road, the old path, where we think we have to find that old reagan democrat, where we think we have to appeal to the rust belt in explicit terms by taking for granted the base, we'll find ourselves in trouble again. >> eddie glaude, george will, thank you. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. >> great to see you, kasie, thank you so much. now on "andrea mitchell reports," roger stone, the president's longtime political confidant, comes to washington to face felony charges from the special counsel. [ crowd yelling ] ready to wrap? the acting attorney general says robert mueller is close to finishing his russia investigation. really? >> the investigation is i think close to being completed and i

hope that we can get the report from director mueller as soon as responsible. >> i thought that was an unusual press conference. >> sure, i don't know if he -- i don't know why he knows that. mueller will be allowed to finish his job, that's the goal. and buzzkill. the former starbucks ceo on book door, taking heat after announcing a possible independent 2020 run from a democrat afraid that that would mean reelecting donald trump. >> don't help president-elect trump, you egotistical billionaire [ bleep ]! and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington, where roger stone has now been arraigned in federal court here on seven felony charges, joining a long list of former trump officials and associates indicted by robert mueller. joining me now, nbc national security and justice reporter julia ainsley outside the

courthouse. what a scene just behind you, just moments ago. msnbc political analyst peter baker. chief white house correspondent of "the new york times." former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade. and paul charlton, also a former u.s. attorney, joining us, and pete williams as well. pete, let's go to you first for your analysis outside the courthouse, then we'll talk to your colleagues about what just helped. >> reporter: sure, i'll tell you what the news is. the news is roger stone came and went without saying anything. >> exactly. >> reporter: perhaps he chose not to speak because there were protesters around and he realized he would have to shout them down which he almost had trouble doing last friday when he was arrested in florida. but the rest of it was as expected, andrea. it's an arraignment. these things are very, very brief. this one lasted less than 15 minutes. he arrived about eight minutes before it started, wearing a suit and tie. and in fact about half the hearing was spent with no one saying anything while he signed

a bunch of papers about his release. but his lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. and the judge imposed the same conditions on his release as were imposed last week in florida, that is to say, you can't have a passport, he can't apply for a passport, his travel is limited to south florida where he lives in ft. lauderdale. here in the district of columbia where this case is now centered, and also the judge said brooklyn, the eastern district of new york, i'm not sure whether she meant brooklyn or the eastern district of virginia, but in any case, his travel is limited. he signed the papers. he raised his right hand and said "i do" when the judge asked if he will abide by the conditions of his release. because he's released, he can walk out of the courthouse. a brief post-hearing processing by the marshal's service to formally book him in here. the lawyers for both sides will be back here on friday at 1:30 for what the judge called a status hearing, which could be issues of how they proceed with

discovery and all of that. so pretty much what we expected, andrea, these arraignments tend to be quite cut and dried. >> let me start with you, pete, and then go around the table, about what you think about what matt whitaker said yesterday, which is that mueller will wrap up. pete, you said mid-february could be the windup of the mueller team and the mueller report. but now we have lindsey graham crick contradicting that. how accurate do you think that is? >> reporter: remember, matt whitaker, unlike jeff sessions, as acting attorney general is not recused. so sessions, who could not be briefed and had to plug his ears whenever the mueller investigation came up, is unlike matt whitaker who is aware of what's going on. how detailed the briefings are, we don't know, of course. certainly the 50,000 foot level

on whether mueller is wrapping up. andrea, the point is he's not the only person we're hearing this from. we're hearing it from other people in the justice department as well. and lawyers who are dealing with the special counsel. the pretty consistent message is that the mueller has been in its final chapter, as i've been saying, at the bottom of the ninth. does that mean they can't do anything more? no, because last friday they brought this case. how many more weeks, how many more hours, we just don't know. but he's not the only person telling us that the mueller investigation is about done. people on the hill are saying, well, mueller should finish when he wants to. i think everyone agrees with that. but this is the -- i have to say, andrea, this is the universal assessment we've been hearing from people who have some idea of what the special counsel is doing and not, i should emphasize, from the special counsel himself or any of his people, who have consistently said nothing. >> and to that point, barbara mcquade, some people are reading into some of the lawyers who

were present, the u.s. attorneys, the regular u.s. attorneys from the distribute there who were present, rather than at a procedure yesterday, rather than the mueller team, that there could be a hand-off, because obviously stone's trial, when it does take place, if it does take place, will be quite a far ways down the road long after we expect mueller to wrap up. >> i think that is a theory that actually makes both these things consistent. that on the one hand, mueller is preparing to hand up, and on the other that he has all these outstanding loose ends. they just did a search of roger stone's residences, for example, certainly they want to exploit that. we know rick gates isn't getting sentenced until march, that was extended presumably so he could continue to cooperate. there is the sealed matter involving some foreign-owned company that has been subpoenaed for documents are all still outstanding. so i suppose it could be that mueller is getting close to the point where he wants to write a report about his findings about the core issue of links between

russia and the trump campaign, and that these other matters, the trials that will result from it, can be handed off to u.s. attorneys' offices around the country. that theory actually makes a lot of sense and is a way to bring together different threads in a consistent way. >> julia ainsley, talk to me about stone's demeanor inside the courtroom. there you would assume he would be a lot more appropriate, let's say, then when he's coming out and giving his nixon victory sign. >> and andrea, i have to say, i've been out here in the cold this morning, but from our producers inside as well as pete williams, we've heard that stone didn't actually say a lot, he signed a lot of papers, his lawyer gave his plea on his behalf. that is unlike roger stone, he's spoken a lot since his arrest on friday. he's delivered krispy kreme

doughnuts to reporters outside his home in ft. lauderdale, he's been texting with journalists. but today we have a quieter roger stone, perhaps because he has lawyers telling him that his usual defense that no press is bad press is not going to work here. as we head to friday, i'm go before judge amy berman jackson, the same judge overseeing manafort's case in federal court in d.c., and it could be she decides to enter a gag order. so far we haven't seen that, but people who he cannot talk to are witnesses in the case. that is probably because, we assume, of the details laid out in the indictment where stone had intimidated his business associate randy credico who was his intermediary to wikileaks. he said "prepare to die" in one of the messages included in the indictment and even threatened to take his dog from him. it's not as though roger stone

has acted in a completely innocent way, it wasn't completely white collar. some of those threats were seeming seemingly violent and they don't want him to be in a place where he can intimidate other witnesses in this case. >> paul, thanks for joining us, you've had to deal with a lot of witnesses and a lot of prosecutions in your long career. what kind of witness is he going to be in terms of the defense, if he testifies for himself, given the fact that he's calling alex jones from info wars, where he was in a holding area, signing the papers after the federal magistrate in florida, before he had even come out of the courthouse. >> a couple of points in that regard, andrea. number one, let's remember what all federal prosecutors have to know, that's the justice manual. that says, do not bring a charge until there is a reasonable likelihood of success. in plain language that means don't bring a charge unless you think you're going to win. clearly the mueller team has embraced and holds to that

theory. that's number one. they think they're going to win against mr. stone, that they'll get a guilty verdict at the end of the day. they have evidence that doesn't forget and doesn't lie, they have documentary evidence and e-mails. mr. stone is within his right to say he's not guilty, that's a typical way that almost every defendant pleads when they enter into arraignment. but the evidence is compelling and mr. stone has an uphill battle if he thinks he's going to convince a jury that he's not guilty. >> i'm told by my producers that roger stone is now on with alex jones who he called from the public area, saying he wanted to make a public statement but was shouted down by what he calls crazed leftists. there were people with boom boxes out there as well. peter baker, you've watched so much of this from here and also in moscow, you can comment on roger's phone use, you've

covered him over the years. i want to bring in what chris christie said on "morning joe" on how he's tried so hard -- let's play a little bit of that to set it up -- how he's tried so hard repeatedly to tell the president not to speak about the russia probe and that the president has ignored him by tweeting and speaking. let's watch chris christie on "morning joe." >> don't be fooled by what these lawyers are telling you, i saw i have the ty cobb quote up there. when you hire a "c" level legal team who gives you "c" level advice, i told him also, i don't remember if i put this in the book or not, i said, listen, there's no way you can make this investigation shorter but there's lots of ways you can make it longer. the way you do it is by keep talking about it, keep tweeting about it, because the more you do that, the more you give prosecutors to chase down.

>> peter baker? >> i agree with that, the president has commented on this case so often along the way, not only "no collusion" blanket denials, but very specific things that would of course give prosecutors pause, for instance when he seems to be praising witnesses who refuse to talk to prosecutors and, you know, criticizing those who do, those who are like michael cohen, saying the prosecution will go after michael cohen's father-in-law. these are very serious things to a lot of prosecutors who look at that as possible you know, witness tampering, that kind of thing. the reason why every politician, frankly every client of any kind who gets in trouble is told by their lawyer, keep your mouth shut, that's the smartest thing. that's not what the president has chosen to do. on the other hand he believes his attacks on robert mueller and the investigation have discredited it to some extent with his base. there are some people out there who still believe in president trump who believe he's the victim of an unfair process.

most polls show most americans want the mueller probe to be finished and have some faith in it. but people who have stood by president trump all along have agreed to some extent that this is a witch hunt. >> peter, you've covered roger stone, of course, as you've covered the president, for a long time. the white house now saying roger stone was not close to him, but all reports are that he was very close to him, from my own observation as well. this is what senator kennedy from louisiana had to say, republican senator, of course, from louisiana about roger stone. >> reporter: how do you feel about roger stone? >> i think mr. stone is a total beavis. i've watched this man. he talked himself into an indictment. i mean, he talked his way into a

indictment. when his iq gets to 75, he ought to sell. >> peter, take it from there. >> the people around the president who have gotten in trouble so far with prosecutors have largely, not all, but largely prosecuted for things they did during the investigation, for lying to prosecute er prosecutors, lying to congress, trying to obstruct justice, witness tampering. not everybody, paul manafort has his own issues with taxes and financial fraud issues. but a lot of what's happened in this last year and a half to two years has been what roger stone has done, which is said things to authorities that are contradicted by evidence. this is what makes attorney general whitaker's comments so interesting, what about the underlying part of it, what are they lying to protect, what is behind all this?

are we only going to see charges brought in relation to the conduct of this case, or are we eventually going to see from rogro robert mueller what this is all about? >> so far we haven't seen connections between the trump organization and russia per se, the literal connection, other than very strong hints in the stone indictment. where do you think mueller is going? do you think you can't prove that case, that he's going to wrap it up, or are those the next shoes to drop? >> it remains to be seen. i do think there are some hints in the indictment to suggest there may be more to come. he goes out of his way to talk about the fact that the dnc publicly announced that it was russia that had stolen the e-mails. it was enough to charge roger stone with lying without going into all that detail. so why lay that groundwork unless you think it's leading to something? one very likely scenario if he

has the evidence is he could supersede that hacking document that he filed against the russian intelligence officers to add any americans who participated not only in the stealing of e-mails but also in their dissemination, talking about the messaging, talking about the timing to coincide with the "access hollywood" tape. anyone who helped participate in that i think could be charged with a conspiracy to defraud the united states. >> and that could hit very close to home. pete williams, any comment on that or anything else you picked up? >> reporter: no, just in terms of roger stone and what senator kennedy said, it's abundantly clear that he brought this case on himself by initially claiming that he was directly in touch with wikileaks and changing his mind, that he wasn't. so the fact that he was indicted, we've seen that train coming from way down the tracks. >> pete williams, thank you so much. paul charlton, barbara mcquade, peter baker, julia ainsley.

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north korea, isis, iran, and more. in their annual report to the senate on worldwide threats. >> north korea will seek to retain its wmd capabilities and unlikely to give up his nuclear production capabilities. >> is iran abiding by the terms of the jcoa? >> yes, they're making some preparations that would increase their ability to take a step back if they make that decision. so at the moment, technically they're in compliance. >> isis is intent on resurging and still commands that you say of fighters in iraq and syria. >> joining me now is nbc's intelligence and national security reporter ken dilanian had he taergs, at the hearings,n mclaughlin is here with me. there were a number of

contradictions between them and what the president tweets and claims, most importantly north korea. we're going into another summit a month from now. in a matter of weeks, in fact. and right now, the intelligence assessment is that north korea is not denuclearizing. >> honestly, andrea, it was like these intelligence leaders were describing a different planet than the one donald trump inhabits, specifically on north korea. you're absolutely right, donald trump at one point said the nuclear threat from number had gone away. well, the intelligence leaders made clear today that that's not true, that in fact they assess that north korea is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons because they view them as necessary for regime survival. and they've seen signs that north korea continues to improve its nuclear program. we can go down the list. donald trump said that isis had been defeated. cia director gina haspel and dan coats said that's not true, isis is perhaps on its way to defeat of the caliphate in syria but it's able to command thousands

of fighters and is still plotting terrorist attacks. there was mention of russian election interference when president trump has cast doubt on, and they say russia intends to interfere in the 2020 election. there was no mention of donald trump's signature national security issue which was the border wall. there was no mention of a threat on the southern border and no discussion of a need to build a wall. in fact the risk assessment discussed the fact that most of the drugs that come across the southern border come across legal points of entry. >> candidates for president, kamala harris among them, didn't ask that question. the wall didn't column, the need for a wall. john mclaughlin, you go back decades at the cia. in your experience has there ever been such a dramatic divergence between administration policy, oval office policy and statements and tweets, and the conclusions of all of the agencies? >> no, i think it's unprecedented, andrea, in its

scope and a number of things on which that is the case. these people today do a very good job of speaking truth to power. as ken just pointed out, there were at least three or four instances. let me take one of them, on the issue of north korea. they didn't go into the details, but just from what we know publicly, north korea is still enriching uranium. >> and from our own reporting, the great work a lot of us have done that courtney kube, our colleague, and carol lee have done, repeatedly reporting that they're building and still continuing new sites. >> one of the think tanks in washington points out they're improving a facility that would be used in the event they would be launching an icbm at the united states. >> that's victor cha, our colleague here. >> exactly. isis has global nodes around the world which al qaeda never had. most evident in their recent

cathedral bombing in the philippines, of all places. most people don't realize they're established in those places, they have places to go, they have infrastructure. so to say they're defeated is really to invite disaster. >> and let's go to the core issue of donald trump's relationship with vladimir putin. senator wyden asked dan coats about the trump/putin meeting and whether they even now know what happened in that secret two-hour meeting. let's watch. >> donald trump met privately with vladimir putin and no one in the u.s. government has the full story about what was discussed. director haspel and director coats, would this put you in a disadvantaged position in terms of understanding russia's efforts to advance its agenda against the united states? >> this is a sensitive issue and it's an issue we ought to talk about this afternoon. i look forward to discussing

that in a closed session. >> we can share, of course, just as a reminder, what was not in closed session is when we were in aspen last summer and all of a sudden the white house announced they were going to invite putin for an another summit, a week after the disastrous haelsinki summit. >> the white house has announced on twitter that vladimir putin is coming to the white house in the fall. >> say that again? [ laughter ] >> vladimir putin coming to -- >> i heard -- >> yeah, yeah. >> okay. >> yeah. >> that's going to be special. >> that's the problem for not just the dni and gina haspel but others who work for this president, the lack of communication, the lack of process, the lack of a national

security adviser consulting his national security team before they make announcements like that. >> i'm sure if he was in private session, what director coats would have said in answer to that is, yes, it's a disadvantage not to know precisely what happened in that meeting, and for all we know, he may know now more than he do at the time you asked him that question in aspen, but he's not going to talk about it in public session. one of the things that we would want to know is, what did putin say that was so persuasive to the president or was the president naively accepting his denial? we don't know that, publicly. i don't know that dan coats knows it privately as well. >> dan coats may know more now perhaps because russian intelligence has briefed putin and we have inroads to russian intelligence. you have to -- >> we don't have to rely entirely on back-briefs from our colleagues in the u.s.

government. there are other ways to find these things out. and i don't know whether that's the case in this instance, but it's not impossible. >> ken, there were also questions about your own reporting and our colleague laura stickley's reporting on the intelligence and security cleen clearances, and how the intelligence community's advice and recommendations were ignored. how did that come out today? >> that's right, andrea, this is another one of those questions that poor dan coats clearly did not want to have to answer. this is our reporting, that jared kushner essentially got special treatment, security specialists at the white house decided he didn't merit top secret security clearance but they were overruled by their boss. a senator asked coats don't you think the white house should be relying on the white house background checks? he said, listen, it's up to the white house, and fbi director chris wray said the same thing. kamala harris asked dan coats whether there was any written

strategy across the government about combating foreign election interference. she asked the same question a year ago at this hearing and the answer still apparently was no. dan coats tried to sort of weave and bob and eventually had to say no, the answer is no. clearly these are difficult questions for these intelligence leaders because they know it will get them in hot water with their boss, the president. >> there won't be a written strategy unless the white house orders one and this white house is not going to order it. >> absolutely, that's the implication we' implication. we've seen this before, there is no government strategy that we can see to attack this serious problem, even though the written assessment describes it as one of the pressing problems facing the united states, andrea. >> ken dilanian who covers the national security field, thank you so much. and john mack lot claughlin, ofa real pro. coming up, senator macy

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anticipated vote to confirm attorney general nominee william barr. the question, though, once he's in charge of the mueller probe, because he is expected to be confirmed, will he let the public see the mueller report or will he hasten the departure of mueller? joining me now, senator mazie hirono of hawaii. welcome, thank you so much for being with us today. >> nice to see you. >> i wanted to ask you about what you expect from the mueller probe. we've heard from matt whitaker, the acting attorney general, that it's wrapping up. is that the right timetable to anticipate? >> i think it came to a total surprise to a lot of us that whitaker would even make such a statement about an ongoing investigation. but watching his body language, et cetera, i've come to the conclusion that this is not something that he particularly was intending to say, but it was reassuring to the president. what i care about is to make sure that the mueller investigation continues without any impediments.

and of course as we talk about barr, because whitaker is not going to be long as acting attorney general, barr is going to be there, there are a lot of concerns that particularly the democrats on the committee had, including myself, as to whether he would make the mueller report available to the public. and i think the way that barr testified was very careful, and it was very much intended for an audience of one, that would be the president of the united states, to be very reassuring to the president as to how he would be as attorney general. >> let me just remind all of our viewers of your questioning of william barr at that original nomination confirmation hearing. >> you said that the mueller report is confidential pursuant to whatever the regulations are that applies to him. so i'm just trying to get at what you're going to be transparent about. >> the special counsel will prepare a summary report on any

prosecutive or declination decisions, and that shall be confidential and shall be treated as any other declination or prosecutive material within the department. in addition, the attorney general is responsible for notifying and reporting certain information upon the conclusion of the investigation. >> have you received any more assurances than during that public session in the intervening weeks? >> no, i did not. and i think he responded very carefully. as we look at what the applicable regulations are, yes, the mueller report does go to a confidential report to the attorney general. as attorney general, he can make that report public, redacting whatever he needs to redact. i think his answer was not particularly reassuring or clear as to the public disclosure of

the mueller report. >> we did hear from lindsey graham today saying it would not be shortcut. he was with the president at a fundraiser last night, with the vice president and others dining with the president. so maybe there was some conversation about that, we can't really speculate. but are you at all reassured by senator graham saying that they're not going to cut it short? >> we all want the mueller report or the mueller investigation to come to its natural conclusion. so i think that senator graham conducted the opening markup in a very fair way. and i hope that that will be how he will conduct our committee's work. i'm keeping my fingers cross-examinecrossed. as for his willingness to pursue whether or not the president, by the way, whether a sitting

president can be indicted, senator graham today said that's a legitimate question, as to whether or not the office of legal counsel's conclusion that a sitting president cannot be indicted, that should be questioned. so that was reassuring. >> senator mazie hirono, thank you for that update, good to see you. and coming up, roasted. former starbucks ceo howard schultz facing major backlash for considering an independent run for the white house. stay with us right here on "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. ts," only on msnbc ♪ hey, saved you a seat. this round is on me. hey, can you spot me?

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former starbucks ceo howard schultz got an earful from a protester at a new york city book signing monday night after schultz said he is seriously considering a possible independent run for the white house. a move that many democrats fear could split the anti-trump vote and help reelect the president. >> i wanted to clarify the word "independent" which i view merely as a designation on the ballot. >> don't help elect trump, you egotistical billionaire [ bleep ]! >> joining me now is susan page, "usa today" washington bureau chief, and ruth marcus, "washington post" deputy editorial page editor and columnist, welcome both. running for president is not for the faint-hearted, even at a

barnes & noble off union square. what about the howard schultz factor and the fact of third party candidates? we know from our own data that in 2016, susan, 5.2% among third party candidates, they played a role. and even though some people say that ross perot did not affect the '92 race, that was after he had gotten out and back in. back in june, he was leading the three candidates, and certainly weakened the incumbent. >> ross perot certainly affected the dynamic of the race. >> exactly. >> in ways that were not -- that were helpful to one side and not to the other. the one person who really wants howard schultz to run besides howard schultz is president trump. >> he said that in his private dinner last night. >> he did, he sent out a taunting tweet, he said at the dinner last night, to entice schultz into the race. we know there's a ceiling on president trump's support, somewhere in the low 40s. how do you get elected president

if your support can't go above 43? by having a real three-way race. and that's what a billionaire with endless amounts of money to spend just might be able to do. >> here is schultz today on "cbs morning news" responding to that. >> i must be doing something right. i think republicans are looking for a home. and if republicans have a choice between a far-left, liberal, progressive candidate on the democratic side or president trump, president trump is going to get reelected. >> mike bloomberg has studied this to death, he has the best polling, whether you can run as an independent. this is what he had to say, especialhe was up in new hampshire today. >> the government shutdown was an utter failure of executive leadership. it's an example of just how totally in competecompetent man

can hurt millions of people. his own administration produced a damaging report showing we face what they called substantial damage to the u.s. economy, environment, and human health from climate change. i hate to break this to you, mr. president, but if you don't believe in science, don't go to the doctor, don't get on an airplane, don't talk on the phone, and don't even think about tweeting. wouldn't that be nice? >> he said that he had reviewed doing an independent run and that definitely it would help reelect donald trump. trump only today tweeted about the subfreezing weather across midwest and said, where's the climate change when we need it, where is global warming when we need it. >> yes, well, science. nobody has spent more time and money looking at the mechanics and impact of an independent run than michael bloomberg. last time i checked, he actually had more billions to spend on

this than howard schultz, and he concluded not just this time around but four years ago, that the likely impact, maybe not the certain impact, but the likely impact of a third party run would be to help the republican candidate. and i think that the best answer to howard schultz is michael bloomberg and what he concluded. and the second best answer to him is history and what history, as susan points out, has told us about the likely impact of third party runs. there is a reason why president trump is inviting howard schultz to come jump in the pool. >> what about joe biden? he was in florida, mike memolie was with him. my reporting shows that biden is 75 to 85%, on different days, leaning toward running. susan, we've both covered him for a long time. he wants to do this. >> he wants to be president, he thinks he would be a good

president. he wants to run. he would need to come up with a reason that prevented him from running at this point, i think. his instinct is to run. but it's going to be tough. this is going to be a race with 20 contenders. he's of a different generation than most of them. he has some baggage in his past that will hurt him more now than it did in the past, including the clarence thomas hearings. so there are some hurdles to get over. but it's clear that in his heart he thinks he should be president. this would be the third time he's run for the democratic nomination if he chooses to do it again. >> he would need to staff up and have a really tightly-honed message, because the one thing we know about joe biden, which reporters love about him, is that he loves to talk. >> a tightly-honed and joe biden are usually not used in the same sentence. i'm asking ptsd flashbacks to a

hearing for david souter's nomination about a question that went on for many, many pages. i think, as do you, he is inclined to run. if he doesn't run, it will be because he feels like he has responsibilities to the family and it would be better for the at-large biden family for him not to run. but this is what he wants to do. he is going to have challenges of age, of discipline, of message, and of history, because a lot of things that he did back then, not just the way he conducted the hill/thomas hearing but some of his work on the crime bill and criminal justice issues. things have changed. >> it's also, and i do believe that this is sincere, he's looking at the candidates right now to see who might be better, who among the younger candidates might be able to defeat donald trump. and if he were to see somebody break out of the pack, and

that's unlikely this early in the game, that might make a difference as well. >> nobody breaks out of the pack at this point, right? it's too early. but somebody will break out of the pack at some point. one thing about democrats, they usually prefer new over old. >> and the interesting thing is, even if it's not obvious that somebody is going to break out of the pack, we know that at the end there will be a democratic nominee. >> and we have to leave it there. to be continued. as always, ruth and susan, great to see you both. coming up, tomorrow former starbucks ceo howard schultz sitting down with joe, mika, willie and the gang for an interview on "morning joe," 6:00 eastern right here on msnbc. get your starbucks ready. coming up, the notebook. was the national security adviser deliberately signaling a threat to venezuela? we'll take a look at his yellow legal pad, as we get that in focus. we'll be right back. focus. we'll be right back. billions of mouths.

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on your screen, to see if you're eligible to enroll today. and say yes to getting the right health care coverage without having to wait for it. national security adviser john bolton stole the spotlight at the first white house press briefing of the year yesterday. when eagle eyed journalist spotted his notepad, which read, 5,000 troops to colombia, the

border of venezuela. leading many to remember whether the white house was signaling they are ready to intervene in the venezuela crisis. joining me now is nbc military reporter courtney cube. was this some sort of secret messaging going on? >> everyone's asking that same question. the facts we know is there are not 5,000 troops in colombia right now, there are not 5,000 u.s. troops heading to colombia now. was that the attempt to message the regime? was it something that came up in a meeting that he happened to write down that twitter was able to see and photos later very clearly written on his notepad? we don't really know the question. the one thing we know it's done. ever since this venezuela situation really heated up with the white house talking about it and the potential for some kind of evacuations, and the state department being involved, what could the potential u.s. military component be, you know, but at this point there's been no requests.

state department has not asked for any help. the embassy has not asked for any specific help. we don't really know what that was on ambassador bolton's notebook. >> the one thing they did do was announce they're basically freezing assets, taking the state-owned oil company, and they're basically saying that no american company, no americans and others can trade with them and those assets should be frozen and held for the new regime. they're ephowi ihoping the new government will be guaido, that he survives this and can hold elections. >> this hits an already crippled economy really in the pocketbook. because while it's restricting american companies, there's still other nations that buy oil from venezuela, russia and china. but much of that revenue is actually reimbursement for debts that venezuela already owes those countries. it's not money that's coming into the economy. an economy that is seeing, you

know, its citizens that are hungry, that are without water, without food, without medicine. and that's been going on for several years now. this is something that will ultimately have a good impact, a tough impact on the venezuelan economy, andrea. >> thank you so much, courtney kube, and we will be right back. if you're turning 65,

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that does it for today. thanks so much for being with us. remember, follow the show online, on facebook and on

twitter @mitchellreport. here is ali velshi and stephanie ruhle. >> thank you, andrea. hello, everybody, i'm ali velshi. >> iand i'm stephanie ruhle. it is tuesday, january 29. let's get smarter. >> we assess that foreign actors will view the 2020 u.s. elections as an opportunity to advance their interests. >> not only the russians continued to do it in 2018 but we've seen an indication they're continuing to adapt their model and other countries are taking a very interesting eye in that approach. >> we currently assess that north korea will seek to retain its wmd capabilities and is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities. isis is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in iraq and syria. >> the arraignment of longtime