women. roy moore will be held accountable by the people of alabama for his actions. the white house says it's not currently commenting on this but the principal deputy press secretary tells nbc news the president will look at this issue after he returns from his asia trip. that is it for me. "deadline: white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. i believe the women. with those four words and a call for gop senate candidate roy moore of alabama to step aside over "washington post" report that he engaged in sexual activity with teenage girls as young as 14, mitch mcconnell sought to put himself on the right side of the roy moore chapter in republican politics. moore struck back on twitter writing the person who should step aside is mitch mcconnell. he has failed conservatives and must be replaced. #drain the swap. it's still a possibility that republicans could mount a

write-in candidacy, "the new york times" is reporting this hour that two white house officials are floating a plan to get alabama governor kay ivey to immediately appoint attorney general jeff sessions to the senate seat if the senate votes to expel him from the chamber should he win the election next month. it's remarkable that two white house aides are speaking to the times this afternoon about removing sessions from the cabinet to solve the moore crisis. trump is known to have soured on sessions and his attacks on the ag and justice department are unprecedented. sending him back to the senate would be the proverbial two birds with one stone political play. welcome to 2017. let's get right to our reporters and guests from the white house. kristen welker in washington. correspondent for "the new york times" magazine, mark leibovich and evan shore.

evan mcmillan, a former chief policy director for the house of representatives and most recently an independent presidential candidate. zerlina maxwell, now director of progressive programming for sirius xm and tara set meyer, republican strategist and former communications director to congressman dana rohrbacher. kristen welker, let me start with you. can you just tell us how this would work and what you're hearing from your sources in and around the white house about the degree of concern about this now days long political scandal? the story in "the washington post" hit thursday afternoon. it's blocked out coverage of just about everything else. donald trump never likes to be ellipsed by anything or anyone. and this is now a full-blown washington scandal. >> here's what i can tell you. i've been trying to drill down on that "new york times" reporting that, as you said, two white house officials, according to the times floated the idea of

replacing roy moore with jeff sessions. i have not been able to confirm that, but what i can tell you based on my conversations is that president trump, once he returns from his asia trip, is going to be taking a very close look at this situation. there is a thinking within the gop that the one person who may be able to do some arm twisting behind the scenes to get roy moore to drop out and perhaps to drop out if he is, in fact, elected, would be donald trump. why? he is not only the president. he is very popular in this state of alabama. one of his latest approval ratings at 60% there in that state. so he's someone who has a pull. behind the scenes, how concerned are they? they couldn't be more concerned. they stress the facts that president trump supported luther strange during the primary. that he had always backed that candidate. and they also stressed the fact that, look, this is critical for the president's agenda. his policy agenda. republicans are trying to get tax reform passed through both chambers right now.

that's their focus. that's what they want to be talking about. if roy moore is elected and comes to d.c., could he threaten that part of the agenda? he's warring with mitch mcconnell. if the democrat is elected that would jeopardize tax reform and other key policy priorities here. the stakes couldn't be higher. you can feel that here within the west wing. i'd stress one other point. i've been talking to folks who worked in past administrations throughout the weekend and you know this probably better than anyone. when a president is overseas, he's not immersed in the political cycle in the same exact way. so expect what when he does return from asia late tomorrow night for there to be a whole new level of engagement from this president and from his top advisers as they take a look at this evolving issue. >> let me read you something from cory gardner. he said i believe the individuals speaking out against

roy moore spoke with courage and truth proving he is unfit to serve in the united states senate and should not run for office. if he refuses to withdraw and wins, the senate should vote to expel him because he does not meet the ethsical and moral requirements of the u.s. senate. can you take us through mechanically and politically what this means for the u.s. senate and republican caucus? >> well, republicans are in a real bind here because, let's say roy moore wins this race and honestly, knowing roy moore, the way we do already on the hill, he's unlikely to respond to this kind of pressure if it doesn't come from the very top. let's say he wins. he can't be seated if they can successfully vote to expel him. that requires 67 votes and potentially weeks or months of legal wrangling. it isn't the kind of thing that can necessarily happen in one day after he wins and arrives in washington. so e pelling him is certainly an option but it's truly a last-ditch option that would be incredibly difficult and side track the republican agenda

hugely when they can least afford to have that happen. >> mark, you wrote the book quite literally about that town. can you put sort of the size and scope of this scandal in washington terms and talk about the side shows. i have no reason to believe that jeff sessions has any desire to return to the senate but i've heard from sources, as i'm sure plenty folks at your paper have reported that donald trump remain remains majorly peeved at jeff sessions for recusing himself from the russia investigation. i believe it was a press avail on departure when he stood next to melania and maligned the justice department and the fbi on his way for his asia trip. so just speak to the weirdness and kabuki nature of this. i'll just take jeff sessions out of my cabinet and stick him in this seat in light of the

complicated machinations and everything to go right for that option. >> first of all, just this whole administration has been a whole new level of kabuki and bizarreness that well exceeds anything i wrote about a few years ago. so the sequel sort of writes itself here every week. . what's interesting about this case is not only -- so sessions right now is just a rumor. yes, it's been floated or discussed certainly at the white house. discussed on the hill. it's been something that's been kicked around just all over town the last few days. >> as has sessions been kicked around. >> well, that's -- exactly. yes. there's great synergy here. >> i have heard that sessions has no interest in doing this, but again, there are many birds that can be killed with this one stone. one being, as you mention, trump doesn't particularly -- or the president doesn't particularly like the job jeff sessions is doing. also heard jeff sessions doesn't particularly love his job and he

might be the one republican who could possibly win a write-in vote against doug jones in alabama. so he would make sense on a lot of levels but it is -- there is a lot of -- there are a lot of machinations around expulsion. that assumes roy moore gets elected. you sg through the process of trying to get him out to begin with. just a lot to consider here. in addition to getting another attorney general through, if the sessions options is ever exercised. so, wow, what's great is no one knows how this is going to end. >> kristen welker, before you go, i wanted to see if you could weigh in on the cross-pressures for the president himself. sessions is someone he didn't really feel he could move out of the cabinet. i understand he's been told by his chief of staff there's too much turnover. luther strange was his candidate. roy moore was on the other side of that primary.

what are the personal dynamics? i'm sure steve bannon being on the side of roy moore and sean hannity, one of the president's favorite allies in the conservative media being one of roy moore's chief defenders the last time i checked. what are the political dynamics inside trumplandia? >> let's start with the last point you made which is the fact that roy moore is a bannon pick. he is a part of steve bannon's war against the establishment and the fact he won in that primary race did rattle the president. the fact that you had steve bannon efectively one-upping him. you have that element at play. then to your point about these tensions with jeff sessions. we have seen them on display for months. since jeff sessions recused himself from the russia investigati investigation. president trump has attacked him not only in press conferences but on twitter. he's called him beleaguered.

feels he's at the route of this escalating investigation into russia. he wants him to be investigating hillary clinton. all of this is at the backdrop as president trumpries. prepares to come home. this would be something that basically kills two birds with one stone. the question is, it would be complicated. and it would take potentially a lot of political machinations behind the scenes. having said that, again, the thinking within the gop is that really the president is the only person who can make that phone call behind the scenes and have any type of impact over roy moore because clearly, right now, he is showing no signs of backing down. >> great reporting, kristen welker. thank you so much. we're going to let you go. lots of demands on you. alana, let me play for you and mark some sound from a news

conference in the last hour from one of the latest, the newest accuser of roy moore. let's watch that and talk on the other side. >> i thought he was going to rape me. i was twisting and struggling and begging him to stop. i had tears running down my face. at some point he gave up and he then looked at me and he told me, and he said you're just a child. and he said, i am the district attorney. >> and to -- i think help corroborate that the two of them knew each other at the time, let me show you a copy of nelson's yearbook which moore signed writing, to a sweeter, more beautiful girl. i could not say merry christmas. love roy moore, old hickory

house. he signed it when he was district attorney. let me ask you to weigh in on -- there it is. that's a page from roy moore's latest accuser, beverly nelson. that's a copy of her yearbook. and roy moore was the attorney general at the time wrote to a sweeter, more beautiful girl. i could not say merry christmas. love roy moore. he was the d.a. at the time. so i guess my question to you is, between -- these stories come out, whether it's harvey weinstein or roy moore, the cycle with exquisite journalism that's followed the accounts of harvey weinstein and roy moore has been that in the days like the original detailed reporting and sort of realtime

corroboration of the victims' accounts, more stories usually come out. we should say roy moore rebutted that press conference by saying gloria allred, who is representing the accuser, is a sensationalist leading a witch hunt. allread was the attorney who claims credit for giving us roe v. wade which has resulted in the murder of tens of millions of unborn babies. judge moore is an innocent man and has never had any sexual misconduct with anyone. this is a witch hunt. that was his statement. can i get you to speak to sort of the psychological effect on members of congress of seeing these victims, hearing their accounts corroborated. since the post story hit there's only been more evidence of victims and of people who knew the victims at the time. >> absolutely. it's important to remember that the first allegation came out on a hugely important tax reform day for the gop. i was standing right in front of the senate chamber and watching the shock and alarm. they hadn't read the story yet

which is a problem we reporters often have in the trump era. we're asking them to respond to headlines they haven't yet seen. now they've had time and this explains this drip, drip, drip of more republicans saying i had time to listen to that radio interview and i cannot find his denials credible. sometimes that takes time. in our hyperfast news cycle it can be difficult to realize but this is only going to get worse for roy moore. >> and let me get you to weigh in on how the condemnation has evolved. the first reaction and what i saw from white house officials on the sunday shows went like this. if true, then -- >> well, this is not a legal proceeding. this is someone seeking the privilege of serving in the u.s. senate. it may be that all that you have is this exquisitely detailed and so far holding up as true reporting from "the washington post." a lot of politicians are sort of in a new reality where they either believe the women or they

don't. >> i'm sorry, let me get mark on this first. >> no, no, i would just say that sort of speaking -- coming at this like a journalist, i think "the washington post" story read rock solid to me. the reporters are terrific. i think that this woman today certainly seemed very compelling. the if true caveat we heard over the last four or five days, you don't hear that as much anymore. what i do think is interesting and depressing here is that at a certain point a lot of the people in the middle of this which were the people of alabama, sort of suspend any kind of judgment of the facts and what's been laid out in the sources. they are saying, look, this is a persecution. this is a witch hunt and in a way roy moore is stealing donald trump's line. witch hunt and you can see trump saying, wait, that's my line. in a way, donald trump was elected on almost a platform of victimization and that's sort of the posture roy moore is adopting here and steve bannon

has been his number one champ n champion. we haven't heard from him in the last 24 hours. we'll see. i do think that the reporting itself and coming at this as a dispassionate viewing of whether these people are credible and whether reporting is credible, i'd say it absolutely is and i think a lot of the response you're seeing from washington among a lot of the republican senators is in response to that. >> you have been sort of the rage has been spilling out of you on twitter all weekend. what are your thoughts? >> this is a moment the gop has to fight. it just has to fight. >> fight what? >> fight against people like roy moore and steve bannon. we've elected -- >> our voters picked him. he won a primary. >> leadership matters. leadership really matters. it sets the tone and changes the way people think and what they do, where they spend their money, how they pursue or engage with politics. leadership really matters. it can change the entire

country. >> who are the leaders? >> the leaders need to be in the senate. if we don't have a leader of the kind i'm talking about in the presidency in the white house but because of donald trump, because he is elected president, because he's a republican, this especially this moment with roy moore is one where republicans have to fight back. >> is donald trump up to this moment with roy moore? >> i don't think he is. and donald trump himself has bragged about sexual lie assaulting women. he's in no position to fight back. he'd let roy moore proceed through the election and into the senate just fine. what's happening here is senate republicans at least are realizing this is a crucial moment for the party. a moment when young people and others are losing faith and thinking very negatively about the party. this is a moment that could have generations of impact for the party and the country. so senators are now fighting back. we need to see more of it. >> we have to sneak in a quick

break. when we come back, oops, he did it again. president trump back to believing putin's spin on the 2016 election. this time he get resbuked by his own cia. what if a dictator known for his extra judicial killings crooned a love song to our president? you'll have to see this story to believe it. 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 found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.

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i'm unfortunately voting against what's happening in the republican party right now. i've got to vote against roy

moore. i'm going to vote for doug jones. i think he's a machb integrity and i can't say i feel that way about roy moore. >> you've never voted for a democrat? >> i've never voted for a democrat. i see a lot of doug jones sinss around that i'm really surprised in neighborhoods i've never seen a democrat sign in before. and talking to people, people are fed up and sad and disheartened at what they're seeing happen in the republican party. >> one of the reasons that alabama voter may be so turned off of the republican party may be the fact that when given the platform to defend himself, judge moore wasn't able to defend himself very clearly. as we can hear when he spoke with sean hannity on fox news radio friday. >> would it be unusual for you as a 32-year-old goi to have dated a woman as young as 17? that would be a 15-year difference or a girl season. do you remember dating girls that young at the time?

>> not generally, no. if i did, you know, i'm not going to dispute, any but i don't remember anything like that. >> you don't remember having any girlfriend in her late teens at that time? >> i don't remember that, and i don't remember ever dating any girl without the permission of her mother. >> would it be normal behavior back in those days to date a girl that's 17 or 18? >> no, not normal. >> my daughter is 16 years old. if she is 17 or 18, i don't want her dating a 32-year-old. >> i wouldn't either. >> you can say unequivocally you never dated anyone in their late teens like that when you were 32? >> it would have been out of my customary behavior. that's right. >> hard to listen to that. according to a tweet from a former colleague of moore's, teresa jones, she was a deputy d.a. in gadsden.

it was common knowledge about roy's propensity for teenage girls. i'm appalled these women are being secured for the truth. the panel is back. let me ask you to weigh in on how this sort of -- the way we cover victims. you still see -- and again, i think the men in the senate who are speaking out, i think they are saying to say the right thing. when you say, if true, you cast doubt on what it takes for a woman who has everything to lose and nothing to gain by telling her story in "the washington post." it will be read by our friends and neighbors in a very republican state. can you talk about the response so far? >> well, i think the if true premise upon the women lying and making this up for some unforeseen benefit. i think there is a wrong narrative, and this is over the course of history. it's not just right now that women make up stories of rape for attention, for money, for, insert the reason men make up

and put it in the blank. that is not the case. the vast majority are rape claims like any other crime are very low. according to the fbi, somewhere around 5%. >> statistically speaking, some of the most underreported crimes. >> so again, we're working off reported cases. the vast majority, women are coming forward and telling the truth. and i think that we have to take this out of the court of law. i like your comment earlier about the fact we're not in a court of law. it's not about innocent until proven guilty. this is a moral question for the public. do we believe women when they come forward and tell their truths or do we not? the republicans that couched it under "if true," they don't believe the women. that's a horrible presence dent. in the trump era, this is an important conversation to have. this doesn't happen but for trump's "access hollywood" tape. >> i don't think it's fair to say the republicans who said if true don't believe the women. it was a politically difficult

situation not knowing everything that was going on at the time because there are times where perhaps the allegations aren't true. i don't think that's the case this time. i think those politicians were just looking for cover at the time. that "if true" seems to be disappearing at a rapid pace. roy moore is not helping himself at all. >> you have "the washington post" story. if you read the whole thing you either believed them or you didn't. >> and i think at this point now it didn't take very long. once he did that sean hannity interview that sealed the deal for most people who thought this if true thing. look. i'm sorry. but most of us, and most of the country does not find it acceptable in any capacity for a 32-year-old man to be entertaining teenage girls in any kind of capacity like this. that yearbook entry shows a certain pathology, i think. a certain pattern here of his interest in young girls.

i was in mock trial in high school and i can't even imagine the bergen county prosecutor telling me how beautiful i am and wishing me a merry christmas and not in any kind of capacity when i was 15 or 16 years old. that's something else that's indicative of how out of bounds his behavior was. roy moore is unfit to serve in the senate prior to this. removed twice as a judge. in alabama, his law professor in law school wrote something before the primary where he discussed how roy moore's logic when he would in exercises in their classes in law school was so out of bounds from most people in law that the professor had to change the method of his teaching in class because he would become so combative when they would argue things of the law. so he was even concerned enough to come out and write about this guy's thought process is not something that is -- it's something that people should be

concerned about. so he's been -- there are aspects about him, even before the child -- the child mollestation accusations that were concerning about roy moore. and here we are as a party actually debating whether someone like this should be supported or not. i'm glad to see there are more and more republicans, including the head of the republican senatorial committee. that is unprecedented. when was the last time that as the head of the senate committee would come out and actually say this person should be removed from the senate if he's elected? this is craziness. but unfortunately, there's a certain amount of narcissism that's been rewarded in the era of trump that someone like roy moore would be so audacious as to continue to fight harder and double down and go after the victims even when he is looking at -- even when his credibility is seriously compromised, that he would still do this. and that's thanks to donald trump and steve bannon and them giving him a pass. >> let me give you a quick word on the cancer that is steve bannon as -- can't even call him

a strategist. just as a force in the republican party. >> look, he spends a lot of time attacking the republican establishment. what is he offering? rimoore? donald trump? look. he is making the establishment, roy moore, steve bannon, all of these guys, are making the establishment look really good, okay? if the establishment is going to stand up against pedophiles and steve bannon is going to stand up for the pedophiles, we'll fight that fight all day long, all week long. this is what we're getting from steve bannon. this is why he in his effort are morally bankrupt. they're dangerous for the country. they will destroy the republican party. and those of us who want to see -- >> have they already? >> that's what he wants to do. you know that. >> that's right, he does. but i think they're on track to do that, yes. i don't think any of us whether you're on the left or right should give up on either party. as long as we have a two-party system, we need them to be

healthy. this is an american fight. we can't let the american party drift toward scumbags and scoundrels. we can't do it. it's a fight all of us need to have. >> alana shore, thank you for joining us. vladimir putin has a sure thing in donald trump who re-uchre-uch re-upped his defense. and called the head of the agencies hacks. [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours.

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we don't take no for an answer. we fight for what we want. even for the things that were once a given. going to college... buying a home... and not being in debt for it for the rest of our lives. but we're only as strong as our community. who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. sofi. get there sooner. i'm reluctant to criticize the president when he's abroad, but i don't believe putin. i don't think any objective person should believe putin on this score. >> objective may be the keyword there. i was counting how easy it is to say i don't believe putin. that's all you have to say president trump. but since his campaign, president trump has shown no sign that he can be objective when it comes to russia. this weekend, just as we thought

that maybe, possibly he'd make it through his trip, he cozied up to putin again side with him on the russian meddling after they met on the sidelines of an economic summit. every time he sees me, he says i didn't do that, and i believe. i really believe that when he tells me that. he means it. he topped off that stunning remark with an attack on the u.s. intelligence community which has overwhelmingly concluded that russia did, in fact, meddle. i mean, give me a break. they are political hacks. you have brennan, clapper and comey. so you look at that and you have president putin very strongly vehemently says he had nothing to do with them. now you are not going to get into an argument. you are going to start talking about syria and the ukraine. then came the tweet. when will all of the haters and fools out there realize that having a good relationship with russia is a good thing, not a

bad thing. there always playing politics, bad for our country. i want to solve north korea, syria, ukraine, terrorism and russia can greatly help. now he appears to be walking back his rant against the u.s. but he is still as careful as ever to avoid criticizing putin. >> i believe that he feels that he and russia did not meddle in the election. as to whether i believe it or not, i'm with our agencies, especially as currently constituted with their leadership. i believe in our intel agencies, our intelligence agencies. i've worked with them very strongly. >> joining us now, juan zarate and former deputy national security adviser to president george w. burke. and at the table, nbc intelligence and national security reporter ken dilanian. juan, let me ask you about this part of the statement. as currently constituted, donald trump believes the intelligence community. so with your friend director

pompeo and admir rogers, he believes his political appointees. why does he believe his political appointees and doesn't believe former director brennan, clapper, men with years in the agency. >> trump views it through a political lens first and foremost and maybe most completely. that's the way he's trying to divide this. he's disparaging the former intel heads from his current leadership and at the same time trying to salvage what is important, i think, which is a sense of credibility in his own intelligence services and agencies. but it's very difficult to do. these are seasoned professionals who were serving the country. people i worked with and know and respect. and so to do that is a little bit of an act of jiujitsu where i think the president is trying

to have his cake and eat it too. the real challenge here, nicolle, is the president keeps stepping into this russia question while confusing our policy while not reacting to what is a very real threat from russia and perhaps even other actors to undermine democratic institutions to the use of information warfare and cyberattacks. we're missing the boat on this and the president continues to confuse his policy, our policy on that threat and the threat from russia. >> ken dilanian, general hayden has a construct of all of the evidence based practices being under assault by donald trump whether it's intelligence, which relies on evidence, journalism which relies on reporting and evidence. the judiciary. the attacks on judge curiel and so on and and i want to ask you what the affect is for the rank and file. most folks who work at the cia don't change on who is the president. they study and welcome experts and you were -- what am i

talking about? what am i telling you this? >> you are right. >> but they don't care who the president is. what is it like for them? let me put this to you first and then hear your thoughts. to have a president say i didn't believe the intelligence community assessment on russia when it was run by my predecessor's appointees but i believe them now when they said the same thing. >> it's disturbing. a lot of people work in the intelligence community are republicans. and a lot of them find a lot to like in donald trump's, for example, counterterrorism policies and some of the ways he's deploying the intelligence community around the world. but they're just beside themselves about his approach to this whole russia issue and to juan's point, we really have to start to question now whether this is political or something else. he's clearly trying to delegitimize the mueller investigation. muddy the waters about this question wof whether russia interfered. mueller is looking at in terms of whether that goes into a

cover-up and obstruction of justice. the key question there is going to be what did donald trump know about these attempts? robert mueller is asking questions about what this lower level aid george papadopoulos told other members of the campaign. whether that trickled up to donald trump. what did the president know? if he did know that's going to put all these comments in a much more sinister light. >> you have more reporting on the scope of russia's role. the pile of evidence about russia's role in our election is growing, not shrinking. >> yeah. what we were looking at today is fancy bear, this hacking group that's associated with the gru, russia's military intelligence arm is still hacking western targets. and even american targets. of course, the nsa is hacking russian targets. that's espionage. but to ignore it and pretend it's not happening and to not shore up the defenses against the next hack against our election is what my intelligence sources are extremely concerned about. >> evan, i was making breakfast for my 5-year-old and staring at

my phone as i often do while cooking which is dangerous. my husband said, anything new? i says trump is become to tack putin didn't do anything wrong. can you talk about how demoralizing it is to a staff to have to constantly and i think somebody on twitter likened this to his charlottesville response. we heard his real feelings. there were good people on both sides. then forced onto the prompter. they pride his twitter from his hands and he was forced to read something more appropriate. the minute he got back on twitter, he returned to his sort of politically incorrect, but his true position on that. i feel like the russia comments are in the same category. when left to his own devices he always returns to vlad likes me. i like vlad and, therefore, i believe him. >> and it is bad for morale when you join the central intelligence agency and other elements of our national security establishment. you are instructed and learn

very quickly that you serve all americans and you serve both parties no matter who is in power and take pride in that and you do that. and that's the way i and other intelligence officers are and were raised. continue to be raised. so, yes, it's demoralizing but there's something deeper here about what president trump is doing by attacking these leaders of our intelligence organizations and calling them political hacks. what he's doing is suggesting that no one has an honor. no one has value. there are no patriots. everyone is just serving themselves. and that's the world he lives in, i believe. that's his world view. he wants to create a country like that so that no accusations against him can be legitimate. none of them will stick. no right. no wrong. no up, no down, no truth, no falsehood. in that environment, leaders can't be held accountable. that's what he's trying to create. other authoritarians and dictators do it around the world. >> he's managed to bait john brennan and clapper into

attacking him publicly. >> i want to show you -- i did have the kind of job people thought of us as hacks and flacks. i was a campaign spokesperson but this man john brennan is definitely not a hack. let's watch. >> i think mr. putin is very clever in terms of playing to mr. trump's interest in being flattered and also mr. trump is, for whatever reason, either intimidated by mr. putin, afraid of what he could do or what might come out as a result of these investigations. >> he is what's known in washington as a statesman, somebody with still an extraordinary amount of credibility. really across the partisan divide. do you think that's just what cap exasperates him? he just can't win them over like a voter at a rally? >> i don't think he's going to win over clapper or brennan.

what is, as evan said before, in a sense, there is a whole infrastructure that they represent, too. as we learned, a lot of them vote in virginia. but i also -- so there are some practical, you know, ramifications to this. but, no, the president -- every time he digs in on this sounds a little bit more suspicious about what he is trying to accomplish, what putin might have on him, who he is in fact, worried about. what he is worried about. because, as you mention, the level of evidence not just of russian involvement in our election but also of the incredibly high number of dealings between the trump campaign and the russian government, or people close to the russian government is getting very, very high. and to have him come out and speak this, you know, sympathetically about president putin's position is the kind of thing that just fits right into the larger suspicions being

built every single week. >> you raise such a good point. i haven't said one thing about the russia investigation but this is the first time donald trump has seen vladimir putin since it's become public that nine people on his campaign had contacts with russians. why didn't that come up? why didn't he say to vladimir putin, what were you doing trying to recruit allies or buddies or pen pals on my campaign? why aren't we asking that question? >> maybe he did. i'd be surprised if he did, though. the larger question is, maybe donald trump can answer that himself. these people all work for him or a lot of them did. and so, look, these are questions that mueller is looking into and we'll have more clarity on pretty soon but i think it would be interesting to hear certainly, to say the least, what was going on in these private conversations. >> it's entirely possible they just talked about these groovy blue shirts they wore. mark leeb vich, thanks for spending time with us. an american president as

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i am dying to get to that duterte story for you. the atlantic dropping a story in the last few minutes that has the headline, the secret correspondence between donald trump jr. and wikileaks. the transparency organization asked the president's son for his cooperation in sharing its work in contesting the results of the election and arranging for julian assange to be australia's ambassador to the united states. let me read one more grab from this story and then ken dilanian

who just happens to be at the table with me to weigh in with what he's hearing. just before the stroke of midnight on september 20th, 2016 at the height of last year's presidential election, the wikileaks account sent a private message to donald trump jr. a pac-run anti-trump site is about to launch wikileaks wrote. it's a recycled pro-iraq war pac. we guessed the password. goes on to logistical details. 12 hours later, trump jr. responded, off the record, i don't know what it is but i'll ask around. it's part of a largely one-sided correspondence between wikileaks and the president's son that continued until july 2017. it shows wikileaks, a radical organization that the american intelligence community believes was chosen by the russian government to disseminate the information it had hacked actively soliciting trump junior's cooperation. wikileaks made a series of

increasingly bold requests, including asking for trump's tax returns, urging the trump campaign to reject the results of the election as rigged and requesting that the president-elect tell australia to appoint julian assange. i assange. i believe these came out because they were turned over by donald trump jr.'s lawyers. ken what are you hearing? >> right. i spoke to a congressional source who said this comported with understanding of the facts and in the story donald trump jr. lawyer's is not contesting. these seem to be direct messages from wikileaks. this is remarkable because mike pompeo said think are a hostile non-state service. they made these public, doing russia's bidding. here is donald trump jr. mostly receiving, apparently writing back to wuk wikileaks. >> this is one believable.

we're sitting at the table saying, are you kidding me? think back during the election. roger stone, he kept -- another one here who kept hinting there were things to be released and hillary clinton would be done after certain things would come up and but denied there was anything nefarious going on with russia, hint, hint, maybe yes, maybe no. we look at this and nowicki leeks is a vassal organization of the russian intelligence services. already know this. they've been used in this capacity. and here you have donald trump jr. entertaining anything that wikileaks is doing. they are enemies of this country! and he was engaging them. >> i don't write back off the record i don't know but will ask around to really anybody except people i'm actually -- >> and more in his responses back, even though it said one-sided. still, donald trump jr. forwarded this information to other people in the campaign including kellyanne conway and

others, and my understanding, hicks, being interviewed. they have not idea about the breadth and scope. more and more difficult to unveil collusion, not illegal but problematic. >> how weird does a story like this, just another intersection, all we know from this report today, another intersection. there was communication. there was repeated contact between wikileaks and the president's son. we should remind everybody that the president stood at a press conference, i believe during the democratic convention, and asked for the russians to find hillary clinton's 30,000 e-mails and turn them over. the president also seemed to know before podesta the e-mails were released to the public something big was happening. as tara said, contacts between roger stone, a trump gadflier,

whatever you want to call him. >> four years. >> and julian assange. what does this say about the constant revelations between contact between the trump orbit and russia? juan? >> oh, i'm sorry, nicolle. i wasn't sure were you addressing it to me. the constant drum beat, it's hard to fathom. i'm reacting to what i'm hearing you report so it's hard, but it's a drip, drip, drip cthat continues to create suspicion. bob mueller will dig hard and wide to understand the scope of russian influnence and the extet either during the campaign, during the transition and afterward there has been a compromised relationship. nicolle, i mentioned this before. bob mueller is in charng ge of

fbi and countercriminal investigati investigations, that means looking for particular russia tried to poke and prod and build leverage around the government. that's where this draws greater suspicion and is even more problematic given, as ken mentioned, the fact that the cia director, mike pompeo has said that wikileaks acted in essence as a front for the russians in conveying information and is acting as a hostile non-state intelligence service. so that begins to, you know, reshape the nature of this, and i'm just like you. reacteding to what i'm hearing and it's not pleasant. it's suspicious and starts to put everything in an even more difficult refraction when it comes to the president's interactions with president putin. >> all right. we'll keep digging in on the story. an important one. have to sneak in a quick break and be back with the duterte story.

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it signifies the end of our compensation and i would like the media to leave us alone. [ laughter ] you may leave the room. >> they laugh, but he was serious. the president of the philippines kicked the press out of an open session thantt's not the worst it. also called the media spies. on one occasion during president trump's vis et overnight and according to people in the room, president trump laughed. despite all that ant count lds other reasons not to be 3we69ies

with duterte. here's what president trump said about him. >> we've had a great relationship. this has been very successful. we have many meetings today with many other leaders. the handled beautifully by your restives and i've really enjoyed being here. >> so someone this morning remarked that a normal american president that represents that shining city on the hill might not dignify a leader really best known for is extrajudicial killings in his country's fight against terrorism and illegal drug, but this president sang with him, danced with him, would be a puppy white shirt with him, laughed and drank with him and laughed about jokes on the media. >> figuring how to best flatter him to do these visits and gives him that legitimacy. it's a sad moment to be an american. for my whole lifetime i remember

the american president talking about human rights, and equal rights, and the first lady going to china and saying, women's rights are human rights. gay rights are human rights. we're always trying to be that moral center, and i think that we've totally come to a place where we're morally bankrupt, to use evan's term, as a country right now because we have a leader that essentially legitimizes human rights violations. >> we're out of time. thanks to you all. that does it for our hour. i'm nicolle wallace. "mtp daily" starts right now with katy tur in for chuck. >> hi, nicolle. i'm in d.c. you're so far away. >> i miss you. >> i miss you, too. see you tomorrow. for you at home, if it is monday, more trouble for roy moore. tonight, another woman steps forward with allegations against roy moore. >> this has nothing whatsoever to do with the republicans or the democrats. it has everything to do with mr. moore's sexual assau