you know the word tone. the tonal is such hatred. i'm really not a bad person, by the way. >> talking about the tone of the media. meanwhile, capitol hill still reacting, certain republicans recalculating their strategies after the president's news conference this week. what are gop congressional members saying about their support for the president now? and what about that exchange with a reporter concerning questions about trump working with the congressional black caucus? i'll talk to one of the members of that caucus in minutes. and then that mystery meeting everybody's talking about. fbi director james comey hud wlg the senate intel committee and no one talking about what's happening inside. what's the big secret? we'll dive into that as well. but first breaking news from the west coast where a powerful storm has killed at least two people in southern california. this is a massive sinkhole that swallowed two cars in studio city and just moments ago crews lifted one of those two cars and one woman had to be rescued. she was not injured. joining me is meteorologist bonnie schneider. what happened with the storm system out there then created the issue with the sinkhole? >> it's very unusual to see pictures like that coming out of california. we may be used to it in other parts of the country where we get severe weather, but it's happening right now. low pressure drops so low off the coast of san francisco it broke a record for february. a very big storm system continues to pound much of the california coast. los angeles getting a breathe we are lighter intensity, but we still have 22 million people at risk for flooding, which the flashflood watch expends through the morning hours. the greatest threat for debris flow will be in the burn areas going forward where we have little vegetation. we have another storm system coming in on sunday. that'll bring more rain to northern california. so right now it's southern california but we're watching as well for other parts of the state to get hit with heavy rain. storm number one, the bulk of it on friday, some of it coming through this morning, and then storm number two. this one out in the pacific. another strong system that will bring more accumulating rain to northern california. going through monday, lighter amounts to the south but heavier amounts to the north, another 3 inches possible as we tally through monday for str san francisco. oroville, it looks like another batch of rain coming through right now. we can see a line of precipitation. more to come in terms of rain for northern and southern california. this hasn't been a huge snowmaker but we still have 15 inches of snow in the forecast straight through monday into the mountains of the sayierra. thomas? >> bonnie, thank you. just a bit we'll take you to the secretary-general of this unbelievable sinkhole. steve patterson is there. he'll give us a closer look at how dangerous that was. another republican lawmaker is calling for an investigation into russia. marco rubio took to twitter last night saying i am very confident the senate intel committee i serve on will conduct thorough bipartisan investigation of pew tip interference and influence. his tweet came shortly after he and the intel committee met with fbi director james comey behind closed doors on capitol hill. meanwhile, vice president mike pence is trying to reassure world leaders about president trump's desire to reset u.s. russia relations. here's what he said this morning at the munich security conference. >> with regard to ukraine, we must hold russia accountable and demand they honor the minsk agreements beginning by de-escalating the violence in eastern ukraine. and know this -- the united states will continue to hold russia accountable even as we search for new common ground, which as you know president trump believes can be found. and new today, president trump is taking his message directly to his supporters, this after another turbulent week at the white house. later today, he'll hold what's being bills as a cam page-style rally in florida and it comes a day after delivering these remarks before supporters at a boeing plant in south carolina. >> we love our workers, and we are going to protect our workers. we are going to fight for our jobs. we are going to fight for our families. and we are going to fight to get more jobs and better paying jobs to the loyal citizens of our country. believe me. joining me from west palm beach, florida, is kelly o'donnell, not too far from mar-a-lago, the southern white house as it's referred to. what's behind the strategy of these rallies? >> reporter: well, good to be with you, thomas. it's sort of recapturing some of what, for donald trump, was the magic of the campaign trail where he gets to see crowds who -- and certainly if south carolina when i was there, they were supportive, they were cheering for him. it gets him out of the more sedate environment of the oval office or the roosevelt room where we've been seeing him in recent days where he doesn't have that interaction. we know it has been a turbulent initial period for the president. there have been some setbacks, so he is trying to get away from the white house for a bit this weekend and reconnect with voters. getting out of washington with two of his grandchildren in tow. president trump appeared ready far big change of scene after a tough few weeks in office. ♪ proud to be an american today returning to the same orlando site where he held the september 2016 campaign event. >> we're going to put a lot of people to work. >> reporter: meanwhile, friday, on the first leg of his weekend travel -- >> i love south carolina. i love it. >> reporter: the president hit the trail with something candidate trump never had has a backdrop -- air force one. built by boeing, president trump came to join that company's celebration unveiling a new aircraft and landing his own campaign-style mess amg at their party. >> and we are going to fight to get more jobs and better paying jobs for the loyal citizens of our country. believe me. >> reporter: avoiding controversy and heated rhetoric during his visit with family along for the tour. but back on twitter, the president said his feud with the media is bigger than him. the fake news media is not my ene enemy. it is enemy of the american people. tweet storms frustrate senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. >> i've been pretty candid with him and all of you i'm not a great fan of daily tweets. what i am a fan of is what he's been actually doing. >> reporter: late friday, supreme court justice sam alito stood in for the president and vice president to swear in the new director of the environmental protection agency, scott pruitt, a longtime critic of that very agency, after democrats fought hard against his nomination. and in palm beach this weekend, aides say the president will meet with job candidates for national security adviser to replace the fired michael flynn. so the president can't really escape the pressures and the duties of governing. he's got to fill that important job for the national security council as his top national security adviser. where things stand on that this morning, thomas, the acting person in that role, keith kellogg, is in the run, so is former ambassador john bolton, other names on the list. but we are told david petraeus, who was formerly a general and cia director, is no longer under consideration to serve in the trump white house in that role. thomas? >> kelly o'donnell reporting in west palm beach, florida. thanks. joining me right now is erin mcpike, chief white house correspondent for the independent journal, and gabby from "the washington examiner." good to have you both with me. let's start at the news conference thursday and flash forward to where we'll be watching trump in orlando this afternoon. how's the reaction been as days have gone by but folks are still talking about how that exchange went down? >> i think you're seeing the reaction has not been particularly good among most people who -- foreign gnita dignitaries who are concerned d frkl shocked by some of the rhetoric and tone that came out of the president that day. it's the secretary of defense, james mattis, who's going a lot of cleanup, as is secretary of state, also in europe, and vice president mike pence. >> we know, gabby, there's going to be growing pains whenever there's a new administration and change of power in the washington, d.c. there's always going to be some shock waves created and trump is being himself. i mean, i think he showed everybody what he was on the campaign trail and that's who he's showing at the white house, but the latest gallup poll is suggesting president trump with this low approval rate, just 38%. so when do republicans start to get worried, the ones on capitol hill that feel they have a mandate to do work with poll numbers sinking like that for the president? >> i think you're already seeing a number of gop lawmakers who were not the strongest supporters of donald trump during the election become worried, and also, you know, you're seeing pushback from democrats now who feel like they have finally an excuse to say this is not a popular president, so why would we collaborate with him on certain policies? before he reached this approval rate, this is the lowest president obama reached in eight year, democrats actually were considering working with him on policies like infrastructure, even considering taking meetings with his supreme court nominee, working with republican lawmakers on obamacare, but there's less of an incentive now for the administration to seek that bipartisan support because donald trump is not a popular president. >> thomas -- >> yeah. >> can i jump in on the approval rating too? in 2006 and 2007, i wrote a column called "poll track" for the "national journal," and when president george w. bush dipped into the 30s, it was huge news. i mean, his approval rating was making headlines every single day. 38% is pretty low. george w. bush left office at 22%, which was extremely low, but even dipping into the 3 was big news back whe democrats were trying to take over the house in 2006 and then of course won the house and the senate. but because donald trump is making so many headline, i don't think people are that focused on the fact that his approval rating is so low. that might start making more news as we start to see these town halls take off and activists around the country asking very tough questions of republican lawmakers especially. but it seems -- it's strange. it doesn't seem that donald trump cares so much about that low approval rating, which is shocking given how much he was focused on poll numbers throughout that campaign. >> well, it depends on which way the wind is blowing when it comes to poll numbers he'll believe in or not, but one thing he definitely feeds off of would be the energy at these different events like what we saw yesterday at boeing or what we expect to see in orlando so he gets himself out of the d.c. bubble. but the biggest news back in d.c. is that comey meeting. yesterday coming to brief senators on the intelligence committee. and we have this news out today and it's about michael flynn because we have the new yorker reporting that flynn was paid for the tenth anniversary dinner of r.t., which is a television network for russia, a $40,000 fee to attend but also that would be an issue, erin, because he may have violated the constitution's emoluments clause. we've talked about that when it comes to donald trump and conflicts of interest for his business, but this is an issue because you can be called back to military service at any time so, there that's where general flynn will be caught in the crosshairs. >> i think that's right. there's very important moment during that press conference when julie pace, the associated press writer, stood up and asked donald trump if he could say definl tifly if any of his campaign aides had any contact with the russians and he said not that i know of. he didn't say defin tiitively n. he said not that i know of. i think that one particular line will be something we come back to for the next year. >> so to we think, gabby, that the information from the senate intel committee, senator marco rubio saying he expects to have a more bipartisan full investigation into interference and influence from russia, is that really what's going to galvanize both sides of the aisle to want to get to the bottom of this and not be distracted by answers that donald trump may or may not give when it comes to this? >> well, look, there is always a desire for a bipartisan investigation of russia's interference in the 2016 election on capitol hill among both democrats and republicans. but i do think -- and i don't want to speculate too much, but i think there was some information, some intel that was shared with the senate intelligence committee yesterday in that meeting with the fbi director james comey that may have encouraged skeptical republicans to actually pursue this. i mean, we're not sure, you know, what was shared during that meeting, what senator marco rubio may have even heard, but it was obviously enough to get him to say to republicans and to mocrats across the aisle, this is something that needs to be investigated most definitely, whether or not there's a republican or democratic administration. >> here's the thing, all americans want the specter of this figured out as well, because if there is nothing to see there, they would like to know that. if there is something to see there, they'd like to know that too. so we expect elected officials to get to the bottom of that and provide that information in an honest and fast way. erin, great to see you, gabby, great to see you as well. i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. what can we expect if fru president trump does meet with the congressional black caucus? i'll speak with one of the organization's leaders in just a moment. also ahead, a heat warning for one congressman. why he could catch a lot of heat today as a series of town halls. per roll more "doing chores for dad" per roll more "earning something you love" per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50% longer than the leading ordinary brand. so you get more "life" per roll. bounty, the quicker picker upper c'mohappy birthday! i survived a heart attack. i'm doing all i can to keep from having another one. and i'm taking brilinta. for people who've been hospitalized for a heart attack. i take brilinta with a baby aspirin. no more than one hundred milligrams as it affects how well it works. brilinta helps keep my platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. brilinta reduced the chance of another heart attack. or dying from one. it worked better than plavix. don't stop takinbrilta thout talking to your doctor since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. don't take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. tell your doctor about bleeding, new or unexpected shortness of breath, any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. talk to your doctor about brilinta. i'm doing all i can. that includes brilinta. if you can't afford your medication, astra zeneca may be able to help. i just want to find a used car start at the new carfax.com show me used trucks with one owner. pretty cool. [laughs] ah... ahem... show me the carfax. start your used car search at the all-new carfax.com. ways wins. especially in my business. with slow internet from the phone company, you can't keep up. you're stuck, watching spinning wheels and progress bars until someone else scoops your story. switch to comcast business. with high-speed internet up to 10 gigabits per second. you wouldn't pick a slow race car. then why settle for slow internet? comcast business. built for speed. built for business. another working for the weekend with the president, following up on his rally yesterday in south carolina with a campaign-style event today in orlando, florida. we'll carry that event live scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. eastern. what's become a customary occurrence on weekends, more demonstrations popping up against the president, rallies scheduled in various parts of the country, including one in los angeles and another in dallas. stilts remain angry over the specter and repeal of obamacare talk and are capitalizing on week-long congressional recesses to face gop lawmakers. nbc's beth fouhj in nashville. beth, give us a laydown of the how many people this will hold, who's going to be on site, and what is the tone of the questions they have. >> reporter: yeah. we're still an hour out, thomas, for this town hall meeting with congressman tom reid, a republican. one of trump's first supporters in congress. he has a loot of constituents here ready to talk to him. he's one of few republicans holding a bunch of town hall meetings on this president's tay recess. we're getting ready for this first one. it's starting to fill up. it's not a huge room. what we're seeing so far is mostly a lot of democrats, even though this is a republican area, it went for trump by 15 points, we're seeing a lot of progressive activists who have been motivated by the trump election who want to come in and start talking to tom reid about issues of concern to them, the affordable care act, donald trump's potential or his campaign's potential contact with folks in russia. we'll bring in a constituent who has a lot to stay to tom reid about this stuff. this is julie hall. never been to a town hall before but wanted to get involved. why did you come out today? >> like you said earlier, i'm 56 years old and i never had any real interest in politics. i was really happy when barack obamwas elected in 2008 and that was wonderful. and eight years we were doing great. but then this wholly unqualified man all of a sudden is in the white house. >> reporter: what do you want to say to tom reid today, your congressman? >> well, first of all, he just had a meeting a couple days ago with president trump, and -- because he was an early supporter, tom reid. and he -- tom reid was very confident in president trump that he was not involved with any russia schemes and tom reid is willing to take his word for that. but donald trump has been saying a lot of alternate facts to us and so i find it hard to believe that he's not somehow involved in this russia business. >> reporter: yet don't you think tom reid, there's a lot to be said for him coming out and talking to you all today? >> absolutely, but that's what he's supposed to be doing. that's what he's getting paid for. and he is my representative. even though i didn't vote for him, he is still in there representing me. i'm hoping that he is representing me. so i feel like i need to be out here and say my peace. >> reporter: julie hall here to say her peace. back to you. >> beth fouhy in new york. thanks so much. we turn to the reaction of president's remarks on a potential meeting with the congressional black caucus. he made these remarks at thursday's news conference in an exchange with reporter april ryan. take a look sfoop are you going to include the congressional black caucus and the congressional -- >> well, i would. i'll tell you what, you want to set up the meeting? do you want to set up the meeting? >> no, no. >> are they friends of yours? >> so want to bring in now democratic congresswoman brenda lawrence, secretary for the congressional black caucus, and member of the house oversight and government reform committee. great to have you with me. first your reaction to when you saw thatexchange what was it? >> it was very concerning. first of all, the data shows that we as the congressional black caucus, 49 members, one-fourth of congress, he didn't even seem to know what cbc meant. it's clear indication that he's not aware that we represent almost 80 million people in america and 17 million african-americans. and so if you're going to have this overall plan for the quote/unquote, his view of the black community, which is extremely diverse, 50% of us live in suburban areas, 39% live in rural areas, why wouldn't you talk to the congressional black caucus? we sent a letter to him asking for him to have a dialogue with us. we outlined what we felt was our strong opinion on what the agenda should be for the black community. but something exciting has happened as a result of that press conference, my chairman from louisiana did get a phone call from the white house. and so we are in negotiation to set up a meeting with the leadership of the congressional black caucus. >> so when you say negotiation, what do you mean? just trying to find dates that work or -- >> yes. >> there are other priorities that you want to make sure that are discussed? because as you mentioned, that letter that you sent from the cbc to then president-elect trump prior to inauguration, it had different bullet points of priority, one being education. so how quickly are you looking at the calendar to schedule this meeting? what dates have you thrown out? >> that is still in the works because we have a lot of schedules to coordinate. it was hopeful that there was an outreach as a result of that clear, obvious not being prepared continued agenda of our president. but let me tell you the education piece is so important to us. betsy devos -- i'm from michigan, and i know exactly her agenda and the effect it has had on public education, so that is very important. criminal justice. we continuously say that there is something broken and we have data to show it, and there has been so many reports been put on that. when we are disproportionately the majority in the prison system while we are a minority in the american population. and then all of the discussion and challenges we have with that lack of trust and respect between the black community and our police. i was a mayor. i have so much respect for law enforcement. but when you look at repeatedly incidents across the country, we're going to have to work together to develop a senlsz of trust, a sense of accountability for our -- the people that we go to to protect us. and then jobs. i can't tell you -- often when you talk about the black community, jobs and economic development doesn't come up. there's a very strong black entrepreneur base in business, in workforce in the black community. that's how we move this country forward. when you have hispanic and african-american communitieses a disproportionately unemployed or undereduca undereducated, has an impact on -- if pe we want this country to be strong and vibrant and competitive, then all of us must meet the criteria for what an american and the resources and benefits and pretty muivileges have as being an american is shared by all. >> congresswoman, i want to get this point in because it is big news with james comey coming to the hill, speaking to the senate intel committee yesterday, you are also on the house oversight committee. >> yes. >> the new yorker is out with a piece of information saying general flynn was paid $40,000 to attend an r.t. television event in russia. if that is true, and nbc news has not independently verified with that, it potentially puts him in the emoluments clause of the constitution because he could be called back to military service. a republican, walter johnson, is sponsoring a bipartisan committee in the house to investigate any type of russian influence or interference. is there anything you can tell our viewers today about what you know from sitting on house oversight of what that committee is willing to do to give americans answers to either showcase there is something there to talk about or to clear this administration of any type of untoward interference with russia? >> i can tell you the republican party has had really cold feet in holding this will administration accountable for the violations, clear violations in the emolument act. let me explain what that is because we kp using that word if the general public understands. that means taking cash, money, or reaping benefits from a foreign country and that it has to be disclosed. you cannot as a person of the administration, the military, accept those gifts. you have to disclose it because we have to be clear there's no conflicts. and there's some restrictions, especially for someone in the position of the military that you are restricted from receiving cash payments or benefits. and there is some clear examples that has become so profoundly documented that i can tell you that the republican party has no choice but to move forward and start investigating these clearly documented cases of conflict including up to the office of the president. >> well, and just again to reiterate, because general flynn could have been called back to service at any time, the pentagon warns against this and how you explain the emoluments clause. there's been questions about this also being a problem for donald trump and conflicts of interest in business. this is the new yorker talki ii about the payment, and nbc is working independently to to verify claims about that payment. thanks for being on today. >> have a great day. breaking news out west. this incredible scene in l.a. showing the power and fury of torrential rains. hook at that. then a sinkhole swallowing two cars. this is hardly the only sinkhole that's been caused by that rain. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis like me, and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a medication... ...this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain... ...and protect my joints from further damage. humira has been clinically studied for over 18 years. humira works by targeting and helping to... ...block a specific source... ...of inflammation that ntributo ra symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain and... ...stop further joint damage in many adults. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas... ...where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. talk to your doctor and visit humira.com this is humira at work. "msnbc live" right now. miami, florida, a beautiful day, february the 18th. this is where i am this morning reporting out of our miami bureau. lucky to be here. good to have you with me. i'm thomas roberts. here's what we're watching for you this morning. on the west coast, a powerful storm killing at least two people in southern california. a massi sinkhole swallowing two cars in studio city. just earlier crews lifted both of those cars out. one woman being rescued, un uninjured. steve patterson is at the scene. explain what you're seeing. how difficult was this for them to retrieve those vehicles from the sinkhole? >> reporter: it was incredibly difficult because of the nature of sinkholes. it's hard to get equipment around that sinkhole when you don't know what is safe, what particular situation or amount of work or amount of crews is a good amount to pull people out of there. so first they had to obviously rescue that woman, and then those two cars that were in there, had an incredible time hoisting both cars out. at some points we watched the cars kind of sink back in the hole, so that work is always -- it's an unusual situation, always very dramatic, and that's what we saw just moments ago. now crews kind of focused on cleaning up as this rainfall continues. this storm billed as the biggest storm that we've seen in southern california in years and for good reason, mostly because of this rainfall, which has just been absolutely releantless. flashflooding in roads throughout los angeles and the communities surrounding southern california. that means a lot of washed-out roads. that means those washed-out roads have led to dozens of accidents in some cases as you mentioned we have had fatalities, one drive sub merged in floodwater. rescue crews came upon that scene to find him and pronups him dead on scene. the wind has been just as bad, 80-mile-an-hour wind gusts, mud slides as well, the wind dpuss taking down trees, toppling into power lines, dozens of customers without power, hundreds and thousands last night without power. now we're in a situation where it's more of a wait and see. more rainfall expectedtoday. this should end at the end of iseend but another system is predicted next week. >> your location in studio city just over the hill from hollywood, west hollywood, and l.a. the bigger issue is it also a concern for mudslides? >> reporter: yeah. mudslides have been a big concern, particularly when you're talking about after the storm. all the rainfall that we've had for this storm has been pretty consistent. it saturates that ground, those hill sooild communities were evacuated. there are about 200 evacuations in those red zones or threat zones. that situation will only get worse after this storm ends. we see a lot of these mudslides about a week after that major storm comes through so you bet people will be watching for that as well. >> steve patterson reporting in studio city. thank you. reassuring words, vice president mike pence speaking to european allies at the munich security conference. what did he say that is a huge issue for russia? we'll break down what he said. ♪ why do so many businesses rely on the u.s. postal service? because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. ♪ that's why we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ here, there, everywhere. united states postal service priority : you has been a struggle. i considered all my options with my doctor, who recommended once-daily toujeo®. now i'm on the path to better blood sugar control. toujeo® is a long-acting insulin from the makers of lantus®. it releases slowly, providing consistent insulin levels for a full 24 hours, proven full 24-hour blood sugar control, and significant a1c reduction. and along with toujeo®, i'm eating better and moving more. toujeo® is a long-acting, man-made insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. it contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. don't use toujeo® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you're allergic to insulin. allergic reaction may occur and may be life threatening. don't reuse needles or share insulin pens, even if the needle has been changed. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which can be serious and life threatening. it may cause shaking, sweating, fast heartbeat, and blurred vision. check your blood sugar levels daily while using toujeo®. injection site reactions may occur. don't change your dose or type of insulin without talking to your doctor. tell your doctor if you take other medicines and about all your medical conditions. insulins, including toujeo®, in combination with tzds (thiazolidinediones) may cause serious side effects like heart failure that can lead to death, even if you've never had heart failure before. don't dilute or mix toujeo® with other insulins or solutions as it may not work as intended and you may lose blood sugar control, which could be serious. toujeo® helps me stay on track with my blood sugar. ask your doctor about toujeo®. >> on the global stage, vice pridt mike nce made his first major foreign policy address this morning at the munich security conference and voiced an unwavering support for nato while vowing to defeat isis and hold russia accountable for actions in ukraine. nbc's lucy kavanagh joins us now. how are allies and other world leaders responding to the vice president and his remarks? >> reporter: hey, thomas. good morning. i think there's a sense of both relief but also a little bit of confusion in munich, what our allies wanted to get from the vice president was clarity on what the trump administration's foreign policy will be going forward, especially in light of the many worrying pronouncements at least from their point of view that donald trump has made in recent weeks andcalling the alions absleet, questioning the merits of the european union, expressing his admiration for vladimir putin at a time when russia is literally redrawing its borders. so the message from mike pence was one of reassurance. he said, essentially, guys, we are with you. he did call on the nato allies to boost their defense spending but he did say they will be in line with one another. the message on russia was tough. he did say that the allies here will be united in the face of any sort of russian aggression and raise the issue of the escalating violence in ukraine, calling on russia to calm the tensions there. take a listen. >> we must demand they honor the minsk agreements and de-escalate with ukraine. the united states will continue to hold russia accountable even as we search for new common ground, which as you know president trump believes can be found. >> so you heard him there, thomas, but a lot of questions on whether the credibility of mike pence is something they can take seriously here in light of the fact that it was shaken to some degree by that scandal, that controversy coming out of the white house, the fact he was kept out of the loop on a very important national security issue, the issue of mike flynn's contacts with russia for two weeks. i think a lot of folks here are welcoming this message but they want to wait until they see the actions from the white house rather than just listening to the words from the vice president. >> lucy kavanof in munich, thanks so much. john finer, chief of staff for former secretary of state john kerry. good to have you with me. donald trump tweeted eight minutes ago saying don't believe mainstream fake news media. the white house is running very well. i inherited a mess and in the process of fixing it. what mess from having worked so closely with secretary of state john kerry do you think he's referring to? is it domestic or is it foreign or a combination? >> you'd have to ask the president to elaborate. far beit for me to clarify his tweets. i will say on the day in which mike pence was sort out with sort of a mission impossible, the vice president trying to bring coherence and reassurance to a foreign policy that has been really all over the map on every single major issue with senior officials, you know, openly contradicting each other and the president, you know, i think he did a credible, serviceable job in trying to do that. then the president comes in with a tweet that suggests that vice president pence's comments about how the values underlying the transatlantic relationship, which is i think something people wanted to hear, him reaffirming our shared and common values, the president comes in with a tweet that suggests neither one of those core values, a free press and respect for has been called into question two days in a row. yesterday some people thought was an outrageous tweet suggesting that the press were actually enemies of the people. i don't think that's one of the common values that europeans would agree with. >> as you worked with john kerry, we have the new secretary of state in rex tillerson starting his tenure now. how much of a learning curve is it for tlerson walking into state? >> there's an inevitable learng curve even for someone like secretary kerry who came to the job with decades of experience in foreign affair, there are aspects of job you can't prepare for until you're in the chair. tloor three parts of this job that he'll have to grasp. one is managing the building as an institution. he managed a giant institution in his previous life so that he should be adept at, although there are already sign he is seems to be marginalizing for some reason career officials over there. the other is the policy dimensions and that's both the diplomacy, private relations with foreign counterparts and the conversations in the situation room. that i think there will be some learning and that's inevitable. the third piece, and this is very important, is the public diplomacy that a secretary of state has to do, representing the country to the world. and the problem here is that so far secretary tillerson has been relatively invisible in the face of some of these big, controversial decisions the that the white house is announcing. we need somebody out there explaining what it is the white house is trying to do. not only has secretary tillerson not done that, but the state department has not done a press briefing since january 19th before the obama administration left office, the day before the inauguration. >> john, do you think that that is a sign that rex tillerson is trying to get a lay of the land and also understand as you point out a very complex state department and all the different fupgss of it, or do you think that's something else, that they're trying to take attention av away from having to have a public report and questions being asked of what's being done to match state department policy with what the white house is saying? >> it could be either but the rest of the world does not wait around for the united states to get its act together and explain what's going on. they'll draw their own conclusions and already are based on what other officials say or what the president tweets. unless the state department is out there putting some of these things in context, providing a degree of explanation, you kw, people will draw their own conclusions. they may not be beneficial to the united states. >> john, great to have you on today. thank you. appreciate it. straight ahead, hearing from the heartland. we are going to have folk who is voted for president trump reacting to the job, how they think he's doing so far, and in the hour ahead, congressman hakeem jeffries from the congressional black caucus on what he'd like to say to president trump when and if that meeting is scheduled. ♪ ♪ jon batiste has mastered new ways to play old classics. with chase atms, he can master new ways to deposit checks too. easy to use chase technology for whatever you're trying to master. so we know how to cover almost alanything.ything, even a "truck-cicle." 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all the medicines you take, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your dermatologist about otezla today. otezla. show more of you. welcome back, everybody. donald trump is up and tweet eight head of his rally later today in orlando, florida, this a short time ago. don't believe map stream fake news media. the white house is running very well. i inherited a mess and in the process of fixing it. so we have the president blaming the media. do you think this ultimately backfires on president trump? we dig into that straight ahead. ishg most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪ whether it's connecting one of or bringing wifi to 65,000 fans. campuses. businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. are they fighting here? whatever it is... it's hunting. the great wall. rated pg-13. . all right. so in florida today, president trump will be spending his third weekend at mar-a-lago. top of the agenda, finding a new national security adviser with his team. but he's also going to be hitting the road later today holding a campaign-style rally in the trump stronghold of melbourne, florida. the biggest held line of the week so far, his first solo news conference on thursday where he really held nothing back. >> i inherited a mess. i turn on the temperature, open the newspapers and i see stories of chaos. chaos. the leaks are absolutely real. the news is fake. the tone is such hatred. i'm really not a bad person. >> all right. joining me to talk about it, republican strategist hogan gidley of south carolina where the president was yesterday for that event at boeing. great to see you. a lot of folks tuned in on thursday and have heard about that press conference or they have seen different things in their time line about it. why are folks so fired up about the way donald trump is presenting himself from the oval office? because it's the same way he presented himself on the campaign trail, elusive, angry, and sometimes charming? >> it's funny. i think you hit the nail on the head. i'm shocked that people are shocked. what we're trying to do is ascribe the social norms of the white house to donald trump, when he's not a normal candidate. and so far he hasn't been a normal president. what republicans have been clamoring with for so long is somebody to fight back with the media and not take it and they got it in president trump. debating press people, shouting them down in press conferences. they got it. here's the beauty of the trump movement, regardless of the stylistic maneuvers from donald trump, it's about results, and if he makes good on the promises that turned so many blue states red and got so many republicans out to the polls so, many evangelicals out to th polls to actually put him in the white house, i he makood on those promises of repeal andreplacing obamacare, cutting taxes, securing our borders, building some type of wall, making america first again, putting america first again, then he's going to sail through re-election. if he doesn't, and those results don't come, he's going to have serious issues in a come of years. >> see a lot of people, hogan, figured that event on thursday would be a reset for donald trump to take questions, not just from conservative, friendly outlets, to actually take questions from all parts of the media landscape. and kind of move people forward. so much information was given out or disinformation in certain parts, people were left without a headline because it was so head spinning. how are republicans supposed to look at that and believe that all that work, all those ideas that donald trump laid out top campaign trail, are actually actionable ideas that they aren't worried that they would be aligning and backing up someone that they really don't have that much confidence in because there is not the type of dignity being brought to the presidential office that will one anticipates from any side of the aisle. >> all right. well, i think, you know, the bureaucrats in the beltway are still beside themselves that this man is sitting in the oval office today. i think it's shocking to so many people. and that press conference undergirded the folks in that beltway bubble who are just confused and flummoxed by the fact. however, there are a lot of people in america, as we just talked about, who turned out and voted for this man based on the bombast, based on the promise to shake things up, based on the promise to be different. but at the core of all those promise ls were a results-driven theme about getting jobs back to this country. and so regardless of all the things we're kind of focussed on, hocould he stand there and debate reporrs the way he does, we thought it was going to be a reset but it wasn't, that's irrelevant to so many people in middle america. what they want are jobs and he's got to work with this congress. and, look, republicans control it all now. you can't hide behind harry reid, you can't hide behind nancy pelosi and blame them for things not getting past. we own both chambers, the house and the senate, and now we have the white house too, so those things have to be done and done quickly. you know and i know, what congress bases their movements on or if they have a rallying cry behind the president, so the president has to lay forth that plan, that vision, and also bring people to his side to allow the congressman to support, come out and move toward donald trump to get those agendas passed because we've got control of it all now and if we're going to move, the time to move is now. and if they don't do, that they're going to be in serious trouble. >> we already know the honeymoon is way overdue -- i mean way over. >> way over. >> could be another. we'll see. >> real quickly, thomas, 68% of people feel this president is being unfairly criticized in the media as compared to barack obama, but in that same poll a majority, 57%, feel like that's the media's role. and after basically giving him $5 billion of free coverage in a campaign because it moved their ratings, i think the media feels a little guilty. after eight year of being a lap dog instead of a watchdog to president barack obama, now they feel like they're learning to cover news again, and that's what their job is to do, is to fight back against the white house and make them answer those questions. >> i know, but we've been fighting back against every, you know, primary campaign continue tender and everyone for truth and facts and answers. this is not new to try to challenge donald trump whether he's president or private citizen on what the facts really are. sol this relationship will remain. >> right. >> and i think that colleagues around this country are doing the best job that they can trying to get to the facts the but with hyperbole and certain things that we hear from this president, it's hard to do that. but we'll remain vigilant. good to see you, 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