today is february 23, 2017.

allegations that a white house official asked the fbi that campaign associates for the president had contacts with russians during this past campaign. >> a government source told pete williams of the exchange between andrew mckay. mckay declined to discuss this matter in any way. details not confirmed by those of us here at nbc news. the president also created a slew of headlines today with comments that were on the record starting with his remarks on deportations and as you will see here the president's assertion was reversed by his own secretary homeland security some three hours later. >> right now rex as you know is in mexico. >> i said that's going to be a tough trip. we have to be treated fairly by

you see what's happening at the border. we are getting gang lords and drugs and bad dudes, at a rate that nobody sees before. it is a military operation. >> let me be very, very clear. >> there will be no repeat, no mass deportations. everything we do in dhs will be done legally and according to human right and the legal justice system of the united states. again, listen to this. no, repeat no use of military force in immigration operations, none. >> the job of white house press secretary especially this white house's secretary comes down to some form of what the president

meant to say is, fill in the blank. >> sean spicer used this issue to point out this, the president is not wrong, instead is about grammar. >> the president says the deportation is taken under his watch. did the president misspeak? >> the president was clearly describing the manner in which this was being done. >> the president made news today are reuters that was recorded in the oval office. >> a dream is that no country would have nukes. if countries are going to have nukess, we are going to be at the top of the pack. >> the united states will not yield its premises.

if other countries flat out -- we don't sit back and allow them to grow theirs. >> the u.s. will maintain dominance in the nuclear were weapon counts. >> 200 more war heads than the united states and more than enough rest assure for mutually destruction. the other big news of joint appearance of the most important unelected figures of the white house, reince priebus and stephen bannon. the two men started by putting rumors of friction. >> if you look at opposition party and how they portray the campaign and the transition and the administration, it is always wrong. >> all we do everyday and all

president trump does everyday is hit his agenda every single day. >> the nation, all of those promises are going to be em implemented. if you look at the line of work, the first is national security and sovereignty and that's your intelligence and defense department and homeland security. the second line is economic nationalism. if you look at these appointees, they were selected for a reason. that's the deconstruction and the way the progressive left runs is that they cannot get it past and put in some sort of regulations in an agency. >> steve is consistent and loyal

to the agenda and as a presence that i think is very important to have in the house. >> secondly. a dear friend, i cherish his friendship. >> i can run a little hot on occasions. [ laughter ] >> having heard all that, lets bring in our panel members tonight. >> ron and he escaped 20 years of captivity in america. >> catherine grant is with us with the washington post, i may have one of the youngest in the nation. lonnie chen is with us tonight among many other jobs and policy director for mitt romney. he's the only phd on this panel and the hoover institution. >> welcome to you all. a, ron, you are in america and everyone flown the most miles covering the white house with

you. a form of a question i ask of our guests every night, i get what happened in the election, what's going on here right now based on what we just heard? >> hey, brian, good to talk to you again. >> what's going on now is donald trump threw himself and his allies, working really hard to hang onto their base to play the base and make sure the people who got them into barely into the white house stick with them. they're not broadening their appeals at all. they are still narrow casting. >> binary row casting, if we look at the polls, you think this is a governing 40% of minorities, how much expansion do you think of that number? >> the country is desperate for change and all kinds of potentials to expand, donald trump has not shown disposition and his team does not show the inclination to watch the expand.

>> catherine, what's the deconstruction of the administrative state, thinks a thing? >> i think in stephen bannon's mind, it is a thing. the white house's supporters, the idea that they'll dismantle the entire apparatus that we have. it will be much more challenging than mr. bannon has led us to believe or for that matter, his boss, president trump has led us to believe. look at how much friction the republicans party trying to get rid of obama call. they cannot agree on a tax over haul of what it can look look like. the idea is just a little bit hard to swallow at this point. >> lets spend a moment here talking about the organization, c-pack, they are going to dominate a lot of the news coverage.

tonight on and into tomorrow's news cycle and the weekend. a lot of time and attention devoted today having now swung over to trumpism, are they like that friend of yours spending time in london and coming back with an accent? >> the c-pac audience based on what the majority politics of the time are particularly in the conservative move. . several years ago, you would see more of a tea party flavor to cpac, now you have a lot of support for the president. people tend to see the president as a war shock test. it is kind of like are the things he's done, things you

approve of in life. >> some will point to his nomination of gorsuch to be associate of justice supreme court and some will point to the activity that he's taken on in the regulatory space and others will point to as what mr. bannon did, i like the fact that he pulled that out of ttp. >> cpac is a collection, it is not a unified picture of the conservative movement but shows all today. >> this one has to do with those of us in the news media. >> it is not only going to get better, it is going to get worse everyday. they're corporatetists and globally media that opposed to the agenda that donald trump has.

>> ron fournier, a lot of people see this as a checklist, you diminish a free press, where does that sentence end if that's successful? you diminish the country. the difference in the last ten years or so as the media has been -- and for economic reasons, we know. both parties of the deal legitimatize to attack the media when we have a legitimate story that criticizes them. the trump operation and this particular white house is taken at to the nth degree and people like you and me making their living of enemies o f the state which is the kind of language we are not used to hearing in this country and should not hear much more.

>> the clinton white house is looking back on a number of things. one of them in belt way terms is the beginning of a real centralization of power. state department was getting a little more diminished of the white house. rex tillerson has not given an interview as secretary of state, there is been no state department briefing, 34 days into this presidency, should we be bothered by any of that? >> not bothered. it is certainly is a huge change, secretary of state. he's certainly is apart of again and evolution as you mentioned and what's been happening of this powers of the white house and the national security council has expanded five or tenfolds since president clinton's predecessors and what does that when you centralize power, it is easy to make mistakes than abuse of that power.

and that's obviously not going to be happening. it is not just with that particular secretary of state. we see the white house gathering power away from all the cabinet secretary. >> catherine, nuclear arm's race, did this come out anywhere, is it a good time to be in our contractor? >> it is a good time to be in arm's contractor. what more can you help more for a president who basic si as we need to stop -- one day declared that we should have warmer relations with russia and the next day declaring that hey, we want to be number one and we'll be drawing down nuclear stockpiles that we should get rid of that and that's no longer acceptable. >> yeah, this is a blessing for them. >> lanhee, considering the number of submarines and cruises around the world, this

submarines alone can launch a furious enough to end life on this planet, where do you think this idea is coming from? >> there is a perspective in some conservative circles regarding the new start treaty which was the agreement that was struck president obama and the russians several years ago of the renewal of the treaty and along with some provisional visions. this is an expression of that point of view that in a world where there are nuclear weapons and countries potentially would be using them, the new start treaty in many ways did hammer the united states. the argument is not an unfair one, but it seems as though

trump is drawing on this line of thinking that a number of conservatives expressed over the years. we'll ask our panels to stay in place. i want to e somehow new yorker depiction of our president. these gentlemen are saying, it lets you hold the president's attention for a few extra seconds before he wants to change channel. we'll go to our first break. >> a funny thing happens to a slew of our republicans congress when they went home to the united states. that and more when "the 11th hour" continues.

let me assure you, america's obamacare, nightmare is about to end. [ applause ] now, despite the best efforts of liberal activists and town halls around country, the american people know better, obamacare has failed and obamacare must go. >> vice president pence just a few hours ago calling people from local town halls from members of congress of liberal activists. here are some of those people and what they have been saying. >> we, the people, are your class. we are mad as heck that you are not listening to us. >> it should be based on facts. >> i am very sorry from fayetteville and i am not a paid

protester. >> i am here for aca, before we get healthcare or anything in this country, we need to make sure that our president is a puppet of vladimir putin. >> the only thing worse than showing up in a town meeting is some of these incumbents not showing up. we see one member on congress displayed in milk carton. and and some are planning candlelight vigils. ron remains with us this second segment, when the tea party was born journalists missed the start of the movement. this time not so much. what you see this time are people in our line of work expressing amazement that people gets up and mentioned dodd frank.

if you want to hear smart people who are up on the issue, take in one of these town hall meetings on cspan, listen to the question and the specificity and listen to what we are saying here >> i will say it, the downside is both 2010 and now are a sign of what political scientists calling a hero of negative partisan ship. we are activated out of hate. the folks here tonight, they are not rallying on behalf of the republican party or behind the democratic party or the democratic institutions. they are rallying against donald trump. >> just like 2010, there was not a love of the republican party, it was out of hatred of barack obama. >> catherine, if you look at

these town hall meetings again depending on the states and district, it does look like 60/40 lopsided number. there is a lot of people who are upset and those who voted for donald trump are not particularly pleased of some of the decisions he made. if you look at the polling for many of the executive orders or for the continued promise to repeal obamacare. there is a lot of trump voters of the exchanges or other provision who are very unhappy with the idea that republicans and congress supported by the president are thinking about that i can taking their healthcare away. >> lanhee, we just heard mike pence again tonight repealing to replace obamacare of a disaster, the republicans sent their incumbents home to their district without a plan. >> john boehner says they're not

going to replace it but they'll repair it. >> the absence of complaining and attacking it, was that a strategic error. >> republicans have had plans, the challenge is coalesing of the plan. ultimately, i think it is going to be important for republicans to coalesce around something even if it is a bear bone replacement for the affordable care act that gets them to a year from now. they're in a difficult posture and position and you are seeing these in these town halls. >> thank you everybody on a thursday night. ron fournier and lanhee chen. >> coming up next. this is "the 11th hour" on msnbc. so tell us your big idea for getting

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our current president came out of nowhere and in fact, i am going to step further. the people that went to school with him, they never saw him or know who he is.

crazy. >> last thing before we go here tonight. you heard donald trump in 2011 latching onto a big and explosive allegation, questioning the birthplace of hawaiian born, two terms democratic president obama. that speech back in 2011 was to the cpac convention where trump will be speaking tomorrow morning. he sat out last year because of protesters, tonight as we look back over past years speeches to that group. cpac is one of the places where trump found his footing rhetorically in front of the conservative party. >> if i run and win, this country will be respected again. [ applause ] i can tell you that. >> i will fight to end obamacare and replace it. >> this country has to start

building things again. we have to take back our jobs from china. we have to take back our jobs from other places. >> i was in moscow a couple months ago, i own the universe pageant. putin sent me a beautiful present. the problem i have, i am not a politician, thank goodness. they're all talks and no actions. we need strong borders. we need a wall. if i run, i will tell you, the king of buildings, the king of building walls and nobody can build them like trump. my whole concept is make america great again. we can do it. >> tomorrow donald trump goes back to cpac and coverage of his speech begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern time on msnbc. that'll do it for our "11th hour" on a thursday night, "hardball" begins right now.

in bed with trump. lets play hardball. good evening, i am chris mathis, the conference kicked off last year, there was a debate of donald trump in search of the conservative candidate. now, with president trump addressing the annual gathering tomorrow, a conservative has prevailed. today, bannon told the audience cpac that the president will stop at nothing to deliver his campaign of his agenda. >> everyday is a fight. that's why i am proud of donald trump.