for a thursday night. thank you so very much for being here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. i sort of remember back in april him also saying this. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no. >> right. first it was i never had sex with those women. then it was i never paid those women. now it's i assumed it was legal to pay those women. president trump's legal troubles continue to pile up with the very latest reporting on the national enquirer.

swimming in scandal as we learn the trump inaugural committee is also under investigation. add that to his campaign, his transition, his business, his foundation and his white house. >> we'll have the latest reporting on his son-in-law. ♪ good morning. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. damaging information continues to pile up against the white house as nbc news confirms donald trump was the third person in the room when an august 2015 meeti ing when his lawyer michael cohen and national enquirer's david pe

pecker. american media incorporated admitted that two months into the campaign pecker offered to help deal with negative stories at t by assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided. a year lat ami made $150,000 payment at the request and suggestion of one or more members or agents of a candidate's 2016 presidential campaign. >> i don't think and i have to go check i don't think they even paid any money to that to be llo tabloid. i don't think we made a payment. and then you have the other

situation and every lawyer -- look, trump didn't violate campaign finance laws and neither did the president. >> president trump responded to his former lawyer's sentencing yesterday, rejecting michael cohen's claim that it was his duty to cover up dirty deeds. the president also claimed that prosecutors have a plot to get him by charging cohen with campaign finance violationing using the word embarrass six times. >> i never directed him to do anything wrong. whatever he did, he did on his own. he's a lawyer. a lawyer who represents a client is supposed to do the right thing. that's why you pay them a lot of money, et cetera, et cetera. he is a lawyer. i never directed him to do anything incorrect or wrong. what he did was all unrelated to me except for the two campaign finance charges that are not criminal. they put that onto embarrass me.

either cohen or the prosecutors, in order to embarrass me, said i'm making this deal for reduced time and everything else. do me a favor, put these two charges on. he made a deal in order to embarrass me. in order to embarrass me, they cut his term down. how many people say if you embarrass the president of the united states, we'll give you a deal. that's all it is. >> president trump yesterday spoke out several times about the plea deal his former national security advisor michael flynn took from the mueller investigation. joining us is heidi przybyla. >> first we heard from the president on twitter. quote, they gave general flynn a great deal they were embarrassed by the way he was treated. the fbi said he didn't lie and they overroad the fbi. they want to scare everybody into making up stories that are not true by catching them in the

smallest of misstatements. sad. witch hunt. he followed up later in the day, twice. >> it's a terrible system we have. it's going on right now with general flynn. the fbi said he didn't lie. >> i saw your tweet on that. >> mueller said he did lie. so they took a man who's a general and a respected person and a nice man the i don't even know what he said about me. maybe they scared him enough that he'll make up a story, but i have a feeling that maybe he didn't. he's a tougher kind of a guy than cohen. but they took a general that they said didn't lie and they convinced him he did lie and he made some kind of a deal. now they're recommending no time. you know why? because they're embarrassed that they got caught. the fbi said michael flynn, a general and a great person, they said he didn't lie. mueller said, well, maybe he did. now they're all having a big dispute. i think it's a great thing that the judge is look into that

situation. it's an honor iffor a lot of terrific people. >> and the president is not being truthful there. flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. and the president himself tweeted just one year, quote, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. flynn is known to be cooperating in three investigations. >> there's that darn twitter again, coming in with the evidence. >> always a tweet. >> just a minor distinction here, twe're tawe're talking ab potential criminal enterprise here where the president was making up these payments in order to influence the election. this is now becoming more and more clear as we find out that

this scheme was going on from the very earliest days of the presidency to cover up any potential affairs that would cop up in theory, that they also set up a shell company. we also have the president on tape discussing setting up this shell company. and now we have his chief accountant, the guy who knows where all the money is, cooperating with the prosecutors in the southern district. the national enquirer now also agreeing that this was hush money. who knows what more david pecker is going to reveal in his discussions with prosecutors dw. then there's the repayment of the loans and the essentially falsifying of invoices in doing so and of course the president there on tape lying to the press core and air force one about his knowledge of these payments. >> i know there's also been some news about the president's inaugural committee which is now

under investigation. what can you tell us more about that investigation? >> reporter: we now can reported that federal prosecutors are looking into $100 million of donations given to the trump inaugural committee by various actors, potentially donations from countries in the middle east, india, saudi arabia potentially. and the question is whether this money was given with the understanding that it would be done in exchange for favors under the u.s. system. that is illegal. the committee itself says that the finances were all audited, that everything was above board. but of course this raises questions because we already know, for instance, that michael cohen was trying to sell access to the president and that they had many guests visiting from foreign countries in the early days after the president was

elected. on top of all of that, russian gun rights activist maria butina has pleaded guilty to conspireing to act as a foreign agent. she became the first russian national convicted of seeking to influence u.s. foreign policy. allegedly with the help of republican political advisor paul ericsson, her boyfriend at the time. in a statement, ericsson's lawyer maintain eed his client' innocence calling him a good american who has never done anything to hurt our country. butina faces a prison sentence of five years followed by deportation. they promised additional leniency should she provide substantial evidence for other

ongoing investigations. the senate passed bid voice vote a nonbinding resolution holding saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman responsible for the murder of jamal kashoggi. moments before that occurred the senate voted to use the war powers act of 1973 and end all u.s. military assistance for the saudi led war in yemen, a war that has resulted in a massive amount of civilian deaths, including tens of thousands of children according to the u.n. and put millions at risk of famine. seven republicans joined all 49 democrats in favor of that measure with three gop senators not voting. however that resolution is dead for the time being and outgoing house speaker paul ryan blocked any votes on it for the rest of the year. it comes as jack reed reveal ee

yesterday that the defense department -- the pentagon now says it is now seeking reimbursement to the tune of 1 $331 million. the suspect in tuesday's terror attack in france is dead. french authorities say the 29-year-old cherif chekatt was killed during a shootout with police following a massive manhunt. chekatt was also on a terror watch list and was previously known to french authorities as someone who had been radicalized in prison. he had a lengthy criminal record and his home was raided hours before the shooting in a burglary probe. multiple weapons were found in that search including a grenade. still ahead, an investigation is underway after a heartbreaking story. a migrant child who was detained after crossing the border into

the u.s. with her dad has died in u.s. custody. plus, the president tries to salvage his campaign promise that mexico will pay for the wall. a lot will happen in your life. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. making wrinkles look so last week.

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simple. easy. awesome. stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. we have important work to do. we want to keep government open for what it means to america's working families, across the kitchen table, especially in a holiday time. for the president to be cavalier about cash flow and paycheck to paycheck families is just something that we hope -- i pray that he will resist. and i did tell the president that i prayed for him. he said that's news, go tell the press. so i am. >> and so she did. this is at least the third time nancy pelosi said she prays for the president the first time after his election. president trump is continuing his showdown over border wall funding, claiming that the new trade agreement

with mexico and canada will pay for it. trump tweeted, i stated one way or the other mexico is going to pay for the wall. this has never changed. he claims that once the new deal replaces nafta, mexico is pay for the wall. that got this response by chuck schumer. quote, mr. president, if you say mexico is going to pay for the wall, which i don't believe, then i guess we don't have to. let's fund the government. for a second time this week, house minority leader nancy pelosi said the president doesn't know what he's talking about, this time for tying the economic success of the trade deal to the wall. >> it doesn't make any sense. basically what he's saying, any benefit our economy might have from a trade agreement, a revised trade agreement with mexico and canada would be spent on the wall instead of growing

our economy and increasing paychecks for our workers. the american people are still paying the price. mexico is not paying for this wall. but maybe he doesn't understand how a trade agreement works for him to say such a thing. a 7-year-old girl taken into border patrol's custody last week for crossing into the u.s. illegally with her father has died. the "washington post" reports that u.s. customs and border protection said yesterday that the girl from guatemala died of dehydration and shock after she was taken into custody on the evening of december 6th in new mexico. the girl was a part of a group of 163 people who approached u.s. agents and turned themselves in. according to records, eight hours after being in custody the girl began having seizures. she was air lifted to an el paso hospital where she died.

according to a statement from officials, the quote had not eaten or consumed water for several days. a dhs spokesperson tells nbc news, quote, on behalf of the department of homeland security our sincerest condolences go out to the family of the child. border patrol agents took every possible steps to save the girl's life. we empathize with the last of any child. the agency said it is investigating the incident to ensure appropriate policies were followed. let's switch gears here and get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> good friday morning to you. bring the umbrella today. pretty much the entire east coast, millions of people are going to be in the rain right through the weekend. torrential rain in the area of yellow northern half of n fflor. it's snowing in central texas.

because it's been such a soggy fall, we have flood watches and flash flood watches up for 29 million people. including tallahassee to jackson on interstate 10. later today all the heavy rain shifts north wards. we have the snow melt taking place too. that's why we're concerned about some of the rivers potentially flooding. there's also a chance on the southern edge of this, it's warm enough in florida for some strong thunderstorms. 9 million people at risk, maybe even an isolated tornado. d.c. it looks like probably 6:00 is when your rain moves in. new york city probably not until 7:00 this evening. saturday still soggy in the ohio valley and the east. sunday the storm is still sitting over the top of new york city with showers and rainy weather. it's not exactly the best weekend for outdoor activities. if you have to get that holiday shopping done or go to a party,

it should be just fine. still ahead, we're going to talk to mike allen. the president says he has a list of five terrific people to consider for chief of staff.

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football. fantasy team owners are feeling the loss of running back melvin gordon, sidelined with a knee injury. los angeles shut out in the first quarter as kansas city takes an early lead. the chargers cut that advantage in half during the second using a three-yard pass to receiver mike williams. meanwhile, the chiefs cling to that 7-point edge as l.a. keeps pace, trading touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters before philip rivers brings the chargers to within a point using a touchdown pass to williams with four seconds left on the clock. rivers ends his 300 yard night through the air with a successful two-point conversion again to mike williams. it earns l.a. the 29-2 comeback victory and clenches them a spot in the playoffs. in philadelphia the eagles quarterback carson wentz has a newly revealed broken vertebrae.

it will not require surgery but will need plenty of rest. nick foles will likely start against the rams on sunday. let's turn now to the nba where a two-game win streak for lebron james and the lakers stopped in houston where james harden leads the rockets to victory with his second triple-double of the season that includes a game high of 50 points scored. houston beats los angeles 126-111. a deeper problem for the lakers surfaced this week after lebron james apologized to his teammate on twitter after posting this video of james leaving him hanging on a high-five attempt. it turns out that hart might be the issue here as an in-depth film review reveals the guard only has a 28% high five success rate. take a look.

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top stories. a new report indicates there could be more fallout for president trump's allies toefr michael cohen case. the "wall street journal" reporting that federal prosecutors in manhattan are investigating whether trump's 2017 inaugural committee misspent some of the 107 million it raised from donations. quoting from the report, the criminal probe by the manhattan u.s. attorneys office which was in its early stages also is examining whether some of the committee's top donors gave money in exchange for access to the incoming trump administration policy concessions or to influence official administration positions positions. giving money in exchange for political favors could run afoul of federal corruption laws, diverting funds from the organization which was registered as a nonprofit could also violate federal law. the investigation partly arises out of materials seized in the federal probe of former trump lawyer michael cohen's business

dealings. if i c fbi agents obtained a recorded conversation between cohen and stephanie winston worlkoff. >> the trub inaugural committmpe hasn't provided details on expenses. a lawyer close to the matter tells the "wall street journal" that the committee hasn't been asked for records or been contacted by prosecutors. the lawyer added, quote, we are not aware of any evidence the investigation the journal is reporting actually exists. meanwhile the white house last night sought distance from the committee. here's press secretary sarah huckabee sanders. >> the president was focused on the transition and building out a new government and preparing

to take office. the role that the president had in the inauguration was to raise his hand and take the oath. same thing for the first lady. she wasn't engaged in this process. >> in an interview yesterday president trump tried to play down the seriousness of michael cohen pleads guilty to campaign finance violations with an argument that he is being mistreated for what should not be a big issue at all. >> nobody except for me would be looked at like this, nobody. what about congress where they have a slush fund? and millions and millions of dollars is paid out each year. they have a slush fund. millions. they don't talk about campaign finance anything. have they listed that on their campaign finance sheets? no. it's not even under campaign finance. number two, if it was, it's not even a violation. number three, it's a civil matter. >> all right. so however the federal judge in the cohen case and legal experts including one on fox news explained that when there are attempted to hide the violation

as cohen and ami have stated it goes from being a civil wrong to being a crime. >> the president still has defenders on capitol hill. cnn asked house majority leader kevin mccarthy about trump being implicated in two crimes related to the hush money deals. mccarthy blamed michael cohen saying quote if you hire an attorney to hifix a problem you expect the attorney to do it legally. the house and senate passed bipartisan legislation overhauling yesterday how sexual harassment claims are handled. the bill holds members of congress personally liable for all settlements stemming from harassment and retaliation claims, including those who leave office.

it also expands protections to interns and fellows working on the hill. in addition, the agreement requires public reporting of a settlement including naming the member of congress who paid for it. the legislation passed by unanimous consent in both chambers and now heads to president trump's desk where he is expected to sign as well. a top republican close to the white house says president trump has met with son-in-law and senior advisor jared kushner about the chief of staff job at the white house. for more on that, let's bring in heidi przybyla with more. >> that's right. that source and two others reportedly confirm's kushner's interest in running the west wing. according to the huffington post kushner has been pushing his own candidacy with trump. also interesting in light of

this development is the report from politico that to become chief of staff, you need the approval of ivanka and jared according to several former and current white house officials. when asked about the search yesterday, the president didn't name my names. >> we're interviewing people now for chief of staff, yes. five people. really good ones. tric terrific people. mostly well known. >> so you see there five people, we still don't have my namany n. >> let's go with this kushner story line for a second. there's been reports that federal prosecutors are looking into not only the trump organization now but the trump family. so we have that. and then we obviously have the news with kashoggi as well and the personal relationship kushner had with mbs. all those things together, is kushner a good fit for a chief

of staff job? >> let's address the fact that when you look at history and who the chief of staff has typically been, people with deep political knowledge, deep knowledge of washington. then you get to the separate issue that you mentioned. the fact that kushner himself could be the focus of several investigations that there are questions still swirling around about whether he even should have a security clearance. that raises a huge red flag. at the same time, kushner and ivanka have been behind many of the controversies here and the tensions with the people who have served in that role. they've essentially, according to sources, served as kind of a shadow chief of staff. so why not make it official? it might be be a bad backup option for a president who frankly is having a tough time wrangling people, knowing that we are going into this period of immense scrutiny not only with these investigations but the

investigations that will unfold on capitol hill. >> that's definitely not a surprising pick. >> i'm personally still waiting to see the middle east peace plan he's going to roll out at some point looks like. i think that will be a big testament to whether he can get things done on an international stage. let me ask you this. what are you hearing from republicans in the sense of their mood amid all the pressure the president is facing as democrats prepare to take control of congress? do they get a sense of what is about to hit them come january 3rd? >> right. you still have some republicans really covering for the president, saying that michael cohen is a known liar, that you can't believe anything that he says. but others now starting to really sound the note of caution. you have a number saying let's just wait and see, folks like shelly moore capito. i think the mood is we're in the same place we were all along, which is we're waiting on this

mueller report. certainly you're hearing from folks like senator rubio as well who's saying, quote, no one is above the law. you didn't hear a lot of senators talking this way just weeks and months ago. president trump is set to take a vacation over the holidays, a very long one. the president is expected to spend 16 days at his mar-a-lago resort in florida over christmas and new years from december 21st until january 6th. that's an increase of four days compared to trump's holiday vacation last year. however, it will not be his longest trip to one of his properties. he previously took a 17-day summer vacation at his new jersey golf resort back in 2017 just months after taking office. on the campaign trail, trump said that he, quote, would rarely leave the white house because there's so much work to be done. i would not be a president who took vacations, i would not be a

president that takes time off. trump was highly critical of president obama, tweeting at one point, quote, don't take vacations, what's the point? if you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job. >> there's that darn twitter again. >> we're not thinking like a billionaire. still ahead, two of most talked about democrats of the 2020 election ramping up the speculation with a one on one meeting. >> details on the reported conversation between senators bernie sanders and elizabeth warren on their white house ambitions. plus bill karins is back with a check on your weather.

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night at warren's washington, d.c. condo to talk about their political intentions. the times citing two democrats briefed on the discussion says the two were not able to reach any sort of agreement about cord na na -- they are both seriously considering seeking the democratic nomination in 2020 but neither warren nor sanders sought spoerupport from the oth nor tried to dissuade the other from running. >> i talked to elizabeth warren every single day. the fact that two senators get together to chat becomes a big deal. that's a real problem i think from the media. let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bring in some holiday cheer for us. >> it's going to be a rainy weekend on the eastern seaboard,

ohio valley has a rainy weekend coming too, at least on saturday. the only areas of concern for destruction or damage from this storm system is today, this afternoon and areas of central florida, i-4 corridor from tampa all the way up through orlando to daytona beach. the other problem is it's been so wet and soggy that this additional 1-3 inches of rain is going to cause some flash flooding issues and river flooding issues too. here's the timing of this mess. this is friday afternoon. this is friday afternoon, friday evening. notice the rain makes it into d.c. around 5:00. new york city the timing is more like 8:00 this evening. the heavy rain down along the coast. let's fast forward to saturday. look at how slow the system is moving. saturday afternoon, saturday evening, still raining, norfolk,

richa richmond to d.c. as we wake up sunday, still rainy all through new england. notice we could get a little bit of snow mixing in the high elevations, the poconos, the catskills, the berkshires, but i don't think it's going to be anything too significant. not the best. not icy or snow or anything, but cold rain. >> not great. >> thanks, bill. still ahead, wall street is set to face a tough final day of the trading week. details on what's putting pressure on the stock market this morning. plus president trump rips into general motors over its decision to close u.s. production facilities. seriously, what is this? new listerine® ready! tabs™ aren't gum, mints, or marbles. if you guessed they're tabs that turn into liquid as you chew,

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welcome back, everybody. the u.s.'s ballooning deficit continuing to grow, surging to a record level last month. according to the treasury department the u.s. posted the widest budget deficit for november on record, just under $205 billion as government spending doubled the amount of money it was taking in. the treasury says that the deficit was more than $66 blgd

billion higher than last november. >> december 1st fell on a saturday. the u.s. ran the large es dest t in six years in 2016. during that time republicans enacted their tax cut package and raised spending for the military and other priorities. amid those moves, the federal deficit is now forecast to push past $1 trillion by 2020. as another volatile week comes to a close, dow futures predict another roller coaster day. some troubling economic data from some of the biggest global economies. >> that's it. it's not looking pretty out there. more bad news, this time out of china actually. we had weak retail sales overnight. industrial production also at the lowest level in three years. the bad news sent stocks lower.

chinese equity is down 1.5%. more bad news in europe. all of this not boding well for the u.s. sessions. that was seen opening up about 200 points weaker. and other nonfestive news, president trump has yet again taken aim at general motors. this time in an interview with fox news. yesterday, he criticized their strategy to move in towards electric vehicles. he said that it is a strategy that is not going to work and, remember, he's been under their radar because a couple of weeks ago, gm did announce that they're closing four factories. they're going to cut about 15,000 jobs and president trump criticized that strategy, as well. he said that they should do more and should reconsider opening the assembly plant in ohio. gm shares were down 1.5% in trading yesterday. >> just a side note, love a good

holiday sweater. we obviously had growing backlash over amazon. apple plans to build a new billion dollar campus in austin, texas, yesterday. austin is obviously the home of the south by southwest festival. >> and the key to what you just said is they did it quietly. amazon had a publicized beauty parade over the past few months about their new campus. apple has perhaps done it more under the radar. but yesterday, they announced they're spending $1 billion on a campus in austin, texas. they're going to create up to 5,000 jobs with the potential to go up to 15,000 jobs at a totalli totalling cost of $1 billion. the apple ceo did say they're very proud to bring jobs back into the u.s. they were under scrutiny not too long ago for taking jobs to

china. coming up, axios's mike allen has a look at this morning's one big thing. and coming up on "morning joe," donald trump unmasked as the third person in a meeting on hush money. >> much more on that nbc news report on the president's role in a 2015 sit-down on ways to counter negative stories about him in a lead up to the campaign. and senate judiciary member chris k canccoons will weigh if that. moisturizing lotion improves skin hydration in just 1 day. and for twice the moisture, try the body wash, too. aveeno® naturally beautiful results® ( ♪ ) dealing with psoriatic arthritis pain was so frustrating. my skin... it was embarrassing. my joints... they hurt. the pain and swelling. the tenderness. the psoriasis. tina: i had to find something

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welcome back, everyone. joining us now from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m., the co-founder of axios, mike allen. good to have you with us on this friday. a what a busy week it has been. what is the one big thing for us this morning? >> first thing is first. happy friday. >> we will take that happy friday any day of the week. thank you. and the axios one big thing, trump v. pelosi. the relationship that will determine 2019 and 2020.

so think about it, neither one of them is challenged for power on their own side. think about this. neither one of them thinks of of themselves as somebody who is going to lose in a deal. they both think of themselves as master dealmakers. now we have this very chilly relationship that now is going to determine everything about public life in the months ahead. think about it, nancy pelosi can stop any bill starting january 3rd had when she's speaker pelosi. she's going to be able to determine what is investigated, she's going to be able to determine impeachment. and we got that preview this week of what it's going to be like. and we saw that there was a lot of trash talking between the two when they got together. >> i also think it could determine the lack of bipartisanship that we're going to see in the next two years. >> absolutely. >> or so. how do you think this trump/pelosi thing is going to impact the 2020 presidential election? >> so this is funny.

yesterday i was talking to people on both sides who are relishing this combat to come. and eric smith, a long time democratic operative, said to me that the main job of speaker pelosi will be to seven trump up to the 2020 nominee on a silver platter. on the other side, david urban and adviser to the president was in the box with him last weekend at the army/navy game. he was saying that president trump is trying to treat nancy pelosi as the next hillary, the same way he treated hillary clinton until he has that 2020 opponent, as david urban said. i'm for you, she's for them. >> there's nothing like finishing a week with a good axios scoop. i know you guys have scoop about president trump's chief of staff. what are you guys hearing? >> the reality showed search for chief of staff last night, the president met with chris christie, the former new jersey

governor and apparently is taking him quite seriously for the job. so look at the argument for the people inside who are making the case for christie. he is a lawyer, he is a fighter. he knows investigations. he was an early supporter of the president, all things that could come in common. drawbacks with the kushners, never a good place to be. but the way the president is talking about him, he's thinking about him more serious legion than others. another contender, david bossi was on the ground yesterday. >> but the kushner thing is a big thing. we have heard about the chief of staff that everybody has to go through kushner and ivanka in order to get the chief of staff job. christie doesn't have a clean resume. >> going to say. imagine that. >> send dad to jail, it always

makes things awkward. why could this year's enrollment numbers be the worst in aca history? >> tomorrow is the deadline for open enrollment, for the affordable care act. and the enrollment has been trending downward off 12% from this time last year. .that was off from the year before. a couple interesting factors here. one, it's still relatively expensive for people who are having trouble getting coverage. but because of our lowest jobless rate, arguably, the best since 1969, there's less people who need it. >> mike allen, thank you very much. happy weekend. we're going to be reading axios a.m. in a little bit. signup. signup.axios.com. >> "morning joe" starts right

now. to loosely quote hamilton, he was in the room where it happened. >> uh-oh. >> the latest reporting on the "national enquirer" hush money pavement put president trump squarely in the middle of a conspiracy to commit campaign finance fraud. this morning, we are learning that the trump inaugural committee is now under investigation. add that to his campaign, his transition, his business, his foundation, and his white house. and if that is not enough, the republican-led senate yesterday voted to rebuke the president's foreign policy goal of maintaining a good relationship with the saudi crown prince mohammad bin salman, the man the cia assesses to be responsible for the murder of jamal khashoggi. good morning. it's long with joe, willie and me, we have susan