Much has been made of this president s complicated relationship with his own party. But this morning we have seen something we have not seen before. A sitting republican u. S. Senator has spent the better part of the last few hours basically calling the president a liar, a bully, a bad role model for children, and explaining why he regrets supporting him. Tennessees bob corker calling trumps visit to the hill a photo op. For his part, the president has done what hes prone to do, start tweeting. He has gone after corker five times on twitter. Thats nothing, though, compared to the number of times weve seen bob corker go after the president on tv. Ive seen no evolution in an upward way. Matter of fact, i would say it appears to me that its almost devolving. You supported the president. Do you regret that now . What do you think . It appears to be the governing model of this white house to purposely divide. Is the president of the United States a liar . The president has great difficulty with the truth on many issues. Much of what he says is untrue. Some of that, you wouldnt be able to check. Hes utterly untruthful. I want him to support diplomatic efforts. Not embarrass and really malign efforts that are under way. If you compare the white house to an adult day care center. He said hes putting us perhaps on the path to world war iii and said most of your colleagues agree with you behind closed doors. Any second thoughts about those comments . No, george, i dont make comments that i havent thought about. Peter a lexen der is at the white house. Kacie hunt remains on capitol hill for us. President trump arriving just a few moments ago. There was clearly some sort of security breakdown. Walk us through what happened. Sure, craig. We are essentially standing right now and the president just walked in to that lunch just moments ago. We just watched him walk through that door with Mitch Mcconnell and his chief of staff john kelly. But he did not walk by the area where we are standing, again. And this is where we had what i would describe as a very unusual incident occur here in the United States capitol just a few feet from the senate floor. This happened just moments ago. Its not about tax cuts. [ indistinct shouting ] for tax cuts, when they should be talking about treason this president conspired with the agents of the russian government to steer the election. We should be talking about treason in congress, not about tax cuts. [ indistinct shouting ] so were just trying to figure out a little bit more about who this person was. Politico is reporting its somebody named ryan from americans take action. I think were working behind the scenes to try to confirm that. There are initial reports it may have been the same person who threw russian flags at Jared Kushner in an earlier incident. I want to emphasize this information is just coming in. We are checking on it to see. One of the producers that works up here on capitol hill frank thorpe saying he was posing as a journalist to get access to this scrum. Again, we will make sure to nail down all of those details. But that would make sense for the way that access to this area has been controlled. I was just speaking with Andrea Mitchell last hour about this. I mentioned to her these credentials that we all wear. A lot of times its youre always required to wear it in the capitol. There are situations where sometimes if youre known to the security guards who work here, it may not be a situation where they would throw you out if you didnt have it but when the president is on capitol hill, you better bet that thats what would happen. And we were all together that we needed to do that as we were standing here waiting. I think you can see this is a pretty chaotic situation here behind me. Were all jostling for space. You can see there are many more. This is far more security than is normally here. Obviously the Capitol Police secure the Capitol Building but well have secret service a gents and others. They wear yellow tags. You may be able to see some of that in the frame here. Again, you know, we dont want to make too much of this. Obviously the president was not in immediate danger of harm. Everyone comes through magnetometers. Were all scened to get in here to the capitol. At the same time, a very unusual incident. Quite frankly, a major breach of decorum. Which is, you know, maybe not anymore in our politic these days but hiss totorically has b an important part of life in this building, craig. We were able to make out part of what he screamed. We heard this president has conspired with agents of the russian government. We should be talking about treason. Kacie, going back to this luncheon, do we know if bob corker is going to be in that room . We do, craig. We watched him come off the elevators over here head back into the lunch a little while before the president arrived here. This is something that everybody here at the capitol is paying close attention to, sometimes joking about. Senator tillis of North Carolina was photographed. Theres some escalators underneath us coming into the building. He had a bag of popcorn in his hands. He was asked if thats for the lunch. He said yes, indeed it is. So i think everybodys nobody really knows what to do with all of this, craig, i got to be honest with you. This is not something that is regularly experienced by members of the United States senate with the president of their own party. I think you saw some of that with bob corkers comments earlier today. Just simply saying hay, i dont know exactly whats going on, i dont think the president is evolving as president , i think hes devolving. He seems to be, you know, more prone to these kinds of outbursts. So i would love to be a fly on the wall in that lunch. We do hear over and over again that the president is a different person in private than he is in public. Hes much more willing to, you know, fire off that nasty tweet in public while at the same time getting on the phone and, you know, asking if youre having a nice time at dinner that, you know, hes invited you to at the white house or at a previous residence when he was in private life. Im interested to see if the republicans inside that room come out and essentially say that thats the man they saw or if the vitriol weve seen unfold over the course of the morning is going to hold the day, craig. Going back to this protester here, really quickly. Again, as you noted, a lot of this information is preliminary. We certainly dont want to make more out of the situation than it is. But you indicated that this guy, to do Something Like this, he would have had to pose as a journalist. How would he have gone about being a bell to pull that off . Its a little bit tricky, craig. I dont want to get too far into speculation. I will explain that its unlikely that he had a hard pass like this, which is, you know, something that our news organizations get for us. We are credentialed members of whats called the, you know, radio and Television Correspondents association, in the case of those of us who work in television. There are also galleries for people who write for print publications as well as for still photographers. Thats a process that requires you have to live here in d. C. , you have to work more than halftime for a news organization. Your bureau chief has to sign on the dotted line. You have to pay some nominal dews. So its, again, if he were to have a credential that were printed with his photo on it, i would find that to be unusual. Again, were still finding trying to figure out the details. Now, there is a way to get a temporary pass for a day if you have somebody vouch for you who has a hard pass. So, fork x example, i could introduce you to the gallery and say this is craig melvin, hes going to be spending the day with us, and they would give you a little piece of paper and its essentially a sticker. If i were to bet, thats likely what was going on here, but, again, i dont want to say that we dont know for sure exactly how that happened, but he certainly to get something that implies youre a member of the press, you would have to tell somebody at so many point you were a member of the press. In this case, for this gentleman, its clearly not the case, craig. Kacie hunt for us on capitol hill. As we continue to follow, again, an obvious breakdown in security with President Trump there walking by with Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. It should be noted that the Senate Majority leader and the president of the United States didnt even flinch. And theres the video, again, cued up. Yeah, its Peter Alexander standing by for us at the white house. Walk us through this back and forth with bob corker of tennessee. Well, before we saw russian flags flying in the air and, frankly, before bob corker started speaking today, the focus of this day was supposed to be on the president s bush for significant tax cuts. Thats the reason why he was going to be on the hill himself trying to make the pitch in person to Senate Republicans. But of course beginning this morning we heard again from one of the president s fiercest critics, now perhaps alone is the fiercest critic of this president. Going after him on a variety of different topics. Suggesting that the president is debasing the country right now, saying that he has a, at best, poor relationship with the truth and saying, in fact, he wouldnt have voted, he wouldnt have supported President Trump, if they would do this all over again. Heres what the president tweeted this morning. At least five of them. Heres a small sampling of what it looked like today. He said, in part, corker is the incompetent head of the Foreign Relations committee and look at how poorly the u. S. Was done. He doesnt have a clue as the entire world was laughing and taking advantage of us. People like little bob corker have set the u. S. Way back. Now we move forward. Corker quickly replying to most any camera he saw today, he started adultdaycare. Today picking up with this idea, alertthedaycarestaff. We heard from an official who tell us, as you might imagine, not surprising there, theres no obvious strategy playing out right now. This wasnt some deliberate back and forth. Which the white house would like the focus to be on tax cuts right now. Corker knows well what hes doing and he knew the reaction he would get to it. But notably his vote is a crucial one here. Hes a deficit hawk. The republicans are going to try to pass tax cuts exclusively with republican votes. Its likely senator rand paul would be opposed to the package. This bill, as we believe its coming together right now. Bob corker what will he do . Theres only a small room for error for republicans now. Which makings this meeting, makes this meeting, despite all the back and forth, so significant now. Peter a l er alexander, kaci at the white house. Before we heard those flags, before we saw those flags come across, we heard you ask a question. He didnt have anything to say. But you did talk to bob corker a short time ago. What did he tell you . Bob corker clearly very interested in making sure that President Trump certainly and the world is aware of what he thinks of it is job that the president is doing right now. And weve heard him at different turns throughout the day. It started yn on the today show. Clearly the president was aware of some of the comments that corker made in the morning that were critical. And then you saw a deluge of tweets from the president , one of which claimed that bob corker could not be elected dog catcher in tennessee. Thats when you saw corker hit back with that tweet, , talking about adult day care at the white house. It continued when we talked to him just an hour or so ago and i was most struck by, you know, he described their personal relationship. President trump doesnt have a lot of personal relationships necessarily here on capitol hill. There are a handful of senators with whom hell play golf or, you know, have dinner one on one. Lindsey graham has become one of those people. Senator rand paul. Somebody else the president has socialized with. Bob corker was among that rare group. Hes had dinner. Hes played golf. He walked through that when he talked to me and said hey, you know, this is somebody that i got to know. He was considered briefly for Vice President , for secretary of state. And then of course, now, that relationship has completely fallen apart and bob corker told me when i asked him about it, you know, hey i dont think this is getting any better. Its not evolving. Hes not growing. Its devolving. Its getting worse. I asked him, too, you know, why dont more republican colleagues of yours come out strongly and say things like this. And he said, you know, well im not running for reelection. I told the people of tennessee. To his credit, this is true. He had said he was only going to serve two terms in the senate. This is going to be the conclusion of his second term. He does have a little bit more freedom. He doesnt have to worry about getting reelected. I think we have a piece of this. We can take a look at it. You would think he would aspire to be the president of the United States and act like a president of the United States. But, you know, thats just not going to be the case apparently. And you know its up to others who serve in elective capacity, whether theyre governors or mayors or senators to yb try to conduct themselves in a manner that is more becoming of a leader, but hes obviously, you know, not up to that. So there you saw a little bit of bob corker earlier. I apologize, craig, i was just looking down because it seems as though the gentleman that was involved here in the Security Breach we talked about earlier, you may have been actually able to see him in the video. You can get a good look at the guy. I think hes in that frame, yeah, so clearly again, i obviously didnt recognize him. This is a smallish group of people. Its gotten bigger now that President Trumps in the white house. Most of the people that work up here every day, we know each other pretty well. Our faces are familiar. Whether youre a photographer, behind the camera. We all kind of know each other pretty well and recognize each other. That obviously, you know, he is not somebody that is familiar to those of us and perhaps that should have stood out, craig. All right, crease hunt, a very, very busy morning, afternoon on capitol hill. Theres a freeze frame of the guy. We are not identifying him just yet. But folks all over the interwebs seem to have a pretty good idea of who that guy was that threw those flags at President Trump and Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. A busy news day. Some new developments in the investigation into the murder of four american soldiers in niger. Two u. S. Officials now telling nbc news that the Service Members were going after an isis recruiter who escaped. They were pursuing this recruiter. Were the soldiers in the middle of an operation to capture the militant when they were ambushed . Was it a setup . Weve got some exclusive reporting on that coming up. Again, President Trump right now meeting with Senate Republicans on capitol hill. Can he perhaps ease lawmakers worries that he might upend plans for tax reform altogether . Were following all of the action on the hill. Dads and found this. Cds, baseball cards. Your old magic set . And this wrestling ticket. Which you still owe me for. Seriously . 25 i didnt even want to go. Ahhh, your diary. Mom says it is totally natural. 25 is nothing. Abracadabra, bro. The bank of america mobile banking app. The fast, secure and simple way to send money. Today, a focus on innovation in the Southern Tier is helping build the new new york. Starting with advanced manufacturing that brings big ideas to life. And cuttingedge Transportation Development to connect those ideas to the world. Along with urban redevelopment projects worthy of the worlds top talent. All across new york state, were building the new new york. To grow your business with us in new york state visit esd. Ny. Gov. All right, welcome back here. We continue to follow all the developments on the hill. President trump right now meeting with Senate Republican leader. Shelby holiday is a Business Reporter at the wall street journal. Tim carney, commentary editor at the washington examiner. And john harwood, cnbcs chief washington koesht correspondent. John, always good to have you here, thank you for being with me. Sir, lets start with you. This meeting happening now, bob corker said it was merely a photo op. Do you get the sense it is more . Do you get the sense the president right now is hammering out a strategy of some sort with his colleagues on the hill . No, hes not hammering ought a strategy. It was supposed to be a photo op, a pep rally, President Trump does not have much grasp of policy detail. He wasnt going to make much headway on that with republicans. I think its morphed into something different. Dont know how much theyre going to confront whats going on between President Trump and bob corker. When you think about the back and forth with corker, the back and forth with mccain, the back and forth with mcconnell, this is a president who is in danger of blowing up his principal legislative goal at this moment. Because of his inability to sublimate his ego to the interest of a larger team. Republicans are trying to move forward on this. He intervened on policy via tweet. And now to go and mock and belittle this senator, 1 of 52, that he needs 50 out of 52 to pass it, not a constructive act by the president at all. You mentioned mccain and mcconnell. Jeff flake as well. Lisa murkowski at one point. Tim, bob corker, is he is he one man or does he represent a larger consensus among Senate Republicans . Well, whether most Senate Republicans agree with him is a separate question from what theyre willing to say. Mccain has come out critical of him, of trump at times. At the examiner, whenever weve had a republican lawmaker in office or we visited them, we said, has President Trump made things easier or harder with the way he engages in policy on twitter . Explain to us how this is more difficult than maybe it was under bush or for the democrats under obama. And almost uniformly, they refuse to criticize. The same guy who would criticize Mitch Mcconnell or the Freedom Caucus for paul ryan, they wouldnt say anything bad on the record to a reporter about trump. Were they afraid of the counterpunching . I dont know. Now youve got bob corker has finally unleashed in saying what all these other people might be thinking. Heres Something Else thats really been striking over last few hours. For folks who follow politics closely. Bob corker was an early supporter. When President Trump had folks lining up, you know, legitimate republican establishment folks, it was bob corker who was showing up at these rallies. I want to play how bob corker describes his previous support for the president today and then what that support looked like back in 2016. Here it is. Whats that . Campaigning for him . I didnt really campaign for him. You know, i, i, you know, i went to raleigh. The rallies that i have back home arent quite like this. Very good. Pretty cool. Yeah, this is unbelievable, isnt it . His instincts on Foreign Policy are obviously very, very good. The fact that hes challenging some of the status quo. It is, falls on these countries to think a little bit differently about u. S. Shelby holiday, taylor, a tale of two corkers. Again, its striking. Its almost as if we dont have the whole story here. Its as if something happened between these two behind the scenes that has led to a very public spat. Right, something snapped. Because weve seen a number of other republicans criticize the president. The president didnt even respond, for example, to president bushs criticism, even though he didnt say his name specifically, everyone knew what he was talking about. With corker, its a different reaction. Youve seen him called little bob corker. The dog catcher tweet. This day couldnt get weirder. Number one what does it mean for tax reform . Bob corker is still in the senate. He is still worth a very valuable vote on tax reform. I think a lot of this despite started because of tax reform. The president came out the other morning and tweeted about 401ks and he interjected himself into what is supposed to be a congressional activity of drafting legislation. That bothered bob corker. Bob corker continues to say leave it to the professors, whether its north korea or tax reform, leave it to the professionals to deal with. Then you have this bigger question of what does it mean for the republican party. Ive talked to strategists who have worked with corker. They thought last time around he may have had this emotional response to the president. It may not have been thought out. Today, hes been thinking about this. He even said hes thought about everything hes saying out loud. This is calculated. This is unhinged. And it also puts a lot of pressure on his fellow republicans to come out against trump or to stand by him. Again, senator bob corker made not one, not two, but three appearances on network shows, cable show, stopping at any camera that was there in the halls. 15 seconds here, really quickly what weve seen unfold this morning, is it going to have do you think a measurable impact on tax reform legislation . I think it does. I think the danger is what shelby just alluded to, which is more and more people feel compelled or emboldened to echo what corker said, which is this president may be not only dishonest but potentially dangerous as commander in chief. A big thanks to all of you. Ambush investigation. Just in to nbc news. New information about the murder of four american soldiers in niger. Senior officials now say those Service Members were tracking down a senior isis militant when they were ambushed. Was the attack a setup job by terrorists . Well take a look at that. That new reporting. Also, some new Hillary Clinton investigation news. Republicans there on capitol hill a short time ago announcing a new inquiry into a 2010 uranium deal involving russia. avo when you have type 2 diabetes, you manage your a1c, but you also have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke. Noninsulin victoza® lowers a1c, and now reduces cardiovascular risk. Victoza® lowers my a1c and blood sugar better than the leading branded pill. avo and for people with type 2 diabetes treating cardiovascular disease, victoza® is now approved to lower the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. And while it isnt for weight loss, victoza® may help you lose some weight. avo victoza® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take victoza® if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza® or any of its ingredients. Stop taking victoza® and get medical help right away if you get symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing. Serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. So, stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area. Tell your doctor your medical history. Gallbladder problems have happened in some people. Tell your doctor right away if you get symptoms. Taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion, and constipation. Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Hes brought us to the obstructed justice at the fbi. And in direct violation of the constitution, hes taken money from foreign governments and threatened to shut down news organizations that report the truth. If that isnt a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president , then what has our government become . Im tom steyer and, like you, im a citizen who knows its up to us to do something. Its why im funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. A Republican Congress once impeached a president for far less. Yet, today, people in congress and his own administration know this president is a clear and present danger who is mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. And they do nothing. Join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing whats political and start doing whats right. Our country depends on it. They should be talking about treason. This president conspired with agents of the russian government to steer our election when we should be talking about treason in congress, not about tax cuts. All right, that was the scene more than 30 moments ago there on capitol hill. You can hear that protester there screaming as President Trump and Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell walked by. We also saw him throw what appeared to be some miniature russian flags. Our crack team inside the control room managed to piece together something for us here. We took left side of your screen here, thats the protester that was seen screaming at the president and throwing flags. On right side of your screen what appears to be, again, appears to be, the same gentleman more than an hour earlier with our own kacie hunt questioning bob corker there. Same shirt, same tie. Again, appears to be the same tie. Kacie hunt still on capitol hill for us. Kacie, do we know anything more about who this guy was . Well, you could hear it a little bit at the top of that sound you played as you came in there. Ryan clayton from americans take action. Our producer heard that in real time and it seems that is the same person who also threw russian flags at jared kucher e in an earlier incident. The question of course is how this gentleman i think you laid out the fact he was in an Office Building earlier. If you still have that still up on the screen. When i was talking about corker, we were over in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. So to get into either the Office Buildings or the capitol, you would have had to go through magnetometer screening. You put your baggage through an xray. That is designed to keep any dangerous objects out of here. The Office Buildings, any number of the public is allowed to walk into. The Capitol Building, youre supposed to have a staff i. D. Like this one or you are supposed to have an appointment. So an office can vouch for you and you have to, you know, walk to the desk, explain who you are and they have to verify that information. So it is supposed to be stricter here. Which is why weve discussed the potential for this gentleman to have been impersonating a journalist. We talked about the fact they were being very strict and tracking the credentials of everybody who was packed in here. You can see this is, i would say, a more crowded version of what we do every tuesday when this policy lunch happens and we all wait for Mitch Mcconnell. In this case, hes behind those closed doors with President Trump. I think we have some of the video of the actual incident. Again, this is a very serious breach for this kind of a space. Very unusual. This is the halway thats right off the senate floor. If you were to be able to look straight through me just a few feet behind me. Thats what you would be looking at. Were actually not allowed to point our cameras direct at the at the doors that lead on to the senate floor for a variety of reasons related to tradition. If im hearing right whats going on on the screen, youre showing him as a member pretty close to where im standing right now. As the president and Mitch Mcconnell walked around the corner. Mitch mcconnell has a ceremonial office just on the other side of this wall and the two of them, the president and Mitch Mcconnell spent a few minutes in mcconnells private office before heading into lunch itself. Again, craig, pretty unusual afternoon here on capitol hill for a lot of reasons. Kacie, when you were in that scrum earlier with bob corker, our understanding is the same gentleman asked a question. Are you aware of the question he asked . I have to be honest with you, i have not had a chance to go back and listen to that very closely. I dont recall. Oftentimes the goal of that kind of an interaction is to be the loudest questioner yourself. So hopefully we can go back and listen and figure out if he did ask a question. Frankly, in that particular interaction, i think we were talking before, we all pretty much know each other on capitol hill. Thats true of the senators as well. He had spoken earlier to a competitor colleague from cnn who was also in the scrum i was in at that hour. Senator corker clearly, you know, wanted to spend some time talking with us about how he felt which i think you saw him do. He clearly ignored several other questions that were shouted at him in that scrum, craig. And we apparently cued up the tape while you were talking there. The question he asked was related to russian sanctions. He asked that question of senator corker. So well try to get a verbatem. Some more breaking news on capitol hill now. The leadership of the House Intelligence Committee has Just Announced an investigation into a 2010 uranium deal that involved russia. Committee chairman devin nunez wants to know if that matter was investigated and if it was by whom. This is just the beginning of this probe. We are were not going to jump to any conclusions that the time. But one of the things as you know were concerned about is whether or not there was an fbi investigation. Was there a doj investigation. And if so, why was congress not informed of this matter. Nbcs ken delanium is in washington for us. Why is this a story now . Theres an obvious political angle. This allows the republicans to say, see, the democrats have a russian problem as well. To distract from the trump russia investigation. Theres a sub tstanctive issue. Theres been recent reporting that suggests there was a broad inquiry into whether the russians were using bribery and corruption to try to infiltrate the u. S. Nuclear industry. That seems to relate back to this 2010 deal where a Russian Company purchased from a canadian company, basically production facilities that controlled 20 of u. S. Uranium. That had to be approved by the u. S. Government when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, craig. Hillary clinton addressed this a few days ago. Here she is talking about how this uranium deal and the investigation, the subsequent investigation perhaps just a few days ago. Take a listen. I would say its the symbol lo baloney theyve been pedaling for years. Its been debunked repeat lid and will continue to be debunkt. All right, calling it belonnie. Has it been debunked a few time, ken . Whats been debunked is this idea weve given control of u. S. Uranium to the russians. The uranium is still in the United States. It cant be exported. Whats at issue is that while these transactions were going on, the canadian interests involved contributed 2 million to the clinton foundation. Bill clinton went to moscow and made a speech and was paid half a Million Dollars by one of the investment banks involved in the deal. The issue, though, is that theres no evidence that Hillary Clinton played any role in the decision by the u. S. Government to let this sale go forward. Yes, the state department played a role and somebody in the state department made a decision. But theres no evidence that it was controversial or that it rose to her level. I spoke to a republican lawyer a few minutes ago who said look, theres no doubt that the russians were spreading a lot of money around trying to make this happen. But theres no evidence that it got to hillarys level, craig. All right, ken delaney in the other breaking news, this House Intelligence Committee now announcing a probe of that uranium deal from 2010. Ken, thank you. Some new details about the attack in niger as well. Four american soldiers killed in what now appears to be an ambush by terrorist. Also, while President Trump lunches this hour with republican senators, todays explosive feud between the president and senator bob corker capping off months of an unraveling of his relationship with the gop. Can they Work Together at this point to get anything done or are their cracks simply too deep . When i received the diagnosis, i knew at that exact moment, whatever it takes, wherever i have to go. Im beating this. My main focus was to find a team of doctors that Work Together. When a patient comes to ctca, theyre meeting a team of physicians that specialize in the management of cancer. Breast Cancer Treatment is continuing to evolve. And i would say that ctca is definitely on the cusp of those changes. Patients can be overwhelmed. We really focus on taking the time with each individual patient so they can choose the treatment appropriate for them. The care that ctca brings is the kind of care ive wanted for my patients. Being able to spend time with them, have a whole team to look after them is fantastic. I empower women with choices. Its not just picking a surgeon. Its picking the care team, and feeling secure where you are. Surround yourself with the team of Breast Cancer experts at Cancer Treatment centers of america. Visit cancercenter. Com breast new details right now open the attack on u. S. Troops in niger that left four american Service Members dead. Nbc news has learned that the attack that killed those four soldiers in the west african country may have been an ambush set up by terrorists. Nbc News National security reporter courtney cuby and nbc News National political reporter carol lee are both with me now. Carol what more have we learned about this attack . So, as you said, you know, officials who we spoke with now believe that this was a setup. Whats unclear is whether is exactly what part was the setup. There are multiple officials who are now saying that when the u. S. Soldiers were trying to leave this meeting, they were delayed. Was that so these militants who we think were isis, so they could set up the ambush . What we are also learning today is that part of this mission involved looking for a highvalue individual. Looking for someone who was a target, a specific objective. Again, as everything with this story has been, with every new fact we get, we have more questions. We dont know whether the mission was to gather information to find this individual or whether there was any component that was a potential kill or capture. Whatever the special mission of these forces is in niger, its to advise and accompany the niger military. So that means that, you know, if they were going out, if the Nigerian Military was going out on some sort of a highvalue individual mission to find or target someone, the u. S. Military could be going along with them. But, again, craig, like so many of the details in this, its under investigation. Were still waiting to get more clarity. Carol, most americans, including apparently some members of congress, had no idea the extent of the u. S. Involvement, if you will, there on the continent of africa. This is senator john mccain in an interview. Take a listen. Americans should know whats going on in niger, should know what caused the deaths of four brave americans, should know what kind of operations were engaged in and one of the fights im having right now with the administration is the Armed Services committee is not getting enough information. Carol, how could it be that lawmakers wouldnt know how many troops we have on the continent what those troops were up to and the extent of some of the missionings in which they find themselves involved . Well, craig, you know, the administration does notify congress of movement notify them about movements of troops and numbers of troops. I think what youre seeing here is this sort of change in the way the u. S. Has deployed the military traditionally and that were moving away from these largescale wars like weve seen in iraq and like weve seen in afghanistan and, instead, in recent year, you have a number of these counterterrorism missions, these advise and assist missions in scores and scores of countries. And the American Public hasnt necessarily kept tabs on that or been informed in a way that they would expect Something Like we saw three weeks ago in niger. One of the things that this incident is doing is youll have an investigation that looks into what happened there and then this broader conversation about what is the u. S. Doing in africa, in other countries, and how do you explain those missions so that everybody is clearer about what the goals are and why these troops are being put in this sort of danger. Sergeant la David Johnson who was laid to rest on saturday, there was quite the delay in finding his body. Has the pentagon explained more about what happened there, carol . Well, one of the things we know in talking to officials is that there appears to have been these two sites of an ambush. That there was the american troops were delayed in this village and then they were ambushed once and retreat and were ambushed again. That could help explain why sergeant la David Johnson was separated from his unit and also why it took 48 hours to find him. Carol lee, courtney kube, a big thanks to both of you for staying on top of this story. Again, right now, President Donald Trump is on capitol hill. He is meeting with Senate Republicans to push taxes, to push other items on his agenda as well. But that feud thats erupted between the president and republican senator bob corker could put a damper on partys ability to unite behind tax reform. I want to bring in nbc news senior Political Editor mark murray. Also msnbc National Political correspondent Steve Kornacki and also the National Political reporter for bloomberg politics. A big thanks to all of you. I want to show our viewers at home and our listeners at sirius as well. This is a time line. If you will. This is an abbreviated time line. This is just a look at that complicated relationship weve talked about between the president and his own party. You go back to july. That was when the president criticized senator murkowski on the health care vote. A couple days after that, he went after jeff flake. Then he went after Mitch Mcconnell. Then it was senator corker that criticized the president after charlottesville. He goes after flake again in a speech. That was just in july. Then we go into september. The first report of steve bannon plotting these primary challenges. Corker said the president was putting us on the path to world war iii. Again, it goes on and on and on. And these are republicans, mr. Murray. Again, begs the question, where do we go next . And where we go next, craig, is having a lunch where theyre trying to iron out some of these differences. Youre exactly right, this conflict between Senate Republicans and President Trump has been three months in the making. First started over health care. Then President Trumps responses on health care. And then, has really boiled over in the last couple of weeks from the very pointed criticism that weve heard from senator bob corker. Craig, by my count, President Trump has singled out or criticized seven different Senate Republicans. Thats 7 out of 52 or 13 . As we all know, republicans can only afford two on party line vr they wont have a majority at all. So as they end up pursuing things like taxes as well as maybe redoing the iran deal, President Trump needs all of his troops in line and certainly there is a tremendous amount of work he has to do. And Senate Republicans have to do right now between their own ranks. You mentioned seven that he singled out. Steve kornacki, he has given nick names to a number of them, unflattering nick names. House Speaker Paul Ryan spent some time talking about this trump corker feud. At the end of the day i know bob well. Bob will vote for tennessee. He is going to vote for america and for tax reform because he knows it is in the best interest of americans. Put this twitter dispute aside a few minutes after that President Trump goes after bob corker again on twitter. What is really happening here . What is really at war . Senate republicans are in this room with the president of the United States and the president has mocked a number of these men and women to their faces, on twitter and now they are in this room. What is the president going to say to them . I dont know what they are going to say to him and what he says to them. We will keep seeing this. We have been seeing this since the campaign. This is what you are seeing is Donald Trumps approach to politics coming into direct conflict with the instincts of major elected officials in washington. I think trump has this almost rather have that image of being the guy who is running against recollect fig, fighting the swamp. I think he sees it as a source of strength when the headlines are about no one is criticizing a president like this. I think he likes that tension. I think he likes that drama. I think it is absolutely true if you look at this in terms of jeopardsi jeopar jeopardizing his ability to get tax reform done, it absolutely does. I think it is more instinct than strategy. But i think the instinct with trump is that the things a president needs to do to move in a traditional legislative agenda he thinks those would read to people who elected him as kissing the rings of the establishment and of the people who are in the swamp. So he likes ultimately i think his instinct is to choose this kind of conflict over getting something done legislatively. Have we perhaps overstated how much this president cares about his legislative agenda . I think there is a big picture question about donald trump and understanding his presidency and the politics of his presidency. I think you can make a strong case that this is more of a cultural presidency than legislative. It was culture war fighting that got donald trump the nomination, that his big passion as president is not going to capitol hill and having meetings like this and having a press conference where he praises them all for their service and leadership and speaks that language we are so familiar with in politics, it is going on twitter and saying something about the nfl or police. Thats Donald Trumps politics. I think it is a challenge to us to understand how that is interpreted by people because it spills over so far outside of traditional political media. This is a presidency we see in late night television, music, movies, everybody is talking about this presidency not so much for legislative things but for cultural things. You spent a fair amount of time on the hill. The general sentiment from republican lawmakers about their president would characterize it as what . There is an enormous amount of pressure that republican senators are feeling to deliver something this year and taxes is the last best option to do that. They are not repealing obamacare, not building a wall. This is it. If they dont do this they go home empty handed. How do they explain to constituents and donors that all republican government cant do something that they all agree on like cutting taxes . General sentiment, it is notable that you are not seeing republican senators leap to defense of the president against one of their own saying that his legacy will be debased in the United States, tearing up relationships with other countries on the world stage, calling him an untruthful president. This is extraordinary stuff and republican senators have learned how to kind of play along with this as if it is normal and something that just happens. They say we want to get to work and deliver something. I spoke to one senior republican aid who says not to expect anything more than a pep rally from President Trump today on taxes. He is not somebody who is getting into the weeds of this issue. He has an enormous role to play and these relationships matter as we saw with Health Care Getting from 40 votes to 49 votes. His relationships, his ability to talk to these people and to understand what they want and shape the tax bill in order to satisfy the concerns is very much in the air and that is a big question as he tries to achieve something. He has been talking about this and made the promise about this. Last thing i want to point out is he has made a bit of biforicated argument with regard to the economy. He said on one hand that it is doing great and the market is doing better than before. And on the other hand he is saying the economy is shackled because of high taxes. There is a nuance of truth which is that the markets have gone up largely in anticipation. If it doesnt happen this can be a perfect political storm for republicans. Always good to have your insight. President trump should be wrapping up that luncheon with Senate Republicans any moment. We will have live coverage. So thats the idea. What do you think . Hate to play devils advocate but. I kind of feel like its a game changer. I wouldnt go that far. Are you there . Hes probably on mute. Yeah. Gary wont like it. Why . Because hes gary. phone ringing what . Keep going yeah. laughs voice on phone its not millennial enough. There are a lot of ways to say no. Thank you so much. Thank you so were doing it. Yes we got a yes start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. I enjoy the fresher things in life. O. Fresh towels. Fresh soaps. And of course, tripadvisors freshest, lowest. Prices. So if youre anything like me. Youll want to check tripadvisor. We now instantly compare prices. From over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Go on, try something fresh. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. Your insurance on time. Tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. What good is having insurance if you get punished for using it . News flash nobodys perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance. Live look there outside the lunch where President Trump is huddling with Senate Republican leaders right now. Casie hunt standing by. Well get to her in just a few moments. That will wrap up this hour of msnbc live. Im craig melvin. Chris jansing taking over. 11 00 a. M. Out west. 2 00 p. M. In washington where an escalating war of words is threatening to derail the republican agenda. That was the scene as the president arrived on capitol hill last hour ignoring questions and one protester shouting him down on his way to a lunch with Senate Republicans. Their goal . To unify behind a sweeping tax reform bill. All of that is in jeopardy as corker and trump trade brutal jabs in public and via twitter starting with corkers multiple appearances on morning tv. Thisas
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.