president trump spends his sunday on a twitter tear. he attacked law enforcement, called his former fixer michael cohen a rat, slammed his former attorney general jeff sessions and a whole lot more. plus, as a number of investigations move closer to the oval office, president trump's lawyer rudy giuliani goes on the offense, but is he helping or is he hurting? mick mulvaney has been tapped to replace chief of staff john kelly for now. interior secretary ryan zinke is heading for the exit door. ♪ good morning, everyone.

it's monday december 17th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. president trump went on a twitter tirade with attacks on law enforcement that even supporters could not defend. quote, remember michael cohen only became a rat after the fbi did something which was absolutely unthinkable and unheard of until the witch hunt was illegally started. they broke into an attorney's office. why didn't they break into the dnc to get the server or crooked's office? andrew mccarthy responded, sir, in mobster lingo a rat is a witness who tells prosecutors real ingrcriminating info.

>> trump wrote, jeff sessions should be ashamed of himself for allowing this total hoax to get started in the first place. later writing, quote, they are entrapping people for misstatements, lies or unrelated things that took place many years ago. trump also complained about tv, saying the real scandal is one sided coverage hour by hour of networks like nbc and democrat spin machines like "saturday night live." it is all nothing less than unfair news coverage and dem commercials should be tested in court. can't be little. >> this as donald trump is under increasing pressure from visions into his presidency, his campaign, his life and even his businesses. first there was the probe into the 2016 election. there's also the federal prosecutors in new york who are investigating alleged hush money

payments to women before the 2016 campaign as well as a burgeoning federal probe into trump's inaugural committee. there's also the new york state investigation into whether the president improperly used his charity for business, political and personal use. meanwhile, lawsuits into whether the president is violating the constitution's emoluments clause has also taken place. there's also a defamation lawsuit. meanwhile the state attorney general in new jersey is investigating claims of harassment and immigration fraud at the president's new jersey golf course. rudy giuliani was on the sunday talk shows trying to defend the president, but struggling, at times confused and at other times wavering on what should have been straightforward answers. watch this. >> and did roger stone ever give

the president a heads-up on wikileaks leaks concerning hillary clinton and the dnc? >> no, he didn't. i don't believe so. again, if roger stone gave millibar a heads-up about wikileaks leaks, that's not a crime. it would be like giving heads-up that the times is going to print something. this is why this thing is so weird. the crime is conspiracy to hack. collusion is not a crime. doesn't exist. i ran that office. i know what they do. >> you know how the southern district is run. >> actually i don't know how the southern district -- i'm disgusted with the southern district. the southern districts say you can get out of jail if you do this. there's a real motivation to sing like crazy. he will say whatever he has to say. he's changed his story four or five times. >> so has the president. >> the president's not under oath. >> did donald trump know that michael cohen was pursuing the trump tower in moscow into the

summer of 2016. >> according to the answer that he gave, it would have covered all the way up to november of 2016, said he had conversations with him. >> earlier they said those conversations stopped in january 2016. >> i mean, the date -- until you actually sit down and answer the questions and look at the papers, you're not going to know what happened. that's why lawyers, you know, prepare for those answers. >> does the special counsel want to interview the president? >> yeah. good luck. after what they did to flynn, the way they trapped him into perjury and no sentence for him, 14 days for papadopoulos. i did better on traffic violations. >> you say good luck, no interview? >> they're a joke. over my dead body, but you know, i could be dead. >> according both to cohen and to pecker, again, he's the head of or was the head of the national enquirer they say they

were in a meeting with donald trump in the summer of 2016 in which they discussed the payment to karen mcdougal. >> we're talking about something that doesn't matter. it's not illegal. >> you're moving shells around on me. either it happened or it didn't happen. >> that's what lawyers do all the time. you argue in the alternative. >> i'm asking you for the truth, sir. >> speaking of lawyers -- >> uh -- >> and now my montage. >> what did you do to prepare for this interview? more than giuliani did to prepare for that interview. >> that's exactly my point. >> he knew what was coming, yet he seemed totally unprepared. >> here's the thing about rudy giuliani. it's fascinating to me, because on the one side he does make some good points. he says michael cohen is a snitch.

snitches can't be trusted. those are good points. here's the part -- and you two hit on it right away -- he is too relaxed in these interviews. these are serious moments and people are watching and he hasn't thought his argument through. >> that's why i feel this is less about a legal strategy and more about a pr strategy, like it's always been. >> is robert mueller looking at this and taking information that's important and meaningful? >> he's breaking every rule. he's being glib. he's being dismissive. he's doing everything that will make the government attorneys angry, because he's offering information that's inconsistent. he's vacillating on his answers. this is just not a good pr strategy even though you have in rudy giuliani an accomplished lawyer who makes at times some decent points. >> why go on the talk shows and talk like this when you're in the middle of an investigation? >> i'm going to pull back the

curtain. when i prepare for these two-minute hits, i feel like i study more than rudy giuliani does. he's not prepared with his answers for the obvious questions that are coming his way. those delays where he sits and thinks and looks off into space, those are damaging for his client when he does that. that's the part that really surprises me. maybe he's just done too much tv. maybe he's too comfortable. but that is something that is very, very damaging to the client. because when the lawyer makes the decision to speak publicly on behalf of the client, he can bind the client. and for that reason, they have to be laser focused and prepared on every fact. >> at one point during the interview he said that president trump knew about the trump tower moscow meeting up until november of 2016. that timing doesn't line up. >> yes. and if anyone from the southern district is watching, they're going to be irritated when at first he says, i know how that

office works, and then ten seconds later says, i have no idea how that office works. i'm disgusted by what they're doing. these are the kinds of things that don't help, especially when he has some decent points to fall back on. point one being that these kind of election law crimes are difficult to prosecutor. >> giuliani is performing for an audience of one. we'll see what the president thinks on sunday. federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating whether foreign donors illegally funneled donations to president trump's inaugural committee and a pro-trump super pac in an attempt to buy influence over u.s. policy. according to the "new york times" the investigation focuses on people from middle eastern countries. now prosecutors are reportedly looking at whether they used

straw donors to disguise their donations to the two funds. the time notes that federal law prohibits contributions to federal campaigns, political action committees and inaugural funds. the inquiry into these potential foreign donations is yet another front being pursued by multiple teams of prosecutors. thomas barack jr. raised money for both inaugural funds and the super pac. a spokesperson for mr. barack told the times, tom has never talked with any foreign individual of entity for the purposes of raising money for obtaining donations related to either the campaign, the inauguration or any such political activity. joining us now, melissa quinn. great to have you with us. let's talk a little bit about the investigation into the inaugural donations. there's an interesting dynamic

to this in the sense that it exposes the trump family to potentially more legal trouble. >> good morning. it is interesting, this investigation by federal prosecutors into whether or not there was a misuse of this funding to the inaugural committee, really ensnares two entities that the president is defensive of, one being his family. ivanka trump reportedly helped negotiate rates at the trump hotel here in washington, d.c. to benefit that inaugural committee and also his business. this certainly seems like it is going to be one additional thread that not only federal prosecutors but also congressional democrats continue to pull on, particularly given the fact that they have raised many questions about whether or not the president and his family have continued to enrich themselves during the course of this presidency. >> we know the president is currently heading into his third

year as president. the mueller probe is showing no signs of slowing down at this point. how has the investigation impacted his presidency, considering especially the reporting now that a lot of people are going to be leaving the white house? >> if you look at the president's tweets, i think we can all agree this investigation has certainly been casting a very dark shadow over this white house, and it seems likely that that is going to continue as mueller's probe continues. i think a big question is whether or not mueller's probe is wrapping up. could be whether or not he decides to subpoena the president to compel him to sit for an interview. rudy giuliani has said time and time ago that that would definitely not happen if the special counsel's team does indeed subpoena the president to sit down and testify, we could continue to see this be drawn out. still ahead, republicans and

democrats are refusing to budge over the president's border wall. and the threat of a government shutdown is looming. later, new polling shows just how many americans would support president trump if he ran for reelection. a migraine hope to be there... for the good. and not so good. for the mundane.

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welcome back. president trump is considering a counter offer to democrats to prevent a partial government shutdown and shift the fight over border wall funding into next year. while the specifics remain unclear, republicans on capitol hill have begun signaling to the president that the likelihood of securing funding for his border is dwindling. now they're considering several options for two-week stopgap funding, including simply fre e freezing all agencies budgets.

that, however, did not soften the hard line immigration message from the white house over the weekend. here's what senior advisor steven miller had to says. >> we're going to do whatever is necessary to build the border wall to stop this ongoing crisis of illegal immigration. this is a very -- if it comes to it, absolutely. >> if funding is not approved, this will be the third shutdown in the calendar year, something that has not happened since 1977. >> let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. it was a rainy weekend. >> i think 1977 was the last time we saw the sun around here. >> that's true too. >> the sun will return, but another rainstorm is in the works for late this week on the east coast again. the weather pattern is just rinse and repeat. let's take you to virginia. this were some problems with the rainfall. we didn't have widespread

flooding but we did see areas like this. it's just been one of those decembers. november was snowy and cold and now december is warm and rainy. we have two storms on the map. we have one storm that moved into the west that's bringing rain to central california. here's the storm spinning off areas of cape cod. still a little bit of leftover drizzle and snow in maine. the weather will be improving. the only areas of concern this morning, still nom snsome snow portland maine down to bangor maine. it will be windy. if you're driving near the snow belt areas around syracuse and rochester and buffalo, you will get some snow squalls. mild temperatures, 50s, 40s

today. atlanta should be around 62. here's that west coast storm. by the middle of the week we break a little piece of that off. the rain returns. here we go again. one of the storms that dips to the south, gets the moisture from the gulf. we get soaked on thursday through the southeast. then that rain comes up to the northeast. i think it's the third friday in a row we're going to have significant rain up through the mid atlantic and new england. it's going to be a soggy friday once again on the east coast. >> all right. thanks, bill. >> you're welcome. still ahead, king james has his worst game for the city of angels and the nfl playoff picture starts to come together. all the highlights next in sports. ♪

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steelers drop back. here's brady, down the middle! it's knocked down, incomplete! intended for edelman. >> a big return for james! he has janikowski to beat.

james inside the 20, the 10. he will score! >> there goes the flip and it's going to go to moore. moore trying to get in the end zone and he does. touchdown ravens! >> kessler and intercepted! >> cousins on third and long, steps up. deep ball. separation. touchdown! robinson! cousins is on the money. >> this defense trying to keep the shutout alive. fourth down. prescott back to throw. going over the middle high. intercepted! >> rogers end zone throw. it's intercepted! >> welcome back. that was a hook at some of the biggest plays from around the nfl yesterday including a big win for the bears toefr paover packers as they clench the nfc

north for the first time in over a decade. houston can earn its first ever first round bye in the playoffs if they win both of their remaining regular season games. it was a tough day if you were a giants fan yesterday. now to los angeles and the rams hosting the eagles on sunday night football. nick foles under center for the injured war s ed carson wentz, the eagles to another improbable victory. philadelphia jumps out to a 17-point lead. l.a. threatens a comeback in the fourth but the eagles upset the rams. the wizards cast a spell on

lebron james, holding the lakers star to his season worst 13 points as he made only 5 of 16 shots in the game. washington's john wall, though, went on for 40 points in the contest while bradley beal added another 25. >> i wonder if the laker fans are having second thoughts about lebron after a performance like that. >> i don't know. maybe he just had an off game. >> you can't have second thoughts about lebron. still ahead, president trump names mick mulvaney acting chief of staff. we're going to talk about how that appointment could impact the mood inside the white house i like chillaxin'.

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. welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. it is the bottom of the hour. after boasting of having more chief of staff candidates than he could interview, president trump said that mick mull saudi arabia knee will take t-- mick take the post. this after the president's first choice nick ayers declined the role, because as a white house official told the "wall street journal" a week ago, trump ultimately decided he wanted

someone in the job for the long-term. days later congressman mark meadows withdrew from contention. and just hours before the mulvaney announcement, former new jersey govern chris christie said he would not take the job a day after meeting with the president about the post. trump's tweet announcing mulvaney came less than an hour after the white house press shop declared he would have no further activities for the day. with embattled interior secretary ryan zinke stepping down by the end of the year, president trump announced the move on twitter saturday, saying he would announce zinke's replacement this week. zinke z zinke on saturday tweeted his official resignation statement, adding i love working for the president and am incredibly

proud of the good work we've accomplished together. however after 30 years of public service, i can't justify spending thousands of dollars defending myself against false allegations. zinke is being investigated over a land deal he led in a company backed by the chairman of ha haliburton. zin officials say the already embattled white house wants to avoid zinke hearings.

a poll finds most americans, 55% want house democrats to provide more oversight when they take power by opening a number of investigations into the president and his administration. 43% do not. when it comes to russia's meddling in the 2016 election, just 34% believe the president is being honest and truthful. as far as the president's job performance, 43% of americans approve, 54% disapprove. when it comes to the president's reelection only 38% of registered voters said they would support him. more than half said they would not. joining us now supreme court and breaking news reporter for the washington examiner melissa quinn. the president creating alternative facts about issues big and small. do these new poll numbers

suggest it's beginning to catch up with him? >> well, when you look at the shift in the president's credibility on the russia investigation, there has been an increase in the number of voters who believe that the president has not been truthful about the russia investigation. that certainly shows some cracks in the foundation of his support. but when you look at the support he has in terms of his credibility with republican voters in particular, 70% believe that the president continues to be truthful about the russia probe. there have been cracks in the voter who is think that he is credible when it comes to his states in general, but the house is not falling down yet. >> let me ask you about trump's new pick for chief of staff, mick mulvaney. what kind of attitude is he going to bring into the white house? was he a surprise pick? what is his appointment likely to have in terms of impact on morale in the west wing? >> the president and mulvaney have certainly grown close.

i think we have to remember two things in terms of his appointment at this time in president trump's presidency. this is a guy who served in congress, who's a congressman from south carolina. he has political experience and that is definitely going to be beneficial to the president as he positions toward reelection in 2020. we also have to remember that mick mulvaney was a member of the house freedom caucus. that's the group of very conservative members of the house. this, again, is going to be beneficial to the president when we think in terms of the fact he is facing an onslaught of investigations from house democrats as they take control of the house in the next congress. mick mulvaney has proven himself to be a guy who is not afraid to take not only republicans in the party on capitol hill as well as democrats to task. that could certainly be a boon to president trump. >> he's also a very loyal foot soldier, if you will, for the

president. so in the midst of his weekend tweet storm, president trump pushed his child separation policy while making a false comparison to his democratic predecessor, writing the democrats policy of child separation on the border during the obama administration was far worse than the way we handle it now. i remember the 2014 picture of children in cages. however if you don't separate, far more people will come. smugglers use the kid. that tweet came days after a 7-year-old from guatemala, this little girl, died in u.s. border patrol custody. she arrived at a border patrol station in new mexico with her father and a group of 165 other asylum seekers back on december 6th. this morning the department of homeland security said she appears to have died from sepsis. autopsy results are pending. >> steven miller, a senior

advisor to the president addressed the situation yesterday. >> our hearts break for the tragic death of the 7-year-old girl, the loss of that precious life is horrifying. it is a painful reminder of the ongoing humanitarian tragedy that is illegal immigration and the misery that it spreads. a coyote dropped off 163 migrants in an extremely remote section of new mexico. those individuals were found by border patrol, who in many cases act as first responders. border patrol saves agent 4,000 lives every single year. unfortunately hundreds die on the truck up. smuggling organizations profit off death and misery. they are vicious, vile organizations. it's time that both parties had the appropriate level of outrage.

>> meanwhile this nbc news footage shows mexican officials putting numbers on the arms of migrant adults and children. it's all part of a new deal quietly struck between the trump administration and mexico about two months ago. cal perry recently transferred to the border to cover this story. cal, good to have you with us. walk us through what you saw. put those video images in context for us. >> this is a center in juarez as you said. normally what would happen is migrants, refugees can go to the border, present themselves to customs and border patrol and that's when their asylum process begins. there was a deal made in may to force these people to wait at centers in juarez. juarez is not a safe place. these folks are now holed up in a center there. it's taking about a week to process them through, but obviously it's not a safe place to wait.

>> what's their psychological state like, these families, these mothers, these children? that's a newborn baby with that mother right there having to await this process. it's shocking to see these images. >> yeah. they're terrified. one of the things i noticed was none of the kids would leave arms length from their parents. the consistent fear is that they're still going to be separated from their children. we spoke to a father and son who traveled from guatemala. we also spoke to congressman beto o'rourke about his reaction to the death of the 7-year-old girl. >> translator: i don't want to separate from my son. it's not easy to separate.

i don't want to. >> is that his biggest fear? >> translator: yes, it is. >> they say parents shouldn't be doing this. what is your reaction to that? >> you do not travel 2,000 miles with your 7-year-old child for kicks, to take advantage of another country. you do it because you're desperate. what would cause you to take your child and make that journey unless it was the only thing you could do to save your child's life? our responsibility, once those parents arrive here with their children, is to make sure those kids are okay and that they fully survive that journey and we follow our own asylum laws and the best traditions and promise of this country. >> at the core of this problem is the trump administration not communicating with agencies properly.

here's cbp's response to our story. port of entry facilities are not designed to hold hundreds of people at a time who may be seeking asylum. the problem with that is that president trump is telling people to present themselves at ports of entry. his entire statement -- and you heard steven miller saying people need to go to ports of entry. they should not be going through the desert. the problem now is that customs and border protection is saying their facilities are full, so people are being turned away. they're faced with that stark choice. do they wait in a center in juarez or do they go through the desert? that statement from cbp basically says our facilities are full. >> heartbreaking story there. so many questions. great reporting. thank you. still ahead, president trump and republicans celebrate a political victory as a judge deems obamacare unconstitutional. where the legal fight over the health care law may be heading next. plus bill karins is back

with a check on your forecast. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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talk to your doctor about xarelto®. a federal judge in texas has breathed new life into the fight over obamacare, ruling that the law is unconstitutional. in his opinion, u.s. district judge reed o'connor sided with an argument from a group of republican leaning stated led by texas in which they argued that obamacare could not longer stand in the wake of last year's republican tax bill which got rid of the penalty for americans who do not buy insurance. the ruling is expected to be appealed up to the supreme court which now features trump picked justice brett kavanaugh. the law will remain in place for now, though. president trump tweeted, wow, obamacare was just ruled unconstitutional. great news for america. let's get a check on your weather now with nbc

meteorologist bill karins. we're talking about rain. where's the sun, man? >> it's been a while since we've had a good stretch of weekends, especially the eastern half of the country. we're getting toward the end of the year. we already broke the record in washington, d.c. for the most rain ever recorded in a calendar year. i think we're going to end up like 66. we have at least one or two more rainstorms coming for d.c. numerous cities have broken their records. wilmington is over 100 inches of rain. many other cities are in top five rainiest years on record. today's forecast, we dry it out in the east finally a nice sunny day, breezy too. notice temperatures are pretty mild. there's nothing really frigid on the map. 50s in montana this time of year is pretty rare.

atlanta at 59. here's the next rainstorm at this end of this week. we start here on wednesday with rain breaking out in east texas and louisiana, very similar to the last storm. we pick up the moisture from the gulf. we get a big rainstorm on thursday in the southeast, possibly airport delays in atlanta. then that howhole mess comes up the coast into friday. friday in the northeast, you could see significant airport delays from rain or maybe even some thunderstorms. still ahead, the battle of north carolina's undecided ninth district takes a new turn as both parties weigh a possible new election. but there are obstacles already getting in the way of making the redo a reality. new polling shows which of the democrat's 2020 hopefuls is leading the pack of hopeful presidential contenders. a migraine hope to be there... for the good.

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welcome back. north carolina's ninth district may hold a new election. democrats are already opposing a possible primary. the state board of elections and ethics enforcement will hold an evidentiary hearing on january 11th. according to state law if officials call for a new election voters would choose from -- thursday the republican-led assembly passed a

bill mandating a new primary in the district if the board calls for a new election. democratic governor roy cooper must sign the legislation. state democrats say the change at this point would be unconstitutional and would give republicans republicans an unfa advantage. harris, whose 905 vote lead remains in limbo addressed the allegation for the first time in an interview. the republican said it was his decision to personally hire lesl lesl lesl less -- >> had you had that would you still have continued to employ him? >> no, i would not have. again, we kept emphasizing again and again that when he was describing the ballot to us and, in fact, when you get down to him and the description of the

program he was being vouched for by a number of other leaders down there. >> as his last major act, scott walker signed legislation weakening the authority of the man who defeated him last month, tony evers and it diminishes the power of the attorney general and gives republicans control of litigation authorized by walker to try and overturn obamacare. walker approved it in whole despite saying he would likely veto tarts of it. the laws were passed by republicans during an overnight lame duck session last week, just 4 1/2 days after the legislation was made public. joe biden leads the pack of democratic presidential candidates according to "the des moines register." 32% of respond deents is first

choice, bernie sanders is second with 19%, beto o'rourke with 11%, elizabeth warren, 8%, kamala harris, cory booker and amy klobuchar and michael bloomberg all come in at 5% or less. >> what is the likelihood that come 2020 the lineups looks anything like that. >> slim to none. >> exactly. coming up, axios' mike allen has a look at this morning's "one big thing. the president has another twitter tirade as the mueller probe moves closer. the lashing at everyone from michael cohen to jeff sessions and the media 'faces growing pleasure from investigations into his presidency, personal life and businesses, a very, very busy "morning joe" is moments away.

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co-founder of axios mike allen. good monday morning. what is axios' one big thing. >> good monday morning to y'all. the axios one big thing, russia is winning its war. so if you look at what u.s. intelligence knows about the russian efforts to interfere with our elections, both 2016 and very much so the midterms they wanted to sow confusion and pit americans against each other. they've succeeded and a grand scale. you have investigations that you just teased coming up. there's a remarkable piece on wired, 17 investigations of various sorts involving president trump, all of them stemming from that original fbi investigation of russia's interference in the investigation. look at how it's affected the image of the fbi among the trump base. it's put facebook and the other tech companies on the defensive,

it's made russian investigations a dominant political issue for the year coming ahead and, of course, it's increased america's polarization. >> we saw obviously the rudy giuliani interviews from yesterday. so we kind of know how the trump administration is spinning things but from your perspect e perspective, what is the spin here with regards to the russia probe? >> yesterday i talked to rudy, one of the president's lawyers and he was making the point that these investigations and the fallout from them make russia much more important than they are, elevate russia on the world stage, of course, while we're focussed on russia there's less attention to iran which is also doing misinformation and disinformation but you're right, of course, that's spin. it's the trump orbit's closeness to russia that made all of this possible including that astonishing tally of 17

trump-related investigations, nobody quite added that up the way garrett does in wired. >> we talk moments ago, the new polling around the 2020 democrats -- >> beto fever comes to iowa, sure. >> a lot of interesting names. some we've already known and axios is looking at the doubt the left has about somebody like beto o'rourke. what are you hearing overall in terms of his potential candidacy as a president or even as a vice president? >> who he could be matched up with. >> this is super interesting and i love that people are floating the idea of a biden/beto ticket. i know one texan that thinks it will be biden/beto or beto/biden. it will be a generational bridge but an interesting hurdle for the beto bandwagon that we picked up on. as i talk to democrats who probably will go to work for a

presidential campaign a lot say i'm waiting to hear what beto will do, that fascination continues. but actually we talked to various people on the left and they said they're worried beto may not be progressive enough for this 2020 field that, of course, the energy as you've covered so well as on the left and one person said to us, we want to make sure that he doesn't turn out to be like the french president macron. he's electric on the stage but then closer to business when he gets in office. >> interesting comparison. thank you very much. axios a.m. is out. to our viewers, sign up for the newsletter by going to signup.ax signup.axiom.com. >> "morning joe" starts right now. television's really just a hobby for me.

i'm primarily occupied with my real estate holdings, pie best-selling books and making love to women who's won prizes for their beauty. but not anymore because i have a great girlfriend. that's true. the point is -- [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> i can't win. you can't win. >> that is donald trump in 2004 joking about money and women. while hosting the comedy show he now says should be tested in court. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is monday, december 17th. just one week away from the holidays. happy holidays, everyone. however, this is not a sleepy late december monday morning. >> no, it's not. >> no, we've got no fewer than seven topics each of which could be a