More, but, you know, the numbers werent there so mnuchin and Speaker Pelosi and others worked together. We did about as good as we can do and theres not going to be any debt default. Coming up, ill talk to the chairman of the House Budget Committee on whether this tentative agreement will hold. And new at number 10, controversial pro brexit populous Boris Johnson was chosen to the new Prime Minister and promises to lead his country out of the European Union by the halloween deadline. I know that there will be people around the place who will request t question the wisdom of your decision. And there may even still be people here who wonder quite what they have done. And good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington. In less than 24 hours, we will finally hear from Robert Mueller answering questions for the first time about his twoyear investigation. House democrats are hoping his testimony will rebut the president s frequent claims that hes been totally exonerated. While republicans try to amplify the trump mantra that the trumps origins were politically motivated. Here who are critical developments to watch. Will mueller obey the restrictions laid out overnight in a tough new Justice Department letter . Second, can democrats construct a coherent narrative despite criticism over the questioning in previous hearings and despite the republican counterarguments . Joining me now, nbc White House Correspondent kristen welker, msnbc legal analyst meme meme roker, and justice and security anally the maft matt miller and sam stein, politics editor at the daily beast. Welcome all. Matt miller, i want to turn to you first because the question now is this letter. Do they have the authority, can they restrain him . Does very to abide and do you think knowing what you know about Robert Mueller that he will obey . They have the authority to send him this letter and whether he will obey or not. He doesnt have to. Hes a private citizen and theres nothing they can do to hold him accountable. But i think as the letter referenced reasked for guidance about the Justice Department how far he could go in his testimony. Not an inappropriate thing for him to do. The letter he got in response is extraordinarily aggressive if the you take that letter at face value, he basically can come in and recite the words from his report. He cant talk about his decision making, he cant talk about the legal reasoning behind his decision making, he cant talk about conversation easy had with others at the department, like the attorney general. Thats problematic for two reasons. One, it applies this traditional doj idea that the department not talking about unchraged third parties. Thats usually the right idea. If the departments not going to dooi indict someone, they should shut up and not talk about it. But its congress that has to police the misconduct and the special counsel should be able to talk been. Second problem is all of the guardrails that the department has set out for the special counsel to follow in this letter are guardrails that the attorney general has blown through himself in multiple times in press conferences, testimony to congress. Hes talked about his decision making, the special counsels decision making, hes characterized his conduct in ways that go beyond what the report says. So the idea that bill barr can talk about this investigation one way and mueller cant do the same strikes me as an extraordinary position for the department to take. And meme minuhim himeme meme solely yachts blew through all that and answered important questions about her decision making. I think we all know by know, though, that Robert Mueller is not, you know, jim comey and sally yates. Hes going to be probably more stick to the script a little bit more. But, i completely agree with matt that i think, you know, this letter just goes way too far. I mean, its almost impossible for mueller to abide by this letter, to talk about the report without talking bun charged parties. That is frankly, what the entire report is about. T the entire report is about. I think if the question was asked, was there substantial evidence, did you find substantial evidence that donald trump committed obstruction of justice, he will answer that. Thats more important if not, you know, a question as any other question about what he would have done with charges. So they should stay focused on questions that mueller will answer that are important. And importantly, kristen welker, going into this hearing this week, chairman nadler has already said that he believes high crimes and merchandise have be misdemeanors have been committed already. So hes talking about an impeachment inquiry more broadly without calling it by its name. At the same time were learning from carol lee that don junior say parentally the only person at the trump tower meeting who was not interviewed by Robert Muellers. Thats right. Than you doubtedly will that un be among the questions asked tomorrow. You put this into the right context that for democrats they see this as their last chance to try to make the case against the president for those who favor impeachment to try to make the case for impeachment. Obviously the party deeply divided on that issue. The strategy here at the white house so far seems to be to try to downplay what is going to happen tomorrow in less than 24 hours now. I asked President Trump if he was worried about mueller testifying. He said, no. He then said hes not going to watch. Then in the same breath he said well actually he might watch a little bit of the testimony. So well clearly be watching his twitter feed very carefully. Ive been talking to his legal Team Officials here at the white house. They said they dont have a war room prepped as they have in past instances. Theyre going to respond appropriately. Theyll probably do some tv appearances once the testimony is done. But as the president s attorney jay secca low told me overnight, because mueller has said hes going to stick to the four corners of his report at this point in time, thats what they are preparing for. He said he feels as though it would be inappropriate if mueller spoke outside of that. But, again, as you are discussing with everyone right now, that is going to be the goal of some lawmakers to try to push him on some of these critical questions, andrea. And the fact is, there have been a lot of questions raised about Robert Mueller, why he didnt push a subpoena to interview the president. Was there a time limit on him . Did he think it was politically not sustainable . Did Rod Rosenstein tell him he couldnt because he was under those guidelines of the Justice Department . And also, again, why no questioning of don junior. There will be no restrictions on that. There was some indications from the mueller report, sam stein, that and some thought that don junior might have gone before a grand jury because there was so many redactions around his testimony. The redactions that were in that category of grand jury redactions. Yeah. This goes back to questioning the coninstructs of the investigation, right . Again, to your point, how much pressure did they put on the president to sit down instead of giving written answers . Were there time constraints . Why not don junior interview on this trump tower meet something all these are questions i do wonder if mueller will get into the construct of it himself or whether this letter gives him an out. T himself or whether this letter gives him an out. Bill bar came out quickly, gave a summarization of this and then insisted before congress that he had no pushback from Robert Mueller himself. Thats a secondary part of the question but an important one as to whether mueller feels like bill barr was being honest about how he represented it, but whether he was getting pushback from muler and hmueller and if t goes there. I think this letter was written in part because bill barr doesnt want the conversation to go in that direction. Wasnt there a letter from the prosecution staff or from mueller himself back to bill barr after that summary, that misleading summary . After bill barr released the summary, mueller complained in a letter to him that his his summary, barrs summary, had misled the american people. He didnt say he didnt use the word misled but he said did not leave them with a complete picture and thats for his own summaries to be released. The attorney general declined do that. He waited three 1 2 weeks for it to be release at which time only bill barrs interpretation was out there for the public. Hell be asked about that tomorrow, i think its an open question how much hell get into it, ha those disagreements entailed and what he disegreed wi disegre d disagreed with him on. Its clear there was a disagreement, its just what that disagreement was. Were all on pins and needles nls tomorr. The testimony starts at 8 30 eastern. Meanwhile, Texas Democratic congressman Joakim Castro serves on the House Intelligence Committee that will be questioning Robert Mueller tomorrow afternoon. Good to see you. Its the first time im seeing you with a beard. Is that to distinguish yourself from your identical twin running for president . It helps, yes. Well, youre the one sitting in one of the hot seats asking the questions tomorrow. Its very telling, i think, that Robert Mueller began and closed his nineminute summary. The only thing weve heard from him in the two years is, he began and ended with the russia part with volume one and with the concerns that he had. And he basically said now its up to you, congress. What do you want to know about the counterintelligence aspects of this . What russia did, because its chapter and verse in that first chapter. Right. Of how extensive their interference was through social media, fake crowds, through area you know, social media, fake accounts. Even that Time Magazine 1976 photo of the miner that was grabbed and created as miners for trump and now the son of the miner now deceased is complaining. Hes a West Virginia democrat complaining that his late fathers image from 1976 is being used was used by the Trump Campaign by russians. I think thats one of the aspects of this investigation thats gotten overlooked some. We basically want to know how deeply russia has its hooks on the United States and our political system, starting with the events of 2016. We know that members of the Trump Campaign met with russian open operates at different times, including the trump tower meeting. But i think americans will hear about the full extent of the russian interference on social media, the effect that that had, whether anybody was compromised by the russians, including anybody that was part of the Trump Campaign. And also going forward, we also want to know his recommendations for how we prevent this in 2020, 2024, and beyond. So those are incredibly important questions that the Intelligence Committee is going to be asking tomorrow. What do you want to know in specific . Well, again, i specifically there are so many things. Theres basically three buckets in between judiciary and intelligence we are hopefully going to get all those answers. But im going to be watching closely with the Judiciary Committee on obstruction of justice. Because Robert Mueller laid out about ten instances where he may have on instructsed justice. B obstructed justice. Obstructed justice. So these are all things, well have those five hours or so that well get to. I also want to ask you about reports overnight that that congressman nunez, the republican ranking republican on your committee, on the Intelligence Committee, very controversial for his false accusations against outgoing obama officials was talk together president about replacing the director of National Intelligence dan coats who has been under a cloud from the president. I was stunned that the president would be considering nunez. Because usually that position, the position. And thats why dan coats, you dont read about him in any controversial way. Hes a quiet guy, goes about doing his quiet guy. To go from that and put in devin nunez who has been so partisan in his work would be a terrible move and also stunning. And also because fred flights was previously mentioned, very controversial nsc guy. If there were someone to step up, it would be the career person, sue gordon who is highly respected in the intelligence community. That said, stay tuned. Thank you very much, well all be watching tomorrow. Thank you very much congressman castro. Make sure to tune in to msnbc tomorrow for special coverage of Robert Muellers testimony to Congress Starting at 8 30 eastern. Coming up here, making good. The Senate Finally expected to pass that 9 11 Victim Compensation fund this afternoon. Fund this afternoon. Be right back. With moderate to severe Crohns Disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. Is she alright . I hope so. So i talked to my doctor about humira. I learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of Crohns Disease after trying other medications. And the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. The business of family time. And downtime. And you time. And forgetting what time it is. Altogether. Modernized comfort inns and suites have been refreshed because when your business is making time, our business is you. Get the lowest price guaranteed on all Choice Hotels when you book direct at choicehotels. Com. We took everything you love about the bloomin onion and created a menu youve never seen before. Bloom, there it is bloom, there it is this bloomified menu starts at 13. 99. And its gonna blow your bloomin mind this bloomified menu starts at 13. 99. [ crying ] you protect them at home. We help protect them online. This is beyond wifi. This is xfi. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity. The future of awesome. After years of contentious debate and a heated political fight sparking an emotional appeal from jon stewart, 9 11 workers will finally get the help theyve been demanding. The senate is expected to pass a bill to permanently provide funds for 9 11 First Responders who suffered Health Issues as a result of the 9 11 attacks. President trump is expected to sign it. It comes after republican senators rand paul and mike lee delayed their vote last week. Joining me now is Caroline Maloney and michael oconnell, a firefighters who raced from his home on long island to 9 11 and has been suffering the consequences. I hesitate to say congratulations. Does it now appear youre finally back . Thank you for covering this story for 18 years. Its been a long battle, but i believe the vote in the senate will be as strong as the house. We had over 442 positive votes, probably the strongest bipartisan vote weve had on any issue. Its america at its best coming together for the country. Michael oconnell, what has happened to you as a result of the valiant efforts, the service you provided to the nation, really by responding on that terrible day and in the months after. Well, i was there as a fireman. I was young in my career, i was 25 years old. In 2007 i was diagnosed with a disease that almost took me life and here we are fighting for 9 11 First Responders. Its an exciting day, were hoping it goes our way. Look what were fighting for. Were fighting for people who are sick and dying. In the grand scheme of things, its still sad. I know of course, its too late for Louis Alvarez who have fought for this and are now gone. What does it mean to you to get this vote today . Im happy. Im happy for families like the alvarez family, the pfeifer family. Weve lost many people along the way during this fight down here. Still people that are sick and dying in droves. Weve lost i think three in the last four days. Weve lost 189 11 fir 9 11 firs responders since louis died. Michael, thank you. Caroline maloney, i know you fought so long for this. I dont know what you say to your constituents and your colleagues about the toll this has taken on the surviving First Responders. Well, its the right thing to do to give them the dignity of healthcare and the peace of mind of compensation. They were there for us, we need to be there for them. And its important to underscore that this is a National Challenge and a national response. We have over 434 congressional districts and 433 have people in the program. They responded when america needed them. Helped us rebuild. Its not only new york and 9 11, its shanksville and also the pentagon. And not only for that day, but those that helped rebuilt those sites. And it was a double moral responsibility. They responded to the call of the nation, and also the nation misled them. They told them a toxic lie. They said it was safe to work there when clearly it was not. But to know that people like michael will have the healthcare and compensation that he so justly deserved, its the least we can do as a grateful nation. Well, people are grateful to you and all of your brothers and sisters among the First Responders. Thank you very much for being with us today. Well be tracking the vote, of course, this afternoon. Thank you. Joining me now is new york city mayor and democratic president ial candidate bill de blasio. I know we want to talk about your workers right proposals, but i want to ask you about the 9 11 First Responders. You are among many who have been at the forefront of this fight. These were heroes by every measure. I want to amplify what caroline said, they were told it was safe the epa. The epa no less. Right. That story still has not been looked at enough. Why on earth for whatever Public Relations or other reasons the epa told thousands of our heroes it was safe to go someplace it wasnt. Look, the least we can do as a nation is be there for them and their families. You know, we just lost louie alvarez. Were honoring him with the key to the city. He not only did his job but then went and stood up for his brothers and sisters even as he was dying. We need to make sure we never have a situation where people serve us, put the lives on the line and then are forgotten. This is a piece of legislation that should not have been a fight. It says a lot about what we have to do better. Talk about giving your last breath for the cause. I want to ask you about workers rights. Its a been issue. You have a new proposal. Tell us how it would work. This is what this election should be about in my view. This is both about the future of our country, but its also about the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. I think you might agree that for decades democrats were seen as the party of working people. And by the way, when democrats were seen that way, they had a Strong Majority in this country, rural areas, urban areas, every region. In receint years, more and more americans werent sure the Democratic Party was on the side of workers. I call it a bill of rights on purpose. We need to enshrine these rights. So for example right now in america folks can get fired for no cause whatsoever. This legislation im proposing and what i would enact as president is there has to be just cause for termination. There has to be due process. Right now in america, theres no guarantee of time off, no matter how much you work. Every other industrialized country in the world guaranteed paid Vacation Days but this one. I propose two weeks minimum vacation. This is about protecting labor unions who have taken it on the chin for decades. The Labor Movement made this a great middle class country. We have to reenshrine the ability of working people to have their voices heard and not let companies dictate the terms and make sure its easy to organize a union. What about the gig economy . A lot of people have no ability to take their benefits from job to job. My proposal, this bill of rights enshrines specific rights for people in the gig economy to give them the kind of security right now they dont have. I believe this is the right thing to do morally, but i believe this is the platform of the Democratic Party. Youre going to see a lot of people come back to the Democratic Party. A lot of people care about voting. This is about their lives. I want to ask you if you agree with a tough tweet today from corkor cory booker. The Justice Reform plan, its not enough to tell us what youre going to do for our communities, show us what youve done for the last 40 years. You created the system, well dismantle it. Is it fair for cory booker to say you created the system, well dismantle it . I want to say not only in criminal justice, but joe biden was the driving force behind the legislation that led to so much of the mass incarceration era. Look, the things were talking about in terms of working people. This is a guy who voted for nafta, which led to the loss of over a Million Manufacturing jobs in the midwest, in the very places democrats lost to donald trump. He favored the tccp. I think the challenge for biden was, he was a central figure for the last quarter of the 20th century at the time when working people were going backwards. More and more division. More and more income inequality, more and more Structural Racism affecting peoples life chances. He was central to the status quo at that point. He has not provided us a believable vision of how hes going to break out of that history. Its not enough to just say heres a new position thats the exact opposite is debate night going to be beat up on biden night . Its going to be about this direction the country is going to go in. Heres a guy, the arguable front runner for the nomination right now, who has not persuasively explained what he can and will do differently than the mistakes he made in the past. And ill tell you again, look at nafta. In the midwest, its an article of faith that nafta hurt communities, took away livelihoods from working people. Joe biden was part of that. How are we going to send up a nominee who is going to have to defend that record when its not defensible. And my concern is not about the personalities. My concern is that we not repeat 2016. That we not have a Democratic Party that people believe is on the sides of the teletes. We better have that argument now. I want it to be later on donald trump on a debate stage with any democratic can say you were part of all those problems and the democrats are deer in the headlines. We need to have that conversation now. We need to go in a pro worker aggressive direction where working people will know were on their side. The battle lines are drawn. Mr. Mayor, thank you. I want to add a quick note about the 9 11 Victim Compensation bill and what it does not include. Including to the experts weve talked to, the bill does not appear to include compensation for surviving american diplomats who were head history in iran back in 1979. The leader for many decades of appeals for their compensation, some of them were tortured and have otherwise suffered many ailments in the succeeding years. The leader, who was the ranking diplomat when the americans were taken history by the the iraniairania iranians, he died last week at the age of 96 and has not seen the compensation for his fellow diplomats. It was his wife, penny, who first tied a Yellow Ribbon around an oak tree on their front lawn, which remained until they returned on Inauguration Day in 1981. Well be right back. Well be rig bhtack. Do your asthma symptoms ever hold you back . About 50 of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. Eosinophils are a key cause of severe asthma. Fasenra is designed to target and remove these cells. Fasenra is an addon injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. Fasenra is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. Fasenra is proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, improve breathing, and can lower oral steroid use. Fasenra may cause allergic reactions. Get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. Dont stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection or your asthma worsens. 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Todays merrill can help you get there with the people, tools, and personalized advice to help turn your ambitions into action. What would you like the power to do . The white house and congressional leaders in both parties have now agreed on a twoyear benefit deal which also raises the debt ceiling for two years. If this passes without any last minute objections from any side, it would postpone the next fiscal showdown until after the 2020 election. Kentucky democratic congressman John Yarmouth joins me now. Im sure this was a nail biter. Do you think its going to stick . Weve seen before deals and handshakes where the president walks away or theres some objection in the senate from deficit hawks or in the house from either deficit hawks or progressive democrats who think it doesnt go far enough on the spending side. Thanks, andrea, for having me on. You bet. Everything these days is subject to change and you never know and you hold your breath. But all the signs are very good this is a deal that will pass the house and senate and will be signed into law by the president. We still have the process of actually appropriating the money based on these top line numbers. If this deal is passed and signed into law, then weve avoided a shutdown, most likely. Weve avoided detault on the nations debt and weve given some certainty to the country were going to continue to make the kind of investments that are necessary to provide a better Economic Security for our citizens. There are a lot of reports that Mick Mulvaney was against this deal, the acting chief of staff, and the treasury secretary won the day and the president is on board with raising the debt ceiling. Thats what all the signs are. You know, we know Mick Mulvaney is a true deficit hawk. He proposed a budget for the white house this year that had drastic cuts in important domestic investments that are essential to the future of this country. They raised defense a significant amount, in excess of what this deal provides. It was a victory in a sense over the mulvaney interest, and im glad this is the way it happened. Every negotiation we do now is a fiveway negotiation on the budget. Its the house, the senate, the president , mulvaney and mnuchin. Muveiny and mnuchin and the president are not always on the same page. Its very, very complicated, its not even triangulation. Speaker pelosi was masterful in these negotiations. I think this is something that nobody is going to be ecstatic about. Everybody should be satisfied that weve averted very, very dangerous possibilities for the economy and that weve made investments in the military. Weve made significant investments again in our domestic Economic Security mandates. And i think this is a victory for the country as opposed to any partisan victory. Thank you very much, congressman. I know that you as the budget chair have a lot of work still to do. Thanks for everything youve done so far. New leader Boris Johnson taking over at uk Prime Minister tomorrow. Can he make brexit happen . Well go to london next, right here on Andrea Mitchell reports. Stay with us here on msnbc. Stay with us here on msnbc [ paper rustling ] exactly, nothing. Theyre completely different people, thats why they need customized Car Insurance from liberty mutual. Theyll only pay for what they need [ gargling ] [ coins hitting the desk ] yes, and they could save a ton. Youve done it again, limu. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. And we have breaking news from capitol hill. America has a defense secretary. The senate has confirmed mark esper as secretary of defense. Final vote was 908. Its been over 200 days since we last had a defense secretary. Boris johnson has been elected the next Prime Minister. We have to reconcile two noble sets of instincts between the deep desire for friendship and free trade and mutual support and security and defense between britain and our European Partners, and the simultaneous desire, equally deep and heartfelt, for democratic selfgovernment in this country. This morning, johnson was elected leader of the conservative party. He will meet with the queen tomorrow to formally assume his role as Prime Minister. Im joined now by simon mcgee, a former british diplomatic press secretary. Welcome, simon. Not a big surprise as he was chosen in this last minute fight with jeremy hunt. The current foreign secretary. Hes a populist. Hes pro brexit, obviously but he has until october 31st to try to negotiate the deal, the economic arrangements for brexit. Hi, andrea, yes, indeed. This is what the conservative leadership battle was all about who which one of the two candidates could deliver brexit for the Tory Party Member whose were in favor of leaving the European Union. Boris johnson has a small amount of time to find a way through to convince European Partners to do a deal with him, a different deal to the one that theresa may had been working on for two years. Can he do that . Thats the question on everyones lips. Hell be doing it as well with the European Union thats far more hostile to him as the man who won the e. U. Referendum for the brexit side than they were to his predsetter. One of the other issues that has been roiling the waters here is the uk ambassador being forced out after some leaks by the president of the United States. Nigel farage is backstage right now at the president s speech to conservative teens all wearing red maga hats. Hes been tweeting from backstage. Hes here in washington. There are rumors hes being pitched by washington as the next ambassador to washington from the uk. That would destroy all precedent, wouldnt it . It would be unusual for the United States to think it could pick the next uk ambassador to washington. But i dont think its a secret that nigel farage and donald trump are very close politically and are very, very good friends. So the fact that hes literally backstage with the president right now is not a huge surprise. Of course, given the discussions and the speculation of course the fallout of the leak of the cables that led to the previous uk ambassadors resignation, it certainly will fuel the fisa speculation. Boris johnson, you know him well there in the uk. Colorful, controversial, accused of being deceitful. Theres a scathing oped in the New York Times right now, i would say buckle your seat belts over there and on this side of the atlantic. Thank you for being with us today. Coming up next, all about that base. The president s controversial rhetoric giving him a boost with his party. More on the rise of trumpism. Stay with us on msnbc. With us. Man 1 proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. Man 2 proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis. Woman 2 . With humira. Woman 3 humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the number one prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. Announcer humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. 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You had such deep relationships and it really shows in this book. Thank you. The analysis, youve got the president after all of the accusations of racism because of racism and these comments and the controversy, and hes holding steady. Sure. Of course, he is. Whats been interesting, andrea, you noted that poll at the top, but whats been interesting to watch over the last 18 months. Even when Donald Trumps approval drops down into the high 30s, couple occasions got down to 36 or 37, his approval among selfidentified republicans has held incredible consistency right around 90 , which tells you that essentially youve got this block of moderate, suburbanite voters, whose approval of the president has fluctuated whereas his core base have remained incredibly loyal through thick and thin. Obviously if he can hang around the low to mid 40 mark for the next 14 to 16 months here, then hell have a real chance at winning reelection. That is something i think given such a thin margin for error we saw in 2016 most people discounted his chances to win the second term. He is sitting in a pretty good position at this point. He is absolutely betting on that strategy. This was just within the hour him speaking to young conservative teens and i guess Young Millennials gathered in washington and, again, going after rashida tlaib. Watch. I watched just this morning this tlaib tlaib. From michigan. Theres no way she stands for the values of the people of michigan. But i watched her this morning. Shes vicious. Shes like a crazed lunatic. The democrats are forced to embrace her and i call it aoc plus 3. Aoc plus 3. Not that aoc is a bargain because shes not. She is no bargain. In the book, one of your quotes from the president is him saying the Tea Party Still exists except now it is called make America Great again. The Republican Party was in big trouble. I brought the party back. The Republican Party is strong. The Republican Party is strong. Theyve got to remain faithful and loyal. And you see that in their weak or silent reaction to his recent comments. Yeah. Thats right. I think if you are going to isolate a week that mice demonstrate trumps chokehold on the Republican Party and his takeover of the Republican Party this is a pretty good one, andrea, because not only of what he says and continues to say and do but how he gets away with it. The response from the republicans or lack thereof in many cases is really something else. I think we all understood the degree to which republicans were going to be reluctant to speak out against the president in most cases but we still felt, at least i felt knowing a lot of these folks on the hill a lot of these republicans who ive covered for years, that at some point there would be a breaking point where, you know, what they feel privately about the president would bleed into what they say publicly and we have yet to see that which is awfully surprising. Tim alberta, congratulations again. The book is american carnage and doing quite well, deservedly. Appreciate it. We appreciate you. Coming up next, that mystery in havana. What a new medical Study Reveals about the brains of diplomats. Stay with us on Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. Ce. Whoa. Travis in it made it. Its amazing. Oh is that traviss app . Its pretty cool, isnt it . Theres two of them. Theyre multiplying. No, guys, its me. See, im real. Im real he thinks hes real. Geico. 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Researchers from the university of pennsylvania have released a new study today published in the journal of the American Medical Association on brain studies done on u. S. Diplomats and their families who the u. S. Government says suffered Unexplained Health incidents in havana in 2017. A top cuban doctor is calling the methodology and results into question saying, quote, if the control group was not well matched, the differences could be due to uncontrolled factors. For example, he says, for both groups was head concussion history, sports, military service, matched . No evidence is provided of the degree of overlap of patient and control group. The functional connectivity differences, he continues, the second type of measure, can change due to many factors including psychological states. For these measures the overlap in between controls and patient is shown and is very great. The illnesses among American Embassy staff of course in 2017 led the Trump Administration to reverse president obamas diplomatic opening to cuba withdrawing most staff from the u. S. Embassy in havana, expelling cuban diplomats from washington. Im joined now by nbcs Josh Letterman with more on the medical reports. This has been very complicated, but what the medical results show is substantial change in the brains of these americans. They dont have prior mris before they went to havana and in the control group we dont know as the cuban doctor is pointing out what other factors may have led what concussions they may have suffered as children. Thats right. The circumstances are imperfect for sure. They dont have the massive type of sample size that you would like to have in a medical study. They dont have the baseline studies that allow you to really draw really clear comparisons. But thats the nature of this. They didnt know what they were dealing with. They still dont know what they are dealing with. Theyre trying to cobble together the best medical evidence that they can to explain whats happened in the brains of these patients who are evacuated from havana. We still dont know what caused this. Thats right. U. S. Government officials were talking to say that the fbi, which has been investigating since early 2017 has exhausted the leads that it has, has not found an external Energy Source yet that can point to that shows what might have caused this but they are still looking and still trying to find some type of cause and culprit. And there was basic change in what part of the brain . There were a few changes they found when they compared a group of the havana patients to a normal control group, including a decrease in the overall white matter. So white matter is the part of the brain that functions as the information highway, nerve fibers that connect different parts of the brain together, and they found that on average the cuba patients had 27 fewer cubic centimeters of white matter compared to a normal group of healthy patients. Fascinating results. Still, the mystery continues. Well stay on the case. I know you are. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. That does it for a very busy edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. Here is Stephanie Ruhle from velshi and ruhle. Hello, everyone. It is tuesday, july 23rd. Coming up this hour on velshi and ruhle mueller day is coming. One day away. We look at what the former special counsel plans to testify about and the limits the department of justice is trying to put on his testimony. Democrats hoping more americans watch the movie than the 10 who read the book. Plus, jeffrey epstein, registered as a sex offender after that secret 2007 nonprosecution agreement but some of his wealthiest friends stuck by him even after that. Well look into the latest reporting. Remembering the heroes. Congress finally set to vote on the 9 11 Compensation Fund after a very public spat with jon stewart. First you know what we have to cover. It is down to the wire less than 24 hours away from former special counsel Robert Muellers testimony before congress. He will be making an Opening Statement in front of