now just scratching the surface of a multidimensional comprehensive russian effort to influence the outcome of the american Political Campaign. I say that without knowing whether they succeeded from their point of view, whether what they did, again, we still dont know. As Richard Bloomenthal said yesterday, he suspects its not the first meeting thats going to be the bigger problem. Its all the meetings that followed this one. I mean, its still flabbergasting that the white house is not at some point in the last ideally back in march saying we want every single meeting that every Single Person in this white house or on the campaign has ever had with russians. Were going to get it all out there. They havent. I think to richards point, clearly the kremlin felt that the Trump Campaign was vulnerable to being penetrated or at least targeted in this way. There must have been something about the Trump Campaign that made them feel this was worth a go. A targeted opportunity. Yeah, and bloomenthal mike barnacle, you have this meeting with a kremlin connected lawyer. An email comes forward from a contact they made while they were in moscow that says, hey, the kremlin wants to help you out here. Talk to this lawyer. You have Paul Manafort running the campaign. You have Jared Kushner, the president s closest aide during the campaign, and then youve got, of course, don jr. Im just curious how does Jared Kushner forget to put this on any of his disclosure forms when he knows when he knows th that when he knows that theres been an email sent to the campaign to don jr. Saying, hey, the russian government wants to help you get elected president of the United States. Youve got Jared Kushner forgetting to put an ambassadors meeting down on a disclosure form. Then you have forgetting to put down a meeting with one of the top bankers in russia. Again, connected to the kremlin. And now this. Youve got the attorney general forgetting to put it down on all the forms. I mean, if youre bob mueller, theres so much smoke. Theres got to be fire there, but right now, i mean, you got to go outside to get a breath of fresh air. It is swirling all around this administration. Clearly, theres an enormous amount going on here, and one of the telltale signs of so much going on is that its fairly obvious that the leaks the information in these times stories come from within either the white house or the justice department. Right. This is choked off whatever small pieces of progress the Trump Administration has been making. They continue to revise their statements. Donald jr. s tweet yesterday belittling the fact that he met with the russians. I tell you what, ive covered a lot of campaigns. I know a lot of people who work in campaigns. If they say ive got some great stuff from russia, a russian guy gave me this stuff. You know what you do, you call by the way connected to the russian government. This is part of clint would be the one to go to. Part of a bigger scheme to influence an election. You would immediately, again, if somebody on my staff said, hey, we have this russian guy who is connected with the russian government, i would say, okay, call the fbi, and ive got to go vote. Exactly. Its all pretty shocking and horrifying, especially for the Republican Party, but what are the real questions here from your perspective, clint . I think its this silliness about its okay to just meet with russian businessmen, and there are no consequences to this. Is it okay to use the word collusion . Collusion. So they keep parsing this out. Does collusion mean i take or coordinate with an online personal note to get Hillary Clinton emails out or Opposition Research out there . If a host in florida points the russians know exactly how to push this to protect the principle. Theyre not going to go directly to donald trump and say heres what i want you to do on behalf of our state. Instead theyre going to do exactly what were seeing here, which is theyre going to go all the way around the periphery to everybody in the family, everyone thats politically connected and business interests and try to put lerchverage. Congressman adam schiff and joe manchin. But nbcs exclusive interview with the russian lawyer who met last year with donald trump jr. And Jared Kushner. Inside trump tower. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. So how old do you want to be when you retire . Uhh, i was thinking around 70. Alright, and before that . You mean after that . No, im talking before that. Do you have things you want to do before you retire . Oh yeah sure. Ok, like what . But i thought we were supposed to be talking about investing for retirement . Were absolutely doing that. But theres no law you cant make the most of today. What do you want to do . Id really like to run with the bulls. Wow. Yea. Hope youre fast. I am. Get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change. Investment Management Services from td ameritrade. Are made with smarttrack®igners material to precisely move your teeth to your best smile. See how invisalign® treatment can shape your smile up to 50 faster today at invisalign. Com binders, done. Supercool notebooks, done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, get this ream of paper for just one cent after rewards. Taking care of business. You realize the smartest investing idea, isnt just what you invest in, but who you invest with. Yeah, and i can watch thee bgame with directv now. . Oh, sorry, most broadcast and sports channels arent included. And you can only stream on two devices at once. This is fun, were having fun. Yeah, we are. No, youre not jimmy. Dont let directv now limit your entertainment. Xfinity gives you more to stream to more screens. This morning were hearing for the first time from the kremlin connected lawyer who met with donald trump jr. Last year. Joining us live from moscow, nbc news Foreign Correspondent kier simmons. Kier, you spoke with Natalia Veselnitskaya this morning. What did she have to say . We just wrapped up that interview with Natalia Veselnitskaya. She got a phone call from a man she didnt know for a meeting with the Trump Campaign. She said they wanted information, it particularly Financial Information from the Clinton Campaign. Information she says she didnt have. This is the woman natalia ves skia you wake up one morning and find you are the focus of all high ranking media. On june 9th two weeks after donald trump secured the nomination, his son, donald trump jr. , along with Jared Kushner and former Campaign Chair Paul Manafort met with the russian attorney. In june you met with donald trump jr. , with Jared Kushner, with Paul Manafort. What was the purpose of that meeting . Translator i never knew who else would be attending the meeting. All i knew that mr. Donald trump jr. Was willing to meet with me. I could recognize the young gentleman who was only present in the meeting for probably the first seven to ten minutes, and then he stood up and left the room. It was mr. Jared kushner, and he never came back, by the way. The other individual who was at the same meeting was always looking at his phone. He was reading something. He never took any type of part in the conversation. That was mr. Manafort. They had the impression, it appears, that they were going to be told some information that you had about the dnc. How did they get that impression . Translator its quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information. They wanted it so badly. And this morning she denies claims she is connected to a russian government effort to aid Donald Trumps presidency. Have you ever worked for the russian government . Do you have connections to the russian government . Translator no. What she was doing, she says, was lobbying against sanctions imposed by the u. S. On russian individuals. Sanctions she claims are unfair. This was a long interview. We are still picking through it. Well have more through the day. All right. Nbcs kier simmons. Thank you very much. We look forward to hearing more about that. Coming up on morning joe congressman adam schiff is standing by. His committee is leading the house probe into russia, and it appears there may be a lot more to investigate. Well get the congressmans reaction to the new developments surrounding donald trump jr. Next on morning joe. Only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol® a mihappy birthday, sweetie oh, millies. Trick or treat were so glad to have you here. What if we treated great female scientists like they were stars . Yasss queen what if millie dresselhaus, the first woman to win the National Medal of science in engineering, were as famous as any celebrity . [millie dresselhaus was seen having lunch today. ] [. Rumors of the new discovery. ] what if we lived in a world like that . crowd applauding we know a place thats already working on it. Can we at least analyze customer can we push the offer online . Legacy technology can handcuff any company. But yes is here. Youre saying the new app will go live monday . Yeah. With help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. With the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. And i am a senior Public Safety my namspecialist for pg e. My job is to help educate our First Responders on how to deal with natural gas and electric emergencies. Everyday when we go to work we want everyone to work safely and come home safely. I live right here in auburn, i absolutely love this community. Once i moved here i didnt want to live anywhere else. I love that people in this community are willing to come together to make a difference for other peoples lives. Together, were building a better california. He said therm told information that you had about the dnc. How did they get that impression . Its quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information. They wanted it so badly. That was stunning. That was part of kier simmons exclusive interview that we just heard with the russian lawyer who met with Donald Trumps son and soninlaw during the heat of the campaign. The House Democratic congressman adam schiff of california. Also at the table the news and finance anchor of yahoo news. In march you said, there is more than a circumstantial evidence that trump aides colluded with russia. In this email one of those pieces of evidence is this email evidence to you or was this news to you . Had you known anything about this email in the past . You look at the time table, this is a month before the russians start dumping information they have derogatory information about secretary clinton. If that report is correct, this email disclosed to the Trump Campaign the truth that the russian government had damaging information that they wanted to help elect donald trump and it put certainly the first family on notice of all of these facts. It makes all the denials weve seen since that much more unbelievable suspect so certainly this bears a lot of investigation. These participants are all going to have to come before the committee. Were going to have to try to obtain any relevant emails or documents. Yet another, i think, rather stunning public disclosure. You say stunning. Were you surprised by this disclosure . Well, you know, certainly some elements i have been. The shifting explanations by the Trump Administration. First there was we never had any kind of meetings like that, and then there was, okay, we did have a meeting, but it was about adoptions. Then, of course, Paul Manafort, the Campaign Manager is there. Why would he come to a meeting about adoptions . Then its about the act thats a sanctions legislation that sanctions russians who are committing human rights abuses. Then we learn that, well, actually they went hoping to get damaging information from the russians about Hillary Clinton. Is this collusion . Certainly if the Trump Campaign went to a meeting with the russians seeking to enlist or receive the help of the russian government in getting damaging which is what the trail of evidence and emails suggests is the case . Yes, that would be a potential form of collusion that they are going to coordinate with the russians, the dissemination of damaging information. Again, this is still in the category of allegation that needs to be investigated. Here you have very direct potential evidence of the russians communicating with the campaign. We have stuff that will help your campaign. We want to help your father get elected. Well, you dont have the goods in the meeting, but if you go forward with something, then well help you with the act. That, of course, would be illegal. If they were soliciting or receiving essentially in kind contribution from a Foreign Government in a u. S. Election, that would violate, i think, any number of laws. Do you think the scenario that played out six months ago with sally yates when she was alarmed at potential by the russians with Michael Flynn when he knowingly lied about sanctions with the russian ambassador. What are the odds that you think the russians could have been using this knowing very well that this meeting did take place knowing those within the Trump Administration for months now have been denying any such meetings and said they never met with russian officials. What instrumentalities did they try to exert influence, because the most critical thing is do the russians have any information that they can hold over the head of the administration to influence u. S. Policy . That could take the form of meetings that they know took place, offers to give help they know took place. It could take the form of if they were engaged in Money Laundering with the trump organization. Im not saying this happened, but if it did, obviously that is something they can hold over the president and the first family. We need to find out did any of this happen . If it did, it could very well shape why the president approaches syria the way he does, why he approaches ukraine the way he does, why he approaches sanctions the way he does, why he says the things he says about we dont know whether the russians were involved. We need to get to the bottom of this. It would be the worst form of negligence for the congress not to. Mike. So obviously youre going to want to have donald trump jr. Testify before your committee. Yes. Under oath. Yes. As part of that process given what we know now publicly, where do you go as a prosecutor or as a congressman on this committee to get to intent . Well, you know, i think, first, we try to get whatever materials that we dont already have in terms of documentation. Then we bring in the witnesses who set up the meeting. Clearly it was an expectation on the Trump Campaign even from their own statements that they were going to get some goods on Hillary Clinton. Why if that was correct, why was that email sent. If this lawyer and i would take everything she has to say, obviously with a huge grain of salt, we know that the russians use sometimes private sit zbrenz, to do their business. They did dont always use certified agents of the svr. Well want to know what went into that. Why did the person who sent that email believe that the russians were trying to help elect donald trump . What information did he believe that they had . Theres clearly a back story here that we need to get to the bottom of. Which leads to the second question that caddy raised about collusion. What is the ultimate Legal Definition of collusion . Its a term to cover all potentially problematic conduct. There is no statute that uses that term or coordination, which the term the fbi director more often used. If you conspire with others to violate any number of laws, theres a crime. If theres a if theres an effort to get help from a foreign power, if theres a conspiracy to engage in illegal quid pro quo, an act of bribery where you will get help in exchange for a legislative change. That would be problematic. If theres any conspiracy to obtain i will lift information, to steal the information. Any number of those things could be violation of law. Those are things that bob mueller will be looking at for the purmz poses of do we bring prosecution . There are things that Congress Needs to look at for what were the full range of actions taken by the russians. Did they have the help of sugs persons, and most important, how do we protect ourselves from this happening again . If there is any leverage the russians have over the president , we need to know about it. Especially given the sanctions bill. Where does it stand right now . It has obviously overwhelming support in the congress. I think this is true in both houses. The only issue is will paul ryan bring it up for a vote . What pressure is the white house exerting to prevent that from happening . I would expect that the pressure will be irresistible. Well get to vote on it. Will we get to vote on the bill that came out of the senate or a watered down version theyre in the house as well with wanting a tougher sanctions bill . I think they are. Its not what the members want. Its what the leadership is willing to allow and how much pressure theyre under from the white house. Congressman, of all the people that were participating in this meeting, one is currently tied to the administration. Paul manafort no longer part of this team, and, obviously, don jr. , a private citizen as well, working with the trump company. Jared kushner, given what we in and out know, do you think that he should have a security clearance revoked . Certainly it doesnt appear that a lot of the meetings that he participated in and the discussions that are alleged to have taken place werent disclosed during his backs ground check process. I would presume that from the open source reporting. If thats the case, then i think he should have his security clearance reviewed and very likely revoked. You cant, i think, go into any kind of discussions or submit documents about whether you had meetings with foreign nationals and omit, for example, if it proved to be true, a discussion of wanting to set up a secret back channel with a foreign adversarial power. For anyone else they would have their security clearance revoked. The holder says of that clearance are in a difficult position. So donald trump jr. Just tweeted. He says congressman schiff, media and dems are extremely invested in the russia story. If this nonsense meeting is all they have after a year, i understand the desperation. Is that all you have . Theres an awful lot more thats even in the public domain. Of course, the evolving accounts from don jr. Dont inspire a lot of confidence. This is someone who is very adamant never had these meetings, never had any kind of help or offers from help. This is preposterous. He was making the same argument before. Of course, he has had to evolve his story many times since then. Im sure he will evolve it many times in the future. I dont give that a whole lot of credit. Ranking member of the house intel can i, adam schif, thank you very much for being on with us this morning. Up next, we turn to the senate side of the russia investigation. Member of the Intel Committee democrat joe manchin joins the discussion next on morning joe. Introducing listerine® zero alcohol™. It delivers a whole mouth clean with a less intense taste. So it has the bad breath germkilling power of this. With the lighter feel. Of this. Try listerine® zero alcohol™. woman vo to refinance . Time man vo yes Mortgage Rates just plummeted. The time to refinance your home is right now. Get started at lendingtree dot com. The only place you can compare up to five real offers side by side, for free. Our average customer saves 20,000. Quick. Beat the feds 2017 rate hike. Do not miss this window. Are you sure you have the best rate . It only takes 3 minutes to find out. Go to lendingtree dot com right now. How to win at business. Step one. Point decisively with your glasses. Abracadabra the stage is yours. Step two. Choose laquinta. Where youll feel like the king of the road. Check out our summer rates now at lq. Com. The unpredictability of a flaree may weigh on your mind. Thinking about what to avoid, where to go, and how to work around your uc. Thats how i thought it had to be. But then i talked to my doctor about humira, and learned humira can help get and keep uc under control. When certain medications havent worked well enough. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Raise your expectations and ask your gastroenterologist if humira may be right for you. With humira, control is possible. 16 military Service Members are believed to be dead after a military plane crashed in rural mississippi. A local official said there were 16 people on board, and most of the bodies have been recovered. The c130 aircraft reportedly broke up in midair. Witnesses reported hearing a boom before seeing the plane fall from the sky. The debris field reportedly stretches for miles, but the fuselage came to rest near morehead, mississippi, about 90 minutes outside of the State Capitol in johnson. According to a u. S. Military official, the plane originated from cherry point, north carolina. Mississippis governor has asked the state to join him in prayer for those killed and their loved ones. Moments ago President Trump tweeted. Marine plane crash in mississippi is heartbreaking. Melania and i send our deepest condolences to all. Joining us now author and columnist New York Daily News and msnbc contributor mike lupika, and from capitol hill members of the select committee on intelligence democratic senator joe manchin of west virgin virginia. Joe, good morning. First of all, prayers and thoughts go out to the families of the 16 service unbelievable. I flew on that plane a lot. C130s. Thats what we have squadrons of in West Virginia. When i was governor, i flew them quite a bit. Thank you for that. We wanted to get your thoughts on what we are hearing so far. These New York Times revelations about donald trump jr. You know and this meeting. Im sorry. I have been thinking a lot about how could you ever do something or how could you even think that there was a proper meeting to have. First of all, it starts with the campaign. How do you put your Campaign Together . Paul manafort, the Campaign Manager, to allow anything like that to happen, to allow any type of a meeting to transpire, a Campaign Manager is totally incompetent to allow that to happen without fighting and threatening to leave if something this egregious happens and so that would question Paul Manafort because we all know that he was for hire. He would go where the highest dollar was. For don jr. To take that kind of of a meeting or for him to think its proper to be in that meeting, its uncalled for. I cant explain it. It just tells you this whole transformation from the private sector to the Public Sector, you know in the private sector you do whatever no bars hold. Whatever you can do give you a competitive advantage. I understand that. But, boy, in the Public Sector that is so much different. To see that we have digressed, that we have digressed in the public arena to this type of behavior is just uncalled for. Lets crystallize what you were saying and hear from it. Of course, nbcs kier simmons got an exclusive interview with this russian lawyer, and in this meeting with this woman that you are about to hear from Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, the head of the campaign, and, of course, donald trump jr. The three of them took the time to meet with this russian lawyer. Here is the nbc exclusive interview with kier simmons hearing from her. Take a listen. Translator i knew mr. Donald trump jr. Was willing to meet with me. I could recognize the young gentleman who was only present in the meeting for probably the first seven to ten minutes, and then he stood up and left the room. It was mr. Jared kushner, and he never came back, by the way. The other individual who was at the same meeting was always looking at his phone. He was reading something. He never took any active part in the conversation. That was mr. Manafort. They had the impression, it appears, that they were going to be told some information that you had about the dnc. How did they get that impression . Translator its quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information. They wanted it so badly. So, joe, the russian lawyer says they really wanted that information. Donald trump jr. Has confirmed the meeting and confirmed in his statements that they were looking for information on Hillary Clinton. What do you deduce . Well, first of all, she seems surprised they even met with her. I think she was surprised and caught off guard by the meeting itself. I dont know what went on to set that meeting up. I know when you are running a campaign, you do Opposition Research. You do everything you can to gather all of the information that would give you an opportunity to either highlight your opponent and the deficiencies that opponent has, but you dont go to the length when you are going to a known at versary such as russia, the cold war, the standoff theyve had with them over the years. Thats something that would be totally unacceptable. I cant explain it. It makes no sense at all, and im sure that mark warner has talked about this on the intelligence committee. Were going to have people coming forward. Im sure richard burr and mark will call the appropriate people and have our staff look at all the info they can and the dialect back and forth and any type of paper moving back and forth. These meetings, what was the purpose . Well make a determination. Senator, donald trump jr. Is tweeting this morning that the democrats and the media are so obsessed with this story that theyre making a big deal out of it, and theres not a big deal to be had. Does he have a point . No. That members of your party are just obsessed with russia and trying to bring down the president by any means possible . Well, trying to make it political is the wrong approach to take because you have republicans speaking out. Theyre aghast also. When you have lindsey and john mccain and Lindsey Graham and everybody else speaking out. This is not proper behavior. A not in any type of political setting. We havent sunk to that low. I know were getting close to the bottom, but thank god, we havent hit it yet. To have this as acceptable behavior is wrong. Just wrong. You know, maybe they didnt do anything illegal. Just say i made a mistake and made a bad judgment. I come from the private sector. I would have used anything i could to get advantage over my competitor. I thought the same rules applied in the Public Sector. That would be more acceptable to me. It wouldnt be acceptable, but it would be more explanation to me that you just are having a hard time transitioning. Guess what, Public Sector has to be done in a very transparent way for the public to have confidence and faith in our process. We have don jr. Talking about this nonsense story, this nothing meeting. The republican senator coming out and saying nobody cares about this. Well, actually, you know what, mike lupica, investigators care about this, and investigators in any state in america would care about this. Maybe the law doesnt matter to don jr. Maybe the law doesnt matter to a lot of republican senators, but theres still our prosecutors in america. Theres still our judges in america and there still are good people in america. There are still laws in america. Who believe we are a nation of laws and not a nation of men. Joe, at what point do more republicans than Lindsey Graham and john mccain stand up and do something and not look like theyre suffering from a terrible stomach mality, which is no guts. Look at what this russian lawyer said. Its quite possible that they were looking for that information. Its not us that was looking for that information. Its not the devil liberal hollywood elite. Shes suggesting that the Trump Campaign joe, why would donald jr. Think that russia was an enemy . He has grown up thinking these were Business Partners of his father. He must have looked at some of these russian people like they were santa claus. And, again, i mean, he said he has gotten he said he has gotten more money, the trump people have gotten more money from russia than anybody else. Don jr. Said that back in 20082009. Eric trump says basically the same thing a couple of years ago. They know how business works in russia and business and billionaires have direct ties to the kremlin. This isnt just some billionaire whose son is a musician that tried to set up a meeting that maybe they could provide some information. They know that everyone has ties to the very top. Theres a quote. Russians make up a pretty disproportionate crosssection of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from russia. Don trump jr. Joe, where does the investigation go from here . Well, joe, i mean, its going to continue. Its not going to stop. You said something. The rule of law. Thats what makes us different from any part of the world. We are a land of laws. No matter how high you are on the totem poll or how low you are, you should be treated the same. Justice is blind. You are treated the same. You just cant have certain aspects of what you think because of your wealth or your stature if you are able to do things that other people cant, and they should be forgiven. Donald jr. Should come forward and come to the committee, and he will be requested to come to that committee, speak openly. He made a mistake, say you made a mistake. It was just uncalled for to do that. To thinking that you are going to get an advantage and your father is in a campaign to where basically he might be the underdog or he was the underdog, and you are doing everything you can to equal the Playing Field or level the Playing Field. There are certain things you just cant do in the Public Sector. You have to learn that. They might learn the hard way here, but there are people not backing off, and i think republicans feel the same as democrats. Its about our country. If it we cant protect the things that made us the country that we are, god help us all. Senator, to that point that you just raised and im a little off message here, we focus intently on russia and the first family, members of the first family, including the president playing foots y with the russians. You are speaking to us from the capitol where polarization has taken such effect that very little gets done. Yet, earlier today 16 americans dressed in the uniform of the United States marine corps boarded a c130 at cherry point, and they are now in a corn field in missouri, plane having crashed. Theyre dead. Every single day around the world hundreds of thousands of americans wearing the uniform of the United States of america do their job. Why cant we, you in the senate and the house do your job . Mike, i couldnt agree with you more. I mean, you know, this is the toughest place to come to work every morning if you cant get your head on right. Whats the purpose of being here . I dont come to work as a democrat. My friends shouldnt come to work as a republican. We should come to work as americans. We have infrastructure. We have a tax system thats out of date. We have Job Opportunities that were not taking advantage of because our economy people dont have confidence and were not growing the way we should be. We should be taking care of the health care catastrophe that we have looming right now that because of politics it could collapse, and people basically their lives are in jeopardy. We cant come together to find ways to repair it and fix it . You have to come to this job . Im in a hostile work environment. People are trying to defeat each other every day. We should be coming here finding ways to work. This is horrible. Being a former governor and being in West Virginia we dont have things this way. We try not to. Theres a time when you play politics and have a good time with it, have your differences and go on and sell your goods if you can. Theres a time that basically the state of West Virginia, the country, the United States of america, is far above anything that i do and my reason and purpose for being here. Its because of that. Not because of being a democrat or being a conservative or being a liberal or being a republican. It is absolutely unbelievable, and to get your mind around this, for all of you in that room to come to work every day knowing that a person is supposed to be your friend, but hz has an r by your name and you might have a d by your name, and theyre trying to get you defeated, and then we have a twoyear process wroosh right now were in a 2018 cycle. Everybody is shooting at everybody here already. Im sick and tired of it already. I can only imagine the good people in West Virginia got to be sick and tired of it. Well get through it. Were stronger and better than this. We are the hope of the world. If we dont get it right, god help the rest of the world because nobody else will step to the plate. We cannot leave this void. Mechanics of the Senate Intelligence committee senator joe manchin, thank you for being on the show. Thank you, joe. He got to dallas through a devastating retired police chief david brown and whats transpired over the past year. He joins the conversation ahead. Keep it right here on morning joe. Where all the walls echo with laughter and every room has its own chapter youve carried on your familys tradition. Let us help you prepare for your familys future. Financial guidance while youre mastering life. From chase. So you can. You on a perfect car,rch then smash it into a tree. Your Insurance Company raises your rates. Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Binders, done. Supercool notebooks, done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, get this ream of paper for just one cent after rewards. Taking care of business. Im karen, im a teacher. Olfer. My Psoriatic Arthritis caused joint pain. Just like my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. And i was worried about joint damage. My doctor said joint pain from ra can be a sign of existing joint damage that could only get worse. He prescribed enbrel to help relieve pain and help stop further damage. Enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. Serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. Tell your doctor if youve been someplace where fungal infections are common, or if youre prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for Heart Failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. Dont start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. Joint pain and damage. Can go side by side. Ask how enbrel can help relieve joint pain and help stop joint damage. Enbrel, fda approved for 18 years. Bp engineered a fleet of 32 brand new ships with advanced technology, so we can make sure oil and gas get where they need to go safely. Because safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. Delicious pasta marinara. But birds eye made it from zucchini. Mmm bird mashed potatoes and rice. But made from cauliflower. Looks like i need a fork oh, no. giggling bird new birds eye veggie made. So veggie good. One year ago in the course of just one weeks time, elton sterling was killed by police in baton rouge, louisiana, and Philandro Castile in minnesota. Then during a demonstration in dallas, five officers were shot and killed, nine more wounded. And the figure of calm at the center of that citys storm was police chief david brown. Become a part of the solution. Serve your communities. Dont be a part of the problem. Were hiring. Were hiring. Get out there and protest line and put an application in and well put you in your neighborhood and we will help you resolve some of the problems youre protesting about. And the former Dallas Police chief david brown joins us now. Hes out with a new book called called to rise a life in faithful service to the community that made me. We were talking before with mike lupica about what a moving moment that was out of that tragedy. We really saw a Community Come together and you right at the center of it. What was the big Lesson Learned . What was your takeaway . I think the biggest takeaway that ive seep is that we can resolve our issues, that its not hopeless, our divisiveness can be conveyed around compromise if we let it. And that even though we might be entrenched in our position, that theres a higher calling to rise above the fray and come together, that were our country has been at its best when we are convened around compromise. Thats the biggest takeaway i believe. That service was one of the most moving things ive ever seen. What you said is true. The greatness of the this country comes after the worst moments. Thats when were defined as a people. Yes. It was so vivid that day, you standing there, taking the hand of a white mayor, the former president , the current president , and in the wake of this unbelievable tragedy. But what we saw in dallas what we saw in this si on september 12th in 2001. Everybody beginning to get back up together. Yes. And i think that even though when we unlayer the things that were obviously divided over, sometimes it boils down to a difficult conversation about race. And we just we avoid it every chance we get. We try to avoid it. And policing is in the middle of it, particularly now, its just between communities of color and policing. Were talking past each other. Were not listening as much. Probably the same here, but why do we avoid it . Well, i talk about this in my book quite a bit. I think the avoidance is its a wound that wont heal. Thats the avoidance. And police are in the middle of that. Were in the middle of that. Were responding in highcrime areas, particularly our white officers are struggling to try to message the right things. Every time a viral video comes up we take two steps back, whatever progress we make. I think the hope is that even in our deepest, darkest moments in our country as it relates to an unarmed black man being shot and killed by another officer, there are so many more stories of noble, courageous, brave men and women here in new york we just had an officer shot and killed, ambushed. Assassinated. Who sacrificed their lives every day. In dallas last summer, those five officers were human shields for the very people who were protesting just minutes before the shooting started. So, chief, in your city, and in every city across the country, big and small, fire truck comes down the street, people say, hey, help is on the way. Police cruiser comes down the street with the sirens on people say, oh, theres trouble on the block. Thats right. What can we do as a country to get more Police Officers living in the city that they police, getting to know the neighborhoods of the city where they work . Many of them live in suburbs because of the exhibition of it. They dont get paid a whole lot. What can they do to help correct that situation . I sum it up by saying people in the community, particularly people of color got to put more skin in the game. I know thats asking a lot, but the comments i made last july was put an application in. That wasnt a call to do something that i wasnt willing to do. As a senior, i quit school because of the crack cocaine epidemic and walked down to the Police Headquarters and put in an application and got hired. My first beat was my local neighborhood. Its local. People in the community, in dallas, chicago, baltimore, in those areas where were struggling the most to make a connection with the community, people in the Community Need to be more active in local government. Few people are making me more proud to be a texan than you and your leadership following that tragedy. Thank you. Your words about submitting application, that youre hiring. What have we seen after that . Have lessons been learned . Are you more optimistic now following that tragedy . I am optimistic but im naive in some ways and i love being naive about things, i love being more hopeful. We do have difficulties in this conversation about police and community relationships, particularly in black communities. And dealing with young black men. But when i went down to put in an application to get hired the secretary looked at me and said theyre not going to hire you. Thats what she said to me. And i could have been discouraged and walked away but i wasnt going to take no for an answer. I had inner city kid written all over me. I didnt look like a police officer. The message is to iner city people, dont take no for an answer. When you want change, demand it and insist on it and make yourself the change you are seeking. Make it. In light of all the depressing news weve been covering, this is a great way to end the show this morning. It really is. Called to rise. Chief david brown, thanks so much in so many ways for being on this morning. Thanks for having me. Stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. Thanks so much, mika. Good morning. Im Stephanie Ruhle with a lot to cover today starting with what did he know . A bombshell new report, donald trump jr. Was told before hand that the information he was getting was coming from the russian government. If there is a conspiracy to obtain foreign assistance, thats a crime. Don jr. Now lawyered up, congressional investigators looking for answers a the white house fires back hard. Don jr. Did not collude with anybody to influence the election. Plus, an nbc news exclusive. The russian lawyer at the center of it all speaks to our keir simmons. Have you ever worked for the russian government . Do you have connections to the russian government . Translator no. We begin with donald trump jr. , who just moments ago responded on twitter again with this media and dems are extremely invested in the russia story. If this nonsense