Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Hallie Jackson 20170328

To potentially do or Say Something. We saw senator john mccain come out this morning and essentially say he has never seen anything like what happened with devin nunes in his career, and he has been around washington a long time. That, of course, though on the senate side. And so far, on the house side, republicans are sticking by devin nunes. I talked to peter king on his way into the gop Conference Meeting, and he repeated a line from trey gowdy, another member of the house Intelligence Committee. He says, it doesnt matter if he went to waffle house or the white house, its all the same. Peter king added if it had been the house of pancakes, same deal. I am an ihop girl myself. Thats the line of defense from republicans here for mr. Nunes. You saw in the beginning i tried to get mr. Nunes to clarify whether he was considering of recusing himself. He wouldnt answer directly but did say that this investigation would continue to proceed as it had. However, i will say that this week its clearly not actually proceeding the way it had been. The Intelligence Committee does not plan on meeting this week, which is unusual. I mean, even when there isnt a Major Investigation like this one into russian meddling, they typically meet once or twice a week to go over whats going on around the world. Their monday meeting canceled. The tuesday meeting canceled. The one with fbi director comey and rogers canceled. At a standstill regardless of what director nunes says. Well check back with you after we watch speaker ryan live. I want to head elsewhere to capitol hill. Jackie speier, democratic of california joining us. When we hear House Speaker paul ryan i may have to interrupt you. Got it. Starting with the decision to scrap all the Committee Meetings for the week. What can you tell us about why the decision was made, what you were told about it and when it will be rescheduled . We were disappointed, actually outraged when the hearing on russia, which was supposed to take place today at 10 00 was canceled. We were not even told about it. Instead, as you remember chairman nunes had a press conference in which he said we needed to meet with director comey in closed session along with admiral rogers at the nsa. Thats not taking place either. They wanted to shut down the visuals of this committee in open, talking about the connections between the russian between the russians and the Trump Campaign. So they have really, i think, had such profound impact on our ability to do an independent investigation, i am deeply troubled by it. How were you told about this . Did somebody from congressman nunes office reach out to you directly from the Intel Committee . No. Absolutely not. It was through rumor. Wait. You found out through media reports that you wouldnt be having intel meetings this week . Thats right. You have thats correct. You have not seen a document first of all, thats unusual, right . Everything is unusual about this. I mean, it is profoundly inappropriate. To say the very least, what has happened. The normal bipartisan nature of this committee where the chair and the Ranking Member cooperate, coordinate, all of that is out the window. It smacks of a hunkering down by the white house and the chair of this committee to shut this committee down and its investigation. I am i am very convinced that thats what the game plan is right now. What do you mean by that, congresswoman . You mentioned that this morning, that there is an effort under way, you said, to shut the committee down. An effort by the president. What does that mean . How would the president be trying to shut this committee down . What do you think is happening . I dont think the president wants this investigation to move forward. It could implicate his campaign, even him, if the russian meddling of our elections when director comey came out last week with a bombshell that not only was he looking at what might have gone on by russia trying to intervene in our elections, he made it very clear that they were also looking at those within the Trump Campaign and whether or not they were colluding with the russians. That was a bombshell. And i think, once that came out, the there was a reassessment by the republicans as to whether or not this should be moving forward. And so this its really aberrant behavior to have a chair in the dark of night go over to the white house he says it was the middle of the day. Whenever it was. Theres evidently no record of him going over there. Truth of the matter is that, if he wanted to look at documents that were in a skiff, he could have gone to the skiff here in the capitol. He could have brought in the individual who was providing him that information to look at it through the secure network in the skiff. None of this adds up. I want to ask you about your call for him to not just recuse himself but resign. First i want you on the record on a story thats just now breaking out of the Washington Post. I want to be clear that nbc has not substantiated this reporting. In the last few minutes here, this is relevant to our discussion, the post says it reviewed a series of letters to the former acting attorney general sally yates in which she was notified by the Justice Department that the administration considers his possible testimony in front of your committee or other committees to be barred from discussion in a congressional hearing because the topics are covered by the president ial communication privilege. I know you havent had time to process this piece, but on first glance here, in my read, does that sound like it holds water to you . It sounds like an effort to try and muzzle persons who have information and the ability to shed light on this investigation. What can you do about it . You have asked congressman nunes or youve asked chairman nunes to not just recuse himself but resign from the committee altogether. Seems like thats not going to happen. Let me tell you why i think thats important. If this is going to be a true investigation, most of the staff in the Intelligence Committee are placed there by the chair on the republican side. So how do you separate yourself from your boss if your boss asks you a question, for instance, on something that you are recusing yourself from. I really think, for the good of the country, for the good of this committee, it would serve chairman nunes to resign as the chair of this committee. I know its a hard one, but you know, actions matter. And the actions he took cast a very dark cloud on this committees deliberations. Members of his own party on the senate side are basically saying that this committee cannot do its job now. Let me ask you a couple more quick questions before i let you go, congresswoman, i know you have other business to attend to. You said you believe the administration is trying to muzzle, essentially, information coming out of the house Intelligence Committee. As a democrat on that committee, i will ask you again. What can you do . What resource do you really have . Well, first of all, i think whatever letter former acting attorney general sally yates received, i want to have it reviewed by our Legal Counsel to assess, you know there are there is a separation of powers here. There is a separation between the executive branch, legislative branch and the judicial branch. So our efforts to investigate in closed session cannot i dont believe be prevented by the executive branch under a president ial exception. If chairman nunes, lets say, hypothetically, he does recuse himself. And again, there is no indication he is planning to do that at all you have said you dont trust now chairman nunes. If he does recuse himself its likely that congressman gowdy would end up chairing the committee. Do you trust him to run the investigation . Trey gowdy and i have worked together on a number of issues over the years. I respect his intellect. I respect him as a person. He is a tough inquisitor. But i think that nonetheless, he has a great deal of gravitas. Reading between the lines, congresswoman, does that indicate that you do not respect devin nunes . I dont respect what he did. I think devin nunes is a fine american. I think can you talk to him . No, i havent talked to him. In committee when he made his apology. Then he goes forward and cancels the hearing this week without even informing us. You know, that is someone who is hellbent on pursuing a different path. And i think its a path being directed by the white house. Okay. Congresswoman Jackie Speier, thank you for joining us here. Appreciate it. Lots to discuss from that interview. Peter alexander standing by. Peter, keeping in mind that i may have to interrupt you. Talk about the president s response to the story line that has been the dominant one of the morning here. What is the white house doing . What is the white houses reaction to all of this . Simplest of terms donald trump had one of his twitter venting systems last night. Putting out a series of tweets on this topic. You have the democrats in effect saying this russia investigation by the house Intelligence Committee is a sham. President trump himself says the whole russia story is a hoax. There is the bottom line. You see the tweets. He was deflecting the issue saying in effect why isnt the house Intelligence Committee looking into bill and hillary clinton, their deal that allowed big uranium to go to russia. Praise of russia by hillary, podesta, russian company. He says its a hoax right now. The white house has been broadly deflecting on the issue, you were in the Briefing Room yesterday watching what sean spicer had to say. Said he wouldnt talk specifically about who was involved in the meeting or details about what they may have been talking about. We asked if he would let us know that let dunes, tevin nunes int white house grounds. He said he would get back to us. No word from the white house on this issue. To be clear, that would not be a difficult thing to find out information, if you are a white house employee, to find. I have spoken to several former white house officials who say the w. A. V. E. S. System, the visitor log system, allows so that anybody here, unless the individuals are here for some sort of National Security purpose or the name has been purged. Anybody could find out who brought somebody in and cleared them into the white house grounds, and that includes someone like a house Intelligence Committee chairman who would not be able to come on the grounds on their own. How do you see this story developing . We know the president is signing the executive order on climate regulations and environmental regulations. This will continue to dominate the discussion. The press briefing at 1 00. This will be, i assume, one of the big headlines. Obviously the Climate Change issue is another big one. A significant reversal of obamaera policies to combat Climate Change. At some point it will come out who was the source, who was it that provided this information to devin nunes. Why was it necessary if this information as he suggests existed within the executive branch system. Thats why he said he had to come to the white house grounds to see it and couldnt do it on the hill. If it existed in the executive branch system, doesnt that mean effectively the white house knew of the information . Why did he have to come here to look at it, go back to capitol hill and go to the white house to brief the president on the information. A lot of questions on who exactly it was who brought him here and provided him with the information. Peter alexander, thank you. Tamara and kelsey. We heard from congressman speier. She said a few things i found notable. Number one, that she doesnt respect devin nunes, what he did, his actions over the past week. That she found out about a lot of this, the cancelations of the meetings this week, through media reports and she hasnt talked to chairman nunes at all. Reaction. Its been an avalanche of negative responses in the past couple of days. Most from democrats, right . Mccain and graham have had some concerns. Mccain came out this morning saying he wants to see this he said there needs to be a lot of explaining done. That is a pretty significant step. He said that these Intelligence Committees need to be bipartisan to be trusted. The thing that is bizarre about this is this is the Intelligence Committee. Usually they do their work in a bipartisan way yes. Were not usually talking about this with Intel Committees. Out of our view. Though i love the ability of the chairman to the press and its great as a reporter, it is bizarre as an operation of the Intelligence Committee that he has done so many media availabilities. He is constantly out there talking, constantly, constantly, constantly. Except for a little bit this morning. I am getting word hes left a closed House Republican meeting and didnt answer from reporters on the hill who have been following. Well see if maybe we get more from him later today. Its been bizarre since the top. The press conference he called outside of the secure Briefing Room was one of the strangest things i have ever witnessed. He started to Say Something and walked it back almost immediately. You mentioned some republicans who have come out. Trey gowdy saying who cares about the white house or the waffle house. If he is getting good information he should get it. Youre also hearing from, for example, senate graham, on the today show this morning and he was asked about this. Ill play you what he had to say. Listen. We do not have that sound bite. Regardless. He said, i think he put his objectivity in question at the very least. Graham suggesting that devin nunes go to his democratic colleagues and share the information that he has been given, apparently that hasnt been done yet. Though there is indication it could happen this week. How does the rest of the week play out. Will chairman nunes give his colleagues this information or will we still have more questions than answers . Probably more questions than answers. Thats a safe bet. Even if they do turn over the information, there are so many questions yet to be addressed. Go ahead. I was going to say that, also, chairman nunes says this isnt even about russia. That all of this is completely unrelated to the thing that they are actually investigating, though all of those hearings and meetings have been canceled this week. Lets talk about exactly that. It gives us our segue. All of this is about, ultimately, russia. Nunes says the information he wint went to the white house for the secret meeting was not about russia. His committee is investigating the potential ties. I want to play for you what dick cheney is saying now. Its 25 or 30 seconds long but worth listening to. In some quarters it would be considered an act of war. I think its the kind of conduct and activity well see going forward. We know he has attempted it previously in other states, in the baltics. And i think its very much i would not underestimate the weight that we as americans assign to the russian attempts to interfere with our internal political processes. Eyebrows raised. It speaks to the huge fissure happening within the Republican Party about how to talk about this issue. On one hand they want to stand behind the president. On the other hand, they have a long tradition of being skeptical of russia or even being adversarial with russia. This is a huge departure. Polling would indicate that broadly republicans have changed their view of russia, that it used to be much more negative and now is somewhat more positive than it was before in part because of the posture the president has taken. This president , dick cheney can say that. This president takes any discussion of russia meddling in the election as an attempt to delegitimize him. We are going to take a quick break. Were still waiting for House Speaker paul ryan to come out and address reports on all of what weve been discussing at the table for the last 15 minutes. He is now 18 minutes late. We expect to see him at any point. After the break well also talk more about the executive order President Trump is set to sign in a few hours. He is looking to unwind what former president obama did to fight Climate Change. Is it really as sweeping as everyone is saying . Stick around. This is 100 useful for a 100 fresh mouth. Just ask listerine® users. The very people we studied in the study of bold. People who are statistically more likely to stand up to a bully, do a yoga handstand, and be in a magicians act. Listerine® kills 99 of bad breath germs so you can feel 100 in life. Bring out the bold™. Want a less intense taste that still cleans your whole mouth . Try listerine® zero alcohol. 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The interior secretary was asked about that this morning here on this network on morning joe. Listen to what ryan zenke had to pay. Reasonable regulation is far better than watching it being produced overseas with no regulation. We can do it right. We need to hold industry accountable. Also, jobs matter. There is a social cost of not having jobs in this country. Here is how the Washington Post is putting it in participate. Pull up the headline. Trump moves decisively to wipe out obamas Climate Change record. Washington post Senior National Affairs Correspondent juliette ilprin wrote the article. I am joined by ari melber. Npr White House Correspondent tamara keith and Washington Post reporter kelsey snell. Juliette, starting with you. Lets talk about the headline. Is this really as decisive as the administration hopes it will be . Walk us through the nuts and bolts. Its really quite sweeping. While some of it will take time there is no question that the administration has decided to target virtually every policy that barack obama put in place to address Climate Change. What are we talking about . Were talking about federal limits on Greenhouse Gas emissions from new and existing power plants, a lifting of a federal moratorium on coal leasing on federal land primarily for ryan zinke is from. Rolling back of limits on methane emissions, another Greenhouse Gas that is done on oil and gas operations on federal lands, as well as lifting of restrictions on hydraulic fracturing known as fracking to many viewers. Also when it comes to oil and gas operations. He is asking his agencies to scrutinize every policy in the agency that might affect oil and Gas Exploration or any kind of Energy Production in the united states. Sierra club saying that trumps sweeping order is the single biggest attack an Climate Action in u. S. History, period. What do we hear from both the groups that support the move and the environmental groups who were against it . Has is there been a consensus. There are basically two sides to the issue. If you are particularly in the coal or oil and gas industry youre hailing the move as long ov overdue. On what the white house calls the war on coal and other fossil fuels. Environmentalists are vowing to fight it in court. They think the law is on their side in many instances and while they cant reverse anything he is doing they can slow down the imple implementation of many of these things. Thank you very much. Bringing in ari melber. Some of the groups believe the law is on their side. Where is the law on this . The law is up in the air to hard to find. The Supreme Court froze on a temporary basis what the Obama Administration was originally trying to do. As for the new thing, can trump really unwind all of this, experts tell us and legally we think the answer is only partly. Here, for example, is jody freeman, an environmental law expert at harvard telling our legal unit the executive orders serve as kind of a Political Announcement in a way but legal steps still have to be taken. The administrative stuff that still has to happen. We spoke to an environmental law professor at unc who says this is a completely different posture from immigration orders. Trump doesnt have the power to change the legal status of the Clean Power Plan by order alone, referring to the fact that there is more for the epa and agencies to deal with. You remember on the immigration ban the governors coming out and saying they want to find ways to block it. That worked. Governor of washington, challenging the travel ban, saying that. This is the final thing i want to show you from the same law professor saying states can signal they disagree. They cant go directly to court if it doesnt have any legal effect at this point. A key distinction that matters in law as well as politics, h l hallie. I was going to ask you to translate this into english. The states kind of have to wait is the bottom line . They have to wait because the underlining Clean Power Plan was originally already frozen. Got it. Ari melber, breaking it down. Thank you much. You got it. Guys, this is a big deal for President Trump. Trying to make good on the promises on the campaign trail. The best analogy for how i heard this would work. Clean power is a regulation put into place through the regulatory process. It was like the analogy ive heard, building a house. To take it down, you cant just tear it down. In this case with regulations. You have to unbuild it the same way you built it. So one piece at a time through this sort of long regulatory process. Taking public comment. Putting things on the federal register. All of this minutia that means that, with a signature president ial signature not much can change immediately. In terms of the Clean Power Plan. Kelsey, whats the impact overseas . Other countries have been looking to the u. S. Under former president obama and now there is a big shift. There was a sense that the u. S. Was moving more in the direction that other countries like European Countries had already accepted. This is a signal that this is not the same kind of presidency, this is not the same kind of president and that this is no longer at the like the fiber and the fabric of the way that the government thinks about how it spends money and what it does because, if you remember, president obama really wanted this Climate Change to be at the center of making decisions within the federal government. That wont happen anymore. How does this play out with democrats . Democrats will be upset about this. I guess the answer is terribly. Right. They cant do anything about it. No, not really. But they can keep talking about it, talk about the number of coal jobs that there are versus the number of jobs in clean energy. They can say, President Trump, you did this, where are the coal jobs. Have they materialized. They can point out he cant really follow through on the promise to bring back the coal jobs and these actions dont do it. You look at whether this will be a wedge issue. Do you see about not to spoil the rest of the show but coming up about other agenda items the president wants to get through. Tax reform and infrastructure where he needs democrats help. Do you see democrats using this as a wedge issue saying give us room on Climate Change and well give you room on infrastructure . No. I think democrats calculated that its not in their interests to play along with trump. They can make it seem like they will but theyre not actually going to do that. This plays to trumps base. Fighting this plays to democrats base. Absolutely. I know i mentioned well be talking more about tax reform and infrastructure in just a little bit. To preview that conversation, how do you see we know there is some reporting that this is a twopronged approach that the president will be taking. That maybe it could be done in concert, that you would do tax reform and infrastructure at the same time because doing one on its own wouldnt be hard enough. Thats not biting off more than he can chew . Going back years ive heard republican members of Congress Talking about this idea. Its not a new idea. Right. That you could bring democrats along. Bring overseas money back. Do a tax repatriation thing. And in the process use that to pay for infrastructure that democrats want. This has been something thats been discussed for years. It hasnt actually happened yet. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer was one who really championed that idea. Well talk more about that coming up after the break, the twotwo twopronged approach and whether it will be winwin for donald trump or double trouble. Also waiting for House Speaker ryan. Any second. I no longer live with the uncertainties of hep c. Wondering, what if . I let go of all those feelings. Because i am cured with harvoni. Harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. Its been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. And is proven to cure up to 99 of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. Certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. Before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if youve ever had hepatitis b, which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. 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A judge is expected to approve the settlement this afternoon. Thats just one part of the sweeping proposed deal to settle a lawsuit over flints water crisis. On capitol hill, really critical vote today. You may not have heard about. The house will decide on whether to block an fcc Privacy Protection rule. It would let your Internet Service provider sell your online browsing history. Think about everything you look up online. The providers include comcast, the Parent Company of this network. Facebook and google already use targeted advertising based on personal information. The senate voted for the block last week. Ford announcing an investment to three facilities in michigan as part of a deal in the work since 2015 with the labor union. President trump was talking about the announcement on twitter this morning, suggested its related to his efforts with Car Companies investing in the u. S. This is something thats been in the works for a couple of years. Republicans reeling from last weeks Health Care Debacle shifting gears, looking to tackle two other big pieces of legislation. Listen. Lets go with tax reform first. I think we have an opportunity to marry that with infrastructure. I told them they should start with infrastructure because its easier to assemble a bipartisan coalition. First thing they autoought t is open up the issue of infrastructure. You can get at least half of the democratic party. Not just tax reform but infrastructure too. Thats the strategy. And the scoop from the National Political reporter Jonathan Swan as President Trump is trying, trying, to score two big wins in congress. Jonathan is here on the set. I feel like youre far away, pal. Good to see you. First lets talk about Something Else happening at the white house. Breaking news here quickly. The white house apparently is now on a kind of lockdown essentially. Uss secret Service Agents clearing all the media members from the position that you saw Peter Alexander at earlier this hour where you speak to the cameras. No media allowed there. Apparently snipers have been seen walking the grounds. Nobody has been able to leave or come in the typical media checkpoints. Live look at the white house now. Still not clear what the situation is on the ground. Obviously our team is inside the Briefing Room area where the press typically sits. Again, nobody allowed to be outside. We are being told from our producer stacey klein at the moment. Well bring you the latest updates. Were watching that. Watching on the hill for paul ryan to come out. Lets talk about your scoop. Its significant. We were chatting about it before the break. Now its not just tax reform. Theyre going, hey, do infrastructure too. Why . I should say this is more the the at the emotion than the strategy stage. Theyre thinking about this in a serious manner. From the top levels of the white house. But donald trump is desperate for a victory. He is sitting here, he is getting executive orders done. He is used to having buildings with his name on it. He wants big physical structures to claim credit for. Frankly, he has had it with the freedom caucus. He has realized i thought through his pure force of personality, charm and charisma he could get them to come to him. Now hes learned the lesson that they need serious, hardline policy concessions. He thinks maybe i could have an easier time on the left. If they are in the emotion stage as you put it, because some analysts say not a bad idea. Democrats want to get something done on infrastructure. So lets talk infrastructure and bring them in. Is this something weve seen from the president before where he floats an idea, see how it plays on the cable shows . I do remember barack obama saying something similar. He actually came out and did this in 2013. It was a huge failure with the grand bargain. Look, this is right in Donald Trumps wheelhouse. I would not be surprised if they pursue this to the end. Steve bannon loves the idea of big infrastructure spending. Stephen miller loves the idea of it. Theyre trying to break apart the union movement. They see an evidence to get the building trades, to cleave them off from the teachers union. They see it as part of a big strategy to remake american politics. Jonathan, you have had the plesh our or unfortunate luck of joining us on a day with a will the of breaking news. Kasie hunt joins us again. Paul ryan is 40 minutes late, thats unusual. I want to talk about that and also discuss a story the Washington Post broke in the last half hour, 40 minutes. Thats these letters that nbc news has now obtained. Apparently instructing acting attorney general, sally yates, former acting attorney general not to talk, right, to these congression congressional committees . Thats our understanding, hawe have copies of the letters sent from sally yates attorney to the committee about this particular issue. Forgive me. I am watching the members come out. Ill have to sit down if the leadership comes out here. There are these letters from sally yates attorney essentially saying that she intended to come and testify and talk about information she had that related to mike flynn, his contacts with russians and whether or not he was open to blackmail. Our understanding is that essentially the white house asserted executive privilege over the communications and argued that she was not able to testify before the house Intelligence Committee. She had been scheduled to appear in public today in another open hearing similar to the one we saw with james comey and the nsa director rogers last week on monday. So devin nunes, the chairman of the house Intelligence Committee. Somewhat abruptly canceled the hearing on friday. Thats when adam schiff tweeted about this saying that devin nunes was trying to silence sally yates and the others who were scheduled to testify that day. This is kind of the latest twist in whats obviously becoming quite a saga for the chairman of the house Intelligence Committee, devin nunes, who of course has been under pressure today to say whether or not he would recuse himself after the events unfolded. And we learned that he had gone to the white house grounds to review intelligence from this source that he then did not share with the democrats on the committee. Those calls from democrats have been continuing all day. So far no House Republicans have joined in on the calls. You had Senate John Mccain on the senate side saying he hasnt seen anything like this in his very long career in public service. Presumably the House Speaker will be asked about some of this when he does come out. This is your, i think, billionth press conference. He tends to be on time. If you show up late its considered a little bit of a faux pas, if you will. Its possible. Obviously they are dealing with a lot of things coming out of the health care failure, a lot to talk about behind closed doors. So this Conference Meeting has gone on longer than many typically do. I wouldnt necessarily read into it that they are discussing this particular topic. Most of the members we talked to on their way out say that it was about the path moving forward for House Republicans because they have to figure out with that Health Care Bill no longer on the table, what to do next. Kasie hunt. Keep an eye on the doorway. Well b well come back to you. Over to ken at the washington bureau. The idea that the Trump Administration has worked to exert whats called executive privilege. What does it mean and why would it affect whether sally yates can go speak to members of congress . Well, the president has a right to protect confidential advice given to him and prevent that from being discussed before congress. Its a longstanding legal principle. Yates lawyers are arguing it does not apply here. And there there has been public commentary already about this stuff. The important question about yates, though, is what does she know about mike flynn . She informed the white house that flynn was subject to blackmail regarding his conversations with the Russian Ambassador and the way he represented them to the Vice President , which apparently wasnt true. What else is there, though . Because she has got a lot of access to the intercepts, signals intelligence, eavesdropping on the Flynn Kislyak conversations and other evidence in the russia investigation. Adam schiff, ranking democrat on the house Intelligence Committee was explicit the other day after devin nunes canceled the open hearing saying he is trying to choke off information and he specifically referred to yates. Congresswoman Jackie Speier echoed that. She is a member of the house Intelligence Committee a democrat. She said she believes this, in relation to the story, is an effort to essentially muzzle the house Intelligence Committee. Clearly there is a political implication. What is the implication when it comes to what information members of the committee can now receive . Does this mean they cant talk to sally yates at all, even behind closed doors . Thats not clear at this point. But you know, there is not only the house investigation, there is the senate investigation. Right. There is an fbi investigation. Its hard to imagine that, whatever information sally yates has thats relevant will not eventually emerge. Ken, thank you very much. Well let you go. Keep diving into those answers. Well bring you back when you get more. I want to bring you back to the paul ryan News Conference. We expect to see him any second as some of the members are leaving the House Republican conference. As we sort of tee up to that, guys, reaction. Jonathan, to what were seeing now, to the letters, the idea of executive privilege. I am surprised that theyre elevating sally yates in this way. You see it as an elevation. Of course. It makes whatever she delivers now double as explosive as it would be anyway. It turns all the attention, what does she know. It it gives birth to a million conspiracy theories. So i mean, i think theyve kicked a huge goal here. We told you about the issue with the white house being essentially shut down now for entry or exit. Secret service tweeting theyre investigating a suspicious package near white house grounds. Road closures in effect around the white house. This is a procedure that obviously the secret service will do. Its not new to them. Its not cause for alarm at this point. We wanted to keep our viewers posted since we are talking about this. You look live at the white house now. Kelsey and tamara, as though we havent had enough to talk about today. Do you agree with jonathan that sally yates is being elevated and it could give birth to as he put it a billion conspiracy theories. Its not new for the white house to claim executive privilege. Lots of president s have claimed executive privilege. She did go to the white house to talk to them as a lawyer for the government representing the executive branch. Like you see your lawyer. You go, you expect lawyer client confidentiality. It hands over a huge talking point to people like Chuck Schumer looking for any foul to call had i pock racy to republicans. The russia connection, right, if there is one, the idea that its not the congressional committees. Its the fbi. When do you see the turning point. Back to last monday when director comey came out and said, yes, we are investigating, looking into potential ties or any, you know, coordination between folks related to moscow and the Trump Campaign. When is the next moment like that, pivot point in this . I think we need to hear from people like paul manafort. We need to hear them on the record. We need to see what they were doing, who they were talking to and what the conversations consisted of. At the moment its all just smoke. We dont have anything to hold on to. Same with roger stone. He is saying, there is nothing i did wrong. We have nothing to disprove that apart from a few dms with guccifer. I think we need a few people on the record. Ranking member adam schiff on the house Intelligence Committee is out with a statement on what were talking about. I want to see if kasie hunt is still available. She is not. She is waiting for paul ryan to walk in the room. Adam schiff is talking about the cancelation of the hearing and sally yates testimony. Schiff saying todays meeting would have provided the opportunity for sal ly yates to testify. Congressman schiff says were aware she intended to speak on these matters. He says whether the white house desire to avoid a public claim of executive privilege contributed to the cancelation of the hearing we dont know. He wants it to be rescheduled and for yates to testify. Thats the talking point they were looking for. They were handed a giant golden package. Well take a quick break. Were waiting for House Speaker paul ryan. We are told any second. Were hoping thats good information because there are a lot of questions for him. Well be back right after this break. Card from capital one. With it, i earn unlimited 2 cash back on all of my purchasing. And that unlimited 2 cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business. Which adds fuel to my bottom line. Whats in your wallet . Breaking news. House Speaker Paul Ryan addressing reporters. We are united around a common set of principles. We are united around our agenda. And we all want to advance the cause of freedom and limited government. We all want to make it easier for families to pay the bills and take care of their loved ones. We all want a system in health care where everybody can have access to affordable coverage. There is too much at stake to get bogged down in all of that. Were going to move forward on the things the American People sent us here to do. Today the house will act on another measure to reverse bad regulations. Congress has sent ten of the measures to the president s desk. In the 20 years before this congress did one of these. Were also committed to securely our border, rebuilding our military and fixing our infrastructure. And, we want this to be the last tax season americans have to put up with this broken tax code. Since i became speaker, i have talked about the need to go from being an Opposition Party to being a Proposition Party and a governing party. It may take a little bit more time but we are certainly listening and were going to get there. The way i would describe the meeting we just had with our members. Were all going to Work Together and listen together until we get it right. Its too important. Obamacare is a collapsing law. Its doing too much damage to families. So were going to get this right. In the meantime, were going to do all our other work that we came here to do. The discussion was what the American People are talking about. You are watching that News Conference with republican leaders. You heard from House Speaker paul ryan addressing so far only health care. Roughly three, four days after the essential fail of the Health Care Bill in the house. I want to bring in now michael steel. What is the challenge for paul ryan today. The challenge right now is that hes got a caucus that is divided. Hes got a president who is not on the same page with him legislatively and a base that is antsy on health care. If we fail on health care, do we fail on the boarder wall. He has to shore up a lot of corners at the same time theyre going to create a wall around nunes. A protective wall . Is this theyre goi. Theyre going to push aside everything related to his behavior and actions because thats one more level of distraction they cant afford to have right now. Is that the advice you would give. No. I would say they should take it out of that committee completely, put it in a third independent body of commission, move it away because that committee is tainted. I have a question for you, were going to bring you back to paul ryan when he starts taking questions from reporters. How realistic is it that paul ryan is going to support a third independent commission, a select committee. Thats why the senate is going to be the center of this debate. What do you make of this discussion weve been talking about executive privilege for sally yates. They said someone has a finger on that part of the dike. They have a lot going on right now. The problem is instead of sitting back and realizing this is a narrative they cannot control, put it out there and let it play itself out and let it fall where it needs to fall because everything begins to look like a cover up and youre trying to protect something or someone and its not a good space for the party to be in when they have a big legislative agenda. Im looking ahead and i want to bring you in too because im looking to the 1 00 briefing today with the press Secretary Sean Spicer where hes going to yell at the media. Thats another part of the distraction. Were going to scream about what youre covering because we dont want to you cover it. What do you want us to do . We want you to talk about what we want to talk about. Environmental regulations. Youre doing these things that distract us away from this other narrative because is this the bigger story. This seems like this is against what paul ryan has always wanted to do as speaker. Hes kind of low drama. He didnt want the job. He did say that at the time. Its a job nobody seems to want now. Heres paul ryan taking questions from reporters. [ inaudible ] probably before that. [ inaudible ] i wont tell you the time line because we want to get it right. We have an aggressive agenda and weve been moving quickly on this aggressive agenda, but we want to make sure we get it right. We had a very constructive meeting with our members, some of those who were in the no camp expressed a willingness to work on getting to yes and to making this work. We want to get it right. Were going to keep talking to each other until we get it right. Im not going to put a time line on it because this is too important to not get right. The insurers, thats why im so worried about this issue. This law is collapsing. Youre going to see if obamacare just stays as is, thats not acceptable for the American People. Thats not what we said we would do. Were going to figure how we get this done and i think whats confusing everybody is we have to use these senate rules. That means you cant pass the bill you really want to pass in the house because it gets filibustered in the senate. You have to pass a bill in the house that gets through and can prevent a filibuster. Its that frustration right now. [ inaudible ] we think the best we think reconciliation is the tool. Its the way to go. Go ahead. Ill give you one more. We have our members. I dont want us to become a factionalized majority. I want to be a unified majority. That means well sit down and talk about things until we get there and we saw good overture to get there and we have to figure out how to get it done. Thank you. And so that is speaker ryan, the house intelligence chair shouldnt recuse himself from the probe on russia and that is the question were looking at as we head to the top of the hour. Right now, recuse or refuse . Democrats want the house intel chair to step down from the investigation on possible Trump Campaign ties to russia, but is nunes too close to the president and why dick cheney says russian interference in the election would be considered by some an act of war. Up in smoke, President Trump is set to sign a new executive order on Climate Change reversing obama era policies. A such for justice. Emmett teals cousin just finished a meeting and why she wants an investigation into his murder 60 years later. Ill speak with her live this hour. Good morning everyone on what is another incredibly busy morning in washington and where if youre the head of the house Intelligence Committee its getting harder to duck the pressure about whether hes the guy to investigate anything to do with the white house. We caught up with the chairman this morning as he headed into a meeting at the u. S. Capital. The investigation continues. Weve had an investigation into russia for many many years. Are you going to recuse yourself from the investigation, sir . Is that no. We have this covered on both ends of pennsylvania avenue. Lets start on capitol hill. We saw casy this morning in the hallways. You spoke to him very briefly this morning. You heard from the speaker of the house. How much pressure is he under on the hill right now . I think you can understand the pressure that theyre under by the length of the answers that we are getting from these members of congress this morning. Usually theyre willing to chat or talk at some length. He has been giving long press conferences. Paul ryan usually a little bit shorter, but he was very short today. I asked him two questions. I asked does he believe that he should recuse himself from this investigation and i asked if he knows what who his source was when he went to the white house grounds to read that information. He said three words no and no in answer to those questions so that shows you how much house