Because it was obvious to anyone paying attention that this was a real discrepancy. Democrat ron wyden asking about what the white house knew regarding porters security clearance. Director wray spelled out when they knew it. Heres exactly what he said. The fbi submitted a partial report on the investigation in question in march. And then a completed Background Investigation in late july. That soon there after we received requests for follow up inquiry. And we did the followup. And provided that information in november. And we administratively closed the file in january. And then earlier this month, we received some Additional Information and we passed that on as well. So kristen there is a lot to digest in there. Most notably, the white house, according to director wray, knew about this months before they had publicly acknowledged. Walk us through why this is so important. It is significant, peter, its a direct contradiction. The white house has been saying that they first learned of a potential problem in july and then in november. And they have been insistent, peter, last week and then this week, that the investigation into why rob porter didnt have permanent security clearance, was ongoing. So thats a direct contradiction to what you just heard the fbi director say, chris wray. He said that the file was closed. Thats not what raj shah and then Sarah Sanders said yesterday. Take a listen to what she had to say. The process for the background was ongoing. And the white house had not received any specific papers regarding the completion of that background check. The white house continuing to insist that chief of staff john kelly was not made aware of the full picture until it actually broke in the news. Its also important to underscore, peter, the white house has been saying it was the fbi that was holding up his permanent security clearance. The reality is, its up to the white house, once they have that information and the assessment from the fbi to then make a determination about whether or not to grant the full security clearance. So theres a lot of contradictions. Were going to hear from Sarah Sanders. I can tell you she is holding her sort of daily prepping session with top officials here at the white house. So we havent gotten any type of clarification yet. But we anticipate we will once she comes to the podium in about an hour from now, peter. Ken, i want to get to you and break down this time line, why this is all so significant right now. Most notably, the white house has been all over the maps in terms of its dem monstration, i explanation of what happened. The wall street journal posting this within the last half an hour or so. Says, when asked just yesterday if the white house could have done anything differently in respect to the porter situation, he said, no, he said very simply, it was all done right. Its obvious that it wasnt done all right. This is extraordinary, peter. Theres still some questions we dont have answered. Heres what we know. We know the exwives have said publicly they told the fbi at some point last year they were abused by rob porter. And we know that now that the fbi director is saying they completed a partial Background Investigation in march and then it was fully come meeted in july and then followed up with some information in november. At every stage, passing on information to the white house. What my colleague Julia Ainsley is learning is that information would have gone to white House Counsel don mcghan. The fbi does not grant security clearances. What they do is a background information. They pass the information on to a white house. They dont make a recommendation. Its up through the white house through the white House Counsels office and other officials to make a ruling. What seems clear from this time line is that, you know, the white house was asking the fbi to take another look. There was Additional Information coming through. But the fbi director saying clearly the background check, as far as he was concerned, was completed as of july 2016. The bottom line, the fbi is saying, hey, we did our job, the rest was in your hands. Even after the request for following up, as youve just indicated. Theyve completed that as well. What does this say about questions that still exist right now about other white house staff and their security clearances . As youve been reporting, according to a u. S. Official source of yours, 30 to 40 white house officials right now still do not have permanent security clearance. Thats right. Part of this is just a bure bureaucratic challenge and this white house hires a lot of people who have never been in government before so it is going to take longer to clear some of those people. But we have senior officials including reportedly Jared Kushner. And thats the key here senior officials, folks that i speak to and you do as well, say thats what makes it unusual. Its unheard of for a senior official with an interim clearance to be receiving the president s daily brief. Which its been reported that Jared Kushner receives. That has information about covert operations and the most sensitive intelligence nsa eavesdropping that very few people in the government have access to and it would be unheard of if people were getting that without having been fully vetted and fully cleared. Ken and kristen, stay with us. I want to bring in our analyst matt miller, msnbc justice and security analyst and former doj spokesman, matt mclarty, is the former chief of staff for president clinton. Gentlemen, thanks for being here. I want to update our audience. Moments ago the president wrapped up what was an unexpected media event as it were. Hes hosting a meeting focusing on trade. A question was thrown to him by the reporter in the room representing the journalist. I think he was asked specifically if he believes rob porters exwives. He did not answer. Suffice to say, so far, the only comments of sympathy about victims of Domestic Abuse has come from the press secretary Sarah Sanders. Still no Public Comments from the president himself. Matt, as youre sitting here with me, weve been having this conversation, as youre sort of digesting what we heard from Christopher Wray today. And what struck you most was the conversation about what the white house was told about in march, this partial report. Why does that raise red flags for you . The partial report is not a usual part of the process. Usually the fbi goes off and does its work, completes its background check and gives a final report to the white house or to the relevant government agency. A partial report happens when the fbi finds something so alarming, something so serious, that they need to short circuit the process and need to bring it to the meet what attention of decisionmakers. Something like domestic violence, ongoing drug use, serious financial normally thats where it ends. Usually what happens there is the policymakers will make a decision to go to that individual and say look, this has come up, either give them a chance to withdraw gracefully and save their career or fire them and move them out of the government. In some other situations, they may ask the fbi to keep investigating and thats apparently what the white house did in this situation. But in no circumstances by the end of july when the fbi came back with its final report should he have been allowed to stay in his position. Let me pose this to you. This new time line is significant. We focused a lot of attention on john kelly, even at times on the white House Counsel don mcgahn. What about reince priebus, he was formally the chief of staff. In march when the white house first learned about it, he still would have been holding that post. He said to our colleague he was very surprised by this information about rob porter. Does he face some serious questions here too . Its hard to know, peter, whats going on behind the curtains so to speak on all the facts. That will come out. Theres no question about that. But when you dont when you dont have a security clearance, as matt noted, particularly on a key position like staff secretary, that raises not a yellow flag, a red flag that should be looked into and looked in immediately. And the real the real issue here, aside from the human tragedy, is this is really distracting from President Trumps agenda at the very time he needs to try to build momentum on top of the passing the tax reform bill. Let me ask you, we talked about march now. How about this followup, right . We know they returned the answers that were requested for followup in november. The fact the white house followed up at all is raising a lot of red flags with others im speaking to today, suggesting that means the white house was heavily engaged in this process, that they even went back to the fbi and said hey, can you tell us more . Look, the white house wasnt getting any answers they wanted. Theyve known since march what the reality was here. Shelby holderness says she gave the fbi pictures last january. The white house probably has known about those pictures since march. Certainly would have known since july. The fact they asked them to go back and keep investigating and when they got further answers in november, didnt take any action, means they didnt get answers they wanted to hear. They wanted to leave him in place so they ignored the evidence they were getting back from the fbi. Kristen, let me ask you, the white house response to the rob porter questions, they obviously have varied. Can roue wayou walk us through what they have said dating to what the Deputy Press Secretary raj shah said last week . Peter, theyve been all over the map. Theyve been struggling to explain this from day one when the allegations first surfaced. Lets go back to february 6. Thats when those first news reports came out. Thats when chief of staff john kelly said porter was a man of true integrity. Thats when we heard from Sarah Sanders porter was not pressured to resign. Then the very next day, we all woke up to that image, that stunning image of a black eye that colbie holderness, porters first exwife, have released. She said porter gave her that black eye. Porter tells a very different story. Thats when his resignation was announced. Kelly then said he was shocked by the new allegations. You were there in the briefing room, peter, you pressed raj shaw on what specifically he meant by being shocked. And of course the response to that was, well, this is the first time that kelly really got a full sense of the gravity of all these allegations. Porter continues to insist the allegations were simply false. Then february 8th, the white house said that the president had become aware of these allegations on february 6th. So when the news media first reported on them. Kelly again saying he was not fully aware until that image of the black eye was published. February 9th, kelly told reporters that porter was gone 40 minutes after he found out on tuesday and thats the same day the president said rob porter did a great job and we wish him well. That striking statement when he talked about rob porter and not those who are making the accusations against him. Finally, february 12th, the white house saying porter was gone within 24 hours. So really expanding that time line. The white house saying that porter left as soon as we found out about this. So peter, you and i have been trying to keep up with this. From when the story first broke. And the white house has frankly been shifting its explanations and its time lines from the very beginning. Today, well try to drill down on what specifically happened. Theyre going to have to find some other way to clarify, after trying multiple times without success. To you specifically, about what may be the big picture issue here. The issue of security clearances. The fact that rob porter would have had access to classified information. Even though he only had an interim security clearance. Even though his past wives warned the fbi he was someone who could be blackmailed. This is what the director of National Intelligence dan coates said today specifically about security clearances. Take a listen. I think sometimes it is necessary to have some time of preliminary clearance in order to fill a slot. But i have publicly stated if that is the case, the access has to be limited in terms of the kind of information they can be in a position to receive or not receive. So i think thats something that we have to do as a part of our security clearance review. Director coates also said to the Associated Press that the process was i think in his words broken, so how do we fix that process, mack . You have to depend on the white House Counsel. Thats who really runs it from the white house standpoint, reporting to the chief of staff and reporting to the president. The staff secretary, again, i would reiterate, that is a key position, seeing all of the Sensitive Information going to the president and spending timing with the president. I think director coates said it about right. You cant have too much flexibility in terms of the most Sensitive Information particularly in this day and time, for that matter, any day and time. These are just crucial fundamental elements of running a white house and managing the process of the information flow to the president. Just absolutely crucial, peter. After months of hearing the president relentlessly going after the fbi, the Intelligence Community broadly it kind of felt like a truth to power moment, right. Where those, Christopher Wray among them, got to say, hey, we did our job. Im proud of exactly what we did. If you have questions, go ask those guys. Yes, pretty stunning moment for Sarah Sanders yesterday. She basically implied that the fbi or Intelligence Community had somehow not done its job and were responsible for the fact that rob porter she said its up to law enforcement. Thats right. Not a wise decision when you know, as she had to know, that the fbi director was testifying in public today, was going to get that question. Chris wray could have chosen not to answer. He could have given some dodge, you know we cant talk about these background processes, id be happy to talk in closed session. It was notable he went on the record and chose to explain what happened here. Ken delanian, kristen well kerr, thank you very much. How will the white house handle this new time line . The press briefing is less than an hour away. The question theyve had a hard time answering for days just got even tougher. Also ahead, defining the witchhunt. During todays hearing, an independent senator pleaded with the president to change his rhetoric on russia. And as weve been talking about, the fbi director taking a shot at the nunes memo as well in the russia investigation. A lot of news today. Well be right back. Back now live on msnbc. Another big headline from that Senate Intelligence hearing. Nations top Intelligence Officers all agreeing that russia will keep meddling in future u. S. Elections. We had then and continue to have now grave concerns about the accuracy of the memorandum because of omissions. We provided thousands of documents that were very sensitive. And lots and lots of briefings. Its very hard for anybody to distill that down to 3 1 2 pages. Robert costa, msnbc political analyst. And mika oyang, Vice President for the National Security program at the centrist think tank third way. She was also a staff member on the house Intelligence Committee. The fbi director chris ray was asked specifically if President Trump has ever asked him to disrupt russian meddling. Were taking a lot of specific efforts to directed by the president . Not as specifically directed by the president. So why hasnt President Trump actively done anything about what his entire Intelligence Team unanimously agrees was russia interference in our election . Because the president continues to be skeptical that russia did interfere in the election. Because of that, you see the fbi and other entities in the u. S. Government working to try to counter any kind of future russia interference. Its just not a white house priority, that is to be sure. That was reconfirmed by that testimony. Here was mark warner a little while ago. What he said during the testimony. Take a listen. Do you agree with director pompe pompeii that we havent seen a significant decrease in the active . Directo director, youve already alluded to this, that they will continue in 2018 and 20 . I agree with director pompep, this is not going to change or stop. Yes, it is not going to change nor stop. Throughout the entire community, we have not seen any evidence of any significant change from last year. They go down the lineup in every one of the members of the Intelligence Community. Americas top spies all agree. They did it once. Theyre going to do it again. They are doing it even as we speak right now. The president sort of inaction on this, what message is that sending to those in russia and frankly elsewhere trying to disrupt our elective processes . Its clear the president doesnt believe this is a problem. Hes not doing anything proactive to stop it. Not only that, the steps that Congress Took to say weve got to send russia a very strong message that this is unacceptable by imposing sanctions. The president said i dont want to impose them. Hes trying to prevent any kind of accountability. To be put on russia. A country that believes in cheating in everything. Olympics and everything else. Striking yesterday, the president had a conversation with Vladimir Putin but we, the White House Press corps, learned about it from the kremlin. The white house itself not disclosing that information. Does the white house recognize how that is viewed by wide circles within this country, when the president is not more forth right about that relationship with Vladimir Putin . Certainly they recognize it. But they also choose to be isolated. If you think about both major parties, democrats and republicans have taken a much more hawkish approach when it comes to russia. The Intelligence Community, the Justice Department of the federal government have taken a similar tact in the sense they see russia as a hostile threat when it comes to interfering in elections and this is just something the administration is out on a limb on when it comes to political questions and federal questions about how to handle this issue. Mika, heres what the senator from maine said about the president s handling of russian meddling. I talked to people in maine who say the whole thing is a witchhunt and its a hoax because the president told me. We cannot confront this threat, which is a serious one, with the whole of government response when the leader of the government continues to deny that it exists. So with the president continuing to deny, as he says it exists, what can be done . Is there something the u. S. Can do further right now to try to, i dont know, avoid history from repeating itself . There are a number of things they could be doing. They could be aggressively prosecuting some of these Russian Hackers and some of them who are even located in places other than russia. They could be working with the Tech Companies to shut down some of these fake accounts. They could be helping state election systems secure their cyber infrastructure. They could be working with campaigns to try to help them make sure they are secure. All these need at the end of the day, they need Trump Administration signoff. Not just the sanction that need the president s signoff. Are we doing some things now that are not getting a lot of publicity . So dhs is trying to do some of these things but without direction from the top, how far can they go . How much are they getting in the way of resources to support these efforts . A lot of these cybersecurity efforts to secure Information Technology can be very expensi e expensive. If theyre not supported in the budget or with direction from the top, they cant do what needs to be done. If not supported in the budget or other means by activities being led by the administration, doj and others, what is the real risk . At the end of the day, what is the potential threat to the 2018 midterm and beyond . Whats really happening here is the russians are trying to take away the choice from the American People about who their leaders are and theyre trying to pick our leaders by interfering in our election. By pushing certain kinds of candidates they think is after russias interests and not americas interests and thats not what our country should be about. What does the white house say about assessments like that . Obviously the president s defiant in the face of any suggestion this had an impact or undercuts, undermines, his election. What do they say broadly about the impact that it could have in the future to undermine the democracy here at large . Theyre just not tackling those kinds of questions inside of the white house. They have members of the administration, director pompeo, director coates, who are answering these questions from congress about these important issues. But at the same time, because the russia probe remains the one major cloud, there are several clouds, but one major cloud over this administration, they just refuse to engage with it in an extensive policy way because they see it has a political implication for their own legitimacy. Yes, thats perfectly said. Bob costa, thank you both. The fbi weighing in on the release of the devin nunes russian memo saying he has grave concerns about it. Next here on msnbc. Were live. This is laura. And butch. And tank. And tiny. And this is lauras mobile dog grooming palace. Laura can clean up a retriever that rolled in foxtails, but shes not much on articles of organization. Articles of what . So, she turned to legalzoom. They helped me out. She means we helped with her llc, trademark, and a lot of other legal stuff thats a part of running a business. So laura can get back to the dogs. Would you sit still . This is lauras mobile dog grooming palace and this is where life meets legal. When it comes to strong bones, are you on the right path . We have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, so with our doctors we chose prolia® to help make our bones stronger. Only prolia® helps strengthen bones by stopping cells that damage them with 1 shot every 6 months. Do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. Serious allergic reactions, like low blood pressure; trouble breathing; throat tightness; face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. Tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen or new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. Speak to your doctor before stopping prolia®, as spine and other bone fractures have occurred. Prolia® can cause serious side effects, like low blood calcium; serious infections, which could need hospitalization; skin problems; and severe bone, joint, or muscle pain. If your bones arent getting stronger isnt it time for a new direction . Why wait . Ask your doctor about prolia. Todays Senate Intelligence hearing not only covering porter scandal as well as russia but the controversy nunes memo as well. Msnbcs Garrett Haake was inside the hearing. Garrett, wrap this up for us, starting with what specifically was said about this memo. The president on the democratic memo basically said hey, you guys take another go at it and youre revealing too much, well consider it betweagain if you wo take a second try. One of those situations where wish i was able to go to the classified hearing thats going to happen in an hour or so. Because the fbi director was very circumspect and kaushcauti about what he would say about the content of the memo. First he said the fbi continues to have the same grave concerns that they had before the memos release about his about its accuracy. And then he explains a little bit about why. He said the fbi provided literally thousands of pages of documents to the house Intelligence Committee. He said essentially anything they did to convince all that information down to a threepage memo is going to be a problem. And he also said, when asked by a democratic senator, joined all the other chiefs in the room and said the memo, at least as far as they were concerned, they did not coordinate with the white house on it. Take a listen. Ill start that the answers no. No . I raise concerns on this issue with the dni. No. And the cia was not asked to review the classification of those documents . So the political purpose to that question is to isolate the white house and House Republicans on the release of the memo by saying this was not something that was coordinated with any of the intelligence chiefs, any of the folks who deal with the classified Sensitive Information about which the memo is written. Again, there will be more discussion about this at the classified portion of this hearing which happens this afternoon but, peter, good luck getting more information. Thats why they do it behind closed doors. Well see how it develops. I want to get to nbc News National reporter julia ainsly. And our guest, a former brights bart spokesman. Julia, i want to talk a little bit more about this focus on the nunes memo. The white house bearing on friday night the decision it wasnt going to release the democratic rebuttal here. But specific to the what was the predicate of all this, the 3 1 2 pages they put out. Here is what we heard from wray a short time ago. Youll remember in the past he said as the fbi said they have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. Heres what he said reiterating that point. We had then and continue to have now grave concerns about the accuracy of the memorandum because of omissions. We provided thousands of documents that were very sensitive and lots and lots of briefings and its very hard for anybody to distill all that down to 3 1 2 pages. What is the pushback from the fbi . Did this harm their ability to investigate the intelligence process that exists here in the u. S. . I think the biggest casualty here, peter, is the trust that goes between the Intelligence Community and congress. They want to know that they can give over those thousands of documents like wray is describing. And its not going to be used as Political Capital to prove a certain point. That would put this relationship between the two, especially with the Intelligence Community, the Intelligence Committees, in grave danger. What came out in the memo didnt seem to really give away a lot of classified information. It doesnt seem there would be a lot of human sources, for example that would be in danger as a result. But the inaccuracy i think is what wray was getting at. They were able to pick and choose what they wanted so the narrative the nunes memo presented which is the carter page fisa application was all built around a flimsy dossier was not accurate. He thinks there was more there that should have been presented. Kerr, let me talk about the politization of this moment. The democratic memo, were waiting to see if we will ever see that. A lot of people say this information in effect has been weaponized, right. Republicans claim, democrats claim thats what the republicans, nunes and others, the white house, were trying to do here. What is the what do you make of that idea, that this information, now classified information, in effect, is being used out of context as a weapon in this back and forth . I think the fact they went to the extraordinary lengths to release this memo in the first place, something that has never been done before. They took a vote on this in the committee. A vote they never had to take before. Tells you its weaponized. The president s response, the rebuttal to it, that at least will inform us on both sides of this perspective, that he wont let them do that, tells you it is all about politics. Nunes is clearly running interference for trump. And it really endangered the process of intelligence and the relationship with capitol hill. It sounds like nunes isnt done. He said there is more information out there coming. Hes been asked repeatedly behind closed doors. I think even in public right now whether the white house played some role, whether they contributed to the back and forth. He was asked directly in that Committee Hearing where they took this vote. His colleagues asked him, have you been in contact with the white house. He wouldnt answer the question. Which is a de facto yes. Trump made the decision to release the memo before he even read it. He said it at the state of the union as it was leaving, its coming out, 100 . He didnt read it until that wednesday, two days later. That tells you this is not about substance, not about fact, not about truth, its about pr propagan propaganda. He said 100 were going to get it out. We knew he hadnt read the memo at that time. As we talk about the sources and methods, i know the fbi had grave concerns about the nunes memo. The president , his staff, has said, hey, you guys got to take another go at this here. Did they have the same concerns about that . Did they want this basically at this point just to end . It is true the fbi and members of the Intelligence Committee dont want classified information to be used as a way that both Political Parties can just toss back and forth at each other. Thats not why they provide this information. I do think the fbi and democrats were really on the same page with the nunes memo and now its understood if this democratic memo is going to come out it would have to have such heavy redactions, it may be meaningless. Its not a hard battle im hearing them fight like they were before the nunes memo. Any sense of timing on the democratic memo . Do you have any better details on when the democrats may give it a second crack . As you reported last friday it seems they have set up this doj panel that would have to go through all of these redactions. It sounds kind of like a bureaucratic mess. Im thinking it will at least be a few months out from now peter. Well keep focusing on this. Nice to see you. Protecting the homeland, up next on msnbc, as the president pitches the budget, the head of the u. S. Intelligence Community Just identified what he considers a dire threat to National Security. The National Debt. Plus, getting to a deal on immigration but as votes just begun, the majority leader Chuck Schumer saying they may already be starting off on the wrong foot. Well break that down next. Or make a back seat that feels nothing like a back seat . Why give it every feature you could want, along with a few you didnt know you needed . Its simple. You can build a car, or you can build a cadillac. Come in now for this exceptional offer on the cadillac ct6. Get this lowmileage lease on this 2018 cadillac ct6 from around 549 per month. Visit your local cadillac dealer. And i recently had fhi, ia heart attack. Month. It changed my life. But im a survivor. After my heart attack, my doctor prescribed brilinta. Its for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. Brilinta is taken with a lowdose aspirin. No more than 100 milligrams as it affects how well brilinta works. Brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. In a clinical study, brilinta worked better than plavix. Brilinta reduced the chance of having another heart attack. Or dying from one. Dont stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor, since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. Brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. Dont take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. Slow heart rhythm has been reported. Tell your doctor about bleeding new or unexpected shortness of breath any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. If you recently had a heart attack, ask your doctor if brilinta is right for you. My heart is worth brilinta. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. On capitol hill, the senate began tackling the big issue of immigration reform. At the center of this debate, daca, the program that protects millions of immigrants known as dreamers. The program set to expire in less than three weekweeks. To address the issue, the white house prompted mcconnell to throw his support behind it this morning. I believe the report of every senator whos ready to move beyond making points and actually making a law. But if other proposals are to be considered, our colleagues will have to introduce their own amendments rather than just talk about them. Calling todays negotiationings, quote, last chance for solving the daca puzzle. Nbcs kacie hunt joining me now from capitol hill. He says its the last chance but they have a little bit of a window here, right, especially given the fact that the courts have allowed for these dreamers to stay for an extended period of time, unless anything changes here. There was a contentious moment last hour on the senate floor. Tell us exactly what happened there. Well, peter, the issue is senator mitch mcconnell, the republican leader, is essentially saying that senators have this week and only this week to come up with a plan. That he would allow this openended process. That is what has started playing out. And the tricky thing and part of the reason why there is not usually an open process on the senate floor is that it can make for difficult, politically difficult votes. Because people can put amendments up on anything they want to and that can set up a future campaign ad for the other side. We saw some of this play out on the floor when there was an amendment brought up about sanctuary cities and Chuck Schumer stopped, interrupted the process because he said that had nothing to do with trying to help people who rely on this daca program. To begin this debate would be getting off on the wrong foot. Respectfully, i suggest we move to the bills offered by senators grassley and the senator instead. Lets get this debate started open the right foot. Mcconnell said both those bills were republican amendments. I would note that senator kuntz has a proposal with senator mccain. As you can see this debate is off to a little bit of of that slog we were expecting and so far theres no clear resolution in sight for how this week is going to end, peter. All of that to say nothing of the houses view of anything that comes out of senates side here. Im told you ran into senator bob corker a short time ago. What did he tell you . Well, i think you might have a quick clip of what i was asking senator corker. I was of course discussions that he may be reconsidering his decision not to run for reelection, take a look. Senator, are you reconsidering running for reelection . I dont have anything to talk about today, thank yall. Thats not a no. So the challenge of course here, marsha blackburn, republican member of the house, had sort of consolidated establishment support after corker said, okay, im out, im going to retire. She has been somebody who has run much closer to the president. But much more vocally conservative in that wink. Senator corker has gone back and forth with the president. Hes had this on again, off again feud. Questions about where mitch mccanal may be in all of this. Of course this all boils down to concern that blackburn may be at risk of losing a general election and, as you know, peter, with just that one seat majority in the senate, every single one of these senate races is absolutely critical. Especially given what we just witnessed taking place in alabama. Republicans anxious for any potential loss. Kacie hunt on the hill for us, thank you very much. Elsewhere on capitol hill, at that explosive hearing, the director of National Intelligence, dan coates, called the National Debt a dire National Security threat. The failure to address the longterm fiscal situation has increased the National Debt to over 20 trillion and growing. This situation is unsustainable. Former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mike mullin first identified the National Debt as the greatest threat to our National Security. So this comes as the white house is out with its latest Budget Proposal that you may have seen would add 7 trillion to the deficit over the next ten years. Ben white, chief economic correspondent for politico, is joining me now. Hes also notably a cnbc contributor. Thats why we like that backdrop thats behind you. Thats familiar to us here at the peacock network. You heard from the director a short time ago. Do you agree with him . Can you explain why the National Debt is viewed as a threat to National Security . Yes, i do agree with him. I mean, were not in a situation now where its a huge emergency, but over the long term, if were adding over 1 trillion a year to a deficit, a debt thats already at to trillion, and remember, these deficits are going to grow over the next ten years, with about 1 trillion for the next year. As the tax cuts pile up, as Government Spending piles up, the deficits get bigger, as much as 2 trillion in 2027. Now, the risk here is that eventually investors start demanding higher interest for u. S. Debt. So u. S. Treasury puts out a bunch of debt and investors demand returns on that debt. So Interest Rates start to go up. That means it costs more to fund the government. The u. S. Government has to pay more. Individual citizens have to pay more interests on their credit cards, on their home loans and that slows economic growth. You can get to a Tipping Point in National Debt and deficit where Interest Rates are rising, slowing the economy, and then you get potential downgrades of u. S. Debt. Theres a spiral there that can happen if we dont fix the trajectory of the deficit and the debt. So not a crisis now but 10, 20 years in the future it could be. Whats striking is what the budget director has always been saying. Here specifically what he said about the proposal, listen. If you were in congress, would you vote have voted for this budget that youre presenting . As a member of congress representing the Fifth District of south carolina, i probably would have found enough short comings in this to vote against it. Im the director of the office of management and budget and my job is to try and fund the president s priorities. To say nothing of the fact this budget really goes against what the president said back in the day during the campaign that we got to address our debt right away. Yes, well, he said that, but if you remember, he also said, im going to protect your social security. Thats true. And, you know, theyve basically said they want to do a couple of things, the Trump White House. They want to dramatically cut corporate taxes. Which theyve done. They want to increase spending on the military, which theyve done. And then democrats demanded in return for that, we also increase spending on domestic priorities. So essentially, the Trump White House and by extent the Republican Congress have given up the entire idea that deficits and debts matter. The whole fiscal conservativism that dominated the Republican Party in the obama years has gone out the window. This is now a big Spending Party and a big tax cut party. That means big deficits, higher Interest Rates. And as we said on capitol hill, a potential crisis down the road. Not now but down the road. One of our colleagues wrote, the deficit hawks have flown the coop. Ben white, appreciate it. An overnight sensation at 17. We got to do a little olympics for you. Chloe kim, this was awesome. I brought my 4yearold downstairs to watch it. She soared to the gold medal in the womens snow board halfpipe competition. Now shes thinking about what might come next. This new day looks nothing like yesterday. Trails are covered. Paths arent what they used to be. Roads nowhere to be found. and its exactly what youre looking for. i own my own company. I had some severe fatigue, some funny rashes. Finally, listening to my wife, went to a doctor. And i became diagnosed with hodgkins lymphoma. That diagnosis was tough. I had to put my trust in somebody. When i first met steve, we recommended chemotherapy, and then we did high dose therapy and then autologous stem cell transplant. Unfortunately, he went on to have progressive disease. I thought that he would be a good candidate for immune therapy. Its an intravenous medicine that can affect the patients immune system and unleash it against the cancer. With chemotherapy, i felt rough, fatigue, nauseous. And with immune therapy weve had such a positive result. Im back to working hard. Ive honestly never felt this great. I believe the future of immunotherapy at ctca is very bright. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com Appointments Available now. Hnew litter . Lled this no. Nobody has its unscented vo new tidy cats free clean unscented. Powerful odor control with activated charcoal. Free of dyes. Free of fragrances. Tidy cats free clean. When no scents makes sense. Were back now live. Day five of the Winter Olympics and relations between north and south korea seem to be warming up, but as leaders of the u. S. Intelligence committee spoke out today on National Security, heres their warning. Dont be fooled. Weve all watched over the last week the smile campaign that north korea has inflicted on the south Korean People. The south Korean People seem to be charmed by it, to some degree. Some of them seem to be captivated by it. I would like to hear your view of this supposed turn in the last couple of weeks by the north koreans. Well, this is an existential threat. Its an existential threat, you heard him say that there. Nbcs Chris Jansing joining me now live from south korea. Chris, youve been following a little bit of sports and a little bit of political maneuvering, as it turns out, firsthand there. I guess the two have been side by side. We know kim jonguns sister just returned to north korea with the olympic delegation. We are hearing directly from kim jongun now. What is he saying . Reporter well, hes back at it again today, peter. He is acting like hes the peacemaker, the leader of one of the most brutal regimes on earth. He welcomed back the delegation with open arms. He put out a statement. Heres what it reads, in part. It is important to continue making good results by further livening up the warm climate of reconciliation and dialogue and common will of the north and the south with the Winter Olympics as momentum. These are the kind of statements, peter, that are raising questions among analysts here. Is kim outplaying both the u. S. And south korea diplomatically . Kim wants to use his Charm Offensive to ease sanctions, which have crippled his economy. In fact, by the way, when the north korean orchestra wanted a fuel payment to get back to north korea on a ferry, thats something thats prohibited under u. N. Sanctions, by the way, the north had to withdraw the request, now theyre asking the south to pay for some of the other expenses like accommodations for their delegation, about 2. 7 million worth. Officials here will be meeting on that tomorrow, peter. Yeah. It says a little bit about the north korean economy right now. Chris, a little bit of geopolitics, a little halfpipe on the side, as it were. You had a chance to talk to the golden girl of the pipe, chloe kim. She was amazing yesterday. Reporter yeah, i guess avas a fan, huh, peter . Chloe, the youngest female snowboarding medalist in olympic history. Shes amazing. But when i talked to her just a few hours ago, she was also exhausted. Your dad was yelling American Dream after you won the gold medal. Whats it mean to you . I mean, its super cool. I mean, i dont know. Im super stoked i was able to do that and make everyone proud. Reporter and your dad also said, college time. Yep. Reporter are you even thinking about that . Theyre going to move in nextdoor, of course. Yeah, im really excited for college. Reporter and they were announcing yesterday some of your competitors, fourth olympics, fifth olympics, could you see yourself at the olympics 20 years from now, chloe . Um, no. Reporter maybe one or two more, she said. This is, by the way, peter, gold medal number 99 at the Winter Olympics for the usa. Her breathtaking gravitydefying tricks left the rest of the field in dust. It was really fun to be there. And got as many cheers from the koreans as she did from the americans, peter. To be 17 again. I can only imagine what that would feel like for our bodies doing that these days. Well be right back, chris, thank you. Please, please, oh shrieks in terror heavy breathing and snorting no, no. The running of the bulldogs . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money aleia saved by switching to geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. And with ancestrydna liveson sale for just 69, now is the time to discover yours. You can find out where you get. Your precision. Your grace. Your drive. And now, with more than 150 ethnic regions to connect to, only ancestrydna can put your greatness on full display. Save 30 now at ancestrydna. Com. Thatll wrap up this hour of msnbc live. Ill hustle over to the white house and well see you at the briefing at 2 30. Katy tur picking up things. Well see you at the briefing. Peter ex