stephanie ruhle. 3:00 p.m. eastern, you can find me on twitter, facebook, snapchat. thank you for watching. deadline with nicole wallace starts right now. hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. as the nation honors dr. martin luther king and congress works to avoid a shutdown over other issues protection for dreamers, donald trump insists he's not a racist. >> [ inaudible ]. >> did you see what durbin said about my comment? >> [ inaudible ]. >> no, no, i'm not a racist. i am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. that i can tell you. >> the president's comments part of a new p.r. strategy, one that would have us forget that the white house communications staff did not deny that the president described african nations as [ bleep ] holes. the day reports surfaced and one

that hinges on two republicans remembering something slightly different than everyone else presents. conservative columnist eric eriksson saying, it's weird people in the room don't remember trump using that word, when trump himself was calling friends to brag about it afterwards. i spoke to one of those friends. the president thought it would play well with the base. and the washington post josh dawsey who wrote the original story, white house official told me tonight there is a debate internally on whether trump said [ bleep ] hole or [ bleep ] house. eye eye eye. republican norz dav republican senators seem to have heard the will thor and are using this to deny. this isn't the only he said he said war of words in which the white house is engaged at this hour. sarah huckabee sanders going all red in her assault on the "wall street journal". the paper having the audacity to smear the president with his own words. the president trying to talk his way out of whether he has a good relationship with kim jong-un as

he indicated in an interview with the journal. >> well, "the wall street journal," as you know, quoted wrong. we're going to see what happens with north korea. we have great talks going on. the olympics you know about. a lot of things can happen. >> so, the debate that's erupted is over whether trump said "i have a very good relationship with kim jong-un of north korea" or "i'd" as in i would have a very good relationship. here's a sound from the "wall street journal's" own audio reporting. >> i'd probably have a very good relationship with kim jong-un of north korea. i would -- i have relationships with people. i think you people are surprised. >> i'm always surprised. here to help us unpack the latest skirmish is some of our favorite reporters and friends. joining us from washington chief white house correspondent analyst peter baker, robert costa, national political

reporter and msnbc analyst, jeremy bash, msnbc national security analyst and former chief of staff at the cia and the pentagon. and with us at the table, brett stevens, "the new york times" op-ed columnist, and daily beast reporter, both msnbc contributors. peter baker, let me start with you. i am not a racist, the new, i am not a crook? >> yeah, you know, if your president of the united states and you're busy telling people you're not a racist, you're losing an argument. on the other hand maybe he thinks this does play well with the base as josh dawsey said. they did not deny this at first. very curious in fact they didn't deny it. well, look, he uses salty language, uses tough language, butways trying to make a point. nobody said the reports that came out at first, my paper as well as the washington post and others, all confirmed were wrong. it's only really days later that they began to try to slice the apple between s-hole and s-house

as you said. it's a lot of slicing and dicing of words. there was a time bill clinton was talking about the meaning of is is. people know what this president probably meant and i think they're able to judge it on their own. >> robert costa, what's wrong with -- or what's the thinking behind senators purdue and cotton parsing words between [ bleep ] hole and [ bleep ] house, and hanging their defense of donald trump on such an a sani gn differential? >> we've reached out to senator purdue and senator cotton. senator purdue has declined to explain more about his position, what went on in that meeting. it seems like in his recent interviews over the weekend that he heard a different word perhaps. we have not been able to figure out exactly what he believes the president said. he wouldn't say that over the weekend on one of the sunday shows. and so we're trying to figure out what was happening in that room and every reporter in town

is just combing through sources at the white house, what happened, what was the extent of what was said. >> you know, jeremy bash, it's awkward on mlk day to be talking about whether the president said [ bleep ] hole or [ bleep ] house. and what it obscures is that at the root of this conversation is a commander in chief who believes that some african nations are [ bleep ] holes. we had just a few months ago, you were on our air talking through the death of la david t. johnson fighting alongside allies in niger, trying to protect that nation from its threats. what does it say around the world that we have an american president who seems to think that some african nations are [ bleep ] holes? and why are american soldiers fighting and dying in places like that? >> nicole, at my house today, my kids were home from school and over lunch with asked alexa to play for us the "i have a dream" speech and we listened to it over lunch.

i kept thinking about obviously dr. king, but i kept thinking about an army private named emmanuel mensa who enlisted in the united states army before he was a citizen. and he, of course, died on december 28th when he ran into that burning building in the bronx and saved his fellow citizens from the fire. and he perished. i kept thinking about the dream deferred for people like him and the plight of dreamers. there are 900 currently serving u.s. army soldiers who are dreamers. they will be deported. their uniforms will be ripped off, deported if the dream act doesn't pass. of course, as you reference, we have soldiers fighting and dying at this hour to work alongside our partners in african countries and terrorist organizations. so, i think the president has hit the wrong note in terms of national security and american values on this weekend. >> brett, you've written, i mean, every piece you write is a piece of note. you've written -- your last two really getting a lot of attention and pushing this debate forward. and i want to ask you about the

one that john mccain retweeted today. i think the title is "proud to be a nation of holers." you write among other things, maybe there really is something wrong with the president's head. modify with any four letters you wish. talk about the piece. >> look, i think jeremy bash puts his finger on the right discussion, which is not whether these countries and developing countries are nice places. many of them are not nice places. what the gravamen of the president's remark which made it so offensive wasn't he was talking about those countries. he was talking about the people from those countries who want to or who do come here. and his view is that we don't want those people. and what i'm saying is if you look at your background and your background and certainly my background, i'm betting that you will find holes in our background. my grandfather was born in what's now moldova. not a very nice country. what makes america extraordinary is that it takes people from

holers, if you will, and turns them into doers and makers and thinkers -- >> and presidents. you know, betsy, this gets to the whole -- maybe this is exactly the conversation we should be having on mlk day. maybe the gift at this moment is to take us exactly back to your point. i mean, what is it that they can't beat into donald trump's head? i was watching -- there are a couple of new nat geo specials about d-day. and you and other columnists have made this observation that this is what it looks like when you have an american president so ignorant of our history and so ignorant of what people have come here for. but to this point that some of these countries are not destination spots, some at fox was saying no one goes on vacation at haiti. that's the point. people come to america, they do better than people who were born here in terms of advanced degrees, populating our medical schools and law schools.

what is it they can't teach the president what bob corker observed over the summer that he doesn't seem to understand the idea of america? >> it's pretty extraordinary that just the historic facts about american immigration seem completely oblivious to the president. the reality is people who live in comfortable life styles in wealthy countries are much less likely to make the often dangerous and risky trip to a country where they speak the language than people from countries like haiti and el salvador. >> they make the best americans. >> exactly. there are problems in ethiopia and nigeria because so many of their doctors have come to the united states. we have our own troubles with getting enough doctors to work in the medical system. if you've ever been to a hospital, if you've ever needed to meet with a specialist, special medical care, you have probably worked with an immigrant. the fact that the president seems completely oblivious to that is just perplexing and almost seems like willful ignorance. >> robert costa, you have a great new piece out that seeks to answer one of the questions i had in watching that tape.

we started the show with. kevin mccarthy relishes role as trump fixer friend and candy man. camp david last weekend, mccarthy took up the task of explaining the obstacles facing republicans ahead of the elections. trump appreciated mccarthy's use of pictures and charts [ audience reacts ] er than a memo. it was a basic and foundational presentation that explained midterm politics to trump in the words of one senior official. white house official said trump may not have listened to others as well as he listened to mccarthy. you're diplomatic and you have great relationships with this white house. what i took away from this was mccarthy was a guy that dumbed down basically, we're bleepd, mr. president. >> if you look at the story, it's in part a portrait of a friendship, a political alliance, but it is also a case study in how republicans on capitol hill have reconciled with president trump, someone that mccarthy on recordings is heard saying years ago that maybe vladimir putin, the

russian president, has him on some kind of pay list. this is something the washington post reported last year. mccarthy, though, and so many other republicans we cover, have now moved toward trump and embraced him. the reason we call him a candy man in the headlines is partly out of fun. mccarthy, house majority leader, number two person in the house at one point in recent months gave the president a jar of just red and pink star bursts because those are the president's favorites. he found that out during a trip on air force one. >> oh, my god. i don't know whether to laugh or cry. let me ask you about one of the president's new nicknames, peter baker. dick budurbin has a new nicknam. he totally misrepresented what was said at the daca meeting. deals can't get made when there is no trust. durbin blue daca is hurting the heels of daca. this is a couple tweets the president sent over the holiday weekend seeking to lay blame at the feet of the democrats over

daca. but that seems like a stretch when republicans have so much control. >> republicans do have control. they had hoped to have a deal where they could trade-off priorities the democrats would get the dream act fixed that they had been seeking. republicans would get some money for border security, if not everything the president wanted. it seems like a pretty straightforward deal in previous times. washington would have signed, sealed and delivered it and sent it to the president. in today's atmosphere that doesn't seem to be so easy. even the easy things are hard. so, we're facing the spending deadline coming up at the end of the week. there had been a lot of hope this could be fixed as part of that. but the pressure is a little bit off because a district court, federal district court has just ruled the president has to actually extend the current daca protections, that is the dream act protections to these younger immigrants in the current situation. so, some of the consequence of not acting on friday seems to be removed for the moment, and that as we know in washington

potentially removes the incentive to make a deal because washington doesn't seem to work very well unless there is a deadline. >> and the other thing that seems to complicate this is the president's incapacity to keep his eye on the ball. he's now on day four, day five of a fight over whether he said [ bleep ], you know, what word he used to describe people from african nations and whether or not he did. so, just speak to the dysfunction and what it sort of suggests about the year ahead. >> i wrote a column at the end of the year why i'm still a never trumper. it comes down to character. people on the right keep saying, you agree with this or that policy from trump. and in some cases i do. but the reality is that stuff isn't happening in washington entirely on account of who the president is, the obsessions over, over the grammar in the "wall street journal," the obscenities offered with respect

to immigrants, the bizarre language about the size of his nuclear button. so, i mean, it's one of the paradoxes -- maybe it's not a paradox, but one of the realities of the trump era is that his personal neuroses, his bigotry, his obsessions have become the foreground. by the way, we're about to have a government shutdown. by the way, 800,000 people might be expelled from the country. by the wait, we can't get a thing done because the president is always getting in the way of the nation's business. and that is fundamentally why i remain a never trumper. >> and that is a piece that is worth a whole hour long conversation and we're going to have that at some point because it's a question i go all the time from friends of mine who are aligned with trump who made that deal with the devil in my mind. aren't you for energy independence? aren't you for the tax cut? that's not the point. these are people who used to care about character and who used to care about people whose

personal character didn't so impede their ability to govern. but, betsy, i want to ask you, we sort of glossed over the fight that he's having with "the wall street journal." it's pretty fundamental. he seems to have said, i have a great -- he thinks that the twitter taunts constitute a relationship. i mean, he is like a 12-year-old commander in chief who thinks that -- i don't know what other kind of relationship they have unless he's suggesting there are talks we don't know about. >> right. it's understandable the white house would go to war over that particular -- >> who is next, sean hannity? it is so wild to see the red letter attack from sarah huckabee sanders against the journal. >> it's pretty astonishing. and it shows that there are even points to where the president is willing to take on the people who he would expect to always be sort of loyal supporters of him. and i think this also goes back to the daca question, right? as these negotiations are ongoing, one of the big questions for the president is, does he actually abandon his base on the question of daca? for years breitbart has used daca, a program that protects

hundreds of thousands of law abiding people who came to the u.s. not of their own decision, from deportation. breitbart has used that to demon ize republicans and democrats alike to bluj enthdgen them. now he's going after "the wall street journal" or has something changed? >> "the wall street journal" article is issued. this is about i or i'd. what we should be talking about are two things. number one, we want a president with a good relationship with kim jong-un, one of the most sadistic dictators since ed edi amin. doesn't this have something to do with the fact "the wall street journal" broke the story about his relationship with the porn star and the hush money paid to her? those are two avenues worth exploring beyond the question of the grammar at stake here. >> see, you're going to be the new guy in charge of writing the teases. i want to give you the last

word. this is the cover of the german magazine, der speegiegel. it translates "fire and fury" and doesn't suggest america is getting great any time soon. your thoughts? >> this is what we have evolved to which is what is evoked to that cover. seems like we're going backwards. >> it sure does. all right. peter baker, robert costa, thank you for starting us off. when we come back, breaking tradition. as donald trump golfs, we'll take a trip down normal lane, how past presidents have honored martin luther king. just ahead, imagine a false nuclear attack flashed across the screen on fox and friends. what would trump do? and the movie that was made against the backdrop of an unprecedented attack on the first amendment and why they worked so hard to get it right. >> but somewhere i read of the freedom of assembly. somewhere i read of the freedom of speech.

somewhere i read of the freedom of press. somewhere i read that the greatness of america is the right to protest for rights. i accept i don't conquer

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as a matter of fact, at the sing center, we refer to it as a day on, not a day off. it's not a day to hang out at the park or pull out the barbecue grill. it's a day to do something to help someone else, and that can be as simple as delivering someone's trash or picking up the newspaper for that elderly

person who can't get to the end of the driveway. bottom line, you're doing something that benefits someone other than yourself. >> it's been 35 years since ronald reagan signed the bill making martin luther king day a federal holiday. and since then every president, every single one, has honored king and his work in some substantial way. volunteering, speaking, attending church services, in fact, we could only find two years when this wasn't the case. in 1989 reagan had only four days left in his presidency. and in 1991, the persian gulf war had begun. what is president trump doing? he woke up this morning in mar-a-lago. we know his motorcade pulled into trump international golf club shortly thereafter. we know he's traveling back to d.c. there are no public events listed on his schedule. all we have are these remarks from friday. >> today we celebrate dr. king for standing up for the self-evident truth americans hold so dear, that no matter

what the color of our skin or the place of our birth, we are all created equal by god. >> or the place of our birth, he said. those comments from the father of birtherism, by the way, a day after he reportedly referred to african nations as bleep-hole countries. joining brett and betsy at the table, melissa, and al sharp ton and the president of the national action network. rev, let me start with you. i've asked you this before. i'm going to ask you again today. where are we? >> we are in a very dangerous place. let me say this. a year ago today, martin luther king iii met with donald trump in trump towers. >> i remember that. >> many of us said, don't do it. he said, i feel i have to make appeal. that's what my father did with kennedy and johnson. he was at our action network

breakfast in washington and talked about how disappointed he was. even more than disappointed, the arrogant disrespect this president would have in the midst of being questioned about his racism, to go golfing today. i mean, so it's almost like putting an exclamation point there saying if you didn't get it, get it now. i'm not even going to do anything on king day to try to show the world that you're misunderstanding me. i'm going to play fun and games. but i think it's even deeper and it goes to brett's point and something i was talking to you about friday. we should also look at this as a national security risk. i was reminded this morning in washington and in harlem with senator schumer and others at our headquarters. i just went not long ago, a few weeks ago, to the family of sergeant la david johnson. >> yes. >> who was killed in niger where the president got on the phone and the widow felt disrespected.

he was killed in niger. can you imagine the men and women on the soils of africa that are representing united states, the danger they are in, how they cannot do their job getting intelligence because now isis and al qaeda can walk around saying, this is what the united states thinks of you? how do you gather intelligence against terrorism now all over africa when he's given them this kind of rhetoric to use? >> well, jeremy bash and i started this conversation in the last block and i want to get to puerto rico because it is also a homeland security risk. jeremy, if you could just weigh in on this idea. i remember at that briefing, i think it was day four or five of the self-inflicted crisis, really was a slow-motion car wreck watching this white house fight with a gold star widow for seven days. donald trump live tweeting her appearance on gma, the white house chief of staff taking to the podium in the press briefing room giving a heart wrenching description of how his own son

came home, but also using that same appearance to attack the credibility of the widow's representative in congress. i wonder if you can speak to just the strategic importance of our military deployments in africa, how many more or less troops are deployed and the nature of those mission s? >> well, there are two places in the world where our combatant commanders, our four starz are in a shooting war. one is central command. but the other is africa, africa command with general tom walled houser. i advise tvisited him in his headquarters months back. they are dropping ordinance on targets as we speak. they are putting service members into harms way. they are walking patrols with soldiers and service members and intelligence officers from their african allies. they are trying to work out of the hornl of africa. we have a base there in djibouti. there is a tremendous amount of work america is doing to protect

our homeland. it is very much a national security and homeland security issue as you point out. >> melissa, i remember your appearances here at this table as the calamity and the humanitarian crisis unfolded seemingly without any federal response that matched the response to the hurricanes in texas and florida and the same hurricane season. i wonder, one, how was the island doing? and, two, what role do you think the president's sort of orientation around race played in the response in >> i think it played everything. and i think it is important on this day when we commemorate and celebrate the legacy, the sacrifice, the work of martin luther king that the contrast couldn't be more stark between that figure for whom we have a national federal holiday and the occupant in the white house. someone whose eloquencear being able to articulate equity and

vul garre vulgarity, someone who is so divisive and someone who believes people of color are less capable of contributing to this country. there is a stark contrast that is dangerous. obviously he's leading us down a dangerous path. puerto rico is still in a situation where it is a humanitarian situation. we still have 40% of people without electricity. and we have willful negligence on the part of this administration. we have a tax plan that was put in place which is going to hurt economically further the island of puerto rico. we have no sense of urgency with regards to making sure that we can put it back on a path towards rebuilding. and so there's great concern, and i believe very much his position overall, i've been saying this since the beginning, many of us have been saying this since the beginning, we know and always believed trump has been racist. and that obviously clouds the way he approaches issues and the policies this administration puts forward.

that in the case of puerto rico clearly is being borne out. >> i wanted to say, look, this morning i read letter from a birmingham jail. i think anyone watching this show right now should take ten minutes from their day and go and just honor dr. king by reading that. while i was reading it, i was reminded, martin luther king day is my holiday. it's not the african-american holiday. that's the way donald trump is treating it. it's a holiday for those people. it's my holiday. it's an american holiday and it's important and this goes to something the reverend said. it has national security implications because the united states is the country of martin luther king, not edi amin, not adolf hitler, not other racial or ethnic dividers or bigots. what makes -- what gives the united states its attractive power, what gives the united states moral authority when we go and fight in niger or somalia or elsewhere is that we are the nation of dr. king.

we have that sort of uniquely universalistic message that we are all brothers and sisters and equal under god. >> has he taken that from us? >> i think this is what is so profoundly corrosive and damaging and almost irreversible about the trump administration, that if you are looking at the united states today from vietnam, from south africa, from elsewhere in the world, can you say that about the united states? the united states has become the united states of white identity politics, donald trump, division, and disrespect. and that's -- >> i have to get to a break. but irreversible? >> i hope it's not irreversible, but it's profoundly corrosive. >> all right. up next it's hard to imagine a situation requiring a white house response more serious than a nuclear scare. even if it turns out to be false. but this weekend, the white house struggled to get it right. this is my body of proof. proof of less joint pain. and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis

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i would hate for anybody not to abide by alert and warnings coming from government systems. they can trust government systems. we test them every day. this was a very unfortunate mistake, but these alerts are vital. seconds and minutes can save lives. >> the mistake homeland security secretary kneel son is referring to is a cell phone alert september to those in hawaii on saturday that read, ballistic missile threat inbound to hawaii. seek immediate shelter. this is not a drill. island residents and visitors were in panic mode for a full 38 minutes before a correction was sent out, saying this was a false alarm. however, officials apparently knew within minutes of the alert being sent that there was no threat. the white house released a statement a little while later and took two following clarifications to acknowledge it was an error, not an exercise. the panel and jeremy bash are still with us. so, it was david from who wrote this, who tweeted this. imagine if a false nuclear alarm flashed while fox and friends was on. jeremy bash, does that keep you up at night? >> it points to this important

issue here which is that accidents can happen when you are in hair trigger alert. the path we are on with north korea is to be on hair trigger alert. in part because of kim jong-un's very provocative actions and the acceleration of their nuclear missile program. but also we have to say because of our own president's rhetoric, fire and fury, talking about only one thing will solve the problem, implying of course military action, undercutting diplomacy and, of course, the tweet from earlier this month about my nuclear button is bigger than yours. so, when you have this war of words and both nations are on this heightened state of readiness, you do worry about accidental war. you do worry about miscommunication, misunderstanding and sparks that can lead to a conflagration on the peninsula. >> you can't have this conversation and ignore in the country we are having a conversation about the president's mental stability. >> right. it is pretty extraordinary we are having a conversation about potential nuclear crisis and

president's mental stability at the same time. >> how does that play in national security circles? what do they say privately? >> i think it just has people on a general level at a more heightened stress level. one of the stories over the weekend that was sort of drowned out by the blank-hole comments is the fact our relationship with the u.k. is as frayed if not more frayed than it's ever been. we have the president not traveling to london. i was speaking to an intelligence officer who said this is something that is causing a great deal of anxiety and stress among folks whose job it is to work with other countries in the five i's, those we would, with on intelligence sharing. the fact president trump has brought us to the place where our relationship with the u.k. is troubled is just extraordinary. >> it is unbelievable that we have a situation where the united states president is not going to england. i mean, we're talking about england here. >> right. >> if you can't go to england,

where can you go? i mean, kids are watching church hill movies and the president of the united states says, i'm not going to england because of the location of embassy. come on. we have a president that everyone has to deal with whether or not he's stable. he can't get along with -- i mean, he doesn't play well with other heads of state. and he desecrates dr. king and heads to golfing. you want to know why we're panicking? i mean, a lot of people are really, really nervous because we don't know whose hands we're in in terms of this president. >> melissa, one of the things that's remarkable is that there is, i think it's beyond any sort of reasonable person's ability to debate, that there is a leadership vacuum. there is an authority vacuum. who in your mind are the democrats that are rising up to fill that leadership vacuum? >> well, just talking about the issue of also the stability is the response in terms of the lack of leadership of this president. >> right. >> the lack of empathy,

compassion, the lack of even understanding -- >> which we talked about with puerto rico week after week after week. >> in the middle of all of this, yes, let's say, first of all, we're hearing in the white house there was chaos, obviously they didn't noef what to do. if he was informed whiem he was on the golf course, he could not take the time to try to comfort, the leadership role, makes it all about himself. narcissistism -- >> it's a great point. there were people 38 minutes or less than that thought they might die. >> and he had supposedly been informed that this was a false or mistake. but he didn't have the ability to comfort speaks to his mental instability. i believe very highly there is a pathology there. but the issue of the democrats, i think that we do see the people that we've been hearing, we see gillibrand that has really taken this administration to task on other issues. you see warren. you do see bernie sanders. >> do you think it's enough? >> no. i'm concerned.

we have an opportunity here and an opening particularly in this midterm cycle, it's all of ours to lose in terms of democrats. it really is an opportunity here to reclaim this democracy and we've been really taken off the rails. every day is a major embarrassment with this administration and our democracy is frayed and at stake. that is what we have to fight. the midterm election sz where it's at. we have an opportunity to reclaim. >> the democratic slogan should be make america sane again. >> no one can top that. when we come back, two of the biggest names in donald trump's orbit are heading to the hill to testify in the russia investigation, including steve bannon. what will he say about that trump tower meeting he once reportedly called treasonous?

this week marks a quiet turning point in the russia investigation. it's as though we've turned the page to chapter 2. some big fish in the investigation heading to the

hill for the first time. corey lewandowski confirmed he'll speak with the house committee at some point this week. he didn't say when. he was president trump's very first campaign manager. tomorrow house intel is going to talk to steve bannon, trump's former chief strategist. the panel is all here. jeremy bash, i wonder if you can weigh in on the significance of these two key figures in the trump campaign going in to talk to the committee at a point when we've already learned of i think close to two dozen contacts between the trump campaign orbit and russians. >> well, lewandowski is significant because he is neither the president's counsel nor is he a white house staffer. so, he cannot invoke either attorney/client privilege or executive privilege. in other words, when a member of congress asks him what did you talk about with the president, he has to answer the question. so, i think he can talk about what he talked to the president, the candidate trump about in trump tower meeting because of course lewandowski didn't leave

the campaign until later in june of 2016. the trump tower meeting happened on june 9. as for bannon, i think we're going to obviously hear about his reflections, what he heard on the campaign and during the transition, but i'm pretty interested in what he saw at the white house during the firing of jim comey. he was in the west wing and he will have firsthand knowledge about discussions among the president and senior advisors about whether or not there was obstruction of justice that occurred there. >> and he has retained counsel. he shares a lawyer now with reince priebus and don mcgahn, but only as pertains to his time on the campaign and only for the purposes of his testimony to house intel. how significant is it that those restrictions were placed on this appearance? >> it's something that could potentially frustrate investigators and obviously gives the appearance, at least, that these three men think their interests will not come into conflict. one little preview for tomorrow, it's almost guaranteed we won't learn anything new about the obstruction of justice question. my sources have told me that

bannon and the committee have essentially concurred that they are only going to discuss what happened on the campaign. so, that means what's most likely is that if there are leaks from this hearing, which will be behind closed doors, starts at 9:30 a.m., that those leaks will relate to specifically the meeting that don junior had at trump tower. that's probably going to be the focus that these guys have. and we can safely assume that bill burke, steve bannon's lawyer and bannon himself are probably spending this martin luther king day gearing up for what can be a challenging morning. >> and i imagine the committee, will he be under oath? >> he will be. it is a voluntary interview. he's not subpoenaed. if you look at transcripts from interviews like this, there is a good chance his attorney will be able to jump in and say we're not answering that question, that's beyond the scope of what we agreed to. but, yeah, he's going to be under oath and that means if he lies, he could open up legal jeopardy for himself. >> and, jeremy, one of the things i think they'd want to know is what led him to say or

reportedly say to michael wolff in "fire and fury" that he's certain that don junior marched the russians up the president's office. do you think that would be the kind of thing that the committee would want to understand more about? >> i think they will absolutely want to know every single thing he knows about what happened during the trump tower meeting, both before and after. but to the point of the committee not asking about obstruction, i think that's outrageous. he has to be able to talk about what he saw in the transition during the time when mike flynn was doing secret diplomacy with the russians. and he has to be able to talk about what he saw when he was in the white house. i can't think of any reason why the committee wouldn't ask him about it. i also think it's important that lewandowski be prepared to talk about the fact that he was the, quote, high-ranking official in the papadopoulos plea agreement documents we saw come out after papadopoulos pled guilty to that count of lying to the fbi. of course, papadopoulos told the campaign about his contacts with the russians and he sent that e-mail to lewandowski.

lewandowski is going to have to answer about that. >> and lewandowski has got a public posture full of bravado, but he is a link potentially between papadopoulos and other campaign officials such as jeff sessions, right? >> right. lewandowski was in the thick of things in the campaign for months and months. he was at trump's side in a way that most campaign managers are not. he was essentially the president's body man for the first, i want to say six months or so of this campaign. so, if president trump knew something, there is a good chance that lewandowski knew it as well. one thing that is kind of interesting in the lead up to the potential fireworks on capitol hill this week is the dramatic difference between how lewandowski is talking about his committee hearing and bannon. bannon is essentially bunker down. >> a real lawyer. >> right. a serious lawyer, i don't think he's given any quotes to the media. lewandowski i'm sure has lawyered up thus far as well. i can't confirm the name of that lawyer, but he's taking it seriously. however, he's also giving media interviews. he gave me a quote for my story when we broke the newsways going

to be testifying this week. he's telegraphing a lot of confidence and bravado that may or may not be warranted. >> lewandowski is in constant contact with the president. you have to assume he's had conversations about replacing sessions over the decision to recuse. wouldn't that be of interest to anybody investigating collusion? >> i'm certain that is likely to come up. lewandowski wasn't in the white house when this was happening. to jeremy's point, the fact what happened in the white house is unlikely to come up during these committee hearings. may mean there is going to be more to come and that lots of folks will have additional questions for bannon after tomorrow. >> we're out of time. we'll have you all back tomorrow. watching this. up next, one of the starz of the timely new movie of unprecedented attacks on the first amendment. 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.

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>> she doesn't have a resolve to turn a serious profit. >> kay, it is your decision. if you want this to be more than a little family paper, it has to be more than a little family business. >> thank you, arthur, for your frankness. >> that is bradley whitford and the meryl streep in the new film "the post" but the decision to post the pentagon papers. secret government documents that revealed that washington misled the american people about the vietnam war for decades.

we spoke with whitford about the important moment captured in this film. >> it's an amazing moment that -- that kay graham -- it is about -- this is about a woman finding her power and her voice who ends up making probably one of the most important decisions in the history of journalism. to go ahead and publish at a time when is -- when she was risking the entire economic future of the washington post. and this is a movie about -- it is the first amendment. it is not number five or six. the founders were very clear about this. that in order for a democracy to function, the press needs to work for the governed, not the governing. so it is an important reminder

at any time, but especially now when in this unprecedented way we have someone who is -- whose political strategy is based on delegitimizing the presidentment. >> were you aware of the moment in which the film would be released, with donald trump in a hot war with the media, including "the washington post." >> yes. it brought a real urgency to our dire to get it right and to get it out there fast. this is an unprecedented attack on the press. it is part of the way that this administration does business and it was very important i think for all of us to get this statement out there, reminding us of how important free and critical press is to a democracy. >> i know how you're a bit of a political junky, a little bird

told me. what worries you most about the time in which we're living and working. >> what worries me the most right now, we just had this horrific shithole comment which i can't believe i'm probably allowed to say -- >> it used to just be in r movies and now you could say it on the show. >> now i could say it on your show. i'm most worried as we digest this river of civic dysentery and personal dysfunction about the invisible carnage that is happening to our most vulnerable citizens right now. in ways that are not getting covered, because it is not as colorful and it doesn't have the entertainment value of these grotesque statements. right now i think voter disenfranchisement is this

country is an obscenity, what is going on in my home state where i come from in wisconsin, i believe had a huge effect on the election and voter dis disenfranchisement is a tragedy. we are not funding the children's health insurance program and undercutting the affordable care act while offering no -- no other way for people to get the health coverage they deserve. i worry about the stuff that is not on the radar right now. >> that was actor and activist bradley whitford. the post is in theaters right now. go see it. phone: for help with bookcases, say "bookcase." bookcase. i thought this was the dresser? isn't that the bed? phone: i'm sorry, i didn't understand.

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and i think that we can unite across party lines and other differences around the fact that all of us are concerned about the erosion of the soul of america, the moral standing of america. and we can debate the rest later. >> i feel like you're absolutely right and whenever i see the two of you nodding or the two of you nodding, that feels like a silver lining to me. my thanks to all of you. that does it for our hour. i'm nicolle wallace. "mtp daily" started now with katy tur in for chuck. >> illuminating discussion. >> right. >> and if it is monday on a day celebrating the fight against racism, we're having a fight about racism. tonight race and the president on this martin luther king jr. day. >> i am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. >> the controversy, the criticism and the