This plan being formulated, more power for the generals to determine troops levels. Lets head immediate ly to the white house with hallie jackson, analysis with dana milbank and george will. Hans, let me start with you. Tell us about the plan and how it differs from president obamas strategy. Its namely a directional shift. Obama clearly was winding down the war. He wanted to end up with around 8,400 troops. Thats how many are there, now theres an indication that it will be winding up. Its not a drastic increase. He had a variety of policy reviews when president obama took office, they did more than 30,000 troops for the second surge. One thing we need to be clear, this is still very much in discussion. An Administration Official just told me this has not gone to the policy committee yet the princip Principles Committee at the National Security council so it gives you a sense theres deliberating over this and that gets into the second question. Theres so many numbers out there in terms of how many might be nato and u. S. I think she should shy away. The important thing is the direction and this marks a shift in the direction. Thats the significance along with what youre saying which is to say more empowerment for ground commanders. Weve seen that in yemen and somalia and weve certainly seen that in syria and iraq. Whats the president hoping to accomplish, hallie and how is he explaining the change of heart, if you will . Or is the white house bothering to explain that . Let me take the second part first. The answer is not yet. We havent heard from the president publicly since this started to come out that hes weighing these new options in afghanistan and looking at the various presentations that have been given him so far. We expect to hear that from sean spicer some time in the next hour. It will likely be one of if not the first question posed to the press secretary at the white house. Let me answer the first part of your question about what the white house hopes to accomplish here. Sean spicer was asked about that and he answered that question with more questions, craig, which is an indication there is still some hammering out of strategy going on here on pennsylvania avenue. You know the administration has talked about wanting to protect u. S. National security interests. Thats a priority and how they answer the question on its face but there are more questions of how do we make that work . How do you remove troops from the country after you stabilize it if and when that happens. What you are hearing from the administration is were still working to figure out what those options are which is why that question is out there, craig. President trump also tweeting up a storm in reaction to the sally yates and James Clapper hearing around this time yesterday. What are we hearing from him about that . You said it, tweeting up a storm. After the sally yates hearing theres a question of how is the white house going to respond to this . More questions about this today. You can see these tweets sally yates made the make feed ya extremely unhappy today, she said nothing but old news. In another tweet director clapper reiterated what everybody including the fake media already knows. There is no evidence of collusion with russia and trump. And adding the russia trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end . Lets be clear that the hearing focused on russian interference in the election and Michael Flynns role and what sally yates warned the white house. Thats real. That happed, chussle was on talking aut how there is new news coming out of the hearing, how sally yates went to the white house, came here twice in foreign talk with counsel don mcgahn in his office, her, him and two other staffers to explain why she was concerned that Michael Flynn was compromised by the russians. Michael flynn remained in that position for 18 more days and that is a question now, what happened in those 18 days . How does the white house explain to the American People why Michael Flynn remained in that position for more than two weeks after the first warning came out from sally yates, craig. A lot of reaction coming out here. Youve heard it, for example, from chris murphy as well talking about this, too. Naveed, what did you learn from sally yates and more about what you did not learn from her yesterday. I think exactly what hallie said. The burning question on the tip of my tongue is why, if the white house was informed of this concern look, im sort of agog why flynn was hired in the first place knowing he was fired by a previous president. That aside why once the president was informed by mcgahn that there was a legitimate security concern, the specifics dont matter but he was they was informed there was a legitimate security concern, why did he keep anymore place . Thats the question the American Publicies an answer to and one sally yates didnt answer and should havent answered but thats the big question. Why was he kept in place . The answer for that, frankly, craig, is going to be a political one. I think the president was faced with a question of if he cut anyone at that point it would have been simply to justify the concerns people had about his connection to russia so i think he made a political decision and swe kept someone who was a Security Risk in place for 18 days and the American Public is owed an explanation. Naveed jamali, thank you. Lets turn two opinion writers for the washington, george will, who is also an nbc news and msnbc contributor and dana milbank as well. George, let me start with you, sir. This is presint trump on afghanistan in late november of 2013. Here is his tweet, his often preferred method of communication with the masses. Heres his tweet we have wasted an enormous amount of blood and treasure in afghanistan. Their government has zero appreciation. Lets get out. How does this change in strategy . How does it jibe with America First . Well, clearly it doesnt. But it does jibe with the anxieties that are felt in the pentagon and elsewhere over the pocket that things would not have gone as far wrong in the middle east, particularly with the rise of isis, if the United States had negotiated a status of forces agreement sufficient to keep, say, 10,000 troops in iraq. Im not taking a position on this, but there are serious men and women who believe that things would be much better if we had left a residual force in iraq. That is now being applied to afghanistan. That there might be some Critical Mass of american troops that would be a stabilizing force there. The problem is that we all have to ask at all times the question that general petraeus asked when he first became began getting involved in iraq which is tell me how this ends. It probably doesnt end. This is a lowgrade fever, a lowgrade conflict and it could go on and on for many, many years involving a very light american footprint but one and this is the theory thats going to be tested one large enough to make a difference. Dana, the plan also reportedly includes handing off decisions like troop levels to the pentagon. Is that wise . Well, certainly when i talk to a lot of National Security expe experts theyre pleased the pentagon is taking the lead on this, on north korea, on developments in iraq and syria because they think that is where the expertise is and i think wh youre seeing ovell here is something of an acknowledgment by the president , by the white house that he is going to be shaped by events more than hes going to come in and have a wholesale new Foreign Policy and isolationist policy, America First. Well, reality is getting in the way so were seeing more continuity than a change or radical departure that this president promised and thats reassuring. George, when you look at whats happening right now, potentially whats going to happen in afghanistan, you look what the we did in syria, you look to iraq to a certain extent, how would you characterize this administrations approach to Foreign Policy so far . Improvisational. You say what we did in syria. I dont know how to characterize what we did in syria. It was a a that hard i can spasm 59 cruise missiles based on, apparently, the president ial daughter showing the president truly horrifying pictures of children suffering from a chemical weapons attack but beyond that it was a one off event that signalled no change in american policy towards sir which is remaining improvisational driven by events and photojournalism. Lets pivot and talk about what we saw play out yesterday what will continue to play out for some time the russia flynn controversy. A lot of folks want to hear from the white House Counsel because sally yates painted a very unflattering picture of how don mcgahn handled the information he was given. Take a listen to what she said. One of the questions mr. Mcgahn asked me when i went back over the second day was essentially why does it matter to doj if one white house official lies to another white house official . And so we explained it was a whole lot more than that. There was a request made by mr. Mcgahn in the second meeting as to whether or not they would be able to look at the underlying evidence that we had. I called him first thing monday morning to let him know that we would allow them to come over and review the underlying evidence. He had to call me back, he was not available then and i do not hear back until that afternoon of monday the 30th. And that was the end of this episode . Nobody came over to look at the material . I dont know what happened after that because that was my last day with doj. Dana, what do you make of the white house responses to this controversy so far . Its impossible, craig. To know what the response was. Sally yates was saying she didnt see any response that she could speak of during the time she was there but she was fired four days later in the whole travel ban imbroglio. Its been noted repeatedly he stayed on the job for 18 days. Its possible Michael Flynn would still be on the job if this had not leaked, his russian connections, to the Washington Post and others and even now donald trump is saying the issue isnt pliMichael Flynn, its ho the information sally yates had is public. So hes still saying its about the leaks. Clearly folks on capitol hill would like to question don mcgahn. Im sure the president would have some executive privilege things to say and we may never know but clearly President Trump still seems to be saying that Michael Flynn didnt do mig i dont think. George, this is this criticism that republicans many of them seem to care more about Donald Trumps judicial nominations than this particular controversy. This is what a top official in the Bush Justice Department wrote today for the National Security blog law fare. This is Jack Goldsmith several conservative friends have chastised me for being too hard on mcgahn, most importantly they said he was doing a great job in selecting conservative judges. Im not so sure the tradeoff is worth it for conservatives and the opportunity costs of dealing with the investigation will be large. Is he right here, george will . Because we did hear republicans yesterday talk far more about unmasking and Hillary Clintons emails than what flynn did. I think they can do both things. They can attend to their judicial nominations, of which they have an enormous number to make and also pursue this investigation but i think what some republicans are missing is the fact that attorney general yates went to the white house to protect two things. Obviously she went to protect National Security on the fear that mr. Flynn was susceptible pressure culminating in blackmail but she also went and i think first went to protect the Vice President who she said we now have evidence is saying things that are not true and hes not intentionally saying things that are not not true. He was saying things that werent true based on assurance he is received from general flynn and she wanted to stop that. Dana milbank, good to have you. George will, welcome aboard, sir. Good to have you on the team at msnbc and nbc news. Nice to be with you. Nbcs lester holt will be sitting down with President Trump for an exclusive interview. You can see that interview thursday on nightly news when lester anchors from the nations capital. President trump denying any campaign ties to russia. So then why is republican Lindsey Graham calling for an investigation into the president s business ties to moscow . Well ask House Intel Committee member Eric Swalwell about that and former president barack obama in italy for a conference on foot security and Climate Change. A live report from milan on his speech and what hes saying about some of the Trump Administrations policy and we are, as we frequently are, a few moments away from the White House Press briefing with sean spicer. When that happens, we will bring it to you live. 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. 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Our report will make some people mad and some people happy. I understand that. But what i dont want them arguing about is the that adam schiff had his thumb on the scale as a democrat or someone had their thumb on the scale as a republican, were doing one investigation. Its not republican, not democrat. One. Congressman mike conaway there. The texas republican now leading the house intelligence investigation into President Trumps white house. Devin nunes stepped down last month after an Ethics Committee investigation was announced. Eric swalwell sits on the House Intelligence Committee. Good to have you back, sir. Just throng that soundbite there from your colleague, how would you assess the House Intelligence Committee and its investigation into russian haing and e Trump Campaign . Craig were back on track and boy does it feel good to be back on track. This committee has always worked in a bipartisan fashion. Thats why ive enjoyed serving on it the past three years. This is what our constituents expect from us. This is our National Security and this is an attack on our sovereignty so the best thing we can do for our country and constituents is understand what happened, find out whether any u. S. Persons worked with the russians and then put reforms in place to make sure we never find ourselves or our democracy attacked like that again. Lets turn to our fuse of the day, the white house considering sending more troops to afghanistan. Whats your assessment based on what you know . Is that the solution . Do we need more boots on the ground there . We certainly never want to be attacked from a plot that comes out of fighters in afghanistan so im mindful of that but, craig, were operating under authorities that were granted back in 2001 so i think the president needs to tell the count play is the strategy in afghanistan . Go to the congress to get a new authorization and also tell us who are our friends because right now the president has gone out of his way to lal yen nate our nato partners as well as other partners in the region so we cant go it alone anywhere in the world let alone the middle east so he needs to do those three things. Senator Lindsey Graham, senior senator from south carolina, asked James Clapper, the former director of National Intelligence asked him about trumps business ties. I want to play that exchange. Heres the testimony from yesterday. Did you ever find a situation where a trump business interest in russia gave you concern . Not in the course of the preparation of the Intelligence Community assessment. Since . Im sorry. At all. Any time. M senator graham, i cant comment on that because that impacts the investigation. I have no evidence that the Trump Business Organization did anything illegal with the russians, i have no evidence of collusion but do i want to know about business ties . Yes. Do i want to know who leaked the information about general flynn to the Washington Post . Yes. Do i want to know what russia is doing now . Yes. Do i want to find out what they did in the past . Yes. This is nothing new here im not a prosecutor but if you ask me if i want to know there are trump business ties to russia that are inappropriate the answer would be yes. I have no evidence of any but i want to know anything about collusion. I want to know about who unmasked american citizens and what they did with the information. I want to know what russia is doing today not just the campaign so your honor how that got spun out but i have nothing knew about russian and trump business ties but am i interested . Im interested in all things russia with everybody. People wonder if the first soundbite meant there was an investigation into trumps Business Practices specifically as they relate to russia. What can you tell us . Just sticking to the unclassified side, we know the president invested in russia and the russians have heavily invested in donald trump so donald trump throughout the past decade. He sought decades in russia, he sought to peddle his vodka brand in russia, he held the Miss Universe contest in 2013 in russia and russia has invested in donald trump in 2008 donald trump sold a property he had bought in 2004 in West Palm Beach where he reaped a profit of 129 . Craig, i looked at the other real estate sales. No one had a profit like that. Tenants of trump tower, my russian investment there. None of this on its face is illegal however it is a foreign adversary that attacked us so we should find out if these ties converged with russias interference campaign. And cop clear the information you shared was from the unclassified side. Thats right. One of the things i just heard from senator graham cause med to raise my eyebrows, this idea that we should go after whoever leaked the information to the Washington Post about general flynn. Does that sound right to you . Is that something we should be doing. Craig, our country was attacked, our sovereignty was violated and russia and other countries will seek to do that again if we do nothing so if we make that the priority we are losing focus as to what our real vulnerability is so that should be explored but i heard too many questions at yesterdays Senate Hearing on russia meddling on anything but russia meddling and our constituents expect us to get to the bottom of this. Congressman Eric Swalwell taking time out of his break in oakland, california. Congressman, thanks for your time, sir. My pleasure. We are, again, a few moments away from the daily White House Press briefing with sean spicer. When it happens we will bring it to you live here. But first, bubble burst. Former president obama for the first time sharing what he does not miss about his time at 1600 pennsylvania. You live in whats called the bubble and its a very nice prison. And flight fight. Complete chaos at the ft. Lauderdale airport after Spirit Airlines canceled nine of their flights last night. More on that and the Airlines Legal battle with pilots that led to those ticket counter tussles, passengers being hauled off in handcuffs. That leads us to todays microsoft pulse question of the day. Here it is. After a recent wave of viral videos, does the Airline Industry need more Government Intervention . More government oversight . You can cast your vote at pulse. Msnbc. Com. What are you doing . Getting your quarter back. Fountains dont earn interest, david. You know i work at ally. I was being romantic. You know what i find romantic . A robust annual percentage yield thats what i find romantic. This is literally throwing your money away. 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Come on your turn where do pencils go on vacation . Pennsylvania laughter crunchy wheat frosted sweet kelloggs frosted miniwheats. Feed your inner kid the hardest thing about being the president of the United States is it is unique in its isolation. You live in whats called the bubble and its a very nice prison. So you dont have the freedom of movement to be able to just take a walk or to sit at a cafe. Now im only captive to selfies. That, of course, former president barack obama there speaking in italy. He traveled to milan to deliver the keynote speech on Food Security and environmental issues. Claudio lovanga is our man in italy. Good to see you, sir, what more did president obama have to say . Reporter well, craig, it wasnt all about jokes, of course, about life outside of the white house, it was mostly serious. It wasnt an address, it was an hour and a half of q a with the food policy adviser during the obama presidency. They talked about Food Sustainability and climate chang change. Lets listen to what he had to say about that. During the course of my presidency i made Climate Change a top priority because i believe that for all the challenges that we face this is the one that will define the contours of this century more dramatically, perhaps, than any other. Reporter craig, former president obama warned about the dangers of chamt change several times during his hour and a half q a. He said because of that it wa even more important to rectify the pis agreement, the agreement signed by 195 countries, including the United States in 2015 in which all countries pledged to reduce greenhouse emissions. You can see that as a kind of a veiled message to donald trump because during his president ial Campaign Trump said he wanted to scrap and pull out of that agreement all together. Now hes softened his tone somewhat but the Trump Administration hasnt taken an official position yet on whether they will rectify that agreement so he was asked about that as well, about the mixed signals. Lets see what he answered to that. Well, look, obviously the Current Administration has differences with my administration in terms of Energy Policy and thats part of what happened in democracy. There there will be a useful debate that takes place in ameri america. But president obama is saying hes being vindicated by private companies, theyre investing heavily because of the Climate Change and clean emergency policies he presented during his eight years of presidency and he said hes essentially doesnt matter what trump does or decides because the economy is deciding for him. Zpl craig . Claudio lavanga in milan, italy, thank you. In south korea, liberal candidate moon jaein was elected president a short time ago. He replaces outgoing President Park geunhye. She was impeached in march and indicted on charges of bribery, corruption and oopabusof power. The newly elected president should mark a shift. He pledged to open engagement with the north and pledged a review of newly installed antimissile system. Eight more penn states were arrested in the death of Beta Theta Pi pledge timothy piazza. A total of 18 Fraternity Members face a thousand count indictment with charges ranging from providing alcohol to a minor to hazing to involuntary manslaughter. The 19yearold engineering student fell down a flight of stairs at a party where he had been drinking heavily as part of what police were calling hazing. Students are covering up that death by waiting 12 hours to dial 911. Heres a portion of one of those calls. He hasnt moved. He has cold extremitieextremiti probably need an ambulance. Was there alcohol involved, do you know . Yes, there is. Another day, another bad headline for the Airline Industry. Passengers were stranded when Spirit Airlines canceled nine flights. The frustration, as you can see here, boiling over between passengers and spirit employees leading to the fights and nine arrests. The airline has canceled nearly 300 flights over the past seven days. It blames a labor dispute with pilots. Lets see what youre saying about that microsoft pulse question. After a recent wave of viral videos, does the Airline Industry need more government oversight . That was the question so far. 82 of you say yes, theres still time to weigh in, pulse. Msnbc. Com. We are waiting for sean spicer to take the podium at the white house. Any moment now for the daily briefing. When it happens well go there. Also happening this hour, Vice President mike pence is on capitol hill with senate republicans. Can he make any headway with them on the approved Health Care Bill from the Lower Chamber . 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Com and see how easy it is to switch and save on renters insurance. Vice president mike pence putting Health Care Legislation front and center today on capitol hill. Just a few moments ago he wrapped up a meeting with senate republicans. It was a closedparty policy luncheon to talk about health care and other priorities. Nbcs mike vacara on the hill. Why would the Vice President be making this trip today . Reporter theyre laying the ground work and starting the process and that process takes by some estimations and excruciatingly long time. Remember r remember republi meeting behind closed doors, Vice President mike pence is making a presentation along with, we understand it, senator orrin hatch, long a member of the finance committee, todays topic is medicaid. Remember, 880 billion cuts to medicaid in the version of the house bill that passed to much fanfare in a rose garden celebration with President Trump last week. That was the house of representatives. As weve been talking about, craig, things are very likely to change when and if the senate takes up this legislation. Take rob portman, for example, the senator from ohio told many reporters today after an earlier meeting that hes thinking of tax credits to mitigate the cuts in medicaid. Hes very concerned about cuts to Mental Health care and Substance Abuse programs that fall under the Medicaid Program in his home state of ohio. Mike vic vi viqueira. Lets bring in the panel. Yamiche alcindor, kevin barrett, founding executive editor dense 1, gail le mond author of ashleys war and msnbc contribute nick confessore. Nick, let me start with you. My apologies to all of you if i have to cut you off and go to spicer there. The future of health care. It would seem its squarely on the relationship between President Trump and Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. What do we know about where these two men are on what needs to be done and what can get passed through congress . I think its safe to say President Trump just wants a bill he can sign. I think the white house is relatively indifferent on the broader strokes of policy. Not totally indifferent but relatively compared to the senate and the house because the senate and house have to actually pass the bill and get the members on board and deal with the direct fallout in 2018. I think mcconnell is also driven in the same way that paul ryan was to get this done and find a way to drive it through his conference but i think the key thing is is Susan Collins. Her relationship is the most important of all. Shes not in the working group but shes probably the most important person in the senate on this front and which way she goes will make a huge difference in the outcome. Thats why i think the relationship between mcconnell and collins is super important. You mentioned Susan Collins not being in the working group, the independent minded republican from maine, theres not a single woman in the working group, yamiche, the 13 Member Health care group consists of men only. Why not put one of five republican women in the senate on that panel . I just had a conversation with a republican aide about that maybe a couple hours ago and he told me that in some ways its because Mitch Mcconnell doesnt think this was a problem. He saw this as 13 white men coming together to Pass Health Care in this country and thought this is what america looks like, this is what the government looks like. I should tell you, thats coming from a republican who told me thats the disconnect ere. Isrepublican, i think a lot of republicahat i talked to are very concernedot only about the fact that there are no women but senator tim scott, the sole africanamerican in the senate, also isnt on the working group and this is the working group that will be changing the lives of all americans and people i would think republicans and depths both tell me they want it to look more like america but it comes down to Mitch Mcconnell saying this is what im comfortable with and the people i trust to get this done. Tim scott not just a black republican but also a veteran and has a background in the Insurance Industry so you would think perhaps that would have considered his point of view germane to the conversation. Gail, i want to talk to you about two things specifically. First afghanistan and the news of the day that this administration is considering sending more troops to that country. Good idea . Bad idea . Will it make any difference at all on the ground . I think its a necessary idea if you are sitting in their seats and wanting to push some kind of advantage from the battlefield to the peace table. In some ways its a lot like the Obama Administrations approach only theyre giving much more authority in this idea to the military to set troop levels and also to think about what is needed on the ground. This is something many folks wanted to see during the obama years and going backandforth with Administration Officials and its also a reflection of the fact that both general mcmaster and secretary mattis have histories in afghanistan. I also this is likely going to come up here with sean spicer in addition to afghanistan, news breaking just a short time ago that President Trump now plans to arm the kurds in syria. Walk us through the thinking there, gayle. Why is that significant . This is an overnight decision that was years in the making. So what has been happening is that from the Obama Administration there was this idea that we will u local forces on the ground to push the advantage on the battleground in syria and the fight against isis and ask American Military officials and theyll say the best folks to do that are the syrian kurds. Ask turkey and they will say over our dead bodies, thats not whats going to happen. So youve seen this diplomatic dance that american officials, including military officials, have been doing to show that look this is our best shot of routing isis with the best local force on the ground so this is something that has been many months in decision making, including inside the Obama Administration, of trying to figure out how to get arms to the most effective fighting force without alienating nato ally turkey. Kevin, lets go back to afghanistan here for a moment. You were with defense secretary mattis two weeks ago as i understand it when he had the full battlefield briefing. Youve covered the war there for ten years at least through four, five defense secretaries. What do you see the administration doing here and is it the right choice . I think what theyre trying to do is step up the fight in two different ways. Theres two fights going on in afghanistan, americas fight against a counterterrorism fight against a specific terrorist organization that they think can organize to launch external attacks on the American Homeland and then theres afghanistans fight for itself where the Afghan Forces are fighting what we were told are 20 separate terrorist organizations in afghanistan that are trying to take down the government and cause problems so two separate things. The problem is, the american fight is a special operations fight, its a largely secret fight and its also a fight across the border creeping into pakistan against the old haqqani network, a group we havent heard so much about but that still exists. So just this week the top general for special Operation Forces general thomas was asked by the Top Republican in the senate do you need more forces and to the surprise of senator inhofe, general thomas said no, but they want more enablers, they want more americans to help do the old job of building up the Afghan Forces to hold back those groups, including the taliban. That sounds like counterinsurgency . Well, its side by side so you have general nicholson, the top general in afghanistan saying the afghans took a big hit last year because the taliban and other groups organized the go after the government and government forces. The good news is that the afghans, even though they took losses, they fought hard, held their ground mostly and theyre continuing that fight, thats different then the forces of ten years ago so in the long game they say the u. S. Has to hold this ground both for afghan stability and for that Counterterrorism Force that americans need America Needs to fight the terrorism groups there because theres nothing nearby. This is not like iraq. Theres no kuwait, no aircraft carriers, you have to have a ground base to launch your operations from. Nick confessore, what happened to America First snz. You know. Thats a great question. I was thinking about this when i saw that story. Theres a large contingent of voters who voted for draump who were sick in various ways of the wars abroad. In particular were affected by long deployments, stop loss orders, problems with care at the v. A. And in some sense its strange to see the Trump Administration pursuing this, obviously in one sense it fits in with the strategy to go after isis but if theyre setting us up for a prolonged for what a place weve already been at war for 15 years it makes you wonder if this is one more example of the administration where President Trump revises his world view upon taking office. Yamiche, this Daily Press Briefing thats about to start, we are again expecting he will be asked a number of questions about afghanistan, about syria. We also surmise that there will be a few questions about the testimony we heard yesterday from mr. Clapper and sally yates. What are you listening for afternoon from sean spicer . Im listening for sean spicer to justify why, after sally yates told the white house that Michael Flynn was lying and that he was going to be a problem and that their National Security adviser might have been compromised by the russians that they still kept him on for Something Like 13 days. I think the Administration Needs to understand and make people understand why that decision was made because it goes to the heart of how this administration functions, whether or not theyre vetting people properly, what are the decisions theyre making in regards to people who to russia. That all goats to the heart of it so i would be surprised if sean doesnt get up there and Start Talking right away about salary yates or somebodys going to be peppering him with questions about salary yates and specifically what she told the white house. Lets take a quick break. We havent gotten our twominute heads up from the white house. Theyre roughly 20 minutes later. Sean spicer heading to the Briefing Room for that Daily Press Briefing. When it happens, we will bring it to you live. Be sure to catch the premier of the newest addition to our day sidelineup. Were very excited about this one. Deadline white house. Premiers today, 4 00 eastern, only on msnbc. En a c from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. Stay with me, mr. Parker. The at t network is helping First Responders connect with medical teams in near real time. Stay with me, mr. Parker. Saving time when it matters most. Stay with me, mrs. Parker. Thats the power of and. 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 a live look at the white house Briefing Room there. Sean spicer expected to take to the podium any minute now. Peter alexander spends a lot of time in that Briefing Room near that podium. Mr. Alexander, what can we expect from sean spicer . Well, craig, we hope to see him soon. About 25 minutes behind right now as we await sean spicers arrival in the Briefing Room. This will be the first opportunity really to pepper him with questions over sally yates testimony. In the course of two meetings with the white house council, she delivered a message, a warning to this white house, that Michael Flynn, then the National Security advisor, they were aware had been lying. They said the russians knew it and he could potentially be compromised, they say he could be blackmailed. The question to this white house, if that was the case, why did later Michael Flynn participate in a conversation with vladimir putin. Also, questions about whether or not the u. S. Will send additional troops to afghanistan. Reports now that as many as 3,000 aitional american troops could be headed that way. No decision yet made. Nbcs Peter Alexander for us there in the Briefing Room where again that Daily Press Briefing expected to start any moment now. Peter, thank you. This gives us an opportunity to check on our microsoft pull question this afternoon. After a recent wave of viral videos, does the Airline Industry need more government oversight . That was the question. So far, 81 of you 81 of you say yes. More oversight is needed. Keep those votes coming. It is pulse. Msnbc. Com. That briefing coming up. Stay with us. I am benedict arnold, the infamous traitor. And i know a thing or two about trading. So i trade with e trade, where true traders trade on a trademarked trade platform that has all the. Get off the computer traitor i wont. cannon sound whats going on . Oh hey i wont. 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. That will do it for this hour of msnbc live. My colleague, katy tur, picking things up now. Craig, thank you very much. It is the top of the hour here on msnbc live. We are waiting on the white house briefing. It is running about 30 minutes late, but it is expected to begin at any moment. This as senator Lindsey Graham opens a new line of questioning when it comes to President Trumps ties to moscow. I have no evidence that the Trump Business Organization did anything illegal with the russians. I have no evidence of collusion. Do i want to know about business ties . Yes. Plus, fresh questions and new finger pointing at the white house. Why did it take 18 days to fire Michael Flynn aer