Can baker succeed where johnny man sell failed . Ronny jackson withdrew his nomination to be the next va secretary will not be returning in his role as the president s personal physician. Two Senior Administration officials, nbc news has not confirmed that reporting. Jackson faced intense criticism this week after the top democrat on the Senate Veterans affairs committee, jon tester, released a document summarizing allegations against jackson by current and former colleagues. Those allegations included overprescribing pills, drinking on the job, and creating a hostile work environment. President trump responded in a tweet yesterday writing, quote, Secret Service has just informed me that senator jon testers statements on Admiral Jackson are not true. Heres what the president had to say at his rally last night in michigan. Senator jon tester of a really great place, montana, who voted, by the way, in favor of
sanctuary cities who is weak on the border, didnt vote for tax cuts, he took a gentleman who is a truly highquality human being, and what they said about him this is a highquality individual like they would love in montana, and tester started throwing out things that hes heard. Well, i know things about tester that i could say, too. [ applause ] and if i said them, hed never be elected again. Again, so far only politico reporting this. I want to welcome my panel in to talk more about all of it. Politics reporter for the daily beast and msnbc dribber betsy woodruff. National political reporter for action yo, Jonathan Swan. White house reporter for the Associated PressKathryn Louis i and nbc correspondent jeff bennett. Welcome all. After i know what has been quite
a weekend. Jonathan swan went very well, didnt it . Everything was perfect. I heard that. Pitch perfect. Well talk more about that in a second. I know you had been doing a lot of reporting on Ronny Jackson. This is somebody the president very much liked personally. Whats kind of been going on Behind The Scenes . I know youre still working on confirming this report. I cant confirm the specific report, but what i can tell you is one of the reasons why jackson didnt withdraw immediately was there are a number of people inside the white house, including the president , who saw political advantage in them kind of leaving him there, hanging sort of in the wind because the more that democrats pile on, they thought a lot of these allegations were false, particularly the one about him getting drunk and crashing a government vehicle. Thats what he was talking about in the tweet on saturday. Said the Secret Service said it was false. That is provable. The theory among some, not all in the white house, was could be very politically advantageous. You have jon tester who is a key red state democrat, a state that
they really want to win putting all these accusations out there. And if some of them, particularly the big ones turnout to be false, they could use this as a political weapon. Kathryn louisy, i was surprised tessier went so far out in the public eye. Hes not someone we see in public cameras. He did open himself up, especially as jonathan says, some of these are not proven. The president is going to go really, really hard on him and the white house sees an opening here for someone who has not given them a lot of opening so far and is well liked in his state. They think this is something they can target. I think then also in terms of jackson, were still trying to figure out Whats Going On here. Although they had never said that he would return as the personal physician last week. Right. I mean, i will say first of all, if the president does have information that will mean tester never gets elected again, im sure Mitch Mcconnell would like to be in on that information. Hes throwing out rumor and
innuendo. The fact that the president is blaming everyone else for this bungled process, he has to confirm someone or nominate someone. They are pointing the finger at the president for not properly vetting Ronny Jackson when the president says hes a highquality individual. Whats so interesting about that is my conversations with former Obama Administration officials and former trump Administration Officials who know and have worked with roni yak son sny ja the same thing. They blame the president for letting him be in the wind. Did you hear the one about the white house Correspondents Dinner . Some people thought it wasnt very funny. Boredom is probably my biggest worry for life after congress. Luckily boehner texted me the other day and he said he found something that helps him chill out. Something to do with grass. I dont really know. Anyway anyway. The president also skipped the event for a second time. It used to be, this dinner, the kind of thing donald trump loves to go to. There he is. You see him. People in black ties, celebrities, journalists, even a touch of class. No more. Ever the tv producer he counter programmed an event in Washington Township michigan and at times he and comedian Michelle Wolf found similar grist for the mill. And they said, donald trump has won the state of michigan, remember that . [ cheers and applause ] it is kind of crazy that the Trump Campaign was in contact with russia when the Hillary Campaign wasnt even in contact with michigan. [ laughter ] you know, in the old days when the newspapers used to write, they put names down. Today they say, sources have said that President Trump sources. They never say who the source is. They dont have sources. The sources dont exist. You guys are obsessed with trump. Did you used to date him . Because you pretend like you hate him, but i think you love him. I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that trump has helped all of you. He couldnt sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or eric. [ laughter ] but he has helped you. Hes helped you sell your papers and your books and your tv. You help create this monster and now youre profiting off of him. And if youre gonna profit off of trump, you should at least give him some money because he doesnt have any. That is more or less where the comparisons end for some people last night represented the cynical low point of what has been a caustic couple of years. For some, though, just another day in 2018. Betsy, this was supposed to be in some ways a bit of a Reproach Month for the press and the white house. The president himself not attending. Last year none of his aides did. Last night Sarah Sanders sitting at the podium at the head table with the journalists where we heard nasty attacks from the immediates. There caustic remarks going after Sarah Sanders going after her accent and makeup. I think its significant also that matt and mercedes schlapp, a member of the President Trump white house, left in the middle of the comedy routine. If there was to be some come to jesus moment between the press and core that didnt happen last night. Margaret sullivan has a comment out in the Washington Post saying we should stop having the dinners altogether which is close to no longer being a minority opinion. The president of the White House Correspondents Association saying we thought Sarah Sanders handled herself
with incredible grace in the face of what she continued to sit there. Jonathan swan, do you think thsz the beginning weve had the conversation in the past whether this benefits democracy, Scholarships For Kids who will go on to work in the field, protect the First Amendment and all of that. But it seems to have gone rather sideways. Im all for the scholarships. Scholarships are great. We should keep Raising Money for them. Im kind of allergic to the whole dinner. Not only the sort of comedy which was in my view not particularly funny, but also just the selfcongratulatory incestous nature. Im down for dinner. Michelle wolff at the outset said shes not a political comedian. Shes not from the world of washington so her act was not designed for the people in the room. I thought it was designed to gin
up controversy. Shes promoting her netflix show. She certainly succeeded in that regard. The White House Correspondents Association which i happen to be a member wants to avoid this perennial hand wringing they should find a safer comedian, Larry The Cable Guy or wayne brady or like john than said, forego the same thing. Defenders of the dinner would say it is more than about the comedian. It is about fellowships and all about celebrating the First Amendment. We heard a lot of that from margaret during her remarks about the work that everyone in the White House Press core is doing. And so i think there will be a bigger conversation how to balance those goals with what kind of comedy or entertainment you really want to have at the dinner. Absolutely. Well, lets change gears a little bit because you may remember that last week the president turned heads during a sprawling interview on fox news. You take a poll at the fbi. I love the fbi. The fbi loves me. But the top people at the fbi
headed by comey were crooked. You look at mccabe where he takes 700,000 from somebody supporting hillary clinton. And you look at the corruption at the top of the fbi. Its a disgrace. And our Justice Department, which i try and stay away from, but at some point i wont. Our Justice Department should be looking at that kind of stuff, not the nonsense of collusion with russia. There is no collusion with me and russia. And everyone knows it. Wed talk to you all day but it looks like you have a million things to do. I hope you get mr. President thank you so much for being with us. Its not clear he had a million other things to do. But even after nearly 30 minutes on the phone with his favorite show, it seemed like, as you could hear there, that the president had more that he wanted to say. And last night back on the trail in michigan, he seemed to finish the thought. Take a look at the intelligence agencies. And what about hey, and what about comey . Did you watch him on the
interviews . Um, um, um. What about comey . The two lovers, right . Lisa, lisa and strzok. Lisa and peter. Look at how many of those top officials were fired or removed. And they should be out of here. And what about the guy that took 700,000 for his wifes campaign . Nobody even talks about it. Nobody even talks about it. Ill tell you why. Ive been talking about it for a long time. And if our Justice Department was doing the right thing, thoo theyd be a lot tougher right now on those people. So, i want to take a second and kind of walk through all of this. He said in that fox news interview, at some point he wont cease, in his mind he says i try not to go after the department of justice, but at some point im going to stop doing that and im going to go after them. What kind of danger, kathryn
lucy, does this represent . If Americans Cannot Trust that there is justice to be had in a country that is supposed to have the rule of law, what are we left with . Thats a pretty horrible question, kasie. The president is frustrated with his department of justice. He has been. Hes frustrated with the attorney general. And hes clearly trying to sort of sow these seeds of doubt about it. As you can see with this fox interview, with the rally, he wants to do more of them, hes only going to amp up this message. It isnt going to go a what. The other thing weve heard consistently, it goes beyond d. O. J. Hes been increasingly frustrated since the Michael Cohen raid, that investigation. He feels personally targeted there. And this is really added to his privately and publicly. Is that what were seeing Jonathan Swan . What is your view from Behind The Scenes . Its possible. This is a rhetorical pattern. Its not just with the Justice Department. He does it with everything. He basically makes a big threat and leaves it out there, makes
people feel uncomfortable. Oftentimes he retreats to a fairly conventional part. Hes done it on afghanistan, syria, nafta. The stakes are particularly high. Of course they are. So are they with north korea. We were on the verge of nuclear apocalypse. When i was saying my button is bigger than your button. Now were going for a peace talk. Hes been threatening to fire the leadership of the Justice Department for a long time. He still hasnt done it. I know he wants to, but his lawyers are telling him if you do this, its the beginning of the end of your presidency so maybe you shouldnt. So, betsy, hes essentially listening to that counsel. What is the president does he feel as though this would be the beginning of the end of his presidency . Have they been able to successfully tell him that these are the consequence . The fact that he hasnt fired any of these people would indicate at least for the time being hes taking their advice. He clearly either has a poor grasp of the some of characters in play here or just has been
ignoring news reports. In that tape you play he refers to lisa page and peter strzok, these two lovers involved in one of the investigations of him. My colleagues and i obtained the latest Text Messages between page and strzok. Of course they go after President Trump. They go after one of them suggested wanting to leave the fbi because she was so concerned about trumps leadership. So the president is correct in saying there was criticism of him. What the president didnt say which is pretty vital context, they go after a whole host of political actors. They criticized eric holder, they criticized hillary clinton, they criticized bernie sanders. It runs the gamut. These are people who were interested in politics but werent particularly mart san. That said the president has been able to weapon ize this investigation on capitol hill in a way that is unfair to the people involved. Were just Getting Started on a packed night of kasie d. C. Tonight. Just ahead signs of headway in korea as the president gets his man to take over the state department. And later, congressman beto orourke will size up his bid to
up seat ted cruz in texas. First im joined by Governor John Kasich for a segment were calling kasich dc. You might want to strap on your seat belt or go pick one up. Were back after this. If i get elected president , head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt. If you dont have a seat belt on your chair, go and get one. Youre going to have to have a seat belt to get on with it. Fasten your seat belt because were going. You dont like my lasagna . No, its good. Hmm. Oh. Huh. [ both laugh ] here, blow. Blow on it. You see it, right . Is there a draft in here . Im telling you, its so easy to get Home Insurance on progressive. Com. Progressive cant save you from becoming your parents. But we can save you money when you bundle home and auto. People said it just made a mess until exxonmobil scientists put it to the test. They thought someday it could become fuel and power our cars wouldnt that be cool . And thats why exxonmobil scientists think its not small at all. Energy lives here. Ohio Governor John Kasich tried to distinguish himself in the massive 2016 Primary Field by being a voice of reason. When i sat down with him today, we talked about whether he would try to it again in 2020 and whether that message will be better received in his own party now. Well, you know i was thinking about this. First of all, everybody said they wanted to rip up the iran deal. I said no, no, we need to see how iran does and whether they abide by the deal. Im the only one saying that. 15 million hispanics who came here illegally, put them on a bus and ship them out. Thats not practical. Or we could balance the budget by going after waste, fraud and abuse. It was like, or i expanded medicaid because i thought the people who were drug addict and had mentally ill ought to get help. When i think back on that, that was pretty weird, you know. So why it was weird because i was really articulating in some
respects traditional, you know, mashl not totally traditional republican views, but thats not what the country wanted back then. What is traditional republican what are traditional republican views now . Around long enough to have actually known and was here when Ronald Reagan was president. Everybody talks about saint reagan, we all love him. What was he . Well, he could make compromise when it was necessary. He was pragmatic. Made a deal with tip oneal, we all know that about. He was pro immigrant. He was pro trade. He was you know, he was a growth guy. Everybody should win, not just those at the top, but those at the bottom. It doesnt sound like President Trumps Republican Party to me. Well, is it Trumps Republican Party . Where is the party . I think the party has left me. I dont think ive left the party. Do you still consider yourself