she was a wonderful present. >> we're blessed to have known her as a friend. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm dara brown at msnbc headquarters. here is what's happening. memo firestorm. the fallout and reaction to its release. which direction does it send the russia investigation now? >> you figure that one out. >> under pressure president trump giving a vague answer when asked whether the justice department official overseeing the russia probe could be in trouble. the battle on capitol hill over the memo will democrats get their say. hope hicks factor. she may have placed herself in legal peril over that trump

tower meeting. details next. we begin with politics and fallout over the gop memo alleging fbi and justice department abused their authority to target a trump campaign adviser. we're learning now that the state department, among other agencies, are targets in what house chairman devin nunes is calling phase two of the investigation. >> this completes the fisa portion of our investigation. we are in the middle of what i call phase two of the investigation, which involves other departments, specifically the state department and some of the involvement they had in this. that investigation is ongoing. we continue to work towards finding answers and asking the right questions to try to get to the bottom of what exactly the state department was up to in terms of this russia investigation. >> meanwhile democrats on a house intel committee pushing for a vote as early as monday so that their memo could be released as a rebuttal and at

the same time ramping up efforts to avoid another saturday night massacre. >> clearly this is not about oversight. this is about a narrative they want to tell, get out in the public domain. >> hypocritical aspect of my colleagues, we just had a vote on the fisa reauthorization not too long ago. they were fine then. now they are saying something else. clearly to me it's to obstruct this investigation. >> we must do all we can in congress to pass legislation to protect rosenstein and mueller. clearly the intent is to get rid of them. >> nbc's peter alexander has more on what it means for the investigation and whether the targets are safe. >> good morning. the release of the memo comes after months of relentless attacks by trump against the very people leading the investigation. it's not a legal document, not an intelligence finding. this morning even the president's own lawyer said it's

the opinion of the house republicans who wrote it. president trump did efying the and justice department. >> why make it public. >> a disgrace what's happening in this country. a lot of people should be ashamed of himself and much worse than that. >> that memo leaked to media outlets, house republicans, accuses of abusing powers carter page who they suspected was a foreign agent for russia. the warrant relies on unwarranted dossier compiled by steele, ex-british intelligence office and fails to disclose the role of the dnc or clinton campaign in funding steele's efforts. a democratic congressional court said the court was told about steele's political bias but may not specifically have been told the information was financed by democrats. what matters is whether steele knew what he was talking about, not what motivated him.

>> we shouldn't be surprised when our informants, the basis for our affidavits, are less than savory. >> democrats in the intelligence community argue the memo is inaccurate and misleading. the disputed document reveals trump appointed justice officials including rod rosenstein, among those who signed off four times renewing the request meaning the justice department with carter page was producing results. it's undercut trust in the intelligence community and members of congress that oversee it. >> it's that undermining of the trust which makes it enormously more difficult for fbi and cia to do their job. >> fbi director christopher wray sending a message to all his employees strongly defending his agen agency, making clear he's not going to leave. peter alexander, nbc news, the white house. for more on this, we're going to have white house reporter for nbc.com and kate

martel, national politics for the hill. i want to start with you. we've had some time to digest this memo. what was your major takeaway here. >> this came out yesterday. i think the big thing in washington, how little was in the memo but the precedent it sets up. obviously the memo alleging some misuse of power in law enforcement agencies when they were pursuing targets in the russia probe. the precedent it sets up is one that law enforcement have said on our multiple teams as well and peter's package as well, you're politicizing intelligence agencies and putting a cloud of doubt over the way the united states gathers its intelligence. i think that sets a really interesting and somewhat dangerous precedent as you go forward in terms of believing your intelligence agencies but also go forward-looking at what special counsel bob mueller

finds in his collusion investigation. >> does this materially change special counsel mueller's investigation. >> as far as the actual investigation goes, this really doesn't necessarily change it. there wasn't much in this memo we didn't know already. that definitely could change if the democratic rebuttal memo came out, because there very well may be new information there. as far as the actual investigation goes, this just kind of confirmed what both sides had already known. i think what's interesting about that, both sides think they won. the implications here are political. republicans think this proves that there's corruption within the upper tiers of doj and fbi, and democrats think this doesn't materially change anything and that we still know the investigation started well before this fisa court warrant in october of 2016. so both sides are thinking they won out of this politically. when it comes to the investigation, this is a blip in a little bit of a distraction in

the greater investigation. >> allie, president trump is at mar-a-lago this weekend. we've heard nothing from him since the memo was released, just a statement from sarah sanders. hogan was on and that's it. what are you reading into this silence? >> also on cnn last night, one of the things said new york city considerations of firing mueller. i think the quote he said is trump has confidence in rosenstein -- i said mueller before and i meant rod rosenstein. that's important when you think about attorney general going forward. yesterday in the oval office as the memo was released, president trump said you figure out when asked about confidence in his attorney general. that was left murky. now both publicly and privately telling us, there's in considerations of firing rosenstein, keep things the same at justice.

that's meant to quell these cries from democrats after the memo, look, this is like the saturday night massacre. this is looking to calm the waters, the memo didn't have anything substantively in it we didn't already know, trying to tell us we're calming the water. what they say and what the president does doesn't always match up. we've seen that before. that's something you're going to want to watch when he's at mar-a-lago when he's prone to make outlandish statements and make turbulence in the water, so to speak. next week when he gets back to washington, will this sentiment stand. that's what we're looking for right now. >> we'll certainly be looking for some of those statements. going back to what chairman nunes said about the state department being the next phase of this investigation, do you know what he and republicans are actually alleging here? >> yeah, dara.

that part is a little confusing saying this is stage two. what we can take from this is that the house intelligence committee is saying that they want to investigate all top tiers of government and to know exactly where this investigation was lying and who made these decisions. it started with the fbi and department of justice and now they want to see as far as what levels were politicized. this is not surprising that devin nunes would say they are going to investigate, look at the state department and try to figure out where exactly in government this came from. i think it will be interesting to see what exactly are there any other memos that came out. he was asked about this. he didn't totally give an answer and say there will be other memos as far as the russia investigation and involving other departments such as state. it's not just state department they are looking at, i think they are going to be looking at all the top tiers of government. >> is it presumptuous to think the president would deny the

release of the democrats' memo? what is this thinking there? >> as with this memo there were extremely partisan undertones to it. it was released to conservative outlets first. have you to take the partisanship done with this and weigh it whether the white house wants to continue in that partisan way and potentially block a democratic memo of its own kind, or say, look, we're in the issue of full transparency, we want all of this out here. we want the republican side out here and democrat side out here. the rope i say republican side, important to look at don mcgann, the special counsel's memo or part of the memo that came before the devin nunes piece. that is to say the views in this memo reflect that of the authors. yes the white house okayed this memo's release, and the president talking in the oval office called it a disgrace and people should be ashamed and

more than that, so obviously he's okay and behind the release but the white house giving distance when don mcgann says it reflects the views of the authors of it. it could be when democrats come out to release their rebuttal the white house says, sure, get it out there. >> it is an opinion. stay with us. we have more to talk about. does the controversial memo support claims that the russia investigation is a witch hunt? we'll ask our legal expert next. this new day looks nothing like yesterday. trails are covered. paths aren't what they used to be. roads nowhere to be found. ( ♪ ) and it's exactly what you're looking for. ( ♪ )

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we know life can be hectic. that's why, at xfinity, we've been working hard to simplify your experiences with us. now, with instant text and email updates, you'll always be up to date. you can easily add premium channels, so you don't miss your favorite show. and with just a single word, find all the answers you're looking for - because getting what you need should be simple, fast, and easy. download the xfinity my account app or go online today. the real danger here is that you're letting the public see one point of view, one slice of information that we know from reports from the fbi is extremely misleading by its

omissions. that would be like having a trial end after the prosecution presents its case and let the jury decide based on the prosecution evidence. >> that is former watergate special counsel says it only tells one side of the story. claims it proves special council robert mueller's investigation is based on an improper act. that act would be relying on the christopher steele dossier funded by dnc. whether there was an illegal action in place is another story. with me with questions surrounding this memo is msnbc legal analyst. danny, great to have you here this morning. this argues carter page should never have been sought out by the department of justice and the fisa warrant should not have been granted. if these allegations are correct, was an actual crime committed? >> the memo is a noble statement of the goals of fisa and the fisa courts, it's just not

legally accurate. here is why. the memo a little that the fisa warrant application included biased information, and it also omitted information that was important. the answer to that is, yeah, that happens every day in not only fisa courts but in regular search warrants alone. the omission of facts isn't always fatal to a search warrant application. and at the same time a potential informa informant's bias, a bias is part of the search warrant process. confidential informants routinely are biased in favor of themselves. they are basically people giving up information that's helpful to their own crennel caiminal caseg to a suspect or target or criminal defendant. that's the essence of the defendant. search warrants and fisa warrants have always contained biased information. they have always featured informants who are paid.

they have always omitted facts because there's no requirement to include every favorable exculpatory fact. the memo states a noble goal for search warrants. as a criminal defense attorney it is a noble idea that these courts should protect citizens rights. the practical reality is the fisa court does not protect these rights. even regular criminal courts do not reflect these rights. applications for warrants are ex parte, which means one-sided, and encamera, which means secret. by their very nature biased. >> this memo claims it concealed from the fisa court including steele's personal views of the president. is this relevant information that should have been disclosed. >> legally, no. morally maybe it should have been disclosed, politically, maybe. the fact that an informant is paid, the fact that an informant is biased will not alone

invalidate a fisa warrant or any warrant. that bias can rise to a level, certain level in a particular case that it should have been included in an application. but the mere fact an informant is paid, the mere fact there's bias, political or otherwise, or even that they have a financial motive is not fatal to a warrant application. it never has been, and it isn't going to start now. that being said, this is, again, the memo states an optimistic and idealistic view of the way the search warrant process and fisa process should be. it's just not the statutory reality. >> no legal precedent of indictment for a president, only pair of justice department opinions saying it is not a viable option. concluded the criminal prosecution of a president would undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its

constitutionality assigned functions. does this mean mueller can't indict the president without going to the supreme court or does it mean he shouldn't. >> reasonable academic minds disagree on this. if i were a judge, my view is that the sitting president cannot be indicted. first, because he's the unitary executive and therefore he's the only person in the government that if you arrest him, you essentially arrest an entire branch of the government, the executive branch. secondly, the language of the constitution proceeds -- and i'm paraphrasing -- that the president must first be impeached, then removed, and then he can be prosecuted. i think the implication there is he cannot be prosecuted until he's impeached and then removed. so therefore he is immune while in office. however, very, very reasonable academic minds have concluded the opposite, and it's equally tenable. after all, if one of them were a judge, they may reach a different conclusion.

>> thank you so much for being here this morning. it's amazing how we're making fisa and indictments like normal household words. great to have you here. so who is hope hicks? find out why robert mueller might be focusing on the white house official who avoided the spotlight until now. up next. [burke] vengeful vermin. seen it. covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

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bone chilling cold in minneapolis dealing with deep freeze. good thing tomorrow's game is indoors. for a check of the whole picture we go to weather channel meteorologist kelly cass. >> hey there, talking about another snowstorm we're tracking this weekend, northern plains, snowing in chicago by later tonight. we are noticing a little batch of rain through the texas golf course -- gulf coast.

windchill advisory for this area, including twin cities, the festivities surrounding the super bowl. we're dealing with brutal temperatures, coldest temperatures on record, kickoff time temperatures in the single digits. for tomorrow the messy system in the east coast, showers in the gulf coast. monday features another system through the plains, into chicago with temperatures only in the low 20s for your monday. back to you, dara. >> kelly, thank you. president trump is in mar-a-lago this weekend leaving behind the fallout over the release of a controversial memo he reportedly hoped would show bias against him in the russia investigation. the white house is trying to assure the public jobs of robert mueller and rod rosenstein are safe. most believe he tried to fire

mueller last summer. how much of a damper does gop put on efforts to the president's legal team to avoid a face-to-face with mueller. >> so dara, it's clear the american public wants the president to sit down with robert mueller through these polls. that's been clear for a while. it's part of the reason why we're seeing republicans want to release this memo, why the administration wanted this memo to be released. look, if the president and his lawyers sit down and decide it's not the best move for the president to speak with special counsel robert mueller, they just say no, that's not going to look great for the president. if president trump comes out and say, why should i? why should i sit down with robert mueller, because we're seeing political bias and he's alleging corruption, that gives him an out. that's kind of the reason they needed this memo, why it's so important for republicans for this memo to come out.

i think it's also interesting to note here that republicans are looking at this memo and are thinking that we need some type of -- some type of out, how can we have this happen. that will be interesting see will they sit down with the president. >> exactly. before this memo got interrupted, the big story was special counsel mueller's team that hope hicks believed memos about the trump tower meeting will never get out. what is the significance of that? >> yeah. i mean, you have few people closer to donald trump and have been more consistently than hope hicks, when you're talking inner circle in the trump white house and trump campaign. you can't get much closer than hope. she was there for all of it. that being said her lawyer said to nbc and other outlets she never said that, would never do that, the allegation being that she would seek to obstruct

justice by telling the president and mr. carrulo on a conference call the e-mails will never get out. that's the next tease in this phase. >> i have to interrupt you. sorry we have to go. great to have you here. that will do it for me. i'm dara brown. we'll see you at the top of the hour. 'll fight to be your favorite. one topped with creamy shrimp and scallops, the other... steamed with lemon and herbs. and no, you're not dreaming, classics like lobster lover's dream are back too, along with decadent new lobster truffle mac & cheese. but enough talking about lobster- let's get to eating! - because lobsterfest won't last. so dive in today at red lobster! ♪ do you want clean, stain free dentures? try polident. the four in one cleaning system kills 99.99% of odor causing bacteria, cleans where brushing may miss. helps remove stains and prevent stain build up. use polident daily. afi sure had a lot on my mind.

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good morning. coming up on msnbc's your is business a radical philosophy helps create feedback and collaboration. how upcoming changes at facebook could affect your business, and new companies cashing in on legal cannabis trend. let's grow fast and work smart. that's all coming up next on "your business." hi, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg,