we had to go through with the darkened plane, with all windows closed, with no lights on whatsoever anywhere, pitch black. i've never seen it. i've been in many airplanes, all types and shapes and sizes, i've never seen anything like it. we're coming in and i know all of the things that were surrounding us for safety. so did i have a concern? yeah, i had a concern. >> it took him nearly two years burp but as you see president trump did visit a war zone. >> a lot of people would prefer given that he's done nothing but talk about how much he loves one of the most tyrannical and dangerous leaders on the planet that they'd we fer this time, 40 years later, he actually stay away from vietnam. i don't think anybody has a say there but the president. >> welcome to "morning joe."

it is monday, february 25th. we have nick confessore, we have kasie hunt up erecall on monday morning for us, eddie glaude jr., susan page -- >> eddie glaude is also an oscar correspondent. eddie, what did you think of the winners last night? >> it was obviously a wonderful evening for the diversity in the country. >> for sure. >> we saw an oscar celebration, in some ways, of the beauty and

majesty across a number of different areas. the "green book" won and there's some controversy about "green book book," especially on black twitter but tit was a good evening. i must admit, as a correspondent for "morning joe," i did go to sleep. >> i think a lot of us did. >> did anybody else stay up? i'm just curious. did anybody else stay up for the academy awards and have any favorites that did or didn't win? >> i managed to catch, joe, the gaga/bradley cooper performance, which i think may have been the height of the evening. i don't know if you happened top see it but that was the talk of my twit ater feed.

and i thought spike lee was quite something as well. >> i was also in bed at 10:45 but i watched some of the commentary and including the performance from "a star is born." there was so much about oscars being so white in the past and the women not being recognized. i was personally excited for "rom "roma." >> i would just say that possibly some alarming news for joe and mika in that you can have a show without a host and it goes okay. i don't know if you're worried about that. >> i love it! uh-oh. >> you think that's bad news? that's pretty great news to us. >> oh, come on.

>> every once in a while it works. >> come on, we love every second here. >> we love every second here. got to get up early everybody morning, we love it. nick confessore's review on roma is a -- >> i would recommend it to. >>. i thought it was beautifully done and it lifted up people we don't often see at the center of film. >> take that, john. >> let me get to the news. as president trump head to vietnam for his second summit with kim jong un, his former lawyer and fixer, michael cohen, will be starting a busy week on capitol hill. tomorrow cohen will appear before the senate intelligence committee in a closed session. on wednesday cohen testifies before the house oversight committee in public.

and nurse it's another closed session, this time with the house intelligence committee. ken dilanian, you have new reporting on what kind of testimony we can expect from cohen and also what else prosecutors have learned from him in recent weeks. tem us about it. >> well, mika, so before the house and senate intelligence committees, he's expected to address, first of all, his lies to those committees on the timing of the trump tower and moscow deal, the fact in a it was going on much longer than he admitted in public and much longer than donald trump ak naj knowledged. michael cohen in the plea documents exposed the fact that donald trump had lied during the campaign when he said he had no contacts, no dealings with russia. there was a meeting michael cohen had with donald trump about the moscow deal. but in public on wednesday we could have an absolutely

dramatic and riveting performance by michael cohen. while he's not allowed to talk about the russia investigation when he appears before the house jove sight committee on wednesday, he going to talk about those hush money payments to women. the prz's compliant with financials did closure the president's business practices, trump unt national hotel in dncht c. i'm told cohen has been prepping with this for a long time and he knows he's got credibility issueses so he's coming with documents and he has chilling stories of what goes on behind closed doors. a trump insider who has been with donald trump for more than ten years telling these stories under the glare.

the elvis lights. >> and of course last week he talked about the family business, information about the family business. what are the biggest concerns there and who's in his -- who who possibly by what he says about "the family business." >> we reported last week that he has provided new information to those prosecutors in manhattan about the trump family business and the trump inaugural committee, two subjects they are vetting. it seems likely some of those areas will be off limits in his public testimony on wednesday but nonetheless, that is a very dangerous investigation for donald trump. unlike the robert mueller investigation, southern district prosecutors have no restrictions. they go going back as long as

the stoot statute of limitations goes. the idea they are poking around in president trump's personal meetings go back 20 years is is guess etting. we heard the mueller investigation was going to wraup up, then we got the news, in, it no, sir going to wrap up, stay tuned. is this going to wrap up very soon or is more of the same? >> reporter: it's not more of the same. all signs are approach. it seems lickly they announced

mueller has reduced the number of attorneys in his office. he has brought in u.s. attorneys from washington, d.c. on the stone case from the beginning, which is the first time that has happened in a robert mueller case. we've -- our reporting is that he began writing his report back in august. so we believe that the report will be delivered. in a doesn't mean that the investigation stops. obviously there are other cases that are pending that he will hand off to u.s. torchs. there but in terms of this main question kwrd and you bring up a great point. the investigations go on. a lot of people are expecting robert mueller to deliver this death blow that will send donald trump tum he's conservative with a small c.

hool pass it along to could and then we'll got to the rest our guests. but really quickly, the southern district of new york poses the greatest threat. there are also other u.s. attorneys that he may pass other information along to. he's done a lot of leg work. now this goes it prosecutors possibly on the federal level. some state prosecutors can pick these up. these investigations do not stop. they actually move to places where actually u.s. attorneys can go after illegal wrong doing, actually even more aggressively without being under the glare of the political spotlight. is that fair to say? >> you're making two important points here, joe. on russia, even if robert mueller doesn't deliver a massive conspiracy indictment that, doesn't mean there isn't wrong doing, that there isn't a scandal. he may differ a there are theser

investigations into the inaugural committee, into the trump businesses. michael cohen has already i pli kated the president in a campaign finance felony, which for some reason we're not talking about. >> thank you for being with us. we really appreciate it. i saw this incredible twitter feed last night, kasie, that actually picked out all of the and had they -- eric -- who is it from? >> it dirk graphs. >> he went step by step of what would have happened if all of these hillary clinton people had been arrested, convicted or accus accused, et cetera,eth, if john

podesta were about to serve life in prison, could go down the list instead of paul manafort. temperature would have been even if it end tomorrow, ridiculous. but in the got go. >> ken did a really good job of outlooning what this can and can't talk to cohen about. i think it's better to look at this through the broader lens of president trump's life before he even landed himself in the white house and all of the questions that swirl around his conduct in that way. and then of course how that all connects to how he and the people around him have continued to do business in the white house and all of those associated conflicts of interest. i mean, this russia collusion question is obviously thing

about one for robert mueller to answer. however, that does not mean in a today will credible, there's conflicting report how much about how much he knew and how much he was involved in and the kind of things he's going to be able to put forward. he really has shown he has turned on the president of the united states. so i do think it's going to be incredibly dramatic on the hill this week. >> so, joe, in the past we've heard from people like andy mccabe and james comey talking about fl interactions with the president, people he's been apartment bagman and filter and he'll be be speaking about a variety of topics.

i think that is going to be a huge moment in the politics of this whole affair for months and months. this is the first time we're going to really see somebody talking about their interaction, with the president, who is this is about faux far woof come on this whole mueller investigation, let's put aside the question of a conspiracy with the russians, an e-mail in which the president is colluding with putin. his family and the president were lying about a hush deal with russia. there was a violation of campaign finance laws, a potential felony. there's a huge amount we've learned so far and it speaks to the way the president has successfully framed the i think

there as already a lot evidence on the ground already. >> no matter what you think i president donald trump, if there's any possibility if one os or dirty business with paying off women or with women in any way or business dealings that were not exactly according to law, wouldn't it be, joe, michael cohen who did the dirty work for him? >> well, yeah. he did time and time again. and so this is going to be a very interesting week on the hill for not only concerning for the president of the united states but also very concerning for members of the family. and to follow up on what nick just said, susan page, in is what part of garrett graph's feed last night. he said just imagine following

hillary's successful campaign in 2016/she fires fbi director james comey for refusing to drop an investigation of national security adviser jake vul van and then sally waits "point john pod poddest and then reindicted for witness tampering. imagine in a nick merrill papadopoulos plead guilty to lying to federal agents about his contacts and cheryl mills, equal flynn, plead guilty for

eye poon on then who pleads guilty again for lying to congress. it goes on and on and on. hillary clinton would have been impeopled about halfway and there are still republicans that actually have the nerve to say that robert mueller has done nothing and this is nothing but a witch hunt. oh, by the way, did woo mention at that. secretary of the dhs says that's exactly what's happening. >> it quite the extraordinary imagery scenario there. i think that does underscore one nng to look for with the michael cohen hearing, the public hearing on wednesday and that is reporters are going to be listening for what's new, what does he say that we didn't know before. but americans may be watching

this to try to figure out what went on, what matters, who do you believe. i think back, the watergate hearings, which i didn't cover but also the iran hearings that i did cover, for americans to sort out in their own mind, some of it confusing and conflicting and some of it quite explosive, to figure out what it means to them. of course he has a history. he's been convicted of lying to congress. that hurts his credibility. do they look at him and do they believe what he's telling them? i think that's one of the things we should does this make a complicated story more understandable for americans and who are they going to trust to

tell them the truth. >> and the big lie over the past weers have been witch hunt. that witch hunt has nailed 25, 30 people on indictments, have taken tun they have been caught lying and caught committing fell anies and some, his campaign manager, is going to jail for life most likely. we keep learning things about his national security adviser and thob. it a witch hunt. russia interforward with our democracy in 2016. dan croats, the director of

national intelligence says that's a lie. you keep going right down the list. the cia director gina haspel, that's a lie. the russians interfered. again, his on director of homeland security said that's a lie, russian has interfering with our crass is, you can go done the list. and what been revealed is shocking. apparently some care far more about their own political party and their own political clan than they do the united states of america. if they don't care the entire intel community has said russia has interfered with our democracy and are trying to continue to interfere with our

democracy. >> that's a devastating listing of what we already know and you combine it with the hush money, you combine it with the trump foundation and we are justified in being deeply suspicious. what's interesting about the cohen hearing for me, the optics. it's going to be dramatic. i'm really interested in how donald trump respond, what cohen will say, what he will reveal. independent not sure it will be anything new but the fact in a he is on television that, he will be on television talking about sundry affairs, revealing insider knowledge, i am really interested in. and actually kind of unsettled and unnerved by the possibility of president trump behaving and responding in a really unhinged way. so it's not just what's going on in congress that day, it's really what donald trump will do with his twit are feed and what he will do wherever he happens to be as he's watching that drama unfold. >> all right.

we've got so much more to get to this morning. the latest on the vietnam summit -- >> did the president say that he loved martin luther king together again this weekend? >> it's so disturbing and dangerous. >> did they send each other a valentine's card, talking about a guys that one of the most brutal dictators on the face of the earth, killed an hai open colle -- ohio college student? in is who donald trump adores while he mocks our allies in english, great britain and france and germany. >> and stand silent here. we have nbc's now reporting.

>> that's right. when there as actually a plot the president still has not condemned it. i haven't really heard republicans condemn it. i wonder what these republicans would say if you actually had democrats remain silent while there was a plot to kill half of the republicans that were running against a democrat being incumbent. i wonder if that you had be silent. of course not. >> in terms of vietnam, the reporting is that the administration is willing to put a whole lot on the table, even as north korea keeps a form grass on its nuclear weapons. plus fascinating new polling. sizing up prum's job approval. it it's. and we want to mention just band

is, it starts at 7 p.m. stop by if europe in the area. we'd love to see you. >> i saw joe tweeting over the weekend about that map. stay tuned for that. nafs happening. >> we had some really crazy weather between the wind and the blizzard, we had a little bit of everything. the damage to columbus, mississippi was extensive there. one fatality as a who is collapse odd on come. this is into frm that is ice being blown by the wind and piling up on the shore. it moving look a bloodin washington. . and now they're beginning to

pick up once given. rochester specific at 45 and there's snow squalls out there, too. when you get winds in the 20, 30, 40 mile-per-hour range, you don't see too many power outages. but this afternoon we will see numerous gusts, 45 to 60, we will get power out ands. i don't think we're going to get quite love 60. that's when you get a lot of shingle damage and trees coming done. rye no, they a -- right now, we you with one of those white knuckle flight dates from d.c. all the way through the northeast. it looks pretty but the winds will be howling all day long. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. i'm 53.

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do you think north korea remains a nuclear threat? >> yes. >> but the president said he doesn't. >> that's not what he said. i know precisely -- >> he tweeted there is no longer a nuclear threat from north korea. >> he said the efforts that have been made in singapore, the commitment that chairman un made have decreased the risk. >> okay, that's a direct quote. >> that's what president trump does. donald trump told us all, i guess this is are you going to believe me or your lying eyes.

donald trump told us all in tweets, mika, in a we didn't ha -- that we didn't have to worry about nuclear weapons from north korea after the last summit. he said that was it. we don't have to worry about missiles, we don't have to worry about nuclear weapons from north korea, that he had taken care of it completely and there you have the secretary of state stumbling and fumbling trying to tell us all that the president did not say something that he did. anyway -- >> he's not serious about some of those most important relationships, alliances or even adversaries that we need to be trying to work with moving forward. later this morning president trump heads to vietnam for his second summit with north korea's kim jong un. trump tweeted yesterday that he and kim, quote, both expect a continuation of the progress made at the first summit in singapore. denuclearization? yesterday the president also

tweeted once again about what he claims is the economic potential of north korea, quote, chairman kim realizes perhaps better than anyone else that without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the world. because of its location and people and him, it has more potential for rapid growth than any other nation. here is how the president described his goals for the summit and his relationship with kim on friday. >> reporter: is drawing down u.s. troops a consideration in your upcoming summit with -- >> no, it's not. that's not within of the thinon the table. >> reporter: what is on the table? >> you really want me to discuss that now? >> reporter: i do. >> everything is on the table. >> reporter: kim jong un has not decided if he wants to

denuclearize. so how can you meet with him if -- >> we have such a great relationship and china has helped as you lot with north korea and kim jong un since i got to office. if i were not elected president, you would have been in a war with north korea. we now have a situation where the relationships are good, where there's been no nuclear testing, no missiles, no rockets, we got our hostages back. we have many of the remains back and coming back rapidly, the remains of our great warriors from many, many yearsing a a ye the families are so thrilled and happy. the singapore was a great success. on the fake news likes to portray it otherwise. >> he of course misstated so many things there. we also had a brain dead college student sent back that they beat up and brutalized, which is actually par for the course for this man that donald trump loves so much and says he has a great

relationship. so, kasie, whenever donald trump starts talking like this, drives people on capitol hill crazy. if there's ever any light between this president and republicans on the hill, this usually seems to be where it comes from because you have a president who keeps talking about denuclearization and getting rid of missiles and it's just not going to happen. >> that's right, joe. when you talk to foreign policy experts on this, you know, ahead of this second summit, they essentially say that the reason why it feels as though tensions with north korea may be lower than they were when this president came into office is simply because we've changed what we're demanding of north korea, that we're no longer making these real demands to denuclearize, despite what the president says in all of his tweets, that's not actually what is playing out. this is one area where i'm interested to see how republicans on the him react to

what happens in vietnam over the course of the next couple days. this had been an area where both democrats and republicans were giving the president a little bit of space before that first summit, a lot of them said, well, it's better that they're talking than not talking. but the reality is that there haven't been any concrete deliverables in the wake of that first summit. so there's so many questions about why is the president deciding to do this now. i think you saw reporters pressing him in the oval office there. i do think that the scrutiny and the questions about what we are accomplishing this summit are so much more important than they've ever been. >> you know, the president keeps pushing this alternate reality, this political fantasy that we would have been in a war had the great peacemaker, donald trump, not been elected president of the united states. when he sat down with barack obama during the transition, president obama said to him,

obamacare won't keep you up at night, north korea will. the reason president obama said that is because like republican and democratic presidents before him, president obama was working hard to make sure north korea couldn't get nuclear weapons that could be delivered to middle america. the reason why we're not closed to war is because the north koreas know donald trump has capitulated and basically given up, caved in and now the north koreans know they're going to have those nuclear weapons and donald trump is going to have the legacy of being the president of the united states that allowed north koreans to be able to deliver a nuclear weapon to seattle, to oklahoma city, to charlotte, new york. >> joe, in fairness to the president, the problem north korea has confounded four presidents and no one has come up with a better solution over two decades, but i don't think we're in a much better place now

than we were three or four years ago and the reality is that north korea is a nuclear state. and we can't really change that and no one can seem to find the levers to change that. what you see with the president is that he substitutes a description of his personal relationship with the chairman for a description of the country's relationship with north korea and the strategic implications. in his mind if he's hunky-dory with the president, everybody's hunky-dory. but the reality is north korea has what they want. the pressure on them to denuclearize is dissipating and we're accepting that the status quo that this rogue regime is a nuclear power. >> the ceo of the times up resigns because of allegations against her son. and more more than 16 steps are

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i think we're going to have to evaluate whether this is really the intention of an emergency. is it really an emergency if the president asked the congress to do it and they failed to? that's different than the way this law has been used in the past. >> so you could vote to try to block the president from moving forward with this emergency, you just haven't decided yet. is that fair? >> i think that's fair. >> republican senator roy blount discussing his concerns over the president's emergency declarations over the border wall. in the senate democrats need to pick up four republican votes to pass it there, but the president has promised to veto any attempt to block his order. neither chamber is expected to have the two-thirds support needed to override it. this is a bipartisan group of 58 former senior national security

officials, including ex-secretary of state madeleine albright, former defense secretary chuck haggel are issuing a joint statement that says, quote, there is no factual basis to back up the emergency proclamation. and the president just tweeted "we have a state of emergency at our southern border, border patrol, other military and local lbt a law enforcement are doing a great job but without the wall, which is now under major construction -- which it's not. >> no, it's not. everything in this tweet is a lie. absolutely everything in a tweet is a lie. he puts up border wall fencing that was done before by barack obama and other people that he's fixing up and claiming that he's building a new wall, he's claiming there's a crisis of crime at the border, claiming there's a crisis of immigrants illegally coming over the

border, it's at a 50-year low. as far as crime goes, we've said it time and again. the reality is trump administration numbers will show you more native-born americans commit crimes than people who immigrate to this country, either legally or illegally. he talks about gang members coming across. that's a lie. it's such a low rate. his own numbers show it's at like .003%. it's just the big lie. take everything that donald trump's saying about this and, again, don't be mad at me. don't rage against the facts. go next door, say hi to your neighbor, ask them how they're doing this morning, if they had a good weekend, what they thought about the oscars and then politely ask them if you

can borrow their google machine and just go on their google machine since you obviously don't have one, if you actually don't like what you're hearing right now and do the google machine and check all of these stats out and you will find out that actually our border is more secure than it has been in 50 years, since 1971, since i was eating snow cones in reading, mississippi and playing t-ball. i'm like 800 now so that was a long time ago. anyway, enough of that. enough of the big lie. mika, we've got some hippie from boulder, colorado on next, right? >> just after you framed all the lies, i don't understand how republicans -- i don't understand what they're doing because this president lies every day about this. how can they stand with him? >> it's just like mueller. it's the big lie. you keep saying the lie enough, people will believe you. again, friends, please don't get

upset at me because you know it will just ruin my morning. facts are stubborn things. ronald reagan used to like to say that a lot. just check out the facts. you don't believe me, just check out the facts. he's lying to you and has been lying to you every day. you deserve so much better. anyway, let's bring in right now the governor of colorado, democrat jared polis. >> governor of one of the 16 states currently suing the president over his national declaration. >> governor, you're from boulder, you're a democrat. i thought you were going to be one of those long-haired boulder liberals. you see actually quite put together and -- >> i often wish i had more hair. i'm at the age where i could use some long hair. >> you're just fine. >> you're working on that.

colorado is such a fascinating state for so many reasons. there's so many cross currents in the state right now. i'm curious, have you spoken with the two senators and do you know if the two senators for your great state are both going to be opposing this emergency declaration? >> i sure hope they both do. you know, in addition to trying to circumvent congress for something that's not a national emergency, where this money comes from is also reduces or military preparedness of upwards of 100 million is likely to come out of military preparedness in colorado, drained out of fort carson, the unit where we do vehicle maintenance and train our special forces will all lose funding for this nonemergency. >> eddie. >> i wanted to ask a question for a quick second. the administration made an announcement a global campaign

to ban the criminalization of homosexuality and ban homosexual people from serving in the military. what do you make of what the trump administration is trying to do here? >> prior administrations, reagan, clinton, trump, thank goodness neither party thinks homosexuality should be illegal. of course they still they gay people shouldn't be allowed to marry. >> susan page, what topic are you thinking about this morning? >> i would like to go back to your question about whether colorado senators are going to vote with you against the president's emergency declaration because of course you have one democrat, michael bennett, we would expect him to vote against the president but cory gardner is a republican, been pretty loyal to president

trump but i wonder if like roy blount, who has also been a pretty loyal republican to president trump, do you think this could be a breaking point for some republicans? that would be a real switch from the way republican members of congress have behaved toward president trump. what do you think? >> well, i hope there's some intellectual sincerity here because this is not an emergency, even by the president's own admission. he said could i do it now, i could do it later. this is simply losing a battle for funding you want. i get the president wants a wall. he didn't win that fight in congress. he doesn't get to go around congress and drain funding from our military construction for something congress agreed specifically not to fund. >> congressman, i want to ask you this question about the democratic party. it seems to me that democrats right now or at least people in the media are trying to gin up a false choice for the democratic

party going into 2020. it's either going to be progressive party or it's going to be a moderate party and it can't be both. can you talk about the fallacy in that sort of thinking and how that sort of thinking divides the party and hopes reelect donald trump? >> i think there's a lot of eagerness on the democratic party side to nominate a candidate who can win and i think everybody will coalesce behind that candidate. whether you're in the middle, a conservative democrat or a very progress of democrat, i think everybody will see the stark contrast between whoever the nominee is and the president of the united states. >> what do voters care most about going into 2020? >> i think it's really bread and butter issues. it's health care. there's been no progresson redur -- progress on reducing health care costs, saving education and schools. it's quality of life issues.

i think at the end of the day, the president won't be able to distract people from those bread and butter issues. >> governor polis, thank you so much. great to have you on the show this morning. >> and coming up, we'll talk to the former governor of virginia, terry mcauliffe. a lot has been going on about that. we'll be right back. that we'll be right back.

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as we continue to mark black history month, we want to highlight the work of novelest, essayist and play write james baldwin. last night edgie in regina kingd her first oscar win to baldwin who wrote the michael wolff the

movie "beal street" was based on. >> born in harlem in 1924, who died in france in december of 1987, james baldwin is perhaps within of america's most p prolif prolific, insightful. he insisted we look the ugliness of who we are right in the face. his book of essays was a searing account of the united states in a moment in which we felt like we were on the precipice and he prophesized the riots that were to come and he offered us love, love, love and grace would be our blessing.

so baldwin is an amazing figure. coming up, michael cohen's much anticipated before congress and the president meeting with knot korean dictator kim jong un. plus chicago mayor rahm emanuel joins the conversation. "morning joe" is coming right back. ght back at fidelity, we help you prepare for the unexpected with retirement planning and advice for what you need today and tomorrow. because when you're with fidelity, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward.

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since i'm a truck driver, sometimes i'm gone for, like, three weeks at a time. even if i'm 3,000 miles away, i'm connected with my boys. just pull on over, see my son's game, and i'm having a ball. (vo) there when it matters. get $300 off our best phones. only on verizon. welcome to fowler, indiana. one of the windiest places in america. and home to three bp wind farms. in the off-chance the wind ever stops blowing here... the lights can keep on shining. thanks to our natural gas. a smart partner to renewable energy. it's always ready when needed. or... not. at bp, we see possibilities everywhere. to help the world keep advancing. welcome back to "morning joe."

it is monday, february 25th. still with us, nick confessore, professor at princeton university, eddie glaude jr. >> eddie's a great professor but the worst "morning joe" guest ever. he fell asleep in the middle of the ceremony. >> and kasie hunt. and "usa today"'s susan page and kurt bardella. and white house reporter for "the washington pos

"the washington post." we're going to get to michael cohen and the vietnam summit. >> i want to first bring jennifer in really quickly. jennifer, we had a conversation last hour and we were talking about the mueller report, what we know and what we don't know. if you just know at what we know already, it's fairly shocking and even more shocking to hear some partisan republicans declare it a bust already without knowing what's in it. but based on what we do know already, tell me how much ground has already been covered? >> i think we know so much, joe. you know, the public has a tremendous thirst right now for truth and justice and they really need to look right in front of them at what robert mueller has already reported. and what we can see, especially ever since the stone indictment is that there is this chain connecting vladimir putin and

the russian government all the way to the trump campaign and possibly to donald trump himself. and that's laid out in pretty straight forward way if you follow the indictments beginning in february and the stone indictment. there are already 35 russian nationals, as well as three nt i -- entities that have been indicted for interfering with our connections and there are indictments laid out that get us right to roger stone. as well as the famous paragraph in the stone indictment that suggests that somebody, some high-level trump campaign official was directed from above, we don't know by whom, to get to roger stone and ask him to make connections with

wikileaks after that information came out for the first time in the public that the russians had hacked the dnc e-mails. so it's laid out, joe. >> kasie hunt, with all that as a backdrop, what are you hearing on the hill? what are democrats and republicans expecting from this report? >> well, joe, honestly i think they're gearing up for the next iteration of the fight. one thing i think we're overlooking here is that we may not even when the mueller report is finish feel like there's an end to the story. like we know what bob mueller has been doing all this time, even though the suspension has been building and building because the law only says that they have to send a very limited amount of information to congress. they have to tell congress that the investigation has wrapped up and the attorney general has to give them a report on whether he intervened and countermanded ay

of the requests. but, joe, that's it. that's all that they're required to do by law. and there's a lot of questions about how this department of justice and this attorney general, perhaps they'll go beyond that because they know about how political this is going to be, but you've also pointed out multiple times bob mueller is very by the book. so we may not got anything more than that. if we don't get more than that, democrats are going to want to to no more of what's in that support. that's could go on for months and months and up until the next election. >> one quote that applies here as well as any political situation i've ever seen, that is this is not the beginning of

the end but it may be the end of the beginning. which is to say robert mueller has done a lot of leg work for a lot of prosecutors, especially the southern district of new york. for those who believed the mueller report would be dropped, there would be a big implosion and then impeachment, he's given the facts, he's going to drop the report and then it will be up to other prosecutors like the southern district of new york to fin, his job and decide who gets prosecuted. >> well, joe, it's natural but also a mistake to view the mueller report as the exclamation point on this whole probe i think. we have already learned a lot from the indictments and subpoenas and action by other prosecutors in connection with this probe, but he is not a reporter, bob mueller. he's not running a book report. he's not obligated and in some cases he's probably pro hib theed from -- prohibited from

revealing all of the things that his probe turned up. so i think you're right that this is the beginning of a long, long skirmish becoming a battle in american politics. if up think the last two years has been crazy, i think the next year and a half is going to be absolutely insane because the president is going to be at stake, and the presidency is, and i think the difference is when mule aeller started, washin was in control of the president's party and he was the only central pole of control of this party. if they believe the mueller probe has wrapped up, it's go time in every way for house democrats. >> it also becomes far more diffused after the mueller

report drops. suddenly you can't attack robert mueller, you can't attack one person talking about 13 angry democrats or whatever he's talking. instead you'll have prosecutors in the southern district of new york and all across the country, perhaps, if they decide to pick up some of this information and run with it and start prosecutions. at that point it makes donald trump's big lie of just attacking the former fbi director and war hero, it's going to become much harder because it become more diffused, the investigations. >> first, this story. the chief executive of times -- time's up, resigned from her post due to sexual allegations

made against her son. lisa borders informed the board that sexual assault allegations had been made against her son in a private forum. the former president of the wnba said he smad the decision to resign within 24 hours. the board agreed. a move that time's up stated was the, quote, right decision for all parties involved. a woman had accused her 36-year-old son, described as a photographer, a life coach, of touching her inappropriately during a healing session at her home. he vehemently denied any

inappropriate touching. lease i don't spoke at know your value and she's really amazing. susan page, i challenge you to talk to me about this and let's think about the different challenges that come out of this story. did anything point to you as problematic in terms of lisa borders stepping down? >> i think lisa boreders is ere borders is a mother, and it is a big loss, i think for time's up because lisa borders came with such an interesting and powerful combination of abilities and history to this movement. she had been president of the

wnba, as you mentioned, she had been involved in politics as i think a deputy mayor, a vice mayor of atlanta, a corporate executive at coca-cola. so she brought a combination of skills that very much suited this emerging movement. it is hard to imagine that she could have stayed in that position given the situation with her family as distressing as that is. >> yeah. it is. i challenge it, though. i've been really thinking about this because the first part of what you said i feel like to pare it down, it's believe all women and stand by that message and devote your life's work to that message until it's your son. and i don't think that's actually conducive to me too or time's up in terms of both movements developing into

something solid that stays as a part of our society for decades to come. like wouldn't lisa border's story and the complexity that she is facing right now actually make her even more important and vital to the movement? >> well, of course she may continue -- we don't know what the future is going to hold. she may be a voice in sorting out things with the movement, even without being head of this organization. but there has been a very low tolerance for accusations. that's been one of the big developments of the me too movement, instead of automatically believing the man accused, it has to be not just an accusation, a police report has been filed. i think like this is a young movement and we're still sorting

out how it can work. >>s that why i think -- lisa borders, her life health insurance work is so important to this moment and i'm not sure why all of a sudden her job has to go when, quite frankly, due process is a big -- is a big debate as it pertains to me too and the concept of believing all women, and i wonder if harring women, respecting accusers, due process, is something that we move toward and we create a safe space for all womforward with tr stories but do we lose lisa borders because all of a sudden her story doesn't fit the narrative? >>s that a good point but in the end the decision is up to her.

the o she felt she was in an untenable situation. things do have a tendency to we may not even be at the end of the beginning of the me-too movement. these are big questions we're still working on and lisa borders may still have a role in helping us figure them out. >> i we saw last wook with squs smollett and not automatically throwing out due process but i think susan touched on it a couple times and you've repeated it before, and it will me this is where you think a lot of these issues, not just involving women, should go and that is

instead of believe all women or believe jussie smollett immediately, as susan said repeatedly, take the charges seriously, take them seriously, with a great deal of concern and then do what we were talking about last week on the "empire" star and that is investigate. we do our work. actually get the facts. like we're saying about robert mueller, what applies with robert mueller, just the facts. get the facts and then let authorities decide. >> well, i hope she stays in the conversation. i think that this is an area where it's been difficult to decipher between mob rule and due process and exactly what the best way forward for women who have important stories to tell,

who is been sexually harassed, sexually a boous, who need to be able to come forward and they will their story. haven't san diego that you can't say it's believe all women unless it your husband, or your boyfriend your dad. woo have to have a fair day in court. and we'll be following this story on time's up and lisa borders stepping down. it a very important bored -- this you and up kept talking about what a great leader she was and how important she was for the entire movement.

>> she valuable. >> so this is a great loss and let hope she can get reengaged at some point. kurt, let's move to some more news this week. within of the top headlines this week has to be michael cohen going to capitol hill, testifying the week after he started talking about real concerns with the trump family business, that he may be giving information about the trump family business, but he will be testifying in both open and closed session this week. tell us what to expect. >> well, in the closed sessions, they're going to be very widespread questions about touching on the mueller investigation, touching on russia and his interaction with donald trump and the type of things he had him do oufr the course of his relationship with him. wednesday the public hearing in front of the american people in congress at the oversight committee, the russia/mueller stuff is off books, but they

will get into the private finances, the can be con of interest, violating cam pan finance laws all of the focus right now is on mueller and what's in the report and russia and trump. there's going to be so many threads of investigation that they're going to pursue way beyond russia, way beyond what's in the mueller report. they're laying the groundwork on that for wednesday with cohen. >> let me ask you what the white house is concerned about. i know donald trump has an awful lot on himself mind in week. obviously a summit in vietnam but also he's going to. >> political bols going off this

wook with all the testimony. >> the white house realizes there's going to be an interesting split screen this week, meeting with kim jong un and come up with a deal for denuclearization. about here there as m, himself cam pan, himself family, and a lot of those investigations are areas where michael cohen has intimate knowledge and thes would is wondering what kinds of questions might get asked by democrats that might potentially embarrass the president and open him up to a digs tall. what is himself the

administration's biggest concern? is it michael cohen? is it the southern district of new york? it mueller? what do they seem the most unsettled by right now? >> it an interesting mix. i nip they're most unsettled by the fact they doesn't know what's out there. they doesn't know whether the prosecutors there are going to follow the dlng santd spd are they going to seal an indictment away from the president. this doesn't know whether or not they have other information. there are a lot of thanksgiving that have been redacted in the court filings that have come out. >> there's a lot of concern about the unknown. they have figured out that the president in some cases has not been honest with them and they've come out and told the blackthings that later on turned out not to be true. so they doesn't know what the president's hiding, what the southern district of new york is keeping under perhaps.

>> general ever, for some time we've had legal scholars come on the show and actually express concern saying that donald trump should be far more concerned and some have said stuff from the very beginning about the srp that there is concern not only to the presidency but also in fact to his safety. what do you think about that, his personal safety. >> i completely agree that the real threat both to donald trump and his son don jr. is what's happening in the southern district of new york. and what i'm listening for this wednesday at the hearing in addition to what the other guests have said is i'm listening to the questions congress is going to put to michael cohen about just who executive one and executive two

were, who helped facilitate those unlawful payments to stormy daniels and also to karen mcdougal. >> nick confessore. >> so often these hearings a little by cannit canned and sta. sometimes they've already agreed on the questions and answers. what is going to be different about the cohen hearings coming up? and my second question, we've also see debates on subpoenas on what is privileged and what isn't. i'm wondering if the house democrats need in terms of thor

authori authority. >> cummings put out a memo the other day indicating ten things they're going to hit on topic-wise. republicans vad they're going to try to make michael cohen look like the biggest dirt bag liar of all time and attack his character. what we haven't soon is michael cohen talk about his personal relationship with the president in this kind of setting. we've seen with the brett kavanaugh hearing and i think that's the power of the oversight committee hearing in that kind of setting. your questions about subpoenas, the oversight committee was created with the specific purpose and intent of being a check and balance of the executive branch. there as a reason why this committee as very little legislative power. it because it's needed to be that watch dog over legislative power. if mueller doesn't want the report released in full, there's going to be a fight over power.

oversight republicans sued the president over the authority, the same judge that was the judge in the roger stone case ruled for republicans in this case. that's going to be the precedent you're going to see come into play later, the very precedent that republicans fought for which they now oppose will be what will make it hard to get the report in full. >> thank you all. coming up, the form are governor of virginia, terry mcauliffe is standing by. we'll talk 2020 politics and the scandals rocking his home state. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. 'll be righ. i switched to liberty mutual

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terry mcauliffe. t.a.r.p. terry, nothing going on there. >> people are looking back on up like the good ol' days in virginia, he's like madisonian. >> patrick henry, thomas jefferson, terry mcauliffe, what more do we need to know about virginia? >> first of all, the governor gave this not very well received speech on the floor comparing his situation to lynchings. northam gave a bizarre president conference after his year book photos came out. what's going on in virginia? are you concerned like a lot of good democrats that this is going to help republicans regain a foothold in your state? >> sure, i'm very concerned. when i left office a year

agriculture, our party was in the best shape we had ever been in. we had been a red state when i ran for office, we were as blue as blue can be when i left. we need to get past the problems and situations we're dealing with today. but if you look at virginia, unemployment, 5.4 down to 3.of wh 3.of -- 3.6 when i left office. record investments in education, providing health care for thousands of pregnant women to get dental care for the first time ever. people will remember that but we've got to move on. the investigation, there is one in massachusetts. duke university has opened one as it relates to the lieutenant governor. we just got to deal with these issues and get back to governing.

that's what people actually elected them to do. >> you had said that the governor was a friend of yours and you like him very much but he needed to step down. you said the same thing about the lieutenant governor. the lieutenant governor needed to step donwn. doesn't look like either one of them are going to step done. would it be better to tell them not to leave the party? >> the ultimate issue comes down to what's good for virginia. i don't care if you're democrat or republican, you get elected to lead your state. what is if the the guest interests. the there was a ku klux klansman and blackface. pt next day he said it want his picture. what's in the best interests of the citizens? we had just won amazon, a huge

win, 25,000 new jobs and our state economically is in the best shape it's ever been in. the governor has decided he's going to stay so i want to work with ralph, we just got to move forward. we do have important elections coming up. things we tried to do forever we'll be able to actually get done, some real crime legislation, some gun legislation, get background checks done in virginia, we can move on things that we tried. >> you still believe, though, the lieutenant governor should step down. if you had your way, would ne both state police down? >> sure. i said what's in best interests of virginia, we're a booming, dynamic state. and i think if you're going to be embroiled and the press going to continue to write about this

every single day, we're not going to be able to move on with things about affordable peck health care be a. >> that's the seg wue i was looking for. >> up knyou know, i've been on show with you many times. >> you didn't bring any liquor this time. >> i did bring a bottle of wine with you for your newlywed, fire it up, a little music, a little wine. virginia's for lovers. >> brother, we go to sleep at 7:37

7:03 after seeing the introduction to "hardball." so where are you in your determination on whether you're going to run for president or not? and what's the time frame? when are you going to make your doo signatures? >> by march 31st, that's the time when i've reached out to folks all over the country, have talked to potential staff. i think the message has got to be look what we're able to do in virginia. went from red to blue. became the number one state state in mrk an elected official who has prabt kabul, actionable policies, they want a prove i don't know job creator, someone who has lowered the cost of clnl. >> case, someone who has invested in pre-k, created thousands of new opportunity for people to get health care. >> let's go down the checklist then. do you support the green new deal? >> parts of it i certainly do.

s a nonbinding resolution. >> would have signed on to the nonbinding resolution like kamala harris? >> i don't know. i'm not in the senate. it not up o me. this is important to the approximately that's why i through exit have order -- greenhouse gas emission. >> but since this seems to be a litmus toast -- >> but, joe, i don't -- >> hold on a second. the editorial board said, yes, we need to do some things but we don't think the green new deal is possible, is feasible. dianne feinstein famously believes the same way. is that the cam many you find

yourself in, dianne feinstein and "the washington post" or aoc and ed markey? >> i'd like to talk about things we can actually get done and things weep have actually done. that's the difference. all these litmus tests, this and that. listen, voters want someone who actually has big, bold ideas, will come in with a gigantic infrastructure plan, lifetime job training. i can tell you what we did in virginia. >> you would agree with the "washington post" editorial this morning? >> sure, i would. there are things in it that are great goals and p bbut are unre. i had to deal with flooding on roads, if it rand fined for two hours, it flooded. i had to deal with real

solutions. >> some of these people don't even have an office. it's where the rubber meets the road. >> joe, you were in congress and no offense to congress. we have to take action. we have to balance budgets, we're ceos. we don't get to sit and and chitty chat. we don't have fill i bibusters, have to lead, we have records. >> no offense taken. many people say on my gravestone should be the words "he sat around and chitty chat." it seems to me that democrats should be proud of what barack obama did. >> you bet. >> concerned about what donald trump did. and say, hey, when it comes to obamacare, let's mend it, not end it. are you in that camp or are you in the medicare for all camp? >> first of all, i supported president obama and what he had done.

what president trump should have done as chairman of the national governors association, trud y t work with us as governors. the goal should be every single american should have quality health care. not access. should have quality health care. how we get there, those are the plans we need to come up with. this is why all these people with these names and these litmus tests -- for example put out real plans are what you want to do, what you've actually done and not talked about it. i think that's what the discussion and i would hope the press would drive us to this thing. >> you're more of a mend it, doesn't end it when it comes to obamacare. let's fix this. we got something done, let's fix it and more forward. >> what's the most practical thing help americans get access to health care and make it cheaper for individuals and make it better quality care. right now it's dealing with what we have in front of us in

congress and making it to the pk level. i had 410,000 virginians sign up for the virginia market place who did not have coverage who now have it. that is a good thing as a governor to have a healthy workforce and healthy families. that's a good this evening. >> gotcha. the final thing i wanted to ask you about, north korea. if you were the commander in chief right now and you were going over to vietnam to talk to kim jong un, what would your -- what's america's best chance, would you bleaelieve as commane in chief, to denuclearize north korea? >> i would certainly have a command of what was going to happen. i think we gave a lot away and we did not get anything in return. nothing verifiable. how do we denuclearize.

i believe from the reports i believe that north korea has no plan of ever denuclearizing. so why is the president putting this world leader on this level? you get to come to the united states and meet with the president if you have actionable items. every day this president wakes up, his mood swings, you see the stories about farmers and record bankruptcies because of his foolish tariff policies he has going on. as governor of virginia, we soda lot of -- sold a lot to china. you nope where i come from, joe.

you wouldn't have to worry about my mood swings as president of america. >> also, you don't sit around and chitty chat. >> no, i don't chitty chat. >> thank for the wine. >> why don't you come back soon. we'll have you on. >> i love the show. when mika opened that bottle of run and the three of us did the shot, we took television to a new level. you only live once. let's go for it. right, mika? >> yes, sir. thank you for the wine. love you, too. still ahead, chicago police blasted empire actor jussie smollett last week accusing him of staging a hate crime because he was unhappy with his salary. we'll get chicago maybe rahm emanuel's reaction to the alleged incident next on "morning joe."

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and mexico will pay for the wall. 100%. and mexico's going to pay for

the wall. believe me. they're going to pay for the wall and they're going to enjoy it, okay. they're going to enjoy it. >> that was a new ad from chicago mayor rahm emanuel, taking on the president over his border wall. the mayor joins us now. tomorrow voters head to the polls to vote for his successor. they have plenty to choose from with 14 people on the ballot. a lot to talk to you about. i like that ad a lot. it's very effective. >> mr. mayor, can you talk about the importance of that ad, why it bei it's being released today and how some trump critics seem to be skipping over that main fact. that are fighting on all these other issues but overlook actually the first principle in his promise.

>> well, see, there's two things. one is he made a pledge about a wall. that's going to get all into the courts. but the second pledge had an emotional connection with the public was he was going to make mexico pay for it. he not even broke that pledge, he never actually considered it. if you want to win elections and put on the record, on the table, he broke the most fundamental pledge he made in that campaign as related to the wall, we weren't going to pay for it, mexico was. the other thing is just take the money. can you build a road from new york to l.a. and back with the same amount of money. for a guy who talked about building america's roads and bridges, he's taking the money we could have used for that and spending it on a wall. there as a whole set of issues. congress is bring up constitutional issues. i get that. that's legitimate. but there's a campaign pledge. he violated and broke it and when it comes to that, there's no give by the voters, especially trump voters.

>> nick confessore is with us, he has a question. >> i want you to put on your old hat as chairman of the house -- >> i'm hearing that like it's aa yamica. >> it seems we're seeing in your party, more of tea party desire on the left, challenge i incumbents, find the most liberal candidates that can win. i'm wondering if you think the party is headed in a direction that will make it a competitive majority party in two years or a year and a half. >> look, my attitude and focus is on donald trump. we we have one goal in 2020, to win not on the white house but to replace donald trump with what i

call a radical progressive or a progressive centrist that can move this country forward. i would not get into party purity. the candidates that won in districts across this country, districts we haven't held before, those are different districts. they're not about primaries. those are about general elections. i don't want to take any energy, any time, like the ad shows, focus on what is important. the most important thing we can do for this country is to replace donald trump in 2020. everything else you got to put blinders on. there are other things butch it's not about whether a candidate is 100% committed to the same policies that you won your primary with. the truth of the matter is there's a lot more that we share in common and they won in different types of districts and they're going to reflect that. if you think about it, both in the last election the democrats on the congressional level and the gubernatorial level put forward candidates who came from

a huge diversity of experiences and backgrounds, from the military to small businesses to people that worked in the legal profession and on the constitutional issues, just an incredible not how we're actual approaching our presidential. it's actually the flip of that. i think it's a whole set of other ways of looking at candidates. i think your experiences, you had a governor on earlier that is a governor and mayor like mike bloomberg, there are candidates from the u.s. senate. what wealth of background and experience that you bring in service to the country that legitimatize you for the candidacy. that to me is what is important. it's not about trying to get somebody in some part of the country where we never had a democrat for congress to sit and hit a litmus test for other candidates that won the primaries in the safer districts. and my view is 2020, one goal, the white house. >> okay.

so on that point, here's the problem. i think it may be a problem. you tell me because there's a lot of people as you said who have the back ground, who have the experience, who have the history in their lives that make them on paper appropriate to run for the presidency. name one of the democratic contenders, name one that you are positive can beat trump. 100% positive. name one. >> that's what -- no. that's what -- listen. here's what you have. >> that's the problem. >> you can't do that. >> no. actually, i disagree with the question. i'll say why. when ronald reagan -- this is what elections are about. when ronald reagan said i paid for that microphone. when bill clinton said the hits on me are nothing like the hits your kids are going to take if we don't turn the country around. throws pivotal moment that's reflected the character of the candidate. what i do know from analytics and you need a campaign to

reveal the candidate. what i do know from past history, jimmy carter, bill clinton and barack obama challenged the party and came outside of washington and won. hillary clinton, al gore, and john kerry were establishment inside the beltway. they lost. and what we want is somebody outside who is willing to challenge the party and, therefore, be a change agent to washington. and challenging the party is part of the legitimacy of there being a change agent to washington. we want donald trump to own all the craziness of washington that the rest of the country refers to as disneyland on the potomac. he has to be that person. we want a nominee who is ready to challenge the way business is being done in washington. >> yeah, mr. mayor, one of the people that is outside the party is bernie sanders. he's an independent. he bills himself a democratic socialist. that is opening an -- a lane for president trum tp to criticize

democrats. we heard it in the state of union. i asked candidates what is the difference between being a democrat and a democratic socialist? a lot of them can't answer the question. how you would tell them to answer that question? >> well, first of all, my view is here are the ideas that made america great. here are why my ideas are consistent. i do know and i think it's very clear from his state of the union, you're right. the president wants to paint the party as extreme. we have to -- given he's doing that, our goal is not to put our chin out to see if he can hit it. our goal is to offer ideas that are -- take problems that are real that, are solvable and the policies to address them and why they matter. the biggest issue facing is the middle class is under tremendous pressure for the basics. the saving for the retirement and not just be one health care illness away from bankruptcy. if can you address that pressure and the way you want to address it and understanding and feeling the pressure that the middle

class are under, that is the biggest way we can advance our goals. its no the an accident that the gubernatorial races won ais kro the country in different parts prague natick governors just pave the roads. get the basics of government done and understand what kit do to lift people up and hold on to the middle class dream. what is under attack in assault in america is the middle class dream and a generation that thinks the children's future is going to be less well off than theirs. it's fundamental to america. you understand that pain. and you're going to actually do something to solve it. >> mayor, you have received some serious push back from activists in chicago. folks who have been skeptical about the chicago police department, folks that have been skeptical about your relationship in terms of how you responding to the leads of the most vulnerable needs of those in chicago. what advice would you give to the people on the ballot now. how do you think you -- i mean this is interesting. a lot of folks wouldn't want to hear your advice much the but how you would think it would be

best to heal chicago and address the division that's define that city. we had an hour and 15 minutes every day. we had a full day kindergarten for every child and made community college free for children. that gives you an education which is your passport in the 21st century. to me, the way you make sure that you bring a city together or a country together is through the classroom and education. we've added in the chicago my tenure four additional years of educational time than a child had only ten years ago they did not have. and that, if you're going to succeed, is essential for every child. universal prek now happens in chicago. universal full day kindergarten naps chicago. full day school happens and community college is free if you get a b average for every child.

and 81% of the kids that are taking free community college in chicago are the first ones in the family to go to college. and if you're going to bribdge the divide of income and income inequality of pressure on a familiarcy providing free community college to make sure that everybody has a chance at success in the future. >> ram hm heima he manual, thanr being on. >> if you made a pledge, mexico is going to pay for it, hold donald trump accountable for that. >> yeah. >> all right. coming up, president trump's plan for a big fourth of july celebration in washington is inspiring all sorts of novel ideas. congressman tweets if, this goes well, i think we should follow it with a big party in times square the night before new year's day. plus the president likes to brag about ratings. but will his summit with kim

jong-un be able to compete with michael cohen's testimony before the house oversight committee? good question. and we'll talk to the state attorney of palm beach county about possible charges against patriots owner robert kraft who was allegedly caught in a sex sting in jup per, florida. "morning joe" is back in a moment. ning joe" is back in a moment >> what about the charges against bob kraft, he's a friend of yours. >> it's very sad. i was very surprised to see it. he's proclaimed his innocence totally. and i am very surprised. totally. and i am very surprised.

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[ ding ] show me just add magic. hey toothless. [ ding ] [ gurgling ] [ ding ] show me cartoons on netflix. [ ding ] [ cooing ] [ door closes ] [ cooing ] ♪ [ ding ] show me fish on youtube. say it and see it with the x1voice remote. from netflix, prime video,youtube and even movie tickets. just say get "dragon tickets". fnchts you had to see what we had to go through with the darken plane and no lights on whatsoever anywhere, pitch black, i never seen it. i've been in many airplanes. all types and shapes and sizes. i never seen anything like it. we're coming in and i know all of the things that were

surrounding us. so to have a concern, yeah, i had a concern. >> well, it took him nearly two years. as you see president trum dp visit a war zone this past christmas. as he points out, he is finally headed to vietnam in service of his country. a half century later. >> actually, a lot of people would prefer given that he's done nothing but talk about how much he loves one of most dangerous leaders on the planet that actually prefer this time, 40 years later, he actually stay way from vietnam. but i don't think anybody has a say there but the president. >> good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is monday, february 25th. with us we have political writer for "the new york times" and msnbc political analyst nick confasori. capitol hill correspond and host of "kasie d.c.," kasie hunt up early for us.

eddie colli eddie clyde jr. and susan page. and nbc news intelligence and national security reporter ken delany joins us. >> it is actually very interesting that eddie gloud is also "morning joe's" academy award -- >> a correspondent. what did you think of the winners last night? >> i think it was obviously a wonderful evening for the diversity in the country. we saw an oscar celebration in some ways of the beauty and majesty, i think, of difference across a number of different areas. "the green book" won and there is some controversy around "the green book" as a movie, as a film, particularly on black twitter. there were people not so happy but happy for ali and others. it was a good evening. although, i must admit, as a

correspondent for "morning joe," i did go to sleep. >> you were asleep? okay. i'm curious, did anyone he will els stay else stay up? >> i managed to catch the gaga-bradley cooper performance which i think may have been the height of the evening. i don't know if you happened to see it. but that personally was my favorite. that was the talk of my twitter feed for sure. i thought spike lee, you know, his reaction also to when "green book" won was quite something. >> yeah. >> you know, as a political analyst for "morning joe," i was also in bed at 10:45. i watched a lot of the twitter commentary and some of the clips including the song from "a star is born." i thought it was great just to see representation in the nominee this is year. and there was so much discussion

of oscars so white in the past and of women not being recognized. i was surprised by some of the winners aesthetically. i was personally extremely excited for "roma" for the whole time. good to see them get some best director. he's amazing ichlt s. i'll see anything he does. >> possibly alarming news for joe and mika in that you can have a show without a host and it goes okay. i'm not if you're worried about that. >> i love it. >> now you think that is bad news. that's actually -- sounds like pretty great news to us. >> come on. >> we love every second here. >> we love every second here. going to get up early every morning. we love it. but, yeah, so i guess, mika, nick confasori's review of "roma" is a little more positive than john's on twitter. it was about a five word

putdown. so you'll need to check that out. >> all right. i love "roma." i thought it was fantastic. i would recommend it to everyone. i thought it was beautifully done. you know, it recognized and lifted up people we don't often see at the center of film. >> lieic that. i like. that. >> president trump heads to vietnam for his second summit with kim jong-un, his former lawyer and fixer michael cohen will be starting a busy week on capitol hill. tomorrow cohenal pear befo will closed session. on wednesday cohen testifies before the house oversight committee in public. and thursday it's another closed session. this time with the house intelligence committee. you have new reporting on what kind of testimony we can expect from cohen. and also what else prosecutors have learned from him in recent weeks. tell us about it. >> sure. mika, so before the house and

senate intelligence committee he is expected to address his lies to the committees on the timing of the trump tower moscow deal. the fact it was going on much longer than he admitted in public. and much longer than donald trump ever acknowledged. and just to back up on that, this is a really important point. michael cohen and the plea documents exposed the fact that donald trump had lied during the campaign when he had no contacts, no dealings with russia because there was a meeting that michael cohen had with donald trump where they discussed approaching putin's government about the trump tower moscow deal. so you can expect he'll clear all that up with the house and the senate behind closed doors. but in public on wednesday, we can have an absolutely dramatic and riveting performance by michael cohen. while he's not allowed to talk about the russia investigation when he appears before the house oversight committee, he is going to talk about the hush money payments to women. and then there is an interesting list that the house oversight put out. the compliance with financial disclosure requirements.

the president's compliance with campaign finance laws. the president's compliance with tax laws. potential and actual conflicts of interest. the president's business practices. trump international hotel in washington, d.c. i'm told that cohen has been prepping for this for a long time. he knows that he's got credibility issues. so he's coming with documents. he's got very detailed sorted and what lanny davis described as chilling stories you about how the president conducts himself behind closed doors. we shouldn't estimate how seeing a trump insider that's been with donald trump for more than ten years telling these stories before the glare of the television lights. we should not estimate how powerful that will be this week. >> and also last week he talked about the family business, information about the family business. what are the biggest concerns there? and who is in his -- who possibly could legally be jeopardized by what he tells congress about the "family business"? >> this is not entirely clear,

joe. how much he can talk about things that go into the southern district investigation. we reported last week that he has provided new information to those prosecutors in manhattan about the trump family business and trump inaugural committee. two subject that's they're investigating. now it seems likely to me that some of the areas will be off-limits in the public testimony on wednesday. but nonetheless, that is a very dangerous investigation for donald trump. unlike the robert mueller investigation, southern district prosecutors have no restrictions. they can go anywhere and investigate anyone in the jurisdiction and look for any crime going back as long as the statute of limitations goes. and so, you know, the idea that they are poking around at donald trump's business dealings going back many years must be very disquieting for president trump. >> ken, one final question. we've been hearing now it seems like from the beginning of the mueller investigation that the mueller investigation is about to wrap up. we heard it was going to wrap up

into last week or maybe this week. then get the news on friday. no, it's not going to end up this week. stay tuned. do we know for certain that this thing is going to wrap up very soon? or is this just more of the same? >> it's not more of the same. of course we don't know anything for certain what it comes to robert mueller. but all signs are pointing to the notion that he is wrapping up. justice department officials and congressional officials have all told us this. it seems likely the reason they announced they were not going to receive the report, this week is because they didn't want to step on the president's trip overseas and the summit with the leader of north korea. but look, all signs are pointing to the idea mueller has reduced the number of attorneys in his office. he has brought in u.s. attorneys from washington, d.c., on the stone case from the beginning. that is the first time that happened in a robert mueller case. and we -- our reporting is he began reporting, writing his report back in august.

and so we believe the report will be delivered. now that doesn't mean that the investigation stops. obviously, there are other case that's are pending that he'll hand off to u.s. attorneys. and there may have been things he farmed thut we donout. in terms of the main question, we believe that robert mueller is close to delivering his final verdict on that. >> right. and you bring up a great point. the investigations go on. a lot of people are expecting robert muler robert mueller to deliver this death blow that will send donald trump tumbling to his knees and rolling out of washington. that's not who robert mueller is. he is conservative with a small c. he'll get the information. he'll pass it along to congress. also, ken, really quickly and then we'll get to the rest of our guests. but really quickly, the southern district of new york poses the greatest threat. and there are also other u.s. attorneys that he may pass other information along to. he's done a lot of leg work. and now this goes to prosecutors

possibly on the federal level, some state prosecutors can pick these up. these investigations do not stop. they actually move to places where actually u.s. attorneys can go after illegal wrongdoing. you're making two important points here, joe. first on russia, even if robert mueller doesn't deliver a massive conspiracy indictment on the russia question, that doesn't mean there wasn't wrongdoing. that doesn't mean there isn't a scandal. he may deliver a report that discusses potentially impeachable offenses. it may than the trump team were unwilling dupes of a russian intelligence operation. that is a scandal. that is very important for congress. in terms of criminal matters, you're right. there are other investigations into the inaugural committee, into the trump business dealings. michael cohen implicated the president in a campaign finance felony which for some reason we're not talking about every day which we would be in another presidency. so, yeah this is not over by a

long shot. >> i saw this incredible feature. ken, thank you so much. we really appreciate it. yeah. i saw this incredible twitter feed last night, kasie, that actually picked out all of the people that would have served under hillary clinton. and had they -- who is it from, eric? garret kraft. and he went step-by-step about what would have happened if all these hillary clinton people had been arrested, you know, convicted, or accused, et cetera, et cetera. if john podesta were about to serve life in prison. can you go down the list instead of paul manafort. it would have been extraordinarily ugly. what are republicans concerned

about? >> ken did a really good job of outlining what they can and cannot talk to him about. it's better to look through the broader lens of president trump's life before he even landed himself in the white house. they have toicontinued to do business. the russia collusion question is the big one for robert mueller to answer. but tsz going to be a little off the table in the hearings today. however, that does not mean this is going to be an incredible split screen moment for the perfect president who is going to be overseas. there is conflicting reports about how much president trump respected michael cohen. there is no doubt about how much

he knew and how much he was involved in and the kinds of things that he is going to be able to put forward. he really has shown that he has turned on the president of the united states. i think it's going to be incredibly dramatic on the hill this week. >> still ahead on "morning joe," judging by his twitter feed, president trump may spend some time in vietnam trying to sell kim jong-un on some beautiful property in north korea. mike pompeo denies the president's own words that are written in black and white. the latest on this week's summit next on "morning joe." oe." sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough

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millions depend on. call and tell congress. protect medicare patients. stop cuts to part d drug coverage. i found a companyeans to who believes in me.rt. they look out for me. and they help me grow my career. at comcast it's my job to constantly monitor our network, prevent problems, and to help provide the most reliable service possible. my name is tanya, i work at the network operations center for comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. do you think north korea remains there? >> that's not what the president said. >> he tweeted it. there is no longer a nuclear threat from north korea. >> what he said was that the

effort that's had been made in singapore, this commitment that chairman kim made have substantially taken down the risk to the american people. it's the mission of secretary of state and the president of the united states to keep american people secure. we're aiming to achieve that. >> okay. i mean that's just the direct quote. >> that was a direct quote. that's the thing. that's what donald trump does to people. >> yep. >> he makes people with previously good reputations and really makes them twist and usually it ends very badly. they get thrown under the bus. and there you have it. again, donald trump told us all -- i guess this is are you going to believe me or your lying eyes? donald trump told us all in tweets, mika, that we didn't have to worry about nuclear weapons from north korea anymore after the last summit. he said that was it we don't have to worry about missiles. we don't have to worry about nuclear weapons from north korea that he had taken care of it

completely. and there you have the secretary of state stumbling and fumbling trying to tell us all that the president didn not say somethin that he did. anyway -- >> it's -- he's not serious about some of the most important relationships, alliances or even adversaries that we need to be trying to work with moving forward. later this morning, president trump heads to vietnam for his second summit with north korea's kim jong-un. trump tweeted yesterday that he and kim both expects a continuation of the progress made at the first summit in singapore. denuclearization? yesterday the president also tweeted once again about what he claims is the economic potential of north korea, "chairman kim realizes perhaps better than anyone else that without nuclear weapons this country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the world

because of its location and people and him it has more potential for rapid growth than any other nation." here is how the president described his goals for the summit and his relationship with kim on friday. >> u.s. troops in discussion with your talks in the summit? >> no. that is not one of the thing onz tatible. >> what is on the table? >> you really want me to discuss that now? >> i do. >> everything is on the table. >> on north korea, your own administration officials say that kim jong-un has not decided whether he wants to denuclearize. how can you meet with him if he doesn't -- >> we have such a great relationship. and china helped us a lot with north korea and with kim jong-un since i got to office. if i were not elected president, you would have been in a war with north korea. we now have a situation where the relationships are good,

where there's been no nuclear testing, no missiles, no rockets. we got our hostages back. we have many of the remains back and coming back rapidly, the remains of our great warriors from many, many years ago and the families are so thrilled and so happy. we had a great relationship. the singapore was a tremendous success only the fake news likes to portray it otherwise. >> he, of course, misstated so many things there. and we also had a dead college student, brain dead college student sent back that they beat up and brutalized which is actually par for the course for this man that donald trump loves so much and says he has graa gr relationship. so when he starts talking like this it drives republicans on capitol hill absolutely crazy. you can take north korea, you can take syria, the attacks on nato. if there is any light between the president and republicans on the hill this usually seems to

be where it comes from. because you have a president who keeps talking about denuclearization and getting rid of missiles. and it's just not going to happen. >> that's right, joe. when you talk to foreign policy experts on this, you know, ahead of this second summit, they essentially say that the reason why it feels as though tensions with north korea may be lower than they were when the president came in office is simply because we changed what we're demanding of north korea. that we're no longer, you know, making these real demands to denuclearize. despite what the president says in all of the tweets, that's not actually what is playing out. so this is one area where, you know, i'm interested to see how republicans on the hill react to what happens in vietnam over the course of the next couple days. they were giving the president a little space before that first summit, a lot of them said, well, it berz th's better that

talking than not. there are not any concrete deliverables in the wake of the first summit. there are so many questions about, you know, why is the president deciding to do this now? i think you saw some reporters pressing him in the oval office there. so i do think that the scrutiny and the questions about what we're accomplishing at this summit are so much more important than they've ever been. >> coming up, a group of former national security officials say there is no factual basis for a border wall emergency. of course, you have to look at the president's twitter feed to know that facts are not really in play right now. that conversation is next on "morning joe." "morning joe." ron! soh really? going on at schwab. thank you clients? well jd power did just rank them highest in investor satisfaction with full service brokerage firms...again. and online equity trades are only $4.95...

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itreat them all as if, they are hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911 and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe.

pg&e wants you to plan ahead by mapping out escape routes and preparing a go kit, in case you need to get out quickly. for more information on how to be prepared and keep your family safe, visit pge.com/safety. i think we have to evaluate whether this is the intention of an emergency. is it really an emergency if, again, the president asks the congress to do it and they fail to? that's different than the way this law has been used in the past. >> so you could vote to try to block the president from moving forward with this emergency? you just haven't decided yet? is that fair? >> i think that's fair.

>> republican senator roy blunt expressing his concerns over the president's emergency declaration for his border wall. tomorrow the house is expected to vote on whether to overturn the emergency declaration. in the senate, democrats need to pick up four republican votes to pass it there. neither is expected to have the two third support needed to override it. this a bipartisan group of 58 officials including ex-secretary of state madeleine albright, former defense secretary chuck hagel are issuing a joint statement that says, "there is no factual basis to back up the emergency proclamation." and the president just tweeted. we have a state of emergency at our southern border. border patrol, our military and local law enforcement are doing a great job. but without the wall which is

now under major construction -- >> it's not. everything that -- why are we -- everything in this tweet is a lie. he puts up border wall fencing that is done by barack obama and other people he's fixing up and claiming that he's building a new wall. he's claiming there is a crisis of crime at the border. he's claiming there is a crisis of immigrants illegally coming over the border. it's at a 50-year low. and as far as crime goes, we've said it time and again, the reality is trump administration numbers will show you that actually more native born americans commit crimes than people who emigrate to this country legally or illegally. he talks about gang members coming across. that's a lie. it's such a low rate. his own numbers show it's at like .003%. i mean you can take every --

it's just the big lie. take everything that donald trump is saying about this. again, don't be mad at me. don't rage against the facts. go next door. ta say hi to your neighbor. ask them how they're doing this morning. if they had a good weekend. what they thought about the oscars. and then politely ask them if can you borrow the google machine. and just do the google machine. and check all of the stats out. you'll find out that actually our border is more secure than it has been in 50 years. since 1971. since i was eating snow cones in meridian, mississippi, and playing t ball.

i'm like 800 now. so that was a long time ago. anyway, enough of that. enough of the big lie. mika, we got some hippy from boulder, colorado on next, right? >> i don't understand how republicans -- i don't understand what they're doing. this president lies every day about this. >> yeah. >> how can they stand with him? >> it's like mueller. it's the big lie. you keep saying the lie enough, actually some people will believe you. and by the way, again, friends, don't -- please don't get upset at me. you know it will just ruin my morning. facts are stubborn things. ronald reagan liked to say that a lot. facts are stubborn things. just check out the facts, okay? if you don't believe me, just check out the facts. he's lying to you. he's been lying to you every day. you deserve so much better. >> coming up on "morning joe," much more on the solicitation

allegations against robert kraft, charges could be filed as soon as today. we'll talk to the state attorney handling the case. that's next on "morning joe." on. they're our parents...

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robert kraft expected to face two counts sow of soliciting prostitution. the warrant for his arrest coming to day. police have video of kraft in the act. he is part of an eight month police investigation into human trafficking. spokesman for kraft and the patriots released a statement saying "we cat kbegorically den that mr. kraft was involved in any illegal activity and we will not comment any further." we have a former assistant of the united states attorney in the southern district of new york, she is also a

distinguished fellow in criminal justice at pace school of law and msnbc legal analyst. also chief national correspondent from "the new york times" magazine. he is, of course, the author of "big game: the nfl in dangerous times." so dave, let's start with you as state attorney that is going to be handling this case. what can you tell us about the status of the prostitution case against robert kraft and also if found guilty what sort of time does effache face. >> the jupiter police department completed the investigation and sent the files to my osffice fo review. i suspect they'll be done with the review and make filing decision today or tomorrow. in florida, solicitation of prostitution is subject to a first degree misdemeanor, subject to up to one year in jail, also a $5,000 fine, 100 hours of community service and a mandatory class on prostitution and human trafficking.

>> talk about the human trafficking side of this. obviously, a big sting operation up and down the coastline. how expansive was the human trafficking operation? and how did you catch wind of it? >> this has been an on going effort. a lot of different agencies were involved. it's actually reaching beyond florida to new york and maybe internationally. you know, in cases like this, you have the possibility of individuals being lured into the united states under false pretenses with the hope of a better life and then getting stuck living and working in a sweatshop or a brothel having sex with strangers for money. and that's why conversations tl like this are so important. to shine the light on the evil of human trafficking. >> some might ask why waste your time on tracking down a bunch of lonely old men. this isn't just about that. it's about something much bigger, much barker and that is,

of course, the human trafficking side of things. let me ask you about a rumor that everybody heard, everybody's called me all weekend. and everybody's talking about it online. there is supposedly some rumor about some bigger fish out there, some bigger celebrity that is about to be caught, being announced. what can you tell us about that? >> well, it would be news to me. and there is not much i can say about rumors. especially the false ones. >> so it would be news to you, then safe to say probably we can probably not expect a bigger name. nick, you have any questions? >> yeah. for me, i want to ask you a question. i was sort of struck by the way the sheriff and this investigation talked about the women being forced into work in this massage parlor as victims and not themselves the people doing something wrong. and we often see this debate in

criminal justice circles about how the prostitution focuses on the women and not on the customers. are we seeing what the focus here on the men who are paying for the services of these trapped women, allegedly, a change in focus and understanding where the focus of criminal justice should be in these cases? >> absolutely. that's a great question. i think the answer is yes. i think that shift really largely has occurred certainly in the federal system which i'm more familiar w it seems like dave's office in florida, sthernl seem they certainly seem to have the right focus. this is not about prostitution. this about as dave said, human trafficking, sex slavery. i mean, it's not about women having sex with men. fwz men real s is about men really raping women essentially. they think because they're paying for it, you know, its somehow voluntary. but women like this would are brought here under false pretenses and essentially held

in captivity because they are passports are taken away. they can't communicate. i mean you hit the nail on head. he called it modern day slavery. i will say, you know, it's not dissimilar from another case that i know we might talk a little bit about, jeffrey upstein, he ran a sex trafficking ring. it wasn't women from foreign countries. it was young vulnerable girls here. and that is something that i saw very commonly in the federal system. it's happening in our backyard. everyone should really have their eyes open about this. and those girls are not prostitutes, they're victims. >> so let me ask you this. so far no charges yet. she is talking about the human trafficking. we've been talking about the human trafficking. so far no charges for anybody in -- on the human trafficking part of this sting? why is it so hard to identify, charge and prosecute human traffickers? >> silence is the enemy.

victims of human trafficking are subject to forced fraud or coercion. and they're scared to speak up. they're scared of the traffickers sometimes because they may come from other countries. they're scared of the police. because back in the home country, the police were part of the problem. and so there are resources available for these folks and that's why it's so important to get them to speak up. that's why awareness can go a long way. do you know at the federal level there is something called a t visa, that say special visa to allow victims of human trafficking to remain in this country. people don't know about it. that's why it's so important as mimi said that we have this conversation. >> mark, this is -- what is the nfl going to do about this? >> that's a great question. i mean, i think the nfl regardless of how this is adjudicated in the courts, the nfl has a very, very strong need and a strong desire to come down hard on an owner who is very high profile, especially on an issue involving women and this is an issue that the nfl has

struggled with going certainly back to the ray rice issue a few years ago. but the nfl unlike a political party, they need everyone. they need to appeal to women. they need young people. they need republicans. they need democrats. and they have been seen as very lacking on this front. robert kraft is a very influential owner and high profile owner and not beloved by the league and other owners. there is a lot of pressure to roger god he will roger goodell to make a statement. >> right, i want to follow up on that particular point. you saw dch we've seen the nfl embroiled in the question of athletes taking and players taking a knee as they protest the national anthem. and we know there is the moral clause, right, this triggers. it's no the just simply soliciting prostitution. this is about human trafficking. this is as ugly as can you get. do you think goodell will have

the courage or the owners will have the courage to strike the appearance of being morally consistent? >> yeah. i don't think it takes a lot of courage. i think it is something they actually want to do from a competitive standpoint. i don't think is a lot of good will from robert kraft. so it does get down to sort of that reductive way of looking at it. but, yeah. no, i mean it's a fairly easy calling. i doesn't really hurt the patriots. its not like they're hurting their competitive position on the field. and i think you could see, you know, a lot of pressure towards the commissioner to do something. and what is also interesting is that robert kraft hasn't done anything. hasn't said anything since then. he was reportedly at the oscars last night. there is a sort of nudge-nudge, wink-wink relationship to this. he's just sort of an old guy who, you know, was a little lonely and maybe paid for sex, who cares? but you're right. there is a much larger and much broader and sinister human trafficking and prostitution aspect to this. that a lot of people are

obviously focusing on because he is such a high profile, you know, alleged john in this case. >> so i want to ask you about jeffrey epstein and connect it back to this case. so here we have -- this is all alleged, obviously. but here we have a billionaire owner in the nfl and a wealthy financier in the epstein case. powerful, powerful men, well connected who are engaging in the crimes allegedly. you know, what does that say right now that these two men can now be finally get something justice or at least face the prospect of justice despite their connections and their power? >> sure. i think it's important to say first obviously that kraft and epstein are charged, alleged -- well, epstein is found guilty of very different crimes. kraft right now is not charged with running any sex trafficking ring although i think it's

obvious from the descriptions there that even if he was in this place only twice, he should have known that something was going on here beyond just, you know, his individual visits. but i think we are at a time -- rememb remember, there is also r. kelly and examples of powerful men now being held accountable in way that's they probably wouldn't have before. and i think that is -- we have to give credit to the me too movement. you know, i think when one woman speaks up or one girl particularly when you're talking about people from other countries or young women, people don't believe them. you need to have a chorus of voices. i think that's what we're seeing here. you need to have law enforcement that really takes this seriously. i mean, that's the tragedy of the epstein case to me as a former prosecutor. and i'm sure to someone like dave who seems to take this very seriously. the justice system here did not do credit to those victims.

they really, you know, sold this case out cheap as far as i can tell. they cut the victims out of the process. i mean it's just shameful. i think what we're seeing now is people willing to listen and give the benefit of the doubt to victims more and you're seeing change in culture and law enforcement that really does take these crimes very seriously as they should. >> so, dave, we saw a picture of robert kraft with donald trump. that reminds me, obviously, we're in the middle of a national emergency is declared by the president of the united states. and part of the justification of the stories about human trafficking across the border. he goes into explicit detail of women being bound and the back of cars. what is actually the truth as a prosecutor? what can you tell us about the wall? would it slow down human trafficking? >> i think the wall would have main mall impaa minimal impact.

most victims are actually americans. they are american citizens or legal residents. most come through ports of entry and other legal that women areg kidnapped at the border, thrown into a car with duct tape and rope is actually more hollywood. and if you are focusing on the rope or duct tape, you will miss signs in plain sight like the woman at your nail salon who is not allowed to handle the cash, who is sleeping in the back room and afraid to look at you in the eye. or the high school student with a new older boyfriend who buys her extensive jewelry and has her name tattooed on her eyelids. that is the reality. >> all right. thank you both so much. we really appreciate it. and mark, thank you as well. we will be reading your new piece from "new york times" magazine out this morning entitled how lindsey graham went

from trump skeptic to trump sidekick. thanks so much. coming up next, vladimir putin made a big mark on global politics but his influence campaign was under way a long time before that. so what is driving the russian strong man? our next guest dives into that straight ahead. sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested.

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noti . now let's bring in director and professor of government and foreign service at georgetown university. she is also author of the new book sbimgtsbilgts entitled put. thanks for being with us, angela. let me start with the question of just trying to figure out why vladimir putin is coming from, what his motivations are. how much of vladimir putin's world view and by extension russia's world view is influenced by its perceived past failures and its entire to return to its rightful place as a global super power? >> that is what it is all about, joe. putin's main goal is to get the rest of the world to treat russia as if it were the soviet union, a great power to be respected and feared and whose interests are as legitimate as those of the west. and for him, the collapse of the soviet union was not only political failure, but a personal failure since he was a

kgb agent who then became unemployed. so it is all about restoring russia to what he considers is s rightful place in the world. >> many foreign policy experts have talked about over the past decade russian foreign policy that is fueled primarily by resentment. is that still true in 2019? >> i think a lot of that resentment is still there and you can hear that, you can see that when putin speaks. but it is also a newfound sense of confidence. you look at russia in the middle east, it has now become the main power broker there as the u.s. retreats. so the resentment against the west is there, but russia now feels that it is back on the stage and it will continue to want to be there. >> so angela at the moment it sometimes feels that we are living in putin's world. we're living in a world where our kind of western alliances are frayed, where he has influence europe through disinformation campaigns, but

what happens next if the u.s. is led by a different kind of president who restores his alliances, takes more active measures against -- russian measures against us. what is his game plan for if things go back to the way they were? >> i think he is calculating at the moment that they won't goat ba -- go back to the way they were for a long time. he sees an alliance that is very seriously frayed. i was at the munich security conference and the tensions between the u.s. and europeans were there. the russian foreign minister was saying we are the great multilat allist. i think when they look at the west, they see a system that is breaking down and they believe that they will create something new maybe with the chinese. >> we talk a lot about what the president sees in russia, but from the opposite perspective, how does putin view donald trump? i mean what is it about him that allows putin to take such advantage? >> that is the $64,000 ruble

question. what putin saw in donald trump is a man for whatever reasons we can speculate about wanted to have a better relationship with russia, promised that sanctions would be lifted, even hinted that we would recognize that ukraine really is in russia's sphere of influence. you can yes whether russians are having broining buyer's remorse they have tougher policies. but putin never criticize s donald trump and i think he hopes that trump will prevail and there will be a better relationship from russia's point of view. >> professor, i've always said and please correct me if i'm wrong that the only russia that is more dangerous than a russia being run by vladimir putin is a russia not being run by vladimir putin. do you agree? and if you do not agree, then please tell me what follows

vladimir putin? >> well, again, we don't know. so right now we have an authoritarian russia that looks reasonably stable. but we this the russia business realize it is very dangerous to predict because we always get surprised. after putin you could have another putin clone, someone like that. but you could also have its true a more nationalistic and aggressive group of people come to power depending on how putin leaves office. so, you know, you can hope that you might also have a more democratic and more western leaning russia, but that didn't seem very likely at the moment. >> and you tell this wonderful story about the deliberate strategy of putin. what does it mean for that deliberateness to run up against what seems to be the randomness of what we're currently experiencing with donald trump? >> so the russians realize now that donald trump is very unpredictable and they don't like that.

they didn't like hillary clinton, but she was predictable and i think they have come more to realize that the unpredictability isn't necessarily in their favor because trump is so hamstrung by all the investigations. so they probably would prefer a more predictable trump and they have to see what happens with the mueller inquiry. >> the new book, putin's world, russia against the west and with the rest. professor, thank you so much for being with us. we hope you will come back. that does it for us. and stefphanie ruhle is on jury duty this morning. the waiting game as a top house democrat sends a warning to the new attorney general about releasing the report. >> we will obviously subpoena the report. we will bring bob mueller into testify before congress. we will take t