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tv   First Look  MSNBC  August 24, 2018 2:00am-3:00am PDT

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headquarters in new york. ♪ this morning trump lawyer rudy guilliani says the president agreed earlier this summer that he shouldn't do pardons during the russia probe. that comes after reporting that the president had asked for advice about the issue. plus, attorney general jeff sessions is back after the latest round of criticism from president trump. and a bombshell revelation that david pecker, the ceo of the company that publishes "the "national enquirer"" has been granted immunity by federal prosecutors investigating the president's former fixer, michael cohen. ♪ good morning. it is friday, august 24th. i am ayman mohyeldin alongside
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louis bergdorf. well, in the aftermath of this week's drama surrounding michael cohen and paul manafort, president trump's lawyer rudy guilliani tells nbc news the president agreed in june he shouldn't do pardons while robert mueller's investigation is ongoing. guilliani's comments come after "the washington post" reported that trump recently asked his lawyers for their advice on the possibility of pardoning his former campaign chairman, paul manafort, and other aides accused of crimes. guilliani told nbc that trump did not specifically ask about manafort in a meeting earlier this summer. he said, quote, we discussed it in early june and we agreed no pardons during investigation, and that has not changed. earlier this week the president did not rule out a pardon for manafort when he was asked about it on "fox news." >> one of the reasons i respect paul manafort so much is he went through that trial -- you know, they make up stories. people make up stories. this whole thing about flipping,
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they call it, i know all about flipping. for 30, 40 years i've been watching flippers. everything is wonderful and then they get ten years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is, or as high as you can go. it almost ought to be outlawed. it is not fair. >> the manhattan district attorney's office is weighing filing criminal charges against the trump organization concerning michael cohen's hush money payment to stormy daniels. "the new york times" reports the investigation would focus on how the trump organization accounted for its reimbursement to cohen for the $130,000 he paid to daniels and whether the company falsified business records. this is according to two officials with knowledge of the matter. the company recorded the payment as a legal expense, but cohen on tuesday claimed that the money he received was for the payment he made to daniels during the campaign to prevent her from going public with claims about an alleged affair with trump. both officials stressed to the times that the office's review of the matter is in its earliest
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stages and prosecutors have not yet decided whether to proceed. the trump organization's lawyer declined to comment to the paper about the possible investigation. all right. switching gears for a moment. this morning attorney general jeff sessions is pushing back after president trump once again slammed him for recusing himself in the russia probe. the president claims sessions never took control of the justice department and sessions then fired back in a rare direct response. nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker has all of the details. >> reporter: fighting back after president trump escalated his attacks against attorney general jeff sessions. >> i put in an attorney general that never took control of the justice department, jeff sessions. he never took control of the justice department. >> reporter: sessions lashed out, i took control of the department of justice the day i was sworn in. sessions was at the white house for a pre-planned meeting after unleashing his strongest pushback yet, declaring defiantly, while i am attorney general, the actions of the department of justice will not be improperly influenced by
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political considerations. for months mr. trump ha has lambbased the entire agency as overrun by democrats. >> it is a very, very sad day. >> reporter: it is a remarkable inflection point. sessions was the first senator to endorse candidate trump. >> i am pleased to endorse donald trump for the president -- >> reporter: but once attorney general, things soured quickly after sessions recused himself in the russia investigation because he was a key figure on the trump campaign. ever since, the president has excoriated him in a barage calling him everything from beleaguered and missing in action and again -- >> he took the job and then he said, i'm going to recuse myself. i said, what kind of a man is this. >> reporter: and while sessions has at times subtly pushed back before, his comments were the firmest yet. >> it is long past due that the attorney general stood up for the idea that the job of the justice department is not to go
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after the president's enemies and to protect him and his friends. >> reporter: many republicans on capitol hill warning the president -- >> it would be a very, very, very bad idea to fire the attorney general because he's not executing his job as a political hack. >> reporter: even so, some of the senate's leading republicans who once stood firmly behind sessions are now signaling a willingness to consider a possible successor, but not until after the midterms. ayman. >> our thanks to kristen welker for that reporting. yet another one of the president's allies appears to have turned on him. nbc news has confirmed that david pecker, the publisher of the "national enquirer" and a long-time friend of donald trump, has been granted immunity in the federal investigation into michael cohen. according to court documents, the tabloid parent company, american media, sought to keep former playboy model karen mcdougal silent about his alleged affair with donald trump by paying her $150,000 for the
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rights to her story. always we report, the president's former fixer michael cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations connected to the payment and implicated donald trump saying that the then-candidate directed and coordinated what prosecutors say was an illegal campaign contribution aimed at keeping an embarrassing story under wraps before the election. according to the "wall street journal", pecker appears to have informed the charging documents connected to cohen's guilty plea that implicated the president. there's new reporter on the power david pecker may hold over the president. five people familiar with the "national enquirer's" parent company, american media, tell the associated press the company kept a safe containing damaging stories on the president, including documents of the hush money payments to women who claim to have had affairs with the president. they said the safe was a great source of power for the tabloid ceo, and former employees also tell the ap that the tabloid has been protecting the president for more than a decade and
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necktive stories about trump were dead on arrival dating back to his time on "the apprentice." fearful that the documents might be used against american media, pecker and the company's chief content officer removed them from the safe in the weeks before trump's nainauguration. this according to one person directly familiar with the events. it is unclear if the documents were destroyed or moved to a location known to fewer people. the a.p. obtained a march letter to house democrats in which the general counsel of american media wrote, it is outrage, offensive and wholly without merit. joining us from washington, d.c. is "politico's" daniel lippman, coau shore of "the political playbook." thank you for being with us on a friday that keeps off a historic week. >> the most amazing week in washington i have seen in years. >> yeah, a lot of people are sharing that sentiment.
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let's start off by talking about david pecker in a moment because he has been described in the past as one of trump's loyal friends, a gate keeper to t"the national enquirer", skilling stories according to some. does his immunity deal suggest he has a lot to tell about the president and could we see some of those stories come to light? >> i think it shows he definitely has some evidence against him or he wouldn't have given -- he wouldn't have gotten immunity. i think it kind of just reminds us that when you're a top businessman who wants to be president like donald trump, this is what happens when you are best friends with the publisher of supermarket tabloids. probably not the best idea for your long-term career. it just, i think, dealing in this shady world helped trump for a while, but there is negative consequences after all of this came out. >> yes, shady world is an understatement when you think of how many of the people in
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trump's orbit were recording him, holding on to his documents, keeping track records of hush money payments. let's talk a little bit about the implications, the political implications of paul manafort pardon, if you will, before the midterms. is there really anything to be politically gained for the president by pardoning paul manafort? it seems it would just logically put all republicans on the sudden defense to explain it and defend it to their voters. >> i think we've seen for years how something trump does is a bridge too far, and then republicans on capitol hill and in washington, well, they get over it. they say, you know, look at how lindsey graham, he talked about how all hell would break loose if trump fired sessions, and yesterday and this week he is saying, well, trump deserves an attorney general he has trust
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in. so every -- many republicans have lost kind of their moral bearing that they might have -- they might used to have when dealing with trump. >> yeah, it seems like a bit of a shame i think for a lot of people watching how all of this is playing out. daniel lippman, we will touch base with you in a little bit. stick around. >> thank you. still ahead, president trump gets a scolding from south africa after one of his recent tweets sparks outrage. plus, we are tracking hurricane lane as it brings torrential rains to hawaii. bill karins is here. he will have the latest when we come right back.
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like these for only this wi-fi is fast. i know! i know! i know! i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week. like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. welcome back, everyone. the trump administration has released new numbers on the number of separated migrant children still in government custody. according to the very latest court filings, 528 children remain separated from their parents. 23 of those are under the age of five.
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343 of those children's parents have already been deported from the u.s., and six of those deported parents have children under the age of five years old. now, the administration also reports 139 parents have waived their right to reunite with their children. however, many parents dispute the government's claim, saying that they were coerced into signing documents that took away their right to reunite with their kids, believing their own asylum cases would delay reunification. so president trump is receiving a fresh wave of condemnation for his decision to wade into south african race politics. evidently while watching cable news, and you probably guessed it, "fox news" to be specific. on wednesday night trump tweeted he has asked secretary of state mike pompeo to investigate, quote, south african land and farm seizures and the large-scale killing of farmers. the south african government is now seizing land from white farmers, that was the president's tweet. it is all part of a racist
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conspiracy theory whose roots can be traced back to an extremist far-right wing group who describes its as preparing for a coming violent race revolution to prevent a, quote, white genocide. at least one member of the group attended the deadly charlottesville rally last year. that group has met with far right groups and media contacts in the united states in an effort to garner support. >> senator, what do you make of this tweet? i know you got asked about this, the tweet about the south african -- >> no, it appears to me to be a base stimulator. there are portions of those who support the president that are, i'm sure, that generates excitement, you know. i mean it's -- you know, it's -- you know what i'm saying. >> all right. so in a joint bipartisan statement, two other members of the senate foreign relations committee, jeff flake and chris koonts, say in part, president
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trump's unfortunate tweet in response to a "fox news" broadcast should not distract the united states from improving relations with south africa. adding, quote, we care deeply about the united states' relationship with all african countries. construct he have relationships require dialogue as opposed to dweets. the south african slammed the president's tweet as narrow and only seeking to divide our nation. the trump administration has yet to nominate an ambassador to south afterry car. senat senator coons joins "morning joe" later. hurricane lane slowly continues to make its way towards land this morning. nearly 20 inches of rain have fallen on the big island with flooding and landslides blocking roads. this comes as forecasters downgraded lane from a category five to a category three, sustaining winds of 125 miles per hour as it comes dangerously
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close to hawaii's main island. conditions are expected to worsen over the weekend. let's bring in bill karins for a check on the weather and further analysis of the storm. as you were saying, bill, such a tremendous amount of rain. >> yes, highways closed, difficult terrain with all of the mountains in hawaii to be able to get to low cases, too. once some of the main roads are blocked off, it will be a while before they can clear them. here is the latest. we just got the new update in from the hurricane center. 125 miles per hour winds so it is weakening as expected. i did hear a report of 68 miles per hour gusts in the mountain so it is windy and trees are coming down and power outages but structures will not be destroyed. these winds will come down to a tropical storm in about 48 hours. it is 168 miles southwest of kona. it is barely moving. that's the problem with the storm. that will be the history and legacy, how slow it moved near the hawaiian islands. easily in the cloud envelope and on the right side we get the
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heavy rain. this is the core of the grain in the green here, but because of the upslope and enhancement of the mountains and terrain, it has been pouring in areas of eastern portions of hawaii. i have seen two stations reporting 26 inches of rain already with the storm in a couple of spots, an additional to that 20 inches. a c a couple of spots over two feet of rain. later today the heavy rain threat will move to maui and eventually tonight towards honolulu. it goes up towards oahu and turns away as it weakens significantly, maybe a category one or tropical storm as it passes to the west of the islands. again, the big story will be the rain. we have a tropical storm warning for the big island. it was actually dropped because the winds are not as strong. we still have a hurricane warning for maui. as far as the rain forecast goes over the next three days, the areas of the red and pink are an additional seven to ten inches of rain. the worst of the rain has yet to
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arrive in maui or oahu. the entire population area of hawaii is under the flood watch, 1.4 million people. localized. 30 to 40 inches of rain. that's where the destruction and damage will come, with the rain. showers and storms for you in chicago, st. louis and minneapolis. still hot in texas. if you want to enjoy great weather, head for the east coast. beautiful weather out there, guys. >> we will take it. our thoughts are with all of the folks in hawaii as they go through this difficult time. thanks, bill. still ahead, president trump's supreme court nominee's past history of sports reporting revealed. and the battle of who is having a worst day, this manager of the new york knicks fan selling his fandom. a packed sports block is next. we'll be right back.
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- anncr: prevagen is now the number-one-selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. - she outsmarts me every single time. - checkmate! you wanna play again? - anncr: prevagen. healthier brain. better life. how can you describe it to a load of yanks? football. not soccer, what football means. imagine 10,000 superbowls all mixed into one. you've got one fa cup final. that's what it means to us. >> you've got chelsea and liverpool. this is actually a match that really matters. >> this is one we want to win. >> liverpool, love to say they are football. so pleasurable. >> liverpool support. lovely family, but liverpool supporters.
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>> any resentment? >> football over here is literally a way of life. >> sunday this place will be a caldron of noise, excitement and energy. >> the stage has been set. both chelsea and liverpool are steeped in a century of tradition. but as they say, the victors are the ones who write history. welcome back. that was a new look at the latest episode of "this is football." airing at 2:00 p.m. this sunday on nbc sports network hosted by our own joe scarborough . don't miss that. meanwhile, in the nation's capitol while lawmakers pour over judge kavanaugh's writing for insights into how he might rule, the new yorker is investigating his writing as a sports reporter. it was noted of kavanaugh's account of a mid season game against cornell that his seeming fascination with a single-player
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domination might be a muscular view of executive power. dallas cowboys fans might be more concerned with kavanaugh's precedent revealed about dez bryant's controversial overturn reception against the packers in the 2015 playoffs. kavanaugh said it was, quote, not a catch according to the nfl's rules governing the play at the time, which, of course, have changed since then. we'll just have to wait and see. all right. turning to major league baseball and a new home run leader in minnesota where the athletics chris davis started the scoring in yesterday's 6-4 loss against the twins with his 39th homer of the season, pushing him one ahead of the red sox's j.d. martinez for the major league lead. congratulations to him. see if he can keep it up. meanwhile, in boston the red sox split the four games series against the indians. david price allowed three hits over eight innings of shut-out ball and was helped to fifth win in a row by boston's line-up in
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a sixth run fifth inning. 7-0 final score. butch hobson a manager for the independent league chicago dogs, performing what you might call a walk-off home run after being ejected from a recent game. afterwards the umpire hobson grabs a bat, steps up to the plate, takes a swing through the air and trots around the bases like he hit one out of the park. that's old school right there. you got to love that. finally, it is tough to tell who is having a worse time, the manager or this guy who is so tired of the new york knicks' performance he is selling his fandom on ebay. the bidding is currently just under two grand with only hours to go. if you get a chance, you can maybe buy this disgruntled guy's fandom and have him root for your team next year. what is funny, ayman, turns out i know this guy. i was reading this article and i went to college with him. >> have you tried to reconnect with him, fund out if he can
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give you a price for the new york fandom? >> i don't know. maybe we can have him root for your team, ayman. >> i'm excited about "this is football." it will be exciting to watch as the season gets under way. nothing more like a chelsea/liverpool rivalry. i'm excited about that. >> for sure, it is a great episode. check it out if you can. >> we'll be watching. still ahead, the back and forth continues between jeff sessions and president trump. how congressional republicans are responding to the president's latest attacks on the attorney general. plus, republican congressment duncan hunter pleads not guilty to misusing campaign funds. we will hear about what he has to say about the charges he's facing coming up next. few probl. we've got aging roadways, aging power grids, ...aging everything. we also have the age-old problem of bias in the workplace. really... never heard of it. the question is... who's going to fix all of this? an actor? probably not. but you know who can solve it? business.
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♪ wellwell -- welcome back, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside louis berg tov. from talk of impeachments to pardons and possible witness tampering. all of this comes as another one of the president's allies appears to be turning on him. more from nbc news white house chief correspondent hallie swrak son. >> reporter: the publisher of the "national enquirer" making headlines of his own. david pecker granted immunity. pecker's a long-time friend of the president's who helped after and kill negative stories about him, including, according to cohen, having his company pay a woman for exclusive rights to
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her account of an alleged affair with trump tower, o with donald trump, and one he denies, and then never publishes. >> what are you doing to get ready for prison, mr. cohen? >> reporter: pay wrofs michael cohen admits broke the law. >> those two counts aren't even a rhyme. they weren't campaign finance. >> reporter: but they were. cohen paid $130,000 to a porn star to keep her quiet about an alleged affair, admitting in court it was for influencing the election. so that's a campaign contribution. but more than the legal limit, there 2,700. the president says he paid cohen back, but that's irrelevant under the law. >> they at any time come out of the campaign. they came from me. >> reporter: the he just implicate himself in a rhyme? trevor potter chaired the fec under president george w. bush. >> he ended up based on what we know in the record with illegal corporate and excessive corporate contributions not reported to the fec as they
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should have been. >> reporter: and then there's paul manafort. >> i have great respect for what he has done in terms of what he has gone through. >> reporter: winning praise from the president for not cooperating with prosecutors. >> it is called flipping and it ought to be illegal. >> reporter: the feds often make their case with star witnesses that turn on their bosses. the president's lawyer tells "the washington post", trump tower asked about the possibility of pardoning manafort several weeks ago but his legal team told him he should wait until all of the investigations are over. given manafort has another trial next month on the president's refusal to rule out a pardon amount to witness tampering? >> it is evidence of witness tamper. buying a ski mask is not a crime, but if i use it in a bank robbery it is evidence of a rhyme. >> reporter: democrats are slamming what they call a gop culture of corruption, but they're not talking impeachment yet. not that the president is worried.
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>> i don't know how you can impeach somebody who has done a great job. i'll tell you what, if i ever got impeached i think the market would crash. i think everybody would be very poor. >> reporter: and, ayman, the president was asked in that interview how he thinks he has been doing so far, to give himself a grade. the grade he gave himself, a-plus. ayman, back to you. >> why am i not surprised by the grade. thanks for that is right roing. there's new reporting as maggie haberman tweeted, complaints abound from a west wing about a lack of a plan or guide answer to staff about how to handle the cohen fall-out. maggie cites two people as saying chief of staff john kelly distanced himself from the trauma internally. the president's attorney general jeff sessions had a meeting at the white house on criminal justice reform whether neither of the two discussed the barbs they traded earlier in the day. >> as i've said, i wanted to
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stay uninvolved. but when everybody sees what is going on in the justice department -- i always put justice with quotes. it is a very, very sad day. jeff sessions recused himself, which he shouldn't have done, or he should have told me. even my enemies say that jeff sessions should have told you that he was going to reus himself and then you wouldn't have put him in. he took the job and then he said, i'm going to recuse myself. i said, what kind of a man is this? by the way, he was on the campaign. you know, the only reason i gave him the job, because i felt loyalty. he was an original supporter. >> all right. so a few hours after that fox interview aired, the attorney general issued a statement. it reads, i took control of the department of justice the day i was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the president's agenda, one that protects the safety and security and rights of the american people, reduces violent crime, enforces our immigration laws, promotes economic growth and advances
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religious lint. while i am attorney general the actions of the department of justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. i demand the highest standards, and where they are not met i take action. however, no nation has a more talented, more dedicated group of law enforcement investigators and prosecutors than the united states. i am proud to serve with them and proud of the work we have done in successfully advancing the rule of law. meanwhile, two leading members of the senate judiciary committee relented and said the attorney general could be replaced after the midterm elections. in 2017 chairman chuck grassley and senator lindsey graham said sessions should remain in place, but yesterday grassley told bloomberg, i do have time for hearings on nominees the president might send up here that i didn't have last year. meanwhile, graham said sessions cannot last in the job much longer. take a listen. >> the president's entitled to an attorney general he has faith in, somebody that's qualified for the job, and i think that
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there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the department of justice. clearly attorney general sessions doesn't have the confidence of the president and all i can say is that i have a lot of respect for the attorney general, but that's -- that's an important office in the country and there -- after the election i think there will be some serious discussions about a new attorney general. >> some other republicans, including a few members of the judiciary committee, were not so quick to toss sessions overboard. >> i think it would be a mistake and i don't think it would be good for the country. >> i don't think jeff sessions should be fired. i think jeff sessions is a good person. i think he's got the support of the senate. >> if he wants to make a change, he can. i think it would be very harmful to his own situation.
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he understands he would be in great trepidation if he were to -- to fire sessions. >> he serves at the president's pleasure so the president can fire him. i sincerely hope that he doesn't. people worry about the dominos if jeff sessions goes, who is next? is it rod rosenstein? >> it would be a very, very, very bad idea to fire the attorney general because he's not executing his job as a political hack. >> all right. so a lot to sort through there. you can imagine. joining us from washington, d.c., once again coauthor of "the political playbook," daniel lippman. good to have you with us. >> thanks. happy friday. >> happy friday to you, my friend. so many fronts, this one with the jeff sessions controversy if you want to call it that. who toss swrdoes jeff sessions turn to among the republican party if the president puts him in the crosshairs?
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we are seeing people saying they would be open to a new attorney general. >> it seems he is on an island by himself and it is an ironic turn because he was the third person to endorse trump among elected officials. the first two, of course, are facing criminal charges. >> and sessions the first senator at least. >> yeah. and so i don't think president trump understands how judicial independence works. like he is basically telling us his honest opinion that he should have a person in charge of the justice department to weigh the scales in favor of him and his allies and his former advisors, and that's something that a lot of republicans on app to -- capitol hill are hesitant to, but it doesn't seem they are standing up for sessions. i think mueller's probe will be a race after the elections to try to finish it up before trump fires sessions. >> yeah, not to mention the president always makes reference
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to obama's, president obama's attorney general eric holder as someone loyal to the president, is what the president expects that to be. >> kind of ati different time bk then. >> totally. >> no russia investigation. >> let's talk about what jeff sessions future might look like right now. are you expecting at the mid terms the president may do away with jeff session? >> possibly. we don't know. i don't think trump even knows what he wants to do. he has talked about firing sessions for a while. you know, last year there were a couple of times he considered pulling the trigger. so it just depends on how his lawyers can manage him and whether he feels like he can escape any potential bad mueller report, you know, i trying to lessen the damage. because firing sessions would be a big bullet point in the mueller report. >> i want you to put a cap for us on this week because you said
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earlier what a historic week it has been in washington. so i want to give you the final thought. what do you make of what this week has been like for this presidency, for this country? >> i think it has, you know, been very sad. you don't have to be a democrat or a republican. just as an american, for any president's former top advisers to face criminal charges and within one hour plead guilty or get found guilty of serious crimes, because the people you surround yourself with either as a president or just as an individual, regular american, it is an indication of your character. some of the people that trump and his allies have associated with haven't really shown the best of their character and they're facing significant jail time. so it is kind of a reminder that you may get away with things for a while, but eventually justice catches up with you and people
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face serious consequences. >> daniel lippman. very well said. thank you very much. >> thanks, ayman. and attorney general jeff sessions was the third member of congress to endorse president trump in 2016 and yesterday the second member, congressman duncan hunter, appeared in federal court where the california republican and his wife pleaded not guilty to allegations of wire fraud, falsifying records and campaign finance violations. a 60-count indictment alleges hunltder and his wife used more than a quarter of a million dollars to finance family trips to italy and hawaii, golf outings, school tuition, theater tickets and much more. in an interview last night congressme congressman hunter called it pure politics and denied all of the allegations. >> i have to ask you about some of the specifics of these and some came from complaints from your own treasurer and i think your chief of staff as well. so did you call your wife and say you wanted to buy a pair of hawaii shorts but you didn't have money and she said you should buy the shorts at the pro
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shop so you could falsely describe that purchase as golf balls for wounded warriors? did that happen? >> yes, i don't know what -- i don't remember that but i would never do that. i never used any money, any campaign money to buy myself anything and slough it off on anybody else. >> still ahead, hawaii's big island is getting slashed right now and honolulu is bracing for flood disaster. we will get another check with bill karins as hurricane lane closes in on the islands. if you have psoriasis, ... little things can be a big deal.
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mom: okay we need to get all your school supplies today. school... grade... done. done. hit the snooze button and get low prices on school supplies all summer long. like these for only $2 or less at office depot officemax. welcome back, everyone. i want to get right to bill karins who has been tracking the very latest with hurricane lane. bill, hawaii on high alert this morning? >> yes, so far the big island reported the most damage. that's where we've had highways washed out, 26 inches of rain reported in a few locations and they're under a flash flood for obvious reasons. the storm is roughly about 150 miles away from the big island so the win are not that strong, it is just a rain event on the east side.
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13,000 foot peaks here and that brings the rain, and we are getting some gusts in higher elevations. here is the latest forecast path. by this afternoon and this evening it drops down to a category 2. as we go throughout friday night, into saturday, it should drop down to a category 1. the cone does not include oahu so we don't think we will get direct landfall out of this, but we could still get tropical storm force gust and power outages. rain totals, 10 to 20, localized 30 to 40 inches of rain. the rain will move into maui tonight and then eventually into oahu. we will get life threatening flooding and landslides continuing into saturday. the water does not pileup with the storm surge. it moves around and slides around them. trump tower only one to three
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feet around honolulu so we're not worried about that. again, the biggest kesh concern going to be how bad the rain is and what the damage is done. they have small streams that turn into raging rivers. a hot day today in texas, about as good as it gets for august in the northeast. the air conditioner should be off in many cases. heading towards the weekend forecast, we will see the summer heat expanding. 96 in kansas city. a few showers and storms in the great lakes. a beautiful saturday mid atlantic through the northeast. by saturday, things heat up. 95 in -- 94 in st. louis, 90 in d.c. the return of the summer heat and it looks like we will have a summer heat wave for the east coast starting sunday and lasting monday, tuesday, wednesday. everybody looks to be about 90 to 95. summer is not over yet. >> yes, so enjoy the cool weather while we have it this weekend. thanks, bill. still ahead, she may be taking hits from both in and outside her party, but nancy
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pelosi is not giving up her power that easily. her show of definance is next. the first survivor of alzheimer's disease is out there. and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen. but we won't get there without you. join the fight with the alzheimer's association.
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in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. secretary of state mike pompeo selected a senior executive ford motor company as hess special envoy for north korea. this regarding its nuclear program. the vice president of international governmental affairs and previously served in
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foreign policy positions on capitol hill and the george w. bush administration and set to head the day-to-day negotiations with north korea. they are also set to head to pyongyang next week for more talks. while the president continues to hold the position that things are going well with north korea because of what he says is his "great relationship with north korea's kim jong-un," pompeo national security adviser and john bolton have recently said pyongyang is not taking steps to denuclearize and continues to produce fuel. they confirmed the missile program is ongoing and the new report indicates his regime may not be dismantling its test sites yet. and nancy pelosi is pushing back on those who say her leader position maying in deputy. the house minority leader dared them to negotiate with president trump. pelosi told the a.p. i have a following in the country
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unsurpassed by anybody, unless they're running for president and added that trump and the republicans are eager to see her go saying, i'm just not going to let them do that. even with democrats bullish about winning back the majority in the fall, pelosi's return to leadership is far from assured. dozens of democrats say they won't back her and several trying to replace her. those waiting in the wings, steny highway and clyburn. if she retakes the speakership part of a transition to a next jeng generation of leadership. coming up, "one big thing," and on "morning joe," the avalanche of legal troubles surrounding the president. among those on the guest lift, carol leonnig with her reporting on the president seeking a possible manafort pardon. the "new york times" bret stephens, now says impeachment
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joining us from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m., co-founder and ceo, cap it off with "one big thing" this morning. >> good morning. first off, "one big thing" looking at basically donald trump's fantasy legal system. in that interview yesterday with fox he talked how a concept of michael cohen flipping, giving prosecutors information for a lesser sentence, that it should be illegal. this follow as pattern for trump. lots of times he talks about laws he wished were on the books or a legal system that should be under the trump regime that isn't. whether talking about the special prosecutor, the whole law being unconstitutional. whether he has the absolute right to pardon himself.
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saw it a lot yesterday with jeff sessions. what he thinks about the justice department in sessions. he thinks they should be loyal to him. not necessarily the broader rule of law. so this pattern of trump wanting a legal system that was amplifi interview with fox. >> and that he gets to decide what a crime is. and could this be the final straw for trump and attorney general jeff sessions? are we at the end of their relationship? >> trump hit him with so many straws over the last year we don't know. at some point, yes, the last straw. never can i think of an example in history of somebody serving for the president who's been more publicly humiliated, more often in more public forums than session has in trump. they hardly can talk. funny. in a meeting yesterday after their back and forth, after the attorney general puts up a
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statement contrary to what the president is saying i'm going to defend the law and not be swayed by politics. then a meeting and don't talk about it at all. because the president hates confrontation in private. he hates one on one confrontation. loves it on twitter or controlling it on a tv interview, but the two of them have the weirdest relationship. talk to people in the white house, and they just have this -- sort of cold distance, but know they both have to do their job and know that sessions is probably here at least through the election, because it would be really hard for republicans to get somebody else to replace sessions in this political atmosphere. >> to that fact, how is president trump planning on changing things at the justice department? have you seen any maneuvers behind the scenes with personnel what have you, making you think he is in fact trying to change the way the justice department functions? >> there hasn't. a couple folks left. he's definitely talked about wanting to purge democrats from the justice department. talks about a secret state that's out to get him, but
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there's such a distance between his rhetoric and the reality. the truth is, this is a republican regime. a republican justice department, and they're doing their job. i think it frustrates him when he feels like he's not got etin loyalty out of sessions. he feels his view is one most don't share in politics and certainly that isn't rooted in the way that the, the precedent how the justice works. thinks he should be there to just protect him not deal with the russia probe. thinks sessions should be protecting him. when push comes to shove he wants loyalty. that's just -- obviously extraordinary for a president to talk about this so publicly. also dangerous, because it basically puts pressure on people not to do necessarily what's right by the law but what's right by trump. >> now says whenever he mentions the word justice he puts it in air quotes. >> "justice" exactly. >> right. what else are you following this morning with the week we just had and especially with what's going on in the weeks to come?
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>> yeah. you know, we've spent so much time talking about trump. overseas. an election in sweden is coming up. fascinating. look at the european union. immigration there, a much bigger issue than here. really changing politics in almost every nation in the eu. a poll just came out. a 21 out of 28 countries that are part of the european union. immigration, the number one topic. here it's four or five. a big issue obviously for republicans but really continuing to up-end politics in europe. many more populist government leaders. >> thank you jim vandehei. stand by. see you in a little bit on "morning joe." axios a.m. hits online in a bit. sign up for the newsletter at signup.axios.com. that does it for me. "morning joe," everyone, starts right now. this whole thi

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