It started on the white house lawn where the president stopped to talk to reporters. He trashed the fbi and refused to rule out a pardon of mike flynn, who lied to the fbi. Where was trump going on marine one you might ask, the fbi. But wait, theres more. When he got to quantico he addressed a graduating class at the fbis National Academy for Law Enforcement managers. He did have a prompter and at first he did stick to it, praising police. But then you look at whats going on in chicago, what the hell is going on in chicago . What the hell is happening there . Do you think the countrys giving us their best people . No. What kind of a system is that . They come in by a lottery. They give us their worst people, they put them in a bin, but in his hand when hes picking them is really the worst of the worst. Congratulations, youre going to the United States. Theres the fake news back there. Look at them. Fake news. No, actually, some of them are fine people. About, lets see, whos back there, yeah, about 30 . Its all a bit off message for a white house which should be focused on trying to sign a tax bill. This morning senator marco rubio was a no on that bill. This afternoon though it looks like he may be a yes. Just may. But a reminder they can only afford to lose two republican votes and there are still a few others that are on the fence. So lets figure out who they are with a team of reporters and analysts. Of course we just showed a full screen so we kind of gave it away. Lets start with well, lets first introduce you guys joining me from the White House Correspondent hans nicohls, ken delain yan and from New York Times political reporter nick confisori. Hans, weve heard from the president s attorney today, ty cobb, a question about that flynn pardon where he wouldnt rule it out a little bit earlier. Is ty cobb definitively ruling out a flynn pardon . Well, ty cobb is saying there are no discussions. It is not under consideration. I dont think thats necessarily intentioned with what President Trump said earlier. President trump said he hasnt made a decision. He doesnt want to talk about it yet. Ty cobbs statement and President Trumps earlier comments would be entirely consistent but for that yet that President Trump added at the end of his discussion there. Talking i dont want to talk about any pardon for Michael Flynn yet. Thats the daylight. Just because ty cobb says there arent any considerations, he doesnt know whats going on inside the president s mind. From my reading from what the president said he seemed like he was leaving the door open potentially to a Michael Flynn pardon. Indeed. Spent a long time this morning bashing the fbi which was odd because he was at quantico and also bashing the russia investigation which the fbis heading up. Hans, they are trying to pass this tax bill. Theyre trying to get it through this committee and then voted on and then to the president s desk. Can he afford at this moment to be so off message . Reporter oh, sure, right . It looks like they have the votes, if they do have the votes, i mean, the president s messaging strategy is his own strategy. He has several tentacles going on at any given point. Hes got mike pence working the angles on the hill. Ive stopped trying to game out or assess what the president s strategy is when hes giving off the cuff remarks, when hes tweeting. Theres no strategy. Lets be honest. Reporter what you saw today is the president reverting to candidate form and saw he was energized by it. I think the only test on whether or not the strategy is working is whether or not they have the votes for this evening, the late night or whenever they actually call the vote and whether or not how we have on capitol hill. Hes going to have a late night, i think. Hans nichols, thanks so much. Again, ty cobb not ruling out, exactly not ruling out at least a flynn pardon. How surprising would that be for members of the fbi who have been lied to by mike flynn . Well, the interesting thing about a flynn pardon is it wouldnt necessarily stop mike flynn from testifying against donald trump. If thats indeed what he plans to do, katy. Because he has already proffered, given to Robert Mueller, everything he knows about potential illegalities, about whoever else theyre looking at in this investigation. So if hes pardoned, then he no longer has a fifth amendment right against selfin crimination, they could conceivably compel his testimony, he would have to say what they already know he knows, and if its about criminality involving anybody at the white house, a pardon doesnt help them. But it would absolutely be a political earthquake, i think. And other analysts have said, you know, potentially constitutional crisis if he starts trying to pardon his way out of the russia investigation. Also interesting other than trashing the fbi before he got to the fbi and trashing the investigation before he got to the fbi, but also he had a call yesterday with Vladimir Putin where were led to believe he called Vladimir Putin to thank Vladimir Putin for that press conference putin had yesterday where he praised, i guess, the economy of the u. S. I mean, thats got to irk people in the intelligence community, right . Well, certainly, katy, it cant be helpful. You know, putin knows how to play this game. And he knows what buttons to push on the president. He knows if the president is fixated on his popular vote victory, electoral vote victory, wants to hear about how the economys doing well and its a way of softening the president at a time when the president himself is trying to soften opposition to russian interest in the u. S. So again who was at this quantico visit today . Were there fbi agents . Well, there may be some, but this was the National Academy, a tenweek course for about 250 Law Enforcement leaders from around the country. So state and local police, many of which are probably Trump Supporters and he certainly gave them a lot of red meat, you know, calling for the Death Penalty for cop killers and that sort of thing, katy. Nick, he also went after the media, as he always does saying about 30 of them back there were good people. He got a cheer from the room. Should we read into that . Well, you know, its shocking because out here the republicans are saying that the fbi is a haven for liberals and partisan democrats and yet the president can get a laugh for attacking his enemies at this ceremony. Look, the attacks on the media are like a warm blanket for the president. It makes him feel good. Its just a reliable line in any public setting for him. And as ken pointed out or perhaps it was hans, he seems kind of energized in kind of any place where you can get that kind of a response and have that kind of an exchange with an audience. Nick, ken, gentlemen, thank you very much. Happy friday. And peter ahern is a retired fbi special agent in charge who was with the agency for 29 years and did work for Robert Mueller. Peter, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. When you saw the president today on the white house lawn talking about the fbi, talking about this investigation, whats the reception hes going to get from inside the agency . Well, i think the agency, the rank and file of the fbi and people are smart enough to realize a lot of thats politics. It can be disheartening. I think, you know, theyre human. The agency analysts, the support people, and it does hurt, but more importantly than that is does it stop you . Wont dissuade them. Theyll wake up tomorrow, theyre going to work and theyre going to do their job protecting this country. Thats what they do. So the president and his supporters, lots of folks on fox news are pointing to these antitrump Text Messages. And edits made to comeys announcement on Hillary Clintons use of a private server changing. The wording on that from grossly negligent excuse me, to extremely careless. That in addition to the Text Messages that the president has been seizing on and his supporters have been seizing on, does that is the concern that people might have with this investigation justified because of that . Well, i think overall i think the perception can be very hurtful and harmful. But the best answer to perception are facts. And facts are presented, facts come out in any investigation, then thats where the truth will lie. You look at the issue right now and the fbi personnel wondering what the reputations are like. And recent polls, despite what the president might say, and, again, hes the president. He can say what he wants like any other american, but the perception in the polls of the fbi and what the American People think are the things to look at as well as congress as a whole. Those are the key things that make people go to work every day. And law fare has a pole shows theres a lot more confidence in the fbi than the president might want for the people. Take a look at all the tweets. We showed them a moment ago, show them again, all the tweets the president ha e has sent out recently about the fbi. The media is spending more time doing forensic analysis at melanias speech than the fbi spent on hillarys emails, that was from last year. People angry at some point the Justice Department and the fbi must do what is right and proper. The American Public deserves it. Tucker karlsons Opening Statement about our once cherished and great fbi was so sad to watch. James comeys leadership was a disaster. So hes going after the fbi over and over again. He also has some high profile people supporting the anger he has towards the special counsel. Got john bolton, former u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. And supporter of the president tweeting out this, there is something fundamentally unnatural constitutionally about an unrestrained independent counsel muellerinvestigation. So if you have john bolton doing this, you have the president going after this and then you hear about potential subpoenas into his financial records with deutsche bank, would you consider that to be the president considers it to be a violation, but would you consider that to be outside the scope of the special prosecutors probe . Not at all. I think everything pretty much is fair game. And a lot of people have to realize when you do an investigation, a lot of times its not just to prove the positive of an investigation. It could prove the negative. It could make an allegation or an issue disappear based on the facts that something did not happen. So to be effective to do what you have to do you have to have access to everything and to do what you need to do. And thats what former director, you know, mueller is doing right now. He will look at everything that he can look at to either prove or disprove at the end of the day thats what its going to be all about. Listen, you know, this is today, but in my 30 years at the fbi, the criticisms, the post 9 11 criticism, the criticism of ken starr when he was a special counsel, you know, waco, ruby ridge, these things happened. The fbi is not perfect by any sense of the imagination. But as ive said before pretty damn close when it comes to it. But in the end its the facts that have to be proven or disproven to make sure that this country has the faith that the fbi can do the job that theyre charged with doing and the mission. Peter, you worked for Robert Mueller. How do you think hes dealing with all this . Is it getting under his skin . Not at all. Former director mueller was impressive just like every ive worked for seven directors in my span in the fbi including, you know, with the exception of director wray, who i met and is continuing on pushing those priorities that the fbi have to deal with, very complex ones. But as far as bob mueller he was, i think after 9 11 that criticism, those questions that came up he saved the fbi, i think, when there were people trying to break up the fbi, forming Domestic Intelligence agency which would have never flown in this country in my opinion. But hes brilliant. He is tough. And he demands the best of his investigators and his lawyers. And ill tell you what, i wouldnt want bob mueller chasing me, i can tell you that right now. Just quickly i want to put up on the screen we have a graphic showing the confidence in the fbi from law fare, no confidence, just about 15 of the public, but confidence or high degree of confidence about half of the public. So it does seem like there still is substantial support for the fbi out there. Peter ahearn, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate your time. Come again soon. Thank you. Youre welcome. Coming up next, senator marco rubio may have just flipped his vote on the tax plan. What changed . And will it be enough to get it to the president s desk by christmas . Oregon senator ron wyden joins me live in just three minutes. [ keyboard clacking ] [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. Our advisors can help you find both. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Yours. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. But on the inside, i feel like chronic, widespread pain. 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In case you need some Light Reading over the weekend, the final version of the republican tax plan is going to be released at 5 30 tonight. All 503 pages of it. Theyre expected to vote on this bill, that is the congress, next week. But do the republicans have the votes to pass it . Well, the one definite no now could be a yes. Thats senator marco rubio. Earlier today President Trump signaled he wasnt worried about little marco. I think theyll be great. Theyre great people. They want to see it done. I know him very well. I know how they feel. These are great people. And they want to see it done. And they want to see it done properly. Showing hes got some leverage. Nbcs garrett hake is on capitol hill. Garrett, we have marco rubio in the no category right now, but is it going to be enough . Reporter katy, i think its time to move him. Just as youve been reading the introduction it sounds like marco rubio got enough what he wanted hes moving to a yes vote. He asked for an increase in the refundability of the Child Tax Credit, basically putting more money in peoples pockets and he tweeted, its the second of a couple tweets but says for far too long washington has ignored and left behind the american working class. Increasing the refund blgt of the Child Tax Credit from 55 to 70 is a solid step toward broader reforms which is broet pro growth and pro worker. Katy, this morning we learned that this final Conference Committee bill did have an increase in the amount of refundability of this Child Tax Credit. The open question on the hill is whether or not that will be good enough for marco rubio. While he doesnt come right out and say it in the tweet, it sounds like this is enough to put his vote back in the yes column. Garrett, who else are we watching right now . Were watching bob corker. I think hes likely to be a no. Watching jeff flake and Susan Collins who both have promises from leadership that arent directly tied to this bill, promises that they want to see kept. And then im watching john mccain. John mccain was out all week long getting treatment at walter reed for complications from his treatment for brain cancer. Its a question, its an open question on whether hes going to be physically able to show up here and cast his vote come tuesday or wednesday when the senate decides to move forward with this. Msnbcs garrett hake on capitol hill. Thank you so much. Reporter you bet. Joining us now democratic senator ron wyden of oregon, hes the Ranking Member on the finance committee. Senator, thank you so much for being here. Yep. Lest talk about taxes. Have you seen the final version of the bill . Well, first of all, what we were told after the secretive process we were told that we could come on in and review and read and sign a bill in the amount of time you would normally take to go to a portland trailblazer game, katy. This whole process has been a sham. The fact is this is a historically unpopular giveaway to the multinational corporations at the expense of the middle class. And the republicans know if theres any real sunlight on this, this bills going to dry up. And thats why theyre moving with the speed of light. But im telling you this debate is far from over. Republicans seem to have acquiesce, they moved child tax dollars, going to benefit people. Do you support that effort . This bill is still skewed dramatically in favor of the multinational corporations and those at the top. And the president repeatedly said he didnt think he should be getting any tax relief. Hes going to get a whole lot of tax relief. I mean, the top rate is going to go down. The top rates going to go from 39 to 37. Im telling you, the middle class writes 70 of the Economic Activity in the country