Send deceased agents to college and help fbi families in need they said on social media. Over the weekend, the editor of the legal news website law fare called for donations in the names of Andrew Mccabe and james baker after Congressional Republicans and the president criticized them, former cia director john brennan tweeted he had personally donated this as republicans continued their attacks including Frances Rooney of florida. In this exchange yesterday with Halle Jackson here on msnbc. Im very concern thad the doj and the fbi whether you want to call it deep state or what are off the ills rails. You look at the strozic texting and the Clinton Research people. This mccabe guy takes donations while running for state senator. Congressman you called the don and fib football off the rails. Fundamentally how is that something that are you okay with here. How does that not undermine the work these agencies are doing . I think the American People have high standards, to see those examples. Are they living up to standards . Those aforementioned examples are really nerve well be right backing to me. It undermines my confidence that the agencies dont respect the constitution and will not put the ends before the means. It could mean a good, clean government. Do you think people have a good, clean government. I want to let you go, i this i the point im trying to get at, people say republicans are working to discred at this Time Department of justice and thus discredit the russian investigations. Is that not what are you doing . No, i dont want to discredit them. I would like the sect directors and agencies purge it. We have great lawyers here. Those are the people i want the American People to see and knowing the good works are done and are kind of the good state. Language like that, purge, purge, the department of justice . Well, i think that mr. Strozic could be purged, sure. Clint. Let me go to you want your gut reaction to that, also your reaction to the case thats been made from people Like Congressman rooney who say when we talk about the fbi being tainted and in tatters, theyre talking about the leadership. Not rank and time fbi agents like the ones who disrupted Christmas Day in San Francisco, for example. What is your reaction to hearing that . Yeah, i dont understand it. This is what third world countries go through their department of defense the department of justice, they pick and cheese those that arent loyal to them. Then it shades or moves the law in a very deep state kind of way actually towards the elites that are putting pressure on them. I find it also ironic, he was talking a bltd the need for a purge the way i understand director mueller, as soon as he got indications there was anything that could be seen as bias, he removed that person from the investigation so that was already done. What i also dont understand is how this ultimately plays out for the republican party. If there is any entity in the u. S. Government, this former republican leaning, it would be the fbi, there is a mix across the board, theyre all cent rift, primarily, so i wonder how this plays out over time. I think these republicans think theyre insulated from it because theyre a very red gerrymandering states, so they dont have to deal with this, we can beat up the fbi or cia and these institutions, there is no blowback to them. I disagree. What we will see is questioning about the gop, is it about party and politics or where we putting our Country First . It doesnt help us go after terrorists. It doesnt help us get to the bottom of this investigation and calling for things a look into uranium one again, thats a waste of resources, when we are supposed to be talking about, how do we pursue criminals in the United States. I think ultimately it will blow back on the gop. Is this to be seen as other than that concerted efforts, you put purge, tatters, tainted from the president down, testimony by mr. Mccabe in front of the Judiciary Committee. He was grilled and had the ethics of the fbi called into question. Thi this appears to be a strategy by the republicans to under 89 i mine the investigation. Its clearly a strategy by the white house. In their world the political campaign, when you have an open six, you, you go work with the Public Perception and move that perception until the president can call for him to be fired. Right. So hes not calling for him to be fired. There is an inherent contradiction. What theyre saying is this is a hox. This is fake. Well, if its a hoax and fake, he should be fired, right . But theyre not saying. That theyre saying were not going to fire them. At the same time, its a hoax and a fake. Theyre engage income a campaign. What i found interesting about representative rooney, he lives in naples, where do Law Enforcement go to retire . They go to florida one, naples, ft. Meyers, i imagine he will get an earful. Elise, we talked about congress, the president. There is a conservative media helping fuel this. You put all those empties together, there is clearly a push, whether its to get donald trump to a place where he can fire bob mueller or to undermine whatever the outcome of the Mueller Investigation is, there is definitely a concerted strategy here. This has been the, you know, since the first indictments came out. I was in wisconsin and i was doing focus groups for Lord Ashcroft polls, we went around talking to wisconsin voters and overall, they thought that the indictments against Paul Manafort and gate archbishop witch hunt. We went to getting news from outlets not reporting on anything but the possibility this is an absolute witch hunt and out to get donald trump. Sam. Well, im struck by one persons silence in all this thats Jeff Sessions. He runs the department of justice under which the fbi is located. He should be speak out, these are his employees. They are under attack. Yet this man has gone on an extended christmas break unlike the rest of us. I find that terrible in a way, because you do have your departments and integrity when you defend those departments. Part of me cant get over the irony fx you ask any democrat about the if eb fib, circa october of 2016, they would bemoan how james comey and the fbi hand himmed the entire 2016 elections and to be perfectly frank about it, they wouldnt be all day long, the reason i say that, in the memo to fire james comey, Rod Rosenstein, a push by the administration specifically said comey mishandled the Clinton Administration for them to turn around and say, no, no, no, in fact the fbi had their fingers on the scale for clinton and was, you know, hiding the uranium one deal, didnt do enough on her emails is absurd. Think think we are in this weird place we are watching this obvious kubuki theater happening in front of us. We have to pretend there is a lot of merit when it is so transparentally political, its bizarre, i do think at this point if time Jeff Sessions has an obligation to say something. But who knows. Would any administration can get upset at certain cabinets they presume to be antiinterest. The state department always perceived as more lifl i liberal t. Department of defense. And turn around and say they were doing something. Exactly fundament you have a purge, what you end up with is iraq cpa circa 2003. Have you people ideologically in sync. This does not lead to a strong path for justice in america. Carol lee, as you watch this approach to bob mueller, the fbi and the rhetoric that its using, where do you, according to your reporting, suspect this is headed . I mean, weve had this conversation about whether or not the president of the United States might fire bob mueller or Rod Rosenstein eventually, that on the table when you talk to people in the white house . Reporter i think its on the table in the sense that its something that people who are around the white house are concerned about, but if you look at where things were a year ago, if you step back this all started about a year ago with the president attacking the cia and Intelligence Community. That was front and center at that time and what we have seen over the year is that as this shifted and intensified, now he is moving to attacking the fbi, where that goes, is largely how this investigation plays out. By all signs point it to not ending any time soon. But and that its only going to heat up. Howlick quickly that moves in the coming weeks and months will depend on how the president acts. There is certainly concern on the white house and the president , he will take some impulsive action and get really angry at one point as this heats up and make moves that people think will be politically debt victim am for him. It was a far out impossibility to fire james comey and he did it. I didnt believe it when i first heard it. So what do you make of the idea this could happen with bob mueller as well . I dont think so. You will find. Cmon. That will be a Tipping Point. Really . He never challenges the general. He wont go over kelly, mcmaster in public. He will being away from that. I think in the mueller case as well, this would be a Tipping Point for Senate Republicans. Even if he feels like a scared donald trump in the corner doesnt fire bob mueller . I think when he does that, it brings the final avalanche down on him. The comey firing, you can get away with that, the way the parties are playing out in congress t. Mueller team i dont think so. See, i fundamentally disagree, with the comey firing, i dont think there are norms that he feels look he needs to abide by. I think if this thing were to go on longer into 2018 as it appears very likely to do, they are already laying down the grounds for to him say, this has lasted far too long, its a witch hunt. Im putting an end it to. If he wont do it, i will finds someone who will. What is striking to me is how nonchalant members of congress are about this. There are pieces of legislation that will innoculate bob mueller or protect special count sells office from the type of executive interference and theyre going nowhere and no one on the hill seems to care all that much. They assume there is no way donald trump would touch this third rail that it would be unconceivable to him. The political rollback will be so strong, there is nothing in his history that suggests he is afraid of that type of blow back. I think you make an important point talking congress isnt that concerned. They see it as so far out of the realm. It is out of the realm. It is. But theyre thinking short term. Theyre thinking this is against Donald Trumps interests, this isnt rational. It would not be a rational pattern for him to pursue. We have seen time and time again, its a daytoday reality show, whatever strikes him at the moment, whatever the impulse is the right move to make. Which is why its an option on the table. We heard tillerson was going to be fired, he wasnt fired. Her never touches mcmanus, kelly, mcmart mast mcmaster. He has boundsaries. Im not sure we heard that before. He has moments when he is reaching. We have had, rick, some Senate Republicans on, including bob corker who said a firing of bob mueller would cross the line and would change the dynamic completely. Yeah, there are members of congress who arent interested in protecting bob mueller. Some Senate Republican versus said thats a bridge too far. Thats why i put it in terms of the campaign the president is trying to undermine bob mueller and everybody around him. If it gets to the point where Public Opinion says, yes, this is a witch hunt. You can sure they will fire him. Theyre not there yet. Theyre moving in that direction, or if they cant fire bob mueller and he comes out with some conclusion that at least the public might reject that conclusion, some hue hes corrupt. That itself the game were trying to win. Were going to go live to West Palm Beach for a preview of the president s day and maralago. Plus, for orrin hatch wins a distinction in utah, not for the reasons he might have thought. Well explain. He retweeted an editorial headline, what may have been said inside the piece. Before we go to break, a bitter arctic blast putting a deep freeze on much of the country, leaving some buried in snow. Lets bring in bonnie schneiderman. What are we looking at here . We are looking at this arctic blast. Look at this, 47 Million People facing some sort of wind chill advisory, even wind chill warnings. Thats because the temperatures are plummeting the way your body interprets the temperature. Its feeling fought just 5 degrees below zero. In some locations, 30 degrees below zero. This cold air is on the move. We will see it persist through the rest of the week. Another is the lake effect snow. You may have heard of record snow in erie, pennsylvania. Another sixtoten inches on top of what is already on the ground him for those of you traveling in northern alabama and north georgia, watch out for glaze, a little wintry weather, ooiz ice on the roads, thats always tough in the south with rain across areas to the south of that. Looking ahead to thursday the frigid morning, will work their way to the northeast. So the wind chill factor in albany will be negative 18. As we look towards friday morning, washington, d. C. , your wind chill will be 14, new york city feels like its 5 degrees so the cold air is sticking around as i mentioned through the end of the year and straight through the weekend and including new years. You are watching morning joe. Well be right back after this. Life happens. Thats why feeling safe is priceless. With adt, you can feel safe with an adt starter kit professionally installed for only 49. 00. Call today, and install an adt starter kit that includes security panel, keypad, key fob, entry and motion sensors and for a limited time, get a camera included and installed at no additional cost. Thats a 449. 00 value, installed, for just 49. 00. Ill say this for you, hes been one of the best president s ive served under. Mr. President , i have to say that you are living up to every, everything i thought you would. You are one heck of a leader. And we will keep fighting and make this the greatest presidency that weve seen, not only in generations but maybe ever. Wow, thats senator orrin hatchs effusive praise of the president over recent weeks. Now the Salt Lake Tribune has run a Christmas Day editorial naming hatch the utahian of the year. He responded he was quote grateful for this great christmas honor from the Salt Lake Tribune adding he voted others to be named for it t. Editorial was no honor, it has everything to do with recognizing hatchs part in mismantling monuments and utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power t. For clearly only red the hed line, not the full piece when he tweeted his thanks. The senators response was meant to be tongue in cheek. He does have a sense of humor. Im an expert in sarcasm. Yes, thats why i turned to you first. I think this is debatable. There is nothing in his tweet that suggests he was in on the joke. Maybe it was just dry, bone dry humor. You cant do that anyone on twitter, you got to throw an emoji in there, indicating are you in on the joke. There was nothing there. I dont see senator hatch as a big emoji guy, no. Not in his 80s. If you look at the comments that senator hatch made when we came in about donald trump, it is striking for a man who has seen that much in his life, who has been in washington that long to speak in such a, forgive the term a dear leader fashion. He is appointing trump of an age, where he was fairly familiar with our countrys history. I guess this is the tender right now, if you want to get ahead in Donald Trumps walk, you can tis ring and you kiss it truly. Trump it works both way, trump is doing his best to prop up hatch. Trump doesnt want mitt romney to 1 run for senate. He is doing everything to give the shift. That includes convincing orrin hatch to run for number six . Six terms. What did you make with the signing of the tax bill after passage through the senate . If you were willing to put your ticket aside, it was fairly fair. I think as the president , you know, he wants to feel good about himself and he didnt feel good about himself, they were trying to say, hey, lets keep these enfor fins toke. You can really feel food about legislative success. To be fair, they ended the year on a pretty high note when you look at the tax bill that they eventually got passed, they repealed the mandate on obamacare. Isis is all but wiped up, so there is a they have ended the note on a high note. Well see if they can keep it going. Carol, weve heard and read reports, donald trump, he tweeted and wants to turn to infrastructure. He feels like he had from tax reform here at the end of the year s. That a realistic proposition when you look at whether or not democrats want to help donald trump in this Election Year, they feel it could be a big turning point for them . Reporter willie, if you look at tax reform, its hard to find an issue republicans are more united around. That was razor thin and tough to ultnatalie get passed. Infrastructure just gets harder. Both parties want to do it. That i have a number, a trillion dollars, that i have different ways they want to pay for it. If you break it down within the parties the republicans will have various views on how to pay for it, what it should look like, how to structure that and then you have to try to bring in the democrats, it just gets really hard and this is in an Elec