Country. According to four forces who say the witness kelly has called the president an idiot. Multiple times. In conversations with lawmakers, kelly made fun of what he sees as trumps lack of knowledge about policy and government. He also reportedly denigrated the president s understanding of the daca program, telling people during one meeting he doesnt even understand what a daca is, what daca is, he is an idiot. Wow. Nbc is also reporting that current and former white house officials said kelly has at times made remarks that have rattled female staffers. He has told aides multiple times that women are more emotional than men. Well, the retired marine corps general took over as chief of staff in july of last year after the president fired Reince Priebus. Kelly was orange nay live tasked with bringing order to a tumultuous white house, but has receded from view as the president bristled as what he sees kelly strictions. In a statement late today, john kelly responded to the reporting, telling nbc news i spend more time with the president than anyone else, and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship. He always knows where i stand, and he and i both know this story is total bs. Well, in the last few minutes, President Trump himself tweeted the fake news is going crazy making up false stories and using only unnamed sources who dont exist. They are totally unhinged. And the Great Success of this administration is making them do and say things that even they cant believe they are saying. Truly bad people. Thats trumps tweet. Just moments ago. For more on this breaking news, im joined by kristen welker, White House Correspondent with nbc news. She helped break this story. Ashley parker, msnbc political analyst. Charlie sykes with the Weekly Standard and msnbc contributor. And Eugene Robinson, columnist at the Washington Post, also an msnbc contributor. Kristen, this story is this new or is this something youve been enterprising for several weeks, like calling the president an idiot or making fun of his lack of knowledge. That a Fresh Development or something youve only now been able to report . Well, its something weve been working on for several weeks, chris. But i can tell you weve spoken to a number of current and former Administration Officials who say that he has used that term over a period of time, going back to charlottesville. You remember the big controversy surrounding the president s comments in charlottesville. And then most recently as you just talked about, when they were discussing daca, trying to get a deal done on immigration. And of course those talks fell apart. Privately john kelly using the term idiot to describe the president. Publicly some of those frustrations bubbled up into public view. Remember, john kelly went on fox news, talked about the fact that the president s views on immigration have been evolving. And that characterization really infuriated the president. But its not just that, chris. Its some of the comments he has made about women. Its really surprised some of the female staffers here, in some instances talking about the fact that women are more emotional than men during the rob porter scandal. Of course he is the staff secretary who was ousted after allegations by two exwives of abuse which he denies. But john kelly talking about the fact that he hopes his reputation can be restored. Thats another moment that really roiled some of the female staffers here. So what youre witnessing, chris, is the president s relationship with his chief of staff, this very critical relationship souring. I spoke to one Administration Official who said, look, the bottom line here is that kellys influence and his standing has been diminished in recent months, chris. Lets put all this together. Gene, youre the editor of fame. You know how to edit a piece. The fact that he calls the president an idiot puts him in the same category as don regan, mocking the president s ability, acting like he is the Prime Minister and the other guy is a sort of aging monarch. Put it together. Morale going down because he treats women condescendingly. And he treats the boss, the president condescendingly. Well, you know, chris, my first question when i read this fabulous story, you cant believe the story as you read through it. But you do believe it. My first question was why is this coming out now . Who is leaking this . Because somebody is talking to kristen and her colleagues. And im sure she wont tell me who. But id love to know because my question is its one of the factions in the white house out to get kelly . Are they trying to get him out thereof . Do they think he has weakened sufficiently that they can sort of lever him out by disclosing these things that are sure to rile the president , and that he will probably never forget. He never forgot the moron comment from tillerson. And hell never forget the idiot comment from kelly thinking was a kill shot. It seems to be a kill shot. And you wouldnt take a kill shot at the chief of staff unless you maybe youre an idiot. If youre not an idiot, youd have to think he was weak enough that you could really push him out. Because if you dont, you know, you take a shot at the guy, and he is still there. He is going to make your life miserable. Ashley, can you put this together for us . Is this sort of a put together piece, a catchup piece if you will about why there is morale drop until the white house . Because this is really something we have noticed. I remembered when bill daley was the chief of staff to president obama, you could see his declining influence until he finally said this is ridiculous. Im getting out of here. Yawn, because whats her name, Valerie Jarrett was sort of calling the shots. Is this about degradation of his influence is this about deterioration of his relationship with the president or both the president and the staff . What is it about here . I think the answer is both. But you really only get these sorts of pieces. In this nbc report is the latest of a number of them. When staff morale has declined and the chief of staff has lost the support of his team largely, thats what is striking. A number of people made the point to me, when kelly came in, he came in to impose order and discipline. And the leaks really did stop for a why while. It was totally dissimilar to the previous chief of staff Reince Priebus who never had the respect of his team. Then as his relationship with the president became more fraught and did a number of things that frustrated the staff, including some of them said felt about lying about incidents or spinning them to look better for himself, you start to see leaks. So the fact that a piece like this could exist with eight people talking to msnbc is just the latest sign of john kellys declining clout in that west wing. Let me go to charlie sykes. Lets do it splilly here there are two kinds of quarterbacks. The one who stays in the pocket and the one who scrambles. The one who stays in the pocket last longer. The one who scramble are fun to watch but he looks like a scrambler. Why he cant stay in the pocket. Why he names a chief of staff but then seem to ignore him. It does look like a disorderly household to me. Yeah, he is a scrambler. First of all, what a fun place it sounds like the white house is to work. Youre being sarcastic. Yes. This is an untenable situation for the white house. One of the unbreakable con seats in trump world is that, well, donald trump is he is not a politician. He is a businessman. Well, he is a terrible manager and leader. And its reflected in the personal choices he is making, but also in this climate. And ashley and gene have rool really put their finger on it. Two different parts. Eight people are leaking to insert daggers in general kellys back. Just that fact alone is extraordinary about the dysfunction in the white house. And then secondary, if the chief of staff to the president of the United States thinks the commander in chief is an idiot and is saying this openly, this is an one of these extraordinary moments, it doesnt sound all that fresh. I feel like weve heard this before. You know, and so you have two classes of people. You have the kool aid drinkers in the white house, and then the people who think they need the stay in the white house to protect the country from the president of the United States. Thats kind of an untenable business model. Let me go back to the author of all our discussion tonight, kristen. The knives out for him . Oh, i think there certainly are some people here who believe that he isnt running the white house as smoothly as they would like to see. Who believe that in some instances he has been undercutting the president. But remember, chris, this is a white house that has been sharply divided from the very beginning. So these sorts of divisions are not a surprise. And theyre not new. Ive been talking to sources, though, here within the administration. And basically putting that question to him. Is he on his way out. They say look, its worth noting that july marks a year in office for john kelly from this role. So thats certainly a date that you want to be watching for. But is he actually going to leave . Thats anyones guess. But they point to the fact that the president never got over the reports that Rex Tillerson called the president a moron. While weve been on the air here, chris, President Trump tweeting again. Ill just read you a little bit of what he has tweeted. He says the white house is rung very smoothly despite phony witchhunts there is great energy and unending stamina, both necessary to get things done. We are accomplishing the unthinkable and setting positive records while doing. So fake news is going bonkers. So clearly this report getting under his skin already, chris. I think he may have a problem with the ronny story, Ronny Jackson up for Veterans Administration director. He will not return to his role now as the president s personal physician. Thats according to reporting from politico. Jackson, who withdrew his nomination after allegations of a toxic Work Environment will remain on staff at the white house, but not being the president s doctor. On saturday, President Trump railed against senator jon tester, the top democrat in the Veterans Committee tasked with vetting the doctor who publicized the allegations against jackson. Here is the president. Tester started throwing out things that hes heard. Well, i know things about tester that i could say too. And if i said em, hed never be elected again. A spokesman for johnny isakson, testers republican counterpart on that Committee Told a report theyre senator isakson did not have a problem with how these were reported. I dont know if you know this, the fact that the president no longer has him as physician does tell you there is more than a modicum of truth to the charges made against admiral jackson during the course of this controversy of just as recently as a week ago. Well, yes and no. A lot of the sort of toughest allegations, the one that immediately derailed his nomination have sort of been difficult to either prove or disprove. And thats what people are working on. There are very clear concerns about his qualifications to lead the v. A. That sort of never even got discussed because of this second set of allegations. And those allegations presumably he may not be qualified to lead the v. A. But he is certainly qualified to be the president s physician. It is sort of an open question now what happens. You mean hes a drunk, but he is capable of taking care of the president s health . Either its true or its. No if he has been relentlessly drunk on duty, that to me would impair his ability to focus on the president s physical condition. Thats absolutely true. That if it was true he was drunk on duty, he should not be the president s chief physician or return to that role. Those are the allegations against him. I dont believe that they have been verified with any documents or facts. That doesnt mean theyre not true. But as of now, it doesnt mean that theyre verifiably true either. It puts him in nomansland. Charlie, there has been this shower of crap coming from the white house step. They trash the chief of staff. They trash the president s doctor. Its always coming. I mean, i think kristen said it stopped for a while. Ive never heard of a white house where so much pooh comes out the window all the time on whoever is being talked about. Its always negative. Its always freeflowing. What do you make of this crowd . The president seems to have no control over the people who work for him who are political people. Working for him. And yet the culture seems to come from him. This tone is set from the top. Who is the leaker in chief of the white house . Well, he may sit in the oval office himself. He sets the tone. He sets the culture in this office surrounding himself with people who dont have any loyalty to one another, who have no history with one another. And i got to say this about the Ronny Jackson story, by the way. And i agree with ashley. I dont think he was qualified at all to run the v. A. But i think there was some something deeply troubling about the fact that the unverified allegations were published and put out there. Because every time Something Like that is put out there, it strengthens Donald Trumps hand in saying look, this is fake news. These are unfair attacks. So i think you can hold both those thoughts in your head at the same time that there are legitimate concerns about his qualification. And yet there was something really wrong about the fact that those allegations got out there and hell never get that reputation back. I agree. But true or not, though, it is relevant where theyre true or not about the boozing. Was it on trips overseas a couple of times . Was it an isolated incident or a relentless chronic problem of alcohol abuse . Yeah, thats relevant. Its relevant whether its true. Because if those stories are true, then i couldnt understand how he kept his current job, which he apparently is not keeping. Exactly my thought. How the president wouldnt smell it on his breath if he was drinking on the job. He with the president , checking his pulse. I think the president would notice what was going on. Because trump doesnt drink at all. He would notice it. So youre right. You got a good point there why didnt the boss know it. The chief patient know it if it was going on. Kristen welker, great story tonight. You made all the news tonight. Its all over the place. Ashley parker, thank you. As always, Eugene Robinson and charlie psysykes. Coming up, more Stormy Weather for the president. The adult film star is suing President Trump again for defamation. And it comes as trump is trying to use the house Intelligence Report from the republicans on that committee to exonerate himself on russia. Even republicans tell him to cool it. Youre not the clear at all, mr. President. This investigation hasnt been completed by any means. Plus, trump says he thinks his summit with kim jongun will happen. Already trump is hailing what could be a huge breakthrough. The north korean says its willing to give up its Nuclear Weapons if the United States promises not to invade. How about north korea promising not to invade south korea . That would be a nice promise. But as talk about a Nobel Peace Prize, im not sure john bolton is big on peace. And with trump back in Campaign Mode, should republicans worry about fire and fury about like what we saturday night. Theyre trying to hold on to control of congress and the word trump isnt helping. Finally, let me finish tonight with trump watch. This is hardball, where the action. Not cool. Freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting . Now thats cool. Coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells. With little or no downtime. And no surgery. Results and Patient Experience may vary. Some rare side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort, and swelling. Ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you. And visit coolsculpting. Com today for your chance to win a free treatment. burke seen it. Covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum President Trump today welcomed the nigerian president to the white house. They were asked whether they discussed alleged comments made by President Trump earlier this year in which he reportedly referred to african countries as sholes during a private meeting at the white house. Here is what President Trump had to say. We didnt discuss it. And you do have some countries that are in very bad shape and very tough places to live in. But we didnt discuss it because the president knows me. And he knows where im coming from. And i appreciate that we did not discuss it. Well be right back. And this is franks record shop. Frank knowns northern soul, but how to set up a limited liability company. Whats that mean . Not so much. So he turned to his friends at legalzoom. Yup they hooked me up. We helped with his llc, contracts, and some other stuff thats part of running a business. So frank can focus on the beat. You hear that . This is franks record shop. And this is where life meets legal. Welcome back to hardball. President trumps legal irritations are mounting again today. Hes now facing a second lawsuit from former adult film star Stormy Daniels. This one filed today in new york, and its for defamation again. This began early this month when daniels released a composite sketch of the man she says threatened her in 2011. To stay quiet about her alleged affair with trunt. A sketch years later about a nonexistent man, a total con job. The complaint dra