difference across the entire state. and that is our broadcast for tonight. thank you so much for being with us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. thank you for join us this hour. big night in washington tonight. if you have late night plans tonight you might want to cancel them. i honey i'm going to be late for dinner. i know, just leave anything in the oven, i promise i'll take the dogs out when i get in but i'm going to be late. sorry. here's an interesting thing about what's going on tonight in washington. even though everybody knew in advance that this was going to be a big night in washington, a big consequential night, when a very big decision would be made, there is one person who doesn't need to be there in washington tonight as this decision is happening, and it's this guy. and this is becoming a recurring theme of the mike pence vice

presidentsy. time and time again we get explanations for the vice president's behavior, explanations that everybody in washington and most people in the media kind of go along with and don't make too much of a splash. but time and time again factually those explanations that we get from the vice president's office don't make sense. and let me be absolutely clear here. i mean what the vice president's office tells us time and time again is stuff that can't be true. and this happens over and over again. it sometimes happens on small stuff like what's happening in washington tonight in terms of his presence in washington tonight. but sometimes it's on big stuff too. this pattern has reader its head a bunch of times, for example, in the russia investigation. mike pence insisted solemnly there that there were no contacts between the trump campaign and russia during the campaign gnat was definitely not true. he said he had no idea that mike flynn had been talking to the russian government about

sanctions. that solemn assertion from the vice president also cannot be true. it's just utterly implausible. the vice president also solemnly intoned in his sort of trademark more in sorrow than in anger solemnly intoned that he had never been notified that mike flynn wads on a foreign government payroll when he was operating as national security adviser. mike pence was definitely notified that he was on a foreign payroll. despite his solemn assertions to the contrary. i don't know if this will ever become the thing that mike pence is famous for in his vice presidentsy, but it is the brightest theme so far. public statements about his actions that are a lot of things, but they're not, how do you say, true. now we've got another whopper from the vice president's office that's about what's happening on this big night in washington. this one actually starts, i think, a couple weeks ago which

president trump made his big announcement that the u.s. would someday move the u.s. embassy in israel to jerusalem. you may remember that was the announcement in the white house like the president seemed to act like his teeth came a little loose and he struggled a little bit. regardless of the physical weirdness of those remarks, that was a big kraeshl announcement from the president and soon there after they got a response. the palestinian responded with the kind of anger and negative reaction you'd expect. palestinian president declared that henceforth, because of that announcement, the u.s. will no longer have any role in the middle east peace process. the palestinians will no longer speak to the u.s. about anything having do with middle east peace and negotiations. the u.s. is out. they say they'll deal with the u.n. and other countries who they see as honest brokers.

but we've all these images we see of the president trying to bring peace, that is over. we are out of that process. now, whether or not you are invested in or particularly interested in the prospects for middle east peace, this is a big dramatic thing. it's a big dramatic change, not just for this administration, it's a big dramatic change for our country to be kicked out of that process because of behavior by our president. it's dramatic. it was particularly dramatic at a human level because good old vice president mike pence had been planning to head over there. he had previously announced he was heading over to the middle east for a big five-day trip. he was just about to get on the plane and go to the middle east when he found out basically when he got there he should expect to get thrown out of the biggest meet egg was due to take on that entire trip, or best case scenario they would stand him up and denounce him while he was there. this was a long-planned trip to the middle east for vice president mike pence. but right before he started it,

found out he's going to have somewhere between a huge confrontation and a big embarrassment when he gets there. so what do you? the vice president's office announced that vice president pence was canceling his trip. he will not be making his big middle east trip after all. but they incestsisted that it h nothing to do with the fact that the u.s. is being reject and disinvited from the meeting that was the main point of his trip. the quote was, that has nothing to do with it. they insisted that the real reason he was canceling his trip was because he was needed at home. he's nee he's needed in washington to vote on the tax bill. here's the problem. there's no conceivable mathematical scenario in which mike pence will be needed to vote on the tax bill, none. we have known since this weekend that arizona senator john mccain

would be home in arizona tonight recovering from cancer treatment. he will not be voting on the tax bill tonight. that means since this past weekend we have known the full range of mathematical possibilities for what could happen in this big washington vote tonight. we know all the democrats are a no, that's for sure. with all the democrats voting for it and all the democrats against, that vote would be 51-48, the republicans would win. if one republican votes no, that vote would be 50-49 and the republicans would win. if two republicans vote no, the vote would be 49-50 and the republicans would lose. john mccain's gone. that means there are an odd number of senators in washington voting on this thing. that means there can't be any circumstance in which there is a tie vote in which mike pence has to cast the deciding vote. the only conceivable reason he would need to be there for the

tax vote is to break a tie. mathematically speaking there cannot be a tie. so it factually makes no sense to say that mike pence had to bail out of his middle east peace trip because he was urgently needed on the hill. it's a nice story, it makes him sound very responsible and not at all afraid to go to a place where he's not wanted and where he's going to get yelled at. but once again it's a story that is factually implausible that's coming out of the vice president's office. and it is by a million miles not the most important thing about this vote that we are all waiting for tonight. but, boy, howdy, if the vice president wants to get famous for one thing, this isn't the kind of pattern you would want to be famous for. what else is he famous for this past year? after the 2008 financial crisis which started right at the end of the george w. bush presidency carried over into the first year of the obama presidency, after

that final catastrophe, we had a brief national reckoning, not just with what had happened on wall street. we had a little bit of a psychological, even emotional reckoning i think with something wa th that was wrong in our country. even though we're a few years down the frood that nroad from think this is easier to see pictures. at 2010 researchers at duke university did a large stack stickally sound sample of the american people, more than 5,500 participating in the survey and they asked these people about the distribution of wealth in the united states. and it produced this super interesting visual which you might remember from the time. it got a lot of attention a few years ago. so americans said in this survey in 2010 if they could wave a magic wand and create an ideal american society from scratch in

terms of the distribution of wealth in our country, this is what the u.s. would look like. and you see it's divided into top 20%, second 20%, that's income. blue is the 20% of richest people in the country, red is the second tier, green is in the middle, and then purple and light blue are the people in the fourth tile and the bottom 20% of income. and in this big survey, this was an interesting portrait of american values. this is what americans said the ideal distribution of wealth would be in our country. and it's not totally bad, the richest people in the country do control proportionately more of the wealth but we have a strong middle class and the people at the bottom aren't making as much money but at least they're in a position to compete. it's a statement of what we want, right. that was americans saying what we'd like our country to be like. but, americans are not naive. so the first round of questions is what do you think the country should be like ideally?

next round of questions was, not what do you want income distribution to be like in the united states but what do you think it is right now? this was asked in 2010 right after the financial crisis. americans, again, not naive and pie in the sky people we're fully aware that we're way less equal a society than we might idealize. fully aware that a minority of people control the wealth in the country. if you look at the visual, that bottom line is what i showed you. but the line above that is different, right? that's the americans perception of what the country is actually like. we perceive, we recognize that actually a big proportion of the wealth is controlled by the small, wealthiest of the population. here's the kicker, though. the truth of how income is distributed in our country is way worse than even the estimation by the american

people that you just saw. as of 2010, if you plot it on a graph like this, the top 20% of wealthy people in this country are controlling more than 80% of all the money in the country, right. so, again, what we ideally want it to be like is the bottom. in the middle is what we believe it is, on the top is what it actually was in 2010. the blue is the top 20% of the richest people in the country controlling more than 80% of the wealth. the bottom 40% of the country, the light blue and purple, they don't even show up on the top graph because combined, that 40% of the u.s. population controls less than half of one% of all american wealth. they don't even make it on to the graph. so this was done in 2010, was published in 2011, it was one of those rare academic papers that crossed over and became a cultural thing. i think it had a big impact on what we had just gone through as a country in 2011 when it came out, what the financial

crisismencrisis meant, what were the real problems and what do we need to think about economically. and the next part of the reckoning after the financial crisis that we had was more forward looking. it was a question of causation, of consequences. if we as a country have income and equality and inequality of wealth on such a grand almost unimaginable scale, is it possible that's economically dangerous to us as a country? this was the other part of that reckoning that we had as a country after that crash. this was a chart that came out in a congressional report in september, 2010. again, something that started off an almost academic context, but ended up getting a lot of circulation because it's message, as you can see, is worrying and specific. these blue lines basically show income and equality. they show the total portion of income in the country controlled by the wealthiest sliver of the population and the first big peek anyone come and equality is right before the crash of 1929 led to the great depression. the next big peak on the graph is right before the crash that

took the economy down again in 2008 and 2009. and all this graph shows is that spikes in income and equality and financial crises are correlated. it doesn't show that one causes the other, but that correlation makes you worry. and the really worrying forward part of this reckoning is what's happened since we had that financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. you can see after the 1929 crash and the great depression that guilded age of massive wealth disparity, it eased a little bit, got better. middle class got stronger. but after the modern crash in 2008/2009, we now know that things didn't get better. they didn't correct in the same way they did after the great depression. and it's not because the crash, you know, in 2008/2009 wasn't big enough. just a couple years ago looking on the 2008/2009 crisis compared

with the great depression, ben bernanke said no question, the 2008 crisis was worse than the great depression in terms of its economic impact. but for whatever reason after we started to drag ourselves out of that economic pit just a few years ago, the income and equality thing didn't get better, it just continued to get worse. this was "the washington post" two weeks ago. the rischest 1% now owns more of the country's wealth than at any time in the

♪ when you have a cold, stuff happens. ♪ { sneezing ] shut down cold symptoms fast [ coughing ] with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels.

the tax cuss ats and jobs a. i've waited a long time to get this -- i asked for order. >> it will be order. >> order in the gallery. >> we need our healthcare. children's medicine. we need our healthcare. children's medication.

we need our healthcare. [ indistinct yelling ]. >> we need our healthcare. >> this fellow has a very interesting waive trying to gy t his point across. >> a demonstrate ter against the tax bill trying to get in a word of protest. this protester was arrested. you heard them cut his mike and then you heard him yelling from the hallway. democrat murphy joining us. i know this next few hours is going to be busy for. >> you thanks for having me. >> is this goose cooked? are there any ongoing conversations with anybody undecided or is this just a matter of the timing here?

>> i think it's a done deal. as of right now i think jeff flake is the only one who hasn't declared his vote, maybe somebody gets lost on their way to the senate floor. but unfortunately i think this is going to get voted on in the senate tonight, head back to the house tomorrow and it will become law. it's not a policy document, rachel, this is essentially a ransom payment to the big gop donors who have demanded this all year long. there's really no rational explanation for putting 60% of the tax cut in this bill in the hands of the top .1% of the americans. and ultimately, you know, this bill will become even more unpopular, republicans will probably lose the house and senate because of it but there will be a lot of pain along the way. i'm not holding out hope there's going to be a miracle tonight, but, listen, i didn't think that

the healthcare bill was going to good down until john mccain walked down to the floor. so i guess miracles have happened in the past few months. >> would you say the republicans will lose the house and senate because of this bill, the polling would indicate that certainly if the vote was going to happen right now democrats would have i think it's something like a plus 11 generic ballot advantage in congress. but that vote will happen almost a year from now and a lot of things could happen between now and then. can you talk in terms of the calculus that you think your republican colleagues are making? obviously as you're saying they're donors the wealthiest people in the country have to be happy with the outsized benefits they're getting. but when it is such a wlo to the middle class and something so regressive and polling so poorly, when it seems like it has such negative political consequences, how is this a racial vote for them even with their donors being pushy? >> great question. it doesn't seem to be rational, but i go back about six months when we look at the first few

fundraising quarters in house races and senate races across the country, something surprising happened. democratic challengers were out raising house incumbents. it was happening in dozens of races. one, democratic enthusiasm is up, but, two, tlhere really is o low donor republican base any longer because they've stopped raising money in small amounts. they're totally dependent on these big super pacs to come in and fund their races. they have come to the conclusion that without the support of these families they can't even make a contest in these house and senate races. i think many of them know they're taking a big risk, but they don't see any way to fund their operation without this money coming in. i can't explain it any other way because the american people have already weighed in on what they think about the bill. and, as i said, as it gets implemented it will get even less popular. >> if your prediction is right and democrats do take the house

and senate after the mid-term election, do you think that democrats will try overturn this bill? >> absolutely. we have to. i mean, given the assault that's occurring here, especially on the east and the west coast. i would hope that we would take a look at the entirety of the bill. listen, the corporations in my state they wanted a tax cut but they were never expecting to get a 20% cut. they would be thrilled to get below 30%. there's plenty of room go back into this bill to make up some money and return it to the middle class and the working class that's losing out here. and, you of course, what we haven't talked about is the repeal of the individual mandate which is going to increase everybody's premiums by 10% compounding every year so that conveniently in year seven of this bill your premiums will have doubled and your standard deduction will have gone back to its previous levels.

>> wow. and 13 million americans will be on their way to losing all healthcare coverage. >> that's right. >> chris murphy of connecticut, it's going to be a late night tonight, thank you for being with us. appreciate it. >> thanks. >> we have more ahead tonight including democrats apparently flipping the state legislature in virginia tonight thanks to a one-vote margin in one district. that remarkable story ahead plus more. stay with us. ♪ three waves later, i think it was the other way around... ♪ everything you need to go. ♪ expedia.

the ford year-end sales event is in full swing. ( ♪ ) you are going to be a big surprise. (whining) aww, i see a big puppy. i see a b-i-i-g pu-u-ppy. hey greg! that's ford, america's best-selling brand. now get exclusive holiday offers, with 0% financing for 72 months across a full line up. for a limited time, get an additional $1,000 cash back on top of 0% financing for 72 months. get these exclusive offers during the ford year end sales event.

they waited for her at the airport. the last time the republican tax

bill came to a vote in the senate, senator susan collins from maine voted yes. they she cut i deal with her republican colleagues. after that her constituents drove in large numbers to the airport just in case she flew home from the weekend because after that vote they wanted her to see their backs turned on her when she got off the plane. she ended up staying in d.c. that weekend so they didn't see the backs of her constituents at the airport. but if she has kept one eye open, she has seen a lot of tem like those constituents asking her and begging her to vote against the tax bill. they have repeatedly visited her senate office across maine, they have held sit-ins on the carpet, die-ins on the dial floor, they have protested on the side of the road, they have stood out in the snow and in the wind and in the dark and in the cold. they have tried talking to senator collins's staff.

they have tried talking to the senator herself over the phone. they met with her in person whenever they could. they blocked doorways outside her office space in washington, d.c. they wrote her handwritten notes and signed their names. they sent her framed pictures of their protests with holiday greetings. they tried sending her her sugar, they baked her cakes and actually lots and lots of cakes. they made her informational handmade board games about what's wrong with the tax bill, tax open poly. they blade crib bathe on the senate floor when they think she got played to vote yes. they said she thinks the coverage of the tax bill has been sexist because they think she, an experienced senator has been duped by the promises republicans made her about that bill in goexchange for her vote. but it came from her constituents who sang her song and said prayers that she would

soften her heart and change her mind. her constituents who dressed up like the grinch and the treasury secretary, people who put on chicken suits, people who held up giant checks cut out to the wealthiest 1%. they stood out side "star wars" screenings with darth vador costumes with her face on them. they got big groups of people in a room to cold call her. they were then told to go home and they said no. those folks were zip tied and arrested and taken to jail. it's been going on for months all across maine and d.c. people in maine pushing every single pressure point to try to get her to vote no tonight on the republican tax bill. she's one of the few republicans who is seen as a possible get on that vote. suzanne collins has now told them that shooil she'll vote yes

tonight. she made a deal with mitch mcconnell that she'd say yes if he promised her specific healthcare options by the end of the year. she said she's mad about the negative coverage she received over those dealings. she believes that she will actually get what she negotiated for, but as we barrel toward this road tonight, it is an open question as to whether or not republicans are planning on giving her what she promised her in exchange for her vote. republicans in the housemaid clear today that they are not fond of the deal that mitch mcconnell brokered with her. capitol hill is saying house republicans really might not include the susan collins healthcare spending bill this year which is what she was promised in exchange for her vote. so this deal that senator collins made, this deal she traded for her yes vote on taxes, it's wobbling a little, as least as deals goe. it's like a bike on a loose

kickstand. but if there's any chance she might change her mind, she's certainly running out of time do so. feedback from her colleagues has been loud but for weeks and months intensively what she's been hearing from her constituents has been unimaginably loud. joining us now is marie smith she's could director for mainers leadership, she's one of senator collins constituents who's been urging her to vote no on this bill. thank you so much for joining us. we've been watching the protests in maine for weeks and we've been looking fofrd to speaking to you about them. >> thank you for having me. >> senator collins has been unswayed by these relentless efforts to try to get her to vote no. >> unswayed and last night she doubled down while mainers acc pied her office when she announced she would support the bill. >> i know that some of these actions involve direct contact with senator collins.

people were able to speak with her on speaker phone, people were able in some cases to meet with her. as far as i understand, you were able to meet with her personally as part of these lobbying efforts. did you feel she was responsive to the case that you guys were making? was she hearing? you was she engaged? >> she listened but she didn't hear. i met with her last week. she said it's my life on the line and she said i know, but, and that sort of was the response to the four mainers sharing their stories. i know but i have these promises. i know but i'm still going to vote for this bill, i know it will harm you. >> senator collins expressed anger today. she said that the coverage of the tax bill has been sexist. she didn't elaborate at length but we got the sense from the reporters to whom she made those remarks that what she went was that people wouldn't be doubting a male senator for being able to drive a hard bargain and get a good deal.

she thinks it's sexist of the media and even of her contich twonts suggest th -- constituents for promises that might actually going to come do that the republicans aren't going to give her what they promised her. what's your take on this? >> around 70% of maine's existence is female, so it would be the women perpetuating sexism, which is possible but unlikely in this case. i think she's trying to shift the subject and her position, she is always a top three target on every single vote. that's her position. that is the -- what she has set up and it's disappointing that she wants to change the discussion. >> do you think that this is going to have consequences for her in main? she's obviously a pretty popular politician at home. she's entertained the idea of potentially running for governor. her independence is certainly an asset for an independent-minded

state like maine to the extent that she -- you said she acts independently instead of talks independently. you think do will have consequences for her? >> it already has. three of the women who traveled down to d.c. with me last week had voted for her. they supported her. they believed in her. and they are no longer believers that she is protecting their welfare. and that's the trend. >> codirector of mainers for leadership and organizer for the law movement maine. i really appreciate your time tonight. as i said, we've been following your fwhowork in maine and wondg if it was going to pay off in maine, pay off nfor the country. please stay in touch. >> absolutely. thank you very much. >> thank you. coaching means making tough choices.

jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp.

passed. right now the senate is finishing up its vote on the upper chamber. with washington republicans now poised to bring about their first significant legislative accomplishment of the year, ushering in the biggest tax overhaul in a generation. before it can reach the president's desk it will have to head back to the house for yet another vote after house republicans encountered an embarrassing tick up in the rush to pass the bill. correspondent garrett hank is on capitol hill for us. good evening. good morning, i should say. >> reporter: good morning, melissa. it took till the early hours but this is a done deal, at least in the united states senate. republicans were able to get the 51 votes they needed to pass their tax plan entirely from their own caucus.

remember, john mccain out until january, that means they had a very narrow margin here and they achieved it. the last republican senator saut thought to be on the fence on this bill including jeff flake. susan colonel wlouns made a number of additional deals with republican leadership to earn her vote all came home. and bob corker i should add the republican from tennessee, the lone no vote ghens bill when this came through the senate the first time. all returned home to vote for this bill tonight. they face unified democratic opposition and at times angry crowds. the final vote was interrupted i counted approximately a half a dozen times by protester in the gallery chanting kill the bill and other slogans meant to stop, to delay, to do anything they could in these final moments to prevent republicans from passing this bill which includes not just tax provisions for individuals and for

corporations, but also things like removing the individual mandate provision from obamacare, opening the arctic national wildlife refuge to drilling. a large bill, a major republican priority now passed through the senate. it needs one more go through the house tomorrow which is essentially a foregone conclusion at that point before heading to the president's desk in what will be politically a major victory for this white house and congress which has struggled to get big pieces of legislation like this done. >> garrett hague, a big day in washington. thank you. that will do it for us. now back to the rachel maddow show in progress. that looked impossible, but -- shellacked the republicans of virginia. they were plus ten statewide in terms of votes for those legislative seats.

but then the next morning, virginia democrats woke up and they were still in the minority in the legislature. and that's because virginia's districts are drawn to be so favorable to republicans. a bunch of those races were really close. and then today in va, did you see how it all worked out? today virginia democrat shelly simonds beat david yancy in a recount in one of these virginia house districts. going in the recount the democrat was behind by ten votes but five hours later of that cliff hanger recount with all the math scribbled on the white board, after that she ended up ahead by one, one vote. and if it holds up an gets certified, that means that virginia democrats will have gotten 200,000 plus more votes over all for legislative seats, including that one vote victory in that one delegates race. and they still won't get to be in charge. they will have steam rolled their way to a tie, to 50/50.

unbelievable, but true. we'll be right back. eight hundrn we switched our auto and home insurance. liberty did what? yeah, they saved us a ton, which gave us a little wiggle room in our budget. wish our insurance did that. then we could get a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey, welcome back. this guy... right? yes. ellen. that's my robe. you could save seven hundred eighty two dollars when liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance.

anif you've got a lifee. you gotta swiffer going somewhere? whoooo. here's some advice. tripadvisor now searches more... ...than 200 booking sites - to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30%. trust this bird's words. tripadvisor. i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there." talk to your doctor, and call 844-234-2424. was supposed to be a wake reup call for our government?sh people all across the country lost their savings, their pensions and their jobs. i'm tom steyer and it turned out that the system that had benefited people like me who are well off, was, in fact, stacked against everyone else. it's why i left my investment firm and resolved to use my savings for the public good. but here we are nine years later and this president and the republican congress

are making a bad situation even worse. they won't tell you that their so called "tax reform" plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations, while hurting the middle class. it blows up the deficit and that means fewer investments in education, health care and job creation. it's up to all of us to stand up to this president. not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed. join us. your voice matters.

this is such a weird story. this is the holiday inn rosalyn at key bridge. it's a nice three-star holiday nin arlington, virginia, just across the potomac river from washington, d.c. tonight this holiday inn was also the venue for a fundraiser.

funds raised at tonight's event at the holiday inn were for the legal defense fund to benefit rick gates former trump deputy campaign manager who was indicted by special prosecutor robert mueller. rick gates, of course, was indicted along with trump campaign manager paul manafort by special counsel robert mueller back in october. gates and manafort have both pled not guilty to 12 felony counts of money laundering, making false statements and foreign lobbying violations. so tonight was a fundraiser for gates's legal fees hosted by jack berkeman. he is a prominent and controversial d.c. lobbyist and radio host. among other things he's known for committing conspiracy theories about the murder of dnc staffer rich. according to his recent tweet, he believes that robert mueller is, quote, the devil. and now tonight he convened the first fundraiser for one of the

trump officials who has been indicted by the devil. i mean ront robebert mueller. now he said that he expected a turnout of 150 d.c.'s biggest movers and shakers tonight at his fundraiser at the holiday inn. as you can see for yourself the attendance was more in the ten to 15 range, more than journalists than not. i don't know why they decided to put this thing on facebook live, but they did and it showed us that it was mostly journalists and less than 15 people. rick gates himself was not allowed to appear at this fundraiser because he's currently serving home confinement and wearing an ankle bracelet. but he did appear via video conference with a poor signal. >> by being here tonight you're giving us the tools that we will need to fight and for that i'm extremely grateful. as you may be aware, there's a gag order on the case, so i am not able to talk specifically about the case. however, i can say that because of people like you, we will have

the resources to fight. >> not if that turnout looked like what it looked like. we asked the special counsel's office today if rick gates's involvement tonight's event might potentially violate the judge's gag order that prevents anybody involved in the legal case from speaking about it outside the courtroom. special counsel's office declined to comment to us on this matter because they declined to comment to us about anything. they've never given us a single comment ever, ever. the goal of tonight's event was to raise $250,000 to help rick gates. of course he is on the hook for massive legal bills. we also know he's not getting any help from the president. last month bloomberg reported that after relying on the rnc and the trump organization to pay his own legal bills, the president would timely start to pay his own legal bills. and the president was also reportedly finalizing, finalizing a plan to use personal funds to help current and former white house staffers with their legal costs. that's what they said a while

back, but for the white house staffers who were helping to benefit from that promised legal fund, it has now been over a month since this was being finalize and no fund is in sight. cnn is now reporting quote for now at least white house staffers are paying their legal fees out of their own pockets. a significant expense for government employees. i thought trump was going to help? he was going set that up fund. republicans and the house intelligence committee they now confirm to nbc that they're pretty much done with the house intelligence investigation with russia. they plan to wrap it up in a couple weeks. that may be true, but the mueller investigation that looks like it's going on for a while. washington post reported last night that members of mule's team have been telling other people that they expect to be working through much of 2018 at a minimum. meaning, as this thing goes on, as the mueller investigation goes on, there's plenty of time for white house staffers and trump campaign staffers to rack up a ton of legal bills and for

those who aren't getting any presidential money, if it ever arrives, people like rick gates, maybe that means more gaila fundraisers like what we witnessed tonight at the holiday inn. watch the space. >> jones is opening up, he's not getting more votes out of here. meanwhile go to the gigantic population centers, take a look in mobile, there's a lot more votes coming out of mobile. >> i must say listening to steve kornacki talk about this race through my earphone is listening to eli gold. ♪

turn up your swagger game with one a day men's. ♪ a complete multivitamin with key nutrients plus b vitamins for heart health. your one a day is showing.

watching and waiting tonight for two things that will be unfolding very late in the wee hours in washington tonight. one of the things we are watching for is the fbi deputy director andrew mccabe who went in to speak to the house

intelligence committee today on the russia investigation just after 2:00 p.m. eastern time. he hasn't been seen since. this is an fbi official who republicans have been criticizing and calling for him to be fired over