this sunday, flynn flips. now what? michael flynn pleads guilty to lying to the fbi, becoming robert mueller's star witness and moving the russia investigation inside the white house. president trump insists he's not worried. >> what has been shown is no collusion, no collusion. there's been absolutely no collusion. >> but he's already distancing himself from flynn. distancing >> we'll see what happens. plus, republican senators celebrate passing their tax plan. >> well, this is a great day for the country. >> but what's in it?

>> can you tell me what that word is? >> the question now, will voters congratulate republicans for a big win, or condemn them for favoring the wealthy? my guest this morning, republican senator susan collins and democratic senator dianne feinstein. and we'll talk about that russia connection with former trump campaign manager corey lewandowski and david bossy. finally, after another week of sexual harassment stories, we're going to look at the generation gap over what is considered unacceptable behavior. joining me for insight and analyst are doris kearns goodwin, republican strategist and nbc news analyst mike murphy. danielle pletka from the american enterprise institute and eddie glaude of princeton university. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd.

good sunday morning. we have two huge stories we're dealing with this morning, one is the tax plan passed by senate republicans over night friday into saturday, a bill that democrats point out favors the wealthy at the expense of parts of the middle class, while republicans insist the bill will pay for itself with economic growth. the other big story is former national security adviser michael flynn pleading guilty to lying to the fbi about conversations with russia's ambassador to the united states during the presidential transition. yesterday, president trump tweeted that he had to fire flynn in february because he lied to vice president pence and the fbi. that tweet suggests the president knew he lied to the fbi when he asked james comey to drop the flynn investigation. so in an attempt to clean this up, mr. trump's personal law john dowd has taken the fall and said he actually wrote the tweet. we have asked him how many times he tweeted for the president and he has told us just once and said it will be the last time he does it. nevertheless, what flynn's

guilty plea tells us definitively is what the trump campaign and administration have been saying about a russia connection for the last year plus doesn't appear to be true. >> why would there be any contacts between the campaign? >> i can't think of bigger lies. >> there is no connection. >> we have no dealings in russia. we have no projects in russia. we have nothing to do with russia. >> this conversation has never happened. >> i have nothing to do with russia, folks. okay? >> flynn's cooperation deal which makes him robert mueller's star witness at this point suggests that mr. trump's transition team was running a rogue foreign policy operation and it brings mueller's russia investigation straight inside the white house. >> what has been shown is no collusion, no collusion. >> michael flynn was a top surrogate for mr. trump on the campaign trail, introducing him at rallies nearly two dozen times, even floated briefly as a possible vice presidential running mate. >> a great general. great guy.

great man. >> how good is general flynn? you see that? >> as national security adviser, one of the president's key confidants. >> general flynn is a wonderful man. >> flynn's guilty plea was part of a deal to avoid more severe charges for himself and his son signaling he has valuable information about the president's inner circle and mr. trump's family members that he is willing to share. >> he is pleading to a really very minor charge considering the scope of all of the exposure that has been reported. >> flynn admitted to lying about two separate contacts he had in december with then russian ambassador to the united states sergey kislyak. the first on december 22nd, when prosecutors say flynn was directed by a very senior member of the presidential transition team to urge foreign governments to oppose a u.n. security council resolution against israel. sources tell anybody news that the senior official was the president's son-in-law jared kushner. a week later after president

obama announced new sanctions against russia for interfering in the u.s. election, flynn discussed what, if anything, to communicate to the russian ambassador about sanctions with another senior transition official at mar-a-lago. we learned that official is k.t. mcfarland. flynn requested that russia not escalate the situation and vladimir putin said he would not retaliate prompting mr. trump to tweet, great move by putin. i always knew he was very smart. top members of the white house including the vice president later said no sanctions conversation had ever taken place. >> they did not discuss anything having to do with the united states' decision to expel diplomats or impose a censure against russia. >> the subject matter of sanctions or the actions taken by the obama administration did not come up in the conversation. >> in february, the president said flynn was fired for misleading the white house about those contacts.

but the plea deal suggests that members of the president's inner circle did know about the conversations at the time. what's unclear, is if pence and priebus were a part of that inner circle. last week after mr. flynn's legal team stopped cooperating with his own lawyers, the president made a not so subtle jab at his former confident. >> you never know about an ally. an ally can turn. you understand. you'll find that out. >> and on saturday, we saw more evidence that the goodwill is over. evidence that the >> we'll see what happens. >> joining me now is republican senator susan collins of maine and she sits on the intelligence committee. senator collins, welcome to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> i want to get to two stories and start with russia. i have to put up taken at face value, there's two sort of alarming quotes over the weekend. one comes from the president's twitter feed we referenced it earlier in the lead-in, that he said he lied -- the reason he fired flynn is because he lied to the vice president and the fbi.

and unknowingly obstructed justice. and then let me show you this k.t. mcfarland quote, the deputy national security adviser for a short period of time. there's an e-mail she sent around during the transition that apparently said this -- if there is a tit for tat escalation, trump will have difficulty improving relations with russia, which is just thrown usa election to him. now we have the white house trying to backtrack, clarify those things. how alarming are those two quotes to you? >> well, they are the reason why we have the two investigations under way right now. the special counsel's investigation clearly is bearing fruit as we have seen with the guilty plea of general flynn. and we have the senate intelligence committee investigation, which is a different kind of investigation, a counterintelligence investigation. and we're also making progress. >> it's interesting you said bearing fruit. do you believe that there was collusion? do you believe that this is where this is headed, that

mueller is slowly by surely proving his case there was collusion between the trump campaign and the russians? >> we don't know that yet, but what we do know is that there were conversations during the transition period. during the transition period there is still only one president and that was president obama, so those conversations should not have confirmed -- been taking place, but that does not confirm collusion. >> this deal for flynn to work with mueller now, how much does that slow down the intelligence committee investigation? >> well, that's a great question because we had already asked general flynn to come before us and to also produce his personal papers and his attorney asserted his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination. so now, really, the special counsel is in the driver's seat as far as general flynn is. i still want to hear from him because i believe that he could contribute a great deal to our investigation.

>> do you think at this point -- you guys have some cooperation between the special prosecutor's office and what you guys are doing. does that include your ability to get -- read all the interview transcripts for instance of michael flynn? >> well, i've been reading the interview transcripts that our staff is doing -- >> do you get access to mueller's? >> we do not get access to mueller's. and i understand that because only he can pursue criminal wrong doing. >> right. >> ours has a different mission. but also a very important one. >> i'm curious the scope, does it include the transition? i know the scope is about the campaign, does that include the transition? >> yes. >> you believe the scope of intel committee does include the transition. everything up to january 20th or even more? >> it not only includes the transition period, it includes the campaign period. >> right. >> and that's why we're looking at the conversations that occurred during that period as well. >> do you have a sense of where mueller is in his probe? do you feel as if this is the

end of the beginning, beginning of the end? do you guys have a sense of the length of this probe right now? >> although we're in touch or the chairman is in touch with the special counsel, it's very difficult to say, but clearly he is making progress. he's had guilty pleas from two individuals. he's had two other indictments. so he is making progress. >> the chairman of the intelligence committee, fellow republican richard burr, acknowledged in an interview to "the new york times" that the president has talked to various republican members of the intel committee, encouraging them to move the probe along, end this probe. senator burr wrote it off to inexperience in government. he didn't view it as an attempt to obstruct justice. two questions. one, has the president called you? >> no, he has not. >> that doesn't surprise me, frankly. but second, do you think richard burr -- do you agree with his take, oh, this is just inexperience in government by the president? he doesn't realize he's violating some protocol here. >> well, even if it's

inexperience, that doesn't make it right. the president should have no comment whatsoever on either of these investigations and the only thing he should be doing is directing all of his staff and associates to fully cooperate. >> all right. let me move to the tax bill. i want to move to the debt part first. let me play a little mash-up of what you've said about the debt in the past. take a listen. >> and senator collins, you supported president obama on the stimulus package. can you support his budget? >> no. >> why not? >> because it brings our debt levels to an unprecedented level. >> our current debt is unsustainable. it's $14.3 trillion. and it is a threat to the future prosperity of this nation. >> all right. if the debt is unsustainable at $14 trillion, how do you -- how did you make yourself comfortable voting for something that is going to increase the

deficit, this tax bill? we're at $20.6 trillion now and the best estimates say it's going to -- even the best estimates of dynamic scoring that we could find still add half a trillion to the deficit. >> economic growth produces more revenue and that will help to offset this tax cut and actually lower the debt. i -- >> where is the evidence? can i -- explain to me -- find a -- find a study that actually says what you're claiming. it doesn't exist. >> let me do that. first of all, if you take the cbo's formula and apply it, just .4% increase in the gdp generates revenues of a trillion dollars. a trillion dollars. even the joint committee on taxation has projected that the tax bill would stimulate the economy to produce hundreds of billions of additional revenue.

i've talked to four economists, including the dean of the columbia school of business and former chairs of the councils of economic advisers, and they believe that it will have this impact. so i think if we can stimulate the economy, create more jobs, that that does generate more revenue. >> but why isn't there a single study -- i'm going to show you three studies that we have. sort of a liberal one, a centrist one and a conservative one right up there. the most pro economic growth argument still has $516 billion to the deficit over ten years. >> well, talk to economists like glenn hubbard and larry lindsey and douglas eaton who used to be head of the cbo. they will tell you otherwise. so i think you will find that economists just don't agree on this. >> you're comfortable with your vote on this tax bill is it there really no matter what

comes out of conference? >> no. i mean, obviously i want to see what comes out. i believe that the amendments that i added on medical expense deductions, on property tax reductions, on helping retirement security for public employees improve the bill. i got a commitment that we're going to pass two bills including the alexander murray bill and one that i fought for that will help offset the individual mandate repeal by lowering premiums. and i also got an ironclad commitment that we're not going to see cuts in the medicaid/medicare program as a result of this bill. >> all right. we will be watching that commitment that was made to you. i'm curious to see if they keep their deal with you, senator collins. thanks for coming on. i'm out of time. i appreciate you coming on and sharing your views. >> thank you, chuck. all right. president trump has continually denied that russia interfered with the 2016 election, an issue that the lead democrat on the senate intel committee mark warner took issue with on friday.

>> we see senior intelligence officials appointed by this president acknowledging the massive russian intervention. we've seen the social media companies that at first resisted but now acknowledge massive russian intervention. frankly, virtually every one of my republican colleagues acknowledges russian intervention. the one individual that still seems to deny that this is not a major issue is donald trump. >> well, joining me now is democratic senator dianne feinstein of california, who like senator collins also sits on the intel committee. she herself was a longtime chair and vice chair of the intel committee. senator feinstein, welcome back to the show. >> thank you very much, chuck. >> same question to you as i started off with senator collins. as a member of the intel committee. i'll reference those graphics in a minute. just at face value, and we know that the white house has tried to walk back the k.t. mcfarland e-mail that seemed to imply that they are as fact that the russians did this, and, of course, the president apparently

admitting to potentially obstructing justice. they've walked all of those back. but do you look at that -- what does that say to you these two, even call them mistakes, is it sort of accidental admissions in your mind? >> well, i would begin by saying this, as you know, i'm ranking on judiciary, and the judiciary committee has an investigation going as well. it involves obstruction of justice. i think what we're beginning to see is the putting together of case of obstruction of justice. i think we see this in the indictments, the four indictments and pleas that have just taken place and some of the comments that are being made. i see it in the hyperfrenetic attitude of the white house, the comments everyday, the continual tweets. and i see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of director comey.

and it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to lift the cloud of the russia investigation. that's obstruction of justice. >> you know, the president a few times has insisted he's not under investigation. is the president -- everything you've seen now, the deal with flynn, does that indicate to you that actually the president may now be -- you just laid out the obstruction of justice case. that would mean or imply that the president is now under investigation, he's a target. >> well, i would assume that many in the white house are under investigation in this. i would assume, you know, i do not believe that general flynn was a rogue agent. i don't believe that on his own conclusion he would go out and try to tell the russians in two instances, once to stop a national security resolution

going through the united nations regarding israel, and on the sanctions that president obama had just put in urged that they not be tampered with by the transition committee. and that he would go in on his own and attempt to tamper with them with russia. i just don't believe that. i think he had to have been directed. now whether the special counsel can find that evidence or not, whether we can, i don't know yet, but i see that that's where this is going. >> all right. we have -- k.t. mcfarland who was for a short time the deputy national security adviser. she's now i believe nominated to be the ambassador of singapore. she has not been a person who has been publicly connected with this investigation. has the intel committee interviewed her? >> no. the intel committee i can't tell you. the staff has done more than 100 interviews. >> asked to have her come before the committee? >> no, but the democratic side i

can assure you will and i hope that the republican side would join in it. >> how much does this flynn cooperation deal -- senator collins noted you wanted flynn to come before the intel committee, his lawyer asserted the fifth amendment rights. now obviously you want to ask him to come back. mueller has priority over him at this point. >> absolutely. >> obviously it slows down the intel committee's investigation. how much does it? >> well, i don't really believe it does. i think the investigation that really has the clout is bob mueller's investigation. he's got all the tools he needs, investigative and legal, to do what he needs to do. i think what we're seeing is some of the fallout from that and i think increasingly, hopefully, people are going to be more willing without subpoena to come and be interviewed and provide information. for example, jared kushner.

both senator grassley, our chairman, and myself, we have sent a letter asking for information. he has agreed to give it. i think that's very important. and we will see what happened. i think there is no question but that he is a principal in this. i don't make any allegations because i don't know, but i think his testimony would be very important. >> there is a campaign ad that's running a lot in california and some on cable by somebody who may be an opponent of yours in a senate race, a man by the name of tom steyer. let me play an excerpt of the ad. >> people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger who is mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons and they do nothing. >> there's been some implication here that he's -- that the ads are directed at you because you took a more cautionary note when asked about the idea of impeachment. where are you on that? is the obstruction of justice case that you laid out pretty

succinctly earlier with me, is that an impeachable offense? >> well, in the first place, i just told you i happen to be ranking on judiciary, which means i'm the lead democrat on this. i'm trying to be very careful as to what i say and what i do. we have to put together facts that are solid, that are very close to evidence, if not evidence, and also draw some conclusions and possibly do some legislation. so this is a process that's ongoing. now, i'm not without the powers of observation -- >> right. >> or seeing what's going on around me or watching the day by day episodes go by. the concern rises with the day. the concern about this white house -- >> the concern about the president? your concern about this president's ability to do the job rises by the day? >> oh, yes. oh, yes. i've been here for 25 years now. there is a kind of instability, unpredictability.

it's one issue after the other. we've got major problems in the world with our allies now. in the middle east, with north korea, it goes on and on. and i think that this president is just precipitating more and more angst that's going to lead to serious discord. >> when do you hit your enough is enough moment? >> well, it happened about a month ago, and i can't give you any particular event, but it happens -- you know, those of us that are here -- >> so you think you need to get him out of office? >> -- understand how the white house functions. and as you begin to see one day it's one story, the next day it's another story, the third day it's another story. it's very concerning to get at the truth. >> so, i mean, you just said you've hit your point. do you believe it's time to think about getting him out of office? >> i believe it's time for us to finish our investigation.

>> okay. >> and i don't want to bias any part of the investigation with premature thinking. >> all right. >> i think that's very important. >> okay. senator feinstein, i'm going to have to leave it there. as always, i never have enough time when ever i get you. >> thank you. good to see you. we'll be back in a moment with much more on where this russia probe may go next. and later, i'm going to talk to two trump campaign insiders about life with candidate trump and about the current russia situation as well. corey lewandowski and david bossie are here. we'll be right back. this is electricity. ♪ this is a power plant. this is tim barckholtz. that's me! this is something he is researching at exxonmobil: using fuel cells to capture carbon emissions at power plants. this is the potential. reducing co2 emissions by up to 90%... while also producing more power. this could be big. energy lives here.

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welcome back. panel is here. republican strategist and nbc news political analyst mike murphy. presidential historian doris kearns goodwin, danielle pletka of the american enterprise institute and eddie glaude, chair of the center for african-american studies at princeton university. i want to start with where i ended with senator feinstein. she is not somebody who is a bomb thrower, doris kearns goodwin. she basically walked up to the

line with he's not fit for office right now. she was right there, pretty close. >> something happened a month ago and obviously i think, oh, my god, tell us what it is that happened, but clearly the people inside the administration, inside the congress are feeling a sense of enormous concern right now. i don't understand how president trump could say the other day no collusion, we're very happy. how can he be happy? the administration has been under a shadow from the beginning. time and resources have been lost. it's going in a deeper direction. as long as it doesn't hit him he says we're happy. don't the people around you you've chosen to show themselves to be untrustworthy, that's at -- he says we are very happy. there is such a disconnect between what's happening and what he's feeling. >> well, she caught a primary a month ago, too, and that helps you find your inner bomb-thrower when you're up for re-election for a democratic primary in california. this flynn thing is so big. it's not big out in the voter world yet, but think about this, every day general flynn wakes up with one thought now, what can i do to please bob mueller because he controls the future of my son

and my life. he is an insider. no doubt about it he was in the middle of the russia stuff. now they smell blood. think the wheels are going to start turning and democrats will get tougher and tougher and run on impeachment i believe as their midterm election message. >> you know, eddie, don mcgahn, the white house counsel, not the president's personal counsel, has been called before robert mueller's special counsel. now you've got staffers in the white house being brought over. frankly how can he be the lawyer for the office of the president right now and somebody who bob mueller is interviewing as a witness? >> i don't either. we're going to run about against a whole bunch of contradictions, over the next few months, whether it's in the executive branch or we might be on the path to a constitutional crisis depending on how this thing works out. what i do know is this. is that general flynn's flipping as it were makes everyone nervous. and i think there are two things, particularly with

senator feinstein just laid out. one is the obstruction case, and the collusion tied to quid pro quo. that is to say what was it, what drove general flynn to contact kislyak? what drove him to say that we will deliver on these sanctions, we will ease them up? did they receive something during the campaign which allowed them or forced them to deliver something once they were elected? so all of this stuff is happening and i think senator feinstein sees it. it's a cumulative effect. it's not only she's getting primaried. i think she sees a collection of data that leads her to believe that something really is afoot here. >> look, danielle, we've had a lot of off the record concern from those -- from senators for quite some time. democrats are giving voice to it. republicans haven't. will they? >> i think republicans are going to keep talking privately about the president, but i think it serves nobody to stand up and say i think the president's crazy. he's the president of the united states. and that kind of thing is just -- there is no political upside for republicans because then the next question is, okay, you think he's crazy, you think he's on drugs, you think there

is something wrong with him? these are all the whispers we hear in washington, so the next question is, so what are you going to do about it? the answer from them is we don't want to do anything about it. >> you know what makes me sad? whatever happens we already lost. we're living in a time where the young people are seeing their government not functioning, when people are worrying about the president's health and they see an investigation into people lying. what do people think of politics as an honorable profession? >> i hate to shatter your illusions here but there have been many, many previous investigations of governments that weren't donald trump's in which presidents and those next to him lied. >> i'm not saying that. >> that's not shattering the illusion. >> i'm not saying that. i wouldn't have had to live through watergate. i don't think it's fun to be through one of these cliffhanger things. wouldn't you rather be living through a time where something is positive. >> i've lived in washington too long to think that. >> don't be so cynical. >> it is bigger than that. we're living through the first screw ball presidency in american history.

there is careening from one side to the other. you don't know who is really in charge. the internal politics are crazy. the people i talk to privately are terrified. they see the midterm election and trying to get the election back and there is a chaos factor. to quote jeb bush who pro predicted this and it's coming true. >> underneath it all is the erosion of basic norms in some ways provided the rudder, the stability. the basic democratic norms. that allow us to do what we do. >> decency, honesty, integrity, credibility. >> all right. horrible 48 hours for the president with this investigation, but he was handed one helpful pr moment. let me throw up these headlines. an fbi agent was just removed from bob mueller's team for anti-trump text. when you read the details of this, danielle, i have to say, part of me thought, wait a minute, are we bordering into thought police territory? number one. we can set that aside here, but it does give the president a pr tool here to throw to his supporters saying, aha, bias in the mueller probe. >> he just tweeted about it this morning. >> shocking. i'm shocked.

>> maybe his lawyer tweeted it too. i'm not sure who tweeted it. you know, look, this is a problem because you want the perception, just as dianne feinstein was extraordinarily careful to preserve that impartiality, i'm waiting for the evidence. when you have an investigator who obviously has an ax to grind against the president, you want to get rid of him. mueller is being very careful and i applaud him for doing that. >> if he made one error here, doris, it seems they didn't let everybody know immediately they had done this. >> after the fact. >> it was after the fact that the public learned. >> the president is a genius at taking something like this and blowing it up to titanic size. we are going to hear so much about this. it will eclipse the investigation now, at least on the conservative side of the media. >> it's always designed to undermine the truth value of the press, the truth value of the investigation, to leave doubt once the conclusions are gone. >> all right. i'm going to pause it here. i promise. when we come back, i'm going to ask two key players from the trump campaign what they knew about contacts with russia during the campaign and the transition.

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welcome back. this past week, we've seen a stream of outbursts, extraordinary even sometimes for president trump. he retweeted anti-muslim videos created by a far-right british political party.

he got into a twitter fight with the country's most important alley uk prime minister theresa may. he referred to senator elizabeth warren again as pocahontas at an event honoring native americans. he called north korea's leader little rocket man and a sick puppy in a speech in missouri. and he suggested that a government shutdown might be good for him politically. you might say it was just the president being himself. and that's more or less the point of a new book "let trump be trump." it's the first campaign book from the president's perspective. it's written by mr. trump's one time campaign manager corey lewandowski and deputy campaign director, david bossie. both of them join me now. gentlemen, welcome. >> thanks for having us. >> i want to start with an omission that we thought was interesting in the book. you might not be surprised. we were -- looked for some mike flynn references in your book. there are exactly two. it seems to me, did you scrub them out? this was a man who made 22 introductions for the president. you probably travelled with him on trump force one dozens of

times. how is it if you're writing about the campaign you didn't have any flynn anecdotes? >> this book and what we talk about in the book is about the trump campaign and the trump rise and what the president saw. what the candidate saw. and what the reaction was of the american people. what we don't talk about, chuck, look, this isn't a book about corey lewandowski or dave bossie, this is about what the president tapped into so all the ancillary players aren't mentioned, of course. the person who was the most important factor in the presidential election is the president of the united states and that's what we write about. >> i understand that, but he didn't even make acknowledgements and you listed every other person in the campaign in the acknowledgement. >> we mentioned mike flynn, and this book went to bed months ago, so, you know the book industry. this book went to bed. we didn't think about that in the slightest. >> you were on the transition. what can you say about k.t. mcfarland's role at mar-a-lago, were you there at mar-a-lago at the time?

what insight can you give to how this worked? >> it's very simple. the national security team was really segregated away. people without national security clearances, once the campaign ended and it was a transition, it really became -- you saw mike flynn and k.t. mcfarland around the office. they were in their own space, they had their own staff, so the everyday staff, the political team really had little interaction with them and i never saw either of them at mar-a-lago. i was there early. >> can you definitively say that there were no russian contacts between the campaign? i've talked to corey lewandowski about this 100 times at this point. i've not interviewed you. was there a single russian interaction that you ever witnessed? >> not even one. and this investigation's been going on for a long time. i just don't put out there that there a scintilla of evidence that shows russian collusion. this president, then the candidate, that was not part of the campaign.

i never saw a russian, i never saw a russian at trump tower, i never interacted with one, i was never on an e-mail about one. >> corey, let me ask you this, is it possible that donald trump jr. and jared kushner would do things and not tell you about it? >> of course, chuck. that happens on every campaign. what i learned when i went on -- and when i left the campaign trail and i went to the event and say donald trump said you need to do this. or dave bossie said the event has to be run this way. i call dave and say, did you say that? he said of course not. people take liberties all the time and do things that aren't told to the campaign manager or think it's in the best interests of themselves or the campaign. that happens in every organization. >> let me go to the book here. more specifics in the book. you paint a pretty rough picture of the president, that it's tough to work for him. sooner or later, everybody who works for donald trump will see a side of him that makes you wonder why you took a job with him in the first place. his wrath is never intended as personal offense, but sometimes it can be hard not to take it that way. the mode he switches into when things aren't going his way

could feel like an all-out assault. it would break most hardened men and women into little pieces. corey, how many times did you think about quitting? >> i never thought about quitting, but when you give the sacrifice of time with your family and what is important to you and he demands such perfection. he -- >> that's right. >> we wanted that campaign to be perfect from the time the music was cued and the time he walked off. the little details -- he's so good at the little details. and that's what i was referring to. >> what's the -- >> he'll tear your face off. believe me, it's happened to me many times. >> what's your advice to white house staffers who didn't get on the campaign when they feel the wrath of the president? >> do your job to the best of your ability. he expects and demands perfection. that is not a knock on our president. it is not. it is just simply a reflection of what we tried to do for him and what he demanded. i've got to be honest with you, when i failed, i owned up to it.

i think corey would say the same thing. we tried very hard every day. so the staff really needs to be on top of their game. >> all right. earlier this week, there have been reports that somehow the president now thinks the "access hollywood" tape was fabricated. you write about the "access hollywood" -- you both obviously write about it. you weren't there, but obviously you were there, and you had to play it for him. >> well, it was hope who got it. i played it on the ipad. >> my understanding, he did acknowledge to you, did he not, that the voice was his? >> look, you know, i don't even know why that's of interest today. the president put out his apology video that weekend -- >> it's only of interest because he's changing the story. >> i understand. but i don't believe it's changed. >> is it his voice? was that him in the "access hollywood" tape? >> oh, think it's clear that's it's his. >> so there is no disputing this. >> no, and i don't think he does either. >> well then, corey, explain this. you've been with him frankly

longer than david did. why does he have this penchant to change a bad story. when he owns up to something, literally six months later he wants to rewrite history. >> chuck, what's amazing is we haven't talked about once this significant tax reform. that the u.s. senate -- we're talking about this story that's been litigated. i know, but let's talk about the "access hollywood" tape. the american people had a month before election day when the "access hollywood" tape came out and you know what they said? we have a choice between a candidate who wants to change the direction of the country and a candidate who wants to keep the status quo. the american people -- 60 million people stepped forward and said we want donald trump as our president. we can talk about "access hollywood" or the fact that the american people looked at this and it's important to move forward and bring america in a different direction. >> it's been litigated and they chose donald trump as their president. >> it's a line i used to hear from clinton all the time, david. it's been litigated and the american people chose. is that where we're in in these issues now, both sides say it's been litigated? >> you know, unfortunately,

there has been a host of problems, recent problems with high-profile people and i think that's why it's back up in the public eye today. if that hadn't happened, it wouldn't be talked about. >> all right. the book is "let trump be trump." let corey and bossie be corey and bossie. all right, guys. good luck with the book. when we come back, there is a generational divide in how we view the issue of sexual harassment. view the issue of sexual harassment. shawn evans: it's 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get.

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and we are back. data download time. another week with more sexual harassment stories in the news with new names and old names. matt lauer, garrison keillor, john conyers and al franken, among others, but according to a recent nbc news/"wall street journal" poll how you feel about sexual harassment may depend on who you are and how old you are. 71% of women say sexual harassment happens in all or most workplaces, while 62% of men say the same thing. large majorities for both, though, still a nine-point gender gap. but generational differences were greater. 78% of women age 18 to 49 say sexual harassment happens in all or most workplaces, while 64% of women 50 or over agree with that statement. a 14-point difference. there is a generational divide

when women are asked if they've personally experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. 51% of women 18 to 49 say they have, while 41% of women 50 or over say it's the same. look, it's very possible that sexual harassment means different things to women of different generations. accounting for this difference. so what does this all mean for how we respond to these issues going forward? well, according to our poll, men, particularly younger men, are rethinking the way they interact with women in workplace. in fact, 54% of men between the ages of 18 and 49 say recent stories have caused them to think about their own behavior and how they interact with women. among men 50 or older, the impact was smaller, 42%. finally, younger women are more likely to share their own past experiences than older women. this suggests we may be looking at a lasting impact on the workplace environment because it's this younger generation

that's reacting the most intensely to this call it revolution of sorts. when we come back, will republicans be rewarded for passing a tax bill or punished by voters for favoring the wealthy? coming up, endgame. brought to you by boeing, continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire. expl ( ♪ ) as a person who loves the finer things, this holiday season, i've asked for a luxurious new buick suv. ( ♪ ) fingers crossed. ( ♪ ) ring in the holidays with buick. get up to 20% below msrp on most 2017 luxury suv models. that's almost $7,400 on this buick enclave leather. experience the new buick this holiday season for remaining 2017s.

experience the new buick so that's the idea. what do you think? hate to play devil's advocate but... i kind of feel like it's a game changer. i wouldn't go that far. are you there? he's probably on mute. yeah... gary won't like it. why? because he's gary. (phone ringing) what? keep going! yeah... (laughs) (voice on phone) it's not millennial enough. there are a lot of ways to say no. thank you so much. thank you! so we're doing it. yes! "we got a yes!" start saying yes to your company's best ideas. let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open.

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boeing. continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore bas revolution, i guess we should call it, of sorts of women speaking out against a sluf men behaving badly frankly here at home on nbc news or in politics and all this stuff. but i want some historical context here, doris, because i was thinking at what point do we start -- is this movement going to be so strong that we start reevaluating the lbjs rrtd jfks, the fdrs? dwight highsen hour, anybody who these powerful men who you'd hear stories but you wouldn't, you know, we wouldn't see it? >> i think it's a mistake when people say standards from changed. you can't racial lies behavior in the past that was wrong. if it was wrong now it was wrong 100 years ago, it was wrong 50 years ago. what's changed now is the victims are speak up in a way that they didn't 50 years ago. and they're speaking up not just

by themselves but in a chorus. that's why i think the thing you said at the very end young women are making this a movement. i keep think of bobby kennedy's talk, he said at south africa, is exactly what's happening now, it's from numberless diverse actions of courage and belief that human history is shaped each time a man or woman stands up for an ideal, who strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny r.i.m. of home and those ripples of hope can sweep down the walls of oppression and resistance. had is going to change the way men feel about women, it's going to change their relationship. it's not a moment that's going away. >> politically, we are watching every other industry move quickly except the world of politics. >> right. >> you live out in hollywood. did you ever think hollywood would form itself this fast? >> no. and it's not over yet either. i wear a straight jacket around town just to be safe. it's going to get bigger. the difference is -- >> hands off, doris, what are you doing here? where's my lawyer?

the difference that politicians vin direct bosses who can fire them. the voters can in intervals. western european democracies there's such thing as shame. they resign. our politics we've given up on the resigning thing so you have to wait for the election and fight it out. in the real world there's a boss and team of lawyers that can say you're out. >> nancy pelosi with me last week wasn't ready to call for john connors to resign, then suddenly a freshman member in of nevada who many people hadn't heard of until this first accusation of an unwanted advance comes out and within hours she and half the democratic caucus are calling for resignation. democrats are seeing they can't be slow on this or even deliberate. >> yeah, i think it's important that we understand this issue not as a partisan issue. i think the problem of sexual harassment, sexual assault cuts across party lines whether you're democrat or republican.

>> but the action hasn't been cutting across party lines. >> and democrats who are supposed to be these principled people should live up to their principles and what they don't it confirms that they're actually hypocrites after all. i think it would be interesting to see how we get out of this individual litigation of each individual case, because it's going to happen over and over and over again, and bump this up to a broader decision of pay the arc i can and its benefits. so the cultural ref solution not going to happen not simply in hollywood with big producers or at nbc, it's going to have to happen with that what cleans the hotel room, with the restaurant worker who's experiencing assault. so we have to figure out how we get this discussion about how we talk about male privilege and the way it saturates our society. >> but we have a reality that david brought up, he used almost the exact same phrase that i remember in the '90s when democrats would defend the clintons, well the voters have

spoken. so the voters give permission slips on this? >> i don't think the voters give permission slips to anybody to behave in a fash on this that's immoral or illegal and if that's going to be the defense well, all i can tell you it's a bloody awful defense. but i will say just as somebody whos that often worried, in fact even here on air has worried about the abuse of these kinds of accusations that over the last few weeks, the kinds of revelations that there have been, not just in the congress but frankly in the news media have truly shocked me. >> it's changed your mind a little bit? >> it has shocked me enormously. >> there's something about a pattern of behavior here that's unacceptable but unbelievable. the a person you knew could do something like that to somebody, unwanted using power. >> let's not forget not talk over you, doris but let's not forget what's going on in alabama. they're running neck and neck, roy moore. >> is the voter going to expunge the record of roy moore or is congress going to do something about it. >> the president is going to campaign for roy moore.

>> yeah. >> the mobile, alabama, media market they're trying to do this ridiculous thing, i spend spend a lot of time in pensacola, it's an alabama media market. >> do you want to claim victory when roy moore wins. now it's tightening up again so the president might come down with laryngitis because i think it's totally again trump himself look at how can he engineer something. the real drama will be there is more energy than i think washington cw thinks for kplultion if moore comes in on the republican side. because we know it's a litmus test. it's also a war of trump, i understand dollars politics a vote's a vote. but if not, it's going to be a test for the party. >> historical data tells me jones wins but boy, it feels like -- the president's doing ads. laura trump is doing robocalls to get folks there. they're all in. >> this is a question, does the president not havedy sebssy to go for this man to get a vote to prove himself when what's been proven and shown about him --

it's inexplicable. >> doris, what? i'm sorry, are you actually asking that question in 2017? >> yes, i'm asking that question. we have to answer that question. we have to keep asking it. >> the answer is no. >> the assistance no, no, no. >> that's the last word. that's all we have for today. what a show. we'll be back next week i promise because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press". because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." you can see more endgame and postgame on the mtp facebook page.

tonight, michael flynn learns to sing. president trump's lawyer learns to tap dance, and things in congress, well, it's the same old routine. this is "kasie dc." >> welcome to "kasie dc," we are live from washington every sfrund 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. on the show tonight, michael flynn dominates the headlines but you some democrats who want to disrupt the president's agenda focus on the tax bill instead? we're