julie pace is washington bureau chief of the associated press. jamelle bouie chief political correspondent for slate. molly ball national correspondent and ben domenech founder and publisher of the federal list. molly, start off with you. does anyone remember that because it seems like this memo has just dominated everything in washington. >> it does feel like a lifetime ago. it's been a real shame for president and his supporters because the reviews of the state of the union were quite positive. in fact there's been a lot of good news for the president outside of this investigation. but i think we have seen that the president in particular message discipline is not his strong suit. being quiet about things for him not to talk about is not his strong suit. it was republicans that made the memo thing. so they're the ones who put this out there that ended up being -- really over had doughing everything else. i do think the state of the union was important and it matters that it was generally seen as a good performance by the president. but this her

later tonight on "washington week" with robert costa, t political paralysis in washington over gun control and immigration. plus, why president trump feels vindicated now that sians have been charged with meddlingr ws the 201ident election. tomorrow on pbs ur weekend, why hiring ex-convicts might be good for busi but before we go tonight, funeral servic began for the ctims of the shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in florida. there were twof them today. let's take some time to remember each of the 17 peoplkilled on wednesday, including staff who helped save students' lives. aaron feis was the beloved football coach who used his body to shield students from the shooter. the football program tweeted, "he died a hero." chris hixon was the athletict directorrjory stoneman douglas. the 49-year-old fatherf two stepped in wherever he was needed, including as a security monitor for the campus. and 35-year-old geography teacher scott beigel was trying to lock a classroom door when he was killed. his actions saved multiple lives and his students broke down into tears as they spoke of h

this is conservatism in washington, d.c. conservatism in washington, d.c. is dead. richard is right, you need to read that if you get a chance. mitt romney, though, is an opening and he is an opportunity to return as he said in his -- his speech to the conservatism that was the conservatism when i was here cl is a conservatism of balanced budget, of less debt, of opening your arms of illegal immigrants across the world, basically of looking forward and saying we are strong, we don't have to crouch, be in a crouch position. we can fling open our arms to the world and we can beat anybody on any given day. >> absolutely. >> that's basically his message and it's a message that a lot of conserve tif conservatives are going to be excited about. >> president trump is said to be open to bipartisan legislation to shore up the nation's background checks system. the white house is referring to a bill introduced by chris murphy and republican senator john cornyn. the senators crafted the bill after another shooter killed dozens of people in a rural texas church last november. i

a giant military parade for him in washington. the president reportedly went to the pentagon and met with top military officials about it in person because he's serious, he wants a big military parade for himself. he wants tanks and missile launchers in washington. he specifically wants them on pennsylvania avenue and so that is apparently what we are getting. you know, we sometimes have military parades to mark the ends of wars, in this case it's apparently just because the president wants to see all the tanks and stuff. he just likes it. so now the military is working on this and the white house has confirmed they demanded it and the taxpayers will pay many, many millions of dollars for it, including having to rebuild pennsylvania avenue after the treads from 70-ton tanks churn it up and turn it into rubble. so today was in some ways a very inspiring day of the news. other parts of the news today may have created other feelings for you. your mileage may vary. >>> there is some breaking news from the "washington post." the white

washington seems to agree. bret. >> bret: thank you very trump administration preparing for its first transfer of a detainee from guantanamo bay. a saudi man said to be moved out of the facility and return to his homeland following a plea agreement with u.s. military military. the prisoner pleaded guilty to planning a 2002 terrorist attack on a french oil tanker off the coast of yemen. it killed one crewmember. he agreed to testify against other al qaeda detainees accused of the uss cole bombing and attacks on u.s. troops in afghanistan in exchange for his transfer home. top syrian opposition figures as government forces along with iran and russia are committing a new holocaust and rebel held suburbs of damascus. a monitoring group says more than 100 people have been killed in each of the past two days. rebels are calling on the u.n. security council for help. up next, how the russians are trying to take advantage of the florida school massacre. first beyond our borders to my pretty israeli police say benjamin

"the washington post" was first to break this story. southern she said she did not report allegations to police because of his connections to law enforcement. she talked to friends and co-workers about the abuse. the post reports one of her friends helped her create a bank account outside of her control she could use to escape the marriage. sorensen allegedly ran a car over his ex-wife's foot, put out a cigarette on her hand, threw her into a wall and grasped her by the hair while alone on a boat in remote waters off of maine's coast in an incident that left her fearing for her life, and the post says she provided the post a photo of her hand bearing a scar from what she said was the cigarette burn inflicted by him. in addition to the photograph evidence, she provided records of text messages and he mails when he berated her with vulgar language. he's denying the allegations and says he was the victim in their relationship. before coming to the white house, mr. sorensen worked for paul lepage. one of his jobs was overseeing domestic vio

washington sends immigrants a message of exclusion. and on utah's capitol hill, people treat one another with respect. i have decided to run for united states senate because i believe i can help bring utah's values and utah's lessons to washington. >> former presidential nominee polls extremely well in utah. his family has been a part of the state for generations. romney's former vice presidential running mate speaker paul ryan quickly signaled his support releasing a statement reading in part, quote: our party and our country are always better off when mitt is engaged and i know he will put his unparalleled experience, conservative leadership and lifetime of service to work for utah. the democratic candidate released a video highlighting romney's life outside utah. jenny wilson says she relates to the voters who want to change washington. >> when you see the trump voter step up saying enough is enough, i can relate to that. we don't want government to be so far away from us. so removed from our community. mitt romney represents more o

he goes back a long way in washington. i'm told general kelly really liked and respected him and wanted him in this job. >> i just got handed a piece of paper, a statement from senator orrin hatch, who rob porter served as his chief of staff at one point. let me read part of this statement for you. he writes, i am heartbroken by today's allegations. in every interaction i've had with rob, he has been courteous, professional and respectful. my staff loved him and he was a trusted adviser. i do not know the details of rob's personal life, domestic violence in any form is abhorrent. i am praying for rob and those involved. >> the white house put out statements from several people and they put out a statement from senator hatch that is entirely different in tone than that statement. that statement came from the senator's office and clearly changed what i guess seemed to be the initial statement that went out by the white house. i imagine we'll hear more about this throughout the day. >> actually, i've got it now. the first sta

welcome to washington. i am john roberts in for bret baier. there are signs of movement tonight on gun control in the blistering reaction to last week's school shooting in florida. president trump is indicating he would be in favor of efforts to improve federal background checks for gun purchases. this comes at some of the survivors are making plans to go to the state capital this week in march on washington next month, as they demand change. correspondent steve carrigan start us off tonight parkland, florida, . good evening, steve. >> good evening. we got our first look at the accused shooter in court today. the 130 pounder was in a red jumpsuit reserve for the most violent offenders. appearing in court for a motions hearing, 19-year-old suspect nikolas cruz kept his head down and said nothing. his public defender says cruz will plead guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder in an effort to avoid the death penalty. for antigun rallies held in major cities across the country. young people in washington late in front of the white house demand

betsy wooddriff, and jason johnson, and chief washington correspondent for bloomberg news, kevin surrily. you heard rosenstein's comments. issuing a statement saying this, president donald j. trump has been fully briefed and is glad to see the investigation, further indicates there was no collusion between the trump campaign and russian and the election was not affected. >> does this indictment show there was no collusion? is that something that you could read into this? >> they are going as far as the indictment says. what we know, they haven't singled out any americans as knowingly helping the russians in their efforts to influence american public opinion in the lead-if you to the election. >> just because an indictment doesn't say someone happened, doesn't mean over the years of time in the investigation. that said, the white house is seizing on this as evidence that president and his associates have been cleared. that is reading too far into the indictment. it is understanding, another not correct analysis, they would see this as evidence that everything is fine, and mueller has move

and "the washington post" once referred to her as the first black woman everything. and there is so much truth to that. because she was the first black woman that was elected to congress from the south. she was considered for vp, vice president candidate in 1976, of all times in the time of racism and sexism. jimmy carter's campaign actually considered her, which was the same year that she gave this amazing keynote speech. >> it's chilling. >> at the convention. >> chilling. >> which is still known to be one of the top ten speeches of all time. it was just phenomenal. >> link it and everything. >> and then bill clinton considered her for a supreme court justice. there is so many kind of firsts for her when i remember reading about her when i was a kid, i remember thinking who is this powerhouse, this voice, this orator. and so i really truly kind of fell in love with her story. >> sheila jackson lee today. >> that's exactly right. and i think in the time that we're looking at with russia and trump, remember, she rose to come nens during the richard nixon hearings for

that was reported last year in the washington post. now today we found out what happened right after that briefing. brennan were investigating and say the incoming national security advisor was the subject of an fbi investigation. what happened next? happened immediately thereafter? as of right now we can tell you classification top secret and then you see top secret is struck through because this has gone through a formal declass a declassification process. what this is an e-mail sent by susan rice, president obama's nationed s national security advisor. on january 5th following a briefing on russian hacking during the 2016 presidential election, president obama had a brief follow on conversation with comedy and sally yates. vice president and i -- excuse me, vice president biden and i were also present. so obama, comey, sally yates, biden and susan rice in the oval office. they just had their briefing. quote, president obama began the conversation by stressing his continued comment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handl

mollie: you mentioned the change in the "washington post's" headlines. i thought -- and a lot of conservatives were upset because they seemingly changed that under pressure. but a call for bipartisanship is a call you get in every state of the union. "a new american moment" captured it better. by the was a hugely successful speech. 75% of the country thought it was a good speech. when there is good coverage for trump, the press is eager to move on to what they are comfortable with, a lot of hostility for trump. howie: it strikes me as an example of the press judgingly giving this president -- grudgingly giving his president credit. jessica: it's difficult to grade people on both sides of the aisle. comments that today is the day he becomes president, and the next day he tweets something crazy. van jones instead of saying he did a great job, he read well from the teleprompter. he said he was delivering sweet-tasting candy with poison in it. and i agreed at that point. i think the coverage of the state of the union was quite fair. i didn't see a lot of peo

i'm chris matthews in washington. in a remarkable get together in the white house late today, real people talked about the real horror of mass school shootings. for the first time, the question of what to could about this continuing catastrophe was taken away from the paidup politicians and taken back by the people. it was an extraordinary meeting and at times a gut wrenching and painfully raw experience. >> all the school shootings, it doesn't make sense. fix it. it should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it! and i'm pissed because my daughter i'm not going to see again. >> i lost a best friend. practically a brother. and i'm here to use my voice because i know he can't. >> my story is far too well-known. i had two sons who were at sandy hook school. my eldest who was 28 at the time survive and my 6-year-old son dillon did not. how many more deaths can we take as a country? how many more teenagers and 6 and 7-year-olds can we allow to die? >> at other times, it was an honest debate what exactly

that official told "the washington post," for everyone it was a distraction or reprieve. a lot of people here felt like it was reprieve from seven or eight days of just getting pummelled. you can imagine how that feels, to get pummelled. meanwhile, the most powerful voices to emerge in the wake of this tragedy have been those of the survivors themselves. students organizing protests, a march on washington, school walkouts, and speaking out to save lives. >> we are going to be the kids that you read about in textbooks, not because we're going to be another statistic about mass shootings in america, but because just as david said, we are going to be the last mass shooting. if the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never have happened and maintains telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, i'm going happily ask him how much money he received from the national rifle association. [ cheering ] >> i'll speak with two survivors from that shooting, just after this break. stick around. jimmy's gotten u

i'm chris matthews in washington. as we meet, the mood in the office of the american presidency is grim and chaotic. the "new york times" is reporting the chief of staff is offering to resign. the communications chief is in danger. and the white house secretary is gone all together. president trump publicly addressed the growing west wing scandal for the first time today, defending the former aide who has been accused by two ex-wives of violent behavior. >> we certainly wish him well. it's a obviously tough time for him. he did a very good job when he was in the white house, and we hope he has a wonderful career and hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him. but it was very sad when we heard about it, and certainly he's also very sad. now, he also, as you probably know, he says he's innocent. and i think you have to remember that. he said very strongly yesterday that he's innocent. so you'll have to talk to him about that, but we absolutely wish him well. did a very good job while he was at the white house. >

here in washington. wherever you're watching, thank you for watching us. after the release of a disputed memo attacking the fbi, now lawmakers from his own party are pushing back against him and that claim. >>> al also as the president praises the memo, he's targeting the top democrat of the house intelligence committee, accusing him of lies and leaks. as the clock ticks to another government shutdown, the president with a new rejection and a new ultimatum over the fate of dreamers. all that coming up, but right now republican lawmakers refuting trump's claim that he's been vindicated in the russian probe. several gop lawmakers are are pushing back on the president's assertion that a partisan memo vindicates him. some prominent republicans say the memo does nothing to undermine the special counsel robert mueller's investigation. >> the dossier has nothing to do with the meeting at trump tower. the dossier has nothing to do with an e-mail sent by cambridge analytica. the dossier has nothing to do with george papadopoulos' meeting in great britain. it also d

as you're joining us today, some young people from washington, from the washington area, are outside the white house in what they're calling a lie-in, a protest against the lack of action by our legislators, our president, our congress on gun laws. those are live pictures from washington, d.c. obviously what you have started on social media and among your fellow survivors from this is taking hold. what are you hoping to accomplish? >> you know, it's absolutely incredible seeing the response that's been given by everyone from this movement. the fact that 17 students in washington, d.c., have even started this protest is absolutely incredible. if you told me last week that this would be happening, i couldn't even have imagined it. we're just hoping for action. we're hoping for change. and i believe we're going to do it. >> tell me about what happened that day, if you can talk about it now. i don't know when, if ever, the shock really wears off, but what you experienced as the incident was happening. >> you know, first of all, i want to say you asked me when the shock wears off, and it

so this is in "the washington post" tonight. this is a bombshell for a couple reasons. one, there is the unprecedented and bizarre personal drama where we can't predict the outcome because we've never had anything like this before. this bizarre personal drama that derives from nepotism which is why there are anti nepotism rules. bizarre drama from the white house including the security advisor and chief of staff drawing a line and saying no to the president over his son-in-law. saying that on national security grounds and there are concerns about the behavior of a white house senior advisor and contacts with multiple foreign countries, serious concerns they would rank among the biggest scandals in any modern presidency even if there weren't bizarre and complicated nepotism concerns layered in the middle of this same scandal. joining us now is shane harris of the washington post, one of four reporters that broke this big story tonight. mr. harris, congratulations on this very big story. thanks for joining us tonight. >> thanks, rachel. >> let me ask you about h.r. mcmast

welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. president trump electrified conservatives at their annual retreat in suburban washington today. his speech read like a greatest hits from the campaign trail. tax cuts and the economy, immigration and the current chart topper, school safety. the second amendment and guns. the crowd there at cpac seemed to love every minute of the one hour, 14 minute speech. president trump unplugged but big policy changes also ran the day. chief white house correspondent john roberts starts us off tonight on the north lawn. good evening, john. >> good evening to you. no question there was a lot in the president's speech but one curious omission. his support for raising the minimum age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21. national rifle association, big sponsor of cpac is firmly opposed to that idea. but there was one proposal that the president floated that had him in lockstep with his base today. at the conservative political action conference, president trump doubled down on his calls for qualified teachers

. >> according to "washington post," that memo could be used as a pretext to fire rod rosenstein, a move that could pave the way to remove robert mueller, as well. cnn is further reporting tonight during a white house meeting with rosenstein in december, president trump wanted to know where the special counsel's russia investigation was heading. and he also wanted to know whether rosenstein was on my team. that was the question. that's according to sources familiar with the meeting. as we know, this republican-led assault on the fbi and justice department comes as the president is under under criminal investigation by the very institutions for possible obstruction of justice. democratic congressman adam schiff, ranking member on the house intelligence committee, today warned that the nunes memo could provoke a constitutional crisis if it's used by the president to further interfere the ongoing federal investigation. >> the goal is to put out a document that will set a narrative that helps the president and that narrative is is the fbi is corrupt. what they're doing is corrupt. the whole

if you let people in washington, d.c. monetize something, they're going to do it. and given what's happened, there is no reason we could not have a secretary of defense a couple years from now say i'm going to set up a foundation. i'm going to take all this foreign money from interested parties. my spouse is going to go out and give all these paid lectures and there is not a thing you can do to stop it because the clintons did it and nobody objected to it then. so this goes to the heart of the integrity of our national security system and the decisions that are made. >> sean: really scary. and, again, the russia connection is on hillary's side. amazing work. thank you so much. we appreciate it, peter schweizer. when we come back, how is it possible the news media in this country, journalism is dead, has missed the biggest story in their lifetime? how is it possible? sean spicer and joe concha next. ♪ ♪ (announcer) dance to your own beat this valentine's day. purchase $699 or more at helzberg diamonds and get a free megablast waterproof speaker with built-in ama

washington post."ob sot, what does this mean? what clearance does jared bernstein lose? >> he has been having abscess for over a year in the white juse to classified materials. now he wilt have a secret designation. at's a downgrade from h current designation. he's been going with this interim clearance for a year, but general john kelly, the chief of staff, has moved to try to tighten up this whole process inside of the west wing. >> amaka: donow what that means in terms of what he can still see and what he can no longer see? >> the white hoe maintains that kushner will be able to work on mexico relations with the united states, will ctinue to work on middle east peace, but this will be narrower scope his clearance inside of the white house. he will not have access to top-secret classified information in the same way that e president will in the coming months.f: >> woodro how do the folks you're talking to think that affects his job, the work j's able to do? >> it wasd bernstein. his top aide inside o

i'm matthews in washington. it's become clear this week republicans on capitol hill are carrying out a show trial against the fbi. we're seeing it play out on a near nightly basis. the republican chairman of numerous committees have closed ranks and using a three-pronged attack to impugn the overall credibility of the fbi. the house intelligence committee led by devin announce has been accusing the fbi of wrongful surveillance and a so-called memo. the senate judiciary committee led by chuck grassley is seeking charges against informant christopher steele and today the senate homeland committee chair led by ron johnson launched a third line of attack suggesting that former president barack obama was himself personally involved in the fbi's investigation of hillary clinton's e-mails. well, the problem is senator johnson attacked but missed. it turns out his charge is not true. to support his dubious claim, johnson cited a newly released batch of text messages between peter strzok and lisa page, the two fbi offici

and bigger government in washington. and against being -- >> hold on: let me -- wait. i don't have a response to that. there's no doubt the mainstream media is -- you don't have a lot of people that are champions of small government. champions of entitlement reform. champions of balanced budgets. >> prolifers. >> i haven't seen that in washington. >> is president trump champion of any of that though. >> no. what about congress. >> this guy is a nigh democrat. they had sean hannity there. that was supposed to make everything better. that's how much they were worried just two years ago. now it's turned into a national front. big government organization that has nothing to do with what bill buckley wanted or ronald reagan wanted when they came to cpac to promote this. >> just become i think a diminished version of what it always used to be. i mean, when we were covering it when the primaries were in full swing and you were there one year, jeb bush attended, scott walker. masses of reporters a lot of tension of ideas and com

welcome to washington. i am bret baier. one week after the deadly shooting at us how for the high schooler claim 17 lives, and forever changed many times that. survivors brought their demand for new gun controls a new security measures to the state capital in tallahassee. meanwhile, here in washington, moments ago, president trump finished up what the white house billed as a listening session that really turned into an open exchange of ideas and emotion. where fox team coverage tonight. steve harrigan is in parkland, florida, with the students' story down there. we start off with chief white house correspondent john roberts on the north lawn. >> good evening. it was another extra in a moment at the white house. the nation allowed to listening to students from douglass high and the parent of one of the children killed there appealed to president trump to not let the douglas school shooting be like all the others this nation has seen. to actually make a difference this time. in the state dining room today, six students from d

wisdom from washington? it's about wallace, not washington. going to chris wallace. you know, we'll make that -- we have to make that. the governor of florida, rick scott, has said i'm in favor of raising the age to buy a gun. the president has talked about bump stocks. he's talked about other things. is this different from other times, chris? >> yes and we'll have to wait and see. yes because you have a republican president and you have a republican governor in florida. both of them very strong supporters of and supported by the nra, talking about some things that the nra doesn't especially like. having said that and this is where i say we'll have to wait and see, in the case of the president, he will have to propose these to congress. it's not at all certain that congress will go with these. remember, back in a somewhat different circumstance, but an equally horrible situation in 2012 with sandy hook and new town, you know, the slaughter of the 20 first graders then and you had barack obama with a huge campaign, he put vice president biden in charge of it. the coun

it is a subject on which washington seems paralyzed. your thought on the media, is it politicization as kristen and others suggest saying hey we need to have a gun control debate here, school shootings, a half dozen years after newtown connecticut or is it demanding a substantive discussion of an important issue? >> the media covered the facts. the immediate is presenting the facts -- the media is presenting the facts. the media is allowing the public, viewers, listeners of their outlets to make their choices. they have laid out the facts. now the opinions are coming out. this is what the media does. they lay au-- they lay out the facts. it is up to the public to dissect them, understand them and form their own opinions. the president did overturn obama's decision to take away the rights for the mentally ill to get such quick access to guns. that was in 2017. and the media covered it. there wasn't much of a hoopla. now we are hearing a lot about it. the president brought up mental illness during his speech. it was perfect timing for thi

but, you know, how do you govern in washington these days when washington is so polarized? and we have the 60 vote in the senate perhaps this is the only way to legislate. >> congressman, thank you for joining us by phone. what do you make of the fact the president is sitting on this democratic memo? >> good evening, chris. i'm reflexively skeptical as one should be with the president around this investigation. it looks obstructive, but i'm willing to give the department of justice the benefit of the doubt and hear from them if they are going to come in on tuesday and explain to us what their concerns are and that those concerns are not from any pressure that the president has put on them. and if they are legitimate, then we should still release the memo that correct the record but is free from any political omigs r omissions that the president may want to have. >> what do you think of the timing? here he is pulling it after the nightly news, probably going to miss a lot of press coverage by the way they timed this. this is the old garbage dump time of the week. midnight, h

prime minister, for downing us here today in washington. australia is known for helping the syrian people and syrian refugees. as the world watches, what steps can australia take with the help of president trump and the united states to ensure that civilians are protected in eastern gupta? >> well, the australian armed forces have been working with the coalition to defeat dash for some time now. that's the principle concentration of our efforts is in iraq as opposed to syria, where we are train iing both thr elite special service unit, counterterrorism service and their regular army and police. we have trained over 30,000 personnel at our task force, which is based at the air field near baghdad. in terms of refugees, australia has a very substantial humanitarian program. we are currently taking about 18,000 refugees a year, 12,000 in addition to that from the syrian conflict zone. but we determined which -- we are very careful about security, of course, in terms of our humanitarian program. i think it would be fair to say the president has,

and then there was what is beginning to feel like groundhog day here in washington. we're just five hours away from another government shutdown. we learned a short time ago that the white house has already advised government agencies to prepare for the possibility that the government will in fact shut down. at the moment, senator rand paul of kentucky is holding forth on a vote holding up a vote on a bipartisan budget deal. he's been speaking on the senate floor against the bill for just over an hour. there he is. the deal faces opposition from some on the left and right in the house. the bill adds up to a massive increase in domestic and defense spending, $300 billion for two years. it represents a major reversal for republicans, the party of fiscal responsibility and deficit hawks. according 0 to their own 2016 party platform, does anybody read these things? they wrote, our national debt is a burden on our economy and families. a strong economy is one key to debt reduction but spending restraint is a necessary component na must be vigorously pursued. this happens t

then "the washington post" reported there was actually a third guy here. the head of russia's military service, the lead russian government agency responding for attacking our election in 2016. he reportedly also came to washington at the same time as those other russian intelligence chiefs. that's what's been reported. i should mention that the gru guy is also under sanctions. so he's not really allowed to travel to the united states either. which makes it interesting to have it reported that he did travel here. well, today we got confirmation that the dni dan coats did meet with the guy with the sbr and the fsb in the united states in washington, d.c. senator chuck schumer had sent a letter asking about the meeting with these russian intelligence chiefs, how the guy sanctioned got into the united states. today director coats responded by confirming that meeting. he said the head of the sbr was admitted into the country in full accordance with applicable u.s. law and policy governing visa and visa waivers which made the case to the state department knits

that was reported last year in "the washington post." now today, we found out what happened right after that briefing. they tell obama and a small group of his top white house advisers that the incoming national security adviser is the subject of an fbi investigation, what happened next? what happened immediately thereafter? as of right now, we can tell you. quote, classification, top secret. and then you see top secret is struck through. it's because this has gone through a formal declassification process at the national security council. this has been partially declassified. this is an e-mail sent by susan rice, who was president obama's national security adviser. the subject line is, note to file. here's what it says. quote, on january 5th, following a briefing by the intelligence community leadership on russian hacking during the 2016 presidential election, president obama had a brief follow conversation with fbi director jim comey and sally yates in the oval office. vice president biden and i were also present. okay, so, it's obama,

over tweets in washington. robert costa and jake sherman, thank you both. >>> still ahead on "morning joe," we'll go live to the white house for new reaction on our top story. top official rob porter is apparently still on the job with plans to "step down soon" after a revelations of domestic abuse allegations. nbc's kristen welker joins us next on "morning joe." but if that's not enough, we offer our price match guarantee too. and if that's not enough... we should move. our home team will help you every step of the way. still not enough? it's smaller than i'd like. we'll help you finance your dream home. it's perfect. oh, was this built on an ancient burial ground? okay... then we'll have her cleanse your house of evil spirits. we'll do anything, (spiritual chatter) seriously anything to help you get your home. ally. do it right. hnew litter?lled this to help you get your home. no. nobody has! it's unscented! (vo) new tidy cats free & clean unscented. powerful odor control with activated charcoal. free of dyes

washington crossing the delaware turnpike? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money sean saved by switching to geico. big man with a horn. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. at planters, we put fresh roawhich has its drawbacks.an, guys, know anything about this missing inventory? wasn't me! the cheeks don't lie, chet... irresistibly planters. >>> and welcome back. we are showing you the podium in white sulfur springs, west virginia, at the republican congressional retreat. the annual retreat, the president will be speaking there momentarily. we will of course bring that to you live. he will be introduced by paul ryan. while democratic leaders nancy pelosi and now chuck shuchumer demanding that paul ryan replace intelligence chair devin nunes, pelosi claiming he disgraced the chair and abused his position. she also wrote the imminent release of that nunes memo takes the gop's cover-up campaign to a new completely unacceptable extreme. joining me now, jim messina, former deputy white house chief of staff, michael steele, former spoke

york or washington, d.c. >> reporter: fema says the transitional housing program is just one of several shelterinbl options avaito displaced families. and this month, it provided connecticut with 10 new spanish speaking disaster-management case workers at the state's request. malloy says the state could use even more case-workers, plus oulingual educators, and funds for affordable hsing. meanwhile, the governor just ked for $400,000 in the state's proposed budget to support maria evacuees. but it may not be enough to cover the costs. the state estimates it has welcomed between 3,500 to 5,000 displaced puerto ricans since olrricane maria. and the state's sc system 0 commodated close to 2,00w houdents from the caribbean this year. >> the nature of our response network in the united states shouldn't be dependent on charity and shouldn't be dependent on state governments doing for citizens of other commonwealths or states the thin that their government would otherwise do or their federal government would step in and help. >> thank you for calling 211. n e is annette. how can i help you? >>

from washington, charles hurt, opening editor for "the washington times." eli lake, columnist for bloomberg view. mara liasson, national political correspondent at national public radio. a couple eyebrow-raising moments today. >> a lot of them. it's incredible that the head of cyber command is saying not enough has been done and he hasn't been giving the authority to do what he needs to do to counter russian attempts to meddle in the upcoming election. we are talking about the 2018 election. directly contradicting the white house message which is we are doing plenty. >> bret: he did say he wanted to go into closed session and tell you what he was doing. >> they are not doing nothing. he said they are not doing enough. >> i think it's important that admiral rogers was talking about attacking some of these things at the point of origin. that's a pretty significant cyber issue. it's dividing this administration and divided the last administration. originally this was something proposed in 2015 under obama and i didn't get to the president's desk because it was

from the "washington post." both are m subpoena np bc political analysts and jonathan allen, national political reporter for nbc news digital. ashley, what is going on with trump? when sarah sanders came out today, she actually said something i didn't believe. she said basically the president's always admitted that there was russian meddling in the election. where did she get that from? did he say go out and tell us that when he's been denying it forever? >> let's be clear. the president has not always admitted there was russian meddling or russian interference in u.s. elections. that's wishful thinking on the part of sarah sanders. you know, the thing is that this president basically, whenever the topic of russia comes up and their interference, he views it if he admits they interfered in the u.s. elections, it would be a referendum on the legitimacy of his own presidency. and that's why he is so unwilling repeatedly to ever say that russia did in fact do what his intelligence community says it did, what member

it's hard in washington to make sure things don't leak. as far as i can tell, the only two operations that are successful is the supreme court which never leaks anything and robert mueller's operation. every time he drops something, people are literally running towards google or linkedin searches to be who is this person. what's your reaction to this indictment? >> first, as you say, it comes out of nowhere. it's pretty much the fourth time he's dropped a bomb in the last week. bannon interviews, the gates cooperation. van der zwaan today and the big russian indictments. he's effect forgively quadrupled the wingspan of his investigation. each of them is a sort of scaffolding to build a different episode on. that's the first point. the second is that it seems to me that it really is focused very heavily now on paul manafort, and i think mueller goes where the evidence leads him but the evidence seems to be leading him into the middle of a tom clancy novel. the actual role that will may have been played by manafort here in doing -- being pai

i'm chris matthews in washington. if commander in chief donald trump has his way, that old world war ii slogan will become the motto for america's teachers, pass the ammunition. not only, that president trump let us know today that if he were at marjory douglas stoneman himself early this morn month when a gunman opened fire on students and faculty, he, donald trump would have rushed heroically in to save lives in contrast to the sheriff's deputies who remained safely outside the building. let's watch him do it. >> i got to watch some deputy sheriffs performing this weekend. they weren't exactly medal of honor winners. all right. the way they performed was, frankly, disgusting. you know, i really believe you don't know until you test it. but i really believe i would run in even if i didn't have a weapon. and i think most of the people in this room would have done that too. >> even if i didn't have a weapon. more on that coming up. meanwhile, it was another weekend of frenzy for the president as he repeatedly tweeted a

i would say washington, too. if you didn't have george washington, you would not have a country and also, you know, the founders basically said we're not going to be too dell tailed about what a president does because we know the first president is going to be george washington. >> is there a certain president in the 20th century that you think has been overwhelmed? >> i love eisenhower. i think he did not do enough for civil rights and he wasn't tough enough, but this is a kie who kept t guy would kept the balance for at least 7 1/2 years, kept us out of vietnam, and also at the last moment as you and i have talked about warned about the industrial complex, warned that our democracy is always fragile, we always have to watch out for it. >> in office for eight years after korea. >> yes. >> after korea. not a single american in uniform died. >> yes. >> by that time until the the time he left office. >> absolutely. and in 1961 when he left office, that didn't seem like a big accomplishment. nowadays, sadly in retro

>> i'm wolf blitzer here in washington. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world as you see students from florida stoneman douglas high school. they've converged on the state capitol in tallahassee, and they're demanding action, immediate action on gun violence here in the united states after the slaughter of 17 students and staff members at their school by a shooter with an assault-style weapon. >> we're old enough to understand why a senator cares about re-election or not. we're old enough to understand why someone might want to discredit us for their own political purposes. but we will not be silenced. it has gone on long enough that we -- just because we are kids, we're in the allowed to understand. but trust me, i understand. i was in a closet locked for four hours with people who i would consider almost family, crying and weeping on me, begging for their lives. i understand what it's like to text my parents good-bye, i might never, ever get to see you again, i love you. i understand wha

i'm chris matthews in washington. we have wanted for months to see the star quitnesses to appear against donald trump. witnesses whose testimony could lead to his impeachment perhaps. today special counsel robert mueller dropped several charges against former deputy campaign chairman rick gates in what was part of a deal for him to become a star witness. he is committed answer all of mueller's questions, everything. axios reports today mueller's decision to drop the more expansive charges against gates suggests that he may have provided good information for mueller's probe. unanswered question now is whether that information will be used to further pressure paul manafort or whether gates has the goods on the president himself. meanwhile, nbc news is reporting among the many states that were targeted by russian hackers some were actually compromised. "the u.s. intelligence community developed substantial evidence that state web sites and seven states with compromised by russian-backed covert operatives prior to the 201

you're looking at a picture from "the washington post" today. presumably the president saw this and tweeted out -- two tweets here on this story and i guess, jamie gangel, you know, he is denying. he's then talking about someone getting paid for some false story. again, this is how many days after students were shot and not calling out russia and this is what the president chooses to tweet about. >> no tweets on gun control. here is something he is consistent on, correct? deny, deny, deny. clearly, we see gets under his skin. for better or worse, we do have some transparency. he comes right back with it. so, i don't think he's going to change in that way. michael cohen, the lawyer, paying all this money to something that didn't happen. i mean, it's ridiculous on the face of it. can we just go back to the gun control for one minute? >> please. >> i am very curious to see on march 24th on washington with all these kids coming. because i'm hearing from people not even young people, who have never marched on washington who want to come. and we know

they need to join us in the march on washington. they need to find our website and come out against the people supported by the nra on both sides. we want conversations with president trump, senator rubio and governor scott about the fact they are being supported by the nra. we want to give them the opportunity to be on the right side of this. >> i want to thank you all. david, we'll be speaking later in the broadcast to all your family. thanks so much for joining us. good luck to you all. >> thank you. >> those students say they'll march on washington. let's turn to democrat congressman ted deutsche and republic congressman curbelo. of south florida. good morning gentlemen. i'm going to start with you congressman. such a tragic, tragic week for your district. you heard those kids. a march for their lives on washington. will it do any good? >> yes, it will. martha, the difference this time is that these kids -- you've spoken to them. the world has heard them. they're just not going to sit back after what they experienced, after what