Transcripts For MSNBCW MTP Daily 20170227

Good evening, im Peter Alexander in washington tonight, in for chuck todd, welcome to mtp daily. It would begin this evening with the blueprint of the selfdescribed total nationalist on the eve of his first address to a joint session of congress. President trump today unveiled a road map for his president ial priorities and governing philosophy and as weve been saying a lot manchester recently, we havent seen anything quite like this in modern president ial politics. President trump is proposing a federal budget that in the white houses words would represent a, quote, massive increase in responding for the military, Intelligence Community, Homeland Security, and law enforcement. All told, defense spending will get a 10 boost. Thats equal to roughly 54 billion. While speaking to a gathering of governors at the white house, President Trump today cast himself as a nationalist who wants to flex his military muscle. We have to start winning wars again. We have to say when i was young, in high school, and college, everybody used to say, we never lost a car. We never lost a war. You remember. And now, we never win a war. We never win. And we dont fight to win. We dont fight to win. So weve either got to win or dont fight it at all. During the campaign, President Trump often chastised military spending on wars as wasteful, insisting that the money would be better spend rebuilding u. S. Infrastructure, at the same time, he promised a dramatic expansion of military fire power while also pledging to cut deficits without slashing entitlements. It was a collection of promises that some dismsed as unrealistic. In order to offset his spike in military spending, mr. Trump wants big cuts to a variety of Government Programs and priorities. The state department, the epa, foreign aid, domestic programs, social safety net. White house officials are saying all of them could be cut. Some dramatically. Today the president called himself a, quote, total nationalist. We cant recall mr. Trump ever using that term to describe himself. It appears that what were seeing right now sch more than a blueprint for a budget, but a potential blueprint to continue transforming conservatism into trumpism. That is one heck of a preview what have we might see tomorrow night where mr. Trump addresses congress in his biggest moment yet on the president ial stage. Joined know by douglas aiken. He was the top economist for president george w. Bush, also ran the Congressional Budget Office and he was the director of domestic and Economic Policy for senator john mccains president ial campaign. He is currently the president of the American Action forum. Long bio and well get to things with you, nice to see you, thanks for being here. Some will look at this budget blueprint, theyll probably see a militaristic nationalist. As a conservative, what do you see from this blueprint layout . I dont see a whole blueprint. This is a piece, a tiny piece, the money involved sheefr less than a third of the federal budget. Its the defense spending and the annual corporations. Not a word about where twothirds of the money is. Not a word in here about tax reform, where thats going. Not touching medicare or Social Security, not touching when i wrote that and wrote me back and said were not touching medicaid either. Is that feasible . Its not feasible to do that and not widen the deficit. Hes inheriting a budget thats unsustainable. Left on autopilot. We explode, trillion dollar deficits, and this makes it worse with no offsets in sight. What does paul ryan say right now . As he hears this budget blueprint and gets a better sense of where the white house stands . I think two things, number one, hes hearing from some of his conservatives, like matt looking at the military bottom line saying this isnt enough. We want 640, not 600 billion. Hes feeling pressure for more, more defense spending, and how do y make it add up . They got to get outside of this offset between nondefense and defense. Theyve done that before. Just in simple terms, to people who see it, the red flag for you here is, what . The absence of any plan for the bulk of the spending and the federal budget which is growing most rapidly. Its the reason well have trillion dollar deficits. Its the reason why theres no money leftover for domestic and defense programs. How about infrastructure . Lets talk about promises to cut taxes, are all of those things dead right now . President trump said he would spend close to a trillion dollars on an infrastructure package. He wants to slice for most all americans. Can you do that . Is that feasible while maintaining the deficit the way it is right now as they claim . No. It just doesnt add up. Big deficits in the baseline, and theyre making the spending line worse, theyre making the tax line weaker. Just doesnt add up. Is paul ryan going to say that . Whos going to say this stuff doesnt add up . At some point the president will have to put out a full budget. They promised it in may. Congress in midmarch in some form. And it sounded like in that form he wouldnt have the full tax proposals. He wouldnt have the full health proposals. By the time he comes, Congress Plans to have done his budget. What hes saying and what he wants will be decided by the congress and hes going to be left with the hand they dealt. Is there anything for democrats not yet . Nothing in sight. You know, they were excited about the infrastructure program. So far no details on that, some rumors itll get pushed off to next year. Ab sthaent, i dont see an attraction. Talk about that as the challenge for democrats right now. The president hosted all the nations governors today, a lot of them democrats. Had a chance to hear on repeal and replace and other issues. Tax reform would be coming, only immediately after obamacare, the new plans were out as well. The bottom line is he needs democrats, doesnt he . On a lot of issues to be able to form the construction of whatever these ultimate goals will look like. He can do some things with only republican votes. Theyre trying to do repeal and replace that way,remainder, fun government in its most basic form, hes going to have to find a way to bring them on board. What are you watch kpg. Hes got too many challenges. Number one articulate a vision for foreign policy. What is he trying to accomplish and what are the tools hes going to use . Just to be clear, he said today, his aids said today foreign aid is cut dramatically. Right. Think about china. Is that strictly a military engament . Mili plus some sort of diplomatic outreach . Is there an economic component. We dont know yet. What is he trying to accomplish and how will he do it . On the domestic front, what are the priorities . A long list of things they mention all the time. Which which ones do they care a lot about and matter . Which ones will be split and put at the back of the line. Nice to see you. Appreciate your expertise and joining us tonight. We to want play you more what have President Trump said earlier today during a meeting with the nations governors as we were talking about. Here is mr. Trump speaking about his budget and his political philosophy. This budget will be a Public Safety and National Security budget. Very much based on those too with plenty of other things, but very strong. And it will include a historic increase in defense spending to rebuild the depleted military of the United States of america at a time we most need it. And youll be hearing about that tomorrow night in great detail. I believe in free trade. I want so much trade, you know, somebody said oh, maybe hes a total nationalist, which i am in a true sense, but i want trade. I want great trade between countries. But, the word free is very deceiving because its good for them, its not good for us. I want fair trade. Lets bring in our panel today. Zblaurd all here today. Nice to see you as we goat to travel you on the road for much of 2012. The question i posed to all of you right now as we look at tomorrow nights address, i want to get your take. This budget blueprint is a blueprint for what . I think it is a blueprint for capitalizing on the promises that President Trump made on the campaign trail. Right . This is talking about the same priorities he had when he campaigned. Hes talking about building up military spending, not touching medicare and Social Security which to a lot of fiscal conservatives is going to set off bells, but hes talking about repeal and replacement of obamacare. Hes got a tall order tomorrow. Details remain to be flushed out. He should flush them out tomorrow night. Is this feasible what the president is . Its just a blueprint. Is what hes proposing feasible. Itll be challenging without touching entitlements. If were going to do it, we have to touch those entitlements. As you saw this . This budget sets up a battle for the republican party. As i sit and talk to conservatives, theyre very worried about the spending in this budget and also theyre very worried about one the fact that it looks like hes going to increase by 3 over obama. People are wondering, especially if john mccain coming out saying what does that mean . But Social Security and medicare not touched. That is keeping a promise that he made on the campaign trail, but ri sat in on the House Freedom cause kus, and theyre like no, he wont change it for the people who have it, but change it later on. Right now we dont see any signs that he has that he has any intention to change medicare. What do lawmakers do as they now get the marching orders . Thats why its going to be a battle for the party because they could make a lot of noise and fight him, and fight him early or say okay were going to go along now and thinking later on, were going to get what we want which is tax reform or other things that will make us happy. Steve, democrats. What do democrats see when they see this blueprint . A president who is following through on his promises, but somebody who is beefing up defense and gutting the Environmental Protection agency. And i think, you know, democrats will object to that, but not just democrats, swing voters are going to object to it because in an area where Climate Change is real but the climate deniers, and clean water and clean air and things like that are important to you, not just democrats, but to swing voters. Im talking about politically obviously they are very important to everybody for the sake of safety. This is a voting issue for a lot of democrats and independents. And i think this is a big mistake for donald trump. One republican described to me last week, the way to get cleaner water and air is growing the economy. Its up to democrats to have some issues with. I want to get your sense, this felt a lot like a steve bannon blueprint as it were. We got a sense of his sort of governing philosophy when he spoke last week. Heres part what have he said, take a listen. If you look at the line was work, i kind of break that into three verticals, buckets, first is narvel security and the second line is economic nationalism. The third, broadly, line of work is what is deconstruction of the administrative state. Deconstruction of the administrative state. Weve been talking about that phrase for a while now, in simple terms, a conservative budget or is it a nationalists budget . Oh, i think its a nationalist budget. I think the idea of deconstructing the administrative state, youre not getting any pushback on that. No mention of the package. That is going to split conservatives in congress. And the question is not if, but when there is resistance on Something Like that. I want to get a sense from you. Republicans overwhelmingly like what they are getting from prident ump right now. Overall, i think its among republicans 85 approved compared to 44 among everybody. And six and ten americans overall are hopeful, optimistic about the future of the country, 60 optimistic, 40 pessimistic. How does this frame what were looking at right now from americans . It seems like despite disputes from democrats. Americans are giving President Trump a benefit of the doubt, at least in terms of the image of optimism. Well, youve got a divided country which you can see in the Election Results and every single day. Hes pursuing an agenda that is aimed primarily at showing off his base and not expanding it. I think steve bannon wants to expand the base, thats why hes doing all these nationalistic things. But you know, donald trump is a president with the lowest Approval Rating in the history of recorded Approval Ratings for incoming president s. 44 approve does not have leeway to work with here and appealing to the base as opposed to moving to the middle and trying to bring more people in is not the way for his party to be successful in 2018 for for him in 2020. We were taeling this up, we have administrate r mrgs, the country like iran on notice in the words of the now former National Security advisor mike flynn. Calling for expansion of the nuclear arsenal. Generals to run the pentagon and the nsa. If youre the other countries as you hear about this big spike in military spending. How do you view the plans of the Trump Administration . It depends because if its only 3 above obama, youre thinking, yes, hes obviously very interested in this idea. I think that when i think about what other countries are looking at, theyre also listening to him closely when hes talking about wanting to win wars. I think that is probably a little bit more interesting to other countries because theyre saying, what wars, where is he going to go . What countries is he going to go into . Increasing defense spending could just be seen as okay, this is what got him into office and he wants everyone to feel safe. Doesnt mean were going after other countries. We want to win wars, thats a whole other can of worms that i think puts a lot of International Leaders kind of in a weird place in terms of thinking about trump. Your policy guy, you have one question, whats that question . What do you want to drill down to get a better understanding of right now as he prepares to lay out his agenda. I think the relationship between obamacare and tax reform. I think those two exerces are very closely related. Are they going to merge at some point. Pursued separately . I think the president needs to provide leadership here. Its not congress, its going to be the Trump Administration. He said who knew how Difficult Health care could be . Interesting because it looked to me today like hes beginning to back off of some of the big repeal and replace language that hes been so hes had so much bravado about. Were going to see where it goes. I suspect it wont go exactly the way conservatives on the hill would like to go. Already were witnessing that. Steve, thank you. Stay with us. Well be back with you shortly. Coming up, those trump russia stories not going away. Apparently not any time soon. The drip, drip, drip of news is making republicans in congress wary. And tomorrow by the way, msnbc will have full coverage of President Trumps first address to a joint session of congress. Our coverage begins at 6 00 eastern time in the morning with morning joe live from washington. Brian williams, Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews will have full coverage and analysis of the address tomorrow evening. We hope youll stay with us. Why pause a spontaneous moment . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis. Welcome back to mtp daily. Looks like we might be seeing a revised travel ban coming from the white house this week. Today a Senior Administration official tells me that the Trump Administration is looking to release a revised executive order dealing with immigration and refugees this wednesday. Following the president s address, of course, to Congress Tomorrow evening. The revision comes after a federal Appeals Panel refused to reinstate the administrations controversial travel ban dealing with people coming into the u. S. From seven predominantly muslim countries. Just this weekend, the Associated Press reported on a draft document from the department of Homeland Security that found insufficient evidence that citizens of these countries, quote, pose a Terror Threat to the u. S. The administration said preventing terror was the primary reason for the ban. Also this morning, former president george w. Bush would not give any endorsement to the travel ban when pressed by todays matt lauer. Before or against the ban. Youre against the ban . 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Were going to move into actually receiving the ed, but as of right now, the initial inquiries ive made to the appropriate agencies, i dont have any evidence. After a few hours later we should say the committees ranking democrat held his own News Conference and directly contradicted the chairman saying, they have no evidence because the investigation hasnt even gotten off the ground. The white house seemed to question whether an investigation is even necessary at all. The house and senate looked at it, you know as well as i do that the Intelligence Community has looked at it as well. Theres a big difference. I think that russias involvement and activity has been investigated up and down. So the question becomes, at some point, if theres nothing to further investigate, what are you asking people to investigate . That was sean spicer earlier this afternoon. Nbc colleagues are covering the story from multiple angles. National security reporter joins me on set, kasie hunt is on capitol hill for us. Kasie, quickly if you can, the intelligence communities usually work in a bipartisan way. How unusual is it that we saw these sort of dualing press briefings take place today . Reporter highly unusual, peter, not just for the reason that you mention that, you know, typically these committees work in a bipartisan way with, but they are typically very private. It is very rare to see the chairman come out in this kind of a way and speak. I mean, the chairman devin nunes spoke for 40 minutes and schiff a half hour. They contradicted each other. They contradicted each other in conclusion, not necessarily in their kind of outward set of facts, they both acknowledged that this Committee Investigation is in the very early stages. Theyve just agreed on the scope of the investigation. So theyve agreed, okay, these are the things were going to evaluate, this is what were going to look at, and that in turn tells the intelligence agencies, okay, heres what you need to produce, heres what we want to look at. Thats the phase that theyre in, and devin nunes out there essentially saying, i have been told by many folks, this is kind of the language that he used, that there isnt evidence that the Trump Campaign had contact with russian officials. On the flip side, adam schiff saying look, we havent started this investigation, we havent looked at the evidence. I pressed devin nunes, the republican on this point. Again, no necessarily bomb shell headline out of these press conferences, but they are giving us yet another set of information as this story kind of unfolds. And i think its entirely possible any one piece of information from the press conferences could turn out to be the thing that the whole investigation hangs on. We have to see. And ken, were sort of striking you hear chairman nunes parsing words when he says there isnt any evidence yet. What was your take . My reaction, peter, that doesnt square with our own reporting first of all. Law enforcement and intelligence officials have tol Pete Williams and me and others that there were contacts between now the wording is important, Trump Associates and russians. Were not say russian intelligence officials. So nunes comments could be true and misleading. As adam schiff made clear, the fbi hasnten presented evidence to the committees. They dont as a habit read out skrl investigations to the intelligence committees and carry over physical evidence the bottom line, its unclear the breath of the investigation say that there is no evidence, right . Thats right. And so, youve got parallel investigations. Youve got a federal investigation and then congress is trying to do their own investigation. They rely on the executive branch to deliver documents and evidence and that hasnt happened so far. Premature to make those assessments. They have investigating still to do. The other thing that came up in the story is the back and forth about a New York Times story and whether or not the white house asked the fbi and chairman nunes to knock it down. Pete williams is reporting that jeff sexes said he did not know in advance about the white house efforts to get the fbi to knock down these reports. What more are you hearing from that end . Well, this is, i think, part of why the chairman devin nunes wanted to call this press conference in the first place. He was the one quoted on the record in a lot of these stories as kind of defending the white house against this New York Times story. And kens right, our distinction and nbc news reporting and what we nbc news are reporting the difference between were they russians and Business People who may have had ties orer they russian intelligence officials . Andhats the thing that i think is getting the mt pushback here. But i think the question, you know, for members of congress, i mean, even adam schiff, the democrat said, okay look, the white house can call members of congress all day long. Its not necessarily the contact that is the issue, right. When youre talking about the fbi, and Justice Department officials. Theres an issue with the contact in and of itself. Thats not the case here in congress, but what is a potential issue, if these members of congress who are in theory conducting an independent, bipartisan investigation into and in some cases, activities, that may involve people who are now in the executive branch. Thats the judgment call at issue here in congress. Sean spicer said today nothing has come out of the investigations so far. And therefore, there is nothing to investigate. Do your sources agree with that take . Well no, but that is a common question that people ask, whats taking so long . If there was something there, wouldnt they have found it by now. This is a counterintelligence investigation. Its not as simple as investigating whether somebody, you know, stole money from a Trump Campaign. This is about examining whether a sophisticated foreign adversary, russia, somehow compromised or recruited americans, participating in a covert action against our democracy. Sometimes they take years. And they may never result in charges, nor will they may they not result in somebody being cleared or an announcement that will the w no there there. Well have to wait and see where this goes. The bottom line, were talking about russia for a while im guessing despite the desire that we turn the page. Not going away. Both of you, thanks so much. Still ahead here, the president hints at his plans for a health care overhaul. Its all ahead on mtp daily. Are your allergies holding you back or is it your allergy pills . Break through your allergies. Introducing Flonase Sensimist. More complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. Using unique mistpro technology, new Flonase Sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. Most allergy pills only block one. And six is greater than one. Break through your allergies. New Flonase Sensimist. The cowardly destruction of philadelphia this weekend comes on top of similar accounts from missouri and threats made to Jewish Community centers around the country. The president continues to condn these and any other form of antisemitic and hateful as in the strongest terms. White House Press Secretary sean spicer today once again condemning antisemitic acts following another wave of threats to Jewish Community Centers Across this country. At least 21 schools, day schools, and Community Centers, in 12 states, received bomb threats today. Folks, thats children. Among the targets was the jcc in birmingham, alabama, the third threat they have received in just over a month. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for state police to investigate the threats with the help of local and state officials. Six Community Centers and four towns there received threats, including three on Staten Island alone. None of the threats proved credible, but they have certainly shaken jewish communities across this country. This is the latest rash of threats coming after another Jewish Cemetery was vandalized this weekend. Police say more than 100 headstones were toppled, desecrated, at the mt. Caramel Jewish Cemetery in philadelphia. Overnight on saturday. Police have not released any information on suspects, no arrests have been made, the fbis Philadelphia Field Office is opened up a civil rights investigation into the vandalism. Pennsylvanias governor, tom wolf called the act, quote, truly reprehensible and called for state police and the office of Homeland Security to investigate that incident. Philadelphias mayor jim kinney had more pointed comments about how elected officials should respond. This ethnic, religious, and bigotry needs to stop. It needs to be put an end to and Public Officials like myself and even those who that are in Higher Office than me need to speak out against it and be very firm. Not kind of halfhearted statements of well, this is not acceptable kind of thing. Need to call out the bigots and even if theyre supporters of you, need to call them out and tell them theyre wrong. 90 separate bomb threats already year to date, dozens of jccs and day schools. More mtp daily just ahead. First the cnbc market wrap. Great to see you, peter, stalks off to a good start to the week. Dow rose 16 points, s p up by 2, nasdaq up 16 points. Unemployment filings up by 6,000 last week according to to the labor department. The four week average still at the lowest since 1973. Billionaire elon musk and his Company Space x will send two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. The space tourists have paid a large part of their dmos sit. Thats it from cnbc first in business worldwide. Well, a 103 yeah, 103. Well, let me ask you guys. How long did it take you two to save that . A long time. Then its a fortune. Well, im sure you talk to people all the time who think 100k is just pocket change. Right now were just talking to you. I told you we had a fortune. Yes, y did. Getting closer to your investment i told you we had a fortune. Goals starts with a conversation. Schedule a complimentary goal Planning Session today. Mim evenarts win the kitchen. I need my blood sugar to stay in control. 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Very complicated issue. We have come up with a solution thats really, really, i think very good. Now i have to tell you, its unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated. After the meeting, republican governors talked favorably about the president S Health Care remarks outside the west wing. Usually after these kinds of things, there are bipartisan remarks outside the west wings, Communications Director says not so today. They say democratic governors were not invited to participate. Joining me right now is connecticut governor, he is the chair of the democratic governors association. Governor malloy, thanks for being here, we appreciate it. Great to be with you. You were with the president today. Did you hear anything that gives you confidence that you could reach Common Ground at any form on health care . I dont have a lot of hope for that to tell you the truth. The republican plan is basically out there. They want to take about 35 to 40 of the people who currently qualify for medicaid and take medicaid away from them. Thats basically what theyre doing. And theyre saying to the states, and were going to give you more flexibility. As if that would be enough flexibility to cover those additional people. Its a concept that quite frankly is foreign to me in connecticut. Connecticut began the process of enlarging the medicaid pool even before the aca. Basically they want to strip that out. So thats a nonstarter, i think, for just about every democrat. And i think most of the republicans who actually brought medicaid to their states. Sorry to interrupt you, the latest nbc news poll shows that 43 say that obamacare is a good idea, 41 say it is a bad idea. So i guess more broadly with that there, iS Health Care in effect paralyzed in this country . Well, i dont think its paralyzed, the reality is, more people have health care today than have ever had it before in america. Thats the reality. I know people dont like obamacare, call it the aca or the kentucky or indiana or ohio plan, i dont care what you call it, keep people insured. Whether thats medicaid, or through the private marketplace. The private marketplace, republicans are now saying, well, its a disaster, its crashed, its falling apart. That wasnt true until the republicans had a big Election Night in november. And since that time, theyve done nothing but kick the whatever out of that system, and of course its going to collapse if republicans spend all of their time warning people that its not going to work. It was working. It may not be working perfectly, but republicans had chances for a long time to fix the problem. And clearly, president obama understood that there needed to be changes. Republicans wouldnt do that. In fact, they voted 65 times to repeal it. Interestingly enough, now that theyre in power, theyre not repealing it. And here we are well into the second month of the presidency. The president said maybe three weeks, maybe four weeks the administration would have a plan, but the plan is based on taking making an excuse over the private market as a way to strip out medicaid from people who are dependent on it. Governor, i think we get a sense based on your comments where you stand on this, today President Trump said he hopes democrat stop obstruction and resistance. Heres part of what he said. Its our hope that democrats will stop the obstruction and resistance, and thats what they have. In fact, they have a sign, resist, resist, they want to resist everything, including cabinet members. I have many cabinet members that havent been approved yet. People that are extraordinary. All of whom are going to be approved, buthey just take forever. Its called obsuct and resist. So fundamentally, the question that a lot of democrats are asking themselves is what should the strategy be Going Forward . Whats your position . Should democrats continue obstruction, resist the slogan or does that have the risk of backfiring. First of all, lets not take what the president says on face value. The reason people arent but even the new head of the dnc chair toem perez and others have said, you know, we are going to resist, we are going to be your Worst Nightmare at every corner. But let me just just say this, the president says were obstructing his appointees. His appointees didnt fill out the forms. His administration didnt do the background check. Hes had secretary after secretary, army, navy, withdraw their applications. Were not obstructing. Do your so what should the strategy be then . What should the strategy be, beyond that, and i understand the point youre making there, but beyond that, what should the democratic message be Going Forward . That were going to resist at every corner or what . No. I am not a resist at every corner. If they want to make obamacare or aca, if they want to make improvements, im all. In. If you want better trade policy, ill listen to you and work on it. You want to bring back those foreign profits, trillions of dollars of foreign profits stranded in other lands and bring it back to america and build an infrastructure system. Im all in on that. Theres plenty of things they could work on. People in the house, in the senate, and governors to want work with this administration, were just not getting the chance to do it. So then the bottom line, i guess, as we look forward to the new budget. We have the address before a joint session of Congress Tomorrow. The president today saying, aids suggesting hes going to cut 54 billion in nondefense spending. Hes going to keep Social Security and medicare untouched, he says, but can states pick up the slack if those widespread cuts take place . Can connecticut hand that will impact on social services and others . No. And its not just connecticut. Look at the carbon states whose economies have been devastated by the plethora of natural gas and low oil prices. A look at you know, i think any number probably somebody approaching 37 or 38 states, which are actually going to cut spending this year as opposed to increased spending. This is not the time for the federal government to withdraw from its obligations and hand them over to the states, believe me, the states can fill the void, this is not the economy that were experiencing in america. Governor malloy of connecticut. Thank you very much. Thank you. We have a lot more mtp daily ahead right here. First tomorrow night when President Trump delivers his first address to a joint session of congress. Many democratic members are planning to bring guests to protest some of President Trumps more controversial policies. And we just learned that congressman Keith Ellison will bring newly elected dnc chair tom perez as his guest. Well be right back. Sir theres been a breach. 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I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. That we need an independent media to hold people like me to account. I mean, power can be very addictive, and it can be corrosive, and its important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power. President bush had his runins with the media. The president , president bush, also says america must lead by example. One of the things i spent a lot of time doing was trying to convince person like vladimir putin, for example, to accept the notion of an independent press. Right. And its kind of hard to, you know, tell others to have an independent free press and were not willing to have one ourself. You dont let anything keep you sidelined. Thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy to get back to doing. What you love. Ensure. Always be you. Because its here. Cue the confetti. Say hi to xiidra, lifitegrast ophthalmic solution. 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Back now with the lid. Our panel is assembled again. Lets talk about president bush if we can very quickly. Comments coming out to speak about President Trump and just want to get your take. You heard some of what he said today. I thought what was striking was about the media. He had his own runins. The media is indispensable. What did you make . Its interesting. Hes very hes made a point not to criticize his successors. And i thought it was an interesting moment. He called trump out on two or three things, incruding this media question. And he made the point which i think we would all agree with, its difficult for america to defend a free press around the world when were attacking it here at home. I thought it was a good point. I dont often agree with george w. Bush. Today i was like, you go. I think there are people finding new appreciation for george w. Bush as we witness the real partisanship. Your take on what he said today. And i thought it was striking the sort of difference in the way he views the russia issue and the way the Trump Administration views it. He said yeah, i think we all need answers. And specifically on a special prosecutor, he said, you know what, i think if they went forward with the idea, it would give this investigation more credibility. I think a lot of the republicans that are pro maybe il mulling this idea and not speaking up yet are probably thinking the same way, you have one congressman from california whose come out and said there needs to be a special prosecutor, but in some there s to be a special prosecutor. To have the legitimate of a president to still be up in the air, and there mystery is there legitimate up in the air. That goes to the people who didnt vote for him. Even the people who support donald trump doesnt like the idea theres a cloud hanging over his head. Theres a idea that he really touchy on the subject because he knows it guess to the heart of his presidency. The Trump Administration is making this worst because they seem to be over reacting. They are creating an environment senator bur was asked to make phone call to knock this todown which is inappropriate. They are making it difficult for republicans to defend not having a special prosecutor. What way does president bush carry among republicans right now. I think people value president bush. He is a voice of reasoning. On the other hand, its easier to have perspective on the media when youre not being questioned by the media. I think his observations are well taken. If they were to say we recognize congress has investigation underway. Let them run its course recognizing that its run by republican chairs. I think that would give them a little bit of breathing room. The challenge theres nothing to see here, is there something to see. The idea of the special prosecutor the president said it will add creditability. Whats your take on that . I dont think the Administration Needs to go there yet. I think their first predicate needs to be we dont believe theres anything here. Such as the one underway in the committee of i want to ask you, the president was asked about this issue in the meeting that took place at the white house. Take a listen to what he did say under his breath. Thank you, very much. I havent called russia in ten years. I think its going to stick around until to get an investigation and we figure out whats going on. The idea that he says he wasnt called russia in ten years. He had past contacts with vladimir putin. He talked maybe putin called him but he talked to people in russia within the last two weeks. This is sean spicer, according to politico, asking press staff to come into office and put cell phone on the table to plug up the leaks now. Whats noticeable even that story, that happening itself leaked. What does that say about this white house right now and its ability to control the message . Every administration leaks. The question is what is this administration going to do do get this under control. I dont think its fair for the sean spicer to ask staff i heard from a lot of folks today. The story it got out is a bigger issue. Part of this is about the coronation of the pieces of the administration and the white house. How do they get them running together, when i think that will help him out. It says you have a white house frustrated not thinking about the media is a enemy or media is the problem. Thats why you havesslating fight with the medits because we have reporters a that have been in washington longer, they are going to have people thats going to talk to them. Withe have to leave it there. After the break, the award for best election flashback goes to stay with us. Look closely. Hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. The microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. The microsoft cloud turns information into insight. So in case you missed it, that massive fluff of the oscars made people on twitter lose their mind as la la land was mistaken flashback. Amazing ending, which that had happened on election day. Democrats tweeted most nights which what happened at oscar happened on Election Night. 65 million plus people now exactly how la la land team feel now. How much money will dr. Biden raise for a recount. Voted illegal. Plenty of people suggested perhaps la la land should have spent more time in wisconsin. This was popping up all over the place. Duey defeats truman. Thats all for tonight. For the record with greta starts now. Live on msnbc. This happening a special prosecutor, tonight Trump Administration to settle questions about russia and the campaign. The president calls it fake news. Should and will attorney general Jeff Sessions name a special prosecutor. Plus, on whether the press is the enemy. Rosie odonnell to take on president