McConnell on knowing anything about Trump’s surveillance claim: “The answer is no”

EXCLUSIVE: Schumer calls on Trump and Senate to “come up with a mainstream nominee”

EXCLUSIVE: Former FBI agent Clint Watts: “How many times the [Trump] campaign picked up on lines that were promoted by the Kremlin, or vice versa, … was ironic”

APRIL 2, 2017 — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd that “in the middle of all these other things that are swirling around, there are two things you can depend on: the Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan investigation, and of course, the FBI conducting a criminal investigation” — notably not listing the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation which is currently under scrutiny.

“You asked me if I knew anything about alleged wiretapping by the previous president. The answer is no,” he added.

Ahead of this week’s Senate confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, McConnell said that “Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed this week. How that happens really depends on our Democratic friends, how many of them are willing to oppose cloture on a partisan basis to kill a Supreme Court nominee, never happened before in history, the whole history of the country.” Watch the full interview.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) exclusively told Todd that “Gorsuch will not reach the 60-vote margin … Instead of changing the rules, which is up to Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority, why doesn’t President Trump, Democrats, and Republicans in the Senate, sit down, and try to come up with a mainstream nominee?” Watch the full interview.

Former FBI agent Clint Watts, now a Robert A. Fox Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, also joined the show after testifying on Capitol Hill earlier this week about Russian information operations. Watts expanded on the use of Russian propaganda by the Trump campaign: “The synchronization at times, how many times the campaign picked up on lines that were promoted by the Kremlin, or vice versa, created lines that were then the Kremlin promoted back into the U.S. base, was ironic. It was hard to see that with any other campaign.”

On if Trump was targeted by the Russians to help spread fake news, Watts said: “They just knew that he was opportunistic during his campaign. So if you put stuff that helps his campaign, he will likely use it … But they also pushed for Bernie Sanders at times too. They would go on the left and the right. It’s bipartisan.” Watch the full interview.

This morning’s roundtable was comprised of Robert Draper of GQ and The New York Times, Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post, MSNBC’s Greta Van Susteren and Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report.

Read the full transcript of this morning’s “Meet the Press.”

For more from moderator Chuck Todd throughout the week, watch MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” weekdays at 5 p.m., and subscribe to the “1947: The Meet The Press Podcast” for on-demand interviews.

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