Transcripts For KNTV Meet The Press 20171105

With joe biden and cory booker. Ill talk to dnc chairman tom perez about that and about the democrats mustwin governors race in virginia on tuesday. This is ned brooks inviting you to meet the press. And celebrating the 70 years of meet the press sf. I have no doubt id beat mr. Nixon. Elections matter. I think votes matter. The elections, the president s, the candidates and the news makers who have made history right here on meet the press. Joining me no insight and analysis are nbc special correspondent tom brokaw, peggy noonan, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson and nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt. Welcome to sunday for 70 years and counting, its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, the longestrunning show in Television History celebrates i ing its 70th year. Good sunday morning. Welcome to our anniversary broadcast. 70 years ago tomorrow at 8 00 p. M. That the first moderator of meet the press, mara roundtree brought viewers what we call Americas Press conference of the air. It was brought to you by Maxwell House coffee. Good to the last drop. A long time political aide to fdr and a former chairman of the Democratic National committee. We have the current dnc on the todays broadcast, by the way. Throughout the morning well bring you some of the familiar faces who have appeared on this the longest running broadcast in Television History. We have a job to do and we begin with the russia investigation and the walls closing in on people close to the Trump Campaign and the white house. The more weve learned about the trump teams ties to russia, the more people in the president s circle have changed their stories. Attorney general Jeff Sessions, former National Security adviser mike flynn, mr. Trumps soninlaw jared kushner, his oldest son donald trump jr. And Foreign Policy advisers carter page, j. D. Gordon and George Papadopoulos, whose pled guilty to lying to the fbi. In fact, it was papadopoulos guilty plea in particular, along with two other indictments this week by special counsel Robert Mueller, that seemed to unnerve the white house and to prompt President Trump to lash out at his own Justice Department. Im really not involved with the Justice Department. Id like to let it run itself, but honestly they should be looking at the democrats. As the special counsels russia probe begins to put pressure on mr. Trumps inner circle, the president is stepping up his attacks on law enforcement. The saddest thing is that because im the president of the United States i at not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department. Im not supposed to be involved with the fbi. Im not supposed to be doing the kind of things that i would love to be doing, and im very frustrated by it. After Robert Mueller unveiled his first criminal charges this week against mr. Trumps former Campaign Chairman and two other former aides, mr. Trump lashed out in a flurry of tweets. Everybody is asking why the Justice Department and fbi isnt looking into all of the dishonesty going on with crooked hillary and the dems. All i can tell you is this, there was no collusion, there was no nothing. Its a disgrace, frankly, that they continue. Meanwhile, the number of contacts between the Trump Campaign and the russians continues to grow. And stories keep shifting. Trump Campaign Volunteer adviser George Papadopoulos pled guilty to lying to the fbi by denying he was involved with the campaign in april 2016. When he was offered, quote, dirt on the Hillary Clinton. Including thousands of emails by russian contacts. Mr. Trump once praised papadopoulos. George papadopoulos, hes an oil and energy consultant. Excellent guy. But though the president frequently boasts about his memory, including last week one of the great memories of all time. The president now says he has trouble remembering a march 2016 meeting at which papadopoulos floated the idea of a campaign sitdown with Vladimir Putin which never occurred. I dont remember much about that meeting. It was a very unimportant meeting. It took place a long time. Youth Campaign Adviser j. D. Gordon who was also in the room tells nbc that mr. Trump listened with interest but then senator Jeff Sessions, who is now attorney general, opposed the idea. This new information contradicts statements by the president. Can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia during the course of the election . No, nobody that i know of. And it contradicts what sessions has told congress under oath. You dont believe that surrogates from the Trump Campaign had communications with the russians . Is that what youre saying . I did not and im not aware of anyone else that did. Joining me now is the democratic senator from virginia mark warner. Hes vice chair of the Senate Intelligence committee. Senator warner, welcome back to meet the press. Thank you, chuck. First of all, congratulations to you. You and your team for 70 great years of journalism. That i appreciate. Hopefully well be here for another 70. Let me start with what we learned this week or what you learned this week from the special counsels indictments. Do you believe that the fact that weve already seen some stories change this week or Additional Information about either contacts with russians or ideas of meeting with russians, do you feel like thats all coming from the indictments, that this is the impact of those first indictments from the special counsel . Well, the committee itself has been aware of some of this information and weve been continuing to work. I know youre going to have my friend James Lankford on later. Im very proud, our committee is the only Bipartisan Group still looking at this. What we did see this week, though, was one more example of at least where the russians had what appeared to be a fairly organized effort in terms of trying to reach out to folks affiliated with the Trump Campaign to share, quote, unquote, dirt on emails about Hillary Clinton. Weve seen it with the case of mr. Papadopoulos. We saw it in the case of the socalled june 9th meeting with donald trump jr. Weve got a lot more questions to get answered. Weve got a number of other individuals that were going to want to interview. Our effort is separate obviously from the special prosecutors, but i think were both proceeding ahead. But im curious, does the threat of more indictments to come, which im sure many folks believe is happening inside the Mueller Probe, probably you expect them as well. Is that going to make folks more cooperative with your investigation or do you fear now that because the Mueller Probe is intensifying that the fear of legal jeopardy will actually make them clam up with you . Well, weve actually interviewed literally a couple hundred individuals. Many times without actually even the knowledge of the press. Weve worked with a lot of these individuals cooperatively. Weve got more to do. Obviously muellers got a different lane and as people fall into the realm of legal jeopardy, they may be less willing to talk to us, but ive been very pleased so far in terms of the level of cooperation weve had from virtually everyone. Is there a point, though, where youre going to run into each other . Listen, just as we if you look back in the days of the watergate, there was a special congressional committee. There was also a special prosecutor. Yeah. Weve got different lanes. You know, theyre looking for criminal indictment. Were trying to make sure that we find out what happened in 2016. Was there collusion . Weve got a different factual basis that were trying to hit at and i think were going to have to find ways to deconflict and i think we will do that. Have you interviewed George Papadopoulos . Listen, im not going to talk about which witnesses that weve seen or not seen, but the chairman and i did indicate that mr. Papadopoulos had been on our screen for a long time. Okay. So youre not confirming or denying whether youve interviewed him . Again, what the chairman and i have said is we dont comment on specific witnesses, but we put out a joint statement that mr. Papadopoulos had been on our screen for a long time. Let me ask you about former National Security adviser Michael Flynn and his son michael g. Flynn. I know there were reports that your committee was meeting resistance from them when it comes to cooperating with your investigation. Are you still meeting that same resistance with the two of them . Chuck, again, the way we get the kind of cooperation with the witnesses is frankly to not share the kind of weekly box score of who weve seen and who weve not seen. Weve got a lot of folks that we have seen. Weve got more folks that we need to. At the end of the day, what we owe the American People is the truth, and most importantly how we make sure that we dont have a foreign power and a foreign power like russia intervene again in our elections. Thats really important, whether its the potential issue as round collusion or the kind of questions weve seen in terms of interference with 21 states electrical syste electoral systems. Let me quickly ask you about the steele dossier. Youre the chair, your partner there republican senator richard burr said youve hit a brick wall on the steele dossier. You confirmed or have been able to rebuild it i think it what he said going back to june. But youd hit a brick wall in part because you havent been able to speak to mr. Steele. Have you still hit that brick wall or have you broken through it . Listen, the steele dossier, there has been a lot of interest in who paid for it. Weve got information now there were republican payments, democrat payments. At the end of the day, what i want to know and the whats true in the steele dossier and whats not true. This is a fairly damning indictment and i wish mr. Steele would talk to our committee. Weve reached out. Hes refused to do so, so far. We hold out the option that the chairman and i have said well meet him any place, anywhere. I want to ask you something about the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said about social media companies. I know you want to try to come up with some legislation that makes advertising more transparent. Listen to an idea he brought up with hugh hewitt on saturday. What we ought to do with regard to the russians is retaliate. Seriously, retaliate against the russians. And the these tech firms could be helpful in giving us a way to do that. What do you think of that idea . Getting the Tech Companies to cooperate in a retaliatory strike of some sort against the russians . Well, chuck, i actually agree with the majority leader that we need a cyber doctrine for a long time i think we have had incoming whether it was russians, chinese, others where weve had cyber attacks, misinformation, disinformation attacks. We need to have both defense and offensive capabilities. But i also believe we need to make sure that we apply at least the lightest touch possible. I was in the tech business for 20 years. Im protech, im proinnovation, but i think at the basics we ought to make sure when were receiving political advertising these companies would work with us to identify if a foreign power is behind that advertising. Think americans have a right to know. All right. Senator warner, i have to leave it there for time. Thanks for coming on. Thank you chuck. Joining me now is republican senator James Lankford of oklahoma. He too is also a member of the intelligence committee. Senator lankford, welcome to meet the press, sir. Good morning. You dont look a day over 60 honestly. Im surprised youre there for 70 years. Well, were benjamin button here. Were growing older as we get younger. Let me ask you this, its a similar question to what i asked senator warner. At what point are you concerned that the special counsels investigation gets in the way of your investigation . Im actually not concerned about that at all. We have individual lanes. We have deconfliction that happens regular. Theyre focused on criminal investigations. Were focused on armchair quarterbacking, making sure every witness has been seen and were going through the policy aspects. Longterm we have policy issues how we handle elections, how we handle social media, how were handling classified information and that is getting out in the public sfeef. The special counsel has things that he will uniquely work on as well. About a month ago on mtp daily i ask you do to define collusion and you said its an issue of did any American Work with a foreign power to be able to influence our election . Thats the key question that still has to be resolved. The George Papadopoulos news and guilty plea on lying to the fbi and at least making contact with a russian, at that point do you look at that as attempted collusion . Well, what i look at that is actually no surprise in this. The russians were reaching out trying to find some way to influence it. The big challenge that i mentioned at tat time was an american reaching back and trying to engage with that. Thats something that George Papadopoulos told the fbi he had not participated in that obviously the russians reached out to them. He seemed to reach back out to them and say, okay, sure, id be very interested in that. Now the next challenge is did anyone else from the campaign do that . He was a volunteer. He seemed to advertise himself around the world for being more fluent in the campaign than he was and it looks line the russians took the bait on that. I know youve been trying to get information out of both the National Security adviser mike flynn and his son mike flynn jr. What role do you believe mike flynn jr. May play in this investigation . Thats actually what were going to try to ask and find out. We want to be engaged in all areas of that and ask them both every question we can possibly get out. As you and i have talked about before, a lot of americans are going to say did you ask this person that question . Were going to make sure that gets out. Are they being cooperative . Im going to leave that up to the chairman and the vice chairman to be able to determine how cooperative theyve been in coming in and out. There is a lot with any investigation where we build a lot of information before you meet with the final principal so you have the right questions to ask at the right time. I want to ask you about a group of House Republicans that is pushing for bob muellers resignation. Its only three strong today, but given the narrative being pushed more aggressively than ever about democrats needing to be investigated here. How concerned are you that mueller will be ousted before his work is done . Maybe the president is upset. Maybe it becomes some congressional resolution. Is that something that should be discussed . Thats thats not a threat at this point. Bob mueller needs to be able to finish his investigation. The challenge of any investigation like this is how long it could go on and how broad it could be. Again, you go back to the Reagan Administration, that special counsel was in place for six years. They extended even past the Reagan Administration being in office. We dont want to see that but i do think bob mueller needs to be able to do his investigation, do it independently, stay in mace, use the resources he has as he gets to all the facts. Do you think Congress Needs to sort of codify his role to protect him . No, i dont. There has been a lot of back and forth to say at some point the president said he needs to he doesnt need to be there. I dont think thats the white house position. The white house has said over and over again they have no desire to push him out. That shouldnt be an action of congress as well. Lets let him finish his job. I want to get your action to the frustration i guess that the president cant order the Justice Department to do an investigation or cant order the fbi to do it. These attacks on the Justice Department, are they proper and what is your reaction to it . I think its a natural reaction of a president who doesnt have a political background on it. I understand that fullwell. I dont either on that. Hes stepping in and saying, hey, thats not my role. Theyve got to do their job. We hat similar conversations when president obama dressed down the supreme court. When he made comments to the fcc and the fcc was an independent body. I think this is a natural reaction. President trump says it a little bit more blunt. President obama was a little more nuanced but he also spoke about independent agencies and spoke about the court. Well allow the president to be the president. I want to ask you about the attorney general, though. At least one time hes been caught misleading under oath. There are some questions whether he did it a second time. I think that would be an argument for some trial lawyers to have, but on its face it leads to be some misleading. How concerned are you about that . Im actually not concerned about it. Some of the statements about Jeff Sessions saying that he didnt know of anyone on the campaign. For George Papadopoulos to be to pop out during one of the Foreign Affairs committees that they had that was this Advisory Group and to say, hey, we should get access to the russians. I have access to someone in march i dont think is that big of an issue. It was a volunteer group. It was something the campaign turned down. It was an individual that was a volunteer that made that comment. What were looking for is internal within the machine, within the paid staff as a strategic thing. Not did some russian reach out to a volunteer and did that volunteer try to oversell their position . That is an issue that the fbi needs to address. Were looking for systemic issues. One question on the tax bill. You yourself said you know there are going to be a lot more iterations of this that come out. Im curious, do you have a red line . Youve been a big deficit hawk in the past. If this increases the debt, is that something youre comfortable with supporting, even if the debt is increased, given that you have been a pretty tough critic of increasing the debt in the past . Im actually not comfortable with increasing the debt. This has been a behind the scenes conversation for a long time. Its one thing to be able to cut taxes. Its another thing to say how are we going to deal with our debt and deficit . My main focus has been whatever Economic Growth model we put in place has to be reasonable to do it. If we cut taxes right now, were expecting a. 4 growth in the economy to be able to offset that. Thats a pretty conservative estimate of Economic Growth. Our economy for the last ten years has not grown above 2 above 3 a single year. We are stuck in a rut. Were going to have to bump the record player to get something going on the economy again. If this tax bill increases the debt too much, youre a no . I am a no. I want to make sure that we have reasonable assumptions in the process for growth estimates. All right. Senator James Lankford, republican from oklahoma. The state that hosted one of the craziest Football Games of the day yesterday. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate you. It was a Pretty Amazing day. Thats for sure. When we come back, President Trump keeps saying hes not under investigation. Is that still true . And throughout this anniversary broadcast, were going to show you some of the great moments and familiar faces that have appeared on meet the press over the years. Were going to start with some of the men who have taken up residence just a few miles from our studios at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. Ronald reagan. George bush been w. Barack obama. Mr. Trump, welcome back to meet the press. That segregation is unconstitutional. The watergate matter should have been handled properly. Apart from the fact it was wrong, it was stupid. Some people when you say conservative, they automatically assume youre talking about a monster who eats his young. I dont think the president gets anywhere by making any comments on the press. First of all, i expected to find the weapons. When i take executive action, i want to make sure its sustainable. It will work out so well. Youll be so happy. If your years youll be if your years youll be interviewing me and if your years youll be interviewing me and another day of work. Why do you do it . Its not just a pay check, you actually like what you do. Even love it. And today, you can do things you never could before. Youre developing ai applications on the cloud. Finding insights hidden in decades of medical documents. And securing millions of iot sensors. So get back to it. And do the best work of your life. You wouldnt do only half and do the best woof your daily routine, so why treat your mouth any differently . Complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99. 9 of germs. Listerine® bring out the bold™ rays always been different. Last year, he said he was going to dig a hole to china. At t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques. Remote moisture sensors use a Reliable Network to tell them when and where to water. So that farmers like ray can compete in big ways. China. Oh. He got there. Thats the power of and. Ththe next energyngs toto power our dreams,re will be american energy. Welcome back. Panel is here. A man who has sat in this moderators chair, tom brokaw. Wall street journal columnist peggy noonan, kasie hunt, of course, nbcs capitol hill correspondent and host of msnbcs kasie d. C. Im going to try to come up with a kasie reference. And Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson. Welcome back books welcome all to the anniversary show. Lets get to work here. I want to put up a graph that i im curious if you all see this the way that Garrett Graff in wired sees it about bob mueller. The approach then and now has almost always been similar, work on peripheral figures first, encourage them to cooperate with the government against their bosses in exchange for a lighter sentence and complete the process until the circle has tightened closely around the godfather or the criminal mastermind. Ive been talking to members of the White Collar Crime bar here in washington, d. C. And thats pretty much how they see it, but what we dont know is what the endgame is going to be. So i think we always have to be very careful during these kinds of situations not to speculate about what is going to happen. We can deal with the process, but we dont know what the endgame is likely to be at this point, but everybody in washington ive been talking to thinks there is no way that papadopoulos is not singing his heart out at this point and that manafort and gates will have something to say as well that will help them in some fact. Prima facie, theyre in a lot of trouble based on what know right now. Peggy, after the indictment it is sounded like peoples memories got meribetter. That will happen. Look, i think the real headline here is that it is becoming clear that with a great deal of seriousness mueller and his special Prosecutor Office is Going Forward kind of thoughtfully, which is a very good thing. I think its clear that this whole russian question is a real cloud on the horizon of the trump administration. Every day theyre getting up looking at the horizon and the cloud is there. What one would hope for as things progress, and i sense also they may be speeding up, is that muellers office will go forward understanding that about half the country or more thinks that hes doing a necessary investigation, a good one. It will be helpful. And maybe less than half but still a number of americans will think this is just the swamp hitting back. You know, kasie, i asked James Lankford about that House Republican effort. Its only threestrong right now. James lankford wanted to almost be very dismissive of it. What is the mood on capitol hill about mueller. I think there is a sense they really want the white house to stay out of the way. I fink if the president were to try to interfere he may be surprised by how much pushback he would face. Partly because i think they just like the rest of the country want to know where mueller is going here. Both investigations on capitol hill to a certain extent i think have started to fade into the background as much as they dont, you know, mark warner you dont want to say that. Wouldnt want to say that. They have learned more than you would expect from the press and that has helped drive some of the questions that they are asking, but the seriousness and the speed with which mueller moved, i think a lot of them were surprised by the news last weekend with papadopoulos. It tells you a little bit about where things are going. Id say thats exactly right. A lot of people on the hill and in the country were surprised about papadopoulos. We didnt know anything about that. What is else dont we know about . Im convinced there is something. Hes very good at keeping secrets. There is a name that wasnt mentioned last week, Michael Flynn. Right. The flynns are, you know, in some peril. Are they cooperating . Is he talking to them . One assumes hes talking to them. He wants to. Who knows. This president doesnt compartmentalize anything, tom, so the minute there is something, he speaks. And it did seem as if he just lashed out. I cant believe i cant order the fbi to investigate the democrats. I cant do these things. Obviously that makes republicans on the hill a bit nervous that he keeps doing that. Its always someone elses fault. This president more than anyone i can remember in my lifetime is pointing fingers at everybody else except himself. The president is elected not to just be the king, the president is elected to be our principal political leader in this country and to work with the other branches of government to get something done on behalf of the American People. But his whole modus operandi is to get up in the morning and say, im great, its all their problem. And even members of his loyal circle and its a very much smaller circle these days said stop tweeting. We dont need to hear from you anymore. I was out in wyoming where people were saying just shut up for while. The single Biggest Issue in a macro sense is how do we bring the country back together again . What he is doing is constantly trying to divide the country. Do you think we can brynn the country back together before the Mueller Probe ends . I dont, peggy. I feel like that sits out there almost as a wet blanket on that issue. I think if at the end of the Mueller Probe people understand it was done not in a showbiz way, in a dramatic way, in a debt trump way, in the swamp hits back way, but it was done soberly, patriotically, in a kind of moderate way where youre not looking to do dumb stuff. Youre doing really serious stuff. They come up with serious conclusions and a serious report, it will come to be respected and that will bring things together on this issue. Okay. On this issue alone. Well, those other issues were going to get to in a bit. When we come back, actually, word that the former head of the Democratic Party wanted to dump the Clinton Kaine ticket as late as last september. Im going to talk to the current chairman of the Dnc Tom Perez about that and more. But as we go to work on this 70th anniversary. A look back at the moderators of meet the press over the years. Now ms. Martha roundtree, producer of meet the press. Now who has the first question . This is ned brooks. This is bill nonrow. Im roger mudd. What is george bush . Hello again, on meet the press today, the middle east. You are seriously thinking about running for president of the reform party. Well, it may very well be. If its sunday. If its sunday. Its meet the press. Ronoh really . Gs going on at schwab. Thank you clients . Well jd power did just rank them highest in Investor Satisfaction with full Service Brokerage firms. Again. And online equity trades are only 4. 95. I mean you cant have low cost and be full service. Its impossible. 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Victoza® lowers my a1c and blood sugar better than the leading branded pill. avo and for people with type 2 diabetes treating cardiovascular disease, victoza® is now approved to lower the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. And while it isnt for weight loss, victoza® may help you lose some weight. avo victoza® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take victoza® if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza® or any of its ingredients. Stop taking victoza® and get medical help right away if you get symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing. Serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. So, stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area. Tell your doctor your medical history. Gallbladder problems have happened in some people. Tell your doctor right away if you get symptoms. Taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion, and constipation. Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Welcome back. Just days before democrats face what many consider a mustwin race for governor of virginia, former chairwoman of the Democratic National committee has thrown a stink bomb at her party. Two, actually. Donna brazile claims in her new book that before she took over the dnc, the process was essentially rigged in favor of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. And perhaps more alarming, brz writes that after clintons september 11th fainting spell, she considered trying to replace the struggling Clinton Tim Kaine ticket with Vice President joe biden and new jersey senator cory booker. Now the Clinton Campaign team responded last night in an open letter signed by a number of staffers, quote, it is particularly troubling and puzzling that brazile would seemingly buy into false russianfuelled propaganda spread by both the russians and her opponent about her candidates health. Tom perez is the current dnc chair and he joins me now. Good morning. Happy anniversary. Thank you, sir. You and james farley first guest to last with 70 years in between. Let me ask you this, on the account of flipping the ticket. Donna brazile says she was under enormous pressure to have a backup plan to do this. Is that a fair is that a fair response to all of this criticism that shes been getting . Well, you know, chuck, first of all, let me say i will answer that question very directly, but everywhere i go right now were focused on elections on tuesday in virginia and new jersey, and what people are telling me is they want to know how theyre going to get their good jobs back, how theyre going to get health care, how theyre going to make sure they feed their family. Thats the focus of democrats across this country. Let me get back to your very important question. I have Great Respect for donna. Consider her a friend. Shes done a lot for the Democratic Party. The charge that Hillary Clinton was somehow incapacitated is quite frankly ludicrous. Hillary clinton was a tireless senator, a tireless secretary of state and a tireless candidate. You agree with the Clinton Campaign that Donna Brazile fell for russian propaganda . I dont know what Donna Brazile fell for, all i know is under the rules and bylaws of the Democratic National committee, she couldnt have done this. Hillary clinton was anything but incapacitated. She was tireless. She was a workhorse. And, frankly, what saddens me about this as much as anything is i think people who read that charge, which is just without merit, are going to perhaps start wondering about other claims in the book. All right. Let me ask you about other claims in the book, including this idea that essentially the dnc was playing favorites. The process she says it wasnt a criminal act but she thought it compromised the partys integrity. There has been some stiff reaction from progressives. Nina turner, jeff weaver, the former Bernie Sanders Campaign Manager called it a laundering operation. Senator Elizabeth Warren told me that youre being tested and your vice chair said this. Donna braziles account cannot simply be dismissed. Okay, Elizabeth Warren says youre being tested. How are you going to restore trust with sanders supporters that the dnc is going to be a fair place to going to be a fair abettor here for the party . I accept every test. I ran for this office because i believe in this party and i knew we needed to up our game im thinking of tim russert. Im a buffalo guy. Youve got to understand that, chuck. Heres my view on this, when i hear the word rigged, lets be very clear, Hillary Clinton won the democratic primary by 4 million votes. The Democratic National committee does not run elections for primaries. The republican National Committee does not run elections. States run elections. And those elections were run by the states. We run caucuses and Bernie Sanders did very well in the caucus. Where i think both senators warren and Keith Ellison and myself, where we agree is we have to earn the trust of the voters. And during the process of the democratic primary, we fell short in that, undeniably. I accepted that responsibility. Heres what were doing about it. Number one, in the future moving forward to 2020, were going to be announcing our democratic debate schedule before we know who the candidates are. Because the number one goal has to be to be fair and transparent. All of our fundraising agreements, our partnerships will be available to everyone, as they were actually in 2016. And then what we have to do is make sure were also working with voters up and down america, rural america, urban america, everywhere in between to earn their trust. Dont you owe the Sanders Campaign an investigation . I mean, Donna Brazile put that charge out. Dont you and Keith Ellison, shouldnt you guys look back and see if her charges are true . Well, again, i totally agree, chuck, with the notion that the dnc fell short during critical moments. So they did play favorites . I think we have to do better is what we have to do, chuck. And thats why i was very clear during our primary campaign during the campaign for dnc chair that we have to make sure that everybody feels at the end of the process that everyone got a fair shake. Thats what were about, chuck, and thats what we have to do. Thats how we earn peoples trust. Ive got to ask you about tuesdays elections here. There have been a lot of charges about who is running a hateful or angry campaign. Terry mcauliffe called Ed Gillespies campaign racist. Ive got to play this ad that a latino group ran and youre going to see a Virginia Governor candidate response to it. Take a look. Run, run, run drive a pickup truck . Democrats think youre a racist. Support the president . Democrats think youre a racist. Its despicable and its wrong. Im sure youve been familiar with the ad itself and the controversy around the ad. And the Republican Partys response, that it was basically democrats dont like it when, you know, when republicans stereotype. Arent you stereotyping . I drive a pickup truck. Are all pickup Truck Drivers racist . Thats what the ad do you understand why some people think the ad implies that . Well, you know, lets be clear, chuck, about whats happening in the race in virginia and all too many other races, dog whistle politics. Steve bannon just endorsed ed gillespie in virginia this morning. And throughout this campaign ed gillespie has been fearmongering. Hes doing the same thing that donald trump did. Thats not fair. Thats not right. Virginia under ralph north ams leadership and Justin Fairfax leadership, theyre looking for ways to unite people. When you hit the bully back and the bully starts crying, those are crocodile tears to me. Does the party have to do some soul searching if dont win Virginia Governor. Were going to win Virginia Governor. I was out yesterday campaigning with Justin Fairfax. We had people from our revolution there. People from swing left there. We had people from the dnc there. The people across america that i see every day in virginia, new jersey and Washington State and district 45, theyre moving forward. They want us to focus on the future. Were building that infrastructure of success. Weve knocked on twice as many doors as we did four years ago when Terry Mcauliffe one and im confiden confident were going to win this tuesday both in virginia, new jersey and many other key race as cross the country. Well we watching. Its going to be close and interesting. Tom perez, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. Quick programming note. My nbc nightly news colleague lester holt is going to be reporting from south korea tomorrow and tuesday. Of course President Trump is in the region as well. Coming up, why democrat so desperately want to move away from fights over 2016 and figure out a strategy for 2020. Of course maybe they need to figure out one for 2017. This is it, the final 48 hours. In the next administration, if i should be elected president i have no doubt that i can beat mr. Nixon. Most Vice President s dont do very much even of that. There is no way my campaign would end, short of death or inability to function. You want to be president . I do. Will you serve your full sixyear term as u. S. Senator from illinois . Absolutely. Some of this hype has been a little overblown. Do sarah palin and i disagree on a specific issue . Yeah, because were both mavericks. Where do you think things are . I think were making real progress. Im going to keep focused on donald trump because i will be the nominee. You replied, shot is trump and it is soldout performances everywhere. And it has been for a long time. Is it . Traders theyre always looking for advantages. The smart ones look to fidelity to find them. We give you research and datavisualization tools to help identify potential opportunities. So, you can do it this way. 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Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. Welcome back. We have a very special Data Download today. 70 years of meet the press by the numbers. Weve had five sitting president as pier on this broadcast. Four, carter, bush, obama, bush 43. Throw those who appeared before and after and seen 12 president s at meet the press. Herbert hoover in the 350s, and each and every one of the last 11 president s. 82 heads of state from 37 Different Countries have appeared on meet the press in the last 70 years from fidel castro to Vladimir Putin to gandhi w endurea gandhi. Emphasizing the shows importance to political leaders across the country and right here in washington. It should come as no surprise then that our interviewed guests with the most appearances are all elected congressional leaders. Senator john mccain tops the list with 73 appearances on the show. Hes followed by bob dole, newt gingrich, joe biden and chuck schumer. And, of course, there would be no meet the press without the journalists who have helped make this show over the years. And the shows older format where a panel of reporters asked a guest questions, these were our top panelists, may craig and david breeder leading the way with over 200 appearances each. The format you know today with our regular political roundtable was introduced when the show permanently expanded to one hour in 1992. Our most protect roundtable guests since that time, david breeder again, william sapphire, david brooks, doris k. Good win and robert novack. We cant forget our own team here at nbc. Andrea mitchell has appeared on the broadcast 207 times with tom brokaw and lisa myers rounding out the top three. There was too we have four competitors now, all anchored by serious journalists. Nbc news started something here and thats the legacy were most proud of. Well be back with endgame in just a moment. As we go to break, a little more meet the press history with our coverage of civil rights and social change throughout the years. Meet the press focuses on the countrys number one domestic problem, civil rights. We have waited for 345 years for our basic constitutional and godgiven rights. Were were knocked down. Everything i did during the war was to try to bring it to a close. Ever since the inception of the republic have you had a woman seriously running for the presidency. What kind of choice is it after all to be able to go out and earn half as much as the men. Everyone is entitled to the same exact rights. This is electricity. This is a power plant. This is tim barckholtz. Thats me this is something he is researching at exxonmobil using fuel cells to capture Carbon Emissions at power plants. This is the potential. Reducing co2 emissions by up to 90 . While also producing more power. This could be big. Energy lives here. Why should over two hundred years of citi history matter to you . Well, because it tells us something powerful about progress that whether times are good or bad, people and their ideas will continue to move the world forward. As long as they have someone to believe in them. Citi financed the transatlantic cable that connected continents. And the panama canal, that made our world a smaller place. We backed the Marshall Plan that helped europe regain its strength. And pioneered the atm, for cash, anytime. For over two centuries weve supported dreams like these. And the people and companies behind them. So why should that matter to you . Because, today, we are still helping progress makers turn their ideas into reality. And the next great idea could be yours. Without pg es assistance, without their training our collaboration with pg e is centered around public safety. We could not do our mission to keep our Community Safe. Anytime we are responding to a structure fire, one of the first calls you make is for pg e for gas and electric safety. Its my job to make sure that they have the training that they need to make the scene safe for themselves and for the public. Its handson training actually turning valves, turning systems off, looking at different wire systems all that training is crucial to keeping our Community Safe and our firefighters safe. Together, were building a better california. Back now with end game. Gene, Donna Brazile, what did she what did the clintons do to her . Thats a good question id like to know. Maybe ill give her a call. I dont know what other way to ask this question. No, its a good question. She just said this morning on another network anybody that didnt like her telling her story can go to hell. So shes determined to tell her story and i too think there must have been some interaction between her and the Clinton Campaign, between her and clinton, some interaction that left a very sour taste in her mouth. I think this is a manifestation of all that is wrong with the Democratic Party, frankly. This is a time they ought to be talking about the future and organize themselves for what they want to do with the country. We go back and weve got this fight going on about something that happened some time ago. Donna is wellknown, as you all know, for kind of ready, fire, aim on a lot of the stuff she does. But to go back over this now when theyre trying to win congressional races and trying to get ready for 18 seems to me to be beyond counterproductive. Well, and if virginia goes south on tuesday, let me read you and it could. 100 . Let me read you andrew sullivan, by the way, on virginia, kasie and peggy. North am seems to be almost a classic democratic politician of our time. I have no idea what his core message is and neither does he. He has negative charisma. More to the point, he is running against an am fibbion swamp creature ed gillespie, and yet the washington lostist and outflanking him on policy. I dont know if you could have written that. Thats amazing. Thats wonderful. Think its all true. I think one of the interesting things about virginia is that it went by six points for mrs. Clinton in the last cycle. Now we have a republican and a democrat neck and neck. If trump were the issue or part of the issue as Many Democrats in virginia have suggested, it wouldnt be a neck and neck race, do you know what i mean . Youve got a 37 job approval. I think the democratic nominee has simply made some mistakes. Those commercials you showed parts of very much one of the statues controversy, very much bringing that up. When people assuming people were going to agree him him and people sort of went, oh, did we have to do this . Can we do economy . Can we do other things. I dont think he had a great campaign. If northam losing, i think theyre going to realize they made the exact same mistakes in virginia that they did in the president ial campaign. We chose the candidate we thought was going to win at the expense of the progressive that we thought was going to win. This dnc controversy, every democrat tries to ignore questions about it. They pretend theyre not even seeing it. They have their heads in the sand about the state of their own liberal base and watch the republicans selfemulate so theyre ignoring their own problems. Its going to come back to bite them. I can make this counterargument about the brazile book and the allegations, which is that this was going on beneath the surface. Yep. Whether or not, you know, it wasnt clearly visible, but perhaps it was a boil that had to be lanced at some point and a fight that democrats have to have. That said, look, ed gillespie is running away from donald trump the individual, tom, but he has run on trumpism a little bit. Hes going hard on immigration. And going hard on this monuments thing. If he wins, emulated around the country for republicans . Well, in the Republican Party there is still the core trump believers that are out there. If you look at this latest poll where his numbers are historically low except in his base where theyre very high at this point. I said earlier i was in powell, wyoming. They voted 70 for trump. I went back a month ago, they now vote 69. 8 for trump. Theyre still there with him. They want him to stop tweeting, but they believe the country is broken and they think that things are not getting done. Despite what may be said, you know, on this side of the hudson river, a lot of people out there and especially in a state like virginia which is still having the north south battle going on, the southern part of the state versus the northern part of the state. Ed gillespie the man is one of the republicans who is least like President Trump. Chuck, you and i have been working with him in his capacity for years as somebody who is a part of the system here. If you watch his ads on television, he is running as donald trump. All right. Lets have a little anniversary fun. All of your first appearances on show show. Tom brokaw, october 31st, 1973. The morning after the saturday night massacre. 24 times as moderator. How about that . Pretty good there. Peggy noonan, yours was june 6, 2004. The challenger had blown up. One of the first things he said was 26 times. Very nice. Eugene robinson, april 10th, 2005. 40 times for you, sir. Very interesting. Showing the style, different glasses. A little goatee. Kasie hunt, youve changed so much since january of 2014. Focus on trying to figure out, okay, would i be okay with donald trump . Youve been on this show throw times. Tom, youre wearing a very special tie this morning. Tell the story. I actually selected this knowing wed be coming here. This is a tie that was designed by Vineyard Vines after we lost timorous the. They were the true founders of meet the press. And then reinvited reinvented meet the press and made it really mustsee television. Ran away with the ratings. He brought you to us, which i thought was very important as well. Youre continuing in that tradition. So this tie has got the capitol, its got the Buffalo Bills and he fished up in nantucket. The most unlikely fisherman i knew was timorous the. Thats it for our 70th anniversary broadcast. Since our panelists shouldnt be the only ones embarrassed, were going to leave with my moment on meet the press. For the last 70 years, if its sunday, its meet the press. Here to help us is chuck todd of National Journals hotline, what is a blog. The actual term itself, by the way is short for web log. You drop the w and you get the blog. Our collaboration with pg e is centered around public safety. Without pg es assistance, without their training we could not do our mission to keep our Community Safe. Anytime we are responding to a structure fire, one of the first calls you make is for pg e for gas and electric safety. Its my job to make sure that they have the training that they need to make the scene safe for themselves and for the public. Its handson training actually turning valves, turning systems off, looking at different wire systems all that training is crucial to keeping our Community Safe and our firefighters safe. Together, were building a better california. This week, a new law changes how you ask job applicants about their criminal background. Plus, too many cooks. The oversaturated meal kit business. And good news, history majors. Tech Companies Want you. Our reporters hanna kutra from the Financial Times and reuters joe mann. This week on press here. Good morning, everyone. Im scott mcgrew. I have been to prison twice. Fortunately just for the