Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell 20170727

Things going on. But tomorrow will be day two of the Judiciary Committee Holding Hearings that appear to be designed to make it seem like the real russia scandal has nothing to do with the trump organization. The real russia scandal is a democratic scandal. Weve been talking for several days about Chuck Grassleys efforts to try to turn the russia trump scandal around and try to make it into a kind of counternarrative, its all about hillary clinton. Its all about the democrats thing. That got pushed from today until tomorrow. Well be watching for that tomorrow on capitol hill. That does it for us tonight. Well see you again tomorrow. Now its final for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. I really liked your point in the show about trump tweeting about the transgender policy in the military going straight to the supporters of Jeff Sessions, the Jeff Sessions base, which by the way existed politically before there was ever a trump base. And i hadnt considered that today. I hadnt linked that up. When you try to make sense of a trump tweet, at first it feels impossible. It always does. But i think you might have found the light in there that makes sense. I try to avoid the president s tweets except when he tries to change major policies affecting the Largest Military in the world with them. But i think both the transgender policy stuff that he tweeted and also that super like bordering on violent antiimmigrant stuff hes been doing, i mean you put those two things together and youre pretty close to a portrait of the things that matter to Jeff Sessions as a politician and the things that might excite a proJeff Sessions, trumpsupporting base member. So i think especially if you see those two things together, i think hes trying to make up for angering people about his attacks on Jeff Sessions. And the attacks on Jeff Sessions seem to be the first thing that have, in any way, caused him any bumps from people like rush limbaugh, rush limbaughs audience, republican senators. Hes getting a first sensation of real resistance from those people. And you can see him trying to throw them a bone, trying to buy them off, trying to both distract them and please them with something unrelated because those are the kinds of folks that he really cant bear criticism from for long. I thought it was a really important insight that you had and that i learned only by watching your show. Thank you, my friend. Thanks, rachel. So last night on this program, i speculated with senator al franken that the president might try to replace attorney general Jeff Sessions with a recess appointment during the august recess. And now of course of course tonight the breaking news is that the president is discussing replacing Jeff Sessions with a recess appointment during the august recess. I told you before im very disappointed. You can be disappointed in someone but still want them to continue to do their job. Hes trying to get sessions to quit. I hope sessions doesnt quit. Jeff has been very loyal to the president , and i think he deserves loyalty back. He did what i believe any ethical attorney general would do under the circumstances. I personally would strongly recommend against firing sessions. But we will see what happens. Time will tell. Time will tell. We want to get legislation to finally end the failed obamacare status quo. Make no mistake about it. Skinny repeal is equal to full repeal. We better get that done, fellas, please, mike. What we need to do in the senate is figure out what the lowest common denominator is. Its going to be so easy. It certainly wont be easy. Please, mike. How about just doing a little bit of governing around here . You think the president is demonstrating weakness by his handling of sessions . Absolutely. You got the last word. The breaking news tonight from the Washington Post is that the president is discussing with his advisers the possibility of replacing attorney general Jeff Sessions with a recess appointment during the august recess that would bypass Senate Confirmation and allow the new attorney general to serve without being confirmed by the senate until the end of this congress. The Washington Post reports some advisers have come away convinced that trump is determined to ultimately remove sessions and is seriously considering a recess appointment to replace him, an idea that has been discussed on some of the cable news shows he watches. And it was discussed here last night when i brought it up with senator al franken. That might have been the first time that President Trump discovered there is such a thing as a recess appointment. And ive been raising the question about a recess appointment for attorney general on twitter before last night. My raising the question of a recess appointment was purely speculation. As i said, i was just just speculating. I had no sources in the white house telling me any of that. But the man who now occupies the presidency is so fully transparent that speculation about what he might be thinking about could not be easier. And of course once he learned there was something called a recess appointment, President Trump was going to start thinking about it and talking about it, which brings us to what might be our most interesting cross roads yet for the president and republican senators. It has finally happened. Republican senators are finally up in arms against President Trump. Finally they have found their voice. The president has finally gone too far for even republican senators. Now, before we consider what the president has finally done that republican senators just cannot accept, we should we really do owe ourselves for perspective a minute to remember just some of the things that republican senators have had no problem accepting from their republican president. When donald trump said john mccain was not a war hero because he got captured, republican senators accepted that. When donald trump made the unconstitutional Campaign Promise to ban all muslims from entering this country, republican senators accepted that. When donald trump attacked senator ted cruzs wife and suggested that ted cruzs father was involved in the kennedy assassination, republican senators accepted that and then, in the most horrific turn that we have ever seen in a senators career, ted cruz himself retroactively accepted that and actually brought his wife and his children to the Trump White House to bow down before their new president. And when donald trump attacked Rosie Odonnell and megyn kelly and talked about blood coming out of megan kelly, republican senators accepted that. And who can forget when donald trump attacked kaiser kahn and his wife, the parents United States army captain who was killed in the line of duty in iraq, when donald trump attacked them, republican senators accepted Donald Trumps attacks on the khan family. He was their nominee for president by then, and republican senators made it clear that they would accept anything their nominee said or did. When donald trump was revealed on a video recording to have bragged about Sexual Assault and described his own technique of Sexual Assault, republican senators accepted that. Republican senators with daughters accepted that. Republican senators with wives and mothers and sisters accepted that. Donald trump describing himself as a Sexual Assaulter was something that republican senators had no problem accepting. President trump woke up one morning and tweeted lies about president obama illegally wiretapping trump tower, and republican senators accepted that and lets never, ever forget that republican senators accepted donald trump lying about president obamas birth for over five years. Now, what i would love to be able to do right here is just sit here in silence with you as we all just let it sink in. What republicans and republican senators in particular have accepted from donald trump, and in that silence we could think of dozens and dozens of more outrageous things that republican senators have accepted from donald trump. But this is tv, and if i go silent, theyll pop a commercial in here, so lets move on to the outrage. The final outrage that has provoked some republican senators to reach into whats left of their conscience and object, object to President Trump, and that outrage of course is the president s treatment of a republican senator. Senator Jeff Sessions was the first senator to endorse the candidacy of donald trump. Senator Jeff Sessions was the only republican senator who endorsed the candidacy of donald trump before donald trump won the republican president ial nomination. And this week, senator Jeff Sessions has become the new trump enemy, the new hillary, the new obama, the new lyin ted, the new little marco. We now have the beleaguered attorney general Jeff Sessions according to donald trump. And so for republican senators, donald trump has finally crossed the line that he crossed with a majority of americans during the president ial campaign. Jeff sessions is an honorable man. He did what i believe any ethical attorney general would do under the circumstances. Jeff has been very loyal to the president , and i think he deserves loyalty back. He is one of the most honest people you would ever know. He is a man of very high integrity. Jeff sessions has my confidence. I think that his independence has been proven by his willingness to recuse himself. Kenneth starr, the special prosecutor who investigated bill clint, has just published an oped piece in the Washington Post saying that the president s attack on attorney general Jeff Sessions is, quote, one of the most outrageous and profoundly misguided courses of president ial conduct i have witnessed in five decades in and around the nations capital. The New York Times conservative columnist has written tonight in a column that will appear in tomorrows print edition, quote, Donald Trumps campaign against his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, in which he is seemingly attempting to insult and humiliate and tweet shame sessions into resignation is an insanely stupid exercise. The column goes on to describe the president s actions as a multitiered tower of idiocy, moronic, madness, and proof that the president is, quote, gravely deficient, somewhere at the intersection of reason and judgment and conscience and selfcontrol. The last line of this conservative oped piece is simply, this president should not be the president , and the sooner he is not, the better. Joining us now, john heilemann, National Affairs analyst for nbc news, max boot, senior fellow for National Security studies at the council on foreign relations, also mieke eoyang, a former House Intelligence Committee staff member and Vice President for the National Security program at the third way. John heilemann, the attack that were seeing here is, of course, unprecedented. And Something Else that conservatives are pointing out is it proves that donald trump cares nothing about policy because no one is a more faithful deliverer of donald trump policy than Jeff Sessions in the Justice Department. Yes. I was going to say thank you for having me on tonight given were discussing an insanely stupid exercise. Im an expert on those matters so i feel highly qualified to comment here. Its the case thats extraordinary. In the same way that donald trump firing jim comey caused liberals to suddenly rally around james comey, who they previously hated because of his role in the 2016 campaign and hurting hillary clinton, now youve got not just republican senators but even people on the left who are suddenly rallying around Jeff Sessions, of all people, who is prosecuting the most conservative, aggressive, retrograde, prolaw and order at the extreme hyperbolic version of that part of trumps agenda that you could possibly imagine. He shall its part of the thing that gives him some political cover with the administration in addition to the senators and republicans who are institutionally and personally fond of him. Hes also someone who has this wiggle room to fight trump because the reality is that the trump base loves Jeff Sessions on the merits that they care about, on immigration, on these Law Enforcement issues, right . But it is certainly the case that trump seems to be just does not seem to care about any of that, at least so far. There is some reporting that suggests that he may be moderating. He may have spent his rage over the last couple days, but when i read, as ive now read in the Washington Post, and the New York Times tonight that Reince Priebus and steve bannon are telling him, dont do this, i remember the last time that Reince Priebus and steve bannon told him not do do something, which was dont install Anthony Scaramucci as communications director. He did that, and the fact that they are arguing he shouldnt do this, i would not say that its necessarily a good sign, augers well for the career of Jeff Sessions. Mieke, you worked with republicans on the house intelligence question. How surprised are you that the line that the president crossed that finally turned republican senators against what hes been thinking about is basically that he attacked a former republican senator . Well, lawrence, i also worked for senator kennedy in the senate, and it was a very collegial place then. So this is absolutely expected. The senate is very much of a club. And while senator sessions was one of the most conservative senators there was, he was very popular among his colleagues. So its unsurprising that they would take up a Strong Defense of him. Max boot, youre a conservative republican who turned against donald trump before he managed to insult a former republican senator. I want to read you something that Chuck Grassley tweeted tonight. In terms of all of the defenses of Jeff Sessions mounted today by republican senators, this might actually technically be the most forceful one. He said, everybody in d. C. Should be warned that the agenda for the Judiciary Committee is set for the rest of the year, for the rest of 2017. Judges first, sub cabinet second, attorney general no way. And so, max, theres the guy who would be running a confirmation for the next attorney general saying, i will not schedule a confirmation hearing for another attorney general in this year. But of course that all becomes meaningless if the president does a recess appointment. Well, just to correct first the way you described me, lawrence, i have to point out i am a conservative exrepublican. I became an exrepublican because i was so disgusted with donald trump, and its very interesting to me as youre pointing out what it is that makes republicans finally turn against trump. He can insult the fbi, the ci, a, minorities, women, transgendered people, anybody in the world. But, no, he starts insulting Jeff Sessions and all of a sudden they get offended. Im feeling a little conflicted here because i am no fan of Jeff Sessions. Remember that he lied about his meetings with the russian ambassador. Last week we found out that according to these intelligence intercepts that they actually discussed Campaign Material which he had refused to admit in the past. On the merits you can make a strong case that Jeff Sessions ought to resign. But of course if his resignation leads trump to appoints a stooge who then fires bob mueller, of course i will join the consensus in washington and say please, Jeff Sessions, stay right where you are. Its an uneasy place to be, and i think what we have to keep in mind here is what this is all about is how scared that donald trump is of the bob Mueller Probe, how scared he is that mueller is going to uncover more collusion with russia, how scared he is of what mueller will find in his taxes and his business practices. So much so that he is willing to basically trash one of his closest allies and take on the entire establishment in washington because he thinks that might be a better course for him than allowing the Mueller Probe to continue. Thats a very, very telling indicator. John, maxs point couldnt be more important. Everything that the president does in this arena is the behavior of someone who is completely guilty. If youre looking for logic to it, it is logical that he gets rid of comey. Its logical that he tries to fire the special prosecutor if hes guilty. Logical that he explores pardons if hes guilty. All of thats right. The one thing thats not rational, and its interesting right now because im told that allies of sessions are trying to argue to the white house, trying to say, you know, if you want to get rid of mueller, you dont have to fire sessions. Just dont fire rod rosenstein. The president can fire the Deputy Attorney general. He doesnt have to do this twostep. If he wants to get to mueller, sessions would just go and install a new Deputy Attorney general. You could get this done in a different way. It speaks to, yes, theres a lot of indications the way hes behaving that he is a man who is afraid and a man who, again, whos behavior is guilty. Theres also this core of irrationality to it. Hes angry at sessions for having done this recusal. His anger seems to be clouding his judgment about how to get to the kind of movement that he really wants, which is the ultimate end game here, which is to fire mueller, i think. And in a tweet today, the president found fault with Jeff Sessions for not doing something that is not within Jeff Sessions power but is within Donald Trumps power. He said, why didnt a. G. Sessions replace acting fbi director andrew mccabe, and so forth . Mieke, of course, that is a president ial power. That is not the attorney generals power. Thats absolutely right. Its sort of ironic that donald trump is complaining about Andrew Mccabes wife receiving political contributions from democrats when donald trump himself has given excessively to democrats in Campaign Contributions over the years. So all of these critiques of the mueller team and their past Campaign Contributions, suggesting that they are unable to be objective when they have been professional lawyers throughout, is really stunning given his own political contribution history. So, max, theres been a lot of speculation in the past about what will republicans do if, or where is the breaking point . There are republicans who are kind of suggesting that their breaking point would be the firing of Jeff Sessions, but scheme it out for us. Lets assume that the president either forces sessions resignation in august or fires him in august and does a recess appointment. Would these republicans who are saying we dont like this today would they really, really, when the moment came, stand up against the president for this . Well, thats the big question, lawrence, and they have not really stood up to the president on just about any issue to date. So the question is would this be different . I think one way you could maybe avoid this is by not having the senate go into recess, so at least not give him the opportunity for a recess appointment. But whats kind of troubling to me here is all these senators are drawing the red line around Jeff Sessions job whereas to my mind, the actual red line is trying to fire bob mueller. And as mieke just pointed out, theres other ways that trump can do that other than actually replacing sessions. He can try to go around rosenstein and find somebody else at the Justice Department who will fire mueller for him, and that to me should be the red line just as he crossed a red line by firing james comey, and its amazing that republicans didnt seem to care about that. Now they have to make clear to him that if he gets rid of mueller, that they will instantly pass an independent counsel statute so the investigation will not end. So there will be completely independent counsel as there was prior to 1999. That is what republicans ought to be saying. You know, the issue with sessions is only part of it. I think the red line really ought to be mueller. I wish they would speak out more on that subject. John, quickly before we get a break in. Heres a question for you as a senate expert, right . Theres a line in the New York Times report tonight that says that Senate Leaders made clear that they would block mr. Trump in replacing mr. Sessions if they tried to do so during the recess. One of the mechanisms that the senate has, what could be done about that to stop it. The recess is a mirage. You can basically send everybody home and technically keep the senate in session, but it will look like a recess but its technically in session so that you cant do recess appointments. Mitch mcconnell did that, in fact, so that president obama couldnt do recess appointments at certain points. So thats definitely a strategy, and that would be completely up to Mitch Mcconnell to do that. Theres a very tricky way that the democrats might also be able to keep the recess from actually becoming a formal recess that opens up this whole this may be the answer to your question, which is they might be able to stand up to trump without actually having to stand up to trump. The passive standing up to trump. John heilemann gets the last word on standing up to trump. Appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. Coming up, president ial chaos reached the Defense Department today, and senator john mccain voted against the Republican Health care bill today, a vote that was consistent with the dramatic speech that he gave in the senate yesterday. Theres nothing more important to me than my vacation. So when i need to book a hotel, i want someone who makes it easy to find what i want. Booking. Com gets it. And with their price match, i know im getting the best price every time. Cmon, gary your vacation is very important. Thats why booking. Com makes finding the right hotel for the right price easy. Visit booking. Com now to find out why were booking. Yeah we, the people, are tired of being surprised with extra monthly fees. We want hd. And every box and dvr. All included. Because we dont like surprises. Yeah. Like changing up the celebrity at the end to someone more handsome. And talented. Really. And british. Switch from cable to directv. Get an all included package for 25 a month. And for a limited time, get a 100 reward card. Call 1800directv. For years, centurylink has been promising fast internet to small businesses. But for many businesses, its out of reach. Why promise something you cant deliver . Comcast business is different. We deliver superfast internet with speeds of 250 megabits per second across our entire network, to more companies, in more locations, than centurylink. We do business where you do business. Chaos reigns today in the Trump Administration once again when the president tweeted an announcement about a new policy in the military that no one in the military or the pentagon knew about and therefore is not a new policy in the military. This is the same president who celebrated the passage of the trump ryan Health Care Bill in the house of representatives in a rose garden gathering and then later called the bill mean. Senators voting on Health Care Legislation know for certain that if they pass a bill, at some point after they pass a bill, the president will criticize the bill that they passed at his urging. Todays Trump Administration chaos appeared to be an attempt by the president to distract attention from the real business of washington today, Health Care Legislation and the investigation of trump russia connections. This morning the president tweeted, after consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the u. S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. There was apparently no consultation with his generals. Secretary of defense, former general james mattis is on vacation and made no response to the president s tweet. The Defense Department released this response. We refer all questions about the president s statements to the white house. And here is what the white house said. This was a military decision. This was about military readiness. This was about unit cohesion. This was about resources within the military and nothing more. Guys, i really dont have anything else to add on that topic. As i do, ill keep you posted. So the pentagon knows nothing about this military decision, and the white house is obviously lying when calling it a military decision. And as of tonight, nothing has changed. For anyone serving or wishing to serve in the United States military. Joining us now, Ana Marie Cox and back with us, max boot. Ana, rachel made a great point in the previous hour about how perfectly this president ial statement via tweet this morning fits with the Jeff Sessions constituency out there who now might be a little bit alienated from President Trump. Oh, its definitely like this has the stench of bannon upon it, right . I mean its definitely an attempt to kind of shore up that part of his base. I have to say thats one of the things that makes it particularly grotesque, right . Hes transparently playing beyond those men and women in the military, hes sort of putting a target on the back of a lot of trans people who already feel like their physical person is at risk. It adds a new category to the number of people that feel unsafe in this country because of this president. If i can add on the distraction bit, someone once compared this white house covering this white house to watching 5yearolds play soccer. You know, they run around. They just go wherever the ball is, and that is of course an insult to 5yearolds. But if i can extend the metaphor just a little bit, this is like watching 5yearolds play soccer on a field filled with land mines. Everything they do is fraught with danger. There is something bad that might happen at each moment. And todays tweet storm actually revealed that. Im sure you saw the story that said for nine minutes at the pentagon, the generals there thought that he might be declaring a preemptive strike on korea. They believed that that was within the realm of possibility. I mean there are so many things wrong with everything that happened today. I want to make sure that that doesnt get lost. Like weve been very fortunate as a country that no true, you know, national disaster, International Disaster has befallen us while this, you know, chaos profiteer is in charge. But that luck, statistically, i dont know if it can hold, and im frightened. Lets listen to what senator orrin hatch said today. He took some time off from trying to take Health Care Insurance away from 20 Million People and said this about the president s statement today. Ive said, look, people who are transgender, they dont choose to be transgender. Theyre born that way. And why should we hold that against them . Theyre human beings. And many of them are extremely talented human beings. So, you know, we should be open to everybody. Senator john mccain issued this statement today. The president s tweet, this is yet another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via twitter. The statement was unclear. The department of defense has already decided to allow currently serving transgender individuals to stay in the military, and many are serving honorably today. Max boot, did the white house expect a surge of public republican congressional support for this . They probably did, but i think as much as anything, what trump really wanted was just us talking about this issue. He wanted the controversy to distract from the other controversies, right, because everything crazy thing that the Trump Administration does is basically a distraction from the 300 previous crazy thinks theyve done. Hes really been hammered on the Jeff Sessions thing for the last few days, including by his allies. So i think this is an example of what in the Clinton Campaign was called boo bait for bubbas so theyll ignore the fact hes trashing their champion, Jeff Sessions. This is a lousy way to run a presidency. This is no way to run a serious enterprise. This really came out of left field. I mean this blindsided, im sure, jim mattis who is on vacation. It blindsided the generals because nobody was acting for all trans individuals to be banned from the service. Thats not something that the military is asking for. They dont want to deal with it because these individuals are serving honorably and bravely. Why do you want to kick them out . Even the rightwing republicans on the hill who are trying to block money for gender reassignment surgery, they werent trying to kick out all these trans individuals who are already in the military. This is trump getting to the right of orrin hatch. Thats not a place you really want to be. Hes just doing it for transparently cynical political reasons. I mean does anybody really think that trump is actually a member of the religious right, that hes actually a social conservative . I mean give me a break. This is the most brazen political opportunism and cynicism, and its a truly sad commentary on a lot of religious right that it may well work, that theyre falling for it. And they admitted this, right . They admitted this to i think axios, that this was a political ploy. They think blue collar voters will eat this up. I think they are underestimating americas working class. You know, trans people are working class too, and people who are working class arent necessarily closeminded bigots like other people in the administration i could name. Well, i would hope that ana marie, i would hope youre right. Unfortunately up till now we weve seen that those that think the public will turn against trump decisively have been underestimating his base. Who knows what it will take to make them wake up and smell the coffee. Maybe his attack on sessions will finally do the trick. A majority of the public has been standing against this president since before his inauguration, so the majority is still opposed to trump. Its that base that sticks with him where the question marks still remain. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate that. Thank you. Coming up, another republican plan to completely repeal the Affordable Care act failed in the senate, and this time john mccain voted with the democrats. Repealing and replacing obamacare, we better get that done, fellas. Please, mike, we need that so badly. Once upon a time a girl with golden locks broke into a house owned by three bears. She ate some porridge, broke the baby bears chair, and stole some jewelry, a flatscreen tv, and a laptop. Luckily the Geico Insurance agency had helped the bears with homeowners insurance. They were able to replace all their items. Including a new chair from crate and barrel. Call geico and see how easy it is to switch and save on homeowners insurance. Ykeep you sidelined. Ng 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. If youve got a life, you gotta swiffer finding the best hotel price is now a safe bet. Because tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites so you save up to 30 on the hotel you want. Lock it in. Tripadvisor. This scarf all thats my left to rememb. Sayonara. What. She washed this like a month ago hows a guy supposed to move on . the long lasting scent of gain. Now available in matching scents across your entire laundry routine. Repealing and replacing obamacare, we better get that done, fellas. Please, mike, we need that so badly. The latest trump pence Ryan Mcconnell Health Care Plan was defeated in a vote of 5545. Seven republicans joined every democrat in voting against the socalled repeal only proposal that would have completely repealed the Affordable Care act without a replacement. Six of the republicans who voted against it voted for a nearly identical repeal bill in 2015 that was vetoed by president obama. Senator john mccain was one of the republican senators who voted against the bill today, and that vote by senator mccain made clearer what he meant yesterday in his speech objecting to legislation written by the leadership behind closed doors. Senator mccain cast two procedural votes supporting Mitch Mcconnell yesterday, but this was the first vote that was directly on the substance of the legislation, and thats the one that senator mccain voted against. Based on what senator mccain said yesterday, this may mean that senator mccain will vote against any other actual legislative proposal offered by the majority leader. Reports indicate that Mitch Mcconnells legislative end game is to get something that republicans are calling skinny repeal that would leave most of the Affordable Care act intact. It would repeal the individual mandate, the employer mandate, and the medical device tax. The Congressional Budget Office says that that legislation would result in 16 million americans losing Health Insurance and a 20 increase in premiums. Joining us now is julie rovener, chief washington correspondent at Kaiser Health news. Julie, so finally the mccain statement of yesterday is starting to come into view and make sense. I speculated last night that his votes yesterday, he would say, were procedural. But when he got to the substance, he voted against militia mcconnells piece of legislation. Does that mean when you add mccain to what feel like the no votes upcoming, that the republicans might not be able to pass anything . It might mean that the republicans couldnt pass anything. That was always a possibility going into this. What they were able to do to cobble together the 50 they needed to proceed with the debate was basically promise the moderates that they would give them what they want, a chance to vote on that, promise the conservatives they could have a chance to vote on what they wanted. But there was no piece of legislation where you were going to get both the moderates and the krifrns together. At this point were waiting for what that piece of legislation might look like. Perhaps its this skinny bill, but not necessarily. It turns out the skinny bill has a very big effect on people. When you hear skinny bill, oh, theyre not changing too much. Well, 16 Million People lose Health Insurance under the socalled skinny bill. Thats right. The skinny bill would take away the requirement for most people to have insurance, but it would leave the requirements that insurers sell to sick people. So basically what the Congressional Budget Office is that there will only be sick people left in the pool. Insurers are not going to want to participate in those markets. Youre going to end up with a 20 premium increase, but youre also likely to end up with lots more places where there is no insurance available for sick or healthy people. Thats a big problem. Thats a problem with several of these bills, and its a problem that none of them really address. There are about 15 taxes in the Affordable Care act and in the socalled skinny bill, only one of them gets repealed the medical device tax. Thats an interesting one to target because the repeal of that tax does have some democratic support, liberal democratic support from elizabeth warren, from the Democratic Senators from minnesota, and at least about ten or so democrats. Thats right. There are big medical device makers in massachusetts and in minnesota as you point out, and those senators have voted for repeal of this particular tax in the past. Theres also theres some thought there will also be some kind of delay or repeal of the cadillac tax, which is this very unpopular tax on very highend Health Insurance thats already been delayed. But thats one other possible tax that could be in that package. But those are pretty much the only taxes that would be addressed in this very small package. And that tax is left is in the package specifically to try to tempt these democrats or make the vote very difficult for them. But they seem to be hanging together. Democrats seem to be having no trouble hanging together. No, i dont think the democrats are having any trouble hanging together, though its interesting there may be a vote tomorrow thats being forced by the republicans to try to get the democrats to say whether or not they support single payer. Although at this point the democrats are not really having that. Julie, thanks for covering for us. Sure. Coming up, the russian government is now threatening the United States over the sanctions bill that is going through the congress and headed for the president s signature or veto. Former undersecretary of state Wendy Sherman will join us next. Whats Critical Thinking like . A basketball costs 14. Whats team spirit worth . cheers whats it worth to talk to your mom . Whats the value of a walk in the woods . The value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. Morgan stanley you give us comfort. And we give you bare feet. I love you, couch. Backsweat and gordos everything. I love you, but sometimes you stink. New febreze fabric refresher with odorclear technology. Cleans away odors like never before. Because the things you love the most can stink. And plug in febreze to keep your whole room fresh for up. To 45 days. Breathe happy with new febreze. Afi sure had a lot on my mind. My 30year marriage. My 3month old business. Plus. What if this happened again . 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Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. Plus had less major bleeding. Both made eliquis right for me. Ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. Russian legislators are calling for what they call a painful response to the russia sanctions bill the house of representatives passed yesterday. According to the Washington Post, the sanctions passage cemented views in moscow that trumps election has provided few deliverables for the kremlin and that the american president is being held hostage by a Foreign Policy establishment that seeks conflict with russia. The post also reports the Russian Deputy foreign minister told a russian staterun news agency, washington is a source of danger, essentially the possibilities for normalization of relations in the foreseeable future are closed. Yesterday, the house voted 4193 in support of the russia sanctions bill. Tonight senator bob corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee, announced congressional leaders reached an agreement that allows the senate to pass a bill to impose new sanctions on russia, iran, and north korea as soon as this week. Today the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Told chuck todd congress is prepared to override a president ial veto. Let me ask you this. If he did veto it, you guys passed this with veto proof majorities, could that likely yes. He almost has to accept it . Correct. Former undersecretary of state Wendy Sherman joins us next. The president has had almost music Edible Arrangements for summer. Order in store or online. Is everything ok . Adt, i could hear crackling in the walls, and my mind went totally blank. All i remember saying was, my boyfriends beating me and she took it from there. When a fire is going on, youre running around, youre not thinking clearly, so they called the Fire Department for us. 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Comcast business is different. We deliver superfast internet with speeds of 250 megabits per second across our entire network, to more companies, in more locations, than centurylink. We do business where you do business. The president has had almost 24 hours to review the russia sanctions legislation. Has he decided if hes going to sign that. Were going to see what that looks like before we make a final decision. I can tell you that the white house, the president and the entire administration as weve said many times before strongly supports sanctions against russia, iran, and north korea. Joining us now ambassador Wendy Sherman, former undersecretary of state and now a senior counselor at albright stone bridge group, also an nbc news and msnbc Global Affairs contributor. I just want to point out to the audience that everything that moves through congress has normally is accompanied by a letter from the white house saying what the white houses position is on everything that moves through congress, including the president will veto x or y. To be at this stage of the sanctions bill and to have the white house not note, not be able to say the president will sign or veto this is extraordinary but in the mountain of extraordinary things coming out of the white house, these are the kinds of things that get ignored. Indeed its called a statement of administrative position, better known as a s. A. P. Seems an prop poe for the moment. Its interesting your promo coming into this talking about the russians saying this is going to destroy the relationship. I think that happened when they tried to destroy our election. I know sergei quite well. He was my counterpart when i was undersecretary. We did syria chemical weapons together, in the midst of the iran negotiation, ukraine happened. We sanctioned the hell out of russia and it didnt destroy the relationship and it didnt destroy the negotiation. I think what congress is doing is exactly right. I hope the president signs it. And if he doesnt, i hope chairman royce is good for his word and i believe he is. And it will be overridden. The point you just made about these sanctions being imposed and activated during a negotiation over iran where youre trying to hold russia as close to you as you possibly can, but at the same time, you dealt with that other issue and so in that, there is always hope for continued positive dealing with russia wherever possible. Well, you know, countries do whats in their interests. And russia didnt want iran to have a Nuclear Weapon any more than we wanted them to have a Nuclear Weapon. So that wered in their interest. Now what else is it in their interest is in ours . That remains to be seen. We clearly havent come 0 terms on syria, on ukraine, we havent come to terms on their an gres kiv behavior in europe. We havent come to terms 0 on what had he did in our election and around cyber security. The kremlin coming to the realization that they arent getting any deliverables from President Trump, well, if youve made the american president a suspect in a russian conspiracy, it becomes very difficult for the american president to deliver on russian interests. Right, they delivered their ambassador kislyak back to moscow. They delivered making russia really part of our everyday news. You all talk about it every single day because it has become a centerpiece in this administration, one that the president wants to go away but he doesnt seem to want to do anything to make that happen. After what would a competent administration do after passage and signing of a sanctions bill . Well, you know, putin understands power. He will have some newfound respect for the fact that in fact, we have followed through. And then you would want to hopefully have an ambassador in russia. Of course, we are now six months into this administration. There is no ambassador to russia. Jon huntsman has finally been nominated. We dont have assistant secretary for European Affairs at the state department. We dont have all of the undersecretaries in place. We dont have the team we need to get the job done, but you would hope that you would maintain dialogue wherever you can and work on those issues of equal importance. And you have a secretary of state being asked today are you quitting today. Indeed. I think secretary tillerson tried to tell the world he wasnt leaving anytime soon today, but in fact, hes got a lot in front of him and he said hell be there until the president decides otherwise. Weve seen what the president s done about the attorney general. I think it would make me quake in my boots if i were secretary of state. You dont hang a lot of family pictures in your Cabinet Office if youre in this cabinet. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it. Tonights last word is next. Whoooo. Going somewhere . Heres some advice. Tripadvisor now searches more than 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30 . Trust this birds words. Tripadvisor. Chances are, the last time yoyou got robbed. An, i know i got a loan 20 years ago, and i got robbed. Thats why i started lendingtree the only place you can compare up to 5 real offers side by side, for free. Its like shopping for hotels online, but our average customer can save twenty thousand dollars. At lendingtree, you know youre getting the best deal. So take the power back and come to lendingtree. Com, because at lendingtree when banks compete, you win. Its just a burst pipe, i co laugh it. No. With claim rateguard your rates wont go up just because of a claim. I totally couldve no switching to allstate is worth it. Okay. I want you to listen very carefully to Georgia Republican congressman buddy carter who recommends an action here that i dont understand. Ive never heard of what hes recommending. I dont know if its a georgia thing or a Republican House of representatives thing, something they do in the gym. I dont know. If you understand it, please explain it to me on twitter lawrence. After the show. Listen carefully. Here it is. Let me tell you somebody needs to go over there to that senate and snatch a knot in their ass. Im telling you, it has gotten to the point when how can you say i voted for this last year but not going to vote for it this year. This is frustrating for those of us who have put so much into this effort. It this year. Snatch a i have no idea. I have no idea. What he just said. The 11th hour with Brian Williams is next. Having. Tonight, the trump sessions drama continues with more president ial tweets aimed at the attorney general and at this hour, is the ag safe in his job or closer to being fired . A new report tonight says trump is already looking for how he can replace him when congress conveniently leaves town. Plus, could Donald Trumps tax returns be critical to the russia investigation