plus general chaos in the wake of the rob porter scandal. the chief of staff does not get detailed updates about what may or may not have been alleged. has john kelly lot control of the west wing, did he actually have any control in the first place? and how one senate race announcement in the sunshine state could cast a long shadow over the entire national mid-term election map. this is mtp daily and it starts right now. good evening. i m chuck todd here in miami. pretty much the best city to be in in the month of february. no offense everybody else. welcome to mtp daily. and tonight i m not going to go full howard beale but it is close. it feels like we ve reached a level of crazy in this white house. and it is difficult to take it any more. reality tv appearances, tabloid
son-in-law, jared kushner, in a long-running feud with bannon, is involved in financial crimes. trump allies attacked the insider account. this is obviously a hit job on the president. it s outrageous. he s a sleaze bag. absurd allegation by someone who s talked to a lot of disgruntled people at the white house. complete fantasy and just full of tabloid gossip. but by day five, the president clearly not satisfied with defending his own fitness for office, calling himself a genius and a very stable genius at that. why did you feel the need to tweet about that this morning? well, only because i went to the best colleges, or college. while bannon attempted to play down the split. nothing will ever come between us and president trump and his agenda. now mr. trump is calling his former ally sloppy steve, blaming him for the book. that s why sloppy steve is now looking for a job. an abrupt divorce for now. i like mr. bannon. he s a friend of mine. steve has been a
ramping up, threatening to sue bannon, the author and the publisher. the white house is in full attack mode, calming the book full of lice and nothing more than tabloid gossip. this morning the publisher and author are standing by their works. meanwhile, a funeral for the colorado deputy killed in what police called an ambush attack will be held today. they say zacari parrish was killed of they received report of a disturbance. they say seconds after their arrival, the gunman opened fire on them. the labor market of 2017 is due out today. it is expected the show payroll grew in december and it is expected to hold at 4.1%. morning joe will have thonumber. morning joe starts right now.
fantasy, and just full of tabloid gossip. reporter: and the president s legal team waged war, threatening to sue bannon for libel and slander, writing legal action is imminent. they also demanded the book s publisher halt publication. the threat didn t seem to matter much, the release date moved up to tomorrow. the shock waves already felt in washington. with early excerpts like this, wolff says behind closed doors president trump critiqued top aides, calling his son-in-law jared kushner a suck-up, senior advisor kellyanne conway a crybaby, and former press secretary sean spicer stupid. it claims the president s advisers had concerns about his mental stability. wolff doesn t name names, but he writes, the worry among staffers, trump s rambling and his alarming repetitions, had significantly increased, and that his ability to stay focused, never great, had notably declined. press secretary sarah sanders today, forced to defend the president s fitness to serve. it s disgraceful and
to this book, it seems the quotes from steve bannon, the mean, mean things he said about him and his family, are what upset him the most, the quotes. although white house press secretary sarah sanders also said this about the book today. in terms of the merits, i think it s pretty clear, i don t think we have been tiptoeing around our feelings on this. it s completely tabloid gossip full of false and fraudulent claims. completely tabloid gossip full of false and fraudulent claims, sanders said. i want to take one second to note something. the man who during the presidential campaign cited a supermarket tabloid, an actual tabloid, the national enquirer to ask why the media wasn t covering ted cruz s father s non-existent ties to the jfk assassination, that very same man is now objecting to tabloid gossip full of false and fraudulent claims. now, trump s lawyer s letter