Gets under way. Good evening once again from the our nbc news headquarters day 173 of the trump administration. And today came a big change. A string of emails showing a Trump Campaign willing to let the russian government help win them the election. After three days of headlines and under threat of reading them first in the New York Times, donald trump jr. , the president s eldest son, released a chain of emails from and to his british contact, Rob Goldstone saying a russian official could provide official documents and information that would incriminate hillary and would be useful to your father. The high level and Sensitive Information is part of russia and its governments support for mr. Trump. In his initial apply don junior says if its what you say i love it, especially later in the summer. A short time ago donald trump junior was on fox news with sean hannity. Someone sent me an email. I cant help what someone sends me you know. I raid it i responded accordingly. If there was Something Interesting there imprisoning its kbon there was bait and switch about what it was supposed to be about. You know there is nothing there. Did you tell your father anything about that . No it was such a nothing. There was nothing to tell. I wouldnt have even remembered until we start scouring through. It was literally just a wasted 20 minutes which was a shame. You haired the president ss say is a i there it was such a nothing there was nothing to tell. President s son has over the last four days offered shifting explanations for all of this. Today with the email thread released a statement from don junior that reads in part the information they suggested they had about hilt i thought it was political opposition research. As we have said she had no information to provide and wanted to talk about adoption policy. Also note with don juniors multiple statements so far his claim that he asked jared and paul that would be manafort to attend but told them nothing of the substance the problem with that is the email chain released today shows he forwarded the entire exchange to both Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner. The email subject line, quote, russia clinton private and confidential. Critics ever the white house say this is now clear evidence of collusion between the Trump Campaign and the kremlin, something President Trump has denied repeatedly for months. There is no collusion. And everybody has said i think you will admit that there is no collusion between me and my campaign and the russians. Theyre all saying there is no collusion. There is no collusion. Precisely. I would like it to move fast if possible. Ill tell what you i really want. There is no collusion. We had nothing to do with russia and everything else. There is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign. But i can always speak myself and the russians, zero. Believe me there is no collusion. There was no collusion. And everybody even my enemies have said, there is no collusion. No collusion, no obstruction. No collusion no obstruction. There has been no collusion. There has been leaking by comey. But no collusion no obstruction. And virtually everybody agrees to that. And for the record this is important right now this is all happening in darkness. More often than not lately and again today were not able to see the white house briefing. Coupled with a president with no public schedule for three days. And this is dark by any modern standard. Through Sarah Huckabee sanders, the president said this today. My spon is a high quality person, and i applaud his traurptcy. Now that the president can no longer claim that russian collusion is a ruse or a sham or a wish hunt or fake news there is no way to know where we are headed. As for our starting panel tonight lets bring them in a mini White House Press corpse peter baker chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times. His latest piece sharing a bi line with maggie haber man many rang or as white house as russia story rfss to let the page turn Ashley Parker for the Washington Post latest with phillip rucker. Category 5 hurricane white house under siege by trump juniors refrlgss. A vivian, White House Reporter for the associated press. Per headline is about the president s next overseas trip which we should remember begins tomorrow. Trump storms paris for bastille day. Peter baker, this was a story your paper broke. So ill ask you first. How big a story was this today . The whole scope of the russia collusion story weve been covering . Well i think it is a big story because it does undercut the defense there was no collusion. Not only at a very minimum we learn from the emails that there was a willingness if not even eagerness on the part of the president s son to receive information that he was told. Anyway it would be incriminating and directly from a russian lawyer on behalf of the russian government supporting his father. One of the things interesting about the mefrls as you read them is that they leave very little ambiguity. There is not a lot of room for misconstruing the meaning here. The lawyer coming to meet him was described as a russian government lawyer. Now she didnt technically work for the government. But she was described that way to him that was what he understood. It was said clearly in the email it was to incriminate hillary. That was the phrase. It was the russian government supporting his father. And donald trump jr. Clearly says i love it. There is not a lot of room for argument as there often is with emails that become fruk a politician kind of situation thats whats fascinating about that. Rmt i want to ask you about you and ashley about the atmospherics you the report on tonight. You describe a traveling white house in some disarray as theyre coming back from the g20 trying to draft a statement to explain away the emails. The statement goes awry in the Public Domain and gets changed up to today. You describe among Staff Members a circular firing squad. Its very interesting if you ask people in the white house around the white house part of this team to describe the events of the last few days first of all you get different versions depending on how who you talk to either for instance donald trump jr. Describe as being agitating to be a more to give a more fullsome explanation from the beginning or the exact opposite depending who you talk to people say really this is Jared Kushners fault or Mark Kasowitz is out with the president. All the people inside now are you know turning their guns on each other because its a very damaging story. And its a very tense time. They feel under siege. They feel like they cant seem to escape this story no matter how much they try. Even the story with Vladimir Putin it only encouraged discussion of it. Ashley there is the gripping account you and mr. Rucker write about the west wing tonight give our viewers the benefit of your reporting what you are hearing about the machinations inside. Sure. A lot of it is what peter just said which is that this is a white house that even in the best of times sort of mistrust and suspicion a core cultural value. And so now there is a ton of finger pointing. One of the key things you hear senior white house officials talking about is not how to deal with the crisis as much as who leaked what to who and who is to blame. Thats something theyre trying to get to the bottom of internally. And there is a tremendous amount of frustration. They did feel perhaps correctly the president had ha good trip abroad, that he could come back sort of ride the wave of that. This they wanted to be focused on health care and some other issues they think are good for him politicly, good for the base like trade. They are deeply frustrated and exasperated that russia again is the black cloud that keeps on intruding has overshadowed everything in the west wing one more time. Ashley a followup i dont know if its answerable exactly. But do you have any sense that the president s sadness is over the story in chief and the fact that the meeting has happened, the fact that it shuts down a line of argument and defense and the enact that it implicates his eldest son . Or the president s problem with it the negative story that the story in chief makes . Well, i think to be clear, from what we have heard is he is not frustrated with his names sake son. He is more sort of angry about the fact of the story, the fact that it adds some real credibility to in stuff that as you just played he has dismissed time and time again. And also that it overshadows his agenda. Ands he is sort of its something described to us its sort of the next chapter in the ongoing russia saga and you know the next chapter now involves or entraps a member of his family. Vivian were tag are going to talk about this during a later segment on tonights broadcast with an adviser to trump. But there is mike pence today, the Vice President for the first time in my memory at least put pout a statement that the take away of which condensed into english is i just want to remind you all there was a team i didnt have anything to do with anyone named trump. And vivian, its startling to see. Absolutely. S it. And the off camera the white house brechg Sarah Huckabee sanders went out her way to assure reporters the recommendation twoon the Vice President and the president and is soiled they remain close a arent trying to skraet a zns por at least mike pence is not trying to create a distance from the president. This is something lingering theyre trying to cover it up in any way they possibly can. But its obvious there is this sense emerging mike pence now you know Vice President mike pence wants to protect himself. Whether or not there is something to protect himself from. Its making people nervous who are working in this administration. And you know, to kind of talk about something that ashley was saying just now, is that you know the one of President Trump ace frustrations is that people in his administration havent been able to kind of come to his rescue. You see this coming up a lot where its not only the fact that you know he wants to kind of carry out his agenda. But he wants his administration, especially his inner circle to make this go away. So that he can focus on that and kind of get in the good graces of you know the American People and carry on. And it doesnt seem to be happening. A lot of the frustration not only is directed at the media but directed at his inner circle that cant seem to protect him from this and ghet narrative moving forward. We saw tillerson and mnuchin come to his aid this weekend only to be reversed by president ial tweets in both areas. We also havent seen anyone notable resign. Peter, you mentioned the attorney kasowitz from new york, the pro from manhattan, the president brought in to clean things up. Is a critical player in your piece as either perhaps under a cloud of resignation or firing but may not last. How is that true . Well, what were told is that Mark Kasowitz, the lawyer, his legal team feel frustrated that you know theyve been boxed out to some extent by the family particularly Jared Kushner. There are conversations being made, and decisions made that dont involve the lawyers that dont reflect the interests of the client the president so much as the interests of the president s soninlaw or the family. And they there is talk among them that you know in cant go on, this is not the dsh a good way for a lawyer to operate. That doesnt mean necessarily there is a change. But thats certainly being talked about among some people in trumps circle whether or not mr. Kasowitz might finally decide to take his leave and move on or that might be a way of getting the president s attention to try to improve the situation that they have right now with their client. Hey, ashley i know youre not giving up any of the dozen sources in your piece tonight. But answer a question thats been rick shaying around our newsroom today. Just because of the nature of the emails, how plainly things are stated, donald trump jr. Not reacting with any surprise to the content of the email. Who in the whouts and you can name broad job categories if you must who is motivated to leak against the president s oldest son . And you see now the damage to the entire operation in has caused. Who . Well, i have to tell you that is the key question that not only are a lot of reporters trying to figure out but a lot of west wing aides are trying to figure out because in is not just a leaker disclosure that damages don junior but also damages Jared Kushner who was on that email chain and in that meeting. It also damages Paul Manafort. And, frankly, even if there was someone who for whatever reason wanted to hurt the president s oldest son don junior this hurts the president because it just thrusts russia back into media and makes very clear that the key question, was the Trump Campaign potentially willing and eager to accept the help of a Foreign Government . It sort of answer that is question as don junior said, i love it yb, yeah im more than happy to do that. Vivian, you remind us it will fall to someone to brief the president over the next 36 hours as to what the french call the known in english as the french revolution. He is leaving tomorrow to be hosted by one of his chief critics in europe, macron of france how is that going to work. Its going to be interesting with the news breaking. Macron one of his primary targets has been russia. Being outspoken about russia meddling. He claimed they interfered in the French Election in an effort to assist his opponent. Maureen le pen. This is sogen on his mind outspoke been it. The first guest macron had to france was putin he was outspoken to him in a press conference speaking out against russias assistance to the syrian president in terms of use of chemical weapons also against election meddling. And so that is you know with that back drop and trump coming with the revelations of his son, you know, discussing possible conversations with russian government lawyer, its definitely going to lend for an Uncomfortable Conversations. But then again there are a number of Uncomfortable Conversations inevitably going to happen between these two ranging from climate to immigration, the white house really wanting to focus on security and defense because they feel that is where the u. S. frenchs relationship is strongest. And certainly it helps them ignore whats happening at home. Youre deep thanks hon a busier than usual day to our guesting and our initial panel tonight. From the times peter baker of the writing partnership baker and haberman. From the post Ashley Parker of the writing partnership rucker and parker. And from the organization that gives us on a daily basis the first draft of history, the associated press. Our friend vivian sal amma. What kind of legal programs does this news pose for donald trump jr. , Jared Kushner and perhaps others . Our panel of attorneys weighs in on that next. Whoooo. I enjoy the fresher things in life. Fresh towels. Fresh soaps. And of course, tripadvisors freshest, lowest prices. So if youre anything like me. Youll want to check tripadvisor. We now instantly compare prices from over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Go on, try something fresh. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. Hundreds of dollars on youmy car insurance. Saved me huh. I should take a closer look at geico. dog panting geico has a 97 Customer Satisfaction rating and fast and friendly claims service. Speaking of service . Oooo, just out. It was in. Out. In out. In what about now . That was our only shuttlecock. Take a closer look at geico. Great savings. And a whole lot more. The future isnt silver suits anits right now. S, think about it. 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Specializes in International Criminal law. And thank you very much for coming on. It was your quote we saw today that got you noticed. And i need you to expand on it. This was given by you to fox news today. Quote its pennsylvania shocking admiration admission of a criminal conspiracy. I want to hear you out on this. I know that collusion all by itself bracketed off per se is not illegal. And i know that lying to the American People is not illegal. What is this thats illegal . Thats right, brian. Whats illegal is conspiracy, which is or solicitation to sort of companion except econcepts in criminal law which takes place when a graup of individuals agree to commit a crime or one individual asks another to commit a crime. I think what the email screams for me is a conspiracy to violate federal election law. Thats the real sort of key idea here. There is under the federal law an absolute prohibition on federal foreign contributions to an Election Campaign in the united states. I think whats key here is that a contribution can be a monetary contribution, or it can be anything else of value. And that includes assistance, to put it bluntly damaging information or dirt on Hillary Clinton is something of value. In fact it was extremely valuable to the Trump Campaign. And if there was a conspiracy or if there was a solicitation to get that information, if donald trump wanted that information and those emails show that he wanted that information then to me thats a very prominent conspiracy or solicitation to violate federal election law. Professor put another way, if youre mueller lets just say the clock stopped today, you could learn nothing else than what we can already imagine mueller has learned, is there a case to be made against one or more individuals in this crowd . Absolutely. Absolutely. And i dont think there even has to be a causal connection. There doesnt have to be a result from in meeting. I dont think the prosecutor or mueller would need to establish a sort of a close connection between the meeting and then a kind of resulting you know pieces of information that were then turned over to donald trump jr. This would be inchoate exist, inchoate solicitation its the attempt to violate federal election law thats the crime. In the emails alone if they are an accurate description of his state of mind and of what happened during the meetings, thats a crime. To joyce advance, counselor, when you hear about infighting among the lawyers in the would you say, other than being happy youre not one of them, what does it tell you the president s personal lawyer from manhattan is right now, if you believer tonights New York Times version, kind of on the outs in the circle of power . So no big vice after the bombshell from the last couple of days, the information contained in these emails that there is infighting. We are at a point in the investigation where its clear that some of the key players and certainly kushner and donald trump junyier have interests that differing. Their lawyers will be talking about them protecting themselves. Its not surprising to see conflict emerge among the lawyers. In addition we have people in the administration who have been left out to dry. People like the press secretaries who have been out saying there has been no conversation between campaign and russia. And of course those people all now have fast track tickets for a meeting with special counsel mueller. Im sure theyre unhappy with the principals and with the lawyers theyve been left hanging out in this manner. We saw Vice President pence separate himself from the herd today. Were going to see more of this discord in the days to come. Ultimately this may be thes sorts of people that may decide its in the best interests to cooperate with the investigation. Jill, do you concur and tell the enormous power of muler to. Put his arm around any of the individuals and say lets talk about the boss and talk about what youre facing. Its enormous power. He has a number of candidates for who is going to flip first. But i want to add a few things to what the others have already said. And one is if we look at the First Response from donald junior in that email he says, i love it, especially if its later in the summer. And if you follow what happened, later in the summer is when they released it, when it was weaponized to do the most damage, caused the resignation of deb by wasserman schultz. Caused chaos at the democratic. It does seem to follow from the release in june to the release of the tapes and the damage it did. That may make it a worse Case Scenario its not a surprise the personally lawyer might be leaving the defense team, because the president hasnt been following his advice anyway. He has been tweeting and doing damage to himself. So he may feel that its a losing case now. And with in Additional Information i agree with the professor that this is a case where you have a Campaign Violation there is no excuse. And when you look at the words, words matter the language of this, yes donald trump jr. Lied to the public in his explanations for this meeting. Thats not a crime. But meeting with a foreign adversary or Foreign National doesnt even have to be the moreno government just a foernl nationale is a crime. God i wish we had more time especially on this day. But thats why we dont. Jill, joyce aband yechlt. Nts david thank you for being with us a fantastic conversation. Well agree to continue it another the night. Up next reaction to the news from a member of the Senate Intelligence committee. Our conversation when the 11th hour continues. Just like the people who own them, every business is different. But every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. 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Im not an armchair prosecutor. Im leaving a lot of that work to mr. Mueller. Injury he is capable of that. And he is going to be following up on this story for sure. I think the bigger message here is that the Trump Campaign knew that russia was involved in trying to help donald trump win the election as early as june of 2016. And the sort of casual way where donald trump jr. Got this email said we got information from the russian government that is involved in trying to help your father win the election, he emails back, will set a meeting up and it sounds rmia the exact words but he said i love it, maybe for later in the summer. All of the denials. All of this this is a lie, a witch hunt, nothing to it, shlgts it just goes out the window with this revelation. Donald trump jr. Was on television at the time of the Democratic National convention went on and on about how it was all a tissue of lies the democrats lost the moral compass. And it was all trying to defeat his father. And yet a month before he is he knows that the russians are involved in this project if you will. What does this do to your investigation and and im assuming donald trump jr. Has earned himself a seat at the witness table across from you. There is no question that we want to talk to him as soon as possible. And i think the other piece is we need to understand what more is there . Is this the tip of an information iceberg or is this ice laid . One of the other disturbing things about this was the sort of casual nature of these emails back and forth referring to a russian guy that they had a connection with by his first name. And they mention in lawyer as a russian government lawyer. And for the last three or four days weve gotten all this these denials saying we dont know who she was or who she represented. We didnt know her name. But in the email she was referred to as a government lawyer. So, yes, we definitely want to talk to him. He has expressed a willingness to do so. I hope that can be done as soon as possible. I think it should be done in open session. I dont see anything classified in this discussion. Because i think the American People, again, need to understand what the russians did so we can prevent it from happening again. They will back. And thats really what bothers me. And finally on this topic, what does any or all of this tell you about our level of compromise, our president s level of compromise, walking into a meeting like the bilateral in germany with putin . Well its troubling, because one of the techniques in in the trade craft of this espionage game is to offer somebody something, and then if they take it you have your hooks into them. And theyre subject to being influenced in an improper way. And thats one of the problems. When that email came from saying that we have information and it said it from the russian government. The response should have been, number one, no. And number two get me the fbi. Instead well set up the meeting. Now what transpired at that meeting is almost irrelevant because of the willingness to enter into this kind of discussion with the russian government when it said right in it its part of in re effort to to help your father win the election. Thats very troubling. I assume you were up home during the fourth of july break. And i further assume that the constituents you talked to might have been more interested in any future hikes in their Health Care Premiums and where that care was going to come from than they were the russian matter. Would that be a correct assumption . That is a correct assumption i have had a experience ive never had. Ive fever been in a parade before we are people lobbied on an issue. I marpd with Susan Collins in the east fork maine parade you go down the row and shake hands and give five to the kids. A significant number of people came over to me during that time they took my hands sometimes they took both hands and said, save our health care. Ive never had that happen before. I think Susan Collins had exactly the same experience. This is whats on peoples minds. There is no question and this bill that we have been hearing about for the last couple of weeks that was drafted in secret is terrible. And will be terrible for the people of in country. Now i hear there is another secret bill coming out later this week. And you know this process could be a lot more open if we had a lot of people involved in having input having think of this brian have hearings have discussion, debate, instead of springing a bill on us and then hoping for a vote a couple of days later. It back fired two weeks al. Fibl and hope thats whats going to happen again. Because maybe if that happens again we can start having serious discussions about how to fix the Affordable Care act. Im ready. Senator angus king from the great state of maine. Thank you for your time tonight. Thank you brian. How about the people in east port maine who managed to get get both senators to the july fourpgt parade well done. Another break for us when we come back well talk to among other people a Trump Campaign adviser how big an impact today has had. Each year sarah climbs 58,070 steps. Thats the height of mount everest. Because each day she chooses to take the stairs. At work, at home. Even on the escalator. That can be hard on her lower body, so now she does it with dr. Scholls orthotics clinically proven to relieve and prevent foot, knee or lower back pain, by reducing the shock and stress that travel up her body with every step she takes. So keep on climbing, sarah. Youre killing it. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. Delicious pasta marinara. But birds eye made it from zucchini. Mmm bird mashed potatoes and rice. But made from cauliflower. 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Yeah welcome back to our broadcast we continue our conversation about what happened today and joining us now, Barry Bennett former Senior Adviser to the Trump Campaign he runs a campaign. Welcome to you both. Barry youve always been an honest broker with us ill ask you if you were advising these folks tonight and for all i know you have what would your advice be after what has to be called a bombshell story in the length of russia collusion story. First of all, i havent. But ive been a Campaign Manager most of my adult life. And you would never take a meeting like that thats where the mistake was made. They took this meeting. No one apparently at the campaign thought it was a bad idea. It was a horrible idea. But the good news is while its caused a tremendous storm, and its frankly some wild, wild spending las vegspeculation abo meeting there was no information given or taken there was no follow ups it was a woman made a bunch of false pretenses to get a meeting she shouldnt have gotten she got it and Nothing Happened. Of course that we. Of course the spending las vegas the lawyer panel had on before the break were the final lawyer said that it was illegal, to meet with a Foreign National which is prepostrouse. Laughable. In kind of speculation is neither fact based more based in reality. So you know this has been a bad day for the trump administration. No doubt. But in the event Nothing Happened no no smoking gun here. Matt to keep this in the fact based realm we have in fact no proof that Nothing Happened because we have just this one email chain and its early in the process. Matt i want to know what its like in the west wing and what its like at a briefing where all the reporters especially in our medium have to stop work turn off the lights and cameras so that that the briefing can begin by a Public Servant in a place where we the tax pairing are paying the light bill. Well on top of that the briefing that actually did take place today which as you said was off camera provided almost no manifestation. Sarah sanders repeated by when pressed on the issue at hand of donald junior and russia continued to say im not talking about that. Im not talking about that referred questions to outside counsel. Which is a different steak than we saw yesterday when she was happy to come out and say no collusion what so far. I think what were Say Something a continued moving of goal post were hearing Nothing Happened at the meeting. We heard earlier well the meeting had nothing to do with hillary. We heard before that we never met with russians. So its a little interesting to see the continued movement away from you know anything that happened here. When clearly there is something here. And i think i do agree that today was a horrible day for the Trump White House. Barry, rhetorically, whats the cudgel thats been taken away from the trump team i guess is it no longer works to call it fake news or a ruse or a scam or a witch hunt. Whats your after the fact advice other than dont take the meeting we cant go back and correct that. Whats your after the fact advice for a president who, remember, leaves again tomorrow night on a foreign trip. First, i mean full and quick disclosure of everything is the pr strategy here. But you know frankly theyre being helped by folks like tim cain who go out and use the word treason that kind of stuff that turns this into both sides saying ridiculous things. And its not helpful to anybody. But so the left is giving them all the ammunition they need to call it a witch hunt frankly. And hopefully director mueller will get to the bottom of this. Everyone takes the them and well find out whats there. But some of the err responsible charges on the left are really really outrageous. These are around real legislation with a chance in light of today. That and more when we come back. More kinds of crab than ever, new dishes, and all your favorites. Only while crabfest lasts. Red lobster. Now this is seafood. When itrust the brandtburn, doctors trust. Nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. And all day, all night protection. When it comes to heartburn, trust nexium 24hr. Whuuuuuat . Rtgage offer from the bank today. You never just get one offer. Go to lendingtree. Com and shop multiple loan offers for free free . Yeah. Could save thousands. You should probably buy me dinner. No. Go to lendingtree. Com for a new home loan or refinance. Receive up to five free offers and choose the loan thats right for you. Our average customer could lower their monthly bills by over three hundred dollars. Go to lendingtree. Com right now. You can use whipped topping made. But real joyful moments. Are shared over the real cream in reddiwip. Reddiwip. Share the joy. Award winning interface. Award winning design. Award winning engine. The volvo xc90. The most awarded luxury suv of the century. Visit your volvo dealer today and get up to 4,500 in allowances. There are other things we have to do. We only have a limited number of days left. We intend to fully utilize the first two weeks in august. Were going to do as much as we can for the American People thats what they sent us here today. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell of kentucky confident a new version of the Senate Health care bill will be ready next week. He is announced he is holding the senate in session can you believe it an extra two weeks and delaying the summer break to work on health care and other legislation. But a member of his own party is hinting at a plan that involves reaching out to democrats. I think the bill thats before us is dead. But there is an emerging new approach that i will talk to you about in the next 24 to 48 hours that i think may actually work. And ive never felt better than i do right now about Republican Party coming together around an idea that may actually attract a hand full of democrats. Bracingly from senator graham joining us tonight kelsey snell from her job as congressional reporter for the Washington Post. Her latest reporting is on mcconnell delaying the work on health care matt has been kind enough to agree to stay with us. So kelsey, i think ive actually asked this question before. Which members of the house or senate with an r after their names, especially those up in 18 are going to put out for this president and thats really what the relationship has to be. At this point, wounded as he is, consumed by russia. Six months into his presidency . Yeah, the thing that we are watching very closely right now is how those people who are up in 18, and how some of these moderates and conservatives on either poll are going to react when we see a bill on thursday. The thing to remember is we dont know what is going to be in this bill and were not totally certain that the leaders know what is going to be in the bill. Were told over and over and over again that they are still working out details and some things like whether or not to keep these tax increases part of the aca, keep them around for six more years, whether that seems to be contingent on whether or not they make it. Single vote for single vote to get this to the 50 votes you need. Kelsey, what is senator graham talking about . It sounds like a puppy. It sounds exciting. It does sound exciting. I would caution bipartisanship may not be as easy as senator graham is suggesting there. What some people suggest is that there could be a bipartisan fix to some of the marketplace reform. So making changes to make the marketplaces more stable. There havent been a lot of concrete ideas of what that would look like and important to note democrats arent willing to come to the table until this idea of repeal is completely gone. They want to see it fail and hear republicans particularly, Mitch Mcconnell say were done with repeal before they open up the conversation about what they are going to do about fissixing working with republican sfwls ms. I assume the president cancelled his trip with france and will stay back and personally lobby members and work on the details of health care . Look, i think for Mitch Mcconnell and republicans and senate, its helpful to have the president leaving now and head out on this trip because each day that hes here it seems like its more distractions coming out on the russia front. So this gives mcconnell a little bit of breathing room with the president away and i dont think the occasional tweet or occasional phone call from the president so far has really moved the needle and tough to see where he comes up with the capital with the key people here both on the right and the more moderate republicans who actually control the fate of this bill. 15 seconds to each of you starting with you pamatthew. Can you name an initiative, taxes, infrastructure that will be signed, sealed, delivered when we draw 2016 to a close . Matthew, you first. So hard to predict but if they cant get health care done, 50 50 they wont get taxes done, either. Kelsey, your turn. I would agree. I dont know how you can get either done. Principles for tax reform that come out this month and that might be it. Well, we call them like we see them around here. Kelsey snell and matthew, thank you both for being part of our discussion tonight. One more break for us and when we come back, some of the troubling headlines that surfaced today if youre watching from the Trump White House and what one veteran republican has been forced to do tonight. When youre close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment . If you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. Taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. With taltz, up to 90 of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. In fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. Do not use if you are allergic to taltz. Before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. Taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. Inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. 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Last thing before we go tonight has to do with another wild day in the brief but harrowing history of a white house consumed by russia. Todays story, the emails, people could read for themselves. It was stark and led to some stark headlines. Po the Washington Post, a revelation unlike any other in the russia investigation. And just tonight from New York Times, opinion columnist minidonalds major fail. The president s dim name sake just made things much worse. Its a lot and tonight, it proved too much for a lifelong republican who has decided to leave his party. He is a former threeterm gop congressman from florida. Better known around here as morning joe. Here now joe scar buwith stephe colbert. You have to ask yourself what is the Republican Party willing to do . How far are they willing to go . How much of this country and values are they willing to sell out . Arent you a republican . I am a republican, but im not going to be a republican anymore. Ive got to become an independent and thats how it happened. Joe scarborough tonight. I imagine well hear more during the morning. Ill see you during the 9 00 a. M. Eastern time as the coverage for the confirmation hearing for trumps nominee to head the fbi, christopher wray. Until then and for tonight, thank you for being here with us. Good night from nbc news head quote quarters here in new york. So this is either, um, this is either the end of things, or things are about to get very, very weird. Its possible that things get weird and then they end. But one of those two things is definitely going to happen now. You know, in a movie, in a wellwritten book about a political scandal, what just happened today, what was just published today would be the end of the plot. Right . Theres been a confession. The worstCase Scenario that anyone imagined at the start of the scandal has just been not just documented by investigative reporting, it is not contested to. It is not contested. It has been admitted to by the people who are involved and who are implicated. This is where plots end, right . Somewhere in a parallel universe, somebodys beach read novel about the biggest american political scandal since watergate and maybe the biggest political scandal ever, somebody