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.

good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. at the end of a week in which no fewer than three members of congress as of now have resigned over sexual harassment and unwanted touching, the president of the united states, a man who faces multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, is working to help a senate candidate who himself faces multiple accusations of sexual misconduct including with an underaged girl. president trump to appear at any moment at a campaign rally in florida, a city that just happens to be less than 20 miles from the border with alabama. while the event isn't explicitly designed to boost alleged child molester roy moore ahead of next tuesday's alabama senate election, it's pretty clear what's going on here. a moore campaign official told nbc news they were quote, actively encouraging supporters to attend the trump rally. trump again today told his twitter followers to vote roy moore. again, these are two men who have each been accused by multiple women of inappropriate

behavior. while the white house insists the charges against trump were settled by the results of the election, they keep on coming. a new allegation from a former fox news anchor who says trump tried to kiss her in an elevator around the time he married first lady melania. nine women have come forward with stories against moore, including leigh corfman who says moore molested her after picking her up outside a child custody hearing in the court where he worked and beverly young nelson who says moore attempted to sexually assault her in his car when she was 17 after her shift as a waitress. many accounts were corroborated by friends and family. multiple sources say moore was banned from a mall for his predatory behavior towards young women. more claims all the women are lying, the evidence is faked, he's the victim of a vast conspira conspiracy. he also changed his story, it is important to note. asked about accuser debbie gibson who says she dated moore

consensually when she was 17 and he was 34. moore first said i knew her as a friend. if we did go on dates, then we did. he later claimed quote, i do not know any of these women, did not date any of these women. new ad from stand up republic, a group cofounded by evan mcmullen asked voters to imagine if moore had targeted their child. >> what if she was your little girl, your daughter, your sister? what if she was 16 years old or 15 or even 14? would you let a 32-year-old man be alone with her, date her, undress her, touch her, have her touch him? that's what roy moore did. he called it dating. we call it unacceptable. >> it's crucial to remember that even before all these allegations emerged, roy moore was manifestly unfit to serve in the u.s. senate. a man who said homosexuality

should be illegal, muslims should not be allowed to serve in congress in direct violation of the constitution. he was twice removed from the alabama supreme court by fellow republicans, one should note, for putting his religious views before the rule of law and at a campaign rally in september, he suggested america was last great when we had slavery. >> i think it was great at the time when families were united, even though we had slavery. they cared for one another. people were strong in the families. >> even though we had slavery. in august, moore was asked about comments ronald reagan made about russia. >> russia was the focus of evil in the emodern world. >> could say that very well about america, couldn't you? well, we promote a lot of bad things, you know? >> like? >> same sex marriage. >> that's the very argument

vladimir putin makes. >> well, then maybe putin is right. maybe he's more akin to me than i know. >> the choice to support or reject moore has become a moral test of sorts for the republican party. support or reject moore have grown. the party's most powerful person, standard bearer is all-in. fully embraced by president trump saying all accusers are liars and claims in trump's case, too unattractive for him to assault. former chair of the congressional black caucus is with us. your reaction to the president going to essentially ral aly fo this man at this moment? >> chris, glad to be with you. it's very clear to me and i hope clear to the public that donald trump and this man, mr. moore, their agenda is the same. when donald trump campaigned for the presidency, he campaigned on

the birther movement, delegitimizing, trying to delegitimize the first african-american president. he campaigned with an agenda that steve bannon put forward by the alt right. the white supremacists and white nationalists. when you look at roy moore and what he stands for, what he has said, very similar. i mean, their agendas are the same. so it doesn't really surprise me he's down there campaigning and supporting him but i'm very confident that people of conscious and the voters will see both donald trump and roy moore for who they are and make sure this man does not come to the united states senate. >> to your point op roy moore, that he was someone with support from confederates or sort of confederate nostalgics, opposed removing segregationist language from the constitution. ly in -- some of the flyers going out down there.

there on the right and george wallace fought to protect segregation, so did roy moore. how important, obviously you're a democrat. roy moore's a republican. you would oppose any republican probably running for that seat, but how important is preventing him from coming to work with you in the u.s. capitol in your mind? >> it's very important for the country, because anyone who has campaigned on racism and bigotry, anyone with a history of trying to deny african-americans and people of color equal opportunities, anyone who comes to the united states senate will continue with this agenda and this is donald trump's agenda. and so what will he do in the united states senate? of course, he will vote for policies that would begin to roll back the tide and roll back policies to the days of jim crow and before. he would begin to really move forward on donald trump's agenda in a very aggressive why. it's very dangerous, chris, for

this man to be in the senate. >> congresswoman, another figure in the same category as roy moore, a man you do serve this. steve king, congressman from iowa. i don't think it's unfair to say he has extreme icht views on immigration and race, frankly. he said this today -- diversity is not our strength. hungarian prime minister is quoting victor orbin there. mixing cultureless not lead to ay here quality of life, a lower one and talking about assimilation. do you think you're serving with a white nationalist in the person of steve king? >> not only steve king. there are many in the congress and, of course, in the white house who are white nationalists who reflect the agenda of white supremacists, look at what steve king said. look at his stance on immigrants. this is a country built on welcoming immigrants, and you had steve king and you have others in the congress, in the house, and in the senate, who are trying to really make this

country as -- donald trump wants to make it, back to where -- i don't want to even go in terms of the day, the dark days of slavery and jim crow and when people were en test. lock we they stand on the voting akd and the drug war jeff sessions put forward. look where they stand in terms of the affordable care act and on policies that will really hurt people of color and low-income. it's very clear who they are. >> all right, congresswoman barbara lee. that's for being with me. with me now, 2017 presidential candidate ed mcmullen, whose group stand up republican is spending money oh

toesing roy moore and a longtime republican just wrote an op-ed, roy moore is the last straw, you can now call me a democrat. curt, start with you. why? >> what's going on in alabama now is the embodiment of everything wrong with the republican party. how morally bankrupt they've become. it's get to a point they would rather put in office a known sex predator-to-wsidendator who pres at the local mall, rather than doug jones who happens to be a democrat, they've gone too far. donald trump is campaigning for him tonight at a rally and republicans are by and large silent on this. >> do you see the stakes in the same way? >> i do. this is a huge and should be easy test for the republican party. they have to go all-in on defeating roy moore and instead they nominated him. that's a state decision, state party decision -- >> their voters did. if it was up to the national

republican party it would not have been him. >> could they have done more? now you have the rnc putting money into that race. just a little money. sends the message that party isn't exactly doing everything it can for him, but they're not doing everything they can against him either. it's that wishy-washiness i think that leads in part to where we are now and where the party is. where it's looking into, i believe, an abyss of political irrelevance and it's thinking that it can take a step, step more towards it, a step towards that extremism on the far right to try to leverage it for a stronger majority or a continued majority in congress. but every time they inch closer to it they get closer to slipping into it. i think if roy moore is elected they are going to slide right into it, and they are going to wear him like a scarlet letter around their necks for -- i actually think that it will be -- it will be a dagger into

the heart of the party. >> politically? >> yes. >> i want to ask you, you worked at breitbart and resigned. they've been a big supporter of moore's. steve bannon has been a big supporter of moore and a whole architecture that exists around this ideologically to allow people there's a vast conspiracy involving this, it's preposterous on its face. ran a headline against beverly nelson, the woman you see there. the bombshell accuser beverly nelson admits she forged yearbook. completely untrue. she said she put the date next to roy moore's signature. how important to have that ideological mouthpiece doing that type of work? >> it's crucial and when steve bannon declared, the mouthpiece for the alt right. first time over time you have a congregating platform all the people who sub describe to these insane beliefs can congregate,

feed off one another. look at the comment pages of bright bart, scary and extreme stuff, that allowed them to harness around one another, amplify their voice and steve bannon really tapped into that and turned that into a political action committee. breitbart isn't a news network. it's a political active propaganda vehicle. >> and reaction i've heard from republicans and even alabama folks sort of in correspondence with. >> sure. >> roy moore is a terrible scoundrel. i believe the women. what he did was despicable. and losing that majority, reducing it by one could mean we don't get the justice on the supreme tort to overturn roe v. wade, and the greater good, stop the slaughter of the unborns. the ends justify the means? >> the problem with that is, it will either be somebody as

terrible as roy moore, and getting those things, or it will be somebody better and you won't get those thingsment problem when you decide that, okay, we're going to accept somebody as terrible as roy moore and get those things you described for those reasons, you keep getting those kinds of people over and over again and -- >> incentivize it. sort of create a new kind of standard? >> right. the reality is, we have to draw a line as americans. especially the republican party and conservatives have to get to the point very, very quickly here with donald trump in the white house and moore potentially on the way to the senate if we can't stop it. they have got to break this cycle and start voting their values, voting core american values, or they'll get more of the same. the party will become politically irrelevant, politically impotent. >> there's a really perverse dynamic everging in the wake of these last few weeks with al franken, trent franks and john

conyers. if you admit to what you're accused of you're going to face consequences, but if you just flat out deny and call the women liars, as the president of the united states has done and roy moore has done, then maybe you can get away with it? this is an actual thing, e-mail from the backer saying al franken has proorven roy moore incident. abusers don't stop. verify final recent evidence as if al franken shows that roy moore didn't do what he's accused of? >> therein lies, chris, the major issue i have with the republican party. complete destruction of truth and fact. the idea at the highest level of our entire government and political institution is standard operating procedure to lie, to attack those who have been, become victims perpetrated upon them and wash it over time, repeat it enough it will become fact.

make up your own reality and completely dismiss what your entire part and actions have without consequences. ironic, as al franken said as he resigned, accepting a consequence, accepting responsibility, while the president of the united states, abused more than anyone in office so far and refused to accept reality. >> thank you both for being with me tonight. up next, the incredible story behind the sudden, immediate resignation of republican trent franks including a $5 million offer to his female staffer. what it was for is after this two-minute break. c

can. republican congressman tr t franks said yesterday he would be resigning from congress at the end of january after an ethics investigation into lis "discussion of surrogacy with two previous female subordinates." today he suddenly changed his

mind and resigned effective immediately. a puzzling turn of events about a half hour and two big news stories dropped and it became clear. the congressman repeatedly pressed her to carry his child at one point offering her $5 million to act as a surrogate. the former staffer said the k h congressman asked at least four times if she'd change her mind. >> and approaching two female women for a surrogate but not clear whether he would impregnant through artificial insemination or otherwise. >> thanks for having me to talk about this. >> well, this is a new one. >> very new. yeah. maybe the worst thing about it was this afternoon when he said he was resigning because his wife has a medical condition. the poor wife.

he brings the wife into this. she has a medical condition that's called trent franks. it's her husband. >> and a sense, yesterday was all of a sudden out of nowhere, trent franks says, i'm resigning because i had discussions of surrogacies and then kind of like, well, gets a little weird but not resignation worthy and paul ryan released a statement, we got this information and i asked him to resign. this puts it in a different light. >> it does. trert i interesting, though. right away, my friends, cover the christian right, he is conservative christian. in vitro fertilization is wrong, in vitro semination also a wrong. the danger of created fertilized eggs that then get destroyed. people were like, this is probably what he was getting at. right way. last night. riding home from here i had a friend who said that. who covers -- >> today a long statement

explaining a long, taj chortuou statement, pro-life -- >> didn't destroy embryos? right. raising the question about that surrogacy. whatever. i won't go there. how they came up with a biblically acceptable way of doing that. yes. it's pretty creepy and, again, you know, i believe these women, and -- this is a new one. >> i also wonder, like, this is someone who -- a little like roy moore in that this is someone who is extreme -- >> one of the thoeft. >> christian conservatives. one of the most intolerant, talked about gay marriage being the greatest threat to american civilization, greater than any enemy. >> anti-choice. yes. >> and there is, of course -- a lot of people today making handmaid's tales jobes. >> amazingly. >> for obvious reasons, but a bizarre connection between what he appears to have done? >> i can't figure what was

driving what. >> fair point. >> absolutely trying to with at least one of the women, she took a -- wanted her to take a quiz to show she was in love with him in respect was definitely something sexual going on. it wasn't just, we have to do it this way because god says. it's doubly creepy to me from what's come out this afternoon. >> and what do you make of this week, we've now, amazing. three members of congress stepped down this week. >> right. >> and it almost feels like a sea storm. it's a big story, but a u.s. senator now, al franken, member of the house, longest serving, john conyers and trent franks, been there a while, has some joyce. pretty head snapping. >> it is head snapping. i'm so uncomfortable putting them all in the same basket and you're not cog doido that. >> a different wide range of doing different things. >> and considering these

comparisons, you know. >> my question to you, though, do you think, that a standard has been set now where we're going to be doing three a week? >> maybe. i mean, i'm not going to say names on-air, but there are new revelations out tonight. the "washington post," cnn, people are investigating 20 to 40 congress members. i assume -- i can say congressmen, but maybe not. so we might -- >> same assumption. >> trying to be kind. >> yes. you can hedge, but -- the hill reporting hastings of florida, interesting case previously impeached for bribery when he was federal judge by democratic congress, ran for congress, elected. $220,000, a woman accused him of harassment. >> it's going to continue. we'll talk about it many more times's. >> and learn more about trent franks. it's not the end of his story.

and the campaign to discredit robert mueller, the far-reaches of a new conspiracy story, after this. our recent online sales success seems a little... strange?nk na. ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... "people" aren't buying these books online, but "they" are buying them to protect their secrets?!?! hi bill. if that is your real name.

it's william actually. hmph! affordable, fast fedex ground. a lot of questions about this team literally could beered for hillary clinton, put all of these bias people going after donald trump. what would it take to get rid of a special counsel? >> what would it take? the closer the special counsel

gets to the president, the more promoting the theory there was a conspiracy to help hillary clinton, hurt donald trump. according to the theory presented for hours on end every night it was a secret project that began way back at clinton e-mail probe continuing into the ru russia investigation. tough to buy, not least of which, two officials overseeing those, comey first, mueller, are both republicans. lifelong ones. and if the fbi had been in the tank for hillary clinton, they could have done a lot more to try to make her win. leaked the fact there was an open investigation of donald trump campaign manager paul manafort during the campaign. and carter page during the campaign. based on probable cause page was a foreign agent. instead, someone fed a bogus story to the "new york times," the fbi found no clear links between the trump campaign and

russia. that has not held up too well. the fbi could also sounded the alarm earlier and more vehemently for the anti-clinton hacks instead of dragging its feet on the official statement blaming russia. one eventually released by the u.s. government. and yet despite all that, this fbi conspiracy theory they were in the tank for hillary is amazingly used as a weapon against the russia investigation to gem mueller fired or dismiss the outcome of his probe and it traveled from trump tv to a few extremive congressmen to senior members of the u.s. senate including one time trump critic lindsey graham. you remember from him calling the president a kook. investigating clinton e-mail scandal uranium one and doj bias during the 2016 campaign. the next plot attempts to stop

robert mueller, right after this. your insurance company won't

replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says, "you picked the wrong insurance plan." no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car plus depreciation. liberty mutual insurance. i kept looking for ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i was doing okay. then it hit me... managing was all i was doing. when i told my doctor, i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease even after trying other medications. in clinical studies, the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers,

including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. just managing your symptoms? ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible.

we have a question be how this dossier was generated for political purposes, ended up in the fbi's possession. what did the fbi do with it? >> we don't know whether mr. mueller recruited with members of bias or don't know whether hillary clinton was treated as special, whether the phish fib used taxpayer money to buy a dossier to discredit the

president. >> fruesh off their performance yesterday, florida congressman gaetz, a surprise. the president is holding a campaign rally taking place across the border from alabama. they've got a special election coming up there. might have heard about it. desantis and gaetz, components of the conspiracy theory and next week get nor shot attacking those institutions when deputy attorney general rod rosenstein oversight of the russia probe appears before a house judiciary. >> joined by a democratic member, david sicilini of rhode island. nice to have you here. >> nice to be here. >> what is your understanding of what your colleagues -- the republican colleagues in the judiciary committee are up to? >> what we saw when the director testified before the house judiciary committee that they were intending to begin the work to undermine the integrity of

the fbi and the investigation robert mueller, to see my republican colleagues really attack the agency and the professionals who work there every day, who risk their lives to keep our country safe, it was shameful and these are men and women who do an extraordinary job. it's an incredibly respected agency and this is an effort to undermine robert mueller, undermine the fbi, because they see what's happening, and this investigation has moved into the white house now, with the plea of michael flynn. i think they are doing the president's bidding on the committee. >> i want to play you passage yesterday, your colleagues were going back and forth, naming individual agents. trying to get their political affiliation. take a listen. >> are you aware of any of the following people openly aligning themselves with the political bias expressed by mccabe or openly speaking against this

administration? first, carl gattis. >> quarrel a little with the premise of your question about deputy director mccabe, but as far as, executive assistant director gattis, as i said, been a complete professional. by that i mean to include -- >> have you heard -- >> apolitical -- >> align himself with political bias against the trump administration? >> no. >> josh excuse mskule? >> no. >> larisa mincer. >> i actually don't know who that is. >> brian parmen? >> no. >> what's he up to there? >> you know, again, this is an effort to try to, i think really in many ways intim gate intimidate the fbi from doing their job s. it appropriate? >> it's not appropriate. something my colleagues conducted that afternoon was inappropriate. we haven't had meaningful oversight in the judiciary

committee of many of the acts of this administration worther of oversight hearings. to watch republican colleague after republican colleague undermine the professional work of the fbi, you know, for the agents doing this work every day, thousands of professionals, who are risking their lives to do this important work that are upholding the rule of law in this country, to watch that effort was really embarrassing and we used the opportunity to highlight the importance of protecting robert mueller and the investigation, because this is -- i'm fearful of the beginning of an effort to undermine and set the context for the president to go after robert mueller. >> appearing before a committee next week, a key figure, pointed to mueller and jeff sessions recused, essentially is the person to who mueller reports. what do you think we have in store when he comes before your committee? >> i hope we have in store a strong statement from him he will protect the integrity of

the investigation, ensure it has the resources it needs to be completed. >> do you have confidence in him? do you trust him? >> i think he has a lot to prove. >> what's that hesitation? >> why? >> i think the firing of jim comey. >> and his role in that? >> his role in that raises serious confess. he has an opportunity to redeem himself, conducting himself appropriately. reassuring the committee and the american people will will protect the integrity and not allow flinn to interfere. reports of the president trying to interfere with the ongoing investigations at the congress. we want to make sure that sessions is doing everything to protect this. he has an opportunity to make that clear to the committee and to the american people. >> is rosen also -- is he a target of your colleagues? are they looking to go after him as well? >> i assume.intention, create ae

we can't trust the fbi or the results of this investigation. i think nothing could be further from the truth and we have an opportunity to use this occasion with sessions to look the republicans and democrats on the committees and say i will protect the special counsel. no one will interfere stop or impede this investigation. >> the mayor of rhode island. and -- great to have you here, congressman. still ahead, hope hicks was warned about agents, hard to think trump didn't know pap now. >> reporter: is coming up. plus how many romneys it one trump trump? that's next.

your body was made for better things than rheumatiod arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once-daily pill

for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. it can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. xeljanz xr can reduce the symptoms of ra, even without methotrexate. ask your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. ♪ of thoughts and dreams that scatter ♪ ♪ you pull them all together ♪ and how, i can't explain ♪ ♪ oh yeah, well well well youuuu ♪

♪ you make my dreams come true ♪ ♪ well, well, well youuuu ♪ topped steak & twisted potatoes at applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. eras. they're defined by accomplishments. by victories. by those with the resourcefulness, the ingenuity, and the grit to help ensure the next energy to power our dreams, will be american energy. mitt romney was a vocal never

trumper. remember, gave a big speech about it. >> his bankruptcies have crushed small businesses and the men and women who work for them. he inherited his business. he didn't create it. and whatever happened to trump airlines? how about trump university? and then there's trump magazine. and trump vodka. and trump steaks. and trump mortgage. a business genius he is not. >> here's what i know. donald trump is a phony. a fraud. his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. >> but as we all know, after trump was elected, mitt romney, well, he came around. went to trump's golf course to kiss the ring, not quite literally, and interview to be trump's secretary of state. famously they dined together at the super fancy jean gheorghe restaurant in new york. fun for almost everybody. after that, romney got snubbed.

trump picked rob tillerson for the job and mitt romney went back to utah. for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.

joining us now, chairwoman of the national republican committee. happens to be mitt romney's nice. congratulations on the job. >> thank you. my first interview since being elected. >> ronna romney mcdaniel, tapped by donald trump top head of the rnc. picked her one day after snubs mitt romney for the secretary of state job. tonight we're learning something new and strange about trump's decision to hire ronna romney mcdaniel. reports president trump had a request, would she be willing to stop use are her middle name publicly? trump followed up saying in a light-hearted way, mcdonnell, niece of romney could do a what she wanted but the change was

soon plain for all to see. though she used her maiden name for years in michigan, of course her grandfather was governor, mcdaniel dropped romney from most official party communications and has rarely used it since. >> joining us now to discuss is ronna mcdonnell. >> ronna mcdaniel. >> thank you. >> ronna mcdaniel. >> ronna mcdaniel, gop chairwoman. >> ronna mcdaniel, thanks so much.

no matter how the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

arizona senator jeff flake spent a lot of effort to present himself as resistance to donald trump. gave a rousing speech on the senate floor in october calling him reckless and undig nighed behavior, wrote a book and tweet add picture of a check for $100 made out to the campaign of democratic alabama senate candidate doug jones with caption, party over country.

that's how senator flake -- how senator flake portraying himself in the public eye. according to 538, make voted in line with trump's position 90% of the time like last week on a big corporate tax front. confronted about that yesterday on flight to phoenix by an activist who suffers from a.l.s. or lou gehrig's disease. >> ivan 18-month-old son, and out of nowhere, diagnosed with a.l.s., which has a life expectancy of three to four years. no treatment, no -- no cure. i probably will need to go on a ventilator to live. this tax bill is probably going to force $450 billion intake-home cuts. what should i tell my son or what would you tell my son if you pass this bill and he

comes -- and i'm on a ventilator? >> mitch mcconnell and paul ryan already issued statements saying they're not going -- [ inaudible ] choose to believe that or not. >> after their exchange flake tweeted i enjoyed the conversation. we won't always agree but i agree your courage, and response, your words have been potent all year. back them up with your vote. this is your moment. be america's hero. backed up by a sign in phoenix right now. up next, one week after the flynn indictment, news about the white house communications director and the russia investigation. the latest on that after this.

♪ this holiday, the real gift isn't what's inside the box. it's what's inside the person who opens it. ♪ give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions- and open up a world of possibilities. ♪ save 30% for the holidays at ancestrydna.com

( ♪ ) this time of year is all about family. and we'd like you to be part of ours. so our chevy employee discount

is now available to everyone. this holiday season, you pay what we pay. and not a cent more. we're so happy to share this with you. hey, mom and dad deserve some toys too. it's our way of saying happy holidays. and welcome to the family. the chevy family. get the chevy employee discount for everyone today. when you've got no plans but with your comfy pants, grab a marie callender's roasted turkey & stuffing. with mashed potatoes and made from scratch gravy. spoiler alert, things are about to get good. because me time calls for marie callender's. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. things are about to get good. 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. it's been one week since michael flynn, the former national security adviser pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his contacts with the russian ambassador. just one week since we learned flynn is cooperating from the russia investigation, the revelations just keep coming. "the new york times" writing that fbi warned hope hicks about e-mails from russian operatives. quote, after he took office, yor fbi counterintelligence agents met with miss hicks in the white house situation room at least twice and said the russians were not who they claimed to be. they were concerned the e-mails to miss hicks may have been part of a russian intelligence operation and urged her to be cautious. there's no evidence she did anything improper, but the defensive briefing was not routine. a lawyer for hicks declined a

comment to "the times." investigators for robert mueller's office have been interviewing hicks. currently the white house communications director for the past two days. naveed namali, author of "how to catch a russian spy," and malcolm nance, author of "the plot to hack america." there's a real open question about what exactly the trump administration, campaign, transition did. we know a bunch of what they did. more to be revealed. but what seems beyond a doubt is the russians were really, really, really trying to a lot of ways to get to these people. >> well, certainly the russians were trying many ways to get to these people. there's a reason that they were doing activities like going after hope hicks, but from multiple directions because it was very successful in doing it over the previous year. she was a key player and as we're finding out in the mueller investigation right now, she was in the room for many different

activities. so the russians, after going after the main players, will always go after the secondary players. and naveed will tell you that in a moment. but for her purposes, for her to have multiple individuals coming at her who are not who they claim to be, and the fbi having to watch that intelligence as it comes in, watch her own e-mails as they're being sent to her, they probably unmasked her name in some intelligence reports to determine who it was, and then bring it to her attention, is extraordinary. >> naveed, there are so many different intermediaries that have now racked up in the various bits of reporting, and it's something you've talked about a lot, the ways in which intermediaries are used. it's such a bizarre list when you put it all down. the number of characters here from rob goldstone and agalarov who the professor in london who papadopoulos was talking to,

it's such a bizarre group of people, it's kinda hard to make sense of. >> that's right. and to malcolm's point, this is russian spies, they have a standard procedure. they target people, recruit them. if you make it through the recruitment, you are an asset. what that means, you are now taking orders from the kremlin. when i was active in my operation, that's exactly what the russians sought to do with me. they were aware i was applying as an navy intelligence officer. they targeted me. many people are targeted. not many people make it past that phase. it's also important, you can be targeted, it's not an illegal thing. >> it's not your fault you're being targeted. >> right. the one thing, what is interesting, the mueller team, the fbi decided to give her a defensive brief. they didn't do that for flynn or kushner. it's a really interesting thing that the only person who

received a defensive brief was hope hicks. >> i want to talk about george papadopoulos. he's a figure who i don't think figured in anyone's thinking about this until his plea deal was unsealed and we found out that he had pleaded guilty, that he had contacts with the professor in london who said he was connected to russians. he was informed the russians had hillary clinton's e-mails before that became public and the defense of the trump team was, he was the guy who made coffee, he wasn't close to anyone, despite him being in the meeting with jeff sessions and the president of the united states, then the candidate. his fiancee is pushing back on the idea that he was a peripheral figure. i want to play her interview and get your reaction. >> meetings with the leaders all over the world. he was constantly in touch with high level official of the campaign and he never took any initiative, as far as i know, unauthorized. >> was he in touch with the chief strategist steve bannon. >> as far as i know yes, and

michael flynn. >> general flynn? >> yes, as well. >> what do you make of it? >> well, what i think is fascinating about this, she is just giving voice to what we already believed the mueller investigation had. we're just getting more color, and depth. we're not going to hear about this from mueller until mueller starts indicting other people. right? >> right. >> that's a man of action. he doesn't mince words. he just comes out and hits you with the indictment. but she's now letting us know that some of the principal players that were on the donald trump jr. e-mails that were carbon copies on the k.t. mcfarland memo about michael flynn speaking to kislyak in the december 28th meeting. all of these people are going to, you know, move up to the top at some point. and mueller is doing it in silence. she is just telling us what she heard in the room from papadopoulos, that, you know, these people were players.

and i think that, you know, i think that the mueller investigation won't worry about this little disclosure, but it will certainly make their intended targets worry a lot. >> naveed, we talked about this earlier in the show and malcolm just mentioned mueller. you work for the fbi. curious what your reaction is to watching the integrity of the investigation, the investigation itself, mueller, his agents and the fbi sort of as a whole. the idea of politically independent investigation in law enforcement being attacked by the president and his allies. >> in full disclosure mueller signed my letter of commendation impact what i can tell you, when i was active, i was active against the russians. i would walk into places where i didn't know if the russians had guns. i was fearful of my safety. i never doubted the fbi, never doubted their professionalism, their loyalty, and their loyalty to duty. to sort of see them dragged through the mud, just the rank and file, the special agents,

it's disheartening, it's disheartening for them, for my friends who still work there. i wish americans could see what the counterintelligence folks do at the fbi. they would be proud of this. and it is based on nothing but partisan sh partisanship for them to be maligned in that fashion. >> malcolm, you had something you wanted to add? >> he's right. i love the bureau guys. when it comes to collection, they're the intelligence brands of the domestic united states. usually in operations i was involved with, sometimes our agencies would loan them transcribers in foreign languages and things like that. but when it comes to the national intelligence gum shoeing, going after people who are spies, traitors to the united states, they're really good at that job. and i suspect their being really good at that job is why the administration is maligning them. they don't know what kind of truck is about to hit them with the fbi. when they get their teeth into it, get down to the bottom of

this, mueller is not going to be deterred. >> naveed and malcolm, thank you both. up next, rachel maddow with a special report on the dossier, who wrote it, who released it, and what we now know to be true. the dossier starts now. >> thanks for joining us this hour. nice to have you here. we have a special report for you tonight on a story that we've been working on for a very long time now. for going on a year and a half, we have been digging into the russian attempt, not just to interfere in this last election, but to interfere for the benefit of russia's chosen candidate. that candidate, of course, is now the president. and his administration has been dogged since before day one by questions of whether his campaign was involved in the russian intelligence operation that tried to influence our election. two members of the president's campaign, including the former national security adviser, have now pled guilty to lying about their contacts with the russians. but tonight we'll take a step