be good for mcmaster. the other school of thought is that trump who has clashed with mcmaster, had tension with him, may see ouster of raieince pries part of a larger organization that might make it easier to disempower mcmaster. i am not sure what the kelly hire will mean. >> we'll keep following your reporting. great piece. thank you very much. >>> up next, anthony the mooch, scaramucci, proving to be quite the shiny object for the media. and trump probably liked that just fine. more "am joy" after the break. craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get. pcountries thatk mewe traveled,t what is your nationality and i would always answer hispanic. so when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. i'm everything. i'm

mcmaster. we are hearing he is increasingly isolated. officials finding himself in conflict with senior white house officials, cabinet members and the president himself. congressional source tells cnn that mcmaster is at odds with president trump on many key national security issues. mcmaster has found himself under cut by others inside the president's orbit and has clashed with defense secretary james mattis. bubbled up over long delayed plan with afghanistan which the president yet to sign off on a plan that would increase the number of troops deployed there. mcmaster met with trump on thursday as nsa looks to finalize the afghanistan strategy. >> so is it possible general mcmaster, still on active duty, he is a three star general, is it possible he might leave this post? >> we have been asking a number of officials. they say that several scenarios are possible including unlikely possibility that mcmaster could be transferred to command troops in afghanistan. also may be tapped as new special envoy to south asia and oversee policy for

we will continue to monitor the situation and consider additional sanctions. >> into general mcmaster? >> the president has prioritized his concern for the venezuelan people. his only considering those options which would benefit directly the venezuelan people. >> how many times have had sanctions before? >> i cannot comment on his assets, and this will be the fourth head of state. >> i have a question about the sanctions and election. about election, i want to know if you see the election as a. [inaudible] a power this next year. and also there's a net the venezuelan government is moving in the direction of a coup. >> what we're seeing is venezuela is not a coup, what were seen as the brutal oppression of the venezuelan people. so, it's clear if you contrast the turnout from the opposition referendum to the very low numbers of the turnout during this farce, associated with the constituent assembly, i think you see the true desires of what the venezuela people are. >> how is this different from what happened in turkey when the president in turkey also sees expended powers and referend

general mcmaster side lined. general mattis, not even consulted as far as we could tell here in washington on a significant policy on transgenders and then we sit here pollyanna, another general is going to change the way this world operates, ain't going to happen. second and final issue, pam, if you want to control the white house as the chief-of-staff, if you walk into a restaurant and say whose the manager, because i want to complain and somebody says well the manager's here, but the owners brother's the bartender. the owner's sister is the head waitress, the owner's son is the chief chef here nobody's running that kitchen. if you walk in the white house, the owner's son-in-law has direct access to the white house as does his daughter. other people including anthony scaramucci has direct access, i don't care whether the general is a great leader, if you have that many people with direct access to the white house, he can't run the railroad just like you can't run a restaurant. >> and then the backdrop of all of

three parts of bannon and one part mcmaster. robert: the national security adviser more of a hawkish traditional voice, he did talk about article 5, the article in the nato agreement that if any nation is attacked, he embraced it in his speech. is that the traditional side peeking out? nancy: he didn't mention it a month ago when he was in europe. he had asked repeatedly during the campaign why is the u.s. so invested in nato and defending european troops and didn't mention article 5. robert: he mentioned it this week. nancy: it was a reachout by him and his staff. it was something they needed to hear directly because his visit last month added so many questions. he talked about issues in a country that is being run by a country that is swirling in controversy. robert: in poland. nancy: the position of the government and he embraced poland. robert: as the president is stepping out, peter, he has this nationalist theme, but a lot of western european leaders are distancing themselves from the trump approach on trade and on climate

mcmaster told reporters last week, we have no specific agenda. it is whatever the president wants to talk about.

before we start i like to bring up national security advisor, general hr mcmaster and treasury secretary, stephen mnuchin to discuss administration's response in the recent antidemocratic actions in venezuela. they will each make opening remarks and take your questions on the topic at hand. then as always, your favorite time of day, i will come back up and take your questions. thank you. >> it afternoon everybody. i thought it might be best to read the present statement. since president trumps administration, the ministration has called on venezuela's medora regime to respect venezuela's constitution, respect the role authorities of the constitutional national assembly, hold free and fair elections, address the humanitarian needs of the venezuelan people, release political prisoners, and stop oppressing its great people. the regime has refused to heed this call. in recent actions culminating in yesterday's outrageous seizure of absolute power through the sham election of the national constituent assembly represent the very serious blow to democracy in our hemisphere. maduro is not just a

mcmaster said it's now limited at 3,900 and no more troops, regardless of the strategy. can you tell us if that's true. >> i'm not aware of that specific memo but i will check into the specific details of that and circle back with you. >> can you tell us how seriously the president considered the idea of using private time trackers to augment u.s. personnel on the ground in afghanistan, as opposed to u.s. military personnel. >> i know that we feel it's important to get input from all perspectives, and all of the right people were part of that process throughout, and any conversation. look, we've used contractors extensively over the last 16 years. currently, there are tens of thousands of contractors that are bravely serving alongside a lot of the u.s. military and coalition forces, and we're finalizing the review fully of the afghanistan policy, and it only makes sense to consult those leaders in the field as well. and that's simply just part of the review process. >> when you say the right people, does that include eric prince? >> i meant from our inside, internally, a

mcmaster's deputy, dina powell. he has a pretty good relationship with rex tillerson. i know nothing of his relationship with steve bannon, but that is definitely one to watch. >> jake, is this a guy who does have bipartisan friends on capitol hill, which is usually most of our good chiefs of staff over the last couple of decades did. >> yeah. that's a huge plus and the fact that this is somebody who knows how to run an organization. at this point, frankly, with this white house, build an organization. and he knows how to do all that. the question is to what extent is he empowered by the president. will everyone report up through him. >> i was just going to say, anthony scaramucci, who you report to. >> if scaramucci continues to report directly to the president as he claims, although we haven't quite heard that from the president, that would be a problem. now, i think that would be a problem for general kelly and i think -- i'd love to see that encounter. i'd love to see the mooch run into general kelly. >> we're t

mcmaster were very fortunate to get general mcmaster, secretary mattis, secretary tillerson i think is coming into his own. haley, the chairman of the joint chiefs under obama but has been kept on by trump. they were pretty good from the get go, even the first week on the job. int has been enough time that president trump himself is trying to internalize some of the messages and make some of the right choices for the options they present him. not going to start declaring exhaling toor deeply because there are huge issues that even if we haven't rocked the boat, we have preserved nato and disrupting major relationships unduly. there is still fundamentally unresolved questions about syriac, the ukraine, north korea. so now it's the phase where the trump administration needs to create new strategies. been of the successes have simply not making big mistakes. come upit is time to with strategies that even president obama has struggled with and this is where the team will have to come up to a higher level. news, reports on bloomberg , hacking power plants here. this is bloomberg. ♪ david:

there is tension there between the president and mcmaster. in many ways the president views mcmaster, sometimes talking down to him. if john kelly comes away as well, that's a relationship that could sour. i find it hard to believe that john kelly can change that. >> who just hired a communications director in a way that john kelly found distasteful. anthony scaramucci came out and said reince is a bleeping paranoid schizophrenic. i'm trying to figure out john kelly's first, second, third day in the white house. he wakes up and is watching the news and sees something like this from anthony scaramucci. >> as you know, from the italian phrase, the fish stinks from the head down. i don't like the activity what's going on in the white house. i don't like what they're doing to my friend, to the president of the united states and their fellow colleagues in the west wing. now if you want to talk about the chief of staff we've had odds, differences. when i say we're brothers from the podium, we're rough on each other. some brothers are like cain and

and general mcmaster is a pro. general mattis are pros, the peop people around the president are proings, maybe they're fooling us, maybe they're pretending that the president is going to casual, not have an agenda, go in and have an engagement with putin and maybe beneath all of that show there is a well thought out plan of the strategic objectives that donald trump has that he's going to try and convey in this loose way. that would be brilliant if that were the case. i don't think that's the case, but i would be the first one willing to say, you know what? that was a very interesting bit of stage craft if the president were able to pull that off. but the negotiation that h.r. mcmaster is saying we don't have an agenda, it's whatever the president wants to say is a very scary thing because vladimir putin does have an agenda, he does have a well thought out game plan about how he wants to split the trans-atlantic alliance, how he wants to stroke donald trump's ego and how he wants to get things that russia wants an

mcmaster shakes up his team. the top advisor who is now out at the nsc. those stories, plus bill karin with a check on your weekend forecast when we come back. meta appetite control... it's your glass of willpower that helps keep cravings... ...far, far away. feel less hungry with the natural fiber in clinically... ...proven meta appetite control. from metamucil. how to win at business. step one. point decisively with your glasses. abracadabra! the stage is yours. step two. choose laquinta. where you'll feel like the king of the road. check out our summer rates now at lq.com. for her compassion and care. he spent decades fighting to give families a second chance. but to help others, they first had to protect themselves. i have afib. even for a nurse, it's complicated... and it puts me at higher risk of stroke. that would be devastating. i had to learn all i could to help protect myself. once i got the facts, my doctor and i chose xarelto®. xarelto®... to help keep me protected. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner... ...significantly

. >> glor: do we know how national security advisor general mcmaster figures in all this? >> well, he's certainly advising the president on how to play this, whether or not the president is going to take that guidance and the talking points that i am positive general mcmaster and his staff are drafting for him is another matter. we know that general mcmaster is, you know, as concerned as general mattis and secretary tillerson have said they are about russia's behavior. there's a desire to, you know, project a lot of toughness and a lot of determination to see russia change its case, but there is also, you know, i think general mcmaster is very keen to see -- to help president trump explore these possible areas of cooperation, and the question is how does he approach the discussion about that so that he is seen as actually, you know, achieving something in a sh rude way rather than giving concessions to somebody who has, you know, engaged in a lot of conduct around the world and in the united states, that they're very uncomfortable with. >> so, philip -- go ahead. i was jus

reporting that trump has become unhappy with mcmaster, has lashed out. i don't think it holds that just because a general is in a position of power in a trump administration that trump is going to subdue his behavior. joe: of course, the next big legislative thing is tax reform. there have been reports about influence that bannon has had on that, including a tax hike on some of the richest earners. do you think it is possible that the tax package could have a ban in flavor? -- a bannon flavor? josh: the reason bannon is doing this is because he recognizes that the political optics of trumps health care push, the idea we are going to take money away from health care spending and redirect it towards tax cuts for high earners is a bad look politically. bannon advocated raising the top marginal tax rate on people who make over $5 million to 44%, which is a small but not insubstantial raise, which bannon believes would help to blunt the charges that tax reform was geared towards the rich rather than the middle class. if you were able to succeed in that, theor

mcmaster, gary cohn group. here you have the two presidents as they walk through this museum complex and the anthems continue to be performed. ♪ [ speaking french ] [ speaking french ] >> the sword ceremony just in front of the two presidents. you just saw off to the background of both men, both first ladies. brigitte macron in white this morning and first lady melania trump in red. i want to bring hallie jackson back in, who is standing by. hallie, this seems to be obviously an official event, but the two presidents at least seem more friendly than normal. >> well, and i don't know that there is a baseline yet for normality given this is only the third time that they've met, but it certainly is warmer than what we saw that first time around, stephanie. i think you're right on the g-7 where there was sort of that very alpha male aggressive handshake between the two a you watched the ceremony unfold here. i think when you look at the relationship between these two men, it could be really key to the u.s.' relat

is mcmaster going to stay, is rex tillerson, the secretary of state going to stay? you know, the president of the united states tweeted that the acting fbi director should be fired. remember he fired the last fbi director. there's a great deal of instability and sense of, you know, unsteadiness in this white house and in the administration. nobody knows what's going to happen next. if anthony scaramucci can come in last friday and, you know, take on the chief of staff in such a frontal way as ashley said, no other white house would have allowed that. then anything can happen. so it's a very unsettled time for people in president trump's orbit. >> are you hearing anything about change -- peter baker, ashley suggested that a turnover at the top could happen as early as today or if reince is willing to -- and this seems to be a thread you can pull throughout the white house endure the humiliation of working for donald trump, he might be allowed to stick around. like maybe jeff sessions seems to be allowed to do. are you hearing anything about timing? >> yeah. look, fir

i get a fixed report card on the president's afin ilt for mcmaster. and i worpd if you hear any of the same tensions emerging between tillerson at state. there was a story i think you had some reporting on the tensions between kushner and tillerson. mattis is viewed as sort of the holy grail of that team like theo da figure if you will. what do you hear about the dynamic between the president and the other most prominent members of his national security steam? >> well, nichole, look, i think one thing we're learning very clearly is if you thought the national security team was going to be in oasis of relative calm in the chaos presidency, that's not the case. clearly the faxes, the infighting and the uncertainty have spilled over into the national security realm. and i'm not surprised because in the end trump has made clear that he's the decider, to use the words of your former boss jornl w. bush. and what that means is that he is both constantly overruling or pushing these ch more traditional republican foreign policy guys. and they're just not on th

and just internally within the trump administration, let's remember this is not good for hr mcmaster, the national security adviser. this weakens him within the inner agency and it's just not good idea. why not have your national security adviser in the most important meeting you've had as president when it comes to foreign policy. >> this town has got it's share of conspiracy theorists these days. their suspicion around every corner when it comes to russia. so if you wanted to ease those suspicions, why have a meeting where the only two people in there are people who have the closest personal relationships with the rush you shan government. it just seemed to be optically an even worse decision because it only raises more suspicion to those that are want to be suspicion. >> i couldn't agree more. and then especially when you have the dueling readouts. now, we had that quite a bit the when i was in the government, too. that is something -- >> isn't that standard fare? russians, that is who they are. >> you do. but let's be clear what has happened on this particular dual. on the record,

we know that general mcmaster is as concerned as general mattis and secretary tillerson saying that they are about russian behavior. there is the russian desire to project a lot of toughness and a lot of determination to see russia change its ways, but there is also, general mcmaster is keen to see -- to help trump explore these possible areas of cooperation. he question is, how does approach the discussion about that so that he is seen as actually achieving something in a shrewd way rather than giving concessions to somebody who has engaged in a lot of conduct around the world and the united states has said that they are very uncomfortable with? >> philip, if the u.s. -- go ahead. let's trump is going to be meeting with running your putin but a lot of domestic political pressure back on him in the u.s. and certainly all the democrats are going to want and expect him to be tough on bruton -- on letting your proven, but key republican senators are going to be expecting the same. there is an expectation and pressure on trump to be tough with vladimir putin and confront did to thehat russia

general mcmaster side lined. general mattis, not even consulted as far as we could tell here in washington on a significant policy on transgenders and then we sit here pollyanna, another general is going to change the way this world operates, ain't going to happen. second and final issue, pam, if you want to control the white house as the chief-of-staff, if you walk into a restaurant and say whose the manager, because i want to complain and somebody says well the manager's here, but the owners brother's the bartender. the owner's sister is the head waitress, the owner's son is the chief chef here nobody's running that kitchen. if you walk in the white house, and say well, the owner's son-in-law has direct access to the white house as does his daughter. steve bannon has direct access to the white house. other people including anthony scaramucci has direct access. edon't care whether the general is a great leader, if you have that many people with direct access to the white house, he can't run the railroad just lik

i left off general mcmaster as the national security adviser. the question in addition to this, world view, is enough non-military world view going to get through to the president as what looks like a war cabinet to me. we're about to talk about north korea which is heavy through sea power. is this a war cabinet that's forming up? >> i know all of these officers extremely well. take john kelly as an example, his principle four-star command was u.s. southern command, everything south of the united states. that's not a war portfolio. we're in the going to go to war in latin america and the caribbean. it's a soft power region. general mattis, famous for saying in congressional testimony, if you don't fund the state department, you'll have to buy me more ammunition. secretary mattis understands the power of smart power and soft power. general mcmaster in iraq, famous in northern iraq for using every tool from strategic communication to hugh humanitarian relief as part of the solution. this is a unique group of generals who i think are not primed for

mcmaster and also in rex tillerson. >> general kelly is well suited to help the president understand the consequence of a lot of different policy options and that's something the chief of staff among other things is to make sure that anything that the president considers, be considered in not only what he wants to do, but the consequence if it's done. and understanding the consequences helps minimize the number of unintended consequences connected with any policy decision. and it's particularly important with the challenge we have with russia and the potential military problems we have with north korea. and general kelly has a long history of helping people make tough decisions and understanding the consequences of the decisions before they're put in place, and president trump needs that kind of advice and counsel and it also needs discipline, so i'm glad kelly is there. >> i can't imagine scaramucci and kelly in any context, they're two people from completely different worlds, this is a man who joined the marines in 1970 in the vietnam war, he's a gold star father whose daughter wor

mcmaster in that room. someone who's very well known in washington, has years of experience, and to break with that precedent and suggest it was an attempt to stymie leaks raises questions about how comfortable donald trump is with certain parts of his government. >> speaking of government, jonathan, i want to turn to the health care fight because there's a number of town halls we'll keep an eye on, including one senator elizabeth warren is hosting. "the washington post" is reporting on the senate gop and white house planning a final blitz to pass health care. i want to play for you what senate majority leader mitch mcconnell told my colleagues the other day. >> if my side is unable to agree on an adequate replacement, then some kind of action with regard to the private health insurance market must occur. >> jonathan, is this a concession that he may have to work with democrats? >> it is a concession and it's also a little bit of a threat. there seems to be a difference in approach here between senator mcco

. -- general mcmaster and the president. i will do every thing i can to get to every person in this room. reporter: will president trump have a press conference with us in the near future? mr. scaramucci: i will talk to him, absolutely. listen,from he is it -- he is a great communicator. he won this election -- i used another method a lot better when i was in the campaign and transition from a i think we spent, i don't know, 60% of the money and one third of the personnel. we won the president because of donald j. trump. he is an unbelievable politician. of course at some point we will make sure that happens. i don't know what point that will be, but i will talk to him. i will get to everybody. i will do my very best to get to everybody. reporter: anthony, you seem like a very savvy person, and he said that the white house is a difficult place. how are you going to handle a couple things? mr. scaramucci: let me explain that -- it is a difficult place because here is what happens. it is a little cramped in ther e. you have a

mcmaster. john kirby is saying if this is structured, this can play to his advantage, but mcmaster saying no specific agenda. he'll talk about what he wants to talk about. what are some of the concerns that folks have if the president goes into this and is winging it? or does this sort of eliminate the chance that he will be ad-libbing? >> color me skeptical, brianna, the president would actually be winging this meeting. what h.r. mcmaster said publicly might be him being diplomatic towards the president. giving the president his ultimate authority to talk about what he wants to talk about and set the agenda. we know donald trump is not a president who likes to feel constrained or too tightly tethered to restrictions. this could be just his advisors trying to give him as much flexibility as possible. you can bet before this meeting there is a great deal of preparation going on. running down the thing hess can address and certainly issues you cannot avoid addressing and the president needs to ad

i will need some direction from general mcmaster and the present. -- and the president. i will do everything i can to get to every person in this room. >> will president trump have a press conference with us in the near future? >> i will talk to him about it . the president is phenomenal with the press. he is a great communicator. he won this election. 60% of thespent money, and we had about one third of the personnel. we won the presidency because of donald j. trump. he is an unbelievable politician. at some point, we are going to make sure that that happens. i do not know when that point will be. you have to talk with him. i will do my very best to get everybody. i will go over here first. how are you going to handle -- [inaudible] >> let me explain that. it is a difficult place, because here's what happens to it is a little cramped in there. you have a lot of reporters from international news agencies. it is a difficult place, because you are trying to get a job done but you are sitting inside of a fishbowl. that is what i mean a difficult place. i do not mean a diffi

there are reports of general mcmaster having disagreements on policy over russia. can you say that there will be no other high-profile resignations of white house staff? mr. scaramucci: i honestly cannot answer that one way or the other, although i have an enormous amount of respect for general mcmaster. i am not going to answer it because i don't know. reporter: you are going to work with the legal team messaging as it relates to russia -- mr. scaramucci: i didn't say that. i said that i have not been briefed yet by the white house counsel about what is appropriate to talk about from this podium, and so i don't want to take any questions related. reporter: is the strategy that seems to be coming from this white house now in going after robert mueller's credibility the right one? mr. scaramucci: i -- again, that is sort of in that zip code of the legal team, and not in sarah or my zip code. i want to stay away from the question. it is actually very complicated, and i don't want to bore people with the legal details, but it is important for me on my first day standi

mcmaster. mcmaster and other national aides advised the president against holding the first official bilateral meeting with put putin. they didn't want him meeting putin on the record, much less in that surprising second interaction, a casual setting with no other u.s. officials present. how big is this rift and is it growing? >> the president has been under scrutiny for a long time from the public at large and some people within his own administration who are questioning it. we have learned and my colleague is a big part of this piece, national security advisor mcmaster among others expressed reservations about it being an official meeting. the president had an oval office meeting with the russian ambassador a few months ago. >> what were they worried about? why did they not want him to take a formal meeting? >> some of it is a distrust of vladmir putin and the russian agenda here. there will many who feel the president should be stronger on russian meddling. the president let slip sensitive c

mcmaster have a natural alliance. to the extent that mcmaster has been trying to bring some traction to this mess in the white house, he gaines help from kelly. but kelly is walking into the most challenging situation the chief of staff can be in. >> that's a good point general mcmasters is one of the happiest people to see who comes to work on machined morning it sound like john mclaughlin gets the last word thanks for joining us. appreciate it. >> "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. >>> the breaking news tonight, reince priebus is in the history books. the shortest serving of any white house chief of staff. he is out, after being under heavy fire and a former four-star marine general is in. so, tonight, who is general john kelly? the man who had been running homeland security. and can he bring a chain of command to the wild west of the west wing? as the president shrugs off the most spectacular failure, no replace and no way to predict what's next, except for the 11th hour, which we gbegins now. on a fri

mcmaster, h.r. mcmaster, talking about these sanctions that are in place now on venezuela's head of state down there that took quite some time. of course, a very important issue, but then the white house press secretary sarah sanders was talking about scaramucci specifically and said that it was the comments in the "new yorker" that were inappropriate for someone in his position. take a listen to exactly how she answered the question about why the president felt that scaramucci could no longer do the job. >> the president certainly felt that anthony's comments were inappropriate for a person in that position, and he didn't want to burden general kelly also with that line succession as i think we've made clear a few times over the course of the last couple of days to several of you individually you but general kelly has the full authority to operate within the white house and all staff will report to him. >> all staff will report to him. that is different than under reince priebus, the previous chief

we have just received a statement from hr mcmaster who attended the g 20 in hamburg germany. the general says, quote, at noon local time tomorrow, a deescalation zone in southwest syria will begin to take effect. such zones are a priority for the united states and we are encouraging by the progress made to reach this agreement. after achieving this hopeful step with governments of russia and jordan, president trump discussed the agreement with many world leaders at the g-20 summit including the president of turkey, british prime minister may and german chancellor merkel. and the statement goes on to say the united states remains committed to defeating isis, helping to end the conflict in syria, reducing suffering and enabling people to return to their homes. this agreement is an important step towards these common goals, end quote. again, that is from national security advisor general mcmaster, and we of course will bring you more on this story as it develops. eric: meanwhile the u.s. is planning a flight test of its missile defense system, firing interceptors from alaska. th

. >> and to general mcmaster? >> the president has prioritized his concern for the venezuelan people. so he's only considering those options which would benefit directly the venezuelan people. >> how many times does ofac sanctions stick and does maduro have any offense in the u.s.? >> i can't comment on his assets. this will be the fourth head of state. >> secretary -- >> yes. >> two questions. one on the sanctions and one about the election. the election, i want to know, do you see the election by maduro to consolidate power and also some -- "the washington post" thinks that the venezuela regime is on the direction of a coup. does the american government fear there's a coup underway in venezuela? and then the question i questions before. >> what we're seeing in venezuela is not a coup. what we're seeing is the brutal oppression of the venezuelan people. if you contrast the turnout from the opposition referendum to the very low numbers of the turnout during this farce associated with the constituent assembly, i th

mcmaster have a natural alliance. to the extent that mcmaster has been trying to bring tracks tracten to the mess in the white house he gains help from kelly. but kelly is walking into the most challenging situation the chief of staff can be in. >> that's a good point general mcmaster is one of the happiest people to see who comes to work on machined morning it sound like john mclaughlin gets the last word thanks for joining us. appreciate it. >> "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. >>> the breaking news tonight, reince priebus is in the history books. the shortest serving of any white house chief of staff. he is out after being under heavy fire and a froorm four-star marine general is in. tonight who is general john kelly? the man who had been running homeland security and can he bring an actual chain of command to the wild west of the west wing? as the president shrugs off the most spectacular failure of the gop in years. no repeal, no replace and no way to predict what's next except wing? as the presiden

secondly, he, mattis, and mcmaster have a very, very good and solid relationship, and i would just say to all of you regardless of personality issues, regardless of what you may think about former companies, whatever, from my standpoint, i think we should thank god that tillerson, mattis and mcmaster have chosen to be in the positions that they're in and that they were chosen to be in the positions that they're in. there is a -- there is dissonance. these three are focused on you know, longer-term outcomes. they're trying to put pieces in place to get there. tillerson and mattis never come to the white house with a proposal they haven't agreed to in advance. how nice is that, okay? however, the president is more of a personality-based individual. and his like for someone influences him. secondarily, as i understand it, there's a chalkboard in bannon owes office that lays out the campaign promises which were made, which are many, and they're checking those off. and so sometimes those campaign promises are made at a rally in tampa, conflict with an outcome over here, right? so that's whe

there have been reports about general mcmaster having disagreements on policy over russia. can you say that there will be no other high-profile rez i go nations or exits from the white house staff? >> so, again, another hypothetical. i honestly cannot answer that one way or the other, although i have enormous amount of respect for general mcmaster, i just don't know are the situation. i'm not going to answer it because i don't know. >> you said you're going to work with the team and messaging as it relates to russia. >> didn't say that. i specific -- no. i specifically said that i haven't been briefed yet by the white house counsel about what is appropriate to talk about from this podium, and so therefore, i don't want to take any questions related to russia. >> okay. i'd like to ask you, though, if -- is the strategy that seems to be coming from this white house now in going after robert mueller's credibility the right one? >> okay. so, again, that's sort of in that zip code of like, you know, the legal team and not really in sarah or my zip code, so i just want to stay aw

mcmaster and treasury secretary steve mnuchin to discuss the administration's response to the maduro regime's recent democratic actions in venezuela. they will each make opening remarks and then take your questions on the topic at hand, and then as always, your favorite time of day, i'll come back up and take your questions. thank you. >> hi, good afternoon, everyone. i thought it might be best just to read the president's statement. since president trump's inauguration, the trump administration has called on maduro's regime to respect the constitution, to respect the national assembly, hold free and fair elections, address the humanitarian needs of the venezuelan people, release political prisoners and st stop opressing its great people. the regime has refused to heed this call, and the recent actions culminating in yesterday's outrageous seizure of absolute power through the sham election of the national constituent assembly represent a very serious blow to democracy in our hemisphere. maduro is not just a bad leader, he is now a dictator. the united states stands with the people o

there are reports of general mcmaster having disagreements on policy on russia. can you say that there will be no other high-profile resignations of white house staff? mr. scaramucci: i honestly cannot answer that one way or the other, although i have an enormous amount of respect for general mcmaster. i don't know enough. reporter: you are going to work ith the legal team messaging as it relates to russia --. mr. scaramucci: i specifically said i haven't been briefed yet by the white house counsel about what is appropriate to talk about from this podium so, therefore, i don't want to take any questions related to russia. reporter: is the strategy that seems to be coming from this white house now in going after robert mueller's credibility the right one? r. scaramucci: i -- again, that is sort of in that zip code of the legal team, and not in sarah or my code. it is actually very complicated, and i don't want to bore people with the legal details, but it is important on my first day standing up here that i don't go in that direction. i'm not going to answer the q

first of all, very specific questioning and briefing from the treasury secretary and general mcmaster about the situation in venezuela. it is getting to be a crisis situation. they're doing all they can economically to tighten the grip around an administration in venezuela that has just stepped over the line into dictatorship from what was a very strained democracy to dictatorship. as such this administration says they will not let that stand. at least those in power will no longer have accessfunds they have in the united states or our allies. getting on to juicy stuff. melissa: immediately the press conference turned to the case of anthony scaramucci who left after 10 days on the job. of course reporters there wanting to drill down on the specifics of that departure, what happens from there. let's bring in bret baier. set "special report" host with us now. what did you make of that? they sure did ask the same question over and over. >> good afternoon, david and melissa. i think, what i took from it is reading between the lines, not so many words. one, this is general john kelly empow

mcmaster have a natural alliance. to the extent that mcmaster has been trying to bring tracks tracten to the mess in the white house he gains help from kelly. but kelly is walking into the most challenging situation the chief of staff can be in. >> that's a good point general mcmaster is one of the happiest people to see who comes to work on machined morning it sound like john mclaughlin gets the last word thanks for joining us. appreciate it. >> "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. >>> the breaking news tonight, reince priebus is in the history books. the shortest serving of any white house chief of staff. he is out after being under heavy fire and a froorm four-star marine general is in. tonight who is general john kelly? the man who had been running homeland security and can he bring an actual chain of command to the wild west of the west wing? as the president shrugs off the most spectacular failure of the gop in years. no repeal, no replace and no way to predict what's next except

hr mcmaster, a serious person. he was managing the north korean threat while the president was in the twitter world with our friends joe and mika. how does a president on the road bifurcate the silliness of what he does on twitter with the seriousness of america's national security threats? >> i'm not sure, to be honest with you. but ever since he appointed his national security team there's an assumption that these were the adults in the room. that somehow they would in some way ground trump's erratic behavior. and policy, particularly foreign policy would be stabilized because of these folks. but one of the things that i'm worried about. i'm concerned about, we don't have a clear idea about what the policy has been with regards to north korea. we don't have a clear idea of what the russian policy has been. so i don't know what he's sitting down at the table to say. to do. and part of what my intuition he'll be easily had by the wiley vladimir putin. >> we have peter alexander still with us. what do they say about

mcmaster's top assistant, she was in with the president and they were discussing and talking. so, everybody was being, as far as i could tell, everything was being done that had to be done in the midst of all that, this occurred. >> you're on the homeland security committee. you've worked with general kelly, the now former secretary of homeland security. can he bring order? he's a retired four-star marine corps general. can he bring order and discipline to the white house? >> yeah, i wouldn't want to get in frank kelly's way, i'll put it that way. anywhere he goes, he's very strong, very quiet, quiet strength he has, determination. certainly he's a great leader. everyone i've spoken to at hhs has a great regard for him. >> do you expect more shoes to drop? >> i have no idea. i'm trying to catch the 6:00 train here at union station. anyway, i'll let you know if i hear of any more shoes drop. >> you have a lot going on. congressman peter king as usual, thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks, wochllf. >> thank you. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> i'm wolf blitzer

have perpetual war because war is of course good business what do you make national security adviser mcmasters absence from friday's thumb have charged this means nobody reliable from the u.s. that group was present in the meeting however last time trump met with high level russian officials and included mcmaster contents of his meeting in the discussion were actually leaked to the press to the washington post you know indeed again half of the cabinet not half but a significant section of the trump administration i made up of pentagon generals mcmaster took the place of flynn also in general and again if the pentagon feels that they have a blank check and i do really believe they feel that they can do almost anything then we don't know and of course does make masters absence means that the pentagon's not on board again we don't really know there could be one part of a pentagon strategy towards syria which is to intervene with some limited cease fire agreements like the one in southwest syria again signed by russia iran russia united states in jordan not syria. as a precursor to a larger interv

i know general mattis, general mcmaster are people who want to win. and they have the strategy to win. and we have to be of assistance to them to provide the many women with what they need to win. so i asked my colleagues with passion that we sit down and figure out a budget deal, move forward

mcmaster confirmed publicly that the u.s. has updated it's military options against pyongyang. >> we can't repeat the same failed approach in the past, the president has made clear to us that he will not accept a nuclear power in north korea. >> the president's posture towards china clearly changing in recent weeks. donald trump appearing to lose faith in beijing's willingness to take on north korea. >> i wish we would have a little more help with respect to north korea from china, but that doesn't seem to be working out. >> donald trump warning in april that he is willing to take unilateral action if china does not do more to contain the threat. >> they have a diplomatic responsibility to kper much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime. >> this growing tension coming as president trump prepares to leave for the g-20 summit in germany, where hess expected to sit down with president xi and the president of south korea. >> president trump's meeting with president xi is justone of many high stakes meetings he w

mcmaster says that mr. trump plans to go into that meeting with no agenda. well, putin will certainly have an agenda. if avril or henry kissinger were going into that agenda, it would be one thing. for mr. trump to do that, it sounds exciting in the worst sense of the word. >> wishing you a good weekend and an even better independence day. george, thank you so much. >> glad to be with you. >>> coming up tonight, why one republican official told some trump officials to go jump in the gulf of mexico. that, when "the 11th hour" continues. brian, i just need to know if the customer app will be live monday. can we at least analyze customer traffic? can we push the offer online? brian, i just had a quick question. brian? brian... legacy technology can handcuff any company. but "yes" is here. you're saying the new app will go live monday?! yeah. with help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. with the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. why? we can't stay here! terrible toilet paper! i'll never get clean! way ahead of you. charmin ultra strong.

there are reports of general mcmaster having disagreements on policy on russia. can you say that there will be no other high-profile resignations of white house staff? mr. scaramucci: i honestly cannot answer that one way or the other, although i have an enormous amount of respect for general mcmaster. i don't know enough. reporter: you are going to work with the legal team messaging as it relates to russia --. mr. scaramucci: i specifically said i haven't been briefed yet by the white house counsel about what is appropriate to talk about from this podium so, therefore, i don't want to take any questions related to russia. reporter: is the strategy that seems to be coming from this white house now in going after robert mueller's credibility the right one? mr. scaramucci: i -- again, that is sort of in that zip code of the legal team, and not in sarah or my code. it is actually very complicated, and i don't want to bore people with the legal details, but it is important on my first day standing up here that i don't go in that direction. i'm not going to answer the