good day to you. i'm richard lui at msnbc headquarters in new york city. we'll start this hour with breaking news from "the new york times" on robert mueller's obstruction inquiry into president trump. white house counsel don mcghan has reportedly been cooperating extensively in the special counsel investigation. we just learned this from "the new york times" within the last three hours. in this report, mcgann was centrally involved, they are reporting, in the president's attempts to fire mueller. and now investigators are focusing on trump's comments and actions during the firing of former fbi director james comey and his repeated attacks against attorney general jeff sessions for his recusal from the russia investigation. but trump's former lead counsel in the russia probe, john dowd, in reaction to this report saying this -- the "times" report is, quote, complete fiction while claiming don mcghan was a strong witness for

the president, john dowd. for more, msnbc's jeff ben tet white house, nbc news and msnbc legal analyst, senior fellow and government toids at the bookings institution, and editor and chief, carrie johnson, and jeff mason, reuters correspondent. we've had development in the last hour, reaction to the report that's come out so far. what? >> richard, the top-line takeaway from "the new york times" report is the white house counsel don mcghan, over the fear that the white house was setting him up to take the fall over any obstruction of justice, is now cooperating with the special counsel. it's a fairly breathtaking revelation. "the new york times" is reporting that in a series of interviews totaling some 30 hours, mcgann is telling the special counsel about the president's outrage, his anger over the russia investigation and how he has urged mcgann to respond to it.

this includes things like firing james comey, pressuring the attorney general, jeff sessions, to do the president's bidding. also attempting to fire robert mueller, the special counsel. so mcgann in deciding to cooperate with the mueller team is really taking the view of the president's first team, his first outside team of attorneys, who took the president at his word and who also thought that by cooperating with the special counsel would bring about a quicker end to the overall investigation. that is something that president trump said he wanted to see. so the takeaway, the other takeaway, is that the president is underestimating the degree to which having someone like don mcghan cooperate with the special counsel could certainly create a problem for him. >> jeff mason. the subheadline might be, "this is weird." what you have here is you have, as you know, the president basic saying to his counsel, go ahead and cooperate with the counsel that's trying to get me. am i missing something here? >> no. i mean, i think it's

extraordinary reporting. not to mention that the fact that don mcghan remains a critical part of the administration even now as he's helping shepherd brett kavanaugh through the supreme court confirmation process. it's very interesting details in the story. you have to wonder what the president will say or do when he reads some of the details and whether that will affect that relationship which hasn't always been a strong one. one of the more interesting bits of color i think in that report was the fact that president trump and mcgann aren't very frequently in the room just the two of them. that there are often other people. so you have to wonder how that relationship will work going forward after today's reporting from "the new york times." >> i just got a word in my ear. jeff, you've got some response here from the white house that just came in. >> that's right. our colleague, kelly o'donnell, reached out to sarah sanders, the white house press secretary, and got in response. sarah sanders says this regarding "the new york times" report, the president and don,

meaning the white house counsel don mcghan, have a great relationship. he appreciates all the hard work he's done, particularly his help and expertise with the judges and the supreme court nominees. when you see sarah sanders say he, the president, appreciates mcgann's expertise with the judges, he's referring to the fact that don mcghan spearheaded the effort to stock the federal courts with conservative judges. he's also responsible for the president's attempts to really cut back regulations, regulations across the federal government. so don mcghan is in many ways a conservative hero. you see sarah sanders saying mcghan and the president have a great relationship even though "the new york times" points out a very different kind of relationship between the men. >> this is interesting, the response -- thank you for that, just coming in from sarah sanders. the interesting part of that response is it does not really address all of the other items in this long 2, 225-word

article. >> there have been reports for some time now back and forth for many months that the president and don mcghan had clashed over a number of things, including don mcghan's basically waiting some period of time in between the president ordering him to do something and don mcghan actually doing it hoping the president might change his mind or forget. the detail in "the new york times" story that stuck out to me was mcgann calling the president -- mcghan calling the president behind his back king kong because of his volcanic rages and anger. hard to imagine somebody staying in a job for much longer when -- telling tales out of school like that. maybe he doesn't want to stay on the job. remember, don mcghan as the white house counsel is the point person in the white house for interacting with the justice department and the fbi. and that relationship has been broken from the beginning because of president trump's fear and response to this russia investigation. don mcghan has been the man in the middle absorbing blows from the president and to some extent

absorbing pushback from the doj and the fbi. his spot has been an uncomfortable one for a long time. you've got to wonder if brett kavanaugh gets confirmed it is supreme court if that's a natural time after which don mcghan leaves the white house. >> an easy moment. you heard here, benjamin, john dowd blasting this article in terms of calling it fiction basically. in the article itself, john dowd's open policy resulting potentially in this openness, right, of -- of again mcghan with mueller and forgoing what it appears to be attorney/client privilege and forgoing, it appears here, executive privilege. you're a bigger brain than all of us here when it comes to that stuff. what are you seeing, benjamin? >> so it's clearly not complete fiction. some of it isn't even that new. so we've known for a while that don mcghan and a lot of other

white house staffers were interviewed by mueller. we've known for a while that the white house does not assert any executive privilege over their testimony or reviews. and there is under no d.c. circuit law, there's no attorney-client privilege for government lawyers to assert in contexts like this. they've waived -- we've known for a while that he was interviewed at length and waived -- and that the executive privilege claims were waived. what we didn't know and what's remarkable, really remarkable in this story, is, first of all, the length of time that he was interviewed for, that he -- 30 hours of interviews. and also, and i think critically important, that he warned and his lawyers warned the white house that this was a dangerous thing to do because there would

be damaging, at least politically damaging things in his testimony or in his interview, and that they went ahead and waived it anyway. and that he believing that they were trying to create him as the fall guy, therefore went in and told everything he knew. and that is an extraordinary revelation and particularly in combination with the length of time that he was interviewed for. >> jeff, part of this, it's 30 hours, according to the reporting, three voluntary interviews in addition to that over the course of nine months in terms of this back and forth and in the article, one of our -- favorite contributors here, historian michael beshloss, said you have to go back to richard nixon's white house counsel john dean to remember a time like this, jeff. >> that's right. and john dean on twitter, someone asked him to weigh in.

a few hours ago, he said don mcghan did the right thing. it's important to point out that don mcghan as the white house counsel represents the office of the presidency. he has a very different motivation than rudy giuliani, say, the president's outside attorney, represents donald trump the man. clearly that was factored into his decisionmaking, too. >> and jeff mason, reflect on what benjamin was talking about there, and the defense -- excuse me, the white house lawyer here concerned about the president setting him up potentially. >> yeah, no, i think the fact that that's something that was going through his head and that caused him not only to cooperate in a way that he did but get his own legal counsel is interesting. the fact that he has said according to the trick article that he wanted to avoid the fate of the counterpart in the nixon administration, ending up in jail, that the fact that that's the front of his mind while he's

continuing to serve the president as white house counsel and doing the multiple things he has to do in the west wing is really something. >> 15 seconds, carrie johnson, are there tapes, i guess? >> that don mcghan, a lawyer, would make tapes of the president. clearly it says something that the president's white house counsel has been fully cooperating with investigators, and you have this other former aide, omarosa manigault newman, making some 200 recordings. it says something about the culture in the white house which is unusual. >> of course, just given the story lines we've had this past week, we've got to cover things in ways we may not have before. thank you all on this breaking news story from "the new york times." thank you. >> thank you. reaction from around the globe pouring in following the death of one of the world's most celebrated diplomats today. born in ghana, kofi annan was the first black african to serve as the united states secretary

general. he held the position for ten years beginning in 1997. >> during his leadership, he showed unwaving opposition to the u.s. invasion of iraq. in 2001, annan and the u.n. won the nobel peace prize for his humanitarian efforts and fight against aids. a statement from his foundation said annan died peacefully surrounded by family after a short illness. kofi annan was 80 years old. we'll be right back. sfx: [cell phone dialing] no.

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welcome back. who's next? that's the question days after president trump revoked a security clearance of former cia director john brennan. now the "washington post" reports the white house has already drafted documents revoking the clearances of other current and former officials. the intelligence community meanwhile firing back in an unprecedented show of unity. in just a few minutes, we'll hear from one of the dozens of former top intel officials speaking out against the president's actions. first, john brennan spoke exclusively with my colleague rachel maddow last night about the implications of this clearance controversy. take a listen. >> i think this is an eengineers act that flies -- an egregious act that flies in the face of common practice as well as common sense of national security. i think that's where there's been an outcry from many intelligence professionals. not to support me, but to support the principle that

security clearances are something solemn and sacred, and they never, ever should be used for political purposes to grant friends clearances or revoke clearances of your critics. >> are you considering legal action, or do you think you have a legal right to exert against the president's actions house floor? >> i think as you can imagine -- actions here? >> i think as you can imagine, lawyers have reached out to say there is a strong case here. not so much to reclaim mine but to prevent this from happening in the future. and so i am thinking about what it is that i might want to do. at this time, i'm trying to make sure that the principle is what is going to be defended and supported. i don't know what it is that motivating mr. trump to focus on me first. i met mr. trump only once at trump tower in early january of 2017 when we briefed him on the intelligence community assessment. that's the only interaction i've had with him ever. i have been outspoken, and i'm sure that my outspokenness and

things that i've said have, you know, irritated him. i wish i didn't have to say these things. and it's one thing to have policy differences, substantive differences with presidents, and i've had them in the past with previous presidents. what really gets under my skin is mr. trump's lack of decency, integrity, honesty, and his lack of commitment to this country's well being and national security. mr. trump is motivated by whatever is in the best interests of mr. trump. i know people think that a former intelligence official shouldn't be doing this. i don't consider what i'm doing political at all. i have never wreckagestered as a -- never registered as a republican or democrat my entire life. i feel such a commitment to this country's security and its reputati reputation. i'm the son of an immigrant. my father taught me and my siblings early on how important it is that we take very special the privilege of being born an american citizen. and so when i see what mr. trump is doing, basically trashing the

reputation of this country worldwide, and the way he has treated americans, fellow americans, how he refers to them, the divisiveness, incitement, fueling of hatred and polarization, this is not what this country is about. >> after helsinki, you were stark and even a little bit scary in your criticism of his behavior. you said it rose to treason. >> i said it was nothing short of treasonous. >> in this current controversy, this comment has been singled as a comment that maybe by you crossed the line. it was maybe -- >> crossed what line? freedom of speech? >> no, i'm not saying you don't have a right to say it. do you stand by the consideration, and can you elaborate what you mean by treasonous? a very serious allegation. >> i know what the russians did in interfering in the election. i have, you know, 100% confidence in what they d. for mr. trump to -- what they did. for mr. trump to stand on that

stage in hello sisinki with the world's eyes upon him and saying he doesn't not understand why the russians interfere in the election, he's given mr. putin and the russians a pass time after time after time. he refers to as a witch hunt, as bogus. to me, this was a -- an attack against the foundational principle of our great republic which is the right of all americans to choose their elected leaders. and for mr. trump to so cavalierly just dismiss that, yes, sometimes my irish comes out. and in my tweets, i did say that it rises to and exceeds the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. and is nothing short of treasonous because he had the opportunity there to be able to say to the world that this is something that happened, it should never, ever happen again, and if russia tries at all to do it, they're going to pay serious price for it.

i don't expect mr. putin to acknowledge it. he is -- he's going to deny, deny, deny. but for the president of the united states to continue to bravaricate on this issue i think does a great injustice and disservice to the men and women of the intelligence, law enforcement community, and great disservice to the citizens of the united states. that's why i said it was nothing short of treasonous. i didn't mean that he committed treason, but it was a term i used, "nothing short of treasonous." he has authorities, and he does, he can and has revoked my clearance and others, the way he can give pardons out. i'm not a lawyer, but i know there is a question about whether or not there's corrupt intent in terms of doing this. >> uh-huh. >> i think this is a thing that lawyers and courts and others are going to be looking at in terms of whether or not mr. trump is doing any of this in order to obstruct justice or to try to silence critics, whatever. but the fact that he's using a security clearance of a former

cia director as a pawn in his public relations strategy i think is just so reflective of somebody who, frankly, don't want to use this term maybe, but he's drunk on power. he really is. i think he's booabusing the pow of the office. >> that's part of the interview. former acting director of the cia and msnbc global affairs contributor joining us, john mclachlan. sir, you also held the title of director. there's very few people in our world that has held that. you know, director brennan, and you've now seen, again, portions of his interview. what stood out to you, sir, and why? >> i think what stands out there -- knowing john brennan, i know him to be an earnest and intense person, a serious person, probably the most hard working individual i ever worked with in terms of just raw dedication.

i think that's what stands out is his earnestness here, his deep belief in what he's saying. as someone who's dedicated his life to this kind of work and to defending the principles which is essentially what you do as an intelligence officer, defending the principles of democracy, what stands out is the clear sense of offense in the way that mr. trump has from time to time behaved. >> you were one of the original 13 on the list to condemn that which the president did. when you see director brennan, how angry is he, one to ten, you knowing him? he's quite passionate and the reasons are clear going back to his very immigration story m. >> director brennan feels things deeply.

i had comparable experiences while working with him. it's a trait i admired in him. he's a person of great commitment. you ear wareally want it on a sf one to ten? i would say on this issue he's around a seven. >> he is quite upset, at least above the middle ground there. one of the concerns he had, as you do, too, because of what you wrote as one of the signatories, is again potentially politicizing again here's something that shouldn't be, right, and that is security clearance which you still do hold. what is it that would -- that director brennan would lose in his -- him being a contributor to national security, a contributor to the infrastructure now that he does not have security clearance? what's the loss there? >> i doubt mr. trump would call for advice, but people in other parts of the government might call him for advice. after all, he oversaw the operation to take down bin laden. if you're working on counterterrorism and you're

working on a comparable operation with a high-level terrorist group or individual, you might want john brennan's view at one of the agencies that would be doing that. you might want to participate in a training program, as i do from time to time, voluntarily where you might need security clearance. you might need him for a special project as i did in 2010 with my clearance when for six months i helped to understand why we had failed to detect the so-called christmas bomber of that year. there are all sorts of reasons someone might draw on him for that advice. also the congress, the congress might, indeed, want him to come to a closed hearing in which classified information would be discussed. >> director mclachlan, that means that he can no longer participate in such processes, or would he have limited information to be read in, if you will, when giving his advice? >> it would be difficult for him to participate. i can think of circumstances in

which we would read someone in for a brief period of time for a particular purpose. it can be done. >> it can be done still. what do you think will happen next? you know, we're talking about bruce orr, there's a list of those who could potentially lose their security clearance. when does this stop, and what might you do more? again, you being one of the original 13 signatories amongst many now, that are protesting against what happened? >> president trump has been fairly transparent about this in saying the reason he did this was because -- i won't use his words, but it boils down to he disagreed with what mr. brennan was saying, and also because he holds him responsible in part for the russia investigation. he's been transparent about that. so given that, i would think that he is going to follow that same calculus in looking at other people, and mr. orr at the

justice department would be a departure in that he is a serving official, and what might happen next -- i would hope that if he is denied his clearance, and i know there's a back story there that we don't probably have time to discuss, but if he's denied that clearance, i would hope that some people in justice department would have the same reaction that intelligence officers have had to the withdrawal of mr. brennan's clearance which was clearly not done by any procedure, and the first time i recall that a clearance has been pulled for political purposes. >> great to have your perspective. former acting cia director and msnbc global affairs contributor john mclachlan. director, thank you very much. breaking news for you today according to "the new york times," white house counsel don mcghan is cooperating with robert mueller. how the white house is responding to that. ♪

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now to the breaking story again. the"the new york times" reporti that white house counsel don mcghan has been cooperating for months with special counsel robert mueller and was very involved in the president's repeated attempts to fire the

special counsel. sarah huckabee sards, "the president and don have a great relationship. he appreciates all the hard work he's done, particularly his help and expertise with the judges and the supreme court nominees." bloomberg news chief washington correspondent kevin cirilly, "los angeles times" political reporter sema metta. this is quite a headline here. one of the takeaways is that it is believed the reason why they had an open policy and why it became more open was because mcghan was concerned that the president may be the fall guy if obstruction is happening. >> the story is remarkable. the fact that the president's lawyers didn't seem to fight this at all. they were like, go ahead, talk to the special counsel for hours over the past months. they didn't execute

attorney-client privilege. and mcghan was worried the president might be sitsetting him -- might be setting him up, what nixon did in the day. >> and kevin, a great student of history. the parallel to 1973, it's in the article, and john dean and potentially a lawyer, a white house counsel being so essential in a special counsel's investigation. >> right. you know, history doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme, richard. and there's seemingly a lot of synergy particularly off this new bombshell "new york times" report. it also comes at a time in which the president has been receiving different pieces of advice, clint eastwood accoat least according to sources i've talked about, whether or not to give an interview to robert mueller's team and as well as the special counsel. former mayor rudy giuliani has been outspoken about this and has offered differentiating

analysis or call it you what want in terms of how that police station operation -- that operation is going. to wrap this up, it does speak to just how divisive the legal team of the president is. >> you're alluding to the tweet that came from giuliani right after the article came out. giuliani does say this investigation needs to be fin h finished, and a paraphrase of the quote on the screen now. sema, with this information, the data they have here, schmidt and haber man here, 30 hours of discussions, right? three voluntary interviews over the course of nine months. one has to say, if you're the defense, that's a whole lot of stuff that you're giving to somebody who's trying to get you. >> right. and also we know that don mcghny

was around the crucial moments the special counsel was looking at. whether it's to urge sessions to take control or fire mueller or james comey. he has been at the center of all these important discussions. he knows what the president was thinking. he knows how the president was reacting. he has such insider information that it just seems like a invaluable treasure trove for the special counsel's office. >> kevin, when you were reading through it, how many wows did you -- this is a space that you know very well. but in the beltway, kevin, as i was reading it, i was running out of referendum ink as i was going through it -- running out of red ink as i was going through it. you kept going, this is a lot of potential information that is being discussed between opposing couns counsels, if you will. >> we've got to put this even in broader context. and sema made a great point. at the white house yesterday, president trump defending his

former campaign chief, paul manafort and saying that he's a great guy and that it was a sad day for -- for america to see what, you know, what is going on. of course, paul manafort being charged with conspiring against the united states for a host of different jury deliberations. but the second point that i would make is that, you know, look, if you look at the political polling right now, the republican party primarily, there was a recent cbs poll out in the last two weeks, which says that seven in ten republicans are backing this president in terms of the criticism that we just saw from mr. giuliani's tweet. and so that i think in the context of this august recess of sorts ahead of the midterm elections is really the backdrop from this which is that the president's message for whatever reason is still resonating amongst the base of the republican party. and we haven't seen movement on that. >> we'll have to leave it there. thank you very much. chief washington correspondent,

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sir, do you, does the russian government have any compromising material on president trump or his family?

>> translator: i did hear rumors that we allegedly collected compromising material on mr. trump when he was visiting moscow. my distinguished colleague, let me tell you this -- when plump visited moscow back then, i didn't even know that he was in moscow. please, just disregard the issues, and don't think about this anymore again. >> and i have to say, if they had it, it would have been out long ago. >> that was just about over a month ago, as you probably remember, during the helsinki summit between president trump and president putin. the russian president did not explicitly deny he has compromising information on president trump. the matter of whether the kremlin has damaging information is the focus of a piece by "the new republic" and craig understandiunger talking about a trip by a younger donald trump to explore a possible place for a hotel. the subject is the topic of a

book, "house of trump, house of putin: the untold story of donald trump and the russian mafia." joining us is craig unger. craig, talk about the mafia and the linkages you make with the trump family and with donald trump. >> right. well, there's been a lot of talk about revoking national security clearances. one thing my book shows, if there's anyone who would never get security clearance it is donald trump. i went back to 1984. i wanted to see how did this begin, how did it start, how and why. and i went back to 1984 and found a russian who was tied to the russian mafia. he met with donald trump at trump tower which it just opened, the glitziest building in the country. he handed over $6 million in cash and bought five condos. that was money laundering. this happened again and again. the purchase of condos through

anonymous corporations, all cash purchase, to launder money. and it happened at least 1,300 times in donald trump properties. trump-branded properties. >> and who according to your reportering knew about this? >> i can't prove what -- reporting knew about this? >> i can't prove what donald trump knows. and proving that is beyond -- i don't have subpoena power or anything like that. but for to happen 1,300 times, you would think he would have to figure it out. either that or the legal team is willful ignorance. >> legally, if it did happen 1,300 times here, craig, why hasn't the government found out about it before? >> well, i -- i think the government does know, and i would think the mueller investigation is following a lot of -- if you had seen my book, this sort of a roadmap of the issues that the mueller investigation is pursuing. >> you had a tough time deciding what goes into these 20

chapters. you were telling me earlier if your publisher would let you do it, this would be 10,000 pages long, but they would not let you do it. >> i had a deadline. >> and you had to limit the number of pages. >> yes. >> how much stuff is out there? >> there's an enormous amount of stuff. one of the key people i interviewed -- we talk about the cia people saying there was problem -- i found general oleg kalugen, kgb, head of counter s counterintelligence. he was vladimir putin's boss. he was referring to trump's first trip to moscow in 1987, if i may read what he said, he said, "i would not be surprised if the russians have and trump knows about them, files on him during his trip to russia and his involvement in meeting young ladies that were controlled by russians intelligence. >> as you know from the steele dossier, it -- it says, it intimates that there might be some record of some of these incidents. is there a tape? is there something that we don't know about? >> i haven't seen the tape. there's been a lot of talk about

it. what's interesting to me is now you have russian kgb sources saying the same things we've been hearing from the cia. >> if you had enough for 10,000 pages, how much does robert mueller have? >> he has enormous files. they've been after it forever, i think. doing this research, normally when you too investigative report -- normally when you do investigative reporting, you hit a dry hole now and then. every time i googled russians in trump-related buildings, it was like hitting the jackpot again and again and again. you'd find money laundering, shootouts. this was the russian mafia. one thing i really, really want to get across is the russian mafia is very different from the mafia americans think. so it's a state actor. i asked general klugen, and he said, oh, the russian mafia? that's part of the kgb. they were in trump's buildings. they were living there. this is like a russian intelligence cell in the home of

the president of the united states. and i don't think people like that should get security clearances. >> you're talking about donald trump, the president right now. what about vladimir putin? how central is he to this knowledge treasure trove? >> incredibly central. i mean, when you use the term mafia state to describe russia, it's not a metaphor. it's literal. and vladimir putin is the copout -- russian mafia reports to him. i got transcripts from ukrainian intelligence showing that putin was meeting with the most powerful figures in the russian mafia and making agreements with them to siphon off billions of dollars from russia's energy trade with ukraine. >> one to ten, how worried are you now that you finished this book? >> i'd rather not discuss that. >> okay. craig unger, thank you very much. author of "house of trump, house of putin," just out. appreciate your time. >> thank you. some migrant families separated at the border are still in limbo as they wait for the federal government to

complete the court-ordered reunification process. more than 2,000 kids were separated from their parents when the trump administration's zero-tolerance policy went into effect. 565 remain separated. 366 parents already have been deported. of those children still separated, 541 are between the ages of 5 and 17. 24 under the age of 5. in followed a young family as they travelled with a migrant caravan to claim asylum in the they were detaine separated. here's part of their story.

>> that was a portions of "in

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nominee for a major party in the race for governor. she won with 40% of the vote and will face off against phil scott in november. joining us now is christine hallquist, democratic nominee for governor of vermont. thanks for being with us, christine, and congratulations. let me ask you this. how do you think you will be able to win come november? who are you going after in terms of voters? >> well, you know, we're the party of hope and, you know, we're also the party of the working class. we're the party of rural vermonters and rural america. so if you look at that, that is the majority of voters certainly here in vermont. you know, we really are looking at an economy, a rural economy that we have a plan for bringing jobs to our rural vermonters. >> you did well, christine, i apologize. why you?

why do you think that you were able to win the nomination? that translates to the why you as you make it to november? >> well, i think what vermonters have seen, and they know i have a long history of success in terms of turning things around, so vermonters can see that i have a long-range plan for how to get more food on the table. our current governor, you know, has us fighting over the scraps. he keeps talking about no new taxes. and of course nobody wants to raise taxes, but he has no plan on how to change our rural vermont so that people have jobs and have a future. >> you know, you've seen those who are watching the race here leading up to november because you know the nomination for you just happened this past week. the cook political report early on classifying the governor's race there as solid republican. you're a democrat. you actually supported and did vote for scott at one point because you said he was a nice guy. what's going to shift the

calculus here? is it just going to be you're going to be going up against trump? is that your approach? >> well, no, the calculus has already shifted. you know, his approval rating has dropped 38 points in the past several months. he went from the third most popular to the 13th most unpopular. and that trajectory has kind of been on his own. so, you know, it's clear vermonters, including myself, have woke up to the fact that this governor is using the same tax -- tactics as our national party. he's focusing on division instead of unity and starting to attack our education system just like betsy devos. we all are making up to that. i kind of apologized for voting for him but i'm doing my penance now. >> as a within in politics, you may have been watching our show earlier, this is a record year for women in politics. i'd be interested in your

perspective being a politician right now. are you riding a wave and what does that mean? on the flip side we were also reporting on how "the washington post" was saying it is more difficult for women it appears to raise money. what's your feedback to both of those headlines? >> well, you know, i don't think any of us are testing the political winds when we jump in this. we're all jumping in it because we don't like the direction we see our country and the state of vermont headed. so this is not about a wave, this is about a reaction to what happened in 2016. and are we going to raise money? we will, because i think people really -- our message really resonates. we are the party of hope and we have -- we're going to bring vermont back to its aspirational roots. >> all right, thank you so much christine hallquist. good luck to everybody running there, you included in this race in november, and thank you for

stopping by. >> thank you for having me. >> you bet. that's wraps it up for us right here this hour on msnbc. i'm richard lui. stay with us for updates and breaking news as it happens right here. you can follow me on facebook and twitter. let me know what you think. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace is next. you have a great saturday. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job

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donald trump today sought to put his base on a war footing against the men and women investigating russian interference in the 2016 election. and for donald trump, the issue of stripping security clearances from critics of his foreign policy comes down to the reaction of the crowd. here's the president this morning and the response of his unprecedented action of retaliating against a critic by depriving former cia director john brennan of his security clearance. >> i've gotten tremendous response from having done that because security clearance is very important to me, very, very important. and i've had a tremendous response for having done that. if anything, i'm giving him a bigger voice. many people don't even know who he is, and now he has the bigger voice and that's okay with me because i like taking on voices like that. i've never respected him. i've never had a lot of respect --