Today in april 83 of republicans approved of President Trump. Now 73 of republicans approve of the president. According to the cbs poll. Now from john ossoff Head Quarters in atlanta is gar ek make. Whats the feeling there . Lawrence, the bottom just fell out in this room here. Another network just called this race, and what Little Energy had been in the room a few minutes go had completely evaporated. It started to disappear about half an hour to 45 minutes go wh the votes from today started to come in and we saw ossoff elead start to slowly disappear. About 30 minutes go, ossoffs fiance came out and thanked volunteers and staff and started talking about Small Victories like volunteers signed up, voters in the district. Important stuff, sure. But not the kind of thing that would rally this crowd. There will be plant plenty of time for smarter people than me to analyze what happened here but two obvious takeaways so far. But first, as fired up as democrats were in the district, and i dont know if you can get a sense of the room behind me and scope of this, but ive not seen anything like this in the house race i have covered. Hundreds of people dancing and drinking for hours fired up about a house race. Turns out the republicans were just as fired up, too. And the places she needed to win, handles voters shot up and cast valets. I think what is noteworthy about this is having more money that he can spend, about 25 million in total, john ossoff couldnt buy an extra 10,000 or so democratic voters in this very, very red district. The district that tom price won by more than 20. So despite President Trumps struggles, some of those conservatives are going to still be conservatives and democrats will make those big gains in 2018 they have to crack the code that they couldnt quite crack here despite being with the democrats i talked to pretty satisfied with their candidate and how they ran this race really right down to the very end. Garrett haake, thanks very much. We appreciate it. Steve kornacki is standing by at board taking a deep dive into what we know about these votes counted so far. Steve . Yeah, i mean, look, i dont think our networks called it but frankly i cant look at this and give you a scenario where john ossoff wins. With karen handel leading by five points we can show you how she found herself in this position. A couple of things i would key in on, number one, early vote. Think about this, emphasis democrats put on organizing on mobilizing attention democratic activists paid and general advantage we have seen democrats tend to have in early voting here and elsewhere. Today in early vote john ossoff did win the early vote. Won by 1. 4 pirs. Early vote. Inperson early vote. He wanted to be well north of 50 there because of in the same day vote the people turning out in voting today looking like ove those. In dekalb county, republican core part of the district, not much early vote there to speak of but very big same day vote overwhelmingly for karen handel. Democrats did not get what they wanted out of the early vote. Democrats did better than expected. In sameday, those republicans in republican heart of the district motivated p you mentioned its been a while since a democrat won. Since 1992 is when this district was created as house district. This so district where donald trump only won by a single point and that is key for democrats tonight. Could they improve on what Hillary Clinton did in this district and what would that mean for other districts nationwide. You look where ossoff is right now and basically has improved on Hillary Clinton at all. This is where she landed last steve, let me interrupt you with nbcs call on this. Nbc is now projecting that karen handel will be the winner in this race when all the votes are counted. Steve . Yeah, again, there is one of those districts where if you look for national implications, symbolis sem one of the biggest things. Republicans wanted to say we could, and if democrats won, hey, we got a win on the board. But in 2018, we hear about it all the time, districts where a republican represents them, Hillary Clinton won, Hillary Clinton came within five points, here is sort of that quintessential district filled with collegeeducated white republican suburbanite voters. Hillary clinton almost beat donald trump off mitt romney won by 20 plus points in 2012. A district that didnt like donald trump that much and yet again republicans did get mobilized and did get activated here. Looks like as much as democrats were there. There was so much attention on the democratic mobilization, looks like republicans got fired up too and we have a result here that ossoff number, that looks like Hillary Clintons number from last november. Steve kornacki, thank you very much for joining us. Appreciate it. Joining us now steve schmidt, nbc political analyst. Also, jason johnson, editor at the root. Com. Steve schmidt, there are two comparisons being made here on ossoffs vote. His vote is compared to Hillary Clintons vote which is a choice for president. Not a house member. And the vote is being compared to the last congressional race in that district. Which one of those comparisons is the one that republicans should be looking at tonight to contemplate their strength in the Congressional Election in 2018 . Look, lawrence within if youre a House Campaign strategist i think you are sitting there tonight going, thank god we pulled it out. Just because the seawall held. It doesnt meant storm wasnt fierce and the waves werent large. This is an overwhelmingly republican district. Mitt romney getting 66 of the vote. Donald trump coming down to 4 the . Tom price getting elected somewhere between 68 to 61 . And in his elections. So this is an ominous win for republicans. When you look at the 23 million raised by grass roots donors, where you see that energy, democrats were tapping on the glass in this overwhelmingly republican district. When you look at how democrats get into the majority, you have a 24seat majority, 23 seats that secretary clinton carried that are represented by a republican. And i think what youre seeing is the new Battle Ground of american politics are these suburbs where affluent white collegeeducated Republican Voters who are uncomfortable with donald trump, i think are likely to be swing voters in 18, in 2020 as republican parties gotten more red, becomes more rural as democratic parties become more blue, its become more urban. And thats left the suburbs as a battlefield. I think we saw one of the early battles of it playing out in this race which was surprisingly close. Jason john sop, if youre a republican in the house of representatives and you won your seat with less than 20 of the vote, what do you feel like tonight . Youre not only encouraged, you have to look at karen handel and think like they basically spent 23 million spending like tom bradys salary to keep a seat that had been in republican hands for 20 years. Thats not something that you want to have to think about if youre a republican next year heading into 2018. Knowing that the public is going to be more energized, more excited and possibly unhappy about the Health Care Bill. Look, at end of the day, and i agree with steve in this regard, this is a plus 9 registration district for the republicans. They should have won this. The fact it is even close and the fact this much money had to be spent, i dont think any republican is right now because most cant raise 23 million to stop someone challenging. Steve schmidt, we saw in south carolina, surprisingly close race in that special election that people do not have their eye on expecting it to be that close. If you go back to 1993, lawrence, when bill clinton was pretty unpopular in the first term, you had two special elections that dropped into the republican column out along the mississippi river, the kentucky one, kentucky two districts. That showed us something was brewing for 1994. I think when you look right now you consider the fact that the incumbent president s party only picked up seats in the first mid term from three times in the last 118 years. You look at dispersion of those Congressional Districts that Hillary Clinton carried, represented bay republican. You consider the president s approval numbers in mid 30s. Health care, lack of an ability by this Republican Leadership to move an agenda forward. There are a lot of ominous wins out there, if youre a competitive member of congress. Remember most members of congress are as likely to lose their seat as a member of the old soviet bureau. For that special category, in competitive races, probably have a nauseous feeling watching this georgia 6 race. What happens in the georgia 6 district next year in the 2018 election . Will john ossoff try to trump back in and try to win this race . No one will admit that now but thats what will happen. They are just going to keep focussing on karen handel. This is an important thing and i think this is key. Difference between being on the outside and being here on the ground and talking to folks who are canvassing. There wasnt actually a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for karen handel or jon ossoff. This is a referendum on trump in a district that would still more or less vote for him. As karen handel gets saddled with some policy issues that made trump unpopular i think she will be a number one target for ossoff next year. Hasnt fallen off the map. People will stay enthusiastic. I wouldnt be surprised if we have a rematch next year and the result may turn out different. In the 2018 Congressional Elections, republicans in congress are either going to be defending a bill that they voted for on health care that has been sign need law or they are going to be defending to some constituents their failure to get a bill on health care signed into law. Yeah, ultimately its dammed if you do, dammed if you dont. No one has any idea whats in it, what it cost, how many people lose insurance, its impact. Whether you think obama care is a good idea or bad idea, should it be repealed or not, the method they are following, no public hearings, no public vetting, no ability for people affected fwi to weigh in. It is not going to have a good outcome and already the house bill has a 17 approval level out across the country. When you look at agenda and the degree to which it stuck, you look at how energized democrats are at some of these districts. Republicans are going to have their work cut out for them in 2018. They are heading into a big head wind and will have a difficult problem answering Pretty Simple question which is, you know, first check we get at the polls of hows donald trump doing, what are they going to say when people ask the question, do you think hes doing a good job as president. Thats tough for republican candidates in these marginal districts to answer in way that doesnt make them look like fools or turn off trump supporters. They have difficult hours i suspect as we move into this 18 cycle. Lets look at what wall ryan will be facing. This is randy bryce who announced he wont run as democrat against paul ryan. Speakers seat is supposed to be a safe seat. But lets take a look at how randy bryce want to run against paul ryan. Paul rye on, come up and say a few words. Congratulations on a job well done. This is repealing and replacing obamacare. Everybody doesnt get what they want. Its a very painful condition. Its like hot knives going through. And you cant talk. You cant swallow. Its terrible. Im going to cry. Im on 20 drugs and if i dont take the one that costs thousands of dollars, i dont know what would happen. Im the best person to represent this district because im a working person. If somebody falls behind and were so much stronger, if we carry them with us, thats the way i was raised. You look out for each other. I think its time. Lets trade places. Paul ryan, you can come work the iron and ill go to d. C. Jason johnson, looks like every republican might have a serious democratic challenger. Yeah, yeah. This is a kin to when republicans were chasing after daschle a couple years ago. You dont usually see serious challengers against party leadership. But this is a big Political Science issue that i think again is the big question that republicans have to look at. The enthusiasm on the side of democrats attracting better candidates. And better candidates are forcing p tomorrow have to defend a flank that they couldnt have to do before. I think we will see, i bet you later on this summer, you will see more and more republicans decide. I may retire. I dont want it spend the next 18 months raising 1. 5 million to protect myself. When this is in paul ryans backyard, it is a shot in the arm to defend anyone out there in sinking poll numbers. Thank you for joining us. I appreciate it. Tank you, lawrence. Coming up, voters turning against vote the president in the latest poll and the president s, what is now, secret Health Care Bill managed by senator Mitch Mcconnell. Hey katy, im going to go ahead and invade your personal space to run some things by you. Its going to look like im listening but im actually just paying attention to nugget. Cool. Ill pretend youre answering the questions i have. Ill scroll through my feed and avoid making eye contact. Im just going to keep hovering. Wouldnt it be great if everyone said what they meant . Hovering away. Boo boo boo [making noise at nugget] the citi® double cash card does. Only citi lets you earn 1 cash back when you buy, and 1 as you pay. The citi® double cash card. Double means double. [ intense music playing ] ] its here, but its going by fast. The opportunity of the year is back the mercedesbenz summer event. Get to your dealer today for incredible onceaseason offers, and start firing up those grilles. Lease the e300 for 569 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Heres karen handel speaking to her supporters in georgia moments ago. Okay, just a really quick update. Things look very, very good. I know a couple of the news outlets have called it. But we want to just watch a couple more things. And do that we won [ cheers and applause ] now, all of you know that i am a person who likes to always dot every i and cross every t. So lets just make sure we do that and ill be back down in just a very short time. Thank you all for everything you totanobodys hurt, new car. But there will still be pain. It comes when your Insurance Company says theyll only pay threequarters of what it takes to replace it. What are you supposed to do . Drive threequarters of a car . Now if you had Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, youd get your whole car back. I guess they dont want you driving around on three wheels. Smart. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. I want to promise you that this administration is literally working around the clock with leaders in the United States senate to move forward legislation in the very near future that will repeal and replace obamacare. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell protected karen handel in the Georgia Election by refusing to release any details of the Health Care Bill until after that election. Senator mcconnell says voters in the georgia 6 Congressional District and the rest of the country can find out what he has in mind for their health care on thursday of this week. Joining us now,es ra cline, sam stein, soon to be politics editor of the daily beast. He is also an msnbc con trib outer. Es ra, what do we know about the senate bill . We dont know a ton about its details but i think we know its broad outlines which is like the house bill, what senate bill will do is take hundreds of billions of dollars we are currently spending for poor people and move that to provide tax doubts rich people. Thats the core of the first bill. The core from everything we can tell of this bill as well. Its going to cause massive disruption in the health care system. And one point i want to make because i think this is underplayed in coverage, republicans keep saying and this is what i hear when i talk them on the hill that they need to pass this or Something Like it, when they promised that they told their voters and all voters they would get more coverage. Donald trump says everyone would be covered. They said there would be lower deductibles and lower copays. This does none of those things. Fewer people covered. Higher deductibles. Higher copays. There is no reason to think the senate bill will be on that score. We know democrats are unsatisfied and we know democrats are complaining about being shut out and having no information about this bill. Republicans are making the same complaint. Lets listen to senator john mccain. You must be very confident that this bill will pass, number one. And number would, are you willing to burn a reconciliation package if its not. Were going to make every effort to pass a bill that dramatically changes the Current Health care law. Thats not confidence, necessarily. You wouldnt bring a bill up unless you were confident, right . Are you satisfied with the process right now . Of course not. Why not . Obvious reason that no one has shared it. Used to complain like hell when democrats ran the Affordable Care act. Now they are doing the same thing. Sam stein, at least one republican is consistent about this. Yes. I think that the complaints about process that were hearing now though are a bit of a smoke screen. In the end a lot of the senators will ind up voting for a bill even if they have concerns of the process. I think the one equip i would take, the one criticism by mccains statement, is that he said at the end of itquip i woul take, the one criticism by mccains statement, is that he said at the end of it that democrats arent doing the same thing that republicans are doing. While i was much maligned by republican says objective open and transparent with regards to any passage of major legislation you can imagine. Dozens of committee hearings. Dozens and dozens im sure ezra has the number in the back of his head. But if you remember at this point in time of that bill barack obama was bringing Republican Leaders to the blair house to hear their ideas and turn the idea into legislative language in the final part of the bill. It is not the same as 20092010. It is demonstratable worse. Lee, on this quickly assembled group of people, i dont want to call it a committee because it is not a Senate Committee. There is a Senate Committee who has jurisdiction over this but they have been ignored. Lets listen to mike lees complaints about this. I had a lot of people ask me specifically when the Health Care Bill will be released to the public. Why it isnt public. The short answer to the question is, i havent seen it yet either. Even though ive been a member of this working group among senate republicans, assigned to help narrow some of the focus of this. I havent seen the bill. And it has become increasingly apparent in the last few days that even though we thought we were going to be this charge of writing a bill within this working group, its not written by us. It is apparently written by a small handful of staffersers for members of the Republican Leadership and senate. If youre frustrated by the lack of transparency in the process, i share your frustration. I share it wholeheartedly. Ezra, how can senators makes statements like that and find their way to voting for this . I think i would say it is so amazing. Im part after secret working group. If youre frustrate bid secret working groups just know im not part of the secret Super Working Group and now decide you are right and i share your frustration. I think there is a big point to be made about all of this. Theres a reason republicans kept it a secret process here. Sam brought up properly lit blair house event in 2010, i think it was. And at that moment what happened is the Affordable Care act is under fire. Package looked hazy. Barack obama, president obama then, invited republicans to the white house for a multihour debate on the hill. The reason he did that is that democrats believed then and no matter what point in the polls if they could tell the American People who was in the bill that they would like it. Republicans have the opposite belief. They believe in people see what is in the bill they will not like it. The best thing they can do is pass it as quickly as possible and move on from it forever. Thats an approach that just it is grotesque when you deal with the health care and lives of this many people. You know it is secret because you know it wouldnt survive if you didnt. Thats not a moral way to do this. Yeah. Sam, theres only one reason why you keep legislation secret tlaen is that you know from the moment you make it public you are only going to lose votes. Yes. I mean, when i learn when i talk to any Health Care Activist or staffer on the hill, on both sides of the aisle, we witnessing a game of legislative hot potato. No one wants to own this thing so they pass it to someone else. The house got it through their chamber. Now the senate doesnt want to touch this thing but they are probably in likelihood pass it during conference committee. At some point this thing heerj passes or fails. Ezra is right, they want to pass it quickly. At some point it becomes law. That law which is pulling in mid to low 20s will have a tangible impact on people and there will be a political price to pay. Presuming they cant get the numbers up. No one wants it pay that price now. No one wants to see it go down for defeat. Ezra, as we know, for this to become law there has to be at least three more votes on a bill. One in senate, and then both the house an senate will each have to have another vote on what would resumably be a third bill but that has to be in identical film, pass both bodies to get there. There are plenty of places for this bill to die between here and the finish line. And i cant help but wonder if Mitch Mcconnell wants to see it die after he just squeaks a vote through senate so members of the senate who want to say i voted for something can say they voted for something. Even though they wont be able to say it became law. I that i might be right. Im not sure if it is right that means the bill wont pass. It might pass by mistake in other words . It is like a collective action problem. Everyone wants to stop it but no one wants to be the one who stopped it. No faction wants to be blamed. No Chamber Wants to be blameed. So this keeps moving forward because no one wants to take the blame for destroying bad bill but having to go before republican primary voters and say we are the reason we didnt replace and repeal obamacare. Mitch mcconnell may be trying to get it out of his hands for now. Again, the worst possible way and worst possible reason to craft or pass legislation i have ever watched. Thank you both for being with us. In georgia, jon ossoff just conceded the race to karen handel. Coming up, new poll shows some republicans turning against the president in significant numbers now. Heres to breaking more glass ceilings. In golf and everywhere else. The kpmg womens pga championship. With tempurpedic. 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Obviously we have been dealing with a lot of other issues today. Joining us, glenn rush, and ron claim and former senior aid to president obama and he was chief of staff to attorney general janet reno. Glenn, so i think sean spicers answer was a very good answer to be able to give to the fbi if it is true. I have not discussed any of this with the boss. That is the safest place to be on an fbi investigation if its true. Well, look, one thing i will say, it wasnt a very satisfying or it didnt seem especially cred toibl people in the room at the time. But it is noteworthy that spicers el cougs on this issue changed dramatically, i would say, over the last six weeks. And i think what it illustrates, lawrence, is a realization on the part of trumps staff. By the way, we should say, people are beaten down, theyre demobilized, feel like the boss doesnt have their back. Rbilized doesnt have their back. Abilized boss doesnt have their back. Lbi boss doesnt have their back. Ili boss doesnt have their back. Liz doesnt have their back. Ized, fe doesnt have their back. I think there is a sense now that people need to protect themselves and spicers comments, were a lot less constrained six weeks ago before things got much more serious. Glenn, you mean more defensive and more combative with the questions . He would assert things as if they were fact. Yes. He would say he is now saying things that we are used to hearing from press secretaries. The president says, to the best of my knowledge, i have not discussed that with him. These are, i dont believe spicer lawyered up. I think he will have to and i think many people in the west wing will have to, even if they havent come to that realization yet but in general, youre hearing spicer and other spokes people like Sarah Huckabee sanders being far more equivocal. They are not saying things, not stating things as if they were uncontested fact. The high beshly itself. They are putting things in the arena of the president and other advisors and not taking it on themselves. Ron, sean spicer is under no public obligation to disclose he is consulting or hired a lawyer. When you listen to the distinctions that glenn is showing us in wait shawn spicer is speaking now, it is the way a lawyer is telling him to speak. Yeah. He may have a lawyer. He may have just gotten good advice. He is supposed to be at the podium representing the point of the view of the president and the president earlier acknowledged russia intervened in our election. I think the biggest question for us as citizens is if you have russia who intervened in our election 2016 and is threatening to do so in 2018, 2020, how can we have confidence that our president is supposed to be defending us from that when his press secretary cant acknowledge that the threat exists. Press secretary says he doesnt know if the president believes the threat exists. Attorney general testified last week he hasnt been briefed thon threat. As americans we should be concerned whether or not we are protected from the threat to our democracy. Going forward if our president and attorney general seems oblivious to the threat. Ron, the lawyer up news of the day is that the top lawyer in the American Government now has a lawyer. Attorney general Jeff Sessions now has hired private outside counsel to to represent him in the investigation. It has been a long time since the president of the United States has had to hire outside counsel. True. Man named Charles Chuck cooper from alabama is said to be a close confidant to the attorney general. One of the most distinguished conservative lawyers in washington. Blue chip lawyer. But his specialty is arguing at the supreme court. Early on, it was rumored he would be Trump Administration chief lawyer for supreme court. Hiring him for this is like hiring a brain surgeon when have you a hip problem. It is hard to explain, except for this, he is a close confidant of attorney general. He helped him get ready for confirmation hearings. It is possible what hiring is about is extending Attorney Client privilege to whatever Jeff Sessions told chuck cooper to make sure chuck cooper couldnt be asked about that. Whatever confidence he shared with cooper are now shielded bit Attorney Client privilege. Great point. So glenn, that leaves open the possibility that the attorney general could hire more experienced criminal defense counsel to this team if he needs it. But right now if you want it ask any questions of the person who helped prepare Jeff Sessions for confirmation hearing testimony you cant really do that. That testimony is the sikt subject of a possible perjury investigation. I have to say i am blown away to that. I guess we just found out how he earned his money. What i always include in rons title. Judiciary committee. I was on another committee when he was that committee so i never forget it. I would not have come up with that one. I think what is interesting is to contrast the hires. Pence lawyered up. Selgss now sessions now has. I think youre right. The legal teams seem to be billowing. I think the one interesting dynamic is trumps legal team seems to also be his pr team. Jay suckalow on every show practically throwing bombs. I think tonight on fox he said there aught to be a grand jury investigating former fbi director comey. I think what is really odd about trumps legal team is they seem to be just as involved doing education work because i think theres a sense in the white house that they have not been able to form a counter attack. It was very interesting also, again, because can i speak to the comp stuff a bit more than the legal stuff, is we had a situation today where we were on date eight of sean spicer Sarah Huckabee not giving an onrecord briefing in front of cameras. We sort of shamed them into doing it, i believe. I dont know that for a fact. But there is a reason. They do not want to have people out there making more statements that can ultimately relay to them in legal settings. Karen handel is giving a victory speech. Lets take a listen. Take a minute to acknowledge a new friend ways able to make over the course of that campaign, this campaign, that is majority whip steve scalise. [ cheers and applause ] right up until that tragic day on the ball field, steve would drop me a text message every single week. Just to make sure i was doing okay and hanging tough. I think he even called me the terminator in one of them. Wasnt sure about that one, steve. But asta la vista. But really and truly, what happened, on that ball field, was a terrible tragedy. And we need to all continue to lift up steve and others who were injured that day. And we need to also lift up this nation so that we can find a more civil way to deal with our disagreements. [ cheers and applause ] because in these United States of america, no one, no one should ever feel their life threatened over their political beliefs and position. And i say that ladies and gentlemen in regards to both sides of the political aisle. [ cheers and applause ] through this campaign i have had a really great joy of getting to know any number of our leaders in washington. And let me tell you, even though within our own gop family we sometimes have disagreements. These are fine men and women who are doing their level best for this country. [ cheers and applause ] im really honored to be able to stand before you tonight and so extraordinarily humbled. But as most people know, most big things are not accomplished by one person alone. And i add tremendous amount of support in this campaign. From each and every one of you. To a Great Campaign team. They really are yes, give them hand. [ cheers and applause ] thats karen handel giving her victory speech in georgia in the special election here tonight. Here is what jon ossoff had to say a bit earlier before karen handel came up to speak. Friends, i called secretary handel. And, no, please i kminded her. I commended her on a hardfought race and on her victory this now, let me address you. The more than 12,000 of you who as darkness has crept across this planet, have provided a beacon of hope for people here in georgia, for people across the country, and for people around the world. [ indistinct chatter ] [ intense music playing ] its here, but its going by fast. The opportunity of the year is back the mercedesbenz summer event. Get to your dealer today for incredible onceaseason offers, and start firing up those grilles. Lease the gle350 for 579 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Lwhos the lucky lady . Im going to the bank, to discuss a mortgage. 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Less interest in the actual job of the presidency than donald trump, who according to all available evidence, spends more time tweeting and playing golf than he does trying to pass legislation or manage american interests in the worlds most difficult hot spots like north korea, that just in effect murdered one of our citizens on President Trumps watch. And iraq, afghanistan and syria where the president apparently abdicated president ial Decision Making and leaving daytoday operations to military commanders. A russian fighter intercepted a u. S. Spy plane over the baltic sea reportedly coming within just five feet of that aircraft monday. That incident happened on the same day the Russian Defense ministry threatened to treat any american planes fighting isis in syria as targets if they fly west of the euphrates river. There was no response whatsoever from the president of the United States on that threat from the Russian Defense ministry. Earlier today, an american fighter jet shot down an iranianmade armed drone that was headed in the direction of american troops in southern syria. This is the second such drone that u. S. Military shot down this month. Foreign policy magazine is reporting on the infighting within the Trump Administration and the white house in what to do in syria. The report says the two white house officials are pushing to take wider action in syria but according to that report secretary of Defense James Mattis has personally shot down their proposals more than once. A former general has not had this much authority in the American Government since Dwight Eisenhower was president. Im greatly concerned that we may be slipping into a hot war with assads forces, with iran or even with russia. We need a Clear Strategy from the Trump Administration. That was secretary chris coons of of the Foreign Relations committee today from capitol hill. Joining releases committee. Jeremy bash a former chief of staff to leon panetta when he was secretary of defense. Jeremy what happens if the president simply says, you guys are in charge . Defense secretary, everybody else concerned with our assets in syria, afghanistan, iraq, its up to you. You dont have to check with me. Make any decisions you want. Well National Security is a team sport, lawrence. You need every player working together. You need the state Department Working in concert with the defense department, working in concert with the uniform military, working in concert with the intelligence community. It should be put together by the National Security adviser reporting up to the president as the commander in chief. So when every player doesnt work with each other, then there is a recipe for miscommunication, ultimately failure. I would say lawrence, there is never a time more tense than in the skis over syria. Lets focus on what happened. The russians declared a no flien zone. That was going to be our strategy to deny assads forces to deny the russians to the ability to attack our forces on the ground. And those we are supporting in the campaign against isis. Instead what they said is you americans you have to keep planes grounded west of the euphrates. Its unclear at this hour whether or not the president will stand for it to this minute we have heard nothing from the president about in problem. Well, who who who looks this situation . I mean i can imagine in Henry Kissinger white house if the president said i have absolutely no interest in anything that happens on your watch. Henry kissinger would have been thrilled. He would have been in effect president of foreign policy, president of all defense policy. Because in what you described it all flows into the National Security adviser. And if the National Security adviser doesnt have to check with the president , doesnt the National Security adviser on these matters become president. I dont know any National Security adviser or secretary of defense i would bet secretary mattis and general mcmaster are in that category. They dont want to operate as free agents. They dont want to operate without the input from the wlous, the inner agency. They are used to a normal orderly National Security process. They dont like freelancing they want organized fms process. They want buy in from the commander in chief. They would want that. I think the problem is really a policy problem which is that the president has to date been unwilling to push russia out of the way in the skies over syria. And as a result what youve seen is youve seen iranian drones, syrian Fighter Aircraft coming to attack those forces on the ground that we are supporting. We have troops on the ground in syria. This is a very dangerous and delicate situation. And for the president basically to say were okay with russia pushing us out of the which i think thats unacceptable and harmful to troops and our interests. And we know when according to reporting after the fact, when we used the big bomb in afghanistan that had never been used before, the president had predelegated to the authority to make that decision without checking with him. Yeah but i got to say my sources tell me the president was not involved in that decision at all. He took credit for it later because i think he looked somehow macho but he was not involved in the decision at all. Likewise he was not involved in the decision to shoot down the serene aircraft, the su 22 fight theyre shot at the Syrian Defense forces on the ground. He wasnt involved in that at all. That was a decision made by the commander in the field, general voe tell and secretary of defense. And the president again has not been taking on the the russian forces, the Syrian Air Forces and the Iranian Air Forces in the skies over syria. Jeremy, how would it change your job at the defense Department Working for the secretary of defense if you were sitting there waiting for president ial decision that is simply were not coming . That would have been unacceptable. Time matters. Again, when lives are on the line you dont have a lot of time to waste. Some of this authority should be predelegated. The rules of engagement should be set forth to the secretary of defense and the commanders on the ground. If there are jaumts to make you take that back to National Security councils have that conversation in the inner agency group. Ultimately take it to the president. If the president is not involved or more specifically if the president is unwilling to take the fight to russia in the skies over syria again that is a dangerous situation. Jeremy bash thank you for sharing expertise and experience with us tonight. Appreciate it. Tonights last word is next. Dear predictable, theres no other way to say this. Its over. Ive found a permanent escape from monotony. Together, we are perfectly balanced. Our senses awake. Our hearts racing as one. I know this is sudden, but they say. If you love something set it free. See you around, giulia how if guests book direct ater, choicehotels. Com and stay twice theyll get a 50 gift card . Summertime. Badda book. Badda boom. Got you a shirt . I kept the receipt. Book now at choicehotels. Com when heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. Livestreat the airport. E sport, binge dvrd shows, while painting your toes. On demand laughs, during long bubble baths. Tv on every screen is awesome. The allnew Xfinity Stream app. All your tv at home. 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Here is more of Democrat John ossoff had to say ton after his republican opponent karen handel was projected the winner of the special election in georgia. At a time when politics has been dominated by fear and hatred and scapegoating, and division, this Community Stood up, women in in Community Stood up. You did. You did. And you picked in campaign up and you picked me up opinion. And you picked alicia up and you carried on your shoulders. And we showed the world that in places where no one thought it was even possible to fight we could fight. John ossoff gets tonights last word. The 11th hour with Brian Williams starts now. The breaki covering at this hour. The special election in georgia and what the results mean to National Politics in the trump era. Most expensive house race in the nations history is itself history tonight. Plus, on the russia front, sean spicer today cant say if the president believes russia interfered in our 2016 election. And five months since donald trump took the oath, spicer says hes never discussed it with the boss. The Eleventh Hour begins now. Good evening from our headquarters in new york. Day 152 of the Trump Administration and as of tonight, the Republican Party has reclaimed all of the