Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine): Kelly will “bring some order and discipline to the West Wing”
Former Trump Campaign Manager Lewandowski advises Kelly to “not try to change Donald Trump … It’s what the American people voted for”
PLUS: Lewandowski says his recommendation to Trump is to “fire Richard Cordray”
JULY 30, 2017 — When it comes to the Affordable Care Act, “our job is to follow the law of the land,” Health and Human Services Sec. Tom Price told “Meet the Press” moderator this morning, adding that “the current law right now is failing the American people.”
He also called on Congress “to go home and talk to their constituents” about health care and renewed the call to “repeal and replace” the ACA. Watch the full interview.
Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), one of the three GOP senators to vote down the “skinny repeal” of the ACA this week, said that, when it comes to health care, “most of the input that I’ve had from the White House has been from the vice president and from the administrator of the Medicare and Medicaid programs.”
She expanded on a hot-mic moment she had with Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), in which she said “I’m worried” in response to him appearing to call President Trump “crazy”: “Actually what I was talking about is the president’s budget.”
Collins reacted to DHS Sec. John Kelly’s new role as White House Chief of Staff, noting that he’ll “do a good job” and “bring some order and discipline to the West Wing.” She also responded to speculation that Attorney General Sessions may be fired: “if he’s being moved because of his correct decision to recuse himself, I think that’s a mistake.” Watch the full interview.
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski exclusively joined the program, advising Trump’s new chief of staff to “not try to change Donald Trump … That is what the American people voted for.”
He also called for the firing of Richard Cordray, the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: “It’s my recommendation to the President of the United States to fire Richard Cordray, and if he wants to run for the governor of Ohio, go do it, but my concern is, you’ve got an unelected bureaucrat sitting in an office right now, and I hope that the new chief of staff looks at him moving forward and saying it’s time to act decisively.” Watch the full interview.
Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher, The New York Times’ Helene Cooper, MSNBC’s Hugh Hewitt and POLITICO’s Eliana Johnson joined this morning’s roundtable for analysis of this week in news.
Read the full transcript of this morning’s “Meet the Press” on MeetThePress.com.
For more from moderator Chuck Todd throughout the week, sign up for the “First Read” newsletter, and subscribe to the “1947: The Meet The Press Podcast” for on-demand interviews.
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NBC NEWS’ “MEET THE PRESS WITH CHUCK TODD”
“Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” is where newsmakers come to make news — setting the political agenda and spotlighting the impact Washington decision-making has on people across the country. “Meet the Press” reaches more than three million people every Sunday through its broadcasts and millions more through NBCNews.com, OTT platforms and social media. “Meet the Press” brings its authority and influencer interviews to MSNBC with “MTP Daily” weekdays at 5 p.m. ET and to the “1947: The Meet the Press Podcast”. Chuck Todd is the political director of NBC News and the moderator of “Meet the Press”; John Reiss is the executive producer.
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