you can't just drop an umbrella when you're done with it. it's not a wife. >> stephen colbert gets tonight's "last word." "the 11th hour with brian williams" starts now. >> the 11th hour with brian williams starts now. >> tonight an attempt to smear robert mueller has been handed over to the fbi for investigation. his investigators have spoken with steve bannon as all signs continue to point to roger stone, the president's friend of 30 years. with a week to the midterms and a direct line to his base, the president launches a theory that he alone can reverse a constitutional birthright. tonight we are at the big board with the numbers and the late word the president has lost kanye. all of it has the 11th hour gets

underway on a tuesday night. good evening once again from the headquarters here in new york. day 649 of the trump administration. pittsburgh, pennsylvania remains just about the saddest place on earth and we will have the coverage of the presidents uncomfortable and unusual visit to that city. but first we are following development on the robert mueller front. the "washington post" is reporting they are pressing witnesses on roger stone and whether stone had knowledge of the e-mails that were released by wikileaks minutes after the access hollywood report dropped. he appears to be focused on whether wikileaks coordinated

with the campaign. they questioned steve bannon about alleged claims stone made privately about wikileaks according to the report investigators have questioned witnesses about october 7, 2016. less than an hour after the post published its story about trump's crude comments during a taping of access hollywood wiki leaks released a trove of e-mails hacked from the account of her campaign chairman john podesta. stone has denied any prior knowledge of the e-mails and denied discussing wikileaks with

campaign officials. the post quotes -- looking for evidence of what triggered wikileaks to drop the e-mails after the access hollywood tape broke. it is unclear whether the special prosecutor has evidence connecting stone to wikileaks activities. julian assange could have concluded that on his own. nbc news is reporting about an apparent effort to smear robert mueller. several reporters say they have been contacted by a woman to say she was offered money to say she was sexually harassed by mueller. they say it seemed like a hoax and unclear if it was clear the woman was offered money to make the claim. in a very rare public statement

a spokesman for robert mueller wrote -- on that note let us bring in our leadoff panel on a tuesday night. ashley parker from the "washington post." the former assistant director for counter intelligence who has worked for robert mueller among others and mimi, a distinguished fellow at the pace university school of law. welcome to you all. frank, because you alone have worked with and for robert mueller, i would like to begin with you. this caught our eye tonight from our friend and frequent contributor, barbara mcquaid and a former u.s. attorney requesting an fbi investigation is what innocent people do when

false accusations are made. frank, i am attempted to joke at this point when you hear tales of drinking and heavy drinking and womanizing you think robert mueller immediately but you really did work for this man. we know a lot about his bearing and less about his life. talk about this smear attempt. >> brian, it has been several days of a somber nation and i have not laughed much in the last several days because of events but i laughed today. for the first time i read this account of this woman claiming she has been paid and reporting someone tried to pay her to besmirch bob mueller. it is laughable for two reasons. not the boy scout we all know and love but it is laughable because of the sloppiness with

which the hoax was perpetrated. if you read the details where people are having business phones coming back to somebody's mom and ll c's created and linkedin accounts. there is an act of desperation as we approach the point where they can't find real dirt and will pay for what they need. >> over at the "new york times" they write the plot appeared to be the latest and a bizarre string of attempts by supporters of president trump to discredit mueller's investigation as a hoax and witch hunt. six guilty pleas and a trial conviction in the 17 months he has overseen the investigation. that is an under statement of the mueller investigation so far.

what does it say about anxiety and frustration on the part of the right? >> these people are not in any way affiliated with the trump white house but it gets at a level of anxiety of what mueller's probe might turn up. while the past several weeks having out of the headlines and focused on the tragedies and on the midterms and the president's strategy and even he has been grappling with that. bob mueller has been quietly proceeding along with exactly what it is he was tasked to do. the midterms are a marker where we expected he might come up with something and the president might use the midterms for some of the things he has been asking

for like a shake up at the justice department. sort of out of the headlines but it is not halted in any way. >> it is true that robert mueller might not have no comparison in american life. the only thing frank left out was marine corps captain and became an army ranger for good measure because it was missing from his resume. how common are threats and smear attempts against public servants like prosecutors. >> not common at all. for the most part prosecutors, you know, in the department of justice and u.s. attorney office are untouched, you know, even the mob who is infamous for going after that because they don't go after prosecutors. they know that prosecutors are

replaceable. you knock one off, you will get another by threats, violence or intimidation. here they were trying to do some sort of intimidation scheme or getting mueller removed. so, you know, it speaks to first of all, the desperation that you and frank have referenced and ashley. but it also speaks to the uniqueness of the situation where we have a special counselle. i know trump is not connected to this but trump made lots of allegations. not long ago we will hear about mueller's conflict of interest and he will have to step aside. it is an extreme tactic to get rid of mueller personally. i think on the one hand, yes, somebody else would step in if mueller was not able to continue but the special counsel

investigation was still going. there would be a replacement but not like mueller. >> to the reporting in your newspaper, bannon, this is the call back that you don't want. he spent an estimated 20 hours with mr. mueller's investigators. you don't want to come back. i am guessing you don't want to be roger stone right about now. >> you sure don't. the irony about being roger stone right about now is that he is a self proclaimed dirty trickster. when you traffic in the dark arts you brag and overhype trafficking in the dark arts which is normally good for that brand expect for now when you have bob mueller squarely focused on you and you are seeing roger stone walking back

saying that all of these things that i claimed were jokes and were not quite true. but it is a tough line for him to walk. just the fact that bannon was called back to talk about roger stone is a good reminder that roger stone is someone who whatever the probe does or does not turn up legitimately has been president trump's friend for 30 years and he was quite close to the campaign. roger stone was instrumental in installing paul manafort in the campaign and in the early days of the white house. depending on what the probe does find, it is not like a mere periphery figure. he was in touch with all of the key players throughout the entire ordeal. >> mimi. we have established you can't be intimidated.

the latest "washington post" reporting we were just talking about, where does it tell you that the investigation is right now? >> well, they are still clearly very focused on stone. what we are hearing about in the new reporting is that in addition to looking at the electronic communication, at the public statements he made. bragging about his connections to wikileaks. also focusing on the private statements to people within the campaign to people like bannon. that is important because it shows mueller is trying to figure out when stone said things publicly, you know, about his connections to wikileaks. that is true. that is testing what he said privately. was it just bravado. was he saying this to people in confidence. second of all was he saying it if he is talking about these connections to people in the

campaign that also tells us about what knowledge and possibly what knowledge people in the campaign also had. they are zeroing in on why were those e-mails released. it could not be roger stone. it could be roger stone. it could be people in the campaign he coordinated with. i think that is where we are. >> frank, you get to be the closer tonight. i saw one of the comments you made to the producer about one of the issues central to this. if americans are willing to pay attention at the end of this what do you think they are going to learn about what russia has done to the united states and their role in our politics? >> that is a good question as we discuss the role of roger stone. what is at the heart of it is the degree to which the campaign

clu colluded with a foreign adversary to get assistance. and when you talk about roger stone, ultimately what is likely to come out of this is the collusion question. if the americans read the file report carefully it will read like a novel in terms of attempts to get intelligence service engaged and the use of russia to use wikileaks to get e-mails out. people like roger stone, the dirty tricksters, they thought they were helping their candidate and doing things to reach out and help. what was really going on, russia was duping them and using them for their own gains. they have been duped. the question is whether or not they care that a foreign adversary used them as a means to an end. >> troubling note.

we wrap up the first segment with the thanks to the guest. greatly appreciated. coming up for us with one week to go until the midterms, the president's latest controversial move aimed directly at an audience of his followers, and later we talk to a retired general about sending the u.s. military to the southern border. 11th hour getting started here on a busy tuesday night.

>> some people you could get rid of citizenship without -- >> it was always told you need a constitutional amendment. now they are saying i can do it just with an executive order. we are the only country in the world a person comes in, has a baby and the baby is essentially a citizen of the country for 85 years. ridiculous. it has to end. >> on the matter of birthright citizenship, the president is wrong there. at least 30 other countries grant automatic birthright citizenship. we learned about trump's plan to do away with the amendment a week before the midterms. the white house was asked about the timing of the birthright announcement. >> no because it is only -- i

understand that is the word of the day. there are constitutional scholars who say the 14th amendment has been misinterpreted. >> not 30 minutes after she spoke those words the "washington post" published an op-ed coauthored and write trump's plan to end birthright citizenship is unconstitutional. at its core it is what our constitution is all about. bridging the declaration of independence with a constitutional commitment that all of those born in the united states share in that equality. a constitutional amendment would be necessary to revoke birthright citizenship.

gentlemen, welcome to you both. eli, we compiled a way to share. this issue is not new for donald trump. we will talk about it on the other side. >> this is a very big question. they have been talking about it for years as to whether the 14th amendment covers this. >> you want to get rid of birthright citizenship. >> you have to. woman is pregnant. she steps across the boarder. has the baby. congratulations. we take care of the baby for 90 years. we do not have to take care of that baby for 85 years.

>> eli, this wouldn't have anything to do with the midterms? >> you are right. the clips do show this is something the president felt strongly about. immigration is his number one issue and what galvanized support for his campaign when he lost it by talking about mexicans bringing rapists to the country. he uses fear of different minority subgroups, chinese taking jobs, the caravan. he tries to stoke fears to get people to turn out to support him. that is something the president has been consistent about. he revved it up ahead of elections which are win/loss referendums. that is how he views this. his first re-election. that is how steve bannon

described it. he is going all in with the rhetoric. the birthright citizenship issue is another thing that he can throw out there in the final week of the election to steer the debate back to immigration and he fears even if legal scholars say he can't do this, that is where the focus is and thinks it will motivate his core supporters to turn out. >> you have a hell of a senate race out there, john. nevadans know a thing or two about immigration. how is it likely to go over there? >> immigration is the number one issue for republicans in the senate race making it counter intuitive to a lot of people. we are not a boarder state but there are a lot of undocumented

workers here. when he ran in 2012, and remember when he ran in 2012 he has been appointed only winning by 12,000 and lost the hispanic vote 4-1. before he saw the results he was against anchor babies. he used that term. considered offensive. he was against the dream act and said birthright citizenship made less sense today than when the 14th amendment was passed. saw the changing demographic and was for immigration reform. now he is hiding from this. he is just absolutely mortified that the president is doing this or is he. is he happy that the president will help to get out the base,

early voting shows the republicans are trailing. maybe it will help get out the base in rural nevada. it is a divide in the country. anti-immigrant appeals versus alienating a growing hispanic vote. >> the base and the way that the issues, some of them tragic, have played out over the recent days. the kavanaugh approval and then we have been through the scare and the sadness of pipe bombs and the innocent souls in pittsburgh. shannon and jennifer jacobs have teamed up that some voters are losing enthusiasm with a week up

to the midterms. it is a base that needs tending as they put it. i'm sorry. that was for john. >> that was for me? >> that's okay. >> you are absolutely right. you are absolutely right. that is what is going on here. and to use another metaphor, brian, the trump train was going along. what was not going as fast as he hoped it was going. he is looking on at what is going on around the country. he needed to super charge the train if i can torture this metaphor back on the east coast as much as i can. that is what is going on. everything is about the midterms. he didn't do it by accident. steve bannon is like wow, he

still listens to me with this type of stuff. >> i water boarded metaphors in this time on this show. when last we saw him kanye was delivering what was affectirefe as manic appearance in the oval office. showing the president an energy alternative aircraft. now tonight the president has lost kanye as kanye has thought better of it and my eyes are now open he says on twitter and realize i have been used to spread messages i don't believe in. i am distancing myself from politics and completely focused on being creative. the guessing game is underway as to why the change and who got to kanye and spoke to him and how

the president will react. because it deals in popular culture and because he got so much press here we are. >> i don't have the full expectations for you. but i know there is a snafu or something that got to kanye west and might have made him feel pressure about this. the president has been out there and mentioned kanye west and jim brown and points to them as evidence of support from african-americans. we will see if there is acknowledgment or if kanye west does more to explain what it is to have him shift focus. you think back to the three weeks ago with the farce in the oval office. 15 or more minutes the president sat there. you had to sit back like why was this happening. seems like the president put the show together to a muse people.

seems like the oval office was utilized as a sound stage. like the hurricane came ashore. hopefully it will not be, you know, hard to remember what happened just days ago. one of the absurd moments in the presidency and it has taken another turn. coming up, trump deploys u.s. military to the border to prepare for a migrant caravan that is a few thousand miles away. good call or political stunt? we will ask a retired army general when we come back. many people living with diabetes

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>> because of these pictures of that so-called migrant caravan making its way from honduras. they are roughly 1,000 miles away, the equivalent of walking from houston, texas to jacksonville florida meaning they are a month easy away from the nearest u.s. border crossing point. as time passes the number

continues to dwindle. once estimated north of 7,000 and now only about 3,500 people. even though the administration is moving ahead with a military build up at the border. documents leaked from the pentagon indicate that the administration was told ahead of the decision to deploy only a small percentage will likely reach the united states but the government continued the plan to send troops to the border. the president calls it an invasion. it sent. members of the national guard might not like hearing this distinction from the president. >> the caravan is wasting their time. >> what is the military being able to do? obama and bush. >> they are not me. i am sending up the military. this is the military. >> retired four-star military

general, former battlefield kplander in the persian gulf. another man that has bled for the country and had thousands under his command. if we agree the president has the right to do it, is it right to do it days before an election? >> my last military assignment with the southern commanders. mexico. all throughout the region. central america and in particular. belize. honduras. disasters. poverty, violence, injustice, lack of hope. the last time that i said it on air a bright young guy said no. it is getting perfect down here. they are flying both violence and poverty and hardly a national security threat.

having said that we have to say that the armed forces provide support under strict guidelines. what the president is doing is entirely legal. obama and bush did surges to the front here. it is helpful to the border protection. right now three combat battalions. there are three c130 and a c17. it is a legal operation and entirely a political stunt aimed at affecting the midterm elections. >> talk to us about your concerns about our country from nationalism to pipe bombs to the 11 innocent souls we are mourning in pittsburgh. >> i put out a tweet a couple of

days ago. it is getting discouraging. i am apprehensive. level of anger, much of it generate generated not just mr. trump, who is feeding the underlying ferocity of the viewpoints but the leaders that amplify it and those that don't stand up to counter it. it is a problem. it is getting worse. the president is bordering on unconstitutional behavior. congress hasn't stood up to him. the media and the court system seem to be trying to confront him. but mark me down as personally concerned about what is going on. >> we have recorded your

concern. we will have you back and we will talk about the departure from merkel from the scene and why the world needs to sit up to take notice. thank you so much for joining us tonight. coming up a week from tonight votes will be counted.

>> if it is wednesday it must be fort myers. the president made it clear whatever else is happening in our country he will go on with his rallies. 11 rallies, eight states. almost every stop has a senate seat the gop hopes to flip or keep from losing. hey, steve.

>> nbc news, we are polling the critical senate races in the final week and a brand-new one out to tell you about. we can show you in the state of tennessee. here we go. our poll has the republican leading a majority of the vote for her. this continues the trend. a personally popular democrat that had been leading. she now leads the race by five in the poll. and in arizona. a piece of good news here leading it by six points over the republican. this is a state that trump won

in 2016, only by three points. this would be a pick up for democrats. what does it all do to the race for the senate? we talked so much about how uphill it is for democrats. look. the lead there, let's put it in a democratic column. they have a long way to go. they have to get the number up to 51. now down double digits. texas shows ted cruz ahead there and that would put republicans at 50. that alone would be enough to preserve the republican majority even if all of the others went into the democratic column.

the democrats need to shake one of these loose. they are down at least five in texas. one of these they have to shake loose and get back into the undecided column. teach, this is a first for us. thank you my friend. rest up. we have a week to go until the big night. the president is met by protests in pittsburgh today. three days after the massacre at the synagogue we are here in the studios getting the take on the president's leadership under fire. hand slicing all natural meats for every jimmy john's sandwich he makes

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four years ago, we rejected marshall tuck and his billionaire backers for superintendent of public instruction. but they're back. the corporate billionaires

and their handpicked candidate, former wall street banker marshall tuck. tuck's billionaires have spent over $25 million distorting tony thurmond's outstanding record on education. all because they know tuck shares their agenda: diverting funds from our public schools into their corporate charter schools. the same agenda as trump and betsy devos. protect our public schools. say no, again, to marshall tuck. monitor their blood glucose every day. which means they have to stop. and stick their fingers. repeatedly. today, life-changing technology from abbott makes it possible to track glucose levels. without drawing a drop of blood, again and again. the most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. life. to the fullest.

>> the sound of music. president trump was met by solemn protesters in pittsburgh saying he is not welcome in their city until he fully denounces white nationalism. over 47,000 people signed an open letter from jewish leaders to president trump reading that your words and policies emboldened a white nationalist movement. the president spent his time in pittsburgh visiting the synagogue where roses and stones were placed on 11 memorials. he wasn't met at the airport. public officials said he wasn't

welcome there and he left town silently and without comment. let's ask someone for whom the study of the president is his life's work. presidents of war. my our guest and good friend michael beschloss. have we ever seen anything to any time in presidential history? >> nothing even close. we have seen so many things that do not connect to the earlier history. the number of people there that didn't want him there because they felt he roboted to this and

they did not get it. >> i have been struggling of thinking of stories to tell in the role of american life. the hurricane and the flooding. lyndon johnson and the flashlight. very good thing to go to the scenes of hurricanes. there was not power. there was light provided by flashlights. so the odd thing is that in modern times l.b.j. started the tradition that presidents go to the scene of a big accident. you remember 1963 a major

disaster. hundreds of men were killed. very unlike the way that we see presidents doing it in the modern era. bill clinton. that was after the city bombing. >> you are chief of state as well as political leader. you try to heal, unite and inspire. those are things that are not in donald trump's tool box and i think he demonstrated that

today. >> let's talk about a word that entered our national conversation. this is from fox news there in the interview with president trump last night. >> the word nationalism is off to the left the hate, even violation. do you think that is fair and do you want to clarify what nationalism means. >> means i love the country. i am fighting for the country. many, many years our leaders have been more worried about the world than the united states. they leave us in a mess. >> this was the biggest attack.

nationalist. the subtitle is white power. he knows it has been used to refer to prominent jews around the world. the splapgz is that he doesn't know what he is saying. but in some ways he certainly did. >> what does it mean going forward as a country? >> we have to get our healing and unity for someone other than the president. that is what presidents do. oftentimes people say if you don't get it from a president you need to get it from other sources. the one thing in the past is

something like this to give a speech. more in him to divide. he is doing it. now he has been to pittsburgh. he is going on to 11 more political rallies. i doubt he would mention it ever again. >> the book is presidents of war. we will be enriched for the experience. coming up, emotional days in boston. the sox came home with the trophy and the other shoe dropped today. the story when we come back. i'm alex trebek here to tell you about the colonial penn program.

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>> tonight whitey bulger is gone. while we are never sure about anything, he lived unrecognized

after all for years in santa monica. and while the federal bureau of prisons confirmed his death saying it was the result of a prison beating that left him unrecognizable today a friend of mine in boston texted me i am sure he is headed here. it would be nice to have proof to know for sure that whitey is gone. it was probably for the reason one bartender in south boston was asked to comment on whitey's departure from life and declined. he was a lot of things, a sociopath, stone cold murder, snitch, chameleon and irish american folk hero, chillingly portrayed by johnny depp in black mass and more loosely by jack nicholson in the departed. this is how the story was reported tonight on the 11:00

news on our boston nbc statement wtbs. >> a violent end to whitey bulger's life of crime. >> i was hoping they would be thinking of me. >> infamous mob boss killed in prison. >> james whitey bulger is dead. >> he deserves a horrible death. >> his family. live team coverage on the newest information into the killing of whitey bulger starts now. >> a notorious mobster found dead in his cell this morning. >> tonight we are live with team coverage for you from reaction to those impacted by bulger's violent past into how he was killed. >> big days in the city known as

the hub. first the boston red sox and now whitey bulger. thank you so much for being here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters in new york. >> the word nationalism has taken this connotation of fueling anti-semitism, hate, violence. >> protesters greet president trump at the scene of a hate crime as he keeps feeding fear to his base. >> i look at two things, globalists and nationalists. >> tonight, seven days out, how democrats are answering the president's toxic finish. then -- >> that's what we've got to restore is western civilization for the world, tucker. >> sounds fair to me. >> why even national republicans are rejecting congressman steve king citing the need to stand up against white supremacy. and as steve bannon appears for a second time before the special counsel.