Senator Lindsey Graham whether or not there is an investigation ongoing into the Donald Trump Campaign and those contacts that allegedly occurred with russian officials during the president ial election. Since they have not confirmed the existence of an investigation, they have not even confirmed with senators, so in a private meeting between graham and whitehouse on march 2nd, james comey would not tell these two senators whether or not there was an investigation ongoing, even though they sit on a judiciary subcommittee investigating the issue of russia. Comey according to Sheldon Whitehouse said he would confirm whether or not that investigation is occurring by this hearing that theyre having tomorrow in this Senate JudiciaryCommittee Subcommittee exploring russias meddling in the election. Eastern yoeuropean elections as
committee and the top democrat mark warner told me going into the briefing theres no evidence whatsoever even though he met with james comey last week. One other senator demanding more information is senator john mccain, who said its time for the administration to explain if theres any evidence there. Whats your reaction to saying that need more time to respond to the Wiretapping Claims . I hope this they can ascertain as soon as possible the answer to that because americans need to know if indeed former president wiretapped the trump towers. That is a violation of the law and of the utmost seriousness. We need to know the answer. Reporter if theres no evidence, whats your reaction . Lets wait and see. Lets wait and see what the results are. The American People need an
answer and deserve an answer. Reporter the question is whether or not the fbi or the Justice Department will respond each in a private setting or a public setting and if they dont respond privately there been questions that james comey will get at a March 20th House Hearing where theyll be discussing this issue of russia interference in the election but also the Senate Intelligence committee announcing today they plan to have their own public hearings later this month and senator mark warner also wants to hear from some Trump Associates about the contacts with russian officials including roger stone, the former trump adviser, who admitted to some contact with russians during the campaign season. Manu raju, appreciate that. Van jones has a town hall coming up thursday night. Jason miller here. Our chief political analyst analyst Gloria Borger is here. And ryan liz sa from the new yorker. Paul begala joins us. The Congressional Budget Officeclearing this up. I think well find what we all know, that there was no collusion between the Trump Campaign and foreign governments or foreign entities. This is absolutely ludicrous. It makes no sense. The fact look, the election is over. Donald trump won. Hes now president of the United States. Its very clear that there is this effort of folks whether its the Career Bureaucrats or insiders or people who are upset that applecarts are getting tipped over, theyre still trying to delegitimize this presidency. Dangerous for the country. Tomorrow hopefully theyll make clear this is nonsense. Van, is it an attempt to delegitimize . Its such a weird thing because i think if the shoe were on the other foot obviously people would want to know, did barack obama conspire with the chinese . You guys med made up kenyans and muslims and all kinds of stuff. If the tfbi says they are not
hillarys election. That was a Big Exception Comey created. Im deeply distrustful of mr. Comey. He needs to know, hes walking into that hearing tomorrow, before that, he was Attorney General of the state. He knows the Justice Department well. Knows the questions to ask. By the way, Lindsey Graham is a pretty good attorney as well. Hes said on the record hell be tough if they dont come and respond to the questions hes already asked about any alleged allegations of wiretapping by obama. In a way its return to normalcy. Weve had so much happening in the media and leaks and what not, and now you have some adults who are serious on how to be prosecutors coming into a room and maybe actually having some closure. And it would be awesome if that closure were to clear the president. I think its entirely possible
especially the democratic party, have been so quick to jump on this and attack the president. The president has been right a lot of his predictions, whether it be sensitive materials on computers, the rise of he could come out and say this is what i know, he could call the fbi and say release the information, i know it. Theres a process. A second ago you said there was no investigation. Now youre saying he might confirm trump was right about the surveillance which would mean theres an investigation. There are a lot of things we dont know and will find out. The president knows. He can declassify anything he wants. He could call up james comey or anybody else and say, you know what, declassify this. Why not . Let the American Public know that i was somebody was listening in on my phone conversations. I think ultimately or microwave. I think part of the thing that i think trumps defenders need to take some responsibility for is that if this happened, this is a huge crime committed
by obama against not just trump but against our democratic process. You dont handle it with a tweet. You dont throw it out there in this way and create all this hoopla because, guess what, if trump is right, youve got a whole country to hold together. This is a massive constitutional crisis. He devoted three tweets to it. My point is even if you guys are right i think what youre seeing is if this is a precursor to how donald trump handles major issues and constitutional crises, you have real problems. Doesnt it bother you . You wouldnt advise him to handle something this serious in this way, would you . He has a clearly different approach. The Secretary Of State has a different approach. President of the United States, most important position in the world, to vans point, a tweet, you know, in advance of an Arnold Schwarzenegger tweet,
the best way to accuse the former president of the United States, one of the greatest crimes. The media have attacked the president over and over for his presentation style. If it works for him hell keep going back to it. The russian hacking. Hes an extraordinary salesman. I dont take that away from him. Hes le legitimately my president. He was also illegitimately helped by the russian hack. Hes trying to divert attention from that by attacking the former president obama for doing something monstrous which i dont believe at all. To believe his theory, you have to believe that barack obama subverted the constitution, committed an outrageous crime, to spy on donald trump and it took that spy material and hid it, allowed trump to become president and went off water skiing with richard branson. Very smart. Next, is the white house trying to have it both ways on the gop replacement for
obamacare . Run eight way from estimates it could leave 24 million more americans without insurance. Later, jorge ramos on congressman steve king and remarks directed to him. Their experience is coveted. Their leadership is instinctive. Theyre experts in things you havent heard of researchers of technologies that one day, you will. Some call them the best of the best. Some call them veterans. We call them our team. Modejane, yourerves getting a ticket. Pay. Online and on your phone nope. Its been masterpassed. For the little victories, am i right . Masterpass, the secure way to pay from your bank dont just buy it, masterpass it. Find fast relief behind the counter allergies with Nasal Congestion . With claritind. [ upbeat music ] strut past that aisle for the Allergy Relief that starts working in as little as 30 minutes and contains the best oral decongestant. Live claritin clear, with claritind. An unlimited data plan is only as good as the network its on. And verizon has been ranked number one for the 7th time in a row by rootmetrics. man hey, uh, whats rootmetrics . Its the nations largest independent study and it ranked verizon 1 in call, text, data, speed and reliability. woman do they get a trophy . Not that i know of. But you get unlimited done right. man 2 why dont they get a trophy . man 3 they should get something. woman 2 how about a plaque . I have to drop this. My arms getting really tired. Unlimited on verizon. 4 lines, just 45 per line. Wheres the car . Itll be here in three. Uh, four minutes. Are you kidding me . No, looks like he took a wrong turn. Dont worry, this guys got like a fourstar rating, were good. His name is randy. Thats like one of the most trustworthy names ordering a getaway car with an app . Are you randy . Thats me awesome surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money Erin Saved By switching to geico. Everybody comfortable with the air temp . I could go a little cooler. Ok. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. I wanti did My Ancestrydna and where i came from. And i couldnt wait to get my pie chart. The most shocking result was that im 26 native american. I had no idea. Just to know this is what im made of, this is where my ancestors came from. And i absolutely want to know more about my native american heritage. Its opened up a whole new world for me. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com. Tonight, the white house
trying to have it both ways, replacing the obamacare replacement bill, liking some but dismissing another part. The other part is estimate that 24 million fewer would be insured under the legislation. The reaction has been intense all day with moderate House Republicans shy eight way from the bill, a number of Senate Republicans calling it dead on arrival, Democrats Salvaging it. The president facing pressure to how he squares the cbo projections with his promise of hi hi Health Insurance for everyone. Jim acosta. Reporter its rare moment President Trump passes up on a chance to speak his mind but he did when asked about the Congressional Budget Office analysis of the proposal to replace obamacare. This is the American Health care act, the president is proud of it. Reporter the white house pushing back on the cbo score of the Health Care Plan that found 14 million americans would be uninsured by next year, 24 million by the year 2026. As one top gop source put it, the headlines are terrible. Cbo Coverage Estimates are consistently wrong. Reporter the white house did concede scores of american, perhaps millions, will be without Health Insurance if theyre no longer mandated to buy it under obamacare. Would you concede there will be some Coverage Losses . Perhaps in the millions . That will there would be millions of people who will not have Health Insurance as a result of what youre doing . Well, again, sure, except you have to look at the current situation. Reporter press Secretary Sean Spicer tried to explain how the republican plan satisfies the president s promise to cover every american. The president is okay with millions of people no, hes not. Right now theyre not getting that. By giving them more chois at a lower cost, more americans can buy health care for their family or themselves or in a lot of cases for their business without paying the penalty. Is system now is not working. Reporter even though the white house is rejecting the cbos predictions on coverage it
seems they like other parts like a reduced deficit and reduction in premiums. The cbo is saying just with what were doing, first prong alone, 10 decline in the original market. Thats a significant reduction. Were talking about bringing costs down and increasing choices. Reporter cherrypicking of data is lowhanging fruit for democrats. All this hocuspocus language that they talk about, well, youre not going to be able worried about costs but then they dont seem like theyre that much worried about coverage. And so what im saying to them is that the American People need coverage. Jim joins us now. I understand the white house is working on changes to the bill. What are you hearing . Reporter they are working on changes with Republican Leaders on the bill. If you need to add to your washington jargon, a socalled managers amendment. I talked to a republican source involved in the process who said these managers amendments are typical with any bill of this size and that at this pointitis not envisioned that theyre going to have major changes made to this piece of legislation but if youre listening to the Handwringing On Capitol Hill among republicans they are talking about coverage right now, not covering americans but covering their rear ends in case all this blows up in their faces. No question, if they want to get this out of the house, a lot of republicans are saying privately theyre going to need changes to the bill. Jim acosta, thanks. Now more on political side effects, some in the Republican Party. Phil matting hi has the latest from capitol hill. Jim acosta was saying the white house working with Republican Leaders trying to make changes. What are your sources telling you about the effort . The process hasnt been helpful. When i talked to senior gop leadership Officials Say they the white house was on board with the bill as is. The white house was on board
with the strategy included not making major changes going forward. Every time the president tells conservatives this is up for negotiation, every time the press secretary stands in front of reporters and says there could be major changes, that undercuts this effort entirely. Theres a lot of concern inside gop leadership circles right now that what the white house is doing is not helping the process at all. In fact, its making their job difficult. I think jim hit on the Crucial Point here. As it currently stands, house Republican Leaders even as much of their conference remains unsettle are not planning major changes to the bill. Every time the white house says the opposite, that creates more problems as they try and wrangle votes. What would Republican Leaders like to see from the white house to get it passed . Sell. They dont want individuals coming to capitol hill and meeting with leaders. They want the president himself starting to bring the hammer down. Hes traveling tomorrow, going to have a rally in nashville on health care. Those types of events are helpful. But the reality remains when i talk to gop sources that the president is going to have to come down hard, particularly on
conservatives. Conservatives where hes very popular in his district. At some point hell have to lay out an ultimatum. It cant be glad handing or Pizza Parties and bowling. He has to tell members its time to get in line. Short of that, theyll be short of votes. What are your sources telling you about what it might look like in the right place . What im hearing a lot of is the focus obviously has been a lot on conservatives and for good reason. Theyve been the most boisterous about their concerns. The real concern up here especially amongst House Leaders is the moderates. If you look at the coverage number, if you look at some of the issues the conservatives are picking on right now, if those issues start to move, if some of those changes that white house Officials Say theyre open to actually come to be, those moderates start to leave enmass. The reason is simple politics. These are the individuals that serve to lose their races in these Swing Districts if these
major changes are made, if this the concerns about the Coverage Numbers are not assuaged at any point. That more than anything else why you see Republican Leaders telling the white house, look, you need to stay unified with us, you cant freelance because those are the members that in the end they believe will be the hardest to bring around. Phil mattingly, thanks. Back with the panel. You have to white house pushing back on the cbo report but only kind of part of it, embracing other aspects. They like the Deficit Reduction part of it because it reduces the deficit 337 billion over ten years. But much of that comes from the cutbacks in medicaid to the states. Thats what the moderates are upset about. And i just have to ask a question after listening to phil. If youre a Republican House moderate, why would you go out on a limb and vote for this bill if you know its going to get changed in the senate . Then youll be on the record voting for something that is unpopular in your