reince priebus, a good man. thank you very much. >> reporter: so, the president there explaining his decision briefly as he arrived back at andrews. wolf, this decision was actually made as the plane was just about to land. and the president held this firm, it did not leak out, of course. he has been on a tear against the leakers. so, he let virtually no one here at the white house know about it, but he announced it in his own terms on twitter. this is what he said. let's take a look at this series of messages. probably the first chief of staff in the history to be announced in this way, wolf. the president said this. he said, i am pleased to inform you that i have just named general -- secretary john f. kelly as the white house chief of staff. he is a great american and a great leader. he goes on to say john has also done a spectacular job at homeland security. hayes been a true star of my administration. and then he went on a short time later, wolf, to thank reince priebus. he said, i would like to thank reinc

to reince priebus. we saw him on the airplane today with anthony scaramucci, which i'm not too surprised about, actually, because for reince priebus, to leave the white house, he's going to have to leave on good terms. the fact of the matter is he's leaving under a very dark cloud. and if it is true, which i do believe it's true, that he did resign yesterday, at least in some ways, he's going out on his own terms. >> presumably the president did not want to have him resign without having a successor ready to be announced at the same time. so he's announcing john kelly is the new white house chief of staff by giving up his cabinet position as secretary of homeland security. sara murray is getting additional information. what are you learning, sara? >> reporter: there are some people close to the president who are weighing in on this pick. there are a lot of people who thought reince priebus was a very good fit to this job when trump first came to the white house. they felt he needed a political hand on h

reince priebus said that he resigned, but we know from very early on that reince priebus had been on the list of those who had a bulls eye on his back. reince priebus is someone who was the establishment, who was going to help reign in this white house that's in chaos. you know, i remember hearing many stories from many sources about how he would tell people within the white house who had walk-in privileges all the time, you have to do it this way. you are under my purview. there were people who would buck him. but reince priebus tried to keep order in a chaotic place where people felt they could run in at any time. and dan will tell you that when you have a chief of staff everyone all the senior officials come in under that chief of staff and have their back and forth, if you will, and then work it out before it goes to the president and instead reince priebus was trying to keep order, but those people who had the issues kept going to the president keeping the chaos going. so reince priebus did as much as he could do in this administration, but he's trying to save face. he was a big

you point out about reince priebus. we are hearing from fox news from white house sources that -- this is more breaking news. that he resigned secretly yesterday. what are your thoughts about that. >> i would not be surprised after all the stuff that went on. you know, my sense he served this as he can. i think he was probably frustrated with the loss of the health care. he played a key roll in trying to make all of that happen on the house side was very influential. i would not be surprised if he was not given something in this administration beyond what he already has. in the private sector. but he's a very experienced guy, and my guess is he made a lot of friends in his tenure in washington and will continue to serve as he can. i think the key thing here, though, is this will stop the bleeding that was going on. this is one of the worst i've seen it the presidency, and i think this will sort of turn the corner and give us an opportunity to move the ball forward. liz: it's interesting. there's an irony here. reince pr

but reince priebus a good man. thank you very much. >> at this point let us bring in tonight's starting panel for a friday night nbc news white house correspondent kristin welker who was busy to do. "washington post" white house burrow -- bureau chief, white house reporter for politico. you reported what you saw contemporaneously, it speaks to the kind of continuing diminishing of reince priebus, but tell us what you saw when they landed. >> well, they were quite delayed in landing, about an extra half hour in the air coming down from new york. i think they were circling for sometime due to bad weather. when they finally landed and pulled up at the parking place there we saw a bunch of staffers come out of the back of the plane and we saw the senior staffers, reince priebus, and steven miller and the director there at the white house all go into a vehicle together. and this was just at the time that the tweet was coming out from the president that john kelly would be the new chief of staff. and then just moments af

reince priebus out. it turns out he resigned yesterday, he says, after the name calling and allegations of leaking against him. we didn't find out about it until late today. here's part of what scaramucci said about reince priebus in a phone call to cnn yesterday, insisting they were bros. not tight bros like scaramucci says he and the president are. >> as you know from the italian character, the fish stinks from the head down. two fish that don't stink, and that's me and the president. i don't like the activity that's going on in the white house. i don't like what they're doing to my friend and doing to the president of the united states or their fellow colleagues in the west wing. if you want to talk about the chief of staff, we have had odds and differences. when i said we were brothers from the podium, that's because we're rough on each other. some brothers are like cain and able. >> if you're not up on your bible stories, cain killed able. in the early morning hours of today, the senate voted agains

is donald trump saying it's come from reince priebus? we haven't heard from reince priebus himself. is he playing reince priebus for not stopping it? that's one of the things that perhaps when he valuables loyalty, that's one of the reason why we wonder what's going on in this west wing and who exactly is to blame for the leaks. when it comes to stopping it, scaramucci said he will battle it and get rid of anyone leaking and they will be out of the door and generaljohn kelly has there in the armed forces for a number of years, he has served in iraq and when it comes to getting the leakers out and being able to seek them out and deal with them harshly, who better than a general to do that? laura bicker speaking to me earlier. this just happened within the past couple of hours and at the moment reince priebus is giving an interview to cnn and some of the lines coming out of it are that he is actually being quite conciliatory given that he has just left his position in the white house. he a p pa re ntly position in the white house. he apparently has told cnn i always talked to the pres

obviously, reince priebus wasn't up to the task. do you see evidence that john kelly will have a more subtle hand temperature advising of the president? >> i will offer this. if you are a four-star marine general, the rank at which john kelly left his service to the united states military. that is a very political accomplishment. it is an accomplishment with a lot of discipline and there's a lot of management experience when you are a general. so it's not in the policy and politics world. but anyone who reaches that level of being a general he has had to deal with a lot of internal conflicts with staff. having to execute a plan. and he had done work as a liaison to congress while he was in uniform. so there are a couple of building blocks there that are areas where the president can look for just new structure. i think the president also wants this decision to be well received publicly. and he has found when he makes decisions with people who are broadly respected, like people in both parties respect someone of john kelly's stature,

now we know it's reince priebus. how much of an effect do you think anthony scaramucci had on reince priebus' resignation? >> we have seen signs of this for quite some time. but since it happened right after the rift, it sends a message that it's okay to talk about your colleagues like this. i don't think priebus deserves this. he was very successful at the rnc. he was instrumental in getting the party to rally after trump after the bruising primaries. >> i'm so sorry. but the notion that reince priebus is responsible for the republican victory is absurd. >> i didn't say that. >> these were the tea party wave that got republicans in. priebus has always been part of the establishment it was donald trump's message that got him elected. it wasn't like he was in line with the republican party. priebus is part of the problem. and i think was more concerned with the president when he brought him in and thought that was going to be a smooth thing. and then wants that same guy to be the lead in getting his policy passed in c

taking aim at reince priebus. when you heard that, obviously it signals that perhaps priebus' days were numbered. his term here has been obviously pretty up and down when you look at what the chief of staff is trying to do. but this, to reince priebus' defense, is a tough presidency to steer and keep all the cats herded, if you will. there's a lot of cooks in the donald trump kitchen. now you will have a general at the helm who he try to straighten out the white house behind the scenes. >> speaking of kat. >> hi, bret. the president just tweeted out thanks reince priebus for his service. it doesn't seem to be -- every time a switch like this happens, people try to paint it as turmoil is. there more excitement or are people freaking out? >> any time there's a chief of staff that doesn't make it a full year that is a big deal for a white house that is trying to get its sea legs under it and just lost a major legislative battle on capitol hill with the healthcare loss early this morning. so i don't think you can dimi

. >> we did invite reince priebus to join us here for an interview. we would love to have him discuss the issues. so far he has declined. let me switch gears. the attorney general congressman jeff sessions says he will serve as long as the president wants him to serve saying of the criticism it is kind of hurtful. i want you to respond to this because he is saying the president is a strong leader. is this really an appropriate way for the president of the united states to treat the attorney general of the united states? >> i have great regard for jeff sessions and all my dealings he has been ultimate professional. not to be dwelling, he came to my district and spent five hours meeting with the police and the families, meeting with reporters, meeting with united states attorneys, the prosecutors, with i.c.e., homeland security, everybody. all of my dealings with him when he was in the senate and justice department i have great regard for jeff sessions. i would not say anything negative about jeff sessions. the president has his own way of dialing. i ha

>> reince priebus is really a star, and he is the hardest working guy. >> for months, reince priebus had the president's back, like when questions for asked about a conflict of interest when trump and his businesses. >> all of these things will be followed, and they will be done properly. >> fending off questions about why the president still hadn't released his tax returns. >> and president trump, one of the most historic presidential victories in this country and the other people asking me this question is people like you. >> soon after taking office, reince priebus found himself unable to contain a laundry list of controversies, the immigration ban, the russia investigation and the failure of the senate's plan to repeal and replace obamacare. >> still reince priebus kept up a brave face. >> i'm not in my trouble. i've got a great relationship with the president. we talk all the time. in fact, just before coming on the set, he gave me a call. >> reince priebus, who was never an outsider and always a republican party guy, lost an important ally when press secretary sean spicer resig

your problem was reince priebus. anthony scaramucci is, i don't mean this in a way, this she a chameleon, he learned donald trump's head movements to do very well. so anthony scaramucci will figure et all out. i hard he would have liked that job, himself. the bottom line is john kelly and anthony scaramucci both have said they think leaks are the absolute worst thing that can happen to this administration so if they can get a hand him on that they will consider it a success. i don't think they will get a hand him on it. there are reasons administrations leak. they are both going towards that goal. >> if he achieves his goal of getting his main rival out of the way, other than trying to figure when he's on the record and not on the record with reporters, what is it that his mission is now? clearly communications steam lining and making it smooth and adult feeling is not his strength? >> so i'm of that group that doesn't think this is the priority, an thine scaramucci came in for different reasons, he sticks up for the

reince priebus out. homeland security secretary, john kelly, in. could it be the change that brings new stability to the chaotic west wing. >>> north korea's ballistic missile, they fear it has major range to hit cities not just on the west coast. the path forward for health care after friday's defeat. >>> new this morning, president trump expected to sign a bill with new sanctions on russia which restricts the president's abilities to lift sanctions. congress passed the bill by an overwhelming margin. sarah huckabee sanders says, president jondonald j. trump ha read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical issues and approves the bill and intends to sign it. >>> president trump encouraging police to take an aggressive approach with suspects. >> when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just seen them thrown in, rough, i said, please don't be too nice, like when you put somebody in the car and you are protecting their head, don't hit their head and they have just killed somebody, don't hit their hea

reince priebus saying i would like to thank reince for this service and dedication, we of him >> it follows speculation that priebus could be ousted a short time ago the president commented at joint base andrews in maryland. there's a video of ♪ ♪. >> that is not the president but -- i can tell you -- i can tell you he called reince priebus a good man, thank you very much and invited him to get down with the uptown funk >> the big question is what happens next. i'm talking about generally in politics, what's going to happen now >> joining us is mike lane and david brown, two friends of 5at630. good evening, let's talk about first of all the replacement, he announced he's replacing reince priebus with john kelly and the night he was nominated, mike lane, you were our guest and you've known him in the past >> in the late 70's. when i was marine corp and then lieutenant john kelly was in my basic class in quantico. we spent six months together, six hard, bonding months, he's a great man. everybody in our platoon or our company knew he was going to graduate number one and going to become a

one will reince priebus go ? he came over from the rnc there has been definite friction between rnc and trump. this has been talked about for months. reince priebus remained loyal to the last he said it is time to go in a new direction. i remained loyal to the president and his policies. >> could there be anyone else ? are there other members of the chief of staff office leaving ? as a result of reince priebus leaving ? >> it could be. john kelly me come in. he loves sean spicer. reince priebus is a rnc guy anthony scaramucci is in charge of the medications. he threatened to fire the entire staff if he doesn't get to the bottom of leaks . accusing reince priebus of leaks. and an expletive laced tirade. more changes could be coming. steve bannon, anthony scaramucci went off on him also . is steve bannon the next to go ? sarah huckabee sanders was asked about that she said it has nothing to do with anthony scaramucci. i know nothing about bannon. i think everyone is watching who is next.>>> earlier today president

what will reince priebus do. we know he pushed back very vigorously against this decision to appoint anthony scaramucci as communications director. he didn't think this was the right direction for the white house. he didn't think he had experience. there were other people who were concerned about this within the white house. he's being supported by jared and ivanka. you have that divide presenting itself yet again. this is a white house that is no stranger to sharp divides. remember, also, andrea, reince priebus has been really one of the main point people to oversee healthcare reform at the white house. and so in the wake of what we have seen with healthcare reform, it has stumbled, it has fallen. by all accounts it was dead earlier this week. there was an attempt to revive it when the president and, frankly, reince priebus decided to call the gop senators to the president. you have to get this done. this is what we campaigned on. it's what you all campaigned on for the past seven years. but the background to th

his got reince priebus. priebus is out. the bad news for scaramucci is the chief of staff is a marine corp general, retired. i'm wondering how long kelly will put up with the guy that scaramucci can talk with donald trump any time he wants without going through the chain of command. that will be interesting to see. i know the word is out today that reince priebus knew all about this yesterday and they were going through the motions. i don't buy it for a second. i think this was executed gangland style. they for this event at which the president widely, lavishly praised kelly who is about to take over. then when they get back to joint base andrews, trump stays on the plane. the president asks reince to stay behind. they have a discussion and then reince priebus gets off the plane and then gets in a car with two other trump aides who then after a few seconds or so get out of the car and leave reince priebus alone in the car to read the tweets announcing his own dismissal. that's the way i put the tick tock together. that is r

reince priebus, a good man. thank you very much. >> bret: a wild week in washington ending with a west wing shakeup announced late this afternoon. the president speaking about his new chief of staff, homeland security retired general john kelly. the press secretary resigning and a new white house chief of staff chief of staff. welcome to washington. i am bret baier. just before 5:00 eastern time, president trump announced general kelly will be his new chief of staff, he starts monday morning. at first, there is no mention of what happened to reince priebus, who has taken a beating this week, courtesy of incoming communications director anthony scaramucci. the president, priebus and scaramucci returned to washington from long island on air force one. he thanked him for his service and dedication. the shortest tenure, 189 days, of any chief of staff not serving in an interim role in the white house. kevin corke with all the breaking news of a dramatically changing white house. kevin. >> quite a day here at the whi

and he thought reince priebus is weak. one of the reasons he's been so angry at jeff sessions is that he recused himself. and he thought that recusal was weak. so he's looking at the general as a strong person and perhaps someone he regards as peer and somebody he might be able to go to for advice and take that advice, which perhaps he doesn't feel like he has had in this white house. will he listen to him? wloo knows. >> david, axelrod, the definition of strength and weakness in this white house is so fascinating. the idea that being bombastic is strength but a guy like reince priebus who's offered multiple opportunities to bad mouth too, respond with fire or harsh words for anthony scaramucci chooses not to do that and tries to lead in an elegant way. that's viewed as weakness. one wonders if he had called in right after anthony scaramucci had called in and bashed back if the president would view that as strength. >> it's interesting. the president brought in a general and he left as a good soldier. but i have to say i t

reince priebus, a good man. thank you very much. >> his ouster caps a week of heightened tensions in the white wase where priebus embroiled in a public feud with trump's new communications director, anthony scaramucci. after an epic report from "the new yorker" where out reincecalls priebus. what do we know about what went down here? members tell you that of president trump's most trusted advisers including of his family over the past several months have grown more frustrated with reince priebus, former chairman of the party and communications director sean spicer. last week we saw the removal of with theer and then arrival of anthony scaramucci, more controversy engulfing the white house in terms of the display of the infighting in the administration, capped off with reince priebus leaving mean fordoes this policy, for tax reform, for healthcare? i can tell you this. spicer, thehat sean reason that reince priebus were fold during the transition was because of their relationship with house speaker paul ryan as w

ending the rocky six-month tenure of reince priebus. he made the announcement on twitter, calling kelly a great leader and a true star of the administration. a knock to priebus saying i would like to thank reince priebus for his dedication to the service. we accomplished a lot together. alexis, tell me about the timing of this decision by president trump. alexis: in this particular case, the president had a long string of disappointments and so the idea that the president was already unhappy with his staff and the chief of and we have seen them already make a change in the communications, we can tell whether it was the russian investigation, the way health care is going, his poll numbers, how the communications and the staff were operating, the president was already deeply frustrated. the timing coming immediately after what the president considered an exasperating, frustrating loss in the senate over the health care bill is not that shocking, especially when you consider the president is being perched to look ahead and looking ahead to

reince priebus a good man. thank you very much. >> martha: it's been quite a roller coaster for reince priebus. today they both boarded air force one together. it's called a game of survivor between the president's big players. what happens now at the white house? here now, kelly and hot an end. what's different at the white house? >> i'm really glad everyone is taking the high road tonight. and there has been so much sacrifice in this administration and the president called him a good man. he also says that secretary kelly has served his country honorably. and i think everyone in this administration should know, if you don't see your name on the list, you should get with the program. why are we here, we are here because americans elected one person over the other based on the issues. they do want obamacare repealed and replaced. they do want less government. >> martha: let me ask you this this, my question is what changed since monday? this week has been pretty ugly. what's different? when john kelly walks in

reince priebus is out, general john kelly is in. the president accepting the resignation of his chief-of-staff and learning that priebus resigned privately yesterday but the writing had been on the wall. president trump making the announcement, of course, on twitter and going on to say this. >> reince priebus was a good man, john kelly will do a fantastic job. >> and reince priebus tells our wolf blitzer that he's just fine with all of this. >> he intuitively determined that it was time to do something differently and i think he's right. >>> we have breaking news tonight on the russia investigation and the question that's been looming over this administration during a week of chaos and upheaval. president trump will sign the russian sanctions bill we've learned tonight. in a statement the white house said, president trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it. he has now reviewed the final version and based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it. t

anthony scaramucci saying reince priebus was a speaker. in light of the leak of my financial disclosure which is a felony, i will be contacting the fbi and hashtaging reince priebus. we should have the financial information in politico, that is public record, we don't know if it was leaked, but the public nature of this white house infighting that is causing so many people to talk about washington. this is some of the very bizarre conversation between anthony scaramucci and chris cuomo moe. scaramucci said he just got off the phone with the president prior to this discussion. >> absolutely, completely and totally reprehensible and as you know from the expression, the fish thinks from the head down. what i can tell you two fish that don't think, okay? that's me and the president. i don't like the activity that's going on in the white house. i don't like what they are doing to my friend. i don't like what they are doing to the president of the united states. fellow colleagues in the west wing. if you want to talk about the chief of staff, we

chief of staff reince priebus steps down. trump named homeland security secretary and retired general jon kelly as his new right-hand man. priebus made the announcement just 24 hours after new communications director anthony scaramucci went on a vulgar rant against him accusing priebus of leaking information to the press, but priebus tells cnn this is not a sign of a rift in the west wing. it's rather a recess. >> the president has a right to hit a reset button. i think it's a good time to hit the reset button. i think he was right to hit the resut button. and i think it was something that i think the white house needs. i think it's healthy. >> will it be a reset for trump's agenda? this week was punctuated by senate republicans' failure to repeal and replace obamacare and today the president is tweeting major krcriticisms against gop lawmakers, a seeping misunderstanding about how the vote failed. more on that in a moment. but first let's talk more about this major staffing change within the executive branch. reince priebus

again, reince priebus is taught back to the republican leadership. the base of the party lost trump, and we love what he is doing. but the leadership of the republican party has been at odds with trump. we will have to leave it there for now. thank you very much. you were a very welcome. the family of a man who died after being apprehended by police has appealed for peace — after unrest broke out on the streets in the wake of his death. the independent police complaints commission is investigating the death of 20—year—old rashan charles. last night angry clashes broke out as protesters blocked a road in dalston, east london, and set mattresses alight. richard lister reports. the vigil here has passed off peacefully. i think the campaigners very much wanted to bring their message right to the door of the police. some were chanting justice for rashan, some holding pictures of him. among the crowd was his father. i know the family have seemed worried about the violent scenes we saw last night in hackney, with objects being thrown out the police. a

reince priebus of leaks and reince priebus goes. there is definitely a one—sided battle being waged in the media, which? run really on the war path for reince priebus. in his first appearance last week, when scaramucci was named, he tried to play it off as him and priebus being brothers. that escalated this week when he compared him and priebus the cain and abel, of course the biblical characters wear one killed the other. so not a very subtle signal publicly, that he had it in for priebus and was interested in not necessarily having them both at the helm at the white house. general john kelly is now set to take over. are we going to see the tensions simmer down? is this the end of the soap opera? well, john kelly is a retired general. it is an interesting pic for a white house chief of staff. of course he is well experienced on the national security side of things, but it remains to be seen side of things, but it remains to be seen how he is going to do on the political side of things. he is widely accepted for having leadership

reince priebus a good man. thank you very much. >> reince priebus gets some credit for helping getting president trump elected in the ground game. he's out near ours after a major failure on health care. when he urged the g.o.p. nominee to get out of the race because of that access hollywood tape. the president tweeted about that in private. and scaramucci comments against his strong comments against reince priebus. it was written in giant letters last night that an interview where he called reince priebus a bleeping schizophrenic. and as the president was getting off the plane, reince priebus secretly left the motorcade. tonight he put out a statement that said it was one of the greatest honors of his life to serve the president. and then he told sean hannity this. >> i think going a different direction and hitting the reset button is a good thing. the president did that and i think he's happy. i think it's always a little mixed when things like this happen. i generally feel pretty good. >> he will be preceded

just reince priebus is leaving. as you know, typically in most white houses the chief of staff is the one who is in charge of funneling all the information to the president, people report to him, he reports to the president. but this this white house there are so many people who report directly to donald trump including jared kushner, ivanka trump, anthony scaramucci, steve bannon. so it will be interesting to see how john kelly takes the reins in this white house. >> this white house is far from traditional. that's for sure. diane, there's been a lot of speculation already as to who might replace now general kelly as the department of homeland security secretary. one name raising eyebrows that has been thrown out is embattled attorney general jeff sessions. >> yeah. we need to say this is a wild theory that is being tossed around by politicos and talking heads right now, so we have to be clear. there's no evidence to suggest that this is anything more than that. at least right now. but look, it's something that sen

>> there was always speculation that reince priebus was on his way out. that he was not doing the job and could not control the people that reported to the president. what happened yesterday seems to have the ball rolling on that seems to have happened last friday when the president announced he was bringing in anthony scaramucci to be the white house communications director. anthony scaramucci and reince priebus do not have the best relationship, even though they tried to put a good face on it last week. then you had, this week, the astounding new yorker magazine interview where anthony hurtfulci said a lot of , ugly things about reince priebus, accusing him of leaking. anthony scaramucci's financial form. then, we find out that the president is replacing reince priebus with general john kelly. host: tell us more about general john kelly. i understand he is the nation's larger -- longest-serving commanders? >> he served in the marines for 40 plus years and has one of the most torrid military general careers. as you and i know, president trump is an them

will we see reince priebus today? will we get a statement from him, sort of publicly, sent to every member of the press? who will be named press secretary now? because there is an opening for that. as of about two hours ago. so just another friday. >> just another friday. hallie jackson for us there. our chief white house correspondent inside the briefing room, where, again, we expect to hear from the deputy press secretary in about 55 minutes. the first on-camera briefing in some 22 days. we'll come back to you in just a bit, hallie. we also have our team standing by for us here in new york, as well, katy tur. and steve kornacki, as well. let me come to you, because i know you've got a lot of sources inside this administration, a lot of folks you have been talking to. is it true that spicer last night was telling folks that he would walk if they hired scaramucci -- >> yeah, according to sources that i spoke to. spicer said last night, when he found out the news that scaramucci was going to be named communications dir

priebus, promising publicly that reince priebus would soon be fired. every single thing that happened to the trump white house this week was negative, and every one of those things should have been controllable by the white house chief of staff. then, then came the humiliating defeat of the trump/mcconnell repeal of obamacare in the senate last night, something the president had said he could do in a day. something the president said would be easy. it was the president's first major piece of legislation, and no one can remember the last time a president's first major piece of legislation was defeated by the congress. and so at the end of a week of humiliation and chaos in the white house, the president had had enough and decided the solution was to bring in former general john kelly, now the secretary of homeland security. but what everyone in washington knows is that if general kelly had been the white house chief of staff every day this week, all those same things would have happened, and it would still be the worst week in the history of the trump p

reince priebus and steve bannon were not surprised at this. the present will meet with someone he likes and say do you want this job without telling anybody else about it. he understands there was pushback. and then spicer being aligned with previous didn't like it and apparently has thrown in the towel. we are awaiting official word from the white house, but this all revolves around the idea that the president wanted his man in the communications director position, that man is anthony scaramucci. he was not interested in going through a chain of command back to the president, he wanted to have a direct line of communication, sean spicer apparently did not like that idea or the idea of scaramucci being installed in a position and so now, he has tendered his resignation. we hope to find out officially very soon, there's a big meeting going on in the press secretary's office just a short time ago, we were all ushered out of that area, but we should be brought in soon to learn what the finer points of all of this word. what a friday morning. >> h

and reince priebus of wisconsin, will soon be a private citizen again. and tonight, he's making plans to, as they say, spend more time with his family. his replacement as homeland security secretary, john kelly, a four-star marine general. he starts on monday. and in trump white house terms, that is ages from now. priebus granted his exit interview, the first one to cnn. notable because the president never misses a chance to call them fake. and priebus said his departure symbolized the president pressing the reset button, what trump accused hillary clinton for being with russia. bre priebus was graceful in parting, as he praised trump for his unmatched political instincts. >> i've been, obviously, talking to the president. for a few days about this. and ultimately, i formally resigned yesterday. it was something i talked to the president about. i always said to him and he said to me, that either one of us need to move in a different direction, let's talk about it and get it done. i'm going to be a trump fan. i'm on team trump. he has the best political i

and reince priebus do not delete that. i will get to that in a second but i am told it was a joke you know, so unpatriotic of you not to tell me. what this was about was a single tweet. about a white house dinner that scaramucci attended with a president with sean hannity. and bill shine and obviously scaramucci did not want that to become public. so all of this suggests that you have to use really, you have not to drop in f bomb. now to the mess get here muddled by all of this? >> i think you put out some good points. i would encourage everyone to talk in respectful and we should each other because we are all professionals trying to do a job and i do not think it was ever respectful to use that kind of language. but you know, you are now i think the message would be that you're now the communications director. you are the spokesperson for the white house. for the president. >> don't become the story. >> don't become the story and think before you open your mouth. >> have you ever use less than decorative language? >> abso

reince priebus is out. anthony scaramucci has ascended and the trump administration is reeling after one of the most dramatic votes in recent senate history brought an end, at least for now, to the gop's seven-year effort to repeal obamacare. president trump announcing he is replacing reince priebus with john kelly. >> reince is a good man. john kelly will do a fantastic job. general kelly has been a star. done an incredible job thus far. respected by everybody. a great, great american. reince priebus, a good man. thank you very much. john kelly leaves his post. he will now occupy the most powerful staff position in the white house. there's no replacement as of yet. the president he also announced the news on twitter where he offered kind words on twitter saying i would like the thank reince priebus for his service and dedication to this country. a source close to priebus says he resigned last night, making his tenure the shortest for any interim chief of staff in the history of the white house. the move co

and as we know reince priebus did his first interview with cnn last night with wolf blitzer. and during that interview he was asked by wolf what his greatest disappointment was during his time here in the west wing at the white house. let's listen to what reince had to say to that. >> what's your biggest disappointment? >> well, look, i mean, i wish health care would have passed, i don't think it's over yet. >> you don't have the votes. there's a majority the republicans have in the senate. >> they have to roll up their sleeves and keep coe working. they have to come up with another amendment. i think lindsey graham has another amendment. they have to work on lisa murkowski and see if we can get her on the right side of the health care debate. i don't think this is over. i think they can get this done. and obviously coming together as a party is something that i think we've had too much difficulty doing. >> so as you can see there, fred, health care was something that was definitely on reince priebus' mind. he was brought into this white house with the understanding that his

chief of staff reince priebus steps down. trump named homeland security secretary and retired general jon kelly as his new right-hand man. priebus made the announcement just 24 hours after new communications director anthony scaramucci went on a vulgar rant against him accusing priebus of leaking information to the press, but priebus t

priebus' name is connected to this every time it comes out. >> reince, reince, reince, reince priebus can speak to you about that and he can address that himself. >> all right. we will ask him. >> people know my history between me and reince. >> yes. >> okay. i can speak for my own actions. he's going to need to speak for his own actions. >> let's talk about all of that. because there's quite a bit to unpack. jackie kucinich is here, david swerdlick, jackie, this is the head of all white house communications who does not report to reince priebus, reports right to the president publicly knifing reince priebus on live television this morning saying reince can come out. he can explain himself. what is going on? what are the implications? >> what you said at the beginning there, this is someone the president has made, he doesn't have to report to reince. anthony scaramucci reports straight to the president. so in some ways the president did set up this rival dynamic because usually the president -- the communications director would report to the chief of staff, for whatever reason that ch

but reince priebus a good man. thank you very much. >> at this point let us bring in tonight's starting panel for a friday night nbc news white house correspondent kristin welker who was busy to do. "washington post" white house bureau chief dit o senior kwhous reporter for politico. josh gerritsen. dit o another business man jonathan le mere white house reporter for the associated press. great to have you all. josh i'll begin with you because of your placements today. you were a pool reporter for the arrival at the place i will always call andrews air force base ofs air force one. it was the smaller version of the plane today, a 757. and you reported what you saw contemporaneously it speaks to the ongoing diminishment of reince priebus. but tell us what you saw when they landed. >> they were quite delayed in landing, about an extra half hour in the air coming down from new york. i think they were circling for some time due to bad weather. when they finally did land and pull up at the parking place we saw a bunch o

air force one with reince priebus. that tweet came out while they were on the same plane once they did disembark from that plane, dh had bewhich had new york, the president apparently said that reince is a good man and that john kelly will do a fantastic job. now, there are several news outlets reporting that reince priebus actually had resigned privately on thursday. so perhaps there was some -- perhaps there was some indication that this was coming down the line as this health care bill failed we do have the bite of president trump commenting on priebus's departure. >> reince is a good man. john kelly will do a fantastic job. general kelly has been a star. done an incredible job thus far, respected by everybody a great, great american. reince priebus, a good man thank you very much. >> reporter: so a big shake up here in washington a lot of internal politics coming out into the open for all to see, guys, this weekend we'll see what happens over the next 48 hours. >> it is, ylan, and some speculation about this, as we

reince priebus, a good man. thank you very much. >> john kelly leaves his post as homeland security secretary where he oversaw the trump administration's draconian crackdown on immigration. it will now occupy the most powerful staff position in the white house. there's no replace am as of yet for that homeland security post. the president first announced the news on twitter where he offered kind words from priebus. i would like to thank reince priebus for his service and dedication to his country. we accomplish a lot together, and i am proud of him. a source close to priebus tells nbc news he resigned last night, making his tenure 190 days. the shortest for any non-interim chief of staff in the white house. a move coming months after a report that the president was considering firing priebus, and less than 48 hours after the new white house communications director anthony scaramucci directed the fbi to investigate priebus for leaking a scaramucci financial disclosure forum that was, in fact, a publicly available

this is not about reince priebus. this is a recognition that six months into this presidency it is a failed presidency. he has not done any of the big things that he promised he would do. and he doesn't have momentum on any of the big things. so it's a reflection that there needed to be a shake up mt that's what this is about. >> i've got to think capitol hill is looking at this going oh, okay. this will be okay. >> yeah. i think there's a couple of different layers of that. i mean, reince priebus has a great relationship with speaker ryan. on the other hand, he doesn't have deep legislative experience. he comes from the political side of the operation. obviously general kelly doesn't either. but the big question is whether the president is going to undercut his new chief of staff the way he undercut his old chief of staffment the problem with reince priebus as chief of staff had nothing to do with reince. >> he never had a chance to be chief of staff. >> correct. >> let's be fair here. did he ever have a chance? >> n

-- reince priebus weak? jonathan: he said that as scaramucci undermined him, outrageously so with the new yorker interview. there were people close to the president urging reince priebus to take a stand, to tell the president he needed to fire scaramucci for what he said in the interview. one person close to the president said to me that what reince priebus needed to do was to call's into his office and fire him himself. he could escort him out of the building, to force the issue. scaramucci made it clear on day one he was reporting to the president. it seems reince priebus was unwilling to force the issue to take a stand, so that is why the president decided today was the day to push him out. charlie: reince priebus has people that admire him like paul ryan, but they did not rush to his defense. jonathan: certainly not within the white house. there was absolutely nobody charlie- it struck me, him of being at the white house all week, seeing the way reince priebus was undermined, first more subtly, then fina