around that fire that has no power. we'll keep our eye on that developing story. and that's going to wrap up the hour for me. ali velshi will be back in this chair tomorrow at 3:00 eastern. you can always catch me on twitter @chrisjansing. thank you for watching. "deadline: white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. there are no graceful exits from trump world. this one may take the cake for combining the three central pillars of a trumpian exit. a presidential lie, a presidential tweet and a public relations debacle of epic proportions for donald trump. news that he'd invited the terrorist group that supported the 9/11 terrorists to camp david during the week of the 9/11 anniversary. the news breaking today that john bolton, donald trump's third national security adviser, is out. donald trump claiming that he ousted bolton over policy disagreements, while bolton maintains that he offered to

resign last night and turned in that resignation this morning. whatever you thought of bolton's foreign policy views, he was largely seen as a check on some of the president's most reckless and childlike impulses. things like sucking up to kim jong-un and staging a summit with the taliban at camp david. his abrupt resignation came as a surprise to the west week. "the new york times" reporting, "the national security adviser's dismissal came so abruptly that it was announced bare lly an ho after the white house scheduled a briefing for 1:30 where mr. bolton was supposed to appear alongside mike pompeo and treasury secretary mnuchin. mr. bolton is reported to have now left the white house." trump fired off a tweet indicating there were disagreements about policy. we've learned one of those was the kumbaya with the taliban which bolton reportedly described as, "getting in bed with killers in american blood." he canceled the trip into the dmz into north korea, trump is accompanied by e vunk kaun ivan.

in mattis' case, it was a disagreement about syria policy. trump has seen the departure of his dni dan coats after disagreements about north korea and russia among other foreign policy flashpoints. mat mattis and coats plus former secretary of state rex tillerson, homeland security chief kirstjen nielsen, h.r. mcmaster, and now bolton round out a growing list of top security officials ousted over clashes with the president. the breaking news is where we start today with some of our favorite reporters and friends. with us from the "washington post," white house reporter ashley parker. and national political reporter robert costa. nbc news correspondent carol lee. plus former assistant director for counterintelligence at the fbi, frank figliuzzi. on set, former deputy white house chief of staff for president obama, jim messina. robert costa, i'm going to start with you because it has felt like taffy watching a little bit of pull at the highest levels of

this white house and this cabinet over this meeting with the taliban. take me inside what at different times this week has seemed like maybe pence aligning himself with bolton who sounds like he was aghast based on that quote about what the taliban leaders would represent at camp david. terrorist swathed in american blood. no surprise that after a big public relations mess the person who disagreed with donald trump publicly is out. >> and you also have someone who never really built a rapport with president trump on a personal level and had real policy disagreements. i've been in touch with ambassador bolton all day and with his allies and picture painted by him and people in his inner circle, it reached a breaking point, culmination of frustrations with the president's position not only on afghanistan but on north korea, his approach to foreign policy in general and the taliban meeting, the proposal to come at camp david, it really broke with

the mainstream hawkish view of ambassador bolton. in a conversation monday in the oval office, it came to a head and he offered his resignation and the president didn't really say i want you to say, to the ambassador spent monday night thinking it through and ultimately submitted his resignation on tuesday. >> frank figliuzzi, i had a conversation with a former intelligence official who said only donald trump could make you miss john bolton's presence. talk about -- these are policy disagreements in the classic sense that we describe policy disagreements among a president and his cabinet. this is donald trump watching tv sort of articulating the urge to be closer to write love letters to kim jong-un, a murderous dictator. this is donald trump with such a cluelessness about the role, perhaps, that the taliban played that he saw nothing wrong with hosting them at camp david two days before the anniversary of 9/11. just talk about what it's mattis leaving over syria, bolton leaving after the taliban divide, dni coats leaving after

donald trump suggested all the intel chiefs go back to school. what must it be like for, again, wherever they fall on the ideological spectrum, professionals for someone to work wifor someone like trump? >> based on the departures we've seen as you rattled off in your intro, this does seem to be far less about philosophy and geopolitical strategy and far more about the president's unwillingness to accept the truth and hard, raw, intel and data. it seems like those who are in the know, those who present him with intelligence, putin's poisoning people, north korea is advancing its nuclear program, the crown prince of saudi arabia was directly involved in the murder of a journalist. those people can't last in an administration where the truth runs counter to the narrative the president is trying to spin. he simply doesn't want to hear it. so agree/disagree with bolton,

haw hawk/dove, that's really not what appears to be at the heart of this. and my concern looking at this geopolitically is we are not projecting strength, stability, to our allies, to our adversaries and instead we're projecting chaos and uncertainty. that makes us less of a leader in this world and far more vulnerable to our adversaries. >> carol lee, you've got some reporting that sort of puts us back into donald trump, the reality star, he was talking to the season 2 national security adviser about replacing the season 3 national security adviser. of course, the season 1 national security adviser was in court today learning that his criminal sentencing would be later in december. talk about what you're reporting exclusively about donald trump's lifeline to the man he fired to install bolton. >> sure. what we learned, nicolle, is that president trump started reaching out to his former national security adviser h.r. mcmaster last fall about six

months after bolton had come into the white house, by the way, came into the white house with much fanfare, there was a lot of excitement. everyone called him trump's new it boy, his new favorite. mcmaster was unceremoniously fired as well, announced on twitter, caught off guard. we learned that as trump soured on bolton, questioned whether or not he should have confidence in him, he's called mcmaster from time to time, told him he misses him, he's told people around him that he misses mcmaster and he's asked at times for, you know, policy -- like, advice, you know, who should i name as my next defense secretary. one source told us was particularly about iran, which you know is bolton's main issue. it was sort of prestaged what we see here which is that bolton is now out, but it's also typical of a president who tends to sour on somebody and then go and reach out to them afterwards when he's souring on their

replacement. remember, we saw this with his former chief of staff, reince priebus then, you know, john kelly started telling him things he needed to do that he didn't want to do so he called reince priebus. it's kind of a familiar pattern but one that certainly was unexpected. >> carol, you've also got some reporting and there's sort of something in the water about the coverage of the scuttled meeting with the taliban, what donald trump expected was for everyone to fall in line, that the vice president when he put out that tweet saying, i never disagreed with donald trump, was what he expected from everybody. he didn't get that from john bolton. >> that's right. and, you know, and he hasn't and he wouldn't. that's just not how john bolton operates, but, you know, if you take all the culmination of tensions, of policy differences that over the last however many months it's been since bolton came in, i think '17, you know, that -- if you take that and then what happened over the weekend where, you know, there was reporting including by us at

nbc about pence agreeing with bolton and expressing concerns about this taliban meeting, pence is somebody who likes to give his counsel to the president and keep that very private. there were frustrations that fueled frustrations and tensions between bolton's team and pence's team. and the president was irritated that, you know, pence went out and said, i didn't -- i agree with the president, i fully support this, and bolton wouldn't do that. you know -- >> pence didn't agree -- didn't -- what is pence's -- what is the official position of mike pence on meeting with the terrorists at camp david? >> well, what we were told is that mike pence expressed concerns about that meeting, which, you know, if you want to dissect that, that would suggest that he's certainly not for a meeting with the taliban at camp david, but i think the difference is, you know, john bolton has done this on a number of issues, pence will get onboard. john bolton will just stick to his guns and try to scuttle a policy. and that's where the frustrations mounted both by the

president and other people around him with john bolton. >> ashley parker, i was for it before i was against it, i know how that movie ends. take me inside what is really going on in terms of the president casting about -- i'm told he's bored, that he doesn't enjoy the company of any of the, i think they're mostly men other than kellyanne conway who advised him at the highest levels. mick mulvaney, it's my understanding, has his own national security adviser, other than advising trump on national security which they didn't agree on, it's not clear what hole is left open by today's departure. what's the search look like for the next, the fourth, john bolton? >> that's a great question. to go inside a little, the president just in general, this is putting aside the news, our understanding is he's been very frustrated, very unhappy with the way the past couple of months, frankly, have shaped up. there have been a lot of departures for a number of reasons of people quite close to

him, people who understood him, knew how to manage his moods and his whims to the extent that they can be managed and he is, again, he is a bit frustrated. a bit unhappy. he's taking it out on his remaining staff. i just want to go back to bolton in particular, quickly, and make one point, everyone pointed out correctly that there were really fundamental disagreements between the two men. the president doesn't have that much when it comes to a core ideolo ideology, but one of those cores is being generally noninterventionalist and that's the exact opposite of who john bolton is and has been for decades, but people said the president doesn't actually mind disagreements. he actually sort of likes gladiator fights among his aides. the real sin with bolton was once there was a disagreement, unlike pence, once the president made a decision, bolton did not get onboard. he still kept on making his hawkish points privately in meetings then there was a suspicion within the white house that he was leaking flattering

stories to himself in the press. when he lost, he would leak what his position was and how he tried to stop the decision he didn't agree with and even there was frustration that when he won an internal fight, instead of giving the president the credit, he would leak that as well. that seemed to be the discussion in the white house, that that was more the sin than the actual core of the foreign policy disagreements although, of course, that didn't help, either. >> that would make sense, jim, because anyone who watches as much fox news as donald trump does knows exactly where john bolton comes down on love letters with kim jong-un, on footsie with putin, on iran. i mean, he hired someone who was on a network he watches like an addict. >> yeah. it's crazy. season 3 of the trump show is the craziest year of all. >> it sure is. >> it really is nuts. on the same hour he's firing his third national security adviser, his first one is in federal court getting his -- >> you couldn't make it up. >> you couldn't make it up. that's why the programming is so exciting this year, right? it really is -- the bad part is this is the world affairs

crumbling around us, right? and the other piece of bad news is, on this fight, john bolton was right. like, you know, you and i have served in the white house. there's no normal person who thought that bringing the taliban on the week of 9/11 to camp david, the place where churchill and roosevelt negotiated world war ii, the place where crushev and eisenhower met. bolton stood up to him and told h him he's wrong, 48 hours he's gone. if you oppose this president, try to give him rational advice, i'm no john bolton apologist. i disagree with him on most issues. this, he's right, what did he get for it? >> got fired. >> got fired embarrassingly and the president trashed him on his way out. >> robert costa, it is such a good and we all, myself, included, chase the shiny objects of the drama of the

moment, but he was right, and i have talked to a couple folks in and close to this national security team, i haven't found any defenders of the camp david summit with the taliban. what's going on with mike pompeo? i remember him when he was in congress, he was almost an ideological dna twin to john bolton. what's changed with -- i mean, what's going on with mike pompeo? >> he's winning the internal battle inside of this administration for power. and the move today, the resignation of ambassador bolton is widely seen inside the white house as an assertion of secretary pompeo, of his grip on where this administration's going on foreign policy. he has a defense secretary who's very new. still getting ahold of the job. you have a national security adviser who's now gone and a strong personality who's out the door. and you have a secretary of state who has a real hand, not only in diplomacy but in military policy, global strategy, and who has this rapport going back to his days

at cia when he gave the president the daily brief. and so everyone inside this white house said, pay attention to that smile by secretary pompeo today in the white house briefing room. that was a man who was in control. >> former cia director john brennan now senior national security analyst for nbc news, joins us now by phone. director brennan, i just want your thoughts about speaker pelosi's statement today. she put out this comment vee ia tweet. "john bolton's sudden departure is the symbol of the disarray that unnerved our allies since day one of the trump administration. key to ensuring america's national security. " i am sure that nancy pelosi and john bolton have vast canyons of disagreement along the lines of jim messina's. even nancy pelosi today warning of disarray, chaos, unnerved allies from his sudden and abrupt departure by tweet. do you share those concerns?

>> well, absolutely. i think our foreign partners as well as adversaries have already detected a significant amount of disarray and chaos in the national security establishment. this just is one more example of just how serious this issue is. and so, you know, there are a number of things that, you know, i think about when i see bolton being fired. one is, not really all that surprising. there is philosophical and ideological differences between trump and bolton. bolton is a hardline interventionist. he's not somebody who wanted to pursue any kind of diplomatic initiatives certainly not with the taliban. they've gone on this long, but i think it came to a point where those differences really were going to just be very counterproductive to what trump wants to accomplish and bolton is not a person who's going to be political obsicious to trump. the question was raised why is pompeo willing to go along with this? he's a political animal and wants to make sure he's able to -- secondly, bolton was

somebody who was a very self-centered national security advis adviser. he is not somebody who really, you know, leveraged the interagency the way a national security adviser should do it. he thought he was the smartest person around and was very assertive and very singular in his views. so it's not as though, you know, we're losing a national security adviser who really was trying to bring together an interagency in a harmonious way to give us strong national security policy. third, i just wonder how much of this was the -- the timing of it is designed by trump to be distraction from all the other problems he has. >> uh-huh. >> you know, the taliban debacle with camp davis, the air force debacle as far as scotland, refueling stops. russia and the cia. all these things. what does trump essentially do? he throws out another golden nugget, going to cause the media, as we are right now, looking at something other than those things that really were, i think, further tarnishing trump's already damaged reputation. >> i think you're right. it's taking a toll.

donald trump is at 38% in new polls that are out today. and one of the things that preceded that new low point, i think, in his polling is this week-long assault on the weather drawing with a pen around a map, and i wonder if you take something so stupid, so idiotic, taking a pen and altering a weather forecast, and you lay it into what must be his approach behind closed doors to the most delicate and kons quempconseques of matters, diplomacy or not, with north korea, questions about what to do in iran, an incredibly volatile part of the world. what do you think that looks like? someone willing to take a pen to a map that we can all see. what is happening behind closed doors with the national security team? >> well, i think it, again, raises serious questions around the globe as well as in the u.s. government about what else is mr. trump being dishonest about. what else is he trying to

manipulate and exploit? what else is he trying to misrepresent in order to, you know, further advance his own personal objectives and agenda? it must be very demoralizing and i'm very glad that the director of the national weather service, you know, has stood up. we need more individuals like that who are going to say, enough, i'm not going to allow someone like a mr. trump to trample upon the institutions and the integrity and the work and professionalism of these men and women who do their work every day. and so i'm still surprised that 38% of the american public support him, but i would think that, you know, as you pointed out, the alabama debacle along with all the others certainly, i hope, is going to really reveal and to show just how dishonest, how unfit, and how basically incompetent mr. trump has been in managing both the affairs of states, internationally, as well as our domestic affairs. >> my last question for you is about corruption.

there's a flurry of stories in this post-labor day short time that we've been back about questions whether the air force made decisions that enriched donald trump's properties. new reporting about wilbur ross, the commerce secretary, essentially issuing an edict that no one should contradict trump on his erroneous forecast for alabama days after that was the direction of the storm. i just want to ask you more broadly about corruption. do you think that this sort of signals of corruption, which jim comey basically disclosed in his book, "a higher loyalty," that his first meeting with team trump felt like sort of walking into mob-like environment. do you think that this is what heads of state around the world are seeing coming from the american presidency? >> absolutely. and they see mr. trump taking a page out of the playbook of authoritarian leaders around the world in terms of nepotism, in terms of corruption, in terms of misrepresenting the facts. that's what dictators and despots have done is to

manipulate the perceptions of their public and so, again, mr. trump is doing everything possible to burnish his image and continue to play to that core constituency, his base. and by doing that, he is corrupting the u.s. government's reputation around the world which i think is very, very damaging and i think is going to have some lasting affects because people looking at if the president of the united states can do these things and get away with it for so long, what's to say that the next administrations are not going to have similar traits that cause concern to so many? >> former director brennan, thank you so much for spending some time with us. we're always grateful to have you. frank figliuzzi, i'm coming right back to you. i mean, we have spent so much time talking about these questions that have hung over this administration about wlorpt the president was a -- i believe it was director brennan's testimony that put some of this

in motion, whether he was wittingly or unwittingly aided by russians. it would seem that this question about corruption is sort of the post-mueller cloud hanging over this presidency and so far, it looks like it's doing a lot more damage to his poll numbers. there have been, as i said, a flurry of stories about potential corruption, whether it's lobbyists and lawmakers at the trump hotel every tuesday as "the new york times" has reported, whether it's sort of a corrupt sense hanging over any sort of interactions with the ukrainians. whether it's urging our allies to allow putin back into the g8 and whether it's the stories i asked director brennan about about whether the air force is enriching trump properties wittingly or unwittingly in scotland. what do you make of sort of the second-phase cloud over this administration, a question of corruption at the highest levels? >> yeah, you're on to something here, and i'm going to harken

back to a major public corruption case i was supervising if a major american city. against a high ranking official who was loved by his base, his constituency. although he was unorthodox, he got things done for people who voted for him. then as the case developed and people realized he was getting things done to line his own pocket, the base started breaking away from him and he eventually went down in flames. i think the american people, once they get a whiff of the way in which he's lining -- this president is lining his own pockets, they start to get a bad taste in their mouth. americans don't go for that. they go for a lot of things, guy who gets things done, he's unrt d unorthodox, he's challenging the establishment. as they start to learn that he might be all about lining his pockets, americans don't do for that and i think this is going to bear fruit. >> ashley parker, let me give you the last word on this 38%.

these low poll numbers, bad headlines, all of them trump's triggers. >> yeah, absolutely. and, again, that's why you see there's sort of two lines of reporting. there's what you're hearing behind the scenes but a lot of it is out in public. and you can see what triggers the president if you watch his behavior. if he fires a top-ranking official by tweet. if he lashes out at poll numbers. if he lashes out at the media. if he is reactive, and as much as the president will say that everything is fine, that he's had a great summer, if you just watch, frankly, for his public tells, you can see that he is frustrated and you can see that he is being triggered and the thing that triggers him most of all, of course, are polls. >> my thanks. we're going to keep an eye on all of your twitter feeds. if you break anything in the next 35 minutes, please rush back to your cameras and come back, spend some more time with us. ashley parker, robert costa, carol lee, thank you so much. after the break, with the

presidential election fast approaching, the first since russia's assault on our democracy, why the u.s. may now be flying blind as to what's happening behind closed doors at the kremlin. more on that broadening scandal at one of donald trump's properties raising new questions about conflicts of interest and how far these signals of corruption extend into our government. stay with us.

the united states could effectively be flying blind in 20 when it comes to russian efforts to interfere in our democracy. the cia informant who provided intel to the u.s. from the highest levels of the russian government was extracted for his

own safety. "the new york times" reports on the dramatic move. "the move brought an end to the career of one of the cia's most important sources. it also effectively blinded american intelligence officials to the view from inside russia as they sought clues about kremlin interpeerference in the8 midterm elections and next year's presidential contest." a scary thought considering the broad consensus from inside and out of trump's government about ongoing russian attacks on our elections. >> we acknowledge the threat. it is real. it is continuing. and we're doing everything we can to have a legitimate election that the american people can have trust in. however, they stepped up their game big-time in 2016. we have not seen that kind of robust effort from them so far. >> the russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections through -- >> is it fair to say -- >> -- foreign influence, in particular. >> -- everything we've done

against russia has not deterred them enough? all the sanctions, all the talk. they're still at it. >> well, my view is until they stop, they haven't been deterred enough. >> and they're still doing it. >> yes. >> in your investigation, did you think that this was a single attempt by the russians to get involved in our election, or did you find evidence to suggest they'll try to do this again? >> oh, it wasn't a single attempt. they're doing it as we sit here and they expect to do it during the next campaign. >> and to understand just how essential this asset was, the "times" adds this. "the moscow informant was instrumental to the cia's most explosive conclusion about russia's interference campaign. that vladimir putin ordered and orchestrated it, himself. as the american government's best insight into the thinking and orders from mr. putin, the source was also key to the cia's assessment that he affirmatively favored donald j. trump's election and personally ordered the hacking of the dnc." the only person who appears unconvinced at this point about

the russian threat is the president who joked with putin about future u.s. elections. >> mr. president, will you tell russia -- >> don't meddle in the election. >> one of the reporters with the byline on that extraordinary story joins our conversation now, from "the new york times" national security reporter julian barnes. here with us at the table, tim o buyon, executive editor for "bloomberg opinion." julian, it would appear that vladimir putin has also corroborated this asset's assessment by saying, when of coursed i bloelieve by an amerin reporter, who he favored, he said donald trump. this was an incredible and valuable cia asset? >> that's right. it has been very important to that central conclusion. of course, the intelligence community has multiple sources. they don't have a high-confidence assessment or conclusion without multiple sources, but it is hard to get a

the thinking and strategies of putin, and anybody who has, you know, access to that is sometimes in meetings with putin, sometimes sees putin's work product. that's very valuable to the cia. to get an early warning, if you would, on what putin's up to. >> frank figliuzzi, i want to read you more of julian and his colleagues' reporting. "the informant's information was so delicate and the need to protect the source's identity so important that the cia director at the time, john brennan, kept information from the operative out of president obama's daily brief in '16. instead, mr. brennan sent separate intel reports, many based on the source's information, in special sealed envelopes to the oval office." i can't even extrapolate how someone like this would share information with this president who basically makes a joke out of russian interference and has his political ally, william

barr, still investigating the origins of the russia investigation. >> yeah, it's not unusual for extremely sensitive high-level sources to be treated in this kind of eyes-only manner of personal courier handed only to the president, stamped "president's eyes only." you're right, when the president's eyes belong to donald trump, it's hard to imagine that this would be handled properly. of course, the media has been reporting that that may have been one of the reasons why this particular asset had to be exfilt exfiltrated. you and i a couple months ago when the story was developing and russians were indicted, we talked about the tip of the iceberg, how there had to be sensitive, highly classified sources below the surface that were pointing the u.s. intelligence community to putin's direct involvement in this. it appears at least we may be on to one of those human sources. as an intelligence professional, i'm deeply troubled that this

person has been -- the existence of this person has been exposed but i'm also careful to tell people who are concerned about that that rest assured, the russian intelligence service knew exactly what had happened when this guy and his family disappeared. they knew where he was. inside the united states. this is not a shock to them. they've known this for a while. what's surprising is here we are having a conversation about the possibility that a source like this was exfiltrated because of a lack of trust in the president's capabilities. >> julian, i pointed to you, i want to follow-up on one of frank's points and a question of my own. it would appear the biggest headline here, you take the president's own appointees who are embattled at best saying under oath when they go up to capitol hill that, yes, russia is still intent on attacking our elections, yes, we still remain at risk of russian meddling and we're not the only country they attack. they're probably not the only country that wants to attack us. it would seem we have less

insight, we have less visibility into the highest levels of that russian effort. is that sort of one of the conclusions you reached through reporting this story? >> that's right, and we've been working on this story for some months and that is what officials have told us. that they simply have less good insight today than they had in 2016. human sources take years to develop, and they're critical to helping flesh out the. ic pictures you might get from signals intelligence or intercepts or other kinds of things. sources are hard to come by. when you lose one, lose a couple of them, it becomes very difficult to fill that gap. we know what russia did last time. we know the kinds of techniques they did in 2016, but maybe they'll have a different playbook in 2020 and that's where the danger is. >> and tim o'brien, one of the things we also know is donald trump remains dedicated to taking help wherever he can get

it. here he is with george stephanopoulos. >> your campaign this time, foreigners, if russia, if china, if someone else offers you information on opponents, should they accept it or should they call the fbi? >> i think maybe you do both. i think you might want to listen. there's nothing wrong with listening. if somebody called from a country, norway, we have information on your opponent, oh, i think i'd want to hear it. >> you want that kind of interference in our elections? >> it's not an interference. they have information. i think i'd take it. if i thought there was something wrong, i'd go maybe to the fbi. if i thought there was something wrong. you go and talk honestly to congressmen, they all do it, they always have. and that's the way it is. it's called oppo research. >> no, it's not. and it's illegal. 30,000 things wrong with that. but in light, i guess in light of what julian and his colleagues are reporting, you've got a president with his hand out for oppo, which is foreign interference, and you've got less visibility inside the

kremlin's interference effort. >> this is a reminder that once again, right now, the biggest national security threat facing the united states is donald trump. and it's donald trump because he's ignorant and he's undisciplined. when he sits in an interview and describes information coming from russia to people campaigning the united states as oppo research, it is just such a categorical failure about what the information entails and what his responsibility is as the commander in chief and the president of the united states to use that kind of information responsibly. i think one of the things in this recent story, in julian's reporting, is the extent to which spycraft, especially spycraft based on human intel, really relies on trust and long-term relationships, and donald trump, while he was campaigning, while he had one of his most bizarre first acts after he was elected was to go to visit cia headquarters and essentially disrespect a group

of people sitting right in front of him. and that population of people who develop relationships over time and are informed and also operate on trust, that gets blown up when you have someone at the top of the food chain who can't be trusted. >> right. >> one of the things in the "times" story, it talked about how other sources around the world have become increasingly worried that they could be outed because there was such a breakdown in our intelligence apparatus. >> look, you don't even have to tie the conduct to the pulling out of the spy from moscow. donald trump in the oval office with kislyak and lavrov put his arm around them, took a picture that i think we first saw in the russia media, exclusively saw in the russia media. >> that's right. >> said, i'm so glad i got rid of this nut job, jim comey, takes pressure off me. we know so much about what we know about donald trump's enthusiasm of russian interference from donald trump. >> exactly right. the president of the united states in that clip you just showed admitted he doesn't know

right from wrong. these foreign powers aren't coming to give him information because they're great people who want to do a good thing. they're coming because they want something. they want to affect the process. they want him to owe them on the ba back end. bipartisanly, if any normal sane, administration, would walk away and call the fbi. in the closest election of our lifetime, gore v. bush, someone sent the gore campaign a bunch of bush debate tapes. they immediately picked up the package and took it to the fbi. you don't accept these kind of things. it is ridiculous. as you know, i do a bunch of international campaigns now. foreign actors are in all of these elections and after what russia got for what they did in 2016, why wouldn't they? i mean, they're playing everywhere and the world's police cop, the united states, is out there saying it's okay. president of the united states, george stephanopoulos, just said, great, give me more. like, there is now no discernible position from the united states government on any of this stuff. >> frank figliuzzi, i want to give you the last word, put you on the spot.

you were here the day andy mccabe said he opened a full-field investigation into donald trump around these questions because the conduct was so in line with vladimir putin's national security objectives. has anything changed? i mean, post-mueller, donald trump went to the g8 and advocated for putin to be invited, to be welcomed back into the g8. i mean, isn't his conduct exactly in line with the kind of conduct that raised suspicions in the first place? >> well, not only has nothing changed, you could assert that it's actually gotten worse. that the evidence continues to pile up that there is a bizarre motivation of unknown reasons for trump to align himself with russia and with putin which is why i have said that if impeachment proceedings continue and proceed, go forward, we need to include the counterintelligence findings of the fbi's investigation. i don't think that investigation is over, and i think the findings in that would contribute to the potential for impeachment. >> julian barnes, thank you for

spending time with us. congrats on the scoop. we enjoyed the read. everyone should get online and read the rest of the story. after the break, a flood of new questions about donald trump's potential conflicts of intere interest, an administration former mob firms liken to a mob family.

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i felt this effort to make us all -- maybe this wasn't their intention, it's the way it felt to me, to make us all a meconost meconostra. the boss is at the head of the table, we're going to figure out together how to do this. >> how strange is it for you to sit here and compare the president to a mob boss? >> very strange, and i don't do it lightly. >> this is classic kind of criminal enterprise behavior. that leader knows that he's got to have that loyalty. he's got to be sure that people are on his side. if you're not on his side, you're against him. if you don't have that, it's a

threat to his very existence. >> mr. trump called me a rat for choosing to tell the truth, much like a mobster would do when one of his men decides to cooperate with the government. he doesn't give you questions. he doesn't give you orders. he speaks in a code. and i understand the code because i've been around him for a decade. >> three people, one central theme. trump runs the federal government like a mob boss runs a family. and today, with that in mind, we're asking, again, wittingly or unwittingly, has donald trump corrupted the four corners of the federal government? a flurry of news stories about conflicts of interest. "new york times" today reports that trump may not have been entirely truthful when he claimed on twitter that he has nothing to do with the scottish airport where air force crews have been refueling and staying overnight at his nearby resort. from that report, documents obtained by scottish government agencies show the trump organization and mr. trump, himself, played a direct role in setting up an arrangement between the turnberry resort and

officials at gladgow prestwick airport. it was designed to increase private and commercial air traffic to the region. fast forward to this year, that airport's traffic, accompanying stays at trump's nearby resort are an open question. politico who was first to report on the story now cataloged at least four instances where air force crews stayed overnight at turnberry. from their piece, "they include at least one instance in which a crew member said a nearby airport arranged for rides and lunches to and from the luxury waterside retreat. all the flights were shuttling crews between the u.s. and the middle east. and at least three of them were divisions of the air national guard. in total, over 60 service members stayed at the posh property on the stopovers. "if this seems questionable to you, nour not alone. this morning, house oversight followed uppen on a previous

request by threatening a subpoena if the questions aren't answered. joining our conversation, karine jean pierre. frank, jim, everyone still here. karine, tell me, there were so many corruption stories today. that when news broke about john bolton's resignation, we had to pick and choose among them. but tell me how this broad umbrella of donald trump who we heard from law enforcement officials who worked for him, ended up investigating him, his personal fixer, michael cohen, runs any organization like an organized crime family. what do democrats do with these revelations? >> well, can i just first say, nicolle, that i don't etch think it it's fair to compare donald trump to the mob. at least the mob tries to cover up their law-breaking ways. at least they put an effort into doing it. donald trump just does it blatantly every day and he doesn't care and he's out there

corrupting, like, institutions that we thought were immune like the doj and the dod. this is what he does day in and day out. we have an administration that is corrupt to the core. i mean, corrupt to the core. there is no bottom here. and i think that one of the questions that i have, nicolle, is, when is the other shoe going to drop? because it can't just be turnberry, right? there has to be other trump properties that's involved in this and also what other, you know, agencies that have been kind of pulled into this corruption as well. and so that's one of the questions that i have, but as for your question about the democrats, they just need to continue doing what they're doing and try to really make sure they uphold and hold this president accountable. as you know, i've said this many times on this show, i think they need to open up impeachment inquiries and be much more forceful about it, but that's not what they're doing right now. pelosi doesn't want that. so they need to continue to do these investigations and, you know, put those subpoenas out

there and as we see, they end up in the courts. >> look, i think the power of the -- donald trump is revealing himself. think it's bob woodward that says the truth emerges. the truth is emerging that his corruption knows no limits. and it would seem to me that in the same way questions about the legitimacy of his election trigger him, he acts like a nut every time that story's in the news, questions about the legitimacy of his fortune, he can't be rich based on his own prowess because he's not smart enough, he has to cheat. it would seem like an umbrella for all of these stories, really, there were too many to get to this hour. the threads of investigations into his corruption are -- as i said to frank earlier, almost like the cloud 2.0 and they're suppressing his approval ratings and really seem to be piling up. >> yeah, and voters are so much smarter than the beltway thinks they are. they look at this stuff and say, whose side are you on? they elected him on a very solely-economic agenda. now they're starting to wonder

whether the economic agenda is about his own economics and not their own. in the middle of this, actions he's taken, tariffs, et cetera, are starting to really hurt them if you look at these new numbers, nicollle, the number i keep is losing white college educated men which were one of his two bedrocks. there is really no way that he can get reelected if that in-it continues. and they starting to feel conflicted. and these questions will continue to dog him and it is why he is going so crazy about it because it goes to the absolute fabric of how this guy gets reelected. >> really quick, do you agree with that assessment that the idea that he can't be successful without cheating is a story line that will bother him? >> it will always bother him because of the whole masquerade he has about his business success and his wealth. i think one of the things about other things other than turnberry should resonate.

all that stuff came out in british pain ners 2017. i wrote about it early last year. it is coming out now because the "new york times" is focusing on it in part, but also because congress is. institutions are finally taking it seriously. they hadn't in the past. and that is one of the really important things, there is institutional power against his business dealings. after the break, trying to corrupt the weather? that story is next. ♪ ♪ no matter when you retire, your income doesn't have to. see how lincoln can help ensure you still have income every month of your retirement, guaranteed, at lincolnfinancial.com.

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>> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first. >> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait to read it. >> tech vo: so when she had auto glass damage... she chose safelite. with safelite, she could see exactly when we'd be there. >> teacher: you must be pascal. >> tech: yes ma'am. >> tech vo: saving her time... [honk, honk] >> kids: bye! >> tech vo: ...so she can save the science project. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ . if the story is true, wilbur ross needs to resign. if he is threatening professionals if they contradict the lie of the president of the united states, he needs to resign flat out. >> so wilbur ross is our country's commerce secretary and calls for his resignation are mounting after the "new york times" reported this, quote, the secretary of commerce threatened to fire top employees at the federal scientific agency, let that sink in, responsible for

weather forecasts. last friday after the agency's birmingham office contradicted president trump's claim that hurricane dorian might hit alabama. that is according to three people familiar with the discussion. the commerce department has denied ross threatened to fire anyone. the agency did put out a letter on friday reversing the birmingham office's position. the letter is now being examined by the commerce department's inspector general according to the "times." this is a story that i believe most people would love to move on from, fee cuocus on the reco efforts. but the revelations keep on coming. >> that is exactly right. look, i think that the alabama tweet and the aftermath of the alabama tweet is just a perfect example of this administration and like you said the corruption of this administration. i mean, you have a war on the facts, a disregard for the truth, ignoring of science.

this blind bizarre loyalty by folks who work for the president. and i mean, this is where we are. and instead of moving on, this president could have moved on very easily from this, but he decided not to. and i don't know if it was for a distraction or because he is so stubborn and just wants to double down and triple down. you pick. or if it is both. and the other thing too, this blind loyalty is so bizarre because wilbur ross and all these folks that work for him, they stick their neck out for donald trump, but the loyalty is not a two way street. i mean, donald trump will turn on them in a heartbeat and that is what i don't understand as well in this scenario. >> just ask john bolton. we'll be right back. geico makes it easy to get help when i need it.

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problems with the truth. we can't -- today it was all about the truth. cia source being pulled out because he speaks the truth about putin, russia and our election. the air force not being able to be truthful with regard to where they are staying. the weather not being truthful. bolton being kicked out of his role because he is likely speaking truth to donald trump. if we aren't respected for the truth, we aren't taking a lead around the globe. >> my thanks to frank for that last word. most of all, thanks to you for watching. that does it for our hour. "mtp daily" starts now. ♪ welcome to tuesday. it is meet the press daily and we begin with the breaking news that we've had since noon that