Walter reed medical center. President trum top day choosing to spend this mothers day golfing while his aides scramble to defend mounting scandals. Kelly sad letters insensitive comments about senator john mccain continue to make waves and news. Sadler said mccains opposition to the president s pick to be cia director doesnt matter because, hes dying anyway. Thats according to sources with direct knowledge of that remark. Theyre defending sadler. A source familiar says that she said i stand with kelly sadler. And that same report claims that press secretary Sarah Huckabee handers is ha sanders with the leak. They say this is unlikely to be lost on her. Nbcs jeff bennett joins me from the white house with the latest. Jeff, hope me with the strategy here. There is the comment reprehensible as it was. The white house choosing not to engage on that. It was first reported by the news service. Highlighting the naktfact that leak occurred. What are sources telling you about why the white house wont apologize for what was a pretty egregio egregious remark . I think it is instructive to reset a bit and look at the book ends. The week ban with malania trump releasing a campaign to encourage kids to put kindness first in their lives and ending with the white house digging in heels over this crass remark of a Communications Staffer made about john mccain. Now to your question, a source familiar says the white house has been reluctant to punish kelly sadler or maybe a public apology in part because the president himself zparnlgdispar john mccain in a way that are degrees worse than what kelly sadler said. Take a look at this interaction between White House Deputy spokesperson hogan gidly and the personalities on fox and friends. As you watch this remember fox news is trump friendly tv. Do you think that was kind . Look, i wasnt in the meeting. You heard the comment now. Pardon me. Was it kind . Yeah, but i dont know if the comment was even made or not. I cant confirm it. So youre denying she said it . Im saying i wasnt in the meeting. I cant talk about that. It was a private meeting in the white house. She came to the meeting to apologize. Was it kind . I heard that as well. Look, those comments whether they were made or not made, there were reports in there to too about the internal workings of that meeting that just shouldnt be made public. So a fairly tortured explanation there. We know, of course, as you mentioned by this reporting that White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders and other Top White House officials like mercedes are more upset about the leak of sadlers comment than the substance of what was said. The press team itself is leaking like a sieve doesnt reflect well in the white house. There is some reporting we should mention that when kelly sadler reached out to megan mccain by phone, megan told her she needed to apologize publicly and asked if she would do it. Sadler said she would. She clearly has not. Now in the last hour, i reached out to megan mccain directly. She didnt want to share anything beyond what she already said on the view. So as we sort of head to this coming week, keep an eye out for an apology and for any staffing changes in the White House Press shop, david, since white house staffers are quikly learning that the Defense Strategy for this scandal isnt really working well. Set the table. I want to know what sources are saying about this moment about this remark, whether or not its a turning point. What is the reaction been to what played out over the last few days . The reaction across the board is we clearly crossed yet another threshold in the degradation of our public political discourse. And in almost the same breath when people talk about what kelly sadler said, they point to what the president said about john mccain. I think most infamously the president mocking mccain during the campaign for saying something similar to, you know, i respect people. I like people who werent captured. The president mocking john mccains pow status. There is a sense of frustration and disappointment about this current moment, david. Jeff, thank you very much. Jeff bennett there joining us from the white house. And kelly sadlers comments are the latest example of insensitive or crude comments made by President Trumps inner circle. It is not just democrats takingish would you that perceived lack of civility. Take a look at what Lindsey Graham had to say this morning. Its pretty disgusting thing to say. If it was a joke, it was a terrible joke. I just wish somebody from the white house would tell the country that was inappropriate. Thats not who we are. And the Trump Administration and john mccain can be criticized for any political decision hes ever made or any vote hes ever cast. But hes an american hero. And i think most americans would like to seat Trump Administration do better in situations like this. It doesnt hurt you at all do the right thing. Joining us now, ai white house supporter for the daily beast. Let me start with you here. I listen to Lindsey Graham there, senator graham speaking the friendship and long standing friendship ep has with senator john mccain. Thats what comes through to me. He defending reprehensible comments made about his friend. What is the state of friendship in washington, d. C. . We focus on what was said behind closed doors here and those reprehensible remarks . What is your perception here of the role of civil discourse in washington, d. C. Today . I think that ship has sort of sailed. Look, senator graham there was talking about how he would like for the Trump Administration to do better in situations like this. I know its a cliche to say that the fish starts rotting at the head. But in terms of the men sitting in the oval office of one donald j. Trump, he made the mccain comments about him not be a war hero because he was captured which is a slap in the face to p. O. W. S everywhere who are not named john mccain but after the charlottesville atrocity, he famously said that in the hoard of nazis, there were very fine people there. Never apologized for it. During the campaign, he said that as president he would want to ban muslims from entering this country until we figure out what was going on. Never apologized for that. When it comes to kelly sadler making a comment or a joke as dpikable as it was, its more of a symptom of the president , she and so many other people in the administration serve and the presidency of this time. If were going to get up in arms about crassness coming from the Trump White House, i mean, to repeat myself from earlier, i think that ship sailed. Kevin, you read the piece by jonathan swan. We all have. And in it reportedly Sarah Huckabee sanders expressed dismay this conversation was distracting from some achievements the white house would like to tout. Given that and given what we heard from senator graham why is this white house so his tanlt to move on from this moment by apologizing for the remarks . Thank you for having me. This is an important conversation to have given that its mothers day and civility in washington, i would agree i dont see much civility anymore in the washington political beat on either type of stories these days. Look, i think the bottom line for this administration is that according to source thats i speak with inside and outside of the white house as well as folks who worked on the campaign is that Trump Administration largely believes with some exceptions that winning means never having to say youre sorry. That, of course, faced deep pushback from republicans and democrats alike this week on capitol hill. We heard from senator linlddsey graham, paul ryan, also praising senator john mccain who many really all really believe is a profile in courage. Lets also discuss what this was about in the sense that this is about the nomination. Gina, of course, is President Trumps nomination to lead the cia. She is someone who has gotten the support of centrist republican senator Susan Collins and joe manchin who is up for reelection in West Virginia in 2018. Senator john mccain said he does not support her nomination because of her previous remarks and policy positions on torture. There are many people not only within the Democratic Party but Republican Party who really feel that senator john mccain obviously given his heroic experience has a voice in this debate. Let me have you comment on that. I appreciate what kevin is saying. There i looked at the statement that gina released after the statement after senator mccain issued his statement opposing that nomination. And she said she was grateful for im summarizing here, the thought he put into her nomination. The way that he approached it. What does that say about how insulated this white house is . When you look at the response here, is this sour grapes . Is this a reaction to him not supporting the nomination of haskell . I think it was widely expected this would be a nomination he would not get behind. I think kelly is saying the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet. As crass as the joke or whatever she wants to call it that she made, it was flekting a political reality within the Trump White House that, a, they cant count on john mccains vote on this to confirm gina because of his strong positions and the red line hes drawn on the issue of torture. And also just the political calculus within the west wing that john mccain may not be around much longer even if they could count on him. And in terms of the com shop in general this is Trump Administration operation that is leaky for a long time. It has been saddled with rounds upon rounds of knife fighting, particularly in the post hope hicks power vacuum that people were trying to fill. So you can certainly expect more stuff like this in the weeks if not years to come. Kevin, i mentioned that the perceived ins lartst white house, i wonder how that transfers to policy with the relation with the legislative branch. Let me read a tweet from the president. He wrote this, the senate should get funding done before the august break or not go home. All in caps. Wall and Border Security should be included. Also waiting for approval of 300 nominations, worst in history. Democrats are doing Everything Possible to obstruct. All they know how to do, stay is his command there at the end. There is some tone deafness as i read that on the part of the president when you look at the reaction to the comments, again reportedly made by that aide about senator john mccain. This is a hurdle here to getting policy made, to getting work done in washington. Well, i think also what it does is President Trump trying to separate himself from a Republicancontrolled Congress ahead of midterm elections in which the political map is looking a bit more advantageous to democrats in the house. Its a bit more up in the air in the senate. And so i think that this would appear to be a maneuver of sorts to say, hey, congress, get your work done. As unpopular as law makers are right now, as President Trump is, if you look at the polling, Congress Also remains deeply unpopular as well. So there is a bit of a calculus here. This is a crucial couple of weeks for this administration from a geopolitical stand point around the world. Of course, june 12th, that singapore immediating with kim jongun and also comes at a time of mounting tension between israel and iran and syria. So a lot of back and forth here around the world and moving parts. Lets also note chinas role in all of this, chinese delegation of trade representatives from the treasury counterparts due in washington this week. Kevin, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for joining me on the program. President trumps attorney back on damage control over his comments. The commander in chief denied major merger. The Rudy Giuliani remix, the president s role in that d. O. J. Decision. As we go to break, saturday night lives deal on the consultant deal in question. 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One more way comcast is working to fit into your life, not the other way around. President trumps lawyer is doing the best to walk back a pair of comments that drew criticism saying the president had no involvement in the justice departments decision to block the at ttime warner merger even though trumps long time attorney received consulting fees from at t. Rudy giulianis comments contradict those that he made earlier when suggest that President Trump did have some involvement in that. He said i want to be clear that the president did not intervene. Hes also changing direction on the topic of the president s potential it isdown with special Council Robert mueller after saying the meeting was a d distirvegt pos silt. It would being delays until after the june 12th summit because i wouldnt want to take his concentration off something far, far more important. We turn to a pair of veteran reporters to cover this topic extensively. Jonathan is an msnbc political analyst with the associated press. I want to ask you about your interviews. Your interview centered on the Mueller Investigation. Tell me how he walked it back since. Sure, so initially lets recall that he said that the decision they wanted to make a decision on whether or not the president would sit down with special counsel by may 17th which is the one Year Anniversary of muellers appointment. This is a topic some of controversy within the president s legal team. Whether or not the president the president is sort of a lone voice among his advisors who actually want to go through with this interview. Most of his legal team suggests this is a mistake. They fear that giuliani is using purjury trap. There is some real concern. This is President Trump is not the most disciplined speaker. As one long time trump adviser said if he got in a resume with mueller, he would perjure himself three time. There is fear he would say the wrong thing, whatever it might be and he might not stick to the script. In my interview with giuliani on friday, theyre punting that time line. Not only would there be no interview if it happens at all, there would be no interview before the june 12th north korea summit in singapore, honestly, he said they may not make a decision as to whether there would be an interview until that june 12th date. So this is giving themselves more time to prepare. Giuliani also suggested because the president s folk us is elsewhere, namely on north korea, theyve done no preparation for that possible interview and you suspect they want to do a lot before arguably the most important moment of this presidency. Youre interview focused on the at ttime warner merger. What did he say to you about the role the president played and how has Rudy Giuliani tried to walk things back since that conversation . Thats amazing. I started out the conversation was about Michael Cohen. And all the money he was getting and what he had done for the money and what sort of discussions he had with the president. And according to giuliani, he made it sound like cohen had did not have any discussions with the president at all. As a matter of fact, look at what at t wanted and, in fact, the president stopped it. There is no contact. The president has nothing to do with these decisions. Thats a d. O. J. Thing. And then giuliani when i followed up with him, said well, you know, the administration blocked it. The d. O. J. But the implication here was and not just implication, he flat out said that the president was involved in stopping this thing. Now, that was friday afternoon. I think jonathans interview was later and he started the new version of that. But, yeah. Its been interesting. I think the mayor is an unreliable narrator in a