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tv   The Last Word With Lawrence O Donnell  MSNBC  April 11, 2017 7:00pm-8:01pm PDT

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of this drift sets in about what u.s. policy actually is, you saw the defense chief, secretary of -- i'm sorry, secretary of defense jim maddis, the head of central command come out and define this strike, this whole policy in the most minimal terms, that this is re-establishing a deter rent and a cost for assad using chemical weapons in the future. >> and meanwhile hundreds of u.s. troops laboring and risking their lives in syria in the middle of this, not knowing what the policy is or what missile strikes into the country in which they're serving are designed to do. spencer akerman national security editor. this is a mess. thank you for helping us to try to untangle it. >> now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnel. >> wouldn't it be nice that we can be sure that the policy isn't that donald trump will fire missiles at the bad
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reporting. >> no surety on anything at this point, even the worst stuff? >> people are getting to this question of, did -- did russia know about this attack before the attack, which is an absolutely crucial building block, one, in figures out what really happened last week? >> trying to figure it out based on this microsoft word produced document from the white house, which is unsigned, attributed to nobody, purports to be a declassified summary of what the intelligence community thinks, and shopped to reporters, if that's how we're suppose to track that down, we're trying to discern about active u.s. policy. >> but what we're hearing from both sean spicer, defense secretary, they're saying, we don't yet know is their basic stance. we don't yet know what russia knew ahead of time. >> check the five paragraph essay that somebody just leaked
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to the times to see. >> appreciate it. breaking news is from the washington post saying that on the clearest evidence so far, that they have -- that hay add a reason to believe that the trump campaign was in touch with russian agents. we'll have more on that. and a new report tonight, saying that donald trump is turning on steve bannon, but first, sean spicer. sean spicer proved once again today why he is the absolutely perfect spokesman for the trump white house. >> hitler didn't even sink to using chemical weapons. >> mr. spicer, is a gift that keeps on giving. >> he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that assad is doing. he brought them in to the holocaust center. >> i'm absolutely sorry,
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especially, during a week like this to make the comparison that was inappropriate. >> meanwhile president trump himself seemed to make a similar point. even some of the worst tyrants in the world didn't use the kind of gases the syrians use. >> if they used chemical weapons, they're going to pay a very stiff -- pay a very stiff place. >> did the add main strags? >> at this time, there's no consensus in the intelligence community that that's the case. >> putin is backing a person that's truly an evil person. and i think it's very bad for russia and it's very bad for this world. >> mr. putin has picked a side in the civil war and he wants his side to win. breaking news tonight from the washington post, a report that trump came pain adviser carter pagwas the subject of a foreign intelligence surveillance court warrant last
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summer because there was probable cause to believe that page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case, russia. this news about carter page comes at the end of a day where eric trump used his father's harmless missile strike on syria as the perfect proof that there could be no connection between donald trump and vladimir putin, and that is exactly what i said we would be hearing from trump world in my first comments about the trump missile attack last week. if, like eric trump, you now believe that the missile attack proves there's no connection between donald trump and vladimir putin, you could have easily thought before the missile strike that the missile strike would prove that and then decide today do the missile strike, so that you could say exactly that. so eric trump, or donald trump
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could say that the missile attack proves that donald trump is independent of vladimir putin. he could have advised donald trump to do the missile attack because he then would be able to say that or have one of his sons say that. we don't know the real motivation of that missile attack by the united states. we only know what donald trump says, and donald trump is a repeated proven pathological liar, so we don't know why that missile strike occurred. here is a bit of an interview with fox news that the network released tonight before showing it in its entirety tomorrow. >> when i see people using horrible, horrible chemical weapons, which they agreed not to use under the obama administration, but they violated it. >> they said they got rid of them. >> what i did should have been
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done by the obama administration a long time before i did it. and you would have had a much better, i think, syria would be a lot better off right now than it has been. >> makes sense. if you think that makes sense, remember that the same donald trump saw chemical weapons used in syria before in much worse chemical weapons attack. he said then that president obama should do absolutely nothing about it. so we don't know why donald trump changed his mind about that. what we do know is that a president mired deep in scandal, involving russian influence in his election, fired off some harmless missiles at the end of a very bad scandal week for him. and we also know that president assad has killed many more people in much worse attacks that did not involve chemical weapons. today, defense secretary maddis
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was asked why the death of innocent men, women, and children from a chemical weapon warrants a u.s. response, the deaths of more from barrel bombs not warrant a military response, and that's when secretary maddis said what they've all been saying. it's all about chemical weapons. >> even in world war ii, chemical weapons were not used on battlefields, even in the korean war, they were not used on battlefield. since world war i there's been an international convention on this. >> he didn't mention vietnam for a reason. he knows how much it was used in the vietnam war by the united states of america. the use of nay palm was chemical war fair. it was the product of the dough chemical company.
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the united states burned men, women, and children and babies to death in vietnam, dropping fire from the sky, thanks to the wonders of chemical warfare. it was not a nerve agent, so it didn't act on the human body the same way. it just burned the skin off your body. it burned the roof off your house, burned entire villages to the ground, with the babies sleeping in those villages when they were burned to the ground. that's what it did. the world was watching our conduct in vietnam. they remember these things that the united states conveniently does not remember at moments likethis. nancy pelosi wants sean spicer fired for what he said about chemical warfare today. >> we didn't use chemical weapons in world war ii, you know, you had a, you know,
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someone as despicable as hitler who didn't zij to using chemical weapons. so you have to, if you're russia, ask yourself, is this a country that you and regime that you want to align yourself with? >> so i, for one, don't think sean spicer should be fired for that. it would be a terrible disservice to the country and to the world to have a smarter, more articulate press secretary in this white house. sean spicer is the perfect spokesman for donald trump. you know that donald trump thought that that was a great line when he heard it and he thought this was a great line, too. >> hitler didn't sink to the level of using chemical weapons, what did you mean by that? >> when you come to gas, there -- he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that assad is doing. i mean, there was clearly -- i
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understand -- thank you. i appreciate that. there was not -- in the -- he brought them in to the -- to the holocaust center, and i understand that, but i'm saying in the way that assad used them, he went into town, dropped them down into the middle of towns. so the use of it, i appreciate the clarification there, that was not the intent. >> he brought them into the holocaust center. do you think donald trump thought that that's what they're called, holocaust centers before sean spicer got corrected on cable news and on twitter. only when twitter and cable news went wild about what sean spicer said, only then did donald trump trump realize that there was a problem. and surely because there was so much agrment in the white house about the brilliance of sean spicer's reference to the holocaust center, it only took
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the white house four full hours to realize that sean spicer had to do something that donald trump does not know how to do. >> you made the clarifications before, you wanted to make it clear what the message was you were trying to deliver. >> i was trying to make sure we talked about assad's actions on people using chemical weapons to draw any kind of comparison to the holocaust was inappropriate and insensitive, and obviously, especially during a week like this, regret that. >> sean spicer proved himself today be a profoundly stupid liar, working for a profoundly stupid liar. the president of the united states has the spokesman he deserves. joining us now, david cord, and msnbc political analyst. and moscow bureau chief for the washington post. david cord, i for one, i want to
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deal with the spicer thing and then move on to the rest of the subjects. but, he strikes me as the perfect spokesman for trump. i would want anyone smarter or more articulate. it would be a false presentation of the level. >> but his -- you know, this is not the first time that he's gotten lost trying to justify e unjustifiable in terms of what his boss is doing. started the very first time he came out and tried to convince everybody that yes there was 1.5 million people out there at the inauguration. he got to hitler really fast. he was trying to justify the military action, which is really not connected to any true policy about what to do in syria or the larger middle east. so you just go right to hitler, it's terrible, bad, we had to do
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something. you don't talk about the real issues at hand. and that's what he's been doing from the get go and, i don't know, if he survives this, i think he'll survive almost anything going forward, it's hard to think of any other thing that could get so fired that won't get him fired. >> let's listen to what donald trump said in this fox interview that will be seen in full tomorrow. >> frankly putin is backing a person that's truly an efl person. i think it's very bad for russia. i think it's very bad for man kind and for this world, but when you drop gas or bombs and they drop them right in the middle of a group of people and in all fairness, you see the same kids with no arms, no legs, no face, this is an animal.
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>> david, moscow probably has not had a chance to digest this particular interview. they'll see it in its entirety tomorrow. but that is one of those very rare references donald trump actually mentioning vladimir putin in connection to syria, may be the first time he's done it since this crisis developed and all he's saying is that vladimir putin is backing a very bad person, an evil person. he thinks it's bad for russia. it seems as though the president of the united states dsn't just how long vladimir putin has been backing assad or why he backs assad. what is the -- what do you expect the reaction in moscow to be tomorrow to those comments from donald trump? >> well, david was speaking about the survivability of sean spicer. putin has been doing survivability for 17 years and he does it by setting his own agenda and not like, you know,
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when was the last time you saw vladimir putin say, you know what, you're right, i was wrong about that, about any issue. so, tomorrow, we'll see continuation of what we saw today, which is putin going on the offensive. what did he say today, i have information that there will be a provocation, somebody is going to put chemical weapons and set them off and then blame the assad government. he's starting from the point of not acknowledging that assad made the attacks or that assad is the evil one. everybody attacking him is illegal. he's the only legitimate leader. >> you know, go ahead david. >> that's tough to take, isn't it? >> david makes a great point in that trump, and you made this point earlier, too, trump has never acknowledged the true nature of vladimir putin. somebody i can do business with.
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he's brilliant. he likes me, so he obviously has good taste. he's never thought about what putin means, what he's about. you know, putin has popularity rating in the '70s and '80s there. he said i'm not going to be part of the west and one way of doing that is backing assad. david is right here when he says that, you know, the remarks from trump, while easy and sort of hallmarkian to say this guy is evil, shows he doesn't understand what he's dealing with and he never oncendicated id during the campaign and now he cries, what's going to happen with these poor innocent children and others who have been bombed and hurt who he still won't let into the country, our country and we call terrorists, there's no cohear rens. that's why sean spicer is great spokesperson for this position. >> rex tillerson seems to be indicating that he's going to tell the russian that is they
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have to choose between their relationship with assad or a relationship with the united states. if he puts it that way, what is he going to hear back? >> again, he'll hear back, that's because vladimir putin has steaked his entire policy ton the idea he's going to be the peacemaker in the region and he's going to support legitimate government. you're not going to hear, at least publicly, vladimir putin going back on that. so he'll respond, does the yi united states want cooperative and we're ready to respond to trouble with trouble. now, behind closed doors, is there any give in what vladimir putin and his administration is, i can't believe just called it that, the kremlin is going to allow. is there any give at all. and, you know, i don't see it. i don't see where putin is going
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to back down on any of this stuff, accept, possibly, softening -- something to do, for example, we'll allow you and inspectors in there to say who really set off these bombs and let's see who really dropped chemical weapons. was it really strike or rebels setting off their own bombs and factories. yesterday we heard the defense ministry of russia saying there are two stock piles of chemical weapons that we can't get to because the rebels control that territory. they're allowing for fact that there are weapons out there they don't know anything about. >> david, let me get to one point before we go. and that is -- the linkage between carter page in today's news and eric trump. eric trump using the missile attack in syria by president trump, using that as absolute proof that, obviously, donald trump is innocent and his campaign is innocent, his ansitis innocent, of any
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kind of undue influence from russia, because, obviously, it was against russian interest to send off those missiles and that comes on the very same day that we learn about this warrant on carter page. >> well, you know, the worst thing that eric trump could have done was to say that out loud. it shows he's on the same level of strategic of skills as sean spicer. you know, to tip it off just a little bit, lawrence, it strikes me if russia is going to get into any sort of conflict with the trump administration about this or the other matter, why don't they start putting out more information about what they did do during the election, how much they did try to help trump. when we know our intelligence community believes that. it seems to me the trump administration is really at the mercy. they can be even further tainted and delegitimize as more information comes out about what russia did here and why it did it.
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>> david corn, david, thank you both for joining us tonight. really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. coming up, new comments from donald trump tonight about steve bannon that looks like steve bannon has some real problems continuing in the white house. also, we have breaking news tonight about the bill o'reilly crisis at fox news.
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>> today, secretary of defense, general james maddis, was asked if the u.s. responds to the u.s. chemical response in syria could lead to confrontation with russia? >> what point is this danger of spiraling out of control and the conflict of two nuclear power countries? >> it will not spiral out of control. we maintain communications with the russian military and with the diplomatic channels. i'm confident the russians will act in their own best interest, and there's nothing in their best interest to say they want this situation to go out of control. >> in addition to the situation with russia and syria, the white house is also facing a threat from north korea, which, today, warned of a nuclear attack on the united states, any sign of
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united states aggression, the u.s. navy strike group is now on its way towards the korean peninsu peninsula. and this is what president trump tweeted this morning. >> i explained to the president of china that a trade deal with the u.s. will be far better for them if they solve the north korean problem. there is the president of the united states saying, according to his own logic on international trade, that he will sacrifice american jobs to china in negotiations with the chinese if the chinese can help with north korea. donald trump, according to his own economic principles, would be paying a jobs ran som to china and north korea in order to reduce the threatening pous stur in the world. joining us now, former acting director of the cia. i want to go through a bunch of
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things, starting with what we were just talking about. the president's most recent meeting with president of china and saying publicly today, that he would introduce trade discussions with china while trying to talk to china about north korea, trying to persuade china on north korea. is that how you conduct an negotiation like that? >> i don't think that's the right way to deal with china. china does not respond well to anything that feels like a threat or sounds like a threat. it doesn't mean that we don't be firm with them. they, of course, are both a partner and adversary at times, but that is not the way to go about it. we will need chinese assistance in anything that we attempt to do to retus tduce the north kor threat. as many people have noted, 90% of the trade comes to china. it bails out things like energy.
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on trade, the president has a steep hill to climb here, by withdrawing from the trans pacific partnership on his very first day in office, he has, essentially, seeded the field to china and asia. this is what i hear from most of our allies who have large proportions of their trade with china, take australia, for example, about 30% of its trade is with china. other countries are in the range of 19%, 25% and the pull back by the united states leaves them feeling like they're going to get sucked into china's economic orbit. president has a lot of work to do with china on trade. he'll need their help on north korea. >> the first question i asked about the syrian gas attack, has become the question of the day. did vladimir putin know about the attack before it occurred? we don't have definitive
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information on that knowing the relationship as you do between vladimir putin and assad, is it conceivable he would have used the chemical weapons and knowing that, in effect, putin would be exposed as not having gotten rid of those weapons the way he had promised to, that that would all occur without vladimir putin? >> i don't think that assad would be so clever as to put that altogether into a package, but what i do have some confidence in is given the long relationship and the deep involvement that russia has in syria and the interweaving of their forces with syrian forces, both the air force and the conventional forces, i'm pretty confident that russia would certainly know they still had chemical weapons. i don't have a view on whether russia knew in advance they were going to use them. i find that a bit of a streh.
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>> quickly, secretary tillerson said today, here he is about to start discussions with russia, today he said, why should u.s. taxpayers be interested in ukraine? could you give him an answer to that? >> yeah, i mean, actually, i see when you're thinking about russian policy and the threat it presents. it see ukraine as kind of the canary and the mind shaft, in other words, watch ukraine very closely. i was in ukraine back in october and parliamentaryian there said something to me that i thought was very revealing. he said that ukraine is the only country among the former countries of the soviet union that can actually change russia. what she meant by that was, if we in ukraine succeed in moving closer to the west, closer to the eu, closer to the united states. if we have a pluralistic,
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democratic society, which the younger people in ukraine are striving to achieve. this will be a threat to putin. they look at ukraine as little brothers and sisters, given that they put up with an autocratic government, absence of free press and political contract that says basically stay out of politics and you can have a nice life. if they saw a much different situation in neighboring ukraine, actually, the heart land of the nation, this will be a threat to putin. and so that's why i think he is insisting on establishing his presence in eastern ukraine, encouraging on tonmy there, that's why he went into crimea. for him, one of the biggest threats on his horizon is that ukraine succeeds. in a way, just to finish this comment, maybe the most important thing we can do if we want to put a crimp in putin style is to help ukraine succeed because it would drive him
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crazy. >> john, let's hope you can get that message to rex tillerson, thank you very much for joining us tonight. really appreciate it. >> you bet. >> donald trump has some new thin to say about steve bannon, not a good day for steve bannon. and bill o'reilly, breaking news tonight, about bill o'reilly and the crisis at fox news. you won't be seeing bill o'reilly on fox news for a while. ♪"all you need is love" plays my friends know me so well. they can tell what i'm thinking, just by looking in my eyes. but what they didn't know was that i had dry, itchy eyes. i used artificial tears from the moment i woke up... ...to the moment i went to bed. so i finally decided to show my eyes some love,... ...some eyelove. eyelove means having a chat with your eye doctor about your dry eyes because if you're using artificial tears often and still have symptoms, it could be chronic dry eye. it's all about eyelove, my friends. dad likare you going to weeks be using my car? until my insurance claim goes through this is our car.
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>> it will not spiral out of control. we maintain communications with the russian military and with the diplomatic challenge? i trust they'll act in their own best interest and there's nothing to say they want this situation to go out of control. >> joining us now, counter terrorism and analyst, malcolm, i want everyone to hear general mat tis say that again. the part that interest me the most the part that's saying he's confident russia will act in its self interest. if russia is acting in its self interest is operative of what it
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does. if we see it from russia's client, as you said last night, it's inconceivable that vladimir putin did not know about that beforehand, what would be russia's self intert in having that attack occur? >> well, the only thing that i can define by allowing al assad to carry out that attack. or being aware. is that if russia want today see what the reaction of the united states would be. if they would be push today a point where they violate and carry out a stripe. i think that there was almost no risk for them. certainly in the immediate moments when the united states ca called on the hotline. and told russia, we're going to attack your base.
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maybe as many as nine, ten aircraft. that is all i can see that can be russia's interest to let that happen. as we said yesterday, there was no tactical value in dropping those chemical weapons, accept to see what washington d.c. would do. it was a strike for audience of one. and that one being donald trump. >> we now have two other elements that come into this that sit right out at the edge of the discussion. one is eric trump saying that this attack, this missile attack proves that donald trump and the trump world, of course, have no connection to russia, obviously wouldn't fire off the missiles if you did. is it something that vladimir putin could have anticipated a week ago and thinking he would -- putin would like that eric trump line being pushed out there that trump response shows
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there is no connection. >> that response who has no idea of geo politics, just goes to show that everything that they do, has a political bent to it. 's not ludicrous, it's stupid. this does not mean that donald trump himself does not have a link to russia. he could still owe money, he could have, you know, 100 different invisible and visible streams to russia and still have to act within the parameters of safety for the united states, again, all of the intelligence indicators that we see on this strike, with the way the spriek was carried out. they didn't use weapon systems that would destroy the chemicals. they allowed the russians to make sure they weren't there.
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we kill nod one in the syrian armed forces. generally, when you carry out an air strike, that's what you want to do, you want to kill and destroy resources in order to make that inoperative for them to carry out further actions against the civilian population. russia is going to act in russia's interest, and syria is russia's interest. >> before we go, your reaction to the news tonight about the warrant on carter page? >> i think that's fascinating. i predicted in my book which i wrote last september, there had to be warrants out there. i know some people had projected there were warrants that were applied for and turned down, but this shows the fbi got it the minute they asked for it. which means that must have had some significant intelligence about carter page and his links to russian intelligence, which have been 100% high confidence, like a telephone call or some
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intelligence report which they could corroborate with other special intelligence or human intelligence. either that or carter page works for the fbi and he's just being dangled out there to look as if he's sti part of the cabal. i don't know. i hope that's the case. it means we know a lot more about this plot than people are letting on, because if that was out there, that mean, i mean, dwsh when he did his interview with chris hayes, i said very early on, he essentially has no rights. we can collect anything on him within the scope of that warrant, especially if he is in communications or contact with foreign intelligence agencies. >> thank you very much for joining us again tonight, appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> coming up, donald trump's new comments about steve bannon and the breaking news tonight about the crisis at fox news involving bill o'reilly and the sexual harassment cases against him.
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>> we have breaking news tonight from the new york post, donald trump's chief strategist steve bannon and his son-in-law rush ner, the new york post has published a new interview with donald trump tonight in which the new york post says that the president would not definitively say he still has confidence in steve bannon. he said i like steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late. i had already beaten all the senators and all the governors. i'm my own strategist it wasn't like i was going to take strategies. he also told the new york post "steve is a good guy, but i told them to straighten it out or i will" joining us now is rick wilson, republican strategist. and, rick, it seems to me if
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donald trump is going to straighten out, his only choice would be to fire steve bannon. >> if he fires steve bannon, he's got him out there in the wind with the infrastructure of trump and the mercers and everything else ready to go back at trump and turn it around on him. if he keeps him, he's got a white nationalist, you know, the secret sell leader of the army inside the white house. trump is in a tough spot here, but it -- he's certainly sending every single to steve bannon not let the door hit him on his butt on the way out. >> apparently one of the problems he has is the notion that bannon is trump's brain, that imagery they had for carl row being bush's brain, of course, trump can't stand that. >> carl never went out and said that himself, bannon did. and he believes he's this
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masterful strategist and zen like figure, deeply educated and deeply effective strategic thinker. he's led trump into a bunch of box canyons so far, politically, wrecked his relationships with congress by going down there and basically doing this, you know, comic villain act in front of members of congress, they must do what trump wants. he ran out the threat too far. part of the ecosystem of this far right trump, facebook driven, you know, right wing echo chamber that they've developed that's great when it's talking to talk to his own people, now, obviously, trump is very much wanting to find a path for this guy to be out of the picture. >> he came into the campaign,
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that was his beginning of this russia crisis that trump world finds itself in with the update tonight being carter page's warrant. >> there were a lot of us who were talk that they were applied for in the sumr last year. my friend reported on it. confirmed in november of last ar and we certainly knew this was out and knew page was one of the players in this thing, you know, obviously, page is now -- he's now dead to rights. this combined to revelations that nunes was completely making up his accusations by both republican, democratic and staff members of the house intelligence committeeing saying that. this is a bad night for donald trump, the syria bubble is going to pop we'll be back at this russia question. he was hit deep in advisers, friends, and business partners who were tied to the russian mob
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and they were tied to vladimir putin. he's not past this problem and steve bannon won't solve it. >> your reaction to eric trump today saying what i think trumps have been dying to say since the missiles were fired, this proves dad doesn't have any real connection to vladimir putin because he just fired missiles at vladimir putin's client, president assad. >> look, if i wanted to advice on hair gel, i'll call eric trump. he knows nothing about anything in this world. he knows nothing about the relationships with his dad and the russians. he doesn't understand the go politics of this and what the three or four different layers that could explain this would be. i write off things that he has to say, you know, he's the less bright of an unbright crowd. >> but does -- >> it's pretty wea sauce. >> isn't he speaking for trump
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supporters and trump followers who are looking for the proof that donald trump is not influenced by vladimir putin. those missiles will be their proof. >> they're looking for anything to deny and spin away from the fact that the emerging picture never gets better for them about russia, it always gets worse. >> rick wilson, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. coming up, breaking news about the bill o'reilly crisis at fox news. we'll have the latest, breaking news, tonight.
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company. questions are already being raised tonight about whether bill o'reilly will ever come back from that vacation, tonight bill o'reilly spoke what might be his last words on fox news. >> i grab some vacation, because it's spring and easter time. last fall i booked a trip that should be terrific, not going to tell you where it is, but we have a contest on bill o'reilly.com, guess where bill is going. i'll have a full report when i return. >> he'll tell us where it is as soon as he figures out where it is, joining us now gabrielle sherman. >> this has been a subject that's become increasingly ta talked about, will he be able to hold on to his job, the power of
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that decision will be decided by the mer douck. -- and. >> really drove the company to try to become a more modern open and forgiving place and this bill o'reilly scandal is just a sign that not much as changed. james is pushing that, his father, rupert is resisting. all of these discussions are going to come to a head and a decision will be made. >> 13 years ago when the first big case broke against bill o'reilly, and that included audiotapes of him on the phone with a woman with a woman who had worked at fox news was complaining -- she is the one who got $9 million.
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when that crisis broke, i had a highly placed friend within that company who i spoke to that day. and he said it's all about the ratings. what he meant was, it's about what happens in the ratings when bill o'reilly comes back on his show after the scandal broke. and the ratings were strong when he returned. and so fox did nothing. his ratings have been strong since this scandal broke. do the ratings no longer rule the outcome here? >> that's right. that's right. the ratings in the andrea macker scandal held up, they held steady and in some cases begun up in this scandal. the difference this time, as you pointed out at the top of the segment, advertisers are fleeing bill o'reilly's show. they can't monetize his show at this point. the show has felt a direct response. much lower cost ads. the murdochs are going to have to look at the prospect of having bill o'reilly having good ratings but they can't make
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money off of it. fox news is a loyal audience and able companies pay hefty subscriberfies. fox i believe earns $2 per subscriber, that's in large part driven by o'reilly's popularity. but there is going to be a growing chorus in the company saying listen we could put another host in there and start selling ads again. >> they saw the ads go up after megyn kelly was replaced by tucker carlson. no one saw that coming. he may not look irreplace number that lineup. >> you will have to imagine that over the next two weeks the murdochs are going to be scrutinizing the ratings for the sub toot host. >> let's get lisa bloom in here. we are joined by lisa bloom, she is the attorney for wendy waubl. wendy walsh broke this case, the
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o'reilly story wide open. lisa, that's because your client was one of the people who could speak to the "new york times" when they did their massive story on this two weeks ago because she was not bound by a legal agreement not to speak about bill o'reilly. i would like your reaction to the sudden announce member that bill o'reilly is going on vacation. >> it is a coincidence, lawrence, because tomorrow i'm going on vacation as well. but the difference i i for sure am coming back to work on monday. and bill o'reilly should not be coming back to work on monday, because he has sexually harassed so many women. wendy walsh has been so brave the come out like anybody else she was scared. i told her i would be at her side if she chose to do this. she has done it. hasn't asked for a dime, simply told her story over and over again. we have taken a new step just about every day as this story progressed. today i sent a letter to the state division of human rights in new york with all the information that's publicly
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available. there is a lot of it. it's about 15 pages long about sexual harassment at fox news generally and about bill o'reilly in particular and i asked them to initiate their own investigation of fox news. tomorrow i have another stem. i have more women calling me. i have a message for the murdochs, this is not going away. if you think this is going to blow over, it's not. >> is one of your messages for the murdochs that there will be more women coming out publicly against bill o'reilly either filing lawsuits or doing interviews as wendy walsh has done. >> i think that that is highly likely lawrence. >> gabe, what does that do to the murdoch's contact cue lus? lease audio bloom promising there will be more? >> clearly that will give more ammunition to james murdoch and over sayinthis is going to be a never ending scandal unless we rip the band-aid off.
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>> what do you say to those saying he is good for our business we can ride this out? >> i say that women's rights mean something, that our careers mean something. because these stories aren't just about sexual harassment. i do these cases every day. most women say i don't care about a comment now and then, i don't care about a guy asking me out and propositioning me. what i care about is my career and bill o'reilly is accused over and over again not just of propositioning women but of going after their careers when they say no, of driving them out not only of fox news but of television. wendy walsh alleges she had a job promised to her, she was good at it, she was entitled to. when she didn't go back to his hotel room she didn't get that job. fox news tried to get rid of roger ailes. there is still more housecleaning to do.
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bill o'reilly needs to goa bloom thank you for joining us tonight. wendt wendy walsh will be joining us tomorrow night on the show. >> yes, gabe sherman thank you for your breaking news insight on what's going on over there at fox news gabe, thank you very much. "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts right now. tonight, damage control. white house press secretary sean spicer issuing a full apology for saying adolph hitler did not use chemical weapons against his own people like assad in syria. also new details on trump campaign adviser carter page. the "washington post" reporting he was being monitored as a possible russian agent. all of this while secretary of state rex tillerson is in russia amid a lot of guessing as the whether he will meet with putin. "the 11th hour" begins now. good evening once