It is 9 00 a. M. In the east. Fact check, President Trumps interview with the New York Times under fresh scrutiny separating fact from fiction in the 30 minutes he spoke. When the president walked in, still in his golf clothe, he sort of introduced the New York Times reporter to the president and sort of enabled this 30minute sitdown with no aids that happened. Shock when the aides learned the president was in an unscheduled chat with the times the party on the 2018 midterms, whether it could push talk of impeachment . Im ask a member of congress about that. Bill chill, historic and bitter sweeps across the country. What lice ahead aside of the marquee new years eve events in america. Thats next. We begin with new fallout over President Trumps impromptu interview, reaction from both sides of the aisle to one of the most exblowsive comments. President trump saying i have the right to do what i want to do with the Justice Department. I think he picked the wrong country to be president of if he thinks he has absolute power to run the Justice Department however he wants. That may be the way it works in putins russia and other places, that itself not way it works here. He is not above the law. He is not a king. She a president in a constitutional system of government. Congressman adam schiff Ranking Member of the House Intel Committee responding on twitter. No, you dont, can you do what you want with your golf courses, but the country and its Justice Department belong to the American People t. Washington post says the New York Times interview is a reminder that President Trumps time at maralago is a respite for him and a headache for his staff. As word trickled back to the white house, advisers worked to reach the president with trumps personal aide interrupting to hand him a cell phone with White House Communications director hope hicks on that line. She checked in on the interview from afar. Nbc news Kelly Odonnell is following the president in palm beach, florida. What more did the president discuss in that interview . Reporter well, good morning, philip. This is a wide ranging interview from the president who has long acted as his own top press communications director. We saw that in his Business Life and it carried into his political life. You are right, it does cause a lot of heartburn for senior white house aides that were not aware the president agreed to what you can only call an impromptu interview, proximity to a reporter at the Trump International golf club, haed a meal. After the meal, the president invited that conversation and a loued it to be recorded and on the record. And thats why we have the president s comments on a whole range of issues. It comes at a time when the president is trying to balance some of the perceptions about being at his golf club so often. We saw how he treated the coast guard to a little tea time. After days enjoying december sun on his own golf course, friday the president played host to about 75 members of the u. S. Coast guard, providing lunch and a tea time. You can have a little tournament. Will you determine who the best player is, right . Reporter an outing inspired during a thanksgiving davies wit florida base guardsmen. I just want to thank you t. Coast guard is fantastic. Reporter the president had already come out swinging. In an interview with the New York Times. While he decried the russia investigation as phony and making the country look bad, the president held his often overheated rhetoric regarding the russia probe within addressing the special count sell, himself, Robert Mueller. I think i will be treated fairly, adding, ive stayed uninvolved. An opinion on mueller explained by trump friend chris ruddy. This is a man that led the fbi after 9 11, did a remarkable job. I think he has been upset with the overall thrust of these investigations. Reporter ruddy was dining at maralago with the New York Times reporter into ter president who agreed to an impromptu interview, surprising white house staff, turning to china after recounting lavish hospitality there last month, mr. Trump lashed out at chinese officials for defying north korean sanction, saying oil is going into north korea. The president admitted i have been soft on china, on trade, seeking their help. Using his social media fire hose, the president also linked extending Legal Protection for young people brought to the u. S. As children with his own wish list. There can be no daca without the desperately needed wall and ending chain migration. And going back to the russia investigation, we have seen President Trump on a number of occasions being asked if he is considering firing the special counsel Robert Mueller. He has said no we saw months ago how he called him an honorable man and yet in the context of this interview, it was striking that he said he thought he would be treated fairly when we had seen allies of the president and to a great degree the president. Talking about the Russian Investigation in very derogatory terms, repeatedly saying in that interview, there was no collusion between his campaign and russia at a time when we dont really know the timing. There have been advisers to the president who thought it would wind down towards the end of this year. There are also signs that Robert Mueller and his team are not yet finished. There will be more to look into in 2018 there all right. Kelly, traveling with the president , thank you. Joining me now nbc News Reporter eugene scott, thank you for joining us. Lets start with the president s interview, alex, there anything in there that surprised you . Reporter well, there is always something surprising when this president talks. I think he comments on the russia investigation how often he repeated no collusion, Something Like 13, 15 times over and over again seems to be fixated on. That i think his comments on the Justice Department that you highlighted earlier, he believes he can do whatever he wants with the Justice Department, particularly surprising. He even praised eric holder, president obamas attorney general for being quote loyal to the president and he said hd he admired that. He held that up as an example. Which is really notable, considering that was a major issue for republicans under the obama administration. They went after eric holder mercilessly, they held him in contempt of congress the First Time Ever that an attorney general has been held in contempt. Because they believe eric holder was too loyal to that president. So now trump says he wants an attorney general who is more loyal to him and i think once again, you know, he did hold his fire on mueller, all signs to me point if 2018 to a collision course between mueller and trump assuming the Mueller Investigation ramps up further. You jeans you pointed out in your paper 24 fams or misleading claims in that interview, including the statements he made about there being collusion between russia and the democrats. What are some of the most striking falsehoods your paper found . Reporter i mean the reality he said the investigation revealed collusion thats undebatable between the democrats and russia, which is absolutely not true to see him go from zero collusion between my campaign and russia and lots of collusion between democrats and russia without presenting any evidence whats quite startling. In addition to that, to see him say that there was absolutely no meddling into the election from russia a day after his own secretary of state wrote him up in the exact same newspaper saying there was. It was really interesting and not clear to many people why there was such confusion about collusion in this white house. And in this interview again, trump expressed disappointment with attorney general jeff session recusal. Heres what he said eric holder was more loyal to president obama. Quote. Alex, is this a direct diss to sessions right here . Reporter absolutely. He has been holding sexes out to dry fmonths. And that bam seat that is now occupied by a democrat. Jeff sessions vacated that to become attorney general even though it was trumps choice, trump tends to still blame people. But you know, he really believes and i think he got into the presidency expecting he would run things, not really understanding about everything. Not understanding the way the bureaucracy works, the kind of norms and rules and guidelines that have been in place for decades, especially surrounding the department of justice that go back to watergate t. Concern for people on the other side is that they are just guidelines and norms and theyre not necessarily enshrined in law and there are legal theorys that say the president is the head of the executive branch. He can do everything he wants. Maybe he could fire mueller. There are different ways he can go about doing that. He does have extreme oversight of his own government if he chooses to really explain it aggressively. Alex, do you see any rec sim yax in 2018 between sex and President Trump . Its hard to see how that would happen. There seems to be a detant between trump and sexes. It has not been publicly critical. I think for jeff sessions, this is a dream job hes always wanted. So hes willing to put up with the torment. You know, it seems more likely that things head further into a negative direction if the Mueller Probe heats up. The president spoke about infrastructure and possibly daca, but the president insisted he wouldnt do the daca plan without a wall. Is there a scenario where the democrats can get on board with that . Reporter it doesnt seem like that. Democratic leaders, especially those in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have been very clear they are not going to include a wall deal. Trump campaigned heavily saying he wanted to build a wall and hes not going to walk away from that, because his base is really depending on him to do that. Thats pretty much a cornerstone of his immigration policy. So it will be quite interesting to see how bipartisanship is able to even happen over daca when people on both sides are on such extremes regarding what they view as essential issues to making this pass. And alex, what do you think happens come march 5th when Congress Faces that deadline, to protect those hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants that came into the u. S. As kids . Its going to be really tough and both parties, you have really strong hard line positions on either side, pulling in completely opposite direction that are fundamentally incompatible. On the republican side, you have a hard line antiimmigration position. People who want to put further restrictions on and on the democratic side, meanwhile, you have a hard line position as you mentioned from people who say, you know, we cant give a dollar on the wall, there is a lot of democratic members of congress i spoke to, who will not accept anything, even a dollar for the wall so its going to be very hard i think to find some position in the middle there. Democrats have been counting on trump to essentially cave on that issue. He doesnt seem to be eager to do that. All right. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Thank you. Coming up, a michigan voter shocked the nation in 2016, when they sent donald trump to the white house. Now will they benefit from the tax plan . Well ask a Congress Woman from that state in a moment. Of everything and he teaches us to be strong and brave, too. vo through the subaru share the love event, weve helped grant the wishes of fifteen hundred kids so far. Get zero percent financing for 63 months on select models, plus well donate two hundred and fifty dollars to charity. I used to have more hair. I used to have more color. And. I used to have cancer. I beat it. I did. Not alone. I used to have no idea what the American Cancer Society did. Research . Yeah. But also free rides to chemo and free lodging near hospitals. I used to maybe give a little. Then i got so much back. I used to have cancer. Call 18004944357 today. Your contributions to the American Cancer Society fund valuable research. But thats just the beginning. A cancer diagnosis can kick off years of challenge. And thats where your donation truly shines. You help us fund free rides to treatment. A live 24 7 help line, free lodging near treatment centers. And even efforts to expand access to insurance. So, please donate today at cancer. Org and help attack cancer from every angle. You know we had the largest tax cuts in our history, just to prove, the bottom line is this is the biggest tax cuts and reform in the history of our country. This is bigger tan actually president reagans many years ago. Again, the biggest tax cut, biggest reform of all time. President trump last week confidently but inaccurately declaring his tax cut the largest in u. S. History as he signed the bill into law. Joining me now, debbie dingell, michigan democrat, Congress Woman manufacturing is one of the industrys thats getting a favorable treatment under the tax plan with the tax rate of 10. 94 paris, its even lower than the corporate rate. Is this going took win for michigan . Are Companies Planning to trickle down the tax savings down to employees . Well, we have to see, in the auto industry, contracts have been negotiated the next couple of years. They do give out bonuses to the salary to hourly employees. Well see what happens next year. I think in michigan, people the workers the working men and women, remember, im someone who predicted that donald trump could win michigan and could win this election, because he was talking about issues that mattered to working men and women, but a year later, those working men and women are still worried about those same issues. Theyre worried about trade deals that have shipped their jobs overseas. They dont see the jobs coming home. This tax bill gives incentives for people to continue to locate jobs and put hours overseas, not bring it home. There are workers in michigan very worried about their pensions, their pensions are threatened to be cut. They are no longer sure of a safe environment and for many of the workers in michigan, their wages have stayed stagnant. We will see what the tax bill does and whether the workers really feel it or not. The president is telling the New York Times in his improperty you the interview if the democrats had come to table quote, i would absolutely have done bipartisan. I would gone to congressmen. Did democrats pass up an opportunity to lobby the president on state and loyal taxes . Look, i dont think anybody gave up. I dont think anybody was interested in working on the tax bill. Which is very disturbing about all this. You are not talking about whats happened to health care t. Senate passed bill in the final bill 13 million americans will now be uninsured and premiums will go up because of it. And by the way, we still havent done anything on c. H. I. P. And daca and issues. If he is serious about working with democrats, we have to we should be working toke to deliver for the working men and women across this country. But there really wasnt an interest by republicans to work with us, i will tell you that point blank. The president is telling to us come to him about infrastructure. He says he wont do daca without funding for his wall. You said you are willing to work with him in 2018. Are you on board or will raising state taxes for infrastructure . Im not on board with the wall. Id love to have another point on the larger immigration issue. When are you talking about border protection, why dont people talk about the northern border, which is actually an easier way to get if at times. I will put that to the side. I dont like the way we are targeting people because of religion, these young people, these daca kids. The president said we have to do something to help. Why are we putting them through emotional terror and hell. On infrastructure, i have been clear. My job is to work for the workmen and women of my district. We need to do something seriously in this country about infrastructure. We are not only talking bridges and roads. Look at flint flint is one of thousands of communities across the country that have an aging water system that is delivering lead to children across this country. We desperately need to do something about that. The amtrak accident that happened, had they installed the train Safety Equipment recommended two years ago, would we have saved lives snap it needs to be installed for this country to be competitive in every Community Across the country. There are so many issues we need to Work Together on. Thats what i think we are all sent to washington to do. Politico is reporting the impeachment debate divides democrats as we head into 2018 f. Democrats do retake the house, would you support a move to impeach mr. Trump . I, you know, i think a lot of these questions are gotcha questions. Im working hard for democrats to take the house back. Its a long way between now and then. We need to be talking about, which we are, the economic issues. I think thats what will drive the real issues, who is delivering for working men and women. Before any impeachment process is started, there needs to be cause, fact, details t. Mueller investigation needs to continue. We need to look alt other things and you know see where facts take you. Let me ask you, what are you willing, what compromises are you willing to make to work with the Trump Administration in the coming year . First of all, i want to do something about pensions. The president came to michigan, West Virginia and other states and heard those people. I have as to many people in my district that worked a lifetime, put money into their pension plans, suddenly, they dont know if they will have money to live on. You dont know how scared these men and women are. Lets do something to take care of people who played by the rules and thought theyd be okay. We got to do something creative. Cant we work towing to help protect them . Ive said to the president , im work with you on trade from the very beginning. Weve had to many bad trade deals that shifted our jobs overseas, i want to bring those jobs back to this unk. I will work with him on infrastructure, on opioid drug addiction, if he will go out and do something about it. Its a crisis in this country. Specifically if your state, what do you think feeds to be done to rectify this, the water six that is still ongoing . Well, when you talk about it, not only do we have to replace an aging infrastructure, but right now this tax bill that passed, one of the things that were terrified about because of the increase in the debt is that theyre going to immediately move to try to cut medicate or medicare. People dont understand everybody thats helped through medicaid and medicare. 50 of the children in michigan get their health care. This is a very depressing figure. Are only eligible for health care through medicaid. That money is critical for children in flint that have been damaged by lead. We have to make sure we can take care of our chin through this country. Not only do i believe every american has a right to Affordable Health care, we have a moral responsible to take care of our children. Dong woman ding him, thank you for joining us. Happy new year to you. Thank you. Coming up, President Trumps newest tweet is on fresh protests in iran, my next guest on the significance of that and will russia try to mess with midterm elections and is america prepared to stop it . A former cia insider once stationed in moscow joins me nex next. If yor crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough, it may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. Entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. Infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. Entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. Pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. This condition has not been reported with entyvio. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flulike symptoms or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio. If your uc or crohns treatment isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach. Welcome back. Ill philip mena here at msnbc headquarters in new york. At 27 past the hour. We are monitoring digitally cold weather a. Main concern, the deep freeze is expected ahead of tomorrow nights ball drop, free of precipitation, but it will be one of the coldest if years with the wind chill dipping below zero. New this morning, in iran, thousands participated in a progovernment rally in response to a series of antiprotests on thursday that spread to multiple cities if iran. Officials say at least 50 protesters have been arrested. The unrest is being monitored by many around the world, including President Trump, who tweeted this last night. Joining me now is a 28year cia veteran john siempfrt and on th cia program 2000 to 2002. You tweeted you have been keeping an eye on iran and russia. Can you speak of the significance of what is taking place over there . What is interesting in iran, those demonstration seem to be organic, they seem to be across the country. So i think its significant. There is an interest in democracy there. The demonstrations, they dont seem to be chanting death to america and zionistis. We have to remember the iranian authorities control the media and levers of oppression and violence there. So the notion that its going to, you know, make some sort of radical change is certainly unlikely and we also have to be careful, because we also know despots in places like russia and iran, they need to create an enemy to blame for their own problems. So certainly in iran, they will be blaming the United States and saudi arabia and others for this kind of thing. The progovernment demonstrations already seem to show that. But, nonetheless, it is something we need to monitor and pay close attention to. How does this at this time in with our established policy in regards to iran . I think it well, its not clear we have an established policy t. President has made clear his view of the Iranian Nuclear deal and there certainly the people around him seem to be very antiiran in the way that they think but at the same time are suggesting support for russia and others who embolden iran and hezbollah and others. So it is a time for us really to come together as a country and as an administration and put together a thoughtful iranian policy that looks long term, not just short term. I want to turn to the ongoing attacks by the Justice Department and the fbi. Lets take a look at what the republican Congress Woman samant week. I would like to see the actions purge it. Say, look, we have a lot of great agents here, those are the people the American People want to see and not those in the deep state. He said purge might be a strong word, he remains unhappy with what is taking place in these position. You work at the cia. How do you think these statements affect how these officials are operating, could it motivate them to take a tougher approach when it comes to the russia investigation . You know, i find those kind of statements shameful, frankly. Our public servants, they take an oath to the constitution and work for democratic and republican president s and administrations and people like the president and our members of congress and senators, within they speak, theyre speaking to numerous audiences, theyre speaking to foreign offences, who are listening closely, theyre speaking as the head of the government to the people who work for them. They are certainly speaking to the American People as well as their partisan supporters. But it seems like people like the congressman there and the president are speaking to a small base of people who want, just like the iranians do, to create a strongman to consider an enemy, theyve tried to suggest the fbi and cia and Justice Department somehow are an enemy of the administration and, therefore, need to be taken down. And thats just nonsense is what that is it sends a bad message to the American People, pause those organizations are not partisan. And i want to turn now to that interview that President Trump did with the New York Times on thursday. He said there was quote le tremendous collusion on behalf of the russians and the democrats. There was no collusion with respect to my campaign. He referenced the steel dossier and tony podestas firm as two examples of what he means, how do you think intelligence officials view statements like that . Well, i think intelligence officials are fought involved at all in, you know what tony podesta said or these issues related to democrats ar republicans. That language is mane to the excite a base of people on a partisan basis, not, it is not language that supports the government and servants that work for him or are foreign allies and part iners we need to work with. It does not make them comfortable. In fact, it emboldens enemies and others. It happens when he speaks to absolutes in that way. Politico are out on hacking, many states face heading into next years midterms. It says states may be on a waiting list for up to nine months for the department of homelands most exhaustive security screening, which is cutting it close for novembers election. What is your assessment when it comes to preventing future election interference . Well, it is very clear the russians have a clear foreign policy. Its to do damage to the United States. These active measures. These things we saw if 2016 against us, that thats part of their campaign, frankly that campaign will continue because its inexpensive and its successful. We as a country Vice President to take this out of the partisan realm and look at this as a National Security threat and deal with it that way. We need to work with partners in Silicon Valley and other places all as a government approach to deal with this. We need to look at how we can defend and deter these types of activities. But so far, there is no reason for mr. Putin to stop this. Because there has been no price to pay for him. John sipher, thank you for joining us. Have a happy new year. You too. Coming up, can President Trump do whatever he wants with the Justice Department . We will ask a federal prosecutor. Thats next. There is absolutely no collusion. That has been proven. That a democrat hoax. It was an excuse for losing the election and it should have never been this way, where theyve spent all these millions of dollars, there is no collusion. Thats i. We got to get back to running the country. President trump earlier this month, he is still insisting there was no collusion during an interview with the New York Times this week. But its is president s criticism and veiled threats against the fbi may cause concern. Heres special prosecutor, rath rather. It is also a possible obstruction of justice saying to agents, you better not dig too deep, you better not find anything, i will attack you. This is the president of the occupation. It is congressmen who have a National Audience and can make peoples lives miserable. Joining me now is former federal prosecutor. Cynthia, thank you for joining us. The president told michael scombhid schmidt of the New York Times there was no collusion. Is that what the president should be worried about . I agree we need to look into the obstruction. Thats bob muellers duty to do. Will he be protected or not . The president is saying he believes he has the absolute pow tore fire mueller. And he does the reason he does, congress is so weak. They have not passed a law that makes mueller independent. They need to do that. He can go to Rod Rosenstein and say fire mueller. If he doesnt, he can fire Rod Rosenstein and wait until he finds something that will fire mueller. Im hoping this is theier Congress Stand up to trump and goes ahead and passes a law to make muellers investigation independent and protected. He told the times quote i have the absolute right to do what i want to do with the Justice Department. Is that true . Yes, that is true. Thats the carry part. And the reason why he has the absolute right is congress has not passed anything and we need to know the answers to these really important questions about whether or not the Trump Campaign in anyway colluded with the russians. We dont know the answer until we get the response from mueller. Its important not to jump to any conclusions. We have a lot of evidence is that is damming. We have several indictments. But were waiting to know what happened with the data operation. We are waiting to know to find out when they got the polling data from the different states in the feast and the midwest, did they share that with the russians and ask for russian help . We dont know the answer to that question. We need to know that, the only way to know that, probably, to make muellers investigation protective and kept away from trumps ability to fire him. What do you think the odds of that happening in the coming here . I think theyre good. Trump announced to the New York Times, i have an absolute right. He is saying very forthrightly when it basically when it threatens me, i will get rid of him. Thats what he is saying in that interview. Listen, people, thats what he is saying. Hell do it, too. You know, weve made mistakes over and over, oh, he wont really do that. He really will release his taxes. He will do x, yo zvmt he does exactly what is in his best interest and what will be at some point in his best interest or what may be in his best interest will be to fire mueller, if mueller gets too close to him. There is every indication mueller may get too close to him. He has the cooperation of flynn, who knows exactly what happened in the campaign. Flynn knows whether or not trump asked him to speak to the Russian Ambassador and make the deal to reduce the sanctions if return for help with the election. Flynn knows that. He theres all kind of information leading up to him and when its in his interest to fire mueller, he will figure out a way to do it. Unless Congress Stands up to stop him. The president s legal team will try to attack the credibility of michael flynn. This could further alienate flint but is this a tactic youd expect from trumps lawyers . Yes, i think thats basic. If you have somebody who is coming after you, the first thing you do is go after them. Especially in a case like this, where, you know, mr. Flynn, general flynn has announced and admitted he had lied to the fbi. So its obvious the defense will be hes a liar. Heres the thing about flynn, which i dont think people realize, flynn is a dangerous witness for both sides in the case. What do we know about him . We know when he is cornered, he lashes out at people. If you can remember how the Obama White House fired him and he went after Hillary Clinton . We know that he has an interest in going after the president because hes got to protect himself, because he had his own liability and he had to protect his family, because his son had some liability potentially. We know hes gotten a really good deal so there are a lot of ways to cross examination him for the trump investigation for the trump people. But remember this about him, heels also dangerous for the prosecution, because hes a very volatile person, hes very smart but very volatile. If cornered on the stand, he is the type of person that would blow up. So my guess is flynn is the type of witness you use to figure out the case to understand what happened. But within it comes time to proving it, you need to find other witnesses and documents in order to protect yourself. That being said what sort of evidence do you think mueller will need to maintain he stays a reliable witness . Well, they need to know, for example, if he says i had a meeting on x day with the president and we discussed something, that means they have to have every lock on when they met. They have to have every, any piece of evidence that supports that meeting. Who saw him go into the office . Who saw him to go out . Who did he talk to after the meeting . Who did he tell after . Every little bit of evidence has to be corroborated on flynn in order to protect him as a witness and to try to establish the ways i case without putting him on the stand, or putting him on as little as possible. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Happy new year. To you too. The coming blue wave on capitol hill, is it inevitable . What can republicans do to stop it . And ahead on am joy why the three republicans done agree on what to do next on the republican agenda. Michelangelo whoa haha. Leonardo gear up guys . Flu details this morning about the president s recent interview with the New York Times the walk post is reporting not a single aide or adviser was present at the table and not a single aide or adviser knew about it in advance. Another new article from the Washington Post crunched some numbers from that interview finding the president made 24 false or misleading claims, that equates to one every 75 seconds. Lets bring in our republican strategist, former deputy executor for the National Republican senatorial cycle and democratic strategist, former chief of staff for senator joe manchin. Thank you gentleman for both joining us. Kevin, how much hoffof a proble this for the Trump White House . Actually i am with trump on this i have said on msnpc before, we need to look into this. So far it has worked out well for the president i will say, not for the white house. I do think we need to keep on looking into it. We need to find the truth in this. So there is a lot of game left, though, so how much trouble it will be . Well see what mueller comes up with. He is the only one that knows. The Washington Post gave insights into the visit, Shannon Donnelly of the palm beach daily news noted Christmas Eve trump walked to the buffet, made his own plate, providing guests another opportunity to interactt times on certain aides or how the white house is doing. A way to look at this as a good thing . The interview . Not if youre lying at the rate he is. I think, for anyone whos worked for a candidate, worked for a president , the idea that a president would sit down unprompted, unstaffed for an interview is terrifying. After you read some of the details of that the interview, i think, bespeaks to the Major Concerns that so Many Americans have about the president. One, his inability to be straight about the facts and a failure to grasp, i think, the details and the nuances of policy and politics. Which, i think, be speaks to the real frustration that people have about his presidency. After a year, he simply still does not get it and i cant imagine that this is going to get any better over the coming year. What about that report of him asking the people coming to maralago how hes doing, recommendations, a live suggestion box for how his administration is handling things . If you want to know how your administration is doing, go out and talk to the American People. The tax bill, look at how unpopular it is. States like ohio and where real working class, hardworking people actually live. Im not sure youre going to get a reflection of reality at maralago. Kevin, in that New York Times interview, he spoke about the russia investigation. He said, i think rob mueller will be fair. That remark is generatinge ingiz because some have been on antimueller crusade. The president ignoring the support. As a former republican staffer its a terrifying thing to hear your principal sitting down, unannounced with a reporter for 30 minutes. This is the way he is. So i think, whether or not, you know, this is going to be a huge problem is kind of all its all water cooler talk right now. Everyone sits here and speculates. Its kind of a red herring for the 2018 map. The democrats are hooking for something to give them the push in the back they need to retake the senate and the map is just really, real lay hard for them. Coming off of alabama, a democrat outspent 6 to 1 to lose by two percentage points. This Russian Investigation is what they need to give the ammunition to win in some of those red states, senate races. You were joe manchins chief of staff, what the president said about him if that interview. He said, quote, joe is a nice guy, he talks, he doesnt do anything, he doesnt hey, lets get together. Lets do bipartisan. I say, good, lets go. Then you dont hear from him again. Whats your response to that . Well, he doesnt know senator manchin. The fact is and having worked with the man for a number of years, not only is he sincere about working with republicans, you know, hes determined to try to solve actual problems. If the republicans and the president wanted democrats involved in the process its really easy to involve them in the process. In fact the way the senate and the congress works, if you want it to be bipartisan it can be easily done. They didnt. They wanted to get the bill done. Once you make anything bipartisan it will take more time to create that compromise and consensus. As a consequence we have a tax bill thats an abomination to a lot of American People who are going to suffer, because theyll lose their health care, an incredible concentration of wealth amongst the top 1 . More tax cuts for the corporations. Not going to lead to growth or Job Development in the country. If the president wanted to work with joe manchin or any democrat it could have been easily done. He didnt want to do. Kevin, still talking about 2018, the democrats are leading in polls by 13 points. One of the key focal points will be senate. You work for the National Republican senatorial committee, should republicans at all be worried about a blood bath in next years election . You should always run scared. You know, heres the thing, candidates matters. Thats the big thing. Thats what mattered in 2016. That will matter in 2018. History is not on republicans side here. The first midterm of any president s first term in office is really, really hard for a president. You have no idea what tair going to do, the uncertainty is the scariest for people running campaigns. You can have bad news thats fine, you need something to react to and build off of. What republicans need to do, they better have been running scared in the last year. Which i think theyve done. And again, you know, the states where democrats are running its just really, really hard mathematically. Its a math problem. Ebb if they win arizona and nevada, they need one more. Tennessee, texas, wyoming, nebraska, not democratfriendly places. They need a lot of help. They got to pitch a perfect game here. I dont know theres a reason a perfect game is a big deal. They dont come very often. All right, chris and kevin, thank you so much for joining us. Happy new year to you both. Happy new year. Happy new year what Luke Skywalker says in the new movie that aptly applies to President Trump and its not latering. That wraps up this hour of msnbc live. Im phillip mena. Time now for am joy. Gong. Welcome. With just one day left in the year the news on russiagate just keeps on coming. On thursday, the New York Times caught up with donald trump in the grill room at his golf course for a 30minute interview that covered a range of topics including one hes really committed to, his talking point that he didnt collude with russia. Because he said the phrase no collusion 16 times in the