that will wrap up this hour. katy tur taking things over. i was struck when we heard from the president talking about rob porter, but making no mention of domestic violence. no comment about those women whatsoever. >> you are right about that. and we'll bring that up in just

a moment. it was shocking that he said the word him and he so many times, and never said the word she or her. no mention of the women involved in this case. peter alexander, thank you very much. it is 2:00 p.m. in washington where there does not seem to be a moral red line at the white house. the latest sx examp eest exampl porter. the white house says john kelly wasn't fully aware of the domestic abuse allegations until this week. quote, fully aware? so when was he, quote, partially aware? the "washington post" reporting kelly knew last fall about the allegations. and that white house counsel don mcgahn knew for a year. no action was taken. did either one know about the restraining order or the police report? if they did, it looks like it didn't matter. if they didn't, why didn't they?

why didn't the chief of staff ask why his key man could not get a security clearance? what we now know is in a porter was given more responsibility, more power, a man who handled the country's most sensitive secrets with only an interim security clearance was also imagining his own. from the outside looking in, all signs point to a white house that has turned a blind eye to credible allegations of domestic abuse. did they hope it would never come out? that is not clear. but we know how these things work. they always come out. especially in this white house, especially with this president. >> you kept in touch with rob and as i understood it, tried to maintain somewhat of a cordial relationship. did he ever talk to you about this fbi interview, did he ask you to say anything, did he tell you it was coming? >> so he definitely let me know that i was going to be contacted by the fbi once he was tabbed for the white house.

and he was curious what i was going to say. he wanted to know what are you going to tell them and i told him i'll tell them the truth. >> as we like to say around here, nothing happens in a vacuum. this is the same white house that endorsed roy moore, an accused child molester, the same white house that has missed more than a dozen women who have accused the president of sexual misconduct. this is the same white house that slandered a sitting u.s. congresswoman. this is the same white house that got in a fight with a gold star wife. this is the same white house that caulled some dream everies l. and the same white house that said the civil war was a failure of xro micompromise, referred t african nations as s-hole countries. the list goes on and on. the question is wouldn't you be more surprised if they did the right thing and dismissed porter in the first place? here is the president a moment ago.

>> we certainly wish him well. it is obviously a tough time for him. he did a very good job when he was in the white house. and we hope he has a wonderful career and hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him. but it was very sad when we heard about it and certainly he is also very sad. now, he also as you probably know, he says he is innocent. and i think you have to remember that. >> he, he, he, him, him, him. you'll notice in expression or sympathy for the two women who have come forward or the issue of domestic abuse. we have a team to help us dig this through. kristen welker is at the white house. we have a national security porter from the "post." and pete are baker the chief correspondent for the new york times. and also we have deputy chief of

staff to president clik tnton. there is new reporting about john kelly trying to rewrite history about how all of this went down. what exactly is going on? >> so my colleagues reported i think within the hour that john kelly had a meeting this morning with senior staff and kind of tried to rewrite history on this thing. he told staff members to get out the message that he sort of acted within 40 minutes of learning there were credible allegations of abuse. i mean, even compared to previous white house talking points on this, that just isn't true. we understand he knew about these allegations at least back in the fall, months ago. and even sort of after this story broke, he was out defending porter. issued a statement defending porter. so the idea that he sort ever acted swiftly to remove porter within 40 minutes of learning it is just not true.

>> let's look at what the president did a moment ago when he invited the reporters in. very clearly he knew he was going to get asked a question about this. this wasn't on the schedule. the reporters were just brought in. and there is is the answer he h prepared for them that this was all about rob porter, what a sad situation this is for rob porter, we wish him the best, he did a wonderful job. no expression what sorry of sim path any for tsympathy for the allegedly abused bring port, the one ex-wife who got a black eye, none whatsoever from this president? >> he went to the same talking point that he did for roy moore which is that he denies it and no obvious mention of the photographs, of the evidence, of the testimony now in public by

these women. so this seem like a go-to line for him when there come up allegations of sexual misconduct or domestic violence. in this case it is like well, the person who is being accused denies it. maybe this is because he himself has been accused of sexual misconduct and he denies it, so he harbors some more sympathy for the accused than the accusers. but pretty striking what he said. >> and he has been criticized for this multiple times in the past, not saying anything about the women involved in these scenarios. you brought up roy moore. you would imagine somebody in the white house would have gotten in his ear and said something about it. kristen, you spoke with one of the women. tell me what she says about this whole scenario. i was struck that rob porter called one of his ex-wives and asked her how she was going to spin this story, how she was going to tell this story. i guess inferring that he was trying to get her to play it

down. >> that's right. and i spoke with jennifer willoughby yesterday prior to her interview today on "today" with savannah. and she told me what she told the fbi, which is that she did relay these stories of abuse including one in which she says she was dragged out of the shower naked aggressively by her ex-husband, rob porter, and then in another instant she had to get a protective order against him during their separation. and he according to willoughby broke a glass, she was terrified, she called plirks she wasn't sure what he was going to do next. so these are the types of stories she said she told the fbi during that background check and the interview that she conducted with them. i also asked her if the fbi pressed her on whether or not he could be subject to blackmail. she shenandoah says she answere question saying maybe. and i spoke to colby hole die s

holderness, his first wife, she said there were a number of women abused by him. so it is our sense that that information was relayed to the white house. and according to one source familiar with the conversations, chief of staff john kelly was briefed on that several months ago. >> it is strikingly similar to what happened with mike flynn. why wasn't there is a sensitivity to somebody being in the white house who could be blackmailed? that word alone, you would imagine would have raised a massive red flag. maria, you were form early in a white house, deputy chief of staff, what do you think of this idea that the chief staff in this white house would not have known about these allegations, would not have known why the fbi hadn't 2k3wi67 him a full security clearance? >> well, first off, the facts are still coming out. but it certainly does seem to be that kelly knew months before these serious allegations. and that really brings to the

point that as chief of staff, you would want to know when your staff secretary was going to get clearance. because that is such a sensitive job. and you would make it your business to find out what was holding it up. so this is -- you never lie to the fbi. so did porter lie to the fbi? and number two, if you had known about these allegations, you also have to be thinking about and how are you going to react when it is a front page story. so this is just further evidence of a really dysfunctional and frankly incompetent white house starting with michael flynn as we although. >> peter, i want to know where john kelly stands right now. and let me go back at some of the controversies that he has been steeped in. he falsely attacked frederica wilson and refused to apologize to her. he called a confederate general honorable. he said a lack of spcompromise

blame for the civil war. he said when he was a kid, women were sacred, not anymore. and some young immigrants were too lazy to sign up for daca. where does he stand right now as chief of staff? >> not just because of the incidents you just recited, but another one where he told the hispanic caucus on capitol hill that the president wasn't fully informed talking about a border wall. but that drewtwitter saying he fully informed. that angered donald trump. he hates the idea that john kelly is somehow guiding him, preventing the president from doing -- making mistakes. so there was already this grievance built up in the president prior to this week. and then you add on the lazy comment on the daca and the porter episode, it puts john kelly really on the hot seat. the president we are told has

sounded out with friends lately about the possibility on of mick mulvaney as a replacement, director of both of budget office and consumer financial affairs bureau. and it is a sign that the president once again is sort of thinking about what he wants to do. he even called reince priebus the last chief of staff he pushed out to talk about john kelly. priebus says that is not the case, but several people tell us that that was what happened. so on this is a tough time for john kelly. and a tough week for him. >> and obviously we don't know what donald trump will do until he does it with that giant disclaimer, peter, you also have reporting about security clearances and who else doesn't have a full security clearance in the white house. that includes jared kushner, correct? >> yes, it does. and there are apparently dozens of people who don't. kushner's is the most notable because he is so senior in the white house. i mean, with some of these, there are probably

understandable reasons, maybe people with extensive foreign contacts or business contacts that just have to be sorted through. maybe they are a little lower level. but with kushner, there is hardly anyone more senior. you would think by now he would have a full security clearance. he is also getting access to some of the most sensitive information. so it is a real mystery. theories, but real mystery as to why he of all these people doesn't have security. >> so what is the status at the white house? what are they saying about there controversy that is rapidly ballooning, where do they stand? >> i think there is a broad sense that this was miss handled. you heard raj shah acknowledge as much from the podium yesterday during his press briefing. but there is frustration with general john kelly specifically, his handling of this matter, why did he not sound the al lamb

be alarm bell sooner. and when it was known that he was wasn't given full security clearance.bell sooner. and when it was known that he was wasn't given full security clearance. if we see another staff shakeup is the big question. multiple people here say the president doesn't really have an appetite for more drama within his white house. and so that may be the one thing that holds him back. even as he contemplates potential replacements for john kelly and potentially some other people involved in this matter. the one thing holding him back is that he wants to row jekprojs steady hship. >> and with conversations i've had with folks in washington, not that many people want to serve in this administration. even with sterling reputations that go in to that west wing come out very battered and bruised. think of the way people were talking about john kell i will before he took this role and the way they are talking about him

now. i can't imagine there are folks that think gosh, that is a great place to work and i can really make a difference. kristen welker, thank you very much. matt, peetter, maria, thank you for your time. and we'll talk to the president of now who is causing on john kelly to resign and we'll also look at what this all says about the culture inside the white house. the "new york times" might be she would goldberg who penned a piece joins me right after a quick break.

does the trump administration take allegations of assault against women seriously? this week's news would suggest that the answer to that question is no, not at all. since we're learning at least two top white house staffers knew about allegations of domestic violence and did nothing about it. two ex-wives of rob porter say he an abused them verbally and physically, one spoke with savannah guthrie and described the moment she knew he crossed the line. >> what was the moment, was it what we read when you say -- what happened? >> we had baby figeen fighting followed me to the shower and pulled me out of the shower to continue the rage. and immediately saw how scared i was and recognized what he was doing and released it, but that

was the moment when i realized he didn't have control. >> all these years later, you met colbie holderness, she's also come forward and put out an image that shows her with a black eye, she shenandoah rob porter gave her that black eye. do you believe her? >> of course i believe her. of course i believe her. >> you think he is capable of that? >> i believe her. >> porter denies the allegations and december pile thspite them, house not only kept him, but gave him more responsibility. should we be surprised by all this? porter isn't exactly the first trump administration or campaign staffer toe accused of assaulting a woman. might michelle goldberg wrote a piece that exams donald trump's on own

handling of assault allegations. when we say this is not the first person in this administration or in the campaign, who are we talking about? >> specifically with regards to domestic violence, there is donald trump himself who ivana trump said that he had gone crazy because he was in pain from a plastic surgeon that she had recommended and he -- >> for his skcalp? >> yeah, she said he pulled her clumps of her hair and raped her. she later said she didn't mean rape literally. and steve bannon who was chief strategist despite having had his own domestic violence complaint with his second wife, although the case was dropped when she didn't show up to testify against him in court. there was antdy poster who

dropped out after will turned out his ex-wife had been under disguise on oprah talking about high classed battered women. and reports that thousand he might be brought back into a different role that doesn't require senate confirmation. so if you are john kelly, you would think this is not a big deal. what is the big deal? >> it is not just that. cory lewandowski grabbed might bemichelle fields, denied it, calls her as victim blaming to cheers from the crowd defending lewandowski saying there is no evidence of this. evidence comes out that he does grab might be shchelle 2350e78f. he was not fired. donald trump stood by him on the stage and said great guy, come on up here. and brought him to stand next to him. that was right after that video

came out. so only underscoring his support for the man over on the woman in that scenario. we're talking about john kelly and when he decided this was too much. he said he was shocked by the allegations, but he knew about them. what was it shocking, just the picture that came out? >> the fbi also had the foiktpi for a long time. i think he was shocked when he realized that this was going to be a big story. and he seemed to genuinely not realize that this was a big deal because i think that is the culture in which he has been marinating. all of a sudden they realized that this would look terrible. and so suddenly they realized that -- >> so is it because he allegedly abused his ex-wife or pr? >> both. i think on the one hand that, you know, people in this white house kind of by definition are not going to be held to a high moral standard.

but the security clearance is something that i think everybody across the political spectrum should be able to agree that you want people handling the highest classified top secret information to be able to pass an fbi background check and not be blackmailable, which this person clearly could not. >> what do you make of donald trump not mentioning the woman? >> i think he genuinely sees i think rob porter as the victim and doesn't think that what he did kind of matters one way or the other. and so, you know, i think that he sees a man accused of domestic violence and sees himself in that situation. >> michelle, thank you so much for being here. we appreciate your time. and the national organization for women is calling on john kelly to resign immediately. they say general kelly should know better. he took pride in protecting his troops. as chief of staff, it is his duty to protect the people who serve in the white house. women who work for john kelly

are asking themselves today if they can trust general kelly to protect them from perpetrators of domestic violence. tony van pelt is president of the national orgts for womaniza imwith and she joins me now. i want to read some stats. according to n.o.w., there are nearly 20 people per minute physically abused by an intimate partner. sorry, this is the national coalition against domestic violence. in one year, that adds up to more than 10 million women and men. also one in three women and one in four men have been victims of physical violence in their lifetime. you say john kelly must go. what do you think his true colors are? >> i think the true colors are that he is very privileged, that he does not hold women in high regard. i think the comment on when he was a child that women were held

to be sacred is code for women were placed on a pedestal and not allowed to function as full human beings. i think his background in the military, i would not be surprised if he did not protect men in the military that were sexually harassing or physically abusing women in the military. i think all of these things speak to the fact that this is a culture of misogyny and that he has to go. women have to be placed on an equal playing field with men. and in this white house in the halls of congress, in all of our places in the world. >> and do you think he deserves something of the benefit of the doubt here? after all, this is a military man who you just mentioned. he didn't step into this role as a political person. he is not a political person. is there any room for him that you might not give somebody who has come up through washington in the political ranks? >> no, i think it is even worse

because he does come from that bubble of being protected in the military. he did take this job on, he should be sponlresponsible. and none of these men will suffer. when this episode is no longer in the new, they will go on, they will continue to make the tens of thousand of dollars that they make. and what happens to these women? why is it that they are not being made whole? we know that trump doesn't care about women from day one since he has been in this office, but my big he goes concern is the message that he sends to the abusers out there in our country and in the world, that this is okay. that you can abuse, that you can get away from this, that you will not suffer, that you can mistreat your family members and in particular women. >> what about don mcgahn who was told four times about this? >> you know, i don't know about hope hicks and what her position is and what we need to focus on

keeping women safe. that's the most -- >> is there is a double standard here? why nontt the woman go as well. >> as far as i know, she helped with the statement. and if she knew about this, we haven't heard from her. we should be holding her feet to the fire about that. >> what do you think should happen with the women in the white house right now, do they have a responsibility to come out and say something, to make some sort of statement about where this white house stands on things, to opinions on this mat? >> i don't think we can put that on the women. it is on the perpetrators, the men. we know that when women speak out, that they suffer very serious consequences in their life. their careers are disrailed. they suffer physically, mentally. so, no, i don't think that we want to put women on the -- we want to put the men on the spot,

we want them to be held accountab accountable. >> what about the women who are helping enable, the one accused of that? >> anybody that is an enabler, that is part of the party of denial, that is part of the coverup, they should suffer the consequences. this is important for our -- this is what we need to make women safe, and we need to make women whole. we need to know that not only do men pay consequences, but that women are -- their career paths are protected, that their pay is protected. that is what we need do to change our culture. this is really important for us. it is important for our children. >> i just want to be clear on the women in the white house. because some might accuse them of being enablers of the situation in the white house. and what about somebody line ivanka trump who won't suffer any consequence, she is the president's daughter, what about her, do you want to hear from her? >> let's talk about class. yes, i do want to matter about

t hear about the women privileged. i do think they have a responsibility. i have a responsibility. i accepted this role as the president of the national organization for women because i accept that responsibility. we have to have women standing shoulder to shoulder with all women. that is important. >> tony van pelt from the national organization of women, thank you very much for being here. and government shutdowns, are they the norm in america? we've had two in just 40 days. we'll break down the budget deal that passed while you were sleeping and we'll talk about the next big battle breaking on capitol hill. and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis with humira. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number #1 prescribed biologic

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it is february 9 and we've already had two government shut down i go shutdo shutdowns. you may have miss ed the second one that happened overnight after hand paul held up a vote over the two year deal. he objected to the extra spending. >> we have a 700 page bill that no one has read that was printed at midnight. no one will read it, nothing will be reformed, waiste will continue and government will keep taking your money irresponsiblebly and adding to the debt. >> lawmaker left the capitol many upset with senator paul over what some on capitol hill told politico was the, quote, dumbest shutdown fight ever. joining us now to take a closer

look from washington, jake sherman and also stephanie ruhle. jake, i'll start with you. what exactly does this agreement have in it? >> so it keeps government funded first and foremost, which is an important element until march 23. it increases federal spending by roughly $400 billion, $300 billion in addition, $100 billion in disaster aid, most importantly, it lifts the debt limit until 2019, so it allows the government to keep spending as much as it wants frankly until march 2019 after the elect. it has a host of other provisions that are important. but we don't have to get in to. but frankly, i want to make one large point here. this is a an amazing 180 from where republicans were since i've been covering congress. this is a republican party which wouldn't raise spending unless they cut other spending. wouldn't raise the debt limit

unless they cut other spending for the debt limit. so this is a new party to say the least. and big numb, large number of republicans voted for it. so it does remove the threat of calamity for the next couple weeks. >> it is a completely new party. not only with the deficit spending, but for what they will tolerate in term of morality. donald trump alone reinvented what the gop stands for and what the gop believes in. this is just another addition to that. $300 billion to the deficit, not including what the tax bill added. say what you will about rabd pau rand paul, he is the only nonhypocri nonhypocrite. >> hand paul will end up on the right side of republican politics. it was president trump last year who said we need to do more with less. it is our moral obligation not to leave these debts in the hands of our children and

grandchildren. so democrats, hey, you want to put more money to disaster relief, more money to children's health? have at it. it is republicans that never wanted do this and to your point we've already added $1 trillion to $3 trilli $2 trillion to our. >> and to a layman watching, it is a very ambiguous thing. what is the debt? no one feels any relationship to it. okay, it has gone up. what does it mean for me? >> if i said it is a trillion, it's a gazillion. you won't know the difference. this is abstract and doesn't affect us, but it does if you think about what will have to get cut. it does if you think about how we're going to have to borrow as a country. and when you start to look at the market, you say people are worried about inflation, interest rates. these things all begin to stay together. so for republicans to suddenly say they don't xwar decare abou

they always did before. and if you are suddenly infusing a stimulus package now, what are you going to do when we're this bad times? one of the reasons the market went down is because there is good news out there. unemployment is in a good place. wages are going up. that means we don't need interest rates to be extra ordinarily low anymore. it is not normal for rates to be 3% right around there. we saw the treasury -- excuse me, we you saw the fed push rates really low to get us out of a recession to spur growth. growth has happened. thousand we should be able to stand on our own. >> and what happens now in congress with this deficit ballooning, are we have going to or should we expect to see targeting of entitlements? >> no. not in an election year for sure. definitely not. and there are practical reasons and political reasons. number one, the senate can't get any retitlement reform in a narrow senate, they can't get 60 votes for retitlement reform and

i'm not excusing anything, just stating the reality. and silence is contagious in moments like these. republicans are not talking about this, so no one talks about it. and i was sitting next to a republican yesterday kind of in the middle of all of this who turned to me and said i got here, i'm not into say the year because i don't want to give it away and he said paul ryan was talking about entitlement reform now and it is still not done. and last night we saw something that we kind of hadn't seen for a long time which is the house democrats nancy pelosi completely miscalculate here. she thought she was going to be able to rangwrangle a deal on d out of paul ryan on the house floor. democrats an bbandoned her and not get -- they were not able to extract any promises. so i don't know what this means in a global sense, but it is important to note that there is kind of a changing of the guard and changing of the mood among democrats right now. >> and i feel like an asteroid

crashed and nothing burned. and it made me wonder when you look at republicans, and you look at what they have decided to do a 180 on in the time that donald trump has taken office, what else should we expect? >> you know, i think frankly we've put this in playbook, but they sho go homuld go home unti election. i don't think an infrastructure deal will come together. can you emergency spending another trillion dollars right now? >> no where to get the money from. gary cohn has told the president there is no money. to say we'll have states pay for it? states can't run deficits. and if you think it will come from private funding? they want 10% 15% returns. >> what if china says we want our hone back? does it benefit them?

>> they won't do that. but the demand for u.s. dollars could change. we know longer will be the safest haven around. right now sure we are the prettiest girl in the ugly class, whatever those phrases are. but things ain't looking good. >> stephanie ruhle, prettiest girl in the ugliest class. >> not sure if that is how you say it. >> i feel like dan rather. thank you very much. jake, appreciate it. nice sly reference. >> tremendous living in this tube. and be sure to catch stephanie at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. each weekday and on saturday, she does it all. you can't miss her at 12:30 eastern on msnbc saturday. she promises she will do it in spanish. and jake sherman not to forget about him. from the outside looking in, moving on to another story, this white house can look and feel like a reality show at times, understatement of the year, but

is that the reality of working inside? a woman who would know, nicolle wallace, joining me next. and a live look at the dow, we have a little more than an hour before the closing bell. the dow currently at 64 points. it is jumping around. it has been a rocky week of trading. we're keeping an eye on it. frgs frgs clacking ] [ click, keyboard clacking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ click, keyboard clacking ] ♪ good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. talkcan start in the colonwhy constiand may be signs ofture. an imbalance of good bacteria. only phillips' colon health has this

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. we can no longer be so politically correct. we do things today, we're so politically correct, people are afraid to walk, afraid to talk. they can't speak. they are afraid they say the wrong word. >> the best people, we're more than a year into this administration. the high profile departure of trump's best people continue. rob porter accused of abusing two ex-wives, but from the staff the staffing drama inside the west wing has played out like an appr preprentice style competit. the last time a white house aide caused this much controversy was the departure hof omarosa and se is now dishing more details on

the reeld realal reality tv sho brother." >> i'm getting my head bashed in and nobody coming out publicly to say we support her. >> do you feel like you were able to understand the people from the outside looking in just saw the hate that that campaign kind of incited? and that you supported it. >> when you are in the middle of the hurricane, it is hard to see the destruction on the outer bachbds. bands. >> nicolle wallace was white house communications director for bush. we are looking at omarosa to find out what is going on in the white house? but let's be honest. omarosa is obviously trying to reinvent herself and get some attention and who knows what will come out with her book. she had her own agenda. but the fact that she was in the white house in the first place, having just been an apprentice

contestant and now dishing all their secrets on some hidden camera show where it is just salacious and who knows what else happens after dark, the show is notorious. and then you have rob porter. hope hicks. the never ending list of in-is an insanity. >> i think the omarosa piece and observing va observations are of interest because -- i've never seen that show in my life, but that's where you have to go to understand how trump rolls. the truth is he has more in common with omarosa's performance than he does with the man who stood at the podium and tried to articulate in the way that journalists want to understand how the white house department with what would have been a flag from the fbi that she had someone serving at the

highest levels accused of domestic abuse. and it is this violent collision of those two worlds that has brought about all of the mayhem and chaos. and the sickness isn't the crash, the sickness is that the president seems to love it. >> wranlg shraj shah at the podg there could have been things that we did better here at the white house. >> single most credible moment at that podium to take place since donald trump was sworn in. >> but then reporting from cnn that donald trump was very unhappy with that moment. >> it tells you everything. i thought that moment was the single most credible moment ever experienced in the white house briefing room during the time of donald trump's presidency. >> how sad is that? >> a person saying we could have done better acknowledging what was clear to all of us watching, i thought he became the most credible person ever to stand there. and then it was -- it shouldn't have been, but shocking to hear that the president was dts

appointed with that performance and it affirms that he wants his people to lie and cover up. be when they have a rare moment of truth telling about these alleg >> anything is possible in this place. he doesn't get briefed on threats to the nation and doesn't get a regular intelligence briefing. so it is certainly plausible that he wasn't briefed on the status of his most senior aides. anything is plausible. >> not reading the pdb -- it came into my conscience after hearing about bin laden and that was not read. that was the allegations. you obviously know much more about that than i did. >> the allegation was that it was briefed and not heeded. >> so what is in the pdb? how dire is it to have a president who does not pay attention to the pdb, y.

>> you used the right word. james clapper said at an event with mike hayden and i was -- i was the -- i brought the intelligence factor down by a gazillion. but i was speaking with them and he said, you know, it is not the president's job to come to our level. it is our job to go to his. so it is our job to brief him on threats to the nation in whatever manner he wants it. and the idea that he likes pictures and graphs, that is his prerogative and he is president but there isn't anything briefed to him consistently. >> and are you shocked? >> i'm trying to stock being shocked and outraged. it is not healthy. but the idea of the president of the united states -- we are still a country fighting the daily threats of terrorism and it is only because of the policies that two presidents now have kept up, president obama largely maintained a lot of

counter-terror posture that the bush administration put the country on. that we have a president that doesn't even want to know what the they threats are -- the threats are to the nation on a daily basis is shocking. >> let's talk about hope hicks. she was always by the side -- by the side of donald trump during the campaign. she was mostly silent, doesn't want to be interviewed. there was that famous interview that daily beast reporter did with the president about her while she was in her -- while she was there. read this -- olivia -- the story about hope hicks where she tried to interview her but she demured so donald trump gave the interview about hope hicks while she was in the room. so that is -- just an example of how she doesn't want the attention. she was crafting this statement, though, about -- or help craft the statement about rob porter and help defend him. she was on air force one helping craft the statement about don jr. how much -- i don't know if

trouble is the right word. but how much hot water could hope be in right now? >> you remember the trump campaign -- you have covered from birth to election day. i covered the campaign and we both covered the white house now. i have never in all of that time heard a harsh critique of hope hicks. either of her personal conduct, or of her professionalism. that stopped this week. there are a lot of people asking a lot of questions about her role in all of this. whether it was appropriate for her to have participated in the drafting of the chief of staff statement. there are people who think that general kelly deserves criticism for the comments about immigrants, for calling the president uninformed but they think he is getting -- and this is one faction. these guys are a -- it is just a mosh pit of never stopping being a knife fight in west wing. >> see i heard from bannon accolades but if it is beyond

that -- >> there are people loyal to john kelly think while not person, they think he is the best thing they've got and he's getting a disproportionate amount of blame for the way rob porter has been taken. >> thank you. and we'll have one more thing after the break for you, stay with us. ♪ slap on some cologne ♪ i'm 85 and i wanna go home ♪ ♪ just got a job ♪ as a lifeguard in savannah ♪ ♪ i'm 85 and i wanna go home ♪ ♪ dropping sick beats, they call me dj nana ♪ ♪ 85 and i wanna go don't get mad. get e*trade, kiddo. hnew litter?lled this no. nobody has! it's unscented! (vo) new tidy cats free & clean unscented. powerful odor control with activated charcoal. free of dyes.

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we have one to two fires a day and when you respond together and you put your lives on the line, you do have to surround yourself with experts.

and for us the expert in gas and electric is pg&e. we run about 2,500/2,800 fire calls a year and on almost every one of those calls pg&e is responding to that call as well. and so when we show up to a fire and pg&e shows up with us it makes a tremendous team during a moment of crisis. i rely on them, the firefighters in this department rely on them, and so we have to practice safety everyday. utilizing pg&e's talent and expertise in that area trains our firefighters on the gas or electric aspect of a fire and when we have an emergency situation we are going to be much more skilled and prepared to mitigate that emergency for all concerned. the things we do every single day that puts ourselves in harm's way, and to have a partner that is so skilled at what they do is indispensable, and i couldn't ask for a better partner. one more thing. have you seen this?

vice president mike pence and his wife karen were at the winter games opening ceremony last night in south korea. and look who is sitting just feet away. the sister of north korea dictator who is a rising political figure in the north. they did not speak. but the vp did talk with nbc lester holt. he made it clear that these winter games will not break the diplomatic ice. >> we're going to make it crystal clear that our military, japanese self-defense forces and allies here in south korea, all of our allies across the region are fully prepared -- >> military -- >> to defend our nation and to take what action is necessary to defend our homeland. >> that interview on "nightly news." and the games begin tonight. the winter olympic games in pyeongchang, south korea and catch it on nbc. it already happened for you olympic loyalists, we'll avoid giving you details. but we have one spoiler so it is all of the talk on twitter.

if you don't want a spoiler, we'll talk about it in three, two -- get out of there if you don't want this -- one. tonight you see this guy, the only athlete from tonga competing in the game he led the delegation alone just like in the summer games when he competed in tae kwon do. now he will compete in figure skating. twitter is on fire because there is a lot of oil and not so much clothing. we'll leave it there. but if you are not excited about these games, get excited. why not? it is the biggest winter games this world has ever seen. 2900 athletes from 9200 countries will duke it out for the gold. and let's be real what else in this day and age gets us on our feet rooting for the same thing. if there is nothing else anyone could agree on these days, let's agree on this. go team usa. that will wrap things up for me this hour. ali velshi is here. and i have all of the facebook and instagrams and what not, you

could catch them. throu -- they will put the graphic up on the screen. ali velshi will pick things up. you have a graphic in your show about the s&p 500 and there something notable in it that everyone might not catch. but your producer did. >> which is. >> since march 9th. >> yeah, 2009, the bottom of the marked. >> the s&p has gone up 282%. >> that was the bottom, march 9th. >> do you know what else happened on march 9th, 2009. >> the third day of the fish reunion. >> no. it was the day after fish triumphant return and a three-day stint. >> it was march 6th, 2009, was the return. and i think it was a three day -- >> andy said it was a day after. regardless, fish had everything to do with the mark. >> and stephanie knew all about the tonga guy on our show. if i had that much oil on my body, it would be a mess. i wou