Lets move on. His comments reignited the debate whether the president is a racist. Stunning remarks. Is the president of the United States of america a racist . Do you think President Trump is a racist. People misinterpreted hes a racist. What hes showing us is hes a racist. No question what he said was racist. Thats ridiculous. I think he makes racist comments. You dont help somebody with an alcohol problem by constantly calling him a drunk. I take a little bit of offense and suggestions that the president is racist. Were the comments racist, do you think . Um, well i think they were, yes. Welcome back to kasie dc. President trump spoke to reporters last hour in wet palm beach, florida where he denied making those profane comments about immigration and he answered that question for himself about whether or not hes a racist. Did you see what other senators in the room said about the comments that were made. [ inaudible ] no im not a racist. He says im the least racist person you have ever interviewed. Joining me now Senior Writer for politico and coauthor of the politico playbook, jake sherman. Former democratic congresswoman from maryland donna edwards. Nbc news Political Editor and former chief of staff to the cia and department of defense, Msnbc National Security analyst jeremy bash. Thank you all for being here. Congresswoman the president says hes not a racist. Go. Im not a crook. I think if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and its a duck. The president demonstrated not just with these comments but with a series of comments over a long period of time and behavior dating back long before he became president of the United States that hes a racist and i think the euphemisms is tiring. Its not necessary to use them any more. Jake sherman i couldnt help notice Kevin Mccarthy standing next to him. I remember when paul ryan endorsed the president back during the campaign and the New York Daily News used the same word for the president , weve been talking about here. What is the mood among republicans on capitol hill right now about this discussion . God this is a discussion they dont want to have, i would say. Listen the president keeps bringing it up. The republicans tell me all the time they need to spend the next 12 months selling tax reform, hammering into the public conscious they lowered many peoples tax rates. Were looking at a Political Landscape where republicans can lose 40 or 50 seats. To have discussions about racism and immigration and anything besides what the president has done for the economy, i dont think republicans want to have period. You are paying close attention to the math and to jakes point about whether or not this is really where republicans want this conversation to be. And were talking a little bit earlier how theres been some suggestion that the president initially when he made these comments thought he was making a play to that core base of supporters. He reevaluated it since then and said i never said that. Part of the issue for democrats is not just the math its the fact that democrats have a big advantage when it comes to intensity. When you ask voters how involved are you in the midterm election, how much attention are you paying to the midterm elections and particularly dislike of the president. So the percentage who strongly disapprove of the president right now is 48. Percentage of republicans who strongly approve of the president is half that. Thats the kind of motivation that brings voters out that keeps them motivated. Every time the president is in a news cycle with an outrage obvious comment it keeps those people who are already paying attention to the midterms it keeps them engaged, keeps them wanting to pay attention, searching the ad to know where their polling places are. Its a really good point. This also of course putting republicans in difficult positions as we showed you. Earlier today on meet the press with chuck todd senator rand paul of kentucky offered the following explanation for the president s comments. Unfair to draw conclusions from a remark that wasnt constructive is the least we can say and unfair all of a sudden to paint him as a racist. The only thing i regret although some people in the media have gone completely bonkers, but what i regret i do want to see an immigration compromise and you can have an immigration compromise if everybody out there is calling the president a racist. Jeremy bash what do you make of the position this is putting republicans in. President wins fights he picks with the media. I dont agree with rand paul its unconstructive to label the president s actions. If the president is acting in a way to affect his ability, then, yes, thats a problem. The problem is not his words. The problem is lack of actions. Lets talk about where does the rubber meet the road on daca deal . This came out of a private meeting about trying to hammer this compromise. Weve been going along with tuneding that both sides did actually want to reach a bipartisan deal. Do you think that is the the chances of that are out the window or is there still a way to get this done. Were now four days ahead of a government funding deadline when Congress Comes back on tuesday and they are nowhere. I think at some point in the very near future democrats are going to fine it not in their interest to cut a potentially controversial immigration deal with a guy who is talking behind the scene, the president is, about immigrants wane that a lot of them find detestable. I think thats a big dynamic. Theres no question, though, the president is getting one thing wrong here. I think it is democrats want a daca deal. They are the most fired up about a daca deal. Nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer have been promising since september. So i think the president has his incentive structure a little bit off. Do you think, congresswoman the democrats have given up too much in this debate, even the contours of the bipartisan deal that included Additional Border security, changes to family migration. Are democrats giving away too much as they try to get this deal or not . I dont think so. I think democrats had assumed republicans were negotiating in good faith and there was always going to be a compromise on daca, but democrats are also serious about daca. You heard already some Senate Republicans and democrats and House Democrats saying, you know what . No daca, no deal. So i think that they are since the president s comments they are actually Digging Deeper and make it much more complicated to get a deal. Whats your sense of the political calculus here for democrats . I mean to a certain extent Chuck Schumer is in a difficult position. Caught between first of all and we shouldnt minimize this. There are hundreds of thousands of kids that are really at the center are of all of this. But theres a lot of pressure on the left for democrats not to be seen at all with the president. Whereas Chuck Schumer has a handful of moderate democrats he has to protect in 2018. One thing about this particular issue, the dreamers, its an extremely sympathic position. Extending these conditions for daca has remained popular throughout president obamas tenure and trumps tenure. 70 of americans want to see these protections extended. I think for people on both sides what is very tricky about this is exactly what you said. These are hundreds of thousands of people. They have compelling stories. As democrats continue to publicize those stories that takes front and center beyond any of the, you know, of the other parts of Border Security, et cetera. The Human Element of this is very compelling for democrats and is what they rely on. This week is going to be a big one on capitol hill to say the least. On tuesday steve bannon the former white house chief strategist is scheduled to testify before the house Intelligence Committee. Lets bring in democratic congressman from illinois. He sits on the Intelligence Committee and is planning to be there during bannons testimony. Congressman thank you very much for your time tonight. I would like to know first, what is your top question for steve bannon . How does he fit into your investigation . Well, not confirming who is appearing before us but obviously mr. Bannon is a great interest given his role during the campaign and administration. The main interest is something that the investigation hasnt touched on. Money laundering. I thought it was just fascinating he pulled that out of the book that he said this investigation is going to end up being all about Money Laundering. I think he mentioned mr. Kushner in there and Deutsche Bank. Fascinating combination given that Deutsche Bank was fined 630 million for their involvement in a 10 billion russian Money Laundering scheme and, obviously, mr. Manafort has already been indicted for Money Laundering. So theres a lot to learn and i hope mr. Bannon will share some of that with us beyond what we learned in the book. Did that book, i mean one of the comments that, obviously, got under the president s skin it seems was talking about donald trump jr. Talking about donald trump jr. And that meeting with russians at trump tower being treasonous and unpatriotic. Would you say your interest in steve bannon based on that assessment is heightened maybe . I would like to know what he knows and if knows anything about what the president learned about that meeting before it happened or after it happened. I thought it was interesting he mentioned that it was zero i think he said Something Like zero chance that he didnt take those people he met with right up to meet his father. I dont know if thats true. But i find it very hard to believe that at least the president s son didnt share that that meeting was going to take place, what the purpose of that meeting was, and what happened after the fact. Very hard to imagine that given the significance of that meeting and what they were trying to accomplish, get dirt on Hillary Clinton, he didnt share that with his father. Congressman, jeremy bash has a question for you. If steve bannon does appear before the committee and i under youre not confirming who will be before the committee but if you have an opportunity to question him will you ask him about what the president did in term of the decision to fire jim comey, the obstruction question that bob mueller is also investigating . Given the role that mr. Bannon played in the campaign and, again, in the administration, its pretty easy to imagine that he had a ring side seat to what took place so thats just one of the many questions we would like to know. Why did he fire mr. Comey. What about general flynn . Obvious question about general flynn. We now know and hes pled guilty to lying about meeting with the Russian Ambassador about those sanctions president obama put on the russians for what they did during our election. So theres a multitude of questions, obviously, all of those are fair game. Congressman jake sherman, from politico has a question. This investigation has dragged on many months. I wonder if you can give us an update on when you think it will wrap up and whats the mood between democrats and republicans on the panel. Obviously, been contentious at points. Can you give us an update on that. Probably not going bowling any time soon. In fairness, mr. Conway has tried to do the best he can despite the fact the white house and chairman of the committee has made it extremely difficult. I think we interviewed about half as many witnesses as the senate investigation. We obviously have a lot more that we have to do. I challenge the word drag. I would like this to go a lot quicker but the fact is many of the subpoenas would have sent out, witnesses we would like to bring back. Thats not happening. Some witnesses like mr. Kushner were rushed in when we didnt have all of their documentation. So if we move back to the beginning of this investigation if the president of the United States had said were going to cooperate fully, he could have said what he said all along that this is a witchhunt but were going to cooperate fully, meaning his Campaign Officials and everybody who worked for him at the white house. This investigation would have gone a lot smoother and we would have been a lot farther along. Then the president could know whether or not we found anything that hurts his administration. Congressman mike quigley of illinois, thank you for your time tonight. I appreciate it. Jeremy bash, i want to ask you about the Mueller Investigation and the president s willingness it seems as though he changed gears on whether or not hes willing to talk to mueller. How do you think that plays out . Is it possible that the president will be able to get out of doing an interview with him . Can he just straight up refuse . He could try to refuse but ultimately mueller has the grand jury. If theres a subpoena from the grand jury for the president s testimony the president s lawyers could file a motion in Federal District court to walsh that subpoena. That would be litigated up to the supreme court. I dont think ultimately the president of the United States could avoid answering questions but he may be able to delay it. Certain lir interesting. Up next my interview mark meadows of north carolina. His take on daca and the president s comments behind closed doors. And later democrats look to ride the wave of republican departures in congress. Well map out the races in place. Kasie dc will be back right after this. Welcome back to kasie dc. Earlier this evening just a little bit before the president made those comments defending himself as not a racist i spoke to congressman mark meadows. He insisted he does not believe the president is a racist. First of all, i want to ask you about the president s reported comments, he referred to immigrants from african countries from haiti using an expletive. Whats your reaction . Was that comment racist . We wont be debating what he said or didnt say in the oval office, well be talking about daca and how to fix that. So, i dont see the president as a racist at all. Ive probably spent more time with him on oneonone than most members and i can tell you hes never, never had a racist comment in private and so i have it on Good Authority that some of the contextual comments that have been put forth by senator durbin may be not what they are reported to be. With all due respect senator graham has confirmed he made these comments as well and again do you believe that these dont were racist . Well, you know, whether were debating whether a country, you know, has certain type of plumbing or not or whether were debating whether Nancy Pelosis five guys comment is racist, i think you have to get to the bottom line. What americans want us to do is to deal with the problem that faces us, and really this is a problem that weve got to find a solution to. I dont know that dick durbin releasing this information was helpful in terms of that process. But i can tell you, the president is not racist. Ive had a number of conversations with him. I have zero tolerance for that and as we we know on capitol hill this coming week is all going to be about funding and about daca and how we get some resolution on those two items and thats what the American People want us to address. Is this language that you would use to describe these countries . You know, i use all kinds of different language. Normally not as colorful. Im on the Foreign Affairs committee, kasie as you well know. I enjoy a great relationship with a number of ambassadors all over the country. Overall what well see is that the United States is a good friend to developing countries as well as those allies abroad and at the end of the day youll find us come together on that particular issue. Do you agree with the substance of what the president said here that the United States should have fewer immigrants from countries in africa, from haiti, from el salvador than it should from countries like norway . I can tell you what the president has been very vocal. I actually have been dealing with him on immigration for several weeks, actually several months as weve done that and met with him in the oval Office Multiple times. One of the things that i find really interesting and its an interesting dichotomy as we look at this particular issue, hes continued to come back to me and asked me to do two things. Try to find a bill that dick durbin would be happy with in the senate but the other thing that hes been consistent on is bringing in merit based immigration. When you look at merit based immigration, it doesnt have any particular threshold for a country here or there, its all about making sure that we get the brightest and best coming here in addition to our normal Refugee Program that would reach out for humanitarian purposes. So hes been very consistent on the merit base side of things which would indicate that hes open to having immigrants come here from every where. But i will say that weve got to get a system that actually works, kasie. You know that for decades under republican and democrat administrations we failed to deal with this. I feel were like at the threshold of finally being able to address it. If we can get a bipartisan agreement before the president im sure hell sign it. Up mentioned this bipartisan agreement. The president tweeted earlier today daca is probably dead because democrats dont really want it they just want to talk and take desperately money needed away from our military. Do you agree with the as