While wall street is soaring, is main street stuck on the ground . Well begin this morning with the president balancing the political and personal aspects of his job, commending democrats and republicans, a little bipartisanship working on a health care deal, while at the same time trying to tamp down criticism of the ways hes handled the deaths of four u. S. Soldiers by reaching out to their families. Well, i have a great team here this morning to break into all of it, starting with Nbcs Kristen Welker and the phone call the president placed that is getting a whole lot of attention this morning. Tell us about it. Reporter steph, good morning. Well, the white house has confirmed that President Trump has called the families of all four Fallen Soldiers in niger. As you point out, one of those phone calls is getting a lot of attention. According to florida congresswoman Frederica Wilson who today told msnbcs morning joe when President Trump called the widow of the late staff Army Sergeant la David Johnson he said this. He said he knew what he signed up for, but when it happens, it hurts anyway. The congresswoman saying that those comments were incredibly insensitive. She says she heard the comments because that call was put on speakerphone. She was riding in a car with johnsons widow as they were heading to essentially greet his casket to say goodbye. President trump tweeting moments after that morning joe interview, steph. Heres what he said. Democrat congresswoman totally fabricated what i said to the wife of a soldier who died in action, and i have proof. Sad. Important to point out that the white house isnt officially commenting on the call saying that his conversations with families of the fallen are private. Of course we havent spoken to that widow yet. But the congresswoman was asked about that allegation, that the president has proof on another cable network. Take a look. I dont know what kind of proof he could be talking about. Im not the only person that was in the car. I have proof too. This man is a sick man. Hes coldhearted and he feels no pity or sympathy for anyone. Reporter the congresswoman also answering some tough questions about whether or not she is politicizing this very sensitive issue. The congresswoman pushing back on that notion saying that she was simply answering questions in the wake of overhearing that phone call. Now, all of this adds to a mounting controversy for President Trump. As you point out, steph, he was asked about why he hadnt weighed in earlier on those Fallen Soldiers and he used that moment to take aim at his predecess predecessor, former president barack obama, saying effectively he didnt consistently reach out to call, have visits with the families of the fallen. The obama team is not commenting on those allegations on the record except that former Vice President joe biden did weigh in late last night during an event in delaware, pushed back very vigorously and said that former president obama did spend a lot of time calling, reaching out to, spending holidays with the families of the fallen, steph. All right. Ive got to bring my panel in because theres a lot to uncover this morning. First, i want to bring in heidi priz excuse me, robert toracelli is a former democratic senator from the state of new jersey. I want to go to you first before we go to our panel. This story, this is a hard one. When i read all that went down, i cant imagine what i would say. This is a very, very difficult call. Could one make the argument President Trump clearly has had a hard time explaining all of this over the last few days, but he made the call last night. Are we pushing too hard . Are we trying to parse his words . I mean does the family not deserve their privacy and dignity here . Yeah, but that goes both ways. Frankly having dealt with republican president s most of my career, i would not have leaked this call. The president was inarticulate. He was probably inappropriate. He has no ability to make this other than about himself in any instance, but nevertheless leaking the call in a call to a family, theres outrage on both sides of the story. Heres whats outrageous, that this poor young mother has lost her husband. Shes pregnant and she has two young kids. Weve got more to cover. I want to go to capitol hill where theres a bipartisan agreement in place to restore those obamacare subsidies that the president said he is going to cut off. Its not a done deal and not even clear they can get a vote. Garrett haake, i want you to weigh in. Garrett, what is going on . I spoke to hugh hewitt this morning and he said, listen, if the president hadnt done anything on friday, we would not have seen Lamar Alexander and patty murray get together, thats a positive. But except, of course, the president undercuts it again last night. That may be true. The president sort of forced the issue here. Now well see if hes willing to see it through. First to the substance of this deal. What we have is an agreement to fund those csr payments, the subsidies for obamacare, through the next two years. Thats what democrats wanted to get out of this. The question is whether republicans ended up getting enough. The concessions they got from democrats include allowing people over 30 years old to buy catastrophic plans. Theres more flexibility and waivers for states to change the way they cover things and also to provide flexibility to buy insurance in compacts across state lines. So the question is, is this enough of a deal to get both parties to really drop what had been their absolutionist positions on obamacare and come to the middle here. The bills two sponsors tried to sell it last night on the senate floor. Take a listen. We were able to reach an agreement this i hope will set the Health Care Discussion in congress on a very different path than the one we have all seen for the last seven years. In my view, this agreement avoids chaos. I dont know a democrat or republican who benefits from chaos. Reporter and this is really both parties trying to sell this deal to their governing wings and say we need to change the conversation here. I can report this morning that the bill has at least two additional cosponsors, tim kaine on the democratic side and Lisa Murkowski on the republican side. Both say they will get behind this bill. Thats a good start for people who want to see this pass. But it really is going to come down to the president and whether he decides this is something he could ultimately sign and that he would be willing to sell. Because remember, if this is even going to get to his desk, it would have to go through the senate and the house, where they have already taken one tough health care vote. They dont want to get involved in this if they dont have to. The president has sort of been on every side of this so far. Here was his comments on this last night. While i commend the bipartisan work done by senators alexander and murray, and i do commend it, i continue to believe Congress Must find a solution to the obamacare mess instead of providing bailouts to insurance companies. Reporter not especially encouraging from the president of the United States, but its also not him coming out and saying no. So i think the salesmanship is going to continue here on the hill and at the white house for at least the next few days on this until we get some kind of definitive statement from the president. Listen, when Lamar Alexander says neither democrats nor republicans want chaos, i think most of us can agree on that. Well, maybe not steve bannon, but im not sure hes either one. I want to bring my panel in. Heidi przybyla, lanhee chan, kate kelly and bob torricelli from my state of new jersey. How important is this legislation . Its very important potentially. The question is, is there enough for conservatives to get them across the finish line. President trump could be very helpful in that regard but theres been somewhat confused or mixed messaging because this is tough. They have to thread the needle between trying to achieve some kind of balance in the marketplaces while still being able to argue in favor of repeal and replacement of the law. The question will be does this take the pressure off legislators to act next year more broadly on obamacare. Those will be the questions we are going to have to ask to see if this agreement can get across the finish line. Kate, we have already heard from house and Senate Republicans, theyre not going to get on board. Does this have a chance . I think its really hard to predict. I read all the major paper coverage of this this morning. I noticed that the Washington Post was leading with uncertainty. They took a similar tone to what garrett took, looking at trumps initial comments of support and then following up what he said in the evening to suggest the obamacare bill doesnt have a future. The wall street journal had a different tone. I thought the journal and the times were much more optimistic. They made the caveat we dont know whats going to happen with all the oppositional views on capitol hill but there was more of an air of confidence. I think the bottom line is we really dont know. If the senate can reach some sort of consensus that they need to back this, and id love to hear your view on this, it will certainly put pressure on the house. We just dont know whether republicans are going to try to be ideological here and say, look, we promised repeal and replace. Were going to do everything we can to undercut the current legislation and counter weight that with the needs of americans who have come to depend on this government Subsidized Health care system. Senator, think about all these republicans that have to face midterms. They promised repeal and replace. Dont they seem so hung up on the title of this health care . The problem is, is that the reform has such a positive connation. I commend patty for what she did. I understand the impacts of people losing these subsidies, but this isnt about making things easier for the Republican Party. In the end this is about getting control of the congress back, saving obamacare and going beyond it. In a lot of ways, what we engaged in last night is an enormous longterm problem. If were going to make their outrageous tax reform, which isnt reform at all, its a giveaway. If were going to make their reform of obamacare, which is not a reform, its taking away health care in america. Its creating a twoyear bridge, right . To get them through an election. The problem with my party is we are plagued with responsibility. Thats one of the things i love about the democratic party, but in this instance our sense of responsibility is doing nothing but saving the Republican Party from the reality of the giveaway with what theyre doing on tax reform and this abuse of the American People by repealing obamacare. There is historically, and its hard to look at it historically because of the immediate pain to the American People. Historically we need to take the republican and the trump record to the American People. This is what they said they were going to do. This is what they did. Is that what you want . Why are we making it easier for them. So are you saying lets see some republican legislation go through and give it to the American People . This is what you voted for, take it . So the starker example is on tax reform. So theyre taking 80 of the benefits to 1 of the American People. So were going to go negotiate with them and work with them. What are we going to do . Were going to take it so 1 of the American People only get 70 of the benefits and this is our goal and make it a little easier for them . If thats what they want to do, lets take it to the people. At a time when the Trump Administration is looking for a legislative win, they would love to get tax cuts passed in this calendar year. Mnuchin is on the road trying to sell it. So is gary cohn. The ways and Means Committee is going to start working on this in earne eest we think in the coming weeks. Is there a notion that if theres bipartisan support for this shortterm plan for obamacare cost subsidies, there will be good will toward a bipartisan backing of tax reform. Maybe democrats are supposed to let all these things go through and give the Trump Supporters what they voted for. Because this legislation is not going to help President Trumps base. Thats whats stunning here. Heidi, you are our white house insider, so take us inside the white house. When i look at what President Trump has already done as it relates to obamacare, whether were talking about slashing the advertising funding, having the website go down for repair during open enrollment, theres lots of Little Things if you tick down the line, hes just looking to gut obamacare. Subterfuge has been going on behind the scenes. The difference with this and with yanking the subsidies is that theyre now being overt about it. And let me just throw a radical idea out there. Bring it. I spoke with senator Susan Collins the other day. And she said if Mitch Mcconnell would just agree this to the floor, theyd actually have the votes to pass it. All the democrats would vote for it and a number of republicans like senator Lamar Alexander would vote for it. But the problem is that the republicans know that long term that would weaken their hand in arguing that this law is impossibly failing and theres nothing we can do to fix it, which has been the only way that they have been able to force through an alternative. Their alternative that has really been proven to be so much more unpopular. So is the white house willing to do that and is Mitch Mcconnell in partnership with the white house willing to allow this legislation to come forward, which members like Susan Collins are convinced, yes, could pass. But didnt President Trump win on the fact saying that he was pragmatic, he was not tied to any ideology, so Mitch Mcconnell can think what he wants. But in a broader scheme, the whole point why so many people voted for President Trump is because they felt like partisanship had broken the system and they wanted a coming together. Couldnt this be a massive win for President Trump to say lets just solve things for actually the American People . It could, steph, but heres the problem. And it was the problem with the Obamacare Repeal too. Youve seen it in brilliant detail demonstrated in the past 24 hours, which is that he theres a big question about whether he actually understands the substance of whats being put forth. Theres not a question. He hasnt spent the time to learn anything. Its not a matter of can he understand it. He hasnt spent the time to do the work on you. You and i both talk to people inside the white house. Whether were talking health care or tax reform, he hasnt opened up a single briefing doc. Hes conflating two very different bills. What alexander and murray are doing, which is to shore up the market and what Graham Cassidy are doing which is to completely tear it up and go with this different approach of like block grants. He was conflating those within the past 24 hours. Look, i caught mark short in the driveway before any of this happened and he told me were going to need a lot more than Alexander Murray for us to get behind this. And then the president goes out and completely undercuts that and appears to support the deal and then pulls it back by his evening speech. So a lot of this is just chaos within the white house and the president not understanding the basic nuances of the legislation thats being put before him. Then Lamar Alexander is right, republicans and democrats agree chaos doesnt work, but the white house doesnt agree. The president loves chaos. Lanhee chen, final point on this. I think theres enough for republicans and democrats to like. Democrats get stability for obamacare. The problem is it almost seems too reasonable, stephanie, i think thats really the issue. Im not sure where the republican votes are, but for sure if it comes to the floor, i do think a combination of republican and democratic votes gets it over the finish line. The question is are Mitch Mcconnell and paul ryan willing to allow those votes to happen with a majority of republicans potentially dont support it. Thats the open question. Country over party. Were going to take a break. Coming up, former press Secretary Sean Spicer is back meeting with Robert Muellers investigators as another trump associate has to be subpoenaed to testify. The latest on the russia investigation. But first, we are finally hearing from the mandalay bay Security Guard who first encountered gunman stephen paddock. The night of the mass shooting in vegas. He opens up to ellen today to tell his harrowing story. I heard rapid fire and at first i took cover. I felt a burning sensation. He shot through this door, right . From behind the door. I dont know how he was shooting, but he shot out. We s plit it equally. Except for one of us. I write them