Nbc nationalist Correspondent Peter joining me now where were expecting the greek Prime Minister to pull up, so well watch that. First of all, all the confusion. We see the president there in the doorway of the portico to the west wing entrance as the car pulls up, and were going to see the greek Prime Minister. Greece, of course, has been in financial turmoil. It has been part of the European Union crisis financially and economically and is also right in the region where migration has been a crisis, peter. So as we see him arriving, there will be an oval office meeting, a quick Photo Opportunity, later another Photo Opportunity in the cabinet room as they have an expanded lunch. Then theres going to be a News Conference. But lets go to the News Conference that you were a big part of yesterday, because this was the president trying to pretend there was no problem with mitch mcconnell, but importantly, youve got new reporting on the whole issue of
gold star families and the president and the way he criticized his predecessors. Reporter this is not an issue that i think any of us thought we would be talking about on this day. The president was pressed yesterday on why he hadnt commented yet on the deaths of four soldiers, army green berets, who died in niger earlier this month. He spoke of how hard those calls are, said he had written letters still to be sent, said he would be making calls. He also spoke about past president s, suggesting that President Obama and other president s often Didnt Make Calls, that they Didnt Make Calls at all, he said, before i pressed him on that and said, where do you come up with that claim, where does that come from, and he says, thats what he had been told. In terms of the new information on this today, a white house official following up with the president s own comments sort of revisiting this topic, a white house official tells me that general john kelly, the president s chief of staff, never received a phone call from President Obama after his own son died in afghanistan in 2010. Ive reached out to the white house to find out if there was any other contact made by President Obama to general kelly or to his family, and im told by a source familiar with a breakfast that took place in the spring of 2011 for gold star families hosted by President Obama that general john kelly and his wife, at least according to public records, did attend that breakfast, that as im told by someone who was in attendance that day, that they were seated at the table with the first Lady Michelle obama. So even if there wasnt a call made, it appears there was contact between President Obamat least the first lady expressing her condolences to general john kellys family at that time. The bottom line is this has reignited a very ugly dispute over what is the gravest of obligations, andrea, for president s, the calls to families of fallen service
members. The white house is fiercely pushing back saying this is all fake news, that this is being made up. The president never made this suggestion. Ill encourage people to see the president s remarks for themselves here. But the bottom line is it is President Trump who brought up President Obama and other past president s suggesting they Didnt Make Calls like this. Andrea . In fact, there is a lot of pushback, as well hear, from people who worked with President Obama. Heres more of what President Trump said about calling gold star families. The toughest calls i have to make are the calls where this happens, soldiers are killed. Its a very difficult thing. It gets to a point where, you know, you make four or five of them in one day. Its a very, very tough day. For me thats by far the toughest. The traditional way, if you look at President Obama and other president s, most of them Didnt Make Calls, a lot of them Didnt Make Calls. I like to call when its appropriate, when i think im
able to do it. Leon panetta served as cia director and Secretary Of Defense under President Obama and joins me now. Mr. Secretary, i dont think we ever thought we would be having this conversation, but what is your reaction to the things the president said yesterday . Well, you know, its regrettable that when it comes to the lives of those who are brave and courageous and put their lives on the line and oftentimes lose their lives on behalf of this country, they ought to be our focus. And it ought not to be the president s comments about trying to scapegoat other president s or problems within his own administration to address those condolences to the families. So i think the important thing to remember here is that president s do care about those that give their lives for this
country, and every president , including President Obama, responded to that through letters, through calls, through attending ceremonies. He came with me to Dover Air Force base when a number of s. E. A. L. S who had been killed in a helicopter crash, their bodies were returned to our country. He has expressed his condolences to the family. So rather than spending time trying to somehow criticize others, i think this president , after 10 months in office, has a responsibility now to deal with his administration and what he does and to be responsible for what he does, whether he does it right or whether he does it wrong. Secretary panetta, one of the things that was so striking is that he was talking about how painful it is for him to make these calls. And it had been 12 days or so, he had not spoken about what happened in niger when we lost
attention on the behavior of past president s, the most important thing he could do is acknowledge the sacrifice that those brave soldiers made and that this nation owes them a debt of gratitude. Thats what we have to focus on. Not play these games with what past president s did or did not do. John mccain criticized very strongly the president s foreign policy. The president was on the radio today, wral, in washington, and this was his reaction to john mccains criticism. You heard yesterday Senator Mccain. People have to be careful because at some point i fight back. Im being very nice, being very nice. But at some point ill fight back. What he was saying was at some point i fight back, and it will not be very pretty, that
people have to be careful. A warning to john mccain about his strong criticism of the foreign policy, the american first foreign policy. Clearly hes talking about bannon and corker and others, but that was the white house philosop philosophy. Look, john mccain made a legitimate criticism about the administration with regards to their foreign policy. This country, going back to world war ii, has been a world leader. We have worked with our allies. We have always kept our word in dealing with our allies in facing Danger Points throughout the world. We represent the most important values in the world, the values of freedom and liberty, Human Dignity and the ability of people to selfgovern themselves in the world. Those are our values. The problem weve seen is this process of withdrawing from our
responsibilities in the world. Weve withdrawn from the paris climate agreement, weve withdrawn from treaties that were obligations to countries. This president has criticized our nato alliance. He now has moved away from the Nuclear Agreement where we gave our word that we would abide by that agreement. So on a number of fronts, there is real concern that we are pulling back from our responsibilities in the world to an America First kind of position which, very frankly, isolates this country in terms of our leadership and in terms of these Danger Points in the world. I think this is an issue, frankly, that ought to be fully debated in this country. Whether the United States should be a world leader and accept the responsibilities of a world lead leader, or whether were going
to become isolationists and start to pull away from those responsibilities. That is a major issue that needs to be debated in this country. From your knowledge, i also want to button down what people say, that there wasnt a call from President Obama to john kellys family. Do you know if that is true and if theres hard feelings there . I dont know if thats true, because frankly that occurred before i became Secretary Of Defense. President s do make calls. They certainly do write to those families. I think its fair to say that because of obligations, theyre not going to make calls to anyone. Thats just the nature of the
possibilities of the presidency. But john kellys son was a patriot and gay hve his life fo this country, and i think its beneath the dignity of the white house to start dragging those issues out when we have to express our deepest thanks to all of those that were willing to put their lives on the line for this country. That ought to be it, period, and stop this kind of game of trying to pick scapegoats. That just doesnt serve, i think, the dignity of the office of the presidency. And finally, youve been in a lot of cabinets. Youve seen from the insideout how diplomacy works. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson said on sunday that he will continue the oath until the first bomb drops. A lot of people have problems of
the Secretary Of State talking about when the first bomb drops. Secretary tillerson, who i think has expressed at least the right motivations here, that we ought to continue to do everything we can diplomatically to resolve this situation in north korea. Waiting for a bomb to drop or waiting for Military Action means that this administration will have failed in its responsibility to try to negotiate some kind of solution there. This is a tough issue. We all understand that. But i think, frankly, it would probably be good for the administration to kind of take a deep breath, move away from some of this rhetoric of fire and fury and dropping bombs and just roll up their sleeves and do the work that theyre supposed to do, which is try to find any possible path toward trying to resolve this issue, and at the same time build up our forces
and our strength in that part of the world should we have to engage in some kind of military conflict. Thats what this administration ought to be focused on, is every possible effort to try to determine whether or not we can try to find a way to resolve this dispute. Secretary panetta, thank you for being with us today. Thank you. Coming up, more on the opioid fight. The fallout. Thank you for joining us on msnbc. So you can get more out of life and Medicare Part d. Just walk right in for savings that will be the highlight of your day. Walgreens has 0 Copays On Select Plans and 100 points on prescriptions. So, swing by and save today. Walgreens, at the corner of happy healthy. Did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back . Say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. Comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet thats up to 16 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. Say hello to faster downloads with internet speeds up to 250 megabits per second. Get Fast Internet and add phone and tv now for only 34. 90 more per month. Call today. Comcast business. Built for business. This morning the Dow Industrial Average crossed another milestone, hitting the 23,000 mark for the first time. Right now it is hovering just below that record. Well continue to monitor the latest, however. Stay with us until 4 00. The president has been in the oval office with the greek Prime Minister. Well hear what he had to say. Lets watch. Good morning, everybody. Its an honor to have the Prime Minister of greece with us. As you know, greece has gone through a lot over the last number of years, but theyre doing a terrific job of coming back, and they will be back. Were working with them on many different things. Theyre upgrading their fleets of airplanes, the f16 plane, which is a terrific plane. Theyre doing big upgrades and
were doing trade with greece, and were going to have some meetings right after this, were having meetings with the staff, were having a luncheon with the staff also, and well be talking about additional ways where greece will help us and we will help greece. But weve had a longtime relationship with greece. Theyve been great friends and loyal friends and allies, and we look forward to our discussion today. Thank you, mr. Prime minister. Thank you, mr. President. Thank you for the invitation and the hospitality. I am sure that well have a very fruitful discussion today. I think this is a very important moment for our corporation, and im sure well do whatever it takes to enhance this corporation. Greece is a willing partner in every sense of the word and also a reliable partner for the United States. Thats true. Dont forget that when greece was born, the values of freedom and democracy we share all together. Im very happy to be here. Its an honor for me. Its my honor. Thank you very much. Thank you. Obamacare is dead. Arent you trying to keep it alive in some ways . Obamacare is virtually dead. At best you could say in its final legs, the premiums are going through the roof. The deductibles are so high that people dont get to use it. Obamacare is a disgrace to our nation and we are solving the problem of obamacare, okay . Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. President trump speaking out today about his former nominee for drug czar republican congressman tom marino who abruptly pulled his name from consideration after a bombshell name from the Washington Post
on 60 minutes on sunday that marino championed a bill that allowed them to crack dis dodowe Opioid Crisis that has killed many people in america. He told me, look, if theres even a perception that he has a Conflict Of Interest with Insurance Companies essentially, but if theres even a perception that he has a Conflict Of Interest, he doesnt want anything to do to do with it. There were a couple articles having to do with him and drug companies, and i will tell you, he felt compelled he feels very strong about the Opioid Problem and the drug problem which is a worldwide problem which is a problem that we have. Joining me now is democratic senator from West Virginia, joe mansion. Senator, you had called for him to step down. Youve been fierce on this subject for the last 24 to 48 hours. Your reaction to the fact that tom marino, the congressman, has pulled himself out of the drug czar nomination post. First of all, i think congressman marino did an honorable thing. I thank the president for taking this so seriously and im willing to work with the president to find a person thats passionate, thats knowledgeable, and people will believe theyre fighting for them and their family and all of those around. The president understands the problems, and we need a good person who understands and is willing to fight the fight. Theres really bad Opioid Crisis in West Virginia. One midsized distributor had shipped more than 28 million pills to pharmacies in West Virginia over five years. You know what this is all about. First of all, mingo county is a beautiful county with a number of hardworking people. It provided the energy that made the country for what we are. For them to be preyed upon by the pharmaceutical industry, less than 400 people in this beautiful little town. 9 million pills, youre telling me that wasnt a Business Model to make profit off misery of lives and ruining a whole community and area . Not just for West Virginia, this entire country is in the depths of an epidemic. When you have an epidemic, you have to step guaforward and do something. We dont need these products, these maps of products, in the marketplace. The dea has to step forward, the fda has to step forward. Doctors have to be held accountable and responsible for the prescribing theyre doing. Then we need Treatment Centers to cure the people who have become ill with addiction. Its all on the front here. Its an all hands on deck problem. I have to ask you about the process with which this takes
place. If we hadnt had a Whistle Blower from the dea, we wouldnt all be talking about it. The fact that this was approved in a hurry, unanimous consent, both houses, everybody voted for it with a voice vote. No one is on the record, of course or everyone is on the record, actually. President obama signed it. How does Something Like this happen without the implications being better thought out . When they talked about the swamp, this is exactly what were talking about. The swamp has turned into quicksand. What i mean by that, andrea, you had 50 people leave the dea, Drug Enforcement agency, who had the knowledge and responsibility for basically going after the dribt to distributors, the bad actors, all of that. Then you had 50 people from the dea go over to the
pharmaceutical side. The people who were able to navigate and write the legislation that never did rise up to the concern that all our staff should have been bringing to members saying, there is something seriously wrong. Youre going to cripple their ability. So it went through a number of committees, the judiciary and health committee, there was no opposition on either side which it goes through the Committee Without concern. Everybody says, okay, its not going to harm us, then he hog winds it. Rejections on either side, republican or democrat or from the committee that worked the markup on the bill. So it goes flew. Thank goodness to the Washington Post and 60 minutes for doing an indepth investigation for bringing this to light. I can assure you we wont let this go unanswered. I appreciate your honesty, because barbara just changed a few words. When you know exactly how to alter those words when even the staff didnt note it we dont know who else was involved, but this is what lobbyists do. The President Trump rpgs when to prey on the people were supposed to. Any of these agencies ought to have a fiveyear. But hes hiring people and
putting them into office. Hes doing the reverse revolving door. Hes bringing them all in. I understand that, but im just saying if you want to prevent this happening again at the proportion this happened . Lets make that a. Theyre responsible for protecting the public and all of us from able to believe. They said senator Mansion Cant Vote against the republican plan because he says, quote, i turned West Virginia around. Has he turned West Virginia around . My conversation with the president , he knows i very much want to work with him on a tax overhaul that bakely gives the person who is getting a paycheck, every day getting a paycheck is able to benefit from a tax reduction. Not with people at the top end
of the rich, the 1 percenters, as he called the very wealthy, are not going to get. Do i want to find something that stimulates the economy and gives us something on a more regular basis . We talked to ivanka last night. Shes concerned, were all concerned about that. The average worker is having a hard time surviving raising a family, taking care of a family, paying their bills. Today i voted against a budget for one reason and one reason only. The budget that the republican legislature, the senate, put before us had first of all 474 billion to. This was the cut in the line
item that they will cut from medicaid that for the first time had any type of support and relief or help for people who have addiction or mental illness. Those are the things they cut. This will be the first time in the history of the United States that weve ever done budget to get to budget reconciliation which allows them to do a 51 major vote passage of major tax reform. Weve never done major tax reform on budget reconciliation. Do i want to work with the president . Absolutely. Well work with him and sit down and find a pathway for it. I want to reduce the corporate tax. I want a territorial system. I want a system that works fair, that on passthroughs. It was a good dinner . It was a great dinner. I thank ivanka. We dont get a chance to sit down and have a formal discussion with our colleagues. They made that available last night with the venue they had at their beautiful home. We sat for about two hours, had a great dinner. Steve mnuchin was there, martin short was there from the white house. It was a constructive conversation of things that maybe need to be fixed. Can we compromise, can we work on this . They told us last night there will be input. Thats what i want. You can count on the president and me working together in a positive way. President trump sending mixed messages on. Joining me now, rick tyler, republican strategist, msnbc political analyst and john kapack, msnbc contributor. Talk about the swamp. We certainly understood a whole lot better from that conversation how the lobbying works, the revolving door, the money thats paid to people like tom marino or others. Hatten said today that hes sorry of how everything has evolved. I think President Trump said he was going to ban lforeign lobbyists. That was a little bit
outrageous when general flynn was acting as a foreign lobbyist. Catherine graham would notably have 50 democrats, 50 republicans and get a lot resolved at her dinner table. Nice and everything that they had a bipartisan dinner, but weve been hearing since election day that ivanka, ivanka and jared will be the ones to guide the parent to more sensible. When something blew up in their faces, they were nowhere to be seen. While a dinner is wonderful, i think i and a lot of people
watching for annual. Booef seen. They want them to put their shoulder on the grind stone. Get on there and really respect some new change. There is this debate over who feels more powerfully the suffering of gold star families. Again, i cant believe were actually talking about this, but heres lind gee graham. Downstairs at the capitol. I dont think that helps much. Every president experiences heartbreak when somebody dies under his command. We should all honor the fallen. Lindsey graham who has just played golf with the president twice recently, but said the president s comments really did not help much. You could have a cognitive
defect when you go out and do Something Like that. What i thought was very interesting, andrea, he said during those comments that i was told, meaning i was told obama didnt make these calls. Well, who told him that . His chief of staff, general kelly, who is a gold star Family Member himself tell him that . I dont think so. Did general mattis tell him that . It was somehow not a tradition to contact. Eltd go to walter reid without any photo opportunities. George w. Bush, bill clinton. This is, jonathan, a sacred examination of commanders in chief. Yeah. Of all the shameful things that. As you said, one of the more solemn duties of president of the United States is to send troops into battle, into war, and then welcome them home when they fall on the battlefield. This should not be played, and what the president has done is exactly that. Then he threw general kelly into this. I dont know if the president called general kelly. How undignified is that . General kelly gave a beautiful speech when he received the condemnation medal. From the time senator Lindsey Graham or a senator who is on
the book tour. Where are the states men and bem on capitol hill who stand up as the president who just stripped the dignity out of the oval office. The isis capital of raqqa forcing out iraqi troops. Stay with us. Syria. I think we should all take some encouragement by the fact that the deadliest of nations is losing ground rapidly. Losing ground but still have enough clout around the world. We saw what happened in niger. We see the tentacles of isis hooking up with other Terrorist Groups as well. Thats right. Im very concerned about Isis Affiliates in Western Africa and other places around the world. I think we have a lot a hard work to do in the months and years ahead to make sure that we defeat isis once and for all. You were in philadelphia, i believe, for the Medal Ceremony for john mccain. Your former colleague from delaware, joe biden, the former vice president. Tell us a little bit about that. Vice President Biden told humorous stories about their travel together, their work
together. There was a reminder of how bipartisanship was much more common, much more typical among seniors than today. The senator gave a compelling speech where he talked about not only his own service to the nation, but he really challenged us to look past the current mood where a nationalism in America First approach seems to have been moved to the fore where Senator Mccain and others have moved the world forward to be prosperous. It was a moving story about the worlds values, and i urge everyone to watch senator reids and mccains speech. Lets watch a portion of that speech. We live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil. We are the custodians of those
ideals at home and their champion abroad. Weve done great good in the world. That leadership has had its costs. But we have become incomparably powerful and wealthy as we did. We have a moral obligation to continue in our just cause, and we would bring more than shame on ourselves if we dont. [ applause ] we will not survive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent. We wouldnt deserve to. What comes to mind is the criticism that in afghanistan there is no game plan despite the rolling out of a proposal or a strategy, and in north korea, or in the korean peninsula, there is no real diplomatic strategy. There is no pulling together of the allies. Thats right, andrea. We face a very difficult complex
global security situation, and this is a time that requires leadership, engagement by the United States more than ever. Im gravely concerned about some of the shortcomings of the current administration. There isnt even a nominee to be the ambassador or the Secretary Of State for political affairs. We need to be leading our allies around the world, not confusing them by taking abrupt turns left and right on trade deals or security arrangement by walking away from agreements like the paris accord or by threatening to walk away from the iran nuclear deal. We face real threats in this world. Isis, irans potential. These are all challenges if we join forces with our allies and lead with an Effort Arather Tha try to put our head in the sand
and say america will be safer without american leadership. Thank you, senator coombs, and well be right back. Thank you, andrea. Everyone deserves attention, whether youve saved a lot or just a little. At pnc investments, we believe youre more than just a number. So we provide personal Financial Advice for every retirement investor. Is speaking out to ari melber. He was once russias relinquiicn but spent ten years in prison for a pay back opposition. Hes now 65, Vladmir Putin. Do you expect he will stay in power and die in office or not . Translator i dont think even he knows the answer to that. I think he wants to leave office but is afraid to because he doesnt trust anyone. Joining me now is ari melber, host of the beat at 6 00 and ambassador nick burns. Welcome both. Ari, such a fascinating interview. Sitting down what have we learned about Vladmir Putin from him . I think we have learned from him just the lengths that Vladmir Putin will go. Hes obviously tough on his opponents. I also learned his view he says
hes nearly certain putin would try to personally reach out to donald trump to collude in the campaign and we talked about those upcoming Russian Elections. Nick, i want to throw a bit more of the interview and ask you about it. Can putin lose the next president ial election next year . Translator if there was to be an election in 2018 by some miracle, its highly likely that putin would lose. Instead, in 2018, were going to see a show called president ial election. It cannot be won because it is a show. The show will go exactly as the producer has planned. We know something about that. Its scripted television is what they call it here. Reality shows. Translator if something unexpected happens, you can always rerecord. Nick burns a Russian Election is basically reality tv . I think so. Theres no chance that Vladmir Putin will hold an election, run for president and lose the election. Its an authoritarian dictatorship. The polls are not reliable. The voting will be distorted by the russian government. Putins in till 2024. Hes already modified the constitution once to allow himself to return to power. My sense is theres a chance he wants to be president for life because life might be too risky and rettreacherous outside of t kremlin in the dog eat dog world of politics. How do you interpret the president s silence about russia. Silent on what russia has done
to prop up assad. It seems as though theres no predicate, no reason for him to ever krcriticize vladimimir put. Donald trump has not criticized the russian president. We were attacked by the russian, i a psy a cyber attack. The president continues to deny whether we were attacked and he hasnt done anything to prepare our states to harden our defenses, our voting defenses, the security of our Voting System in 2018 and 2020 and he chose, President Trump, not to try to retaliate and took the senate by a vote of 982 to insist over President Trumps objections on sanctions toward russia. I think its diplomatic practice. I cannot imagine any of trumps predecessors going back to 1945 being so weak and passive on the issue of russia. What did you learn . Does he have any insights into this, ari . I think his view is that donald trump is out matched by Vladmir Putin. He said that directly in our discussion and well play more from some of that at 6 00 p. M. His view is donald trump doesnt fully understand the experience that putin brings and that Vladmir Putin as we reported is someone who controls all out comes as much as possible and has a lot of people, including he names names of figures in russia and figures in finance that he says are helping putin. Wow. So much more to dig into. Dont forget to watch more of Aris Exclusive Report Tonight On The Beat and thanks to nick burns and ari. Well be right back. Ought butch. Yeah butch growls at man hes looking at me right now, isnt he . Yup. butch barks at man butch is like an old soul that just hates my guts. laughs vo you can never have too many faithful companions. Introducing the allnew crosstrek. Love is out there. Find it in a subaru crosstrek. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember