Removal, but white house spokesperson hogan giddily says thats just not true. The fact is the president of the United States asked john bolton last night for his resignation. It was delivered today. John boltons policies dont line up with the president s. Any sitting president has the right to put someone in that position that can carry out his agenda. That became no longer tenable so the president made a change. And dont forget President Trump was often eager to publicly highlight how boltons hawkishness differed from his own Foreign Policy. John is a, strong views on things, but thats okay. I actually temper john, which is amazing, isnt it . Nobody thought that was, im the one that tempers him, but thats okay. I have different sides. I have john bolton and other people that are a little more dovish than him. John bolton is a hawk. If its up to him, hed take on the whole world at one time but that doesnt matter because i want both sides. That doesnt matter until it does and hes gone. Now despite the president s claims that he wants quote both said sides, that doesnt be the case. Hes been happy to let go of officials who dont agree with his ziss. It fits a larger pattern. Purging any internal dissent. Join iing me, hallie jacqujacks andrea mitchell, carol lee, Washington PostNational Political reporter and msnbc political analyst, robert costa and former National Security counsel senior director and msnbc National Security analyst, ned price ch we have a packed show for you and a lot of information to bring. But im going start at the white house. And i want you to walk us through what we know so far about this firing at the top of the hour. This was a slow burn that exploded fast at the end. When you talk about the relationship between john bolton and President Trump. Here is what we know. Conflicting accounts so far publicly as to who resigned when. Whether the president asked for it or not as you laid out. John bolton insisted the president did not ask for it. White house officials including the press secretary say he did. The public insistence has been there wasnt a final straw. That was a build up of policy disagreements between bolton and the president over a series of weeks and months, but thats knot syncing with our reporting. That is that the talks that fell apart that the president canceled with the it will ban that had been set at camp david over the weekend here were really the final straw in this relationship as we have reported here at nbc news, ambassador bolton found himself on the other side of the issue. For example, mike pompeo, he often clashed with pompeo as the secretary of state himself acknowledged a couple of minutes ago in briefing room. He undersold it a little bit saying yeah, we disagreed to be b sure. To be b very sure, the two had repeated fights over a number of topics including policy on iran moving forward as secretary mnuchin also pointed out. So clearly, the afghanistan issue was something that as one source put to me sort of broke out the bottom of the bag there. Ambassador bolton is somebody who had a different Foreign Policy view than President Trump from the very beginning. Donald trump knew that when he brought him in. He understood, the president did, where bolton was coming from, but repeatedly would publicly say he liked having the differing opinions, the different mix of ideologies around him. Ultimately though, the Foreign Policy that secretary of state pompeo has been advocating for and that the president has been publicly talking about seems to have won out in this instance. We know the acting National Security adviser will be charlie cupperman. We have some ideas on leads that wee not yet ready to share, but thats next piece of this puzzle on another wild lead. Im sure youll share it. But you referenced what pompeo was talking about with regards to his relationship with bolton. I want to listen to his answer then andrea, i want you to weigh in on that. There were many times bolton and i disagreed, but thats true for lots of people with whom i interact. My mission set is to make sure as i run the department of state is to deliver americas diplomacy. Everyones talked about this for a long time. There were places where we had different views about how to proceed. Andrea, what were hearing is it seems as if bolton criticiz d ed pompeo for furthering his own political ambitions and pompeo was criticized bolton for saying he was corrosive and there was too much infighting and he was too inflexible. What do you make of the relationship between these two men . Its been fracktious. Weve seen disagreements, proposal to have a camp david meeting. Pompeo has remained within the orbit of the president of the United States. He has clearly figured out thousand work within that arena. As no one else on the National Security team has. Mattis resigned. Tillerson was fired. Mcmaster was forced out. John kelly was forced out. Just look at the people, a lot of them retired general in front of their names who have not been able to survive in this arena. That said, i think one of the precipitators here was not just mike pompeo and disagreements between bolton and the president on iran, north korea, afghanistan, but mike pence. It was over the weekend when those leaks came out where bolton was being reported to have disagreed over camp david proposal. And the leaks included the fact that a the Vice President agreed with him and disagreed with the president. I dont think you ever get between mike pence and this president publicly. We know the Vice President does not express his views in meetings. He speaks to the president privately if he had any disagreement, suggestion perhaps that it should not have been at the white house. That it should have been remo removed. Perhaps he did have rez vases about the optics on the week leading into 9 11. That said, seems to me that to have disagreed with both pompeo and to have cited pence to sort of cover your disagreement with the president was a big mistake on boltons part. Hes been the supreme inside e, the wielder of knives going back as far as ive covered him in previous administrations, i think he went too far to take on not only the secretary of state, but to put mike pence in an awkward position with the president. Mike pence saying in North Carolina night that that was not true. Yeah but weve talked over the last couple of hours, this story breaking during your hour about the differences and disagreements between the president that hallie was laying out. Obviously and bolton as well. But there was a lot of commonalities between these two mep. They both did not like bad deals. The jcpoa. Which the u. S. Pulled out of. Bolton was not a big fan of the jcpoa either. He wanted to rip up a lot of deals made under the obama administration. He also called himself an americanist which can sort of be in line with trumps America First ideology. Well, bolton is a hawk and the president described him as a hawk. What i dont think he fully understood is how much the president wants to end these military engagements. This is something he campaigned on in afghanistan. Certainly his decision to withdraw from syria, which precipitated mattis resignation. So i dont think bolton was in sync with the president on the whole notion of being a pragmatist, of wanting to rely on personal diplomacy with kim jongun. He was more hawkish and realistic about that than the president of the United States. And that pompeo manageded to sort of square the circle, if you will, and figure out a way to stay within the president s objectives. Carol, take us through the ticktock of what youre learning. One of the things we know is that the president was really upset to andreas point about the Vice President and bolton and the tension that is may have been there. The president was upset when mike pence came out and he denied that he did not support the president on his aftghan talks with the taliban and notably, he was upset that john bolton didnt do that. That is consistent with shotgun we weve seen is that bolton came into this with clear policy positions. Hes well on the record with all of them. Whether its on iran or north korea and he never benlt on any o f that. Even as the president moved in different directions. Before afghanistan, it was iran. I was at the g7 at the president s press conference and he stood there and talk ed abou wanting to have sitdown with the president of iran without any preconditions. And that is something that given all that john bolton has said b about iran, what his positions are, was hard to imagine how him being National Security addvise would be sustainable then when you add on to this the afghanistan piece, this is what happened there is about two things, its about the policies, but also about the internal dynamics. This is as much b about internal dynamics and john bolton clashing with everybody from the secretary of state to other officials inside the white house and across the administration and tensions with the president. And so you know you have these policy differences thep the way that he, the president believed john bolton went about trying to whether its make them public and try to derail his policies, but in the end, it didnt feel president that john bolton was going to back his policies despite his own views. Which is what a National Security adviser is supposed to do. Robert costa, i know youve been communicating with bolton. Talk to us about what you can tell us. Its quite a moment. You have the outed National Security adviser talking to reporters on the record, saying he chose to resign. He raised the issue on monday with the president. Submitted his letter on tuesday. This is different from an exit from someone like john kelly or other officials. You have an idea law in john bolton, someone who has real policy disagreements with President Trump whos also willing to speak out. He doesnt speak about the president s psychological fitness or anything like that, but thinks about his policy fitness and whether hes taking the country in the right direction. A new kind of challenge for this white house as you have a assertive former National Security adviser, very savvy in the ways of washington talking about his own deinside this white house and framing it in his own way. Ned, a look ahead. Boltons replacement will be President Trumps fifth National Security adviser. How does this constant turnover, ned, impact National Security . Well, i think you have to look at track record to see what the president may have in store. Hes had three National Security advisers so far. The first today was of course in court waiting for federal sentencing for lying to federal investigators. The second was in ingloriously pushed out and bolton of course was either depending on whom you believe, either fired or resigned. I think the question now is who would actually take on that j . Who would take on the b job of National Security adviser for a president who is notoriously muhr cure yal and who tends to make decisions based on the last advice he hears. Those are not traits you want if youre the National Security adviser. It will boil down to who will stroke the president s ego most effectively and most frequently. President trump doesnt care much for policy ideas. For intellect. He cares about how people sound. How people look. And i think most importantly, how they praise him both in public and in private. And that is something that we are learning that john bolton certainly didnt seem to do frequently enough. All right, hallie, andrea, ned, appreciate it. Up next, democrats subpoena the pentagon over reports that scotland resort is benefitting from air force business. Plus, a test of trumps political power. Why the results of North Carolina special election could tell us a lot about 2020. But first, in plain sight. A reported russian spy living in washington, d. C. And why our government is protecting his life. Well be right back. E for a restless nights sleep. Theres a better choice. Aleve pm. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid and the 12hour painrelieving strength of aleve that dares to last into the morning. So you feel refreshed. Aleve pm. Theres a better choice. A russian official who rose through the kremlins ranks is now u liliving in the washingto area under protection. The New York Times writing this man became one of the cias most important and highly protect eed assets as it became clear russia was trying to influence the election. Nbc news has not confirmed his role and is holding his name at the question of u. S. Officials. The presence in washington was revealed after it was reported the cia extract ed the spy from russia in 2017 fearing for his safety. Joining me now, ken and michael, also an msnbc International Affairs analyst. Ken, ill start with you on this one. Talk to us about the circumstances surrounding this informants extraction. Thats a point of some controversy because the original reporting said he was extracted because officials were worried about Donald Trumps demeanor regarding classified information and is revealing secrets to the russian ambassador. From everything we are being told, that was not a factor in this. It was simply the case that this person had been spying for the cia for some time. His position had grown precarious. There was reason to think he might be in danger. There was speculation in the news media about the source discussing putins motivation in the 2016 Election Interference Campaign and therefore the cia felt it was time to pull him out. Theres some reporting that he was offered a chance to leave in 2016 before donald trump took office. He declined then in the middle of 2017, he was extracted. Are there concerns, ken, for his safety in the washington, d. C. Area as of now . Well, there are concerns because he is now the subject of news media reporting. Before that, he b had been living in his true name and the russians certainly knew where he was. They knew he disappeared, no longer in russia. You believe public records show where he was living, but it was believed he was not in grave danger because the russians do not have a track record of doing what they did in england, which is seeking to assassinate a cia informant under american protection. They just havent done that here, but american officials are worried that now were all reporting on him unfortunately, it has the, it could poke the bear, as they put it. Provoke putin and the russians to take and it puts him in greater danger and my understanding is that hes being moved. Lets talk about what cnn reported, which was that he was extracted soon after the president met with russian officials and over concerns that the president has mishandled intelligence. Officials told the New York Times it was media skrut alone, the reason for the extraction. Nbc has not confirmed either one of those. Give i giving the timing of this extraction in 2017, how much danger was that informant in . Obviously, i dont know. And i shouldnt and if i did know, im not going to tell you. Thats the point. I am outraged that were talk ing about this. Not because of kens excellent reporting and what journalists do, but who in the u. S. Government made the decision to unilaterally declassify this secret information . It is not in americas National Security interest to do this kind of leakage and so maybe President Trump mishandled classified information. Thats perfectly plausible but some concrete individual did this and its got to stop. Well talk me about how difficult it was for the cia ambassador, if you can, to have someone like this in moscow . To recruit someone who could get into the highest levels and be in meetings with putin . Well lets just say historically, we know over the record of the cold war, it is extremely hard to have an asset close to the head of state. And if the reporting on this is true and he did work for him, that means that he was very close to the president. I used to work with him. Hes equivalent of john bolton. The closest National Security adviser who works in the kremlin. So if the reporting is true, this would have been a very important asset for the intelligence community. So what do you make then of the fact that russia is is saying that he was never in meetings with president putin . Again, i cant confirm or deny that. I dont know that. I do know hes been with president putin and Prime Minister putin for a long, long time. So if this individual was working for mr. Skhkov, maybe he wasnt in the room, but would have been privy to top secret adopts that the president himself would be using. It is a fascinating story to say the least. Appreciate you bringing this to us. Thank you so much. Ken, michael, appreciate you as well. The swamp appears to be b b growing. Democrats threaten subpoenas amid reports that Donald Trumps resort in scotland is benefitting from air force business and his commerce secretary is firing back at allegations that he threat ped to fire folks at noaa over the president s unfounded alabama claim. Thats next. Thousands of women with Metastatic Breast Cancer are living in the moment and taking ibrance. Ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr her2 Breast Cancer that has spread to other parts of the body meaning its metastatic as the first hormonal based therapy. Ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole. Patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. Before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. Common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, sore mouth, abnormalities in liver blood tests, diarrhea, hair thinning or loss, vomiting, rash, and loss of appetite. Be in your moment. Ask your doctor about ibrance. Welcome backme. Appears President Trumps washington is as swampy as ever. Today, the House Oversight committee is threatening a subpoena over its for documents related to taxpayer money sent at the president s resort in scotland. This as the New York Times is reporting the president had a deal with the resort before becoming president. Contrary to the assurances that he has quote nothing to do with the airport. The deal dates back to 2014, but the pentagon has ramped up its usage of that airport as a refuelling station since trump was electeded. Raising questions about the president s ties to his business. But thats not the only ethics question surrounding the white house today. The New York Times is also reporting that commerce secretary ross threatened to fire political apopointees at noaa if they did not support the president s unfoupded claim that alabama was in the path of hurricane dorian. Now this administration has had its fair share of controversies, but these two come at a particularly inopportune time for the president. Today, a a new abc Washington Post poll shows President Trumps Approval Rating sitting at 38 . Down six points from earlier this summer. And the president has clearly seen the news attacking the two organizations and their polling on twitter today. So our big question today is this. Is the president s swamp hurting hi his reelection chances . Join iing me, gabbie and jeff. The air force is tamping down. Any suggestion here of impropriety per the New York Times, they said this. The Deputy Commander of the air force Mobility Command said in an interview on monday that the rising number of military stopovers at presswick was entirely based on operational demands as the airport is in a convenient location. Has 24 hour operations and offers ample aircraft parking among other advantages, he add aed that the air force has been using presswick for stopovers since at least the late 1990s. I just want to go through this chart. From 2015, the air force had a stopover. Had 95 stopovers in 2015. 2016, 145. 2017, 180. Then 257. 2019, 259 stopovers. That is quite a jump. Regardless of the outcome here, gabbie, talk about the optics of this situation. Sxwl yeah its been a staggering increase since 2016 in the number of stopovers and this is just one of those issues that is emblem matic of whats happenin in the Trump Administration writ large. What weve seen over this summer has been b periods of chaos after chaos. The president stoking racial flames. Saying things that contradict what his key advisers say, the president making claims that have been proven false. These are you know, add all these things together and theres no wonder why you see in the abc Washington Post poll that came out this morning a decline in his support and his Approval Rating and its not just impacting the president s approval numbers broadly lybro. Its impact iing the way voters look at him and how he handles other issues. One of the figures in the poll you referenced is his handling of the economy, which declined since july by four points, which doesnt seem like a large number but when the economy is really the only issue where President Trump has seen positive approval numbers, month after month over the course of this summer, thats a considerable decline and in an issue for his campaign and so the matters were dealing with, air force and stopovers near his turnberry resort are just one more thing that add sense of chaos that voters are so reluctant to cast their ba ballots for him because of of. How big a vul nernerablility this for the president . It is for the independent voters he would need to win. It may be in some of those swing tate states. Keep many mind, the president does a lot to bolster his base. Says a lot of things. Works on policies he feels are fulfilling promises he made in 2016 largely to keep the base on board, but that wont be enough in a general election. When youve got some of those swing states, colorado, arizona. And some of the other, florida, ohio of course. The perennial swing states in every election. He needs people there to continue to support him. Some of those who may have voted for obama, who then switched over to then candidate trump in 2016. Who could switch back to a democrat because theyre upset about some of these reports and cat considerations, some of these untruths. So to that extent, it probably is a krp to people in the trump campaign. That said and as weve seen this morning and in general when he looks at polling that is not favor bable to him, he goes back and says look, guy, you got it wrong in 201, youre getting it wrong again now. Imt to stick with this turnberry story because ross office is denying they threatened anyone. The New York Times though reporting mr. Ross, the commerce secretary, intervened early last friday according to three people familiar with his actions. The acting administrator from greece where the secretary was traveling for meetings and instructed dr. Jacobs to fix the agencys perceived contradiction of the president. Excuse me, this is about noaa. I misspoke earlier. I want to put this in perspective. Because this is base canically theically the president not wanting to admit he made a mistake when it comes to alabama. Is there a sense when it comes to this that the president has gone too far . Well, you know, theres, there are multiple times for the last two and a half years where his critics would say hes gone too far. This would be part of a pattern of the president not liking to be contradicted, most certainly not wanting to be contradicted by people within his administration and someone like ross and others who are close to him. Then taking action to crack down on people who did just that. All right, thank you both. Appreciate it, guys. Coming up next, it is september of 2019. Voting the last race of 2018. Why tonights results may be a true test of the president s chances heading into 2020. Well be right back. Fights cancer, repairs shattered bones, relieves depression, restores heart rhythms, helps you back from strokes, and keeps you healthy your whole life. From the day youre born we never stop taking care of you. For a restless nights sleep. Pain settle from the day youre born theres a better choice. Aleve pm. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid and the 12hour painrelieving strength of aleve that dares to last into the morning. So you feel refreshed. Aleve pm. Theres a better choice. Tomorrow is your chance to send a clear message to the america hating left. The radical democrats want to dismantle, demolish and destroy everything that youve gained and they will do it and it wont take that long. All right, that was President Trump campaigning last night in the battleground state of North Carolina. Trump traveled to the states nin district to boost dan bishop. Today, bishop faces a a hotly contested special election race against dan mccreed y, dubbed e the battle of the dance. Trump won the ninth district by 12 points in 201, but a lot has changed since then. The president s job Approval Rating for one now down to 38 . Todays race could be a referendum on the president and a preview of how he fare fair in 20206789 joining me now, history professor, michael bitzer, b contributing host of considerate, Michael Singleton and bazle michael. Michael, im going to start with you on this one because you told a local news station there quote, that this race could be a canary in the coal mine to indicate what might be happening in 2020. Explain. I think what this election could potentially show us for 2020 is if the president s Campaign Strategy of doubling down on a base strategy only seeking to bring in the true believers within the republican party, if that strategy does not play well in suburban North Carolina, then i think that there are some real questions that republicans are going to have to ask if theyre going to seek to try and regain the House Majority come 2020. Along with the president s chances here in a very competitive battleground North Carolina. So if this race is not won, by the republican, then does that mean the president cant necessarily grow his base in the ninth district . I dont think the president can grow his base and i dont think we need this particular special election to tell us that. But what i will say is that the president s Approval Ratings or disApproval Ratings rather nationally have been relatively consistent. They have been low. In comparison to his predecessors, but they have been consistent yet again. I would also say that a lot of this will also contend on or depend on who the democratic nominee is. I think for the most part, everything we need to know about mr. Trump is out in the open, but who that nominee is and their able thety to energize trats and to sort of reverse the obama trump voters and bring those folks back under their tent again all depends on their messaging, strategy and their targeting, so im not certain at this point that this means donald trump will not be reelected. I dont think is is necessarily saying this means he wont necessarily be elected. A republican doesnt necessarily win this seat, but the question is does he need the to be worried if a republican doesnt win this seat . There is precedence for this. I believe it was 1991 while george h. W. Bush was running for reelection, there was a special election. That special election was lost and it was indicative of what was happening in the country for george h. P. Bush. They went to the white house and said theres trouble ahead and bill clinton prove d that. So i think that he, there should be come concern that actually existed even before today. The fact that even though he won this district by 11, 12 points, two counties if i remember correctly actually flipped and went for mcgreedy in 2018. Notion that a lot of this is the result of vote fraud i think should be concerning because what that to me does is help turn out africanamerican voters who felt they have been disenfrn franchised. Theyre going to be critical in this election. I also point to the fact that the president said democrats are not very big on religion so i hope every Church Member, every africanamerican Church Member in that district and certainly in the state Going Forward to do a little future casting, comes out. So i do think that there is some concern. The economy is a factor. But i also want to remind folks that a a lot of trumps base didnt vote on the economy. They voted on cultural issues. So if he doubles down on his base, that may work in one instance, but it doesnt grow his base, particularly with those suburban voters. So youre talking about the president saying that democrats dont believe in religion. That was at the rally last night where he was campaigning basically against mcgreedy. Claimed democrats werent believers in religion, advocated for illegal vote, but do they forshadow a strategy here for the president heading into 2020 and how do democrats prepare for that strategy . I think that fifrt, i dont necessarily think we should, we should attack him head on because you attack lies, dwrou that head on and you call it out for what it is. But at the same time, its not enough to just talk b about donald trump. We have to put forth positive messages about our party and candidate. If we pair that with the work say Stacey Abrams does in terms of voter access and tamping down on attempts to disenfrn franchise voters, particularly africanamerican voters, if we do what we are doing in this race, be hyper local, thats what won us the majority in 2018. Thats what hes doing here in this race. Being hyper local. Yes, nationalize it, but remember that its Kitchen Table issues that win the day. If we were those points, then i think we have success in 2020. Michael, the reason we are here is because last year, the problem b was Election Fraud as bazle just brought up. Do you think voters are confidence this is not going to happen again . I think so, if you look at the early voting, only 2 of the ballots that have been accepted came by mail. The vast majority of folks are voting in person and we actually had a fairly decent turnout for early voting about 16 of the district has already cast ballots going into todays general election. We could see voter turnout 35 . Anything over that i think is really well done for an odd year september election that while people have known about it, there hasnt been that much energy besides the negative ads on tv. And michael, your predick here, who wins . Im out of the prediction business. Come on. I think its going to be very close. I would not be surprised easy answer. If its within, within a point, dan will win. Okay. Very smart. Thats why hes a professor. Thank you all. Up next, with congress back in town, pressure is mounting on Mitch Mcconnell to move on gun legislation. Speaker pelosi programsing there will be hell to pay if he does not. That is next. I mean, if you havent thought about switching to geico, frankly, youre missing out. Uh. The mobile app makes it easy to manage your policy, even way out here. Your marshmallows. Get digital id cards, emergency roadside service, even file a. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa oops, that cheeky little thing got away from me. My bad. Geico. Its easy to manage your policy whenever, wherever. Can i trouble you for another marshmallow . Yesss, im doing it all. The water. The exercise. The fiber. Month after month, and i still have belly pain and recurring constipation. So i asked my doctor what else i could do, and i said yesss to linzess. Linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. Linzess is not a laxative, it works differently. It helps relieve belly pain and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. Do not give linzess to children less than 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to less than 18, it may harm them. Do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. The most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. Im still doing it all. The water. The exercise. The fiber. And i said yesss to linzess for help with belly pain and recurring constipation. Ask your doctor. Todays Senior Living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. And theres never been an easier way to get great advice. A place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. A place for mom. You know your family we know Senior Living. Together well make the right choice. We really pride ourselves on temaking it easy for youass, to get your windshield fixed. Teacher lets turn in your science papers. Tech vo this teacher always puts her students first. Student i did mine on volcanoes. Teacher you did . oh, i cant wait to read it. Tech vo so when she had auto glass damage. She chose safelite. With safelite, she could see exactly when wed be there. Teacher you must be pascal. Tech yes maam. Tech vo saving her time. [honk, honk] kids bye tech vo . So she can save the science project. Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace welcome back. Congress is back on the hill and they are busy. They were hearings on voter discrimination and housing this morning. Even testifying about the student debt crisis, but last hour, all eyes were on the House Gun Violence Prevention Task force. Where Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised democrats for their action on gun control and criticized Senate Majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell, for inaction. Watch this. Senator mcconnell refuses to do his part to save lives. No ones political survival is more important than the survival of our children. Thousands of people, thousands of children have died since senator mcconnell first refused to take up our bills. Lets talk about this. Joining me now from the hill, nbc News White House correspondent, jeff bennett and politico reporter, melanie. Jeff, ill start with you on this one. As senator mcconnell has now said multiple times that he is waiting to hear what kind of legislation the president would actually support. He is literally said this since the el paso and dayton shootings. What are we hearing from him today . Great to see you. In fact, i just ran over from senator mcconnells tuesday press conference and right off the gate, he was asked whether he feels his party, more specifically, republican senator, risk being on the wrong side of o Public Opinion given that poll after poll shows that gun safety legislation like background checks like red flag laws enjoy wide support in both parties. And he deflected. He didnt answer the question directly. And he suggested that he sees a certain unnecessary breathlessness to all of this. To all of thing coverage. To the way the democrats he says have comported themselves. Accused democrats of political stunts and theatrics as relates to gun control issue. He did say specifically that the white house has sent representatives over here to meet with senate republicans. And the message from the white house theyre in the process of cashing out a legislative process that President Trump, they say, he will sign. Take a listen to a bit more of what mcconnell had to say. My members know, the very simple fact that to make a law, you have to have a president ial signature. And so, we are we had a briefing at lunch from eric dulan from down at the white house. They are working on coming up with a proposal that the president will sign. Until that happens, all of this is theatrics. But you could make the argument and many are that the Power Dynamics are all wrong. These are all duly elected members of the congress. He represent constituents, any politician knows the mood and desires of the people he or she represents. So instead of waiting for the president to say what he wants, you could make the argument that these elected members, these republicans, should go to the white house and say what the people they represent want, yasmin. Were hearing, melanie, mcconnell saying until we hear from the president this is all theatrics. Youve had bipartisan support from the Washington Post abc abc 89 represent it. And 96 democrats, and 86 overall reflect and supporting gun laws. You know addressing this item, what is the offense here for member es of congress who are not backing them . Well, right now, i can tell you privately, they say were not ready to go up against the nra, were not ready to cross our own base until we have the president s support. Trump has been harder to nail down the jello on this issue. No one on capitol hill knows where he stands. Even if he comes up with Something Like stronger background checks ive spoken to one republican who said theyre worried hes going to change his mind. Theyve. Rug pulled out from them before. Now when it comes to talking to their constituents, yes, this could be a problem, especially in the suburbs where the gop and the president already have a problem with voters there. The political winds have certainly shifted and we are seeing democrats for the very first time run on issues like gun control, including lucy mcbath who lost her son to gun control in georgia. Trump was just presenting polling on this, actually, according to the New York Times last weaning. And there are states where this is still very unpopular. And Mitch Mcconnell is up for reelection in kentucky where they do not like gun control so those are all very important factors to keep in mind with this debate on capitol hill. Appreciate it, guys. Thank you. Do you know what tomorrow is, everybody . Heres a hint. Congress is not the only thing back in town. Katy tur is. Thats right, katy, a big return live to capitol hill. Do not miss it tomorrow, 2 00 p. M. Eastern right here. Coming up the university of tennessee has turned a little boys bullying into a mission. I wanna keep doing what i love, thats the retirement plan. With my annuity, i know there is a guarantee. Its for my family, its for my self, its for my future. Annuities can provide protected income for life. Learn more at retire your risk dot org. A lot of folks ask me why their dishwasher doesnt get everything clean. I tell them, it may be your detergent. Thats why more dishwasher brands recommend cascade platinum. Its speciallydesigned with the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. Cascade platinums unique actionpacs dissolve quickly. To remove stuckon food. For sparklingclean dishes, the first time. Choose the detergent that lets your dishwasher do the dishes cascade platinum. The number one recommended brand in north america. Go where my baby lives b[ growl ]olle s good boy. Hey. Hey. You must be stevens phone. Know whos on your network and control who shouldnt be with xfinity xfi. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Welcome back with one more thing before we go, lets be real. One of the hardest things well ever do in life is be a kid. The world around you changing with every single blink. Youre trying to find yourself, looking around every corner in hopes of finding a place to fit in. So you can imagine how excited a fourth grader in florida was when his school announced it was having a collegiate day encouraging students to wear their Favorite College Teams gear. The boy is an avid lover of the Tennessee Volunteers but he didnt have a shirt with his logo. His mom searched town trying to find one. No dice. According to his teacher, he told him to make his own. And he did. He drew up his own u. T. Logo on a piece of paper and pinned it on a tshirt. He even made his own label. She said he showed up on colors day so excited to show off his shirt. That wasnt until lunch when he walked back to class, put his head on his desk, he started sobbing, december tavastated be girl made fun of his tshirt. Devastated, his teacher posted his tshirt. Guess what, u. T. Saw it. Nothing says take that, bullies, more than the university deciding to use that little boys logo on an official volunteers tshirt. The demand so high that after 16,000 preorders, the site crashed. 16,000, the shirts sold. Still counting at 14 bucks a pop, those dollars add up which will make one heck of a donation when proceeds are donated from the university of tennessee to the national group, stop out bullying. I love that story. That wraps up this hour. Im yasmin vossoughian. Chris jansen picks things up from here. Take that, bullies. Im Chris Jansing in for ali velshi. This is tuesday, september 10th. We said we love that story. Lets also give you the quote of the day, im never surprised. That one from secretary of state mike pompeo in questions about the sudden dismissing of National Security adviser john bolton,. Third person in that role in 28 1 2 years. The news via tweet. The president wrote this, i informed john bolton last night that his services were no longer needed at the white house. But adding to confusion, the white house Just Announced that bolton would participate in a briefing with secretary pompeo and mnuchin. Theres some disagreement how it went down. Trump had asked for the resignation last night and it was delivered this morning but bolton secretary a flurries of texts insisting it was his decision to resign. A detective to peter alexander, quote, i offered to resign last night. The pnt