Issue and he his conclusion is he wasnt exonerating the president , but he wasnt finding a crime either. Our team is here with this story and others well bring you this hour. A lot to get to. But, lets stick with this. Pete williams in washington, Robert Costa National political reporter for the Washington Post. And matt miller, former Justice Department spokesperson and msnbc analyst. Pete, to you first. Barr talked about the legal analysis in the Mueller Report and i want to share more of what he said. We didnt agree with the legal analysis, a lot of the legal analysis of the report. It did not reflect the views of the department, it was the views of a particular lawyer or lawyers. Correct me if im wrong, barr told Congress Last month that he did accept muellers legal framework. Whats changed . Im not quite sure what the attorney general is referring to about the legal analysis. My assumption is because of the questions that jan crawford was asking him, that it was the analysis about what constituted obstruction of justice. Whether the allegations that were looked at, the ten instances that the report looked at amounted to obstruction of justice and what i gather from the attorney general is hes saying that we know that he and Rod Rosenstein concluded that none of those amounted to a crime. Of course, mueller never made that conclusion, said he couldnt even think about whether there was a crime committed because of the olc policy against indicting a president. I guess thats what hes talking about and i suppose what he meant in the Senate Testimony is that they accepted his overall framework for how he analyzed things in the broader. Icture. Frankly, a little hard to tell by what he means by legal analysis. Thats my best guest. If Pete Williams isnt sure what he means, the rest of us have no shot. Your reaction to what barr is saying here. I think pete is largely right. Goes to something that has been disingenuous of how he reached his conclusion all along. Remember, he got that report and within 48 hours he had supposedly digested the entire session and ten special episodes that the special counsel examined and factual legal considerations for all of those and made a determination on every one of them and wrote the letter toocongress where he saie didnt find a crime. I think what he more likely did is he just took that frame of reference that he brought into the job which is if a president is exercising his constitutional as president , his constitutional power as president , it cant be a crime, even if he has corrupt intent. It takes a lot of these episodes off the table. When he went before the senate and also the letter that he sent, he had said thats not what he did. He accepted the legal analysis and then just made a decision on the facts. He appears to be saying something different. Its a little muddy, as pete said. But i think hes giving away the game a little bit and what his real analysis was. Its a little muddy. Do you remember all these months when we kept saying, lets wait for the report to come out so this will be much clearer and we can get all the answers. Mr. Costa, bill barr was pushed on his use of the word spying. Listen to this. Youve testified that you believe spying occurred. Yes. Into the Trump Campaign. Yes. Youve got some criticism for using that word. Yeah, i mean, its gue guess become a dirty word. I dont think there is anything wrong with spying. The use of the word makes it seem that youre being a loyalist. You know, its part of the craziness of a udmaemodern day. If a president uses a word, its off bounds. Its a perfectly good english word and ill continue to use it. What is your take . He said he always uses that word. If i visit my parents, theyll say, spying, surveillance. Whats the difference . A charged word for many people. At the same time, mr. Barr is correct in the sense that he used the word his entire career. He started his career at the Central Intelligence agency. What is distinctive about these comments on this front is that there is still an ongoing Inspector General investigation in terms of the origin of the russia investigation and surveillance of the Trump Campaign and different associates. That has not yet concluded. So, by using the word spying, our sources at the post inside Law Enforcement community and Congressional Community are taken aback because they believe he is in a sense coming to a conclusion on these matters before the Inspector General in his own department comes to a conclusion. Matt, daily beast is reporting that trumps team is now itching for Robert Mueller to testify. This was a shock to many. The idea is that he could get grilled by republican lawmakers. What is your reaction to that . I dont know whether thats real or not. I could see some members of the team supporting that. But trump made very clear at times that he doesnt want mueller to testify. One thing that was the power of television. You only had bill barr television talking about and only had the president talking about it, that was a powerful thing for him because most of the americans arent going to read this report. Bob mueller coming forward the other day changed the game. Because you had the prosecutor who investigated this matter for two years standing up very clearly and say if i told you the president didnt commit a crime, i would, but i cant. Powerful for him to come forward and say that to congress. But that does give the forum for all the republican members of the committee to air their conspiracy theories and spend a lot of time attacking those. I dont know, obviously, what jerry nadler will do and there is some argument for him, you know, taking what mueller gave him the other day. Taking this very powerful televised performance and just ending it there and not dragging it out for what could become a political side show. Robert, do you buy this . The president said over and over he does not want mueller to testify. Do you think thats changed . Remember, all of the eyeballs that watched Michael Cohen testify. Do you think the president and his team really want all of us sitting back, again, and watching Robert Mueller tell all those 400 pages to the American People . There is a debate about this inside of the Republican Party and the president s inner circle. For a long time the consensus based on my reporting was that they did not want mr. Mueller to testify because they believe it would illuminate the possible case of obstruction of justice on capitol hill as the House Democrats consider impeachment. Now, there is a view among some harder edge republicans and conservative republicans who have long voiced complaints about Robert Mueller that they would like to have a shot at him rhetorically. They would like to take him on and unpack his arguments from the report and republican think they could have some political theater, legal theater that would also help their cause as much as it could help the democrats to have mr. Mueller there. All right, Pete Williams, robert costa. Thank you so much. Mr. Costa, dont forget. Washington week, that is tonight on pbs, hes not just an allstar reporter, hes a host. Right now were watching the dow, which is still reacting to the president s surprise tariff threat unveiled on his favorite social media medium, a tweet. This time, against mexico. Hans nichols is at the white house. Also with us cnbc contributor dan nathan and kelsey snell reporter. We have a full house to break this down. Hans, to you first. Help us understand the specifics and how it will affect the everyday person at home because at this point, its just a threat. Its just a tweet. And this is how the president runs his business. Well, as for specifics, the white house hasnt been real clear on where they think it will hit consumers. Peter novaro is talking on cnbc and just a small burden for American Consumers to pay. If this does go into effect, this will be paid by the producers in mexico. As you know, thats a novel, economic interpretation. What is clear from this morning is the white house is trying to get two things. Congress attention and mexicos attention. When we pressed Sarah Huckabee sanders earlier, whether there is a conversation between this administration and mexico, she wouldnt really enumerate whether mexico was given a heads up. Its unclear if the president s have spoken or any effort to have them speaking. She does want mexico starting to take action and crucially, stephanie, almost seems to be aimed as much as congress. Lets listen to the exchange with sarah sanders. Why should u. S. Consumers bear the brunt of the president s trade policies . They shouldnt, frankly. Congress should actually fix the laws and we wouldnt have this problem. Mexico should engage with us and we wouldnt have to take any additional steps. At the same time the number one duty the president of the United States has is National Security and protect americans. The Business Roundtable has come out with a statement, stephanie. Thats largely a republican friendly group. Theyre calling this decision by the president a grave era. I know we got a response overnight from the mexican president. What is he saying . Look, the mexico president is saying this is not the way, not the proper channel and the venue to have a conversation. It was a pretty short statement and the translation was to that effect. Saying, look, this is not how we want to have this conversation. It is unclear at this hour at 10 10 whether the white house is trying to get Congress Attention or mexicos attention. They have gotten both. This seems like a shot to try to get congress to do something about the border and its indicative of the frustration that the president is feeling where he doesnt quite feel that he is getting the kind of progress on the wall on the southern border when he sees the numbers that he would like to see. Steph . Dan, were seeing automaker shares plunging and companies that produce or at least work a lot with mexico. What are you paying attention to . We do a ton of business just across the border, back and forth. Listen, this is nothing short of a political stunt. I think that is what hans was mentioning right there. Trying to get Congress Attention. We have negotiated nafta 2. 0 and these tariffs that the president is threatening would not be legal under that agreement. I think hes trying to get the mexican attention. And trying to get our manufacturer attention, too. He wants the factories back in the u. S. But in the meantime, make no mistake about it, the u. S. Consumers will bear the brunt of these tariffs if they come in place. Once again, he makes the horrible negotiating mistake again and again. You put a deadline. He put june 10th. Were talking about less than two weeks and then we will start seeing the adverse effects. He wants everyones attention and he wants them to do what . What are u. S. Manufacturers going to do . Does he think congress is actually going to say, hold on a second, let me give you the money for the wall . What is his ultimate goal . I think the whole mexico is going to pay for the wall. If these tariffs were put in place, they could start to make that argument as you go into the political season of 2020 as we get close to the president ial election. I just dont think it helps a whole heck of a lot because the people he wants to vote for him in the heartland the most adversely affected by these tariffs. I like to get technical. The president said the irtaof will increase until the problem is remedied. How exactly does the white house plan to measure that between now and june 10th . Another thing that he said was that if it would increase starting on june 10th and then up 5 every month going until october and that with the white house or the president s sole discretion they would decide whether or not to stop those tariffs based on whether mexico fulfilled the obligations that the white house is setting out. The answer to that question, steph, it will depend entirely on what President Trump decides. If those numbers of immigrants crossing the border do go down. If he feels that mexico is doing more to prevent migrants from crossing the poborder, that, apparently, is one of the reasons this week he decided to make an announcement. Another big number of people who crossed the borderer. That is probably the answer. There wont be, or at least so far there is not a specific criteria that mexico could look at and have a piece of paper or document that says, this is what you need to do. Once youve done that, youre in the clear. Dan, from the markets perspective or economic perspective, this is nafta 2. 0. Jared kushners baby. If this puts usmca in question, if it threatens it, then what happens . A trade war with china that is only escalating right now. The last thing you want is a multifront trade war, especially with some of our biggest trading partners. I mean, i think it shouldnt be lost on viewers here that canada and mexico are our two biggest trading partners. When you think about where we export more than we import for them. That is a big difference with china. Break this down for us one more time. This is really important. This is not like china where we buy all our stuff from. We are actually exporting a lot of stuff to mexico and canada. If they want to retaliate and put tariffs on, that could be a real problem for our goods that are going out the door that are going to be more expensive to consumers abroad. And that makes us less competitive. To me, i think that, again, we know we have an issue with europe. The president tried to push off auto tariffs between europe and japan a couple weeks ago. This thing could mushroom a little bit and we could find ourselves in a multifront trade war which would weigh on u. S. Corporate profits which we get maybe 50 of our profits from outside the u. S. And, really, we have a fragile Global Economy right now and this is the sort of thing that i just dont think anybody wants. Global growth, talk to any big ceo and theyll say global growth, that is their game plan. Kelsey, give us lawmaker reaction, specifically republicans. I think its very notable that republicans want to come out most forcefully against this. The finance Committee ChairmanChuck Grassley who is not at all someone who breaks with the president on things very often is really upset about this. He says that trade policy and the border are completely separate issues. Were also hearing from a republican from iowa who says that this is a bad idea. If youre losing republicans on this issue, it does not spell good things for usmca. It also does not spell good things for when President Trump wants to ask for more border money and the spending bills coming up. They already have a huge fight on their hands for spending and this is not making it easier. All right. Well, this isnt going away any time soon. We have a lot to cover. Kelsey, jeff, stick around. When we come back, they are among the first to vote in the nation, but often feel ignored. Still ahead, tremaine lee speaks with black voters in iowa about the key to winning their vote in 2020. There are many times where black people dont feel important and dont feel heard. To have someone step out and make us feel like we count, that matters. Well have that later in the hour. But, first, Jared Kushners big rollout gets delayed. Why his middle east peace plan is being put on ice, at least for now. For now. Keep there, thats hard. Going back to the doctor just for a shot. With neulasta onpro. Patients get their day back. To be with. Family. Or just to sleep in. Strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. In a key study. Neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17 . To 1 . A 94 decrease. Neulasta onpro is designed to deliver. Neulasta the day after chemo. And is used by most patients today. Neulasta is for certain Cancer Patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta if youre allergic to it or Neupogen Filgrastim . An incomplete dose could increase infection risk. Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries and capillary leak syndrome. Have occurred. 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The Trump Administration likely to release the anticipated plan until the fall after israels unexpected election. Christopher hill, former u. S. Ambassador to iraq, is with us. Matt, why this marshpartial del . Explain what happened in israel. The Trump Administration is pumping the brakes because of domestic political events in israel. Benjamin netanyahu the Prime Minister, he won resoundingly last month in elections, but he wasnt able to cobble together a coalition to make a new government. And according to the israeli constitution, that means there have to be new elections. Those have now been scheduled for midseptember. With this controversial rollout and its unlikely and unclear if Benjamin Netanyahu will still be the Prime Minister shortly after this controversial rollout of this new peace plan, what the Trump Administration is calling the deal of the century. Even if he does win, its not entirely clear that the government is going to look to what the Trump Administration wants for this new peace plan. This peace plan is a real duzy. Expected to land with a major thud here in the region. The Trump Administration will need Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies in that cabinet and there will be assurances they will be there when this roll this out. Matt bradley, thank you so much. To you, ambassador hill. This plan has been on hold for months because theyre waiting for this politically advantageous moment. Exactly how matt bradley laid it out for us. But hasnt been one thus far. How do you think this thing is going to turn out . Well, first of all, i think its highly problematic. First of all, any Peace Agreement whether youre dealing with the balkans or dealing with north korea, theres always a financial inducement. What happened here, though, is the financial inducement kind of became much of the whole plan. The idea that this is some kind of economic piece. And it depended on a couple of factors. One was to say yes to absolutely everything the saudis have erve asked us for. The saudis will come through and give the money that will be needed to help the palestinians. And, of course, the second issue, of course, is how to deal with the israelis. But in the meantime, you know, netanyahu right during the run up during the campaign and his party is going to have to go further right as they get ready for the next election. So, im not sure that its going to be a shred of the socalled twostate solution which is what the rest of the arab world wants. This is going to be very problematic and maybe it is a good idea to wheel this thing back in the garage and do more tinkering on it. You also need participation. Jerusalem post reporting that abbas said that this peace plan can go to hell. We know the palestinian leadership has already said they wont attend the bahrain summit next month. Th is this thing dead on arrival if the palestinians say no dice . It kind of looks that way. You have to remember that palestinians are in huge economic problems right now. Partly induced by the u. S. This is kind of a pattern we have seen in the Trump Administration. Create the crisis yourself and then offer a solution to the crisis you created. The palestinians are in a tough position and probably the palestinian leadership doesnt want to say no to everything at this point. They do need some inducements. The problem is these elements, especially dealing with the saudis who have never come through in any kind of substantial way on arab israeli issues. Depending on them is tough and depending on netanyahu to play ball with us is going to be tough, especially given his personal problems and his legal problems and then the fact that we have no idea how this is going to play out in september. So, again, i think it may be an opportunity for kushner to, you know, roll this thing back, back where it came from. And to start thinking about some of the tough political issues that he thinks will somehow fall into place once we induce the palestinians with beach front condos, which seems to be the currency the Trump Administration prefers. In all seriousness, Jared Kushner takes a plan and rolls it back in the garage. Anything the white house can do, maybe economically, to get palestinian leadership at least in the room. First of all, needs to be a serious discussion with the palestinian leadership. The white house will want to make clear that, no, were not going to go with an israeli plan to annex the west bank which is being considered as they get ready for the september election. A serious dialogue with the palestinians, some effort to restart some of the aid projects that were important to the sort of helping the palestinians build their institutions. And, some concept that maybe we are not going to play one side of this issue, were going to work with the other side. There is a reason this hasnt been solved in decades. So, i think maybe the best thing that could happen is if Jared Kushner paid a little respect and attention to those who have dealt with this arab israel issue before. Ambassador, thank you so much. Ambassador chris hill joining us on middle east peace talks. When wee co come back, aftee break, ill speak to colorado senator Michael Bennet who is running, yet he is cautions against the idea. Against the idea to a single defining moment. When a plan stops being a plan and gets set into motion. Todays merrill can help you get there with the people, tools, and personalized advice to help turn your ambitions into action. What would you like the power to do . The nations largest seniorliving referral service. For the past five years, ive spoken with hundreds of families and visited seniorcare communities around the country. 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That is to determine, thats the first step. To determine whether or not trump has committed impeachable offenses. Bernie sanders. Now the ninth contender to call for either impeachment or the start of an inquiry after Robert Mueller gave his News Conference this week. Colorado senator Michael Bennet believes congress should be a bit more cautious. Senator bennett joins me now from atlanta, georgia. Senator, welcome. Explain to us why youre not joining this growing list of candidates who call for impeachment proceedings . Stephanie, thanks for having me. Just listening to what bernie said, i think if i had a difference with him, its only semantic and not important and hes absolutely right to say we should begin an inquiry and take this first step. My only point is if you impeach trump tomorrow, thats a get out of jail card for donald trump and his dream come true. And, frankly, maybe i wouldnt call it an impeachment inquiry, the Impeachment Committee called the Watergate Committee because what trump is looking to do here is to say that he was railroaded. The rule of law, its ironic, because he doesnt believe in the rule of law himself. But he was railroaded for political purposes and he knows his backstop is Mitch Mcconnell and the republicans in the sena senate. So, by all means, i agree with what bernie said on your program. I think we should start the inquiry. We should have bob mueller up there. We should have the unredacted report. We should call witnesses. We should spend the whole summer going through what happened here because i happen to believe that the president committed impeachable offenses because i believe he obstructed justice. But until we go through this process, we cant decide what the right approach is. And, by the way, nancy pelosi has the hardest job in washington right now. She needs to make sure she does this in a way that honors the importance of the Congress Oversight responsibility and at the same time, doesnt give donald trump a path to reelection and, at the same time, holds on to the majority that we have in the house of representatives. This is a very fraught moment in American History and a time when democrats, i think, should be strategic and not governed by every 15 seconds of whatever the traffic is on twitter. Nancy pelosi does have a hard job. Did Robert Mueller make her job harder . Robert mueller could have come up with a conclusion. Had he done so, bill barr could not have written that twopage summary two days later. I think most fair minded people in washington think bob mueller is about as straight and arrow as he is and i think he made it very clear when he came out and made his statement that there are reasons why he did not not write an indictment but wrote if the president had not committed crimes he would goneeragon exonerate him. What bob mueller had written and said from the very beginning. Thats one of the reasons why were all playing catch up now. The attorney general lied about what is in the report. He mischaracterized what was in the report. He is acting really as Donald Trumps defense lawyer and not the attorney general. And, so, lets get mueller up there. He needs to testify, not just in one day. Robert mueller said he couldnt move forward and charge the president because that wasnt an option for him. Last night Elizabeth Warren said what she would like to do is nominate an office of Legal Counsel that would reverse the watergate era rule that says a sitting president cannot be indicted for criminal behavior. Would you join Elizabeth Warren in that pledge . I havent looked at that, stephanie. Heres what i would like to do. Let us have the public testimony in front of the American People. If you want to see how screwed up our system of government is right now, people should go and watch 20 minutes of the watergate hearings. Just 20 minutes. And there you will see something we may never see again in our lifetime. Members of Congress Actually behaving as though we have a responsibility to the American People to bring them along in the decisions we make so that the decisions we make can be defended and so that we can win politically. Thats what i think we should do. We have muellers report. Lets get mueller up there and get other people up there to tell the American People why the rule of law is so important. Why what donald trump did is so outrageous. How the russians interfered with our elections. That still is not something that the public has seen and the polling shows it. By the way, stephanie. So, im not saying be cautious and im not saying get out ahead, im saying lets be strategic for once. Be strategic for once. All right, senator, thank you so much. I appreciate you joining me today. Colorado senator and president ial candidate Michael Bennet. A reminder that debate i mentioned, you know where you can see it, right here in less than a month and road warriors and all the democratic contenders are on the road there. That debate is going to happen here on msnbc, nbc and telemundo. Still ahead Patrick Shanahan speaks out on the scheme involving a war ship named after late senator john mccain. First, hundreds of families rush to dry ground after a levee breaches along the arkansas river. The Doctors Office might mejust for a shot. O but why go back there when you can stay home with neulasta® onpro . Strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. In a key study neulasta® reduced the risk of infection from 17 to 1 a 94 decrease. Neulasta® onpro is designed to deliver neulasta® the day after chemo and is used by most patients today. Neulasta® is for certain Cancer Patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta® if youre allergic to it or Neupogen Filgrastim . An incomplete dose could increase infection risk. Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems allergic reactions, kidney injuries and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. Report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. In patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. The most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. If youd rather be home ask your doctor about neulasta® onpro. Pay no more than 5 per dose with copay card. About medicare and supplemental insurance. Medicare is great, but it doesnt cover everything only about 80 of your part b medicare costs, which means you may have to pay for the rest. Thats where Medicare Supplement insurance comes in to help pay for some of what medicare doesnt. Learn how an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by United HealthcareInsurance Company might be the right choice for you. A free decision guide is a great place to start. Call today to request yours. So what makes an aarp Medicare Supplement plan unique . Well, these are the only Medicare Supplement plans endorsed by aarp and thats because they meet aarps high standards of quality and service. Youre also getting the great features that any Medicare Supplement plan provides. For example, with any Medicare Supplement plan you may choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. You can even visit a specialist. With this type of plan, there are no networks or referrals needed. Also, a Medicare Supplement plan goes with you when you travel anywhere in the u. S. A free decision guide will provide a breakdown of aarp Medicare Supplement plans, and help you determine the plan that works best for your needs and budget. Call today to request yours. Lets recap. There are 3 key things you should keep in mind. One if youre turning 65, you may be eligible for medicare but it only covers about 80 of your Medicare Part b costs. A Medicare Supplement plan may help pay for some of the rest. Two this type of plan allows you to keep your doctor as long as he or she accepts medicare patients. And three these are the only Medicare Supplement plans endorsed by aarp. Learn more about why you should choose an aarp Medicare Supplement plan. Call today for a free guide. Medicare supplement plan. What is that . Uh mine, why . Its just that its. Lavender. Yes it is, its for men but i like the smell of it laughs breaking news. Levees have been breached and in danger of failing from historic flooding in the midwest and south. Millions of people at risk. This on your screen is the scene in arkansas where flood waters breached the levee prompting evacuations. Kristen dahlgren spoke with one flood victim who was spared major damage. A tragedy like this brings out the very best in people and they surround you with hope and we have hope. We do. Streets there have been turned into rivers in some spots. Temporary shelters are housing hundreds of people who have lost their homes to this epic flooding. Now, turning to acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan. Hes in singapore this morning where hes facing new questions about those reports the white house directed the navy to move the uss mccain out of sight during President Trumps visit to japan earlier this week. Speaking to reporters, shanahan was asked if the pentagon agrees with the president that the official who made that direction was, quote, well meaning. Does the Defense Department look at whomever did this within the navy as well meaning, as well, or will there be repercussions . Ill wait until i give the full explanation of the facts before ill pass judgment on the situation. I would not have moved the ship. I would not have given that direction. Ill wait and see what get reported back. Courtney at the pentagon, kelsey snell, jeff mason back with me. Courtney, acting defense secretary cannot escape this story, even if hes in singap e singapore. Thats right. I dont know if it helps or hurts him that he is actually in the region where this happened with the uss mccain a few days ago during the president s visit. He has been asked about it several times by the traveling press corps and an issue that will continue to follow him until and even until we get more answers on what happened here. What we know the u. S. Navy is denying several parts of the story that was first reported by wall street journal this week and that includes the name of the mccain was covered up during the president s visit. A tarp over at it at one point but it was removed and as part of some sort of ship maintenance. They also deny that several, that u. S. Navy sailors who were assigned to mccain were told to stay away during the president s visit. In fact, they tell us they were on leave during that time for the long holiday weekend. But, as you said, acting secretary shan 00 wahan was ask about it again today during this visit. He shed a little light on what he has done to look into this. He directed his chief of staff to look through their emails here and see if there is any record of this request, steph. Heres what he had to say. Was there any email to my, i call it the front office, but basically the executive office, is there any emails we received on the subject. And i would say we did an exhausted look and we received none. Its interesting. He calls it quick and exhaustive which fight each other. He doesnt talk about. He spoke specifically about emails, but so far we havent heard whether he was briefed on this or whether he was ever made aware of the request. He continues to say or anyone in his office made aware of the requests. He continues to say he was not notified in advance, though. Okay. Jeff, so, lets just say acting defense secretary and the president didnt make or even know about the directive. What does it say about the chain of command as in who is calling the shots here . Number one, it says that people at least lower down on that chief of command are aware of the president s views of john mccain and felt it would be important to take this kind of action ahead of that trip. And, you know, bears repeating. The president long before he was a president , but while he was a political candidate was critical of mccain for having been shot down during the vietnam war. He repeated again this week that he feels that john mccain killed his Health Care Efforts and that hes not a fan. This is a man who died very recently and when senator mccain was being honored that week, the president objected, at least at first, to having the flag above the white house being lowered to half staff. So, all of that is knowledge that people in the white house who lower down in that food chain, as you mentioned, took into account when taking these actions. Kelsey, its Common Knowledge to anybody who covers politics. Theres a good chance if the president saw it, he wouldnt be happy. It might set him off. But the Washington Post points out the bigger questions it raises. They write this. Remaining out of the fray of partisan politics is and since Trump Took Office the military has found itself thrust into the political crosshairs risking an erosion of the traditional Civil Military divide as the Political Climate grows even more partisan. What is shanahans responsibility to prevent that from happening . Well, one of the things is interesting here is that shanahan is saying that he personally was not aware of that. And its been important to kind of separate him from any kind of seeming to be politically involved, in part because theyre still trying to get him confirmed. He has to go through the Senate Confirmation process. At some point in time, if they want him to move from acting to the full secretary of defense. That is a process that can be, that can be very difficult. I think there are a lot of republicans and people on the hill in general that i talk to that would like to have that job filled and not be an acting position. But it isnt helpful if the administration is trying to move that quickly and without controversy to have him involved in this. And to have to answer questions at any kind of hearing about the political involvement of the military because you can be certain now that this has happened that there will be questions about how he will address that. Getting confirmed. Never easy. Especially in 2019. Nbc courtney kube. Kelsey, jeff, stick around. When we come back black voters in iowa sound off about the issues they want addressed from president ial candidates who are trying to win their votes. Youll want to see this. 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About eight months away and while that state is considered one of the whitest in the country demographically the ap reports black voters there are energized and poised to play a bigger role in the contest to play a democratic nominee. He joins us now. This is fascinating because you know ter owe typically we think iowa, white, iowa farmers. When you think about the midwest or iowa theres a default white on working class. 16 of the population is black in side lieidalou, iowa. They said they want to be seen, they want a plan. Every can dates coming through iowa looking for that very important iowa voters sometimes it feels like by default its white voter. Are many times where black people dont feel heard and so to have someone make us feel like we count it matters, especially my age group because were not into politics as much as we should be. We want to know what our candidate is going to do for the black voter and i know before theyve been the diversity poll. We want to know what your black agenda is. Specifically for black people, what is it. Exactly. What more can you say about what you want out of a candidate and what your most important issues are. For me and i think for a lot of my Community One is affordable education and Affordable Health care. Same. Health care especially. Health care, affordable education, and im a big im an advocate for we just need to overhaul the justice system. Entrepreneur ship for me. Resources, opportunities for my generation. For me its about job training, giving individual Social Security skill settings so they can go out and have a decent living. Top three on my list is criminal justice system, entrepreneur ship and then i would say health care. It seems like no single democratic candidate can get out of any conversation these days without the idea of reparations. Should they have to make up their mind at this point . A lot of those got their ccu down from generations. I have a son, think about how much farther he would be ahead. Where he could start on the starting line. He could start at the same spot as everybody else and not behind. Are there any candidates running for office that stand out for yall . Ive been looking at Elizabeth Warner a little bit. Ive been hearing good things about the Student Loans and things like that. Im one of the old voters i guess and when i look at things right now i like what joe biden is saying, but like i say, once again, its early. Should whoever ultimately is candidate for president of the United States have to have a woman in particular a black woman running mail mate . You be honest, youre going to do what you say is going to do. I would rather you not go pick a black candidate just to win votes. If it happens to be a black woman, yeah, well take it. Absolutely. So right there theyre not saying it must be a woman. It must be a black candidate. They err saying we need a candidate who will listen to us. Only 4 of the population is black. Can they be hard . Cory booker, camekamala harr has reached out to these voters. You have South Carolina. To win the primary in South Carolina you have to go through black voters so if you can prove that you can energize that base, in iowa it may give a blue print for moving forward, but not being heard, but come to us with a plan and not a minority plan. Thats big. Thats asian, a black plan. Did barack obama bring out a black plan that early because think about how he got the black vote out. Did he do that. He was the black plan. Right . His mere presence was saying man, this guy is sharp, hes smart. He is an African American with a black wife which is very important because that anchors you in the black community. He has this worldly pedigree. But voters said this guy might have Something Special here and that was the ball rolling. Thank you so much. Still ahead, it may be the tag team that nobody saw coming. Why fresh spin congresswoman cortez and ted truz acruz are t up to drain the swamp. Are teamg up to drain the swamp. [ alarm beeping ] wake up theres a lot that needs to get done today. Small things. Big things. Too hard to do alone things. Day after day, you need to get it all done. And here to listen and help you through it all is bank of america. With the expertise and knowhow you need to reach that blissful state of doneness. So lets get after it. Everything is all right what would you like the power to do . ® all right holy cow. We are at a loss for words but these superhuman kids had plenty of them last night. Odylic. You are correct. Its complete. Eight champions of the spelling bee. Gosh, i feel like im their proud mom when all of them won the Scripps National spelling be in an 8way tie, something that has never happened before. To be literally ran out of hard words. The eight winners get a 50,000 prize each. Huge congratulations to all of those all stars and im going to say congratulations to their parents and their teachers. That was certainly an extraordinary win for all. Thank you for watching this hour of msnbc, this two hours, i love spending my morning with you. Im going to hand you off to jeff bennett whos taking the reigns. Craig melvin is on assignment. Nose dive, the president s new plan to stop migrants from crossing the border from mexico taking a toll on the markets. How new taxes on our Third Largest trading partner could hit your wallet hard this summer. New evidence, why a dead mans hard drive could be a key piece in the ongoing Supreme Court battle over a question on the u. S. Census. And an unlikely duo. How two big personalities from the right and the the left are