Transcripts For WCAU Meet The Press 20170403

Republican Mitch Mcconnell and Democrat Chuck schumer. Also the fake news cycle. A former fbi agencit says russi speaks and the president tweets. What worked in this u. S. Election is because the commander in chief has used russian measures at times against his opponents. Clint watts says the russians are still at it and hes live here this morning. Joining me are eugene robinson, columnist for the Washington Post. Msnbcs greta van susteren, Robert Draper of the New York Times magazine and amy walter, National Editor of the cook political report. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, the longest running show in Television History celebrating its 70th year. This is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. The drip drip drip of crises in the Trump Presidency has quickly developed into the steady rainstorm. He smarted from his Health Care Defeat cook on the Republican Freedom caucus in the house and the democrats who put together actually compromised a majority of the house. The president referred to the escalating russia crisis as a witchhunt. Mike flynn asked for immunity from prosecution to tell what he knows about campaign ties to russia. And the Senate Intelligence committee has rejected that request so far. Then theres the house Intelligence Committee chairman, devin nunes, who softened his denials about the white houses involvement in the discredited wiretapping claims. There was one moment that best characterizes the week it came when White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer gave this answer to cbs Major Garrett who asked how the information about alleged surveillance was handled. You told us that youre willing to look in to and ask and provide us answers no no no. Dont please dont put words in my mouth. I never said id provide answers but id look into it. It looks like the presidency is on an unsustainable trajectory. Nobody ever told me that politics was going to be so much fun. Donald trump is a president in crisis. His governing agenda is going nowhere, his credibility shattered with many. His public approval is mired in the 30s and 40s and the russia crisis is not persuading even republicans he can bounce back. On friday morning, he intervened into ties between his campaign and russia. Tweeting of his former National Security adviser, mike flynn should ask for immunity in that this this is a witchhunt. A Top Republican was quick to tron t contradict the president. No, its not a witchhunt. Its mysterious why general flynn is saying he wants immunity. Both flynn and mr. Trump said that immunity from prosecution indicates guilt. When you are given immunity that mo that means you probably committed a crime. If youre not guilty, that do you need immunity for . Flynn said himself if you want immunity you must be guilty. And by friday afternoon the white house was frying to soften mr. Trumps statement. He believes that mike flynn should go testify. With immunity . Thats up to him and his lawyer to decide. Also changing the story on whether the white house was involved in helping Republican House intelligence chair devin nunes view classified documents to attend to prove trump aides were incidentally swept up in surveillance. On monday did you meet with the president or aides while there that night . No. No, in fact, im quite sure that i think people in the west wing had no idea i was there. But by friday there are people that knew about this, knew about me being there. But the fact of the matter is that isnt making the source of the information. The New York Times and Washington Post have named three white house officials who may have been involved. Nunes, the house, theyre off in a ditch. I dont know where who invited him to look at the evidence in the white house. All i can say is why do you show it to the chairman of the Intel Committee if youve got it yourself . Then theres the president and his fight with house conservatives. On thursday, he lashed out at members of his own party tweeting, the Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire republican agenda if they dont get on the team and fast. We must fight them. Those conservatives are hitting back. I mean, its constructive in fifth grade. A guy who said he was going to d. C. To drain the swamp now we have the creature from the black lagoon in the white house. Joining me right now is republican Mitch Mcconnell of kentucky. We have a lot to get to. Supreme court and health care. Welcome back to meet the press. Good morning, chuck. The president has used the following phrases to describe the russia investigation. Fake news. Nonsense. Phony. Total scam. Do you believe any of those phrases apply to the russia investigation . Yeah, let me just say in the midst of all of this and listening to your introductory piece this morning two things you can depend on. The Senate Intelligence committee under chairman burr and Ranking Member mark warner are going to have an investigation. Theyre in the middle of it. Theyll handle it on a bipartisan basis. Theyll go wherever the facts lead us. And i hope at the end well have a bipartisan report. The other thing we know is happening is the fbis looking in to these allegations in rather unusual announcement they have indicated that they are and so in the middle of the other things that are swirling around, there are two things you can depend on. The Senate Intelligence committees bipartisan investigation and of course the fbi conducting a criminal investigation. Are you concerned, speaking of the house and you saw senator Lindsey Graham or heard him say, theyre off in a ditch somewhere. Senator feinstein is concerned whats happening over in the house that she expressed by the way the same support for this house for the Senate Intelligence investigation youre doing but shes worried that the house mess is going to put a stain on the senate investigation. How concerned are you about that . I think the opposite. Its pretty clear the contrast its pretty clear the contrast here. The senate committee, burr and warner, had a joint press conference last week. They basically locked arms and said were going to go wherever the facts taos. I think the American People can depend on the Senate Intelligence Committee Investigation to be done on a bipartisan basis and to go wherever the facts lead us. So basically, what youre saying is that the president s description of this investigation is fake news, nonsense, phony, total scam those are phrases hes used since he became president on this, they dont apply as far as youre concerned . Im not characterizing what the president is saying. What im telling the American People is they can depend on the Senate Intelligence committee to a credible bipartisan investigation and tell us where the facts led them. Have you seen any evidence youre part of this theres a lot of gangs when it comes to describing members of the u. S. Senate. There is a gang of eight and youre a member of one of these gangs that gets high level classified Intelligence Briefings. The same ones that the Intelligence Committee chairs get. Youre one of those folks that get it. Have you gotten any intelligence information that indicates the Obama Administration somehow applied asked for surveillance of the trump transition, the trump team. Any Trump Associates . No. Under nothing not even a hint of this, not anything . Well, not yet. Do you believe that these allegations are worthy of investigation that the president has made or that theyre theyre a side track . I dont know how many times i have to say it, the committee is going to conduct this investigation. You asked me if i knew anything about alleged wiretapping by the previous president and the answer is no. Have you ever received Intelligence Briefings that are classified like that on the grounds of the white house . Have i . Yes. No. Is that so thats not a common practice that any of the gang of eight be brought to the white house i really didnt i dont know what a common practice is. You asked if i had and the answer is no. Are you concerned that the president himself is too consumed with the russia story . I think we ought to be talking about what the president s doing. Which is really the right thing to do. Were in the middle of a degree regulatory effort to get the economy goggin. Were going to confirm an incredible Supreme Court nominee later this week and do comprehensive tax reform. We are doing a lot of things that the country needs. I think wed be better off including the president talking about what were trying to accomplish for the American People. I want to ask you something that peggy noonan wrote, conservative columnist for the washington journal. Maybe the mad boy king of north korea will decide if its a day to see if his missiles can hit los angeles, crisis reveals the character. 70 days in that is my worry. Its a column that shes concerned that this white house is not prepared to handle a major crisis. Are you concerned . No, im not. I think general mattis and mike pompeo, the whole National Security team the secretary of state are well qualified to handle this and give the president the best possible advice. This is a tough problem. I read that president obama said to incoming President Trump this will be the Biggest International problem youll have. We all recognize that. Lets move to the Supreme Court. There is clearly a debate and a fight about how Supreme Court justices are confirmed or handled. Do you have any regrets on how you treated Merrick Garland last year . No. The tradition had been not to confirm vacancies created in the middle of a president ial year. Youd have go back to 80 years to find the last time that happened, go back to the 1880s to find the last time it happened before that. Everyone knew including president obamas former White House Council that if the shoe had been on the other foot, they wouldnt have filled a republican president s vacancy in the middle of a Supreme Court in the middle of a president ial election. So that clearly wasnt going to happen. Even if the roles were reversed. I understand that. But if that was the rationale that was a rationale to vote against his confirmation. Why not put him up for a vote . That is look any senator can have a rationale not to vote for a confirmation. Why not put Merrick Garland on the floor and if the rationale is you know what, too close to an election vote no. Look, we litigated that last year. The American People decided they wanted donald trump to make the nomination not Hillary Clinton. Whats before us now, chuck, is not what happened last year but the qualifications of neil gorsuch. Unanimously well qualified by the american bar association. 99 of the time in the majority, 97 of his opinions were unanimous. Only one time reversed by the Supreme Court. Theres no rational basis, no principled reason for voting against neil gorsuch. Thats whats before the senate this week. You say its been lit gaited last year the garland situation. For a lot of Senate Democrats theyre not done litigating this including someone like tom carper, a democratic senator who is not comfortable with the idea of filibustering, but believes that garland was mistreated. Again, what was wrong with allowing Merrick Garland to have an up or down vote . I already told you you dont fill the Supreme Court vacancies in the middle of the president ial thats what john biden said should that be the policy Going Forward . Are you prepared to passion a resolution that says in an election year, any Supreme Court vacancy and have it to be the sense of a Senate Resolution that say no Supreme Court nominations will be considered in any even numbered year . Is that where were headed . Chuck, with all due respect, thats an absurd question. We were right in the middle of the president ial election year. Everybody knew that neither side had the had the shoe been on the foot would have filled it, but that has nothing to do with what were voting on this year. Why dont we talk about what were voting on this week and thats this extraordinarily well qualified nominee for the u. S. Supreme court. I understand that. But i go back to were about to go in the situation where theres going to be this extra level of fill buzzer. Let me ask you about that. Do you have the votes to change the rules among republicans . Do you have all 52 republicans ready to stand behind you if the democrats filibuster gorsuch, you have the votes to change the rules . I can tell you that neil gorsuch will be confirmed this week. How that happens really depends on our democratic friends. How many of them are willing to oppose cloture on a partisan basis to kill a Supreme Court nominee. Never happened before in history, in the whole history of the country. In fact, filler busting judges was started by your next guest, senator schumer, after george bush 43 got elected president. We didnt used to do this. Clarence thomas was confirmed 5248 the most controversial Supreme Court nominee in history. And not a single senator said he has to get 60 votes. Youre somebody though that was very concerned when this rule was changed by harry reid for judges below Supreme Court. If you regret what harry reid did, why continue down this slippery slope . Well, i think breaking the rules of the senate to change the rules of the senate which is what was done in 2013 was terrible for the senate. But when we came to the majority a year and a half later we discussed this. About whether or not to restore the old the old system. And we decided not to do it because the custom even though it was possible to filibuster judges, the custom down to 2000 was not to do do it. The senate restrained itself and gave reef Supreme Court nominee an up or down vote. Down to 2000. So this recent invention of this level of controversy we decided was best left alone by just leaving us where we were so you now believe harry reid make the right decision . No, i dont think he should have broken the rules to change the rules of the senate but thats the precedent. Thats the precedent now they set on what we call the executive calendar. And the Supreme Court is part of the executive calendar. Are you comfortable in ten years we might not have a filibuster anymore, because someone else may replace you and continue down the slippery slope . I dont think the legislative filibuster is in danger. Its a long standing tradition of the senate and filibustering judges is quite new, all begun by the current democratic leader and you should ask him about that when hes on your show. Well, that is my plan right now. Senator Mitch Mcconnell republican from kentucky, thank you for coming on, sir. Sharing yourviews, i appreciate it. Well, as introduced by senator mcconnell his democratic colleague across the aisle, senator schumer of new york. Good morning, hi, mitch. Let me say this. Let me start this way. You expressed regret earl yessiyeier for the rule changes made on judges in 2013. Why did you go along with it if you regret doing it . Well, lets look at the history. Our republican colleagues had been holding back on just about all of so many Lower Court Judges including very important d. C. Circuit. I went to Lamar Alexander one of my dear friends in senate and it said, if you keep holing back on scores and scores of judges my side will want to change the rules. Go to mitch and tell us to have votes on a few of those, many of whom had gotten bipartisan support and the answer was no and we changed the rules. But the one thing that stands out here, we did not change it for Supreme Court for one very important reason. And that is on the most important of decisions, 60 votes is called for. Thats why you get a mainstream, thats how you get a mainstream justice. Mitch calls it a filibuster. We call it the 60 votes standard. Most americans believe in the 60 vote standard. But senator thats fine, but there is no rule that says that it has to be 60 votes. Theres no part of advice and consent that says it has to be 60 votes and in fact, there are two members of the Supreme Court court right now that did not get 60 votes. Sam alito and clarence thomas. Actually, thomas is the only one because when the filibuster came up with alito, there was 72 votes to go forward. So theres just one, just about every nominee gets 60 votes. Because in the past, president s have actually consulted the other side before picking someone. In this case, donald trump consulted the Heritage Foundation. The Federalist Society, hard right groups with extreme special interests oriented views and it didnt leave much chance for compromise. Heidi why camp she came out in favor of gorsuch and in favor of cloture. She didnt like the way that garland was treated but she ended her statement by saying two wrongs dont make a right. Why not give neil gorsuch an up or down vote . Let me make a proposal to make break this problem to maybe break this problem that we have, okay . It looks like gorsuch will not reach the 60 vote margin. So instead of changing the rules which is up to Mitch Mcconnell and the republican majority, why doesnt President Trump, democrats and republicans in the senate sit down and try to come up with a mainstream nominee . Look, when a nominee doesnt get 60 votes you shouldnt change the rules. You should change the nominee and lets just give me one minute here because this is important. Lets look at the history, okay . Our nominee was Merrick Garland. Mitch mcconnell broke 230 years of precedent and didnt call him up for a vote. It wasnt in the middle of an election campaign, it was march. Second, then, now we looks like we have the 60 the votes to prevent gorsuch from getting on. Now, that doesnt mean you have to change the rules. Each side didnt get their nominee. Lets sit down and come toget r together. Our republican friends are acting like you know theyre a cat on the top of a tree. And they have to jump off with all of the damage that entails. Come back off the fretree, sit n and work with us and well produce a mainstream nominee. It will be one more point. Hang on here. It will be a republican nominee, but remember, democrats voted for roberts and alito and he got both of them both got to 60 votes. But there are two democrats for neil gorsuch so there already is a barn bipartisan majority that support him. Two is two. Its more than zero. For what its worth. Yes. But why should senator mcconnell work with you guys on this when you changed the rules first . When you decided to do this and again a change that you yourself said this week and two months ago that you regret and it was a mistake. We never but i dont regret not changing it for the Supreme Court. Let me read you a quote of mr. Mcconnell. You like the put up quotes. He said i think we can stipulate and my good friends on the other side of the aisle stipulated from time to time over the years when they were in the minority that in the senate it takes 60 votes on controversial matters. That has been the tradition of the senate for a long time. This is nothing new. Then why did you change the rules in the first place . I go back to this because now were going down the slippery slope and everybody has hypocrisy on their side to point the finger. But you guys are hand in hand sliding down this slope. Tell me this, in ten years do you think the filibuster will still be alive yes. Thats one of the few things that my dear friend mitch said on the show that i agree with. I dont think theres any first to change the legislative rules. 60 votes for that. Most democrats and most republicans have served in both the minority and majority and know what it means. But why not you know, you can do a lot of finger pointing. Each side has some right here. Lets stop this now. And the way to stop it is the way i mentioned. You know, other president s have consulted the other side. President clinton wanted bruce babbitt. He called orrin hatch and he said no, why dont you pick breyer or ginsburg and he did. President obama called people about garland. All trump consulted was the hard right Federalist Society and the New York Times and the Washington Post, one said hed be the second most conservative justice on the court, only short of thomas. The other, the post said hed be the most conservative. This is not a mainstream choice. Hes way far over. Senator, what makes you think that President Trump lets say you get your wish and he says okay, Merrick Garland for neil gorsuch fine. Everybody got to kill a Supreme Court nominee, we move on. You get your wish. Do you think hell nominate someone more moderate than gorsuch that he doesnt nominate another conservative and says, look, we gave you one shot at this. Youve got your shot. Now hes another perhaps even more conservative potential justice . As you have noted and i have noted, most of the nominees get 60 votes. The last four nominees, two by president bush, alito and roberts, two by president obama. Each got votes from the other side. Thats the norm. But when you have the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation have a veto power over who you choose, you wont get bipartisanship. Everybody has Interest Groups on their side. No. That does these things. No no no. Final question. Do you have the votes do you have the votes to filibuster neil gorsuch, do you have it . Look, what happened was that when gorsuch refused to answer the most rudimentary questions in the hearings after there were many doubts about him to begin with, he wouldnt even answer whether he supported brown v. Boards, there was a seismic change in the caucus and its highly unlikely hell get 60, thats right. Senator schumer, i leave it there. It will be a lively week and well be watching. Thank you for coming on and sharing your views. When we come back, fake news and the president s tw music plays throughout befi was active. Gia, i was energetic. Then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. My doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. He also prescribed lyrica. Fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. For some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. Or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. Common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. With less pain, i can be more active. Ask your doctor about lyrica. Welcome back. Panelists here, Robert Draper, writer at large for the New York Times magazine where he has the cover story. Amy walter, my newest colleague, greta van susteren, not so new anymore. And good to see you. Gene robinson, column eugene robinson, columnist for the Washington Post. Lets start with the Trump Presidency. Where are we in this . And at 70 days in it may seem extreme to be passing judgment about how concern folks are, but where are we . If i were a House Republican, id be nervous. Id be thinking what does it mean for me in the midterm election. Chuck, and i have covered a lot of midterm elections and they all start the same way. Or they all end the same way which is a president who has a decent Approval Rating among his party but not energized. In this case we have a party thats fighting amongst itself. That depresses enthusiasm from the party. Independents abandoned the president and his party. The president right now has a 33 Approval Rating with independents. Thats the same place where bush, clinton and obama were when they lost the house. And the other side is fired up. When you look at the strong disapproval versus the strong Approval Rating its a two to one advantage for strong disapproval. Democrats are fired up. Republicans are sort of, oh, they still like him, but not as energized. Independents are abandoning him. There are only 24 seats that democrats need to take over the house. If really, if i were a House Republican i would be very, very nervous about where this goes. 70 days in, robert. Yeah, i would not yet call it a presidency in crisis. We should not at war, the economy is still recovering. Theres one person in charge of the executive branch and everyone around the world knows who that one person is. Its an anxious presidency and a struggling presidency and to me, the question has always been can this man who succeeded so well in new york as his own boss bring those rules to the washington ecosystem and the telling moment for me was a week ago last thursday when trump dispatched his director of office of management and budget mulvaney to say to the House Republicans, we are done negotiating. We are leaving the table in essence. What they failed to recognize was that the house Freedom Caucus had already left the table. So it is a different series at play here for the term presidency. You know what, i agree with the thing youre saying but i think its early. I think its still early. It sounds horrible and terrible and if the gdp is up around 4 by the time of all midterms, all bets are off because now we have money to fund things. It sounds horrible if the election were today, but a lot can happen. Youre right, it is early. We are drifting toward greater involvement in the war in yemen, in the war in syria. You know, so events can play on both sides of that scale. And meanwhile, inside the white house you have this sort of court of the bourgas situation, bannon and kushner and gary cohen in quotes, its not conducive to governance. Look a whats happened. Bill clinton compartmentalized his scandals. He did that. Probably sees as much as trump sees. Granted, theres no twitter then. But when it seems like President Trump cant compartmentalize russia. Its like hes taken everything and shaken us and put us in a cage and rattled us whether its health care, russia, flynn and were trying to sort it out. Hes shaking us. He has a bona fide legislative agenda and the problem is he diverts us from all of that by talking about the fake news. By talking about, you know, how people are conducting a witchhunt. Well get later to the merits of whether or not this is a witchhunt. But the point is that when even people on the hill are trying to focus on his legislative agenda me he undercuts that. Can you imagine if he says, ill let the process play out, i dont think this is right or fair, but the process is going to play out and heres what im going to focus on the economy, jobs what i ran on. Pushing a legislative agenda. That would be amazing. What you said is fake news. Its not iffing to happen. Youre right, its not going to happen. Thats a not who he is. Another problem, this showed up in your piece. He does not instill fear in this town. And he did instill fear in this town before he took the office. Its eroding away. By the way, a president needs a little bit of that if you want to get something done. Theres the president and then theres the media. Hes totally alienated the media. Thats why theres no fear because Everybody Knows that the next News Organization is going to support when yhe goes after you and insults you. Amy wrote about this, the house Freedom Caucus, conservative republicans know their district better than President Trump does. Steve bannon and President Trump were of the belief that they understand what the voters are after more, but in fact, many of the people carried their districts by wider margins than the president himself did. Thats one of the fundamental problems. The democrats are excited and base their base is so enthused. President trump has been great for enthusiasm on the democratic side and a lot of the republicans do not fear him because again as rob it said they know their districts better. But if he gets the economy going, all bets are off. There you go. Well pause the conversation here. Were on the other side of to hour talk about the Supreme Court back and forth that we heard between schumer and mcconnell. When we come back, cyber expert clint watts. 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And he says the russians are still at it. Gray outlets that are soviet pushing accounts tweet at President Trump during high volumes when they know hes online and they push conspiracy theories. Well, clint watts is currently the robert a. Fox fellow at the Foreign Policy research institute. Thanks for having me. For folks that didnt see the hearing, briefly if you could, explain the active measures that the russians are using. What they want to do is use information as a weapon of war far to undermine u. S. Democracy. Such that when we crumble from the inside out, we cant take aggressive Foreign Policy or stop their Foreign Policy around the world. So the way they do that is by using whats called a state to people and a people to people strategy. Theyre going to bypass the u. S. Government. Go straight to our democratic ele electorate and try to foe mate chaos. You said it was the same way in a way that the campaign might mike row target to talk to a specific voting group. You seem to indication they were so sophisticated they went state by state. They made sure that people in michigan or wisconsin or pennsylvania were seeing certain things. How did they get that sophisticated . The new social media thats out there. Twitter and facebook and the way that advertisements are do. The way you can demographically target people. The same way with the political campaigns in the united states. You can use that as an adversary as well so they created automated technology. Called bots, and they can reprogram those. They can make you look like youre a supporter of one Campaign Runner or another. You can say im talking to someone who supports my candidate and im more believable and amin to believe the news. Part of the investigation is was there nicole lution, any essentially any american support to thisperaon. What can you tell about that . I note in my testimony the two times where there was obvious use of russian propaganda. One was Paul Manafort cited it on 14th august. The fake ancillary campaign and then President Trump mistakenly cited what everyone thinks is the sputnik news story. But beyond that, the synchronization at times, how many times the campaign picked up on lines that were promoted by the kremlin or created lines that were then the kremlin promoted back into the u. S. Base was ironic. It was hard to see that with any other campaign. So was donald trump specifically targeted by this russian operation as a person to help spread this news . I dont think they saw him as a person to spread the news. They just knew that he was opportunistic during his campaign. If you put stuff that helps his campaign he will likely use it. They really turned towards him in august of 15. Thats ghen the stories popped up but they pushed for Bernie Sanders at times. They would go on the left and the right. It was bipartisan. It was interesting to hear that. Then we did you find out and if and whenever you did, did you start alerting the campaigns this was happening . No, i had no contact with the campaigns but we started to watch it three years ago. January of 14 was the first time i had seen it. April of 14 is when we saw the alaska back to russia fake story. Through the syrian fight we study islamic state. Andr andrew wiseberg and we noticed that russia was developing the capabili capability. It wasnt until 15 that they went to the u. S. Election. It seems like this should have been something maybe this is hindsight, easy to say in hind sight that all of the active campaigns should have been warned hey, theres an active operation here by the russ. In hind sight, should this have been done . Yes. We obsess about the tech part of hacks, what are they trying to do, tech tech tech tech. But that was to take information to create information Nuclear Weapons essentially that you put into the social media landscape. That powers fake news. True news and manipulated truths. That connection wasnt made i dont think until after the election was over. The hardest part of this has been how do you respond as a nation state, how do you respond to a cyber attack . Dick cheney and john mccain have gone so far as to say you could call what the russians did an act of war. Where are you on that . We can do the whole government approach but we have to get a base line for fact and fiction. Right now we have arguments over that amongst our executive branch. The other thing is we cannot counteract the measures. If were antinato and antieu thats russias propaganda as well. Thats what the administration is pushing right now. If you have a distrust, if the majority of the country diss that i that see in the media, is this nearly impossible to stop in this Political Climate . Its exactly what the russians want. Theyre still winning today and they were winning before the election. Just us talking about it here today is a victory for them. People are going to argue when i leave this table and you leave today whats fake news and whats true and false. Until we can put that debate aside and come together as americans were going to continue to lose to other adversaries. Good word to end on. Thank you. When we come back the unintended consequences of having a huge majority in the congress. Majority in the congress. Hey allergy muddlers are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool . Try zyrtec® zyrtec® starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Stick with zyrtec®. Muddle no more®. Try rhinocort® allergy spray for powerful nasal allergy relief. What we do every night is like something out of a strange dream. Except that the next morning. It all makes sense. Fedex powers global ecommerce. With networks built over 40 years. Farreaching. And, yes. Maybe a bit magical. Visit fedex. Com slash dream you totanobodys hurt, new car. But there will still be pain. 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Data download time, as we have seen President Trump and the Republican Party are finding its a lot harder to govern than they thought it would be. Why . The party is deeply divided and at times it looks rudderless. Lets look at the poll numbers. The gap Gallup Daily Tracking poll shows it sitting at 40 , robbing him of leverage you would want to have by popularity. The coalition in congress is increasingly fragmented with not a whole lot holding it together. Look at the house. The republicans won 241 districts in november. Thats a huge number. Their largest majority in over 100 years. On one extreme 29 of the 32 free document caucus members outperformed President Trump in the districts back in november but theyre not feeling the political pressure back home to get in line behind the white house. Now you understand. On the other extreme, 23 districts that elected republicans to the house but also voted for Hillary Clinton for president. So these divisions arent just about tract. They represent real differences in what those constituents want and need from government. Take medicaid. 24 House Republicans come from districts that are likely to support medicaid. These are districts with a medicaid population thats roughly the National Average 20 or more. 27 House Republicans on the other hand are from districts where very few use medicaid, 10 or fewer. Its not hard to see why some of those republicans are against it and why you cant bridge the divide between the two groups. Look, it is extraordinarily hard to bridge this divide when you have 20 of the party that fundamental disagrees on the role of government itself. And government assistance in the case of medicaid is just that. The debate about the role of government. It used to be an argument that separated democrats from republicans. But now its a dooisagreement i the Republican Party. Theres no middle ground when it comes to the philosophy on the role of government and thats your problem. When we come back, the Supreme Court fight over neil gorsuch. Gorsuch. Will the sen listerine® kills 9 of bad breath germs. This is 100 useful for a 100 fresh mouth. Just ask listerine® users. The very people we studied in the study of bold. People who are statistically more likely to stand up to a bully, do a yoga handstand, and be in a magicians act. Listerine® kills 99 of bad breath germs so you can feel 100 in life. Bring out the bold™. Want a less intense taste that still cleans your whole mouth . Try listerine® zero alcohol. Bounty is more absorbent,mom per roll so the roll can last 50 longer than the leading ordinary brand. So you get more life per roll. Bounty, the quicker picker upper as after a dvt blood clot,ital i sure had a lot to think about. What about the people i care about . Including this little girl. And what if this happened again . I was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me . So i asked my doctor. And he recommended eliquis. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. Yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. Eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Both made me turn around my thinking. Dont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. If you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. Plus had less major bleeding. Both made eliquis the right treatment for me. Ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. Could bounce back like it used to . Neutrogena® hydro boost water gel. Instantly quenches skin to keep it supple and hydrated day after day. With hydrating hyaluronic acid, which retains up to a thousand times its weight in water. This refreshing water gel plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. For supple, hydrated skin that bounces back. The hydro boost skincare line from neutrogena®. See whats possible. Back now with the panel. Lets talk Supreme Court, guys. Put up a quick poll here. A majority say allow a vote, 54 . But guess what . Among democrats, 64 say prevent a vote. Therein lies the box. Yeah, thats the box. I just just anecdotally and from the poll, there is no appetite in the Democratic Base for being nicy nicy to neil gorsuch. Theres a lot of appetite for filibuster and fight. Go down in flames i think for a lot of Senate Democrats better than sort of backing off. How disgraceful though. You know, i like a lot obviously a lot of the members of the senate, but i think both republicans and democrats have been so disgraceful, both to judge garland and to judge gorsuch. These are two men who have devoted their lives to the court. And all theyre being soiled and dirtied by really by the poor behavior in the senate. By deploying the Nuclear Option as it appears that senator mcconnell will do, hes in essence bringing in a coroner to tell us about the condition of the body. I mean, senator schumer did mention that a poll i hadnt heard of. Americans believe in the 60 vote standard. Im not so sure they care about the mechanics of that filibuster. Is that fake news . I think that goes to your point that you asked both of them about whether the filibuster is going to be around. I think for a lot of voters this is not something that they think of as plaerly productive. Why do we have a 60 vote threshold . Isnt this whats preventing stuff from getting done . I think it will be very ea easyquite frankly. You had the liberal republicans and conservative democrats, lots of both of those. So you had the actual you had gangs. As opposed to the bipartisan what you have now. Its a smaller and less efficient house. Why didnt you give Merrick Garland a hearing and vote no. Of course that would have been the right thing to do and you have gorsuch i realize this is the Supreme Court and not the court of appeals. Some thought he was qualified for the u. S. Court of appeals so the American People i dont think are that dumb. They see that both sides are being dirty and need a timeout. Oddly, i dont think theres any penalty to anybody for any rules changes this week. No. This isnt going to serve much of a useful purpose for the democrats other than to make him feel good. It shows how hemmed in President Trump has. He has a slender majority, essentially he needs three votes. And on military and domestic policy hell find it difficult getting a majority. Hes going to need some of the democrats. In fact, if you if they cant find seven or eight if they cant find eight democrats to work with them on this, how will they find any democrats on anything . This is a grudge match. This is definitely a grudge match. I think youre right. Yeah. And that the republicans were bad about that. Look theyre not getting Claire Mccaskill on this, for example. Shes up for reelection. Up for reelection. But shes shes going with her base. Not the red state missouri feel. Right, there are some issues on which thats money. You have to be able to raise money. Exactly what this is. This is donor driven on both sides. Only the donors that like get amped up on this, right . This is exactly whats going on. This is about focusing on that. Lets be clear. This didnt start with harry reid or Mitch Mcconnell or now chuck schumer. This has been going on for the last 20 or 30 years as gene pointed out. Actually, the impeach earl warner started in the 50s. But were a more polarized world. The other point is that the president was elected exactly for a lot of people to break this up. He was uniquely situated to pull coalitions together or people who wouldnt normally get together. And yet, he was going to be able to fix this and instead hes come in and been just as polarizing. And just as you know just wait until the replacement is when President Trump is replacing a liberal member of the Supreme Court which is likely next. You think its bloody now. Okay. We use that now. Bloody now its only going to get worse. When we come back, its only going to get a little bit better. End game segment. Well talk about the infighting in the Republican Party. Be right back. Coming up meet the press end game and postgame. Press end game and postgame. Brought to you by life is full of teachable moments for your kids, so when you see bias or discrimination, point it out and encourage them to do the right thing. If you teach your child to speak up, theyll learn to bring hate down. Announcer meet the press end game is brought to you by boeing. Robert draper, you wrote about a lot of this in your cover story and it just kept continuing. Yesterday the president s director of social media went after an outspoken member of the Freedom Caucus and essentially threatened his primary. This is a war that President Trump cannot afford to have. I mean, the notion that, as he said in his tweet, will be fighting the Freedom Caucus and dems then begs the question, who will he not be fighting . At a certain point he will have to build coalitions. Underpinning all of that is the base of the Republican Party which the house Freedom Caucus is very much connected in. I know he feels betrayed by them but as Raul Labrador tweeted, we are your friends, its these other people who are leading you astray with bad legislation. Does labrador have a point . He does, but who would have guessed that the Republican Party would be the big tent . Look at the democratic party, theyre much more cohesive. Is that majority versus minority . Boehner once told me that getting the republicans handled is like try to get a wheelbarrow across the floor full of frogs and not letting a frog jump out of it. When you talk to nancy pelosi about when she ran the democratic majority, she spent endless time with the various caucuses and parts of the party. And she raised the money for all of them. She raised money, built consensus, got favors owed to her. She raised money, let me go back to the money. Somebody is going to have to try to do Something Like that for the republicans. This party will be governing for the next couple of years at least. And they cant govern. This had been happening long before trump came in. The only thing thats kept them together, their various factions, was dislike of president obama. Now they have to figure out how they philosophically, emotionally, intellectually come together. Again, the president was the person who was supposed to be the cohesive part of that. And hes been completely unable to do that. Right. It wasnt just that pelosi was so good at what she did because of money. Money, i got you. But the party itself is more united on these hot button issues. Wait until trump backs off from his nafta statements. Thats not going to make things better within his caucus. Hes got to build a different type of coalition. Weve got to stop, unfortunately. Quick programming note. Nbc nightly news anchor lester holt will be live from south korea tomorrow and tuesday to give us a deep dive on the threat from north korea. Lester will have unprecedented access to u. S. Military capabilities at a time of increasing tensions in the region. Something we must take much more seriously. Thats all for today. Enjoy the ncaa finals and opening day. Lets go nats, lets go thats it. Well be back next week because if its sunday, its met the pretty. Announcer see more end game in post game, sponsored by boeing on the meet the press facebook page. I lost everything. Everything. Atea i lost everything, everything. At least two are dead after a tornado ripped through louisiana putting the state and several others on high laefalert as sev storms move in. Going nuclear, the senate takes drastic measures to give the president a Supreme Court win. Scary moments on the ice during a flyers game. And a womens ncaa madness comes to an end while the men wait for their turn tonight. Early today starts right now