President trump suggesting he may not be done with the issue. The white house saying they feel a renewed sense of optimism. Is anything different from last week when that bill went down in flames in the house . All that, much more still ahead. We begin, though, with our top story. Should the senate take the lead . As the credibility of the House Intelligence Committee and its investigation remains in question. An investigation from the senate is now coming into focus. Senator richard burr, republican from north carolina, chair of the senate Intelligence Committee, and mark warner, democrat from virginia, top democrat on that committee, both of them stepping to a microphone just a short time ago saying their hearings are ready to get under way. Obviously, theres a lot of drama out there about the stories that all of you are running down. Its important for us, at least, i think all of us here, to remember to not lose sight about what this investigations about. One thing that were really conscious of is we werent given a free pass to do a witch hunt. We were asked to do a real investigation. Thisas of th biggest investigations thathe hill has seen in my tenure here. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is with us on capitol hill. Kelly, thats quite a comment there from richard burr. Hes been there a couple decades saying this is one of the biggest investigations hes seen in his time on capitol hill. So we know the house investigation got under way. Theres all sorts of controversy there right now. The status of that unclear at the moment. What is the difference in terms of what the senate says its going to be investigating . What this committee says, how its going to be going about this . What do we know about exactly what theyre looking at, how theyre looking into it . Reporter well, steve, there are separate tracks and the two committees can work independently even though they would probably be covering a lot of the same ground. As things typically play out on capitol hill, theres often more sort of deference or importance placed on what the senate is doing. Simply by the stature of the senate. And part of what we saw from burr and warner today is trying to reinforce some confidence that they have in each other and also described not seeing at this point any interference from the white house into what theyre doing. That seems very relevant. Given some of the questions about devin nunes. And they also talked about wherever the intelligence information and evidence gathered leads them, they will follow this. So the biggest on the hill, eye were right to point that out, then his counterpart senator warren saying its one of the biggest things hes been involved in in public life because of the interference of russia in the election and the scope that may go beyond that. Really significant from these two lawmakers. They really try to reinforce that they are getting cooperation from the Intelligence Community but would like a little more in certain places. Theyre getting the raw intelligence products. T jus the synthesized report done by an analyst or provided to the committee, but having a chance to look at the raw data. Thats something that is unusual, they described, but also painstaking. It requires some of the seven professional staff from the committee, people who are subject matter experts, not political appointees. They are professionals on the staff going presumably to the intelligence outlets, whether it be the cia or the fbi and looking at some of the materials but not using a computer that is running sort of a Group Database in the senate. That tells you this is slow work, difficult work. And we are going to get some updates from time to time and that will be significant publicly. Yeah. First hearing tomorrow sort of sets things up and then 20 interviews have been identified. The first five have been scheduled. Well learn more about who they are in the days to come. Steve . Yeah. Very quickly, kelly, slow process, there will be updates. Is there any sense what the timetable is in terms of when this might yield some actual answers . Reporter well, they are mindful of the fact that there is an election happening in france, and there is a realtime effect that they think theyre learning things about what russia has had the capacity to do. That they want to get out into the general public not only for the u. S. But globally to put people on high alert so that russia cannot have the same kind of interference in elections elsewhere. But they also suggest this is a long process. It certainly sounds like months because of the work thats required. And multiple public hearings that will eventually happen and as they learn more from going through the data, then they are better able to form questions to put those to some of maybe the bigger figures in this. They didnt talk names. Imagine michaelflynn, paul manafort, associates of the president on that particular piece. They need to know what to ask and part of what they have to figure out is what does the evidence suggest . We know whats been talked about publicly. They want to get to whats behind the scenes. What hasnt been snoknown publi to make the time they have with these witnesses the most productive. I thingtk this could take a whi. Joining me on set, former democratic senator from nebraska, bob carey, former governor of nebraska. In washington, d. C. , host of the hugh hewitt show, one and only hugh hewitt. Thanks to both of you for joining us. Senator governor kerry, let we start with you. We know the fbi is looking into this issue of russia, interference, if theres connections to the Trump Campaign. The House Intelligence Committee has its probes. All sorts of controversy over that right now. Now you have the senate stepping in it today, stepping into this today. When you look at the announcement from the senate, do you think this is the one thats sort of official washington is going to get behind . No, this is is not what they should be doing. We got to worry about north korea, got to worry about isis, worry about international terrorism. They have to authorize close to l 0 billi 80 billion of public money. Youre saying too much russia . We need an indpechependent commission. Congress should not be doing this. These guys need to be spending their time worrying about real threats to the United States of america. As i said, nunes is im sure hes a fine guy. Hes like a guy who cant swim. Hes never going to get to a point where theyre going to trust the house. The American People arent going to trust either one of these. Even if they did, eve, these committees have more important work to do than runng down this investigation. The depth, the Time Commitment thats going to be required. These guys are on other committees, doing other things as well. Ill get back to it. We got to worry about north korea, worry about isis. They got bigger problems than trying to figure out what the russians did to interfere where our election. Bob kerrey saying, look, there are other issues out there, believe it or not, why not have an independent Commission Step in here . Maybe in would be a little more credibility between the two aisles and allow members of congress to do other work. What do you say to that . I respect senator kerrey quite a lot. We disagree on a number of reasons. I think he will birragree with n this, the press conference between senator burr and senator warner was perhaps the best bipartisan moment in 18 months in the country, maybe, in fact, the only bipartisan moment in the last 18 months in the country. And as the senate of which theyre on the cusp of a brutal week. The second deployment of the reid rule where the rules of the senate could be changed by a simple majority. So there is one side benefit besides the capacity and the stature of those members of the senate. It is that they will be focused on a the country will focus on a bipartisan proceeding into our enemy abroad, russia, that operated through the fsb through wikile wikileaks. We know that. What warner said today about having a thousand trolls uses a bot to flood our zone with fake news, thats deey worrisomworri. The attention that only a Senate Committee can bring back to the wa watergate days, i think is to be welcomed. Hugh, let me assert my respect for you at the outset of this disagreement. These guys have i was on that committee for eight years. I know how difficult the job is. Right now its even more difficult. Weve got a very significant threat from north korea, very significant threat from isis, very significant need to make sure our intelligence agencies are well funded, organized right and have the support of the congress. This is heavy work. This is time this takes a lot of time to do that work right. And as i said, i think the chances even though i agree, its a wonderful bipartisan moment, but the likelihood the American People are going to trust the results of this is almost zero. Even if they did trust it, theres a better way of doing it. You mentioned the International Issues that are also sort of out there. Theres also in washington, the issue right now, hugh mentioned this a second ago, the Supreme Court nomination thats going to be pending in the United States. New polling we can show you, politico morning consult, on neil gorsuch, President Trumps nominee to the Supreme Court. 44 of americans say they support confirmation. 23 say they dont believe he should be confirmed at this point. Hugh, the issue here that this seems to be coming down to in the senate, though, is one of procedure. You mentioned this a second ago. Will the democrats mount a filibuster . Will they try to force republicans to come up with 60 votes to pass this . Not is a simple majority of 50. If they do so, republicans then saying, suggesting they would go with the socalled Nuclear Option and just end the filibuster. Any reason to think republicans would flinch at all when it came to doing that . I dont think so, steve. I go back to the Great British prime minister, benjamin desraili who said a majority is better than the best repparteer. To ruin the filibuster and ability to stop all federal judges except the Supreme Court. I think the reid rule will be deployed instantly. I think the democrats have enough to deny judge gorsuch, easily, at least as well qualified as any other federal judges in the country, his up or down vote. Theyre going to do that for political reasons having to do with the base of the Democratic Party but he will be on the court i think by easter. You look, i would is this smart democrats . Here you cant have a conversation about this without saying the democrats remember that for almost an entire year, a highly qualified man, gorsuch, himself, said is highly qualified, didnt get an up or down vote. Merrick garland. There was at least as Many Americans who said he should get an up or down vote as well. So democrats are angry about that, but heres the strategic question. Its more than just an about it. Its legitimate to say you didnt give us a vote, why . But what i think Merrick Garland is completely was completely qualified and gorsuch is. Especially replacing scalia. Id probably vote for him. Theyre entitled to say, my god, we listened to you saying not going to meet with him, not going to schedule a hearing, not going to give you a vote even though it was almost a year before the election. Heres the dilemma Going Forward for democrats. If you do the filibuster here, and the republicans then respond with this Nuclear Option, get rid of the filibuster, what happens if a year from now, two years from now, instead of a republican president replacing scalia, its a democratic sk vacancy and have the potential for a major shift in this court from a liberal justice to a trumpappointed conservative. Would democrats do well to preserve the filibuster for that moment rather than using it here . Once again, i agree with hugh, limiting the filibuster earlier by senator reid was a mistake, either go all the way or dont start down this road. I think the president s spite to entitled to a considerable amount of respect. Again, i think democrats are well within their rights to say, my god, you guys held up a perfectly qualified person saying well wait for the next election. At what point can the democrats say the same thing . After the midterm . After two years out, 18 months out, 12 months out . Can they say to President Trump, you know, you guys didnt want a nominee, lets wait until the next election before we do it. This process has been badly compromised. Theres no question its way too partisan. Way too ideological in my view. Gorsuch i think would be a terrific associate justice on the bench, but you cant ignore what we previously went through with Merrick Garland. So the Merrick Garland issue overshadowed, was linked to tied up in the president ial campaign. Were talking about russia and its influence in the president ial campaign. Also speaking of the president ial campaign, hillary clinton, the defeated democratic nominee, back in the news last night, san francisco. She was at an event. She talked about what had happened in the White House Briefing room yesterday between sean spicer and a reporter, april ryan. Take a listen to what the former democratic nominee said. April ryan, a respected journalist with unrivaled integrity, was doing her job just this afternoon in the white house pressroom, when she was patronized and cut off trying to ask a question. One of your own california congresswomen, maxine waters, was taunted with a racist joke about her hair. Now, too many women, especially women of color, have had a lifetime of practice taking precisely these kinds of indignities in stride. But why should we have to . Well, i played that, im going to have to get bob and hughs reaction a little bit later. Right now, were going to go over to the white house. President trump, this was just moments ago. Hes attending a womens empowerment panel. This in the eastroom. Were just getting the tape. Lets take a listen. As you know, melania is a very highly accomplished woman and really an inspiration to so many and she is doing some great job. In fact, i shouldnt say this, but her poll numbers went through the roof last week. What was that all about . Through the roof. She has to give us the secret, mike, right . Anyway, i appreciate it very much. My cabinet is full of really incredible women leaders. Administrator Linda Mcmahon whos been a friend of mine for a long time. Long time. Done an incredible job in business, by the way. Administrator verma. Secretary betsy devos and of course my good friend from south carolina, a very tough competitor, i want to tell you, nikki haley, ambassador. Shes doing fantastically well. And were also joined, of course, by Florida Attorney general, highly respected, pam bondy. So i want to thank you, pam. Thank you. Elaine chao, our secretary of transportation whos a real expert. You know, she was secretary of labor, but she said, i really wanted to be secretary of transportation. Thats her real expertise and shes doing incredibly. She would have been here but shes celebrating the 50th anniversary of the department of transportation right now as we speak. And were going to work on infrastructure and going to put up one of the big and great infrastructure bills of alltime. Were going to get our infrastructure fixed in our country. And were going to rebuild our country and thats what we need. Lots of jobs also. I want to thank ford. U saw their big announcement yesterday. So many others are annncing tremendous numbers of jobs. Theyre not leaving our country anymore, folks. Theyre staying and theyre builds right here. So we really have these incredibly strong and dedicated leaders and theyre with me and theyre with us and im very happy about it. I want to thank you as being representative very much of our whole group. Thank you. And im so proud that the white house and our administration is filled with so many women of such incredible talent. This week as we conclude womens history month, we mohonor a gre woman of american history. Since the very beginning, women have driven, and i mean each generation of americans, toward a more free and more prosperous future. Among these patriots are women like the legendary abigail adams. Right . Who during the founding urged her husband to remember the rights of women. Very much a pioneer in that way. Weve been blessed with courageous heroes like Harriet Tubman who escaped slavery. And went on to deliver hundreds of others to freedom, first in the underground railroad and then as a spy for the union army. She was very, very courageous. Believe me. And weve had leaders like susan b. Anthony. Have you heard of susan b. Anthony . Im shocked that youve heard. Who dreamed of a much more equal and fair future, an america where women, themselves, as she said, helped to make laws and elect the lawmakers. And thats whats happening more and more. Tough competition out there. I want to tell you. From the untamed frontiers of the Western Plains to the skyscrapers of manhattan, american women in every generation have shown extraordinary grit, courage and devotion. Our present generation stands on the shoulders of these titans, and thats what they were, and are. Titans. Only by enlisting the full potential of women in our society will we be truly able to, you have not heard this expression before, make America Great again. Good expression. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Its been a lot of fun. We didnt get that one from madison avenue, right . My administration will work every day to ensure that our economy is a place where women can work, succeed, and thrive like never before. That includes fighting to make sure that all mothers and all families have access to affordable childcare. We want every daughter in america to grow up in a country where she can believe in herself, believe in her f