turning mar-a-lago into a special taxing district to recoup some of those costs and the federal government does not reimburse the county. not to be deterred, trump is heading back down this weekend to celebrate easter. it will be his seventh visit since taking office. that's all for me tonight. for the record with greta starts right now. hi, greta. >> thank you, katie. it's getting hot in washington because house minority leader nancy pelosi is demanding president trump fire white hou press secretary sean spicer for this comment. >> we didn't use chemical weapons in world war ii. you know, you had a -- someone who is difficult spencer christianable as hitler who didn't sink to using chemical weapons. i think when you come to sarin gas, he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that assad is doing. >> pelosi says he must go and we have a lot more on this exploding controversy later in

the er. but we begin with this breaking news. secretary of state rex tillerson is in moscow tonight and the burning question, will he meet with russian president vladimir putin or not? tillerson said he would meet, but will putin? meanwhile, more trouble with putin, usa today accusing russia meaning putin on covering up the gruesome attack. blasting support for bashar al-assad. >> i think it is clear to all of us that the reign of the assad family is coming to an end. i hope that what the russian government concludes is that they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner in bashar al-assad. they had signed the chemical weapons accord themselves, the syrian government. the russian government had signed that accord. and now assad has made the russians look not so good under these circumstances. >> today the russian president still denying the syrian government dropped that nerve

gas on those innocent civilians even going one step further saying the united nations should investigate. defense secretary james mattis asked today about russia's role in the attacks. >> i don't know. i will tell you that we have gone back through and looked at all the evidence we can and it is very clear who planned this attack, who authorized this attack, and who conducted this attack itself. that we do know. if they use chemical weapons, they a going to pay a very, very stiff price. >> president trump saying he's refusing to answer questions about the russian president. >> mr. president, has view changed of president putin? >> thank you. >> and late today new comments from president trump on syria. >> should have been done by the obama administration a long time before i did it.

and you would have had a much better -- i think syria would be a lot better off right now than it has been. >> with me, house intel committee member will hurd and ambassador from syria. nice to see both of you. >> pleasure. >> first to you, congressman. do you think russia was involved before it happened? >> well, russia is -- their close relationship with syria, especially in that conflict zone, to think that the syrians would do something as serious as utilize chemical weapons and not tell one of their closest partners is -- it's hard for me to imagine that. but we have to get this right. we have to do a proper review of the intelligence known before and after in order to make a case, if indeed the russians were involved. if the russians were involved, i think this helps us build a larger coalition of countries to work against the russians and

put pressure on the russians to see bashar al-assad leave power. >> ambassador, you were an ambassador to syria among other nations. do you think that the president of syria, assad, would act and gas his people without getting the nod from putin? >> i think it's quite possible. we have to remember that putin and turkey convolksed a piece conference, a conference to have a cease fire not long ago. and the opposition fighters and the assad regime agreed to a cease fire. and assad broke it in the environs of damascus against russia's express instructions. i've seen the assads operate over many years, father and the son, and they're not pawns of anyone. so, while i'm not saying it's the russians didn't know, i'm saying it's quite possible they didn't. >> ambassador, who needs who more?

does assad need putin more than putin needs him or the other way around? >> well, assad needs putin more than putin needs him. but one thing i would point out is even without russia, he would still have iran backing him along with all the militias they bring including hezbollah, shi'ite militias from iraq, pakistan i and afghan me mercernaries andhe like. >> congressman, what wou you like to have the secretary of state convey to vladimir putin tomorrow assuming he gets to speak to him? >> i think he needs to make it clear the support of the assad regime is not acceptable and bashar al-assad is a, more of a problem to him than a partner and that -- >> what does that mean? unacceptable, is that sort of like just tell him he's bad or something like -- there has to be some teeth to that.

>> in the future, what i think that means is that the future political solution of who controls syria means assad is not involved, you know. the reason we have a problem with refugees is because of assad. the reason that there was a civil war that created a space to allow a group like isis to come in is because of assad. assad has violated the chemical weapons convention on more than a dozen occasions. we've talked about the one from a week ago, but he's done this on many occasions. so, he cannot be involved in the future of the country and that means the russians need to pull back their air force and to support assad and syrian forces. >> which brings the question, ambassador, if assad goes, who takes over? >> that's the real question nobody addresses, and it's a very serious question. while i agree with the congressman completely, that assad's a brute, a war criminal,

and that he caused aot of the refugee problem, we have to remember who was on the other side. idlib province is controlled by an affiliate. the same people who did 9/11, subway attacks in london and madrid, et cetera, are active in syria. they have an islamist coalition behind them, and they're probably the strongest fighting force in the country. so, you know, when we talk about regime change, we did regime change in iraq, we did regime change in libya. you have to expect unexpected consequence or unintended consequence. >> gentlemen, thank you both very much. with me former deputy secretary of defense for ukraine and you're asia, evelyn. the headline of her "the new york times" article is russia testing trump. also matthew, director of the ken an institute at the woodrow

wilson center, sperlt on russian affairs. let me go first to you, matt. you can read russian. we don't have information, but what are you reading in the russian headlines about tillerson being in russia? >> right. so, the official russian position as of a day ago and two days ago was that putin spokesman is saying a meeting between tillerson and putin is not on putin's schedule. he phrased it consistently in that same way. today the russian press is reporting sources close to the foreign ministry but involved in the organization of the visit are saying yes, a putin/tillerson meeting is taking place. i would say from my perspective, i would not be surprised, be in one, the two men have talked before, they know each other from tillerson's time as the head of exxon. and certainly if putin's goal and i think this is putin's goal is to lineup a summit with president trump, having that conversation directly rather than doing everything at arms length through the foreign minister while you're in town i think it just makes sense.

>> evelyn, what does putin want and what is it that tillerson needs to convey to him? >> well, putin wants the grand deal. he will not give up on that, which is to say he wants to be able to do what he pleases in his geographic periphery. so, ukraine -- >> wou georgia be included? ukraine. >> yes. and he's continued since trump was sworn into office, mike merel and i have a story today, i have to put in a plug. what he's done since january. so, he's continued to move, encroach on ukraine sovereignty in various ways. he'll want that deal. and a deal in syria that includes assad staying. he'll hope tillerson won't bring up the hack on our election. >> i can't imagine if there is a summit, and that's putin wants, i can't imagine trump is going to rollover and say fine, tillerson will rollover and say fine. he wants the base in syria.

he wants to sure up assad. so where does this lead us? >> what's hard about doing u.s./russia relations is there should in theory be kind of a ceiling and floor on the relationship and when you conduct sum its and any kind of meetings it should happen in a certain zone. i would argue right now we're sort of way below the floor of where you should let u.s./russia relations sink. we have to restore some basic dialogue. so, the fact of a meeting between the two heads of state is good if for one reason only which is i've heard russians tell me, look, if they don't get a signal from putin that it's time to sort of reign in the scary stuff, the provocations, you know, over the air space in syria, the ball tick, eastern mediterranean, et cetera, it's not going to happen. so, they need that signal. that's a good thing. in terms of the agenda items doing counter terrorism operation, it's desirable. it's going to be very, very hard. we define terrorism differently. obviously we would say assad is a terrorist murdering his own people. the russians don't see it that way. i think the russians are going to play for time. so, they want a u.n.

investigation. why? so that they have time to sort of, if there are tracks to be covered, cover those tracks but maybe figure out themselves what happens. i tend to think from the beginning of this thing this is assad kicking sand in putin's face. why? because he can. he can and he did. if putin backs off and says assad, you have to go, what's putin's leverage with assad, right? assad knows he's at the end of his rope and he is going to do whatever he has to to survive. there is a dance going on as we put pressure on both of them. >> as i talked with the ambassador, then what? we have to look beyond that, assuming he does go. he hasn't gone anyplace. i don't know if he is going to go. what happens next? >> it's not just assad. the security forces, the internal security, the security police, they're the ones really running the country. so, the next person taking over would have to be obviously russia friendly, allowing russia to exercise their prerogatives in syria, the bases that they have, keep them. but the person will also have to come probably from the aloite

community. i don't think -- if russia is going to go along with it, it won't be a radical shift. i do agree assad has to go. this is why the russians need us at the table because to have the moderates negotiate anything or to agree to anything, you have to have assad leave and you have to have the united states give them a palatable option. >> matt, it was interesting that, you know, secretary of state tillerson was friendly with putin when he was ceo of exxon. even got some award. very harsh words today. i think the meeting today would be rather awkward, tomorrow rather. >> my read on this is, number one, you have a guy who has experience dealing with high-level russians, right. putin is his own animal, but remember, powerful russians are also a certain breed. and tillerson has that experience. that's not a bad thing. second, there is a positive dynamic there. there are pictures of them smiling. he's received the award. but remember, aositive mood is something you seek to achieve in business when you're trying to get business done.

in diplomacy you also have the stick. tillerson is demonstrating the stick right now. he's doing it in coordination with mattis, you heard that as well. >> what is the stick, is the stick sanctions? tough talk, i've heard tough talk from everybody for years. what's the stick? >> the administration talks about negotiating from a position of strength. i think the position of strength here is they're saying, look, there are certain kinds of tactics and i think we just heard this earlier from mattis as well. you know, you use chemical weapons, i would hope this would extend to barrel bombing civilians, bombing hospitals, et cetera. we're going to be tested on that. assad is going to do that stuff. he's done it before he's going to keep doing it. where if you do that we will give warning to the russians. we will try to avoid provoking a direct conflict with the russians, but we're going to hit you. >> according to mattis it's going to hit hard, according to mattis the secretary of defense hit hard. >> that's a multi lateral approach. i'm all for the punitive strike. what's next? it's about chemical weapons, we need to get those wmd accounted

for and out of syria. >> when we do, needs to be done in concert with our allies. we're in a coalition of 60 plus countries operating in iraq and then to some extent in syria. >> i think it's pretty safe we can't let russia be in charge of getting chemical weapons out of there. that's pretty obvious. anyway, thank you both. >> thank you. >> still ahead, sean spicer in the spotlight. we'll dive into his controversial comments about adolf hitler. plus leader pelosi says spicer must be fired. less than two hours the polls close in a special election in kansas. it is not just any special election. it could be a big sign whether president trump could be facing election backlash in the november 2018 midterm elections. we are live in kansas. and united airlines in a tail spin that stunning video is now a p.r. disaster with united taking a quarter billion hit today in wall street. the airline turning into a late night punch line. >> have you seen that video of the guy getting dragged off the united flight? >> that's how my mother used to get me out of bed to go to

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don't wait for watchathon week to return. [ doorbell rings ] who's that? show me netflix. sign up for netflix on x1 today and keep watching all year long. well, brace yourself for this one. a nuclear threat from north korea, that rogue nation warning the united states it will use nuclear weapons if the u.s. aircraft carrier the uss carl vinson keeps approaching the korean peninsula. they will hold them accountable for the catastrophic consequence. and president trump then firing back on twitter, quote, north korea is looking for trouble. if china decides to help, that would be great. if not, we will solve the problem without them. now, all of this coming as we recently learned president trump's options for north korea include replacing nukes in south

korea. with me major general bob scales. nice to see you. >> thank you, greta. >> i should add that's always been at one end of the scale. the other is doing nothing. there is a lot that can happen in between there. all right, there's no question that they have nuclear weapons. they don't have a delivery system as far as we know, but they are saying the threats are increasing. >> well, every year they get better. a key date is next saturday, april 15th. >> the birthday. >> we have some evidence they are working frantically on this one tunnel system where they normally detonate nukes, and we'll see next saturday if there is a boom next saturday, a big boom next saturday. that means the north koreans have made another step in building towards a thermal nuclear weapon that's less than a ton that can be put on the top of an icbm. every year they get closer and closer, but this is the big deal. if they can make that nuke work next saturday, if there is a boom next saturday, changes

everything. >> all right. and we always talk about the nukes. of course they are terrifying. everyone says they're a little way off on that. to me it's the thing people want to pay attention to, the artillery, the dmz. how much is there? >> 15,000. when i was in korea, stationed in korea, my job was to build what we call a counter for our system to use south korean and american aircraft and artillery to shoot back. let me tell you, greta, those things are buried so deep in those granite mountains, it would be a long laborious process to take -- it would take weeks to take them out. in the meantime they're shooting into seoul. the range of those long range missiles would reach all the way to the hahn river to the southern suburbs of seoul. that would result in the deaths of tens of thousands of south koreans. >> so, whenever someone talks about the catastrophic consequence, yes, it could be a nuclear weapon if they could figure out a delivery system if

they are successful saturday, it could be the artillery at the dmc. >> what do we do if that happens? we have 30,000 soldiers in south korea, some of whom arender the artillery umbrella of these systems,ll o whom are under the rocket threat. becaus remember, they have several thousand scud missiles. what if this guy gets up one morning and does something stupid like start those barrages? what's our response? it can't be nuclear. if kim jong-un miss calculates, that's the great fear. >> indeed. we'll watch and see what happens. general, thank you. >> thank you, greta. >> up next the law maker who famously shouted, you lie at president obama. getting an earful from voters back home. >> you lie! you lie! you lie! >> and white house press secretary sean spicer in the center of a new controversy, this one over his hitler comment. we'll talk about that, and this.

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president obama has been incognito since leaving office. but that changes next month. he's headed to berlin where he will meet with german chancellor angela merkel. they will take part in a discussion about the local and global responsibilities of democracy. and where will president trump be that day? also in europe, in brussels at the nato summit. and today donald trump, jr. squashed rumors that he was planning a 2018 run for new york governor. the 39-year-old did say he wants to leave his options open for a run in the future calling politics, quote, fascinating

stuff. and a very, very rough home coming for the congressman who made headlines for once yelling at president obama during his speech to a joint session of congress, "you lie." congressman joe wilsonaced a very fired up crowd in a town hall in south carolina. >> also supported all efforts to make sure that financing is limited -- >> you lie! >> you lie! >> some positive issues. anybody -- >> many lawmakers are avoiding town halls this easter break after the collapse of their r l republican effort to repeal obamacare. ahead, the first congressional election since president trump took office. should the gop be nervous about a seat it was supposed to win easily? we are live in kansas. and united airlines ceo

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vacated his seat to become the president trump's director. the democratic candidate is making this race a bit of a cliff hanger. it is surprisingly close. meanwhile this week senator cruz's campaign, donald trump tweeting support after making a last-minute robo call. >> i need republicans like ron estes to help me get the job done. this is an important election. there's really few very much more important and i need your vote for ron estes on tuesday. >> nbc's jacobs in wichita kansas, 90 minutes ahead of the polls closing. jaco what's going on? >> reporter: it's been really busy. it's as busy as you might expect as a presidential election, but we have a steady stream of folks. the lines there, they vote over here, and all day they've come up and we've talked to many of them. i would say that half of them would say something like, i'm

voting republican. that's how woe vote here. that's how we voted the last 20 years. nothing is going to change. i'm comfortable, i'm confident. but those who voted for the democrat, the political newcomer, many of them said, look, i feel more than ever like my guy for the first time has a chance, at least of making it a close race. that's what we've been interested in to hear from them. and then to see in the last few days people like vice-president mike pence, the president coming out with the robo calls, ted cruz as you know, they want not only to win, but to win big as the first special election since the presidential election. with us, in fact, just by chance, we have the kansas secretary of state. tell us about some of the numbers that we have which are only advance -- >> right. we knew that before election day we had 30,000 people approximately who advance voted. that's a pretty good number. the interesting thing is you don't have special elections very often in a given state. the last time we had one was in 1950. so, we don't really have a

benchmark for what we expect to participation to be. >> that's a lot less than the general -- >> exactly. it's not going to be in the 60s or 70s. we're hoping that we can get close to 30%. you know, april election, people aren't used to voting in april. there is only one race on the billi ballot. i'll be pleased if we get 30%. >> what is the breakdown in the 30,000 republican democrat? i understand therere more republicans than democrats. >> that's true. in that 30,000. it's also hard to tell, to make too many judgments based on the composition of the advanced voters because one party might do a better job of sending out mailers to get their people out to vote early. you have to avoid drawing too many conclusions. >> reporter: also unaffiliate the. thank you for your time. i will end by saying there are a couple people we talked to, one that voted for donald trump, but said he had some buyer's remorse and was changing his vote. only one person we talked to who said that. and then another who voted for the democrat whose husband she sa always ves republican and cancels her out. but he was not enthusiastic about today's election so he

stayed home. but, of course, we will not know today's numbers until 7:00 central time. greta? >> thank you, jacob. and joining me pulitzer prize winner for the washington post. george, donald trump won this district by 27 points in november. so, that should be a hugely resounding republican victory. but they're saying that it's a little bit closer than that. >> well, first of all, 65% turnout last november. he just said maybe 30% turn out. now, the question is who is motivated. i think in politics anger is a more powerful voter than happiness. happiness breeds contentment, contentment breeds lacitude. who is angry, it will probably work against the president's party because this is the only way people have of expressing themselves at this point. whether it matters a lot, i don't know. we're 574 days from the 2018 elections. >> so, this is just fun for

people watching eleio or is this of consequence, does this mean anything? >> well, if it's a narrow victory by the republican, it means something. if it's a defeat for the republican, it will be a self-fulfilling cascading media phenomenon. clouded by the fact that one of the problems is that the republican governor might draw -- who is unpopular at this point for a variety of reasons, might draw a protest vote himself. so, there will be all kinds of mail strom of motives here. it's hard to know how you sort this out as a referendum on mr. trump. >> we're approaching the 100-day mark of the trump administration. how is he doing? >> it's exhausting. i mean, how is he doing? has it only been 100 days? >> not quite, we haven't been there yet. i've only been here less than a hundred days, too. >> exactly. the number is job approval rating. he's under water. he began under water. he's probably the first president ever, maybe lincoln who won with 38% of the vote, was under water because the nation was falling apart.

but his job approval is bad. i don't think he's been governing in a way that indicates he's devoted to getting his numbers up. he's a polarizing candidate who seems to enjoy polarizing people. so, at this point i'd say it's not a success. >> well, his high point may have been the gorsuch, he got gorsuch through. they had to go nuclear, the nuclear option to accomplish that. his low point is what? >> his low point i think has been the tone of the administration in the sense people hoped when he became president he would suddenly be transformed and be presidential. the constant tweeting, the picking of fights, the choice of mr. spicer himself to be sort o pugnacious face of the administration. i think people have decided we're not getting the transformation we might have wanted. >> what about the syria/russia crisis? >> the question is what did he do with those missile s? 59 missiles is nothing if it's a

one-off event. we heard him say our aim is regime change. we've heard him say it's not regime change. we heard mr. spicer who is a gift that keeps on giving to people who analyze these things say we had to act because of poison gas and barrel bombs. so, we think they went in in part because of conventional weapons. mr. spicer said we are seminally committed with our norms and values are assaulted around the world. no, we're not because we would be very busy if we were. >> all right. secretary of state tillerson is reporting in the russian press tonight is going to be meeting with putin tomorrow. we haven't confirmed it on nbc and not reported in the states. assuming that happens, how does this advance us? >> we don't know. we know what happens if he goes to russia and is snubbed, that's how it will be portrayed, probably correctly. it will be a substantial set back. if he meets with putin, again, there is another a cemetery

herher -- asymmetry here. he needs to understand if he wants to be a partner and have peace in syria, et cetera, et cetera -- no. mr. putin has picked a side in a civil war and he wants his side win. civil wars don't end in negotiation, as mr. tillerson seems to think. english civil war ended with charles i getting his head cut off. not with negotiations. the american civil ward ended with a surrender at apomatix. the civil war ended with -- and the republicans retreating into france. the chinese civil war ended with mao in beijing and with the -- his opponents on formosa as taiwan then was. civil wars don't end at the negotiating table. >> george, always nice to see yo united airlines ceo promises thrline will do better. but is it a little too late? and what does the ceo plan to do? but he's not the only one in damage control mode tonight.

so is white house press secretary of state sean spicer saying, quote, hitler did not even sink to using chemical weapons. a white house correspondent was in the room when he said it joins me next. the road can change in an instant. but with lightning fast shifts and dynamic track-tuned suspension, what the road demands, the gs delivers. experience high performance through high technology, in the lexus gs 350 and gs turbo. experience amazing. and you're about in to hit 'send all' on some embarrassing gas. hey, you bought gas-x®! unlike antacids, gas-x ® relieves pressure and bloating fast. huh, crisis averted. yet up 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more. add one a day women's

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breaking news. white house press secretary sean spicer a positive jiezing moments ago for those comments about hitler. we will have that apology in a moment. first here are the original comments about syria's use of chemical weapons. >> you look, we didn't use chemical weapons in world war ii, you know. you had a, you know, someone who is despicable as hitler who didn't sink to us oog chemical weapons. >> mr. spicer saying adolf hitler did not use chemical weapons. of course using the gas chamber. he was given chance to clarify his original statement. here he is. >> i want to give you an opportunity to clarify something you said. quote, hitler didn't even sink

to the level of using chemical weapons. what did you mean by that? >> i think when you come to sarin gas, there was no -- he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that assad is doing. i mean,here was clearly -- i understand your point. thank you. thank you. i appreciate that. there was not -- he brought them into the holocaust center. i understand that. i was saying in the way assad used them where he went into towns, dropped them down to innocent into the middle of towns. it was brought -- so, the use of it. i appreciate the clarification there. that was not the intent. >> after the press briefing, secretary spicer released three separate statements to further attempt to clarify those comments. and moments ago he apologized in an interview with nbc's peter alexander. >> you made the case before. you want to make it clear the message you're trying to deliver. what you have to say? >> i want to make sure we talked about the assad's actions on his own people using chemical

weapons. to draw any comparison to the holocaust was inappropriate and insensitive and obviously especially during a week like this, regret that. >> first of all, did the president ask you to make that apology? >> no. >> what was the intention? what was the point -- >> it doesn't matter because it was a mistake to try to make any kind of comparison. assad has done bad things. to make a comparison is a mistake. >> you recognize hitler did kill -- >> yes, i'm well aware of what he did. it was a distinction that didn't need to get made. they both did horrendous heinous things to innocent people. it was a mistake. >> two more questions. your desire was an apology. i want to give you an opportunity to make that apology. >> i'm absolutely sorry, a week like this to make a comparison that is inappropriate and inexcusable. >> some people, critics would say this came in an effort because the white house lacks a strategy, messaging strategy on

syria right now. did this demonstrate a lack of messaging strategy in terms of syria? >> no, we've been forceful. the world leaders and domestic leaders have praise the the president's action for being force of the and justified. this was my mistake how i was describing it. for that it's regrettable because it's a distraction from the president's actions. >> nancy pelosi says you should be fired. is your job safe? >> well, you know what, i made a mistake. i'm owning up to it and, you know, this is obviously i was or i would hope that everyone understands we all make mistakes and ask for forgiveness. >> i appreciate the apology. thanks. >> thanks. >> with me annie for the boston globe and annie carny for politico. she was in the briefing room. i want to go to you first, annie, annie number one, since we have two annies. what are your thoughts on all this? >> i think this is out of the blue, it's an unforced error, invokes hitler which is never a

winning strategy. it took him five tries to get to the apology we just saw on television. but this is sort of not the first time the holocaust has been a stumbling block for this administration. you remember sean spicer never apologized for the leaving the jews completely out of the statement about holocaust remembrance day where he called it nitpicking that people continued to ask why the statement didn't even mention the jews. i think that it's significant that spicer schoez chose to go television and do this mea copa. he thinks he's too overexposed as it is. so, this is a big deal he goes on msnbc and cnn to say he apologized. so, i think they know it's a major crisis. i don't think his job is necessarily in jeopardy, in part maybe because pelosi and others have called on him to resign. i think that would make trump double down. the other question is who would want this job. >> annie number two, your thoughts on this, and he has apologized. does that end it and are people taking swipes at him perhaps --

it's a terrible thing he said about that. but living in glass houses? >> oh, yeah. first of all, it was definitely a terrible thing that he said. it's just a cardinal rule of p.r. that you don't ever bring up adolf hitler. >> and just decency. that's like a real -- and i actually think he knows that, too. >> i think he does know that. i think what is so difficult for him -- and i think what potentially, you know, could put his position in jeopardy, particularly if he were to make a mistake like this again, is that this is the rare week that has actually started off fairly well for the trump administration. i mean, yesterday we had a rose garden ceremony with, you know, with strings playing and neil gorsuch was sworn in. and then, you know, the president has been getting praise from unexpected corners really for his strike on syria. so he had some good news coming into this week. and then all of a sudden here is the trump white house right back on its heels where it's been

essentially from day one, which is on defense. so, you know, i think that's what particularly stings for the white house, is that my gosh, they finally got going, and now they're talking again, you have an apology. >> annie number one makes the point that i think that she's probably right, having nancy pelosi, a leader, calling for his head is probably a job security. she he should call for other people's heads in the administration. >> keep spicer, great job today. >> she's so quick to do that. this isn't the first time she jumped out. >> she had a faux pas. any time you recuse yourself, you did something wrong. she's talking about sessions getting off the russian thing and every judge in the whole country gasped because so often judges are recusing themselves. you know, out of appearance. she said a couple of her own. >> she certainly has. i think that's true. it does give him a little bit of

hope that, my goodness. >> but, boy, this was a bad one. spicer had a bad one today. that was terrible. >> just the fact he evoked it out of nowhere i think it was an effort to look like how tough we're being on assad, and it just -- he went too far and tripped up. and then in the moment, the first comment, i don't think he realized, but it was a major mistake until the follow-up and he was calling holocaust centers. >> that was bad, too. >> it got worse. it just got worse. >> it did get worse. we kept digging, digging deep. >> trying to distinguish between -- >> he couldn't dig himself out. he kept thinking he'd dig himself out. anyway, thank you both. in a programming note, i will be interviewing sean spicer at a museum tomorrow. for the record 6:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow. guess what i'll be asking about? the ceo of united airlines

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see you around, giulia ♪ united airlines has a present for our coach passengers to california. we took out our six-across seats and put in five wider ones. extra space in every seat. the five-across coach. it gives you the widest seat in the sky. ♪ when you're friendly, you do

things for people ♪ ♪ united airline >> united airlines' long time slogan, fly the friendly skies. well, today the airline is in crisis mode over a video that is anything but friendly. a passenger dragged off a plane. that's not friendly. today, ceo oscar munoz issuing an apology saying, quote, no one should ever be mistreated this way and saying united takes full responsibility. a day ago the ceo sparks fury for an e-mail in which he called the passenger disruptive and belligerent. today the airline's stock price closing only 1% down but losing over a billion dollars in total value. today an attorney for the pastor putting out a statement saying the family is thankful for the outpouring of prayers and support, and their main focus is on dr. dao's medical treatment. several lawmakers are also getting into this, calling for an investigation. the founder of travelers united, ah nonprofit, is here.

>> good to be here. >> what do you think? >> i think united as created a real mess. this entire problem was created by united airlines. first, they don't know how to keep track of their own people, and they are rushing them onto to planes at the last minute to move them to louisville. this shouldn't have happened. it wouldn't have happened if they knew 20 minutes earlier. the other thing that happens is the local management decided that they were going to strongarm people. first of all, ydethnt offer as much as they could have offered because right now department of transportation says you offer up to about $1,350 in cash, and i never heard that bandied about. i bet you if they said $1,350 in cash, we'd have -- >> a stampede to the front. >> you're right. we'd have a whole group of people. they'd rent a limo and all get back home in four hours. they could have flown them on

other airlines. >> they've got enough money to cha charter. even if they had to, they could have chartered on net jets if they had to. >> they really fouled up. so we ended up with a situation where the flight was first termed overbooked and it wasn't overbooked. it was only united wanting to put their crew in front of their customers. >> i didn't like the ceo in that e-mail to the employees. i thought that calling the passenger belligerent -- >> well, you know, i think the ceo is in a hard -- he's between a rock and a hard place right now because he has to support his employees. on the other hand, what they did is not supportable. and it's just a real failure in management. >> you know, one of the problems, we've got the letters here from senator john thune, and other senators calling for some answers. but i have always wondered why department of justice have let these airlines merge because to me, the merger of these airlines has resulted in such a decline in the service and competitive pricing and so much.

>> you're talking to the guy that led the effort against the american airlines u.s. air merger. i thought we had won that battle when the department of justice said that they objected to the merger. and word came up from on high, this was going to happen. i never saw so many defeated poor people as i saw at the department of justice. >> are the airlines making money? >> yeah, they're making tons of money right now. >> so they didn't have to do any of this. they didn't have to do this. >> they're making billions, and they have a very controlled situation. and part of problem right now is that if we don't like the service, where do we go? three airlines control 70%, and if you throw southwest in there, more than 80% of the market in the united states. and we really don't have choice anymore because if it was all four airlines at all big airports t would be one thing, but it's not. they divvy up the country, and we are really suffering from a lack of competition. >> you know, for the life of me, i don't know why the department of justice wasn't a lot more aggressive in protecting us that way. they certainly didn't protect us. >> i certainly wish they were.

>> anyway, as they say, never dull. we've certainly -- that video has been played all over the place. >> it certainly has. >> thank you, sir. and i have something to say for the record. okay. we've all seen this video multiple times of dr. david dao being dragged off that united flight. yeah, it is disgraceful what those handful of people did to a passenger. he paid for his ticket and all due to united's incompetency, that's why l why this happened. yes, by the way, if united had offered more compensation to volunteers, more than $800, think about if they'd offered $5,000, which is nothing to united. there would have been a stampede to the front of the plane to get off. it would have been completely different. but, alas, united was stuck on stupid, and now we see this video. only followed by the united ceo, oscar munoz, first apologizing for having to, quote, reaccommodate customers, whatever that means, then writing that internal memo to united employees blaming the passenger. that was bad. and then finally sending another

note to united employees taking full responsibility. i guess the third time is the charm. to think, though, that he did all that after he had time to watch the video. and think about it. that's bad, isn't it? brother. but, this is important, and why i want to talk to you tonight. while we all slap united around, let us not forget united airlines has more than 82,000 employees, and all those 82,000 employees minus a couple, they didn't do that. in fact, they do their job every single day. they do it with great honor. they do it very effectively, and they also get us to all our destinations very safely. so all of those people, 82,000, it's only a couple who do this. i know lots of you have gripes about the airlines, but remember there's so many who do do their jobs well. i'm sure you work someplace where there are a few bad apples too and you do not like to be blamed when they do bad things. with so much outrage in the news, i thought you might like to see this. our friend the brits, queen

elizabeth and prince philip feeding bananas to elephants at a new care center. that elephant does notm fshlgs azed. thk yofor watching. i'll see you back here tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. if you can't watch live, set your dvr and follow me on twitter @greta. that's a great place to go if you want to anonymously say something mean to me. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. eastern promises. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews down in atlanta. well, tonight the intrigue grows in this country as donald trump headed to a nancy confrontation with the man in moscow who helped elect him?