>> hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. time to pull out your worry beads. axios is reporting today in a piece appropriately titled the case for extreme worry that, quote, checks are being ignored or have been eliminated and critics purged. trump's closest confidants speak with a level of concern even alarm and admit to being confused what the president will do next and why. and some of the country's top national security figures who have served under republican and democratic presidents are sounding the alarms as well. john brennan former cia director now an msnbc senior analyst tweeting at donald trump, quote, i served six presidents, three republicans and three democrats. i directly supported clinton, busch iv 3 and obama. and while i didn't agree with all their policy choices, i admired and respected all of them as they put country above their personal interests. not so with you, as your self-a

door asian is disgraceful. and sally yates fired by trump in the early days of his presidency spoke out in an interview with "the new york times" matt apuzzo. >> what worries me more is the relentless attack on democratic institutions and norms, and the impact that that can have on our country, not just during the term of a trump presidency, but in the years to come as well. what's happening here with the president tweeting and calling and, you know, it seems like if not weekly, almost daily sometimes, interference there, whether that actually has an impact on the decisions that are made at d.o.j. or not. the damage is done by the public's loss of confidence that the department of justice is acting independently. >> it's also clear that the president has lost confidence in many of his handlers who at

times have been referred to as guardrails of our democracy. and others as the adults in the room. these days they're mostly enablers and bystanders. one trump confidant today telling me when i asked if chief of staff john kelly's job was secure and if he's safe, replied, no one is safe. no one is okay to help us distill this moment in the trump presidency some of the our most favorite friends and reporters, joining us at the table "the new york times" justice reporter matt apuzzo on a rare tour of duty in new york. donny deutch is here from "the new york times" and steve schmidt joins us and jeremy bash, former chief of staff at both the cia and the pentagon joins us from parts unknown, or perhaps indicated right there on the bottom of your screen. i have a clue. matt apuzzo, let me start with you and your interview with sally yates. it was great. i watched it last night. and i'm sure you know her better than i do, but i know that -- i asked john brennan, i asked a lot of national security figures

who are unfamiliar and uncomfortable wading in domestic politics, and it's exactly what she detailed to you. >> that's right. and the way sally yates views this is through the lens of a career prosecutor. she absolutely served in a democratic administration, but she also served republican and democratic u.s. attorneys as a line prosecutor in atlanta -- >> friends with chris wray. >> prosecuted eric rudolph in domestic terrorist case. so, this is not somebody who is a partisan in the sort of traditional washington sense of the word. she talked a lot about how she's concerned when the president reaches into the justice department, he creates a perception that justice can be sort of moved and molded to shape his views. and he has used it to go after his political rivals. he's called for investigations in his political rivals, he's called for political rivals to be jailed. she said that is what is most concerning, even more than policy decisions that obviously she disagrees with.

>> jeremy bash, you served -- i think after the justice department, the cia and the pentagon, you have to put those three agencies in the same category as being the three that all presidents before donald trump have aspired to keep separate from politics. you worked at two of the three. i want to ask you, one, for your reaction to sally yates' comments. and two, if you can take us in a little deeper. the president is hard at work in undermining confidence in the fbi, in the fisa process which is not really understood by a lot of people, but it's the way we spy on people doing bad things that represent grave threats to americans here and abroad. just take us inside your assessment at this hour of the damage that has already been done. >> it's extraordinary, nicolle. like sally yates, john brennan is someone who served under republican and democratic presidents. he of course after 9/11 served under president bush in the intelligence community. he was the first director of

what now is the national counterterrorism center, the main entity in our intelligence community that analyzes threats from terrorist organizations. the brennans of the world, the sally yates of the world, career professionals defending our country are really expressing grave concern because what they see the president doing is not only seemingly utilizing those agencies to defend himself, but fundamentally undermining those institutions which defend us. this reaches back all the way from his very first day in office when he went to the cia, stood in front of the memorial wall that showcases the lives and heroism of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country and basically talked about how many times he had been on the cover the of time magazine. i think that set the tone for this presidency. it's been nonstop for the last 16 months. >> and, steve schmidt, like many things with the president, like the constant contacts we know about with the russians, donald trump doesn't hide things in a safe or in a closet or under the bed. he hides in plain sight.

we no from an interview with your colleague he did it at the golf club at mar-a-lago, the president wants his guys at d.o.j., he wants a roy cohn, he wants a fixer. the discontent with jeff sessions is he hasn't filled that role. >> 100%. look, the foundation of a democracy is the rule of law. we're a nation of laws, and no one is above the law, not even the president of the united states. and the president as the head of state is supposed to work within a constitutional system as the head of state that has, by design, checks and balances. and the independence of these institutions is essential because in the american system they are built to be enduring. and so the constancy of the attacks on the fbi, on the intelligence community, he is doing the work that vladimir putin aspires to, which is to

undermine the faith of america as an idea and as an ideal and is something that's better and aspirational for people to look up to from all over the world. now we look like just another banana republic. and secondly and more disturbingly, vladimir putin has succeeded in his goal of undermining americans' faith in our democracy, in our elections, in the rule of law. and he has no greater ally in this effort than the president of the united states, the man who takes oath -- who takes the oath of office with 35 words that ends with "to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states." and every hour of every day, with every attack, he abrogates that responsibility. he is faithless to his oath of office. >> let me show you something and have you respond to this for me. this work is ongoing, and here was his almost lawyer in the mueller probe, didn't work out because of conflicts. here he was on fox news last

night. >> what we are seeing now is conduct by two public officials, robert mueller and rod rosenstein, that is unethical, unprofessional, an embarrassment to the united states government and is undermining equal enforcement of the law -- >> there's no doubt. >> -- because of what they are doing to a president of the united states. rod rosenstein single handedly has taken away from the sitting president of the united states 16 months of his presidency by his incompetent and fearful conduct. you know why rod rosenstein appointed mueller? because he didn't want to make the tough decisions that you'd have to make if you were supervising a case being run by a united states attorney like huber. rod rosenstein is a coward. he's a disgrace to the department of justice. it's a shame the president cannot fire him. >> and i expect that man to have a show on fox news in primetime soon.

>> or maybe be attorney general soon. >> first off, a quick fact check because i can't take it. rod rosenstein appointed bob mueller because -- well, for a whole lot of reasons, but it started with the attorney general lying about his contacts, not with canadians, not with mexicans, not with people from denmark or spain, but with russians. so we have a special counsel who is the fault of no one except the president's own -- the president's actions and the president's own cabinet. speak to this idea, the message they are pushing out exactly as sally yatsz and john brennan described, to u7bd mine our democratic institutions, to under monterey bay the man who is the deputy at the justice department, who is the top official overseeing the investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election, which should not be a partisan question. >> look, you can see throughout this administration the whole ideal of public service under assault. i'm talking about the idea that people work in the government and swear an oath to the constitution and they work for the people and not the guy who

happens to be in the white house. people have often said they want a non-politician in the white house. what they got with president trump is somebody whose only experience is running a small family business and he tends to view the people who work for him or around him as extensions of his will. he just does not get the idea that there are limits on his power in the government and that there are people in the government who have responsibilities, not to him, but to the law, as steve says, and to the people of this country. >> you know, it's interesting. you talk about -- nicolle, two thoughts about the people around him. i thought back for three years between i think 2005 and 2008 or whatever it was, he came up to the deutsche agency for the apprentice. he would bring to give us a task, he would bring with us his two top people. this guy george, an older gentleman, and this woman. it was like if these were his two top people, it was like there was no there, there. he's not used to nor will he ever be used to having fairly

even equal people, no less, if you're smart, you have people superior to you. nicolle, i was listening to your lead and we are at a place now where it's no different than a soap opera. i could be here ten days ago, it would be the same lead. the attacking our democratic principles, lying. >> keeps repeating. >> literally, we have to start shifting lens. donald trump came as advertised. we got this. let's start looking at mitch mcconnell, start looking at paul ryan, start looking at everybody else who are respected leaders. donald trump is donald trump. we get it. we get it. by the way everything we've said today, we've seen the party before, it's reprehensible, unfathomable, but it is. we keep telling the same soar sto -- story on a day-to-day basis. what do you feel about this? what do you feel about this? >> let me press back a little bit. you know better than i would, sally yates is a reluctant

messenger. we don't hear from sally yates all the time. john brennan is a reluctant parties pabt in this arena. bhu hear from two voices like that sounding alarm about our politics, these are not people who want to be on cable television or who want to be -- >> my point is where are the people -- >> we know where they are. >> that's the crux. there will be new people popping up. but the core eight or ten people -- >> those eight or ten people don't want to pass legislation proposed six months ago to protect bob mueller. >> on a day-to-day basis who are asking them questions? where are they in that is the pathetic part of this. trump is a given. what is pathetic is the other leadership in the republican party. >> steve? >> i agree. i mean, look, they're co-equal branches of government. there is absolutely no oversight when you look at the level of corruption in this administration, the bad deals that are going on, a co-equal branch of government, the congress whether it's democratic or republican controlled should

assert its prerogative. should assert its role in our constitutional system. but king george iii was asked -- >> i love how he -- >> i don't have a king george iii gravg f iii graphic for you. >> king george was asked about what would washington do. he said washington would retire, surrender power, return to his home in virginia. george washington's greatness -- he set a tradition in this country for that our president uses restraint with regard to power. he was a man who could have been king, could have been -- >> could have -- >> could have been the emperor. george washington voluntarily surrendered power. this is central to american identity in our political leadership. we have a president who

celebrates the murdering thug in the philippines. every strong man in the world, he seems to identify with, and he seems to yearn for their power, to yearn for a system where his ability to give an order and have it executed -- there are no boundaries by constitutional system. >> that is a given. i'm not minimizing it. what is -- not we, theoretically the we's. do in shining a light or provocation or question or thought that takes it off of trump? because all we're doing is -- >> let me give jeremy bash a shot of pulling us out of king george iii and answering donny's question. >> i was going to follow-up, one of the things george washington did when he was general of the army -- >> we sound like the history channel. go. >> he resigned as commission general of the army.

he became president only after taking off his uniform. the great lesson there for historians and modern day, sometimes in order to have power, you have to have authority, but in order to have authority you have to given power. the president doesn't seem to understand that. he thinks basically the more power he has for himself, the more authority he will have and be i believe to basically work his will with the institutions of our government. our country doesn't work that way. for donnie's point, i think it really is about paul ryan, mitch mcconnell and others in congress who really should assert themselves vis-a-vis the president. what nick said is the president isn't good at being president. he's good at running a family business. that was paul ryan's excuse for the last six years. he's not good at being president. paul ryan, if you feel that way when the question is presented should he be president, you should answer accordingly. >> let me answer for all of you i don't want to die of suspense. if it's up to paul ryan and mitch mcconnell, we're screwed. >> speaking of zachary tyler --

>> the founding fathers, i'll explain in another block. he was faster in history than you guys. let me ask you about another controversy that you cover closely. it was in the news this week, the wife of andy mccabe, the fired deputy director of the fbi came out with an op-ed. the only thing that surprised me, articulate explanation of what happens inside a family torn apart by the president's bullying on twitter and by sort of the unsermon ious dismissal for what may or may not have been legitimate misconduct. i don't know. i've heard from the senior justice department official that there are some questions that warrant answers about the timing of mccabe's firing, the fact it came 30 hours before his pension would have vested and the fact we still don't have the report. >> and i have been asking questions. my colleagues have been asking these questions. and it is absolutely about the

timing. our understanding of the inspector general's report is that it comes down hard on mccabe for this lack of candor about disclosures to the media. but the question is why did it happen so fast. these processes take a long time typically. you don't go from an ig report to a referral to a recommendation to an appeal in a matter of a few days. i mean, i covered the tell stevens trial. there was an accusation of misconduct for prosecutors. that thing dragged on for a year. it is not uncommon for somebody to get accused of misconduct -- excuse me. there is an internal investigation, people round out the clock. the fact this was done so quirkily is giving people a lot of pause for suspicion. mccabe's lawyers say this is

president trump reaching in the justice department and pulling levers. >> sally yates said the damage is already done. i've heard from sources inside the justice department there is evidence there was a lack of candor, as you taught me is an instant and undeniable -- but there is also evidence that he was -- it is a larger investigation into the clinton-era conduct of the fbi. he was carved away from the larger investigation. the president's tweets and views were public and a decision was made about him separate from the findings being made public. >> look, i don't know whether career people at the fbi moved quickly, because if they didn't move quickly they would be accused of moving too slowly, right? but it's definitely -- >> the opposite seems true as well. >> it's definitely unusual and that's the thing i hear so often and people at the fbi. people who don't -- even people who don't particularly like andy mccabe, boy, that happened aflly quickly. we're still trying to understand

how did that happen so quickly. the justice department said this is by the book, it went through the process, and it was done at the recommendation of the top career person at the justice department. so, i obviously want to see the report, but i want to know how did we get to that point really quickly. >> jeremy, let me give you the last word on this. you weighed in on the firing of andy mccabe. he was a constant target of the president on twitter. he asked andy mccabe how it felt to be married to a loser. your thoughts on how the women at fox news savaged -- wrote an op-ed this week. there are unanswered questions about the timing of the firing of deputy fbi director andy mccabe. just another example of not only the president's conduct in this area, but the attorney general, there were reports mccabe had opened an investigation into whether or not jeff sessions had failed in the test of providing

candor when he was before the congress. and so obviously you have to believe in extraordinary coincidences that the firing of andy mccabe was somehow on the level. >> matt apuzzo, i am sorry about king george. that usually isn't on our a-block. i'm glad you were here to witness it. >> fantastic. you didn't have video. >> next time we're going to roll king george next time steve and george are here together. congrats on the interview with sally yates. also ahead, the trump administration's favorite brush off, what they say when a reporter is onto something they don't want to talk about. and the president lets it rip in west virginia today. >> you know, this was going to be my remarks. it would have taken about 2 minutes, the hell with it. [ applause ] i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. i bet i'm the first blade maker you've ever met. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making

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i'm going to get right to the point. it's come to my attention that you and the cleaning woman have engaged in sexual intercourse on the desk in your office. is that correct? >> who said that? >> she did. >> was that wrong? should i not have done that? i tell you, i got to plead ignorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when i first started here that sort of thing was frowned upon, you know, because i've worked in a lot of offices and i tell you, people do that all the time.

>> george costanza answering a question we presume is on scott pruitt's mind. the epa's job security is in question now. the inspector general is reviewing his $50 a night condo lease. in case you're keeping count, that's the fourth such inquiry into pruitt by his own agency. the ig is already taking a closer look at pruitt's taxpayer funded travel, his use of special hiring authority and his spending on a soundproof phone booth for his office. if you were expecting a mea copa tour, he planned a launch to prove himself. here's how that went down. >> if you're committed to the trump agenda why did you go around the president and the agenda to get pay raises -- >> i did not. i found out about it yesterday and i changed it. i found out about this yesterday and i corrected the action. we are in the process of finding out how it took place.

>> hold on. both of the staffers who got raises were friends of yours from oklahoma. they're friends of yours? >> they serve a very important person. >> you did not know they got the pay raises? >> i didn't know until yesterday. >> in brand-new reporting from the washington post this afternoon, the white house was uneasy about his appearance on fox news according to several senior administration officials. they urged pruitt not to do any interviews tuesday or wednesday but he disregarded the advice. the panel and jeremy bash are still with us. >> this is very important. people always ask me about you. you are a superstar. they say, is she as nice as she seems? and i say yes until today. during the break steve and i went spanked. we got spanked. >> i'm reminded of an episode of the show millard filmore.

>> i'm going to do -- talk. >> it's kind of fascinating. i think you can see historically the white house has its own vices and virtues. >> no, no, they don't all have that. we're not talking about histor . >> in this administration what we've seen is living large, take private jets, military jelgts, y first class. we see with pruitt, is that wrong? i shouldn't have done that. he's spending all this time building these soundproof phone booths, not enough time thinking about -- >> what is that for? >> the old get smart code of silence. i worked with a lot of corporations in my life. there are two corporations, some are more democratic. there are leaders at the top. but the leader's mentality is you're here to serve us, we're at the trough, we can take everything.

then there are republican corporations, a handful of guys, i say guys at the top, we only care about the stock price, and we can do what we want at the top, screw everybody. that's what you're seeing. ee the sen >> the sense of entitlement is extraordinary. he's paying $50 a night to live in this condo. if he were living in a van, he parked that van in washington, d.c. at night, that would be $34. he did a rental deal where it's $16 more than if he was living in a van parked in a parking garage in a really expensive city. it stinks from here to washington and back. this is a corrupt guy. and you look at this cabinet, the use of military flights, first class travel, all of it. again, there's never been a

cabinet in the modern era of politics where we've seen stuff like this. >> gluttony. it's stupid. the first thing i'd like to understand what can i do, protect right and wrong. beyond gluttony it's stupidity. >> let me bring jeremy bash. depending on your following answer, john kelly called mr. pruitt and said, is there anything else, any more shoes to drop? do you have a sense that all of the pruitt dirt is out, or do you think that his conduct represents a state of mind? i mean, there was a point to that seinfeld clip and that was he seemed to have no idea his conduct is wrong. >> no, and he was pushing back. the way a cabinet secretary or head of a department would normally answer the question is your staff did something, would not be to say that was staff.

i run this place, the buck stops with me, i'm in full charge, i take full responsibility. i'll either pay back or rescind or make amenities or make this right. scott pruitt did not do that. for john kelly -- i know how tough he can be on his people. come on, guy, get in line. for scott pruitt to disobey that and go on national television and make a fool of himself must have really ticked the president off. i think what they're weighing there is can they survive and can they deal with another high-profile departure? we've had rex tillerson fired, h.r. mcmaster fired. we've had the hhs secretary. >> i have two more for you. chief counsel in the russia probe john dowd is out, and va secretary shulkin. let's watch more of the interview. the tv president does enjoy the optics of one of his people that serve him dancing for their life. let's watch a little more. >> have you made mistakes?

>> i think this is something that needs to be corrected. >> it was a mistake? >> it was a mistake by my team. >> do you take responsibility? >> i'm fixing it. >> do you take responsibility? >> i'm fixing the problem. >> do you think that's going to do it? >> the president is not to rabt of these scandals. he tends to not like when the spotlight is taken off of him and his staffers messing up. it is important to know this is fox news. we've often given fox a hard time on this show, but that was henry. >> the idea of dancing for his life, the white house didn't want to do any interviews. their strategy, this is something you and i in politics, this is something we tell people to do. he wanted to hunker down and see if it would pass. that seems to be a political consolidate strategy that really has worked for the president. >> it has. i think there's more revelations to come with him.

there were media rorlgts by scott prui -- reports by scott pruitt he has a 30-person security detail. why does he need a 30-person security detail? it's absurd. the amount of money, the amount of waste, and so he's exposed publicly. henry did a terrific job in that interview holding him accountable. he has no good answers for any of this stuff. he has fed himself like a pig at the public trough. and now people are reacting to it and i think his moment of accountability is close at hand. >> as somebody who knows trump, tell me what piece of that -- because the corruption obviously doesn't bother him. there are more corrupt people -- >> it didn't bother him, except it came out. trump is the least law guy. by the way, if i'm trump i'm doing the same thing also.

there is no up side for trump to defend this guy. there is only downside for trump. the only reason somebody would in that position is a fierce sense of loyalty but it's not his dna. >> do you think the president weathers it out with him? >> let's see if the president comes out today or tomorrow and says, i fully stand behind scott pruitt. >> he's toast. that's what we heard right before shulkin was out. that's what we heard right before tillerson was out. he sent a tweet i am very happy with my lawyers. john dowd, ty cobb and jay second lor a sekulow are doing a great job. >> that would be the only thing that saves him, a weird psychological -- >> john kelly sees the show sometimes. maybe he'll take your advice. when we come back donald trump lets loose on, well, everything. we'll show you the wreckage. whoooo.

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donald trump was supposed to be taking part in a round table this afternoon on tax reform. instead this happened. >> you know, this was going to be my remarks. i it would have taken about two minutes. the hell with it. [ applause ] >> that would have been a little boring. remember my opening remarks at trump tower when i opened, everybody said, oh, he was so tough. and i used the word rape. women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before. they don't want to mention that. this is our country. if you have a baby on our land, congratulations. that baby is a united states citizen. we're the only one. so, this guy, because he's here now can get the mother and the father and the grandmother and the brothers and the sisters and the aunts and the uncles. there are many places in california, the same person

votes many times. that's a conspiracy theory, not a conspiracy theory, folks. millions and millions of people. >> it was such a conspiracy theory his own administration had to drop their investigation into said voter fraud. jeremy bash, let me start with you and come back to where we started with the trump confidant saying today, no one is safe, no one is okay. that would seem to include the president. >> you know, past presidents when they go off script, it gives -- i'm going to be really straight with you, not going to do what my speech writers told me to do. this president when he goes off script he starts lying. the script is the only thing adhering him truth. they are down right lies. >> he really rolled out some chestnuts here. these are like oldies, but goodies. he went back to the conspiracy about massive voter fraud.

he went back to rapists in mexico. what is the instinct behind that. is it fear, is it rejection from ann coulter, is it bravado because of the skewed on his twitter feed? >> i don't know. i'm not a psychiatrist. you will be by the time you get done with this show. >> i will say this. the appalling lack of dignity this those remarks, that's the president of the united states of america. it's just extraordinary, the lack of any comportment in his personal space. he sounds like a drunk guy in queens at the end of the bar talking complete and total nonsense. the nativism, it's inherent racism this notion of people are coming here and they're black and they're brown and they're rapists and they're murderers.

that's what this is. that's what he's doing he is speaking to the ugly est threats in the country's history. when he talks that way, he has no concept of the country's history. it was the only country founded on the power of idea. it's the only country in the world where all the languages of the world are spoken every day. it's the only country made up of all the peoples of the world. that country, our country, has done more good, has fed more people, has liberated more people, has cured more people and done more general good in the world than every country in the history of the world put together cents the beginning of time. that's why this is such an exceptional place. and he has no conception about the greatness of the country and why it's great. and that is a tragedy. >> i'll tell you why he does it. i do know him. he's a sleazy salesman.

if you're a sleazy salesman and you're building a building you know everything that's going to sell in the apartment does it have a view of the park? can i break my lease if i need to? yes. he knows his three or four whistle talking points are the things that sell, that 32, 33%, whatever it is, that's what he's selling. he will lie, he will cheat. it doesn't matter. if it's going to sell the apartment, if it's going to hold us 30%, it does not matter. that's what he has done his entire life. oos' at reason he's in 3600 lawsuits. that is part of what he does. i've done business around the world. there are certain cultures where the business, lying is part of it, you lie. it's not a bad thing. that's what you have to do. he is in his own culture. that's what he is, a sleazy salesman, it's that simple. >> take on all the falsehoods, all the lies. i've tried to do fact checking. this is the first time i've

heard that. the conspiracy theory about voter fraud -- millions and millions of people, yes. >> i think that was an explanation for losing the popular vote, the rapists in mexico. take on the lies. >> first of all, there is no evidence. no one has ever found any evidence of large-scale voting in the country. it doesn't happen. you can barely get people to vote legitimately. the hard part is asking people to vote. this is families coming from central and south america. a lot of them are going to settle in mexico, some of them are going to come here. they're looking for safety. his first appearance in trump tower as a candidate, he is speaking to a narrative -- >> before that, before he was a candidate, he talked about if

you're fighting ebola, let's lock up our boardsers and not let our great doctors and nurses back in. >> he is speaking to people who view immigrants not as people driven by opportunity and economic need, but people who are invading and bringing crime, drug and rape and carnage. that's his vision. it's what his people believe and he's spitting it out back at them. >> jeremy, you have helped run the pentagon, the cia, two government agencies that rely for the purposes of our national security not just on immigrants living in america, but on friends and allies and partners all over the world to trust us with their state secrets, to trust us with their lives. what are the real-world national security implications of a president who talks like that? >> they need to trust our word. they need to know when we say something it's backed up by facts. and those agencies and those departments are also premised on truth and it is inscribed at the headquarters at cia, you shall

know the truth and the truth shall set you free. when those agencies go to a commander in chief, mr. president, here's the facts and here's what we need to have done. it has to be grounded in truth. when the president starts spreading lies and falsehoods and that permeates throughout our government, it really kroeds and ee roads everything that makes us strong, nicolle. >> do you think john kelly, the president walked back on to air force one looking for a chest pump, that was a disgrace? >> i don't know if they're looking at their shoes. mr. president, there were some things in your remarks we wanted to make sure we're out there, we'll look for opportunities to do that. do i think people are directly confrontsing him, i do not. on the issue of rape or whatever point he was trying to raise, he was trying to raise the issue of sexual assault. he is the last person morally to raise the issue of sexual

assault. >> you get the last word. >> president's job is to inspire and bring hope to the american people, sometimes in difficult times. what this president does is pedestrian l fear. a great president in the history of this country, fdr, was the first thing he says to the country upon being inaugurated, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. fear is the lubricant of trumpism, small, petty, cruel, mean spirited fear. and that's what we saw today. >> fear is the lubricant of dictators. >> we know he likes dictators a whole lot. when we come back, the answer that every reporter who covers this administration is used to hearing, and what it really means.

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ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. this condition has not been reported with entyvio. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's treatment isn't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach. we're back with a little bit of breaking news from "the new york times." thank you, nick, you had a hand

in the timing of this, out with a new story, jobs changes for epa officials who question scott pruitt's conduct. the reporting team of eric lip ton and lisa freeman writing five officials at the epa, four of them high ranking, were reassigned or demoted. requested new jobs in the past year after they raised questions about the spending and management of administrator scott pruitt. it is an extensive and detailed story that seems to go through a lot of what you, jeremy and steve, have been alluding to, which is a pretty detailed and clear record of, one, corruption, and two, a whole lot of people with a whole lot of concerns about epa administer pruitt's conduct. you first, jeremy. >> it happens oftentimes in a front office for an administrator or secretary, the boss is doing something, it raises an eyebrow, you check with career staff. you listen to them. you fix any problems that there

are. but when, of course, people raise those concerns and the boss doesn't like the answers and they're reassigned, that is a huge red flag. that shows that the boss is probably trying to ensure that nobody, nobody can challenge his authority to do what he wants d. >> and let me just add some more details for our viewers. there are in addition to what i'm sure are some career officials, at least two -- several who look like political appointees. one official mr. pruitt's chief of staff ryan jackson raised questions about the spending according to three officials so that wouldn't be the kind of career official who would not have recoursed to get the claim to the white house. political appointees have a direct line to the white house. they are placed in agencies by who is officials. this story takes this to the doorstep of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. the report in "the new york times" of another political appointee and i will botch his name but the political apointy

kevin tillski was placed on administrative leave without pay according to two people. and he was among the first employees of donald trump's presidential campaign serving as a senior advance official that two people who are administration officials said they flagged concerns about pruitt directly to the white house presidential personnel office. you remember the white house presidential personnel office was the subt subject of a piece in "the washington post" not for good reasons, for the practice of icing, where they hid bottles of vodka in rooms and they got drunk on the white house complex. you called them miss cre -- miscre ants and fools but this story just got more serious. this is about the white house now. this now seems to take knowledge of pruitt's misconduct directly to the white house. and they're going to be answering questions if they do what normal white house do and field of conduct and there are whistle blows and three of them

political appointees. >> they are sure going to answer questions about it. this seems different to me than tom price. who was just garden variety shady and entitled in this administration with the use of taxpayer money. this seems almost criminal to me. out of this department and this administrator. and obviously he won't last many longer than another day or so. but you are right. and i suspect nicolle, that there are many more areas where if we look inside of the hood of this administration, we're going to find this throughout many cabinet secretaries and departments of the government. >> and this is where we started the show which was he does not hire senior people. you will not hear this about tillson and -- and these people are the people that do these -- >> the administration is dirty.

it is corrupt. >> it is an important point. so one of the official -- >> that is to read from it. >> ryan jackson who is chief of staff and it is important to note, he is not an epa bureaucrat, he is completely on pruitts team of the agenda and came from senator inhoff's office in the senate. he is not a whistleblower who is -- >> he's a mate. >> and he was calling this into question. and aside from the bulletproof phone booth, we're seeing he was asking possibly for a bulletproof vehicle. so a sound proof phone booth and a bulletproof vehicle and the first class flights, it adds up -- as seif wteve was saying, entitlement. >> and paranoia and instability. there were controversial national security policies during the bush year and the

definition of a whistleblower was someone who didn't agree with the policy and these are people in agreement with the trump agenda and policy actions but so alarmed by the personal conduct by the ethical lapses that there are six epa officials that cross the spectrum from including several a -- appointees that raches this story way up in terms of political crisis for the white house. >> it does. and for all we know some may have gone to the white house and that may have been what triggered the criticism that scott pruitt came under from john kelly and others. i think in light of the relevations, scott pruitt is on the last pay period and may have earned himself an fbi investigation. >> and where are the congressional committees that are investigating this? >> do i have to answer this again. they are in -- jesus -- they are in a cave and they are wrapped in their woobie and sucking

their thumbs. seriously. >> they are hiding out and under their desk or under their bed but just institutionally, just simple oversight of what is going on at these agencies. it is extraordinary that there seems to be in irn-- any intere it. >> you rab successful campaigns and workd on the clinton campaign, if you were going to create the next candidate find some republicans and say, you could stand up and say i believe in donald trump but these are the things wrong going on here and to start to take such an opportunity in that lane to -- keep one foot on home base and don't even make it about him, make it about all of this other stuff and you wonder why somebody who is trying to chart a career doesn't do that. >> let me break in with some news that we just got from our white house unit. air force one landed at 4:43 and the president came to the back of the plane to take a victory lap about his round table and came back and wanted to know if

the press enjoyed the round table and when it was on the record they started to roll and he was asked the first question about stormy daniels and did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels he replied no. why did michael cohen make it, he said -- this is the president of the united states, you'll have to ask michael cohen. he is my attorney. you'll have to ask him. the president was asked do you know where he got the money to make the payment and the president said i don't know. on pruitt, he said i think he's done a fantastic job. he's a fantastic person i just left coal and energy area and they love scott pruitt. >> either he hasn't read "the new york times" or none of this matters. >> start the clock. >> what do you think it is? serious question. >> i'm sure pruitt is popular in coal country because the administration has pursued to the benefit of the coal and oil

industry. it is a great friend to those industries so i'm sure they are happy and folks in that industry are very happy but the question is -- how long will the president's tolerance extend, if there are ig investigations at the epa and if perhaps there is an fib investigation into the spending. >> scott pruitt's capacity to find good real estate deals should earn him a place in the trump organization when he moves on from public service. >> he could be the head of hud. and a few more deitails with th press exchange with the president and he was informed of some is of the new accounts about pruitt and he said i've heard different versions of it. i'll have to look at it and make a determination. but he's a good man. when asked if he wanted to switch and he said no, scott is doing a great job where he is. and president was pressedond how many national guard troops he wanted to see at the border and he said from 2,000 to 4,000. we are looking at a combination. asked about the cost and he said we're looking at it. i have a pretty good idea. depends on what we do. keep a large portion of them

there until we get the wall. they'll be there a long time. and he was pressed about amazon. he's been at war with amazon. really ripping them on twitter, possibly affecting their stock market with his attacks. here is what the president said on amazon, while they are not on on even playing field. in addition to having "the washington post" which is a lobbying effort have an uneven playing field. looblg at the sale taxes which will be taken up and to a decision by the supreme court and we'll see what happens. the post office is not doing well with amazon and we'll see what happens. the playing field has to be level -- >> lies. >> just flat out lies jeremy bash. from your shot, you are out in silicon valley, how many anxiety about the president's enthusiasm for maligning and lying about -- i know amazon isn't based there but if it could happen to amazon, it could happen to anyone. >> and it is about his war with "the washington post" because "the washington post" was going

to reveal that he was a subject of a criminal investigation as you've clearly pointed out, nicole. i think the stormy daniels issue from the gaggle of reports in the back of plane, that i a lie. he's taken stormy daniels to federal court for enforcement of that gag order that the hush money that he paid. he wanted something in return which is for her not to disclose that so he clearly knows the money was paid and to stand there and say he wasn't aware is a lie. on the issue of the border, everyone get out of the brain that combat equipped troops are going to the border and shoot people or come across the border. that is not what is going to happen. the boarder is 3000 miles long. we have one team of d.o.d. working with law enforcement in a cell back in a an office and behind big steel desks and looking at flat screens and sharing intelligence. they do that all of the time. that is nothing new or important. >> and the story -- >> it is important but nothing special. >> the amazon story is the most reprehensible example of who he is. lying. they dent get any special deal.

>> and there is a a fire wall between -- >> for the simple reason that bezos owns the post and now various ira and pension have lost 5% and 6% of the money because the president chose to do it. >> i have a ton of fun. thanks for watching. my thanks to steve, donnie, nick and jeremy. i'm nicolle wallace, "mtp daily" starts right now with katie tour in for chuck. >> i'm up here with -- i keep the google up for -- i feel like sarah palin. important days in history. donnie, please come over and talk about presidential history. i'm sure our viewers would love it. stop having such a good show because i can't tear myself away from your show. and then i'm not preparing for my show. >> it is them. >> i'm blaming it all on you. >> if it is thursday, does the president's red meat match -- red meat rhetoric match -- >> tonight right wing calling