Congressman Chris Collins about the current state of that bill later on in the show. Lets begin with President Trumps visit to michigan this afternoon. We have all the angles covered starting with my colleague ron mott, just outside detroit. Also with us, Steve Rattner, who led President Trumps task force during the auto bailout. Rick, msnbc contributor, reporter for the New York Times. Ron, break down what we just heard. There were a few different headlines there. Reporter hey there, kate, good afternoon. One of the headlines is that, perhaps, donald trump is going to hitch his wagons to the Auto Industry to keep his base energized while we in the country see these controversies emanating out of washington, d. C. Its a pretty good sized crowd here. A lot of united autoworkers fleece jackets. They were given the opportunity to come here today, to hear from the president and get paid while being absent from work. Its unusual, perhaps, for a republican president to meet with Labor Union
Im Yasmin Vossoughian at msnbc headquarters in new york. President trump wrapping up day one of his nineday foreign trip. Hes in riyadh, saudi arabia, receiving a warm welcome. Hes wrapping up with an official dinner and tour of the palace. Tomorrow is the highly anticipated address to the muslim world, a speech drafted by stephen miller, the white house adviser, behind the controversial muslim ban. While the president is focused on diplomacy, the controversies he left behind here in the u. S. Continue to generate headlines, including that jim comey will testify before the Senate Intelligence committee after memorial day. Before that, the president has a foreign trip to get through with plenty of diplomatic headlines. The president and his team hit the ground running. President trump signing a nearly 1 110 billion in arms deals with saudi arabia effective immediately. Plus, another 350 billion over the next ten years. Take a listen to this. It was a tremendous day. I just want to thank
Not directly. Not in the wake of the violence in virginia spavged by White Supremacists and neo nazis, not after the death of Heather Heyer there to protest the hate. The president will address the violence in charlottesville later today but will he directly condemn by name the White Supremacists who were there . Aides tell cnn, quote, it is his call. Indeed, it is his call whether he thinks its worth a mention. It has come from his staff, as note bid the attorney general a short time ago. Yesterday, his own spokesman explicitly condemned by name the nazis and the ku klux klan. Thats the spokesman, not the president. Its the president s spokesman. Im sure he will speak about it again. His own spokesman said that. I just think were making too much out of this. Fair enough. Thats why were talking to you. Its wrong to make a moral equivalency between these two groups of protesters, is it not . Absolutely. Absolutely no moral equivalence. Which are different words than the president has us
Very strong recommendation, as you know from the Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. To dispose of that first claim about him being unpopular. Acting fbi director mccabe said that was not true and he was widely respected. Keeping them honest to somehow the president describes it. The Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein wrote a memo and he read it and persuaded to one extent to fire comey. That was his account today. So was this just seven days ago. I was going to fire comey. Theres no good time to do it, by the way. Because in your letter, you said i accepted their recommendation. You had already made the decision. I was going to fire regardless. I was going to fire regardless. The president also said russia was on his mind when he made that decision. This was last thursday saying it was all him not rosenstein. Rewind your brain to a couple days before that interview with lester holt to the day comey was fired, tuesday, on that day according to white house surrogates, it wasnt
Need a clear lawyer, only those schooled in legal work and exclusively that with some background in government work for that job, but not a politician. This is not a point echoed by republicans but comes on the same day weve gotten new revelations where the president is referring to james comey whom he fired as a nut job and said that the firing he was passing along to russians visiting the white house relieved some pressure. Everybody is jumping all over that. If it was supposed to dissuade buyers at wall and broad, barely moved the markets at all. Up today as they were yesterday after that big selloff on wednesday. But there are a lot of cross currents in effect. But its not stopping a busy agenda that is being assembled by the president and his team. Even as the president embarks on his first foreign trip. The republican busy bees still putting together a lot to keep that agenda front and center despite all of this noise. Blake burman at the white house with more. Hey, blake. Hi, ne