1 00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:04,733 JUDY WOODRUFF: But, first, back to the president's public appearances today, the state of his 2 00:00:04,733 --> 00:00:09,000 agenda, and his working relationship with congressional Republicans. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:14,000 For more on all that, we turn to Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report and Tamara Keith 4 00:00:14,466 --> 00:00:15,300 of NPR. 5 00:00:15,300 --> 00:00:16,300 Politics Monday. 6 00:00:16,300 --> 00:00:17,633 Thank you both for being here. 7 00:00:17,633 --> 00:00:20,133 So, let's start. 8 00:00:20,133 --> 00:00:23,366 We heard a little of this earlier, but let's bore in on the president's earlier criticism 9 00:00:23,366 --> 00:00:26,033 of Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader. 10 00:00:26,033 --> 00:00:29,566 The president had McConnell over to the White House today, as we saw earlier. 11 00:00:29,566 --> 00:00:34,566 Over the weekend, though, the president's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, spoke 12 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:37,966 at the conservative Value Voters Summit. 13 00:00:37,966 --> 00:00:42,800 He was combative about mainstream Republican senators whom he is vowing to unseat. 14 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,433 Let's listen. 15 00:00:45,433 --> 00:00:48,433 STEVE BANNON, Former White House Chief Strategist: All you folks that are so concerned that you're 16 00:00:48,433 --> 00:00:53,433 going to get primaried and defeated, you know, there's time for mea culpa. 17 00:00:54,866 --> 00:00:58,233 You can come to a stick and condemn Senator Corker. 18 00:00:58,233 --> 00:01:03,233 And you can come to a stick, a microphone, and you can say, I'm not going to vote for 19 00:01:04,366 --> 00:01:05,633 Mitch McConnell for majority leader. 20 00:01:05,633 --> 00:01:07,600 SEN. 21 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:08,800 MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), Majority Leader: My goal, as the leader of the Republican Party 22 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,933 in the Senate, is to keep us in the majority. 23 00:01:11,933 --> 00:01:14,900 The way you do that is not complicate it. 24 00:01:14,900 --> 00:01:19,200 You have to nominate people who can actually win, because winners make policy and losers 25 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,733 go home. 26 00:01:21,733 --> 00:01:25,066 JUDY WOODRUFF: And so, Amy, I don't know whether it's complicated or not, but Mitch McConnell 27 00:01:25,066 --> 00:01:29,533 is saying the party is going to win the way it is, and Steve Bannon is saying, no, we 28 00:01:29,533 --> 00:01:30,733 have got to move to the populist right. 29 00:01:30,733 --> 00:01:32,133 AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Right. 30 00:01:32,133 --> 00:01:34,233 Mitch McConnell is correct. 31 00:01:34,233 --> 00:01:37,300 His job is to protect the people in his party and the people in his caucus. 32 00:01:37,300 --> 00:01:42,300 Steve Bannon's job is to protect the president, and what Steve Bannon sees as over-reliance 33 00:01:44,333 --> 00:01:46,200 on this establishment thinking. 34 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:48,166 His job is to blow things up. 35 00:01:48,166 --> 00:01:50,233 Steve Bannon's is. 36 00:01:50,233 --> 00:01:53,033 Mitch McConnell's is to kind of -- is to keep things steady as they go. 37 00:01:53,033 --> 00:01:58,033 And this is, in sum, the relationship between the Republican Party and Donald Trump, which 38 00:02:00,233 --> 00:02:04,433 is a president who came in vowing to shake up the establishment, to do things very differently. 39 00:02:06,333 --> 00:02:10,400 And the personnel who's committed to doing this in -- within their own party is Steve 40 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:13,366 Bannon. 41 00:02:13,366 --> 00:02:15,866 And it's Mitch McConnell whose job it is to try to keep these incumbents together. 42 00:02:15,866 --> 00:02:19,866 And, as we saw, Mitch McConnell and his team have spent a whole lot of money trying to 43 00:02:19,866 --> 00:02:22,533 protect one of those, Luther Strange in Alabama. 44 00:02:22,533 --> 00:02:23,533 Didn't work out so well. 45 00:02:23,533 --> 00:02:25,133 JUDY WOODRUFF: Didn't work out. 46 00:02:25,133 --> 00:02:26,566 And Steve Bannon really is trying to help some other candidates. 47 00:02:26,566 --> 00:02:28,733 TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: He is. 48 00:02:28,733 --> 00:02:32,766 He says that he wants to field candidates for basically every Senate race. 49 00:02:32,766 --> 00:02:37,766 He wants to go after people who are very conservative, who have never voted against President Trump 50 00:02:39,533 --> 00:02:43,500 on anything, but who are part of a leadership and support Mitch McConnell. 51 00:02:43,500 --> 00:02:48,500 The thing about today that was fascinating to me is, President Trump in his Cabinet meeting 52 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,300 was asked about Bannon and says that he was sort of sympathetic to Bannon's position, 53 00:02:56,300 --> 00:02:59,066 that he felt like there were some senators that -- you know, some are good people, he 54 00:02:59,066 --> 00:03:01,600 said, but some of them need to go. 55 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:06,500 And then he goes out, has this impromptu press conference in the Rose Garden with Mitch McConnell, 56 00:03:08,033 --> 00:03:10,733 and basically was like, yes, I'm with Mitch McConnell. 57 00:03:10,733 --> 00:03:12,333 We're on the same team. 58 00:03:12,333 --> 00:03:14,500 Mitch McConnell is Steve Bannon's public enemy number one. 59 00:03:14,500 --> 00:03:17,500 JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, you set this up perfectly, because we were going to show -- we are going 60 00:03:17,500 --> 00:03:21,600 to show what the president had to say, both at the Cabinet meeting and later with Senator 61 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:22,600 McConnell. 62 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:24,633 Here it is. 63 00:03:24,633 --> 00:03:25,600 DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I can understand where Steve Bannon is coming 64 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:27,633 from. 65 00:03:27,633 --> 00:03:29,600 And I can understand -- to be honesty with you, John, I can understand where a lot of 66 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,100 people are coming from, because I'm not happy about it and a lot of people aren't happy 67 00:03:33,100 --> 00:03:34,633 about it. 68 00:03:34,633 --> 00:03:36,733 Steve is doing what Steve thinks is the right thing. 69 00:03:36,733 --> 00:03:40,100 Some of the people that he may be looking at, I'm going to see if we talk him out of 70 00:03:40,100 --> 00:03:42,600 that, because, frankly, they're great people. 71 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:47,600 What Mitch will tell you is that, maybe with the exception of a few -- and that is a very 72 00:03:49,500 --> 00:03:52,466 small few -- I have a fantastic relationship with the people in the Senate and with the 73 00:03:52,466 --> 00:03:54,133 people in Congress. 74 00:03:54,133 --> 00:03:56,800 Just so you understand, the Republican Party is very, very unified. 75 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:58,900 (LAUGHTER) 76 00:03:58,900 --> 00:04:01,766 JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Amy, as Tam said, which side is the president on here? 77 00:04:01,766 --> 00:04:06,100 AMY WALTER: You don't hold a press conference in the Rose Garden to say that you are really 78 00:04:06,100 --> 00:04:11,100 unified with the person standing next to you if you are really unified, because we would 79 00:04:11,833 --> 00:04:13,866 know you're unified. 80 00:04:13,866 --> 00:04:16,500 You don't need to stand out in front of a bunch of cameras to tell people that you're 81 00:04:16,500 --> 00:04:18,466 unified. 82 00:04:18,466 --> 00:04:21,533 It's pretty clear why they did this today, because the story over the weekend of Steve 83 00:04:21,533 --> 00:04:25,133 Bannon and then the constant attacks of the president on Mitch McConnell. 84 00:04:25,133 --> 00:04:30,133 More important, the president's agenda is not exactly lining up with where the Republican 85 00:04:31,100 --> 00:04:32,600 agenda is. 86 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:34,666 What Mitch McConnell wants to do, number one, save the Senate. 87 00:04:34,666 --> 00:04:38,500 Number two, the way they think they're going to save the Senate is by passing tax cuts, 88 00:04:38,500 --> 00:04:41,466 tax reform, whatever you want to call this. 89 00:04:41,466 --> 00:04:43,466 That's what they want to focus on. 90 00:04:43,466 --> 00:04:46,666 The president, meanwhile, is throwing a whole bunch of other things on their plate, which 91 00:04:46,666 --> 00:04:51,666 could deter them, whether it's from DACA, Iran, and now of course on Obamacare and the 92 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,133 payments to the insurance companies. 93 00:04:55,133 --> 00:04:57,100 JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Tam, the president does keep bringing up health care. 94 00:04:57,100 --> 00:04:58,633 He brought it up again today. 95 00:04:58,633 --> 00:05:00,766 He said the short-term, we're going to maybe get something. 96 00:05:00,766 --> 00:05:05,500 It may take -- it left us all wondering, what exactly is going on with regard to health 97 00:05:05,966 --> 00:05:07,233 care? 98 00:05:07,233 --> 00:05:08,433 TAMARA KEITH: And that is not entirely clear. 99 00:05:08,433 --> 00:05:10,033 It kind of depends on the minute. 100 00:05:10,033 --> 00:05:12,600 So, President Trump says, yes, maybe we can get this short deal. 101 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,900 And, as you reported earlier, Patty Murray and Senator Alexander, Senator Murray and 102 00:05:16,900 --> 00:05:21,900 Senator Alexander, working on some sort of bipartisan maybe fix. 103 00:05:21,900 --> 00:05:26,900 But then you have the president's budget director in an interview with Politico on Friday -- this 104 00:05:28,900 --> 00:05:31,366 is Mick Mulvaney -- making it very clear that the president isn't going to accept some sort 105 00:05:31,366 --> 00:05:33,400 of small ball bipartisan deal. 106 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:34,533 He wants more. 107 00:05:34,533 --> 00:05:36,600 He wants to extract more. 108 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:40,266 You know, when the president has talked about, well, maybe we can do something with Democrats, 109 00:05:40,266 --> 00:05:45,266 he has typically still wanted to repeal Obamacare, and that's not something that Democrats are 110 00:05:46,466 --> 00:05:48,466 interested in talking about. 111 00:05:48,466 --> 00:05:51,333 AMY WALTER: And this is the real danger for Republicans, which is, the president is very 112 00:05:51,333 --> 00:05:56,166 intent on showing that he's followed through on his promises and protecting the Trump brand. 113 00:05:56,166 --> 00:05:59,566 He's not as interested in protecting the Republican brand. 114 00:05:59,566 --> 00:06:01,400 He's not on the ballot in 2018. 115 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:03,433 His party is. 116 00:06:03,433 --> 00:06:07,400 So, Mitch McConnell obviously is much more concerned about what happens to his Republicans, 117 00:06:09,333 --> 00:06:11,666 the president much more concerned about what happens to the President Trump brand. 118 00:06:11,666 --> 00:06:14,266 TAMARA KEITH: And he's still -- he's talking about 2020. 119 00:06:14,266 --> 00:06:16,233 JUDY WOODRUFF: Right. 120 00:06:16,233 --> 00:06:20,100 TAMARA KEITH: Today, in that press conference, he was saying, oh, I hope Hillary Clinton 121 00:06:20,100 --> 00:06:21,266 runs in 2020. 122 00:06:21,266 --> 00:06:23,500 The president is very focused on 2020. 123 00:06:23,500 --> 00:06:28,433 And driving a wedge with Republicans in Congress and the establishment is great for his brand 124 00:06:28,433 --> 00:06:32,900 for 2020, but his presidency is contingent on what happens in 2018. 125 00:06:32,900 --> 00:06:37,566 JUDY WOODRUFF: Yes, it's -- and the different messages, the signals coming out of the White 126 00:06:37,566 --> 00:06:42,300 House out of Steve Bannon, who we know still talks to the president, leaves us al scratching 127 00:06:42,300 --> 00:06:44,833 our heads. 128 00:06:44,833 --> 00:06:48,066 I do want to ask you both about the reporting on CBS and The Washington Post over the weekend, 129 00:06:48,066 --> 00:06:53,066 really disturbing reporting about the links, the pharmaceutical industry, certain companies 130 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:58,433 that ship drugs, Amy, to retail stores. 131 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:05,333 They lobbied heavily to prevent any sort of slowdown in what they were doing because of 132 00:07:06,700 --> 00:07:09,300 the opioid -- with the opioid epidemic. 133 00:07:09,300 --> 00:07:13,666 And fingers are reported at certain Republicans and a few Democrats on Capitol Hill. 134 00:07:13,666 --> 00:07:15,766 AMY WALTER: Right. 135 00:07:15,766 --> 00:07:19,166 A lot of this started under -- the bill that was actually passed was passed under the Obama 136 00:07:19,166 --> 00:07:22,200 administration, so this is not just a partisan issue. 137 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:26,233 The real question is whether Tom Marino, the congressman who shepherded this bill through 138 00:07:26,233 --> 00:07:31,233 Congress, is being -- right now has been nominated as the drug czar for President Trump, whether 139 00:07:33,266 --> 00:07:36,633 he becomes now -- either he is pulled out or at the very least a lot of very sharp questioning 140 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:39,200 at his hearings. 141 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:40,666 TAMARA KEITH: Yes. 142 00:07:40,666 --> 00:07:42,933 And President Trump says he's going to look into it. 143 00:07:42,933 --> 00:07:47,033 Meanwhile, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, as well as Joe Manchin from West 144 00:07:47,033 --> 00:07:49,300 Virginia are saying that he should withdraw. 145 00:07:49,300 --> 00:07:51,966 And President Trump didn't dismiss that out of hand. 146 00:07:51,966 --> 00:07:53,500 He says, we're going to have to look into Tom. 147 00:07:53,500 --> 00:07:56,433 JUDY WOODRUFF: Tamara Keith, Amy Walter, Politics Monday. 148 00:07:56,433 --> 00:07:57,433 Thank you both. 149 00:07:57,433 --> 00:07:58,433 TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome. 150 00:07:58,433 --> 00:07:58,566 AMY WALTER: You're welcome.