Transcripts For MSNBCW MTP Daily 20170913

Differences and its amazing sometimes how little our differences are. Announcer plus, the banishing Political Center. The president is the leader of the Republican Party. Announcer are moderates rapidly becoming an extinction species. And checking in on the irma Recovery Efforts from florida to the Virgin Islands. Its been the biggest hurricane to ever pass through the Virgin Islands. All of the windows blew out. Completely flooded. This is mtp daily and it starts right now. Good evening. Im chuck todd here in washington and welcome to mtp daily. The civil war one heck of a distraction away from what could be a civil war on the left. Decisions inside the Democratic Party are now exposed to a bit more by sunlight and in dramatic fashion in some ways. Sometimes anywhere you look. Divided how they deal with the president. Democrats call him a fraud and now cozying up to some, talking deals, tax reform and the budget to name a few. What did they do . He met with a group of democrats at the white house today, again. This time on tax reform, after meeting with three red state democrats last night. And hes meeting with chuck and nancy as hes been fondly calling schumer and pelosi, for dinner tonight. The president s strategy seems to be a rather conventional one. Which could drive a wedge between red state democrat, leadership and progressive democrats, and oddly enough, arguably, the single most helpful person now in an effort to divide the party along some of the fault lines is the independent who wanted to lead the Democratic Party. I am just very excited about the kind of support our medicare for all legislation is receiving all across this country and right here in the United States senate. As of today we now have 16 cosponsors on this legislation. Guess what . Medicare for all isnt for everyone in the Democratic Party. Its supporters include a whos who of democrats. Many people speculate, theyre thinking about running in 2020. Bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, harris, booker, franken, to name a few. But this bill could be a nightmare for another chunk of the party including Vulnerable Senate democrats. Ten of whom up for reelection in states mr. Trump won. Only one of those democrats is supporting the bill as of now. And Tammy Baldwin of wisconsin. Baldwin might end up being the canary in the coal mine whether this idea can play in a swing state. Republicans in the ten states would love nothing more than to tag their democratic opponent with sanders bill if they support it or use it as a wedge with the Democratic Base if they dont. This also could be a giant headache for chuck shoopers who se schumer who seems to be keeping isnt distance from sanders bill. Look, democrats believe that health care is a right for all, and there are many different bills out there. We want to move the issue forward looking at all of these. An added wrinkle for schumer who once said this kind of approach would basically bankrupt the country. There are some on the left who say medicare for all, just have a government program. Medicare for all, the private Insurance Industry would be out of business. The public would be happier, but the cost, medicare costs are going up so much, would be so huge wed be broke. So we cant do that. When sanders introduced a single payer plan on the campaign trail one estimate pegged the cost at 32 trillion over ten years. Thats right. 3 trillion a year over a tenyear period. Campaigns only estimate was only somewhat less trillionee, pegging the cost at roughly 14 trillion over that same tenyear period. Needless to say the bill isnt going anywhere in this congress and some cosponsors seem to be just fine with that. Theres not much of a chance youre got to get a vote on it much less it will pass. Why do it mnow . These are value statements. I dont care about timing. Theres no time like now to do what is right. And real peel for a seamless system in which people being an american have coverage. Even if it cant get passed or to the floor now . The question never talk about an idea because you cant immediately pass it we wouldnt talk about any ideas. Joined by one of the cosponsors of the sanders plan. Democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon. Welcome back to the show, sir. Thank you so much, chuck. Gb good to be with you. Start with this question the times of this announcement. You have a Republican Party stilling w looking to repeal obamacare. The possibility that they do that is still there for the next couple of weeks. Why muddy up this issue . Why spend so much time working on a new health care plan, when the Democratic Party took so many bullets for fighting for obamacare and you still have been fighting for it, and its still the law of the land . Well, in the course of arguing over trump care, trump wealthcare, i might add, we talked to citizens across the country. I had 36 town halls in oregon mostly republican counties, twothirds of them. What the citizens in republican counties came out and said is, our Health Care System is just too complicated, too inefficient and too stressful, and there was real desire, and im talking republican counties, for a simple, sacless health care that just by virtue of being an american you have coverage when you need it. Look, sounds great. Everybody wants this until you tell them theyre going to have their taxes raises in order to pay for it. Thats number one. Again, i go back to obamacare. Is this your way of saying obamacare is a failure . No. This is our way of saying that in the course of defending obamacare, because it was such a leap forward, were also very aware of how stressful health care remains. If you caulk to citizens, blue collar citizens, hey, am i eligible for medicaid in oregon . The Oregon Health plan . If i earn more i have to get off, go to an exchange . On that exchange do that in the middle of the year . What if i have a new employer, covers me, not my children . Can i get my children on to the c. H. I. P. Program . Childrens Health Insurance program . A gauntlet of paperwork and complexity no other developed citizens in know other developed nation face and shouldnt have to face here. And its cheaper. Cheap are four our nation. Think about the fact that let me ask you this. You say cheaper for the nation, but whether you use the sanders estimates of 14 trillion, additional in the federal spending, one estimate, another puts it twice that a year, 3 trillion a year. Where do you get this money . Because the same estimates say that the total spending by our citizenry on federal budget and off federal budget put together, total cost to our society goes down. You can imagine why. Medicare has a, an overhead of about 3 . Private insurance has 25 to 30 thats wasted. Private insurance denies your claims even when they should cover what you have. Every time you are sick or have an accident, or member of your family, you have to go to war in order to get the bill paid. An additional piece of the stress. Having a system that is cheaper for the United States of america, that provides better coverage than our current system, that gives peace of mind instead of the stress we have now, thats appealing to democrats and republicans. I understand with the way youre painting it, but to be honest, senator, sounds a little too rosy. Was why Chuck Schumer wrong in 2009 saying medicare for all would bankrupt the country . And sponsored single pair as a house member and he was looking at commenting on just the federal cost, if you put more weight there. But there are ways to approach medicare for all that dont cost another single penny to the federal government. Ive been arguing we need to have the public option. Public option. People already paying money on the exchange, already have tax credit on the exchange. Being able to sbi medicare on the exchange doesnt cost a penny in fact will save money because of a more effective, efficient system. Allowing private companies to buy boo medicare, doesnt spend a dime. Ways to proceed forward that wouldnt cost the federal government anything, take us closer and during the course of it the entire doft our Society Keeps dropping. We have an unsustainable system and have to have a serious conversation. Sounds like about that. Your last comment seemed to think, what youre saying is, youre endorsing the idea of medicare for all but that isnt really what you just described is, we need to have an inkmental step. Fix obamacare, add a public option. Thats a different plan than this one. Which are you pushing for . No. Bernies bill also have an incremental approach. Lowers the age in year after year after year. So it is not saying its a dramatic change all at once. But so i dont think anybody in this conversation thinks you can take the enormous 1 6, 1 of our economy, but giving People Volunteer ways. By the way, under bernies way it is voluntary for people to opt in. Listen, this conversation is so important for the future of the nation, we have the most fractured, stressful system in the developed world. We have the most expensive per person system in the developed world. We have the most expensive system per treatment in the developed world. We have to talk about doing better, and citizens want simplicity. They want seamlessness. They want stressfree. Lets have a serious conversation about it. I hear you on all of that, but sounds like youre promising the world. And it feels like im having a deja vu when republicans essentially spent eight years overpromising, underdelivering and voters punished them for it. Voters turned to a guy with no experience ever returning for Political Office to be their nominee because they were tired of broken promises to the base. How does this not end up as a broken promise, pie in the skies, overpromise, underdeliver . I certainly would contest your theory there, bu theyve turned to someone who promised the world and had no plan to back it up. And hasnt delivered on any of broken every promise. Remember, a man, trump, who was going to promise your health care will cover everyone. Your health care will cost less. Your health care will be of higher quality. How are you guaranteeing this is not about donald trump, though. My point, the Republican Party went down this road. Overpromisi overpromising, overpromising, not delivering. Feels no pathway to passing it. Are you not raising expectations only to essentially bring back the cynicism that politicians just love to tell you everything is easy, were going to make the system simple, and then you cant get it done . It would be overpromising to say this bill is going to pass this year. That its going to get a hearing, but to lay it out as a vision, as honestly has been laid out, to say we need discussions across america how to make our Health Care Better and the way bernie presented it today. This is important to our country. To wrestle with how we have a simply better system than we have at the moment. So those who say never talk about a vision of where we could go to, because you cant get there tomorrow, i would say wed never have any progress. A huge mistake. Senator merkley i love the idea of more debate and youre right on that, and thats a good thing to have. Sir, thanks for coming on. Always a pleasure. Good to be with you. President trump spoke briefly to the press this afternoon before his bipartisan meeting on tax reform and before his new allies Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi returned to the white house for dinner. Why have leader schumer and nancy pelosi over tonight . Im a conservative and will tell you im not skeptical and i think that if we can do things in a bipartisan manner that will be great. Let me bring in tonights panel. Michael stooels, former chairman of rnc and based in iowa, joins us when d. C. Hes here. And Campaign Manager for president obamas 2012 campaign and has a lot of scar tissue over the issue of obamacare. And stephanie, start with you, because i saw you smirk a little when i asked, started with, is this the time to have a medicare for all debate when the party was literally was united for an eightmonth period to try to save obamacare . A couple things on that. It doesnt mean the party is not still united, to save obamacare, or to push for firsts to obamacare. As senator merkley laid out, theres nothing wrong with a vision. I also would say that senator merkley is a great spokesperson on this, much better than we saw earlier, with the unveiling, and you know, lets also understand that we are in the Democratic Party debating about how to cover more people. With health care. And provide more coverage on health care, and to reduce costs. Were not debating how to take it away from people, which is the debate on the republican side. You are comparing the false promises of the Republican Party that they paid for with election of trump on health care. That debate was about repeal. They never put a plan on the table. So you know, democrats have been criticized since the election of trump and even in 2016 for not standing for something. And putting aside what i believe about the policy, theyre standing for something. I understand that, but it is a small group saying for something, and a bunch of people that have the base, have the ability to do it. Joe donnelly, Claire Claire mccaskill. Some day, you, too, will run for the United States senator. And nothing wrong with finding ways to cover every american with health care and reducing their costs simplifying the system. This is one way to do it. I believe. And then they can stwhat they believe. We have to be careful, democratses have to be careful this doesnt bn become a litmus test or sort of a, are you progressive enough test . Its not. This is a debate over how to kov are mother people with health care. All democrats stand for that. Chris, youve been on a few times. I remember one time a coffee can test. In that the one thing you said is, obamacare got rid of the coffee cans. Meaning people had an ability to get health care. Not small towns everybody chipping in to help a neighbor with health care. Medicare for all, the Immediate Response in middle america, yes, and then what . I dont know if necessarily its going to be a yes for everyone, but it is, you know you have a situation right now where if youre on the individual plan, you have one option in most places. And youre seeing a real serious premium increase. So for a lot of people like farmers or Small Business people, employers for Small Businesses, it is an option. I kind of looked at this situation today, though, as republicans have their push on the tax plan. What did democrats and hardcore liberals have . Really didnt have anything and now suddenly have anted in with a push again on single pay perp this is you have taxes, tax cuts on one side. Single pay other than the other. Cut the tax base tremendously, or increase taxes, increase costs to fund everybody. This is your balancing act right here between the two bases essentially. That is a stark vision. A stark veision and with all due respect to the senator and my colleague stephanie here, thats a great vision and plan, but no ones talking about it. Its not something moving through the rank and file of america, that i want more health care now. Yeah, there are issues on the health care side of the equation. Knot no doubt about it. But for a lot of folks around the country, its kind of settled. Other things distracted their attention, but this is not something thats a priority and in fact you put it very well. The president is still talking about cutting taxes. Democrats spending 1. 4 trillion. Right. A whiplash thing. Pause there. I do wonder, though, shouldnt democrats be focused on making obamacare work first before asking the public whether they can do this . Well talk about that after the break. Coming up, tough news out of florida as the impact of irma continues to grow. Well explain. Plus hurricane damage extending well beyond the u. S. Mainland. Talk with the governor of the u. S. Virgin islands about the long road to recovery there. Managing blood sugar is a series of smart choices. And when you replace one meal. Or snack a day with glucerna. Made with carbsteady. To help minimize blood sugar spikes. You can really feel it. Now with 30 less carbs and sugars. Glucerna. And lifes beautiful moments. Ns get between you flonase outperforms the 1 nondrowsy allergy pill. It helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause symptoms. Pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. Flonase changes everything. Welcome back. People in florida are trying to begin picking up the pieces after Hurricane Irma. Lights are starting to come on in more parts of the state, but 4. 5 million customers are still without power across the southeast. It is the largest real electrification effort in u. S. History, believe it or not and the lack of power is sadly adding to the storms death toll. This has been a chilling day. At least eight people died after a nursing home lost power in hollywood, florida. 115 residents were evacuated from the facility thats been in the dark since earlier in the week. Florida governor rick scott says he is demanding answers. A lot of people want investigations. Meanwhile, the second nursing home with 110 residents was evacuated in miami beach this afternoon. In light of the situation in hollywood, no deaths but some taken to a local hospital as a precaution. Remember, no power means no air conditioning, and police say temperatures at the nursing home were in the triple digits. Remote areas of the florida keys, rescue teams are going door to door for people that rode out irma looking for assistance. Most structures in the keys received major damage from irmas intense winds. White house says President Trump does plan to visit naples tomorrow. U. S. Navy ships are off the florida coast to help with relief efforts there assisting in search and rescue operations and supplying drinkability water. And seeing intense scenes from the Virgin Islands. Some of the worst destruction in all of the caribbean. Buildings flattened. After the break, ill talk with the governor of the u. S. Virgin islands there. Back in 60 seconds. Oh, thats really attached. Thats why i rent from national. Where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. Which makes me one smooth operator. Ah still a little tender. vo go national. Go like a pro. Hey. What can you tell me about your new Social Security alerts . Oh well alert you if we find your Social Security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so youll be in the know. Ooh. Sushi. Ugh. Being in the know is a good thing. Sign up online for free. Discover Social Security alerts. Welcome back. As we said earlier, the u. S. Virgin islands had some of the worst destruction from Hurricane Irma and is just starting a long road of rebuilding. Joining me on the phone from st. Croix kenneth mapp. Governor, good afternoon. How are you . Doing well. In st. Croix things are in much better shape than st. Johns and st. Thomas. St. Johns got the worst of the damage and devastation. It was really in the wall of the eye. St. Thomas is really bad. Anyone who had any experience with hugo, marilyn or andrew just understand that irma is more devastating than that. But irma doesnt outdo the spirit and will of the folks. We are really working to get folks getting folks relief supplies. Water, food, medical supplies. Weve evacuated our hospital, which was destroyed on st. Thomas and we evacuated all patients, got them safely on facility in st. Croix and puerto rico. And the Dialysis Community is taken care of, but the devastation is hard, and the people are the Virgin Islands and the Virgin Islands need help. What is that help, governor . Talk about it. Lets what do you need in the next month and then what do you need over the next six months . I assume youve got the quick asks and the longterm asks. Thats correct. Our federal partners, President Trump in particular, have been really good, really awesome. The federal cabinet has been here one by one, and we are provisioning and loading up lots of material, tarpaulins, generators, food, medicine, and security apparatus, establishing in place, to make sure people are safe. Long term, simply, we have to rebuild the electrical system from the ground up. 90 of st. Johns distribution is on the ground. 90 of st. Thomas distribution on the ground. 5 50 in st. Johns and driving to get power up. Some lights up in st. Thomas. Not over at st. John as of yet. We are hoping to have the airport open on the 16th, this saturday. The airlines are ready to come in to help residents to, who want to get out and bring more supplies and bring relief in. The department of defense have two huge ships here with supplies, landing them on the island. The marines are helping with debris removal. The army corps of engineers is promising to come and help us with more debris pea removal and we just have to evacuate the debris. Theres no place for the kind of devastation that we have, but, chuck, let me just say this, that the people here are resilient. They restaurants who could open on st. John opened and cooked food and just gave them, the folks, and let them sit down and have a hot meal. Explain the importance. Tour offism is not just a part of the economy, it is the life blood that is correct. Explain how important it is for the federal government to basically get you up and running a as Tourist Destination as fast as possible . Its very important. You know, fortunately for us, st. Croix has been pretty much unscathed. So a number of the cruise ships are using st. Croix as a port. Weve been doing good in terms of overnight guests on st. Croix but dont have that infrastructure we have on st. Thomas here and so with the feds, were just going to work to get it up. I know some of the hotels are setting dates your january, to be able to have folks begin to come back in and we believe some of that is realistic. We believe that obviously the roads will be cleared. A good deal of the power will be up and well continue to work to build the home spot for the residents and have them thats three their homes repaired. At a minimum, three moss mon income, lost revenue . Well be asking congress to help us. Im going to the president has asked me to let the people of the Virgin Islands know hell be here soon to see firsthand how the federal government is responding and how the folks have been affected by the devastation. And i plan at that time to speak with him in more detail about how we can make it through that period. Administrator brock long was here yesterday and the commander of the coast guard, the general for the u. S. Army corps of engineer and chief of the National Guard bureau was on the ground today. So were really working with them and letting them know what our needs are, and making sure we get the help that we need. Can i just say one thing, chuck . Yes, sir. That, if you want to help the Virgin Islands, please, we are asking for your help. Visit www. Usvirecovery. Org. Www. Usvirecovery. Org. And this is going to go to the victims. Its going to be held by one of our wonderful charitable organizations thats been doing work in the community over 25 years. Great. Help the people of the Virgin Islands. We need all the help. Governor, terrific. Well make sure folks see that website again and continue to cover whats going on there so people know that youre not forgotten. Were all here. Were all pulling together. Thank you, thank you so much. Thank you. Still ahead, even as President Trump tries to strike deals across the aisle, are moderates the new we can call them endangered species . I think theyre extinct in congress these days. One is not yet, but ill ask him why hes throwing in the towel. Be right back. Still ahead on mtp daily, whats behind the latest comments about james comey. First the market wrap. U. S. Stops makes slight gains but closing at record highs for the second day in a row. Dow rising 39 points. Apple was the biggest loser. The s p up by 102 points and energy stock as boost from oil prices. Nasdaq gaining five points. Tlargt hire 100,000 workers for the Holiday Season to prevent losing shoppers who cant get help in a busy store. Target is also slashing prices to compete with amazon and walmart. Thats it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. You dont let anything lkeep you sidelined. Come on thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. Ensure, always be you. When this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night. Hold on dad. Liberty did what . Yeah, Liberty Mutual 24hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. My dad says our insurance doesnt have that. Dont worry i know what a lug wrench is, dad. Is this a lug wrench . Maybe . You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. You wto progress. Move. To not just accept what you see, but imagine something new. At invisalign®, we use the most advanced teeth straightening technology to help you find the next amazing version of yourself. Its time to unleash your secret weapon. Its there, right under your nose. Get to your best smile up to 50 faster. Visit invisalign. Com to get started today. Welcome back. Last week we asked whether the retirement of modern republican was an off day. And another announced retirement. This week another. These moderates are choosing to throw in the towel even as were seeing a willingness in the last week or two on the part of the president to go beyond his base. Met with a Bipartisan Group of congress today. Second day in a row. And struck a deal with nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer. And tonight pelosi and schumer will be back at the white house for dinner. And someone not running next year, congressman from pennsylvania. Good to see you. Good to be with you, chuck. If President Trump spent the first eight months having the type of dinners and meetings hes been having over the last week with Bipartisan Groups of members, and even working, appearing to at least be listening to both sides of the aisle, would you have already announced retirement . My decision was made, chuck, actually, ive been thinking about this some time. I dont think it would have changed my decision. I was leaning towards not running snore time. Thinking about it since 2013 for a variety of reasons stuck around. Never thought to be in congress more than five or six terms. Im in my seventh term. It might have affected it, but probably not. What do you make of it . Im glad that the president is reaching out. Thats important. The agreement struck last week on the debt ceiling i actually thought was a pretty good deal. The only reason he was able to do that was because we republicans dont have 218 votes for a debt ceiling increase. Whether for three months or 18 months. Everybody knows that. That immediately gives leverage to senate and House Democrats and they can help determine the duration of the debt ceiling. I thought the president was correct to strike that kind of agreement. Why is the Political Center such a hazardous place to live these days . Well, because i think theres a lot of, so many people here are ideological. Thats a big part of it. Youre not rewarded for being a centrist. Ive been a part of mostly bipartisan really ideological or play ideologues on the campaign trail . How many of your colleagues play and ideologue on the campaign trail and wish they are could be moderates like you and how many are true ideologues . Chuck, you hit the nail on the head. A lot of folks are part of the hope yes vote no caucus. That is, they hope a lot of these things get done. They dont want us to default on our obligations, want the government to function just cant vote for it. I often joked with colleagues. I voted for this bill so you didnt have to. The truth is a lot of them they always talk about the hastert rule. The socalled majority. Weve never violated the hastert rule here. Every issue a majority of support for whatever the measure is but arent a majority of votes. Thats what we deal with on a regular basis. Its unfortunate. But we need to grow the governing wing of the Republican Party. And how do you do that . Is this a whats been the chicken and egg here . Is this the conservative media complex . That is, its created aspective expectations too high among ideologues . Something else . What do you ascribe it to . Too many members of congress are worried about what outside groups will say about them or how theyre school them. An extreme problem. I have a voting card. The voting card heres my voting card. Who im accountable to. The people in the district of pennsylvania. Not an outside group that seeks to profit off of chaos and disorder. Face it, with those groups what they do, theyre not going to theyll no member of congress will be praised for voting for an on the bus appropriation bill. Necessary as it is, you wont get praise for that. They attack those who vote for it and scare others off and raise money. Thats the gail. Unfortunate. Members have to drown that noise out. We have responsibilities to govern here and shouldnt be concerned what the other folks are saying. Let me ask you this is this the case, if voters arent rewarding searcentristiss that the systems fault . What do you ascribe that to . A bit of the systems fault for sure. Look, end of the day were elected to make decisions. Not a bunch of potted plants here. We have to stand up do what we think is in our districts best interests and in the countrys best interests. Thats what our constituents expect us to do. Truthfully, most of my constituents arent aware of these groups in washington that make all this noise and holler and scream. They expect us to do our jobs. Most dont know what these groups are, what they stand for and dont care. They notice when we dont do or jobs dont like the dysfunction, instabilities and, you know, certainty. We need to get back to the conservatism, measured statements, incremental process, order, discipline, control. You know if youre leaving congress, one less person advocating for that. I mean as youre leaving, i youre setting out a bunch of critiques of how this system could be better. How moderates could be more welcome, but by walking away, you make it harder to make those changes. Well, chuck, ill be a voice. A voice for the sensible center. I felt i was one in congress. Inside congress. Ill be one outside of congress, too. Im not going away. Im going to continue to advocate for that type of governing. I want to certainly support those types of candidates who want to, feel similarly. There are a lot of them s. It easier to advocate from the outside than the inside now . Oh, i think i can make a difference. All i can tell you, there are plenty of people will be to step up and do what ive been doing on our side of the aisle and concerned, too, chuck. I watched both political parties, in a bad place. Look where democrats are now. Litmus test over single payer . Party taking owner by Bernie Sanders whos not even a democrat. Look where they are. And we have litmus test issues on our side. Before donald trump, pragmatists versus loyalists. Are you loyal to donald trump . Its not a good spot. It is not. Something weve been lamenting quite a bit on our show. Congressman, always a pleasur ie you leave congress. You got it. Still ahead, remembers one of the lions of the senate. member that accident i got in, with the pole, and i had to make a claim and all that . Is that whole thing still draggin on . No, i took some pics with the app and filed a claim, but, you know how they send you money to cover repairs and they took forever to pay you, right . No, i got paid right away, but, at the very end of it all, my agent wouldnt even call you back, right . No, she called to see if i was happy, but, if i wasnt happy with my claim experience, for any reason. Theyd give me my money back, no questions asked. Can you believe that . No. The claim satisfaction guarantee, only from allstate. Switching to allstate is worth it. You dont let anything lkeep you sidelined. Come on thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. Ensure, always be you. Tonight my obsession is with one of the senates long time lions. Pete domenici. He passed away this morning at the age of 85. When people talk about the good old days of the senate when the chamber actually accomplished things they are talking about domenicis time and about people like Pete Domenici that struck deals across party lines with democrats like minnesotas tim wellstone and ted kennedy in massachusetts. Served at chairman of the energy and budget committee. It is his work on the budget balanced act that left the biggest mark. He and then house member john kasich negotiated a noteworthy balanced budget with bill clinton back in 1997. In all his years in the senate never became overly polarized and beloved by constituents both sides of the aisle. And remembering his predecessor today who always kept new mexicans first. Announcing the passing on the senate floor today. Like others in this chapter, i served for a number of years with senator domenici. I came to know him as a smart, hard working, dedicated and a very strong advocate for his home state of new mexico. For an exceptionally fresh feeling choose Philips Sonicare diamondclean. Hear the difference versus oral b. In a recently published clinical study, Philips Sonicare diamondclean outperforms oralb 7000, removing up to 82 more plaque and improving gum health up to 70 more. Its Sonic Technology cleaning deep between teeth. From the most recommended sonic toothbrush brand by dental professionals. Switch to Philips Sonicare today. Philips sonicare. Save when you buy now. For tech advice. Dell Small Business advisor Philips Sonicare. With one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and i get back to business. They always refer to me as master sergeant. They really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. 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His actions were improper and likely could have been illegal, leaking mental ohs to the New York Times, politicized and investigation signaling we ho exonerate Hillary Clinton before he ever interviewed her or other key witnesses. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders seemingly on offense against former fbi director james comey yesterday. If you think that heat was a oneoff, listen to what she said today. Leaking fbi memos on a sensitive case regardless of classification violates federal laws including the privacy act, standard fbi employment agreement and nondisclosure agreement all personnel must sign. Im certainly not an attorney but i think the facts of the case are very clear. As the special counsels russia probe kicks into high gear, seems the white house is laying out a case to discredit or even prosecute comey bringing us to our panel. Yesterday i thought, okay, maybe she went rogue, and seemed like an odd day to pick that fight with james comey and then it came up again today. Boy, as our own reporting indicates, its clear mueller is pursuing at least in part an obstruction of justice charge having to do with the comey firings that looked like a deliberate hit to discredit james comey . I think you said it out well. This is their way to sort of swat at this before it really takes off. To sort of disturb the air around the investigation and certainly disturb the air around comey around comey. To increase the level of doubt about his veracity and his integrity. Which is a little bit laughable, because as we know, given his history in washington no, one has ever doubted those two things about him. Even the handling of this. While theres a lot of concerns about the time line and the firing of all the comments he was making, the firing sort of takes that down a notch. Because that was just so stark and so blatantly obvious. Er as someone who has been in professional crisis management, that is a tactic. That is a tactic that you do when you know youve got more coming. Thats a tactic. Im not going to say whether it is a good or bad tactic. Unfortunately, it is often used. You want a tactic to be based in some truth or fact. Thats not backed up by the law or the facts as they themselves have told them. Thats just a tactic that will come back in their face. And it is also, when youre deploying these tactic, you want a little subtlety about it. Im with you. To read it they thought this out. Build your case through various sources. Get some validators out there. Build some evidence before you hit us over the head with a club. So i think this probably, i agree michael, this is not going to work for them. But it is obvious what theyre trying to do. Im not going to pretend the russia story is taking off around the country and grassroots and hearing it every day. Is there a level of concern . Well, so that story, you have the wire piece that will be in every newspaper in the country. Youll probably have a front page piece in the New York Times and the washington post. Maybe a few other dailies. So it will continue to hit. And as long as they continue to hammer, the ap and lose continue to write wire stories and the white house said such and such against james comey. And that story will continue to be out there. Day in and day out as they continue to hit on it. No matter how much it gets really heavy concentration, the stories will still be there. Whether it is page 9 or page 1. In this attack on comeys credibility, it is clearly unintentional but the white house is getting a little bit of help from Hillary Clinton. Sort of has her own beefs with comey. Is that going to make it a little bit politically harder for congress to rally around comey . No. Also, we dont know the results of the investigation yet. Which is the real issue here. This isnt about comey. This is between bob mueller and donald trump. And the trickle, the daily trickle of story lines coming out of that. They might have temporarily bluntd a little of that and i agree. Sometimes putting out a bad story about yourself helps dilute the story that youre trying to knock down. But hopefully the reporting on this will always include the mistruth thats theyve told. What the law actually is. And what donald trump is accused of. And again, i feel like it does give us a window into what trumps lawyers, one of his lawyers is in the white house every day. Ty cobb. What theyre clearly concerned about of the mueller probe. There has been in recent weeks, if not months, a sort of hunkering down the facts here. And the lawyers are doing what good lawyers do. Theyre doing a lot of defense on the inside and a little bit of prevent on the outside. Theyre making sure whatever mueller does, the timing of when he does it, what it is that hits the streets. They have some battle plan. They seem to have a political strategy. They dont seem to have a hello over it doesnt look like a legal strategy. Youre right. The legal problem for them is this obstruction of justice issue is really the only way it could lead to impeachment. Thats where they see it going. And that turns into a political conversation. All right. We got a lot and left a lot on the table. Are senator hatchs new bill to puff, puff, pass. Dear daughter, i used to worry about keeping up with our motherdaughter matches. But ive been taking osteo biflex ease. Its 80 smaller but just as effective. Which means, ill run you off the court. Hugs and kisses, mom. Osteo biflex ease. Made to move. And when youod sugar is a replace one meal. Choices. Or snack a day with glucerna. Made with carbsteady. To help minimize blood sugar spikes. You can really feel it. Now with 30 less carbs and sugars. Glucerna. Your bbut as you get older,ing. It naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Did you hear directvs latest deal . Its cheap and gets you all the big games. It starts at sixty bucks a month, but jumps to over 100 after 3 months. Cool i think . And jumps again to over 150 after a year. Noooo. And ends up costing over 3500 bucks over 2 years. Youre cleaning that up. Dont get caught off guard by directv. Touchdown. Get the best with xfinity. In case you missed it, press conferences with members of congress 00 very dry. In case you missed it, senator hatchs staff tried mix it up with a few pot worth y comments. Remember, this is senator orrin hatch, conservative, republican, mormon, utah. Heres part of the release. It is high time address research into medical marijuana. Our country has experimented with a variety of state solutions without properly delving into the weeds of the effectiveness, safety, dosing, administration and quality of marijuana. All the while the federal government strains to enforce regulations that sometimes do more harm than good. To be blunt, we need remove the administrative barriers preventing legitimate research into medical marijuana which is why ive decided to roll out the meds act. I urge my colleagues in our joint effort to help thousands of americans suffering from a wide range of diseases and disorders, in a washington at war with itself, i have high hope this is Bipartisan Initiative can be a kumbaya moment for both parties. By our count, thats eight pot puns in six sentences. So put that in your pipe and smoke it. This isnt the first time hes tried push a bill like the but it is the first time weve seen this many pot puns. He has multiple cosponsors but one of they is not senator roy blunt. But give it time. In all seriousness, this issue is really gaining more bipartisan traction every day. Thats all we have for tonight. Well be back with more mtp daily tomorrow. Chuck, ive been watching you a long time. Host of meet the press. Host of mtp daily. I believe this is your first blunt pun on television. I believe. It may be. Fair enough. We salute and you the good senator from utah. Hey, go hash it out in your hour, will you . Thank you, chuck todd. Amazing. We do begin on the beat we some breaking news. Bob muellers russia investigation is now treating mike flynn jr. As subject in its criminal inquiry