"deadline: white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york where we are following breaking news on several fronts this hour. we're going to get to the president's controversial decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel in a moment. as the president was delivering those remarks, news broke about mike flynn, the president's former national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. based on an account from a whistleblower, we're learning mike flynn told a former business associate that sanctions against russia would be ripped up as one of the administration's first acts. the news is an important new piece of information about the administration's posture and disposition toward russia on day one and possibly even a clue as to why mike flynn would have lied about his conversations with russians on the topic of sanctions when interviewed by the fbi. the whistleblower account is

being made public by elijah cummings. mr. flynn believed that ending the sanctions could allow a business project he had once participated in to move forward according to the whistleblower. and mike mimoli covering this story at nbc news writes donald trump was just 11 minutes into his presidency when flynn texted a former business partner to say ambitious u.s. collaboration with russia to build nuclear reactors in the middle east was, quote, good to go, according to a new whistleblower account. this news comes as the president's son donald trump jr. fielded questions from the house intel committee today. let's get to our reporters and gifts on all of these stories. msnbc national security analyst and former chief of staff at both the department of defense and the cia, jeremy bash joins us, along with "new york times" reporter msnbc national security contributor michael schmidt, one of the reporters on this new flynn story today and our panel. associated press white house reporter jonathan lemire.

michael schmidt, let me start with you and the story that we were in our meeting watching the president's speech about making that big announcement about the middle east when we saw your piece dropped. talk about the significance of this whistleblower account. >> one of the big unknowns is what motivated him to lie. this may provide some answer that he didn't want to be seen as colluding or talk with the russians at the same time he

assuring both a colleague that sanctions would be ripped up as one of the administration's first act of talking about sanctions with sergey kislyak and lying about the conversation of sanctions to the fbi. what's the significance of those three things happening, and what are the chances that flynn was some rogue actor in all of those actions? >> nicolle, this is clear now that flynn was not freelansing. he knew that the new

is this where -- the president has been -- a tweet came out on saturday suggesting that the president fired mike flynn while the president was in possession of knowledge that he had lied to the fbi. the questioning, the investigation, the probing into the finances all seems to be reaching directly into the president's inbox. >> right. it's a truism of this

administration that when there's a big russian development, he usually acts out. he has been quiet. he has since tried to clarify that tweet on saturday suggesting it was an attorney who wrote it. the president himself wasn't behind it. he is not saying the president didn't realize that flynn had lied to the fbi when they fired him. but, yes, another example also, though, when this is what we're talking about. it's russia. it's not what we saw today about jerusalem, which is the white house so this is a decision that divided members of the administration. but the president felt personally deeply about this is something he wanted to do. he wanted to fulfill that campaign promise about jerusalem. but instead here we are on russia again. this is a cloud that will not go away and certainly there are people in the white house who are very anxious. every time they see a headline with mike flynn's name on it. >> there are also people in the administration who wouldn't have agreed with this policy. but there was a decision among donald trump's team to rip up russian sanctions on day one. i'm not sure that every person that signed on to the trump

foreign policy team was either -- certainly in testimony before congress, i don't remember people asserting that it was a decision before inauguration day to rip up the sanctions which were slapped on less than 30 days earlier. >> look, the story here is the unbelievable sleaze, right? you have the guy who is the incoming national security adviser tipping off a former business partner that the money spigot is about to open and that, you know, cascades of dollars are going to flow into his pocket and then potentially maybe after flynn leaves the administration to flynn. so aside from everything else, you get a glimpse of a kind of tawdriness that no recent administration, i think, has reached. the notion that during the inaugural address, the incoming national security adviser is going, come on. here come the bucks from the nuclear power plant deal with russia that we've been working

on for so long. it's jaw dropping. >> so michael schmidt, your paper has been covering this as has "the wall street journal" and "washington post." there have been revelations about mike flynn's effort to simply take a plan crafted with a business associate that was to build nuclear power plants in the middle east. they called it a marshal plan for the middle east. is it now the assumption based on this whistle blower account that michael flynn thought he'd profit financially from it and is that another bucket of crimes mueller may have him on and has simply decided not to charge him for? >> well, it's not clear what his specific financial -- what he would have gotten from this. he had cut ties with this company some time after. you have to wonder why he'd be corresponding with them on such an important day about such a matter like that if he didn't have any true incentive to that. the interesting thing about the work he'd done for foreign governments or projects is this was not really in the charging documents that came out last friday.

the stuff that came out was about his lying to the fbi about his calls with kislyak which may relate to this in some ways but is really more about his time as a national security adviser and during the transition. and less about the time during the campaign where he was working for foreign government. so we haven't seen as much publicly from mueller on his work during the campaign. >> jeremy bash, let me ask you to take us down the two paths. i believe this puts us at this fork in the road where, one, it may answer a question about why he lied. it may just be because the president asked him to. isn't that one of the questions we have after reading this whistleblower account? >> that's going to be the heart of mike flynn's testimony to mueller and the special counsel. he's now participating and cooperating as a witness. and so the first question, which is before you lie to the fbi, what conversations did you have with donald trump? that is the most important question the fbi wants the answer to. >> and jen palmieri who joins

our discussion, the former communications director for the clinton campaign. let me get you to weigh in because you were living in a parallel world. you were very eager for the obama administration to do something. to say something. there was a big takeout. you and i have talked about it on multiple occasions. an unnamed obama administration official at the highest level says we choked. but the obama administration finally a little over a month after the election slaps on sanctions. they expel diplomats, shutter what is thought to be a russian intelligence structure. how jarring is it to hear that less than a month later, the plan was to rip up those sanctions. clearly donald trump didn't see any punishment for russia as necessary. >> yeah, there are some fundamental -- this is very revealing fact that what we've learned about what flynn said and it goes back to some fundamentals that just won't go

away. some true facts. trump continued to weigh in to try to defend flynn and try to get comey to back off the investigation of him. that is not how trump normally behaves. he doesn't normally continue to defend staff after they are gone. so he's always been concerned about what mike flynn has to say. and i think, you know, if trump is acting that way it is with good reason. and another fundamental fact that never goes away with russia is this president has never taken an action to suggest that he's in any way concerned with russia's involvement in the election. and, you know, each week that goes by we get more -- a little more window into what was happening in the trump campaign. and the fact they had already decided they were going to, as a matter of policy, undo these sanctions shows that there was a lot of discussion within that -- within the organization, the trump campaign organization about doing this. and that suggests a lot of involvement from the president himself. and i think that we continue to look for other reasons why some

of the stuff happens other than the most obvious which is they were acting to assist russia, more involved with russia during the campaign than any of us had imagined. >> what would the reason be for the president's lurch toward such a pro-putin position? >> that we don't know but here's what we do know in scenario terms. obama in, i think, late november, levies this harsh set of sanctions. expulsion of diplomats. then something happens and put in announces he is not going to respond and trump tweets, i knew you were a smart guy. and then we have this happening on the 20th of january where flynn says the sanctions are going to be ripped up. the sanctions were not ripped up. in fact, congress levied new sanctions, and once that happened, putsin then expelled or moved or did something with

700 diplomats and russian workers at u.s. embassies and consulates in moscow. so there may have been a deal where you then if you look at this, you would say something happened. they made a deal. the russians thought they were going to tear up sanctions because flynn said they were going to. american politics irn s interved made it impossible and putin waited and then he moved and acted. you had a scenario where they had a deal and comey and congress made that deal impossible. that's the scenario that's raised by this. >> jeremy bash, we talk about russian collusion. do you think the russians talk about american collusion? is their version, we had a well-laid plan. we visited a lot of money and time and effort into american collusion and the payout was suppose to be what we read in this whistleblower account that mike flynn was going to rip up russian sanctions on day one. he sent this text, i believe, 18

minutes after the -- or into the inaugural address, which is more than 18 minutes long. do you think the other side of this question, the other side of the prism is that this was what russia sought and the ripping up of sanctions, that was what they were going to get out of what they'd done in the election if that's what bears out? >> absolutely, nicolle. the kremlin wanted a return on their investment. it was interfering in the election to help donald trump. and they told the trump campaign in june at the trump tower meeting that we are helping and looking for other avenues to help. it's one of the reasons why the russian -- the russian agent wikileaks operating then as a russian agent reached out also to donald trump and said we have ways of helping you in this campaign and there were all the various contacts between the russian government and trump campaign officials and then, of course, russia wanted its return on its investment and item number one was ripping up the sanctions. this text message shows that that is exactly what the trump campaign and the trump

administration intended to do. >> it's what they tried to do but they were stymied by congress. they were dragged along kicking and screaming. >> partly because of what happened. flynn had to be fired because there was this whole thing. sessions had to recuse himself. comey got fired. the last thing they could do is say, we're getting rid of all the sachnctions, too. that would have been like armageddon moment. they were stymied. >> the fact they were stymied, this seems like a revelation that gets at all of the why. this gets at all of the what, all of the who, all the questions about who because there weren't very many people above mike flynn on inauguration day. really just two. the vice president and the president. and in light of yesterday's reporting that the white house had lied about or was in the loop on that mueller had subpoenaed deutsche bank records related to trump, putting out a statement saying we've confirmed the news reports that the special counsel subpoenaed financial records related to the

president are also. we've confirms this with the bank and others. that is inoperative, as they say. and the white house press secretary also giving out inaccurate information from the podium. they may be parsing the fact the subpoena was for entities related to donald trump but any persons or businesses or llcs or corporations. where is the white house at this hour with the revelation flynn made a promise to rip up sanctions in the spirit of a business deal that bob mueller has now subpoenaed bank records. chuck rosenberg said that mueller has the tax records or will get them because that's where every investigation goes. they are in his, you know, dirty laundry. >> right now publicly, the white house has been silent this afternoon on these revelations. privately, there's great concern and it predates today. the last few days, people in the white house are very concerned. and a lot of these trump outside advisers who in many ways, the

most influential people in his life. those he talks to late at night that suggested, mr. president, this isn't going well. your current legal strategy is not working. you need to make real changes. to this point, trump has not done that. he's not fired any lawyers. he has not argued they should be more aggressive. he has not started the mechanism that could lead to bob mueller being replaced but each of these moments, as they come, the pressure from the outside. the pressure from those in trump world who have an investment who want him to succeed, for whatever reason -- >> succeed at what? >> growth -- >> there are not any people around donald trump that say this looks really bad. you have to get on team america. mike flynn has joined team america. why isn't trump on team america? >> they think that trump is on team america. there's a tax bill that looks like it's going to get -- >> oh, god. the tax bill. >> this is what people around him are seeing. they see him as a means to an end and they are suggesting that -- but they're worried.

and to this point, publicly, he's saying he's not. but privately, there is a belief that he soon may act. >> i think only being paralyzed by the fingers that could get him to stop tweeting. what ties and connects the most dots and fills in most of the still murky picture about the why? >> well, the -- what i found out was elijah cummings and trey gowdy going at it. elijah cummings asking trey goudy to look into this and trying to put pressure on him. they faced off in the benghazi investigation. they were on different sides there when gowdy was looking at hillary clinton's e-mails. and cummings reminded gowdy of that and said you investigated hillary clinton's e-mails while there was an ongoing federal investigation. there should be no reason you can't look into this even though mike flynn is cooperating. trying to put as much pressure on the republicans to do something about this. >> michael schmidt, thank you

for joining us. when we come back, donald trump breaks with decades of u.s. foreign policy today, recognizing jerusalem as israel's capital. israel's ambassador to the u.s. joins us for reaction. also ahead, kristin gillibrand always for the resignation of al franken over sexual harassment allegations, and many of the democratic party's rising stars follow her lead. and a scene from split screen america as franken clings to his political life. steve bannon rallies the party faithful for a man accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls. everyone deserves attention, whether you've saved a lot or just a little. at pnc investments, we believe you're more than just a number. so we provide personal financial advice for every retirement investor.

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president donald trump today formally recognized jerusalem as israel's capital. a campaign promise kept but a high stakes move that may complicate his administration's larger longer term goal of achieving peace between israelis and palestinians. >> after more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between israel and the palestinians. it would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result. therefore, i have determined that it is time to officially recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. >> joining us for reaction is israeli ambassador to the u.s. ron durmer. thank you for being with us today. >> good to be with you. great day. >> i want to start with you on that topic of a great day in

your view with news that bubbled up in the last couple of hours since the president's remarks that the u.s. secretary of defense and the u.s. secretary of state were not on board for this decision. they opposed the move and requested an increase in security prior to the announcement. does that give you any pause? >> well, obviously, we want to make sure that americans are always safe. the president made this decision because he thought it was in the best interest of the united states and in the best interest of peace. and i think he's right. look, your enemies, our enemies, they have 100 reasons to attack us. does this make 101? i don't know. hopefully people will respond to the president's call for calm and we can get on track with the peace process. but not only do i not think that this decision undermine s peace i think it advances peace. the reason we don't have peace, nicolle is because the palestinians refuse to accept the legitimacy of a jewish state in any boundary. there's been a constant toefrts

de effort to delegitimize. the unesco say the jews have no -- you saw it at the security council when they said the western wall is occupied palestinian territory. that sets back the calls for peace. i think the president has injected a very important dose of truth and the only foundation that you're going to build peace on in the middle east is truth. and the president's speech today was a victory for truth and right to historic wrong. >> your predecessor had similar things to say about clinton and bush. also viewed as good friends of israel. why didn't they do this if it was such a good and smart and obvious move? >> it's not an easy decision and they each in their own way decided -- >> you think donald trump understands the politics of the region better than presidents bush and clinton? >> i don't know if he understands it better but he gets it and he's now punctured what is not -- there's a lot of

talk about fake news. what is fake history in the region? as if our capital is not in jerusalem. it's been our capital for 69 years. the real question is not why this was done today. >> why can't you acknowledge -- >> i heard your -- i'll answer your question but let me finish this sentence. the real question is why was this not done 69 years ago? why not? it's not just the last 22 years. it's not just the peace process for the palestinians. what happened after 1995? we've been a state since 1948. we're the only state in the world. israel is the only state in the world whose capital is not recognized. why? what happened for 45 years when there wasn't a peace process on the table? >> so you sound very agitate forward such a good and celebratory day. all i'm getting at is that you and your predecessors describe president bush and clinton as good friends to israel. there has to be more complicated consideration such as peace and the threat of violence, not just to americans which was behind the move by secretaries matt us

and tillerson but is this a move, a symbolic victory or a strategic victory or is this just something that you feel is making right those 69 years of history and you don't care about violence that ensues because of it? >> we do care very much about violence. >> you do? >> obviously, star personnel and we're the ones on the front lines. obviously, we supported this decision and our government supported it and our security forces supported this decision. we know that there could have been this or that disagreement within the administration but you should know that there was a decision made by an american president 70 years ago, harry truman, to recognize the state of israel. that decision was opposed by the senior officials in his government at the time. and i think looking back, everyone understands that president truman made the right decision and looking forward after this path and the dust settles, people understand that president trump made an historic decision and the right decision and a decision that advances peace. >> i'm a truman fan, too. you raised the u.n. resolution

that was, i think, your country felt the obama administration was on the wrong side of it. you've acknowledged your colleagues have acknowledged contacts with the trump transition team, including jared kushner as i'm sure you know, the president's former national security adviser mike flynn was indicted for lying to the fbi about his conversations with russia about specifically your country's plight before the u.n. bob mueller has been appointed in this country to look into why mike flynn may have lied about his conversations with ambassador kislyak about that u.n. resolution affecting your country. would you be willing to cooperate as a fact witness with bob mueller? >> i haven't looked into that issue. i'm an ambassador of a foreign government. i don't know how that works with your laws. i don't think there's -- >> our countries are very, very good friends. i'm sure if you wanted to help -- >> i understand that. i don't know what is proper but publicly at the time, a year ago, i thanked the incoming administration for trying to

help avert a decision we thought was very bad for peace. we were very grateful when president trump tweeted out saying that he was opposed to this decision. we reached out around the world, reached out to congress members of both parties to try to help us avert what he thought was a bad decision. not only that. i told the obama administration officials that this is what we were going to do that they were putting us into a position where we reach out to everybody in order to thwart a very, very bad decision. and so we're very grateful for any officials, if they did engage with that to try to prevent it from happening and as president trump said at the time, he tweeted at the time, this was going to make peace harder. he's right. what he did today actually is going to make peace easier. >> my only point, your contacts were not inappropriate. no one is suggesting they were. but there is an investigation. people trying to understand why the president's national security adviser lied to our law enforcement agencies about conversations about that u.n. resolution that you publicly

campaigned against. if you could help get to the bottom of that, would you be willing to sit down with bob mueller and sit down and discuss what you just described on the air. >> i don't know what is appropriate for me as a foreign ambassador to do in your legal process. i can't answer that question, but i don't think there's an issue here with any of the facts. and i think they've been all public. i don't know about mr. flynn's contacts specifically with this or that government. but i just think that the truth, the fact speak fur themselves and we're grateful for president trump to try to avert was what a very bad decision at the time and making this historic decision today. israel is deeply grateful to the president. >> we're grateful to you for spending time with us. i want to bring in susan glasser, chief international affairs columnist for politico. it's so interesting to hear sort of the public face on the u.s./israeli relationship.

we know that privately many israeli politicians and sort of career diplomats have bemoaned for many years the partisan nature of u.s. support for israel. they've not viewed it as a good thing, that during the obama administration, it was an invitation from republican speaker john boehner to address congress to their leader. they now have a president who is the most polarizing president in modern american history. someone with a 33 to 35% approval rating making this decision today. what do you make of the fact that they are standing by their man if you will. >> well, look. there is clearly a real alliance between prime minister benjamin netanyahu's government and you just had the ambassador on. he's a really close lieutenant of prime minister netanyahu. he and president trump are singing from the same page and in the politics of israel, they see it as important to be shown as singing from the same page. but you're right to highlight the increasingly partisan nature

of support for israel here in the united states. that's a trend just of the last few years and it is something that is deeply worrisome to israelis i've talked to across the political spect rum who fear that their national security depends upon a close relationship with the united states and not with any particular political party. right now, today, in the wake of president trump's decision, there's only one country in the world that's come out in support of it. even other close u.s. allies like france, for example, you had the president of france, emmanuel macron, tweeting out a strong statement against it. the pope lining up against it. israel and the united states right now are standing alone on this particular issue of recognizing jerusalem. >> i'm sorry, go ahead and finish your point, susan. >> no, no, i think you're right that here in washington, the politics of israel have changed in a way that's going to resound for a while. >> jeremy, let me ask you about a country that we haven't talked about yet here who i understand may be more instrumental in

whatever the outcome is there. and that's saudi arabia. saudi arabia's new leader giving the sort of behind the scenes cover to both sides. sort of signaling a willingness to have a better relationship with israel and trying to comfort and calm the other side, the palestinians. can you speak to the importance of the -- i don't want to call it realignment but the shift between the saudis and emirates and on some security issues the israelis as a counterbalance to iran and their allies in the region? >> it's a really important point, nicolle. on the issue of jerusalem, it's important for all of the viewers to understand that in western jerusalem, israel has its knesset, its supreme court, prime minister's office. it deems jerusalem as its capital. and the united states has a confluence there. the only issue, the real issue is whether or not that would preclude the palestinians from having their capital in east jerusalem, and i hope the

administration makes clear that an advancing peace process, that that would not preclude that opportunity. but on the issue of saudi arabia that you referenced, saudi is a key u.s. partner in the region and quietly they've been working with israel, with other gulf arab countries to really push back on iranian aggression in the region. and my concern from a process, even though substantively i'm okay with sail jerusalem is israel's capital, i want to make sure we don't alienate those countries. one against the saudis and the, against israel and syria and i worry that today's decision will galvanize the arab street against israel when in effect israel and the sunni gulf countries may have had iran on the ropes. >> trump's speech explicitly says that he does not want this decision to affect whatever decisions the palestinians and israelis make in a peace deal.

if jerusalem is recognized as the capital of israel, israel has the right to determine what jerusalem is defined as. if israel says west jerusalem is jerusalem, and east jerusalem is the capital of palestine, that's fine with him. so that is explicitly in the speech. secondly, muhammad bin salman, the crown prince of saudi arabia, who is the one who is making these tectonic shifts happen isn't -- >> do you agree they are tectonic? >> yes, they are. he's been trying to comfort abbas and the palestinians. he brought, according to reports, he brought mahmoud abbas, the palestinian president to riyadh and said to him, you will accept the israeli peace deal that is on the table in front of you, if you want me to still be your friend. far from -- >> far from a friend. >> far from being a -- he is shaking this up. his decision essentially to ally not only with israel but with the qods in israel is a

development so startling that i don't think we have yet -- we have not quite processed the fact that the most implasable enemy of israel, the iran of 1975, the iran of 1980 is now effectively an ally of israel in the middle east. if this holds true, this whole conversation is moot because we are in a new era with totally new rules. >> i want to ask you about the optics of it. i happen to agree on sort of the seismic nature of saudi arabia's role in the region. but i want to ask you about the appearance that once again, as with the pulling out of the paris climate accord, as with susan just went through the -- literally no one else is for this except america and israel. and even if the saudis brought in the palestinians and played bad cop, they have not publicly given the president any cover. can you just speak to the optics that once again america is on the world stage completely isolated based on the policies

of a president with a 33% approval rating. >> time and time again, president trump has shown he has no interest in following what his predecessors have done or maintaining or strengthening some of the united states' traditional alliances. this is another one he's willing to go out there on his own and without international cover and make a stand. and it's a far cry from two years ago when he started off his campaign. he spoke to the republican jewish coalition. he wouldn't take a stand. this is something -- this has been a startling evolution over two years where he has -- this became a signature campaign promise where he aligned himself with benjamin netanyahu. and, of course, evangelical christians who make up much of his base. those groups all wanted to see this move. trump in many ways was looking at today as not a strategic movement for the peace process. there are those in the white house who acknowledge this will set things back at least a little bit but rather fulfilling

a campaign promise, sticking to his word, and being willing to go where his predecessors wouldn't which is always a point of pride for him. >> they were disingenuous because clinton said jerusalem is the eternal capital. so did bush and obama. he's saying i agree with that. >> but they never made this move. >> they were hypocrites nad -- >> worried about security in the region. >> we have to hit pause. thank you very much. when we come back, 158 -- or 150-acre fire rips through los angeles forcing evacuations choking off one of the most traveled highways in california and burning some of the most expensive homes in the country to the ground. we'll get a live report. keyboard clacking ]

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hire a law firm, where you're not a priority. call your cpa, who can be required to testify against you. or, call the tax law firm of moskowitz, llp. i went from being a cpa to a tax attorney because our clients needed more. call us, and let us put our 30 years of tax experience to work for you. we are following this terrifying scene unfolding in the los angeles area. dangerous wildfires are

threatening thousands of homes. it's moving closer and closer to the getty center museum. about 50,000 homes have been evacuated, including areas near the hollywood hills. msnbc's jacob soboroff has been in the belle air area all day where i've been watching you and worried about your safety. many families have been forced from their homes. you've watched structures burn down. what is the latest, jacob? >> i'm all right. the same can't be says for the property of a lot of people around here. you can hear in the distance one of the water-dropping helicopters that's come through. take a look at the roof of the home next to the one i'm standing at. they are extinguishing a fire that completely demolished the home on the other side of this one. a huge loss of prrcht in this area. all along interstate 405 is the critical freeway that runs through los angeles. all the way down from the southern part of the city up through the san fernando valley and beyond. this area was completely shut down earlier. it's a fire that stretched not only for miles but over 150

acres. check this out. i suppose that you can call this lucky, unfortunately. this house has -- got just about everything in the backyard blown out. the pool was completely filled with soot and debris from these fires. the trees have completely been singeed. look up at this palm tree. just about nothing left. the entire hillside below it is gone. but the house at least survives. come this way because i want to show you. you're familiar with the area. for those who aren't. that's the 405 freeway directly below. the entire hillside burned. this was happening during the morning commute here. people were trapped on the freeways, being turned around by the fire department. i cannot stress enough what an incredible job the men and women of the los angeles city and los angeles county fire department have done to extinguish this blaze. let me put this in perspective. this is about 150 acres. they mayor of los angeles has declared a citywide state of emergency asking for statewide and federal assistance. governor jerry brown has also

declared a statewide state of emergency. and that's because, think about this. this is 150 acres. just up to the county to the north in ventura, 55,000-plus acres have been scorched in a fire in that part of southern california. absolute devastation here because of the santa ana winds that blow through. it's been extremely dry fire season out here. and we're beyond what the traditional fire season at this point into december. you'd think it would be cold, raining, but it's been the exact opposite. haven't had a drop of rain. it's provided the tinder for the fires you see. as of you, no reports of loss of life out here in los angeles. the key thing is those winds will continue to blow for the next couple of days out here. hopefully things change for the better overnight and over the next couple of days. >> jacob, i haven't heard you say this yet, but if i missed it i apologize. how much of the fire, both in los angeles county and ventura county, is at this hour under control? >> how much of the fires?

>> how much of it is under control, or is it still largely out of their control? in napa, so much devastation -- >> in ventura -- yeah, in ventura, the containment is far less than we're seeing here. that's the language they use out here. this fire, they've done a great job containing the fire in this particular neighborhood. containment doesn't mean there hasn't been a loss of property because we've seen probably tens of millions of dollars of loss of property up here in this part of the region but we do not see at this point from our vantage point on the ground the types of huge flames and just ongoing actual fire that we were seeing earlier today. that's a different story, though, up in ventura county. >> jacob soboroff, stay safe. thanks for spending time with us. when we come back, democrats try to clean house while national republicans brace for an unwelcome victory in the alabama senate race. and we're keeping an eye on the other side of capitol hill where it's shaping up to be a very

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there were new allegations today, and enough is enough. i mean, this is a conversation we've been having for a very long time. and it's a conversation that this country needs to have, and i think when we start having to talk about the differences between sexual assault and sexual harassment and unwanted groping, you are having the wrong conversation. you need to draw a line in the sand and say none of it is okay. none of it is acceptable, and we as elected leaders should absolutely be held to a higher standard, not a lower standard and we should be valuing women and that's where this debate has to go. >> senator kristen gillibrand calling on al franken to step down following new allegations of sexual harassment which

franken denied. rising stars like mccaskill, harris and baldwin following her lead. more than a quarter of the u.s. senate plus the head of the dnc saying it's time for franken to go. this purge may be an effort to maintain the mile high ground over their republican counterparts who may be forced to embark on a messy process of debating whether to expel an accused child molester from their ranks if roy moore prevails in the alabama special election. last night steve bannon rallied the party faithful for more. >> 100% a vote for doug jones is a volt for the clinton agenda. by the way, mitch, the tax cut is not going to save you? tax cut okay but it's not going to save you. >> bannon stands with moore as does the president. as we reported yesterday, the rnc is using its funds to support roy moore, accused child predator. nbc's kasie hunt is on capitol

hill joining jen palmieri and the panel. what do you make of senator gillibrand taking this line? >> a very tough line and one that i think was the first alle against franken surfaced what is the bar for somebody to have to resign? she said, i don't know. a day or so ago at the political forum wouldn't answer questions about whether he should resign or not and i think it just got to the point, and i'm told privately that a lot of the women in the senate were just really frustrated privately and having a lot of conversations among themselves about what to do. this clearly was a coordinated effort. senator gillibrand coming out the same time at senator marrone oh and others and male counterparts start to follow. over a quarter now of the senate calling for him to step down as

you noted. and claiming the high ground, whether in the case of roy moore or in the case of president trump it was a very difficult place to be. to have somebody in their own ranks, a very high-profile of the democratic party, some accused them of giving him a pass. you heard gillibrand saying we're in the wrong conversation talking about the differences in the nuances. end of the day, public servants should be held to a higher standard. i this this will potentially put a lot more problems on republicans for the pressure they and have not sure what franken will say tomorrow when he makes his announcement but a lot of talk he will quote/unquote do the right thing according to democrats who talked to him today. that seems to suggest a resignation is in the offing and he certainly lost most of his support among democrats here on capitol hill. >> jen palmary, do you this this

is -- we should say, jen, last time you were at this table i think it was senator gillibrand that sought to, in an interview with kasie hunt, bring up some of bill clinton's trespasses in the past. is this a good conversation for the democrats to have? and if not good, is it necessary to stay focused on men like donald trump, who stand accused of sexual misconduct with more than a dozen women and roy moore who stands accused of really preying on teenaged girls, more than nine have come forward so far. >> right. it's a necessary conversation to have beyond the implications for the democratic party. right? a necessary conversation to have in society and what's happened with senator franken is what a lot of people have to face in their own lives and that it's painful, because there's a lot of us who love senator franken, and -- i thought that -- >> let me press you, jen, do you think -- >> no. i thought she was -- i was

interested to see what she was going to say, because of the process that kasie described. right? and i don't think that we need to expect everyone knows immediately how to handle all of this. this is a revolution that we're living through. and i think senator gillibrand a couple days ago said she wasn't sure what the bar is for resigning and that's okay, because we were all wrestling in this new world, how you deal with it. i thought she spoke, i was very convinced by what she said, which is when you're in the situation of having to distinguish between harassment and assault and groping, that you have to say, and this is painful, a painful part do when it's a colleague you have respected and liked for a long time to say, none of it is okay. so putting aside even implications for alabama and if roy moore should win, i think that this is something that democrats have to do as the, as i believe the reason why i am a

democrat. because i think they're the party that stands up for women. >> and john, you're not so sure roy moore is definitely going to win? >> i'm not. it's a weird election. special election. no one else on the ballot. this one race. if you look at the "washington post" story and the other stories about the credible accusations of molestation and pedophilia if those work as negative campaigns, the job that, depress turnout of the candidate being attacked. this seems to be a pretty strong, negative hit and i think you're more likely to see natural more voters stay home as a result of it than you are going to see democrats who would vote for doug jones and independents, not drag themselves to the polls to vote for him. so -- ordinarily you would think there would be no chance and the other detail is roy moore's last election in alabama, a place republicans had 60% to 70%, he

got 52%. already a history of underperforming in elections. >> a tough race to predict also because polling is so difficult in that state that -- it's a question of peoplish not willing, perhaps to admit they want to vote for roy moore. or conversely, maybe someone wouldn't want to admit to vote for a democrat in a state that is deep, deep red. i think there's a sense certainly it's close. people, the white house now, they believe moore will win but certainly not a suggestion that it's a done deal or a landslide. obviously, we have the president going into that neck of the woods friday to have a rally that is not technically for roy moore but just over the boarder in florida where that rally is in the media market of mobile, alabama. plenty people debating to, whether or not to vote for roy moore will see the president there. if not make an explicitly pro-roy moore case, he did on twitter this week, at the very least, go against democrat doug jones. >> last word, consternation on

capitol hill that donald trump essentially forced mitch mcconnell to retreat from his position which was to say, i believe the women, to his position as a moving target, but that he retreated to say, it's an issue for alabama? and i think yesterday updated that to say, well, we would consider an ethics process, should he prevail? >> reporter: so i think that mcconnell, seems to me, reading kind of the tea leaves and body language, mcconnell didn't want to come across quite the way it was received when it comes to roy moore. when he talked to reporters yesterday he said i called for him to withdraw. he didn't do that. there be immediately be an ethics inquiry raising the question, does that mean that mcconnell will move quickly to try to expel him? that would be potentially the result of that and this could put more pressure on him to do that thank you for joining us. sneaking in one more break. don't go anywhere. ♪

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my thanks to my guests. "mtp daily" starts right now. hi, chuck. here and i'm six seconds late. >> a lot of reiteration. a lot of js there! j-pod and all this stuff. well done. well done. thank you, nicolle. good to be here. if it's wednesday, it's another day of chaos or as we like to call it, wednesday. tonight -- new calls for senator franken to step down. >> enough is enough. >> democrats try to regain moral authority as republicans double down on roy moore. plus, donald trump jr. in the hot seat. we'll talk to one of the house intel committee members who grilled the president's son on russia today.