just take it away. >> that's because we were having turkey day after day after day. but dog gone good sandwiches. good holiday sunday to you. thank you so much r, alex. i'm richard lui in new york city. we'll start this hour with some breaking news. congressman john conyers of michigan announcing just hours ago he's stepping aside as ranking member of house judiciary committee. this is coming amid allegations by former staff members that the long-time congressman sexually harassed them. conyers released a statement that reads like this in part. after careful consideration and allegations made against me, i have notified the democratic leader of my request to step aside. house minority leader nancy pelosi responded a short time after that saying this quote. as a woman and mother of four daughters, i particularly take any accusation of sexual harassment very seriously and

any credible accusation must be reviewed by the ethics committee. we are at a watershed moment on this issue and no matter how great a legacy, it's not a license for harassment. i commend the brave women coming forward. now, that statement came shortly after she said this. earlier in the day on "meet the press." take a listen. >> by due process. just because someone is accused and was is one accusation or is it two? john conyers is an icon in our country. he's done a great deal to protect women. as john reviews his case, which he knows, which i don't, i believe he will do -- >> why don't you? >> how is it that -- >> may i finish my sentence? >> that he will do the right thing. >> do you believe john conyers -- >> i don't know who they are. they haven't come forward. >> jeff bennett ais at the whit house and leeann at the bureau.

and then switching tracks seemed a little bit later this after john conyers came out and said i will now leave the house judiciary committee. >> that's right, richard. i spoke to a democratic house aide today who said that this was actually days of work between pelosi and the congressional black caucus to try to get conyers to step aside graciously. but pelosi did also say on "meet the press" today that she trusts he will do the right thing. that does indicate that there was perhaps something in the works. but this was kind of a disastrous moment for pelosi on "meet the press" where she seemingly defended john conyers. it was a very tough appearance for her. and she also came out and she was very frustrated that they didn't get to talk about tax reform or any of the legislative proposals of democrats or any of the legislative proposals or republican agenda that pelosi is

vastly opposed to. this seemed to be a distraction for pelosi. she didn't want to spend more time talking about it and john conyers made reference to that in his statement. it was quite a long statement today where he said, "i cannot in good conscious allow these changes to undermine my colleagues in the democratic caucus and my friends on both sides of the aisle in the judiciary committee and in the house of representatives." so this does seem to be a distraction for democrats. they didn't want to talk about it any longer. they thought it was best for the party if conyers relinquish his ranking membership of the judiciary committee, richard. >> jeff, many years reporting on the hill for you and you're now at the white house. thinking back and, of course, you still have those connections there as you heard from leeann. when leader pelosi came on "meet the press" perhaps potentially did conyers, representative conyers see that happen and say, we cannot let this continue because it puts those in leadership, as leeann was saying

in very difficult situations. her answer, basically, on "meet the press" this morning was it's up to the ethics committee. that's what she said repeatedly. jeff? >> that's right. to leeann's point i think nancy pelosi signaled in a way that this was coming saying conyers knows what the stakes are and in the end he'll do the right thing. she was alluding to that john conyers as you both well know is the longest serving active member in the house. he served 27 terms. he was in his 23rd year as the top democrat on the house judiciary committee. but in stepping aside from that post, richard, i think he's doing democratic leaders certainly, he's doing them a favor in that he's removing himself from the lines of potential attack that republicans could use. republicans who choose to defend roy moore, the alabama senate candidate who faces his own accusations of sexual misconduct. so, conyers is removing himself from the potential attack lines from republicans who would say

look across the aisle at the democrats to see how they're handling their own allegations of sexual misconduct. >> be clear based on what we know at nbc news. three allegations, i believe. two from buzz feed and one from "washington post." is that right? what is the background and timeline. we have a one-week time frame for the most part. >> as far as john conyers is concerned. there are allegations that came out first in buzz feed and then another one that came out, as well. there's one woman who is now representative, represented by an attorney judy bloom. she came out and said that she would like the ethics committee to free her client from the constraints of the nda so she can come out and tell her side of the story. pelosi actually made a reference to that, as well, today on "meet the press." saying the victim should be able to speak if she so chooses and be free and we'll see if the ethics committee or congress

moves forward and allows these victims to speak. >> we'll finish with this to you, jeff. commenting on that very question. again, the allegations the 3-2 from buzz feed and one from "washington post" and looking over to the senate and the democratic compatriot of conyers and that is, of course, al franken. he sits on four committees. >> well, as we understand at the moment al franken has not signaled a willingness to step down and we don't think, based on the reporting that he's getting pressure from senate democratic leaders to do that. but we'll have to watch this space, though, as the days go pie because as nancy pelosi said in that statement, this is a water shed moment and the environment here is much different. >> all right, some movement that we had just within the last two hours there. the lastest reporting and leig ann, thank you for getting us up to date. rachered bo ereere ereere ereer.

david, you know these folks. what do you think we're seeing here. >> well, i do know these folks. i consider myself a personal friend of congressman conyers and many people on his staff. and i think to the larger point here, we are seeing a water shed moment, not just in american politics, but in american society. i would recommend that all my fellow american men do what i've been doing lately which is talk to the women in your life. my wife and i met when we were both staffarers on capitol hill and she talked to me about things i didn't even know she experienced. i feel like a national catharsis going on that is very positive. in the specifics here i do believe -- >> it's called male privilege. >> no argument here. i think what we're going to see in the specifics, now what. what is the action required. congressman conyers stepping down from a leadership position but not relinquishing his seat is an interesting twist.

in other words, we're not hearing calls for him to resign his congressional see aal seat. he did step down from a leadership position. would that be what is expected. what is the answer on the other side of the aisle accused by women of sexual harassment. the word of the day is humility. congressman conyers is showing great humility by saying i will step down, i did something wrong. i'll go through the process. but in the meantime, i'll step down. i'd like to see that across the board. humility would be a great trait to show at a moment like this across the board, not just in politics. but in hollywood and on wall street, wherever this comes up. >> as we look at the reaction here from the accusers, lisa bloom who is the attorney for conyers accusers here has a statement. i'll read part of it here for you. saying, mr. conyers and his attorney have spoken to the press and said that mr. conyers never sexually harassed anyone. my client was forced to sign a

confidentiality agreement at the time the matter was resolved, which bars her from telling her side of the story. we call upon mr. conyers and the office of compliance to release my client from her confidentiality agreement so that she may have a voice to tell had own story. basic fairness dictate that if mr. conyers can speak freely about the matter. the woman should be free to do so, as well. rachel, will that help us get to a better point. leader pelosi on "meet the press" said if the accuser does ask for in these situations related to congress to be released from this nda that they should be allowed, should be considered. do you agree with that? >> yeah, i think that would be hugely significant. i think we are at a point of national reckoning where we learn to talk about sexual harassment and abuse. when people look at their leadership, particularly in congress, they want tasee transparency and accountability.

i think it's particularly troubling for people that it's come to light that congress over the past two decades has paid out $17 million in harassment payments. that is taxpayer money that the taxpayers know nothing about. people need to start speaking up and we need to have a national dialogue. i think more than that, we need to have a consistent standard. voters are very troubled by the fact that the same people who are calling on roy moore to step down, are the same people who are not saying anything about al franken or saying that conyers stepping aside is enough. i think people want to see consisten consistency. they want to see one standard that people are held to. >> do you think here, david, that we might be seeing as we saw earlier, you agree this is a water shed moment. you might see al franken now a making that same consideration, potentially talking to chuck schumer about this because franken sits, as i mentioned earlier, with our great reporters in d.c. there. he sit on four different committees at the moment. should he also follow john conyers lead here and do the very same?

>> i think what we're seeing is a spectrum of offenses and a spectrum of actions that should go with those offenses. so, let's be clear. child molestation is criminal and those, anybody who perpetrates that should go to jail. the harassment of women, if that's a crime, there should be a punishment. if there's something in between, that should be the punishment. we need to scale the action. i will say this in closing. ivanka trump bucked her own father's wishes and criticized roy moore and that was a big deal. even within the first family we're seeing women come forward and say enough is enough. that's a big deal. >> 15 seconds to you, rachel. >> more than that, congress needs to determine what it sees as appropriate and what it can handle. if al franken continue to serve in congress despite what voters decide about other members. >> rachel, david, complex topic. both of you know that and we

squeeze it into a short amount of time. appreciate both of you being here on this sunday. still ahead, is president trump on the outs with his son-in-law. reports that jared kushner's role in the white house is being reduced as an investigation into russian collusion. that continues. >> let me be clevery clear. i kdid not collude with russia nor do i know of anyone else in the campaign who did so. i had no improper contacts. more people shop online for the holidays than ever before.

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breaking news we're following the developments of al franken the senator from minnesota. this as there have been allegations of sexual assault from him. a new report in the "star tribune" that came out within the last hour saying the senator will return to work tomorrow. also, breaking his silence an eight-day silence. the minnesota senator according to "star tribune" saying this as he was speaking with media. that he says i'm embarrassed and ashamed. i let a lot of people down and i'm hoping i can make it up to them and gradually regain their trust. this is similar to statements made before, but those were a written or passed through other means of communication. though this was the first, if you will, statement from al franken as he was speaking with those in the media. he says as well in this discussion according to "star

tribune" i don't remember these photogra photographs. i don't. would any woman say i had treated her with disrespect, i would have said, no. so, this has just caught me by surprise. i certainly hope not. this all starting based on november 16th when the los angeles radio broadcaster tweeden accused him of forcibly killing her during a 2006 holiday uso tour. those pictures that you have seen so far. so, al franken on this sunday just within the last hour or so, we are getting this reporting coming in from "star tribune" in fact 1:05 p.m. about an hour ago. al franken breaking an eight-day silence and speaking with media there in minnesota. he will be returning to work on monday. we, of course, will follow this throughout the shows today here on msnbc. a little bit more than two weeks ago before the senate election in alabama president trump, once again, weighing in on the race that was about to

happen. he went to twitter to attack doug jones a democratic candidate calling him a schumer/pelosi puppet. senate republicans are urging to pressure the gop candidate to bow out of that race. >> ultimately decision is up to the people of alabama but strikes me, at least, it would be in their best interest and the country's best interest and certainly the best interest of our agenda if the president use his influence to try to get roy moore to step aside. >> don't nominate somebody like roy moore who could actually lose a seat that any other republican could win. from a party perspective, we have to look long term, not short term. what i would tell president trump, if you think winning with roy moore is going to be easy for the republican party, you're mistaken. >> it is time for us to turn the page because it is not about partisan politics and this is about the character of our country. i want to be on the side of right when the history writes the story. >> so, some may take from that

very statement from the president the tweet i was mentioning earlier that the president has suggested that he believes moore instead of the women accusing of the candidate of misconduct. the president also now casting doubts on that infamous "access hollywood" tape where he boasts about assaulting women and touching them in certain ways. "new york times" suggesting that he suggested to a senator earlier this year it was not authentic alluding to that tape and reported that claim to an adviser more recently. katie beck is live in birmingham. how are these words coming from the president. they come more and more specific. this tweet as i was mentioning now attacking roy moore's opponent there, doug jones, and are people watching to see what the president is saying? >> i think the answer to that is yes and i think roy moore knows that, which is why he added to the criticism of doug jones on twitter shortly after trump issued his tweet.

moore put out a very scathing criticism of his opponent saying he is weak on crime, weak on the border and wants to raise taxes and followed that up by saying that i am still very confident that i can win this race and that i will win this race. i do think people are paying attention at this point. it's the home stretch right now of this election. less than two weeks away. this is what everybody is talking about here. but it is still fascinating to see how far apart the opinions are on the matter. we have talked to people today who are passionate on both sides. evangelical right-wing christians who are standing by moore and, obviously, some of those middle of the road republicans right now are in a real moral dilemma. do i believe moore's accusers or do i believe his denials? you can find these very passionate opinions on the same block. we did. here's what some of them had to say. >> i think he's got a great chance of winning, especially just because of the values that he has and, like, again, i said

he is innocent until proven guilty and, in my eyes, he's innocent. >> i think doug jones will win in the end. so, i think people who are most vocal about voting for roy moore will vote for roy moore. but most people will kind of -- the it factor will get to them and they just won't show up to the polls. >> now, as we know, roy moore has not been seen at a public event in the past ten days. that will be changing tomorrow. we are told he will have an event in ft. payne, alabama, and he will be addressing a favorable crowd there. richard? >> cate beck live in birmingham, alabama. so many eyes on that story. let's bring in chairman of mowery consulting group. david, so, we now have the president sharpening that pencil, if you can say that, on his view of this race. and before that, they were playing a little bit more careful through the statements

coming from the white house press secretary. now, the president coming out and saying and attacking the democratic candidate there . david, are you there? >> yeah, is there a question. sorry. >> the question now, david, is how important is this tweet? he's sharpening his pencil. what do you make of it? >> i think it allows people that are, that want to be more partisan or definitely republicans. it gives them cover to go to the polls and vote for the guy that they may not like but they certainly don't like the views of the people that jones would be working with. i think it allows -- and i think that, i think it allows people that are sort of sick about hearing about this, the president is for him, so maybe we should reengage. >> we've been seeing and i'll show you some of the rcp real clear politics results of alabama polls and we look at the numbers here. doug jones 46.8 and roy moore

46. really, really close. i don't know how you're seeing this on the polls you're watching. >> i have some information from some people and i do feel like moore is a little bit close the gap or stop the falling. if you're jones, you're concerned because that's not over 50. if you're moore, you're concerned. moore should be at 55 or 60, really, because he's the republican. so, i think it is a jump ball and i think it's one of those cliche things that comes down to who the heck comes out and votes. people sick about hearing about this, i'm not going to vote and then do the two tribes come in and fight. >> the two tribes. we have been talking about the right and the left side. when you look at democrat es, o of the questions out of local news will the voters show up. are they activated? are they energized for this candidate, as energized as they were for barack obama, not for hillary clinton? >> i don't think that they are as engaged as they need to be or energized as they need to be for

jones to win. they can probably change that in the next couple weeks. you know, with geo tv techniques or whatever. i'm not seeing a lot of engagement on the ground where i am. >> david, 15 seconds. what are we missing on the story right now that you're missing on the ground? >> i think everybody in washington is missing that they're a lot more passionate than alabamans are. they want this thing to go away no matter who wins. >> mow matter who wins. david, thank you. always good to have an expert on the ground. still ahead for you, breaking news. more reaction to congressman john conyers leaving his post as a ranking member of a powerful committee there in the house. this amid allegations of sexual harassment. we're going to get some reaction for you from capitol hill. one laugh, and hello sensitive bladder.

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want to get you up to date on that breaking news story that came out in the last couple of hours. michigan congressman john conyers been in congress since lbj stepping down as ranking member of the judiciary committee amid an ethics committee investigation into allegations he sexually harassed former staffers. moments ago, we also got this in. senator al franken telling his local paper he will return to

work tomorrow, but, "ashamed." and there's more to that in that article from "star tribune." leigh ann kaldcaldwell. we understand what he is saying to the media. speaking out for the first time in eight days. we also have on the other side, john conyers. what do we know and what is the latest on both of these? >> well, as far as al franken is concerned the first time he has spoken to the press since these allegations came out more than a week ago. he is ashamed and embarrassed. the local press, "star tribune" and says he will be back at work on monday. this will be the first time that reporters will have access to him to be able to talk to him and be among his colleagues since these allegations came out. as far as john conyers is concerned, we do know he's going to step aside from his prominent role on the judiciary committee

and know that democrats are saying they are relieved he decided to do this. they are no longer having to ask or answer questions about what should happen to conyers while this ethics investigation continues. nancy pelosi was on "meet the press" earlier today and she seemed quite frustrated that all the questions surrounded about conyers and she wasn't asked anything about tax reform or anything else in the republican agenda that nancy pelosi opposes. this is one repercussion that conyers is facing and democrats are saying that is good for now and they can get back to focusing on policy. richard? >> so, a lot of face to faces here, leigh ann. they're going to come back to work and cameras are going to be there. al franken is going to be seen. he has statements to the media that we have been talking about in "star tribune." john conyers coming back and ethics investigation ongoing for john conyers, but not yet,

right? not yet for al franken. what do we know about those, first of all, the conyers investigation, where is that at? why hasn't the al franken ethics investigation started yet? >> as far as the conyers investigation is concerned, the house committee on ethics says that is open. people are saying these things can take a very long time and they're calling for the ethics committee to do this quickly and not in their slow pace that normally happens. as far as the senate ethics committee and al franken, democrats and republicans and even al franken has said, okay, please open an ethics investigation and i will cooperate. and we will see how that progresses. how quickly that progresses. it will be interesting to see what al franken says tomorrow. what he tells reporters. he's always been quite shy with the national press in the past year. so, after he won re-election he's been more open with national reporters. we'll see if he takes questions. i know that there's going to be press surrounding him, trying to

ask him any questions tomorrow when he does return to the hill. and there will also be questions for the ethics committee, as well, and the democratic and republican leaders to see how quickly this is going to move forward. richard? >> uncomfortable moments there on the hill come monday. thank you so much, leigh ann. also, the other story we're following jared kushner his to-do list in the white house is shrinking. this is according to two reports that came out this weekend. "washington post" and "new york times." from "new york times" mr. kushner who had been in every meeting and photograph has lately disappeared from public view and taking on a more limited role behind the scenes. cukushner kushner's lost ling of responsibilities was peace in the middle east. the chief of staff john kelly made clear that kushner works for him directly. kushner is also being scrutinized by bob mueller in congress and their ongoing

russian investigations. let's bring in charlie savidge correspondent from "new york times" and msnbc contributor and also catherine rampell columnist for "washington post." catherine, one of the numbers i watched when it came to jared kushner's portfolio was not only that it was large, but that the ark in time as the reporting goes, it was five or six hours a day that jared kushner spent with the president and now it has definitely shrunk. and if you just base it on that, jared kushner seems to be disintermediated, shall we say, in the power structure. what do you think? >> that seems to be the case since john kelly has taken over. kelly has been moreka gatekeep gatekeeper. so, in that respect, yes, it's possible that jared cis less likely to have the president's

ear at any moment of the day. kushner seems to want to have his cake and eat it, too. on the one hand, we're supposed to believe he is this perkoeshing wonder boy that could handle all those various tasks that you mentioned, including solving the opioid crisis and solving peace in the middle east. on the other hand, he's new to politics and government and we're supposed to overlook all the omissions rather on his financial disclosures, on his security clearance forms, et cetera. so, how he's negotiating, how the public sees him and whether he ultimately becomes sort of a fall guy for this administration will be interesting to watch going forward giving these dueling views that he is projecting to the public. >> part of the reporting coming out of "new york times," your paper, a bit of discomfort, shall we say, in recent say because of what ivanka trump saying that there is a special place in hell for those who molest children and the president not happy with that

statement. you put those two together and is there now a bit of family feuding going on between the president, his daughter and son-in-law? >> well, the one thing about trump we know is that he's exceedingly close to his daughter and his family. there seems to be unquestionable loyalty back and forth between them and that's also where jared kushner's role in this white house and in the government right now comes from. in no other administration under any conceivable president of any party would this particular person have his hands anywhere near the levers of power. this is truly an intrigue situation. a court situation where the son-in-law of the president because he's seen as a loyalist has the president's ear, even though he has no government experience, no diplomatic experience and no private policy experience and still given this silly list of experiences he is going to achieve, very hard to see how long as he remains married to ivanka that

relationship gets severed. >> catherine, the writings have been and you also said this. we have, this is a family in the white house. and there's a lot of accusations of nepotism and this not being the ideal situation in this america's white house. what do you think this means in terms of functionality for this white house based on a john kelly. now it appears, at least taking control and now being the gatekeeper. is this a better white house for us? >> in theory, yes, richard. if you have someone who is imposing some order and making sure that there's some vetting of what kinds of information gets in front of the president. what kind of advice gets in front of the president. that would be helpful. the problem is if you're the son-in-law of the president or if you're the daughter of the president, no matter what you do, it's very hard for the president to kick you out. i mean, that's part of the reason we don't want nepotism in the first place. notice that jared has been able to survive when many of his

rivals for power have been pushed out already. bannon, priebus, spicer, et cetera. why has jared been able to hang on despite the fact that he made so many missteps including the omissions i made earlier. because of that relationship with the president. you can't fire your son-in-law. no amount of order that is brought to the white house through the chief of staff or otherwise is going to necessarily iron out all of the problems that come along with having an inexperienced person who happens to be related to the president in a position of power. >> kelly and kushner have responded to these questions about whether kushner and/or ivanka might be leaving the white house a little early here, charlie. potentially by the end of the year. they're saying, no, they're not going anywhere. if they were to leave the white house, is that better for this white house or is it worse for this white house? >> well, what john kelly told my paper that it's not true that he's thought about trying to

push them out by christmas and i think that kushner gave an interview to "the washington post" for a story they did also today in which he said that ivanka is thinking about buying a house in washington or looking at a different one than they are in now. both trying to project the sense that he's here for the long stay. i would just add to this that we talk about he's near power and hard to get him out of power. notwithstanding the list of things that he wants to solve, the long list of intractable. he's been in power for almost a year and there is no peace in the middle east and the opioid crisis continues and so forth. not quite clear what any of this adds up to. there are people in this administration. jeff sessions at the justice department and don mcgann, the white house counsel working on judicial nominations who have a clear policy goal that is achievable, whether there's deregulation and cracking down on immigration or curbing civil rights enforcement and they are

actually doing things with their power. we are obsessed with jared kushner and ivanka as part of the menagerie surrounding trump but not clear at this point any of it matters. >> charlie, thank you. catherine, as well, thank you both on this topic. up next, more breaking news. new audio from senator al franken of minnesota. the embattled senator that has issues related to sexual harassment swirling around him. this for the first time after eight days he breaks his silence and smepeaks to the media. we'll hear what he has in this brand-new audio right after this. i like to recommend biotene. it replenishes the moisture in your mouth. biotene definitely works. [heartbeat]

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welcome back. just moments ago senator al franken telling his local paper he will return to work tomorrow ashamed. that reporting just coming in within about the last 30 minutes. of note, why we're saying this is that it is the first time that the senator has spoken out in eight days. this since the issue related to the allegations of sexual harassment coming from senator al franken over the years. before he. came senator. let's bring in danny and alona thank you for being with us and appreciate you being with us to give us your perspective on this very topic. we are about to get some audio

from senator al franken as he is speaking with the media, again, for the first time and in essence he will be saying something to this effect and this has been a shock to him because he has said in the past that he believed if you were to ask women who worked with him that they would say no. that he did not disrespect them. in fact, here is that video we just got this in to msnbc. let's take a listen to that first. >> i take pictures withpeople. i would never intentionally do that. so, but, that does not negate my intention isn't what is important. what is important is we have to listen to women and respect what they say. >> alana, this is just in part what he said to minnesota public radio. but he's breaking his silence after eight days on a sunday,

the day before he returns to work. he says he will return to work tomorrow into washington, d.c., but will do so ashamed. what do you make of his timing here, alana. >> i haven't heard the entire audio there yet. but saying i take thousands of pictures shows how ingrained in our culture this type of sexism and devaluation of women's bodies that he wouldn't remember an event like that. and that it's something that he would have just brushed aside. i think this is problematic for the senator. i think this is problematic for democrats who are defending al franken because then you have republicans who are now going to use this as an excuse to support roy moore as president trump is doing and it doesn't really get to this larger question as to how we're going to societial deal with and change the power dynamics that allow for men to treat women in this way. >> danny, he has asked for along with other fellow democrats and fellow republicans for an ethics investigation into these allegations of him.

yet, that has not started. what do you think will happen, will come of this and why do you think he is now today deciding to be heard in public and speaking with media? >> he's making an important statement. what he's really saying is that his own subjective intent during his conduct. in other words, what was in his mind. he's saying he has learned is not as important as how it was perceived by the people he had that contact with. by the people he took photographs with. and i think that's an important statement to make that it's not so much about, even if he may have personally believed he was doing no wrong, it is still possible. of course, legally, the law recognizes this. ethically, as well. it's still possible to do wrong even with the best of intentions. and by welcoming an investigation with the far-reaching investigatory powers of congress, then he's sort of opening himself up to whatever may come of this.

>> what he also said to media and, again, this coming from "star tribune" within the last hour, alana. he was also saying i am embarsed and ashamed and i let a lot of people down and hoping i could regain their trust. he goes on to say this is in essence up to the people of minnesota. is it up to the people of minnesota as we saw with john conyers another breaking story stepping aside from his committee assignment, should al franken do the same as he holds seats in four different committees in the senate? >> well, it's not really up to the people of minnesota after the fact when he is already sitting in office and on these committees and is the soul person who is going to decide whether he deserves to serve or not. of course, if there is an ethics investigation that goes any further, than that decision would be made. i think al franken should rethink the way he is approaching it. it is nice that he is acknowledging it and apologizing for it.

i think that's absolutely the first step. but just seems h s half heartedn you hear the other audio that you played that it was a picture that he doesn't even remember taking because he has taken thousands of pictures. it just seems like bad timing and poor approach, in my mind. >> danny, we know that the ethics investigation was started this week for john conyers. it has not started for al franken. what might be the negative effects of the outcome of an ethics investigation of al franken? what might that mean for civil cases? >> when it comes to civil cases, there are really two areas we'd be looking at. one would be the area of workplace discrimination which we commonly called sexual harassment and the time deadlines there are so short that there is a good chance that even if there are grounded or any complaints with some validity that the time may have already expired. the statute of limitations for

wrongful conduct against people who are not employees is a little longer. but when it comes to the world of civil actions outside of the world of employment virt ual an conduct could be enough to file a claim, file a complaint and possibly get your day in court. >> we're hearing from two prominent congress members on this sunday. this as congress is about to vote on an issue of sexual harassment and how the rules are dictated there on the hill. thank you, both, very much. msnbc legal analyst danny and alana, thank you both very much. we'll be right back. ♪

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at the end of their first year, automatically. whoo! i got my money! hard to contain yourself, isn't it? uh huh! let it go! whoo! get a dollar-for-dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover. it wasn't just hillary clinton's e-mails russian hackers were after. according to the associated press in a new report, the hackers were also targeting e-mails of ukrainian officers, russian officer figures and thousands of others, even a handful of republicans. cyber security firm secure works stumbled upon that data and discovered between march 2015 and may 2016 showing the top five countries most identified,

the united states, ukraine, russia, georgia and syria. all this as the fbi did not tell u.s. officials that russian hackers were trying to hack their personal gmail accounts despite having evidence or at least a year that the targets in the kremlin's cross hairs. let's bring the in the author of "the despot's apprentice, donald trump's attack on democracy." brian, what do you make of the fbi knowing that these entities in russia were targeting, were trying to hack, personal e-mail accounts of those that were relevant to the u.s. government and why wouldn't they necessarily let them know? >> well, i'm not sure of the specifics of that investigation but i think this speaks to a larger disinformation and misinformation and cyber security attacks that the kremlin is orchestrating and i think it's an amazing moment in american history where we have

the president of the united states not condemning russia for it. we have across party lines and in a variety of different places american citizens being attacked by a foreign government and the person who is acting as the apologist in chief far is in the oval office so i think that even though there will be certainly analysts who look at whether or not there was the appropriate thing to do to notify those people, it's certainly an instance in which we should at least have faith in the fact that the president should be on the side of american citizens and not on the side of the kremlin. >> an interesting parallel, this as the united states does attack u.s. media. now it appears vladimir putin is doing something similar and this is different, of course, because he is now asking those foreign media outlets to register here as media foreign agents and just to read specifically who that might affect, cnn, voice of america, radio liberty, a german channel and a total of nine all

together if you were to count here. what does he hope to get out of this that he doesn't already get based on his own surveillance capabilities? >> well, putin is trying to make cnn seem like it's equivalent to rt, the kremlin-funded state propaganda network the u.s. has classified as a foreign agent, i think directly. rt is a disinformation, misinformation propaganda outlet. in 2014 they ran a special report claiming the u.s. had infected west africa with ebola and that it was the u.s. government's job. it's a ridiculous claim and to make the parallel between rt and cnn is absurd but you next from the kremlin. you expect the kremlin where vladimir putin murders journalists, murders dissidents and doesn't have a free press to engage in this sort of misinformation and disinformation. what you don't expect is to see both putin and trump behave attacking towards media on the same day. >> yes. and you're alluding to president

trump calling cnn international as not having truth, that also happening within the last 24 hou hours. >> exactly, you have messaging that lines up between the white house and the kremlin which should not happen when they're both attacking freedom of the press. american democracy is found on the basis of informed consent of the governed, as all democracy is, and you feed to have the press. in order do that you need to be able to believe the free press is critical to democracy and that's not a value shared by the president of the united states currently. >> brian klaas thank you so much. putting together the statements of president trump and vladimir putin within the last couple days. thank you so much, sir. in our next audio, more audio from senator franken's first interview since being accused of sexual misconduct.

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