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tv   Deadline White House  MSNBC  November 17, 2017 1:00pm-2:00pm PST

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happening throughout society. and we have to allow people to tell their stories. that is what this is all about, and that is why the me, too, campaign is as powerful as it is and is as important as it is. >> you can see more of her interview with kirsten gillibrand this sunday on msnbc. "deadline: white house" kwith nicolle wallace starts right now. >> hi, everyone. 4:00 in new york. donald trump was supposed to be napping on wednesday after his 12-day tour of asia. that's according to new reporting from the ap. instead he overruled his staff and gave a recap of what was largely reported to be an accomplishment-free foreign trip. but jet lag is not the excuse the white house trotted out to explain why a man accused of sexual harassment himself would troll al franken who admitted to and apologized for inappropriate
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conduct. >> -- investigate al franken and the allegations made by his accuser, is it also fair to investigate the accusations against him? >> this was covered extensively during the campaign. we addressed it then. the american people spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president. >> how is this different? >> senator franken has admitted wrongdoing and the president hasn't. >> here's a president's tweet about franken. the al frankenstipe pictuein pi really bad. speaks a thousand words. where do his hand goes in pictures two, three, four, five and six while she sleeps? silence from trump and the nine women who have recounted sexual encounters with roy moore. since trump has used his bully pulpit, we'll look at how it stacks up to donald trump's description of his own conduct. >> it happened so fast and he
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just mashed his lips against my face and stuck his tongue in my mouth so fast. >> automatically attracted to -- i just start kissing them. it's like a magnet. >> al doing his, you know -- this on my breast like looking at the camera smirking and smiling like, hey, look at me. >> when you are a star, they let you do it. >> grab them by the [ bleep ]. >> you can do anything. >> and here we are. happy friday. joining me to break it all down, some of our favorite friends and reporters. an msnbc analyst peter baker. "washington post" white house correspondent anne guerin and eli stokels. i am sure this white house would rather not be relitigating the accusations from, we looked it up today, 13 women who have accused donald trump of sexual harassment and/or sexual
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misconduct. but their answer doesn't add up to the president's voice on that tape. they say he didn't admit wrongdoing. he just described what is to any man or woman's ears a sexual assault. >> he did. that's exactly right. he later apologized for it and said that's not reflective of his views of women and then later dismissed it as locker room talk. not something i actually did. just something i talked about with another guy. don't take it too seriously. but as you say, as we know now, obviously, that's exactly what some of these women have accused not only him of doing but other prominent figures in american society over the last few weeks. and it's not a laughing issue. and he's never admitted anything other than that videotape conversation. he has continued to deny any allegation against him by any of those 13 women you mentioned. sarah sanders again denied them and said they are all not telling the truth and that that's the difference between him and al franken.
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al franken admitted it, she says, and the president has denied it. >> it was a fascinating distinction drawn by sarah huckabee sanders. the distinction wasn't that donald trump didn't do those things. the distinction was the denial. it may be ay is mantsic difference but for a white house under investigation by bob mueller, a white house under investigation by the senate judiciary committee, by the senate intelligence committee and by the house intelligence committee and i think at least one other, i am guessing that the white house spokesperson is pretty careful with the words she chooses. >> yes, and this is the second day in a row that she was asked a lot of questions about the roy moore case with today's edition of a lot of questions about the senator franken case as well. i think the distinction she was making there is a tricky one and one that's going to be difficult for the white house to hold onto for the -- all the basically not only in the roy moore case for
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the almost month until that election, but also however long it takes for the franken situation to play out. and that's basically that al franken had admitted wrongdoing in a particular case. and although as peter said the president, as a candidate, apologized for the words he used in that "access hollywood" recording, he isn't speaking there apparently about a particular woman at a particular time. he's talking about activity in the aggregate in crude terms for which he later apologized but she is maintaining, she sarah sanders, is maintaining neerths that nor anything else adds up to an admission of wrongdoing against any of the people in the cases of any of the people who have accused now president trump of sexual misconduct or worse. >> eli, there was a part of that tape where he talks about a former media personality.
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he says he was going to take her furniture shopping. he says i moved on her like a bitch. i don't even know if that's a word i can say on tv, but i just said it. he does describe certain predatory behavior around a specific woman. the difference between franken and trump and what justifies trump trolling franken on twitter last night at 10:20 is that franken admitted and apologized for misconduct. donald trump's describing his own conduct with women was locker room talk, the american people voted for him anyway and is that it? and is that sustainable? >> that's basically it. you just hit on something we should talk about, which is she said he won. that was an explanation in and of itself was that al franken was contrite. donald trump never has shown any contrition except in that very short taped apology when he said that's not reflective of him. but he's never admitted it, per se, and he's never really -- he
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sort of brushed it off afterwards. and she's saying because he won the election, the american people must not really care about it. he's criticizing the exact same behavior because it can now be pinned on a democrat. somebody in the opposite political party. for days now he's refused to speak publicly himself about roy moore, somebody who he has endorsed. they've ducked a lot of questions on whether the president would encourage people to alabama to vote for roy moore. they can't answer those questions. he's effectively disparaging, criticizing the behavior when it comes from al franken. he's on tape basically saying the same thing. and frank enstein. he has this tendency of making of cutesy names. the idea it's sort of a joke. whether it's a political opponent or someone in your own party but just to make light of it and to lampoon al franken as
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frankenstein. i don't think he even spelled it right but that's another thing that reveals a lack of seriousness, a reflection about the topic. >> that's a great point. let me bring in the rest of the panel. jen palmierri. the rev al sharpton, host of "politics nation" and president of the national action network is here. and peter is staying with us. i want to bring you in, jen, on this specific question of -- for donald trump, sexual harassment being -- for donald trump, for sean hannity, for a few other select spots on fox being a partisan issue where they go wall to wall if it's harvey weinstein or al franken and where they, you know, sean hannity saw fit to leave it up to alabama to decide whether roy moore's assault on nine women who were ages 14 to 28. every last one of them in
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incredibly vulnerable positions. he was in his early 30s. that doesn't justify the same scrutiny and for donald trump the same twitter attention and as eli said, cutesy nicknames as a democrat. >> it's the -- it's like a weaponization, political weaponization of sexual harassment. and it's just the height of cynicism and it's not -- honestly, that's what i would expect from donald trump. and it's what you expect from sean hannity. but it's not just them. it's mitch mcconnell who was very quick to call for ethics investigation of senator franken, which is an appropriate thing to do, but he was not sincere in doing that. >> but he also -- mitch mcconnell is interesting because he also was the first big national republican figure to say these words. i believe the women about roy moore's accusers. >> i believe the women about roy moore's accusers, but where is the investigation of president trump? and he -- what i found so disturbing about that "access
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hollywood" tape is they let you do whatever they want. like that is not -- that's about power. that's about dominating women. and he is going to continue -- he's never going to be held accountable for this. the test is whether the person admits it's true. that's when you have an investigation. until republicans on the hill start holding him accountable for this and for russia transgressions, too. >> i think you can have morality based on who is the accused or who is the accuser. you have to have one standard. and i think when you see the president select to go after al franken but does not deal with his own behavior, ignores the key race in the country now with roy moore. ignored all of the executives at fox. then you don't have the moral authority to really call anything out on franken. one of the things that gives you moral authority is you must be consistent and have one standing. >> i want to play for you, peter
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baker, a -- twisted is the only description i can find. this is roy moore's wife saying the president owes her a thank you. let's watch. >> i personally think he owes us a thank you. have you noticed you're not hearing too much about russia? to the president, i would say now is a good time to get some things done in congress. >> mrs. moore, wait until the b block. peter baker, what say you about roy moore and his wife thinking that the president should thank them? >> well, it's a fairly -- it's a fairly cynical point view of that roy moore's case of sexual misconduct allegations have taken attention away from other things that the white house would prefer not to talk about. i don't think it really changes anything important. there are other issues that people in washington can walk and chew gum at the same time. robert mueller has not stopped
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his investigation. and all the issues are being covered and will be covered in the media in the days to come. but it's -- >> let me ask you about the power imbalance because what struck me there is the moores have been emboldened by the standing they know they have. this was a power struggle and steve bannon, roy moore and sean hannity won. they directed the president. you want to talk about the president being someone's puppet? his puppet strings have been pulled. he has followed sean hannity's lead on the roy moore scandal. we have a lot of conversations about whether putin's pulling the strings on a world stage. donald trump has followed the far right fringe of the conservative media. he hasn't even followed all of fox. it's steve bannon who is stick with roy moore who views this as an "access hollywood" moment and sean hannity who has said after one night this week trying to
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say he wanted to see more evidence of roy moore's innocence, after he's made that comment, five more accusers came forward. this is a power struggle and bannon and the moores won and the washington republicans lost. isn't that the case? isn't that the calculation trump has made? >> president trump was for luther strange. the establishment's choice in the republican primary who lost to roy moore and felt grieved about it. he was aggrieved he was nput in the position of being on the wrong side which bannon was representing by endorsing roy moore. clearly he doesn't want to make what he sees as the same mistake twice in alabama. you know, it's a very unusual and awkward situation for a president to be in a situation where he is accused of such things and chooses to come out and attack others for similar behavior. most politicians would tell you that's not the thing you do. you keep quiet. you don't bring up a situation where your own actions are going
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to, therefore, naturally be call into question. >> okay. i want to read you something from "the washington post." this is written by one of your colleagues. moore is far from the republicans' biggest worry. the elephant in the room is the president whose alleged actions were more numerous than moore's. the long list of donald trump accusers detailed accounts of groping and unconsented kissing. trump denied all allegations and yet republicans backed him in 2016 and stand by him to this day. not to put too fine a point on it but if franken and moore aren't fit for the senate. i wonder if the me, too, moment might catch this white house off guard. have they not adequately adjusted any of their statements about these 13 women who have accused the president to sort of exist and sustain them through the me, too, moment that's sweeping this country and every industry? >> that's a great question. certainly we didn't hear it today in the sarah huckabee
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sanders briefing. she just very, you know, dealt with it by saying the president has always denied these allegations and continues to do so. however, what we're seeing here is a national moment that is going to go on. and it remains to be seen whether the president himself and those who speak for him can continue to say, well, that is in the past. the president has always denied it and, oh, by the way, he won the election. whether that continues to be an argument that satisfies republicans, satisfies, frankly, met trump's many supporters, it is unknown, and i think it will go on -- that will last longer than the resolution certainly in the roy moore election. >> jen, i want to ask you the same question. senator gillibrand is on the record with our own kasie hunt relitigating the facts of
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president bill clinton's conduct while in office. i was struck by my colleague chris hay whoes who tweeted thi. as gross and cynical and hypocritical as the right's what about bill clinton's stuff -- >> what are your thoughts about relitigating all of that? >> i accept it's going to happen. that's part of the political process. it happened a lot in the 2016 campaign. i would say this. i think the monica lewinsky was my intern and the relationship the president had with her was very inappropriate and i feel that he was held accountable for that. he was impeached over that. i don't think he should have been impeached but he was. it was a consensual relationship but he was the president of the united states and she was a 24-year-old intern. that's taking advantage of a power dynamic on an historic
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scale. but i don't believe -- but the republicans took it, politicized it, they made it about him and i don't think he should resign or have been impeached. i do think -- i ran into monica for the first time in 20 years in april. i told her that i was really sorry just for what -- everything that she had been through. she -- and this is like among the things that's changing now, which is good. she -- her whole life is defined by this one mistake and her life was just, i hate to say it was ruined because i hope that it's not but her whole life is defined by this one mistake that she did. and that shouldn't -- >> that they did. not just her. both of them. >> and that the -- and that's what -- that's how it came out in the wash with the way that story got covered and dealt with. and, you know, i --
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>> is it a cheap shot -- >> she, you know, that's what i feel like -- that's the thing that's going to change now so that's a positive development. >> she gave an unbelievable ted talk about being sort of the first person ever to be bullied by the internet. it's incredible. >> she doesn't feel like she was a victim until then, which is important to understand. >> let me just put you on the spot and ask you how you feel as someone who worked for the clintons seeing someone like kristen gilli brand apply the politics of good to bill clinton. >> it's just -- the clintons have done an enormous amount of good in this country and, despite that, they got friends that are not always going to be there for them and it's something i've seen happen to them quite a bit, but, you know, they'll survive. >> i think that, you know, i'm
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with chris hayes. we have to deal with a day of reckoning. but at the same time, bill clinton was impeached. and many of use. >> for perjury. the articles of impeachment. he was not convicted but he was impeached for everything that was wrapped up -- >> and a lot of us were saying at that time, well, wait a minute. are we politicizing this. i think you've got to decide what is the standard. what jenny said is very important. monica lewinsky was not charging bill clinton with something whereas talking about women here who said that i, against my will, against any consent, was treated in a certain way. so we've got to decide, y bill clinton was wrong. yes it was inappropriate, but how we litigate this, we've got to decide where we draw the line here. and i think we're trying to litigate something here that was 20 or 30 years ago as if it's the same thing today of minors that's making a charge when you
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are dealing with not a charge here but something that was found while investigating for something else. and literally chase monica lewinsky down to confirm or testify to what happened. doesn't excuse it, but let's not blur the lines here on what we're talking about. >> let's all be -- go ahead. >> sorry, it's peter. i wanted to jump in. i think it's fair to point out that the allegations against president clinton were not just about monica lewinsky who did engage in a consensual relationship with him. there were other allegations that were of nonconsensual behavior. >> that's true. >> now president clinton's lawyers disputed them and tried to poke holes in their stories and maybe some of their stories are correct. maybe some are not. the issues go beyond a consensual affair. this week i talked to paula jones, kathleen willie, juanita broderick was on another network. these women feel they're being treated more seriously than they have in the past and they are
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grateful for that. there's some rethinking about whether or not those cases should be viewed in a different light today. >> and i agree with that. and that's the difference. i think he's absolutely right. if that's going to be the standard. but again, where is the standard? if we're going to go back to former president clinton with that standard, then we've got to bring it current to the standard on donald trump. >> i know we're out of time, but there are -- these are the 13 women who have accused president trump. virginia, heller, summer zirbos, kristen anderson, mcgilvrey. former miss utah temple tagger, jill hearth, multiple other reports from beauty paggent contestants and more. everybody is getting their day in the sun in the me, too, moment. peter baker and ann gearan, thank you. jared kushner is under fire from the senate judiciary committee for not turning over
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documents that the committee has learned about from other witnesses in their investigation into the trump campaign's ties to russia. also, a spectacular collection of lies. that's how a former george w. bush speechwriter describes the trump team in a scathing new column. we'll bring that to you. and add image problem to the list of donald trump's political woes. some of the most widely circulated images of the trump era, and they aren't pretty. us. it's what this country is made of. but right now, our bond is fraying. how do we get back to "us"? the y fills the gaps. and bridges our divides. donate to your local y today. because where there's a y,
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is robert mueller closing in? the russia investigation appears to be surging forward judging from the tidal wave of news on the subject breaking even since yesterday. nbc news confirmed an earlier "wall street journal" report saying mueller's team has issued a subpoena to the trump campaign asking multiple campaign officials to produce russia-related documents. as harry litman put it in the l.a. times, the russia probe has entered phase two. phase one has given mueller leverage against higher level targets who must be wondering how much the special counsel already knows and how much he's about to learn. careful work may eventually enable him to secure evidence against the greatest target of them all, the president. in this second round, mueller is holding all the cards and has the latitude to play them when and if he chooses. nbc's intelligence and national security reporter ken dilanian joins the table. ken, i want to hit you with two reports that struck me. this news that the senate judiciary committee chair and
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ranking member, senators grassley and feinstein have written to jared kushner's attorney, abby lowell, right? >> that's right. >> saying his document production is incomplete. that they've learned of other documents through, i would presume, e-mails and other documents that have been turned over by other people that the committee is investigating, other witnesses that are cooperating. does this mean that jared kushner has a document production problem or could this mean that jared kushner is facing a development perhaps in one of the other investigations that has him hitting pause on document production for the congressional probes? >> i think there are two significant things about this disclosure. one is that, yes, the committee is clearly unsatisfied with jared kushner's document production. clearly obtained sensitive information from other sources that they feel he and his lawyer should have disclosed. but the other significant thing is the substance of what they're saying he should have disclosed, one of which involves e-mailing involving a, quote, russian back
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channel overture. as you can imagine we're furiously reporting trying to figure out what that was, but it suggests there's another attempt by russians to get a high level meeting or make infiltration into the trump campaign yet to be disclosed. >> if that proves out, that would be the tenth contact between the trump campaign and russians? or is it possible that that's the one that's previously been reported on that took place during the transition where jared allegedly was amenable or sought to set up a back channel with the russians during the transition? >> i've lost count but i think this might be a different thing. but the bottom line is, you're right. this is a pattern involving mr. kushner where, if you recall, he failed to list foreign contacts and had to amend them three different times. those included significant contacts with russians, including the june 2016 trump tower meeting. it's also significant the republican chairman of the
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judiciary committee, charles grassley, signed onto this letter along with his democratic counterparts. it's republicans saying, jared kushner, you need to disclose this stuff to us. >> low level george papadopoulos back in the news. tell us about it. >> an interesting report that papadopoulos had been boasting about his status to some greek journalists and saying that he's essentially had a blank check. had been promised an important job in the trump administration. a senior level adviser. the story says even these journalists were skeptical about that. it's not clear how much of this is bragadocio and how much is real. but it sure suggests papadopoulos was carrying himself as someone who was not the coffee boy as the trump people keep calling him. >> and the meeting at trump tower between donald trump jr. where he said, i love it when offered dirt on hillary clinton and the russians and the other cam. a officials that were there.
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tell me about the news that i believe you broke or our colleagues here broke, right, about -- >> rob goldstone. he's the music promoter that was the go-between between the agalarov family and donald trump jr. who -- setting up this trump tower meeting. e-mails from goldstone with this famous language about help from the russian government and the russian crown prosecutor's office which doesn't exist but there's a russian federal prosecutor. so rob goldstone who is living out of the country, my colleague has told is prepared to be interviewed by the grand jury and what he knows about meeting and how it was set up. that's really important because there's a lot of questions about that. about whether there actually was information promised from the russian government and under what circumstances the trump team agreed to this meeting. >> this seems to be dangerous for the trump team.
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not just on the question of whether there was collusion, but to get rob goldstone in there. if someone has offered false testimony but the pretenses of that meeting, they could be setting themselves up for a perjury charge. >> he's going to go talk. all the people going to talk to mueller's team don't know what he already knows. if they're trying to get their story straight and aren't being honest and forthcoming, the investigators are going to figure it out. a key figure coming forward is hope hicks. this is a person who is really the gatekeeper to donald trump himself was there from the inception of his campaign. still there today and still enjoys a close relationship with him, with jared and ivanka. and most of white house deal with her will give her credit for being a pretty smooth operator or smart person. has learned on the fly. learned how to stay close to and on the good side of donald trump. turned on pretty much everyone else. but she was there at all these
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pivotal moments and may have knowledge of whether the president knew of these meetings. there are the weekend they were deciding to fire jim comey. how to explain that one. she's been there at a lot of critical points. she's 28 years old. she's been in the pressure cooker for a couple years but i don't know if she's ever been in a situation like -- >> to tie her back to rob goldstone. she was also aboard air force one when they crafted a false cover story for the pretenses of don junior's meeting with rob goldstone. ken dilanian, thank you for spending some time with us. when we come back, the trump presidency will be remembered for a lot of things. after the break, one writer makes a convincing case to the administration's most damning legacy.
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are there any ties between mr. trump, you or your campaign and putin and his regime?
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>> no, there are not. it's absurd. there's no basis to it. >> i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i did not have communications with the russians. >> of course not. why would there be any contacts between the campaign? chris, this is all a distraction. >> and by the way, folks, in case you are curious. no, russia did not help me, okay? russia. i call it the russian hoax. one of the great hoaxes. >> we'll see about that. what you just listened to is a series of mistruths, falsehoods and inaccuracies. whatever you want to call them, those statements were just flat-out untrue, no matter how forcefully they were shouted. so the question we all have to ask, why? why this pattern of sdeedeceit? is it possible they all misremembered the facts or something else. if you haven't read the michael
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gersten piece, you missed out on lines like this. in all of this there's a spectacular accumulation of lies. lies on disclosure forms, lies at confirmation hearings, lies on twitter. lies in the white house briefing room. lies to the fbi. self-protective lives by the attorney general. blocking and tackling lies by the vice president. this is, with a few exceptions, a group of people for whom truth, political honor, ethics and integrity mean nothing. rev, this is my old colleague. his role in the white house was sizable. he was one of the most influential and most sort of spiritually connected people to george w. bush. his chief speechwriter and he was sort of the carrier of compassionate conservative during the bush presidency. and to hear him sort of lay it all out, he actually starts by describing being home sick and sort of finally getting through
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a real detailed accounting of the russia investigation. to hear him talk about and just come out and call all of these things lies was even, to me, and i feel like we ride the president pretty hard in a minute by minute fact-checking manner but to see him lay out the whole case was stunning. >> gersten is not the kind of guy that is known to be mean-spirited, even though i clearly was on the other side politically. and to hear him go through it categorically is frightening. when we see now that we are accepting as normal these kind of lies and half truths, we've gone from being outraged to almost, okay, what lie are they going to tell on this one? this is going to be cute. the half lie here and there. this is not funny. we're talking about really tearing down the very fabric of what the country is supposed to stand for in the highest office. and i think the way he broke it down ought to be frightening to every member of the senate and
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the congress as well as anyone that calls themselves a leader in this country. what are we doing? >> eli, some criticisms that the white house staff seems immune to. this branding the entire trump administration as a group of liars seems like one that might get under their skin. >> yeah, i think so. but everybody in that administration, at least the people we deal with in the communication shop, they dismiss -- they don't like that word lies but they say the president, when you ask them in those briefings and say does the president really believe something that's demonstrably false, that's what the president believes. the white house only exists in service to this president and his beliefs and his reality is his reality. there's no changing it. so he's not going to be shamed by any incoherence or demonstrable untruth. he just won't be. and the impact is there's this numbing effect. we're living that as a country day after day after day. going back to the campaign, it's hard to process all of it. it's difficult for the american
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people to process all of that. and like the rev al just said, people can't sort of deal with it and comprehend it. you just get used to it and that's the numbing effect. >> putin lies to his face and he believes him. the truth smacks him in the head and he doesn't. >> we have to stop looking for other reasons for why he's lying and why jared kushner never has managed to turn in the correct form other than they're covering up because they colluded with russia. i think this is why he buys into whatever putin says. and this is why jared kushner can't be relied upon to tell the truth. i think they are covering up. stop looking for a more complicated answer than the most obvious one. >> mike reaches that conclusion. many of the people who should be supplying the moral values required by self-government have corrupted themselves. the trump administration will be remembered for many things. the widespread infectuous corruption of institutions and individuals. maybe its most damning legacy.
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corrupting of institutions when i read that made me think of the longtime justice department officials who are aghast at how the president clearly sees his justice department as sort of an arm to prosecute and investigate his political rivals and protect him from crimes. >> but these institutions, the sanctity of our democracy, all of these things that we put a moral authority -- things we used to expect from a presidency, trump is concerned primarily with his base. people who are moetsivated by grievance. they don't really care if he is -- sarah huckabee sanders is right when she says people knew about the allegations from all the women against him and they voted for him anyway. all he wants to do is maintain his ability to hold this office and govern is to hold on to that base. the white house put out a list, for no reason. no vacancy on the supreme court. they just put out a new list of 25 potential supreme court justices. they added to it five names.
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nobody can really figure out why but it's a list of conservative judges. and i view it as something that fits into appeasing and ameliorating the base. this is something the base wants these conservative judges. the president is fearful of losing the base. that's probably why he hasn't ruled in because steve bannon is telling him your base is with roy moore. stay out of it. that's the thing that sustains him. it's not about anything bigger than that. it's not about these institutions. the people who support him relish him being a wrecking ball. >> but the only judge that the white house ought to be talking about today is not 25 judges for the supreme court where there's no vacancy. they ought to be talking about a judge called roy moore in alabama who is their party's nominee. and i think that, again, we have got to fight against this becoming normalcy. i don't care if we can change it or not. to maintain our own self-respect, we've got to keep calling this out because there's clearly the danger of us acting
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like this is normal behavior. what bothers me more than their half lies and lies, they don't even feel bad about it. i mean, you know, i'm a preacher. i meet people all the time that are flawed. i'm flawed. but at least you have a conscience and say, i feel terrible about. they don't even feel bad about it and that's when you know you're in the real danger zone. >> you just cued the alabama governor who just gave an explanation of why she's still voting for roy moore. let's watch. >> we need to have a republican in the united states senate to vote on the things like supreme court justices, other appointments the senate has to confirm and make major decisions. and so that's what i plan to do is vote for the republican nominee roy moore. >> i never want to accuse this white house of strategery but me thinks that getting republicans and conservatives to coalesce
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around roy moore because he's another vote on a potential supreme court nominee sounds like a sean hannity, steve bannon white house, alabama republican strategy. >> it shows two things. they want to -- they probably are hearing -- a lot of republicans may be uneasy about roy moore and this is a reason to calm everybody down because he'll vote for those judges. but it also shows me that the white house is getting a little nervous if they feel they need to distract and give people another reason to vote for roy moore. up next -- from trump's treasury secretary to his son's hunting habits, the trump administration has an image problem. hello this is joey, walmart online grocery.
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this job that they created to do online grocery and to have that one-on-one experience with the customers, he's meant for it. i'm joey gabe, personal shopper for walmart and i love to see a smile on my customer's face.
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we're on a mission to show drip coffee drinkers, it's time to wake up to keurig. wakey! wakey! rise and shine! oh my gosh! how are you? well watch this. i pop that in there. press brew. that's it. so rich. i love it. that's why you should be a keurig man! full-bodied. are you sure you're describing the coffee and not me?
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the optics of the presidency were supposed to be something that donald trump didn't just get right. he was going to nail them. >> i'm going to be so
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presidential that you people will be so bored. >> but for a week that started with the current president being serenaded by a world leader best known for extrajudicial killings and the lifting of a ban on ivory which will lead to the killing of more elephants in africa, the optics of the trump presidency are becoming as problematic for mr. trump as his low approval ratings and list of accomplishments. this is his treasury secretary steve mnuchin and his new bride. you may remember louise from her instagram battle with a citizen who questioned her use of a private jet on instagram. this image was shot by ap photographer jacqueline martin who said of linton, her direct gaze at the camera and the touch of her gloved hand on his as they hold a sheet of money together steams have struck a chord. this image of the president's son donald trump jr. has resfaursed this week with the trump administration's reversal of an obama-era policy. the news first appeared on the
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safari club website. the announcement reverses a ban on hunting trophies such as ivory elephant tusks from zimbabwe and zambia. it was meant to deincentivize hunting and forbidding the transfer of ivory into the united states. this photo was snapped on memorial day and described by "the washington post" like this. together the men pay homage to the fallen u.s. soldiers while wearing black t-shirts that describe who they are. deported veterans. deportation of veterans which began decades ago are often a shock to many who assume that joining the military has been an automatic guarantee of citizenship. on the much toic of presidential optics, donald trump tossing paper towels to the victims of hurricane maria and puerto rico. at the time nearly the entire island was without power and the majority without clean water. our panel is here. robert joined us.
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let me start by adding myself. george w. bush's presidency was irreparably dented and damaged by the "mission accomplished" moment where he stood aboard an aircraft carrier in carrier in banner that read "mission accomplished." we make plenty of mistakes. i made more before noon than most did in a month, but the trump presidency is one. indifferent to the opticing of other presidencies and two, the inhumanity those images depict. >> interesting, nicolle, usually when you make a mistake you learn from it. bill clinton, with a $200 haircut. you apologize and pledge to do better. it doesn't seem the president trump staff seems contrite or
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empathetic. the action was wrong. let me learn from this and pivot to something better. not just optics, oles salso sub tantively. not, hmm, i made a mistake. let me say i'm sorry and try to be a better person or better public official. that an open question. that's what i'm seeing. is anything else? >> the problem with secretary mnuchin is problematic. came out at a moment trying to sell their tax reform as helping the middle class. the image of don junior holding up the prize from an elephant he killed puts a personal interest in changing the policy, the obama era ban on the importation of ivory.
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yours is a big one. they don't exist in isolation. that front policies that are alarming. >> yes. you would think -- either one of two things. you simp hi don't care or it's care gance. i'm better than this. or, no one's going to find out about it or it's what you believe and you're going to double down on this. i'm not sure of the truth. i think it's this is what i believe, who we are and quite frankly, this is what you got. >> and managing all this for the bush white house, a brilliant former tv producer. i wonder what you guys make? obviously, i went back and looked at the last three presidencies to see if there were any parallels of just sort of the cavalier nature of throwing paper towels to -- oh looked at bill clinton, president obama and george w. bush last night, their visits to natural disasters. nothing like that. i looked where anything that had
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to do with conservation as celebrated by any family member kills animals and couldn't find anything. i also tried to see if there were any sort of the ostentatious outward image of secretary mnuchin and his bride, unmatched. couldn't find anything. can you think of any historical parallel? >> i don't think there are any historical parallels to this kind of behavior and, again, i go back to my point about contrition and agree with robert. it shows a basic disregard for people and that you don't care what they think. you're governing people that you really don't have a lot of concern for. i grew up doing civil rights. we were strident, younger, didn't care. the cause was right. i had met jesse jackson, announced today he has parksons and hope people pray for him. it does matter what people think. you can't care about people and
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don't couch it in a way that respects people, and it doesn't have that element in this white house, because they keep doing the same thing over. these are people now that have become repeat offenders of showing how much money they will splurge and show people. so you're not talking about a mistake. you're talking about people that are saying, this is my pattern. i don't care what you think. this is the way we're going to be. and that's arrogance based on a total lack of regard for the citizens that they are supposed to be taking care of. >> you're a communicator. put this back up of deported veterans. recirculated on veterans day. i saw it there and saw it all week. i put up the mission accomplished, part of the debacle communication that brought the horrible image of president bush, after katrina hit. part of the communications
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mistakes on my watch while i worked for president bush and thought back to the campaign. i wonder, some of the images -- i remember the day there was an aerial around hillary clinton when she walked in. what is it for you that is the image? >> it's an obama one and it's bad. >> okay. >> it's the bergdahls in the rose garden. i fought for that photo. remember this? when bowe bergdahl was -- had been released, and that -- had i known, had i better appreciated how that was all going to play out, that was, an image that was not -- >> in the rose garden. bowe bergdahl in the rose gar n garden. what's the regret? you didn't know the circumstances how he conducted himself? >> yes. i didn't have all of that history and the people living in it and were so relieved to have gotten him out and the bergdahls, i remember seeing them in the west wing two days
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before their son was released thinking there still wasn't any hope and i didn't appreciate that the, sharing all the facts of the story, but one thing is interesting with the trump photos circulating. to watch the ones that take hold. right? it's the ones that show privilege. it's the ones that are, the money, the rich son. shooting an elephant in africa. the ones that, deporting a veteran showing they don't care about them and that tells you about the, who's ready to vote against him. >> in line with the policies they're advancing. sneak in a break but we'll be right back. [ 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.
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let me get the final seconds to eli. you covered the white house. any images surprise you at his point? >> not surprising. i can imagine the reaction to the segment we just did being a big shrug. they don't care. look at this, think the president is strong with his base. whether it looks like populism, it's in the eye of the beholder. his brand is "the apprentice" it's sort of baked into his identity. we're not in that world. >> not normal anymore. my thaurnnks to you all. that does it for "deadline: white house". i'm nicolle wallace. if it's friday, this is not a moment -- it's a movement. tonight, the president won't talk about roy moore but he has plenty to say about the al franken accusations. why? >> roy moore's allegations are eight days

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