yesterday. that is "all in" for this evening. putin and trump meet again just five days before the midterms. he said he brought up russian medals but china was way worse. we've never seen anything like it. fake stories, baseless rumors, made-up job rumors, a chance for a 10% tax cut for many in the next two weeks from a president who doesn't see a problem with nationalism. and the president's odd reaction now that the cover story surrounding jamal khashoggi's murder are unraveling. nick kristof with us to weigh in as "the 11th hour" gets underway on a tuesday night. and good evening once again from our msnbc news headquarters here in new york.

day 602 of the trump administration, and the president appears to be gearing up for another meeting with putin of russia, just days after a meeting was concluded in this country. and it was just days ago when the feds identified the latest russian accused of meddling in our elections. in fact, our upcoming midterm elections. today trump's national security adviser john bolton met with vladimir putin in moscow. the focus was trump's decision to pull out of a three-decade-old arms control treaty, but the idea of another face-to-face sitdown was apparently not far from putin's mind. >> president putin said in the opening of the meeting today when the press was there that, his words now, it would be useful to continue a direct dialogue with the president of the united states. i said yes, in fact, that president trump would look forward to meeting with him if paris.

we will make the precise arrangements on that, but it will happen in connection with the 100th anniversary of the celebration of the armistice that the french are hosting on november 11. >> not long after those comments, trump was asked about this proposed meeting. >> mr. president, are you going to meet with vladimir putin in paris in a couple weeks? >> we may. it's being discussed right now. mike bolton, as you know, is in russia talking about numerous things, including the whole nuclear situation. it hasn't been set up yet but it probably will be. >> the president said mike bolton, it's john bolton. if this meeting takes place, it would be the first face-to-face meeting since the summit in helsinkeie, still being viewed by so many as a low point in his presidency. >> just now president putin denied having anything to do

with the election interference in 2016. every intelligence agency has concluded that russia did. who do you believe? >> president putin. he just said it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> president putin, did you want president trump to win the election? >> yes, i did. >> the president did try to clear all that up when he came home, but the damage was largely done. today in moscow, john bolton said he talked with putin about election interference generally, and he was asked if he thought russia was trying to meddle in the upcoming vote just two weeks away here. >> we're obviously monitoring the potential for foreign interference in our elections across the board very closely. fbi director christopher wray said about a month ago that we didn't detect anything like the

level of involvement in 2016. the fact was that the outcome was then exactly the same by all the evidence we have, and if there were evidence to the contrary, we would have heard of it by now. what the evidence did create was animosity in the united states, and particularly made it almost impossible for two years for the united states and russia to make progress diplomatically. >> bolton followed that with the administration's newest line on foreign efforts to influence our elections. >> if you want to talk about a really massive influence effort on the american political system, i would suggest you read vice president pence's speech on china's efforts. looking at everything china was doing, a very, very senior u.s. intelligence official said it makes russia look like the junior varsity. >> the vice president's argument which he made earlier this month went something like this. >> as a senior career member of our intelligence community told me just this week, what the russians are doing pales in comparison to what china is doing across this country. >> on that note, let's bring in our lead-off panel on a tuesday evening.

julia yaffia, russian-born journalist who has covered putin for years, this year a respondent with gq. formerly moscow bureau chief. and chris watts, who has never worked with president putin to our knowledge, but happens to be currently a senior fellow with the research institute and also happens to be the author of "messing with the enemy: surviving in a social media world with hackers, terrorists, russians and fake news." peter baker, we'll begin with you. what is the upside, what is the possible argument to make for another meeting with putin days after our midterm elections? >> it's a great question because they haven't really answered that one yet. the president has not yet been back overseas since his helsinke trip. there's been no particular

outcome from that meeting we've seen, at least publicly. and there is no buildup to the idea that this meeting is going to be a breakthrough on any particular tension between the two. it's going to come right after the midterm election, so at that point there will be a new congress being elected. we don't know if the democrats will win the house or the republicans, but there could be a landslide shift here. and there could be concerns about whether russia played a role in that election. we already saw robert mueller indict a russian for trying to intervene in the 1982 elections. that timing makes it curious in its own rite.

there is no sign that there is any particular movement like syria, ukraine, the major issues that have divided this country. >> what is going on here? just optically, yeah, and remember, this day would be veterans day, and it was going to be the big d.c. parade that got canceled. so it's odd that you want to go and do a follow-up meeting. it's already interesting. he gets what he wants when he's in meetings with president trump. and what's interesting is we had the last summit which was a closs sal pr disaster. you're coming into this now. what do. you could come into a circumstance here where the mueller investigation is

literally rolling out additional. they're all related to russia collusion. he'll be in the same situation where he's meeting with putin and he'll have to say, what about the. i don't know what there is to gain in this meeting. >> especially anywhere in the studio, if we get any during that one week before the elections. >> we call it voter fraud. there is a theory that if the republicans don't essentially get the outcome that they want, they will claim the. we could have a lot of tumult in our country with unclear terms. not really sure where we're going. we have nuclear negotiations coming together. now we're pulling out of a treaty. we were going to go to syria and essentially work out the problems. there are quite a few tensions between the military and the tough.

>> julia, i pointed out your birthplace when you came on the air because it supports your culture and your knowledge. we're going to do this again. putin today representing eagles and olives. i want you to figure out exactly what's going on here. i'll. >> translator:>> translator: on it holds 13 arrows, and 13

olives have the sign of the benevolent and peace-signing policy of the u.s. it looks like your eagle has ignored the olives and what's left of the arrows. >> julia, what's going on there? >> troll so hard. >> he's patiently waiting for the translator to translate this joke. it also shows his salt of the earth humor.

frankly, the move that john bolton pulled in moscow in the last couple days plays right into the kremlin's rhetoric that it is america that is the warmongerer, and a diplomat who is trying to find peace issues while america is constantly upending the table. this is russia's rhetoric when he came to syria, this is rhetoric with iran, with libya, now with the imf treaty, but because of the move that wants to talk details and keep this treaty in place. by the way, it needs to.

it's expensive to do all this stuff and russia is not flush to wash right now. >> their gdp is smaller than that of the state of texas, i always like to point out. because bolton repeated it on russian soil, the notion that the chinese are the great problem. you've written about the russian meddling in our elections. can you address it once and for all. >> it is a bait and switch. let's focus on what china is doing in cyberspace, meaning hacking is on a much grander scale. >> and they bought a section on the des moines register. >> that's right. the only part of their influence is they've both. >> who are the candidates

they're pushing in 2018? that's election interference. what are these boats that they're hacking? and what are the covert personas that look and talk like americans, connecting with voters on the ground trying to push them to vote a certain way. >> what has happened is chinese hacking has picked up. during the obama administration, we went essentially to knock it off. there were actually dagger's hacking. in the iran nuke deal behind the scenes, that picks up depending how we work with those

negotiations. it's a symmetric drill. we're going to push on china in terms of trade. they are now cyberattacking the medal. so this sort of warfare for the chinese. they're going to defeat us in the economic battlefield. >> julia, i'm coming to you with the subject of nationalism. before we do that, i'm going to have to run. the president in his office and in the oval office. >> mr. president, just to follow up your talk that you're a nationalist. >> i'm not a nationalist. i've heard them all.

i'm someone who loves our country when i say nationalist. >> folks of a certain age remember charles lindbergh. can you run through the brief history and why it just rings like a bell with some people? look, i was in houston last night, and the idea. that is to say that it does have a frayed. it was isolation this and even vaguely sympathetic to the nazis. .

that is usually not the message presidents want to send. critics say i'm meeting them above all others and the president of the united states says he needs an effect to be critical of patriotism. he even said last night in houston when i was there, i know we're not supposed to use this word. so when he tells jim acosta today he didn't know it had some bad connotations among some people, it seemed like a conflict with his own statement last night. >> julia, i see you nodding. what does nationalism mean to you? >> all the wonderful things. i'm nodding because i agree with peter always. i think aside from white nationalism, i think it's part of what this administration or trump in particular and his advisers like stephen miller have wanted to do from the

beginning, which is relitigate a lot of the things that have been set up, a lot of the structures and treatys that have been set up in the post world war ii era, to keep us safe and prosperous in that peace. some of us. in fact, it is. what's also interesting is this, again, pours right into the kremlin sign. he was -- in any american administration he's. again, the one that was developed after world war ii. now trump is saying, you know what, vladimir putin? let's do this. let's go back to 19th century ideas of nationalism, fears of influence. you move your chess players here and here.

we don't care about human rights or any of the people that. >> a conversation we could easily have over the remainder of the hour. greatly appreciate it. coming up, the stuff the president is choosing to say in public and out loud, as these midterms approach. "the 11th hour" will be right back. [ upbeat music ]

i'm ready to crush ap english. i'm ready to do what no one on my block has done before. forget that. what no one in the world has done before. all i need access, tools, connections. high-speed connections. is the world ready for me? through internet essentials, comcast has connected more than six-million low-income people to low-cost, high-speed internet at home. i'm trying to do some homework here. so they're ready for anything. with just 14 days until voters get their say, president trump is letting it fly at his rallies and really whenever microphones are present. this week he pledged a 10% tax cut for the middle class between now and the midterms, but congress is out of town.

that's not going to happen. after repeatedly charging there are middle easterners inside the migrant group, today he has no proof. the vice president is using a false figure about terrorists trying to come here from mexico. trump continues to go heavy on the number of a democratic mob. fox news devoted more air time just tonight to the idea of mob rule. the president has changed jobs numbers on the fly this week. he has let wild charges fly. here now a sampling. >> the democrats want to replace freedom with socialism. >> the democrats have become an angry, unhinged mob. >> you know what i am? i'm a nationalist, okay? >> i don't think we like sanctuary cities up here. by the way, a lot of people in california don't want them, either. they're rioting now. any guy that could do a body slam, he's my kind of -- he's my guy.

>> maxine waters. good old maxine. low iq individual. low iq. >> i'm willing to send the military to defend our southern border if necessary. all caused because of the illegal immigration onslaught brought by the democrats because they refuse to change the laws. they like it. they also think everyone coming in is going to vote democrat. welcome white house editor for the "washington post," and sabrina, editor for the guardian. who among us doesn't like a sweeping generallization so that's start with one. the closing argument in 2016 was, don't vote for hillary clinton. she's a straight-up criminal. if you do, we'll have nine false start-ups. they're coming for your flat screen tv.

>> well, that appears to be the argument from the president as well as those running on the ballot that has run very sharmly political. and a lot of it has to do with the fact that the republicans wanted them to run. polling has found that the tax bill that the president signed into law last year is increasingly unpopular with the republicans. they found respondents by a 2-1 margin felt that the bill supported wealthy americans and not the middle class. he's using the same playbook he used in 2016 but trying to appeal to his most ardent

supporters and that has to do with immigrants and racial tensions. . >> ashley, i swear i'm coming to you, but first i'm going to do one of my favorite things, and that is to read your writing aloud dramatically. one of the promises the president made this week was a 10% middle income tax cut even though the argument is it can't be done. you write, the mystery tax cut is only the latest instance of the federal government scrambling to reverse-engineer policies to meet trump's sudden public promises or to search for evidence buttresing his spirit. the pentagon leaped into action to both hold a military parade and the commerce department moved to create a plan for auto tariffs after trump angrily say, there is no proof at all.

let's view that in the audience and then we'll talk to the journalist. >> i spoke to one literally last night and another one this morning. very good relationship with border patrol and i.c.e. they say it happens all the time from the middle east. that's not even saying bad or good. some real bad ones, but they intercept -- >> they're in the caravan now. >> they could well be. >> but there's no proof. >> there's no proof of anything, but they could very well be. >> so ashley parker, is the subhead of your story that shiny objects will always be shiny objects? when you are the head of

government, there are so many people beneath you that some of them can sound like orders and initiatives. >> they sure can. when you're head of government, you can turn your whims and your desires and your offhand comments and tweets into, oftentimes, reality. what we get to in our story is, in some examples, if you just take two from this week, the president has said something not rooted in truth. like a claim about the caravans which he's been able to provide no evidence, but it sends the rest of the administration scrambling to find justifications. it also allows them to hang out to dry after they've gone out publicly, you're right, there is no proof but it could be true. the flip side of that is when yufr the president. again, you can have a whim or a desire, like you would like to do a tax cut, then government sort of mobilizes around you to

try to make it happen. trump did sort of come up with this tax cut seemingly out of the blue. no one in his administration knew about it, none of the key players on capitol hill who would have to be involved knew about it, but what you are seeing in the background are lawmaker aides that the president had to have happen in the presidency. >> sabrina, in your mind and reporting, any parallel to this in terms of a midterm on behalf of the president? >> i certainly think that a lot of their rhetoric on immigration and is fairly unpress dend, but you, but there was a crisis president trump had to, revolved around the politics and there was also the ebola crisis

simultaneously. you did have some scenes play out but those were more from the candidates, not coming from the presidency itself. i think that what's telling, though, they will show the extent of what the party has known to be as trumpism and this party's agenda when it comes to race. it's a short-term gain to know this could have long-term effects with the party and the elections. that will be a conversation for another day.

>> let's take the fictional tax cut. do they look at the pile of these things stacking up and just think, this is the life we've chosen? >> i think there is a recognition that this is how this president operates, and they've often, as the early, early days of this white house had to, even facts to a certain extent to try to make what the president says happen or seem true. i will say one thing, that trump has proven so far the pain and penalty for his mistruths. you would see aides if the president said something that absolutely wasn't true. in the west wing they sort of shrug and have learned less boyout.

dr. blasey ford or saying something about caravans. thank you both for coming on tonight. i really appreciate it. coming up, the president's odd reaction to how this saudi story is playing out, and details of a grisly murder. we'll ask another of our three pulitzer prize winners on tonight. time for whitestrips. crest glamorous white whitestrips are the only ada-accepted whitening strips proven to be safe and effective. and they whiten 25x better than a leading whitening toothpaste. crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life. about the colonial penn program. here to tell you if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's?

the three p's of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i just turned 80. what's my price? $9.95 a month for you, too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the number one most popular whole life insurance plan available through the colonial penn program. it has an affordable rate starting at $9.95 a month. no medical exam, no health questions. your acceptance is guaranteed, and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock, so your rate can never go up for any reason. and with this plan, you can pick your payment date, so you can time your premium due date to work with your budget. so call now for free information. and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner,

and it's yours just for calling. so call now. they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again!

they had a very bad original concept. it was carried out poorly and the cover-up was one of the worst in the history of cover-ups. >> note the body language there. that's from today, the president's assessment of the murder of "washington post" journalist jamal khashoggi three weeks ago by the saudis inside turkey. shortly after the president spoke, secretary of state mike pompeo said the u.s. is revoking the visas of those believed responsible. it's the first punishment of any kind from this country, but the president remains reluctant to come down too hard on the

saudis. back with me tonight to talk about all of it is nick kristof, republican columnist for the "new york times." it really does sound like a k-phone in the president's mind. how does he recover from this? >> the only real debate among saudi arabia watchers is whether it's 90% likely that the crown prince was engaged in this murder, or 100% likely. and the fact that we are then dispatching our treasury secretary to meet with the crown prince, that we are refusing to look in his direction, and that our penalty is that we are denying visas or we're taking away visas from people who are actually already being jailed right now for the murder of someone writing for the "washington post," the torture murder of this person? we're supposed to be holding up norms, we're supposed to be holding consequences, and the fact the data was issued in

these orders. >> what should happen to saudi arabia by the americans ordered by the americans? >> this happened in a nato country. i think there should be an international investigation. the saudis obviously aren't going to do a real investigation, the turks are trying to get something out of this, too. an international investigation under the auspices of the u.n. would be a good start. nato countries should suspend. and that has real teeth. saudi arabia is engaged in this terrible war in yemen that's brought. >> there is no corollary to the continuation-35. >> and they have our equipment. they need more straps to bounce. the chinese aren't going to bail them out. we have leverage over them, not

the other way around. and the, if we don't act, may well be the reckless leader of this country for blaz and what happened with the signals that you send to. >> thank you for coming on our show. several authors and writers have teamed up to write a new book about impeachment. why them and why now? we'll pose those questions when

"the 11th hour" continues.

how do you impeach somebody that's doing a great job, that hasn't done anything wrong? our economy is good. how do you do it? how do you do it? but if it does happen, it's your fault because you didn't go out to vote. >> if i ever got impeached, i think the market would crash. i think everybody would be very poor. >> it better be interesting. you get impeached for having created the greatest economy in the history of our country. >> trump has used those lines to maintain support but the possibility has been floated ever since he took office. just three presidents have come close to actually being removed from office, through impeachment, andrew johnson, richard nixon, and. we consider those cases and the politics surrounding them.

with us here tonight. he knows a thing or two about presidents because he's covered a president or two. and also tonight, it's been a while since his last book came out. his latest solo effort is called "the soul of america." so john, as i hold this cooperative effort in my hand, people are going to see covered just that inflammatory word and say, why this topic and why now? >> it is a topic du jour, and i think you'll agree that is, in fact, the teacher's pet. he filed his about six minutes after the assignment came out and it really kind of made the rest of us look really bad. it's unquestioned that impeachment has become much more of a political subject since nixon.

we went a long time, really, andrew johnson all the way through to the 1970s, without talking about it once. my contribution here, which, of course, is the oldest, was that andrew johnson, who escaped by only a vote of being convicted, that example shows that impeachment is as much a political process as a legal one. it is said. and the existential struggle over the. john so was. and then the republican congress which wanted to actually implement the verdict of the war was stymied by johnson.

>> but johnson got the last laugh, because what is laying at his head? >> i believe the constitution of the united states. >> peter baker, you and i were around for the fence from your work. i need to convince the narratives that are violating the world's view. how do you look at the potential gravity and timing of what we're going to get, which is some form of finding a report from one robert mueller. >> they're great questions. i will start. of course, november is coming up. there will probably be a conflict and the efforts will be different but some of the players are not.

we see some of the same players involved today, we see the same arguments being held today. president clinton and his people in particular talked about a witch hunt out to get him. he said the issue was the chase, not the crime. in effect that's what you see today with trump. what's different is the issues that a woman was talking about a serious affair. they are serious issues we're talking about with president trump. potentially even more serious if it is found by robert mueller that there was any kind of collaboration or collusion or

conspiracy or whatever you want to call it with russia. therefore other issues, of course, that have come up. the democrats will latch onto perhaps the hush money that was paid to stormy daniels before the election, perhaps the emollients from other people for a different cause. you heard some democrats. you played all those tapes of president trump raising the idea of impeachment because he's using it effectively as a way to say to his base, come out and vote. you have to protect me from all the people that yet they're going to be hard pressed on some level perhaps if they win the house because their own base is so fervent on this issue. >> is this book a printed warning between two covers not to use this powerful word

lightly? >> it is. it is also a reminder that it is an incredibly divisionous. that's something to keep in mind, i think, in the sense that whatever your issues are with the president, almost always the place to take care of it is at the ballot box, not in the conference. >> these men are among the founding fathers and our thanks so jon miami beach. coming up about the . let's be honest about it, we're starting to hear things we last heard in 2016 about the burden on the shoulders of women as a voting bloc in this country.

and steve kornacki is at the big board on this topic for us tonight. >> we talked about it in 2016, we've been talking about it since, and for a long time in

american politics, the idea of a gender gap. it's been around in some form since 1980. in the trump era, we've been saying it's getting bigger. we got some new numbers this week that add a new twist to that. right around labor day, the nbc poll looked at the gender gap, we found democrats running 25 points ahead among women for democrats.

republicans, running three points ahead among men. that by any historical standard, a staggering gender gap. that's the story for the last year or two. and the new poll this week, look, that democratic advantage among women is still 25 points. but look what happened. the republican advantage among men has shot up by 11 points. some people say this may be that kavanaugh effect we've been talking about. so, 39-point gender gap. again, put this in some perspective. here's the gender gap from recent elections.

it was staggering in 2016 at 24 points. 20 points in 2012. again, right now, in our poll, 39 points separating where democrats are with women and republicans are with men. these are two groups, just in the last couple of weeks, that seem to be moving in very, very different directions. very curious to see if something approaching that magnitude happens on election day, because then we'll be in uncharted territory. >> steve, as always, what a pleasure. thank you for coming by. and, coming up, using a uniquely american voice that is now gone to inspire voters to the polls. when "the 11th hour" continues. i'm alex trebek here to tell you

about the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's? the three p's of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase,

and a price that fits your budget. i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i just turned 80. what's my price? $9.95 a month for you, too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the number one most popular whole life insurance plan available through the colonial penn program. it has an affordable rate starting at $9.95 a month. no medical exam, no health questions. your acceptance is guaranteed, and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock, so your rate can never go up for any reason. and with this plan, you can pick your payment date, so you can time your premium due date to work with your budget. so call now for free information. and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner, and it's yours just for calling. so call now.

last thing before we go tonight, starting with a detail

buried in the criminal complaint the feds filed last week against the russians, the whole strategy was to tear us apart, turn us against each other, and to keep doing it. the social media troll strategy was to refer to john mccain as an old geezer, back when he was nearing the end of his life. it's the kind of meanness and vitriol and bile we've come to expect from the global comment section. but the mccain institute is out with a new ad, aimed at getting people to vote on november 6th. it's based on his legacy of public service.

here's the first installment. ♪ >> very capable of compassion, sacrifice, and endurance, we can't be paralyzed by fear, we can't give up on ourselves and each other. we stand for truth against falsehood, hope against despair. i believe we must always stand up for it, for if we do not, who will?

♪ ♪ >> so we go out tonight on the words of john mccain. that is our broadcast for this tuesday evening. thank you very much for being here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. ♪ the trump administration takes its first action against saudi arabia after the murder of jamal cushowing jamal khashoggi. he has no idea it has a racial conoitation. and the administration says it has the evidence but what does the president actually say? ♪ good morning everyone.