What do we know about this russia reporting . Lets walk through what the administration lawyers are saying because its nothing new on their front but theres a lot of new stuff when it relates to what Robert Mueller might be looking in to, right . Reporter thats right. First to tick through the details of the the New York Times reporting, essentially the the New York Times reporting overnight that President Trump has been discussing with witnesses their discussions with investigators from the special counsel. They cite two instances of this, one with the White House Counsel Don Mcgahn in that instance theres been a back and forth whether President Trump had ordered mcgahn to fire special counsel Robert Mueller and the long and short of it, halle, is that it ultimately prompted mcgahn to remind the president , this is something you actually did ask me to do, the fire Robert Mueller. The the New York Times says, the president said he remembers that zirchly. Thats one instance. The second instance a little bit easier to explain. It has to do with his former chiefofstaff Reince Priebus and he asked them, howd they treat you . Were they nice . Thats what the the New York Times is reporting. That other headline you mentioned in the Washington Post said mueller is gathering evidence that indicates that a meeting between a trump associate and a russian official prior to the inauguration was, in fact, aimed at setting up a back channel between russia and the United States despite the fact that that meeting had been cast otherwise. The question is, do any of this really raise any legal issues . I know youll drill in into that ty cobb say lawyer that handles all things russia here giving his stock answer and let me read you what he said. He essentially says that out of respect for the special counsel the white house does not comment on any issues, documents or witnesses related to the special counsels work. I can tell you privately ive been having conversations with people close to the president who say, look, theres nothing wrong with setting up a back channel between any country if youre going into office. Theres a strong pushback potentially. The the New York Times reporting about these conversations obviously shining a light on how the president is handling and responding to the ever intensifying russia probe. Something that reporters will have to ask him about today. A lot of different events but no briefing. Reporter no briefing on the schedule right now. It could always be added. Well see the president three separate times, a Cabinet Meeting and meeting with members of congress and also video game executives and that big trade meeting later in the day. Kristen welker, busy day for you. I want to bring in michael schmidt, Robert Driscoll and our panel for the next 57 minutes, nancy cook and Deputy News Editor alexia both friends of the show. You heard kristen lay out the nuts and bolts of your piece. Tell us why you found it significant to publish this information and what you understood and took away from these conversations that the president had with don mcgahn . Central figures in investigations are always told to avoid speaking to either prosecutors or witnesses. Nothing good can ever come out of it because there can be a perception that theyre trying to meddle in things. Obviously we know the president tried to do in february of 2017. He tried to talk to james comey about the flynn investigation. We learned about his discussions with witnesses. In these cases hes talking to witnesses about matters that they had discussed with the special counsel in the case of priebus. Priebus lightly going over some of the topics they covered. In the case of mcgahn strongly pushing back on our reports about the fact that mcgahn had told mueller that he had asked him to fire mueller over the summer. These are things that for folks that are close to this investigation or dealing with this investigation it made them queasy and made them concerned as it gave the impression that there may be some type of coordination or what was the president really up to, why would he do that . He knows he shouldnt be doing that. Michael, hang on for a second. Bob, this is probably not according to legal experts rising to the level of witness tampering, right . Right. From what ive seen, its not. Why not . Essentially witness tampering would be getting the witness ahead of time and trying to coordinate your story or trying to influence their testimony in some way or do other things that were improper. It looks like in this case you never want as a client, you would as a lawyer you want your clients not to do this. It would give me heart burn if i was the president s lawyer have the president s lawyers have said dont be talking to them. Im sure they have and im sure hes ignored them. But its still whats up, did he treat you nicely or even even some general discussion of topics. You dont even want the allegation but its unlikely that would result in obstruction charge. My sense from reading your piece that some of this may stem from a general sort of i think you called it curiosity or just the desire to know more, this is a president who likes to have information, who likes to bounce things off of people and see what theyre seeing and hearing what theyre hearing. Hes a vor ashs consumer of Television News and newspapers to see what kind of play hes getting and probably more reacts to those things than he does anything else. If there was a report out there as we had about him asking mcgahn to fire mueller, hes probably wants to deal with it more in a Public Relations way than anything. I at times dont think the president understands the power and severity of the Mueller Investigation and my guess he was probably just upset by a string of bad headlines. We dont really know but thats the problem. When you enter into these types of discussions is that it gives the appearance of something thats afoot, something larger going on. You have to remember also, the president has not gone in to speak with mueller yet. So anything that he can learn about what other people told them is helpful to him and is advantageous to him. Or about muellers demeanor and the way these interviews go down. Correct. If he was coordinating his testimony that would be problematic, if he was trying to figure out if they would be nice to him or not, i dont think its problematic. The president is creating more problems for himself because he doesnt want to follow the normal advice or customs and procedure that goes on in washington. I think part of what were seeing is, you know, the president really views lawyers as like staff. People who should cleanup his messes and thats what ive seen in a bufrmg of Different Things covering this white house. He thinks that they should make this broad russia investigation go away, you know, white house lawyers like don mcgahn even though, you know, there is this outside special counsel. Theres this other piece to the russia investigation news that has come out and it has to do with this Gorgeous Group of islands off the coast of africa. Perfect for laying in the sun, maybe doing a little diving and apparently maybe setting up a back channel with the kremlin, at least thats what the the Washington Post is reporting today. This meeting they say involves eric prince an american and a russian banker close to vladimir putin. Prince is the founder of black wat blackwater the security company. Hes a top donor who bank rolled ads supporting donald trump during the election. According to the post the man who set up the meeting says the point of it was to set up some kind of back channel meeting ten the Incoming Trump administration and moscow. Prince last year told investigators this meeting was coincidental. That he was not acting in an official or unofficial capacity. Bob, do you buy that . Again, i have no reason to disbelieve him. This is yet another situation where the underlying conduct i dont think is illegal even if there was back channel set up and thats normal in a transition period that there could be a backup. The only thing people talk about the logan act which an old little used statute that you cant represent the government if youre not a Government Official. That never gets charged and thats kind of an offthe table i think. The real question is did he lie about the purpose of the meeting to the House Committee or another maybe mueller or someone else. Thats way more significant is than whether the meeting was actually took place and was a back channel. Prince was on this network last december, i believe. Heres what he told us. I was on a business meeting back in january in the island. I had gone to see some guys in the middle east. Theres this russian guy weve done businesses in the past and you should meet him. So i met him in a bar, chatted for 20 or 30 minutes and that was that. So thats eric princes version of what went on. Heres what Eric Swalwell had to say earlier on the network. Adam schiff and i both asked mr. Prince a number of times who did you meet with, did you ever try and establish a russia back channel, did you ever try and meet with uae and he denied it at every stop. If he tried to meet and establish a russian back channel, he lied to congress and we need to bring him back in and bring others in. Whether or not its normal to establish these back channels its leaving clearly more and more questions for people to figure out, what were these ties, what did trump know, what did people close to him know and those questions do not do anything but harmful things for trump and i think those questions are what well have to answer before we can really know the severity of these things. Theres an optics piece to this. Oh, yeah. Its just something elsewhere the initial story comes out, someone goes on tv and now their seems to be reporting contradicting the story. Michael, final thoughts to you. This russia Investigation Continues to be a distraction for donald trump. He believes we know hes frustrated about it. We know hes angry about it and we know it looks like its not going to end any time soon. Yeah. The thing about talking to the witnesses just showed me that the president had not learned a lot from the incidents he had around comey. When the incidents around comey came out mueller was appointed and it gave this huge problem over his administration and despite that, he continues to run up to the line of things that he probably shouldnt be doing and i was just a little surprised by that, that even at this point where he knows every little thing that he does, every tweet, everything about the investigation is going to be looked at with great care, that he would do that i thought was a little surprising and surprising to folks that i talked to about it. Michael schmidt, great reporting as always and a pleasure to have you on this program. Thanks for joining us. We want to get to an update this morning on something else. That lawsuit involving the porn star and the president. President trumps long time lawyer Michael Cohen is apparently trying to silence Stormy Daniels from talking about her, quote, intimate relationship with donald trump. The white house says the president has denied this relationship with daniels, denies that the president knew that cohen paid 130,000 to ensure her silence. Listen. Did he know about the payment . Not that im aware of. Have you asked the president this question . Yeah, ive had conversations with the president about this. This case had already been won in arbitration and that there was no knowledge of any payments from the president and hes denied all of these allegations. My sense from talking to folks in the white house, they think this is Stormy Daniels trying to get more attention, essentially, but this is an issue that is not going away. This is explosive stuff and allegations that shes making about the president. I spoke with lenny davis this more than who was the former special counsel to bill clinton and he was saying all of this, whether calling on witnesses speaking to mueller, this is just selfdestructive behavior 101 and weve seen that pattern of behavior from trump, from his lawyers and people close to him. It also reflects this shortterm thinking strategy they have will its with this or with tariffs, where they try to handle something in the immediate aftermath hoping itll go away somehow and its clearly not. Its just building and becoming a distraction for everyone. We have to leave it there. Were out of time. President trump is now talking up a meeting later on this afternoon. We know it has to do with steel and aluminum. What we dont know is whether hes going to formally announce, formally sign something to put those new tariffs into lace. We got the winners and losers if the president does go through with this and why this might mean trouble for trade alliances around the world. Smile dad. I take medication for high Blood Pressure and cholesterol. But they might not be enough to protect my heart. Adding bayer aspirin can further reduce the risk of another heart attack. Because my Second Chance matters. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. I was white house whiplash this morning. Everybody it seems is still trying to figure out whether theres a tariff announcement from the president this afternoon. Anything that i might say in the next ten minutes could change ten more minutes from now. We do know there will probably be something happening at least thats what the president himself tweeted this morning about this meeting. Hes looking forward to it at 3 30 eastern today. We have to protect and build our steel and Aluminum Industries while at the same time showing great flexibility and cooperation toward those that are real friends and treat us fairly on both trade and the military. A signal, perhaps, to allies around the world. In just the last couple of minutes, we heard from Chuck Schumer, this was just recently on the senate floor, actually backing the president s moves but asking him to do something more targeted. Listen. Both democrats and republicans have been blind to this issue and trump isnt. Good. But i would say to you, mr. President , dont swing blindly and wildly at our foe china. Establish a well placed jab at china. Kelly odonnell is over at the white house. I havent checked my email in seven minutes, has anything changed . Reporter no. It feels like that game show where there are doors and you dont know whats behind them so we think about 3 30 this afternoon a door will open and well find out what the president has in mind and given his entertainment tv past maybe he likes it that way. Its been a week of more question marks than answers on trade. We with know the president wants to impose some kind of tariff. It began as a sweeping plan. Weve seen intervention if you will at least in the conversation about could certain countries be exempt. He talked about flexibility in a tweet earlier today. You heard Chuck Schumer, notably, not criticizing the president , trying to encourage the president in a direction and weve seen that from both democrats and republicans. In the last hour the president s counsellor Kellyanne Conway was on fox news and she was describing where the president s head is on this issue. He wants us to have strong steel and aluminum in this country. He makes clear that he believes this countrys been on the losing side of trade deals for decades. He wants fair, reciprocal trade deals that stop screwing the American Worker and industries. Reporter at this moment is that to our understanding the paper work to support whatever the president wants to do is not yet completed. Today might be another way for the president to highlight this issue. He might have guests who are relevant to the issue of steel and aluminum. Its an opportunity for him to talk about it to sort of put his face on it. Photo op if you will. We dont get the sense yet that there will be a substantive final decision that will be unveiled today. Were waiting for more but thats where it stands right now. Thank you much. Joined now by christy mcdaniel. Nancy cook and alexia back with me. To pick up where kelly left off. Its my understanding from talking to sources this morning that this section 232 the National Security piece of this that the administration will use to go after some of these nations those details havent been worked out. They havent done the paper work on that. Youve got more than 100 republicans signing a letter to the president saying you have to target this. You heard Chuck Schumer saying the same thing. Can he do that . How tough is it to target a country like china . He could just target china. That is his authority, but so if you cut through all the rhetoric, the question we should be asking ourselves is why are we trying to prop up this one particular industry at the expense of everyone else and then the president will say because those industries are faltering. He wants to help some of those folks in the rust belt states. Lot of people who voted for him. Exactly. And he does have that constituency that has been on the socalled short end of the stick of a lot of the industrial change that the u. S. Economy has gone through. The the problem with tariffs tariff is an import tax. And so consumers will pay more, manufacturers will pay more. Its going to slow down growth and its not necessarily even going to change chinas behavior. So by trying to prop up one industry at the expense of the entire rest of the economy and meanwhile youre not going to change chinas behavior, what are we trying to accomplish here . The National Security argument is a hard sell especially when page one of the d. O. D. Memo says military only uses 3 of u. S. Produced steel, so why is steel so important . Theres been a question thats been raised to me as well about how you can talk about 232 and National Security when the president has explicitly linked this to nafta and the negotiations over that and trade there. Weve got cnbc reporting that the white house is reporting a 30 day exemption for canada and mexico. Now, just so happens that 30 days is up when the next nafta round of negotiations goes to happening. The thinking is that this is part of the concessions. What do you make of that strategy, christine . I dont know what the president is thinking. Im not going to second guess his negotiation strategy. This is part of his negotiation strategy. We will see how that plays out, but just in terms of whats best for the National Economic interest and all of america, it does not make sense to prop up one steel at the expense of everyone else. This idea of a wide broad tariff on steel and aluminum imports. Heres what they had to stay on morning joe. If the were to be across the board tariffs imposed including on European Union countries then we would be very upset, we would consider it unfair and we would use our rights under the wto to take what we call rebalancing action by imposing tariffs on American Products because thats the way the system works. Rebalancing action, he calls it. In other words, tariffs on bourbon, on blue jeans, on cheese from places in the United States, nancy . I think just broadly from the white house perspective there is just like a total since of chaos. I talked to people last night and hearing this morning there wouldnt a 30 day exemption, that it would be longer and based oh, really . And based on nafta talks, if you ask different people in the administration you hear totally Different Things and i feel like the only person who has sort of this clearly in his mind is the president and im not sure he has the details worked out. He wants to make an announcement because it plays well with his Political Base in states like he won in ohio, pennsylvania, et cetera. Christine, youre nodding. Yeah. It does exactly what nancy says. It plays very well. You have to cut through the rhetoric. What do they mean when they say we didnt get good trade deals . The u. S. Led all of those trade deals so what didnt we get that we should have gotten . In almost every single trade deal the u. S. Has done the other side has given out more than we have because weve been pretty much the more free and open economy. Hes looking at it like a ledger sheet. He sees these numbers that are different and hes upset about it. That is why economist were called the dismal scientist but trade policy cannot fix the trade balance. Christine, thank you for coming on. So excited. Im just throwing writing implements. Pleasure to have you on the set. After the break were heading down south, down to florida, lawmakers are actually doing something, taking action on new gun rules. Theyre sending a bill to governor rick scotts desk but there are parts of the bill that are still incredibly controversial which is why its not clear whether this is going to be signed into law. Well have a live report after the break. But im not standing still. And with godaddy, ive made my ideas real. I made my own way, now its time to make yours. Everything is working, working, just like it should if yor crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough, it may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. 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Com i we worked with pg eof to save energy because wenie. Wanted to help the school. They would put these signs on the door to let the teacher know you didnt cut off the light. The teachers, they would call us the energy patrol. So they would be like, here they come, turn off your lights those three young ladies were teaching the whole school about energy efficiency. We actually saved 50,000. And thats just one school, two semesters, three girls. Together, were building a better california. We are back now with a look at your mornings headlines. The second noreaster is still pounding the east coast today dumping snow as much as two feet all the way up to maine. At least a Million People still do not have power. 19 million are under storm warnings in new england. Well keep an eye on this one. This new information about the mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart more than eight decades ago. A researcher has now said hes 99 sure that some discarded bones on a tiny Pacific Island were actually hers. The bones found in 1940 were originally thought to belong to a man. Earhart disappeared in 1937 over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to fly around the world. Perhaps a little closer to one of the worlds greatest mysteries finally get solved. And down in florida, the legislateser there has passed a new gun and safety bill. This thing heads to Governor Scotts desk. Right now, there is no guarantee hes going to sign this thing. To explain why i want to bring back in Kerry Sanders whos down in parkland, florida, with the latest. Whats in this bill, what are people in parkland saying and what is next for Governor Scott . Reporter well, there are a lot of moving parts on this. First of all, you have the Republican Senate and the republican republican controlled house here that have passed a bill. That is actually monumental in its step because it involves limiting some access to weapons in this state. So first of all, lets take a look at the bill. It raises the minimum purchase for somebody to get a rifle in the state to 21. It had been 18. It imposes a three day waiting period as well. It begans bump stocks. It arms some School Employees and it will fund School Security as well as expanding Mental Health services. It is that idea of actually arming some of the schools teachers that is part of the controversy here. The governor has indicated that that is not something he wants to see happen in the state. The governor has 15 days now. He can veto the bill, he can ignore it and it would become law or he can sign it. Let me take you in to the house yesterday, Andrew Pollack who was the father of 14yearold meadow pollack, one of the 17 victims here, he was there as this made a historic vote passing and moving it over to the government of now to sign into law if he chooses to do that and this is what he had to say after that happened. On behalf of all the families who lost a loved one on february 14th, i want to thank the governor for tremendous support and we stand united in asking him to sign this historical bill into law. Reporter and we heard also from Andrew Pollack as well as folks right here in parkland saying, while this appears to be a significant step forward, its an incremental step that they would like to see actually much more happen on the state level as well as on the federal level. This is one of the residents in parkland speaking to me right here at the memorial just after the house vote yesterday. Im a little disappointed about the assault rifles still being available, but i think its a good start. Im really proud of the kids from this neighborhood. They really pushed for this. They deserve it. Reporter do they get the credit . We all deserve it. Reporter it now falls to the republican governor rick scott here in the state on whether hes going to sign this or not. Rick scott who is somebody who is indicated that he may now run for u. S. Senate and so the nra opposed to all of this and theres clearly going to be some calculation that the governor has to figure all this out. He might receive repercussions from the nra if he does announce that hes going to run for u. S. Senate. Thank you very much for joining us there from florida. Alexi and nancy are back here. So does rick scott sign this . Theres so much political calculus behind it. If he just ignores it thats sending a bigger and perhaps worse message because were seeing the power of protest from these students to push this legislation forward even if it is incremental and if he signs it, it would be the first major gun control legislation passed in florida in 20 years. I think that sends a really significant message not only to the parents and students but to everyone involved in this discussion. Thats the state level, but what about congress . There is discussion, you know i think back to the last three weeks now since this shooting happened that Congress Might be do something. There was action on x and y but there was excepty six that anything was going to get done and here we are and were where we were when the shooting happened. We wont see a ton of action from congress. After the shooting in las vegas there was a move to potentially outlaw bump stocks and, you know, there was a big talk about that for a few weeks and then that just died down. The president put new life into that when he directed the doj to ban those, basically. Sure. The president in these different conversations has had with survivors of the parkland shooting or their parents has had, you know, conversations about raising the age at which you could buy an assault weapon. I just dont see Congress Taking a lot of action. Where i see the action is on the state level. Thank you both very much. As we observe International Womens day, were shifting the focus to a crisis that has devastating consequences for women in myanmar t. Whats happening to Rohingya Refugees in that country. How its changing the legacy of a woman once considered to be a top peace maker . Dont miss this. Flonase allergy relief is different. Flonase relieves sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose, plus nasal congestion, which pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. And 6 is greater than 1. 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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. On this International Womens day we want to bring you an update on story we have covered before. A crisis happening right now in myanmar, a crisis that is redefining the legacy of one of the worlds most recognizable peacemakers. In a speech overnight to mark today, womens day, myanmar leader, aung san suu kyi, declared quote a countrys human rights value will be enhanced when women are granted their rights. But those words, frankly stand in stark contrast to this news. That the u. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has revoked the human rights award it gave to her for her failure to stop or acknowledge at all the abuses that have happened to rohingya fujz. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Refugees have fled to nearby bangladesh but a lot of them are still in myanmar. Some confined to the New York Times Nicholas Chris to have calls a 21st century concentration camp. He describes what he saw as quote, slow hoegs genocide. Hes going to be joining us in just a moment. I want to start with akshaya. Were expecting a report from the human rights councils, theyve been interviewing victims and survivors. What do you expect from this . This is a midterm report from them. We wont get final conclusions but all of the evidence shows us this should be a really damning report, a report that should ring the alarm bell and cause the world to pay more attention to whats happening here. We at human right watch have found these are crimes against humanity, people are poconbeing persecuted for their ethnicity and their worship. All of that deserves more attention. Youve collected these satellite images that show rohingya villages being destroyed. This is stunning stuff. What are the implications of what were looking at right now . Those images are really particularly shocking to me because its not just that people were burned out of their homes last year, but now this year in 2018, the government is going in and bulldozing everything to clean up the crime scene, basically. And all of that is much worse because independent groups like mine but also the u. N. Havent been able to get in to these areas. The myanmar government is not only able to commit these crimes but theyre bulldozing away all of the evidence so if anybody ever gets there later they wont be able to build a case file. One person who has been doing a reporting on this is nick kristof. This is a video report thats up on the times piece. He spoke about a woman that is struggling during childbirth and i want to play for you some of that exchange then well talk about it. In the camp the other day, we saw a young woman who desperately needed a csection. Hopefully you could see the subtitles on the bottom of the screen. The Officials Say thats the thing, speaking of pregnancy and population, they dont control their birthrate. That is terrifying to hear. Absolutely. Its chilling because its that kind of dehumanization that we keep on hearing from myanmar Government Officials. It also points to a bigger issue and its something weve seen in all of these refugee camps but its also an issue for rohingya still trapped inside myanmar. They dont have access to adequate medical care especially women, dont have access to safe abortion care and this was particularly preannounced because i spent some time in the camps myself last year and we spoke to rape victims who havent been able to see a doctor yet and now in a couple months youll be seeing babies who were born, perhaps of rape by myanmar government soldier, a rape as a part of ethnic cleansing and their mothers never even had a chance to make a decision about seeking a safe abortion and that is its just hugely dehumanizing to then see the myanmar Government Official just talk about how this community is in quote unquote, controlling their birthrates. Nick is joining us now on the phone. Nick, you saw what walking through myanmar. Hes done a lot of reporting like this. You use words like genocide and concentration camps. What women are going through there . Sure. And, you know, originally i used terms like ethnic cleansing and then after talking to survivors and seeing what ive seen, ive really come to believe as have a lot of commentators that this is genocide and for example, i spoke to survivors who described how in their village the men and boys had all been killed, the women were taken by soldiers to be raped and one woman was told me how she was hiding her baby under her scarf and they the soldiers saw it, grabbed her baby by the leg and threw this baby girl into a bond fire. What do you call that . But genocide. That kind of slaughter with guns and machetes that is ebbed for now but what is continuing is the starvation of the hoe hinga, the systematic denial of health care and women, bare the brunt of this partly because they have babies and if you have no access to prenatal care, no access to emergency Obstetric Services a lot of them end up dying. Part of this too is bringing this to the worlds attention. You were actually told not to do any reporting is my understanding when you went to myanmar. You went on a tourist visa. You did the reporting any way, of course. You have these two reuters journalists. Theyre on trial. Theyre charged with violating a state secret law. You had some people afraid to talk to you. How do you bring this more front and center to people around the world if the government is blocking reporting efforts like yours . Well, yeah. The point of the myanmar government in arresting those two reuters reporters, they were extraordinary coverage is to terfire the rest of us and one of the problems right now is that the, you know, President Trump has not spoken up forcefully about this to condemn the myanmar government, but likewise we in journalist are so focused on President Trump that we dont have have a lot of bandwidth to cover other humanitarian crisis. Halle, im so glad youre investing some time in this coverage, because these are stories that we in journalism will regret if we let them slip through the cracks. Did you get a sense of people didnt want to talk to you . That some people were terrified about it . Well, the original interpreter that i lined up, he canceled on me at the last minute because he was scared. He takes any myanmar person is going to take a greater risk than i do. The rohingya themselves, they were desperate. Theyre seeing people die because of lack of medical care there. Theyre not able to get any education. Theyre desperate. Theyre willing to speak and willing they feel they have just nothing to lose at this point, but there is a lot of fear there among journalists and among the population and to have this happen under a Nobel Prize Winner is so discouraging. Thank you for coming on. I want to thank akashaya as well. Lets turn back now to politics at home. We want to talk specifically about whats happening on the hill because the house top democrat on the House Intelligence Committee speaking with reporters in the hall. Lets listen in. Well, i dont know. Clearly, weve had the greatest difficulty in wrestling with the issue of collusion. I think theres a lot of agreement on part of our investigation that is the intelligence communitys attempt assessment of russian activity, what the russians did as well as the integrity of the intelligence communitys conclusion about their efforts to sew discord, to hurt clinton and help trump. Theres broad agreement i would hope on that and i would hope that we can Work Together on presenting that to the public. There ought to be broad agreement on what the response should be in how we protect the country going forward. There have been difficulties on other issues. Im ready to head down to the committee. Thank you. You have been watching congressman adam schiff talking with reporters in the hallway there about the House Intelligence Committees russia investigation. By the way, asCorey Lewandowski is going to be speaking with that committee today. That is happening later. I want to bring back in alexi and nancy who have been watching that with me and listen, there is signs, that are signs based on our reporting that the House Intelligence Committee is getting ready to wrap this puppy up. Its piece of it after the Corey Lewandowski piece. This doesnt seem close to wrapping up and two, what weve seen from representative adam schiff who we just saw, the democrat there, i feel like even if the investigation wraps up, he will continue to be a very vocal critic of President Trump and really continue to raise questions about what happened with russia, what happened with the transition and Campaign Officials and i feel like that has become an issue for him that well keep hearing particularly through the midterms. If that wraps up, im curious to see the trump tweets claiming vindication, using that to say bob mueller, you should be wrapping up soon too. I think it will make him feel gratified in the interim. In t. Muellers isnt ending any time soon, and trump shouldnt feel he is off scotfree yet. One of our reporters was on the ground. Well grab him in a second to talk through the take aways from adam schiff here. You have some real concern about that particular committee, about the partisanship inside that committee versus, for example, whats happening on the senate side, from richard burr has led, by many accounts, what is the credible investigation on the hill. Something you know, nancy. Absolutely. Something weve seen is chairman nunez has sort of gone to war with the democrats. The intelligence committees, s historically theyre supposed to not have that part. Theyre the last on the hill. Until this point, they have been. If you ask republicans who used to be on the committee, thats how it was until the last six months. It is another area of congress where its been totally politicized and partisan. A lot of people feel, even republicans, like it is a shame. We see trump is expecting loyalty from everyone, i think including devin nunez. That is trickling down to his behavior and could influence it. It is partisan. The war of the memos is a perfect example of how crazy this has become. Mike is joining us live from capitol hill. You watched the interview with adam schiff. You were there. Can you walk through what your biggest take aways were from that as we expect to see, by the way, Corey Lewandowski entering any minute . Reporter thats right. Corey lewandowski has just arrived. He arrived as we were there. Hearing from adam schiff, the top democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, what schiff was doing, there is an interest in the reporting from the seychelles meeting. Related to what we talked about at the top of the show, with the reporting that bob mueller is looking into the seychelles meeting. You see live pictures of Corey Lewandowski, former Donald Trump Campaign manager, walking into his meeting with House Intelligence Committee officials, including adam schiff, who you just saw. Mike, why are they bringing corey back . Reporter Corey Lewandowski was before the committee in january, a few hours testifying. It was a dead end interview. Corey lewandowski kept saying in response to multiple questions from the committee that day that he was not prepared to answer their questions. This wasnt even executive privilege, that the president was reserving the right not to have him answer the questions. He said he wasnt prepared to answer these questions. Even with the republicans on the committee, they insisted he return. Hes here now. Hopefully from their point of view in the last few weeks, he has had time to prepare himself to answer some of the questions. I will say, hallie, this is what we saw a get away day on capitol hill. I saw some of the republican members just walking off the floor from both heading out. Not clear how many of them were planning to stay for todays interview. Might not be as lengthy as some of the interview has gone. Hope hicks was more than nine hours. Mike, hope you brought some snacks in the basement of the capitol. Thank you. Well check back in later on. Our nbc news political reporter. I want to bring in congressman tom reed. Let me get your reaction to what we were hearing from adam schiff and mike memely. Corey lewandowski walking in for his meeting with the intelligence House Committee. Do you believe the house is close to wrapping up the investigation . I believe it is going forward, and i would hope it gets done sooner rather than later. Theyre doing due diligence, in my opinion, and thats what the committee is about. Get to the bottom of the information, the facts and let the facts drive the conversation forward. Let me ask you why we brought you on, which is to talk about trade and the new tariffs the president may make some action on today, make some headlines on today at 3 30 p. M. Eastern. Still tbd, of course. You did not sign a letter, that other republicans did, asking the president to narrow down his tariff proposal. Why not . I understand what the president is doing, and i respect his efforts to you dont think youre fine if canada and mexico is on the list without exceptions . Im open for the conversation. I want to send a message to the world and the president that im standing with him in regards to disrupting this trade policy that has left Many Americans behind because of the trade policies that allow countries to take advantage of us. He is doing something that prior president s have not done. That is leading on this issue aggressively and vigorously. I appreciate that tone, and i appreciate the longterm effect this will have in a positive development for us back here in america. Wait a second. We just heard from the Eu Ambassador this morning, for example, talking about the potential of retaliatory on things that americans make and send overseas. How will it not hurt you . Absolutely, im concerned about that. Im concerned about the consequences, and i recognize those consequences. Shortterm pain, in my opinion, may be something we have to incur in order to get longterm gain for us as a country and make us stronger as a country. Im willing to go down the path because the status quo is just not doing what it needs to do to grow the american economy, grow jobs back on american soil, and i want to see those jobs back here as opposed to being outsourced and sent overseas day in and day out. Republican senator ben sasse was talking about this trade policy. I think we have that sound. I want to play it for you, congressman, and ask you a question about it on the other side. Lets listen. B we dont have the audio, but he pla basically called this a dumb policy. Theyre saying it privately, as youre well aware. Are you concerned about breaking with your party in this way . There has been increasing signals from people like paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, that they want this to be targeted. Use a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. Im not concerned about leading on this issue and standing up to our party and being an independent voice to say, you know what, the status quo cannot be maintained. I understand the consequences of disrupting the status quo. Many of colleagues have the potential concern. Im willing to go down this path because the status quo is not working in growing the economy long term. Thats what i am focused on, representing the people back home. Let me go to another story here. The way this tariff policy has unfolded has been a hot mess. I think that that is just a factually correct statement based on our reporting the last six or seven days since the president announced it. Why is there so much chaos in the white house, and doesnt that start with the president himself and his leadership . Well, i do think this is part of a style that the president has deployed. A style of hot messes . Is that what it is . No. This is about keeping people on their heels, disrupting, bringing disruption to washington, d. C. It causes a lot of people to not react the way youd typically see d. C. Folks and the establishment react. That type of disruption coming at it with what some people feel is chaos, some people feel is disruptive, and thats what it is about. Its putting people in a position to say, were going to change the course of americas future. It is going to be with anxiety and some fear. You are talking about disrupti disruption. Another d word has come up, distraction. It has to do with another big headline that has dominated a lot of the news over the last 48 hours or so, having to do with the former adult film Stormy Daniels. Shes suing the president for her right to tell her story. The headline for the Washington Post, republicans flee the storm over Stormy Daniels and President Trump. Since youre on the program, what do you make of the allegations, that she was paid hush money to keep quiet about her affair she said she has with the president ma . I have no idea on that situation. Ill let the white house handle those inquiries and let it take its course. Im focused on what impacts the American People at home. Is this a distraction for donald trump . What does this have to do with moving policy that puts more food on the table for people we represent back home . What does this do to keep america safe . That conversation, people will have the conversation. Media will have that conversation. The white house is going to have to deal with this, obviously. Thats where i try to focus on, what are the issues that impact people back home . That gets lost in washington, d. C. All the time. Congressman reed, thank you for talking us through the headlines of the day. Appreciate it. Always a pleasure. Thank you. To end the show, as always, well end with todays big picture. All month for womens history month, weve been highlighting the photos by, for and about women, we had to do it on International Womens day, as well. This is women in new delhi, india, shouting slogans during a demonstration as hundreds of people are celebrating. They marched and protested domestic violence, sexual abuse, discrimination in the workplace. Big issues now in india where Violent Crime is up, despite new laws from the government. This is an example that International Womens day really is a global movement. The future is female. Photographer here from the ap. Id love to hear your thoughts on facebook, twitter, snapchat and instagram. Were posting stories all day from over at the white house. Thats where im headed next. Ill turn you over to my colleague, ali velshi, celebrating International Womens day without his friend, stephanie ruhle. Its not exactly how we had this planned. Want to hang out and do, you know ill happening out. Im not busy until noon. Standby. Either way, ill see you later today. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Im ali velshi. Stephanie ruhle is off. It is thursday, march 8th. Lets get started. The Washington Post has new details on what a reported witness for the Mueller Probe is allegedly telling investigatori. It involves a january 2017 meeting in the Seychelles Islands between eric prince, who bankrolled ads that supported President Trump in 2016, and a russian who heads up a Major Investment Fund for vladimir putin. It is also alleged it was part of an effort to set up back Channel Communications between the president elect trump and moscow. Did that conversation come up between you and this Hedge Fund Manager . Not at all. No collusion. No nothing. The New York Times and Washington Post stories breaking about possible witness
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