we'll see you tomorrow evening from washington. thank you so much for being here with us and good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. how was your day? fine? fine. how was yours? nothing much doing. nothing in the news, a quiet night. the president fired his lead lawyer for the russia scandal. maybe for a very specific reason. he then unexpectedly threw $50 billion of trade war tariffs at china and the dow jones fell off a clip and the market jumped 742 -- dropped 742 points before closing.

secretary of state said good-bye and left his job and the president hired yet another fox news personality to join the russia legal team and hired another fox news personality to become the new national security adviser, which means he's firing the existing national security adviser right now. just in the past three weeks, this president and this white house have chewed up and spat out the communications director who is reportedly the president's single most trusted aide, hope hicks. also the president's personal assistant, also his staff secretary, also his chief economic advisor, also the deputy white house chief of staff, the deputy director of the fbi and the secretary of state replaced by the person serving as director of the cia which means there needs to be a new director of the cia tonight as well and the national security advisor is out, too. and so yeah, we're going to need another wall soon. we figured out a way to make this one slightly larger like just by kind of taking care of the margins. you know how to make your term papers look shorter?

the churn at this white house is absolutely without historical president. no administration has ever run people through the meat grinder like this one has ever. we have never ever had this kind of turnover. but in addition just to the overall turnover, really feels like something accelerated in the last three weeks, something different is going on over the last three weeks. particularly on the national security stuff. it feels like the brake lines got cut and we're screaming down the road hoping to hit something soft. and there is a lot to say about john bolten, who will get h.r. mcmaster's job. he's going to get the job, not that he's nominated or designated for the job.

he's going to get it because national security advisor is not a senate confirmed position. there is no process of becoming national security advisor. the president just picks you and gets to pick whoever he wants. that's how we ended up with mike flynn even though the justice department was at the white house warning them about flynn as a serious national security risk within days of the inauguration. so he's picking bolton now. he'll get bolton. and there is a lot to say about john bolton. we'll get to that in a second and talk with people that know a little bit about what he's been like in government in the past, why his previous government appointments have been controversial and why this current appointment is freaking so many people out tonight but before we start talking about john bolton, consider how general h.r. mcmaster is getting fired here as national security adviser. i mentioned that rex tillerson, the fired secretary of state had his last day today. rex tillerson gave the farewell remarks today at the state department. walked off into the sunset. today was his last day. it was the day he carried stuff out of the state department but fired last week.

he was fired last tuesday morning. it's a matter of record that this was the last thing rex tillerson did as secretary of state before the president fired him. as his last act before he was fired, rex tillerson put out this very strongly worded statement condemning the government of russia for that poisoning attack in the u.k. that statement said in part, quote, we have full confidence in the u.k.'s investigation and it's assessment that russia was likely responsible for the nerve agent that took place in england last week. there is never a justification for this type of attack. the attempted murder of a private citizen on the soil of a sovereign nation and we are outraged that russia appears to have again engaged in such behavior. from the ukraine to syria and the u.k., russia continues to be an irresponsible force of instability around the world acting with open disregard for the sovereignty of other states.

we agree those responsible both those who committed this crime and those who ordered it must face appropriately serious consequences. skip that was the last statement put out by rex tillerson as secretary of state monday night last week. that same night he also spoke to reporters and made similarly strong remarks condemning russia. the most strongly anti-russia comments he made in his time as secretary of state, and within hours of making those comments and releasing that statement, rex tillerson was fired. next morning rex tillerson was fired. that was last week. now the national security advisory has been fired, and it is a matter of record that we've also got the last public remarks made by national security advisor h.r. mcmaster before the president fired him, too. >> russia is also complicit in assad's atrocities and provided political cover for assad's crimes. russian conducted 20 bombing missions every day in the eastern ghouta and damascus

areas in syria. russian has repeatedly thwarted efforts to hold the assad regime accountable for using chemical weapons. this morning the united states, france, germany and the united kingdom condemned the abhorrent nerve agent attack on sergey and yulia skripal that took place in salisbury, united kingdom on march 4th. the statement made clear that we believe that russia was responsible for this attack. if iran and russia do not stop enabling the atrocities, all nations must respond more forcefully than simply issuing strong statements. it is time to enforce serious

political and economic consequences on moscow. >> the headline "h.r. mcmaster gives the kremlin a double bird salute." by the following day there was new urgent reporting that mcmaster was about to be fired and now he's out. and it may be that it's a totally weird coincidence as he was fired were his last public comments as national securitier. but both of those things have just happened in the span of less than a week and a half. the context of the russia investigation around this president and in between these two firings, the president's mysteriously deferential,

ignored the advice he must condemn russia for that poisoning attack. it may just be that all these things happen to be happening at the same time. but this is all happening on a very imand with what just happened with mcmaster's firing. so whatever reason it and john bolton for years now has been mostly known as another fox news personality, but if you've heard him describe today or tonight, you should know there's an asterisk on that. he evidence is in that job but. >> john bolton, derided by senate democrats today as the worst possible choice to represent the united states before the united nations.

>> there is no such thing as the united nations. >> to prove their point, democrats played portions of a 1994 speech showing what they call bolton's disdain for the u.n. if you lost ten stories today, it wouldn't mick a. >> for all the controversies of the george b administration trying to appoint john bolten to a snan come fourped there is no united nations. >> there is an international community that occasionally can be led, are the only real power left in the world and that's the

u.s. this kind of mindless creation the the united nations as something different than what it s in the united states' interest to do isn't going to sell here or anywhere else. the united nations makes the u.n. work when it wants to work and that is exactly the way it should be. because the only kweks for the unt there it so appointing that guy to be the american ref at the he came under fire for those views, he also came under fire for his temperament and more

specificallies, his temper. a rom told a public story of what happened when she outlined concerns that she had about a program she was working inover seas. generally behaving like a mad man. for nearly two weeks while i waited fresh direction in such an appalling way that i eventually retreated to my hotel room and stay there and with a couple of team leaders. my sex you'll at the hitting that truth flew out the indo.

and in his bid to smear me, but anyone unwilling to go along with his version of events. his behavior back in 1994 wasn't just unforgivable. it was pathological. so this is from john bolton's last effort to join the national federal administration. there was so much the lead of their feature was about the famous by they have ten years stories but.

in 2003 bolton gave a now infamous speech, blasting north korea's leader as a her ran call dictator a dictator. >> and the day of the speech, after it was given, our ambassador said in out and that he was empest use, once yelling at him and even hanging up on him. >> in the end, john bolten was noumd he blew off the u.n. security council position to

sudan. the economist magazine at the time quoted an unnamed senior western diplomat saying, quote, if john bolton managed to carve out a particular place in republican politics. i at this. >> during the trump transition, bolton's name like everybody else who works at fox news was floated as a possible secretary of state, as a possibility of sending to senate. the response from republicans in the senate was basically, ah, are you sure about that? that john bolton? john bolton did not get picked by trump for that deputy secretary of state job, which

would have required senate confirm ago. he didn't get sent to the senate for conconfirmation. he's continued to stay around the white house, offering opinions on vietnam and north korea. published in ""the wall street journal,"" "the legal case for striking north korea first." in 1837 britain unleashed preemptive fire and fury against a wooden steam boat. it is perfectly legitimate for the united states to follow up.

>> mr. bolton, thank you for being here with us. >> it's great to be here with you, rachel. >> what can you tell us about the surprise factor here? obviously mr. bolton had been seen in and around the white house. there were reports about difficulties of style between the president and mr. mcmaster. did all parties involved know this was going to happen now? >> well, you know like with many things involving president trump, the way it unfolded was kind of shocking, but the underlying reality was not surprising. h.r. mcmaster, as you said, has been on thin ice with the president for a long time. newspapers and television channels have forecasted his

departure regularly. so the fact that he was leaving was not a surprise. the fact that this happened in as sudden a way that it did i think certainly caught john bolton off guard. he acknowledged when he went on tv, barely an hour after president trump tweeted that the reality hadn't sunk in. this is a guy who had been circling around the white house, a lot of talk about him being on various short lists but i don't think anyone thought it would happen in the abrupt way that it did. but that's the style of president trump, keeping everybody off guard. >> it was suggested this might have happened now because the president is eager to fill out his national security team before his meeting with north korea's kim jong un. because of bolton's publicly stated positions on north korea, he's on the record saying diplomacy is a bad idea, it

won't work, it's time to end the north korea regime, we should strike first, we should essentially go bomb them, how does him as national security adviser changes equation for that meeting and for north korea in general? >> well, you know, there's an obvious contradiction in what the president is doing here. he's agreed to this highly risky encounter with kim jong un and yet to get ready for that encounter, he's put in place not one but two people who have expressed really hawkish views on north korea. john bolton has talked about a preemptive military strike, but mike pompeo prior to john bolton's joining the team was probably the most openly vocal about the need for regime change in north korea. you now have the two principal foreign policy advisers of the president are people who are on the record talking against engagement and for military action. so it's going to be very

interesting to watch how these two men advise the president and help him get ready for this meeting. >> tillerson is out. mcmaster is out very shortly thereafter. john kelly is one of the people who the president has sort of i think enjoyed publicly toying with as to whether or not he's going to get rid of him. in terms of the influences on the president and the people who have his ear, who are most influential with him when it comes to national security matters, the sort of odd figures in the midst of all those departures and threatened departures is his son-in-law. there's been a lot of palace intrigue about how he fits in among the national security adviser, national security council and he's still standing here without a lot of security clearance or any sense about his role. do we have any sense with mr. kushner's role and whether

he had anything to do with this firing? >> well, jared kushner having lost his security clearance doesn't have access to some of the most sensitive intelligence, which would allow him to take part in the most sensitive national security deliberations. he's still involved in trying to put together a middle east peace plan and the white house intends to table that. he went down to mexico and i think he's trying to work to smooth out a relationship that's obviously been extremely contentious because of president trump's repeated promises to build a wall. so i think it's going to be interesting to watch whether he can carve out a place with very powerful new penalties in the mix. mike pompeo is going to be aggressive. he has the president's ear, he gets along well with the president. john bolton is an extremely outspoken figure, someone who goes on television, writes

regularly to advocate for his views. these are arguably bigger personalities, stronger voices than jared kushner was dealing with before. so we'll how he fits in. i'd only mention one more figure who i think will be crucial in the coming weeks and that is defense secretary mattis. he was seen as a potential moderating force on president trump. now you have two much more hawkish figures in the other two roles. it will be interesting to see whether jim mattis finds himself isolated, you know, figures out his role in this new landscape. >> jim mattis is particularly close to rex tillerson. it was a sort of pointed logistical matter that general mattis was on his way to afghanistan when the tillerson surprise firing came down last week. mark landler, correspondent at

the "new york times," congratulations on this scoop today. >> thank you, rachel. >> much more to come. we're going to be talking to a veteran of the national security and who knows john bolton and can give us more information about why people are so wigged out about this new appointment. . are defined by the things we share. and the ones we love. who never stop wondering what we'll do or where we'll go next. we the people who are better together than we are alone... are unstoppable. welcome to the entirely new expedition.

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at slate.com, fred kaplan if you were looking for a representative sample of the response in the national security world to the breaking

news h.r. mcmaster was fired to be replaced by former u.n. ambassador john bolton, fred cap lynn's take at slate.com serves pretty well, i think. caplin's reaction to the news tonight is this, quote, it's time to panic now. john bolton's rise to power puts us on a path to war and since trump appointed him while knowing bolton's views, it means trump wants to be on that path. i saw that actually and wondered if mr. kaplan might be taking this worse than your average bear but i saw the take was retweeted by former u.s. ambassador to russia. that got me thinking, ambassador mcfaul joins us live. thank you for being here. nice to see you. >> glad we're reading the same twitter feed, rachel. >> i have to ask you if a retweet is an endorsement or not. are you in panic mode about this announcement for security advisor? >> i'm definitely concerned whether we need to panic is

another matter and i want to under score i'm one of the people that supported some of trump's other administration official appointments on the national security team in a way i was criticized for supporting secretary mattias and a big fan of mcmaster. this is a different appointment and fred makes an important point. first, he has extreme views when it comes to iran and north korea in that he advocates both for disarmament and regime change but the second point fred makes, which i totally agree with is unlike other appointments, these views are known, they are known by the president. so he is choosing this national security adviser knowing what he believes in, and what he believes in is very scary. >> that decision resulted in mr. bolton getting the appointment as a recess appointment. he couldn't get through the senate. there were concerns about hawkishness and views.

there are also concerns about his temperament and temper and behavior toward his co-workers. one of the reasons i wanted to talk to you about that tonight is you served at the national security council. national security advisor heads that body and advices the president in an intimate way. do you have concerns about that, as well, for mr. bolton? >> i do. because on the one, there is one set of concerns which are about his views, but then second, the job of the national security adviser is to moderate the policy debate, to sit down there in the white house situation room and have the a second on the one side, secretary of state on the other side, the vice president there and have a free and fair process about policy.

there is nothing in his background that suggests that's the temperament he had. he had reputation among very senior people within the bush administration themselves, right? those are some of his biggest critics. i don't think he'll be good at running that process and he's not supposed to have his own views as a national security advisor. he's supposed to be the mediator of the different views. you need to start reading a few op eds and appearances over on fox to know that he has very strong views. and so i don't think he's a good fit for that particular job. >> one last question for you on the russia factor here, it may absolutely be a coincidence or all these things are happening in the world or the white house at the same time, the last statement put out by rex tillerson as secretary of state before he was fired was a strong statement about russia and the poisoning in the u.k. similarly with mr. mcmaster, his last public comments as national security adviser were strong

criticism of russia with regard to that incident. in the "new york times" reporting on mcmaster's firing tonight, they say that the first public view of the tensions between president trump and mr. mcmaster were after general mcmaster said at a security conference that the evidence of russian interference in the presidential election was beyond dispute. that was the first time we saw the president take a shot at h.r. mcmaster on twitter and then ultimately fired him after these last remarks. do you -- i wanted to know what you make of that, whether you think those things might be coincidental in timing or whether you think they're related. >> i don't know. i did note the pattern. the question i have in my mind is why is president trump firing h.r. mcmaster at this time? did he do something with respect

to policy such as russia that they disagree with or just about body language and chemistry that the president talks about so much? he didn't like the guy. he feels more comfortable with john bolton. we don't know that but we should know that because it is extraordinary that he is replacing somebody that i have a lot of respect for, h.r. mcmaster after a few months on the job. why is he doing that now? is it related to policy or personality? what does it mean for the future that he's chosen bolton now? we'll have to wait and see. i'm nervous about it. i think it's a bad choice. former u.s. ambassador to russia, thanks for being with us tonight. >> thanks for having me. still more to come on this crazy news night. the other, other story with a claim to headline of the day. that's next. stay with us. poor mouth breather.

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on july 24th, 1987 a young woman in washington, d.c. filed a police complaint against a sitting u.s. senator, senator brock add ms ams of washington state. this young woman told police in her complaint that while she had been staying at the senator's home he drugged her and attacked her. she said he gave her a glass of wine, which she believes had a some sort of drug in it and she woke up with her clothes off

with the senator, quote, fondling her. the police officer that investigated the claims requested a warrant for the senator's arrest. but the senator was not arrested. the u.s. attorney overseeing this case, local prosecutor said no, decided not to file charges. by the time the public learned about this, that prosecutor left office but took time to publicly defend his decision to drop the case. he said publicly quote, there was a unanimous decision this matter had no merit, had absolutely no merit whatsoever. it's kind of an interesting decision, not just that the u.s. attorney declined to file charges in the case or allow for an arrest warrant, even though the officer investigating asked for the warrant. it was an interesting decision that the prosecutor went so far as to publicly under cut the accuser to go public with these assertions that she had no credibility and neither did this accusation she filed with the police. but that's what the prosecutor

decided to do. and so the accused senator, brock adams, democrat of washington state, he got to stay in office. but the case kind of lingered in the back of everybody's mind and for whatever reason, that former u.s. attorney, that prosecutor who decided not to go forward with the case, he decided he wouldn't let go of the matter. years later in 1991, that same u.s. attorney was still speaking out about the case. still coming out to say that these accusations had no merit, still depending the senator's reputation. the prosecutor went to a fundraiser for that senator and spoke on his behalf. he brought up that 1987 case yet again and told the crowd at the senator's fundraiser, quote, there was absolutely no merit whatsoever, none to that case. the prosecutor at that fund-raiser said, quote, this matter makes it clear it is more abundantly unfair what is

happening to the senator. even though that prosecutor refused to believe it, the senator's hometown newspaper decided they would investigate the matter and three years later as that senator was running for reelection and another term in the senate in 1992, the seattle times went public with the findings of their investigation and this was their headline: "eight more women accuse senator adams, allegations of two decades of sexual harassment, abuse and a rape." among the eight women, the seattle times interviewed an activist who said she suspected the senator drugged her, too. quote as she objected, he forced her to the couch and raped her and left immediately but not before throwing $200 on a table to pay her way to a democratic function. the times interviewed an accuser who said she was given a drink by senator adams that appeared to be champagne and a red liquid was added. she blacked out and regained consciousness to find senator adams removing her clothes.

that report in "the seattle times" is how brock adams became a one-term senator in the state of washington. he dropped out of the race the day after that report was published. patty murray ran for and won the seat and still has the seat. the prosecutor who a few years earlier decided to prosecute and look into that initial case from that initial police report in 1987, going so far as to publicly denounce the accuser and bolster the fund-raiser on the basis of the bad accusation made against them by the woman with no credibility, that prosecutor had the next chapter in his life, too. he went on to become a tv personality on the fox news channel where his specialty had been applying a legal sounding seriousness to his claims.

his real heyday was the bill clinton/monica lewinsky scandal. he and his wife, who is also his law partner were quoted on or appeared on television over 300 times in the span of one month. and his claims about the lewinsky scandal, vaguely legal sounding but also a little nutty. he claimed but never provided evidence he and his wife and members of congress had private detectives sicked on them by the president and his family. he leaked to a newspaper word that a secret service agent had caught the president and monica lewinsky in a compromising position, walked in on them. there is no evidence that that ever happened. despite having said a lot of stuff that was not true, he definitely proved his tv worth in that lewinsky scandal and that earned him basically a permanent place on fox and he pops up when there is another scandal, particularly if it relates to a clinton. after the attack in benghazi, he said he had access to secret evidence that showed that the benghazi attack was a giant coverup and would soon be revealed.

during the trump-clinton presidential election, he provided great comfort to trump supporters by insisting once again he had secret information they didn't need to worry there was any chance hillary clinton would win the election because he knew for a fact she would be arrested any day now in the middle of the campaign. by the time the election happened, he knew she would be in jail. he knew. and he said it in a way that sounded very legal, even though it didn't turn out to be true. his name is joe digenova, and the president asked him to join the legal defense team because he likes what he's been seeing of him on tv lately. >> what you have now unfolding inside the fbi and department of justice under obama is a brazen plot to do two things, to exonerate hillary clinton because of an donald trump and frame the incoming president for a criminal act of impeachment.

comey sold his soul to the devil. they conspired to exonerate improperly and politically hillary clinton and also if she lost, to frame the incoming president of the united states with a false crime. >> make no mistake about it, a group of fbi and d.o.j. people were trying to frame donald trump of a falsely-created crime. >> it wasn't the russians who corrupted the presidential election. it was initial officials and the fbi. >> that is his wife and law partner. her name is victoria tensing. we learned tonight just as the mcmaster and john bolton news broke, the president is not just bringing on joe digenova to the legal team but he has hired on

victoria, his wife. husband and wife to work for the president on his russia legal defense. this does not appear to be the president's decision alone. he appears to be supported by jay. he comes from the wing of conservative activism and he's well paid and well groomed but not a subject matter expert on defending the president or on the russia scandal. remember around the trump tower meeting controversy? a lot of discussion about russian sanctions and the m magnitsky act. this is a central idea to the whole scandal surrounding the president sanctions on russia because of the magnitsky act. magnitsky act, you know, it's right? >> the discussions involved the maginsky act. the same lawyer was pushing the maginsky act. >> again, the conversation was on the maginsky act.

>> there is no m aginski act. >> that lawyer is leading the president's legal defense running operations out of the offices of his conservative activist group. he's now been joined on the president's russia legal team by his friends, the husband and wife team. just in case what the president needs for his defense and biggest national security scandal to loom over any presidency is the brock adams benghazi deep state lock her up uranium one specialist or two of them or three of them. as this shift came into focus

today, the president's not made for tv lawyer john dowd quit today. if you want to know how not made for tv john dowd is, the most famous piece of videotape is him flipping off and swearing at a tv camera after a case he lost for a wall street guy. hello. the departure of john dowd today is the second time the president fired his top personal lawyer on the russia scandal, the first lead lawyer was mark kasowitz. there is word he might be coming back, which would be amazing. when kasowitz was appointed to lead the president's team, the first statement he put out described himself in the first line of that statement as the predisent's personal lawyer. the first line of the first statement on the first day he was the president's lawyer misspelled the word president. statement also contained this line, which i have memorized, it's established that there the president was not being

investigated for colluding with or attempting to obstruct. >> what? that there -- huh? if you don't believe me, you should. he's the president's lawyer. that incoherent start was followed by the news for some kasowitz was not going to obtain a security clearance himself. huh? this led to questions why mark kasowitz may not be able to get a security clearance and led to an incident where the lead lawyer on the scandal started threatening and swearing at random strangers that e-mailed him about his new job. seemed like the stress was getting to him. it created stress even in the news media. how do you report the president's lawyer is e-mailing strangers in the middle of the night saying watch your back, rhymes with ditch. a week later he was gone.

john dowd is gone, too and maybe kasowitz will keep representing the president for those women accusing him of defamation matters. maybe mark kasowitz will come back to the team where that security clearance question will be relevant all over again but worth remembering part of the reason the president has not been able to put together an a list or b list or c list on the russia matter is reportedly because no top drawer a-list republican lawyer in washington d.c. wants to work on even a presidential defense team if he or she has to do so alongside these hairdo mcswear-word lawyers, these guys with the pinky rings and big hair. that's not the style of most good lawyers that put on an excellent defense for a president with a national security related crime. so john dowd, president's lead russia lawyer out as of today. two more conspiracy theory tv

lawyers are in instead. and mr. watch your back f-bomb guy may be back in the mix, as well. gabe sherman at "vanity fair" cites four sources tonight saying what set off this big shake-up in the president's legal defense is the president going through the roof about robert mueller's latest actions. robert mueller and prosecutors in the special counsel's office subpoenaing records set the president off in this new tizzy of changes. maybe he thinks this is the team he needs to fight the fight with mueller's prosecutors but if we're being honest here, let's get real. what he's putting together is not the team you put together to mount a legal defense for a president. in fact, to do any serious legal work at all. it appears that that part is over. what the president is putting together is the kind of team, a guy like him might put together to run a p.r. operation on tv

explaining the president's actions. i mean, as hilarious as the president's d-list lineup of lawyers is starting to look, i'm pretty sure they're not actually there to do legal work. him putting these people in place makes it seem like he's going to try to end this by some other means and they're going to be the team that explains it on fox news. ♪ at&t gives you more for your thing. your snapping pics all day, all night thing.

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they had just repelled an invading foreign power. so they created the commander in chief to protect us from enemy attack. the justice department just indicted 13 russians for sabotaging our elections. an electronic attack on america that the chief investigator called "warfare". so what did this president do? nothing. and is he doing anything to prevent a future attack? the head of the fbi says no. this president has failed his most important responsibility- protecting our country. the first question is: why? what is in his and his family's business dealings with russia that he is so determined to hide, that he'd betray our country? and the second question is: why is he still president? join us today. we have to do something.

♪ next chapter ♪ president fired yet another national security adviser and the lead lawyer on his russia defense team and the dow dropped over 700 points on fears of a president-spierd trade war with china, nbc is reporting that the president is not just thinking of firing his chief of staff john kelly but he's thinking of firing him and then not

replacing him. the president has, quote, mused running the west wing as he did his business empire essentially serving as his own chief of staff. sounds like a great idea. why did any other president need a chief of staff anyway. they could have been like trump. tonight the top democratic on the intelligence committee had this reaction, it's hard to escape the disquieting conclusion that the mass exodus of the adults from this administration is putting our nation's security at risk. joining us now is that top democrat on the house intelligence committee, adam schiff. congressman, thanks for being here on a busy evening. >> good to be with you. >> let me get your reaction to the latest round of churn at the top level of the administration. >> i think john bolton is a bad choice. this is someone likely to exaggerate the dangerous impulses of the president towards belligerence, his proclivity to act without thinking and his love of conspiracy theories. i'll just add one data point to what you were talking about earlier, john bolton once

suggested on fox news, that the russian hack of the dnc was a false flag operation that had been conducted by the obama administration. so you add that kind of thinking to joseph digenova, and you have another big dose of unreality in the white house. so the bolton appointment scares me on iran, north korea, on this conspiracy theory thinking about the president. but the firing of dowd ought to alarm all of us because it's yet another signal that he intends to have a much more aggressive approach to bob mueller and i think we're i think a step closer to a potential firing of bob mueller. >> i mentioned a moment ago i look at the way the president has changed his legal team with the addition of mr. digenova and his wife, with the removal

of john dowd today, and the president's statements, and i feel to me the president no longer seems to be working on a legal strategy. seems to be looking at a pr strategy, and therefore it seems to me he thinks he may be able to end this in the court of politics rather than by going through legal processes. it sounds to me from what you said that you share that worry. >> i do share that worry. i also share the concern that the president's world is confined to watching fox news, to believing what he sees on fox news but also believing that fox news is the only repository of talent to fill his administration, and apart from his insular existence in the oval office, fox is his whole world. but these folks i think are joining the administration and will add a dangerous new element. and they may persuade him the best approach to bob mueller is to shut it down, to have a political strategy to communicating to congress and the country why he's justified in shutting it down and that

will bring on a real crisis in this country that i think will bring us to a grinding halt. so it's a dangerous turn of events. >> congressman adam schiff, the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, appreciate your time tonight. thank you for being with us. what does it take to make digital transformation actually happen? do you just flip a switch... and presto your business is magically transformed? not quite.

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so we have one national security advisor out, we have new national security advisor in, who seems to be scaring we have the lead trump lawyer in the russia probe handing in his notice. we have a new trump lawyer from fox tv appointed to the president's russia legal team. somebody pulling my leg? is this friday? this kind of feels like a friday. i wonder what's going to be -- to happen tomorrow. now it's now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> thank you, rachel stormy daniels is on sunday night so something will have to be done to cloud that. there will have to be some news out of the white house to cloud that. >> you think there will be a human generated news storm to occlude that? >> how m