Citizenship for socalled d. R. E. A. M. Ers, but at a steep price. Are we headed for a deal or another shutdown. My guest this morning, Republican House leader Kevin Mccarthy and democratic senator joe manchin of West Virginia. And under attack. There is deep concern that the fbi may have been used in a political way. Ill talk to former cia director robert gates about republican efforts to delegitimize Law Enforcement institutions they once reveered. Joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news special correspondent tom brokaw, nbc news capitol hill correspondent ca kasie hunt, rich lowrie and Heather Mcghee. President of demos. Welcome to sunday, its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. This is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. If this were a normal presidency with a state of the Union Message coming up in two days, wed likely be focusing on how the president plans to sell his agenda to the public in a critical Midterm Election year. This has not been a normal presidency. It was almost predictable that the president s trip to davos was going to be over shadowed by the story that President Trump tried to fire special counsel mueller last fall. Also predictable was President Trumps response that it was all just fake news. Whats not so predictable is what happens next. The attempted firing has prompted many questions. Who leaked the story about President Trumps intentions and why . Why was it so easy for news organizations to match the times scoop unless someone wanted this story out . Was it a sign that President Trump is again considering the dismissal of mueller . Is it a warning to him to not do it or was this a trial balloon to see if he can . And most important, will republicans in congress who once urged mr. Trump to not do this continue to hold firm on this issue . In other words, are the president s allies in congress more eager to protect Robert Mueller or President Trump . Fake news, folks. Fake news. Reporter President Trump with a predictable defense of yet another russia related allegation. Mr. Trump reportedly backed down only when white House Counsel don mcbegan thregann said the m be catastrophic. They want to include legislation protecting mueller in budget negotiations. This president has continued to say theres no there there. Well, he is acting in absolutely the opposite way of someone who had nothing to hide. Reporter publicly mr. Trump has repeatedly denied that he has considered firing mr. Mueller. I havent been giving it any thought. Ive been reading about it. No, im not dismissing anybody. Are you considering firing Robert Mueller . No, not at all. Reporter but friends have acknowledged that he has. I think hes considering perhaps preventing the special counsel. Reporter in july the president told the New York Times that mueller would cross a red line if he looked to mr. Trumps family finances. Mr. Trump said wednesday he looks forward to sitting down in an interview with special counsel. I would do it under oath. Reporter but worried mueller could be zeroing in on an obstruction of justice case, mr. Trumps allies are warning him, if he testifies, mueller could catch him in a lie. Its a very clear perjury trap. Perjury trap. Do you have any fear of a perjury trap . No, but i think it would be i think it would be foolish to, you know, not proceed without considering that possibility. Reporter and ahead of the president s potential testimony, mr. Trumps defenders on capitol hill and in the media have stepped up a months Long Campaign to discredit the fbi and the department of justice. It is abundantly clear that the entire Mueller Investigation is a lie built on a foundation of corruption. Its actually the fbi thats colluded with dnc. Its been a huge week of revelations about corruptions at the highest levels of the fbi and doj. Reporter last summer Republican Leaders warned that if the president threatened bob muellers job, they would move to protect mueller. That would be a major mistake. There will be holy hell to pay. I have a lot of confidence in bob mueller. Reporter fast forward six months and republicans have greeted these new reports with relative silence. Im here for a hearing. I dont have anything to comment on any other issues like that. There are half a Million People obsessing over these investigations and im not one of them. Joining me is republican Kevin Mccarthy. Well dock back. Thanks for having me back. Lets start with the issue of the president and Robert Mueller. Does it concern you that the president ordered his firing . The president and the staff has fully cooperated. Thats why theyre moving forward. I think well continue the investigation and see where it goes. Do you have confidence in bob mueller . Yes. 100 . I have confidence in mueller, i have questions about others within the fbi and the doj, especially whats come out in the texts, especially what its been based on. I think its the spor responsibility we have an intel committee. Thats raced a great deal of question. Is there a red line the president could cross with you in his treatment of bob mueller . The president and his team have fully cooperated. Youre making hypotheticals. Its not a hypothetical. We have records that he ordered to do it and don mcgann threatened to quit if asked to carry out the order. This is a place i have not been a part of. I have not heard that. Cooperation is where we intend to end up. Theres a couple of bills in the senate, one would be having a threejudge panel review a decision if the president did fire mueller to see if it was done on unfair grounds. Would you be open if that bill is attached to the budget bill, would you support that . Would you let that go through versus i think we should focus on the budget because the military needs funding. Why are we playing other games with other things . Lets take the issue before us. Would you support legislation to protect mueller . I dont think theres a need for legislation to protect mueller. Were raising an issue thats not. We have an issue about funding for the military. Remember this, one week ago when you were sitting here, government was shut down. Democrats believed government should be shut down. The Childrens Health insurance and others were held hostage. I think whats responsible is do the job thats before us. If theres an issue that arises, well take it up. Right now there is not an issue. Why create one if there isnt one. Do you believe there are deep statements out to get the president . I have never believed that. I have people who have been u. S. Attorneys and others, but it is a real question when somebody work the high end of the doj, wife is hired just to do research when it comes to do fusion, when somebody at the fbi looking at the texts, theyre having an affair, its not just somebody in the fbi, its somebody that was responsible in looking at the investigation when it came to Hillary Clinton, its somebody that was in this investigation that was with mueller. He didnt find it. It was the independent investigator that found it, and then when they have these questions about it, when you look at these entire checks and then why they were all lost right after the election, i think that gives anybody doubt. I have to people and now they have serious doubts. Let me ask you this in the reverse. Sure. If this were a democrat being investigated, why do i have a feeling they would be saying they seem to be so concerned about the investigators. Its almost that theyre afraid of the facts. No. The disputes seem to be about the fact finders, not the facts. Its sort of like you dont like where the facts are going so lets question its basically Johnnie Cochrans o. J. Simpson defense. No, its the complete opposite. You have never heard me have any problems with the investigation. You asked me the question by saying, mueller, yes. What happens is the facts that came forward that an individual at the doj, his wife was hired by fusion only to work on the russian portion. Low and behold you believe this is in a giant youre mabtipainting a conspiracy no, i dont. Do you want people to draw conclusion that is way . It does feel that way. I have given you no conclusion except the facts that are out there. As i said prior, i had no problems. When these facts arise, remember, were separate entities here and you have an ability and a responsibility for over sight, and i think the public has the right to know. Why was somebody that was in the middle concern about the election, concern about what happened after the election and that high up. I think that is a problem and we should look at it. Right. There is an investigation and its called the Inspector General. Why is that not enough for you right now . Let the Inspector General do their job at doj. It seems as if you guys want to supersede that investigation. We werent the one that started this. You have different investigations going on. They all have their own part of going forward. We are separate but coequal. We have a responsibility for oversight of doj and others. I dont care who was president at this time, but i want my government to be fair and open and what im seeing raises questions. We should look into the questions. Its just driven by the facts. Let the facts take them where they may and thats the responsibility that we have. This memo that now the president apparently wants released which he can do on his own. He can declassify anything he wants. Do you want him to declassify this . Look, they have been doing their investigation. They found something out. Ive gone down. Ive read it. The committee voted this is the process. They voted to allow members to read it. They have the ability to vote to move it forward. Why are they afraid to send this to the Justice Department for review . Well, arent we separate but coequal . Dont we have the responsibility for oversight . The Justice Department will be able to see it because you have the executive branch and as they look at it they will stend to the executive branch and they have the approval to declassify. Having read this memo, i think it would be appropriate that the public has full view of it. You dont believe this is somehow the president tampering with the investigation . How does this not look like this if he does . Because it has nothing to do with the president. It is the committee doing something, found something, voted as a whole. It was created based on whats happening from the cia, fbi, for members of congress to look at it. Now they can vote to have it released. Why dont you want senate bur to look at it. The Intell Committee is doing their investigation, not ours. Thats a question for devin nunez. Is the idea of wall for pathway to citizenship for d. R. E. A. M. Ers, is that one to one . Is that idea off the table that that deal cant be struck anymore . That deal was never on the table because when we had the meeting where we had bicameral senators, congress, you had the media there for an hour. We all agreed, every Single Person in the room, we would focus on four different items. Wed focus on dak at that, wed focus on merit and the president just put out a compromise by the way, do you view that as an opening bid, a start of negotiations by the white house . I view that as an opportunity to see whos willing to solve the problem. Thats up for negotiation in your mind . Well, that is talking with the president just put out there, i think its a sign that shows hes serious about solving this problem. Could that bill if you brought it on just pass the house with the republican votes . I think whatever we do is not going to pass with one party or another. If you want to do it, that bill has a lot of merit to solving the problem. Lastly, do you think this has to be done by march . Or you have until the summer . Id like to get it done as soon as possible. Is there urgency to do it until march or can this slide . I think theres urgency to get this done, unfortunately the government was shut down by schumer. They thought they wanted to take it hostage. That stopped the meetings we were having every day and so lets just back to the table and solve it. Youre asking what the president has done. Hes pushed himself. To solve this problem, were going to have to have compromise. No one will get 100 of what they want, but this solves it long term. The president went there and schumer is trying to back away. Ill have to leave it there. Thanks for having me. Thanks for coming up. Now democratic senator joe man shin joins me from West Virginia. Senator manchin, welcome back to meet the press. Good to be with you, chuck. I ended with immigration with leader mccarthy so let me start on that topic so we dont have whiplash here for viewers. Sure. Just simply the president s proposal, if that was legislation on the floor of the senate, would you vote for if. Welling, chu, chuck, its no legislation. Hypothetically saying that, we havent seen it. Weve got to decide do we go large, medium, small . 2013 we went large. The Senate Passed comprehensive immigration. It was a pathway forward. We committed 42 billion to secure the border with walls and with all other technology that was needed to truly secure america, so weve been down that road. That was large. So we have to deside what venue and what avenue that we take here, chuck. But i think its a good starting point. Weve got Susan Collins and myself as working with a Common Sense Coalition of senators equally divided. Were going to meet monday night and look at the proposal. More details will come out tomorrow. We have people with expertise. Tim tillis and james langford. I think we can find a way forward. Are you comfortable supporting a deal on this that would include permanent changes in the immigration system when only dealing with the daca population . For instance, i know some democrats say, look, you want to talk about the family migration issue and what those rules are, thats fine. Lets just do it for the daca population. Dont make changes for the entire system. Where are you on that issue . Well, thats first of all, i said this before, chuck. The immigration issue has not been a hot topic in the state of West Virginia. People are concerned and they want security and have good opportunities in jobs and on and on and on like everybody else but it has not been of high concern. I havent been on the front end of this issue. I do understand where everybodys coming from. I understand the issue. Right. And also the urgency of this. Im comfortable working with any proposal they put in either a large package or a scaled down package, chuck, but saying that, yeah, i think that we need to have an overhaul. We had an overhaul with the large immigration bill we did in 2013. Id like to see that piece of legislation taken up and voted on again. The house would never vote on this. Let me ask you this about this report that you pondered not running for reelection and you were and im just curious. Did your threat of not running for reelection convince schumer to back down on the Government Shutdown . I dont think so, no. Chuck ive said this. This whole bantering back. I dont understand that. Thats how they talk. When chuck and i talk, we talk West Virginia to new york. I said, chuck, this place sucks. If it sucks, why are you running for reelection . Because i think i can make it better. I think i can contribute to bringing people together. Im not giving up on it. I mean, this is a small price to pay for the great country ive had the privilege of living in and being an american so im not going to give up on it. I dont have one republican i dont consider not my friend. I want to work with them. If the shutdown had continued, would you have not filed for reelection . I would have been hollering. I dont think chuck had the stomach to go on. He plays a part differently and i dont understand where i understand the dynamics. The democratic caucus, thats a big at this point. I just said, i come from West Virginia. Im representing my state. Im not a washington democrat, im a West Virginia democrat. How much does the report that President Trump said he was going to fire mueller . How much does that concern you . Thats new york talk. Thats the new york language thats different than most people. How is it how is that new york talk . Im curious. I guess what youre trying to do there, but its a reelection year, i get that, you have to be antinew york and West Virginia, explain that to me. Chuck, heres the thing. A president of the United States who has been in control of his life, personally and politically. Hes been able to incentive advise through checks, bonuses, organizations, things of this sort. Now all of a sudden he understands theres equal checks and balances. Hopefully that will come. Right now what you hear him saying and what hes going to do, lets see if he moves on ros rosenstein. If he did that, you would say time to pass legislation to protect mueller . I think at that tliem will be democrats saying its time to protect the system. Absolutely. What is your level of concern by what appears to be a campaign by some supporters of the president to undermine the investigators, to go after the department of justice and the fbi so aggressively . Chuck, i i cannot believe and when i say this, no pun intended, but what congressman nun nez has nunez has done, he has neutered it fr