that donald trump is always operating in the interest of donald trump. and the question we have to ask ourselves is, when that interest actually conflicts with the interest of the nation. and what we see is that that is clearly happening now. >> what i'd like to point out that plenty of the u.s. military veterans who were used by the saudis, they realized it and became quite angry. donald trump still doesn't realize that he is being duped and used. so we all should be angry on behalf of our veterans that the saudis are trying to enlist troops, who some of them were wounded fighting and defending our country on foreign soil. trying to use them for their own propaganda purposes. >> to fight against 9/11 families, by the way. >> it feels like a scandal wrapped in a scandal. >> those important client base of the trump hotel are pro-trump tourists, lobbyists, people who work from trump and travelers from places where it's normal to grease the families that rule the place with some money in their establishments. when you go there, it's the orths dox church cle

howie: you have trump versus the nfl, trump versus snl, trump versus hollywood celebrities. can that be wearing on the public? bill: wearing or weary. is there a subject in which he has no interest? is there a subject he's not prepared to declaim? probably not. he's acting more like a regular person than we are used to president's acting with scripts and people explaining it and careful language. he talks like someone in your family would talk. i don't like what they are doing in the nfl. howie: he's not getting the nuance and he overstated that. that's part of his appeal. way that he talks. but he's also not just a voracious consumer of media, he cares about television. you would think they would be focus as much time on how they are played in the media. bill: he canceled the white house press party, he doesn't go to the white house correspondents dinner. i think that's great. they know he doesn't like him. he knows they don't like him. he's a huge cultural figure. not just here, but around the world, the conversations about donald trump. howie: better known than nike i was

we're not sure exactly what trust, but it could be a trump family trust which don junior and eric trump are involved with. >> it could be a number of different venues here, but the idea here, you know, there's a famous saying that says, "everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." at the time that the david pecker and ami first learned about this being in the news, their plan was to talk about this being a 1st amendment issue. the reason they were going to quash the story, they had a 1st amendment right to do so. using journalistic discretion to say we quashed and killed the story because we didn't want to run it. now you have the question of what the figurative punching in the face that led them to, one, get an immunity deal and change their story away from we were exercising our journalistic endeavors and discretion here, and instead, say we did it, not only with the knowledge of somebody who was a part of the campaign -- >> right. >> -- or an agent, but also we did it for the expressed purpose of trying to help this candidate gain office. you have to wonder what happene

because he worked for donald trump even though he said should trump run was independent of donald trump. >> but in 2011, the fec ruled in cohen's favor. for michael cohen, the win was another way of proving his loyalty. >> the way he initially described it to me was a father/son relationship and when i asked him why he has blind loyalty, he also threw the question back to me as, would you do this for your father? >> the end of the day, the only people donald trump really considers as family are his own family. anyone who considers himself to be almost a trump family member, should really take a reality check. because they tend not to stay around very long. >> but michael cohen did stay and proved his willingness to fight for his boss by aggressively attacking donald trump's enemies, real or perceived. >> now to a war of words between a beauty queen and organizers of the miss usa pageant. pennsylvania's representative claims that competition is rigged. >> just after the 2012 miss usa pageant, which was co-owned by donald trump contestant sheena mown claimed the pageant's finalists were p

we have heard cnn report that trump said, i didn't know about the trump tower meeting in advance. we may get some real hints about that from manafort and cohen this week. >> what are you looking for? obviously, we're all looking for everything that everybody else is. what else are you looking for? >> i would zero in on the flynn document, as well. i think that is the black box and greatest unknown. we also have to say that president trump's reaction so for me going to be the key. when you -- when we see some of this information coming from the special counsel, we have seen him have flurries of insults, flurries of his most outlandish titter moments or moments that have sparked deep interest. so to me, it's going to be does the president turn on some of these allies he's held close to in the last year or is this the point where we see the president pull out the full arsenal against the special counsel. >> the president just praised roger stone and attacked michael cohen. stone, obviously, not cooperating. cohen cooperating. what do you want to know? >> look, if donald trump is the

donald trump. all of this matters because if it's true it could prove trump was seeking business with russia, while moscow was secretly working to get him elected. and speaking of hotels, attorneys general for maryland and d.c., have filed a lawsuit and subpoenaed financial records from the trump organization and the hotel in d.c. >> this is the most coveted piece of real estate in washington, d.c., the best location. >> reporter: the hotel plays host to foreign officials and leaders from around the world. the lawsuit suggests the president breached the clause that prohibited the president from accepting payment from foreign powers while in office. all said, five committees in congress now poised to probe the trump organization on everything that trump's touched, including his yet-to-be released tax returns. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >>> the daughters of a new york podiatrist say their father diagnosed donald trump with bone spurs in 1968 as a favor to trump's father, fred. now, according to "the

trump won the election. so, you know, whether or not that was a result of these ads or russian propaganda, i don't think we'll know. but certainly both sides got the outcome that they were looking for. >> josh, mark, thank you. i appreciate your time. >>> according to these reports, bernie sanders supporters were specifically targeted by the internet research agency and encouraged to stay home instead of voting for hillary clinton in the general election. bernie sanders' former press secretary, symone sanders, reacts next. these folks, they don't have time to go to the post office 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! >>> the reports commissioned by the senate intelligence committee sh

trump tower. goldstone would bring the russian lawyer. >> trump jr. said he would bring the candidate's son-in-law, jared kushner and campaign chair, paul manafort. before joining the trump campaign, manafort worked as a political consultant for oligarchs and pro-russia clients. >> first it was of interest to me, frankly is mr. manafort. he has been in russia. he has been in ukraine. if donald trump jr., and jared kushner, took this meeting innocently, and ignorantly, and sort of stepped into it, you know, it is possible, but mr. manafort, we have clearly known what the russians were up to. >> two nights before the meeting, on june 7, trump greeted supporters with what now sounds like a curious promise. >> we are going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the clintons. i think you're going to find it very informative and very, very interesting. >> we just don't know if the speech that donald trump made is a coincidence or not. and so the timing seems awfully strange. >> for all of the attention the trump tower meeting would la

guest: i don't think there is a trump hotel in china. host: trump ties being made in china. things made in china. guest: his critics have pointed out when you go into trump tower there is a gift shop to buy souvenirs. you turn them over and of this tie is made in china. products like that are more efficient and inexpensive to manufacture. that is part of the issue of the 2 economies. the economies are so inter-blended. the so-called global production chain. it is difficult to re -source. many companies are doing it now, going to indonesia and india, for manufacturing. a couple went into ivanka t rump's boutique in beijing. ivanka is very popular in china. with's a biography of her her smiling face looking very beautiful on the front cover. positive.book is the idea has been raised in american politics chelsea clinton will someday run against ivanka trump for president. who will win? they think ivanka will defeat chelsea. this is the image we have. the supply chain is part of it. they are very proud so many american products are made in china. host: grand rapids, michigan. ca

manafort attended the june 2016 meeting at trump tower with donald trump jr. and a russian lawyer who offered dirt on hilary clinton but never delivered. his time on the campaign coincided with russian hackers' efforts to steal democratic party and clinton campaign e-mail, eventually distributing them publicly. manafort was the campaign manager when they back off the stance to provide information. now with the deal called off, prosecutors are taking off the gloves and manafort could even face more criminal charges. manafort's lawyers plan to hold more talks with the special counsel in the next few weeks to negotiate what happens next. both sides will be back in court on january 25th for a hearing, at which point it is possible that mueller's team could call witnesses and even present evidence about how paul manafort allegedly lied. but, of course, until then we will be left wondering about the exact details of manafort's alleged lies. wolf. >> good point. jessica, thanks very much. jessica schneider reporting. >>> let's bring in our senior justice corresponden

donald trump? no. is he a role model for my sons? absolutely not. >> the widespread information across numerous social media platforms taking place over several years with a damning conclusion, quote, all of the messagi messaging clearly sought to benefit the republican party and president trump. >>> it's now suggested president trump is being persecuted by his political enemies but with more than a dozen investigations under way, it seems almost everything donald trump has ever touched has become a legal liability. first i want to explain exactly where we are and give you an overview of what we're talking about. by one account there are as many as 17 investigations surrounding donald trump, his family, his businesses, his campaign and his presidency. and remember, there's going to be way more when the democrats teak over the house in just two and a half weeks. it is not surprising the president is feeling a whole lot of pressure. he lashed out with a tweet storm on sunday slamming michael cohen, j

the feed back loop between trump and fox, trump and talk radio is as strong as ever because as he plays to the base more and more, that's his way of knowing what the base apparently cares about. >> yeah, and so every lawmaker i have had on who's been confident, right, about the shut down, i'm like are you sure, the president. i ask, oh, yeah, we're sure. i'm like, okay. because we know. and you say the same thing. you have been saying that. you said it on this show, didn't you. >> i said it on the show, donald trump could have his head turned by conservative media. donald trump said he was going to step up and sign the bill, there was huge backlash, saying he shouldn't do this, and at that point in time, he said i'm never doing this again, i hate this bill. what we saw this week, it's not only ann coulter and the problem is that as brian says, there is this universe that talks to itself, which fox news has been at the center of, and donald trump is the first time there's been a prominent republican elected official who comes from that world. donald trump used to be on contract on fox ne

trump elected president. last week he admitted covering up trump's ongoing effort to build trump tower moscow. before that, he admitted to illegally paying off trump's alleged mistresses to keep them quiet before election day. that's a lot of trump-related crime. remember, michael cohen is far from trump's only problem. tomorrow robert mueller is scheduled to file a memo regarding former trump national security advisor michael flynn. remember him? he pleaded guilty to lying about contacts with the russian government. in the memo they're going to file in court, we will all see information about any bad acts flynn committed for which he was not charged and details about his cooperation with the special counsel. senior u.s. official tells nbc news that memo will be made public with possible redactions or an addendum filed under seal. then on friday, we're going to get another detailed memo from mueller. this one explaining why mueller's office pulled out of a plea agreement with former trump campaign chair paul

, the trump campaign and the trump administration and also this belief that donald trump himself can never fail. he can only be betrayed or undermined. >> yeah. >> the buck never stops with donald trump and you're going to see that theme a lot. >> you know, gabe, i'm curious to see again how long the fox news establishment, roger aisles w -- roger ales was very good at that. rush limbaugh it was the same thing. they're coming after you, they, that amorphous they is out to get you. fox news did hire some people who still want to be journalists, right? >> yeah. >> chris wallace who often is in that pivot position of being doing conservative tv but also doing journalism, here he is again. i wonder how long this kind of thing can survive. take a listen. >> michael flynn, president says, you know, mueller says he lies. flynn said he didn't lie but what he neglects to mention is that the president fired him three weeks after he became the national security advisor. why did he fire him? for lying. so the president fired the man for lying who he's now defending against lying. >> i'm always d

is trump ready, is the trump white house ready for what's about to hit it? >> what type of chief of staff does the trump administration need right now considering what it's facing. >> a former military chief of staff didn't work, former political operative didn't work with reince priebus. >> trump should name trump white house chief of staff. >> it seems like that's who has been the chief of staff. >> it's the one person he is routinely happy w i said that only half-jokingly. he was frustrated with reince priebus who was the first chief of staff, frustrated with kelly, he often gets frustrated with his staff. he essentially operates as his own chief of staff, his own communications director. different times people in the white house have speculated maybe he doesn't need a chief of staff, everything else is unorthodox, why not use a new structure. >> with the democrats taking control of the house a lot of people are saying you need somebody like mark meadows as a possible chief of staff. >> thank you very much. we will see you on "morning joe" in just a bit.

sort of cic trump there. robert: maybe mueller comes back with more questions for the president about all this at some point. >> i findt very hard to believe that bob mueller will be simply satisfitt with wri responses from donald trump on a small sliver of the investigation. robert: roz, great to have you here at the table. you've been following cohen for so long. you know h valuable he really is to robert mueller's investigation. what does your reporting tell you about that question. >> w well,e know it was revealed yesterday that he sat down with bob mueller team i believe seven separate times just in the last few months. so there a lot of information. i mean, this is a guy who was really donald rump's sort of right hand man within the trump organization. had a lot of involvement with all the dirtiest secrets of the trump organization. obviously we've seen involved deeply with the payments to women prior to thelection to silence them. but also just a lot of donald trump'sverseas international business expa

donald trump has said. so why didn't he go on this iraq trip when he'd previously been with general dunn ford earlier but not a lot of flack for that. >> isn't he the only one that had been to iraq? >> he went in the famous flack jacket. what is your take on jared kushn kushner's influence. >> there are no negotiations. there is no resolution here. at least not until january 3. the president wants this standoff. and it doesn't seem like he has an end game. he may be more confident in his ability to govern but i question his judgment. i struggle to see how many acting directors. acting chief of staff. in january, we'll have an acting head of dod, doj, interior department. all of them are leaving for various circumstances but a lot of them have to do with the president and his conduct. he sent all these mixed signals about what he would and wouldn't sign and whether he would accept this much on the wall or that much on the wall. it seems that he doesn't necessarily know what he's going to say one minute to th

trump. >> nothing at the trump organization was ever done unless it was run through in trump. he directed me to make the payments. he directed me to get involved in these matters. the man doesn't tell the truth. it's sad that i should take responsibility for his dirty deeds. president trump: i never directed him to do anything wrong. whatever he did, he did on his own. he's a lawyer, a lawyer who represents a client who is supposed to do the right thing. that's why you pay them a lot of money. a former department of justice official under president george w. bush. he believes cohen did not violate campaign finance laws and neither did the president. this is a hot article. i have been talking about it on thon -- on "the five." all week. we'll be talking about this for the next two years. was this payment to stormy daniels illegal before the election. you say the federal election commission and the federal election campaign act would say no, it's perfectly legal. >> the reason is this. you can't use campaign funds to pay personal or business expenses. you can only use campaign f

and so their anger will result in a trump shutdown but not a trump wall. and frankly, their anger will result in furthering discrediting the president whom they support. amazingly, representative meadows said yesterday the american people will support president trump's shutting down the government over the wall. i don't know what evidence he has for that. or whom he speaks to. because every political poll, public poll i have seen, shows that the american people are not only strongly against the border wall, they're even more strongly against a shutdown to get the wall. imagine, how strongly they'd feel as he ties those two things together. mr. meadows, when he says the american miami are for it, must think the only -- the american people are only conservative republicans. if he would widen his horizons a bit, he would come to the understanding that shutting down the government over president trump's wall u.s. futile, self defeating and has minimal support among the american people. even a quarter of president trump's shrinking base does not support shuttin

trump. >> yes, i'm supporting donald trump. as enthusiastically as i can, but i think he's a terrible human being, but the choices on the other side are just as bad. >> and then flamsing michael fly flynn. >>> plus trump's po lawyer insisting that had directed him to make hush money payments. >> are you still cooperating. >> if they want me, i'm here, willing to answers whatever additional questions they may have for me. >>> also developing today. people in most states have under midnight to sign up for health insurance. yesterday, though, a federal judge in texas ruled the landmark health law is unconstitutional, but that law remains in place pending appeals and the supreme court again may have the final say on that. >>> we find white house tornado let's get the latest. >> reporter: the vacancy at the interior department, with ryan zinke is out at the end of the years. it is expectst expected to the extent there has been a recurring close and questions of his conduct and ethical outlook while he's been in office. that has dogg

trump and candidate trump. he and mary pat have been friends of the trumps for almost two decades. so i think you'll see governor christie operating as an outside adviser to the president. they still speak on a regular basis but also may come a time when governor christie decides we want to city serve the cup fry in -- and president trump will bring him into the administration. >> you told fairly earlan about he kind of advice president trump was get being who he was getting it from, not having plowed this ground before. you talked about how speaker paul ryan coming in and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, the two leading republicans in congress and you talk about msnbc hosts joe scarborough, former congressman in the republican pear and mika brzezinski, co-host on -- who used to work with me at cbs, and they were giving president trump advice. this is before i guess things went completely wrong between them because now they speak as mortal enemies. can you explain mat? what was the advice they were giving president trump and how did that relationship go from being one where

trump. >> yes, i supported donald trump. i think he's a terrible human being. the choice on the other hand is just as bad. >> i want to turn to my panel, geoff bennett, reuters correspondent jeff mason, and time magazine contributor, jay newton small. geoff bennett, what is the significance of this acting title instead of a permanent replacement for john kelly, that stands out. >> reporter: two sources familiar tell us it was mick mulvaney who requested of president trump to have that acting title. that reflects his desire to do this job for a limited amount of time. his demand, really to have something of a safe exit and a soft landing if this job turns out not to be a good fit. we know from white house press secretary sarah sanders that mick mulvaney isn't entirely letting go of the judge he has. what's budget director. he is setting expectations about his commitment to the job and how long he might do it. it was supposed to be nick ay , ayers, president trump ultimately decided he wanted

. >>> donald trump in iraq. let's play "hardball." ♪ >>> good evening, i am steve car knack ee in for chris matthews. president trump made an unannounced trip to iraq to visit troops at a base west of baghdad today, this the first time he visited troops in a combat zone. last week the president shocked his own allies and advisers announcing a plan to withdraw troops from syria. in iraq today, he dcefended tha decision. >> if they want us to do the fighting, they also have to pay a price, and sometimes that's also a monetary price. so we're not the suckers of the world. we're no longer the suckers, folks, and people aren't looking at us as suckers, and i love you folks because most of you are nodding your head this way. >> the visit comes amid a growing stalemate in washington with part of the federal government still shutdown. the president spent much of the long christmas weekend alone in washington, raging against criticism of both that withdrawal from syria and his ouster of secretary of defense james matti

whether it's donald trump jr. and the trump tower meeting. whether it's the financial issueses involved with manafort and others and the president himself. so either you believe that these 16 people are the biggest idiots in the world and had no idea that they were getting played or you believe this was -- the russians could not believe how great this was. because they found 16-plus people who were willing to play with them and they had something of course on donald trump, which is his financial desires regarding trump moscow. you know, it was a win-win for those two parties and a total loss for the american public. >> i know you want to get in but i just want to get greg in. this list includes two of trump's children, his son-in-law, his long-time personal lawyer, campaign chairman. is there any way thatted these meetings and conversations were happening without trump's blessing? >> well, i mean, it's hard to fathom that his inner circle and as you say his closest parts of his inner circle would do things that they thought might go against t

that would help donald trump because it would split anti-trump vote. >> also donald trump benefited in 2016 from having this huge cast of people running. he could distinguish himself by not being like all of them. do you think democrats running will need to find ways within the party to distinguish themselves, you know, to be, quote, unquote, the donald trump, the person that emerges out of it. >> i think -- we talked about this. i think it's important for the party's process to play itself out. we shouldn't be in the business of picking, choosing one, number one. number two, i also don't want the spectacle of the happy hour debate because there are 20 people in the race. i don't want that either. >> spoiler alert, you're getting it. >> i don't want that either. i do think there are a handful of folks -- when i say a handful, i mean seven or eight, that are actually pushing to the forefront. and by the time we get to march, i think you'll see half of those folks take a step aside. >> charlie, you've met with the president. we all watched him campaign. we've seen him swipe at his oppone

up next, president trump is making mulvaney moves. something the budget director calls a tremendous honor. two years ago the acting chief of staff sounded quite different discussing donald trump who he called a terrible human being. how allies are defending this guy. for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. do you want ready to wear clothing without all the hassle? you can, with bounce dryer sheets. we dried one shirt without bounce, and an identical shirt using bounce. the bounce shirt has fewer wrinkles, less static, and more softness and freshness. bounce out wrinkles, bounce out static. >>> president trump doesn't have anything public on his schedule today but he does have some proo private meetings including one with his out going interior secretary ryan zinke. the pre

president trump. and that he, quote, participated in 19 interviews with the feds and provided documents and communications. this filing notes that flynn started working with the government not long after it first sought his cooperation. we quote again, his early cooperation was particularly valuable because he was one of the few people with long-term and firsthand insight regarding events and issues under investigation by the sco, the special counsel's office. the mueller team also notes, "the defendant's military and public service are exemplary. he served in the military for over 33 years, including five years of combat duty, led the defense intelligence agency and retired as a three-star lieutenant general. the defendant's record of military and public service distinguish him from every other person who has been charged. however, senior government leaders should be held to the highest standards." you may recall flynn was an adviser to trump's campaign, and along with the candidate back then, helped

trump. >> donald trump's lawyer is going to prison. >> i'll do anything to protect mr. trump. >> and prosecutors say they have evidence the president is a felon. >> career prosecutors here in new york city have evidence that the president of the united states committed a felony. >> tonight, why michael cohen says he covered up dirty deeds for the president. >> mr. president, your reaction to michael cohen's sentencing? mr. president? >> plus new evidence from the "national enquirer" that donald trump took part in a criminal conspiracy to get elected. >> i've always said, why didn't the "national enquirer" get the pulitzer prize? >> and what democrats plan to do about it all with congresswoman maxine waters. all that and paul ryan's unbelievable stunt to continue american support of the nightmare in yemen. >> what does a farm bill have to do with the war in yemen? >> when "all in" starts right now. >>> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. the president's lawyer is going to prison. he is going to prison for crimes he committed in order to get the president elected

trump. >> and mr. trump asked you? >> were you ever in prague? >> and your answer was? >> never. >> in your whole life? >> no, i've never been in prague. >> and he wanted to see your passport. >> he said, michael, i really need to know. i said, mr. trump, i have never been to prague. he said to me, okay. i said, do you want do see my passport? i live close to the office. and he said, yeah, you mind if i see it? i said, of course not. you're the president elect. i'll be there in two minutes. >> so michael cohen was and has been insistent on denying this. two sources, "the wall street journal" and mother jones, say cohen told them shortly after the election that he has not been to prague since the early 2000s. since those reports, he has denied being there at all, ever. and in terms of what the dossier alleges, he says he was in california at that time in 2016 visiting a college campus with his son. since the steele dossier was published in january of 2017, the allegation that cohen was in prague coordinating with the russians a couple of months before the election, that

trump. in his opinion, the president should not be impeached. >> i hope donald trump is not removed from office by impeachment, because it would let the country off the hook. and it would drive into the fabric of our nation a third of the people believing there was a coup. >> a coup. is comey right or will democrats move full steam ahead? shimon properez is live with more. >> the president is the central figure in this investigation and the sdny here in new york, campaign finance investigation. he's the central figure in this. and it was michael cohen whose soul purpose in cooperating with the sdny. prosecutors said in their sentencing memorandum, the reason they cooperate was to provide information on the campaign finance charges. there was nothing else they provided information with. and when you think about the way in which prosecutors explain that the president, individual number one, directed and coordinated with michael cohen in making these payments, also in the way that these payment

with trump, by which i mean, fighting trump with trump's own words, not with trump's vul garrett, not with trump's ugly brawling style, but with trump's own words. but nancy pelosi and chuck schumer have been in washington too long and have become far too professional to see how easy and clarifying it is to fight trump with trump's own words. they make the mistake of approaching oval office meetings with this president the way they would with any president. they put a serious proposal together for funding the government, and they brought it in to the office to discuss it seriously with a man who has no capacity to discuss anything seriously -- nothing. nancy pelosi and chuck schumer have not yet figured out how to publicly deal with the unserious man who is the president of the united states. and so they did not force donald trump to wrestle with his own words in the oval office today. they did not force him to say, mexico is not going to pay for the wall, and so i need ten democrats in the senate. instead, the president lied and said he could easily pass a bill through the republican

and so what does let trump be trump amine anyway quick. >> when i met donald trump he was 70 years old making billions of dollars in the real estate market written 17 your time bestsellers number one television show on network tv and was very successful in a number of things he had accomplished. i never thought it was my job to make him something he wasn't if he wanted to fire off a tweet about something it was not my job as staff to tell him he should not do that. his name was on the ballot i was to impairment - - empower him to be the person he wanted to be to bring his message that people like paul manafort decided it would be more presidential to reel him in to make him more of a traditional candidate like john mccain or mitt romney both of which who lost the election and the presidency. they thought being a traditional candidate like so many others, there were 17 candidates in the field and donald trump distinguished himself by being a straight talking person who went out to told the american people what was on his mind so paul and i had a fundamental disagreement about the way th

president trump: know what i will say? if we don't get what we want one way or the other, whether it's through you, through a military, to anything you want to call, i will shut down the government. and i am proud, i am proud to shut down the government for border security, chuck, because the people of this country don't want criminals and people that of lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country. i will take the mantle. i will be the one to shut that down. i'm not going to blame you for it. the last time you shut it down, it didn't work. i won't take the middle a shutting down and i will shut it down for border security. pelosi: but -- ms. you said -- president trump: thank you very much, everybody. [shouting] we have a lot of great people for chief of staff. a lot of people want the job. a lot of people want the job and i have a lot of great people, a lot of friends of my wanted. -- a lot of friends of mind want it. a lot of people chuck and nancy no wonder. we have a lot of people want the job can chief of staf

trump's oldest son or anybody related to donald trump or working with donald trump would do anything during the 2016 campaign without getting donald trump's signoff is an absolute joke and whoever suggests that is either wholly ignorant about how that campaign ran from day one or they're just liars. there is no third choice there. >> joe, two points, one to the tweets, it's interesting, his tweets six months or a year ago they would come out and the response was anger and this is a strong man, you're fearful and outraged. now it's pathetic. it's benign. it's almost -- go sit in the corner, grandpa. go play with your little phone and we will get back to you. to your point, joe, you have 100% right, if anybody has ever been up to the trump office, it's small, the offices are right next to each other. i was in a family business, i worked with my dad, i worked for my dad for a number of years, with he would speak 20, 30, 40, 50 times a day and my dad was not an authoritative type of boss. his children were not just children, they were employees to him. there's nothing they did without ei

did the trump campaign conspire with russians to try and violate federal law and then did president trump, while president, obstruct justice trying to cover it up? that's what the real focus is on. none of this cohen stuff -- none of this "national enquirer" stuff that really bears on that, i think. in the end, that's where we want to see mueller and the president come to a close. i am so convinced i've said to you before, the best thing for the president to do is to sit down and have an interview on live television. it will get the highest readings in the history of mankind, the president will love that. to answer the questions, and for mueller to make his report. i don't see anything here that would be -- >> harris: that would be fascinating, trying to keep him gated in terms of that on live television prepeople would watch it. i don't know if it would get as much as you would want to get out of it. john you, thank you very much. i'll be right back. >> thanks, george woke up in pain. but he has plans today. hey dad. so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pill

he was really traveling with president trump. and in the beginning, there were very few people, particularly foreign policy people, on the trump staff in the presidential campaign. and so general flynn, i think, was critically at very key moments. >> but were you surprised at how deeply he was cooperating and for how long he was cooperating? presumably a long time. >> i was not surprised. and one reason i wasn't surprised is that i think he recognized quite quickly that he had violated a -- not only the law, but a standard of conduct that he observed rigorously as a military officer, which is truthfulness in all of your dealings. and i think his recognition of that prompted him to make a decision, a personal choice, that he would be completely forthcoming and cooperative with director mueller. >> people forget he is a retired three-star general, head of the defense intelligence agency. had 30-plus years in the u.s. military. and so what you're suggesting, and you're a west point grad yourself, is that military background convince

you may recall that earlier this year trump lawyer rudy giuliani had promised that trump's legal team planned to put out its own report to counter mueller. >> talk to me a little bit about this idea of a counter report you guys mentioned, you're going to put out your own report. is that done to undermine mueller's credibility? >> it's done to answer. it's not going to come out until he puts out a report. of course i think even the president's enemies would imagine that his lawyers would put out a counter to an attack. if you're going to write a fair report, fine, write it. if you're going to write an unfair report, write it, we'll combat it. we're ready to rip had it apart. we're ready to rip them a forward if they want. >> according to the atlantic, giuliani said it's been difficult in the last few months to consider drafting response plans or a counter report. he claimed they were working this summer as he and trump contronted mueller's questions. this piece goes on to quote giuliani saying, answering those questions was a nightmare. it took him about three weeks to do what would no

, the donald trump phenomenon. i'll tell you who, because he's sitting right there. that's right, that guy. [ laughter ] mark burnett, the man who brought us "celebrity apprentice." thanks to mark burnett, we don't have to watch reality shows any more, because we're living in one. >> it is important to remember because when the apprentice premiered in 2004, donald trump was a bankrupt punch line in the new york tabloids. a guy who inherited a real estate empire from daddy and managed to lose it all, that is until he was cast in the apprentice by reality tv savant mark burnett. others had seen in trump only a tattered agency in the '80s. he made america believe donald trump was somehow extraordinarily rich and successful businessman, an image that persisted to this day with disastrous consequence. the author of that new profile, how mark burnett resurrected donald trump success, it's a great piece of journalism. >> thank you. >> burnett is like donald trump in many ways, it strikes me. >> i think that's right. there

, i'm supporting donald trump. i'm doing so as enthusiastically as i can, even though i think he's a terrible human being. but the choice on the other side is just as bad. >> reporter: a spokesman for mulvaney said those comments were old news and he made them before he met president trump. but that wasn't the only time he criticized the president before the election. in one facebook post, he said that in a dream world, both he and hillary clinton would be disqualified from taking office. which, jake, is quite a change in tune now in recent weeks he's been lobbying to become the next chief of staff. and in just two weeks for today will take over for john kelly. >> kaitlan collins at the white house. let's chat about this with my experts. when it comes to the trump tower moscow, if everything is fine with this deal and there is nothing inappropriate, obviously nothing criminal, according to rudy guiliani, why are there so many different answers? first we were told they stopped talking about it in january 2016. then

in the hands of president donald trump. he bragged it was his decision. i will shut it down if i don't believe i can get my wall. my $5 billion wall. >> governor, as you hear there, democrats are confident that the president will own the blame for this shut down. do you see that dynamic holding and do you think it's a smart strategy? >> the president said basically i'm willing to take this on, sending out steve miller this morning and reinforcing that i'm willing to own the shut down. he thinks it's a good political fight. you look at the polling numbers on this and it's really quite astounding. 69% of americans don't think this should be a priority of congress. 57% say trump should be compromising with the democrats. 60% of americans don't want a wall. this is really a cruddy issue to shut the government down on if you choose to do that. i think what congress is going to do and you are right there in d.c., but from my experience as a former governor working with a reluctant legislature, the most likely outcome is a punt to

trump. he directed me as i said in my elocution and i said as well in the plea, he directed many toe make the payments, he directed know become involved in these matters. >> he was trying to hide what you were doing, correct? >> correct. >> and he knew it was wrong. >> of course. >> and he was doing that to help his election. >> yes, he was very concerned about how this would affect the election. >> to help his campaign. >> to help him and the campaign. >> you heard it there. cohen making it absolutely clear. two key claims. one, trump directed the payments. builds on nbc reporting that trump was in fact in the room with cohen and david pecker discussing the hush money payments in the campaign. the second claim is that trump knew it was illegal. here's the potentially danieling news for trump today -- new audio emergencies from 2012 showing that trump was indeed familiar with the relevant campaign finance laws, specifically how the law applied to the john edwards case. arguing that payments

party into trump party. he seems to be just privatizing everything. he's a privateer. thank you for the opportunity. host: thank you. guest: there's plenty of people in washington, what has that has the best essentially become the swamp in washington, the has set for a couple billion dollars i can put 10,000 former seals and navy troops and military on the ground in afghanistan. this is this guy prince you are talking about. i can tell you this at least five or six stories that i've heard of people who have been major donors to the trump campaign who has marched into the white house and said, you know what? i think we can help you put together a private army. it will only cost the united states and our allies a couple billion dollars. of course, the person putting this together is probably looking for a nice payday. putting american troops on the ground in a private army who are not under the control of the u.s. military, much less even doing that in the first place, opens up a whole can of worms. host: let'

now, this is cohen/trump. the allegation here is that donald trump, and this is the southern district of new york believes this. michael cohen has pled guilty to it, donald trump has denied it, just for context's sake. that donald trump directed and coordinated those payments to both stormy daniels, the pornographic actress, as well as karen mcdougal, the former playboy playmate, both of whom were alleging that they had had affairs with donald trump in the mid-2000s. that trump coordinated and directed those payments in the course of the 2016 campaign. you cannot do that, because it amounts to an in-kind contribution to your campaign. so we got some clarity on that. let's go to the next bucket. this is obstruction. here's paul manafort. so paul manafort convicted by a jury of his peers on a number of counts, but then pled guilty before a second trial. okay. well, it turns out, and we learned about this late friday that manafort has repeatedly broken the terms of his plea agreement, most notably, brooke, by bei

donald trump jr.'s attorney is saying there are no contradictions between what michael cohen is saying and trump jr.'s senate testimony. is there legal jeopardy in your mind? could there be for don jr. and potentially ivanka? >> there could be, alex. i don't think the charge that he pled guilty to recently in and of itself is all that consequential, but i agree with katie that what mueller is doing is he is building the bridge between the campaign and russia and he has now used michael cohen as part of his construction of a bridge. when it comes to the kid, ivanka and don jr., i think there are a couple of real danger areas but we heard that michael cohen lied to congress about, among other things, keeping the kids, keeping donald trump's kids informed about what was going on on this potential deal with russia. and, you know, that is really dangerous because what did we come to learn some months ago? michael cohen is not above surreptitiously tape recording conversations. when i heard his plea included

and your reflections to what extent trump is an agent? put on its face it is very troubling that he insults pretty much everybody how do you explain that? we hope with bob mueller will explain that but that is precisely why trump is so anxious to impede the investigation. this is richard nixon on steroids the department of justice, he is fire the fbi director the attorney general to stop the investigation of his campaign and kudos to you for raising that and in many ways the most important issue they face right now is somebody it is questionable constitutional legitimacy with his appointment with his statements to exonerate of any wrongdoing he does not have that legal background to be the attorney general he is the henchmen because he wants to impede the investigation now it's very hard at this point that mueller is far along but there are things he can do to make it much more difficult if he has to come to him about important decisions which would require a battle in one of the most disturbing things that i point out a few days ago that

trump. he's been lucky enough to be involved in the issues that trump relates to. now he will be, shanahan will be on the world stage, having to deal with allies and adversaries. and that will present him some very significant new challenges, manu. >> barbara starr at the pentagon, thanks. >>> a new trump tweet. saudi arabia has now agreed to spend the necessary money to help rebuild syria instead of the united states. see, isn't it nice when immensely wealthy countries have rebuild their neighbors rather than a great country, the u.s., that is 5,000 miles away? thanks to saudi a. the president is clearly going alone on this. i want you to listen to one of the top white house aides, mercedes schlapp, who spoke earlier today. asked about who else was involved in this decision, here's how she responded. >> can you name an adviser the president has that recommended he pull out 2,000 troops? >> i'm going to going to get into the internal discussions of how the decision was made. at the end of the day, we all serve in the position of advising the president. it is up to

there are ongoing since the trump campaign, trump transition team, trump organization, trump foundation. there was one for trump university. and now we found out from "the wall street journal" this week the trump inaugural committee. given all these investigations and the fact that the president surrounded himself with people like michael cohen, paul manafort, do you think that the president has respect for the rule of law? >> i think this reflects that president trump put together a campaign organization with very little experience, with completely inadequate vetting. and i think that's what happens. this is what happens when you take that kind of approach. >> you felt vindicated by supreme court justice brett kavanaugh's decision to not want to hear a case of whether medicaid can be paid to planned parenthood affiliates for nonabortion related services. planned parenthood tweeted out a link that slammed you as, quote, delusional, for thinking this move means that kavanaugh will support abortion rights, uphold roe v. wade in the future. i want to give you a chance to respond. >> this i

conservative media turns on trump. this is trump on the griddle. donald trump is essentially now backed himself into a corner in which he has to do a thing that would require eminent domain seizure of conservative rancher's land even if it was able to be done. >> the very people watching him. the idea that america is being run by a man who is alternatively motivated by "saturday night live" and fox news is absolutely terrifying. this is a thing that i think is important. some of these people are opinion makers, journalists. i know sean hannity has his own thoughts. i've been in highlights. if you have that kind of power, they have an obligation to at least advise the president towards things that are reflective of the democracy that you have. you can have whatever opinion you want but these people are making suggestions that don't make any sense, they don't have to face the consequences of and they consistently fly in the faces of what the public wanted. the public said we don't want a wall. you're telling the president a lie. use your power for go

trump and candidate trump. he and mary pat have been friends of the trump's for almost two decades. you will see governor christie operating at a outside advisor to the president. they still speak on regular basis that there also may come a time when governor christie decides he wants to serve his country once again in government service. i'm sure if that is the case, president trump will accommodate them and bring into the administration. >> you among the stories you told. third on about the advice president trump was getting gid who he was getting it from, not having plowed this ground before, you talk about speaker paul ryan come in and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, the thule republicans republicans in the congress, which also talk to msnbc host joe scarborough, or congressman within the republican party and mika brzezinski, cohost who by the were used to work with me at cbs, they were giving president trump advice. this is before i guess things went completely wrong between them because now they speak as mortal enemies. can you explain that? what was the advice were ge