Page 790 - Administrations News Today

Lawmakers today. >> obviously gun control measures generally, are divisive in congress and its difficult to get action. now, youve alluded to the measures in the ominous bill pertaining to background checks and things of that nature. i think its very possible that that will actually rejuice the urgency of any other measures, although im not sure well see anything else. >> weve seen, obviously, this sort of debate, weve seen it on the hill for years and years and after we see one of these devasta...

Our own carol lee and our friend paul butler, our former pr prosecutor and a professor at georgetown. tom, i keep on asking this question, how far are we from normal and how normal would it be for a russian to contact a campaign official for that official to seek approval and for a senior to say no, go ahead and do that. thats a good idea. >> brian. it seems as though we are far from normal at least in the experience that we have all had covering and observing other presidents and other administ...

Reporter. our own carol lee, nbc news national political reporter. and our friend paul butler, veteran former federal prosecutor who is these days a professor down the road at georgetown law school and an msnbc legal analyst. tom, i keep asking this question of learned writers like you. how far are we from normal? how normal would it be for a russian to contact a campaign official, for that official to seek approval, and for a senior to say no, go ahead, do, that thats a good idea? >> be brian, ...

Book, how they define, you know, these different administrations and to take steve bannons idea of a chief of staffless white house, what would that even look li like. >> boy, god knows. this is the most dysfunctional white house in modern history as we all know. just about the only thing i could think of that would make it even more dysfunctional would be to get rid of the white house chief of staff. for the new chapter of my paperback, i interviewed reince priebus and also bannon, who had choi...

His hands full trying to see if he can provide some common sense with regard to the decisions this president makes. >> the president has replaced almost half of his senior staff since taking office 14 months ago. it is unprecedented in modern politics. what do you make of all this? as someone who was once a chief of staff holding several positions in several administrations, is this a way to run a railroad? >> well, i think president that ive worked with, both on the outside as well as on the in...

Bottom of what happened and i think thats exactly whats going to happen now. >> shannon: david, i want to make sure i get your comment on the new ominous bill. "the washington post" saying for someone who has majorities, this negotiation reflects a shocking level of ineptitude on the presidents part. you wonder when he will start winning." >> congress ignored the presidents budget blueprint for austerity. that sort of his standard. same thing happen with president obama. this was a grand comprom...

Bottom of what happened and i think thats exactly whats going to happen now. >> shannon: david, i want to make sure i get your comment on the new ominous bill. "the washington post" saying for someone who has majorities, this negotiation reflects a shocking level of ineptitude on the presidents part. you wonder when he will start winning." >> congress ignored the presidents budget blueprint for austerity. that sort of his standard. same thing happen with president obama. this was a grand comprom...

In separate silos. >> a very good point. >> a long-standing practice of administrations using national security crises, creating crises to avoid some domestic problems. and so i think this is extremely dangerous. i would also add to the long line of things that john bolton has called for, hes also has a domino type theory for central latin america that he built during the reagan administration. i would also add this is a guy who is a member of the project for new american century, which was the ...

This. and so this is, i think, very broadly catastrophic. i mean, has the opportunity -- >> really? >> i really do think so. i am not convinced these things that are happening with trump in terms of the russia investigation and what could possibly happen on a national security front are necessarily in separate silos. >> a very good point. >> a long-standing practice of administrations using national security crises, creating crises to avoid some domestic problems. and so i think this is extremel...

>> im sorry. i wouldnt want it done to me. im sorry. >> shannon, powerful moment there, the questions arent going away. the white house didnt answer any, but theyre going to have to ultimately. >> theyll try to and deny for as long as possible. the story hasnt caught -- some people feel like the story hasnt caught as much traction as we would have seen it catch in other administrations because of all the noise and everything else going on. and my sense around the white house has been there are s...