, rachel. >> all right. good night. >> well, jeff flake was supposed to be a lifer. that's what republicans were hoping for when jeff flake won his senate seat at the age of 50, the same age that john mccain won his senate seat, the seat senator mccain still holds at 81 years old. everyone thought the united states senate would be jeff flake's last job. unless he somehow moved up to the presidency or vice presidency. but most senators who run for president or vice president don't win. so jeff flake looked like he was going to take his spot in a long line of arizona senators who serve at least three terms. that's a short run for an arizona senator. often longer than three terms. but today jeff flake did something that no arizona senator in history has ever done. he announced that he would not run for reelection to a second term. senator flake followed the standard senate playbook for announcing a retirement. first, most importantly, he tipped off his home state newspaper, as senators always do, so that the arizona republic could have 15 minutes before the news broke where the "ar

stuff. thank you, lawrence. >> thank you, rachel. >> all right. good night. >> well, jeff flake was supposed to be a lifer. that's what republicans were hoping for when jeff flake won his senate seat at the age of 50, the same age that john mccain won his senate seat, the seat senator mccain still holds at 81 years old. senator flake followed the standard senate playbook for announcing a retirement. first, most importantly, he tipped off his home state newspaper, as senators always do, so that the arizona republic could have 15 minutes before the news broke where the "arizona republic" had the story before senator flake rose on the senate floor. they had the big scoop and the online headline, arizona's jeff flake announces he will not seek reelection to u.s. senate. jeff flake will be only the second arizona senator in history to serve just one single six-year term. the first one to do that was also a republican, ralph cameron. but senator cameron didn't choose to serve only a single term. it was forced on him. he lost his reelection in 1926, and he was followed in that senate seat

going to be a lot of money, a lot of nastiness put up against jeff flake. so this is a situation where it's yet another member of this body who has decided you know what, i can't do what it would take to get elected in the republican party. >> a quote in the arizona republic, there may not be a place for a republican like me in the current republican climate. casey hunt thank you for that we are waiting. surely there will be a question asked at the white house press briefing but that wraps things up for me this hour. ali very well she, i wonder what you have to talk about. >> honestly, from the time i got up from my office to come and replace you this news has developed. this was already a particularly busy news day. breaking news that chris has been reporting on from capitol hill. arizona senator jeff flake says she is not seeking re-election according to the reporting of the arizona republic. garrett headache is on the hill. he's working with casey to get to the bottom of what the story is. garrett, one could have sniffed out this sort of situation given the op eds, the book, t

senator jeff flake and senator bob corker. bob corker locked in a knife fight with president trump over his comportment in office and conservative gop senator jeff flake, one of the few republicans in the senate willing to criticize the president, today announced that he would retire instead of face re-election in this political climate. >> i'm aware that there's a segment of my party that believes that anything short of complete and unquestioning loyalty to a president who belongs to my party is unacceptable and suspect. if i have been critical, it's not because i relish criticizing the behavior of the president of the united states. if i have been critical, it is because i believe it is my obligation to do so. and as a matter and duty of c conscien conscience. >> that is one of the men sarah huckabee sanders called petty. we'll get to our reporters in just a moment. but first a look at how this extraordinary day started with a war of words between president trump and president corker who has also decided not to seek re-election. >> i have seen no evolution in an upward way, i mean, as

. >> reporter: that's an understatement. >> and then jeff flake delivered a speech on the senate floor that you said and many others said people would be remembering years from now. >> reporter: i think that's right, joe. i mean, look, this was -- this was a day, my head was spinning by the end of the day, because where we started all the way through to bob corker the president had just left capitol hill and suddenly i was listening in my ear to you know what we had playing and the words that jeff flake had for the president were incredibly serious, incredibly an attempt to put this in historical perspective and give sois to his frustration and, you know what he was seeing around and this was a guy who was incredibly well liked, well respected, incredibly conservative, with the most conservative voting records, but who owned the respect from his colleagues the game of eight, took political risks. i think the senators in both parties i talked to yesterday came away with a real sense of loss around this retirement. >> far beyond a rebuke. >> far beyond a rebuke this shows the insan

like jeff flake speak up but what really matters are not words, it's the actions. >> you know, people don't understand. i went to an ivy league college. i'm like very intelligent person. >> we have had too many of these emperor has no clothes moments. >> i think that there's a real lack of imagination among all of those senators who were cheering like sycophants yesterday about the possibility for a real tragedy caused by reckless actions by this president of the united states. >> intelligence is hard to measure. it might be impossible to measure. iq tests were an attempt to evaluate students' intelligence when donald trump was a kid but they've been largely abandoned because it's a fluid brain function that cannot be reliably captured for everyone in any test. s.a.t. tests are really just tests of knowledge, not intelligence. you can memorize your very high scores on s.a.t. but the capacity of memorization is not intelligence. machines can memorize. once you begin to try to describe what intelligence is, you see the difficulty of trying to measure it. but donald trump, of course, kno

, less than 24 hours ago. and the smoke hasn't yet cleared from senator jeff flake's retirement announcement. and flake is saying -- and flake says today more is coming. >> privately, a number of my colleagues have expressed concerns about the direction of our politics and the behavior of the president. i think in the coming months, you'll have more people stand up. i think the cumulative weight of all of this, there comes a tipping point where we realize we just can't continue to normalize this kind of behavior. so i do think we'll have more people stand up in the coming months. >> well, the president essentially this morning saying, bring it on. tweeting this, that his meeting with republican senators yesterday outside of flake and corker, was a lovefest, with standing ovations and great ideas for usa. and he also added this, the reason flake and corker dropped out of the senate race, according to a another tweet, is very simple. they had zero chance of being elected. now act so hurt and wounded. so, where does that leave the party right now? where does that leave the presiden

means for the fate of the republican party as we know it. jeff flake's surprise announcement that he would not seek re-election came with a stinging rebuke of donald trump and stark warning to his colleagues, if you don't speak out, you're complicit and flake was not done sounding the alarm. appeared on five morning shows on five different networks. sf >> i think if we are waiting for the pivot, we ought to stop waiting. it's not coming. this is speech reckless and undignified. until we do, we are complicit in normalizing that type of behavior. >> at some point the spell will be off and people will realize where are we, what are we doing? we've got to accomplish something here. >> he published an op-ed in the "washington post" this morning. there's a sickness in our system and it is contagious, said flake. how many more disgraceful public feuds with gold star families can we witness in silence before we ourselves are disgraced. how many more times will we see moral a.mbiguity in the face of shocking bigotry and shake it off and hos till foreign power before we acknowledge the sensele

. >>> senator jeff flake stuns washington with his announcement that we woke seek re-election. the arizona republican warns be the trump presidency. >>> plus, new revelations about the deadly attack in niger that killed four americans. officials tell nbc news that sources were targeting isis recruiter. >>> and new questions and accusations about an obama era uranium deal as well as the claimed e-mail investigation. >>> good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, october 25th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. well, after a day of two of the top republicans in washington trading insults on social media, republican senator jeff flake shocked washington. deciding to announce his retirement and condemn the political discourse of the trump era as having a damaging and potentially and permanent impact on the country's ideals. >> i rise today with no small measure of regret. regret because of the state of our disunion. regret because of the disrepair and destructiveness of our politics. regret because of the indecency of our discourse. regret because of the

, i'm city of nstephani. retiring senator jeff flake goes off on president trump. >> mr. president, i rise today to say enough. >> as ally turned critic bob corker trades barbs with the tweeter in chief. >> i think the basement of our nation will be what he'll be remembered most for, and that's regretful. >> bannon and the far right cheer the war on moderates hours after the president had tried to rally the party to pass tax reform. >> we can't continue to just remain silent. this is undignified. this is beneath the office of the president. >> and speaking of taxes, only 25 working days left on capitol hill to get a bill passed, but any democratic input is being shunned, as chuck schumer has some harsh words on steven mnuchin. >> his statements are outlandish and he seems just to want to suck up to trump. >> that's why they call it the full mnuchin. we begin today with jeff flake and baob corker, going public with their fears and frustrations about the way donald trump is treating the office of the president. people like steve bannon, well, they love it! they want these guys gone,

his words. one of those republican senators begs to differ. in fact, senator jeff flake says the president is hurting american democracy and says he's not the only republican who thinks that. that more will speak out soon. listen. >> a lot of my colleagues share the concerns that i raised on the floor yesterday. and i believe that more of them will speak out in the future. i hope that we've reached a tipping point of some type, where we don't continue to normalize by being silent the kind of behavior that we've seen. that's why i felt it was important to give the speech and i hope that we move in a different direction. >> unless you think the president's going to take this silently, think again. he writes this morning, jeff flake with an 18% approval rating in arizona said a lot of my colleagues have spoken out. really? they just gave me a standing o! i will note, if you listen to what jeff flake just said, he said that more republicans will speak out, not that they have. but we digress. the president been writing a lot about this morning. joe john live at the white house with th

secretary sarah sanders in the wake of republican senator jeff flake just announcing he will not seek re-election. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. in just a second, senator jeff flake will join me for his first interview since his explosive speech. it's been a shocking and historic day. two senators from the president's own party are criticizing openly the president's behavior and his honesty. in the harshest possible terms. last hour on the senate floor, the arizona republican, flake, announced he will not seek re-election and he criticized the trump presidency, saying, quote, the efficacy of american leadership around the globe has come into question and he will not be complicit. we were going to run a bite there. okay. >> sustained incumbency is certainly not the point of seeking office, and there are times where we must risk our careers in favor of our principles. now is such a time. >> moments ago, sarah sanders, the white house press secretary, called senator flake's announcement, quote, probably a good move. let's talk about this now. in his first tv interview since ann

dangerous and utterly untruthful. senator jeff flake says he will, quot or silent issuing a call to arms to fellow republicans. senator bob corker says the trump presidency will be remembered for, quote, debasing the nation. >> so could these defections and attention inside the gop threaten the president's agenda? the white house spokesperson defending mr. trump's clashes with both men is saying it's best they both leave. senator jeff flake will join us live. let's begin with joe johns live for us at the white house. another intense day, joe. >> reporter: that's for sure, alisyn. and, look, here at the white house they are saying it's all good, even with freewheeling criticism of the president by two prominent republican senators. they're free to speak their minds because they're not running for re-election. that free will could affect the senate arithmetic and the president's agenda. >> it is time for our complicity and our accommodation of the unacceptable to end. >> reporter: outgoing senator jeff flake fiercely denouncing president trump's policies and behavior as dangerous to d

family and clearly he is seething no ground to either jeff flake or bob corker. >> reporter: i think he was sort of the marketer in chief as we saw the president on the south lawn today touting all the good things within the republican party. even as we witnessed this sort of civil war, this fracturing, this rupturing over the course of the last 48 hours talking how there's total unity within the party and in fact, an effort to push back the idea that corker and flake could in any way hurt his agenda going forward. asked that question specifically. does he worry these two republican senators could hurt the potential for tax cuts to pass? take a listen. >> i really know that they want tax cuts. they know we need it. we need it for the country. we need it for the people. we need it for the middle class. we need it for jobs. i don't think they knew that. i really don't. i know them well enough. i don't know flake very well but i know bob corker. i think they really could do it i think they feel they have to do it for the country. >> reporter: and he appeared to add a new item tore the n

senator jeff flake of arizona will not run again to keep his seat for the senate. but in about, i want to say, 28 minutes from now, white house press secretary sarah sanders is expected to tackle a hot-button issue that has the power, not for sure, the power to derail a tax plan vote. it is the escalation of the trump-corker fight. a twitter war between the president and the tennessee republican senator over who should now take the lead on cutting americans' taxes? the president or members of congress. we'll take you live to the white house in literally two minutes. one eye trained on that and the other on the markets. wow, what a day we are seeing for the dow jones industrials. it was higher by 211 points, still up about 184. looking at the best month since february for the dow. what is giving the blue chip index wings today? no, it's not red bull. it's blockbuster earnings from some of the biggest but also the oldest names out there, 3m, minnesota mining & manufacturing and caterpillar doing the heavy lifting, adding 148 points in entirety to the dow which again is up 182. that's a lot.

. lauren: stunning news is arizona republican jeff flake says he will not run for reelection since the latest gop infighting with the trump agenda at stake. train to another record high with the dow 167 points yesterday the dow components to shift the win. dow component shifting to a slightly lower open. 20 allies on earning a place the european central bank in london. the ftse down 20 points. trade to initiate japanese stocks. the nikkei down half a percent. lauren: higher avocado prices clock is thinking about 10%. "fbn:am" starts right now. 5:01 a.m. in new york. wednesday october 21st. good morning. lauren: and lauren simonetti. thank you for joining us. higher avocado prices. three bucks a pop or i go. the clinton presidential campaign as well as the democratic national committee help fund a research firm. that produces a dossier of allegations about president trump and his ties to russia. the firm, fusion gps. then hired to write the dossier. devin nunes on special report last night saying he is now seeking the baking records of the research firm. >> we believe we are going to ha

arizona republican senator jeff flake anouns he won't run again and in doing so condemns the president and his party vowing silence can equal complicity. he says it's time to stand up. and a second attack on the president by tennessee's bob corker who again invoked a day care. the 11th hour on a busy tuesday night begins now. >>> lot to talk about. our friends are all here. good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters in new york. we've never seen a day quite like day 278 of trump administration. as one republican who has advised several past presidents put it in the "the washington post" tonight, this is the ice beginning to crack. crack, you might have heard, late today east coast time was arizona republican jeff flake on the senate floor announcing he will not run for reelection. and in the process calling out the president, what he stands for, and what's become of his republican party. >> we must stop pretending that the degradation of our politics and the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal. they are not normal. reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavi

resistance? where does it go? is it just jeff flake and bob corker fighting donald trump? or is the a lovefest in the gop? and will more republicans answer this call? >> i hope that we're reaching a tipping point where my colleagues and every elected official will say, we can't go on this way. >> so we have questions coming up, talking with not just the republican senator, but also a top white house adviser about what this means for the president's policies. >>> and we have one big question as the white house blasts a new report that the clinton and the dnc paid for the now famous trump dossier. but who originally started it all? >>> and then frfrom cuba, andre mitchell is joining us with the new interview of cuban official who is deny their government had anything to do with the mice ti mysterious sickness affecting dip diplomats. first to pennsylvania avenue to talk about what we call the republican resistance. does it end, too, or does it get bigger? garrett haake is over on capitol hill. walk us through what you have been hearing on the hill, are republicans privately reflecting w

romans. >> i'm dave briggs. >>> two republicans with harsh rebukes muof the president. senator jeff flake is on "new day." bob corker also on "new day". >>> we must stop pretending the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal. >> when he lies about something and you know it's a lie, shouldn't you speak up? >> that's your job. >> this is a fight for the heart and soul of the republican party. >> i don't know why he lowers himself and debases our country. >> all this stuff you see on a daily basis on twitter this, twitter that, forget about it. >> his coalition to get things passed is now in some jeopardy. >> bob mueller's team has corroborated the fact of the dossier. >> there's a lot of motivations in the white house to distract a little bit here. >> why did they spend a year covering it up? >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and allici alisyn kam cam >> >>> we begin with an extraordinary day with republican rebuke against a sitting president. two retiring gop senators calling out president trump as untruthful. senator jeff flake says he will no longer be complicit or silent, an

our democracy. after deciding to retire at the end of this term, senator bob corker and jeff flake gave a dramatic tribute not just to the president but to their own republican colleagues. the day started with corker, who has been vocal about his concerns since announcing his retirement last month talking to just about every tv camera he could find about the man in the oval office. >> for young people to be watching not only here in our country, but around the world someone of this -- mentality, or as president of the united states is something that is i think debasing to our country. >> the president has great difficulty with the truth. on many issues. >> do you regret supporting him in the election? >> let's just put it this way, i would not do that again. >> so you wouldn't go that way again? >> i would not. >> those comments are the backdrop for a highly anticipated appearance by the president today at a senate republican lunch where he and corker would come face to face. now by all accounts, that meeting went without fireworks the president focusing on what he commented on the list

several gop lawmakers, the president fired back. he slammed arizona senator jeff flake. he described the president's behavior as reckless, outrageous and undig if i did. the president defended himself today. >> very high in arizona, i love the people they like me, i think i probably helped greatly in arizona by what happened with senator flake. >> the president also said senator flake decided not run because he was going to lose. we should was trail his challenger. the question is what's next? the president will have to work with jeff flake until 2019. of >> you mentioned some of those polls and there was research out there that suggested not only was jeff flake in trouble in the republican primary, he was in trouble in a hypothetical match-up with a democratic opponent. which in state like arizona, which has been pretty red. the trended quite red. however, there's two schools of thought. yes, this is good for president trump. there's also the school of thought that says what that you may have a, joe arpiao might be running >> she's a huge trump supporter and the folks in arizona esp

from members of his own party. republican senators jeff flake of arizona and bob corker of tennessee, both free now from the constraints of a re-election bid, both unloading on president trump. flake blunt and emotional on the senate floor, saying he regrets the compromised state of america's moral authority and his own complicity in what he calls an alarming and dangerous state of affairs. >> the personal attacks be, the threats against principles, freedoms and institution, the flagrant disregard for truth and decency, the reckless provocations mt often for the pettiest and most personal reasons, reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with the fortunes of the people that we have been elected to serve. none of these appalling features of our current politics should ever be regarded as normal. >> astounding really. senator flake making the stunning announcement that he will not seek re-election in 2018. that development coming after the president reignited his twitter war with senator corker, belittling the tennessee lawmaker while falsely claiming he supported the iran nuclear deal.

challenging republican critics jeff flake and bob corker, both retiring from the senate saying they're basically frustrated by gridlock and divisive politics in the age of trump. mr. trump tweeting this morning, the reason flake and corker dropped out of the senate race is very simple. they had zero chance of being elected. now act so hurt and wounded. senator flake talked about his decision immediately after his impassioned floor speech with chuck todd on "mtp daily." >> what about those who share your concerns but feel basically how badly this played in your state, how it sort of beat you up politically, it put you in a vice, right, a virtual vice, and they say, you know what? i want to speak out but i saw what happened to flake, i'm not doing it now. >> well, at some point this fever will break. at some point this spell will be off and people will realize, where are we? what are we doing? >> chuck todd, moderator of "meet the press," nbc's political director, host of "mtp daily" joins me now. chuck, where are we now? what is the future of the republican party as we know it?

there's arizona jeff flake announcing that he will not seek reelection and then go a tribe of the president. there have been other presidents that have other fights within their own party. linden johnson, i'm going to clean thup a little bit . he'd rather have one of his opponents leaking outside of the tenth than leaking inside the tenth. the number that is starting to leak inside the tent is starting to grow every day. who knows where h goes. let's bring in professor lub in. i'm just curious. what is your take on this? a lot of people were saying it was great to see jeff flake stand there and say it is a cop out because he was losing in the election. >>reporter: in that sense it's a big win because it's clearly his party. if you're n on the other hand, presidents are normally trying to get strong incumbents, particularly in states that are kind of purply like arizona to run for reelection. until 20818 in any case, you know, senator flake will be there and along with senator corker have now declared themselves essentially free agents and are in a complete position to derail the p

. on twitter, he dismissed the unprecedented criticism from senators jeff flake and bob corker, saying they decided not to seek reelection because they have zero chance of winning. but by this afternoon, he turned his fire on democrats and described yesterday's lunch with republicans in glowing terms. president trump: i call it a love fest. it was almost a lovefest. maybe it was a lovefest. standing ovation. there is great unity. i mean, if you look at the democrats with bernie sanders and hillary clinton, that is a mess. there is great unity in the republican party. jane: for more, i spoke a short time ago to reid wilson, national correspondent with "the hill." lovefest, that is an -- i started by asking why we are not seeing more join jeff flake and bob corker in their criticism. reid: the republican party has control in washington, d.c., and they have an agenda they want to get through. none of their agenda has moved to even a debate phase. the health care repeal has failed. tax reform is getting off to a rocky start with the president and congressional republicans apparentl

jeff flake, continued the onslaught with an editorial today in which he compared the president to joe mccarthy. the president, meanwhile, took the fight to one of his favorite places, twitter this morning. that is where we're going to start. meanwhile, right now president trump, we are told, is answering questions from reporters, questions related to that dossier, related to jeff flake. also related to senator corker as well. that conversation with reporters is happening right now at the white house. when it wraps up, we'll bring to you here on msnbc. peter alexander is also at the white house. garrett haake is on capitol hill. peter, let's start with you, sir. how is the white house taking the brushback? >> reporter: we're hearing from the president himself, preparing to leave from dallas aboard marine one. i'll give you the notes as i'm receiving them from our team that's on the south lawn. he was asked specifically about jeff flake, the president said, these are not full quotes right now. we'll hear the full tape as soon as we get it. he said his poll numbers are terrible. he said

war. we can now report that arizona senator jeff flake says he will not seek re-election. mark preston is up live with me now. mark preston, why? >> well, when it came to the issue of immigration, senator flake represents a state along the border and him and as well as senator john mccain did not agree with donald trump's vision of building a wall and others that he was trying to crack down when it came to immigration. now, we should say this about jeff flake. a long-time member of the house, first elected back in 2000, this was his first term. he was elected to the senate in 2012, somebody who was a conservative conscience of the senate, in many ways, tried to stay true to his conservative beliefs but you have to wonder at this point, brooke, has he had enough? and we've seen that with bob corker, that he was going to step down after two terms. and could there be a door opening where they decide to leave the chamber or even across the capital in the house of representatives where we've seen republicans not seek re-election in 2018. phil mattingly is with me and covers capitol hill eac

there late tuesday republican senator jeff flake announced he wouldn't run again in twenty eighteen delivering a second attack against romney on the senate floor we were not made great as a country by indulging in or even exulting our worst impulses turning against ourselves glorifying in the things that divide us and calling fake things true and true things fake. the white house denied the in-fighting is a distraction from the president's agenda the president he's a fighter we've said it many times before the people of this country didn't elect somebody to be weak they elected somebody to be strong and when he gets hit he's going to hit back in fact that's exactly what the president promised on the campaign trail to rid washington establishment politicians he believes do not deliver for america's middle class can really help get al jazeera washington evan seyfried is a political strategist he's president of song consulting it's a public affairs firm he's also the author of g.o.p. g.p.s. how to find the millennial isn't urban voters the republican party needs to survive he's joining

senators jeff flake and bob corker ratcheted up their criticism of president trump. >> it's hard to win a republican primary if you disagree with the president on anything or countenance his behavior which i don't think we ought to normalize. >> republicans need to look themselves in the eye and ask if they have the courage to do what jeff flake and bob corker have done. >> do you think the president is a threat to national security? >> i think there are people around him that work in an effort to contain him. howie: have media organizations largely portrayed bob cork and jeff flake as courageous for their stinging criticism of donald trump? >> i don't think so. there is a fight here brewing in the republican party and we love nothing more than a cover a good story and a fight. howie: are they saying things journalists and commentators have said publicly and privately. they are saying look at corker and flake. the president doesn't know the issues. emily: i think jeff flake and bob corker are convenient proxies for the media. we don't hear a lot about the democrats. joe: there is te

. >>> happening now. breaking news. rkle rkless -- reckless and outrageous. jeff flake takes to the senate floor to announce he won't run again in 2018 and in a blistering speech accuses the president of undermining american norms and values with reckless and outrageous behavior. >>> debasing of our nation. a stunning rebuke of the president from another retiring republican senator, bob corker. who calls president trump utterly untruthful and says his legacy will be the, quote, debasing our nation. will other republicans now follow their lead? >>> cutting remarks. the president's harsh exchanges with members of his open party come as he makes a push for tax cuts. are his cutting remarks once again getting in the way of his own agenda? >>> and putin's target. a prominent critic of russia's vladimir putin is accused of a notorious and mysterious death. but the american-born whistle-blower accuses russian officials of trying to silence him with false accusations. so what's behind putin's aggressive campaign? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking new

up to sour grapes and political weakness of senators jeff flake and bob corker he tweets this, the reason flake and corker dropped out of the senate race is simple. they had zero chance of being elected. now act so hurt and wounded. it is true both are ducking what would have been tough 2018 re-election primary challenges but both say this is about much more than that. in their view, a freedom now to speak out about presidential behavior and character flaws they see as beneath the office of the president and which they see as a threat to their party and to the country. senator flake predicting this morning they will soon have more company. >> obviously, privately, a number of my colleagues have expressed concern about the direction of our politics and the behavior of the president. i think in the coming months, you'll have more people stand up. i think the cume lative weight of all of this, there comes a tipping point where we realize we just can't continue to normalize this kind of behavior. >> in a moment, more on exactly what was said and why this is such an extraordinary moment

look and say oh, that's just tara. >> my jersey girl bumper on the back. >> here is senator jeff flake today on the senate floor. >> i rise today with no small measure of regret. regret because of the state of our disunion. regret because of the disrepair and destructiveness of our politics. regret because of the indecency of our discourse. regret because of the coarseness of our leadership. regret for the compromise of our moral authority. and by our, i mean all of our complicity in this alarming and dangerous state of affairs. it is time for our complicity and our accommodation of the unacceptable to end. >> so strong words, sarah, including regret, disunion, and complicity. is the senator wrong? >> no. he's 100% right. and those of us who try to warn america about this and try to warn the party that this is what you were going to get if you enable donald trump. you know, it's a big fat i told you so, and i never wanted to be more wrong in my life and many of us who were so adamant about warning the american people about what the consequences would be if donald trump was not only the nomin

point, jeff flake fresh off his public announcement that more republicans will follow. >> i believe more of them will speak out in the future. i hope we have reached a tipping point of some type where we don't continue to normalize by being silent the behavior we have seen. i felt it was important to give a speech and i hope we move in a different direction. >> this morning the president said senator flake and bob corker are just sore losers. he writes they had zero chance of being elected now act so hurt and wounded. this is continuing clearly this morning. our joe johns is at the white house with the latest. flake says more republicans are going to speak out, not naming any. intriguing. >> definitely intriguing, poppy, and that is the big question. what does it all mean, and where is this all headed. he did say, yes, or thinks a number of other senators will speak out. some senators have already spoken out. john mccain of arizona, which is interesting, like jeff flake along with susan collins of maine, and lindsay graham raisediraise issues. the president scoffing to the idea refe

tennessee has been in a back and forth with the president and now senator jeff flake from arizona who has indicated he's leaving, too. doesn't like the tone and tenor of washington and blames it on the president. all this time when the president was on capitol hill to talk tax relief and getting the senators on board. all gave 2 senators joining him to say it was a pleasant encounter. depends who you talk to. mitch mcconnell said they're moving forward on tax cuts. we heard paul ryan saying they will get a vote by thanks giving in the house hand kicked that over into the senate. the fact that these two senators are saying what they are now about the president and the leader of their party says something. there is a flip side to this, i want to emphasize. if wall street was worried about some division reason republican ranks, they had a funny way of showing as we talked about with the infighting and tweets and the rest. the dow finished up 167 points. again, largely on better than expected earnings. we'll get into that with charles payne. suffice it to say, caterpillar and mcdonalds su

, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. a day after jeff flake's declaration of independence from donald trump's republican party and bob corker's astute diagnosis of the current occupant of the oval office as utterly untruthful. donald trump today described his current standing with the gop as a lovefest. >> we have actually great unity in the republican party. >> bob cork ear. >> that's okay. they have to do their thing. if you look at what happened yesterday at the meeting, we had virtually every senator, including john mccain. we had a great conversation yesterday, about the military. i think we had a tremendous -- i called it a lovefest. it was almost a lovefest. maybe it was a lovefest. stand ovations. there is great unity. >> so much unity, in fact, that jeff flake today refused to rule out a run for the presidency in 2020. >> are you considering running for president in the future? >> that is not on my radar screen. that's a long way off. >> 2020 is not that long off. has it crossed your mind? >> i'm focused on my work in the senate. i've got another good 14 months. >> it hasn't crossed

tension with the two outgoing republican senators, jeff flake and bob corker. take a listen. >> he did the smart thing for himself. this way he can get out somewhat gracefully. i hope bob, and i really believe bob corker will do the right thing. >> dana: chief white house correspondent john roberts was there and he joins me life. what do you think? >> reporter: when he said corker is going to do the right thing, he was talk about tax reform. he also dismissed flake's criticism. he said to his campaign advisers, i take it he's a democrat. he was told he was a republican. flake, of course, yesterday went off on the president, standing up in the senate to denounce his uncivil tone, saying it was reckless, undignified outrageous. the president was asked if he thought he needed to be more civil. he said he thinks the press makes him to be less civil than he is. he repeated the fact that he went to an ivy league college and he is a very intelligent person. the president also weighed in for the first time publicly on the revelations that the clinton campaign and the democratic national co

announced resignation of republican senator jeff flake of arizona, who has become one of the most outspoken critics of president trump within his own party. senator flake's 17-minute senate speech today denouncing trumpism in his own party was one of those washington moments, one of those washington spectacles that absolutely stopped people in their tracks today. that said, strategically it came with one major asterisk on it. so we're going to be speaking with presidential historian michael beschloss about that spectacle and what it might mean about the trump presidency. that's coming up a little later on this hour. that story about jeff flake and the remarkable comments he made today on the senate floor, that was the story that dominated beltway media coverage today. and i think because of that there were a number of other important stories that broke today that didn't get as much attention as they might otherwise. just because the jeff flake story understandably took so much oxygen out of the room. in case you missed it, though, also today there was a sort of ridiculous scandal

. "mtp daily" starts are the now with chuck. hi, chuck. >> nicole, wow. >> yeah. you have jeff flake, right? >> i have jeff flake here in a few minutes. >> i'm going to race to a tv. >> excellent, and whatever question you have, text me now i'll ask him, i promise. if it's tuesday, is it the day the republican establishment officially fell apart? tonight an extraordinary day in the united states senate. republican jeff flake of arizona calls it quits. but calls out president trump while he does it. >> mr. president, i rise today to say, enough. >> this on the same day that another republican senator, this one named bob corker goes after the president again and again and again. >> his motto is to divide and to attempt to bully and to use untruths. >> two so-called establishment republicans basically saying, i've had it with the president, and i can't do this anymore. >> if i have been critical, it is because i believe it is my obligation to do so. and as a matter and duty of conscience. >> you would think he would aspire to be the president of the united states and act like a president of th

trump. jeff flake ripping into the president, calling him reckless, outrageous and undignified. will more gop follow? >> plus, more breaking news this hour. "the washington post" reporting the clinton campaign and the dnc paid for the research that led to the now famous, infamous perhaps, trump dossier, and the second part of our series, killing america, inside the opioid epidemic, should there be a safe place for addicts to shoot up? dr. sanjay gupta on this controversial question tonight. let's go "outfront." >> and good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" this evening, heaven help us. those are the words of a republican senator taking on president trump in a remarkable 17-minute speech from the floor of the senate. senator jeff flake of arizona passionately calling out the president for being a danger to american democracy. >> reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior has become excused and counted as telling it like it is, when it is actually just reckless, outrageous, and undignified. and when such behavior emanates from the top of our government, it is something else. it

lot of them gave jeff flake some nice words, few of them were willing to say the things that he said because poesz of them plan to run again for reelection. that's the party right now. how willing is the party to voice what it thinks, at a time they are being threatened with primary challenges back home. >> it seems to me fellow colleagues, the republican party has two. you can be a sycophant and act like you're a member of the cabinet. people bowing to the president, the members of the senate felt they needed to do. mitch mcconnell does act more and more like a toty. i respect him, but he's a toty. he walks around next to the president like he's serving him. and then now the other way is to walk. remember one of the toughest lines i ever heard was napoleon said the only victory in love is to walk away. if you love the republican party, it seems like that what what you do. you quit. it's so ironic and sick. >> i get that, but there's a third option. you stand and fight. >> who is doing that? >> this is my point. no one is doing that right now without the exit standing right next. >>

laura trevelyan. 2 republican senators unleash on donald trump. jeff flake joins bob corker in saying he won't run again, and now they are speaking out against the white house. senator corker: sad place, for my perspective, for our nation, and i think the worst is the whole debasing, if you will, of our nation. laura: the foreign minister of pakistan speaks exclusively to the bbc, saying that there is a huge trust deficit between his country and the u.s. and paul cÉzanne fans rejoice. an exhibition featuring dozens of portraits by the influential artist, many of himself, goes on display in london. welcome to our viewers on public television in america and around the globe. this was a dramatic day in u.s. politics. tonight, the leadership of president trump is under fire from two republican senators. jeff flake of arizona has joined bob corker from tennessee in announcing he will not run for reelection, and now they show share something else in common, a scathing critique of the president's conduct. before mr. trump traveled to capitol hill for lunch with senate republicans, here is w

republican party when you have some criticism of the president-- jeff flake, john mccain, by george bush, without naming the president and, of course, bob corker. what does this mean, if anything, today in washington? >> well, charlie, it's the republican parties. and we're see more clearly on the national stage the split that we've been seeing in the house for a long time, that we looked at so carefully during health care. and now we're seeing the trump and bannon part of the party, and we're seeing the more traditional part of the party where so many senators now saying publicly what others are saying privately behind the scenes. but, charlie, here's the twist, and here's why a lot of the coverage this week has been very misleading. the twist is that all those senators and all those people-- republicans around the country that think privately the criticisms that mccain and corker and flake and bush and others are saying publicly, they're going to keep it private. trump is strong in their states, strong in their districts, and so, donald trump is now more commanding of the party than he

senators, bob corker and jeff flake. >> i don't know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard, to debase his country in a way that he does, but he does. >> it is dangerous to a democracy. such behavior does not project strength. it instead projects a corruption of the spirit and weakness. >> as most rank and file republicans steered clear of the rebellion, the president took to twitter to dismiss his fellow g.o.p. leaders, writing they had zero chance of being elected. and the president's former chief strategist, steve bannon, ratcheted up his plan to defeat all anti-trump republicans. >> right now it's a season of war against a g.o.p. establishment. >> as fault lines widen, the stage is set for a rewrite of the u.s. tax code. >> 212. the motion is adopted. >> but can anything get done on capitol hill if the republican party is fractured? we'll get answers and analysis from peter baker of the new york times, nancy cordes of cbs news, julie pace of the associated press, and ed o'keefe of the washington post. >> celebrating 50 years, this is "washington week." funding i

joy as a republican, now we have all three branches, but at what cost? and jeff flake really articulated that in a way that was eloquent and spot on. >> and bob corker as well. you were clapping in your car. i gotta get scott in before we have to go. listen, to tara's point, republicans in control of the white house, the senate, the congress. other than neil gorsuch, no real legislative accomplishment. it's been nine months. did you think you'd be sitting back here and nine months, what went so wrong? >> no. and i don't think republican voters would have said that either. i want to go back to something mr. gergen said because it goes to the practical question of governing here. what are the effects of what flake and corker did today? if they were to say wake up tomorrow and decide we're going to block vote against everything, the three of us, for the rest of the time we're here, that would have a practical effect of stopping donald trump, but here to fore, other than mccain on health care, they've gone along with the republican and/or trump agenda. so if flake and corker and