one of those dedicated to the state's role in the civil rights movement. the ceremony boycotted by john lewis, benny thompson and mayor the jackson, mississippi. the president did not mention the controversy in his remarks. he stayed on message, highlighting the importance of the museum. >> the civil rights museum records the oppression, cruelty and injustice inflicted on the african american community, the fight to end slavery, to break down jim crow, to end segregation, to gain the right to vote, and to achieve the sacred birth right of equality. >> there in jackson, mississippi, nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. kristen? >> reporter: hi, richard, good afternoon to you. president trump stuck to his script when he spoke here at the civil rights museum in jackson, mississippi. he paid tribute to all of those who have fought and risked their

lives in the civil rights movement. he particularly focused on medgar evers, a civil rights leader who was shot and killed right here in jackson, mississippi, where he lived with his family. his widow was here today, as well as his brother. in fact, he greeted president trump on the tarmac. president trump talked about the sacrifice and the significance of the work of people like medgar evers. i spoke with people here today. they said that they were largely pleased with the president's remarks. he didn't talk about the controversy at the backdrop of his visit, the fact that there were dozens of protesters who greeted himself outside, or the fact that a number of people decided to boycott this event, including civil rights icon, congressman john lewis, who said that his mere appearance here today was hurtful, because he says that the president has done more to divide this country than to unite it. but i did talk to a lot of people after this event today. here's what they had to say. >> i felt the need to be here,

based on the sacrifices that had been made by noble people that you will see in the museum. and i thought it was my responsibility to be here for them, since they're no longer with us. >> the important thing is to engage. and i think if they would have come and been able to meet with the president and talk to him, something could have come out of that. >> reporter: those who boycotted today's events point to the fact that has a candidate, mr. trump did struggle to win over african american voters. and as president, he's had a number of different instances which have created controversy, including his response to the clashes in charlottesville, for example, which turned deadly. however, i spoke to one white house official, who said that they wish that those who decided to boycott had actually attended because today should be focused on unity, not about divisions. richard? >> kristen, thanks so much. let's get to our panel, ken vogel, eliza collins, jane

newton small. jane, talk about this. h how'd the president do? >> it was striking that he was on message. compared to last week when he went off message and called elizabeth warren pocahontas, which native americans consider racist and offensive. this time around, he clearly stuck to the script, he read his cards. he often looked down at the script and didn't go off the cuff at all. so it's striking to see the president that we remark on the fact that when the president doesn't go off script and delivers a normal speech it's striking. >> yeah, and the backdrop here is of course what's happening not too far away in the state of alabama. and not too far away, the president speaking in pensacola, florida in the last 24 hours.

and not too long ago, roy moore addressing the question of what does make america great again and he mentions a time in the united states history where he's saying that's one of the great times of america, although there was slavery. and one would say the context and the seriousness by which it was mentioned, maybe not the best fit based on the them attics that are happening in the rice there and what's happening there as we were talking about in mississippi. your thought, ken? >> yeah, this race is alabama is so fraught for so many different reasons that really get at the sort of cultural, identity politics, the culture war, if you will. and trump has pitted groups, demographic groups against demographic groups, including singling out african americans, making them feel uncomfortable, making muslim americans feel uncomfortable. and so trump's endorsement of roy moore will probably help

rally roy moore's base because the types of folks who support him and supported trump, trump won alabama by 30 points. they're probably not going to be offended by a comment like that, or not as offended. likewise, they're not as offended by the allegations of sexual misconduct against roy moore. we saw him drop in the polls when the stories first appeared. he's rising again. he has a six-point lead. we thought the race would be a referendum on whether people believe the victims or the accusers, the folks who accused roy moore of sexual misconduct, still a little bit about that, but still a little bit about whether they even care, whether they do believe the victims, whether they care about these accusations. >> and the president here, as we look at him doubling down, maybe even tripling down -- i have new news, eliza, but the president yesterday saying you gotta vote roy moore, openly during this campaign-style rally. and this coming from our own peter alexander saying a white

house official has told him, president trump has recorded a last-minute robocall this afternoon in support of the alabama senate candidate roy moore. we don't know when it is going to be used. we know that it was recorded this afternoon, according to the white house official telling peter alexander. and really here, eliza, now another step forward for this president in support of roy moore, where he was luke warm earlier, potentially because of the parallels in the allegations of sexual misconduct that the president has, does, did face, and as well for roy moore. but the president evidently, might be thinking that's in the rearview mirror. >> right. well, the president said it, he denied it, it worked for him. he was leaktded and seems to be how he feels about roy moore. also seems that the white house has decided now that moore, like ken has said, has gone back up in the polls and they're deciding to take that less of a

gamble, they feel, in supporting him. there's also going back to the prime minister in alabama where the president endorsed luther strange, who is the sitting senator, and strange lost by a lot to moore. and there was real frustration by the president feeling he had been misled. mcconnell told him to endorse luther strange. he doesn't want to be on the losing end again. he sees roy moore has the winner, he's seen him bounce back in the polls and voters forgave him for the allegations or didn't believe them and he feels the same for moore. >> and the whole no outside in, but the president certainly now diving in to this race. and you brought up the example of luther strange, but, jay, does it work one way but not the other, if you know what i mean? does his support help roy moore in this particular situation, where the help for luther strange did not? >> certainly it looks like it will, richard.

and donald trump won alabama by 30 points. he remains incredibly popular there. and roy moore is somebody who is much more aligned frankly with his base in many ways. and you saw the most recent polling after the president's endorsement, roy moore's numbers go up. so like ken said, he's leading by more than six points. and i think there's a real sense that donald trump's putting his name on the line and is going all in for roy moore. and if roy moore doesn't win, it will be highly embarrassing. so he's betting that this is going to help and that putting his name to advertisements, mentioning him in rallies is going to get him over the finish line and get roy moore into the senate. >> it was a fact checker's field day if you were listening to the pensacola, florida speech. but more importantly, if he's going all in, why not just go to mobile? why not be there in alabama, in front of the voters that it appears based on the reporting here, that he's all in on now?

having just recorded a robocall, according again to peter alexander and what a white house official is telling him. >> you would think that would be the next logical step. but i still think there is some caution as eliza suggested, about getting behind someone, putting his name on the line, and then having the potential of a loss that he really feels deeply. i mean, he felt with luther strange that he was sort of convinced to support him because the suggestion from republican leadership was, it was a sure thing. and we know he doesn't like to lose. and it really both erers him. so not going to alabama, and he still could, it seems unlikely at this point, there's only a couple days left in the race. but not going to alabama would give him a little bit of plausible deniability. oh, i didn't go all in for roy moore, if roy moore loses. >> but you got a robocall now, it's there. so if this is the case, that we

have this robocall to be used in the next couple days, is the issue of sexual misconduct, sexual assault, sexual harassment here, is it unfortunately in the rearview mirror in terms of its importance? >> well, it seems like that way. and it seemed that way in alabama after the first group of allegations came out. we saw the reports on the ground, where people would talk to voters and say, do you believe this? and either they would say absolutely not, or we saw some of the more startling comments of, yes, if that's true, it's awful and if it was my own daughter i'd punch him, but i'd still vote for him. so it seems like alabama voters have largely stepped aside of that. it's interesting that someone like roy moore very well could be a united states senator, with going last week, where someone like senator al franken had to resign, his party basically pushed him out for far less strong allegations. granted, there were many and he's a sitting senator, of

groping, but we're seeing this weird juxtaposition if he comes in and franken steps out. >> when we get that robocall, we'll share it with all three of you up you. ken, eliza, and jane, have a great saturday. >> thank you. coming up, new information in the russia investigation. one of president trump's most trusted advisers, hope hicks, was interviewed by special counsel robert mueller's team. what's the significance here? we'll have that. 4/7 access, digital id cards, they can even pay their bill- (beep) bill has joined the call. hey bill, we're just- phone: hi guys, bill here. do we have julia on the line too? 'k, well we'll just- phone: hey sorry. i had you muted. well yea let's just- phone: so what i was thinking- ok well we'll- phone: yeah- let's just go ahead- phone: oh alright- the award-winning geico app. download it today.

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new information on special counsel robert mueller's investigation of russian election meddling. hope hicks, president trump's communications director, reportedly meeting with investigators this week. "the new york times" saying hope was warned of repeated attempts by russian operatives to contact the president's team during the transition period. there's no indication hicks did anything wrong, but it shows that the russian operatives continued to try to contact the trump team even after u.s. intelligence agencies accused them of interference in the election. let's bring in jack rice and elizabeth holtzman. representative, as one of the writers of the special prosecutor bill, also a member on the house judiciary committee during the time of nixon, that voted to impeach him, with that

sort of history and that purview, what are you seeing right now in terms of not only these developments in the last week, also including attacks on the fbi itself? >> yeah, well, i'm seeing two things that are kind of reminiscent of watergate. one of them is the attack on the special prosecutor. and it's not just coming from the president and his team. you know, the whole continued statement that russia is just a hoax, the investigation is a hoax. it's no hoax when you have several people -- four people indicted and also now conservative republicans attacking mueller. i mean, these people really -- what's worrisome, they're undermining the integrity of an institution. the minute you get rid of mueller, you're back in watergate territory. that's what triggered impeachment and that's what triggered the end of richard

nixon. >> when you were working on the special prosecutor bill, you put in checks andne balances? >> correct. >> and how do you see the strengths? >> the strength of the checks and balances. the framers of the constitution knew there would be somebody who would abuse the power of his office and we had to preserve democracy. one of the checks and balances is to make sure the criminal justice system holds everybody accountable. when you start to tear that down and you start to create fake news and you start to tell the american people they can't trust basic institutions in this country, then it becomes a serious problem because what happens if there's an indictment of the president of the united states? will the people believe it? will it have any credibility? we can't be a banana republic where the president controls everything and the rest of the institutions don't work. >> well, jack happens to have a thought on that. because i was looking at your

twitter account today, jack. your thought on exactly what the representative said. >> yeah, she's absolutely right. i think about this as a former prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney. and i'm sitting in front of juries. you argue facts if it works. if it doesn't work, you argue the law. the problem is that the president and the people said we had no contact with the russians at all. nothing. fact, they had all kinds of contact and that is objectively true. then we're arguing that we didn't break the law. there are now at least four indictments, two convictions, or at least two pleas, maybe more on the horizon. what you have left, you get to argue process. you're going to undercut mueller, specifically because it's going to undercut the entire effort itself. that's a horrible idea, but that's all the gop seems to have left at this point. >> jack, we were talking about contacts with russian operatives, of those who are in russia itself. we have the question of hope

hicks. we have papadopoulos's fiancee saying he was more influential, not just getting coffee. then this week potentially the big data trove that now mueller is going after is the money trail, right? and he's going after information with deutsche bank, we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially involved with president trump, potentially with those in russia. what did you take away from what happened with that? >> if we think about what this means, chasing the money is always important, because this is about influence. this is about the ability to manipulate anybody. i can think from the intelligence community standpoint being in langley, virginia in the central intelligence agency, that was something we were looking at concerning drug operations, talking about organized crime, talking about intelligence. the ability to chase and follow the dollars, and to follow the manipulation. the idea that mueller is looking at deutsche bank is very smart, because of the connections and

where they come from, who is tied to them, and who may be manipulating them. that's something the president fought back on hard. i expect he's going to continue to push back on. so yeah, there's a lot to talk about, that's a big one and mueller will be on it for some time. >> there's one, twos, threes, you can sometime construe them in different ways. money trails are tough to misconstrue. >> let's go back to watergate. it was the money that the burglars had, in dollar bills, that was traced right to nixon's committee to re-elect. and that began the whole process of pointing the finger at the president of the united states. so, yes, the money trail is critical. i think the thing for us to understand, for the public to understand, is that mueller is a topical b top caliber professional, he's handling the investigation in an extremely methodical, careful

way, leaving no stone unturned -- >> any achilles heel? >> for mueller? >> he has the "justijustice lea but -- >> for a professional of this caliber, the result will be credible. if he finds trump did nothing wrong, the american people can have confidence in that. but if he finds a problem, it's a different story. but he's handling it now in an extremely professional manner and i'm very proud of what he's doing. and i hope that there's no interference. because the minute we get to interfering with the system of justice, then we're no better than any banana republic. >> seems to be holding right now, democratic congresswoman elizabeth holtzman -- i think i heard an amen on the other side there. >> you did. >> thank you both. appreciate it. president trump getting even

more directly involved in the alabama senate race on behalf of roy moore. we'll have the details on a robocall we're hearing he just made. and happening now, firefighters try to contain the historical wildfires in california. straight to that ugliness next. from that airline credit cards, you only earn double miles when you buy stuff from that airline. is this where you typically shop? is this where anyone typically shops? it's time to switch to the capital one venture card. with venture, you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, everywhere, every day... not just airline purchases. seriously... double miles... everywhere! what's in your wallet?

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a white house official confirms to nbc news, president trump has recorded a last-minute robocall in support of alabama senate candidate roy moore. the president recorded the call this afternoon. there's no word yet on when the call will go out to alabama voters. this call is trump's most direct involvement in support of moore so far. that special election, just three days away on a tuesday. vice president pence's visit to the mid east, meanwhile, will not include a meeting with palestinian president mahmoud abbas. the palestinian foreign minister said they're looking for a new mediator to help with a two-state solution. and the winter storm that began in the deep south will end in new england, more than 382,000 homes in the south do not have electricity right now. the storm hitting the gulf of

mexico and the florida panhandle. it is not winter in southern california. wildfires have consumed more than 175,000 acres amidst weather in the 80s. structures have been destroyed in the hundreds. thousands of people forced from their homes. nbc's scott cohn there in ventura, california. it may look like there's wind on your sleeves here, but as i just said, 82, 83, 84 degrees. >> reporter: yeah, and it's not just the heat. it's the low humidity and the winds that are whipping around and proving to be very unpredictable. and every time that they kick up, the santa ana winds, it can send the fire in different directions and it makes it all the more challenging for firefighters to get a handle on this. to give you a sense of the size of just this fire, the thomas fire in ventura county, 148,000 acres for this fire alone, about

230 square miles, or the size of the city of chicago. and just fighting this fire, about 4,000 firefighters, coming from ten states. president trump has responded to governor jerry brown's request and declared a disaster area here, providing some assistance after the fact. but governor brown was in ventura a short time ago, as he's want to do, he invoked climate change as an issue, and said the situation will only get worse. >> we have to have the resources to combat the fires and we have to also invest in managing vegetation and forests and all the way we dwell in this very wonderful place, but a place that's getting hotter. >> but it's a place where now a year-round fire season. we used to talk about fires in september and october. but really they're fighting fires all the time. this huge outbreak in december

is at least unusual for now, but to hear governor brown and others tell it, this is going to become more common. richard? >> wildfires, whether you have record rain, wildfires whether you have drought. and you used to have a tie there, not anymore. scott cohn, thank you. sthmpt the president's appearance today at the opening of the mississippi civil rights museum kept several black leaders from going. and as they refuse to share a stage with the president, the white house had something to say about that. we'll break it down when we come back. days. days. businesses are thinking. factories are thinking. even your toaster is thinking. honey, clive owen's in our kitchen. i'm leaving. oh never mind, he's leaving. but what if a business could turn all that thinking... thinking... endless thinking into doing? to make better decisions. make a difference. make the future. not next week while you think about it a little more. but right now. is there a company that can help you do all that? ♪

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president trump helped open a new museum dedicated to civil rights in mississippi, but not without controversy when it happened today. the president used his speech to pay tribute to civil rights activists. two members of the professional black caucus refused to attend the event. congressman john lewis and benny thompson faced criticism from the white house for the boycott. the chairman of the cbc, louisiana congressman cedric richmond released this statement. this white house is not serious about civil rights. from dismantling the civil rights division in doj to equating peaceful people who protested racism to neo-nazis and white supremacists, they just don't get it. joining me now, karen bass, second vice chair of the congressional black caucus.

representative, thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> you saw the statement that we just read. when you see that, elaborate more about what was said there. >> well, i think the chairman was rightfully saying that this administration and trump in general as an individual, has a very long history of essentially promoting racist viewpoints. so how ironic was it that the night before he goes to the civil rights museum, he's in florida promoting the candidacy of roy moore, who said that he wanted to go back to the good old days when everything was good in america, including during the time when we had slavery. he goes to the civil rights museum, if the president was that interested in learning about civil rights, there's a museum that's literally across the street from the white house, called the african american history museum. but i also want to raise the question about the governor. the governor of mississippi knew exactly what he was doing.

why did he even invite the president, he knew what an insult it would be. mississippi is the state that has the confederate symbol in the state flag that flies right outside of the civil rights museum. >> representative, what do you believe the governor was intending to do by inviting the president? >> i'm not sure what he was intending to do. but what i know that he did, he insulted and offended the african americans in mississippi and i'm sure many other people who understand and support the civil rights museum. you know, we really do have to raise questions. he knew what a flash point that would be to have trump there. i know that trump didn't just go on his own. so why did he choose to extend an invitation like that? it was very provocative in my mind. >> glass half full or empty, or both. and you look at the comments that the president made in pensacola, florida, mentioning alabama. he spent time talking about immigration. you remember those comments. some might say that's

divisionist. and the next day he arrives at mississippi's new civil rights museum. and folks might ask, what does the president really feel? which one of those two is really him? >> i think it's both him. i think he's very clear, he has attacked essentially every community of color in our country. he's been very clear with his disrespect of african americans. but it's one thing, the words out of his mouth, i'm frankly far more concerned about the policies that he's put in place since he's been there. our chairman mentioned the dismantling of the civil rights division in the department of justice, rolling back the consent decrees with problematic police departments. the fbi doing the document on black identity extremists. you know, i wouldn't even be surprised if in the future trump isn't in the civil rights museum, talking about a time period in history when a president was elected that actually wanted to roll back gains of the civil rights movement. >> it was said by one of those that had gone to the museum

today, our kristen welker was there, following the president and reporting on the opening of this museum, and in that interview, representative, that one resident saying, wouldn't it have been good if john lewis did go, because potentially he could have furthered the arguments that he believes need to be fath furthered. what's your reaction? >> i can't imagine how john lewis would be able to share a stage with him. the white house is down the street from the capitol. i don't think it would have accomplished anything at all. i think that's just way too painful for him to actually be abo there with somebody like president trump who has made his contempt of african americans known almost on a weekly basis, whether he's attacking the nfl, whether he's describing our communities as being, you know, filled with crime. he didn't even understand john

lewis's history, when he said that all he is talk, talk, talk, he needs to do something. what john lewis has accomplished in his lifetime, in our nation's history, pales in comparison to anything that the president would be able to do. >> california congresswoman karen bass, thanks so much for your time. >> thank you. coming up, we shift our attention to the middle east, where president trump has the region on edge. this because of his decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. we'll break down the protests that that has sparked, regarding the long-standing israeli/palestinian conflict. and i had fallen asleep... (scrappy barks) (amanda) he was totally freaked out, digging and pawing at me. and when i woke up i realized that i was in anaphylaxis and went to the emergency room. i don't know what i would do if he wasn't there. he's the best boy. (vo) through the subaru share the love event, we've helped the ascpa save nearly forty thousand animals so far. get a new subaru and we'll donate

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save 30% for the holidays at ancestrydna.com thanks for staying with us. the middle east is a region on edge after president trump recognized jerusalem as israel's capital. clashes between israeli security forces and palestinians continued in that city for a third straight day of rage. in gaza, mourners carried the body of a palestinian fighter, one of two people shot and killed by the israeli army after protests turned deadly on friday. the violence happening the same day u.n. ambassador nikki haley defended her boss's controversial decision. >> the united states took this

step in full knowledge that it will raise questions and concerns. our actions are intended to help advance the cause of peace. >> that strategy for peace in the middle east drawing widespread condemnation from world leaders who say trump is already -- only enflaming an already -- [ inaudible ] -- or the terrible incitement against them. i want to bring in the former assistant secretary of state under president obama, former adviser for the u.s. special envoy for middle east peace. alone, you heard nikki haley, the ambassador to the united nations, from the united states. is she right, this helps to improve the path to peace?

>> it's hard to see how this step advances the peace process in any way. the peace process has been on hold for a long time at this point. but the announcement was made devoid of any kind of context, devoid of any strategy going forward, and really it's sparked this violence which is just going to set us back. >> your thought here, when we look at those pictures of violence -- and we did report the two deaths just moments ago in my lead-in to this segment here, joel. does this help the path to peace? >> richard, it really doesn't. and it's becoming painfully clear as every day passes, since this decision, that this was a partisan political move meant to placate president trump's most fervent evangelical base, at right-wing government now and not get much in return for it.

we saw this week, for example, the day after the announcement, the white house had a hanukkah party, that typically is bipartisan, well, they only invited republicans. they didn't invite any critics. they're playing politics with our national security right now at the white house and that's never a good thing. certainly when it comes to peace, and this is only going to prevent those efforts from really finding a path forward. >> the movement of the embassy here alone could take years. and it depends how 2020 does turn out to be. it could be that this never actually happens, where the u.s. embassy is moved there to jerusalem. if you go there, you understand the tension on the ground that is the concern about making such a decision coming from the united states, a key partner of israel here. might it be then that in three or four years before it's actually completed, that it could be reversed alone.

>> they could move the embassy tomorrow if they wanted. the day the president announced that he was recognizing israel has the -- jerusalem as the capital of israel, he alwaso signed the waiver delaying the movement of the embassy. and the reason for that, sovereignty over jerusalem, who owns the land, what are the boundaries of the city, where the border will run through, can there be a palestinian capital in east jerusalem? all of those are still unresolved and the president made clear in his statement, though he was recognizing the city as the capital of israel, he was not declaring that the u.s. agreed with israel's position that the whole city, east and west, is sovereign israeli territory that is indivisible. he said it's very much an issue for negotiations going forward. secretary tillerson said just the other day that this wasn't going to happen next year, the move, and who knows how long it could be delayed. >> joel, as you know so well,

being from the state department, america's corners around the world, if i remember correctly in jerusalem when i was there, there were one or two already there and potentially a switch can be flipped and the embassy could be there. is that correct? >> there certainly could be. this begs the question was what of president trump really trying to do here? was he trying to move the embassy and make a clear statement on jerusalem? i don't think so. because we don't see any movement of the embassy, nor clarity about what jerusalem actually is. even the other day, the state department in a briefing, when asked repeatedly about whether or not it's jerusalem, israel, they demurred. so there's no clarity on whether west jerusalem is just jerusalem for the u.s. purposes of the capital, is it east jerusalem, they could move it tomorrow, pull it back if they wanted to. i don't think there's a clarity. i think he scored political points and right now he's looking at a substantive problem

and we don't have a clear path forward. >> thank you both so much. new information in the hotly contested alabama senate race that continues. just a short time ago, president trump recorded a robocall. we just got that from peter alexander, this robocall in support of roy moore. we'll have more on that. stick around.

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president trump recorded a last-minute robocall in support of alabama senate candidate roy moore. a white house official confirming the call was recorded this afternoon. unclear, though, when it will be released. nbc's vaughn hillyard is in montgomery, alabama. so yesterday we see the first stumping of the president for roy moore, and pensacola, florida. today more news, the robocall. what do you know about it? >> a robocall from the president of the united states. this thing is significant because roy moore hasn't had significant republican backing in this campaign. if you look at attorney general jeff sessions, he hasn't even backed roy moore, saying he has no reason to doubt the women's stories. richard shelby said he wrote in another republican's name.

ivanka trump said two weeks ago there should be a special place in hell for individuals who prey on children. [ inaudible ] -- the fact that donald trump is now coming out is significant. we are here in montgomery with doug jones. we were with him in selma as well. >> i can't remember what day we're in now where roy moore is in hiding. he comes out only to be seen, kind of like the ground hog to see whether or not he can see his shadow. we're out here and we're talking. that's that effort that we're talking about again, to try to get people motivated and get people to the polls. >> to note, doug jones has appeared pretty much on the campaign trail every day.

we haven't seen roy moore dating back to tuesday. roy moore has no campaign events planned for the weekend, and he will not be expected to be seen until monday when steve bannon, former white house chief strategist will rejoin him on the campaign trail. for doug jones, not only is he trying to get out the democratic turn-out, but he has to get the republican crossover voters. in 2012, when he was running for chief justice, he won by 3% over the democrat in the race. so there's the potential to get republican crossover voters. it's whether doug jones can get them to the polls for himself come tuesday. >> what's the energy for those staffers for, again, doug jones? how are they feeling? nervous? confident? unsure? >> the fact that this campaign launched all the way back in may, so when you look at the last couple weeks, it's given them reason, it's given them hope. they see a path way to victory

come tuesday. the polling is very hard to determine really where this race stands, but when you see people in selma, there are people on the ground, bus loads that packed up, going out to canvass today, this operation has a robust effort. we've seen them in multiple field offices. compare that to roy moore who obviously has an advantage purely on the number of republicans in the state. they don't have the same operation in play. they're relying on roy moore and his name recognition over the last 30, 40 years. but when it comes to the energy -- we gave donald trump a hard time for signs and what that meant about his campaign, but as you're driving around the streets of alabama, you see doug jones' signs everywhere. if that means victory on tuesday, we'll be waiting to see. >> nbc's vaughn hillyard, thank you. and for more on tuesday's election there in the state of alabama, josh swearing, and

lauren zelt joining me now. so much to talk about and so little time here. lauren, quickly here, roy moore really not doing a lot. and in some cases, most cases, that may mean they felt fairly comfortable. >> yeah, it's a non-traditional way to end the campaign. right? generally you see candidates doing what doug moore is doing. they're doing fly-arounds all across the state. so this is a very non-conventional situation, but i think that speaks to the nature of this race. republicans have a choice on tuesday in alabama. they can choose not to send a man who preyed on young women and girls to the united states senate. i think it's as simple as that. i think strategically, if he's elected to the senate, it's going to be a big problem for republicans in 2018. >> yeah. and you gotta wonder

>> i'm not sure. i think it's certainly their best effort to get republicans out to vote but this has repercussions beyond what happens on tuesday. we're in a situation where if we even get close and talk about it, it's a win for democrats. if we are able to take a seat, that's great. if we don't, republicans have to deal with roy moore in the senate and donald trump just campaigned for a credibly accused child molester. that's something they have to live with for a really long time and something that's going to have serious repercussions in 2018, 2020 and beyond. this is a problem for them. >> you cannot help but those who have come forward, those who have said i was harassed, i was assaulted, that i'm going to come to the microphone, i'm going to go to the papers, i

don't have anything to gain so they are saying here and what that might mean if roy moore wins, what that might mean for those who are survivors and those who may now remain quiet. >> you know, i think especially if any of the women that have come forward to share their story are watching this, i want you to know that even if roy moore wins on tuesday, that this does not diminish the bravery that it took for you to share your story. you know, i find those women to be incredibly brave in doing what they did and women everywhere who have come forward to share a moment that they have found themselves in in cases of sexual assault and harassment. even if roy moore is to win, that does not discount the bravery that those women have shown in this really important time. >> josh? >> lauren is exactly right. it's important that we remember as we are going through this, it's important to hold men accountable but it's also important to be lifting up women and supporting them and making sure we get more women elected

to office and in positions of power. that's the only way we are actually going to solve this. >> lauren, as that is happening, that difficulty, there is this unfortunate thought that well, this is a test on the president's teflon quality for him as well. all the accusations and allegations against him. what that means going into 2018. we don't want to overpoliticize it but you hit so well on what the focus is here, the women. 20 seconds quickly on your thought on that. >> i think this is a very difficult time in our country. i think we are having a moment of reckoning about what this all means. you know, it remains to be seen what will happen in future elections and how people will react to the accusations that have been made against the president. >> okay. josh, i owe you one. appreciate you for coming by and your honesty. lauren also, thank you. have a very good weekend, whether it's dry or not. that wraps it up for us this

hour. stay with us for updates and breaking news as it happens right here. follow me on facebook, instagram and twitter. have a great night. tonight on "all in" -- >> let me just tell you, roy moore denies it. >> donald trump and roy moore join forces. >> by the way, he gives a total denial. >> tonight, the president hits the stump and tells alabama to vote for roy moore. then, the trent franks mystery is solved. >> i'm going to make a statement. >> new reporting that the congressman offered an aide $5 million to carry his child. plus, what we're learning from hope hicks' marathon meeting with the mueller team including an fbi warning about russian contacts. and the plot to stop mueller is growing. >> what would it take to get rid of special counsel? >> "all in" starts right now.