Super poligrip, helping you enjoy the foods you love. Good morning, im alex whitt here at msnbc World Headquarters in new york. Right now on msnbc live, new twists today in the Stormy Daniels saga for the president and for his onetime attorney Michael Cohen. A new threat from the porn stars representatives. Another late tweet from the president on russia and collusion allegations. Hes claiming victory of sorts after a gop report is released. But a leading democrat says not so fast. The investigation is nowhere near complete. Religious war on capitol hill. Or has the chaplain of the house of represent i have beens has been based on politics because of something he said during a prayer . On the border, a developing standoff as hundreds of migrants await their fate. Hoping to get into the u. S. Theyre with the Trump Administration is saying this morning in a live report next. A live picture of the white house where the president is reigniting his feud with yet another red state democrat this morning. This time montana senator john tester who the president says should resign. Youll recall tester was one of the chief critics of white house doctor Ronny Jackson, amid the various allegations during his bid for va secretary. Nbc News White House correspondent Kelly Odonnell has more on this. Lets get to what the president is saying. The president is tweeting on this issue involving dr. Ronny jackson. Also taking a swipe at the former director of national intelligence. But on the issue of Ronny Jackson, who has served as physician at the white house to three president s, including President Trump, and he is now looking at the issue of senator john tester. A democrat of montana, up for reelection. Thats a key fact. And the president often talks about how he won the state of montana by large margin. So here is what the president was tweeting today. Ail compensations made by senator john tester against admiral dr. Ron jackson are proving false. The secret service is unable to confirm, in fact they deny any of the phony democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful jackson family. Tester should resign. That is a strong suggestion from the president. He says the great people of montana will not stand for this kind of slander. When talking about a great human being. He then goes on to say admiral jackson is the kind of man that those in montana would most respect and admire. And now for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair. Testing with the exclamation point. The president has contributed to this by talking about how unfairly Ronny Jackson has been treated. And also say egg wouldnt go through the process of actually going through the confirmation hearings and vote to be Veterans Affairs secretary. A job the president nominated him for. Putting him into the sphere of all of this scrutiny. President got a lot of things on his plate right now. Some of that includes one of the legal cases that hes involved with, along with his private lawyer, personal lawyer, longtime friend, Michael Cohen. And on that issue, theyre getting some more time. A new twist this morning in the president s legal troubles. With Michael Cohen. He represents me like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal. Stormy daniels lawsuit against the president and his embattled personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is on hold. For 90 days. In a ninepage ruling friday, a california judge delayed the civil case, at cohens request. Writing, this is no simple criminal investigation. It is an investigation into the personal attorney of a sitting president regarding documents that might be subject to the attorneyclient privilege. Adding that an indictment for cohen appears quote likely. Daniels lawyer reacted on twitter. Justice delayed is justice denied. Turning to the russia investigation, House Republicans released their final declassified report friday. The president claimed victory. I was very honored by the report. It was totally conclusive. Strong, powerful. But democrats scoffed. I think its ju just a gloss on a very political report, a document that could have been written by the white house. Friday, with the german chancellor at the white house. President trump put the fate of north Korean Nuclear talks on his own shoulders. I think i have a responsibility to see if i can do it. And if i cant do it, it will be a very tough time for a lot of countries. And a lot of people. The president says two locations are under consideration for a summit. But when asked if he had already spoken to kim jong un himself, he chose not to answer. I will be meeting with kim jong un in the coming weeks, we look forward to that. And hopefully it will be productive. No date, time and place yet publicly disclosed for that. And expect the president to litigate a lot of these issues tonight, when he goes to a Campaign Rally in michigan. Skipping the White House Correspondents Association dinner for a second year in a row. Alex . Kelly odonnell at the white house. Thanks, kelly, see you again. Joining me now, pam alevi, reporter for mother jones. First your reaction to the president s tweets. Is he going after senator john tester only because of jacksons failed nomination, what he brought to the research that put forward some news that was obviously detrimental to that . Or do you think theres more to this . Look, absolutely the president is aware that tester is a democrat. In a state that he won as he likes to point out, by about 20 points. So absolutely. Hes aware that he can do damage there. You know another thing that we know about this president is that he is vengeful and he is spiteful and he sees someone whom he believes has gone after someone that he likes, one of his nominees. A setback to his policy goals and so hes, hes taking revenge. You know i think its not 100 fair to target just tester here. What weve been hearing from his committee for a while now is that this was a bipartisan effort to vet this nominee and that both parties actually working together in this instance, in order to get to the truth of these allegations. Whether theyre true or not and whether or not they disqualified this nominee. So you know, its probably political in a lot of ways, but the president sees someone he wants to attack and hes been on that attack now. I want to bring in jonathan l l leemere now. President won montana by 20 points, why go after john tester . Is it all personal . Is it revenge . The president can be vengeful at times. Certainly politically. And i think you hit on point it is personal. And but larger than just Ronny Jackson, were seeing the president is increasingly surrounding himself with people that he has a personal rapport with. Hes very fond of the doctor who is his physician here at the white house and it must be said that people in the Obama Administration also spoke very highly of him. But the events of the last couple of days have obscured something else. There are real questions about jacksons qualifications to run that agency. Much of course being made about these allegations in the last few days. But this is a person who has had no experience running a large bureaucracy and this isnt just any bureaucracy, the second largest in the federal government and the one could argue, the most challenging, the most broken. An agency that needs a strong leader. And as much as the president is personally fond of the white house doctor, there are real questions whether or not he was qualified to do this. And the challenges this president has had bringing in qualified people to work in his cabinet and in his white house. Its interesting, dr. Ronny jackson has implied that the president is the most healthy person on the planet. That may be a lot of why the president has loyalty for him. Lets go back to the president s legal troubles with Michael Cohen. Im start with you, pema on this one. The developments in cohens case, put this in perspective, given all thats happened this week. Yeah look, i think that you know, Michael Cohen is facing a lot of different pulls and pushes here. The stories coming out that really detail some of his personal interactions with donald trump. Sort of an isolation from donald trump, an alienation from the person, not ohm his boss, but his idol in a lot of ways. Think is really interesting. It puts a lot of pressure on him, sort of from the outside, in order to save face. You know a lot of pressure to potentially turn on the president. You know and then in terms of the Stormy Daniels new information here, that on some level is a reprieve for him. That takes a lot of pressure off of him. Because you know again it doesnt look good to plead the fifth. And he definitely, i think wants some space to try to make sure he can dodge and indictment if possible over in manhattan. So theres a lot of pulls and pushes in terms of legally, whether or not hes going to fold here and then also on the personal side, whether or not theres enough of a relationship there to keep him loyal to trump. But im curious, jonathan, how the white house is looking at all of this. Specifically you have the president s admission that cohen represented him. He used past tense there in the Stormy Daniels deal. He was calling it that. Was that expected from the president . Did he admit that for some reason . Well theres definitely some nervousness here in the white house about the whole Michael Cohen affair. In part because so much of it is unknown. People around the president who work with him here dont know all the details of the business dealings that cohen has done for the donald trump for more than a decade. He was not just a lawyer, he was, he was part of the Trump Organization in terms of making international deals. He also very much was a fixer, and these very payoffs that were talking about. The president , what he said on thursday, we took some people by surprise here in his fox news interview. One white house adviser told me that the president had been chomping at the bit to do that for a while. Not necessarily talk about Michael Cohen but to have a freewheeling conversation with his Favorite Television show. He feels he needs that outlet. Hes tired of the way hes represented so often in the media. He feels he is his best spokesman that is usually a very Friendly Forum for him and he wanted to do it. And now hes committed to doing it i believe you know once a month going forward. And he, you could hear it in his voice, he was revved up. He was sort of angered by a lot of different subjects and probably unplanned, said this about cohen. Even as he was trying to minimize the actual work he did for him. I want to ask you both this regarding the russia investigation, in fact that the House Intelligence Committee released its final report saying no collusion for the president. Obviously heavily republican endorsed and the democrats have their own opposing views. Is it possible, pema for congress to get to the bottom of this investigation . What weve been hearing from the senate side is that the senate Intelligence Committee is towelly working together on a bipartisan basis, to put out a report that they really hope will get to the bottom of this. And so you know i think that there is a possibility of some significant things coming out of the senate. The house has clearly devolved into a partisan battle here with republicans deciding it is their job to defend the president. And democrats trying to point that out and then continuing an investigation, but without the subpoena powers they need to really do that. So on the house side this has completely broken down. And certainly i think you know from the perspective of the democrats in the house, theyre looking to robert muler to ultimately issue findings and a report for them to get some clear conclusions on this. Jonathan, your thoughts as well on this question. Give me your thoughts on what you think is the greatest threat to the president , whether its Stormy Daniels, whether its the russia investigation, whether its Michael Cohen. Where is he most vulnerable . Well first of all, exactly right. I think there is at least some suggestion that the senate is sort of conducting this investigation in a more bipartisan, more thorough way, theres no question that the house probe was far more politicized and has handed the president something he can wave around. We saw yesterday in his News Conference with chancellor merkel of germany. He was asked about the house findings and he said look, this is sort of proof, a witch hunt, theres no collusion and theres certainly a fear among some democrats that he now has something that hes going to use to bludgeon the findings of the mueller probe. That hes going to try to say thats politicized, if it comes back negatively for him he can say the house said theres no wrongdoing here and hes trying to muddy the waters. Were seeing the attacks on the department of justice. Its connected in terms of his softening the ground to either perhaps move the Deputy Attorney general or the special counsel or at very least to soften the findings. In terms of what poses a bigger threat, thats a hard question to say. But certainly i could say this, people around the president are nervous, more nervous right now about cohen. Again because theres so much they dont know. And there is a fear that as loyal as cohen has said he is to the president , if he does end up being indicted and facing a lengthy prison sentence, he has a family. He has told people around him that hes nervous about the future. There is a possibility that he may flip on the president. Okay. Jonathan lemire, pema levy, thank you. What was the president s theory to prompt President Trump to do that phone interview this week. Turns out the prints at the crime scene awwwww. Did Mcgruffy Wuffy get a tippy wippy . Im serious we gotta move fast before whos a good boy . Is him a good boy . Erg. Im just gonna go. Oh, you wanna go outside . You gotta go tinky poopoo . I already went, ok . In the bathroom as long as people talk babytalk to dogs, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. But as it grew bigger and bigger,ness. It took a whole lot more. Thats why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. With it, i earn unlimited 2 cash back on everything i buy. Everything. Whats in your wallet . You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. I have no doubt that the president was giving one marching order for his interview this morning and that was, you need it say that Michael Cohen was your lawyer on Stormy Daniels, we need that because youve contradicted that. Michael cohen has contradicted that by saying that neither one of you discussed it. He wasnt in communication with you about it. We need you to do this. So he did that. Congressman adam schiff on why he thinks the president called in to fox friends to drop this bombshell about the Stormy Daniels case. Lets bring in republican tom reed from new york. I want to start right there. Might Stormy Daniels ultimately be this president s achilles heel . And do you think he needed it to do that, to identify Michael Cohen as his attorney publicly like that . I dont know the internal issues related to the litigation and well let that process take care of itself. I think this is not an achilles heel for the president as many are trying to describe it. This is kind of one of those issues that from my perspective, needs to be dealt with, about im focused on being part of the team to address the American Peoples needs, the more we do that the better off i think were going to be as a country. I want to go to what my colleague Joe Scarbrough wrote in an oped. He says theres no one who can save trump from himself. Hes afflicted instead by selfimo lags. Were you concerned about his demeanor during that interview . Towards the end even the anchors appeared to be thinking we have to try to save the president from himself. I know the president , i was one of the first to endorse him on the republican side, traveled with him. And i do believe he has a unique style. Obviously we all see that. But at the end of the day, i do believe this president is putting the American People first. Hes focusing on getting things done. And what youre see is just kind of a different style that a lot of people who are career politicians, just dont know how to react to it. Because he clearly is not a politician. Hes not worried about the shortterm. Hes looking longterm and hes looking to get things done and that to me is a positive thing that should be embraced by many people that can look at what hes doing for the people back home. And look there are people embracing it. Can i ask, do you ever every once in a while think a little headscratching moment with this president . I think thats an honest assessment and to be honest there are times when theres a difference in style between me and him and i would express some disagreement on that style but at the end of the day, i do believe in this president. That he is putting the people first and is trying to change d. C. For the good. That is a good thing. That is not a bad thing and you look at the results we have. Low unemployment, good economy. Look whats going on in korea right now. These are gamechanging moments that bring stability to the world, not this armageddon thats been the campaign of so many people that are against him. There are mixed reviews, when you bring up north korea of the president s involvement there. Is there a way to gauge how much this president is responsible for the developments . I just say you look at the actions. You look at the actions of kim jong un. You look at the of china with kim jong un meeting with china. The great pictures we saw at the Demilitarized Zone where north korea and south korean leaders came together. Thats the first time thats ever happened. Those are historic moments, i would say you look at whats changed. You have a new administration in President Trump putting down a marker saying enough is enough. Were going to change the status quo. And lets make sure that we dont have a nuclearized north korea. I want to talk about the firing of house chop lan father patrick conrad. I know youre among two republicans who voted against the motion to table the resolution, to create a committee. To investigate his dismissal. And heres the prayer that father con roy thinks got him fired by House Speaker paul ryan. Take a listen, sir. As legislation on taxes continues to be debated this week and next, may all members be mindful that the institutions and structures of our great nation guarantee the opportunities that have allowed some to achieve Great Success while others continue to struggle. May their efforts these days guarantee that there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits, balanced and shared by all americans. Now speaker ryan reportedly told the House Republican conference yesterday that he fired conroy because gop members felt like their pastoral needs werent being met. Politics didnt play a part in this. Is that the case . I know your colleague, republican colleague i should say in new york, peter king, he vehemently denies that. He said i get plenty of pastoral assessments from him and guidance from him. Is there concern that theres hostility in washington, even the guy who is praying for everyone is getting fired . Absolutely. I mean obviously i know father pat and i have counseled with him. Ive gone to mass with him. And hes a good guy. And to see this happen to him, you know thats why i got up yesterday, walked from the republican side to the democratic side and took action to say im going to stand on this one and join the democrats to say this was not the right call. And at the end of the day, you know the truth will come out as to what happened. But right now im just very disappointed that this is being handled in the fashion its being handled. Do you think theres a political angle to this, sir, in that more conservative southern republicans, lets say were not in favor of having a jesuit member of the catholic faith, jesuits being a bit more liberal . Was that behind it . I hope not. When we talk about religious guidance, each of us has their own personal journey when it comes to their relationship with god. At the end of the day what father pat represented was obviously a religion domination. But he also was a person and he was a person who cared about us. I know that firsthand. He cared about me, he cared about my family, he cared about the other members, when he expressed his opinion at times, yeah, sure, he had a political slant to it. Just like everybody else does. But at the end of the day, its about being a priest, its about being a counsel and to be handled this way was just something i just felt i couldnt be part of just sitting there doing nothing. I wanted to show my support for father pat by standing and voting on the floor in his defense. Im going to say an amen to that. Which seems appropriate. Thank you so much congressman tom reed, good to see you. A federal judge says he sees another indictment coming for one of President Trumps associates, were going to tell you who, next. Helped put a roof over the heads of hundreds of families, hes most proud of the one hes kept over his own. Brand vo get paid twice as fast with quickbooks smart invoicing. Quickbooks. Backing you. But how do i know if im im getting a good deal . I tell truecar my zip and which car i want and truecar shows the range of prices people in my area actually paid for the same car so i know if im getting a great price. This is how car buying was always meant to be. This is truecar. We need to help more tocalifornians get ahead. D, thats why Antonio Villaraigosa brought both parties together to balance the state budget with record investments in public schools. And new Career Training programs. As mayor of la, he brought police and residents together to get illegal guns off the streets and keep kids out of gangs, and on the right path. Thats Antonio Villaraigosa. A governor for all of california. Happening right now, a standoff on the mexican border, hundreds of migrants, women and children from central america. Many say theyre fleeing violence. The Trump Administration declaring theyre not welcome here. Nbcs Gadi Schwartz is standing by in san diego, california and watching the drama. Its a heck of a story. The people have travelled a long way, whats the latest . Absolutely. Alex this is the port of entry where the caravan is expected to come. This is likely the first place that these immigrants will see of the united states, if they are granted entry, it will likely be in detention. You can see over here thats the border wall, thats Border Patrol right there they are prepared to be detained for days, weeks, possibly even months and theres a chance that some of the families will be separated. By foot, by bus, by train. The caravan has arrived. Once numbering over 1,000 now just uppnder 400. Mothers like this one have lost almost all her belongings, crossed into guatemala she was robbed of her money, her papers and her phone. Her daughter is all she has left. She has that all she has left is milk and diapers. We watched as 1yearold ashley learned to walk during their journey north. She told us that in her home town she got caught between feuding gangs that threatened to kidnap her daughter and now what she reached the border, losing her baby daughter is still her billest fear. She said the thing that she fears the most is shell lose her daughter and her daughter will be taken away from her. Members of the caravan say that could happen during her plea for asylum. One of the tactics weve seen from the Trump Administration is the separation of children from their parents. Where they place children in foster care situations under the office of Refugee Resettlement and they place the parents and in adult detention centers. Situation made even more tense by the president s regular tweets targeting the caravan saying ive instructed the secretary of Homeland Security not to let these large caravans of people into our country. Its a disgrace. Creating more uncertainty whether theres strength in numbers or whether the caravan will come this far just to be turned away. Now katherine tells us she has spoken to members of that caravan that have separated from the caravan that are already in the united states. Shes also said that she has, not heard from others who try to make the crossing, so shes not exactly sure what happened to them. But she at this point is still trying to decide whether she should cross with the caravan on sunday or try to go at it alone. Alex . A pivotal weekend for these 400 migrants making their way. New developments this morning in the Stormy Daniels saga after a judge puts a hold on her lawsuit against trumps personal attorney. Now a federal judge says the porn stars lawsuit against Michael Cohen will have to be delayed by 90 days because quote it appeared likely cohen will be indicted in a related criminal investigation. Here with more, msnbc legal analyst katie phang. Lets get into the judges decision here, which is really tying together these two separate cases against cohen. The criminal investigation and the lawsuit brought by Stormy Daniels. How do they affect each other. Do they . They do. Theyre on both sides of the coast of the united states. You wouldnt think they would be related, but they are. Michael cohen has said to the judge and the judge has agreed that a 90day stay is appropriate because Michael Cohen said if he had to he would invoke the fifth amendment right against selfincrimination. The judges found theres significant factual overlap between whats happening to Michael Cohen in the Southern District of new york case and whats happening in the civil lawsuit thats revolving around Stormy Daniels, basically the judge has said because Michael Cohen would have to protect himself from making any statements that would incriminate himself in the Southern District of new york case hes going to allow Michael Cohen 90 days or three months to see if an indictment is going to come. But you said alex that the judge wrote in his written findings and his rulings, that an indictment is imminent. I dont know how much more freaked out you could be if you were Michael Cohen at this point. Cohen has said i did the amendment right, im not going to incriminate myself. If theres nothing to incriminate yourself about, why do you need to invoke the fifth amendment . Thats a great common sense question. The reality is the fifth amendment is part of the constitution, its there for people to be able to invoke whether they have been charged or maybe they will be charged. That protection is afforded Michael Cohen. He could not take the fifth this is a civil lawsuit. But we know the civil lawsuit brought by Stormy Daniels has to do with the 130,000 payment that Michael Cohen raid and we know that the raid that happened in new york at his hotel, office and home includes documents and materials relevant to the 130,000 payoff. If theres nothing to take the fifth about, why not get it out there, get this done. Walk away, were not talking about it any more . Thats the Michael Avenatti kind of Stormy Daniels approach. Thats their strategy. Thats telling the judge, look, you need to get this out in the public. Not only the Stormy Daniels deserve it and does she merit it. But the American Public deserves to know as well. The judge said look this indictment is imminent. Its lukely and frankly, alex, i tend to degree, i think in less than 90 days Michael Cohen will be indicted by the Southern District of new york. Thats the Southern District of new york. Thats not mueller. Theres a separate Mueller Investigation thats going on that does include Michael Cohen. So Michael Cohen is looking at least a few criminal fronts in terms of having exposure. Michael avenatti has a point i want to play that he made here. But the president was calling in to fox news, he admitted cohen representing him in the Stormy Daniels matter. Lets take a listen to what he said. As a percentage of my overall legal work, a tiny, tiny little fraction. But michael would represent me and represent me on some things. He represents me like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal. He represented me. Hugely damaging admission by the president. Because according to what he said on air force one a few weeks ago he didnt know anything about the agreement. He didnt know anything about the payment. Michael cohen went off and did this on a lark and mr. Trump knew nothing about it we now find out that thats bogus. So do you agree, katie, was this a damaging slip . Or can you see something that would make you think no, this was calculated . Oh, no, it was the worst thing that trump could have done is go ogen that tirade on fox and friends on thursday morning. He admitted that not only did Michael Cohen represent him in that quote crazy Stormy Daniels deal but he was aware of the fact that the money was paid. We all know that trumps been denying any knowledge of it, until now. So now hes walked himself into a deposition. Unfortunately because of the stay in the Stormy Daniels case in california we wont see a deposition of donald trump happening for at least 90 days. Thank you so much. Kanye and the president , could the unexpected support have an affect on africanamericans approval of trump . Thats next. Im jimmy, this is my definition of fresh since 1983. President trumps attempts to enhance his image among black voters has taken another kind of awkward turn. He seized on comments from rapper kanye west who fired off a series of tweets this week ahead of his albums release. Kanye looks and he sees black unemployment at the lowest its been in the history of our country. He sees that stuff and hes smart and he says you know what, trump is doing a much better job than the democrats did. Remember i was going to get no black votes . I was going to get none . Well i got a lot. Ive got a lot of support you know, and i should have gotten much more. Now they voted for me. Crime is way down. And really importantly, the unemployment picture is the best its been in the history of our country for africanamericans. Joining me now, eddie blog, chairman of the center for africanamerican studies at Princeton University and an msnbc contributor. Ive got to get right into it. Look theres so much going on here. Was kanye tweeting about the unemployment numbers . No. And in some ways kanye was trying to, to establish his own kind of independence and from the political process. I dont think the tweet was specifically about the unemployment rate. He has been critical, as i think many of us have been. Of the democratic partys position with regards to black communities, often taking black communities for granted. He identified with trump in ways that were, that were troubling. So he found himself in a sea of controversy. And rightly so. I think he had to respond to it. Chance the rapper who weighed in on all this, he was defending kanye first on twitter. Saying all black people dont have to be democrats. But then the president gets involved tweeting thanks to chance, and then chance was immediately shoots back saying that aint it. Chance gave a detailed explanation of why he supported kanye but not the president , saying i would never support anyone who has made a career out of hatred, racism and discrimination and he goes on to talk about whats happening in chicago. The president s somewhat feeble response to that city. How do you interpret all of this . I take it that chance was defending his friend. You can defend your friend and disagree with your friend at the same time. So what we saw was donald trump trying to take advantage of a particular moment in popular culture. To misrepresent his policies. Unemployment is at 6. 8, 6. 9 in africanamerican communities, we need to understand that thats low and its a result of economic policies that in fact come out of the Obama Administration. Begin with the Obama Administration, and the aftermath of the great recession. But when you look at it, the underlying, the underlying dynamics, are still at work. White unemployment is at 3. 6 . In some places, 3. 3 , were still twice that of white unemployment. Which suggests that inequality is still in the labor market. Plus President Trump is not taking into account all of the folks who dropped out of the labor market. Hes not taking into account the full, full swath of folks who are, who are trying to work, and those numbers look very different. Particularly when you account for folks who are locked up. So i think what chance the rapper is doing, is trying to, trying to create a little distance and nuance, so we can understand what President Trump is doing. The mistake that kanye made and his attempt to kind of treat black folk as if were this big blob that we all think alike that were all democrats, that we all hate trump that none of us are republicans. As if were just one you know, kind of homogenous group. Who engages in groupthink. Thats not us, were complex human beings like everybody else. Absolutely. On the issue of race relations, there does tend to be more unanimity on this with regard to this president and his perception in how he handles things. This according to the Associated Press and an orc poll, 91 of africanamericans disapprove of the way the president handles race relations. Just 8 approve there, eddie. I mean the president won election, essentially with that level of africanamerican support. Even though he said he got a lot of votes, about 8 , do you think he thinks he doesnt need to reach out to the community . I think he is basically an extension of a strategy of the republican party. Before President Trump took over and metastasized. Thought that the basic strategy was to get a certain pesage of black voters to jeopardize the chance of the democratic party. They had no interest in appealing to black voters, policiwise they engaged in dog whistles, coded racial speech in order to mobilize white fears, the proceedings of the National Academy of sciences released a statement saying it wasnt economic insecurity driving the trump voter, it was a status threat. The sense that the america is becoming a majority minority nation. That in some ways White America was losing ground, particularly white men. And so you know, this idea of donald trump being concerned about black folk, is just simply ridiculous to my mind. And what we see, i think, is in black communities, a real demand for serious policy. Just because we disagree with donald trump, just because we think, i think he is a bigot, doesnt mean that im going to run with my hands wide open to a democratic party. Who in some instances takes advantage of black voters. Eddie, it always makes sense, plrly coming from you. I do wish i could have more time with you, i could chat with you all day. But well do it again, i promise, eddie, thank you so much. Have a great day. Coming up, what to make of the House Intel Committees final report on russia, whether republicans tried to explain away some inconvenient truths. Then at the top of the hour, the controversial firing of the house chaplain. A. M. Joy has the latest on this uproar. President trump is wrapping up his push for an end to the russia probe following the release of the final assessment by the Republican House intel members. He tweeted that House Intelligence Committee rules there was no collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia. As ive been saying its a big hoax by the democrats, based on payments and lies there should never have been a special counsel appointed. Witch hunt. Lets bring in msnbc political analyst, jonathan alter. Is there anything in this report by the House Intel Committee republicans that moves this ball forward on trying to wrap up the russia no. Its a complete whitewash report as everybody has expected all along. It does give President Trump a talking point and he can say he was cleared by this Puppet Committee on capitol hill but theres actually something very important that is buried in the democratic response to this. They complained that when this was being investigated there was a call that came into donald trump junior on june 6th, 2016 from a blocked number and it was inbetween calls that he made setting up this meeting, this important meeting that theres been a lot of focus on on june 9th when russians came to quote dirt. And real indications that that might have been donald trump jr. Checking with his father about this meeting, giving him a heads up about this meeting which is the crux of the collusion. The crux of the conspiracy. The events of june of 2016 are critically important in this investigation. The same way it all came down to the events of june 1972. At a certain point investigators focus on the crux of what appears to be collusion in this meeting. So add to that that yesterday we learned the russian lawyer from this meeting admits to being an informant for the kremlin. So put that together. Was this woefully premature for House Republicans . I think that he is 100 correct that this is something that will allow him to talk to his base and will allow republicans, particularly those up for reelection that this is a complete scam. Democrats dont like the president. You guys have to turn out in order to keep us there in the house but at the end of the day i think Robert Mueller will be the determining factor where this goes so while i think the house is trying to get ahead of this for political reasons i think at the end of the dailey gally speaking our eyes should remain on Robert Mueller and allow the chips to fall where they may. Okay. We have former democratic congressman in the house steve israel who is writing about all of this on the hill and well put up what he said here. This is a political document written by republican members of congress that fear losing a Midterm Election. Should we be sceptical about whatever conclusions the other congressional investigations reach for that very same reason . Look its a Midterm Election year. Yeah but the senate Intelligence Committee is doing its own investigation and that one has gone forth on much more of a bipartisan basis between them. So theres some possibility that in addition to the Mueller Investigation, we might get some new credible information out of the Senate Report and that will come out before the election. Its not clear if its going to help the republicans this fall. Okay. I want to get to what Joe Scarborough did. He wrote in the Washington Post and reports on the president s increasing reliance on his own instincts and he writes one of the many tragedies of Donald Trumps life is that there is no one on this earth who can save this tortured man from himself. But that hasnt worked for President Trump so far. Its brought him where he is today. Is it possible he is his own best strategist, spokesperson, deal maker, all of that . I think as it pertains to running for office and i have worked for three president ial candidates and governing are two different things. Donald trumps personality and im just merely analyzing here works very very well when a candidate is trying to run for Political Office and win and appeal to certain demographics but when youre governing you have to turn that off some what and behave and act a little bit differently and one of the most critical and fundamental issues for President Trump is when it mattered most he hasnt been able to do that. He hasnt been able to show that discipline and level of gatt discipli discipline and that level of disearnment and i also think thats why republicans are going to be hurt a little more than what they should come november although historical precedent does say we should indeed lose the house. Does shermichael have a point there . It all worked for the president as a campaigner but is it just not working for him in terms of coming to policy and governing the country . Is that where he should have had the change . A lot of people expected he would. Many people thought he might change. Thats why were going to vote for him. Well, they were wrong in thinking that because 70yearold men dont change. Women either at advanced age. He is who he is. A nasty narsicist and proven liar. If you dig into the approval numbers and the disapproval numbers you find an intensity gap. So while 41 of the majority of americans who disapprove of ton donald trump feel very intense disapproval like i do, only 19 of those who approve of donald trump feel intense approval. So this base that youve heard so much about is pretty shaky. Theyre not very intensely committed and thats why republicans are so worried about the midterms. There 19 that he could shoot somebody on 5th avenue and they would still vote for him but theres not a lot more than that that really strongly approve. Real quick ill out of time. Historically speaking i disagree. Since the end of world war ii the president who has been in office his party typically does lose around 26 seats in the house. Democrats only need 24 seats to win. Theres nothing new under the sun here. Theres precedent for us to lose this year. Sure. Good to see you both. Thats a wrap for me this hour. Ill see you at noon eastern. Am joy is next with the latest on the president s plan to be a noshow at a big washington event tonight. 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