Going to pull out. A swift resignation. New York Attorney general Eric Schneiderman, a champion, outspoke en champion of the me o movement, resigning after allegations of violence against women. And the polls are open. Primary season kicks off with Contentious Senate races in four states. Gop hopefuls testing the power of the president s antiestablishment message. Im basically trumpier than trump when it comes to those policies. We begin today with the Iran Nuclear Deal. All signs now pointing to the president reimposing sanctions that could spell the end of the agreement. Heres the question, what is plan b. I have a great panel to break all of it down. First lets explain whats going on. The president will announce his decision at 2 00 p. M. Today. While we dont know exactly what hes going to do, hes expected to take the first step in withdrawing from the iran agreement. The iran deal was formally implemented back in january 2016. U. S. , france, great britain, germany, russia, china and iran all signed on. It was designed to sharply limit Irans Nuclear program and make sure it was only used for peaceful purposes. As far as we can tell, it has worked. Irans uranium stockpiles was slashed. And twothirds of irans centrifuges were taken offline. In exchange, the United States and other countries lifted sanctions, giving iran accession to roughly 100 billion bucks in frozen assets. The first step in ending the deal would be for the pretz sid to let some of those sanctions snap back into place. President trump has been very clear, he hates this deal. Well see what phase two is. It might be a total termination. It was a terrible deal. Should have never, ever been made. Why would he say that . For one, the deal is only tm pressure. The limitations on the program only last for ten years. Plus, it only lets inspectors check nuclear facilities, not military facilities, that the white house thinks could be used to hide weapons programs. Then irans Ballistic Missile program. The administration has been very frustrated by irans support for terrorists in places like syria and yemen. Despite all of that, the president has heard from european leaders like theresa may, Angela Merkel that want to keep the deal and try to improve it, fix this thing. Even fellow republicans like mike lee and roy blunt say we should not walk away. But theyre also powerful voices on the other side, including National Security adviser john bolton, secretary of state mike pompeo and israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu. I want to take you now to nbcs geoff bennett, live at the white house. President trump has been criticizing this deal forever. What are we really going to get today . If anything, people are afraid. Yes, it certainly looks like hes planning to exit the deal. Hard to see how he would have the political cover to stay in it. We have to add the usual trump caveat, he could still surprise us all by agreeing to stay in the agreement a bit longer while diplomats try to work out side agreements to address the president s concerns. But, again, every indicate suggests that the Iran Nuclear Deal, as we know it, will cease to be after this president ial announcement at 2 00 p. M. Eastern. The question is, does he end it or does he meant it . He could reinstate sanctions as a stick, as really a way of constraining irans regional ambitions. The problem there is iran has ruled out new talks. Calling the current agreement nonnegotiable. If he withdraws the u. S. Entirely that could ratchet up tensions in the region, especially in syria, where irans presence is already creating more trouble with israel. Its also going to upset the oil markets too given irans role as a major oil exporter. So this is high stakes. Not only because of the tinder box that is the middle east, but because weve got the talkings with President Trump and kim jongun coming up. As you mentioned, theres been this resolving door of european leaders. All of them lobbying the president to stick with this iran deal. Both of whom make pretty clear theyve got no plan b at the moment. The president has cast himself as a great deal maker, but so far, what hes shown a greater ability to do is to get out of obamaera deals. With the iran deal, as so many people with put it to me, the big question is what is he going to do thats better, stef. Good question. Lets go to nbcs Tehran Bureau chief ali arusi. Tell us whats going on there. Tehran has made repeated threats to walk away from this deal if trump walks away from it. Were getting some mixed messages out of tehran. Officials have indicated that as long as tehran wasnt excluded from the Global Financial trading system, it could consider respecting the accord. If they said they see the financial benefits from this deal, even if america walks away, theyre saying thats fine by us. America can walk away and well deal with the europeans as long as they honor their end of the bargain. But ive got to say, thats a pretty tall order. For the europeans to suddenly ditch america, their strategic relationship with them, americas 16 trillion economy, for an uncertain iran with a 400 billion economy. I cant see that happening. The europeans may huff and puff and may give their objections to this deal being the best thing on the table right now, not walking away. But if push comes to shove, im sure theyre going to back america. I think the iranians know that. For now, the iranians are trying to play this diplomatically, saying listen, were still in, were still honoring our end of the bargain. If we see the benefits of this deal, well stay in it. Im not sure how long those benefits will last. If the Trump Administration are adamant about freezing iran out of the International Banking system or if they are talking about things like regime change and totally destroying the economy here. Then the nuclear deal essenti essentially is going to become a side show. Because this is about a much larger issue. There are also voices in iran right now calling for a much harder line with the United States. Saying that if trump pulls out, iran has to pull out of the deal and step up its nuclear program. Back to you. Well, can they afford to do that . I want to bring my panel in. Anthony scarmucci is a former Trump White House communications corre director. Robert torricelli is a former democratic senator from new jersey. Michael mcfall served as u. S. Ambassador to russia, also the author of the new book from cold war to hot peace. Welcome. Anthony, what should the president do, fix this deal, scrap it . I think hes coming out of the deal. I think hes probably going to impose stricter sanctions. I think this is part of his playbook basically. Where he pushes very hard. He kutz p did the same strategy with the North Koreans. You see the labor strikes going on in iran. The regime is in a more fragile position than people think. Its classic hardline behavior that will hopefully topple the regime. What do you think, bob . I think the consequences of this are way more than being discussed today. First, the iranians have bought, as anthony just said so many peace within iran by the prospect of the sanctions coming off. This accord was going to improve Living Standards. If the president announces were pulling out, all the responses, theres politics within iran and whats the regime going to do. They may have to stay in just to keep social peace themselves. Second is what does this do to an already fractured russian alliance. American leadership of the western alliance is going to be in real jeopardy. Third, however does the president go now and meet with kim jongun and negotiate a Nuclear Accord having just pulled out of the accord with iran. So this is three dimensional chess and it is a complete free for all, in my judgment, of policy in the next few weeks. It might work for him with kim jongun. If he plays it really rough, kim could say, wow, im not dealing with somebody who just makes threats, i may have to play ball. The president has already made progress with north korea. How about the continuity of American Leadership and the commitment of american commitments, administration to administration . Donald trump has three more years left. The next president is going to come into office and throw out a north korean accord . I dont think unstable leadership of the United States ever works in our interest. All right, ambassador, here is what the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Said about all this on sunday. Secretary mattis talked about the inspectors that are in there. Does iran kick those inspectors out . You need to have a clearer idea about next steps. If we are going to pull out. Especially given the larger prospect of irans aggressive activity in the middle east. What would the plan be here . We dont know the plan b, thats the problem. Im really glad you went through and outlined exactly what this iran deal is because i think a lot of americans have forgotten how detailed it is, how much we have withdrawn their program. When we use the word temporary to describe something thats 10 or 15 years long, thats weird to me, especially dealing with a country like iran. I think this is big on all the dimensions you just said. Number one, what is the goal of the deal, it is to deny iran nuclear weapons. How does pulling out of the deal help us achieve that objective . I dont know. Number two, if you want to have pressure in iran, keep the deal in place, because now the people of iran have to blame their government for their bad situation. Exactly right. We put in sanctions now and were the boogie man again, its all our fault. Number through, when is it ever a good idea to be on the outside of the entire International World where we have not just france and germany and the uk together but china and russia together and were on the outside. I hope theres a plan be. Im open to ideas. But so far, i dont see this as being in the national interest. Anthony, what does this mean for the u. S. And our allies . Ian bremer who has given the president a lot of credit for what hes done in north korea, said this would be the biggest slap in the face to our western allies, worse than pulling out of the tpp. Maybe, maybe its helping our western allies. How . Well, let me finish. Its a very good time to be on the outside of the International Community when youre battling adolf hitler and theres a group of people in the International Community that want appeasement with hitler. If you go back to 1938 when they marked the appeasement, it wasnt peace in our time. We ended up with a devastating war that killed almost 100 million people. Maybe the president is actually helping the allies by being the tough cop on the block thats going to impose something on iran that is, you know, going to topple that regime. Let me just say one other thing. They were probably funding the North Koreans and they probably cut the funding off after that Nuclear Explosion that took place in the Northern Area of north korea where the whole mountain caved in, okay. And so the iranian nexus to north korea has probably now been severed as a result of lack of money. I think the president s strategy is lets get peace for north korea. Lets redefine the situation with iran and get peace there as well. Theres a huge secular opportunity in iran thats bubbling up. The United States wants to take advantage of. I disagree. Im sorry. I just think thats wrong. For a couple of reasons. Number one, the other things iran is doing in the world, building Ballistic Missiles, supporter terrorists, we should be fighting. Why do you withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal to do that . Why cant we have a negotiation about Ballistic Missiles . Why shouldnt we be pushing back on those tariffs precisely in places like syria where the president is threatening to pull back . You can walk and chew gum at the same time. And number two, iran, with all due respect, is not hitlers germany. Theyre not seeking to take over the middle east in a ground offensive. That is the false analogy. What we need to do, hold the line on the Iranian Nuclear deal, negotiate on the Ballistic Missile peace, and push back, contain and push back on the tariffs. A multiprong strategy. And almost hold on we are giving the iranians the high ground, the dispute that otherwise would have never achieved it. They kept an agreement, had a verified agreement, and we are walking away from it. You almost couldnt make this up. To your point, there are other things. There should be restrictions to the Ballistic Missile program, to terrorist activities. But walking away from this agreement doesnt enhance any of that, it weakens all that. When they say they want to wipe israel off the face of the map, we should ignore that . No, we should deter it. Thats exactly what were doing right now. Okay, so, yeah, but the israelis dont think that. Prime minister netanyahu doesnt think that. Tell me how this workings s israels interest. Let me say a couple things and you guys know this is the truth. When i was in iraq in 2011 and the pentagon was calling for at least 20,000 troops to be in iraq so we could prevent the rise of daish now known as isis and they said there were hundreds of Intelligence Officers from iran in iraq, disrupting iraq, you guys cant tell me that the iranians dont have an agenda to take over large swaths of the middle east. You cant tell me theyre not funding hamas, theyre not funding the alloite tribe in syria. No ones arguing that. The question is does pulling out of this accord anthony, the senator is speaking easier or harder. Our argument is pulling out of this accord, separating the United States from its allies, potentially now getting the iranians with no restrictions, its going to make all that easier. What youre saying is true, theres an emerging iranian super state that is going to run all the way from the mediterranean to the afghan border. Youre okay with that . I am not, but this, this is not confronting it. This is enabling it. Youre equivocating and youre racialalizing evil, okay. Theres a more relativism to the statements you guys are making. And me, i love the state of israel. And i want to protect that state. Its an unbelievable ally to the United States. Hold on, hold on, bob bob theyve got to be replace the at the top there. Ambassador. You know that, we know that. The president is going to put pressure on that to allow that to happen. Ambassador. The analogy i like is not hitlers germany at munich. The analogy i like is confronting the soviet union. He called the soviet union he said they are evil, called them evil straight up. At the same time, reagan and shultz, his secretary of state, my colleague at stanford, negotiated with the evil soviets on arms control. In parallel to that, pushed back on them. It was called the reagan doctrine. Funding what they called Freedom Fighters in other places where there are communist regimes. You can walk and chew gum at the same time. You can talk about sanctioning iran for their Ballistic Missiles program and not pull out of the nuclear deal. To me, its just youve got to make the argument how are americans and people in israel, by the way, i love israel too, tell me how were better. We are more secure by pulling out of this deal. If you can hear that argument, i mean, youre arguing for regime change. Thats not exactly the Trump Administrations policy, just so so as just to follow what youre saying, so starting the day after this, they get more centrifuges, they start enriching more fuel, and the israelis are more secure . We are going to own this nuclear donald trump pulls out of this. The breakout program, we are responsible for so its two on one, so i get twice the time . Let me let me reput, first of all, you were talking about a country that was supposedly atheistic but had christian orthodox values. Which one is that . The soviet union. They had a transnational ideology to seek to dominate the world. Were they an atheist country . What were they . Im sorry, theres nothing radical, religious fundamentalists that are winning this country. They think very, very differently over that 60 year time period when we were defeating them. This is a totally different beast. You know that, i know that, the ambassador knows that. If you want to equivocate with these people, what happens if you give them an inch, you give them a mile. We can disagree. Lets see what he does at 2 00. I make a prediction for you, okay. A year from now, well be in a better place in iran, the same way with the Korean Peninsula, to the great shock and surprise of all the pundits and talking heads on cable television. The consequences if youre wrong for israel, for the United States, for the region, for the leadership of the western alliance. The consequences are enormous and generational. This is a highstakes gamble. We dont need to take. So were those stakes as it related to the cold war. So were those stakes as it related to defeating the nazis by the way, im not calling for the United States to have regime change. Im not calling for that as a domestic or state Department Policy or cia policy. Im talking about theres a ton of secular risks in iran that are tired of the nonsense from that 39yearold theocracy by the way, they support the nuclear deal, just so you know of course they do, of course they do, because tell me how were helping them by pulling out of the accord of course they support the deal because it raises their Living Standards but you put pressure on this regime, this regime will crack, okay, because there are so you can continue to put pressure pulling out of the deal the deal is the pressure. The idea is the mullahs cannot blame the United States and the europeans for the catastrophic living failures. Both at the same time, its very hard to hit him from this angle theres no hitting. Verbally hitting him. Theres no hitting anyone. Can you pass me the love pen before we go to break . I pass you nothing. Ambassador, last point. Again, i think the historic analogy is the cold war. Its not nazi germany. We should stay in the deal. I dont see how we are better off tomorrow by pulling out of the deal. And i also think were going to pull out of the deal and so lets come back a year from now and i hope youre right. I hope youre right. You think were pulling out of the deal . Thats my assumption, yes. What do you think, bob, were pulling out . I think we are pulling out and i think its a rescue line to the mullahs. I actually do believe in regime change in iran and i think the only way to preserve peace in the region internationally is for the mullahs to lose power. The only way to do that is to keep them isolated. Keep in this accord. And not provide an excuse for the mullahs that their problems are american pressure or the europeans. Their problem is their system and the mullahs. And the way to preserve the peace is for them to fail. This is a rescue line. All right, i appreciate all of your candid thoughts in this segment. Congratulations on your new book. Coming up, new yorks attorney general, the same man who went after Trump University and won, abruptly steps down following allegations of violence against women. This is the guy who claims to be the me too champion. Thats a wow. On our planet than people. Were putting ai into everything, and everything into the cloud. Its all so. Smart. But how do you work with it . Ask this farmer. Hes using satellite data to help increase crop yields. Thats smart for the food we eat. At this port, supply chains are becoming more transparent with blockchain. Thats smart for millions of shipments. In this lab, researchers are working with watson to help them find new treatments. Thats smart for medicine. At this bank, the worlds most encrypted mainframe is helping prevent cybercrime. Thats smart for everyone. And in africa, iot sensors and the ibm cloud are protecting endangered animals. Thats smart for rhinos. Yeah. Rhinos. Because smart only really matters, when we put it to work not just for a few of us, but for all of us. Lets put smart to work. Welcome back. This one is stunning. New yorks powerful state attorney general Eric Schneiderman abruptly resigned overnight, after several women leveled explosive allegations against him. Schneiderman being accused of physically abusing these women. The prominent democrat has championed womens rights and the me too movement against sexual assault. Senior National Correspondent kate snow, my dear friend, is following this story for us. Kate, this one is stunning for me. If you think about what an outspoken champion, and now this guys lifestyle. I think that was part of it last night, the hypocrisy of all this. It happened so quickly. The manhattans District Attorneys Office now saying theyre going to investigate, look into these allegations against the new York Attorney general Eric Schneiderman, his last day on the job last night. The new yorker published stories from four women saying the new York Attorney general slapped, demeaned, choked and threatened them. Then the governor calling on him to resign. He did. This morning, he is spending his last day as new yorks attorney general after a lengthy article in the new yorker detailed allegations of physical and Emotional Abuse from four different women. Two of his accusers were named. Two were anonymous. Schneiderman, a prominent democrat, built a name for himself supporting women and the me too movement. We must reimagine a world where predators are exposed and held to account and survivors are supported and empowered at every level. Reporter in february, his office filed a civil rights lawsuit against disgraced hollywood mogul weinstein for failing to protect employees. Weve never seen anything as despicable. Reporter but Michelle Manning barrish and tonya, who were both romantically involved with snyderman in relationships that lasted more than a year, tell the new yorker he was controlling, abusive and repeated lid hit them, often after drinking, frequently in bed and never with their consent. Descriptions of being slapped repeatedly in the face, choked. Reporter both women say he threatened to kill them if they broke up with him. You cannot be a champion of women when you are hitting them and choking them in bed, Manning Barrish told the new yorker. This woman described him as a dr. Jekyll and mr. Hyde figure and told the new yorker seeing him lauded as a supporter of women has made her feel sick. Saying he strongly contests the allegations. Before stepping down, he releelgsed another Statement Read in the privacy of intimate relationship, i have engaged in role playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. Ive never engaged in nonconsensual sex which is a line i would not cross. But sylva rotman told the new yorker this wasnt sexual play acting. This was demeaning threatening behavior. Posting on social media, after the most difficult month of my life, i spoke up for my daughter and for all women. She told the new Yorker Schneiderman once told her not to ever write about him, saying, i am the law. But at the close of business today, he will no longer be the highest Law Enforcement officer in the state of new york. Schneidermans exwife, who is also an adviser, released a statement saying the allegations are, quote, inconsistent with the man i know. The new york police department, stephanie, says theyve not had any complaints. As i said, the local District Attorney is now looking into all of this. This is stunning. I want to bring our guest into the conversation. A political reporter for new york one. If youre not here in the new york city scene who knows Eric Schneiderman well, why is it so significant . This is huge. Hes the top Law Enforcement officer for the state of new york. Beyond that, hes been a lib erl hero to many on left in his challenges to the Trump Administration. He has repeatedly gone after President Trump, after his family. Initially, it was looking into Trump University. And then he sued the administration multiple times over everything from the travel ban to environmental regulations to access to birth control. And so he has been a very aggressive, or trying to be a very aggressive check on whats happening in washington. So this is not something that just affects people in new york but id say democrats nationally who have looked to him to be essentially a stopgap on whats happening in washington. So what happens to all the cases his office is working on now . Because in his statement, he says he strongly contests these allegations, but he basically says the allegations against me are so strong, i cannot do my job effectively. Is he telling us here everything is going to be status quo without me . We dont know because hes frankly not going to be running that office. But a democrat will be. Yes, a democrat is going to be running that office. There will be an election. He was running for a third term this year. Assuming a democrat wins in november, a democrat will be running that office. In the meantime, the state legislature actually appoints a replacement. And thats controlled by democrats. So they are going to have a democrat in there for the short term. There are hundreds of lawyers that work in that office. Presumably they will continue with this kind of work but without the public figurehead theyve had and even with the Mueller Investigation more recently, schneiderman went to the state legislature here in new york and was asking them to challenge the law to essentially give him the power to charge associates of donald trump, should he pardon them, as a result of the Mueller Investigation. So he was already making plans here in new york to prepare for the eventuality that trump would pardon some of his associations and schneiderman was saying he was essentially trying to lay the legal groundwork that would allow him to step in. Could this end up being a very lucky day for President Trump and his associates who are tangled up in this . Not to say in any way theyre behind these accusations. Because these women are liberal progressive democrats. I spoke to schneidermans team last night and they were pointing no fingers. But does this end up being a lucky day for those that are entangled in this investigation . It is a good day for trump and his team. We certainly saw don jr. , the president s son, tweeting gleefully about the allegations against schneiderman, about his rapid resignation. Kellyanne conway also jumping on that bandwagon as well. Im expecting the president to weigh in at some point as well. Because hes tweeted repeatedly at Eric Schneiderman over the years, mocking him, making fun of him for allegedly wearing eye liner. Which Eric Schneiderman did not wear but has some glaucoma medicine that gave him dark looking eyings. The president has aggressively gone after him in very personal terms on twitter. So you can bet that he is celebrating and we know that his team is. Well, thank you so much. It is of course hypocritical for d don jr. To be celebrating the speed in which he resigned. Remember, it was because of the free press. To Kellyanne Conway whos saying gotcha, remember, kellyanne, the person you work for has also been accused by over 12 women and bragged about grabbing womens genitals. Coming up, it is the first big primary day of 2018 and a growing number of republicans blasting controversial gop senatorial candidate Don Blankenship of west virginia, including President Trump. How are these guys chances looking this morning . First, gina haspel is meeting with senators on the hill, trying to win support from key people in her bid for cia director. Shes expected to face tough questions from the committee tomorrow about her role in some of the cias most controversial interrogation policies during the george w. Bush administration. We see two travelers so at a comfort innal with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com led californias fight ofor clean, renewable energy. Or he cleaned up pollution at the port of l. A. And created more goodpaying jobs. Antonio villaraigosa for governor. Because Antonio Villaraigosa millions got it done. Healthcare he defended womens healthcare, banned militarystyle assault weapons, banned workplace discrimination, and more. Antonio for governor. It is primary election day in four states. Polls are now open in west virginia, inn diana, ohio and north carolina. Choosing nominees for novembers midterms. President trump has thrown himself into the race in west virginia, urging voters not to vote for controversial republican candidate Don Blankenship. Tweeting, in part, quote, Don Blankenship cannot win the general election in your state, no way. Remember alabama. Vote jenkins or a. J. Morrisey. Nbcs Morgan Radford is in west virginia. You spoke to blankenship. Is he confident he can win without trumps support . Not only does he think he can win, he told me yesterday he will win. But the question, as you mentioned earlier, is going to be whether or not he can overcome the president s attacks. Coming here at the polling stations, people are walking up now. And many of them say that, well, while we might not like so many of the things that blankenship has said, some of them feel like at least he will bring back their jobs and that is the question theyre facing as they go into the ballot box. The Establishment Republicans in washington are saying hes not your guy. Hes not electable. One, because this is a coal baron who got released from prison just a year ago. Because one of the mines exploded in 2010, killing people. And saying things on the campaign trail some frankly consider reckless like the china people comment he made in regard to Mitch Mcconnells family. Take a listen to what he said when i asked him about that yesterday. A lot of people were offended by that china people comment you made. Do you feel badly for that . Absolutely not. Why not . Because its not anything that should make anyone feel bad. I mean, i dont know how else to describe the people that live in china. Let me make it real easy for you. What is the name of china . Its called the peoples republic of china. So the peoples republic of china has china people in it. Well, some of these supporters who are coming up to these polls today say at least when he was here, we had jobs, we could have a High School Diploma and still earn a sixfigure salary either in the coal mines or working on the railroads. There are other people who say we cant forget what blankenship did. We spoke to a man who is actually in that mine on the day that it exploded. He lost 29 of his friends. He said that blankenship ruled by intimidation and fear and thats exactly what he says hes doing here now in politics. He says this is all just false propaganda. Theres a lot on the line today. People are saying theyre gearing up for the battle ahead, stephanie. Indeed, it will be a battle. I want to bring my panel back. Anthony scarmucci and senator bob torricelli. Blankenship, who as i said earlier the president doesnt support, said hes trumpier than trump. What does that even mean . Is that bad for the trump politics brand that a guy who is tied to 29 people dying says im trumpier than trump. Im still trying to figure out what china people means so how can i tell you what trumpier than trump is . I think bob and i agree with this. He has his own unique brand. His own unique personality style. People who say theyre trumpier than trump are probably less trumpier than trump could ever be because theres nobody like the president. I think we all agree theres only one. I dont know if i would say iconic. Do you think the democrats might be playing the blue wave wrong . I saw someone on tv saying Stormy Daniels and Michael Avenatti have hurt trump more than democrats have. Democrats are rioting on the impeach, hes unfit, hes unhunged. And he is up in the poll numbers. You know, this is a painful question to answer. Please do. Because its why i invited you. Theres optimism in the Democratic Party because were going to make gains in the house. Were not going to make gains in the senate. If this election were today, there would be democratic gains, maybe even democratic control in the house. Probably losses in the senate. Donald trump will be able to call it a draw or a victory. The reason goes to we understand how the Democratic Party feels about Stormy Daniels, okay. We understand how Democratic Party feels about Donald Trumps personal behavior. What else is the party for . Nancy pelosi shuts down the house of representatives over illegal immigration. I agree with her on the issue. But thats your issue . Thats for shutting down the federal government . As opposed to day care . Education . Jobs . Taxes . Thats what the American People care about . This is a party with a cause. The causes against donald trump. Thats not a good enough message to deserve governing. Fair point. I cede my time to the great senator of new jersey. From the republican side, youre a centrist. You supported mitt romney, guys like john mccain. But when you see people well, i support democrats. When you see people like jeff flake and barack obama if you remember. Or john mccain speak against the president or a lot of centrist Reasonable Republicans retire, what does that say to you about the direction of your party . Nothing actually. Really . You think no big deal, that these guys are checking out . I think theyre all checking out for a different reason. I cant speak for speaker ryan, but he may think were going to lose the house and senator torricelli thinks were going to lotion the house and i think its going to be closer than people think. Im not saying were going to win the house. If you look at history, history is against us. Theres a lot of things going on in the economy that are very positive for the president. So he cant rule it out. As it relates to these guys, they dont like the president s personality. They dont like the president s style. I dont think its personality theres a difference between personality and conduct. Okay, so they dont like the president. Let me rephrase that. They dont like the president s conduct. But i also think they dont like the president s personality or style. When you step back and you look at the policies that have actually been implemented by the president , and you see whats going on in the economy, you see the potential peace deal on the Korean Peninsula and you see what American People finally see, some level of wage growth and some level of real opportunity for the working class and middle class people, and we both know that the south korean trade deal has already been signed and were just waiting now for it to be released after the conversation of peace happens with the north korean dictator, that will be the template for future trade deals. I think bob and i agree on the trade situation. The trade situations been lopsided against the United States for 50 years. If the president s going to right size that or make it more bilaterally fair, those things are going to be very, very good for the republicans, going into the midterms. If you look at the president s team heading to china, they dont even agree with one another. I wouldnt agree with you on wage growth because wage Growth Continues to be sluggish and worrisome. Last point to you, bob. I do not share the optimism of Many Democrats about this election. Incredibly, against all precedent, the American People have just discounted the president s behavior. Almost appears to be nothing he can do at this point by personal conduct. He may be fumbling on the issues of trade and the economy and immigration, but he at least is on the side the American People agree with. The Democratic Party better start putting together a message that goes to working people and the middle class and struggling people. Because at the moment, theyre unrepresented. And if the Democratic Party thats not addressing them and the president who may like the a bafoon and has all these difficulties but never theless seems to be trying to address their issues, we dont win that fight. If the democrats ride the wave of impeachment, that potentially takes them nowhere. Nowhere. Stay tuned for coverage of bright matt primary races. Well have up to the minute results and analysis when the numbers start coming in. And follow along live at nbcnews. Com elections. Coming up, you know were covering rudy. Mr. Giuliani, mayor giuliani, responds to the reports that the president is losing patience with him. With chantix. I would doubt myself that i could actually quit. That i could climb that hill and get over it. I really honestly dont believe i could have done it without chantix. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. Chantix reduced my urge to smoke. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. The most common side effect is nausea. It feels so good to say, im a nonsmoker. Ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. Many insurance plans cover chantix for a low or 0 copay. Welcome back. Im stephanie ruhle. Rudy giuliani denying reports the president is frustrate wdz him over a number of recent offmessage and contradictory tv interviews. The former mayor spoke to Nbcs Kristen Welker by phone just a couple minutes ago. Listen. Let me ask you about this broader criticism. There are a number of reports that the president is frustrated with you. Is the president frustrated with some of your tv appearances . No. The president encourages me do more of them. I try to keep them under control, i just did one on sunday even though we had about four requests. No, the president president feels that the tv interviews have organized his supporters. And those who are who understand the way in which hes been badly treated in this situation from the very beginning. I want to bring my panel back. Anthony scaramucci and senator bob mar skelly. Even if the president is correct in saying the president loves this, people say sara sanders and the communication staff have been embarrassed. Don mcgahn who is beside himself, what do you think rudy is doing here . I would welcome the guys signed the white house to not be anonymous on this stuff and come out and put the names on the stuff and say heres my name, heres what i think. Since they dont do that, i find that equally frustrating. But the president played golf with andrew and mayor giuliani on sunday and my guess is that the relationship was he called shulkin how you doing and fired him five minutes later. Yeah. Its a little different relationship. I think the relationship with david or secretary shulkin was probably less close than the president s had with the mayor, which i think goes back about 30 years. And so and i think these guys have bonded from 9 11 and other areas of their lives. So i dont see this as being a long term problem. Think if youre asking me about the strategy, strategys a totally different element. You can be friends strategy has to be if theres information that the special counsel has or the Southern District has that the president and the mayor think they need to get out there ahead of other people or ahead of the press, that could be part of the strategy. And just to equate that to the stock market. If you and i were running a company and we had bad earnings, we would probably want to report those earnings early as posed to wait for the traditional conference call. Correct. But if we ran a company that we would be in line with our Ir Department and our press department instead of hue mill agt them. Senator, whats your take on this . Some could argue that this Rudy Giuliani circus is working and that the media is focusing on every mistake thooes hes making. Im one of those people. People out there are going this is such a mess i dont want to hear about it. It is all working. I actually was thinking last night watching the schneiderman with draup, this withdraw, theres a confluence of events coming here. First this idea that theres a Campaign Violation case has always been fanciful. Theres no legal case to be made on it. Its no biggie. It does not exist. The russia thing in the minds of the American People and the congress is starting to get old. Pretty soon mueller is going to have to put up or shut up. This politically this has been going on nor im into the going to let you go on that. Because we keep saying its been going on too long. Benghazi investigation four years, no indictments, Hillary Clintons email investigation two years no indictments. The trump russia investigation 15 months 21 indictments. Maybe youre from us stated by the media talking about it all the time, its not taking that long. Theres been a lot of public focus for a long type. Theres a burden on you mueller pretty soon to start coming with something. In my mind, the legal vulnerability of donald trump remains michael cohen. When i read that story of the New York Times on sunday, id invite people to go back and look at it, i could not believe my eyes. It read like an organized crime story. Clearly there appears to be Money Laundering on real estate purchases, the running of that catering house with underworld figures, the leveraging of taxing ma dal ions, its like a bad film. Those are new york cases. The schneiderman withdraw last night is a wig deal. Yes, theyll have another attorney general, yes, someone else will come along. But a lot of time is lost and a lot of focus. I will guarantee donald trump had a sigh of relief this morning. In any was, those fortunate three prongs. The campaign one is not real, the russia one is getting old, and now the new york one appears for the time being to have been to have been blunted. And now two big things. The Iran Nuclear Deal and north korea. I think what Rudy Giuliani is doing, maybe not even by design, maybe just fumbling along, theyre creating an environment to fire mueller in the middle of the iran and the north korea announcements with all of this offense going on at the moment. Anthony, you cannot possibly say they will find absolutely nothing with russia. You just dont have enough faks facts, neither do we. Relate to the president theyre not going to find anything. You dont know that will for sure. Uihlein variety me back after that comes to pass. But on the but how you can say hold on. How you can say theyre going to find absolutely nothing . Theres no, i no weigh have you as it relates to the president. Theres no way you have all the facts about the president and his business dealings for the last 40 years. Lets see if im right. Then lets see if youre right. Lets talk about the New York Times arl becauticle that senator read and sthed say great washingtonian hit job on michael hoe cohen. It was trying to paint a brush about him so he loses the court of public opinion. He hasnt been indicted yet, they raided his house and hes appeared at an arraignment but theres been no arrest charges. Donald trump didnt read that story and say to himself, this guys a government witness . Theres no way this guys i dont know if the president read it or not. But any experience washingtonian reads it theyre doing a very opo hit job ton. I would agree with bob. He knows theyre painting him with a brush inside that article, and i know it, he knows it. But on your point about the investigation, i think the senators once again right that the American People are groowin tired. Secretary rice said you either have it our dont have it and if you dont have it lets close the investigation because these distractions are unnecessary for the progress of the United States. And i would be saying the same thing if secretary clinton were the 45th president because theyd be hitting here in the is a standard nonsense in washington. Close the investigation or in this window of iran and north korea does the president in the middle of all of that coverage at one point himself end the investigation . We both agree hes got great political instincts. Firing Robert Mueller would be an unmitigated disaster. It would set him up where the establishment would collapse on him from both sides. It would be a bipartisan collapse on the president. I wouldnt recommend that. Dont fire mule, he are dont fire rosen seen it, let the process take place. Every week that goes by thats becoming less of a problem. Okay. I think it would be a disaster for him. Ive said that publicly and ive said that privately. All right, gentlemen. I appreciate getting your thoughts this hour. You know what . I have another minute. Then, bob, back to you. You know what . I like these guys just so much i have another minute. Back to the michael cohen, though. How you read michael cohen, you were saying this pantints a terrible picture and then a minute later youre agreeing with anthony. Which is it . My view of it was i was reading that story as if i was donald trump or his legal team and saying this guys with the government because theres about four vulnerabilities there. You can see where schneiderman would have been going, those are largely new york state cases. Whatever so whatever he has on donald trump, whatever he knows, hes going to be in the government files because hes going to be a witness. Anthony, which you say there was a good day for the president. When you say the president has grat political instincts, he has great instincts on one hand or great emotional intelligence, but how do you pair that with surrounding himself by so many bad eggs . Paul man for the, carter page, i mean, like the list goes on and on and on. Well, okay. So, you know, Paul Manafort i think was a different situation, okay. If you go back to that period of time cory lewandowski. Whats wrong with cory and david, theyre bad guys toony like those guys. Will you lets talk about paul, i like paul as well. But the situation with paul they were worried about the delegate count at the convention. He was an expert at that and they brought him in to do that job. But you couldnt get somebody do that job that didnt have all these ukrainian problems . I guess he probably is how have done more due diligence. Or some or any. But what was going on was super entrepreneurial activity. People were calling plays from the line of scrimmage. We area outmanned 21 by the clinton campaign. It doesnt mean you cant find good people. Michael flynn, not a good guy. Were going to disagree with that as well. I think Michael Flynn sis a gret american so were going to disagree about that. At the end of the day there are good and bad people on both sides of the situation, whether theyre democrats or republicans. And the truth of the matter is is that theres a lot of ambitious people in washington that have done nefarious things on both sides. So thats just the facts. There are a lot of ambitious people, not all ambitious people i learned my lesson the hard way down there, stephanie. Thats fine. Not all ambitious people get indicted. Thank you, gentlemen. Absolutely fantastic having you. Its very dramatic you saying it like that. Thats what we do here. And shes not going to make you wllive with that comment abt Michael Flynn being a great american. You know what . You can go visit him. Thats going to wrap us up for this hour im stephanie ruhle. Im back at 11 00 a. M. With my partner and you can find me on twirtd. Right now more news with hallie jackson. Decision day gang from the white house to the voting booth and right now were hours away from one of the most consequential Foreign Policy decisions of the trumps administration. And he is expected, at least all signs point to him pulling out of the Iranian Nuclear deal but some of the decisions still sketchy. Weve got the four options hes weighing, plus all eyes on al
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