immigration. they just weren't having it, voters weren't having it. i think it under scores where i believe nancy pelosi will have a governing agenda come january. >> i think she will be the speaker. the cards are going that way. thank you both so much. have a great holiday. i preseappreciate it. >> that is it for this evening. good evening, joy. >> good evening, chris, happy, happy pre turkey. thank you very much. appreciate it. all right. thank you all for joining us this hour. i'm joy reed, rachel has the day off. well, donald trump surely is aware of the stunned outrage response even from his lock step allies and their republican party over his decision not to punish saudi arabia for the killing of washington post journalist jamal cash oak. we learned last week the cia concluded the saudi crown prince almost certainly ordered the killing. yesterday the president ignored the cia's conclusion in a

bizarrely worded statement saying essentially, never mind what the cia says, maybe he did, maybe he didn't. answering reporter questions yesterday before jetting a off to mar-a-lago for the thanksgiving break. trump inaccurately claimed the cia had quote nothing definitive on the prince's involvement and said he was standing with the kingdom, because he did not want the u.s. to lose out on economic deals with saudi arabia. he denied the support had anything to do with his even long-standing ties with the saudis, even though he bragged several times during the campaign about his love for the saudis and how many apartments they bought from him. >> saudi arabia. they make a billion dollars a day, a billion dollars a day. i love the saudis. many are in this case. saudi arabia, i get along with them. they buy apartments, they spend 40 million, 50 million?

i dislike them very much. >> he was not shy about his business ties. today after a torn-up criticism for his bizarre statement of support for the saudis, an undercutting of the cia's conclusion, he doubled down with a 729 a.m. tweet thanking saudi arabia for lowering oil prices, let's go lower. it's worth noting the president backed away from his campaign rhetoric about how much he loves doing business with the saudis. he told reporters, i don't make deals with saudi arabia. i don't have any money from saudi arabia. i have nothing to do with saudi arabia. which conveniently ignores trump's long deal making history with that country dating back to the 1990s. this is a picture of the trump princess, a $282 foot luxury yacht, one of his prized possessions before he had to give it up. the. a p. notes in 1991, trump was teetering on personal

bankruptcy, he sold his 282 foot trump yacht princess to a saudi prince. four years later that same prince bailed trump out in a $325 million deal for trump's money-losing plaza hotel. in 2001, trump sold the entire 45th floor of the trump world tower across from the united nations in new york city for $12 million. the biggest purchase in that building to that point. the buyer the kingdom of saudi arabia. and that is to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in saudi spending at trump's hotels in new york city and d.c. since he became president. so. yeah, thank you, saudi arabia. let's go lower. now, of course, going lower has never been a problem for this president. nor has siding with another country over the high confidence assessment of his own spell jens agencies. >> just now president putin

denied having anything to do with the election interference of 2016. every u.s. intelligence agency concluded russia did. what, who my first question for you, sir, is, who do you believe? >> my people came to me. dan coates came to me. they said they think it's russia. i have president putin. he said it's not russia. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be. i have great confidence in my intelligence people. but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> so, of course, the question why trump remains so sympathetic to slatdz vladimir remains the $64 million mystery. yesterday, he submitted his written answers to robert mueller on the subject of any potential collusion on the campaign. they did not address questions on the subject whether he sought

to obstruct justice. the special counsel's team is presumably pouring over the president's answers. as expected, we have not heard from team mueller. we heard about a filing about trump campaign adviser george papadopoulos. papadopoulos pleaded guilty about lying about his contacts with a professor who said he had thousands of hillary clinton e-mails. papadopoulos asked to judge to delay the start of his prison sentence which he is due to begin serving. today, mueller advised the judge to reject that and make him report to prison next week as scheduled. in a six-page filing, the special counsel noted as a part of a favorable plea agreement the defendant waived his appeal and did not file a timely foy. he received what he bargained for and holding him to it is not a hardship. so, we saw a tough line from mueller today regarding

papadopoulos. as for the president, we have yet to see whether mueller will press for a sit-down interview and whether he is willing to subpoena donald trump to get answers related to possible obstruction of justice. today his lawyer, rudy guiliani, confirmed, i can't tell you he's given up on obstruction. as for any potential subpoena, he said, quote, i think he would fought win a legal battle if he did. that and i think it would consume months. even made the president's position clear, if mueller issues a subpoena, the president would refuse to cooperate. the man standing between if potential subpoena is the man in cardinal the not senate confirmed choice to serve as acting attorney general matt whitaker. today in new york, he was asked about his are action that the president of the united states wanted to use the justice department to go after those he deemed his political enemies.

james comey and hillary clinton. >> i mean i can't thank him enough. it's hamble to be a part of it. >> the k you answer a question about the president investigating hillary clinton or james comey? >> not a lot of answers there. though we continue to have new questions. the kind of details that come up in a senate corn firmation hearing, which instead come out through dogged reporting by the press and public pressure from watchdog groups, that's how we learn about 'myriad of past statements attacking the credibility of the mueller investigation and his past work hawking products for a company that was fined and shut down by the go. as well as his last job before joining the justice department. a sole employee at a non-profit called the foundation for accountability or civic trust or fact. their primary work in 2016 was to stir up controversy about hillary clinton.

whitaker's own newly released financial disclosures show he was paid more than $1.2 million in the past two years by this group that does not reveal its donors. but they paid him the money for, what they paid him for, we don't know. those donors are secret. meaning, we do not know if he has any conflict of interest. we don't know what's the going on behind closed doors, with regard to whitaker's i don't have sight. if matt whitaker were hindering the inquiry right now as we week e speak, would we even know? that is the subject of the latest op-ed of a former prosecutor in the southern district of new york. in it, he writes, there is no real time mechanism of disclosure between whitaker and mueller. yes, some day under the regulations, we may learn details with whitaker and any effort toer fear, some day, mueller will present a report which he can outline anyway his

investigation may have been shaped by chit i whitaker. that will come when he is ready to close up shop. the person he'll tell is the attorney general himself. joining us now is nelson cunningham, a former prosecutor. also a veteran of the clinton house and biden staffer on senate judiciary. it's a pleasure to have you here. >> it's a pleasure to be here. >> the fact is that donald trump's main beef with his former attorney general, of course, was that jeff sessions recuse himself, presumably stopping him from impeding the mueller probe. now president trump has his rory cohn, presumably, his matt whit consider. is it possible whitaker could shield from public view his own obstruction of the mueller probe? >> so the way the regulations are set up that govern robert mueller's appointment the attorney general only is required three different stages to make any kind of disclosure of what interactions he's had

with the special counsel. first when he appoint the special counsel. second, if he fires the special counsel and third upon the conclusion of the special counsel's investigation. at that point he would be required to describe any instances he had made, he had had with mueller, where he overruled mueller or he curtailed mueller or he stopped mueller from moving forward, but only once mueller's investigation is complete and mueller has submitted his report. months or possibly years from now. >> meaning that if he does anything up to short of firing him, if he says to mueller, you can't go into donald trump's finances? you have to limit your inquiry into these areas. congress wouldn't know about that? >> congress would not know about it. whitaker, of course, would have no interest in leaking this out. and mr. mueller, himself, is famously tight lipped and he's also a ruleles follower. he might chafe.

he might be very upset his discretion is being limited. but he follows the rules. >> could whitaker, even though he is acting. there is a lot of question of whether or not his appointment is constitutional, whether or not it could stand, could he, despite that, fire mueller? >> yes. he could. there is no question in my mind at least right now while he is the acting attorney general, the second he took that job, he took over supervision from rosenstein who he had as his deputy only because jeff sessions was recuse. whitaker took control of it. under the regulations, he has the ability to call mueller in, shape the investigation and certainly yes to fire him there at the same time, could he also impede investigation into his own dealings at the company for instance he used to work for which was allegedly being investigated in could he do that as well at the same time? >> i think he could. i think at that point ethics

watchdogs and those in the justice department, themselves, would begin to really buck and rear at the notion of an attorney general blocking an investigation into himself. >> then i guess the other question would be, let's play this out all the way. let's just say, a future congress, maybe not this one, were to respond to the firing for instance of a robert mueller, well, let's go back to the independent statute. could that independent counsel absorb the mueller probe and still complete it? >> so, robert mueller, if he is smart, before the mid-terms, because he knew there was likely a change coming. if he were smart, he wouldn't start bulletproofing his investigation. partly passing it off to other professional prosecutors, like my old office the southern district of new york. which you remember is handling the michael cohn. and the department of justice is hiring the russian troll part of the investigation. so mueller has already

bulletproofed parts of the investigation by giving it to other professionals in the department. if a new prosecutor were named at a later time, all of the materials that mueller had put together would be given to that new prosecutor. in fact, some of the same agents and some of the same professionals prosecutors who were on mueller's team, could go straight to that prosecutor and pick up right where they left off. >> lastly, before we let you go, let's just say mueller was dismissed, could a deputy prosecutor in that office? could another prosecutor as a whistle proceeder go to congress and say, this is what we got in. >> yes, they could. mueller's people are famously operated strict ethical guidelines. they've kept their mouths shut. they have not leaked. it would be a new thing to leak to congress or the press, anything that is happening with them. those would be extraordinary circumstances. >> yes, it would be, indeed. we appreciate it. >> what a pleasure. thank you. >> thank you. despite the fact that the

president decided to do an end run around the senate for now and install a loyalist as acting ag, the plaque box, matthew whitaker's federal prosecutor is steadily getting a dose of daylight thanks, to the free press. in recent dies a whole bunch of his pass is getting an airing, from his mysterious non-profit that he applied on the iowa supreme court while bragging about his football career. when asked if he would enhance iwas's supreme court, he cited senior season on the football team. it's safe to say he did not make it onto the supreme court. now something that is anything but funny. the washington post dug into his tenure for the southern district of iowa, where he was known for his extraordinary efforts to quote obtain unusually stiff sentences for people accused of drug crimes, as matt whitaker's

five years, his office was all but one other district in the united states to use its north to impose the harshest sentences on drug offenders. one federal judge in iowa did the math. on whitaker's watch, the u.s. attorney's office used what are called enhanced sentences. in 84% of relevant cases. compared with 26% nationwide. of the fawn violent drug offenders sentenced on whitaker's watch, one was a mother of five p. when miss woody was arrested for the third time, matt whit consider quote decided to make an exam of her. he gave this mother of five a choice. quote, spend the rest of her life in jail or accept a plea bargain sentence of 21 to 27 years. she took the deal. and then a federal judge later read matt whitaker the riot act over it saying he and other prosecutors misused tear

authority and forced the court to hand undown a sentence way too long for the crime. president obama ultimately commuted miss woody's sentence after she had served 11 years, now, matt whitaker is the top law enforcement officer in the nation for who knows how long. we can watch and wonder what he might be doing behind the scenes about the mueller investigation. but in public, he's going about his business even as his approach to justice spews into view headline by headline. joining us is a law professor. it's great to have you here. >> great to be here, joy. >> we know we previously had an attorney general jeff sessions who had a very certain disposition towards drug crimes, towards legalization and sentencing. you want to be as harsh as possible on the sentencing side. with whit consider, we have examples of him using authorities to make hmake his s

possible? is it even possible? >> in this case, miss woody, she was a non-violent drug offender. all she did was drive the actual drug dealer around. when i was a prosecutor, we probably wouldn't have even wanted jail time in a case like this. this is a mother of five, someone who is working for a drug dealer to support her own addiction. we would have tried to put her into a treatment program. whitaker, on the other hand, he did what unethical prosecutors do, he threw the book at her. he said, if you go to trial are and we win, you will be in jail for the rest of your life for this very minor role. you know, when prosecutors do that they throw the book at people to try to coerce them to plead guilty to a harsh sentence. so that they don't go to trial. they don't make prosecutors go through the trouble of going to trial. they're racking more like bullies than responsible law enforcement officers.

joy, when eric holder was the attorney general of the united states, he expressly forbid prosecutors from doing what matt whitaker did. >> it's interesting. reform is one of the few, so often, you have democrats and republicans agree it should be done. what is the argument against it for throwing the book at a mother of five for making an example of someone by putting a mom in prison for 21 years? what argument are people making why that's a good idea in. >> you know what whitaker said, he wanted to mike an example of this mother of five i go es to send a message to anybody else out there that he is tough on crime. well, what responsible prosecutors are is smart on crime. this is a man who believes in winning at all costs. he is very hyped about the adversarial system and to him winning means getting convictions and putting people

under the jail. that's really against the values of the justice department, which are about fairness and equality under the law. there's a famous slogan, the justice department wins when justice is done. not when there is a conviction. i wish that matt whitaker will live according to that. but, joy, you know in this conflicts of interest. his ethics. his lack of understanding of the values of the justice department. the rule of lawsuit. he's like a lawyer version of donald trump. our justice system is in poor hands. >> what are the risks that somebody with that disposition has expressed views that would advocate the prosecution of donald trump's political adversaries? i'm thinking of hillary clinton here. >> again, he doesn't under the norms. it's about power to him. since he has this access to donald trump again i think we have every reason to expect, instead of rod rosenstein

getting briefed by mueller, now, matt whitaker is getting briefed. he might be marching to the white house telling trump everything that mueller halls told him. >> that's why the curse, may we live in interesting times, it's considered a negative, law professor george town university and author of the book "choke hold." check it out. >> always a pleasure. up next, we look in on the senate candidate who insists she has nothing more to say. the senate runoff in mississippi just ahead. >> i put out a statement yesterday. we stand by that statement. >> could you expand on it why you said it? what you meant bit and why people in the state should not see it as offensive? >> we put out tstatement yesterday. it's available. i put out a statement yesterday, that's all i'm going to say about it. we stand by the statement. i put out a statement yesterday.

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ready for christmas? no, it's way too early to be annoyed by christmas. you just need some holiday spirit! that's it! this feud just went mobile.

with xfinity xfi you get the best wifi experience at home. and with xfinity mobile, you get the best wireless coverage for your phone. ...you're about to find out! you don't even know where i live... hello! see the grinch in theaters by saying "get grinch tickets" into your xfinity x1 voice remote. a guy just dropped this off. he-he-he-he. believe it or not, the 2018 mid-terms still not over. there's still one u.s. senate seat left to be decided in this year's election. and it's in mississippi. this is a race where neither the

republican or incumbent cindy hyde-smith or her numbered challenger mike espey got more than 60% of the vote. now they're facing off again in a runoff election. because there is a state wide race in mississippi. the republican ought to win in her sleep. maybe she might do better in her sleep. senator hyde-smith has been trying to explain her public remarks ability public hangings, aka lynchings. her comments, definitely jokingant making it more difficult for liberal students from certain schools to vote. ha ha. comedy. companies like walmart have been asking the senator's company to return their donations. then we got this, smiling wearing a confederate soldiers cap. pause why not? last night senator hyde-smith and mike espey appeared in the one and only debate of this election. the only one that for hyde-smith would agrow to. in this debate she made clear

from the get-go what she believes this election is all about. >> senator hyde-smith. >> thank you for watching and listening to this debate tonight. thank you, farm bureau, for putting this debate on. there's two other beg events coming up next week on monday fight the night before the election on november the 26th. the president of the united states is coming to mississippi to campaign on my behalf. i encourage you right now to go online at donaldj.trump.com and get those free tickets. >> that's how she started last night's debate, hey, everybody, enough about me the president is coming to mississippi. in addition to the senator's request there be no studio audience at last night's debate no, press, beyond the moderators. you might want to know the debate was organized by a private mississippi farming organization with an all white board given for hyde-smith award in the past.

not to mention campaign contributions. she used her debate to remind the only camera in the room over and over again how conservative she really is. >> is there a balance that should be struck between the second amendment rights and gun control in the wake of recent mass shootings in. >> you know, this is a big difference between my opponent and i, i am a lifetime member of the nra. i have been endorsed by the nra. carrying a gun is a terrible thing. it is about mental health. when it comes to second amendment rights, i will be the u.s. senator to protect you. i've always said, this is not about me. it is about me, about the things you care for, you believe in. let government, regulation supporting our military and our veterans. it is aboprotecting our unborn

children. it's about abortion. my opponent has gone on to be pro abortion, abortion on demands. there is a clear difference between the two of us. you know, we have conservative valueles. that's what will be on the ballot next tuesday. tonight you have heard two clearly different, opposite differences between me and myopoint. >> i wonder what she actually thinks about things. we do not know how it will affect the mississippi race. cindy hyde-smith was sorry if her remarks about public hangings offend anyone. she would ask voters to come out and vote for her tuesday, november 22nd, which is not an actual real bait. the 22nd is thanksgiving. no democrat has won a senate race in mississippi in more than three decades. before the debate f. role call did the unthinkable. they moved the mississippi senate race from solid to likely

recipient. in jackson, mississippi. the paper has been breaking news on the senate race all along. thank you so much for joining us tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> so i watched this debate last night in which senator hyde smith addressed the public hang comments when she said were meant to be an expression of the guard i watched she kept coming back to guns, abortion and second amendment and repeating the response to her hanging comments was just using it as a political cudgel against her. is that going to work in a state like mississippi in. >> it absolutely could work. the conventional wisdom that sometimes democrats have used in a strategy. this assumption that, you know, mississippi is conservative, solidly conservative.

that's who we are. there has always been an attitude if we're not that, then we can leave. and that's something that many people now are fighting because we don't think that that is true or that it should be true. >> right. obviously, your paper was in jackson, mississippi, jackson being where mmedger evers lived and died. the lynching, a lot is dark territory. however, one of the things that the trump era has meant is that for a lot of you know not a lot of, not every white american. for some this idea of calling out racism has been sort of turned around for people to say, that doesn't affect me anymore. ki say whatever i want to say. ki do whatever i want to do. you think it's racist, so what. that what donald trump has emboldened. why would that argument? you are using this as politics. it doesn't matter. why wouldn't that work?

>> well, i think it can work. it may work. that's something we can't know right now. it's a math question. because at the same time that she's doing that the very things she is doing and the race baiting, lee atwater type strategies of trying to depict espey as a criminal for something he was exonerated for. at the same time that she's using those things, other people are really disgusted by them. to be honest with you in a way i have never seen as a mississippi native or since i have been pack in the state that people are speaking out and white people are speaking out. i interviewed a white republican woman last night for a piece that i'm working on about conservative women who are kind of changing tear mine about things. and you know, she's disgusted with trump. she's supporting espey. i mean, those people are out there. it's a really interesting time to see if this strategy is going to book fire this year or at least sometime in the next few

years. >> we know that alabama had an impact, emboldened african-american voters, it caused a lot of people to have a lot of hope. you look another the states by percentage. there's a lot of black voters there. in theory, they should be winnable for democrats. in alabama the backlash to all of this environment you seen in georgia and florida helps espey or are we going to see a repeat of where the people who want to make sure espey isn't governor are more numerous? >> right. you know, it's anybody's go es to me. because there are so many people, particularly african-americans, but a lot of whites who are so outraged by these kind of comments and then the way that she did or did not respond to them. so this distasteful. espey says it gives us a plaque

eye. it's self inflicted. right? i think it can go either way. certainly people who would vote for espey are very excited now. one of the concerns is that the turnout was going to drop after thanksgiving. right? on the other hand, she's certainly going for this idea i think of activating even a formeries mcdaniel's supporters, they have both beaten. who is more conservative. so she's going straight for that jug you lar. you know. we'll see. it's exciting to see everybody upset and inspired by it. but i don't know what this turn outwill be. >> i have to tell you, saying that mississippi can go either way. >> that in and of itself is novel and revolutionary. the fact that it's not clear is interesting news. we will definitely be watching that. >> we need two parties from yeah. absolutely. well i'm sorry we're out of

time. thank you so much. thank you for spending thanksgiving eve with us and all your great reporting. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> thank you. we'll be right back. at booking.com, we can't guarantee you'll find gold in them therr hills on your vacation. but we can guarantee the best price on this rental cabin. or any accomodation from hotels to yurts. booking.com, booking.yeah

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. >> good evening. nearly all the votes have been counted in the 1974 mid-term election. as we saw last night, it was a very good year for the democrats. the house of representatives in the 94th congress will be more than two-thirds democratic.

291 democrats will be there for sure. a gain of 43 seats the biggest majority in a decade. two races are still undecided. >> that was november 6th, 1974. 90 days after president nixon resigned. 60 days after gerald ford pardoned him. which set the stage for democrats to pull an epic route of republicans in those 1974 mid-terms elections. in the house that year, democrats won the biggest majority in a decade. the democratic margin of victory was more apparent in the popular vote. in 1974, democrats beat republicans by more than 8.7 million votes. a record that has stood for 44 years. but is now in danger of being shattered because as the votes continue to roll in, more than two weeks after election day, democrats are now ahead of republicans by more than 8.6 million votes. just a hair behind that watergate era democratic victory

margin. now knew nbc news data shows democrats won 53.1% of all votes counted while republicans earned 45.2. so far democrats have a fet gain of 38 house seats. that number can still go up. witness california's congressional district 21, which hillary clinton carried by more than 15 points in the 2016 election. where incumbent republican congressman david baladeo was declared weren't on election night. california is slow when it comes to race counting. votes have continued to come in, the democratic challenger tj cox now trails by fewer than 500 votes, less than half a percentage points, there are thousands to be tallied from different candidates. tonight 538 changed the projection from lean r to lean d. so's rachel says, watch the space. we also have some breaking into

u.s. to report out of georgia. in the 7th congressional district, which is currently held by republican congressman rob woodall. the state finished its recount requested by the democrat who is behind by a mere 419 votes. tonight that democrat carolyn bourdeaux conceded. that brings us to the one lone seat, utah's fourth congressional district. zplmplts two-term republican congressman mia love is poised to les her seat. the democratic challenger ben mcadams has taken the lead and declared victory. love has nod yet conceded. she released a cryptic statement saying she will plan to give a statement after the thanksgiving holiday. the mid-term elections may have been 15 days ago. they are still not over. again, watch this space.

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. it was panned as black fiction. a spooky, swift told la sid vous tale, not major or minor, anything more than a caricature or cliche, an exam of extremism. it is even irresponsible. irresponsible extremism. this is not art. the object of this flameing critique the you a tore that set off such apoplexy is the late fletcher tnebel -- qknebel, smoking is one of the causes of statisticles. he said washington, d.c. atwitter in 1965. "night of camp david" the a distopian thriller that followed the u.s. senator trying to convince everyone in the president's circle that the president is unfit for office.

which is why these troubled times, rachel had okaition to bring up "night of camp david" on the show, like a senior administrator revealed whispers in the cabinet having the current president unfit. removed from office. say what you want, critics of 1965, "night of camp david" is back. it goes released anew this week with a new cover and a swift, told, lascivious tale from half a century ago brat back for our times, like rachel likes to say, history is here to help. here is michael beschloss, a presidential historian who is here to help. >> i'm doing my best. i love the opening. >> i love the flowery critique. i like lascivious. we need to bring it back. let's talk about this president. the state of him.

he's now been taken to task by the chief justice of the supreme court after donald trump said on tuesday in reaction to a 9th circuit stopping his administration asylum restrictions. he gets rebuked by john roberts. what is the important significance of that? >> we never seen anything like this before. we seen confrontations, abraham lincoln and his first inaugural, criticized the dread scott and chief justice for him, his name is tommy, who had sworn him in. franklin roosevelt did the same thing in known 37, who helped strike down knew deal legislation. so there was an angry relationship between them. you never had this situation where the president repeatedly tried to get americans to think that the judiciary, there was something wrong with it. it's illegitimate. it can't be trusted. obviously, roberts felt he had enough. part of his job is to make sure

americans can believe in his branch of government. >> donald trump knows much about the 9th circuit. let's be blunt. >> i think it gets him in trouble. >> people were saying, he's been told. he's in trouble. this is a part of what roberts said in response to that. he said we do not have obama judges, trump judges, we have extraordinary judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. >> that is something we all should be thankful form color me skeptical. i'm not so sure john roberts is right. we can predict with dead certainty how four judges are always going to vote. we know how the liberal judges will vote and five conservative judges other than sometimes him. how is he equity about that? >> well, one of the reasons he is saying that because in recent history, bush v. gore there is a

strange correlation between the justices having voted for bush, the republican people the democrats voting for gore. but there are some exemptions, john roberts was the one who strained to find this very creative way that allowed the supreme court to uphold obamacare. but i think we always have to be skeptical of these justices not being too independent. especially with brett kavanaugh who came to the court very indebted to donald trump and nervous about crossing him by you know ruling against let's say trump and a subpoena case or a new version of u.s. very nixon. i'm glad roberts has said this, he's now sort of put himself on the spot and we're going to watch very carefully whether the supreme court is full of independent justices or people who do operate robotically. >> roberts is the new candidate. >> i think. while it remains to be seen. it would be nice to think that's

true. >> i would be interested what he thinks about voting rights. >> i think you know about that within a couple years. >> absolutely. always a treat. happy thanksgiving. >> thank you very much. we'll be right back. business unlimited card, i get unlimited 1.5% cash back. it's so simple, i don't even have to think about it. so i think about mouthfeel. i don't think about the ink card. i think about nitrogen ice cream in supermarkets all over the world. i think about the details. fine, i obsess over the details. think about every part of your business except the one part that works without a thought. your ink card. chase ink business unlimited. chase ink business unlimited, with unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase. chase for business. make more of what's yours. howdoing great dad!r does this thing got? looking good babe!

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(music throughout) [ready forngs ] christmas? no, it's way too early to be annoyed by christmas.

you just need some holiday spirit! that's it! this feud just went mobile. with xfinity xfi you get the best wifi experience at home. and with xfinity mobile, you get the best wireless coverage for your phone. ...you're about to find out! you don't even know where i live... hello! see the grinch in theaters by saying "get grinch tickets" into your xfinity x1 voice remote. a guy just dropped this off. he-he-he-he. in 1863 you needed a macknifying glass to read "the new york times." it cost 4 cents on sundays. most of the left column on this day in october of 1863 was saved for updates about the civil war.

it was ripping a big gaping hole through the center of our democracy over the issue of slavery. here are some of the headlines. recovery of wounded, 13,000 casualties. long streets corp utterly routed. they had just lost a major battle in georgia. more than 34,000 people died in just that one battle. the civil war was a crescendo. the nation was close to tearing itself irrevocably apart. in the midst of all that despair the president went looking to impart a little hope. and so printed right next to all those updates about the death and destruction caused by the war was a proclamation that as president of the united states of america, quote, the year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and helpful skies. in the midst of a civil war

peace has been provided with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed. needful diversions of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle or the ship. the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements. no human counsel has devised nor mortal human hand worked out these great things. as with one heart and one voice are the whole american people. i do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the united states to set apart and observe the last thursday of november next as a day of thanksgiving. in october 1863 while the nation was busy fighting a civil war president abraham lincoln issued that thanksgiving proclamation asking the country to come together and take stock, to be

thankful and hopeful in a time marred by conflict and war. and it is because of that profound piece of writing from our 16th president that we celebrate thanksgiving today as a national holiday. now, if you track the mashed potatoes on your thanksgiving table through the path of winding history you wind up here on the front page of that paper with the presidential proclamation. instead of dispatches from the battlefields of american states and casualty reports in the tens of thousands and wrenching debates over freedom versus enslavement our newspapers today are filled with wildfires and troops at the border and wondering when the next indictments will come down. but even in times of national strife, in times of national division, you still do set apart the day to take in the fruitful fields and helpful skies with one heart, one voice as a whole of the american people. it's probably the understatement

of the decade to say that's not often an easy lift. but here's to the attempt and here's to wishing you a happy, peaceful and hopeful day of thanksgiving. we'll be right back. when we were dating, we used to get excited about things like concert tickets or a new snowboard. matt: whoo! whoo! jen: but that all changed when we bought a house. matt: voilà! jen: matt started turning into his dad. matt: mm. that's some good mulch. ♪ i'm awake. but it was pretty nifty when jen showed me how easy it was to protect our home and auto with progressive.

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♪ the greatest wish of all... is one that brings us together. the lincoln wish list event is here. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with $0 down, $0 due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. only at your lincoln dealer. programming note, last week msnbc premiered a new project hosted by the great rachel maddow, a documentary about richard nixon call betrayal.

betrayal tells a fascinating story about richard nixon but it's not about watergate. this is something nixon did on his way the please danes, back in the election of 1968. >> nixon leads in the polls yet his white house dreams are haunted towards lbj's progress towards ending the war. >> nixon is worried about the prospect of an october surprise, that peace is being negotiated, it's in hand and that it boosts the prospects of hubert humphrey. >> mid-october, linden johnson fuels nixon's worst fear. >> who is that speaking? >> in a conference call lbj updates the presidential candidates confidentially on a big break through in the negotiations. north vietnam at last is willing to talk with south vietnam. >> this is in absolute confidence because any speeches or any comments referring to the

substance of these matters will be injureious to your country. >> after all this work all year johnson finally had a package that the north vietnamese would accept, and he was selling it to the south vietnamese. >> nixon gets a top secret briefing from the commander in chief on his progress towards peace. and what does nixon do? he betrays the president and the nation. >> what nixon did with that information, how he got away with what president johnson called treason and what his actions cost, thousands of americans and vietnamese, are the subjects of a special report called betrayal. you can catch it this friday at 9:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. that does it for us tonight. now it's time for the "last word" with ali velshi. hi, ali, how are you? >> this is kind of weird this is the only place we meet these