mercers. the mercers bankrolled bannon's breitbart news as well as some of his film projects. conway rayna super pac created by the mercers to initially backed the candidacy of ted cruz. the mercers also invested in a data mining firm called cambridge analytica, which claims it has psychological profiles of ovever 200 million american voters. the firm was hired by the trump campaign to help target its message to potential voters. while the mercers have helped reshape the american political landscape, their work has all been done from the shadows. they do not speak to the media and rarely even speak in public. amy: during the entire presidential campaign, they released just two statements. one was a defense of donald trump shortly after the leak of the 2005 access hollywood tape showed trump boasting about sexual assaulting women. the mercers wrote -- "we're completely indifferent to mr. trump's locker room raqqa.co. america is finally fed up and disgusted with its political elite. trump is channeling this disgust and those among the political elite who quake before the boombox of med

a story. >> why is breitbart doing this, why is it attacking the trump's healthcare bill? >> it is steve bannon' bannon's breitbart. that's next. ♪ lease a 2017 lincoln mkx for $369 a month. only at your lincoln dealer. does your child need help with digestive balance? try align junior probiotic. so she can have a fraction dominating... status updating... hello-yellow-belt kind of day. get 24/7 digestive support with align junior. the #1 doctor recommended probiotic brand, now for kids. i just had to push one button wto join.s thing is crazy. it's like i'm in the office with you, even though i'm here. it's almost like the virtual reality of business communications. no, it's reality. introducing intuitive, one touch video calling from vonage. call now and get amazon chime at no additional cost. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and

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started around 6:30 a.m. this official pointed to a story on the conservative website, breitbart news that has been circulating in the west wing. that story followed up on comments from radio talk show host mark levin who claimed that president obama worked to undermine trump's presidential campaign and his administration, including through various investigations on russia and the possible ties between rauns and trump associates. this official said that breitbart news story infuriated the president. and a couple of hours ago the president's social director tweeted out a link to that very same breitbart story. that lends credence to the idea that it was that story that president trump based his tweets on. we haven't heard any official comment from the white house staff. >> shimon, you've been speaking with a former u.s. official with direct knowledge of the investigation. what has been the reaction from the obama team on these wire-tapping claims? >> bigger than just the obama team. this is a former official who has direct knowledge of the fbi and the department of justice investigation. an

solutions. >> thank you both very much. >>> next, is the white house using breitbart to stir the pot? plus steve bannon, surprising words about kellyanne conway tonight. wait till you hear what he had to say about her. >>> and jeanne moos with late-night comics finding the trump white house wherever they look. ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and heada

terrifying moments in the airport there. >>> coming up, my conversation with the editor in chief of breitbart news on its close ties to the trump white house and the article that reportedly led to the president's controversial wiretapping claims. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced. our senses awake. our hearts racing as one. is i know this is sudden, but they say...if you love something set it free. see you around, giulia nosy neighbor with a glad bag, full of trash. what happens next? nothing. only glad has febreze to neutralize odors for 5 days. guaranteed. even the most perceptive noses won't notice the trash. be happy. it's glad. . >>> it's a question that's been asked for the last two weeks. where did president trump get the idea that his predecessor had wiretapped him during the campaign? fox news's tucker carlson asked him in a recent interview. >> i've been reading about things. i read in i think it was january 20th a "new york times" article where they were talking about wiretapping. there was an article. i think they used that

hilton.com and join the weeklong weekenders. >>> breitbart is one of president trump's favorite news sources once run by his top advisor steve bannon. they see themselves as provocateurs poking the finger in the eye of the mainstream media. stephanie gosk sat down with the 31-year-old editor and chief who pushes back hard against the critics and the labels defending the news site he has worked at since it started in 2007. >> we're not a hate site. >> do you think you have been unfairly demonized? >> absolutely. without a doubt. >> breitbart has seen a immediate i don't recollect rise from a fringe start hundred once run by steve bannon, the right wing news site exploded during the course of the presidential campaign. with 240 million views a month. there was a former employee of yours who called breitbart trumpbart. that was a fair criticism during the election? >> it absolutely unfair criticism. >> reporter: he insists they will criticize the president if he breaks his promises. >> if he makes good, he's going to get a lot of favorable coverage. when we feel like the president is no

the world of conservative media today. breitbart, the site run by steve bannon, it just posted never heard before audio of house speaker paul ryan refusing to defend then candidate trump. now the audio was recorded after the shocking "access hollywood" tape came out. donald trump made very lewd comments about women. this is what speaker ryan said in a conference call with lawmakers last fall. >> his comments are not anywhere in keep with our party's principles and values. i'm not going to defend donald trump, not now, not in the future. you guys know i had real concerns about the nominee. i hope you'll appreciate that i'm doing what i think is best for you, the members, not what's best for me. so i want to do what's best for our members, and i think this is the right thing to do. i'm going to focus my time on campaigning for house republicans. >> we didn't have the audio but cnn reported about this phone call when it happened. the call in and of itself is not news. the big news, the big question is, why now? why is breitbart posting of this now? joining me is kurt bardell, a former s

released tape from breitbart, the conservative news site releasing audio last night of what they say are ryan's comments to republican lawmakers from back in october. that was the height of the -- that was the height of the presidential campaign. that explosive access hollywood video had just come out in the tape paul ryan basically tells his fellow republican members of congress, he's not defending trump anymore. >> there are basically two things that i want to make really clear. i am not going to defend donald trump. not now, not in the future. look, you guys know i have real concerns of our nominee. turbulent month? many of you on this call are facing tough reelections, some of you are not. but with respect to donald trump, i would encourage you to do what you think is best, and do what you feel you need to do. >> now this is the first time we're hearing the audio of that call, but we did know from reporting back then that this is what ryan had told his fellow republicans. so really, the story here, the significance here of the release of this audio, it is the timing and it is the sou

? >>> coming up, as the health care battle heats up, is trump's chief strategist using breitbart to stir things up? didn't recognize our grandson. (woman 2 vo) that's when moderate alzheimer's made me a caregiver. (avo) if their alzheimer's is getting worse, ask about once-a-day namzaric. namzaric is approved for moderate to severe alzheimer's disease in patients who are taking donepezil. it may improve cognition and overall function, and may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. namzaric does not change the underlying disease progression. don't take if allergic to memantine, donepezil, piperidine, or any of the ingredients in namzaric. tell the doctor about any conditions; including heart, lung, bladder, kidney or liver problems, seizures, stomach ulcers, or procedures with anesthesia. serious side effects may occur, including muscle problems if given anesthesia; slow heartbeat, fainting, more stomach acid which may lead to ulcers and bleeding; nausea, vomiting, difficulty urinating, seizures, and worsening of lung problems. most common side effects are headache, diarrhea, di

campaign was flailing, but suggested he higher steve bannon who worked at breitbart news, the media organization part owned by the mercer family and kellyanne conway. said to be hugely instrumental on the transition executive committee and responsible for several key appointments, many people have asked just to is this 43-year-old woman? joining me now is vicki ward, an investigative reporter and correspondent for the huffington post highline magazine he's been who has spent four months reporting on the piece about mercer that was published today. it is called the blow it all up billionaires. welcome, vicki ward. this is a pleasure to have my former vanity fair colleague here at this table as charlie rose would say. this is an incredible piece of journalism. can you tell us who are these people? who are the mercer's? they suddenly appeared out of what seems like nowhere and we should know more about them. what is really unusual about them is an particularly rebecca mercer, who, you know, has become the mouthpiece of a far more reclusive billionaire father -- william: who is a hedge

source the breitbart story, which links to "the new york times." but "the new york times" doesn't say anything definitive. donald trump does. there's nothing equivocating about what he says. i just found out that obama had my wires tapped. that's not looking into something. he says it happened. >> look, i think the bigger thing is you guys are always telling us to take the media seriously. well, we are today. we're taking the reports that places like "the new york times," fox news, bbc, multiple outlets have reported this. all we're saying is, let's take a closer look. let's look into this. if it happened, if this is accurate. this is the biggest overreach. the biggest scandal. >> you're not saying let's look into this. the president of the united states is accusing the former president of wiretapping him. >> i think that this is again, something that if this happened, martha. >> if, if, if, if. >> i agree. >> why is the president saying it did happen? >> look, i think he's going off of information that he has seen that has led him to believe that this is a very real potential. if

exclusive interview of the editor in chief of breitbart website. he opens up about its mission, its critics and president trump. first, this is "today" on nbc. o. hank (baby♪ aughs) and the wolf huffed like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. you should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. watch out, piggies! (child giggles) symbic

something interesting on the breitbart news website. the architect and chief, paul ryan, in october saying he was not going to back donald trump all the way. what do you make of the timing? isaac: it is not a coincidence. clearly this is something that has been held for the right strategic moment to go after ryan. , used to beitbart run by steve bannon, now donald in the chief strategist white house. he has severed his connection to breitbart, but hired people that work on the website. there is a lot of connection. it is hard to see where the lines are exactly between breitbart, the white house, donald trump. is this donald trump attacking ryan. is this breitbart on its own? it gets into the potentially toxic mix for everyone involved. laura: is the president going to want to own the bill if he thinks he thinks it can't get through in its current form? have not seen donald trump in this position where he is now the president. he is not on the sidelines. he is going to be pinned into a position. is he for or against this bill. what is he going to do to make this not be a failure for

forces them to buy. >> remember breitbart was the site run by steve bannon. this as we await report from the congressional budget office on the price tag of the new republican bill. joining us u austan goolsbee from university of chicago under president obama. steven moore, distinguished visiting fellow at the heritage foundation. steven advised president trump when he was a candidate and sometime after. nop one will be worse off financially under this plan. are those problematic comments. there are tens of millions of americans worse off under obamacare. it's led to skyrocketing costs of health care. 22% increases across the country in terms of premiums which is a

trump refers to a breitbart news article that had passed around among his advisers. a conservative radio host embraced the theory recently. stephe let us hear from you. we go to stephen in south carolina on our democrats line. go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. this is of course not the first time president trump has said something he heard or heard about from breitbart or the fox news channel. he stood in front of a crowd of people during his campaign and talked about a plane landing that was carrying money to take to a facility. turns out of course that was not the plane. he saw that on the fox channel and six with that. this is something he tends to do. host: what do you think the obligation is from president trump to come for with proof or evidence of this wiretapping, the selected wiretapping? wiretapping?ed caller: if he has it, he should come forward with it. i don't think he does, but he should come forward with it immediately. you cannot say that without some sort of proof because if we continue to do that, you are really undermining our democrac

riled up by a breitbart news story based on a mark levine radio rant on thursday, which was filled with speculation and conspiracy theories about what may have gone on here. so, you know, it is not -- it is not surprising that the fbi director who jim comey, who, for all the flack he took during the campaign, does take the fisa process seriously, and does not want the fbi to be further tarred with the idea of doing something politically improper. >> let me jump in, you say fisa process, you're referring to that special foreign court that lawfully oversees these kinds of wiretaps, and then david corn, we have the new york times, also reporting that conspiracy theory or not, white house counsel don mcgann pursuing this, senior white house official said mcgann, the president's counsel, working to secure access to what he believed to be an order issued by that fisa court authorizing some form of surveillance related to mr. trump and his associates. earlier this hour, david, doj official said that sounds appropriate. what do you make of it? >> would be highly inappropriate if a white ho

one of the reasons breitbart surrunticiously dropped that out on the conversation about health care as a reminder to the trump team and in particular donald trump, that be careful as you go into this process, if it gets too squirrely, you may not be able to rely on the speaker. i don't think there is truth to that. i think these gentlemen, the president and the speak rer joined at the hip on this, they can try to deny it's ryancare or trumpcare, it's trump-ryan-care, they will have to take it to the american people and make the case t. second point, chris, i find it amazingly crazy, that folks are running around trashing the cbo. i don't know what the [ bleep ] you have a cbo for if you don't believe anything they tell you. whether it's democrats or republicans. so congress needs to get its act together with respect to the independent body and recognize that it only puts out what you put in. it only scores what you are given and if you give it bad information, it's going to give you a bad score. so the reality for both the white house and the house right now,particularince that's wh

aca. this is a bill, it's not his. it's a joint effort. >> late yesterday, breitbart news released speaker ryan last fall refusing to defend then candidate trump amid the ""access hollywood"" tape, he wrote. with me co-founder of axio, how does this look? is it likely to pass? >> it's republican care. i think that is why you have republicans so worried about the cones e consequences. will it pass the house? it will be difficult to pass the house. because the discussion you just had there, if you want to lower the number of people who are going to be uninsured. to do that it costs more money. you need to expand medicaid. >> which costs money. >> the minute you do that, you lose the conservatives in the senate who don't like the bill, because they don't think it goes far enough of getting rid of obamacare in totality and something that looks like it's free market theology. >> who is the architect? is speaker ryan the architect of this primarily or two houses? >> remember he and tom price head of hhs, they spent years working on this bill or a version of this bill. so it's much more t

. >>> an exclusive interview of the editor in chief of breitbart website. he opens up about its mission, its critics and president trump. first, this is "today" on nbc. >>> just ahead -- the bottom line is, for your goals, this is a strategy i'd recommend. this actually makes sense. now on the next page you'll see a breakdown of costs. what? it's just... we were going to ask about it but we weren't sure when. so thanks. yeah, that's great. being clear and upfront. multiplied by 14,000 financial advisors, it's a big deal. and it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. (baby♪ aughs) and the wolf huffed like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken mor

breitbart brings them all together. and heat street. they have two sources with links to the counterintelligence community. that's it. anonymous sources. the president constantly says he doesn't like anonymous sources. and he doesn't like leakers. >> i love how anonymous sources don't count when it's something that's positive in this administration and against the former one. you guys use anonymous sources every single day. >> is that the bar? but it is the president -- yes, yes, we do. yes, we do. but the president believe this is -- but what's the bar there? what does the president believe? >> look, i think he's made very clear what he believes. he's asking that we get down to the bottom of this. let's get the truth here. let's find out. i think the bigger story is not who reported it but is it true?

substantiated that ended up on breitbart? but what sarah had to say was that they want a congressional investigation. they want to get to the bottom of this, that this is what the president believes. so what you seem to have here, katy, is the white house asking congress to investigate whether something the president said is true actually is true. >> remarkable. nbc's chris jansing at the white house, and pete williams our justice correspondent in our washington bureau newsroom thank you so much. >>> squon than swann national political reporter and ari melber an msnbc chief legal correspondent, gu is join me on set. my first question is what is sarah huckabee's job if she doesn't speak for the president, doesn't know where the president is coming from? >> she actually admitted yesterday she doesn't know her job as much in i had television interview. i'm going off of what the president said but i don't have any actual backup for it. >> show that didn't speak with him the entire weekend despite this being the entire story? >> lord knows. the trump tweet storm caught the entire white hous

government during the obama era and members of what breitbart world calls the deep state. might be conspiring behind the scenes to undermine and sabotage the trump administration both through leaks and something more stinster, illegal nixon style wiretapping starts all the way at the very top as we saw last saturday with donald trump's weird out of the blue tweets claiming without any evidence whatsoever that he was secretly wiretapped at trump tower by barack obama. king added his own bizarre twist with the claim that trump was wiretapped not only before the election in trump tower in new york, but also during his presidency in the white house. listen. >> we believe that president trump was wiretap in his conversation with the president of mexico, wiretap again with his conversation with prime minister of australia and fairly definitive stories about the pfizer warrants being -- >> all right. joining us now our panel. thank you all for being here. joel, i'm going to start right here at the table with you. these conspiracy theories that bribe was somehow ordering the ongoing hackin

audio released by breitbart. remind our viewers, breitbart once founded by the current chief strategist steve bannon, of course, this is never before heard audio of speaker ryan refusing to defend then presidential candidate donald trump when that access hollywood video came out. have a listen. >> his comments are not anywhere in keeping with our party's principles and values. i am not going to defend donald trump, not now, not in the future. you guys know i have real concerns of our nominee. i hope you appreciate that i am doing what i think is best for you, the members, not what is best for me. and, so, i want to do what is best for our members and i think that this is the right thing to do. i'm going to focus my time on campaigning for house republicans. >> interesting timing for this to be released. wouldn't you say? can we have some theories there? there are no accidents, right? >> it could be a coincidence or it could be it took some time for breitbart to verify the authenticity of the tape and it could be any number of factors that -- what it shows more than anything is it expose

" tape about then candidate trump. the conservative website breitbart, though, has just released audio of that conference call. listen to this. >> his comments are not anywhere in keep with our party's principles and values. there are basically two things that i want to make really clear. as for myself, as your speaker. i am not going to defend donald trump. not now, not in the future. as you probably heard, i disinvited him from my first congressional district vip event and i'm not going to be campaigning with him over the next 30 days. you guys know i had real concerns with our nominee. i hope you'll appreciate that i'm doing what i think is best for you, the members, not what's best for me. >> so cnn reported on this news on that call on what paul ryan said right when it happened. again, in october. why is it back in the headlines today? good question. why now? joining me to discuss, cnn senior media and politics reporter dylan beyers. do we have any idea how long breitbart had this audio and why they posted it now? >> it seems like they've had it for quite some time. as to why they

, that she might take a knife to ryan. about the one show that went after the speaker. charlie: breitbart is supposed to paul ryan, correct? robert: they are, and they used to be run by steve bannon. charlie: but where was bannon? was he overruled or was he saying some thing else? robert: i call them the bannonistas, the people at breitbart who are his friends. they are certainly against the speaker. inside the white house, bannon is more intriguing because he has to be careful. he has been careful and he has not built to any kind of campaign inside the white house against ryan. bannon went to the house on thursday night last week and said, i want a list of who is with trump and he was against trump on health care. the leaders said, this makes us uncomfortable. and that is where they had a break. charlie: that is what? robert: where they had a break between ryan and benin. they did not want to vote on a bill that would fail. everyone knows the vote is going to fail, you have votes fall even further on the floor, so they might have only had 150 votes. the present talk to into having made a

breitbart news story that has been circulating around the west wing which followed up on comments by the radio talk show host mark levin who claimed that president obama was working to undermine trump's presidential campaign and his administration including through these various investigations on russia and the possible ties to trump associates and i should tell you that trump's social media director dan tweeted a link to exactly that breitbart story so it seems pretty clear that this is what is has influenced the president to put out the tweets this morning but it's a story that's getting a lot of attention. let's read one of the tweets the president put out. how allow has president obama gone to tap my phones during the sacred election process. this is nixon/watergate. bad or sick guy. the president has denied any involvement. called this categorically false. other former obama officials said the president doesn't order wiretap. congressmanshi ship put out a tt saying if there's something bad or sick, it's willingness of the president of the united states to make outlandish clai

bird never had a shot against la toya jackson! >> all right. still ahead, breitbart is reportedly one of trump's favorite news sources. and was once run by his top adviser steve bannon. stephanie gosk joins us ahead for the rise of the online publication. back in a moment. ♪ thrivent mutual funds. managed by humans, not robots. before investing, carefully read and consider fund objectives, risks, charges and expenses in the prospectus at thriventfunds.com. at gnc's lowest prices of the season sale. great products for every goal at this seasons biggest savings. plus free cash back rewards. change begins here. sale ends march 20th. one new gnc >>> welcome back to "morning joe." joining us from capitol hill, republican congressman, kevin brady of texas. good to see you this morning. >> good to see you, happy st. patrick's day. >> you as well. let's talk about the health care bill you are trying to get through the house. how do you knit together all the republicans, not just the democrats, but members in your caucus. you have the freedom caucus on one hand and others who think it's

new chief strategist. breitbart,eadership, in his own words, he chose to position it as the platform for the all right. -- alt right. anyone who traffics in those doesn't ideas don' belong down the hall in the white house. whenever anti-semitism appears, the president and vice president and the people around him will continue to call it out. host: is it fair to call steve bannon a white to premises? -- white supremacist? guest: the complexity of having the moral complexity of someone who accretive breitbart is incredibly troubling -- who created breitbart is incredible troubling. host: a new report in "usa today." guest: governor cuomo has been great on these issues. and theye been jcc's schools and our offices targeted -- day schools and our offices targeted. they are targeted jewish cemeteries in st. louis -- the jewish community has dealt with anti-semitism for ages. we have seen cemeteries metallized in the past. we have seen synagogues defaced in the past. we've never seen a pattern like this. whether it is copycats or one person choreographing it, the intensity of it is incredi

reviewing web traffic for breitbart. we have an explainer on how these intel investigations actually work. >>> then the other story this week. family conflict. how the white house is dubbing those anti-nepotism laws to give ivanka trump a promotion. nepotism in the government. all coming up here on "the point" tonight. >>> tensions boiling over after the major health care defeat splashed across the headlines, civil war and dealmaker who could not close. what does it mean for battles in congress tomorrow? trump digging in to attack fellow republicans, not democrats. a risky strategy given the support he needs for republican plans on tacks and immigration. trump attacking the conservative freedom caucus and reince priebus doubling down on that civil war. >> i think the president is 100% correct and hits the bull's eye in that tweet like he often es. >> bull's eye, a twist that can only come from trump white house. recommendation have his aides on defense. you might have heard a tweet people should watch a fox news show right before it called for an ouster of paul ryan. >> paul ryan needs to

the wiretapping claims we talk to the breitbart columnist who first wrote about the bugging theory. and what is behind president trump's andrew jackson obsession? this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. >>> good evening and welcome to "mtp daily" back in washington. where the republican draft bill to repeal and replace obamacare is been assailed from almost all corners of the gop with no simple solution in sight. but prident trump has an opportunity to do what he can do best tonight, sell his vision to a large, boisterous group of supporters. the president is set to hold a campaign rally in nashville, tennessee tonight with a chance to use the bully pulpit for the first time since the plan was put on paper. and mike pence was dispatched to the hill today to get the deeply divided republican conference on the same page. the question tonight, how how much political capital is the white house willing to spend to get a win on this bill? conservatives don't think that the house plan goes far enough. some spoke at a rally on capitol hill today. >> you need to tell them you want them

and discussion is playing out and this official said there has been a story from breitbart news circulating throughout the west wing and among the president's advisors talking specifically about this issue, about wiretapping, other things. so as we have seen over the last several weeks and months, mr. trump often tweets when he sees something in the news and frederica, it appears this was an example of that potentially talking about this and tweeting about this after seeing that breitbart news story. >> and so did this official express concern about learning of this tweet rant by the president after the fact? >> this is not new. of course, mr. trump has been tweeting throughout the course of this campaign and his presidency, so this is something that officials have just gotten accustomed to. >> but on wiretapping accusations though? that's an extremely curious matter. >> of course, but this is similar to the vaeins of voter fraud, not backed up by fact but talking about this. but the reality is his administration has a lot of actual work on their plate. they're still working on

parties likely. >> the strongest voices are coming from the conservatives. breitbart posted some of ryan's audio comments about trump from a conference call back in october. >> there are basically two things that i want to make clear. i am not going to defend donald trump. not now and not in the future. you guys know i have real concerns of this nominee. many of you on this are facing tough reelections. with respect to donald trump, i would encourage you do what's best and do what you feel you need to do. >> it is not the first time breitbart has called out paul ryan here and some previous greatest hit headlines. >> paul ryan is the reason that gop is losing america. he's with her. paul ryan, yes, i have a soul. our panel remains with me. >> robert costa, it is your new reporting that started all of this off. what's going on between the white house and which elements of the white house and the speaker. >> on the service, the relationship is cordial and professional between the white house and the speaker. the president had a 4:00 call today with speaker ryan. there are a lot of forc

there, they invested in breitbart, which is, of course, where they come across steve bannon, and steve bannon earns their trust. you know, andrew breitbart dies. steve bannon does a lot, i think, to rectify the health of -- the financial health of breitbart and expands its platform. also what i get into the piece which i find very interesting is that quite a few of the republican consultants i talked to mentioned that steve bannon, he often appeared at the white house as a homeless person. >> cohan: he still looks almost like a homeless person. >> well, he wears a suit and a tie. but a number of times he was seen in his track pants and all disheveled. one of ted cruz's political consultants said that's actually a very brilliant strategy in this very strange sort of rubik's cube world of uncomfortable co-dependies that makes up the political world because if you are a political consultant, you want the donors who you are so reliant on to just focus on your brain, on your strategy. you don't want them suddenly looking at your cuff links, or how you eat a bread roll. that can make a

got picked up by breitbart and the rest i suppose is history. the president's claim has since been shot down by a spokesperson for president obama as well as james clapper, who is obama's former director of national intelligence. according to "the new york times," fbi director himself james comey asked the department of justice to put out a statement publicly rejecting the president's wiretap claim, notably the doj led of course by jeff sessions has declined to comply with comey's request. and according to sarah huckabee sanders, the president doesn't put much stock in comey's reputation. >> does president trump accept the fbi director's denial? >> you know, i don't think he does, george. i think he firmly believes that this is a story line that has been reported pretty widely by quite a few outlets. >> i'm joined now by robert costa, national political report for "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst. and bob, let me start with this. i was following your coverage rapt over the weekend because you seemed to have a sort of inside line what was going on there. one of the

salvo between paul ryan and breitbart, the conservative website, has published a reported audio reporting of ryan telling republican congressional representatives that he would never again defend their party's presidential nominee. remember breitbart did that article that prompted that tweet about obama being a flown that the president put out that he's now trying to walk back but not walking back enough. it's still in the news. we're going to get to that. we're going to cover it every day and figure out what happened there. there's going to be investigations on capitol hill because of it as well. so breitbart has this audiotape which was allegedly reported october 10th during a conference call between ryan and house republicans three decades after a decade old "access hollywood" video surfaced of donald trump making lewd comments about women to billy bush. ryan can be heard telling house republicans he would not defend trump then or in the future. >> there are basically two things i want to make really clear. i am not going to defend donald trump, not now, not in the future. yo

the conservative website breitbart news that has been circulating around the west wing which followed up on comments made by radio talk show mark levin. that claimed the president, president obama, was trying to undermine trump's presidential campaign and his campaign on russia and possible ties between russians and trump associates and these stories -- that story in particular angered the president according to this senior administration official. and just a couple of hours ago, the president's social media director and adviser tweeted out a link to that very same breitbart news story which could be the basis for the tweets from the president, but as you mentioned the president obama has strenuously denied this through a spokesperson. let's read it from kevin lewis. a cardinal rule of the obama administration is that no white house official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the department of justice. neither president obama or any white house official ever ordered surveillance on any u.s. citizen. any suggestion otherwise is simply false. so a very vi

close eye on the conservative media, with the breitbarts and the drudges to the extend to which they try to separate trump to give him an escape hatch. he is clearly not i'd logically committed to this plan because he's not i'd logically committed to anything. >> breitbart has been referring to it has it as ryancare. that's a tell. >> that is very much a tell. >> but interesting here, joel, at some point, i feel as if -- i could picture joe manchin and rob and portman and cher record brown going to him and saying with don't block grant medicaid. my states that voted for you are not going to like that. and i think that can have an effect on trump. the question is, is when does that moment happen? >> well, and i don't know if that moment ever happens. i think they're hearing that loudly and clearly from a lot of folks who are in medicaid states where they expanded it and it's helped coverage. but i think it's going to be difficult for trump to separate himself from this at some point, only because he's the president of the united states. there's this guy named harry trueman who had a s

came from reading an article on the conservative breitbart website posted friday that detailed speculation from a conspiracy-loving talk show host, mark levin. >> how many of trump's people were eavesdropped on? had their conversations recorded, transcribed? because this, ladies and gentlemen, is the big scandal. rar spokesperson >> reporter: a spokesperson for president obama called the allegations false. ben rhodes responded to the tweets. no president can order a wiretap. those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you. even a senator from the president's own party, along with u.s. intelligence officials, called trump's claims a troubling development. >> i am very worried. i'm very worried that our president is suggesting that the former president has done something illegal. >> reporter: the president's twitter raids this weekend did serve to keep the focus on russia, and contacts between the russian ambassador, sergey kislyak and five top trump advisors, that includes two meetings with attorney general jeff sessions. revealed this week. leading

one under intriguing timing. breitbart, once won by steve bannon, until just a few months ago, just posted never heard before audio of house speaker paul ryan refusing to defend then candidate donald trump. speaker ryan made these comments last year to lawmakers in a conference call after that shocking "access hollywood" tape came out with trump making lewd comments about women. here's what the speaker said. >> his comments are not anywhere in keep with our party's principles and values. i am not going to defend donald trump. not now, not in the future. you guys know i have real concerns of the nominee. i hope you appreciate that i'm doing what i think is best for you, the members, not what's best for me. and so i want to do what's best for our members. i think this is the right thing to do. i'm going to focus on campaigning for house republicans. >> now we didn't have the audio but did report the content of that conference call that speaker ryan said it back when he did. why is breitbart releasing it now? why after all of a sudden the cbo report came out? joining me, mark preston,

. >> reporter: this as the alt right publication, breitbart, has suddenly released a five-month-old audio of a call between speaker paul ryan and house republicans in the wake of the infamous "access hollywood" video. >> his comments are not anywhere in keeping with our party's principles and values. i am not going to defend donald trump. not now, not in the future. you guys know i have real concerns with their nomination. i hope you appreciate that i'm doing what i think is best for you, the members, not what's best for me. >> reporter: the contents of the call have been known for months. leading to questions about the timing and rationale for the release by a publication ardently opposed to ryan's bill. breitbart also the former home of the president's chief strategist, steve bannon. and there's a tenuous balancing act between conservatives and centrists inside the republican party. some far-right members hardly sounding anywhere near compromise. >> the fact that the republican welfare plan is not as bad as obamacare does not mean that it's good. >> reporter: and republican senato