day two of questioning for supreme court pick neil gorsuch. to say it's a busy day would be yet again an understatement. kasie hunt is over at the white house --

. >> gorsuch. >> neil gorsuch. >> you to think the senate should confirm, yes, no, maybe? >> maybe. i think so, yes, but i have to hear some more about him. because god knows what's going on. >> i don't know anything about him yet. so i'm waiting to hear. >> i would like to hear what he has to say, however what i've read about him, on both sides, is good. both sides think he's a very good, decent man. holding you back or is it your allergy pills? break through your allergies. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. using unique mistpro technology, new flonase sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪ youthat's why you drink ensure. sidelined. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. that had built his house once thout of straw.

who is neil gorsuch. we have his former clerk on the show who knows him well, conservative legal scholars who think he's great. we have civil rights leaders, law professors, pete williams fromnbc. i don't want to be overl promotional, but we have some of the greatest legal minds on all sides of this issue. it's going to be excited. 5:00 to 7:00. >> fantastic. >> richard, on your advice, i am going to dress up more and put on a time by 5:00 p.m. >> it's going to be a great show. i always watch it myself. thanks for stopping by. >> thank you. >>> again, ari's two-hour special on the eve of the confirmation hearing for judge neil gorsuch. it's called "supreme confirmation clash" starting at the top of the hour on msnbc. >>> more now on the issue of neil gorsuch, leading democrats are criticized about the newly released e-mails adding more fuel to the fire. that raises questions about his role in helping the bush administration advance its policies on torture and the guantanamo detainees. the new documents co

you're not going to hear any detail from neil gorsuch. and no matter how uh many different angles they try to hit him from, he's not going to reveal it. >> jonathan swan, great to have you with us this morning. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >>> an emotional day in the court yesterday in the officer charge in the death of killing a 6-year-old boy with autism. his father is accused of leading the officers with a chase with his son inside the car before they opened fire. jacob rascon has all the details. >> reporter: police body camera footage captured the shooting and the moment officers realized there was a boy in the car. 6-year-old jeremy martis who is autistic die in the front seat shot four times. his father chris few was critically wounded speaking publicly about the night for the first time. he told the jury, officers gave no warning before they opened fire. i had my hands in the air, few testified. i put my hands out the window. they kept shooting. several witnesses also told the jury mr. few had his hands up which body ca

today neil gorsuch was willing to play the game. he couldn't possibly offer his opinion about the case because of that meaningless and false and relatively short senate confirmation tradition that says you can't possibly be a fair supreme court justice if you've ever thought about any case that may come before you in any form. of course exactly the opposite is true. presidents are looking for highly educated lawyers who have already been through the senate confirmation process at least once and sometimes twice as federal judges and appeals court judges. and that they're the kind of people who think about this stuff every day. but in the senate confirm ago -- confirmation hearings, they have to pretend they haven't and they have to pretend there's no hypothetical case they could ethically answer in their conformation hearings pause then no one would believe they could be fair in a case resembling that came to the supreme court. here's neil gorsuch today playing that game. >> it's a blanket religious test. is that consistent with the

neil gorsuch was on at least a second version of the list, then he chose him. that was the point that came up in yesterday's hearings. look out to hear that again. to your point, neil gorsuch is relatively young, confirmed as an appeals court judge. he is known as an elegant and careful wrighter. he is most animated on religious freedom, hobby lobby and those who didn't want to provide contracepti contraceptive coverage because of their moral beliefs. it drew political heat. what kind of jurist he would be on the supreme court will be tested today. >> pete williams standing by in washington. same question. tell folks about the circuit he comes from, what is known about his opinions coming into this big job offer and what will you be looking for today? >> tenth circuit court of appeals, he's been on it a decade that hears cases from six western states. the point he made yesterday was he is in the judicial mainstream without those words. of the 2700 or so opinions he's joined, an appeals court judge never write opinions on their own. they are on a three-judge pan

so in your opinion, how do you believe neil gorsuch is doing? >> persuading democrats with more complete answers. >> do you think democrats need to go all in on this and filibuster neil gorsuch if need be? isn't that a wise move for the democratic party? >> look, i think some democrats will filibuster judge gorsuch and understandably so given what happened to judge garland before this and given how far to the right his views are. this is not a mainstream nominee, it's a very, very conservative nominee. and then i think the question is really how will that vote go? i agree with senator tillis on one thing. we don't know yet how it will come out and that's why i think that judge gorsuch's real refusal to engage with the democratic senators, kind of give them more insights into how he thinks, more perspectives on his point of view, may come back to hurt him in the end. >> should democrats play chicken with mitch mcconnell forcing him to go nuclear? >> i think, you know, democrats can't control what mitch mcconnel will do. they only can control what

and i have a lot of questions about neil gorsuch. and i see a pattern to his decisions where he will go to some lengths to support a corporate -- corporation's rights over the rights of a potential injured person, for example. >> if you the democrats -- if you guys decide that you are not going to accept neil gorsuch, and you filibuster him, are you open, this is if mitch mcconnell doesn't go nuclear. are you open to leaving this seat open for three and a half years? >> let's hope it doesn't come to that. even though it's -- it was very clear that the republicans are perfectly happy to involve for purely political reasons their desire not to even have meetings or hearing on merrick garland, we're not going to do the same thing to this nominee. we obviously are going to go through the hearing process. but let me just get back to the pattern that i see with neil gorsuch which really is troubling for me. he made a decision, for example, or he wrote an opinion that turned on whether or not a corporation would be fined on his reading of w

the senate could not confirm neil gorsuch. looking at the age break down here, 18 to 24, the ones that have the largest proportion, agree, say, yes, he should be confirmed. then looking at the gender break down, men and women agree. men a bit less so. and then the final scoreboard for you is 92% disagreeing with that, that the senate could confirm supreme court candidate neil gorsuch. thank you for participating. up next for you, the senate votes to undo tough privacy rules that would have prevented internet providers from selling your data without your consent without you knowing about it. we're asking you agree or disagree: internet privacy should be a protected right. pulse.msnbc.com/america. let us know. ( ♪ ) it just feels like anything is possible here in upstate new york. ( ♪ ) at corning, i test smart glass that goes all over the world. but there's no place like home. there's always something different to do like skiing in the winter, jet skiing in the summer. we can do everything. new york state is filled with bri

. >> neil gorsuch goes up against the senate. how hard will they fight him? >> use every tool we have. >> we begin with that packed schedule in congress starting just about an hour from now. fbi director, james comey and nsa director rogers go before the house intelligence committee. the first of three focused on russia, trump, the election and allegations of wiretapping. then coming your way at 11:00 eastern, the senate judiciary committee kicks off a hearing for neil gorsuch. that is expected to last for the better part of the week. we have a great panel to break this down for you. first, let's bring in peter alexander from the white house. good morning to you, peter. huge day for the president. tell us about it. >> reporter: you are right. not just a huge day, but a day of reckoning as for the wiretapping claim. a consequential week, perhaps the most consequential for the trump presidency so far. rogers, the head of the nsa and james comey both testifying today. will there be rez laugs? comey certainly to be asked if he can, once and for all state that pre

>> i think that's neil gorsuch but i'm not sure. >> that is judge neil gorsuch and he's up for the supreme court confirmation hearings on monday. do you think the senate should confirm? yes, no or maybe? >> absolutely yes. >> and why? >> well, trump promised to nominate someone in the mold of scalia and he fits the bill. >> welcome back to our supreme court special. confirmation clash. trump supporters, like that one i just spoke with in times square, says they want another scalia on the court. trump's largest legal controversy about flexing executive power on immigration. an independent scalia-style judge may block trump there. consider that when president bush claimed he had authority to maintain american citizens at gitmo, scalia went farther than any other justice to reject that argument saying the idea that liberty gives away to security has no place in the constitution. there's a similar clash on trump's travel a ban. courts blocking it this week as an abuse of executive power. the last time a big immigration se hit the sup court, it deadlocked 4-4. gorsuch's use on this issue could

gorsuch and the rule of law will be better for it.capito, h justice neil gorsuch and the rule of law will be better for it. president trump and i are confident that the united states senate will confirm judge neil gorsuch one way or the other. it is great to be in west virginia. my friends, we've come to a pivotal moment in our nation's history. in this moment, i think we need every freedom loving american, we need all of you to stand up, to speak out, to take time as you've done today to come and be engaged and be involved. we need you to keep telling your neighbors here in west virginia we can do better. that we're renewing and restoring this country, that we can put america back on a path to a brighter future. and this i know we will do. because i have faith. you know, over the mantle of our home since my first run for office back in the year 2000 has been a framed copy of a verse from the good book. it was in our home in indiana. it was in the governor's residence in indiana when i served there. and now it hangs above the mantle in the home of the vice president of the united sta

don't forget, neil gorsuch, neil gorsuch, neil gorsuch! i can stay here all day, neil gorsuch. >> you remind me of kevin bacon. remain calm! all is well. that's all we have. we'll be back next week, i promise. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press "and let me hope one final four team survives for me. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ >>> on to the next thing. with the revel of the health care fight still smoldering. president looking to move on. lawmakers signal the fight is not over yet. >> search continues can inside a cincinnati nightclub. one person killed and 15 others injured when gunfire erupted. >>> 12 million face the threat of severe weather tomorrow. storm responsible for damaging hail of oklahoma last night could bring new storms this afternoon. >>> good morning.

don't forget, neil gorsuch, neil gorsuch, neil gorsuch! i can stay here all day, neil gorsuch. >> you remind me of kevin bacon. remain calm! all is well. that's all we have. we'll be back next week, i promise. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press "and let me hope one final four team survives for me. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> and hello, everyone. i'm richard lui in new york c y city. welcome to the pulse of america where your voice can be heard in real-time. here are the stories. first off, president trump preparing to blame president ryan and the freedom caucus for the failure of the republican health care plan. this as meshes call for the parties to work together and fix obamacare. also, the house chairman facing more

as judge neil gorsuch confirmation push gets under way, democrat richard blumenthal says he'll use every tool he has to prevent his swearing in. he'll join us in the morning, as well as republican senator john corn cornyn. you're watching "morning joe."

the senate is set to confirm neil gorsuch to the supreme court. that is not an easy thing in and of itself with threats of a filibuster and only a couple democrats saying they are on board to support judge neil gorsuch to go to the high court. it will be a big week for the bhous in trying to see this one thing achieveed, the president choosing a new member for the supreme court and potentially in the week ahead getting that done. >> kelly o'donnell, thanks for that report. >> hillary clinton set to speak at georgetown university where she'll present four awards at the annual hillary rodham clinton awards. this year's ceremony honors the colombian peace agreement. >> that's it for us. "morning joe" starts right now. >>> we do not need a reckless president who believes she is above the law. lock her up. that's right. that's right, lock her up. i'm going to tell you, it's unbelievable. >> five people around her have been given immunity to include her former chief of staff. when you are given immunity, that means you've probably committed a crime. >>

if you thought that were the case for neil gorsuch, i imagine you would think the same thing for the entirety of the agenda. do you think the presence of this ongoing investigation looms so large the president cannot conduct being president of the united states? >> he certainly doesn't act like the president of the united states when he is tweeting what has turned out to be falsities throughout the hearing yesterday. it's remarkable he's not doing the job as president. he's watching a hearing about lies he made about president obama and tweeting further lies. we need him to be a president. there are too many questions about his involvement, his team's involvement with russia as the interference campaign went on that we should suspend any changes towards russia, let's put on the brakes with respect to the supreme court's nomination but that's the senate's business. >> do you have confidence in devin nunes' ability to steer this investigation into any impartial manner whatsoever? >> right now we have heard from the easy consensus witnesses, u.s. government officials. the harder ones --

. >>> and neil gorsuch heads to capitol hill today to begin his confirmation hearings. >>> and new overnight, south korean military officials say north korea is making progress with the nuclear weapons program. this comes after the latest testing of a rocket engine and claims from the secretary of state they pose an imminent threat. good morning, everyone. it is monday, march 20th. i'm alex witt alongside ayman hol mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. today they will hold the first hearing into the meddling of the presidential election. james comey and admiral mike rogers are likely to face questions on the series of tweets that the president sent on saturday morning a couple weeks ago. and two days ago accusing president obama of ordering a wiretap of his phones at trump tower. comey reportedly requested that the justice department issue a denial shortly after the president made his accusations but has avoided public statements ever since. on friday the department of justice provided the house intelligence committee with any relevant material to the president's wiretapping claim. the chairman of t

the neil gorsuch in those e-mails was looking for a job. here's a message you sent to matt schlapp, just after president bush won reelection. i spent some time in ohio working on the election. this is you. what a magnificent result for the country for me personally, the experience was invigorating and a great deal of fun. now that doesn't sound like someone who steers clear of politics to me. you went on to write, quote, while i've spent considerable time trying to help the cause on volunteer basis and various roles, i concluded that i'd really like to be a full time member of the team. you attach your resume which describes in detail your work and supported political campaigns and candidates basically had worked on republican and political campaigns since 1976, you worked for reagan, bush one, bush two, you were cited for distinguished service to the united states senate for work and support of president bush's judicial nominees. by the senate republican conference that suggests that even the political aspects of confirming judicial nomine

regardless, today was day two of neil gorsuch's confirmation hearings. and the democrats went and there's plenty to say about the balls and strikes of that hearing and how the hearings have been going and all the questions he successfully avoided but to a certain extent, those things seem like the trees when the forest here is this president is under fbi investigation in a counterintelligence probe. until that's forest is this president is under investigation in a probe. should we really be going ahead putting somebody on the supreme court for life. last year president obama nominated merrick gardner. the republicans wouldn't federal budget speak of considering his nomination. the republican objection, their whole problem with him was that barack obama was only going to be president for only a little bit more than a year. he's only got a year left. that's our objection. so they're not going to consider his pick. right now the democratic objection to having hearings on neil gorsuch is that the president is under app fbi counterintelligence investigation f

he's also the same one who introduced and glowingly praised neil gorsuch yesterday. so it's a small town in that sense. >> pete williams in our washington bureau, watching all of these various backs and forths with us, the confirmation hearings of judge gorsuch. we want to bring back jennifer palmie palmieri, former communications director for hillary clinton, who has been very patient waiting to come back on the air with us. jennifer, you wanted to talk about something that is actually a very generous and magnanimous view that you hold about the campaign that you lost to, the trump presidential campaign, specifically the way they took on judicial nominations. >> yes, i do. early on in the hearing, it was brute up that judge gorsuch was on a list of potential nominees that the trump campaign put out over the summer, examples of who he would appoint to the supreme court and i very much remember that day, because we knew and the clinton campaign just how potent an issue the supreme court is for a conservative for evangelical voters and trump promised judge gorsuch he's

hold merrick garland's whole sale rejection by neil gorsuch. take a listen. >> here's what joe biden thought in '92. if someone steps down, i'll recommend the president not name someone and not send a name up. if bush did send someone up, i would ask the senate seriously consider not having a hearing on that nominee, it would be a pragmatic conclusion once the political season is underway, and it is, action on supreme court nominations must be mutt putt off until after election is over. >> i have no doubt in my mind, if the shoe were on the other foot, they would have delayed the confirmation process until the president was elected. >> is that true? did joe biden say a president doesn't get to nominate a supreme court justice in their final year before the election? >> he did get up there and say something like what senator graham said. he was talk about a hypothetical vacancy. it is a talking point. republicans have been using it. but the situation was slightly different. >> the justices who've been confirmed in presidential laektsz since 1912

i'd like to add into the record a document titled "neil gorsuch how would you vote." "democrats have come up empty trying to find something scandalous that neil gorsuch has said so now they're blaming him for what he won't say, to wit, they want him to declare how he would rule in specific areas of law, questions that every supreme court nominee declines to answer. without objection i enter that in the record. senator hatch. >> thank you, mr. chairman. judges, i said yesterday my goal in this confirmation process is to get an understanding or a handle on your understanding of the proper role of judges in our system of government. you gave an interesting lecture last year at case western about judge scal's legacy. you reminded us, as you put it that legislators may appeal to their own moral convictions and to claims about social utility to shape the laws they think it should be in the future but the judges should do none of these things in a democratic society, unquote. i think that accurately describes justice scalia's view. is that also your own view. >> senator, it

day two of the neil gorsuch confirmation hearings kick off in a half hour. today is the day senators will ask him questions. brian williams picks up the coverage right now. brian? >> good morning, joe. good morning, mika. thank you so much. most of the attention focused on the large building with the dome behind you. we are waiting to catch a glimpse of the president who will motorcade from the white house to capitol hill. he is meeting with the republicans in the house about the health care bill. let us not forget that as we talk about the wiretapping debate, the russia debate, the gorsuch confirmation hearings, there is a vote scheduled thursday night of this week on the gop health care plan, which, of course faces an uncertain future shall we say in the u.s. senate. we will cover the departure of the president from the white house, his arrival on capitol hill. then, in about a half hour, we will see judge neil gorsuch take his place in front of the committee for the first full day of question and answer period in earnest of his confirmation hearings, whic

it was a tough night. >> but don't forget, neil gorsuch, kneneil gorsuch, neil gorsuch. >>> we'll be back next week, i promise you, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." and let me hope one final four team survives for me, kentucky. we'll be back. one final four team survives for me. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> it was like any other normal trip. i had been to the philippines before. >> i told him how nice the people are. but then we were kidnapped. >> gerfa! >> one wrong movement and i could have a bullet go straight through my head. >> what do you want from us? >> i'm dling with religious fanatics.

the biggest loser of today was neil gorsuch. nobody's talking about neil gorsuch. his supreme court nominee. that is a huge story that played second, third, fourth, fifth fiddle to the news of the day, the other thing that's on everyone's mind, health care. >> yeah. >> no one's talking about health care. donald trump needs to push that forward in order to pass the house and pass the senate, get on his desk so he can sign it and so far that is not being spoken about. much of the -- because we're talking about russia. >> where's the bandwidth going to come from for health care by later this week? >> i don't know where it's going to come from because i would assume that donald trump will wake up tomorrow and fire off a few more tweets, will have seen something on tv tonight or tomorrow morning that makes him upset. you know, rinse, wash and repeat. and the cycle never seems to end and there doesn't seem to be anybody who can talk him down from that ledge. you would think maybe his family members would be the last hope but so far they haven't been able to do it. >> to

do democrats get to filibuster neil gorsuch? >> no. there will be enough democrats up for re-election to decide this is not the fight they want to have now. they may want a fight to the second pick. >> it's an easy to look bipartisan on this pick, isn't it? >> in almost any other period they would be consumed by gorsuch. when i talk to progressives they say russia, trump, the wiretapping allegation, chaos at the white house, they're focused on different issues. >> and health care. we'll be back in 45 seconds with "endgame" and a viewers' alternative version. yes, we do pay attention to what you have to say. >> coming up, "m >>> "meet the press" "endgame" is brought to you by boeing, always working to build something better. >>> back now with "endgame" and i want to continue quickly, we talked about on the gorsuch conversation whether democrats is it the right strategy to just be a party of no? george will, you've been used to covering that and the answer to that used to be no, but perhaps it's better for them politically to be the part

day two of questioning for supreme court pick neil gorsuch. to say it's a busy day would be yet again an understatement. kasie hunt is over at the white house -- a meeting set to happen later today at the white house. what options does the president have left to bring many of these republicans, many opposed to this bill, on board? >> well, hallie, i think at this point, the demand from leadership here to the president or rather the simple, hey, this is the reality is that he needs to close the deal with these conservatives. i think they feel they've done everything they can from the leadership perspective. the question is whether the president and vice president can figure out how to get where these freedom caucus members want them to be on policy without alienating so many moderate members of the caucus that they can't pass this bill on the floor. that's going to be the delicate balancing act. leaders in congress are counting on the fact that they don't think these conservatives at the end of the day will stand on the house floor and tell tru

. >>> plus, he made it through one day of confirmation hearings, but neil gorsuch will be in the hot seat as senators begin to question him today. >>> and president trump is getting ready to hit capitol hill. he's set to make an in-person pitch for the health care bill ahead of the vote this thursday. >>> hey there, good morning, everyone. it is tuesday, march 21st. i'm alex witt alongside ayman hol mohyeldin and alex burgdorf. a probe is confirmed into the ties between the russian government and president trump's campaign. and along with the director of the national security agency, admiral mike rogers rejected the president's allegation that his predecessor illegally wiretapped his phones. the fbi director james comey confirmed a counter intelligence investigation and is examining whether any crimes have been committed. >> i have been authorized by the department of justice to confirm that the fbi as part of our counter intelligence mission is investigating the russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. and that includes investigating the nature of

judge neil gorsuch. will democrats filibuster the nomination and if they do, will republicans get rid of the filibuster altogether? we begin with the top story long awaited public testimony of fbi director james comey before committee of the house of representatives. for weeks we have been waiting for his official comments on president trump's twitter allegations that president obama illegally wiretapped trump tower. in his first public comments on the issue, comey did not mince words. >> the answer is the same for the department of justice and all it's components. the department has no information that supports those tweets. >> comey confirmed that investigation and the trump campaign had any contest and what kind of context they had with russian intelligence. there is now as a result of this testimony from james comey a cloud over this administration. some big news coming out of this today. >> reporter: it was a remarkable ending, steve, to this hearing that i was trying to calculate in my head how man

it's like neil gorsuch isn't the first thing we are talking about. we haven't even mentioned russia and we never mention north korea. that's how much news is out there. >>> next, you are looking live at the house floor where the debate over the health care bill officially started. we are going to break down what is in that bill and if it can pass. you know where we are, the only place to be, live from washington, d.c., overlooking the white house. hope the president had his wheaties this morning. we'll have more in a few. ♪ 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

is neil gorsuch, he's going to become a supreme court justice? >> i think they are. if you hear a calculation if we keep our powder dry perhaps we can use the filibuster effectively if there's another supreme court nomination. remember "let's make a deal" and the guy between curtain one and curtain two and i will take curtain one and it's a donkey and curtain two is a worse donkey. that could be the situation here. a filibuster won't hold up either way why not use it now and at least make a statement. appeal to the base, show you have some spine. >> this is senator chris koonce yesterday, a member of the judiciary committee, said on "morning joe" when asked if he thinks republicans will use the so-called nuclear option. here it is. >> almost certainly. and i think this is tragic. and in talking to friends on both sides of the aisle we've got a lot of senators concerned about where we're headed. there's republicans still very mad at us over the 2013 change to the filibuster rule, we're mad at them about shutting down the government. they're mad at us about gorsuch. we

monday confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee judge neil gorsuch in the senate. also monday, fbi director jim comey testifying for the first time before the house intel committee about any russian interference in the presidential election and trump's wiretapping claims, get your popcorn. as if that wasn't enough, house republicans now saying they think they'll have enough support for a full vote on health carrie peel as soon as thursday. today some members of the republican study committee are saying they will support the bill after some alleged concessions from the president. our panel is back. what a panel it is. zerlina and erin. this was a big issue in the campaign. i mentioned you worked for hillary. >> yes. >> donald trump didn't win more votes but he did win the thing that matters, electoral college. >> yes. >> he ran 100% on repealing obamacare. it is proving harder, though. >> yes, i think one of the reasons it's proving harder is because it's a lot easier to say i'm going to repeal and replace obamacare as a talking point than it is to take away health

how far will democrats go to try to stop the confirmation of neil gorsuch? you're watching andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. you do all this research on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates... maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. liberty mutual insurance. >>> and just moments ago, the senate judiciary committee wrapped up a fast meeting to postpone the committee's confirmation vote on supreme court nominee neil gorsuch to monday next week after chuck schumer declared he will require a filibuster requiring 60 votes to try to delay the confirmation. joining me now is james pindell boston globe political reporter. and ruth, i defer to you first. i don't ow if james is an atrney but i know ruth is. speaking of the la and looking at this nomination hearing as compared to predecessors who went before the court, he was more evasive, less forthcoming than most? how would you put it on a scale? because the

gorsuch. >> yeah. >> need six other democrats. are you aware of any other democrats? >> i think you're going to see some more. you'll see more. the bottom line is i understand the democrat caucus being extremely upset with how merrick garland was treated. never -- unprecedented. never in history have we ever not sat down and talked to a person who was recommended. our job is to advise and consent. how can you advise and consent if you won't talk to a person who's recommended by a president? no matter whether it's a president you voted for or not. so that was done. i understand the democrats are mad and my colleagues are mad with that. the bottom line is two wrongs don't make a right. >> a shout-out to nbc reporter vaughn hillyard who tracked down senator joe manchin, one of two democrats who announced support fordonald trump's supreme court pick neil gorsuch. they're both breaking with their democratic colleagues who are voicing strong opposition to gorsuch. we just learned senator claire mcca

. >>> a great divide over neil gorsuch. will that end in a bitter fight, as well? all that right now on msnbc live. day 65 of the trump administration and it is marred by the collapse of the president's repeal and replace health care bill that appeared as a sloe moving draw in a on capitol hill. bottom line, the bill never reached the house floor for a vote. president trump said he told paul ryan to pull the measure in the afternoon. the president and gop do not intends to take up health care in the immediate future. instead the president says he intends to tackle tax reform next. for the latest on how the health care saga unfolded, here is hallie jackson. >> reporter: the party in power divided when it mattered as republicans revolted around xroe compromise on something seven years in the making, getting rid of box c.a.r.are obamacare. >> perhaps the best thing that could happen is what happened. >> reporter: but 63 days after he signed one of his first executive orders, the president in the end unable to close this deal. his biggest political defeat yet. but not

neil gorsuch confirmation hearing is set to start monday. it's fired up the democratic party. chuck schumer is prepared to answer calls to oppose the president's pick, but is becoming the party of opposition. the party of no at all costs, a gamble democrats can afford or is that smart politics? republicans are stuck on defense, their health care effort is struggling. some would say unraveling. president trump's travel ban has been blocked in the courts. his budget hits some of his biggest supporters. his travel ban obviously it's had trouble and he's facing personal credibility issues that still lack evidence. politically republicans are caught on their back feet right now. like can their precarious position translate to momentum for democrats? keep in mind in 2018, democrats must defend a lot more senate seats, incding ten of which were carried by president and states that were carried by president trump. with a debt ceiling height looming and the gorsuch confirmation hearings ahead, are they willing to go down as the new party of no? chris van hollen leads the charge in defe

. >> senate democrats continued their obstruction to the president's nomination of judge neil gorsuch to the supreme court. >> democratseem on course for a filibuster attempt of judge neil gorsuch's supreme court confirmation. does that mean republicans will trigger the so-called nuclear option? there is a lot to get to. we begin, though, with that old yogi berra line, when you come to a fork in the road, he said, take it. that's not an option for the trump white house, but now that his health care replacement plan has collapsed, the president has to choose between two very different paths forward. he wants to move on from health care. he wants to move on to his next big-ticket item. that is tax reform. the question is, how? option one for trump, he could smash the freedom caucus, or at least he could try. that's the conservative bloc in the house that just said no to the health care plan even after trump gave them concessions, even after he pleaded with them, even after he tried to strongarm them. they have been doing this for years now. defying pressure from republican leaders, maki

. >>> and plus neil gorsuch answering questions from everything from abortion to president trump. will democrats filibuster? >>> president trump warning fellow republicans vote yes for the gop health care bill or else. two days before this thursday's vote in the house and gop health care bill, the president meeting behind closed doors with house republicans to do arm twisting. nbc news reporting that the president saying the gop majority is at risk for 2018 if the republicans vote no on thursday. "washington post" quoting president trump saying i'm gonna come after you. afterwards president trump talking to reporters. >> we had a great meeting and i think we'll get a winner vote. we'll have a real winner. it was a great meeting. terrific people. they want a tremendous health care plan and that's what we have. and there will be adjustments made. but i think we'll get the vote on thursday. >> senator majority leader mitch mcconnell saying, quote, i would hate to be a republican whose vote prevented us from keeping the commitment we have made to the american people for almost ten yea

hearings for neil gorsuch. to get ready for those gorsuch hearings, sunday night 5:00 p.m. eastern, a special look at go such and those hearings hosted by ari melbur. you should watch this. he's sitting in for lawrence because he works too much. thank you. >> thank you for the plug. as for working too much, the old saying, look who's talking. >> i feel it. thanks. >> have a great weekend. >>> donald trump has doubled down on his unsubstantiated accusation that president obama wiretapped him. now the chickens are coming home to roost. >> why are you so scared of diversity in the news? you speak so often of fake news. >> fake news. fake news, folks. >> a president of the united states is using a pundit as a sourced fact. >> you shouldn't be talking to me, you should be talking to fox. >> the president of the united states just said they were relying on a fox news analyst. >> he just accused our closest ally, britain, of spying on him. >> we're now seeing an exercise in damage limitation. >> certainly on the face of it, it's awkward. the europeans are catching their heads. >>

. >>> we are just moments away from the showdown of neil gorsuch to the senate judiciary committee. the meeting to take up a vote is set to take place at noon, but it's looking like the democrats will stall that vote. >> i don't think he's going to get 60 votes. >> okay. so then the republicans are going to pass it using the so-called nuclear -- >> yes, and this is tragic. we have a lot of senators concerned about where we are headed. >> joining me now for today's daily briefing on politics the nbc news senior political editor mark murray. mark, there are always a group of democrats that the republicans were looking to who were in states where donald trump won by 10, 15, 20 points, that they thought they could potentially winside. where is the whip count now? what are we looking at? >> chris, we are seeing that there are steady diet of democratic senators who are coming out against the neil gorsuch confirmation pick. right now our math doesn't get to the where chris coo ns was saying you would have a potential filibuster showdown. as you mentioned, there are 11 senate democrats up f

let's get back to watching neil gorsuch. and i will see you tomorrow. we are going to have a week full of brief, i'm excited. and i'm very happy that the individual on the press corp. who took tom brady's jersey

and is neil gorsuch enough? >>> despite a series of increasingly aggressive ultimatums from president trump including the ultimate tim that a vote would happen today, the plan to

next up, will democrats have the guts to do the right thing when it comes to neil gorsuch? stay with us. >>> after careful ddeliberation i have concluded i cannot support judge neil gorsuch's nomination to the sport. he will have to earn 60 votes for confirmation. my vote will be no and i urge my colleagues to do the same. >> some democrats are threatening to filibuster. here are the senators up for reelection next year. >> so we know the process. but one question that's really nagging a lot of democrats who are still smarting from the way the republicans treated president obama's supreme court nominee, merrick garland, is should democrats have let the nomination get this far? or should they have considered it a stolen seat and not participated at all? i want to start by playing lindsey graham. he sort of went on a tear during the gorsuch hearing trying to explain why democrats would be wrong to hold merrick garland's whole sale rejection by neil gorsuch. >> here's what joe biden thought in '92. if someone steps down, i'll recommend the president not name someone and not se