the community doesn't just have small businesses, it is small businesses. and that's why american express founded small business saturday. so, this year let's all get up, get out and shop small on november 24th. i got croissant. small business saturday. a small way to make a big difference. good morning, everybody. this is "up." i'm david gura. president trump says he answered the special counsel's questions. does this mean the end of the russia investigation is near? >> i haven't submitted them yet. i just finished them. i've been a little busy, as you know. plus president trump love/hate relationship with leaks and wikileaks, turning its attention to wikileaks founder julian assange. >> this wikileaks is like a

pressure trove. >> we've got to stop the leaks. they're dangerous for our country. what charges could mean for robert mueller's investigation and we continue to focus on florida getting nearer and nearer to that recount deadline in georgia. stacey about brams acknowledges she won't be the next state's governor but does not concede the race. >> this is not a speech of concession. because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true, or proper. >> it's saturday november 17th and with the last of the midterm results coming in, why aren't we hearing about the migrant caravan anymore? >> the vast majority of the migrants are more than 1,000 miles away. troops are there for no reason. like if paul revere went through the streets yelling "the no one is coming! the no one is coming! why am i yelling on my horse in the middle of the night? oh, god, i need mental help." and deputy assistant

secretary of state under president obama. and associate editor at commentary magazine. both msnbc contributors and also the president of the brooklyn naacp and host of the show "sunday civics" on sirius xm. we begin with breaking news. president trump moments ago on his way to california says he has answered a series of questions from the special counsel, but he has not returned that questionnaire to robert mueller. >> submitted your answers to the special counsel? >> no. we do that next week. >> the president claiming he's very happy just days after calling robert mueller's team a total mess and absolutely nuts. i want to start there with maya wily if i could. your reaction to this, if i could. the president answered this himself personally. >> and it was very easy.

>> where are you do you think in this investigation as bob mueller continues his investigation? >> the questioner is an important part of the process for robert mueller. robert mueller probably knows what he needs to know. right? usually what prosecutors do, they want to make sure they have all the documents, all the data, all the information and robert mueller has a ton of that. in addition to everything that all of his witnesses have told him and have told the grand jury. this is really to see what the president says, how consistent or inconsistent it is with all of that information, and that's why it's not so easy. >> felipe, says he hasn't turned it in because he's been busy. in you'europe last weekend, for whatever that was in europe and a lot to tend to in d.c. as well. you followed the back and forth we've seen play out in the press mostly. his lawyers saying where we are in the process, the special counsel's office saying nothing. what does it say to you about

where we are? >> funny he's saying too busy while on his way to a golf cour course. >> on his way to california to look at the wildfires. >> oh, i'm sorry. he was, but i thought -- look. i'm sure his questions are not going to put this to bed. i'm going to give him benefit of the doubt. might have been easy only because lying comes so easy to him. it's pretty fair to say these questions are not going to put this to bed, to address everything that bob mueller does or doesn't know. i think we should take a step back a second. today is 298 days since he said i would love to sit down with bob mueller, and, yes, offered a litany, i've been doing this. my dog ate my questionnaire, all of this stuff and has chosen not to. only one reason not to. because your answers are not going to help you. whether you sit there or are in writing. they're nervous and you can tell

they're nervous. >> what do you make of the way the week played out? i referred to the tweets at the top. angry tweets about the investigation followed by in very stark contrast a projected calm in the oval office talking about the questionnaire being done and where things are, how he feels about the investigation. what does that tell you? how do you read the emotional roller coaster the president's been on? he's taken the country through an emotional roller coaster. >> fair enough. >> it's very consistent where he's taken the american people, and so much to my colleagues here saying that, you know if you're lying, he lies to us on a regular basis. right? and reminds me of my grandmother would tell you, just lying so easy. just like it's -- right? not to trust those people. so it continues at least for not even having the detail of how an investigation of this goes through. it's really just that you're lying to the american people, and it continues the distress

that people have in our government, and in our system and particularly in this administration. >> your sense how this dovetails with acting attorney general. the president talked a bit about that this week mentioning ow qualified he thinks the acting attorney general is and quickly talking about the illegitimacy of the investigation. your sense of that and how all of this will proceed vis-a-vis this investigation? >> the legitimacy of the appointment is really what is at issue. the appropriateness of i don't think many people would agree it is especially great to have the justice department led by an individual who is associated with a firm that is being investigated for fraud. just by virtue of that alone, take his sentiments about the special counsel out. >> noah's so picky! >> a little problematic. >> may own that hot tub seat hawked by -- >> he has said he would like to see the special counsel's office strangled essentially defunded slowly suffocated.

a little speculative to indict him on things he hasn't yet done. i'm hess teitant to get into th that. critics have a point when they know the president has a problem with legitimacy. the legitimacy of certainly aspects of the justice department's inquiries into his activity in 2016 and legitimacy of his critics criticizing him for engaging in certain behaviors in any other position donald trump would be equally as frustrated with. a democratic president appointing somebody this problematic to impose something this importance. >> you have a president finished a questionnaire says he hasn't talked about sitting down with robert mueller but would. get to that in a bit. that on one hand. the other hand a new acting attorney general. are they related? do you think he feeled unbridled as a result of that and willing to go through with this, because as noah said, budget could be thin, this investigation could be spun off or whatever? >> not connected in the narrow sense.

meaning to felipe's point earlier. the conversation whether he would sit down with mueller. the negotiation about him doing written questions. the negotiation that said he would not answer questions on obstruction, remember? this has been going on for months and months. it was always going to culminate into some either his agreement to answer some questions and in some form, or a fight before the courts about whether he could be subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. so that was going to happen no matter what. where they're connected and why it's important is that donald trump himself has made clear that he wants an attorney general that instead of being the highest law enforcement officer of the land is going to be his enforcer. it's going to be his protector. that's really the issue in addition, i agree with noah absolutely, there's so many reasons why mr. whitaker should not be the acting u.s. attorney. u.s. attorney? attorney general. >> anything. >> anything. >> fill in the blank there. >> we could go back, anything,

because he's actually questioned the fundamental premise of our constitutional order. he's actually said that the supreme court should not be able to tell congress or the president whether or not they're behavior is unconstitutional. >> a lesser branch of government. yes. >> that's a pretty -- i think he wants to fight the civil war over again. just saying. states rights has been his talking point. so there's so many reasons but fundamentally he cannot sit on top of this investnvestigation. he's made clear and under the ethics code he must recuse. there's just no debate or question about that. even republicans acknowledge that this is deeply problematic nap should give us pause. >> on that point, you look what's happening on capitol hill. there was an effort by senator jeff flake, days are numbered in the senate to put forward a bill to protect bob mueller. more talk of recusal from both sides of the aisle's will that amount to anything?

is it resonating to the public it will affect those in office? >> you mentioned. everybody's talking a lot about what senator flake's actions, but he had an opportunity to do something before then with previous justices nominated. this is like, i guess, something you do on your way out rather than standing up when you have the power. >> seems to be a trend here. >> yes. something people do at that particular point. but even from the, on capitol hill perspective, where you also see democrats trying to come in and take leadership in that aspect saying, okay, we're going to be in control in a couple of months. interesting to see how they roll out, how they plan to do investigations, how they plan to do hearings. how they plan to display before the american people that they are taking control of the investigation as well. >> back to that tape again. the president speaking a few moments ago. more breaking news from what he had to say at the white house on the north lawn before leaving for california. there was a major development overnight. nbc news has confirmed reporting

the cia now believes saudi crown prince ordered the assassination of jamal khashoggi murdered in turkey last month. here's what the president had to say about that report. >> they give us a lot of jobs, give us a lot of business, a lot of economic development. they are -- they have been a truly spectacular ally in terns terns -- terms of jobs and economic development. i'm president. i have to take a lot of things into consideration. >> extraordinary. you were in the state department. you were at meetings where intelligence agencies were represented, conversations were had about what happened. here you have the president again dismissing what's reported by nbc news and the "washington post," the official word of what happened when it comes to jamal khashoggi. your reaction what we have learned? help us understand the importance of this as we look at this story and what happened to that columnist? >> like everything else it's clear the president of the united states is telling america, but in this case the world, do what you want.

we are not breathing down your neck. i think it's even a little worse that reporting is saying that we are inclined to turn over this -- been in pennsylvania two decades? uft just to appease the turks so the turks stop giving the saudis a hard time. he wants this to go away. in complete candor, issues with saudi arabia in the past, they are an important partner in a lot of matters we do want to go away but don't give in, capitulate. make sure everyone knows the values we stand for are values we won't compromise on. one thing i note. the cleric we are thinking about giving back is the same cleric that michael flynn was offered millions of dollars to literally kidnap and return to turkey. so you know, it's funny how everything comes back to the same cast of characters. >> that caper in the early days of the administration. noah -- talking about values. the values that we heard

espouseds are cold mettle values. talking about economics above all else. laying that to bear explicitly in a way that's extraordinary to say the least. >> something to the real politic that he's talking about there valuable also. our security relationship with the saudis is paramount. the conduct of a rather distasteful warren yemen to the extent we don't want to involve ourselves is a proxy conflict. they're conducting it so we don't have to. paramount to maintain the flow of traffic through gulf of aden. if the regime captures, that's our cue to move in. not a choice. the administration reluctantly invoked the magnitsky act, entirely hollow if we didn't apply it to members of this regime. they're stopping at mbs themselves. not going that far. debate it's a moral failure, it's debatable but aren't doing

nothing and deserve credit for at least invoking sanctions and not allowing them to be a hollow facade we use only to punish the regime in moscow. >> lastly to you, walking and chewing gum say the time. look at past administrations how they might have dealt with something like this. it wouldn't be just about the economy. might talk about security issues at play, humanitarian issues as well what what does it say he is narrowly focused on this, the jobs created or so important, the economic relationship that's been there. not auking about security or the death of this journalist. >> i actually wish he was doing more on jobs. we should say that. he gives a lot of -- has a lot of rhetoric around jobs and the economy and it's a critical issue for most americans. we're not really in a strong economic position right now in this country. we should just acknowledge that, but what he's done is seeded power internationally by giving up the united states critical

role as a country that works globally with other partners to maintain the rule of law, and that really is disturbing and actually ironically when he says make america great again, internationally he's made america a lot weaker. consider what he said about dictators around the world. >> sure, quickly. >> compare, too, the number of jobs he's talking about is much lower than reality. he's saying 100,000 jobs tied to this large arms sale. >> a fraction of that. >> it's a fraction of that according to our own u.s. defense manufacturers. so even if you debated about what we prioritize, he's not presenting the real facts. >> go ahead, yes. >> isn't that consistent, though, overall, anytime he's talking about creating jobs, whether deals with certain other companies even based here, it increases every time he speaks. >> we have too many jobs. >> right. it all goes back to and

continuing what noah and maya is saying, there is no international, our farm policy agenda overall, there isn't one and certainly not led by us. up next, the big deadline in florida is tomorrow. the hand recount has to be done by then. a lawyer, democrat bill nelson tells my next guest he needs more than one silver bullet to have a decent shot. get back. quem, you a second behind your brother, stay focused. can't nobody beat you, can't nobody beat you. hard work baby, it gonna pay off. you got this. with the one hundred and forty-first pick, the seattle seahawks select. alright, you got it, shaquem. alright, let me see. i've always been amazed and still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin...

i want that too. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. what's next? reeling in a nice one. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden sign of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis, the number one cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. ask your doctor if eliquis is what's next for you.

i am a techie dad.n. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic.

at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. welcome back to "up."

i'm david gura. turning to the drawn-out battles from florida and georgia's top seats. the fight over georgia's governorship came to a bitter conclusion last night after democrat stacey abrams admitted she no longer had a viable path to victory there and netted 55,000 fewer votes than republican brian kemp and in a rebuke of the system called out voter disenchizment and competent saying the state failed its voters. and meanwhile wrapping up a machine count coming in less than a quarter point, but broward county's hand count wrapped up two hours after it began read at bad news for democratic candidate bill nelson. deadline is tomorrow at noon and after a judge dealt nelson's team another blow yesterday, democratic hopes for a big turnaround are fading. joining us now from miami, mark caputo. senior writer for "politico." ask you about the path forward.

two democrat kancandidates in florida. one of the people in your pieces says there is no path forward. >> right. it wasn't just bad ballot design. kind of everything. in the end bill nelson's margin was too big or deficit too big against governor rick scott and nelson's only lawyer mark elias said in a conference call the other day we're not just looking for one silver bullet and proceeded to list two or three other factors they hoped would close the gap. the language itself was instructive, a silver bullet. basically saying that it was already a long shot and in order for nelson to close the gap, he needed to do a variety of long shot things. needed a number of silver bullets. then we saw the judge in a few different rulings just slowly take away that ammunition from senator nelson. now mathematically, unless something bizarre happens and this case somehow winds up before the u.s. supreme court

and somehow the republican heavy u.s. supreme court decides to side with nelson, it is -- almost beyond a shadow of a doubt governor rick scott will be the next united states senator from florida. >> mark, a couple weeks back we talked of lessons learned from 2000. how that's coming to bear in this election. looking ahead to the next election, what have folks learned in florida to carry over into that election? >> there are parts of our election code that could be overhauled to give people more confidence that their vote's going to count and also the equipment that's being used. in some counties especially palm beach county is old and not easily fixable. it needs to be replaced. probably going to want to consider pumping more money into the election system itself. also should be a discussion about poll worker training and staffing. that's also probably going to cost more money. the likeliest thing, the legislature, which reconvenes in march, some investigative panel

or committee to examine what happened. the problem that often happens with legislators they react to crises. next ma, might be on our fifth crisis compared to where we are now. >> turn to georgia in the few minutes left and maya ask you how you reacted from stacey abrams. the cause of her career getting people eligible to vote to vote. she didn't concede. what did you have to say about what she said what does it tell you about the state and about the south? people are reading into this, what it says about the south's place in history, where it is today and where it might be headed? >> you don't have to read deeply to recognize that what stacey abrams said so poignantly last night is that fundamentally we have returned to a nation that has decided it should be very difficult for people of color to vote. and that one party can actually use its power of government to interfere with voters selecting

their next leaders. that's really what happened in georgia. it happened, it was racially driven. i'll say that explicitly and what i mean by that, you actually had jack kemp saying -- >> brian kemp. >> i'm sorry. different politician. if you actually have black people voting it's going to be a tough time for republicans. this isn't just the south. this is something we've seen across the country. we've had politicians across the country not just the south making statements about who votes for one party versus another, and whether or not making it tougher for them to vote will help them get to victory. that's not what our democratic order is supposed to be about. unfortunately, racist played a direct and historic role and she launched her efforts to win office not by trying to keep people from the polls, but by spending five years trying to get as many folks to register to vote as she could and every step of the way she actually had mr.

kemp trying to block those voters. this has been going on for five years. not just this election cycle. >> noah? >> so what stacey abrams said last night has extremely high implications and thus the burden of proof upon her should be similarly high, which she is alleged that this election is illegitimate. she is not conceding the race. saying i've been cheated out of my right, which was to be elected governorship. now, she has to demonstrate frankly that those voters were disenfranchised and the process by which she has to demonstrate that can't be ignored. we're saying now that brian kemp intervened in this election as secretary of state. now you have to demonstrate that and frankly the evidence is not there. the secretary of state does not intervene in this process until after it is over. allow me to finish. the counties we had voting machines closed where at a county level. he opposed that but obliged by law not to intervene. >> i'm pushing back a little. others want to weigh in as well.

look at the interview the president gave to the "daily caller" yesterday. again brings up the argument about voter fraud. the fact all of the -- outcomes of all of these races were affected by the fact of widespread voter fraud. no evidence of that. you used to hear some a small cadre of republicans. now the president of the united states. you're talking about the need for evidence here. >> yep. >> look at the other side of the coin. same thing is happening. >> absolutely is it. consistency is imperative. the president says without evidence that this happened and therefore my voters have been disenfranchised and the burden of proof should be so heavy he has to meet that. we haven't seen him meet that and similarly can't have a lower burden of proof on stacey abrams if we have a legitimate election saying this governor is illegitimate, we can't simply say the burden of proof should be your word.

>> let me starpt saying i am incredibly proud of team abrams and have been with her. i want to correct one thing in terms of your statement. this was not about stacey saying she personally has been cheated. she was saying the voters of georgia have been cheated. in terms of the evidence, there have been cases just this recently in this recent election where judges had to force the secretary of state or force the secretary of state's office to actually count people's ballots, to make sure that they were on the rolls instead of purged off the rolls. there is an abundance of evidence in a the secretary of state's office combined with other ways not only in this election but previous iterations have a pattern and a practice of disenfranchising georgia voters. this wasn't about -- not stacey sanding up saying i personally have been harmed by this. she is and itting up on behalf

of georgia voters saying i am going to fight for you. i'm going to fight to make sure that your vote, whatever choice that you make, for, you know, in those votes, are actually counted and you have an fu opportunity to do that. >> important, were ut we are talking about approximately 3,5400 votes reinstated by this federal judge out of those purged and talking about 19,000 deficit to force a runoff. >> noah, i appreciate and agree with both of your principle and that being there has to be parody on -- parity on both sides. and not a rhetorical society who doesn't care about the facts. absolutely right about that. the issue, there's plenty of evidence. i want to ge back to -- first of all, just since 2012 we have -- and mr. kemp was a huge part of this. doubled the number of illegitimate voter purges from the voter rolls.

these steps -- he actually worked to oppose and fight about 50,000 of the registrations that were legitimate and stacey abrams had to go to court and win them back. this isn't just about whether she would have actually been the victor at the outcome. it's that at every step of the way, and explicitly, directly, we can point to the court battles and struggle, since 2013 he has used his position to essentially create his path. and that itself is an illegitimacy and there's evidence e. the false equivalency here is we don't have any of that fact pattern or evidence or data in the context of voter fraud. >> come back in a moment. thanks to mark caputo with his updates. the rest stick around here in new york. just ahead what it costs to be the boss. which cabinet member is getting special multimillion dollar

protection from u.s. marshals? worth hundreds of millions of dollars. who you are fighting the bill for, right after this break. eak. insurance that won't replace the full value of your new car? you'd be better off throwing your money right into the harbor. i'm gonna regret that.