p.m. i'm the resident turkey. >> he's my resident turkey and i would take nobody else. >> check us out on social media and connect with our show at #turkeyruhle. >> i'm even here trillion tomorrow afternoon until they put me in the oven. >> andrea mitch theel now. >> the seal of approval. the president breaking his silence, accepting roy moore's denial, dismissing the allegations of his accusers. >> mr. president, is a child month lester better than a democrat -- >> he denies it. he says it didn't happen. >> new accusations of misconduct against charlie rose. as one former intern on the cbs

show tells nbc news, when she was assigned to work in his apartment and he was showing her a graphic picture. >> i guess some people are really into this and i'm not. >> and escape from north korea. a north korea's soldier escape to freedom across a militant zone, he was shot by the north koreans, but survived. what his defection means now for us escalating tension even as the u.s. declares north korea a terror state. and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president trump throwing roy moore a lifeline, all but endorsing the embattled senate region candidate. despite allegations ranging from

molestation to dating underage girls. roy moore cast doubt of the accusers, many of whom were teenagers at the time. >> roy moore denies it. >> what about the women? >> and he is in total denial. i have to say, 40 years is a long time. he's run eight races and this has never come up. so 40 years is a long time. >> president trump, what is your message to women? this is a pivotal moment in our nation's history. >> women are very special. i think it's a special time because a lot of things are coming out and i think that's good for our society and i think it's very, very good for women. and i'm very happy a lot of these things are coming out. and i'm very happy -- >> do you believe the accusers? >> i'm very happy it's being exposed. >> with the alabama special elections less than three weeks away, president trump has not ruled out campaigning with moore. joining me now, nbc's kristen welker at the white house,

stephanie gosk in new york, casesy hunt and done in edwards. first of all, kristen welker, the disconnect between the president saying this is a wonderful time for women, women are very special, but he does not accept what are deemed credible act ugz sayses from nine women and he accepts the denials from roy moore. how do you square that circle? >> well, you can't, andrea. the disconnect is striking on the one hand saying this is a special moment, on the other hand effectively saying you have to believe or at least listen to roy moore, as well. what he offered yesterday, andrea, amounted to an endorsement. i've been talking to supporters of roy moore. they saw it that way. they say this is an endorsement, with plain and simple. it's an aboutface for this president. he had initially distanced himself from roy moore while he was in asia. the message from the white house was if these accusations are

true, roy moore should step down. that was a very different message that what we heard yesterday. president trump even asked if he will campaign for roy moore. he said he'll let people know next week. so not closing the door on that option. look at the back drop of this had, andrea, and its significance is in the final days of the campaign, the 2016 campaign, more than a dozen women came powered and accused then candidate trump of sexual misconduct. he denies those allegations vigorously and there is a sense that he sees some parallels in this situation. but, of course, there's a political calculation, as well. if the democrat wins this race, he believes that his agenda would be in peril. he believes tax reform would be jeopardized. that is a part of this equation, also, andrea. but this is a striking disconnect and a major break from the republican establishment. the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, the house speaker paul ryan who has had

conversations behind the scenes and publicly about the fact that roy moore is not fit to serve, andrea. >> and it really raises the question as to whether we are, in fact, at a turning point or an inflexion point in this national conversation which many people have said we are, but fly in the face of that, 43% of republicans and a new poll says they would vote for a candidate accused of sexual harassment. i want to get to all of the politics of all this in a moment. but first, let's get up to speed with stephanie gosk. stephanie, your reporting, your interviews on the subject of what's happening with charlie rose, major media figures now, their career has ended in effect. that's what is leading all of us to think this is a different time. is it? >> yeah. it -- well, potentially. but let me get you caught up, as you say, with what's been going on. there are three women who work at cbs who have come forward with accusations. we raised the question the other day that following "the

washington post" report, cbs had suspended charlie rose. but it was less than 24 hours later that they then fired him. you also had pbs canceling his show that had run for more than 25 years on pbs. and, really, what you saw in a very short period on of time, andrea, was this icon of the media world, this acclaimed anchor and journalist losing his job, effectively. eight women in that article, but more have come forward. you have the three now at cbs. and according to the reporter of that piece, amy britain, "the washington post" has received more than a dozen accusers who stepped forward. they are checking their stories and they plan to write a follow-up. >> and when we talk about people who are leaders in the field, i can't think of anyone at the pinnacle of a career at a higher place than charlie rose. he was on "60 minutes." he had his pbs show which was also broadcast on bloomberg.

he was on "cbs this morning," substitute anchoring on the cbs news. there is no one who had more awards, more respect and a wider range internationally, globally. a 75-year-old man. this is his friend and co-anchor last night, gayle king. >> if milligram changes in this, what i do hope is that people will speak up and companies are sending a message that we have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior. that is very important. i don't think it's going to go back to the shadow because women feel empowered to speak up. women are no longer afraid to speak up. but the best part about it is they are now being believed. >> but not by the president of the united states, stephanie. >> well, that does raise a question. who is believed and who is not? obviously, seemingly political expedient thing for the president to do. on this particular issue, what i

would add to gayle king's comment, and she's become kind of the de facto spokesperson for cbs is what david rose said in his statement. that was despite the journalistic accomplishment that you were talking about, andrea, despite those accomplishments that the priority and a place like cbs news is to create an environment where people feel safe and can achieve success and that that needs to be the priority sxhu heard gayle king saying it needs to be the message to everyone that works in that environment. >> and let's talk about the world of politics where this is front and center. john conyers, the most senior person in the house, congresswoman edwards, you worked with him. there are now calls for him to step down from the judiciary committee. nancy pelosi said there should be an ethics investigation. he has denied harassment. but the shocking thing to many of his constituents and colleagues and many people around the country is a small amount of money, relatively,

accordingly, $27,000 was paid out of his office fund and that this woman, the accuser, is silenced forever more. >> whether or not it had been papd out of his office funds, it was still taxpayer money and i think that what this exposes -- and we do need an ethics investigation, but it can't be your traditional athices vlgz investigation that can last for years. the accusers deserve to have this resolve, the taxpayers and the citizens deserve to have this resolved. and i think the current process, as it's set up, is really inappropriate for examining these allegations and then getting to the root of it and dealing with the consequences. >> do you think that democrats would be calling for him to step down from judiciary and even some are calling him to step down would be doing it he weren't prosecute detroit? it's a safe democratic seat. >> i don't think politics should have anything to do with this.

these accusers deserve to be heard. the process they've used thus far has been completely inappropriate for having those things aired. and whether it's a democrat or republican, it doesn't matter the gender. sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, locker room talk, all of it is bad. it's not all the same, but we have to treat it seriously. >> casey hunt, we have jim clyburn, the highest ranking african-american and the democratic hierarchy there on the house side telling the "new york times" that he's not sure of the allegations against conyers, not sure that the claims have substance. you can't jump to conclusions. is he coming to his defense? >> well, i think to a certain extent, yeah, he is coming to his defense and essentially saying, you could go so far and other members of the congressional black caucus have gone so far to say mr. conyers should step aside from his post as the top democrat of the house

judiciary committee while this investigation goes on. so it does, i think -- we've been having had conversation about a lot of different instances about who exactly is it that you believe. and in instances like this. we're still learning more potentially i think about mr. conyers and we're still trying to talk to the women who were involved with that. you know, as an organization, nbc news. i think that one thing and congresswoman, you the touched on on this. one of the most important pieces of this story is the effort to silence the the women involved and to keep this prosecute -- from his constituents. >> it's really insidious. >> we have to look at this nondisclosure agreement. we had hear from lawyers who had seen this before how ironclad that can be. they prohibit both parties of the agreement from ever talking to the house ethics committee. i'm now trying to have conversations with the leadership avenues office trying to say can you give immunity to these person to break their

nondisclosure agreement to talk to the equityics committee? they same to they yes, but that's a difficult position for them to be in. >> did you ever experience this kind of behavior, inappropriate behavior on the hill? >> i'll just say yes. >> and did you feel empowered, even as an elected member of congress, to do something about it? >> no, not really. >> why? >> i can because we have a -- a system in the the congress and a culture in the congress where you have to make decisions and i think what we've seen is women, whether they're in congress anterior any other workplace, you make decisions all the time about what it's worth to you and whether it's worth it, whether it's worth what we've seen from roy moore to -- moore's accusers to the president's accusers where the accusers are then put on trial. and i think that, you know, when accusers come on the record, then there is a certain level of

trust that you have to believe in what they're saying because it takes a lot to put yourself out there and to name names and to say what happens to you. and i think there are a lot of members and staff who have experienced uncomfortable situations that haven't -- you know, they don't rise to the level of harassment, per se, but what do you say when a male colleague decides it's okay to touch you on the neck or the shoulders or to pat your knee or your thigh when they want to silence you? those are all different kinds of things than what we're talking about, but it's a culture and a workplace that is not unlike a lot of other workplaces. >> and is was this ever from a member, in your personal experience? >> in one experience is, a fellow member who is no longer a member of congress. >> did you say anything to him? >> no. well, i i said stop, but the -- >> you said stop? >> yeah. i mean, it has been disclosed over a period of time is a member from california who with

was then the mayor of san diego. >> and so we heard from congresswoman -- the other day with katie kerr describing. and he subsequently denied congresswoman ed's claims. but he certainly has a pattern of behavior that has been alleged against him. casy. >> i'm struck by, you know, the kind of -- every time we hear one of these, it's almost as though we should -- i feel like we're getting used to it, but every single time, it's been a bit of an exhausting news cycle. >> it's emotionally draining for women as well as pore men. and the accused needs to have their day but the fact after the that accusers and the current system have to go to counseling and training and -- >> that's a ridiculous process to say the to someone who is accusing their boss of sexual assault or harassment that you have to sit down at a mediation table, even prosecutors don't do

that in the real world. >> and you can't talk about it, go into that mediation, that required mediation assuming you don't want to just drop it, you have to go to mediation and you have to keep it confidential. one other point i would make about the culture on the hill in recent days, there are a lot of members of the house who sleep in their offices. there are some young female staffers who maybe they come in early to get some work done and the member is, you know, sleeping in the office. you know, coming and going in attire that may or may not be professional. and i think there are a lot of young women on capitol hill who are very concerned about that. and the lines get very blurry very far. >> we have to leave it there. wom congresswoman donna edwards, former congresswoman from maryland, thank you for being with us, as well. kristin and stephanie, thank you, as well. coming up, desperate search. three navy personnel still

missing a after a navy aircraft crashes into the pacific. the latest on the hunt for survivors, next. stay with us. to central new yo. and turning the airport into a first-class transportation hub. all while growing urban areas into vibrant places to live and work. across new york state, we're building the new new york. to grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd.ny.gov. to grow your business with us in new york state, that was just a'ight for me. yo, checi mean,t dawg. you got the walk. you got the stance.. but i wasn't really feeling it. you know what, i'm not buying this. you gotta come a little harder dawg. you gotta figure it out. eh, i don't know. shaky on the walk, carriage was off. randy jackson judging a dog show. i don't know dawg. surprising. what's not surprising? how much money lisa saved by switching to geico. wow! performance of the night. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

three u.s. navy personnel are missing sought of japan after the crash of a navy transport plane en route to the aircraft carrier the uss ronald reagan. desperate search now under way, 500 miles at sea. eight other service members were found alive at the crash site and are reportedly in good condition. courtney swroins me now from the pentagon. courtney, this is a few hours after midnight in the region, so what do we know? >> we know the u.s. navy is still conducting ago thorough and widespread search for these three missing sailors. they are using both surveillance aircraft p-3s, p-8s, helicopters and ships. as you said, this c-2 airplane, which is a propeller, twin engine propeller plane, it's generally called a cod by most people in the navy because it lands and takes off from an aircraft carrier, so it stands

for carrier delivery aircraft. it's a propeller plane. it went down into the ocean as it was coming towards the uss ronald reagan after after 2:00 p.m. local time on thursday. the weather seems to be fine. the japanese defense minister told reporters several hours ago that there were reports of engine trouble. but the u.s. navy is not confirming that at this point. eight of the individuals who are on board that air kravrt when it went down were rescued within several hours of its crashing. and three the u.s. maef navy isl looking for. >> this has been a difficult year for the u.s. fleet in terms of crashes and tragedies. what's going on out there? >> it's been a really difficult year for seventh fleet, which is the fleet out there in the asia region. they had the two crashes that you mentioned, the "uss fitzgerald," the uss mccain.

they lost seven sailors in those two crashes combined and it's led to a widespread comprehensive review of all the operations in that region. they just had a collision last weekend where a tug hit into the uss is benfold and then they had a ship that went aground several months back. it's been a difficult time and they're doing a lot of soul searching about operations, operational tempo in that region. whether they're stretched too thin with this constant increase in the operations in the area, whether sailors there are getting enough rest, whether they're getting enough leave, whether the training is a problem, in this case, you know, the things that we've been seeing earlier in the year have been primarily problems at sea. this was, of course, an aircraft mis.happen involving a oos navy aircraft. >> and briefly, three military personnel from the white house assignment who were in vietnam, i guess, planning for the president's trip now have been

pulled back or are being investigated for improper behavior with foreign nationals. >> that's right. this is the second case of in this year. back in august, there were four u.s. military members who were there in advance in panama, in advance of vice president pence's trip there. there was some inappropriate behavior and they were sent back to the united states. in this case, we know there were three u.s. military members in vietnam. president trump was not there at the time. when there were some -- there's now an inquiry or investigation into what happened. it's all under investigation. at this point, we cannot confirm that the individuals have left their duty at the white house, but we expect that that is the most likely the next step that we will hear here, that they've been sent back from their white house detail back to their services. >> presumably, their orders would be not to be socializing

with women overseas when they are preparing for a presidential trip. stwl that plus, you know, keep in mind, these men and women have access to a hotel to secure areas, so that's always something that is -- >> right. >> -- sensitive. they aerchbt supposed to bring people back to secure areas or back to areas where the president and the delegation may be. >> courtney, thanks so much. and a very happy holiday to you. >> thank you. you, too. >> hoping you get some time off. president trump was up early from his mar-a-lago home. he's on a sort of vacation tweeting after 5:00 a.m., though, about ucla basketball player liangelo ball's issue. too bad, lavar is a poor man's version of don king, but without the hair. just think, lavar, you could have spent the next five years

in thanksgiving with your son in china. but remember, lavar, shoplifting is not a little thing. it's a really big thing in china, ungrateful fool, ex k exclamation point. delaware democratic senator chris kuhn serves on the foreign relations committee and joins me now. not the best signal to the u.s. military on a holiday. >> i would hope that our president, as we look forward to thanksgiving, would be expressing his concerns, his concern for the three missing sailors and their families, his gratitude that eight have been returned safely and expressing ongoing concern about those in puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands where you still have u.s. citizens struggling months after the hurricanes where they don't have power and water restored. we've also got breaking or

developing international issues in north korea and in syria with russia and elsewhere. why the president continues to choose to pick fights like this twitter fight with lavar is beyond me. it shows a lack of discipline and focus by our commander in chief. >> he certainly does not seem to be picking any twitter fights with vladimir putin. he had an hour plus call with the russian leader which we learned again, at least from the kremlin, rather than from our white house. and the readouts were somewhat different, but what can we inthe fer prosecute that call where we talked about syria? there is some recording that the point was to lay down some lines and try to get vladimir putin in line with syria. but then we see that embrace yesterday. what does that signify? >> vladimir putin views the

world through the lens of how he can best help russia and harm the united states. and his embrace of bashar al asouthward, a murderous man who has led this horrific campaign against these people, the fact that putin embraces him is an opportunity to reinsert russia into the middle east. vladimir putin is engaging assad and no pathway to get rid of assad concerns me greatly. our president had a number of key issues missing, one that he didn't address human rights in several countries where he should have raise it and two

that he said he accepts putin's argument, that he really didn't interfere in the united states elections. these are very concerning trends by president trump that reflect how he has treated and viewed putin back to his days as a candidate. he doesn't seem to push back on putin's views and he doesn't seem to hold putin accountable for his deeds or the deeds of his clients like bashar al ais at sad in syria. >> and it was the embrace that was seen is around the world. that was a big signal to allies and adversaries alike. let's talk about haiti. there are 59,000 haitians who have been in america since the 2010 earthquake there, the devastating earthquake. and since then, they've had the cholera epidemic that was caused and created and brought by u.n. peacekeepers controversially and then, of course, the most recent hurricane. the devastation conditions, it worsens there.

.and now hillary clinton is saying the special protection afforded these haitians is being withdrawn. and we expect more to come. is there anything that the foreign relations committee can do? do you have any republican support pore stopping these deportations? >> andrea, i have to ask why they're making it a priority for tens of thousands of haitians in the united states working without any difficulties or problems. those who commit crimes are deported. those who are here have a country that is destroyed first by an earthquake and more recently harmed by a hurricane to which their force returned will not be a positive thing. we don't have, in my view, bipartisan support for trying to slow or revert these decisions by the administration and i question why this is a priority

at this time for our administration. this doesn't make us stronger. our own puerto rico and virgin islands near haiti continue to struggle with their recovery from the hurricanes. why we would force 59,000 haitians back to their country of origin at a time when their country is struggling with recovery i don't quite see and i will be working to try and secure some the bipartisan support for considering a reversal of this action by the administration. >> there have been children here in the united states and the president in 2016 during the campaign had a rally in the florida, said you may not be voting for me, but i will be your protector or words to that effect. before i let you go, dana buente who was forced to resign precipitously, unceremoniously from a key position in the

eastern district in virginia which oversees a lot of the national security investigations with, including some aspects of the russia probe, what do we know about the reasons b why this high ranking official in the chain of command to succeed a fired attorney general if one should be fired, why would dana be fired from a job that he loved? >> well, we don't know why dana was asked to step down. i have sent a letter asking those questions. the president is entitled to ask appointees from a previous president to depart, but he can't do it for an inappropriate reason. so we haven't gotten an answer from attorney general sessions in the last several weeks. i have written the chairman of the judiciary committee, senator

grassley, so ask for a hearing because this is part of a broader pattern of interference with u.s. attorney offices. as you all know, the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york was told he could stay in, but had some uncomfortable interactions with the president and was abruptly dismissed. there are reports that the president has been insisting on personally interviewing candidates to be u.s. attorney in a number of geographies where the president and his family have significant real estate interests. that is not something that's been done historically. and former tournsz general had said of both democratic and republican administrations, that's not an appropriate action for the president to insert himself into u.s. attorneys. and lastly, james comey said he had very uncomfortable conversations with president trump where he demanded personal loyalty. i think it's important to show we are paying attention to these

matters and we're not going to let a long serving well regarded career department of justice leader like dana be forced to side without asking these tough questions. >> chris kuhn, thank you very much. thank you, senator. good holiday to you and your family. >> thank you, andrea. coming up, under the look hood. uber revealing a massive cover up. a data breach of almost 60 million accounts and it happened a year ago. that's next right here. (avo) when you have type 2 diabetes, you manage your a1c,

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and a break through of sorts for senate republicans trying to get the 50 votes for the tax bill that the president wants to badly. lisa murkowski who was a no on previous legislation to repeal and replace obamacare has now come out in party support of repealing the law's individual mandate which has been put in the current senate tax bill. murkowski writing, repealing the individual mandate simply restores to people the freedom to choose. nothing else about the structure of the aca would be changed. john harwood joins me now. you've been following the tax bill in all of its ins and outs. nick mulvaney, admitting to me this weekend that they're gaming the system, they're putting things in the senate version to bring it down under 1.5 trillion in terms of the deficit because that will allow them to pass it

without the 60 votes and just the 50 votes. he said basically it's a gimmick. >> uh-huh. >> is this thing going to pass? >> i think b it is a 50/50 proposition. they still got vulnerable wavering republican senators. murkowski, that's a break through for them. that's a psychiatric logical advance. especially since she's one of the people who voted down obamacare before. but you still have significant problems over the distribution of benefits in the bill, over the cost of the bill, .over estimates suggesting that it's not going to produce nearly as much economic growth as the administration is claiming. >> in fact, could cost as much as $2.2 billion. i want to ask you about uber. this was a rampan cover-up. basically, the former ceo, they paid off these hackers $100,000 to remain silent. so how do we know that the hacker's representations are

correct, that all these data have not been kept? >> we don't know. and it's pretty clear you can't trust uber's word on it. but it was not only covering up the theft of the data, but it was also covering up this payoff to criminal elements who hacked this information. as one of the analysts said this morning, this is paying off organized crime in order to conceal what happened to your company. and that's a concern for every company and every consumer. >> and as far as finding these hackers or any kind of criminal investigation, i mean, in some states, they may be liable, uber, for lawsuits, right? >> absolutely. and we're seeing across a variety of realms, not just in the 2016 the presidential campaign, but cyber security is becoming such a large issue in the united states, this was not

the biggest hack ever. bigger hacks at ek equifax and yahoo!. but are increasingly going to be concerned about their privacy, the theft of their information and they're going on be looking for remedies in the courts, including. john harwood, thank you very much. next, the dramatic video shows a north korean soldier's escape across the dmz. are you on medicare?

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a daring escape caught on video as a north korean soldier risked his life to defect to the south. we knew about this a few days back, but now we have video, the scene looking like a cold war movie reminds one of berlin in the 60s as the soldier makes a mad dash across the dmz while north korean soldiers open fire, hitting him at least five times. south korean soldiers crawl to him dragging him to safety. but shooting him across the dmz, the u.s. says north korea violated the terms of the 1953 armistice. joining me now, john mcglocklin. a little tongue tied i am just seeing that video. it is shocking. i've been there so many times.

you've been from, as well. yeah. >> i was there recently with tillerson,port first time with reagan, both clintons, kerry and allbright. >> it's always an experience when you go into that hut there and you look through the glass and you see the north korean guards on the other side staring back at you. it's unreal, really. >> and you are warned that even to raise your arm could be a violation of the armistice because they could then appropriately believe you are about to fire and they could take a shot at you. so it is a fairley tense hair trigger moment. so maybe not this incident, but the designation yesterday by secretary tillerson that north korea is now being redesignated as a terrorist state, a state sponsoring terror. the state department says based on multiple incidents since 2008 of assassinations on foreign soil. we only know of of one, in kuala lumpur. so the stepbrothers. is this likely to increase pressure on north korea to come

to the bargaining table or escalate the crisis and perhaps prompt them to another one of their nuclear -- >> yeah. >> -- missile tests? >> i think it's a heard call today, andrea, than it used to be. they have been on the terror list before, as you know. >> george w. bush took them off thinking it might helpdy diplomacy. >> we have diplomatically gotten them to the table at least three times in the past to bring down their nuclear capability, but it was in a very different environment. we didn't have these storms going on in a juvenile manner between the president and the leader of north korea. so it's harder today to judge, i think, the effect of steps we take on north korean reaction. you know, you could say it's been a while now, maybe a month since we've seen a missile test. >> but it's a holiday weekend.

the president is at mar-a-lago. we've seen this act before. >> so i would say on balance, it isn't a particularly dangerous thing for us to do now. it may tighten the noose a little bit. diplomacy is much harder to -- i think it's still the best option. the best of the lousy options. and it may get us a little bit closer to that. but frankly, i think it's a hard call mow. >> now, let me ask you about this just incredible tragedy of the rohingya. this is a muslim minority in a part of burma -- >> 600,000 people chased from their homes. >> they're chased from their homes, they're in refugee camps in bangladesh. today the secretary of state has declared this ethnic cleansing. what does that mean? critics from internationals and others say this is not enough. it's not saying it's genocide, it's not saying it's a war

crime. what is the hammer behind this? >> well, as you know, no hammer kicks in automatically unless it's called a genocide. ethnic cleansing technically means removing people from where they live. genocide means destroying them. and i think a lot of people in the world, probably clincluding our own holocaust museum is doing research on exactly what happened to these people once they were removed from their homes. i've heard that enough of them were destroyed to move this into a again mow side area. again, like most situations in the world these days, a very delicate one for the u.s. to manage in part because there's a transition still under way to civilian rule in burma, a nobel peace prize winner, occupies the civilian government, aung san suu kyi. the military is still very powerful and not entirely under

her control. so rolling a lot of additional pressure into that situation is a tough call for the united states. but i suspect -- i mean, i would be surprised if we don't declare sanctions on at least some burmese officials which may have a salutary effect, but like all of these situations, it has to be done very surgically these days. as with north korea. >> expertise in diplomacy which we are sorely lacking at this stage in our state department. >> we are lacking it quantitatively and qualitatively, as well. the state department is not in great shape, even though it is one of the jewels in the crown of national security in normal times. >> these are not normal times. thank you so much. happy holiday to you and yours. thank you pore being with us. >> same to you. our recent online sales success seems a little... strange? na. ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... "people" aren't buying these books online,

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and it's time now for the inside scoop. joining me, and perry bacon, senior political writer for 538. let's talk about roy moore. so, we end the week before the holiday break at least with the president -- we shouldn't say because we don't know what's going to happen down there in mar-a-lago, but so far the president has woken up at 5:00 a.m. and tweeting against lavar bell and, you know, gone on a tweet against the nfl. but on roy moore, leaving the white house and saying it's a special time for women but he believes the denials of roy

moore. how do you make any sense out of that? >> it's quite the endorsement of roy moore in which he managed not to say roy moore's name. he bashed doug jones -- >> he held out the possibility he might campaign with him. >> this is a big change in position from the position the white house had taken before which is if these allegations were true, roy moore ought to step down as the -- >> counted votes? >> i think president trump's instinct is just always to fight. he, of course, has faced serious accusations of sexual misconduct, which he's just denied and moved on. this is obviously a stance he's comfortable embracing. >> perry, what does this mean for the race in three weeks? you've got the president, according to all the reporting, telling people inside the white house for the last couple of days, you know, that he really identified with roy moore, that he thinks roy moore is being unfairly accused? >> we were talking about jeff sessions as a write-in or luther strange as a write-in.

a week later roy moore is not only staying in the race but the all but endorsed him yesterday and left open the idea of campaigning with him. if you thought roy moore was going to go away -- he's stabilized numberswise. the polls says he's down or tied but its not as if -- he definitely has a chance to win this race on december 129, which i wouldn't have thought a week ago. >> what about mitch mcconnell with the president taking a different tact? >> it's not news for mcconnell that he's not on the same page as donald trump. no one who saw roy moore in the past had any expectation he would step away. maybe if other forces like the governor or others would take a decisive step. this is about the voters of alabama who they want to represent them in the u.s. senate. we'll see on december 12th who that is. >> the ethics committee, and slow and secretive, so the thought that once elected, if he is elected, there would be any

action taken against him is, i think, fantasy. >> i agree with you. i understand what the republicans are saying because they don't like roy moore but the idea of the voters in alabama sending him here and then have some rule process seems to me to be unlikely. also trump won alabama by 28 percentage points in 2016. his endorsement matters there. >> and the fact is that it's probably what they were saying about threatening to strip him of a seat to try to get him to step down. >> right. >> but that's not -- >> there are some other things they could do, right? they could deny him access to the caucus, for instance, or not put him on committees. but i think they're going to wait and see what the actual results of the vote are. >> we'll leave it there. happy holidays to both of you. more amaed. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports."

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and finally, let's pause to remember today marks 54 years since the assassination of president john f. kennedy. presidential historian is sharing these photos on twitter this morning showing president kennedy coming out of the hotel texas in ft. worth and speaking to a crowd of hundreds outside that hotel before the brief flight to dallas. the president was shot and killed while traveling through dallas, of course, in that open-top convertible, sending the country into mourning loes than a week before thanksgiving. of course, changing our country forever. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." i'm going to take a few days off for football and turkey.

craig melvin is up next. have a happy holiday, everyone. craig, to you and yours. >> happy thanks giving to you and yours as well, andrea. good afternoon, craig melvin at msnbc headquarters in new york. search for survivors. a u.s. navy plane crashes off the coast of japan carrying 11 on board. right now there is a tense and frantic rescue mission happening to find three sailors still missing. also this afternoon, presidential priorities. hours after the crash, the president chooses once again to attack the father of a ucla basketball player recently arrested for shoplifting. what's behind the president's decision to use his voice to fuel cultural divisions? and more accusers come forward. new allegations of sexual harassment as three more women share their experiences with legendary news anchor charlie rose. we will hear exclusively from a new accuser and look at the impact this sea change on sexual harassment is having on