i'm alex witt here in new york at msnbc headquarters. it's 1:00 in the east, 10:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening right now. the alabama showdown countdown. two days to go amid a deep divide and revealing numbers on voter enthusiasm. >> and now support from president trump. he's about to unleash a last-minute robocall in the battle for bama. >> on the russia probe, the white house campaign to discredit robert mueller and the top democrat investigator in the house. >> we do know this. the russians offered help. the campaign accepted help. >> plus, trump, twitter, and tv.

a riveting look inside the president's struggle for validation while watching up to eight hours of cable news a day. but we begin with new details in the alabama senate race. with just two days before voters cast their ballots, the roy moore campaign shooting down efforts of a purported ethics investigation should he win the election on tuesday. >> mitch mcconnell and his crew have been threatening judge moore from the get-go. they spent $30 million trying to beat him in the primary, and then all this fake news from "the washington post" surfaced. just moore is going to go to washington. judge moore is going to win, and i highly doubt there's going to be a senate investigation. but if there is, judge moore is going to be found telling the truth, just like he always has. and he will win. >> a new poll today showing roy moore with a four-point lead. let's go to vaughn hillyard in birmingham, alabama, where doug jones is expected to arrive at any moment. it appears he's running about 15 minutes late or so to head to

that church. we have heard from roy moore's campaign chair there. we have not seen much of him. what has he been doing to snag votes as the clock winds down? >> reporter: we're 48 hours away, alex, from election day. and roy moore is nowhere to be seen this weekend. he hasn't been seen since he held a rally dating back to tuesday night. usually the weekend before election day, you have an all out effort. a candidate much like doug jones, how about we use doug jones as an example in this case? doug jones, this is his third birmingham church he's hitting here. he's about to attend alongside new jersey senator cory booker, but he was also in selma yesterday, in montgomery. he held a get out the vote concert last night in birmingham. he has multiple stops here planned today. if somebody told you a month ago that the democrat for the alabama senate race would be making an all-out effort as opposed to the republican who hasn't been seen, it would make you blink a couple times. when you're looking at the tv

airways, roy moore is outspent 5 to 1. people are getting fliers from the jones campaign and super pacs. and one of those fliers is ivanka trump on it. it has republican senator richard shelby, the other senator here, as well as attorney general jeff sessions, who all have given skeptical outlooks on a roy moore senate candidacy. that's what people are waking up to here. i should note that president trump has put out a robocall hitting homes across the state. really, roy moore, the biggest thing he's got going for him outside of just the how many more republicans there are in the state than anything is the fact that he has the president alt this point making robocalls for him. we don't expect to see him on the ground until monday. >> how about voter turnout? what are officials expecting? >> the secretary of state told me on friday that he's expecting at least a 25% turnout now at this point, which is just

significant for alabama. democrats, particularly black voters, haven't had much of a reason in terms of competitiveness to come out to the polls in past elections. what we're looking at is the absentee ballot request. this is an indication we can go off of. county officials were telling me on friday they have received six fold, up to nine fold the number of requests compared to a typical election just because of the interest. i think we should note, two counties in particular. these are conservative counties. madison county and tuscaloosa county. why are they significant and why is the increased interest significant? these counties, yes, they have republican voters, but they were willing to vote against roy moore in his 2012 chief justice race pree all of these allegations. republicans in the state have shown the willingness to vote for a democrat in the past. whether willing to do that again may be a different story. we should note, obviously, much more come tuesday.

>> vaughn hillyard, thank you so much from birmingham. >> let's go to geoff bennett, following the president from west palm beach florida. with a good sunday to you, we have new reaction this morning, certainly, from the ranking member of the house intel committee on this ongoing effort to try to discredit the mueller investigation. what all did adam schiff say? >> well, that's right. congressman adam schiff, the top democrat on the house intelligence committee says he's troubled by an apparent effort to undercut special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation. and he says he points to this effort in conservative media circles. they're seizing on a report that mueller had to remove a top fbi agent for sending texts that were critical of president trump. this happened over the summer. we just learned about it a week or two ago. here's what congressman schiff said on one of the political shows this morning. >> the intent here is nothing short of discrediting mueller, then discrediting the justice department, then diz crediting

the fbi, then discrediting the judiciary, should the judiciary convict some of the people that mueller has charged or may charge in the future. this is an effort to tear at the very idea that there is an objective truth. >> this all comes, of course, as mueller's investigation inches higher up the trump food chain. now implicating four former trump campaign associates. but separately from this, schiff says he sees clear evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and the russian government. claims president trump himself, of course, denies. and of course, we could learn more about the status of the special counsel investigation later this week because deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is set to testify before the house judiciary committee on wednesday, alex. >> geoff bennett, thank you so much from west palm beach, florida. >> this new article in "the new york times" is providing one of the most detailed looks yet at president trump's life inside the white house. the article says the president

tackles each day as an hour-by-hour battle for self-preservation that is fueled by a steady stream of cable news, twitter, and a dozen diet cokes a day. all of this, according to interviews with more than 60 advisers, associates, friends, and members of congress. joining me now is one of the reporters for the story, peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york time times". i don't even know where to start. this is the best article i have read in the longest time. so compelling. it's everywhere. you made me wait all day, so let's go. what do you see as the biggest takeaway from this? >> well, i think what you really see here is a president who is in fact redefining what it means to be president. all the expectations, all the norms, all the sort of ways we have seen his predecessors treat the office, he has come in and thrown them out the window. it's a function of his own sort of sense of his battle for legitimacy. he sees the investigation. he sees the media.

he sees the political structure all out to get him. his view is he's out there preserving this victory he won last year against, you know, a series of challenges and unfair attacks, and it's from the morning, from the moment he wakes up in the morning to when he goes to bed at night, it's an hour-by-hour battle for his legitimacy and for the preservation of his presidency. >> before i get to more details, peter, how difficult was it to get people to talk to you? or what was the tenor of it? were people willing, easily willing to talk to you? and if so, why? >> well, it depends on the person, of course. some people close to him see the most, but, you know, are most reluctant to share at times. sometimes you have to go back to people again and again to sort of draw out more from them. you say, you learn something from somebody further out in the circle and you go back towards somebody closer and say hey, we heard about this, is this true? may might say yes you're right,

or you have it off and here's the way to look at it. most people who are talking to us have his best interests at heart. most people we talked to on the inside clearly share his political philosophy or at least his political goals. we also talked to people who don't share them, democrats on the hill, republicans on the hill, who have seen him up close, seen him in meetings and actions come away at times very disturbed by what they have seen. >> let's get back to this hour-by-hour battle for self-preservation. part of the piece looks at how the president views himself. it reets, quote, he sees the highest office in the land much as he did the night of his stunning victory over hillary clinton, as a prize he must fight to protect every waking moment, and twitter is his excalibur, despite all his bluster, he views himself less as a titan dominating the world stage than a maligned outsider engaged in a struggle to be taken seriously. how does that perception play out in his daily habits? >> well, in the sense that he is

constantly monitoring televisionic looking for things people are saying about him. he watches television to see what people say about him, and then he goes on television or goes on twitter or out to the lawn in front of the helicopters to react to what he has seen on television. he watches, we hear, as much as four hours a day, sometimes much more than that. sometimes the volume up, sometimes the volume down, even during meetings and the dining room off the oval office, he might keep the tv on, just watching the scrolling headlines, the cirons underneath, even if he's not got the volume up. it comes to dominate his day, and it comes to dominate the way he reacts to the world. it's a series of fights and battles. one former aide told us, if he has two or three days of kind of peaceful time, he kind of gets agitated about it. he doesn't like that. it makes him feel off kilter. he enjoys the fighting. he enjoys the battling. it is central to his political identity. central to his personal identity. >> speaking of dominating, the

screen of that tv, about 60 inches. that's going to dominate the room. can't miss it. twitter, we all want to know about this. the portion of the article that is most interesting when it talks about the habit. you say occasionally, the president solicits affirmation before hitting the tweet button. ungyne, he excitedly called friends to say he had a perfect tweet to neutralize the russia investigation. he would call it a witch hunt. they were unimpressed. that suggests he does spend time thinking about what he want to tweet. it's not spontaneous. >> it's not like somebody is forcing him to do it. it is impulse. it's reactive to what he has seen at times on fox and friends, or maybe morning joe, but he does in fact sometimes check it out with aides or lawyers in familiar. we do see there is some discipline to it, as much as he's gone after all manner of

targets, his lawyers have seemed to convince him for the moment not to personally go after robert mueller, the special counsel investigating the russia nrlt feernls. he does say it's a witch hunt, he goes after the fbi and the justice department. he does say he's been unfairly charged with collusion, but his lawyers have told him that's counterproductive. he does in fact have limits he has drawn on how far how's willing to go. >> in regard to the russia interview, it's also said his friends, the article says his friends have noticed a bit of a change within him regarding this, that he's starting to see this more as a serious threat. >> he is seeing it as a threat. and he's increasingly worried about its impact on his friends and even members of his family. he does recognize now the toll this is taking on people, even beyond himself. i think he still is fond of michael flynn, who just pleaded guilty of a charge of lying to investigators. he's very worried about what it would mean to his son, his

son-in-law, his current staff who have all been interviewed or at least most of whom have been interviewed at this point. we don't know whether they face legal jeopardy. nobody knows at this point. even he, obviously, is left wondering where the investigation is going to lead. >> an issue in the article that came up in almost every single interview was the president's ability to differentiate between bad information and things that are true. explain that. what did you learn? >> well, that's exactly right. we saw that with these anti-muslim videos he tweeted out a week or two ago. he simply saw them on twitter, went ahead and sent them out without having verified them, without asking what they really were showing or purporting to tell his followers what he meant by tweeting them out. and you know, you have john kelly, the chief of staff in there since the summer, trying very hard to sort of control the information to him. make sure he understands who is calling him, who he's talking with on the phone. if he doesn't happen to listen in on the call himself, john kelly or one of his aides will

try to go back to the person the president has talked to to hear what it is he was told. articles from the newspapers and so forth are supposed to be vetted by, you know, the staff secretary before they get to him, so he's not just reading anything off the internet that might be sort of conspiratorial or off kilter. he's kind of chafed at those restraints. in fact, when he was at mar-a-lago, friends were slipping him news articles that otherwise wouldn't have gone through the system. it's a real battle to see what you can get to the president and what kind of information should he have. >> one more question before you go. and this is interesting. you piece says the president orders a dozen diet cokes a day. >> yeah. >> that's extraordinary in itself, but any other surprising details about the president's daily routine snz. >> that's like one of his vices. he doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, doesn't exercise. he doesn't eat particularly well. and diet coke is the thing that kind of keeps him, you know, going. that's his adrenaline fix, his caffeine fix through the day.

and he sort of sucks them down one after the other. you know, he's an old fashioned eater. he eats like well done steak slathered with gravy, extra ice cream for dessert. not sort of bent to the modern day dietary advice of the nutritionist out there. and he doesn't sleep as much as a lot of people do. he probably sleeps maybe five hours a night, something like that. television on when he goes to sleep, television is on when he gets up. it's an interesting habit and pattern of life that probably is different than some of the other presidents we have seen. >> so he's not a vegan. okay, got it. >> not a vegan. >> peter baker, i have to say it one more time. for anybody who is interested in or fascinated by this president, this is required reading. a great article. thank you for bringing it to us. appreciate it. so firing back. we're actually going to hear from roy moore for the first time in weeks. part of an interview for you in just a few minutes. >> and also firing back, new

york senator kirsten gillibrand ripped republicans for their handling of sexual allegations within their party. she has a strong response from one of the gop's most respected female senators. that's next. hange, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember.

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republicans care just as much as democrats about sexual misconduct and sexual harassment. there's a new awakening in our country that this is pervasive, whether we're talking about

hollywood or wall street or the media or capitol hill. >> republican senator susan collins defending her party amid new criticism this morning from democratic senator kirsten gillibrand. the senator slamming the republican party's handling of allegations of sexual misconduct, blake farenthold, roy moore, and president trump. she said we're in a moment of reckoning and the silence from republicans is deafening. it's long past time for them to join democrats in holding members of their own party accountable. joining me now, debbie dingell of michigan. first off, what do you make of where the republican party's handling of the sexual misconduct allegations is going so far? do you think the senator's attacks are fair game? >> well, i think senator collins spoke for herself, and barbara comstock and many of the republican women. i don't think we should be making this into a partisan issue. i think it's reflective of the

divisiveness that you see inside the republican party. there are a lot of republicans who are horrified at what the situation is in alabama. and don't think that we should be electing a pedophile to the united states senate. i don't think we can have a double standard. i don't think this entire issue should be partisan in any way. a dam has broken. i'm not sure it's as real as a lot of people want to say it is because i think we have to make it real for the tip waitress, the factory worker, the lawyer, the nurse, the teacher back home, but this has been decades of pent-up issues are just flooding out. and i think people are struggling with how to deal with it. but when you have this kind of candidate in alabama, i know a lot of republicans who are as disgusted as i am. >> given what you said there, regarding senator gillibrand, she's been facing harx criticism of her own from democrats after taking on senator al franken and also having said bill clinton

should have resigned. where do you stand on that? >> i have been clear that i think a lot of these are gotcha questions. senator gillibrand has been at the forefront of sexual assault in the military and other issue and has had the courage to speak out. there's a lot of consequences for women who speak up. a lot of women, my generation, have too many stories to tell and look the other way, knew there were consequences and haven't had the courage to come forward. she's been courageous. we can't have a double standard here. we can't have a double standard anybody. and the united states congress has to be an example for the country. but i still think we have to figure out how we're going to make this real because the way that some of the people who have been treated who came forward in the last few weeks is sure not making a lot of people that need their jobs feeling it's going to be comfortable for them to say something. >> but in terms of the standards, i want to get your take on the implications of the

senator's resignation, senator franken, of course. does that set some sort of a new precedent when it comes to allegations of misconduct? is due process no longer the standard when it comes to allegations that involve sitting members of congress? >> i think that due process matters, but when there's a pattern, and that's one of the things that, you know, people who are seasoned like me, and you have seen a number of these cases, are a pattern of behavior. and the drip drip. we do need to be at a higher standard in the congress. and i know it upset a lot of people. republicans need to resign as well. a number of us have been very clear from the very beginning, we can't have a double standard. we do have to make sure that we do have due process, but when there is a pattern like the one that we have seen, we just can't. we know who we are. and we are going to be accountable, all of us, republicans and democrats, men and women, in 2018. >> what about how senator al

franken handled the resignation announcement? one of his accusers had this to say about his remarks. >> the apology was very defiand. he wanted to talk about the pain that he was going through, which is obvious. but not the pain that he's inflicted. so, and i thought that was inappropriate to do that from the senate floor. >> so did al franken's speech fall short? >> you know, he apologized to the people, most of the victims. i don't have all of the facts. i think the day was very difficult for him. he gave up a job that he loved. i think he probably should have apologized again. but the man has lost his job, as he should have, and i'm just not going to do these gotcha questions, alex, because we got to keep -- what we're not doing is talking about how we're going to change the culture. that's the discussion i want to see. >> and i'm all for that, too, because i'm right with you on that one, but i'm curious from a financial standpoint, do you know how much money has been put

out there to settle allegations of sexual assault on both sides, just in general? >> well, that's -- you know, most of us in the united states congress didn't even know there was a fund. as you have heard, there is one case that was public that had been settled from that. it was the republican congressman from texas, congressman farenthold. >> $84,000, i think it was. >> it was $84,000. i have been told and they're trying to get the details and these are secret agreements. i think there's agreement in both parties, we must become transparent and we cannot use taxpayer money to settle any of these claims for despicable behavior, but how do you protect the victims? i have been told that those 17 million we heard about several weeks ago are also covering esbests cases, anthrax cases. we need to get the facts, but how do you get at members who use their mris for settlements.

barbara comstock today called for an outside council to evaluate this and look at all this. i think we do need to get the facts. i have become more sensitized than i probably was in my initial how do we, you know, our transparent and don't use taxpayer money. we do need to be very sensitive to the victims, the survivors. and you know, there are real consequences. i think that's what people don't understand. that for so long, we have kept our mouths shut. we haven't said anything because you did pay a price. and many of these women would still pay a price. and so how do we handle that, protect them, protect those that may -- we have to protect everybody in this process, which is how we have to change the culture. we need to set the rules in the workplace, and enforce them and make sure that there is a due process for all. for both the victims and those that have -- had allegations made against them, that they are quick, that they are fair, and that they're proportional.

>> my money is on you for changing the culture, that's for sure, after this conversation. thank you very much, congressman debbie dingell of michigan. >> in just a moment, we'll hear from roy moore granting his first interview in weeks. after that, the russia investigation and the gop's concerting effort to discredit robert mueller. where might that lead? our recent online sales success seems a little... strange?nk na. ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... "people" aren't buying these books online, but "they" are buying them to protect their secrets?!?! hi bill. if that is your real name. it's william actually.

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welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters in new york at the half hour. here's what we're monitoring for you. breaking news to share out of alabama. embattled senate candidate roy moore sitting down with local media. with two days until the special election, addressing the women who accused him of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers. we'll bring back vaughn hillyard in birmingham, alabama, for us. what is roy moore saying? >> reporter: okay, we're going to want to play you this sound bite. he did about a 25-minute, what i'm not even going to call an interview. it's more of a conversation. it should be clear roy moore has not engaged in an interview with a media news outlet since dating back to this initial allegations november 9th. he has not been seen publicly since dating back to last tuesday. this is the weekend, right, before election day on tuesday. and roy moore is nowhere to be

seen. so what does he do? the only time we have seen him, he sits down with another friendly host that i think we'll just let him speak for himself. this is how he's responding a month after the initial allegations. >> i know i stood for moral values, so they're attacking me in that area. i understand that. it's inconceivable to think that somebody would wait 40 years because they were embarrassed or ashamed of something. and then less than 30 days before the general election, come out and make allegations and then appear on political advertisement when they have waited 40 years not to be embarrassed. they put their pictures, the opposing opponent, has put these pictures on political advertisements. this is simply inconceivable. people don't do that. it's done for political purposes. and when this race is over, on 12 december, it will be over.

>> we should note, alex, that the women who have made these allegations multiple times have opened themselves up to further questioning. roy moore himself, though, hasn't been willing to sit down and answer questions. he's avoided the press every step of the way, driving by them, the campaign has blocked them off. just to give you a little contrast, right, when you're hearing roy moore sit down with friendly host, you have doug jones who we have had the chance to talk to multiple times. he's arriving here right now to a church in birmingham. he was in selby yesterday, mubt gumry, birmingham. he has been out on the campaign trail, as opposed to the republican in the race that simply is not meeting with potential constituents, is not engaging in interviews. is essentially running a ghost campaign. we have made numerous attempts ever since i got here on november 9th to have that conversation with roy moore, an earnest conversation about these allegations and also about the issues. he calls this a scheme. essentially, he set this up as an us against the world campaign. he's pushed aside these allegations as a scheme by

republicans, the washington establishment, the liberals. it should be noted he has a base here who believes him when he says this. we have gone around from every corner of the state over the last month, and i have talked to republican voters who said they believe roy moore. when i ask them, who is the they? who is it that is behind this scheme, is roy moore propagates it to be, they don't have an answer. they say that they're getting paid. i said who are they getting paid by? they don't know. the question is on tuesday, whether that will work. whether roy moore propagating this as a conspiracy will get him to the u.s. senate. >> well, great perspective there, and great getting that sound bite from roy moore in this lone interview of late. thank you very much, vaughn hillyard, for that. >> joining me now, erin mcpike, and laura bassett, senior political reporter for the "huffington post." you heard it there, particularly the point that roy moore made, why would these women wait 40 years for this? it's simply inconceivable,

people just don't do that. i want to get both of your reaction to that. laura, you first. >> i think that you can't look at these women in a vacuum. we're in a very different moment in time now than we were 40 years ago. if you look at the woman who started this all, the famous women who accused harvey weinstein of assault, famous, powerful women, gwyneth paltrow, angelina jolie, they're only coming forward this year. and their accusations against weinstein set off this avalanche of this me too moment, this reckoning which is happening now. these roy moore accusers are now feeling emboldened to come forward because so many other women are coming forward at the same time. not necessarily because he's now running for senate and they have political motivations to take him down. i think it's absurd for him to suggest 40 years ago when they were 14 years old or even 20 years old, that they were in the same kind of moment they're in now. >> yeah, and in terms of the political motivations, i want

you to speak about what you think roy moore said, but political motivations, it's my understanding the majority of, if not all of roy moore's accusers are republicans. add that into your answer there. >> well, leigh corfman, the biggest accuser of all in the roy moore story, who was 14, who came out in the first "washington post" story about this, said she's a republican. she voted for trump, in fact. she was not politically motivated. i think the biggest point of all, when it comes to leigh corfman, is when she was interviewed by t"the washington pos post", she was interviewed seven times before that first story came out. and they tried to convince her multiple times to go on the record, and she finally did. but that's because people don't really want to talk about these things. many women are coming forward, but there are many more women who are not coming forward with their stories because it's still not fun to talk about. she several times over the last 20 years wanted to talk about it. she wanted to confront roy moore about it. she's said that in numerous

interviews since. it's just a hard thing to talk about, and she struggled with it for years. >> so do you think, erin, that roy moore's campaign feels more emboldened now, especially following the president's endorsement friday night in pensacola, putting it out on twitter yesterday. the robocalls starting today. >> if roy moore's campaign and roy moore truly felt emboldened 100%, it would have been roy moore who spoke to chuck todd on friday. it would be roy moore barnstorming the state rather than doug jones. so i don't think roy moore feels as emboldened as we might think. they're trying to play the game here, run out the clock if they can run out the clock. he is obviously in the lead, but he seems to be in a little bit more hiding than you would normally find a candidate, a senate candidate in the last couple days before election day. >> laura, i know you heard his campaign manager saying he doesn't think there's going to be an ethics committee investigation if moore gets

elected. is there any doubt the senate will take some sort of action, laura? >> i really don't think they will. you heard what orrin hatch said about this, which is we let the people of alabama decide. he said i think it will settle a lot of questions if the people of alabama elect roy moore, which is to say basically, if you have enough votes, if you can win, then it expunges any kind of sexual misconduct allegations against you, which is an absolutely absurd position to take. >> alex, they will definitely seat roy moore. this has been a bit of a dance suggesting that maybe they wouldn't. they're absolutely going to seat roy moore. and it is going to be a circus once he actually gets to capitol hill. and reporters will talk to him about everything, and you'll have a number of republican senators trying to run away from roy moore on every issue of the day. it will be a circus, but they're definitely going to seat him. >> all right, i want to get one more question in, this regarding the mueller investigation. i'll ask it of you laura. let's listen to what inranking

member on the house intelligence committee said this morning. >> we do know this. the russians offered help. the campaign accepted help. the russians gave help. and the president made full use of that help. and that is pretty damning, whether it is proof beyond a reasonable doubt of conspiracy or not. >> where does the mueller investigation stand right now, laura? and are there any congressional testimonies in the pipeline? >> i think that he's just really getting started. and clearly, he has a few more tricks up his sleeve. kind of unclear what direction he's going. there's lots of possible outcomes here. one is that trump is taken down for conspiracy. another is that they just can prove collusion, which is not in and of itself a crime. i see, even if they can prove he colluded with the russian government, trump completely being let off the hook by senate republicans who are currently kind of just eroding the bounds of what -- of what people consider unbelievable these days. so i honestly don't believe that

trump is going to necessarily face any consequences unless they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed conspiracy. >> all right. laura bassett, erin mcpike, good to see you both. coming up next, what nikki haley said on a morning talk show about the women who have accused president trump of touching or groping them without their consent. at planters we know how to throw a remarkable holiday party. just serve classy snacks and be a gracious host, no matter who shows up.

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the moment of reckoning, as some are calling it, on sexual

misconduct, is renewing questions about the accusations aimed at president trump, and in an interview this morning, u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley opened the door even wider to taking another look at the accusations. she was asked how do you think people should assess the accusers of the president? >> women who accuse anyone should be heard. they should be heard, and they should be dealt with. and i think we heard from them prior to the election. and i think any woman who has felt violated or felt mistreated in any way, they have every right to speak up. i know that he was elected, but you know, women should always be comfortable coming forward, and we should all be willing to listen to them. >> let's bring in carry sheffield, the founder of bold, and bill press. an opinion contributor for the hill. with a welcome to you both, carrie, to you first, does nikki haley have a point? >> absolutely. this is a bipartisan, nonpartisan, post partisan issue that women should have their voices heard.

we also need to respect due process and make sure that women and men are both allowed to respond and counterrespond. so i'm glad she said that, acknowledged even the oval office, everywhere, no matter what office you're working in, women need to have their voices heard. >> to that end in terms of due process, bill, have the women who have accused president trump of misconduct in any way, have they been given their due process? >> no, in fact, they have been called liars. they have been called fabricators. they were threatened to be sued by donald trump, candidate trump. they have not had their day in court. first of all, kudos to nikki haley for, i think, telling the truth and expressing things absolutely correctly. but alex, this is hugely significant because, as you know, one of the women against donald trump who accused donald trump of sexual assault, has her case is still open. it's in front of the new york

supreme court as we speak. the hearing was held last week. the judge has yet to rule. and the question is, the president's attorneys are saying that she should not have a day in court because he is president of the united states. what nikki haley in effect is saying is, yes, she should. and in fact, the supreme court in bill clinton v. paula jones ruled that the attorneys for paula jones could depose bill clinton while he was president in the white house. i think this spells trouble for donald trump. >> if you look at that as a template for the open case right now in the new york supreme court, carrie, comment on that. should this go forward even though we're talking about the sitting president? >> sure. well, bill press did say correctly that the supreme court did rule that no office is too high in the land to not have justice served. so i want to see justice served. i want to make sure that any case brought against any accuser does follow due process, so absolutely, i think that should

proceed, and i think nikki haley, again, i'm proud of her for making the statement, and my guess is she didn't make the statement without the white house knowing she was going to make it. she is very much a team player. so i think that the white house is all singing from the same song book here. i think let justice run its course. >> i just have to say, alex, i don't think the white house is saying that donald trump -- >> i was going to ask you. >> no. i have to disagree with carrie on that. nikki haley is an independent person. i'm sure the white house line is, i have heard it from sarah huckabee sanders. we have heard it from don mcgahn, the white house counsel. their line is he's the president of the united states. these women are liars. none of them deserve their day in court. he cannot be deposed because he's too busy. it would interfere with his duties. that's what they argued in the court. that's what they argued in the court. >> to your point that you made, carrie. john dickerson is not going to give the questions in advance to nikki haley.

how is she to know he would ask that specific question. how could she have cleared it with the white house first? >> the same thing happened after charlottesville where nikki haley said she spoke with the president so i would imagine given this similarly sensitive situation that she's spoken with the president on this. i don't think she mentioned that specifically, but again, this issue is post partisan, bipartisan. you're seeing people on the left and right coming together. gretchen carlson, who is a friend of mine, i applaud her. she just introduced bills -- she reintroduced her legislation flanked by women on the left and right to say women should be heard. >> all right. guys -- >> i want -- i just have to point out, gretchen carlson is not a member of congress. she was there with members of congress, kirsten gillibrand and sherry bustoes from the house. >> i want to get into roy moore,

because bill, vice news conducted a focus group with supporters of roy moore. here's how one of those supporters explained her support for him. let's take a listen to that. >> roy moore is not a miserable man. this man has more integrity than you can find in the entire congress right now. don't fall for the george soros assassination plan. the truth will come out. these women are all going to be proven, just like the 16 that went against president trump. >> what's your reaction to that, bill? >> i think it's very sad to see these women put their ultimate faith in roy moore and to call, as she is, that these 14 -- i think it was maybe eight or nine, i lost track, with roy moore. remember, these were children, teenagers, and to call all of them liars. i'm afraid that that woman's perspective, however, is going to win the day on tuesday. i think it would be very sad to see roy moore come to the u.s.

senate, and i think it will be a disaster once he gets there. i just hope the people of alabama exercise better judgment. but i'm not hopeful. >> your reaction to the vice news sound bite there, carrie? >> i think roy moore has moore a long career in his southern state that a lot of people feel like they understand him. the fact that the accusers are coming up now versus multiple elections. to them the time seemed suspect. again, i've said before on your show that if it were me, i would be pushing the republican party to find a different candidate. but i have to say in terms of poor choices, i think the democratic party by being so hard left on the issue of abortion, this has come to haunt them. the fact that their candidate supports abortion, late-term abortion, that becomes a line in the sand for a lot of people to say, whatever may or may not have happened beyond the statute of limitations with this guy, when it comes to protecting innocent lives, they need to

hold their own and stand for innocent life. >> very quickly, what she's saying is i would rather have a pedophile than a democrat. i think that's a new low for the republican party. >> no, i'm saying people who are supporting him would rather have -- >> i have to get the last word. thank you to you both. that's the last word. coming up, we'll talk to a reporter in alabama who is covering the senate race. stay with us.

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the president is releasing a robocall in support of roy moore. and joining me now, the reporter for the birmingham news. anna, good morning to you. the president carried alabama by nearly 30 points in the election. how much does his support help moore? >> i think people who look to the president for guidance on who to vote for were already going to support moore. that's the feeling i get here from my reporting. so it may help a little bit. it's probably not going to move the needle too much from what it would have been. >> so what is the prevailing sentiment there? who is going to win on tuesday? >> reporter: i don't make a lot of bets. from the people i talk to, a lot of people think moore will win, but you can't throw a rock

without hitting doug jones right now. he's been out campaigning pretty hard. and there are republicans out there saying they may vote for him. so it's kind of a toss-up right now. >> and 25% turnout is expected according to elections commissions there, do you think that for doug moore to get over the top, he needs more than that? >> reporter: it's hard to say. roy moore has his base of supporters. he's probably not grown that a whole lot. so i think a higher turnout seems like it may help doug jones in the long run. >> okay, we'll see what happens. anna claire-vollers, thank you. coming up, why the house intelligence committee says there's a pretty damming case that the trump white house colluded with russia. that's coming up next, if.

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that's a wrap for me this hour. i'm alex witt. thank you for watching. i'll see you next saturday morning. now over to richard lui. that's all i have to do, send it across the desk. >> and two days in front of us before the big vote in alabama. thank you so much. i'm richard lui. thank you for joining us this hour. the battle for alabama is heating up with two days to go in the hotly contested race between roy moore and doug jones. moore speaking out repeating his denial of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. >> i did not know them. i had no