Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20180208

His own political future. My calculation has never been whos running, can i win, can i not win. Its, is this right for me to do . Good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington with new details on the latest scandal to rock the trump white house. The resignation of staff secretary rob porter, after allegations of abuse by both of his exwives became public, including disturb images of a black eye his first wife said was the result of physical violence. A white house official confirms to nbc news he could be departing as soon as today. He released a statement saying these outrageous allegations are simply false. I took the photos given to the media nearly 15 years ago and the reality behind them is nowhere close to what is being described. I have been transparent and truthful about these vile claims but i will not further engage publicly with a coordinated smear campaign. Chief of staff john kelly over the course of the last 24 hours shifted from full support to porter to saying he was shocked by the new allegations in a second Statement Released Late Wednesday night. This has Vice President joe biden says todays controversy raises questions about how this white house functions. Biden also questioning whether the president tells the truth and how hes damaging americas reputation around the world. I sat down with the Vice President earlier today as he begins a new venture today, the Penn Biden Center being inaugurated today near the capitol. Let me ask you about something that is breaking today. Youve been a big supporter of combatting violence against women, the legislation. Here you have the fbi warning the white house, this white house, for months that one of the top advisers in and out of the oval office was accused by two exwives of domestic abuse. How do you explain his access to the president of the United States and the chief of staff frankly in the last 24 hours, describing him as a man of personal integrity . I cant explain it. Its long past due that he left. I understand hes departed. If you just look at it from a perspective of one thing, the fbi didnt think he should get a permanent security clearance. They had to know that. Sure, they knew that. They were warned . And look, the cultures changing, but not fast enough. The idea that this would happen in the oval office. Now, i dont know, i heard in the way i was briefed on the way in that when the president found out about it, he said go. If thats the case that the president never knew about it, good for the president. How could the president not know that one of his closest advisers did not have a top security clearance . What does that say about the president and this white house . Oh, andrea, look, im having enormous difficulty understanding how this white house functions and whos on first, whos on second and whos pitching, whos catching. I mean, it really is confusing. All i know is that the result of this seems like controlled chaos, its damaging us internationally, domestically, and i cant quite understand how they cant get their arms around just the functioning, the daytoday functioning of the white house. Well, let me take you back to what you said just the other day about whether the president should sit down for an interview with robert mueller. And you said that your advice youre a lawyer would be that he should not, because to quote you, he has some difficulty with precision. What do you mean by that is this. Well, there have been so many misstatements, deliberate misstatements. And you look at him and wonder what in the heck is he talking about. From the first day, saying that the largest crowd ever at an inauguration, to talking about things that are simply not true. But its almost like its its been dumbed down so much almost like it doesnt matter. But he says things but it does matter because hes the president of the United States. It matters immensely. It matters immensely. But its just, i find him just not credible in the things he says. Do you mean that hes a liar . Look, im not going to call the president of the United States a liar. He does not tell the truth. Hes not accurate in much of what he says. So to take it further, if he does not agree to an interview, does that mean hes above the law . No. He can be subpoenaed. Look, i was literally answering the question, if i were his lawyer, what would i recommend. Now, i think he should go before the counsel. He says he wants to do it. Do it. Go ahead. But i was answering a literal question. I put on my hat as a lawyer. Were i his lawyer, would i let him go before the counsel and answer questions . I would be very, very concerned. You can tell his whole team is concerned about what he says. I mean, you have the chief of staff a long time ago allegedly trying to stop his tweeting. And its not just his tweeting, its inaccurate tweeting. Hes like a loose cannon. And i dont but he should, a president should be prepared to answer the questions about one of the most serious Security Breaches thats occurred in american history, russia attempting to affect an impact on the American Intellectual process. Theyre doing it in europe on a regular basis. Mexico . Mexico. Theyre doing it and theyre trying to deconstruct a liberal order, the notion of freedom of democracy, theyre trying to deconstruct all the things that were built up after warorld wari that were designed to and i just cant fathom, i cant fathom why the president , just as a patriotic american, let alone as president , would not be looking for every single bit of data in evidence that would show what they were doing and what theyre attempting to continue to attempt to do. Let me just button down whether he should submit to an interview or not. Obviously he should. Can the president of the United States take the fifth and not suffer grievous political harm, or can this president get away with taking the fifth . Well, i you know, if the president took the fifth, he is by definition, in my view, abdicating the responsibility of the presidency of the United States. The idea that a president of the United States says, i take the fifth, that i might incriminate myself in something that is this consequence, you know, that to me is constitutionally permissible as an individual. Its an abhorrent notion as a sitting president of the United States of america opinion. Y the United States of america. You talked about the russian interference, the cia chiropractor and the secretary of state have said its still going on. The secretary of state said we cant stop them between now and the mid terms. Is that because this white house has not moved aggressively . Absolutely. Look, my understanding and i dont know, i dont have access to classified information anymore. I dont get briefed every morning by the agency as i did for eight years. What we do know is, their attempts are continuing. What we do know, what im told, is, there has not been an interagency, bringing all the relevant agencies together at one time in one meeting, to focus on how do we stop them. To the best of my knowledge, theres not even been an interagency meeting to do something about this. Foreign Relations Committee democratic report said thats negligence. It is negligence. Its absolutely negligence. Youre talking about secretary of state saying, we know theyre still doing this and we cant stop them. What have you done . Have you brought together the cia, have you brought together all the agencies of the federal government that have the capacity, at least, to be able to stop and thwart what theyre doing . Havent even done that. Why do you think this president is so reluctant to take on Vladimir Putin . Look, i you know, i i want to give every american, including the president , the benefit of the doubt. But i cant fathom any reason other than, he is concerned what putin might say or do, or what information he may or may not have. But unrelated to the issue of whether or not theres collusion, separate and apart from all that, its necessary for us to stem this problem. Its necessary for us to corral the russians. I just wrote a major piece in foreign affairs, talking and the first call i get, i got a call from former Prime Minister wanting to put together a group of six or seven, sitting and nonsitting Prime Ministers, representing the pana plea of left to right in europe to set up an International Commission on russian interference in europe. After i wrote the article. I mean, what has to be done . What has to be done to convince these guys that theyre being derelict in their duty and they are, in fact, jeopardizing American Security . Is it appropriate for the president to be attacking the fbi, as he has from day one, when the fbi is investigating him . Lets assume the fbi wasnt investigating him. Lets assume the fbi was doing bad things. The way to settle it is internally, first fix it. Then announce you fixed it. But were making Vladimir Putins case here. What is everything and i know you know this inside and out. What is Vladimir Putins objective the last six, eight, ten years . Its to delegitimize the west. Delegitimize them. So here you have the president of the United States of america, saying that the single most important domestic Law Enforcement agency is not relevant, is not reasonable, is not honest, is not all those things. Putin must be sitting behind his desk in the kremlin going, its working, man. The rest of the world gets the message that the United States of americas chief Law Enforcement agency is not truthful, is not honest, is plotting against him, is a deep state. My god well, you knew this was happening, to a certain extent before the election. Yes. The administration, your administration said something on october 7th. The agencies were working on it. President trump says that if you had thought he would win, you would have been more outspoken, but you were so confident Hillary Clinton was going to win. Would you have been more forceful, spoken out more if you thought she were going to lose. It had nothing to do with that. First of all, we didnt have the information that we ultimately had in january. Number one. Number two, we didnt want to play into putins hands, doing the thing that he was trying to do. What would have happened if barack obama had come out and said, the fbi has information that the trump team is colluding with the russians to try to tip the election to Hillary Clinton . It would have been chaos. And we didnt have the data we have now. We didnt have the data we had even in january. And we did go before the election, to Mitch Mcconnell and say, we should put out a joint statement, so we dont make russias case for them, that we jointly are, democrat and republican, not bringing a judgment whos a bad guy, whos a good guy, were looking at russian enterfeerinterference i election. They wouldnt do it. Hillary clinton and her supporters certainly are blaming it all on james comey because she was the momentum was rising and, bam, he came out late in the game and reopened the email investigation. Do you blame james comey . Would she have won if not for james comey . Its hard to make that judgment, what would have happened. But were mixing two things now. James comey wasnt investigating the russians. James comey was investigating her emails. So i just want to make sure i know you didnt intend to do that but if he had not reopened the email investigation straight question. Look, theres no doubt it had to hurt her. Whether that was enough to make the 72,000vote difference in the key states, it remains to be seen. But let me put it this way, it sure didnt help. Would she have won if she were a better candidate . I think what happened was something weve never seen in american politics. The vast majority of people in and out of public life and the press thought that he had disqualified himself 15 times, you know, by the things he said about his groping women, the and what i realized, the shoren steen school at Harvard University did a study. Only 4 of all the chatter and all the news about Hillary Clinton had to do with issues. He was looking at it in retrospect, think about it when he started losing the fight in the floor of the house and the senate on health care, what did he do . He started talking about taking a knee in a football game, kaeperni kaepernick, and these distracting initiatives, which you think would be disqualifying issues for this candidate, seem to work for him. But she was never able to get to the subject matter. For example, what are you going to do about middle class families . How do women who are qualified to work, pay 22,000 a year in washington for childcare and still work . How do we make sure people making sending 60 grand a year can send them to college . All the things that affect middle class people, we never got to talk about. The first part of our interview. Now to breakdown the headlines out of the first section of our interview with former Vice President joe biden. Chris matthews, host of hardball right here on msnbc. Ruth marcus, and mike medley. Weve been following joe biden a long time. But he very clearly said the president of the United States does not tell the truth, that he does not understand his position and their position on rob porter in todays breaking news, that resignation. Well, two things. Ones manners. And the others confidence. Hes Still Old School on manners. Hes not going to call someone a liar. He did call someone a joke the other day, and i think he regretted that. The fbi works with any politically elected government, like this trump administration. You rely on the fbi to do a full field investigation on every one of your employees. As a speech writer, you had to go through it. They had a fullfield report on rob porter. Thats all you need. So why did they have any more information required . They didnt act on it. Thats a problem, not working with the fbi on something the fbi has absolute responsibility for, which is to check out people. And he talks about doing putins business for him, doing his job for him, ruth, by attacking the fbi, which is investigating him. He says every citizen has the right to take the fifth amendment, but that as president of the United States, it would be derelict in your duty to take the fifth amendment if he is subpoenaed by the grand jury. What i have scribbled down here, its an abhorrent notion to imagine a president of the United States taking the fifth amendment in a criminal investigation involving his own conduct in office and during his candidacy and transition. And it is an abhorrent notion, and no other president who has found himself in that situation would have dared, i think, even to imagine it. No president s lawyers in this situation want him to go wander into the special counsel and start answering questions. You want to contain it. You want to slowwalk it. You want to limit it as much as possible. And thats what happened with president clinton back in the day. And obviously President Trumps lawyers have a particular problem with this client because of the way this client tends to talk and tell things. I thought the Vice President was very artful in the way that he said hes not a liar, but he doesnt tell the truth. And yet the notion that in the end when the grand jury says and the special counsel says, no, we really seriously need to talk to you, that President Trump would take the fifth, that is going to i think that moment very well could come and that is going to be a fascinating question of whether he can get away with that. And this was a shot across the bow. Politically. Mike, youve spent so much time covering joe biden. Youve heard him on the book tour and in all of these different iterations. But it struck me today that he is, you know, deadly serious about the what democrats on the foreign Relations Committee that joe biden used to lead, is negligence. And he points out there has not been a single Deputies Committee meeting. They have not mobilized this government to counter the russian meddling in this election. Its fascinating to watch him in his interview with balance the respect he still has for the institution, the office of the president , with his very real distress about what hes seeing happen in the oval office. You see him at his most animated when hes talking about an abuse of power. And he used that term in describing the situation that he sees here. I spend time dealing with different congressional investigations that are not focused on russia, that are talking about emails and texts. And what the Vice President says in this interview is what were hearing from democrats. Weve taken our eye off the ball. We need to be focussing on what russia is doing. Its 12 days away from early voting in texas. This is 36 congressional races, a u. S. Senate race, the governorship, and we havent seen anything to get ahead of what our own reporting is about potential interference this year. In fact, there was an attempt to redirect it towards this Election Fraud commission which fell of its own weight and didnt hold a single meeting. Chris, you can see and well talk more with him in the next section, more about the politics of 2016, as well as 2020. But you can see that hes champing at the bit. I think this will be a role model he wont like to hear me say, but its the nixon model from 66. Hed lost the governors race, he was out of politics. When republican candidates for the house of representatives, backed them, he got the credit for that. If the democrats sweep the house, if they pick 30plus seats and they win the whole thing, joe biden will be seen as the head of the cavalry. He will look like the winner he said to pat buchanan in one of the books i read, first 66. Bidens role is first 18, and then well talk 20. That is what he, according to others who were present last night, what he was telling them, they have to focus on 18, and they have to get themselves together. What we saw yesterday was nancy pelosi on the floor heroically for eight hours, but taking a position that contradicted the position that Chuck Schumer had just taken in negotiating a compromise with Mitch Mcconnell, which is going to be voted on today. Somebody had to cover and so patience and paution for tssion cause of the dreamers. Its not clear at all that shes going to whiff. She said she would vote against the budget deal herself. Not clear whether shell demand that any of them come along. Mike, the bottom line is, theyre going to i have vote tod to have a vote today in the senate which will set the stage. Its interesting in how hes framing the argument, that this Election Year is not so much about the issue, and certainly democrats are struggling with how to balance the concerns of the dreamers with some of the other political head winds that might be on republicans. But this is a moment of National Urgency and democrats winning back the house is not just about a political victory, but important for the nation. You can see him maybe making that argument in 2020, that this is not about my credentials, but my ability at this moment of a national emergency, to do whats right. Coming up, 2020, that vision. Is joe biden planning a third president ial run . Part two of our interview with the former Vice President next on Andrea Mitchell reports. Stay with us. Lated macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. My doctor and i came up with a plan. It includes preservision. My ability at this moment of a has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd backed by 15 years of clinical studies. My ability at this moment of a thats why i fight. Because its my vision. Preservision. Thats why i fight. But through goodt times and bad at t. Rowe price weve helped our investors stay confident for over 80 years. Call us or your advisor. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Thereswhatever type ofhe end of eweekender you are,ton. Dont let another weekend pass you by. Get the lowest price when you book at hilton. Com dont we need that cable box to watch tv . Nope. Dont we need to run . Nope. It just explodes in a high pitched yeahhh. yeahhh try directv now for 10 a month for 3 months. No satellite needed. As former Vice President joe biden mulls his own political future, hes still talking to global leaders. I spoke to him about how Foreign Policy has evolved since he left office. Let me ask you about north korea. Your successor, mike pence, is in south korea now, taking a hardline, projecting that if he were to meet with the north koreans, he would take a tough line with them. Should he . Would it be useful to meet with the north koreans . Perhaps even kim jonguns sister, who is in the delegation . Would that be a good thing . It could be a good thing to meet, but i think it is a much broader question. The broader question is, is this administration willing to take the risk to sit down with north korea, to determine whether theyre serious at all about doing anything about the violations theyre engaging in, both from human rights to nuclear arms. And i think if the north koreans show any willingness to sit down, there should at least be a discussion. Does mike pence talk to you . Did he call you . No, but ive talked to him. From the time he got elected, i felt obliged to share with him the concerns that i thought hed face immediately upon taking office. I have a cordial relationship with him, and when heads of state call me from other countries, i make sure that i let him know first and find out whats going on between this administration and that head of state. So ive kept Communications Open so that theres no concern on their part that im making a separate Foreign Policy. But theres a lot of leaders around the world, as you know, who are very concerned about whether were advocating as richard haas says, nations lose their influence in different ways. One is abdicating, walking away. You said foreign leaders call you and say, what the hell is going on in america. What do you think the hell is going on in america . I think that, look, one of the reasons for establishing this center was to begin to have a coherent and organized effort to rally around the things that have kept us safe, secure, and prosperous since world war ii, which is to nurture freedom and democracy around the world. Let me ask you about that. You said you had not criticized President Trump until after charlottesville. What was it about charlottesville that crossed a red line for you . It violated the dignity of the office, the essence of who we are as americans, and it was a fundamental assault on the notion of how we deal with hate and how we deal with venomous people. When you have people coming out of fields carrying torches, singing the same exact verse that was sung by the nazis in berlin and munich, and White Supremacists standing alongside them, and with those people objecting to it, and making a moral equivalence, theres good people on both. That message is sent to our children. Our children are listening, for gods sake, let alone the message it sends around the world. What happens when the president is credibly reported to have described the entire continent of africa as shole countries . It absolutely damaged you see the polling now, how we have dropped in terms of the report relative to other nations since hes been president. One of the reasons heweve beeno respected and followed by so many countries is not just the example of our power, but the power of our example. When the president does these things, he makes a lie of who we say we are, what were about. You know, brooks talks about societies organize in three ways. Religion, tribe, or ideals. Americas an idea. Its an idea. Its made up of ideals. And to take the sacred elements of what we say we stand for and have the president of the United States trample on them by what he says, is not only so incredibly disappointing, it is dangerous in terms of our longterm security and being able to influence the actions of other nations. When he accuses democrats of being treasonous. They say it was a joke, but when he uses that language against the political opposition at the state of the Union Address for not applauding him enough, whats your reaction to that . I i wonder about his grasp of the role of any president. I wonder as to whether or not why every single thing he does is put through the prism of not how it affects america, but how it affects him. I wonder how somebody could be so cavalier, again taking all of the i cant think of another president in american history, even during the civil war, for gods sake, that talked this way. How did you feel about his attacks against john mccain after mccains vote against repealing obamacare . I find him despicable, those kind of quotes. Despicable. Have you been in touch with john . Yes, i keep in touch with john regularly. Hows he doing . Hes doing well. Hes a fighter. I know you have a bond because you suffered the same. Johns been my friend for 40 years. We holler at each other, we disagree with each other. But if i called in the middle of the night and said, john, i need you to show up on 2nd and broad street, i cant tell you why, hed come. I would for him too. What do you think of a military parade . The president says he wants a parade and hes ordered the pentagon is that a good idea . Im very proud when you go down to the Marine Barracks here, but if he means rolling missiles down pennsylvania avenue, i think it is i think it undercuts everything about our power. We dont everybody knows. We dont have to we display our pride. We dont have to display our power, our physical power, god almighty. Were the most powerful country in the history of the world. I dont know what it is about him. I gotta ask you about 2020. Theres so many younger democrats, kamala harris, cory booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand really a lot of qualified is your presence on the stage and your decisionmaking, youre obviously considering it is that going to overshadow and prevent some of these younger democrats . No, no, no. Look, i give you my word, im focused on one thing. Electing a Democratic Congress to stop this erosion of our of the core of who we are. And ill look at that a year from now. Could you have beaten donald trump . Oh, i dont know. You know, you gotta be in the ring, man. You gotta be in the ring. I have no idea. Was president obama wrong to anoint Hillary Clinton as the nominee . No. I think Hillary Clinton was look, the president knew he was the only one who knew what i was going through. I made a commitment to my son, that i would not let anybody know how serious his situation was. And he worked as attorney general until months before he died, three months before he died. Showed up to work every day. And it was important to him. So the only person i could confide in, to tell him that i knew i was not going to i didnt think id be able to do it, unless there was some miracle that happened and my boy made it, that it was highly, highly unlikely id run. So he knew that. He was the only one outside the family, including my staff, because beau would say, dad, dont even tell the staff. Because we had planned on running. So the staff, if i had said, im definitely not running, at that point, they would have known. Beau was not likely to make it. So, no, i and by the way, hillary earned the nomination. Hillary, i think she would have made a great president. You made a sacrifice to sit down with us today no sacrifice. You could have been on broad street. Well, thats true. At any of the art museums. Thats true. And nick foles said the other day, dont be afraid to fail. Failure is part of life. Absolutely. Part of building character. Without failure, who would we be . Hes absolutely right. Does that inspire you when you think about youve run for president twice when you think about the future . I think youve known me and a lot of your colleagues know me a long time. One thing i dont ive ever separated is im afraid of failure. And by the way, i was asked by the Philadelphia Television stations i was at the game what about nick. And he said, he and i have something in common. Weve been standby equipment for a long time. And he stepped up, man. He stepped up. And i admire the devil out of him by having the poise to do what he did and take all the grief about whether he was up to it. He stepped up. But i think its fair to say, maybe i would have been better off if i had a little more trepidation about some things. But fear of failure is not my dad used to have an expression. Hed say, joey, its not whether you get knocked down. Its how quickly you get up that measures success. So is there some part of joe biden who is identifying with nick foles and the team as they climb the steps of the art museum today . Is there a part of you that thinks about rocky balboa . I look back on my career and my family and ive proud of them. Theyve climbed the stairs many times. Theyve climbed the stairs and steeper stairs than that. And so i dont i just think thats just part of the ethic. Its part of the ethic of how we were raised and who we are. You know, i like i said, my dad used to have another expression. Hed say, never complain and never explain. I have on my desk i guess they took it away a little Hallmark Card thing my dad bought. And its in a little brass frame. And it has two frames from haggar, the horrible, the cartoon character. His ship is on the rocks and hes sinking. Hes raising his hand saying to me, why god . And the next frame, it says, why not . You just get up and fight back. And that doesnt i have plenty of time to consider whether or not to run for the president. We have really qualified people out there. The people you named are really impressive. Are really impressive. And but thats not my calculation. My calculation has never been whos running, can i win, can i not win. Its, is this right for me to do . And the only thing thats right for me to do now is to try to stop this enormous erosion of the moral fabric thats at the hands of donald trump and the republicans. Thank you, joe biden. Thank you, mr. Vice president. And our panel is back with us. Chris matthews, ruth marcus and mike memly. Chris . Im overwhelmed by the interview. He hasnt been giving interviews for months now. I think the word comes through that most people dont talk about him. Respect. The respect he has for the office of the presidency. Its old world, its ethnic, its the neighborhoods talking. Thats the way regular people talk about the president of the United States. And that sense of respect. I think if you see it and hear it in a public official, you say, well, that guy or that woman is more like me than some elitest because he has respect for the office. And i think it counters the resentment so many working class white people have towards the Democratic Party today. They dont seem to have respect at the top like we were taught to have. And biden has, with all his limitations, he does share that regular persons respect and awe for this country. I think people like it. They say, hes like me, he shares my values. If he gets into that office, however he gets there, i trust him. Interesting that he didnt choose to slam mike pence. Because he knew him in congress, he knew him as the house budget chair, he knew him as a governor. They have a cordial relationship. At least. They certainly dont agree on a lot of values, but the difference between mike pence and donald trump is that donald trump came to the Office Without any government experience and also, one would argue, without respect are if tfor the office. I dont think its his point that donald trump didnt have experience. Listening to him, he made the case about President Trumps conduct in office. He said to charlottesville, that the president makes a lie of who we say we are by not standing up and having this false equivalence between the two sides. On the shole countries, he said its dangerous in terms of our longterm security to talk about countries that way. On the use of treason, even if its flippant by democrats, i wonder about his grasp, trumps, of the role of any president. Thats an extraordinary set of things for the previous Vice President to say about a successor. Even of a different party. We have not heard that kind of language before. But we havent had this kind of president before. And he said he didnt speak out until after charlottesville. Right. Mike . I think its interesting in terms of the respect hes showing for the office and also for Hillary Clinton. I thought it was interesting, when you asked him very smartly about whether he was disappointed that obama had anointed her. He was careful in saying there were other considerations and the president was one of the few people who did know what he was going through and how serious beaus illness was. He writes differently in his book. He talks about how in 2015 some of the lunches he would have every week with the president , he definitely got the impression that the president thought that Hillary Clinton was going to be the nominee and that the Vice President would not be able to beat her in a primary and that would hurt his legacy. So i think we should not overlook what he said to you about how much he was considering running in 2016. And i love the nick foles analogy. I think we should at the risk of outphiladelphiaing some of our eagles fans on set, to compare himself to someone whos been in a backup role but is prepared to step up is a good analogy. I love when he was up against the odds, an underdog team, and he kept throwing the amazing passes. Everyone would say, go to a running game, dont get intercepted. And the coaching. Pederson is great. For joe biden, how does he navigate this . He spoke to the Democratic Caucus yesterday, and privately hes got concerns, clearly about the divisions among democrats, the progressives versus the moderates, and how they bridge that divide and come up with a way of connecting to voters, because they got whipped. This gets into opinion more than anything else. I dont know how you can talk about the democrats choice for 2020 without getting into personal opinion. And i remember a couple of cases where parties have decided, this isnt the year were going to win so well have fun. But this coming up in 2020 is a year they can clearly win, and they can clearly lose. Trump could get reelected. Its plausible. If they run the wrong candidate. So i think maybe the best story of the next two years will be, do the democrats realize they could lose again to trump . Or can they govern their impulses and control them both in 2018 to do what they need to do, to make this very powerful case that Vice President biden makes, about dealing with the erosion of the kind of moral fabric of the presidency and making that case, and also the case that hes been so good about making on the White Working Class and average joes. Or do they get pulled apart by Party Factions . Its going to be really interesting to see how they navigate that and whether they need an elder statesmanlike figure to help them manage those tensions. And its clear that the clinton contingent, and certainly the polling bears it out, that if not for comey, she was on track to win, if you can believe the polling. And thats a big if. Its almost a question as to whether it was the candidate at the time or comey. I have to say, i was at the last event that joe biden did on behalf of Hillary Clinton. It was the night before the election. And he spoke at that event. He spoke after tim kaine who he thought hopefully was going to succeed him. And he was much more cautious about what was going to happen the next day. He said no matter what happens, we have to think about what we need to do to bring the country together. I spoke to him a month later, from the los angeles times, and he was very critical about the time of campaign that was run, that there wasnt enough attention paid to people like the ones he grew up with in scranton. And the argument hes making now, almost papering over the differences they still have as a party, to say, our argument this year is to say that donald trump is looking out for himself, that republicans are looking out for him. But telling the american people, were looking out for you. And thats the way hes going to try to bring the Party Together now. Thanks so much, mike, ruth, and chris. Chris, of course, join him for hardball tonight and every night right here on msnbc, 7 00 eastern. Lets make a deal. What will it take to get House Democrats behind the senates bipartisan budget deal . Ill talk to congressman joe crowley next right here on Andrea Mitchell reports. Stay with us. [ click, keyboard clacking ] [ click, keyboard clacking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ click, keyboard clacking ] good questions lead to good answers. Our advisors can help you find both. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Yours. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. You may be at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia, that can take you out of the game for weeks, even if youre healthy. Pneumococcal pneumonia is a potentially serious bacterial lung disease that in severe cases can lead to hospitalization. It may hit quickly, without warning, causing you to miss out on the things you enjoy most. Prevnar 13® is not a treatment for pneumococcal pneumonia. Its a vaccine you can get to help protect against it. Prevnar 13® is approved for adults to help prevent infections from 13 strains of the bacteria that cause pneumococcal pneumonia. You should not receive prevnar 13® if you have had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine or its ingredients. If you have a weakened immune system, you may have a lower response to the vaccine. The most common side effects were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, limited arm movement, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, less appetite, vomiting, fever, chills, and rash. Help protect yourself against pneumococcal pneumonia. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about prevnar 13®. I know that there is a real commitment to solving the daca challenge in both political parties. Thats a commitment that i share. To anyone who doubts my intention to solve this problem and bring up a daca and Immigration Reform bill, do not. We will bring a solution to the floor. So please know that we are committed to getting this done. The speaker of the house paul ryan today saying republicans will address daca and the dreamers. The fate of hundreds of thousands of socalled dreamers. Joining me now is Democratic Congressman joe crowley, chairman of the Democratic Caucus. Congressman, thank you for being here. Is paul ryans commitment good enough for you that the dreamers will be addressed . Thank you, andrea, great to be with you as well. It hasnt been good enough yet. This has been a debate thats been going on for years now. Some would say decades. Since 1986 quite frankly. Paul ryan has yet to put a single immigration bill on the floor. Since hes been speaker of the house of representatives. So were still waiting to see. Its a lot of lip service so far. But nancy pelosi took the floor for more than eight hours, a marathon, yesterday, and she says she will not vote for the budget deal because it does not include the dreamers. I have no intention of voting for this bill. I think this bill not only because of the dreamers, i think it falls short in the aid to puerto rico and the Virgin Islands as well as disaster relief. Theres a lot of good in this bill. I appreciate that. From my perspective, its a bridge too far. I do think though nancy pelosi laid out the moral grounds as to why this is the civil rights and human rights issue of our day, as well as the economic issues. The folks who are in daca are contributing mightily to our economy and to deport them or a Million People or a million plus people would have a severe impact to the economy of the United States as well. Is pelosi whipping it or are the democrats going to follow . Because with mark meadows and the Freedom Caucus all complaining about it from the right, they need democratic votes for this to pass. Well, to question how many votes theyre going to need quite frankly. And ive heard upwards of 70 votes. What i would suggest is nancy pelosi is using her power of persuasion. She did it yesterday on the floor. She continues to speak to members. But i think members will do whats in the best interest of their constituency of the country as they see it. Thats their charge as members of the house, Democratic Caucus. I intent to vote no. Im talking to my colleagues as to why im taking that position. I think in the end people will have to do what they think is best. Do you think its going to pass . It remains to be seen. I do think if republicans need as many votes as they indicate, i think its going to have a rough road, quite frankly, in the way its been packaged so far. I was just talking to joe biden. We just played the interview. And he talked to the Democratic Caucus. You were obviously there, leading the charge yesterday. What how would you characterize his appeal to democrats who are divided . Youve got progressives and middle of the roaders and others who criticize the party for being too far to right or too far to left. How do you bridge those divides as you go into 2018 . Joe biden could have been from my hometown of woodside, queens. I often talk about two guys from queens. The queens that i grew up in and the queens that democrat democr that donald trump grew up in. I think joe biden really symbolizes that. What joe talked about yesterday, differences of opinion on certain issues. Of course there are. Are we on the same page . Not always. We are all on the same chapter. Thats whats important about democrats. What divides us is compared to what divides us from republicans right now, paul ryan and his agenda, and certainly nothing that divides us more than this president. His own caucus, the republican conference. Hes not going to be successful. What this country needs is balance. Thats what democrats are going to be about, bring back in the 2018 elections, a better deal for the american people, better jobs, better wages and a Better Future for this country. Right now, the dow and theres been so much volatility, its down more than 630 points. Does that weigh on you as you decide whether or not to i think at the end of the day, the republicans control both the house and the senate and the presidency. They overwhelmingly control the house of representatives. If they cannot put a budget bill on the floor that garner the support of the majority of their conference, thats their issue. Its not on democrats. We dont control the house. We dont control what bill comes to the house of the representatives. Paul ryan does. He has a rule that says a majority of the majority have to pass support a bill before they bring it to the floor. Two can play that the game. I think at the end of the day, its paul ryans responsibility to get that bill passed. Okay, joe crowley, thanks so much. Were watching the dow, which has fallen in the last hour. Up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, more than a thousand workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. Hnew litter . Lled this no. Nobody has its unscented vo new tidy cats free clean unscented. Powerful odor control with activated charcoal. Free of dyes. Free of fragrances. Tidy cats free clean. When no scents makes sense. And thats it for today. For Andrea Mitchell reports. Follow the show online on facebook and twitter twitter, mitchellreports. Nice to see you, thanks for having us here. Im Peter Alexander in washington, d. C. In today for craig melvin this next hour. The White House Press briefing has now been delayed, like lg to happen about 2 30 today. There are questions were going to focus on. Among them questions about a possible budget deal as well as our top story at this hour. The latest on rob porter, the former white house staff secretary. May depart as early as today. This after allegations of verbal and physical abuse surfaced from two exwives this week. Not only is conduct thats under review but that of chief of staff john kelly. Two sources familiar with the matter telling nbc news that while the president only learned about the