. >> this sunday war footing. president trump changes his team for the coming battle with robert mueller. >> we're all fighting battles, but i love fighting these battles. >> rudy giuliani and emmett flood in. pthe former new york mayor contradicts this claim from president trump. with this statement on fox news. >> funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it. >> he did? >> yes. >> we're not changing any stories. >> what happened? >> he started yesterday.

he'll get his facts straight. >> this exchange the latest example of the administration's growing credibility vcrisis. >> putin's gain. the country interfered with our elections. is putin's gamble paying off? >> i'll ask the former ambassador to russia. joining me are daniel pletka, robert costa, kimberly atkins and john meechum. welcome to "meet the press." >> good sunday morning. it was in the 1960s during lynn

don johnson's presidency that credibility gap gaining currency. the term seems particularly relevant today. we have been told by his doctor that donald trump would be the healthiest individual ever elected. now we're told by the doctor that mr. trump wrote the letter. we were told by president trump he fired james comey because of the russia investigation now we're told he was fired because he refused to say publicly this mr. trump was not a target of the investigation. we were told president trump knew nothing about the payment to stormy daniels. now we're told the president reimburse cohen through a retainer and the president didn't know how the money was being used. >> then we were told that giuliani will get his facts straight. the president couldn't tell us what those facts r. all presidents stretch the truth, some more than others. the economy is strong and the president has a faithful base.

could it be by the time robert mueller issues his findings people are too num by the truth shadings that mr. president trump is sewing. >> the president trying to explain troubling statement from rudy giuliani. >> rudy is a great guy. he just started. he just started when he made statements. he just started yesterday. >> he actually started two weeks ago. the back pedaling came after he casually confirmed that the president had repaid his lawyer michael cohen the $130,000 cohen paid stormy daniels to make her story go away. >> funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it. >> i didn't know that. he did?

>> yeah. >> cohen told nbc news in february i used my own personal funds. neither the trump organization or the trump campaign repaid me. on thursday giuliani told the "washington post" ke when wcohed back by the president's personal funds. >> mr. president, when did you change your story? >> we're not changing any story. >> the president referring to this exchange last month on air force one. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no. >> now "the new york times" reports in fact mr. trump knew of the payment to daniels several mornths before he denie knowledge of it.

saturday night giuliani was on the air again trying to clarify. >> even if it was for campaign purposes or to save his family, it's not a campaign donation. even if it was the president reimbursed it fully with a payment of $35,000 a month. >> giuliani's debut on the news show was supposed to kick off a new legal strategy. >> even many of the president's allies felt the pivot was not going to plan. >> what the heck. that's a problem. >> with some even challenging the president's credibility. >> you didn't know about that $130,000 payment to a porn star

until you did. i'm not saying you're a liar. i'm having a devil of a time figuring out what is fact. joining me now is michael avenatti the attorney for stormy daniels. welcome to "meet the press." >> good morning. >> why is this case the case you're working on so important to the american people? >> i think it's important to the american people because it centers on a cover up by the president, michael cohen and others related to the $130,000 payment, what the president knew, when he knew it, what he did about it and a series of lies the american people have been told relating to that payment and the other facts surrounding it. >> what are you trying to get out of this case? why should voters care about this nondisclo sure case?

miss clifford told her story. it's out there. what are you fighting for? >> she hasn't told the entire story. "60 minutes" aired about 17 minutes of an interview. michael cohen still claimed to threaten her if she continues to speak out and tell her story. this should matter to the american people because they have the right to be told the truth by their elected officials. they have the right not to be lied to according on board air force one. cover up should always matter to the american people. >> are you trying to win a case or take down a president? >> we're trying to win a case. this is a search for the truth. ultimately the american people and others that are for more educated and powerful than us will decide whether the president is fit to remain in office. >> you said "60 minutes" did

three hours and they only aired 16 minutes. are you implying there's more to her story, but there's stuff that had to be legally had to be left out? >> i don't think there's stuff that legally had to be left out. there's no question there's a host of details surrounding the relationship, surrounding the intimidation and the threats that was left out of the piece. >> i want you to respond to something rudy giuliani said. if somebody made an allegations against one of my clients that wasn't true and accepted $130,000 to settle it, the public may think that's an admission of guilt, but it's not. he's implying that accepting the $130,000 that she was a nuisance. it was a nuisance lawsuit and

that what she was claiming wasn't -- may not have been true. if it was true she would have got more money. what do you say to that? >> it's ridiculous. it's another absurdity being trotted out to the american people. the american people are smarter than that. the president and michael cohen have prided themselves on being tough guys and great negotiat negotiators. now they expect the american people to believe a woman came out of the woodwork, was lying, was not being honest. they had no reason to believe this happened and they took $130,000 out of their pocket and paid her? it's absurd. >> why did she accept that payment? why this amount and why did your client accept it? >> she accepted the payment because she understood there was

going to be an agreement where she was going to accept the money and it was going to go away. there were releases on both sides, not just her side. there was supposed to be an agreement by mr. trump to give her a full release, to leave her alone, to not discuss this. that agreement never came to fruition because he didn't sign the agreement. there's a number other reasons why it didn't come to fruition. then we fast forward to march of this year when michael cohen speaks in response to the call street journal article and they spread lies about my clients. >> why did she accept the money at the time? >> because she understood that there was an agreement. she wanted to get on with her life and she was prepared to operate under that agreement as long as the other side operated. >> what i don't understand is -- >> i would like to finish. >> for a year she did -- did

they talk about this? that's what i'm trying to understand. >> i would like to finish my answer if i could. she understood the agreement was going to be honored by both sides and everybody was going to move on and that's not what happened. she understood mr. trump signed the agreement. he only found out early this year he did not sign the agreement and michael cohen violated the confidentiality and began spaedi beg began spreading lies about her. >> what did you learn about keith davidson? >> we learned a lot and continue to learn a lot. i don't think there's any question the relationship between keith davidson and michael cohen was not arm's length. it's unclear how close they were. it was not a traditional

relationship among two adversaries. they've had a long history together. they've had a history that post-dates an pre-dates the involvement of my client. >> do you believe that ms. clifford was pitched his services under false pretenses? >> i don't want to offer an opinion on that right now. i think there's no question i would have handled it differently. >> how did you come to be representing miss clifford? you said it was a referral. who referred you? >> i'm not going to get into the details. no particular party referred me if that's what people are suggesting. that appears to be a recent conspiracy theory in an effort to did ebunk our effort. we are pursuing this for all the

right reasons. >> do you believe your case is somehow connected to robert mueller? has robert mueller reached out to you or only the folks at the southern district of new york? >> i'm not at liberty to discuss who we have communicated with. we are cooperating. >> have you been asked to speak to robert mueller? you or your client been asked to speak to robert mueller's prosecutors? that's not something others have felt they could disclose. >> others may not. that's not my position. my position is we're going to respect the process and not provide details on who in law enforcement we speak to and when. >> all right. michael avenatti the attorney for stephanie clifford aka stormy daniels. thanks mr., ofavenatti. >> thank you. >> joining me now is allan

serssers dershowitz. >> thank you. >> listen to this. >> even if it was for saving embarrass or if it was a campaign donation the president reimbursed it fully. >> sir, i would expect you to provide me legal analysis. this is the president's attorney trying to provide an explanation and he's providing two different explanations. has this been well thought out? >> no, i don't think so. this was a very bad week for the trump team. it was a very bad week to the mueller team in light of judge

that re-buked the mueller team. the trump team has to speak with a clear narrative. it should be in writing, not on television shows off the cuff. mr. giuliani may have a point. that is motives are complicated. the money may have been paid to save embarrassment, to help the campaign, it's a close case on whether or not there's any violation of any election laws. if there are violations they don't seem to be very substantial if the president for example paid and didn't report it, it's more likely the treasurer is in violation of the law than the president himself. i think that -- go ahead. >> has mr. giuliani invited more

scrutiny from prosecutors. now they're going well, we're going to get you for not discloses a campaign loan or -- either way they have actually violated some law. you're right. it can be a technicality, but they're admitting to a violation there. >> they're admitting to enough that warrants scrutiny. if you combine that with what the judge said that this is all designed by mueller to find evidence to charge president trump or impeach him, they have developed tactics for doing that. it seems the approach of the trump team plays into the hands of mueller's tactic to try at any cost to find technical violations against lower ranking people so they can be squeezed.

the judge made a point that the prosecutors can get people to sing, but also get them to compose. this was a bad week for both sides. as i said, a good week for america. americans get the benefit of a judge who is prepared to look at this from an objective point of view and express views that all people know. this is the way prosecutors know it. >> i've got to ask you about another thing giuliani said having to do with james comey. >> he fired comey because he would not say he wasn't a target of the investigation. he's entitled to that. hillary clinton got that. he couldn't get that. so he fired him and he said i'm free of this guy. >> look, i think -- i believe and i think you said this

before, the obstruction case is only as strong as the conspiracy case itself. i understand that. did mr. giuliani actually strengthen an obstruction case against the president by declaring that rationale as representing the president? >> we have two narratives. the president himself said both on television and in a meeting with the russians that he was motivated at least in part to end the russian probe. i'm sure he was also motivated in part by what comey refused to tell him. motives are complex. that's why motives should never form the basis of a crime. that's why it's wrong to question what a president's motives are when the president acting within his constitutional authority. we don't want to change motives into criminal statutes.

we have to look at what the president did, not what his motives are. motives are complex, the payment of stormy daniels and the firing of comey, we see complex motives at work. this can be presented more effectively as a defense than it's been presented thus far by the trump team. >> i want to ask you about that when it comes to the questions that mueller wants to ask the president. you believe, i think, that a sitting president couldn't become pelled to answer questions via subpoena. >> about the motives behind his actions. >> if mueller wants to question him about his actions before he's in office, isn't that a tougher subpoena for mr. trump's attorney's tonight? >> yes. >> there's three categories.

what happened before he was president. that he can fight, that it had nothing to do with the mandate. >> that's probably a high bar. >> it is. the second is actions he took while president that are authorized by the constitution. i think he prevails on that. then there are actions during the campaign and the transition period which have quasi legal protection. there are three categories. if they were tonight the subpoena, i think they would have a partial victory, but in the end they would probably have to answer some questions. i'm sure that's what they're thinking about now. when you volunteer at least maybe you can constrain the questions. when you're subpoenaed, a subpoena is broad. your lawyer isn't finished. this is a tough decision for the president's team. >> do you believe you enjoy attorney/client privilege with the president? >> absolutely not. >> have you had conversations with the president about this probe? >> i have made it very clear

i've had three conversations with the president since he's been president all about the middle east primarily because i've been advising the white house on the middle east peace process. every conversation with the president was don't give me any information you think is attorney/client privilege, not is privileged and i'm not going to be your lawyer. that's not the relationship i have. i'm a civil libertarian who cares about civil liberties and that's the position i maintain. >> where are you with julianne assange and which which leaks. >> no.

my only contact with assange was when he was wanted in sweden. i have no current relationship with wiki leaks. >> i wanted to clear that up. sir, i'm going to leave it there. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. >> when we come back, the panel will be here to break down the latest on the russia investigation and the stormy their experience is coveted. their leadership is instinctive. they're experts in things you haven't heard of - researchers of technologies that one day, you will. some call them the best of the best. some call them veterans. we call them our team.

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welcome back. panelists here, robert costa, dani danielle pletka and jon mecham. let me start with your colleague, robert, dan balls and

what he wrote friday morning. the larger reaction to everything we have learned. does it bother anyone that president trump has been caught lying, does it bother anyone that the president has been shown to be a liar? that's not somebody who throws the "l" word around. >> one of the best. he brings up an important question. for republicans i'm covering, they do not seem to be breaking with president trump. they have bought the ticket. they're taking the ride. they're sticking with president trump. for those suburban voters who watch this with the misstatements, lies, you do wonder, do the voters who may have went from the middle to president trump in 2016, do they flip back this year? >> danielle, "the wall street journal" editorial page. a dispute over speaking with special counsel robert mueller, mr. trump should worry americans

will stop believing anything he says. >> this should bother us from the standpoint of leadership as americans. we want a president who we can trust. that i think is very separate from the political question that robert brought up, which is what do the american people think for mid-terms. the answer is, they're not listening. this is just so much chatter. who cares about the person you call a porn actress? who cares about all these lawyers and all these people who are primping themselves out on cable tv? sorry. >> that's the part -- from the two interviews, on one hand -- what is this about? on the other hand, why is the president afraid to tell us what happened? >> it's also this idea that a lot of people still believe that this is some sort of attack on the presidency. they're buying into this narrative that the government, that the fbi, investigators turned into a political operation to attack the

president. that is res natuonating. plus the message landing with some people. we have seen his poll numbers tick up recently. people are getting tired of this. people are -- they don't want to hear about the porn star anymore. it's troubling at a time where simultaneously, this white house has a terrible problem with the truth. it always has. it's getting -- it's exacerbated. you see this division increase. we don't know what the political impact will be. >> jon? >> it took four years to get mccarthy. it took three years to get andrew johnson. it's a dark moment. i do think at a certain point, you are right, people are not thinking as much about this as the political class. the reason he is president is a lot of people didn't believe what more conventional presidents have said recently. right? he is president because of the ten national tickets, eight had

clinton or bush on them. they were saying to washington, if you are going to act like a reality tv show, we will send you a real one. i think the polls -- i'm skeptical of. i know this historically. we know it intuitively. the presidents who get in trouble in the fullness of time are those who think they can put a fast one past the people. i think this will have -- >> what is that fast one? when i talk to the people closest to president trump. the unemployment rate is below 4%. we have talked with north korea. they fear, as close as allies, that if he moves to impeach or fire rod rosenstein, if he makes a drastic action with regard to the investigation, all of that issues, the policies that are going on, they could fade away and you could have a crisis. that's what animates this white house internally. >> i read something this morning that i thought would make you nuts. i think it's -- because of the cynicism.

the best thing the republican party has going for them is their lack of an agenda. the most important boost may be coming from inside his own party in the non-existent agenda. politically, it's vastly preferable to the deeply unpopular legislation that republicans might otherwise be pursuing. his pointing, voters or the democrats don't focus on health care and some of the other economic issues because stormy daniels, the mueller probe is coloring it all and republicans aren't paying a price for not doing anything. >> you are totally right. that does drive me crazy. now is a moment of great opportunity for congress that they have completely squandered. they got the tax bill, but they have done almost nothing else with their majority, the republicans haven't. of course, this is -- it's true, this is a great distracter for the democrats as well. they don't have an agaenda either. the american people will see it as a scumbag and vote for us.

the republicans are in the same place. they are doing nothing. >> harry truman said in his retirement that we get the government we deserve. i think that's important here. i think we have to think -- >> we made this. over 20 years, didn't we? >> at what point are politicians more mirrors of the country than molders? far more often, they mirror it. right now, 17% of the country trusts the federal government to do the right thing. that's a number that's pre-trump. i think that it's a broader question here. i think trump is the apotheosis. >> it's a question of trust. >> morale in the west wing, it was my understanding that not being able to stick to the stormy daniels story was going to undermine a lot of morale. a lot of people lied for the president on this. it bothers them. we have been hearing it. how is the president's -- how is

that playing inside the west wing? >> inside the west wing, there's the west wing and then there's president trump. they feel like they're isolated from their own president, with the giuliani situation this week, it was the president communicating with giuliani, not communicating with the broader staff. that worries his white house. it's the president as his own communication director, his own strategist. >> how is that different than the inauguration day? the president has laid out his own agenda. the people around him have to catch up. the facts are never relevant. so i don't see how this is that much different. why have you seen the turnover you have seen within the white house? >> the 26th floor he worked at? the 26th floor is back. i think that's what we know. when we come back, vladimir putin's meddling. what does he want from the u.s. and president trump? why did he retaliate? michael mcfaul joi i feel a great deal of urgency... i think, keep going, and make a difference.

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the inauguration. in moscow, people chanted russia without putin and down with the czar. putin overwhelmingly won a discredited election in marwhic some opposition candidates were barred from running. putin interfered with the election in 2016. joining me to talk about what putin wants is michael mcfaul, former ambassador to russia. welcome back to the fall. >> great to be here. great to see you in person. >> nice to see you in person. we were joking, we were going to force the stanford background so people knew that you always travelled with your own backdrop. putin -- this decision to come after the united states, is this something he stumbled into? or was this something that it just grew -- he grew angrier and angrier and decided, it's time to retaliate? >> these tactics he has

practiced for a long time inside russia. right? disinformation, using videos against various political actors. i experienced it myself as ambassador in 2012. a lot of disinformation about me. the tactics he has done before. >> what was the most successful disinformation had yyou had to to undermine? >> the narrative that barack obama sent me to russia to overthrow vladimir putin. that appeared about every couple of days. it was very intense during his last presidential campaign. they would splice things that i had written and take out not and make that appear. they would show the back of my head at a rally to make it look as if i was coordinating the rally. whatever we did on twitter, on television, actually sometimes with president obama talking to president putin, one on one to say knock this off, we were

ineffective. >> it seems as if we have heard why did he want to do this? first it was hillary clinton. that was one. one of the things that we don't talk about enough is his anger about the olympics and the doping scandal and the embarr s embarrassment that brought. then there's the panama papers, the disclosure from this law firm that essentially conveniently exposed the oligarchs of russia, including putin's wealth, frankly of wealthy people around the world, everybody except americans. >> conveniently. you are right, all of those things bit things built up. the turning point was after the fall of the president of ukraine. we didn't have anything to do with that. he blamed up. he blamed the cia for overthrowing his partner in ukraine. that's when he said, to hell with these guys. i'm done dealing with these americans. i'm going to strike back. that's when he takes crimea. then he goes into eastern

ukraine. then he decides to go on the offensi offensive. all of those events you describe is why he decides to go on the offensive and use tactics that he had used in russia against us here in the united states. >> does he think that he is seeing results? >> that's a tough question. candidate trump promised a lot of deliverables, as we used to say in the government, to the kremlin. he setd aid he would look into recognizing cry mee ining crime russia. he didn't say a word about democracy and human rights. they expected a big payoff. there was a lot of champagne drunk on election night in moscow. he hasn't delivered on that, because the trump administration has actually continued a lot of policies of the obama administration. however, our chaos, our arguing amongst ourselves, the withdrawal of american leadership around the world, all of those things are good things for vladimir putin. so the trump presidency in that

i think has been good for vladimir putin. >> john mccain in his book believes you gotta -- that we have not been tough enough on putin. he writes, we have cyber capabilities, too. i would argue, looks like the pana panama papers, that didn't work. what would work with putin? >> whether it works or not, wait and see. lots of demonstrators yesterday. most of those people were talking about corruption. by the way, a lot of those kids were kids. they were arresting 12-year-olds in russia. that's something new. a degr i agree with senator mccain. i want to underscore, it's not something i wanted -- my book is about trying to avoid that. but we need a policy to push back, deter putin. cooperate when we can and must on things like arms control. but basically, contain his behavior abroad. >> i want to talk about the iran nuclear deal. we will get a decision a week --

approximately, a week from this weekend, whether the president will pull out or not. former secretary of state john kerry was working with -- talking with former allies or allies of the united states, his former counterparts in other countries. what would secretary of state kerry have thought if condoleezza rice was back seat driving u.s. policy with foreign dignitaries? >> he probably wouldn't like it. we probably would have noted it. but it happens all the time. >> inappropriate? it's -- what's this line here of where you -- >> it's a good question. >> what is the line? >> i don't have a good question to that. we are a free society. we don't all pledge allegiance to the president. >> he is not lobbying pompeo. he is working with france. >> you know who my first guess was? henry kissinger. after we had breakfast, he went

to see vladimir putin. do you think he was saying, i think the obama administration is doing a great job, you need to engage with the president? i don't think so. that's fine. the good thing that henry used to do and i think still does, he would report to us and tell us about his impressions of vladimir putin. i hope secretary kerry is doing that as well. >> with secretary pompeo? >> yes. >> basically -- >> you are in there. >> russia relations since the fall of the berlin wall. >> yes. you are in there. we shared some of this history. >> we did, 2009, the ritz. we have been to that ritz. >> together. >> it was a very nice hotel overlooking the kremlin. when we come back ahead of tuesday's primaries, many republican candidates have david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. that's it? everybody two seconds!

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right now, the gop primaries are turning into fights to see who can prove they love trump the most. like in indiana, he donned a make america great hat in a tv hat. candidates borrowing from the trump playbook on mueller. >> i think it needs to come to an end. it's a witch hunt. >> end this investigation now. >> when you know what really goes on in the department of justice, you wonder where this country is going. >> there's a reason for this. donald trump won west virginia by 42 points. he won indiana by 19. significantly outperforming mitt romn romney. here is the thing, we don't know if these enthusiastic trump voters are going to come out in a agageneral election if trump isn't on the ballot. that hasn't been the case in either the alabama senate race

or the congressional special election in pennsylvania where democrats were able to flip a republican-held seat. nor was it the case in virginia where democrats ended up running away with a race for governor that most thought was going to be closer. let's not forget, 2016 was just as much about hillary clinton as it was about donald trump. it's not going to be easy to paint either of the joes as clinton's clones if she's not on the ballot. speaking of the joes, manchin won in a landslide and donnelly won by six. in a year where romney won by ten points. the point, trump won over blue collar people who couldn't stomach clinton. all politics in 2016 has been about the president. the names on the ballot matter.

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endgame, brought to you by boeing, continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire. >> back now with endgame. before we get to your book, because it gets us back on the topic, i want to quickly talk about the fact that on tuesday is the first multi-state primary day. we're learning about the hugging of donald trump and trumpian like figures. there's probably nobody more embre emblem emblematic than this guy. >> the war to drain the stamp and create jobs for west virginia people has begun. i will beat joe manchin. >> a candidate with a chance to win in west virginia. he is in the lead.

the more attention they have given to him, the better he is doing. >> he makes racist, offensive comments, referencing mitch mcconnell. it's another example of a republican party really since the beginning of president obama's term in office that has been unable to control its primary process. that goes to the presidential race in 2016, the senate races in '10, '12, '14 and '16. >> it's a test kitchen of the races in a trump -- post-trump world. this is a trump state. he won handily. look at roy moore, he almost won. you have a lot of folks saying, i can take this message. i'm not a pedophile. i may be able to get this over the finish line. >> this guy served time. this one served time for people who died due to his mismanagement at a coal mine. >> we spent many, many years railing against a smoke-filled

room. political parties would pick peoples, this stuff didn't happen. this is what elevates the roy moores, the blankenships, corbins in the uk, this sort of ability to engage in a populist message and then, of course, they are complete whack jobs when they get in the job. >> jon, you have a new book out. this conversation we had, the point of your book i think is to make some of us feel better, to say, we have been through this before, we will get through this. you highlight five periods of our time where where fear mongering was working. in the moment it looked like it was working. let me ask you this, how do you know we have actually -- you are implying we hit bottom right now. do you think we have? >> we're close. there are four or five forces that have saved the republic at very points. in this case -- >> discredited, discredited,

discredited. >> down to the courts and pep and so the people and some parts of the press. >> if we had this 1866, we would have said andrew johnson is opposing the 14th and 15th amendments. joe mccarthy is leading the terrorist -- the red hunting charge. in my native region, 50 years ago, we had functional apartheid in the south. we do get better. it requires the protest. it requires the resistance. it requires these conversations. >> jon says -- his book is infused with optimism. america has been through so much. when i'm out there as a reporter and you meet people, people are going about their days. they're not fighting with each other every moment. this country moves forward. >> we're going to get through it. we don't -- one of the things that your book struck me on is, are we moving fast or slow in our evolution?

>> much faster. i think information technology has transformed the speed. i do think the one thing that you say, which is so resonating is the american people have a soul. >> we will get through it. there will be damage. if you look at ourhow bad the d be. >> every moment in here is infused with race. every moment, every rough moment in some ways, it's some version of race. >> unquestionably. it's our original sin. the constitution itself, which is otherwise the document that has saved us, because it's a human document, it recognizes appetite and ambition, the founders would have been stunned it took this long to get a president like this. they designed this document for demagogues. if you said 2016, they would have thought, pretty good.

doesn't mean it's easy. i think the most important -- >> someone might have thought andrew jackson qualified for that. >> that's a different story for a different sunday. what the document says is we are on a journey to a more perfect union, not a perfect one. >> we heard from somebody we haven't heard from in a long time, john mccain. heard his voice. we are hearing from him via his book. i want to play the excerpt they released from the audio of his new book. >> i don't know how much longer i will be here. maybe i will have another five years. maybe with the advances in oncology, they will find new treatment for my cancer that will extend my life. maybe i will be gone before you hear this. i'd like to see us recover our sense that we are more alike than different. we are citizens of a republic made of shared ideals, forged in a new world to replace the tribal enmities that troubled

the old ones. we share that awesome heritage and the responsibility to embrace it. >> felt like it was a nice optimistic tone that skrjohn mcn is trying to strike. >> the nicest thing is an expression that has gotten overused in this era, but skrjo mccain is a great american. >> i started reporting on capitol hill in 2009. watching him up close, you see this spirit. he doesn't quit. the guy does not quit. >> it's interesting we're learning in the book, he is not settling scores but he is trying to appease those critics about sarah palin. he says, i wish -- in any gut, i wish i would have picked joe le le lieberman. >> doesn't say he thinks that would have made him win. if he was going to lose, he wish he had done it on his own terms rather than someone else's. >> here is something about skjo mccain.

the night he lost the presidency he alluded to booker t. washington being invited to the washington by tr, which is a symbolic relationship. senator mccain has a sense of history. he made history. >> one of the great concession speeches of our time. thank you all. before we go, a programming note. on "dateline" an interview with meek mill. he talked about his journey through the criminal justice system exposes the need for reform, 7:00, 6:00 central on your local nbc station. that's all we have for today. thanks for watching. and remember, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." >> see more endgame in postgame sponsored by boeing, on the "meet the press" facebook page.

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