And it did. Wow. And heres how the crew working with fox news anchor bret baier described the teak that reporter. Gianforte grabbed jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. We watched in disbelief as gianforte then began punching the reporter. He began yelling something to the effect of, im sick and tired of this. The reporter works for the guardian and said to celebrate an attack on a journalist who is simply doing his job is an attack on the First Amendment by someone who has taken an old to defend it. In the aftermath of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi it runs the risk of inviting other attacks on journalists here and around the world. The Correspondents Association weighed in saying all americans should recoil from the president s praise for a violent assault on a reporter doing his constitutional the protected job. Here to discuss the days developments, from the new york times, mike schmidt, matt miller, former chief spokesman at the Justice Department, jennifer rubin, Washington Post opinion writer and doug thornell, former Senior Adviser to the dnc. Matt miller, theres such fatigue to all of the obliterating of norms and niceties and customs, but theres a tone deafness to this one. This isnt just a story about the obliteration of norms and what president s normally do when a journalist is murdered abroad. This is about being oblivious to the moment in which his white house finds itself. His white house right now is fielding questions about what our intelligence agencies had collected about the saudis plan to detain Jamal Khashoggi and the president has a shifting story at the moment about his views on all of that. Its a despicable thing for a president of the United States to say at any time its an especially despicable thing for him to say at this time. As you point out when it seems one of our allies has dismembered a member of the press in a consulate, and our president S Administration is seeming to help them cover tup. Or at least is giving them the time and space to cover it up. It also is such a hypocritical thing for donald trump to say. Hes run as a law and order president. He talks about law and order all the time. Gianforte is a criminal. It was a criminal act. He pled guilty to that crime. He lied about it and only admitted it after the fox producer gave her account and after the reporter himself ben jacobs released the audiotape that shows he was actually beaten up by this congressman. But it goes back to something donald trump has done for a long time. You only have to go back to his rallies during the campaign when he was saying to beat the hell out of protesters and hed pay the legal bills. Their legal bills if they did. He just has this isnt a new thing. He has no respect not just for norms but for the free press, for anyone who is not a is thor of him. He is hostile to any of these values that are longheld american traditions. Jennifer rubin, i looked at what president obama said and did when james foley was murdered. George bushs remarks when danny pearl died. And its instructive whenever we wonder or despair over the fact weve gone so far from who we were, not 50 years ago. But four, eight, ten years ago. Lets watch. Talk about it on the other side. Those who would engage in criminal barbaric acts need to know that these crimes only hurt their cause. And only deepen the resolve of the United States of america to rid the world of these agents of terror. May god bless daniel pearl. The world is shaped by people like jim foley and the overwhelming majority of humanity who are appalled by those who killed him. The United States of america will continue to do what we must do to protect our people. We will be vigilant, and we will be relentless. When people harm americans anywhere, we do whats necessary to see that justice is done. So just take that and compare it to iri riveting thing about trumps report last night is he acted out the body slam. Its not a matter of being a republican or democrat. Its about being a person who is charged with protecting the American People, protecting our values and norms. And here he is encouraging twobit thuggery, not only around the world but here at home. And i think youre right, matt. Its not only a tone deafness but a complete failure of leadership. He does not understand what his role is. And ive got to say, im a little surprised today i havent heard more from the democrats. Yes, were in a campaign. Yes, they want to talk about health care and other things, but where is the solid voice of condemnation from the democrats . Ive learned to expect nothing from the republicans. That we know. But democrats come on. Where are you guys . Let me add Chuck Schumer was on morning joe saying theres too much Political Correctness out there. Im sure it wasnt in the context of this incident, but where are the democrats . Well, i mean, look, i think, to your point, i am surprised that republicans havent said more because republicans have been saying for the last month or so theyve been calling democrats an angry mob that were trying to incite violence, that weve sort of hurt the civility in politics. And now you turn around and youve got the president , the leader of the party saying these types of things. And republicans havent said anything. The republicans arent going to say anything because they bought this act. Theyre done. Theyre done. And youve got someone here who is one of the strongest voices on everything thats wrong with that. Theyre not going to condemn this conduct. Theyre in on it. I just want to point out that you cant have it both ways with them where theyre now lecturing i think democrats have been standing up for a range of issues, particularly freedom of the press. Theyve been calling out donald trump for all of the things he said about basically the media being the enemy of people. Any enemy of this country. This is not just a i hate the fact that this is a democratic problem. This is a problem were acknowledging its a republican problem. Were looking for the democrats to solve it. Donald trump was just asked if he regrets anything about those comments. He does not, surprise, surprise. Lets watch. Do you regret bringing up last night at your rally the assault on a reporter by a congressman. No, no, not at all. It was a different world. That was a different league, a difference world. Just a great guy and hes you know greg very well, right. It was that was a tremendous success last night in montana, and greg is a tremendous person. And hes a tough cookie. And ill stay with that. So you interviewed the president yesterday before he headed to montana for that rally. This is sort of classic trump that weve all become accustomed to. Doubling down. Its hard not to see this as part of a larger thing hes trying to do. The biggest thorns in his side are the press and mueller. What is he trying to do . He tries to delegitimize both of them. Undermine both of them. If hes going to be successful and he building believes that t is a problem, he has to continue to undermine both of them. And thats when he goes out and does that. I dont know if its that calculated but it plays right into that because he believes Public Opinion will determine whether he gets into real trouble if the democrats take control. I want to ask about your interview. He talked to you about khashoggi and you guys reported a subtle shift from rogue killers did it to maybe my guy in saudi arabia is in trouble. Yeah, but the president not wanting to go any further than that. This is a president who makes why not . He makes snap judgments on a lot of things. Will say a lot of things very quickly. But similar to how he deals with russia and hes being very calculated here. He doesnt want to go any further than he has to. Hes very disciplined about his messaging on this. And thats just something to take note of. He usually does when he thinks hes in trouble. The only time he exercises caution is when he thinks hes in trouble. Do you think there are concerns about what Jared Kushner was talking to mbs about in the early days of this crisis . I dont think in Donald Trumps mind but to michaels point about delegitimizing, thats why youve seen this disgust, despicable campaign to try to call jamal a terrorist or a Muslim Brotherhood person, as if, frankly, any view justifies this horrendous act. But to misrepresent his views entirely, thats let me read to our viewers a pie piece from that. Conservative commentators are mounting a whispering campaign against khashoggi that is designed to protect President Trump from criticism of his handling of the alleged murder by operatives of saudi arabia and to support trumps continued aversion to a forceful response to the oilrich desert kingdom. Highlighting his association with the Muslim Brotherhood in his youth and questioning work decades ago. He said he isnt even a journalist. He was kills for being a journalist. He has been working for journalistic outlets, forming journalistic outlets, being chased from his own country for being a journalist. This is sick and depraved. This is how they think. Well, donald trump wont be in as much trouble if he make it a little less terrible that we had this journalist killed and dismembered. Thats the mindset. Thats how sick it is. I want to Say Something else as well. And thats theyre Foreign Policy people who should know better. People have been very strong on encouraging trump to back out of the jcpoa. These people know the policy is in shambles and theyre spinning their wheels just like he is, just like talking about john bolton, pompeo . I think all of them. All of the above. They have put so many eggs in this guilt basket of saudi arabia, expecting, giving them a free hand in yemen. Expecting them to in essence take care of a lot of the iran policy on their own. That now theyre sort of at a loss. The apple cart has been overturned. And it turns out lo and behold, transactional Foreign Policy that betrays Americans Values does not work because this is what happens. They act in ways that are contrary to our values and the American People wont stand for it. Right now they have a total mess on their hand. Its a problem of their own making. And they have got to figure out how they navigate through this issue but more importantly what they do about a larger middle east policy which really leaves us with no friends. Weve alienated the europeans and now were in trouble with the saudis. Good luck trying to figure out a coherent policy on this. The stuff thats gone on here is theres a larger implication when the president says this. This is something the publisher of the times has said in conversations with us. When trump goes out there and does things like this, talks like this about a journalist, if you are a foreign leader, you say, well, if donald trump, the leader of the free world and whatever. Whenever he is. If hes out saying these things, then why cant i do what i want to do with the press . If these the country that is based itself the shining city on the hill. The First Amendment on a free press has their president saying that, then why cant i do whatever i want to do. He says it so often. Lets watch. The poor guy. You have to see this guy. I dont know what i said. I dont remember. But 70 , 75 is absolute dishonest, absolute scum. Remember that. Scum. Like this sleazy guy right over here from abc. Hes a sleaze in my book. Youre a sleaze. A few days ago, i called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. They are the enemy of the people. She starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions and, you know, you can see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. You had many people in that group other than neonazis and white nationalists, okay . And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. These are really, really dishonest people. And theyre bad people. And i really think they dont like our country. I really believe that. By sleepy eyes chuck todd. Hes a sleeping son of a bitch, eultell you. Are you considering a thank you very much. Make your way out. Lets go. Stupid question. Those were all attacks on the u. S. Press. To mikes point, they see that around the world. They see it around the world and people see it at home, too. Theres a darkness thats descended on the Republican Party. Some of it was happening before. The Republican Party has been attacking the press for years. But trump has accelerated in a way that we couldnt have imagined before. You see candidates up and down the ballot attacking the press, calling them fake news. Gianforte wouldnt have been reelected in a normal time mean was elected because donald trump has gone around delegitimizing a normal republican president would have disparaged him and distanced him and the committees in washington would have cut off funds to his campaign. Donald trump has run around telling people you shouldnt believe the press and the press of enemies of the people. One thing thats most concerning about the longterm effects. We talk about norms that he shattered. Norms arent permanent. Norms change and move. Hes changed the norms for a certain percentage of the population. This isnt normal. Kids who are growing up who think this is normal. They think this is the way the president acts. Do you get any sense in talking to him yesterday that his degree of concern around the khashoggi issue, that he sees any connection to this conversation or is he totally detached from the effect of his own words . About the way he speaks about the media . No, i dont think so. And the closeness with saudi arabia. They are his closest ally in the region. I think he was very impressed by saudi arabia in the way they treated him when he went over there, and that went a very far way with him. That really showed him that they cared about him and the relationship with him. Flattered him. They flattered him. He felt the same way when he went to china. Those things mean a lot to him in those relationships. Is there a larger connection to the press here . I dont think so. Is he offended and moving on khashoggi because of the brutality of the alleged murder, or does he think mbs is just getting too much bad press . Im not sure. I just think that the white house found itself finally in a place yesterday where there was an overwhelming amount of media attention, overwhelming amount of intelligence that was pointing in one direction. And they realized they had to start to head in that way or it would continue to be a bigger problem for them. Drop the rogue killers. All right. Thank you for spending time with us. After the break from body slams to west wing brawls and f bombs, brandnew reporting about the fireworks inside the white house yesterday between two of the president s closest aides. And being beto. How the texas Senate Candidate is making democrats feel great again. And a sentencing date is set for Paul Manafort, now a cooperating witness in the mueller probe. All those stories still coming up. I cant believe it. That everything sticks to stefon diggss hands . No, i cant believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on my Car Insurance with geico. Cool, huh . Yeah. He plays football, huh . Yeah. Believe it. Geico could save you fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance. Hi. I just wanted to tell you thdependability award for its midsize carthe chevy malibu. I forgot. Chevy also won a j. D. Power dependability award for its lightduty truck the chevy silverado. Oh, and since the chevy equinox and traverse also won chevy is the only brand to earn the j. D. Power dependability award across cars, trucks and suvsthree years in a row. Phew. Third times the charm. So its not a stretch of the imagination to go from a president who celebrates a bodyslamming politician to a president with two Senior Advisers who nearly go to blows outside the oval office. Nbc news is now reporting that white house chief of staff john kelly and the president S National Security adviser john bolton exchanged harsh words yesterday in and around a meeting about the president S Immigration policy. The differences escalated to an angry, profanity laced exchange on thursday between white house chief of staff john kelly and National Security adviser john bolton as a hon dur an Migrant Caravan approaches the border. The dispute was so heated according to several people that kelly ended up storming out of the white house shortly afterwards. Nbc news is also reporting the altercation arose from a dispute that bolton had with Homeland Security adviser kirstjen nielsen. Nielsen was explaining an 80 rise in immigrant families when bolton interrupted her to criticize her handling of the issue. Bolton said nielsen was doing a poor job with the border. And then there were f bombs. Kelly ultimately stormed out of the white house early with no resolution to the issue saying im fing out of here. Nbc News National political reporter carol lee joins us on set. Wow. Just another day in paradiparad. Just another argument in the west wing. I worked in the west wing and i am a big fan of the f word when appropriate but i never used it in and around the oval office. Well, if john kelly has become known for this, he has a reputation for being a bit of a hot head and has a temper. And you know, he not ideal in a chief of staff. No. And he and john bolton, you know, their relationship has been fraught from the start because if you remember, john kelly did not want john bolton to become National Security adviser. Thats not lost on john bolton. And the dynamic is set up so that bolton reports directly to the president