that is our broadcast for this tuesday evening. thank you so very much for being here with us. good night, from nbc news headquarters here in new york. in an extraordinary move, president trump is standing by saudi arabia amid mounting pressure over the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. he's stressing the importance of u.s. relations with the kingdom. and a stunning report by the new york times that lasts spring president trump wanted the department of justes to prosecute two of his biggest political adversaries, hillary clinton and james comey. and robert mueller is finally hearing from president trump, at least in writing. answering questions posed by the

special counsel. ♪ well, good morning. it's wednesday, november 21st. president trump says his administration is standing by saudi arabia and will take no additional actions against the kingdom over it the killing of journalist jamal khashoggi. it denies the central intelligence agency who found that saudi arabia ordered the killing of journalist. begins quote the world is a very dangerous place. the president uses the next paragraph to describe the threat posed by iran and next to defend the saudi-led offensive in yemen. >> he ethen describes how the u.s. relationship with saudi arabia will be used with drastically inflamed figures.

in addition -- he then goes on to propigate smears against khashoggi, including that he was an enemy of the state and a member of the muslim brother hood before continuing quote our intelligence agencies continue to assess all inform ayes but it could very well be ethat the crown prince had knowledge of this event. maybe he did and maybe he didn't. we may never know all of of the facts surrounding the murlder of jamal khashoggi. united states intends to remain a steadfast partner of saudi arabia to insure the interests of our country. >> it's a very complex sipuation. it's a shame but it is what it is. because it's america first for me.

it's all about america first. we're not going to give up hundreds of billions off dollars in orders and let russia and china and everybody else have them. it's very simple. america first. if we broke with them shs i think your oil prices would go through the roof. they've helped me keep them down. i'm about make america great again and i'm about america first. the cia has looked that, they've studied it a lot. they have nothing definitive and the fact is maybe he did, maybe he didn't. if you look at iran what they've done. they've been a bad actor. year staying with saudi arabia. >> so it's a mean, nasty world out there. the middle east in particular there are important american interests to keep the american people safe too, protect americans. so as the president said today

the united states will continue to have a relationship with the kingdom of saudi arabia. they're important partner of ours. we will do that with the kingdom of saudi arabia. that is the commitment the president made today. it's that straight forward. >> the washington post has responded to the president regarding the killing of its columnist. the paper's publisher and ceo writes quote president trump ps response is a betrayal of long held american values oof respect for human rights and trust in our strategic relationships. he's placed commercial interests abb american interests. in his desire to do business as usual with the crown prince. cia has concluded with high confidence it was conducted by the high prince.

if there's reasons to doubt the cia, he should immediately make that public. this will only make it more so than his failure of leadership from president trump, it now stands to congress to stand up for america's true values. >> president trump has pressured top law officials about investigating his 2016 rival, hillary clinton. two people tell the times that president trump told then white house counsel don mcgahn in the spring that he wanted to order the justice department to investigate james comey and hillary clinton. he told the president he didn't have the authority and while he could request an investigation, that could prompt abuse of power accusations. he had lawyers write a several page document in which they strongly caution trump against asking the justice department to investigate anyone. while it is unclear whether trump lead to memo.

doj lawyers could refuse to follow olawyers, congressional investigation and possible impeachment and public back lash, leading to being voted out of office. two people say the president has continued to privately discuss the matter. >> comey is a leaker and he's a liar and not only on this stuff, he's been leaking for years. he is guilty of crimes and if we had a justice department that was doing their job instead of o -- >> it's your justice department. mr. president -- >> because of the fact they have this witch hunt going on with people in the justice department that shouldn't be there, i've taken the position and i don't have to and maybe i'll change, that i will not be involved with the justice department. i will wait until this is over. >> our justice department and our fbi have to start doing

their job and doing it right and doing it now. because people are angry e. people are angry e. i want them to do their job. i'll get involved and i'll get in there if i have to. >> one year ago then attorney general jeff sessions asked if there should be a panel to investigating the fbi. a source with direct knowledge tells the times that trump repeatedly pressed justice department officials about the status of clinton-related investigations including now acting attorney general matt whitaker when he was chief of ostaff to sessions and trump has repeatedly expressed disappointment in christopher ray, calling him weak. the fbi and declined to comment.

to his knowledge the president never ordered anyone to prosecute clinton or comey. >> eugene scott and i want to start with this conversation about don mcgahn who is no longer the white house counsel. could the president still take action against james comey and former secretary of state, hillary clinton? >> it doesn't appear to be settled at all. we know sources close to the white house is still asking if this is something he can do and likely something he still wants done and if his advisors on fox news and other supporters tell him he should move forward with doing, it's possible he could follow through but it's important he remember he does not control the house and the likelihood this could move towards something close to impeachment is higher now than it was when mcgahn was in the white house. >> can we talk about the extraordinary statement

regarding the murder of of washington post journalist jamal cushog ey. yes, he will not control the house of january but republicans all over. is this a line in the santd for them? >> we never know. we have seen these republicans defend things that we would have thought they would have stood up to their president, our president against or about. and previous issues. but this is certainly a significant one and people like lindsey graham say we need to take a harsher response to. and so i think it will be telling to see just what type of pressure, typef oapproach the gop takes unresponse to this based on what the american population wants to see as a whole. >> we saw statements from senator rand paul, lindsey graham as well. the senator of of the foreign relations is going to be

different. >> led by democrats. whether it's going to get there is not clear but there certainly will be a portrayal of those who defend trump and side with trump that could come up in the next elections for congress which will be here sooner than we realize. but this certainly won't be something that the left and even more conservative republicans just brush under the rug. >> okay. have a little more of your coffee. and president trump's legal team has submitted writtenancers to a series of questions posed by special counsel, robert mueller. this after month oz of back and forth between the from's team and the legal -- they include only ea portion oof the questions that mueller posed to trump for nearly ea year.

rudy giuliani says they won't provide any great surprise. there isn't anything there i haven't read in a newspaper. this after the president initially expressed eagerness to sit down with mueller. but his attorneys have repeatedly advised him not to do that. >> so dan aw a very early good morning to you. the scope of these questions very limited. to what extent do we assume that's that robert mueller needs? how does this play out big picture? >> this is a conservative strategy by mueller. ask these written questions which are exceedingly rare in the criminal context and even in the civil context they are quickly going the way of the dodo. i do understand them and without waving my objections, i don't

can know the answer. or you can give these answers that don't allow for a follow up which is what prosecutors really, really want in a case like this. so if he gets the written answers, mueller, and he doesn't like what he sees shs h, he cans follow up. >> there's been so much back and forth about this process, getting the president to answer these questions. now that they're answered at least in part, what does that say? >> one of the things the department of justice does very well is not let anybody know what stage of an investigation they're in while things have is underway. a one oof the indications is what are we doing with the cooperating witnesses? you may see flynn may be sentenced sooner than later. but people like manafort, gates, their sentencings keep getting pushed up.

that could be an indication they need more cooperation from these folks in those particular cases. but there's no way to know a federal investigation is done unless there's an indictment orria never hear from them again. >> can he bring him in for a face to face? >> there are no efederal criminal rules that reeilate to there's a limit on the number of of written questions i can give you. so eif he gets these answers and says this seems like a lilt evasion, he ecan follow up. he ecan ultimately subpoena him. he may be giving president trump an opportunity politically to answer questions to the best of

of his ability and if he does not, mueller can say i tried to take the limited approach but these answers are clearly contrary to what our investigation has revealed to be the truth in our opinion. therefore we're going to follow up with the subpoena because you, mr. president have forced our hand and if it goes to the supreme court, so be it. still ahead president trump vows to visit troops in a war zone. this after a reported rumor he is afraid to do so. plus americans are on the move ahead of the holiday. how weather is impacting everything across this country. meteorologist is standing by. meteorologist sistanding by

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>> you snuck in. what do we have going on for the all important thanks governing get away day? >> it's a lot easier getting to locations than getting back. we have a storm and if you're away from the west coast, you only have to deal with the cold. so we do have snow weather. as the cold moves over the great lakes shs it's expected. we get lakef-effect snow squalls. from raw chester to buffalo shs you have snow this morning and snow in northern portions off michigan. it's chilly this time of year. wind chills in the 20s in chicago, 20s in syracuse. boston's in the 20s. new york and d.c. in the 30s. it's bearable. now let's take 15/20 degrees off of this to thanksgiving morning. this is as cold as anyone's ever seen on thanksgiving morning. new york negative 3.

burlington, vermont, negative 7. it's going to feel like the middle of winter in january. and d.c. a wind chill of ozban. detroit 8. a little bit of the ohio valley and the northeast getting into the chill and on friday we start to improve a little bit in the ohio valley and another cool morning. negative 9 friday morning. so today there's that lake effect we talk about and the storm we've been waiting for comes into the west. finally get good air quality. but we could deal with mud slides. lax, san francisco, just a little bit off wind delay and volume delay and if you're driving on the roads, especially with the snow going through western portions offf new york. as long as that heater works, many areas in the eastern half

of the country is just fine. >> i hope they let the rockets wear leggings. it's going to be too cold for them. >> interesting to see how everyone dresses. >> good day to stay in the studio. breaking news overnight. interpol has elected its next president. he ebeat out kremlin-backed thought to be the eleading candidate. western officials warn if russia's candidate were to be elected, he would use the agency to hunt down oopponents of the kremlin and dissidents. russia has used interpol. >> wrote for the washington post this week about how russia tried to use interpol several times to arrest him. he was arrested in spain and only released after interpol

intervened. and president trump is pushing back at suggestions he's too afraid to visit u.s. troops in a war zone. while leaving the white house yesterday to head to his private estate, president trump told reporters he's going to a war zone but didn't specify when or where. that comes after the washington post reported that trump has spoken privately over fears of risks tos his own life eif he visits troops in conflict overseas. a source said trump has never been interested to visit troops in a combat zone. he's afraid of those situations. he's afraid people want to kill him. plus the latest college football rankings are out. sports is next. sports is next makeup now optional. new aveeno® maxglow™ infusion drops

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with the game tied in the final seconds. danny green fields the inbound and sinks the go-ahead jumper with 1/2 a second on the clock and no timeout os left. raptors take this 93-91. and five-time major winner mickelson is set to go up against tiger woods this friday at shadow creek in las vegas. but the purse is not enough as the golfers up the ante as a prsz conference yesterday. >> i'm willing to risk 100,000 that says i birdie the first hole. so that's how good i feel heading into this match. you don't have to take it. you don't have to take it at all. but i'm going to throw it out there. >> hold on. so you think you can make birdie on the first hole?

>> i know i can. >> double it. >> those are fighting words, guys. lefty or tiger? >> i'm going to with mickelson. >> i mean tiger's coming back but just not as loud a roar but he's coming back. democrats vowing to investigate first daughter, ivanka's use of emails. plus how top gop law makers are responding to president trump's extraordinary statement following the murder of washington post journalist jamal khashoggi. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. the hard work you put into lowering your

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welcome back, everyone. along side david burg. the new york times is out with a stunning report claiming the president looked into how to criminally prosecute two of ohis biggest adversaries. >> nbc news white house correspondent has more. >> reporter: in the explosive new report, the new york times says the conversation happened last spring. president trump telling then white house counsel don mcgahn that he wanted the justice department to plaus kurt hillary clinton and former fbi director, james comey. the times says he told the

president he had no authority to order that and that white house lawyers drafted a memo that if he asked law enforcement to investigate his rivals, he could face a range of consequences, including possible impeachment. even as a candidate, he hinted as ordering an investigation into hillary clinton >> if i win i'm going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. . >> reporter: including firing attorney general, jeff sessions to new fears that matt whitaker could curtail the investigation. >> i really believe he's going to do what's right. >> reporter: neither the white house nor don mcgahn responded to our request.

they say much off it it was quote beyond the scope of legitimate inquiry. a number of top republican law makers are condemning president trump on the statement of jamal khashoggi. senator elect said america can't excuse and minimize the brutal and gruesome murder off jamal khashoggi. our country is founded by commitment to morality. kwaelt one thing i learned during the obama years is when you look the other way regarding problems in the middle east, it rarely works out. we have to work with bad actors, however when we lose our moral voice, we elose our strongest asset." >> here's what i believe. saudi arabia needs us more than we eneed them. it's not too much to ask an ally

not to butcher a guy in a consulate. this is not world war ii. so i'm not going to look away at what they did. >> senator bob corker "i never thought i'd see the day the white house would moonlight as a public relations for saudi arabia." and bob menendez send a letter requesting whether the crown prince mohammed bin salman is responsible for the murder of jamal can khashoggi. and amid the back lash, president trump rejected the notion was related to financial ties to the kingdom. >> just so you understand i don't make deals with saudi arabia, i don't have money from saudi arabia. i couldn't care less and i will

tell you, and as most of you know, being president has cost me a fortune and that's okay with me. i knew that a long time ago. but being president has lost me ea fortune, a tremendous fortune like you've never seen before and some day i'll tell you what that is. >> here's then candidate trump on his relationship with saudi arabia. >> and i get along great with all of them. they buy apartments from me, spend 40 million, 50 million. i like them very much. >> i like the saudis. >> they're very nice. i make a lot of money with them. they buy all sorts of my stuff, all kienlds of toys from trump. they pay me millions and hundreds of millions. >> seeking information on ivanka trump's use. yesterday retiring house

oversight committee chairman requested the white house office internal review in the matter. in a bipartisan briefing october 18th, 2018, the white house committed to share the findings quote as soon as is practable. they so at least six of the president's closes advisors used prievt email accounts. ranking democrats have repeatedly pressed goudy to investigate. republican senator ron johnson also requested information. trump insisted there was nothing kaun controversial. >> for a little period of time, ivanka did emails. they weren't classified like hillary clinton. i looked at it briefly today and the presidential records, they're all in presidential records. there was no deleting like hillary clinton did.

there was no servers in the basement like hillary clinton had. you're talking all fake news. oh, ivanka can handle herself >> joining us reporter for the washington post. it seems like a lot of people are concerned about this and you think back to the way the president went after hillary clinton and the irony about that with her emalls. but ultimately in terms of legally, is ivanka trump in any kind of peril here? >> it's not clear and that's why we see people in the house interested in an investigation and why representative comings is going to move forward one if he takes over the oversight committee. we saw the president be as clear as possible what separates what his daughter did compared to his 2016 rival but the reality is we can't trust what he said is true

regarding the extent of ivanka's email use. and surely there are people around the world watching this, seeing the president side against his own intelligence community. what is the message he's sending to saudi arabia and other countries by doing what he's done? >> it appears to countries, those at the receiving ends of some questionable activity, if not fully harmful activities from the saudi arabia government said they cannot trust the american public, or president to vouch for them, to vie for their best interests. it becomes clear to people in the states and abroad perhaps that the president could perhaps be looking at his own business interests and the financial interests off the united states government as a whole beyond the interests off the free press and human rights issues beyond individuals in the media. >> great to see you as always.

>> and happy thanksgiving to you. still ahead details of affmajor warning by the cdc over one type of lettuce with e.coli concern. and it growing concerns about growth. bill karins, he'll be back with a look at your thanksgiving travel forecast. stay with us. ay with us a migraine hope to be there... for the good. and not so good.

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we're part of it. this is our era. this is america's energy era. nextera energy. this is america's energy era. with my bladder leakage, the products i've tried just didn't fit right. they were too loose. it's getting in the way of our camping trips. but with a range of sizes, depend fit-flex is made for me. with a range of sizes for all body types, depend fit-flex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. welcome back. if you bod romain lettuce recently, do your guest as favor and keep it off the menu. the cdc says the lettuce is to blame. at least 32 people have been infected, including 13 hospitalized. an additional 18 sickened in canada. they have not yet youed the suppliers off the tainted greens.

they recommend all romaine lettuce be thrown out including premade salads that may can contain roam in a. this is the second outbreak in romain lettuce this year. that outbreak killed five and sickened 210 people. the dow falling by nearly 650 points. according to dow jones shs it's the worst for the dow and s&p since 2011 and it was only tuesday. this as a string of disappointing earnings in the retail and energy sectors. the dow is now negative for the year, crippling an otherwise strong run. anyway. okay. bill karins, get away day and

tomorrow it's going to be pretty chilly. >> cold in the northeast and finally the rainy season begins. we're worried about the mud and debris but we need it. california has been dry since the rainy season ended in the spring and it's about three weeks late. this is finally the weather pattern changing in the west. we need better air quality. so the rainfall forecast three to four inches is the red and pink. so a large chunk of northern california. paradise, california could get three to four inches of rain. you'll probably see mud and debris flow. hopefully won't do any damage to properties. and off effect lake erie. watch out for squalls and slippery roads. if anyone's at the airports shs

maybe minor delays because of winds and in new york and boston. and with the storm in the west, that's where we could see more significant delays. much oof the eastern 2/3 of the country find rain. and there's i 90 in red becausef of the snow squall factor. it snowed petty good yesterday north of boston. then as we head to areas of california, especially late today, there's san frivgo getting the rain, the mountain passes could have problems too. and thanksgiving day. the bitter cold and ib do think we're going to get those ballooned up. they'll be just fine. but how about this wind chill. eight single digits for the parade. not a fun three or four hours sitting out there. >> kids are going to look like snowman all bundled up. >> whoever wanted to sell hand warmers could makeb a bundle.

>> good point. the candidates in mississippi's run off race face off in their only debate. plus nancy pelosi moves one step closer to becoming house speaker as a potential challenger bows out in her bid for the job. s out in her bid for the job. ♪ ♪ ♪ comfort. what we deliver by delivering. there are so many toothpastes out there which one should i use? choose one that takes care of your gums and enamel. crest gum & enamel repair cleans below the gum line and helps repair weakened enamel. gum & enamel repair, from crest.

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candidate for speaker. fudge endorsed pelosi for house speaker. in return she announced her return to name congresswoman fudge the new chair. she insures her the most loyal voting block, black women will have a seat that decision making table and an additional decision, a forced co chair of the -- and picked up praise from former president barack obama. >> i think nancy pelosi will go down as one of the most effective legislative leaders this country's ever seen. and nancy is not always the best on cable show or with the quick

sound bite or what have you but her skill, tenacity, toughness, vision is remarkable. her stamina, her ability to see around corners. her ability to stand her ground and do hard things. and to suffer unpopularity to get the right thing done. >> quite an endorsement right there. no word on the next steps for the democrats who signed the letter opposing the senator. and hyde-smith and espy spared off last night.

hyde-smith who has faced controversy after her comments about a hypothetical public hanging. >> by anyone who was offended by my comment, i certainly apologize. the donation he made so far, five companies, including union pacific asked the campaign to return their president trump defended hyde-smith outside the white house yesterday. >> cindy hyde-smith is a spectacular woman. she's done a fantastic job in a

short period of time. she he made a statement which i know that she feels very badly about it and it was just sort of said in jest. >> president trump is pushing back against the night circuit court for ruling against his asylum order san francisco based federal judge john tigar. president trump was quick to criticize the decision and threaten he retaliation. >> and i'm going to put in a major complaint because you cannot win if you file a case in the he 9th circuit. and i think it's a disgrace when every case gets filed in the 9th circuit because they know. that's not law. that's not what this country stands for. and the 9th circuit is something we have to take a look at because it's not fair. >>'s president trump cracked a joke while taking another dig during the white house's annual

turkey pardoning yesterday. >> i woulday be issuing boss pe and carrots a presidentialer pardon. unfortunately, i can't guarantee that your pardons won't be enjoyed by the he 9th circuit. always happens. >> therc block remains in effec until december 19th at which point the pardons will be considered for a permanenter order. >> i didn't really get the a jokeid okay. anyway, comingy. up, axios -- d anybody get the job? axios' mike allen has a look at this morning's one big thing. then the backlash of the president's support of saudi arabia after the killing of jamal khashoggi. >> plus, michael schmidt will have more on his bombshell report over the president's bid

tot' prosecute hillary clinton d james comey. "morning joe" is moments away. c. "morning joe" is moments away. ♪ ♪ the united states postal service makes more holiday deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ with one notable exception. ♪

welcome back. joining us from washington to look at axios a.m., co-founder mike allen. mike, what is the one big thing this morning? >> happy getaway day and the axios one big thing is behind the scenes trump v. mueller. so after president trump's team hand delivered those answers to robert mueller yesterday, we had a long conversation with his lawyer, rudy giuliani. rudy giuliani told jonathan swan that he doesn't think mueller will follow this up with a subpoena. there were no answers here to questions about whether or not the president object vukted justice which is a big potential issue for mueller. but rudy giuliani tells us that he thinks the special counsel would not win that battle, which would go on for months. so he said the special counsel has not made any commitment, that he won't delve in there,

that the president's legal team is expressing confidence after handing over these answers to questions. they were so convoluted, rudy said it was like a law school exam. >> wait. so you said that he doesn't necessarily -- this is according to rudy giuliani -- think that mueller is going to come back with a subpoena. but could he come back with an e-mail or more written questions and say i need a clarification on question two, question six, question eight. >> absolutely the the special counsel could do that. there's no agreement otherwise. and there's other topics he could even delve into. but rudy, in this long conversation last night, sounded pretty confident. he said he didn't think that don jr. will be indicted in connection with that trump are tower meeting. rudy giuliani told us i don't know for what. he said it was a meeting where

then afterwards they didn't do anything and this is quite significant. he says that in that new york case where the chief financial officer of the trump organization is cooperating, something that really gave pause to people around the president, people that have known him for a long time, allen weiselberg has known everything and sees everything. rudy said he had a pretty did idea what was said in that testimony and he's not worried about that. giving the stakes here, we're calling it trump's moment of truth because he's now locked into a narrative with the special counsel and he's now confirmed legitimacy. now he's answered his questions and he's acknowledged his authority. >> mike, we're getting a sense of this through the prism of rudy giuliani. the special counsel's office declined to comment.

bearing that in mind, what has rudy giuliani said about who his team has met with? what do we know about the quality of those interactions? >> yeah. thanks for asking about that. rudy said that it's mostly.been by phone. it's mostly not mueller himself. it's mostly his people. rudy giuliani, a former prosecutor himself, said they act like prosecutors. they don't give much up. they'll talk abouts process, but not about substance. but to take your very good point about mueller not commenting, something i'm going to add to that, mueller does actually comment a lot. that is in these indictments and in these guilty maes, all of which are now posted on his website. he's telling a very clear story. and every time he has surprises, he knows more than we know we think. he's going broader, deeper. >> mike allen, thank you very

much. happy thanksgiving to yours. sign up for that news line at signup.axios.com. >> happy thanksgiving, everyone. "morning joe" is starting right now. >> he's not afraid to sit down. it just doesn't seem necessary. it doesn't rise to that level. >> no. i'm going to a war zone. we are with saudi arabia. we're staying with saudi arabia. >> afraid of bob mueller, afraid of being in aer war zone, and afraid to even challenge saudi arabia. but after all, there's nothing to fear by fear itself. good morning. it is wednesday, november 21st. as the scope and the scale of the midterms becomes clear, we're getting the chance to see the worst of donald trump and we're watching his