newsletter at signup.axios.com. >> that does it for us on this friday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. but at some point i hope they get it because it's a fantastic financial statement. it's a fantastic financial statement. and let's do that over. he's coughing in the middle of my answer. >> yeah. >> i don't like that. >> your chief of staff. if you're going cough, please leave the room. >> i'll come over here. >> just get -- >> just to change the shot. >> sorry. [ laughter ] >> wow. >> oh my gosh. >> somebody coughed. >> as mick mulvaney angered the president by coughing, you got to wonder how his open admission to i quid pro quo is going over this morning. >> he's mad at him for coughing. what do you do when somebody poops their pants in front of the press corps and then tries to take it back. barn nicka

barnicle, you remember how much we love money party? >> yeah. >> and money party's take on the collapse of the financial markets was that they pooped the bed. well, mulvaney actually was from an "snl" skit, just right in his pants right in front of the american people. and then tried to take it back later. it's unbelievable. >> you can't unsee that. >> i mean, he might as well just have a flashing light on his forehead that says impeach us now. >> yeah, i mean, he basically said, you know, looking at the president president's i willlegalities basically sid want in on this too so i'm going to jump right in. and on public tv i forget who said it yesterday, but it's a pretty good expression of what happened when they said mick mulvaney cosigned the confession along with donald trump. >> he did. it was actually not only, mika,

he was arrogant about it because this happens all the time. >> get over it. >> yeah, get over it, this happens -- no, it actually -- mick, hey, mick, it never happens. >> that's bad. >> it's a bad sign when you're actually -- we're backing into everything. it's been a very long week. even just yesterday -- >> have we backed into the yankees game yet? >> good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it's friday. >> all those -- all those players, richard haass, that you guys had on base, i was so hoping you could just get 'em, just one of them, i mean base dollars loaded in the first. bases loaded. >> look at him. he's mad. >> it makes me sad because i'm a big supporter of everybody that comes out of the american league east. >> at least we're still playing for one more day. >> okay, there you go. >> you know what? we're all losers in the end. you're either the astros, the

nationals, or you're a loser. and so that's how it comes down to. so anyway, can you believe that? at least we're all playing in the end. you sound like a -- you sound like a democratic campaign manager. >> i don't know. >> poor richard. leave him alone. you see we have richard haass. also jonathan lemire. >> jonathan was very hurt by the yankees not being able to bring a couple of those -- bases loaded, mika. could you feel their pain. >> no. >> jonathan, could you feel their pain? >> no, i didn't feel any pain. i did not feel any sympathy either. still one more game. i'm not saying the series is over, but i enjoyed last night's more than richard haass did. >> former treasury official on "morning joe" steve rattner and former nato supreme allied commander retired four-star navy

admiral is with us. he is chief national security analyst. and journalist and residents at georgetown university school elise labott. charlie sykes walked a mile in our shoes yesterday wondering aloud what do you lead this morning? is it the mulvaney admission, g sterne doral gift? the ethnic cleansing? the apparent collapse of the trump stonewall? rick perry's escape? sondland breaking with trump story? elijah cummings? romney's dramatic floor speech on syria? and not on charlie's list, the admiral who loved the raid to take out osama bin laden saying it's time for a new person in

the oval office. >> there's so much to talk about, we joke for a few minutes at the top of the show, mika likes do that, me i like to get straight into the news. [ laughter ] >> but there's so much going on that if somebody just woke up this morning they might -- they might not think that yesterday was -- was not one of the most significant news days in -- during the trump presidency. and i may even argue one of the most significant news days over perhaps the last decade just in terms of volume. mike, i want to start with you. there was so much, so much -- so many shameful acts by the president as it had to do with lining up the kurds for ethnic cleansing, kowtowing to the turks. but i want to start with this mick mulvaney confession and the white house because it was -- it

was a confession and i -- i will say it was like you had the nixon tapes played out in front of the press for everyone to see because this was the smoking gun. this was the guy we had read weeks ago had held up the aid at the direction of the president of the united states. and yesterday he admitted military aid was held up from an ally who had been invaded by vladimir putin in return for chasing down presidential conspiracy theories and, of course, attached, though he didn't say it, hunter biden. >> yeah, joe, when he said it, i mean, the tragic aspect of what he said is the reaction to it. and it was basically we're not surprised. and the accelerated pace of the headlines that mika just read, the incidents that have happened over the course of just the past few days. but, you know, i think if you're going to pick out been thing to select as, like, wow, it would

be the sad aspect of what's going on in the world. in 11 days, 11 days in october, this october, the president of the united states has made the united states of america irrelevant in the most volatile, dangerous region in the world. >> he has. admiral, let's move to that part of the story yesterday. the president of the united states, again, not even getting played, just trying to find any fig leaf he can to hide the fact that he's betrayed our closest allies on the battlefield. he's empowered iran, he's empowered putin, he's empowered assad. he has undercut the kurds. he is the man who has reinvented isis. >> precisely. and, you know, a way to think of this as i watched that press

conference yesterday was president erdogan and president trump, they buried the hatchet. they buried it right in the back of the kurds. and it's shocking to see the kurds push back into what does begin to look like ethnic cleansing. here's a news flash. 300,000 of them are marching into the desert and winter is coming, literally. so that is a sad day. and as mike barnicle just said, the knock-on effect are going to be felt strategically in a lack of confidence in what the united states stands for. that's a bad day for american diplomacy. >> it's a bad day for american diplomacy, a bad week for american diplomacy, and unfortunately the next president of the united states is going to be cleaning this up. in fact, we're going to be cleaning this up for ten years because no one, admiral, is going to be believe, are they, that you can trust the word of the united states of america.

just look at isis. we get out of iraq, isis fills that void. then we finally go, okay, after they cut off enough heads, after they've blown up enough people in paris, after they've shot up enough people in san bernardino, after they've had a reign, just an absolutely reign of terror that i will say was so ubiquitous that my children had to be convinced every day that isis was not coming to their school the next day, the fear had grown and -- i mean, it was shocking. >> yeah. >> and then barack obama and some pretty smart military people started a plan. donald trump continued it. and here we are, donald trump doing, i would argue, something even worse than barack obama escaping iraq, escaping syria in a much worse situation. >> indeed. and let me make a military point

here. this was not a huge deployment of troops. when i commanded the missing in afghanistan, supreme allied commander, we had 150,000 troops there. in iraq at peak we had 185,000 troops. this was 2,000 to 3,000 special forces and it's a mistake like the butch boy pulling his finger out of the dike to let that region just fall into chaos giving iran an open sweep of turf that goes from baghdad through damascus to the mediterranean sea all for pulling out 2,000 troops. i get it on middle east fatigue in the country, but this was leverage. this was a small investment that leveraged tens of thousands of allies, partners, and friends. this is penny wise, pound foolish but worst of all is that strategic knock-on effect. last comment. i've been thinking a lot about character lately as ownership posed to leadership.

leadership is how we influence others. it's a big door. but those big doors of leadership swing on the small hinges of character. and when we demonstrate a lack of character and disloyalty, and lack of vision in walking away, the knock-on effects are going to be significant. >> they will be and the real tragedy of this is that the pentagon, our smartest, best and brightest men and women figured out a way to learn from the 17 years of mistakes that the united states of america made because of some bad mistakes by politicians and figured out how to have a small enough footprint that was sustainable that can do so many things, that were so strategically important to the united states of america, the west and the world, and we take those people out. i want to move to another issue. we have so many issues. but, jonathan lemire, if you

needed anymore evidence of just how numbing the president's heinous behavior inside the white house has become, look no further than his announcement yesterday that he was going to be holding the next g7 summit, one of the most important summits in the world at his failing miami golf resort. david just told us it has been bleeding out money the past several years. that's gross enough, what's even more sickening is that you actually have republican politicians like marco rubio applauding an action that falls four square into the emoluments clause and what that clause was drafted for by our founders. >> you'd be hard pressed to find a clear example of the emoluments close clause an this issue right here. it's been rumored for a while

that the president wanted to host the g7 next summer at his golf course just outside of miami. let's note that june in miami not only is it often sweltering hot, but it's the beginning of hurricane season, it is what occupancy rate at that golf course is only about 35%, 38% in the last couple of years. that's obviously not great and that will be a boom for business. a lot of trump properties with the exception of his hotel in washington have really suffered since i took office and this was seen as a shot in the arm and to make -- and the president will profit off of this. so yesterday with the president heading to texas for a rally and the vice president/secretary of state overseas in turkey, they dispatched chief of staff mulvaney to make this announcement. they felt the president couldn't do this himself if the was mulvaney taking the podium to say this suggesting it was the sing the best venue in the country in order to have this event. it was, as you said, applaud by members of the republican party, most notably senator rubio who represents florida. and it's while he was out there

when he was peppered with questions and ended up sort of shattering the white house's defense on the impeachment inquiry by suggesting that, yes, indeed, that there was a quid pro quo between ukraine/united states to investigate joe biden. he suggested that it was to the dnc server to debunk conspiracy theory, that was the reason behind it, not about biden in terms of withholding military aid. but, joe, this is something where mulvaney went out there and not only did he make official sort of unbelievable conflict of interest with the g7, but he really imperiled what this white house is trying to do in terms of the defense in terms of the impeachment probe. >> and, richard haass, we also had yesterday, and we haven't even talked about the brexit deal, eu and britain coming to a brexit deal, but also something that i think at least for american audiences even more shocking is admiral mccraven, a

four-star admiral, a man who basically led the charge that killed osama bin laden, brought osama bin laden to justice writes an op-ed for "the new york times" that says, in effect, our republic is under attack from the president and he must be replaced. >> what he said in public in an op-ed is what a lot of people are saying in private. the difference is that mcraven decided to say it. and so many other people who should be speaking out have effectively become enablers. you don't have to be someone who actively supports the president to be an enabler. passivity, acts of omission are just as consequential that the moment in the is one of those moments i think we'll look back upon in history and basically say where were you at this time? and what bill mcraven, as he

always does, he's a stand up person, a man of enormous integrity, full disclosure he's a friend and head of the organization that i lead, i want to come back to something the admiral said here, the other admiral, about character. and what we're seeing is character and private behavior and the relationship between character and private behavior and character and policy. and you have the doral sbaition situati situation. and the kurds. that lacks character. so you have all the strategic implications that mike and you were talking bh. but it says something about who we are, the fact that we would do this and be so cavalier and call this a ceasefire deal. this is not a ceasefire deal. this is a cave in. this gives turkey everything they want and basically the turks said we're happy to take it without fighting, taking a

pause for five days. but if we don't get what we want, we'll resume fighting. that is not a ceasefire, that's simply a cave in on our part and it's a sellout. and i think we should be careful because we have -- there's others in the works. on your list because it didn't happen yesterday, could potentially be afghanistan, a very similar thing. >> it's coming. >> or essentiallily we go around the world and we have serial sellouts of people who have been our partners. >> the president is caving in. the weakness ais shocking. the president has shown himself to be extraordinarily weak in his dealings with north korea and kim jong-un. the president has betrayed the kurds. the president this week has empowered isis. the president has empowered iran. the president has stabbed israel in the back. this really is -- >> the way he lived his life in

new york. >> right. >> and the way he played the media and people in new york city, he's take than to the world now. >> well, except it's not working. it will be very interesting, elise, to see what happens when lindsey graham is -- when this is revealed to be nothing but a sellout of all of our allies. >> well, joe, mine, you're exactly right. i think what you see is all these things conflating. i've been talking to current and former diplomats who are out traveling the world. and even in ukraine i spoke to a former diplomat who's meeting with officials, students, businessmen. what are they looking at right now? they're not even thinking about what's going on with the impeachment inquiry, they're looking at what happened to the kurds. and they're saying, if the president did that to the kurds, what is he going to do to us? are you going to abandon us? we really need you. in afghanistan, if you look at social media, i've been talking to some contacts in afghanistan, it's all about support for the

kurds because they think they're going to be next. and right now you have a foreign service that had an excruciating week talking to u.s. diplomats, not only hearing what mulvaney said in terms of, oh, this happened all the time, they're worried what other backroom deals are going on? they look at the foreign policy being contracted out to giuliani. even gordon sondland who had no business being in ukraine. and now you have diplomats, u.s. diplomats who are forced to disobey their leadership, secretary pompeo, who is saying don't testify, they're coming at great peril. one diplomat said to me, career employees are disciplined and loyal and in general would never want to be put in this position of having to disobey the leadership. but this is an extraordinary time and lines were crossed that leave them with few options. and now people are starting to

raise money for these state department officials who, you know, are nonpolitical but are not going to fall on their sword for this president. if subpoenaed they're going to testify. we could see more. >> and steve rattner, yesterday also we have to talk about how it moved us towards the end of a week, an extraordinary week, a dizzying week on the ukrainian affair. rick perry announcing that he's going to quit, that he's going to get out of the white house. you, of course, had gordon sondland, a guy who was trump's guy, who was trump's lackey in the eu, now you have him coming back and saying, in effect, testifying that he was against donald trump. putting rudy giuliani in charge of everything there. and, of course, the remarkable testimony earlier this week of fiona hill, all of this, again,

moving up toward a crescendo with mick mulvaney saying, yes, yes, we held up military aid -- >> get over it. >> -- in exchange for an investigation, get over it. >> i think you see a lot of people saying to themselves, i'm not going pu perch purjure myse for donald trump. but if we're asking the question what is most striking, i think we covered most of the issues, but i want to throw one more thing is when which is trump's rally last night in dallas in which he said some of the most incredible things. i want to say one thing he said about the kurds. he said i want to thank the kurds because they really -- because they were incredibly

happy with the solution. this is a solution that really while it saved their lives, frankly, it saved their lives so we've done a great thing for our partner, the kurds are great, it's a great day for the kurds. i don't think anybody thinks it's a great day for the kurds. i think we have left the kurds to try to wander the desert and survive somehow with no support for us. and the rest of what trump said last night was in very much the same vein. and how he can do one thing and then go out and completely pretend it's something else is really reached, i think, some new lows. >> well, i'll tell you what, it's the responsibility to people that show up at those rallies to not be stupid, to not be so stupid that they should be kept away from blenders. all they have to do is spend three seconds actually watching the news, all they have to do is spend three seconds on google, spend three seconds talking to somebody that is not completely brain washed to see that this is a horrible deal for the kurds. the kurds are going to be wiped

out and donald trump said it was a great deal for turkey because turkey doesn't have to kill millions of people. again, it is so absolutely flummoxing what the president said this week. and the responsibility, you know, sure, it's with the president, but at this point it's with the people cheering and waving things, trump flags in the audience. they have a responsibility to not be dumb. and they have a responsibility to be informed. they have a responsibility not to be ignorant and all i'm asking is that they just spend two or three minutes actually looking at the news and educating themselves. because if you were at that rally last night, everything -- just about everything the president told you about the kurds, about turkey, about the middle east was a lie. and we're all going to pay for it, you're going to pay for it, we're going to pay for it, our children are going to pay for it, our country's going to pay for it with the rise of isis. this is coming again.

the pentagon warned the president a month ago that isis was going to rise again if we didn't hold a tough line. the president has quivered and collapsed again. he's been a collaborator with vladimir putin. he's been a collaborator with erdogan. he's been a collaborator with all of our enemies. he's strengthened iran, he's weakened our closest allies. you need to read some news. whoever you trust, read your local newspaper. go on google. don't go to the stupid sites where people make things up. read the news because we're all going to pay for in for years to come. >> he had a trump family member on fox news saying people don't know who the kurds are so they don't care. you can figure this out and not follow that. incredibly uninformed, cruel way of speaking about this. former defense secretary james mattis spoke at the famed al smith dinner last night.

it's an annual fund racer where speakers deliver roasts. and mattis took on the president after trump called him the world's most overrated general during that contentious white house meeting on wednesday. >> i'm not just an overrated general, i am the greatest, the world's most overrated. i'm honored to be considered that by donald trump because he also called meryl streep an overrated actress. so i guess i'm the meryl streep of generals. [ laughter ] >> and frankly that sounds pretty good to me. and you do have to admit that between me and merrill, at least we've h we've had some victories. and some of you were kind during the reception and asked me, you know, if this bothered me to have been rated this way based on what donald trump said. i said of course not. i earned my spurs on the

battlefield, martin, as you pointed out, and donald trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor. >> wow. oh my goodness. all right. so of course twitter is all aflame at this. he should do more. he should do more. you know, not everybody -- not everybody lives their life on a twitter timeline. not everybody is captive to a 24/7 cable news cycle. i'd say that's a pretty good start for a general who said i'm going to have my timeline and when it's time to speak out, i will. everybody doesn't have to be blurting everything out at the same time. admiral mcraven, one of the most respected military men of our time, he came out yesterday and said the president wasn't fit to serve in the office that he served in. think that's good enough for a day. >> it's a pretty good day and let's face it, of those two

responses, the one i like is jim mattis because humor has a way of working itself into the conversation. it's that kind of thing that we need. both of those are appropriate, i think. long term we don't want to see lots and lots of senior retired military leaning into the political system. we are in extraordinary times. i applaud what my good friend mcraven has done and mattis, two very good approaches and both sensible. >> all right. >> retired four-star admiral thank you very much. his new book is out now. and after a quick break, we'll put more meat on the bones of all these huge stories which, by the way, the day started yesterday with the gut punch of the death of elijah cummings. it was an incredible day of news

on all sides. we'll be right back. f news on all sides. we'll be right back. that life of the party look walk it off look one more mile look reply all look own your look... ...with fewer lines. there's only one botox® cosmetic. it's the only one... ...fda approved... ...to temporarily make frown lines... ...crow's feet... ...and forehead lines... ...look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic, may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® cosmetic if you have a skin infection. side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow, eyelid drooping, and eyelid swelling. tell your doctor about your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. so, give that just saw a puppy look.

and whatever that look is. look like you... with fewer lines. see results at botoxcosmetic.com they give us excellent customer otservice, every time.e. our 18 year old was in an accident. usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. if i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. we're the gomez family... we're the rivera family... we're the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. get your auto insurance quote today. the way you triumph over adversity. and live your lives. that's why we redesigned humira. we wanted to make the experience better for you. now there's less pain immediately following injection. we've reduced the size of the needle and removed the citrate buffers.

and it has the same effectiveness you know and trust. humira citrate-free is here. a little change can make a big difference. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your doctor about humira citrate-free. here's to you. i get it all the time. "have you lost weight?" of course i have- ever since i started renting from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick.

i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro. here, hello! starts with -hi!mple... how can i help? a data plan for everyone. everyone? everyone. let's send to everyone! [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? -ahhh. sure, why not? how'd he get out?! a camera might figure it out. that was easy! glad i could help. at xfinity, we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today.

32 past the hour. live look at the white house. a lot going on in there. inside the white house briefing room yesterday, the president's top aide acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney struck down the president's defense against impeachment by admitting that military aid to ukraine was withheld to pressure the country to investigate a debunked conspiracy theory involving democrats and the 2016 election. >> did he also mention to me in the past that the corruption related to the dnc server? absolutely. no question about that. but that's it. that's why we held up the money. now, there was a report -- >> so the demand for an

investigation into the democrats was part of the reason that he was ordered to withhold funding to ukraine? >> the look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. and that is absolutely appropriate. >> withholding the funding? >> yeah. >> but to be clear what you just described is a quid pro quo. it is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the democratic server happened as well. >> we do -- we do that all the time with foreign policy. mckinney said yesterday he was really upset with the political influence in foreign policy. that was one of the reasons he was so upset about this. i have news for everybody, get over it. there's going to be political influence in foreign policy. >> oh my gosh. you know, the president's going to be so upset for so many reasons. first of all, he said, yes, there's a quid pro quo. we do it all the time. >> get over it. >> get over it.

and most damning for him, he wasn't wearing a dark suit, he was wearing a lighter suit and that really angers the president. >> little sweaty too. >> i mean, he's john dean. he didn't mean to beon dean of our day, but he's got the glasses, he's got everything. >> you say this is pants pooping, let me tell you ha this. >> oh, it is. >> there's so much on the record that my theory is there's so much on the record that you just had to go there. mulvaney later walked back his statement. >> too late. >> how do you walk that back? >> i shot somebody on fifth avenue, middle of fifth avenue. no i didn't. see, it doesn't work. you admitted it. >> claiming there was no quid pro quo while blaming the media for misconstruing his -- >> hold on. let's play that again, alex, because -- you know, the fake news media, can't stand the fake news media. >> here we go again. >> let's just let him confess to you instead of the fake news media twisting his words. >> want to make sure we get this

right. >> let's do this again. >> he also mentioned to me in the past that the corruption related to the dnc server, absolutely, no question about that. but that's it. that's why we held up the money. i was involved with the process by which the money was held up temporarily, okay. three issues for that. the corruption in the country, whether or not other countries were participating in the support of the ukraine and whether or not they were cooperating in an ongoing investigation with our department of justice. that's completely legitimate. >> you know, i'm just a dumb cave man lawyer, simple man. >> they tried to walk it all back. >> this is what's so rich is they're confessing everything in public. >> yeah. >> and then they try to blame the fake news media. it's all on video. it's all on video. there's no place to run. there's no place to hide, baby. it's all on video. and mulvaney yesterday did more to move the president towards impeachment than anybody has

over the past, well, three years. >> yeah. it was incredible. it's like the scene at the end -- courtroom scene in law and order where under jk mccoy's withering cross-examination the defendant just finally breaks down and says, yeah, i did it. >> it was a perry mason moment on the stand there, sweating, i did it! i did it! i did it! that's what mulvaney did yesterday, with the sweat and everything. and like donald trump, you see the light suit, it's driving him crazy. but he was the witness on the stand in a perry mason show. >> yes. >> admitted they all did it. there was a conspiracy, there was a quid pro quo. >> she's chief of staff. >> he just admitted it. so he admitted that that article of impeachment is just, you know, it's solid. that's an immediate should be an immediate conviction. and then remember why mulvaney came out in the first place. it was to announce that the

president was intending to violate the black letter of the emoluments clause of the constitution by calling on foreign governments pay him money. >> yeah. >> -- at the doral resort. which was stunning. it's as if they took out their contusions. there must be one around here somewhere in the white house, somebody has a constitution. and they looked and they said what does that clause say? and then they decided to violate its every letter. i mean, it was just extraordinary. >> yeah. so -- >> and i imagine the president was probably apoplectic and, in fact, if you watched him last night he was indeed apoplectic. >> gene is with us and you're astand up sund astounded, just get over it. i want to get to elise labott because you've been talking to

folks at the state department responding to this mulvaney thing. what are you hearing? >> it was an excruciating week. it's devastating for him to say get over it. you know, diplomats are taught to be apolitical. politics ends at the water's edge and these people are doing the work on the front lines for american national security. always in the best interest of america. and they've never had a president, they say, many diplomats i've talked to, that puts his own interests first. so it's a real painful time for these diplomats to hear mick mulvaney say that, we do it all the time, get over it. they're wondering what other backroom deals are being done that are overdoing the work that they're doing every day. and so, you know, it's really hard right now, i talk to a lot of senior diplomats. recruitment at the state department is down. it's really hard to recruit

these young people who to get them into foreign service when the president is, you know, unilaterally conduct foreign policy and contracting it out, mika. >> you know, donny deutsch, it is -- it is so hard for anybody inside the white house, any lawyer inside the white house to defend this president because the president and all the president's men and women are admitting in public impeachable offenses daily. you've got the president of the united states going out after everybody's denying that the president asked for help with ukraine, and you have them then going out asking the chinese to help. poor marco rubio he's left with the president is joking routine, which is sad and shameless. only to have the president come out the next few days and ask -- be asked directly were you joke something president was like, no. if they want to help they should help, they should do whatever they want to do. and then mick mulvaney after all the weeks of denying the quid

pro quo says of course there's a quid pro quo and it was connected to almost $400 million in defensive weaponry to stop vladimir putin from continuing the invasion of a democratic ally. hard to defend that action, isn't it? >> no, joe, it's the explanation. i don't think mulvaney was that rogue. i believe the strategy, i said this before, call it cap strategy, you confuse, admit, then point to the other guy. they are playing not to the senate, not to the court that's going to judge them on impeachment. they are playing to the public. and this is donald trump's old playbook. you say it enough, you admit it, you kind of desensitized people to it. mulvaney going to get over it, he is playing to the electorate. and, you know, it is unfortunately a strategy that works for him. now, not on this network and not to your point the people that pay attention to the news. but to the average guy out there the defense of trump has always

been they all do it, they're all crooked and whatnot. that is a strike. mulvaney did not do that on his own. you had donald trump for weeks, two weeks no quid pro quo, now there is a quid pro quo but it's a quid pro quo about something else. and what that does to the american public, it does work to his base and it even works a little bit -- that's the disgusting vile, frightening thing about it. >> i'm going to jonathan lemire for a question, but first, mike barnic barnicle, donny deutsch's jacket is sort of red. is that early liberace? >> it is my anchor man burgundy -- >> he took the jacket from the mate tra did i at mohegan sun.

>> you know the vanity fair best dressed list? i'm not on it. >> exactly. so jonathan lemire, so let's see, you're not wearing a red jacket, so we can go with you. >> it's burgundy. >> for the next question. all right ron burgundy. >> lemire. >> the floor is yours, jonathan. >> well, think a little more on the context of the mull vapeny appearance yesterday. the president, as we said earlier, pushed him to go out there about the doral thing. what was striking was immediately afterwards, after he spoke, the real divisions in the administration and immediate pushback to what mulvaney said. for the first time in a while we had the department of justice sort of try to distance himself from what he said saying this was news to them if there was a quid pro quo. then we had jay sekulow saying that was not something they believed that legal counsel was as you can see here, was not involved in mulvaney's press briefing. they were not consulted a head of time and there was a lot of

c consternation in the white house afterwards. >> it it's like a disclaimer in the ad where a guy's talking really fast. the president's legal counsel is not involved in the chief of staff's press offer and statement varies in some states. [ laughter ] >> i don't know if that will help them going forward but i think you're right that's a good call there. so, steve, let me ask you. in terms of, you know, we see this, it's republican senators are the ones in many ways even if the president in the white house replies to the public, they're the ones who control the fate of this president in their hands. if we assume the president is going to be impeached by the house, they'll decide his fate. we saw mitt romney speak out against him the last couple of days. do you think this add mission of a quid pro quo, is that going to move any of the other senators? >> i think among the republican senators there are not a lot of profiles in courage. i think these are people who are in a mofd self-preservation. as we know anyone who goes up

against trump incurs her wrath and could get primaried and so on. so i think they'll be watching public opinion. i think if pn public opinion continues to shift the way it has, you get a real public reaction against the president, think that's what's going to move the senators. not their conscience, not some believe in the future of the country. i think it's a self-preservation game. they're playing it and i think it's teetering in the balance. i think romney, you know, romney has the advantage of having a safe see the seat not being um for re-election in five years and being more popular than trump. the rest ever goiare going to b watching what their constituents are saying. >> i think he brought up doral yesterday saying it was a tax, i am strong, i can do anything, there's nothing i can't get away with. i don't think it's a coincidence it came up the same day the quid pro quo came up. >> despite the grifters in motion there with the doral

achievement, to donny's point earlier about flooding the zone with all of these stories, i imagine, and i believe that you would get a different reaction to mulvaney's press conference if they watch the press conference at all, if you were watching it in a fire station in gary, indiana, or lacrosse, wisconsin, or grand rapids, michigan, i think it might be what donny was alluding to, yeah, yeah, fine, everybody does it. but the larger issue here seems to be to many bhaem steve wpeop just mentioned the what's going on? we had a clip from general mattis. we had mcraven's op-ed in the times that we discussed briefly. the bottom line here is the united states senate, if you figure out the three cs, conscience, character, and country, they're not reacting. they're not reacting. the republican senators are not reacting to the total ill legit

matte macy now of the united states government in the middle east, the most volatile dangerous region in the country. >> they're not and that might never happen. two, we haven't seen this build over a few more months when you have impeachment hearings, which will come in the house. we'll get more attention. and i think steve's point is essentially right, the question is whether this moves people -- >> essentially right or right? >> well, the point is it moves politically. >> you referenced this earlier, but talk about the highway that runs from tehran through syria all the way to the mediterranean? >> the foreign policy consequences of this regionally and globally are really impossible to underestimate or minimize. in the region we have gone in the course of a generation from a part of the world that the united states dominated, we rejected the iraqis when they invaded kuwait, we were promoting peace between palestini

palestinians and so forth. you have iran, syria, russia consolidating gains in syria. united states has walked away from one of its principal partners in the region. terrorists will come back. all this is happening and a part of the world that still matters, energy, proliferation, terrorism, the like. and we've talked about it here before, you can't compartmentalize it. we may see this as a square on the chessboard, but the rest of the chessboard is looking at it. the whole world is watching and everybody's taking notes and drawing conclusions and essentially saying if the americans can do it there, they can do it here. so every american ally in the world has a folder and they're all saying do we need to rebalance our security portfolio? do we need to defer to our powerful neighbors? do we need to think maybe one day about getting nuclear weapons or doing something? and every american foe is thinking about, hey, if these americans are so allergic to using military force, if they're so unreliable and unpredictable, maybe, maybe, maybe we can take risks and get away with it.

i think the biggest danger still, we've talked about it before, a putin, a xi jinping, one of these guys saying we're going to probe against a montenegro. maybe this is a chance to do it once and for all. ed on xi jinping will wake up and say maybe this is a chance to seize taiwan. >> richard haass, elace labott, thank you both for being on this morning. coming up, june say slow month at trump's doral property. >> that's when the bedbugs probably come in. >> you always think about them when you hear the world doral. >> i always think bedbug. and farenthold's coming and he reported how much money they've been bleeding out. >> oh, because of the bedbugs. >> well, if we have a bed and breakfast and the official mascot of it was a bedbug. >> yeah. >> it would be down on money

too. let's talk to farenthold about the g7, doral. >> bedbug. >> bedbugs, and bedbugs. we'll be back. bedbug. >> bedbugs, and bedbugs. we'll be back. i can't believe it. what? that our new house is haunted by casper the friendly ghost? hey jill! hey kurt! movies? i'll get snacks! no, i can't believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on our car insurance with geico. i got snacks! ohhh, i got popcorn, i got caramel corn, i got kettle corn. am i chewing too loud? believe it! geico could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

you wanna see something thatamazing?ing. go to hilton instead of a travel site and you'll experience a whole new range of emotions like... the relaxing feeling of knowing you're getting the best price. these'll work. the utter delight of free wi-fi... . oh man this is the best part. isn't that you? yeah. and the magic power of unlocking your room with your phone. i can read minds too. really? book at hilton.com. if you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25% off that stay. expect better. expect hilton. and grew it tony $36 billion dollars.986 in 2010, i signed the giving pledge to fund good causes. then i left my business to combat climate change, fix our democracy, and hold president trump accountable. last year, we ran the largest youth voter

mobilization in history - helping double turnout and win back the house. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message. let's make change happen!

. we're going to announce today that we're doing the 46th g7 summit on june tenth through june 12th at the trump national doral facility until miami, florida. >> how is this not just an enormous conflict of interest when the president holds the g7 at his own resort skblais skeptical. i was. i was aware of the political crit sthax we'd come under for doing it at doral which i is why i was surprised when the advance team said this is the perfect location do this. i get the criticism, so does he. he would be criticized regardless of what he chose to do. but there's no issue of him profiting on this in any way, shape, or form. >> it's constitution's negotiation. when the constitution does not address profits, it addresses any present, as in a gift, any emole meant, as in cash, of any kind whatever, i'm quoting the

emoluments clause from any king, prince, or foreign state. if this were a meeting of the governors of the united states, there would be no emoluments clause problem. the purpose of the emoluments clause is to keep the president of the united states of america from profiting off of foreign money. here we go again, not on the campaign, but in some event or entity that he controls or is running. he has bought himself an enormous headache with the choice of this. this is about as direct and profound a violation of the emoluments clause as one could create. >> you know, he's right again. that's fox news senior judicial analyst judge andrew that poll tan know that the president will host the president's hosting the g7 at his private golf resort. >> he had a big day. >> he was like i knew people were going to be concerned about

this. yes, it say is a direct violation. there's no way the supreme court cannot find this to be a violation of the emoluments clause. >> it's just southern believably -- it just flies in the face hps you ko -- this shows that he's numbed everybody to the fact that he's corrupt and he's using his office not to help middle class americans or working class americans but to help himself. and we're just numbed to it. that more people -- that marco rubio, he violates the constitution and marco rubio celebrates it. think about that. and by the way, this is not an opinion. this is just the facts. the judge was right, fox news judicial analysts, he was right. so who would celebrate the the

willful violation of the constitution of the united states of america? republican senators, that's who. >> joining us now investigative reporter for "the washington post" and msnbc david fahrenthold. he's been covering trump national doral bedbug miami for years. also with us republican strategist and msnbc political analyst susan del percio. >> david, i don't know. you've been doing a lot of studying, you've been chasing self-portraits or paintings of donald trump around for years. you have been digging in to documents. you have been, you know, late at night you're like typing and you're just like, you're like working your fingers to the bones and then this white house comes out and they hand you the biggest story yet on a silver platter. could you please for americans who aren't familiar with what your work has been so

indispensable over the past several years, could you please explain how -- what happened yesterday is so shocking and it's probably never happened before in this country's history? >> no, it's never happened before. this is something unprecedented in american history. we've never had a president give an enormous government contract in effect to himself. president trump still owns doral directly, it is the money that goes into it is his money. we've never had a president just take a giant government contract and give it directly to himself. >> to himself. >> that's what happened yesterday. >> and you've reported that doral has been in financial distress over the past several years. pla explain. it would be one thing if okay pans sip was pansy was okay okay pans sip was up.

this is him awarding a government contract to himself for a property that desperately needs it. >> that's right. doral has been in shock decline since 2015. 2015 was a good year. since then it's operating income, it dropped 70% in two years, which is a lot. net operating income the most important measure fell 2017% in 70% in two years. trump's brand name was driving people away. and so now you're putting up a huge amount of money, federal government money, foreign government money into the property at a time when it needs money a lot. it's not just that the property as a whole needs money and it needs more success all the time, june is the second slowest month at doral. not surprisingly in miami it's hot in june, people don't go as thereas muc there as much. it's going to be 100% full for some long period of time. even if trump didn't charge

above market rates, we don't know what he's going to charge, even if he just charld his coge costs because otherwise 60% of the rooms would be zblefrpt emp >> he just pointed out, doral in june, mosquitoes are going to be bigger are than anything. but the larger point that david made, this is basically a federal bailout of donald trump. he's bailing himself out. he's using the federal government. and the reaction, i don't know what the reaction is to this. >> well, the republicans have been silent so therefore it's consent. it's actually an embarrassment to see the president make money or try to make money and award himself a contract. but the question i have for david is, we have seen embassies overseas, for example, get face lists when new embassies come in and take the current eu embassy,

his brussels residence went had an overhaul of $250,000. what will happen to doral after they spray for the bedbugs, what other things may they do that is going cost the government money and their therefore enchance the value and upgrade the roops? >> that>> that's a great questi this hotel has had a big renovation in eight years but you'll have eight world leaders coming and it's only two presidential suites. are you going to make the president of italy stay in a regular hotel room? is the trump organization going to ask the federal government to pay for the renovations? >> the one question we have is in 2004, that was the last time the u.s. government held a g7 summit at a private property in georgia. and there the government didn't pay for upgraits grades to the hotels. it paid for communications tower and security stuff that they took away. didn't pay for any ballroom or

hotel rooms. we'll see if the trump organization tries to break that president. >> weal of course the united states is hosting the g seven, which used to be the g eight and president trump has suggested it would be the g8 again. i think there will be a lot of speculation that he invites russia's president vladimir putin to doral next summer. david, you just mentioned sea island. i know president obama hosted this event a few years ago at camp david. you've been trying to figure out what other locations were on the list were contenders. heard the acting chief of staff say that doral was the perfect place and mentioned it was close to miami's airport. what are some other places that were under consideration that n could have been a better one that seems to directly the emoluments clause? >> they say there were ten to 12 sites vetted. one was the mackinac island, resort island in michigan. one was the resort in hawaii.

he said it was far and away the best site of all the sites we looked at? well, now i can trust of that process if i don't know what the sites were? if you looked at mick mulvaney's basement and the top of mount mckinley, then, yes, it was the best place. so until we know that think there it's hard to take him at face value. >> america has a lot of nice resorts beyond the one that the president owns. >> we keep talk about the rooms and what that. that's not the value. as we watch sports, we see minute maid park. they spent $20 million a year to get any sponsor, to just get their name mentioned, mentioned, mentioned. so the real money is not whatever the 20, 50, 80, $200,000 that they'll get from the actual rooms. the real money is for the next nine months how many media impressions are going against the world doral? if we want to know why it is so not a good obvious choice, even if you looked at miami, there's the fount deign bluain blue.

people don't do conventions in doral, they go there to play golf and visit the bedbugs. >> a lot of bedbugs. >> a lot of bedbugs. but once again, the real value, the real travesty is the millions of dollars of media impressions they will get. >> david mentioned the most interesting point of all on the doral thing. there are only two presidential suites and there are going to be eight leaders of foreign countries. so you're going to have at least eight leaders of foreign countries trying to get into one of those suites by implicating joe biden, it's a cash grab in there. >> and we do know if putin is invited he will get the better suite than trump. donald will go boss, what suite do you want and i'll take the next one. >> all right. david farenthold, thank you so much pptd we really appreciate your reporting. >> great reporting. >> it is just past the top of the hour on this friday, october 18th. mike barnicle ar jonathan la rear area donny deutsch in a red

suit, susan del percio. >> it looks good. >> it's bad. and eugene robinson are all still with us. and joining the conversation, edwa edward luce. >> ed, 2019 stai want to start . we talk about how numb the united states has gotten with donald trump. the awarding of the g7 to a property that donald trump owns, a struggling property that's just losing money nonstop and it's a direct violation of the emoluments clause and yet this sort of -- you don't even call this nepotism, this is just straight out government graft is something that was announced and marco rubio, republican senator

from california, celebrated his violation of the constitution. >> yes, it's about googood busi florida. i think we can pretty much forecast now that next summer's g7 in june is going to be the g7 that becomes again the g8. if you remember at the last one in august trump said that russia has to be re-admitted into the g7. it was kicked out after it annexed crimea five years ago and trump has been lobbying for it to be re-admitted. now that trump's going to be hosting it not just on his home soil but on trump property-owned soil, he'll be in a position to bring russia back in. and that's going to be an extraordinary message that really caps what's been happening in the last few days of great power politics being the norm now. america is no longer the exceptional power, it is playing the script that russia would like it to play.

and that is, we're just as venal, we're just as lacking in principle, we're just as ready to self-deal, we're just as transactional as you are and we welcome you back into your club, the g7, which will become the g8 at trump's hotel in doral next june. i think that's a safe prediction on this day as can be made. >> and, you know, jay, could have seen it coming years ago on our show in december, 2015, donald trump when confronted with the fact that vladimir putin killed political opponents and journalists, donald trump's answer echoing what ed just said, well, we kill a lot of people too, joe by putting a moral relativity between the united states of america and vladimir putin's russia. >> yeah. well that's what donald trump does all the time. he's -- there's always some kind of moral equivalence that he can find for anything that he does. so he did it with kim jong-un,

he's done it with vladimir putin. one thing i wanted to -- with the doral situation, which i thought was really funny, was marco rubio's excuse for it saying i don't think it's going to make a lot of money. but the other businesses around there would probably do very well. here's marco rubio who was elected in part for his opposition to obama's stimulus program arguing that the g7 conference would provide stimulus for the surrounding businesses. it's remarkable to see rubio who came in as a tea party person to suddenly now become like this party lackey and not even so much a party lackey but a trump lackey. it's pretty sad to watch. >> it is sad. it is sad. >> turning now -- >> no, i'm serious. it's very sad. i keep hoping at times he seems to be turning the corner and then something like this comes out and he just apologizes for donald trump violating the constitution of the united states and he knows it. everybody knows it.

>> this doesn't end badly, how do they not see that? >> it ends badly, yeah. turning now to the situation in syria and turkey where the trump administration proudly announced a ceasefire agreement but where the fighting continues. this morning nbc news witnessed heavy fighting and first hand along the turkish/syrian border including more the tars, grenades, machine gun and rifle fire. hours ago a spokesman for the kurdish/syrian democratic forces tweeted that air and artillery attacks continue to target them and that turkey is, quote, violating the ceasefire agreement. speaking from there yesterday, vice president mike pence announced that the united states and turkey had reached a five-day ceasefire deal to allow kurdish forces to retreat from the kurdish assault. pence says the u.s. will aid in that retreat which will create

turkey's long-desired safe zone, although he wouldn't say where the kurds are supposed to go. the turkish military will continue to guard that are safe zone. the parameters are which are not defined in the agreement. the kurds were not party to the deal. and it is unclear if they will comply. and right after pence's announcement, turkey's foreign minister said that this was not a ceasefire, and that, quote, can only happen between two legitimate sides adding, quote, we're just taking a pause. the u.s. special envoy for syria, ambassador james jeffrey, also says that it is not called a ceasefire in the joint statement but rather a quote, pause. also as part of the deal, the trump administration will not add new sanctions on turkey that had it had been stlthreatening. and if it ends, the sanctions will be lifted meaning there will be no penalty for the

assault. several hundred people have been killed, including at least 70 civilians and more than 300,000 displaced since it began just over a week ago. but president trump says that it was all well worth it. >> i'm very happy to report tremendous success with respect to turkey. and i want to thank president erdogan. this is an amazing outcome. they couldn't get it without a little rough love, as i called it, but i will tell you on behalf of the united states, i want to thank turkey and we've gotten everything we could have ever dreamed of. but i didn't know it was going to work out this quickly. i didn't know it would work out this well. it's a great day for the united states. it's a great day for turkey. it's really a great day for civilization. it's a great day for civilization. i just want to thank and congratulations, though, president erdogan. he's a friend of mine and i'm glad we didn't have a problem

because, frankly, he's a hell of a leader and he's a tough man. he's a strong man. and he did the right thing. and i really appreciate it and i will appreciate it in the future. and turkey is -- i really appreciate what they've done. they did the right thing. and i have great respect for the president. >> is president erdogan still coming next month to the white house. >> well now i would say that that would be very much open. i would say that, yeah, he would come. he did a terrific thing. he's a leader. he's a leader. and what turkey is getting now is they're not going to have to kill millions of people and millions of people aren't going to have to kill them. if you let this go, you would have lost millions of lives. don't forget your friend president obama lost more than a half a million lives in a very short period in the same region. we've lost very little. as a group, i want to thank the kurds because they were incredibly happy with this solution. this is a solution that

really -- well, it saved their lives, frankly. it saved their lives. so we've done a great thing for our partner. kurds were great. great day for the kurds. >> it was unconventional what i did. i said they're going slow to fight a little while. sometimes you have to let them fight a little while. sometimes you have to let them fight. it's like two kids in tay lot, you've got to let them fight. >> i don't want to hear this. this is so ridiculous. >> it's -- >> it's hard to believe of that we actually played that. here you have the president actually celebrating pro strongman in turkey, called him the strongman in turkey, engaging in ethnic cleansing of the kurds, he's going to engage in ethnic cleansing of the kurds, has had as his goal for years to engage in the ethnic cleansing of the kurds. and the united states of america and their president is now allowing him to do just that after the kurds helped us destroy isis. the president said that he just

wanted to thank the kurds. the kurds -- kurds, those are the same allies of ours, mr. president, that you actually compared to isis. but you said our allies are even more dangerous than isis. so why are you congratulating somebody who said just yesterday is more dangerous than isis and you say this is a great day for the kurds? no. they're fleeing into the desert as the admiral said with winter coming on they are all fleeing into the desert because ethnic cleansing is coming just as winter is coming. i don't -- i don't even know where to begin here. ed luce, it seems impossible to sort through all of the lies and the nonsense, the president

saying right there. all he's done is he's given cowards in the united states congress a chance to say the president's working out a deal when, in fact, it's not a ceasefire. the turks aren't calling it a ceasefire. we aren't calling it a ceasefire. it's just stopping this kill and the slaughter and the ethnic cleansing of the kurds for a few days. >> two sort of competing images running through my head watching trump yesterday say those things. the first was it was like an oscar awards ceremony and he was receiving the prize. he'd like to thank the kurds, he'd like to thank the turks, like to thank the russians, he'd like to thank his parents for making this possible, the choreographers. it was just an extraordinary, hey, this is a great day for civilization. which was wro a competing image running through my head, i think

it's appropriate in this contest, that is chamberlain coming back with a piece of paper from munich and saying piece in our time after having solv sold the czechs to hitler. except they ought to have added the czechs are no angels as trump said about the kurds. we're getting into an even more or we willian pha orwellian phase here. almost all of them except for romney who was magnificent on the senate floor, i think he was absolutely magnificent in his clarity and righteous outrage. but with the exception of mitt romney, you have people who are saying night is day when they know it's day or night and they're saying the opposite. they're doing what orwell right what people do when they fish to submit themselves to an

authoritarian leader. it's remarkable sitting here in washington, i'm from britain, an ally of the united states. knowing what america has been to allies, to see that its word means nothing under this president. >> it's painful. >> we shouldn't let this moment go. it's remarkable. >> you brought up senator mitt romney and his powerful words yesterday. let's play them right flou. >> the announcement today is being portrayed as a victory. it is far from a victory. this is a matter of american honor and promise. so too is the principle that we stand by our allies, that we do not abandon our friends. the decision to abandon the kurds violates one of our most sacred duties. it strikes at american honor. what we have done to the kurds will stand as a bloodstain in the annals of american history. was there no chance for

diplomacy? are we so weak canned inept plattically that turk politically that turkey forced the hand of the united states of america? turkey? >> mike barnicle, what's so jarring about that speech is that mitt romney said what every republican senator in washington, d.c. believes. >> yeah. >> and, yet, only one republican had the courage to stand up and go on the senate floor and have his words recorded for history and being against a historic abandonment of a battlefield ally. they all believe it, only one person will say it. what a sad, shameful state my old party finds itself in. >> well, your old party is history, it's gone. and i don't know whether it will ever be retrieved because the

silence is deafening among republican senators. but, ayman, i don't know about you, but the clip reshowed prior of the president standing on the tarmac in dallas/fort worth talking about -- i could barely watch it. i was filled with enormous sadness thinking that this man is actually president of the united states describing what happened in turkey totally in error, everything he described, so you know the region, you've been in the region. talk about what erdogan first did with the letter, threw it in the trash and basically threw the united states and donald trump in the trash alongside of it. this agreement is of great fortune to erdogan and turkey. >> this is, in a nutshell, mike, everything the turks wanted. to be very clear about this, those aren't my words, those are the turkish government's words just several days ago. in fact, a senior adviser to the turkish president is on the

record saying that the turkish government was going to push through with this operation and that, quote unquote, there was an agreement reached by president trump and president erdogan for the turks to go inside -- inside syria about 20 miles deep and about 100 miles or so along the turkish/syria border and push the kurds back. that's what they wanted. she said that on the record several days before this truce or pause was announced. so when you had the americans come out and announce yesterday and specifically mike pence on the ground in turkey and specifically the president come out and say it required a little bit of tough love and that the turkss a turks are getting what they want, they don't have to kill millions of kurds, it falls flat on its face because all along the turks have been saying we will not allow kurdish presence along our border and we will push into syria as far as we need to. the flip side to that is in order to achieve this, now that the turks have gone in and pushed the kurds back and are now giving the kurdish fighters

a chance to retreat, as they see it, they're now going to negotiate with the syrian government of bashar al assad as well as the russians backed by the iranians to fill that void. so if you have a president who's saying he's trying to weaken the hands of the iranians across the region, he has just empowered the central government in damascus backed by iran to reclaim territory that it had lost. now, keep in mind all the factual errors that the president talked about over the course of his speech yesterday saying that, you know, president obama lost 500,000 lives, that these, you know, talks have been going on for years between the turks and the kurds trying to make it sound like he was the one that brokered this amazing deal that had been in the works for years that avoided the casualty of millions of lives. those are factual incorrect statements. and on top of that, when you look at the giro politics oeopo turkey's in retreat, sire ayria

iran have been able to expand their presence and that destabilizes the region. >> and donald trump when he was running for president vladimir putin kept talking about barack obama inventing isis. not only has donald trump reinvented isis after barack obama started the plan that would actually ultimately destroy the terrorist organization, he's reinvented isis and he is now allowing iran and russia to run roughshod over the entire region. >> i think as ayman just explained, it's a foreign policy blunder of colossal proportions, unimaginable proportions. we haven't even mentioned i don't think yet the idea of erdogan coming to the white house, which is back on the table. as i was sitting here listening to the last 15 minutes or so of conversation, it feels to me for the first time like the walls are really closing in on trump, that he's got so many things going on around him that are -- any one of which would be

damaging if not disastrous for a president, he has all of them. he's got the ukraine situation where many of his state department people and even some of his closest allies are going to go in and testify truthfully about what happened there. he's got the situation in syria which the average american may not follow all of the great detail that ayman just gave is, but they get the big picture, that we abandoned the kurds, we've sat will up to a dictator in turkey and embraced him. and he's got things like the doral which we talked about is the most extraordinary violation of the emoluments clause that you could even imagine occurring. it's not two restaurants in washington suing him like happened before. this is real stuff. and so -- and you've got the impeachment inquiry which is now going to bring all this together. and so i just -- and then you see trump reacting the way he does, which to lash out more and more to say crazier and crazier things, more and more lies, and he thinks can he just bluster his way through it. i think the walls are closing in on him. >> two points.

first just stepping back to mitt romney for a second, joe, last week i talked about although he had been the one that had said, you know, this is wrong, i kind of was hoping to take it to that next step. and he certainly did. he's an american hero and to these other republicans that doesn't understand how his triple judge guys, this is the formula. not the cowardness formula. jay, i listened and steve rattner probably has over the last two years to so many people justify phi his support for trump. he's got israel. no, he's not. this is the worst thing that any president has done for israel in my lifetime. they are so much more vulnerable now than they have ever been. i would like every moron that has always used the israel defense to understand what is at stake here. >> yeah. and ed made a great point before when he talked about, you know, they say it's night and they're saying it's day. what trump is doing is the textbook definition of gas lighting. what we are seeing right before our eyes, he s he is insisting

happening. the chamberlain thing, donald trump's tweets yesterday where he was bragging about this, quote unquote, ceasefire which even turkey says is not a ceasefire, acting as if he struck some kind of deal that was the greatest diplomatic and foreign policy deal in the history of the nation was just absurd. and he continues to just -- he continues to tell lies to tell people that things that are happening which are not happening and i think mitt romney made such a good point yesterday when he said, you know, was there no diplomatic solution? the question we have to ask is when trump took that phone call from erdogan, what did erdogan say and did trump say, well, you know, you really can't do that? did he try to find a way around this or did he just go ahead and say, well, let me get my guys out of there first and then you can go on in? we don't know that. and it would be great to find that out.

>> and, gene robinson, final thoughts go to you, your piece in the "washington post." the headline is trump is spinning out of control. we must stop pretending otherwise what do we do? >> well, what do we do? i mean, with all of this that's going around, all that we've talked about this morning over just the last couple of days is incredible. and you look at the president and look at his performance on wednesday, it seems like weeks ago. on wednesday that meeting with the white house, with the congressional leaders, look at that letter that he sent to erdogan. he is increasingly frantic and unhinged. i agree with steve rattner that there is a sense of walls closing in and him lashing out in crazy ways. and i have to worry and i think everyone should worry that this is just going to get worse. there is no bottom here.

we keep waiting to hit bottom. there is no bottom in the is going to get worse and worse and worse. and the people who need to be paying attention to this and paying attention very closely are the republican senators who are ultimately going to sit in judgment of this president in a trial. and they really have to start thinking about the country and about what is -- what is happening with -- with this increasingly unstable, erratic, unfit man who's whose incompetence is doing incredible damage to this country. >> eugene robinson, thank you very much. we'll be reading the new column in today's "washington post." jay and ed, thank you very much for being on this morning. and ayman, we'll be seeing you on "morning joe" first look weekday mornings right before "morning joe." still ahead on "morning

joe," the legal implications of mick mulvaney's admission of a quid pro quo involving ukraine. we'll talk to former federal prosecutor joyce vance who says even the highest standard for an impeachable act, criminal conduct has already been met. plus, former secretary of homeland security janet napolitano joins the conversation. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. you're wat" we'll be right back. day 23. i'm about to capture proof of the ivory billed woodpecker. what??? no, no no no no. battery power runs out. lifetime retirement income from tiaa doesn't. guaranteed monthly income for life. nooooo!

guaranteed monthly income for life. month after month i'm doing it all. the supplements... the veggies... the water. but i still have recurring constipation, belly pain, straining and bloating. my doctor said i could have a real medical condition called ibs-c. for my recurring constipation and belly pain from ibs-c... i said "yes" to linzess. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation. linzess is not a laxative. it works differently. it helps relieve belly pain and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. do not give to children less than six. and it should not be given to children six to less than 18. it may harm them. do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain. especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea. sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess

and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach area pain and swelling. i'm doing it all. and i said "yes" to linzess. ask your doctor about linzess. ♪ ♪ the way you triumph over adversity. and live your lives. that's why we redesigned humira. we wanted to make the experience better for you. now there's less pain immediately following injection. we've reduced the size of the needle and removed the citrate buffers. and it has the same effectiveness you know and trust. humira citrate-free is here. a little change can make a big difference.

humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your doctor about humira citrate-free. here's to you.

did he also mention to me in the past that the corruption related to the dnc server? absolutely. no question about that. but that's it. that's why we held up the money. now, there was a report -- >> so the demand for an investigation into the democrats was part of the reason that he ordered to withhold funding to ukraine? >> the look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with

that nation. and that is absolutely appropriate. >> withholding the funding? >> yeah. >> let's be clear, what you just described is a quid pro quo. it is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the -- into the democratic server happened as well. >> we do -- we do that all the time with foreign policy. when mckinney said yesterday wreels he was really upset with the foreign influence on political policy. i have news for everybody. get over it. there's going to be political influence on foreign policy. >> to that, former acting u.s. solicitor general under president obama tweeted, quote, this is the textbook definition of an impeachable offense and the white house chief of staff has just admitted it. yeah, and he wants us to get over it, too. joining us now, host of msnbc's politics nation and president of the national action network, reverend al sharpton. former u.s. attorney for the

northern district of alabama and an msnbc contributor, joyce vance. and state attorney for palm beach county, dave ehrenberg. wow, guys, do we have a lot to get to. i'm work through this and trying to get over it. joyce vance, i see impeachability. do you see criminality here and god knows what's on the record for mick mulvaney to come out and try to get people to get over this. >> we've been being looking at criminality here for a while. and i think mulvaney put the final nail in the coffin yesterday. and here's why it's important, mika. it's very, i think, critical at that point that we think about the difference in the two standards here. impeachability and criminality. because impeachment is just about somebody losing their job. criminality is about someone losing their liberty and going to prison. and so in our system we impose much higher standards and much greater protections when we talk

about criminality. the president keeps complaining about he wants confrontation rights and other rights that go along with a criminal setting. but for impeachment purposes, congress is looking at whether or not high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed. that's a political judgment that's left up to congress by the constitution. but the clear case, the case that everyone has always agreed would support impeachment would be if the president engaged in outright criminality. and here we see bribery and campaign finance violations. >> so dave ehrenberg, do you see criminality here? and what -- what impact do you think mick mulvaney's admission and then later scrambling retraction will have on this scandal overall? >> yeah, agree with joyce here. i mean, yesterday's press conference was a clown show. i mean, mulvaney went rogue and it's not uncommon when a conspiracy falls apart for the individual conspirators to start

pointing the finger at each other. they're panicking. that's what mulvaney did yesterday. he panicked and he pointed the finger at president trump as an attempt to save his own hide. you know, he was saying, yeah, this all happened, it happens all the time. it's essentially a quid pro quo. the problem with that is that it does seal president trump's fate for impeachment. and, it could lead to mulvaney wearing a pair of handcuffs in the future for campaign finance violations, possible bribery, extortion. remember, president nixon's chief of staff served prison time for watergate. and that could ultimately be mulvaney's fate. i think at that point jury will have to decide which of mulvaney's two statements yesterday was more credible, the one he did voluntarily, spontaneously on camera or the carefully written letter that he submitted hours later to try to walk it back that was clearly vetted by president trump and a bunch of lawyers. >> so when mulvaney took the position as acting chief of staff, he did away with a lot of the restraints that chief staff john kelly tried to put on the white house.

he more or less said he wasn't going to try to keep the president in line, he was going to embolden him to do what he wanted. we've seen very little attempts for him to push back. the president yesterday, reverend, was said that he was in dallas and when he was asked about mulvaney's briefing he initially said he didn't see much of it but he was told that he did well. that was before, of course, the cleanup statement was issued later. you know the president, you know how he deals with things, you know his sense of loyalty. if the walls are closing in on mulvaney right now and as joyce and dave both said, could he face real potentially legal concerns, how do you think the president resnakts should mick mulvaney not feel too comfortable in his position right now? >> mick mulvaney should get his own attorney because the president will throw him to the wolves and not defend him at all. clearly what mulvaney did was say, yes, dwe rwe did rob the b and we're bank robbers and the head of the gang, which is

donald trump, is saying i didn't rob anything, he acted on his own. that's essentially where he's going to go. the only thing that was missing yesterday after mulvaney's statement, and i'm not joyce, but the only thing that was missing was someone should have came in and read him his rights because he confessed to a crime right in front of national television. and donald trump is not going to go down with him, though i think he absolutely brought donald trump down. and i think in many ways cemented the impeachment of donald trump. >> it was incredible. also yesterday, u.s. ambassador to the european union, gordon sondland testified under subpoena as part of the house impeachment inquiry into president trump. according to the "new york times," sondland told congressional investigators that trump delegated american foreign policy on ukraine to his personal lawyer rudy giuliani, a directive he said he disagreed with but nonetheless followed. the times reports sondland testified he did not understand

until later that giuliani's goal may have been an effort, quote, to involve ukrainians directly or indirectly in the president's 2020 re-election campaign. dave ehrenberg and joyce vance, if you could both answer starting with dave, does this testimony expose rudy giuliani maybe to charges? what was your reaction to sondland's testimony? >> yes, it does. it provides more evidence that giuliani was conducting shadow diplomacy and possible violation of federal criminal statutes like conspiracy to commit bribery, extortion, the foreign corrupt practices act. but i think his real criminal liability comes in violating campaign finance laws and the foreign agent registration act. giuliani may say, hey, i was just working on behalf of the president so essentially that's immunity. which it's not. also, it increases the chances of impeachment for the president from 100% to 1,000%. and then it's not even a defense against charges of campaign

finance violations or other federal conspiracy charges. and lastly, giuliani needs to be reminded that he doesn't get the benefit of the get out of jail free card that the president enjoys from the department of justice's internal memo that says you can't indite a sitting president. that doesn't extend to the president's personal lawyer, just ask michael cohen. >> zadave is absolutely right. i agree a hundred percent with dave that giuliani has a lot of different types of exposure. he's said publicly that he doesn't have a lawyer because he doesn't need one. he does need a lawyer. the interesting aspect of what's happening here is another thing that dave talked about earlier, and prosecutors see this all the time. when a conspiracy comes apart, everyone tries to save themselves. and that's where prosecutors typically find their best evidence. so four of giuliani's allegedly coconspirators are already in federal custody. it looks likely that at least a few of them are talking.

some of them have been released with a large bond attached to their release. and giuliani at some point will have to engage in a calculus of whether he wants to save himself or whether he still believes can he rely on this president to keep him afloat. >> well, and to that point, joyce, i also think we saw when you talk about coconspirators, ambassador sondland yesterday basically admit eting he was a dupe. and you saw members of congress come out saying he was well intentioned. he meant well and that he was really just a stooge for rudy giuliani. so i guess this is, perhaps, the first -- who else do you think follows that lead so publicly that serves the administration? >> sondland think there, is at best a dupe. the timeline is not in his favor, susan. he, by the time may 23rd where he says he still doesn't know that giuliani's engaging in shadow diplomacy over the

president's desires to have an investigation, there's already been public reporting in "the new york times" and a lot of controversy about giuliani's travel. so whether or not his position that he's a dupe holds up or not i think is anyone's question at this point in time. but now the players are divided in two groups, essential lirply we see these career employees at the state department, perhaps other agencies who will come forward and testify about what they observed, what they knew, what they saw. and also we work in closer to this circle of people who at least arguably were part of let's is all call it a conspiracy, but perhaps this effort to run a shadow diplomacy. and it will be the first few of those insiders who to crack and break and testify that will be defining here much like john dean's testimony was during watergate. >> rev, i'm seeing a little bit of a different show here. you and i know trump pretty well or used to know trump pretty well. i don't think there's any chance

mick mulvaney went out there on his own. i think trump's bet is, okay, let them impeach me, i'm not going to get thrown out in the senate. and by the way, when they impeach me if i've set it up that this is a no big deal, keep moving on here, yeah there are was a quid pro quo, oh, yeah there are was a quid pro quo, yeah, there was a quid pro quo, he's got the defense going into the general election in 2020. i believe this is once again the same strategy, yeah, fifth avenue i shot someone. so we're sitting here talking about how this strengthens the case for the impeachment in congress. i'm going on the premise that he's playing a bigger, longer game, the ultimate transactional day trader is looking past this. >> i think you could be right in terms of trump logic. but trump logic is not always logical. what he is missing is the public is different in terms of their attitude than they were when he made the statement about fifth avenue. the majority of the public is saying they want to see impeachment inquiry or his removal from office. when he said he would shoot

someone on fifth avenue and people would still vote for him, people did not think he was going to be president. people did not think he would throw the kurds to the dogs. people did not think any number of things. now they've seen him in office and they're seeing it differently. he is acting the same way, you're absolutely right, donny, he is dealing with donald trump logic. but trump logic is illogical to the majority of americans right now. >> we'll see. >> well, we just passed the 1,000-day mark of trump's presidency and "the washington post's" fact checker puts their latest tally of the president's lies at 13,435 as of october 9th. that's an average the 22 lies a day. steve rattner has charts on that. can't believe we're at that point where we're doing charts on lies. steve. >> it's pretty incredible, mika. obviously we haven't actually i don't think said the word lie today, but much of what we've been talking about all morning

are essentially lies. so let's take a look at what it looks like on a chart. so this is a basic chart of trump's lie, 13,435 lies. in a thousand days, you can do the imagine. but what's interesting is how the pace has accelerated. it took him a year to get to his first 2,000 lies if the took him eight months to get to get to his next 5,000 lies. and then it took him seven months to get another 5,000 lies in. so the pace of lies has been rising very rapidly. if we then turn to what he's been -- what has caused him to lie more, you can see that, again, he started out pretty slow. but then certain events caused him to bring his lie count up. the first was the border separation policies, that caused the jump in lies, as you can see. the second was the midterm electioners, did a huge amount of lying in act right before the elections which obviously didn't work out very well. the mueller report got him

going. and now ukraine looks like it might well send him to his highest lie count per month so far. so, what has he been lying about? what are his biggest lie issues? let's take a look at the last chart. you can see his biggest lie issue is the border construction. he has repeated that same lie 218 times. "the washington post" has something called a bottomless pinocchio. when you lie about something 20 times, he's done that on 27 separate subjects. he's lied at least 20 times. and then you can see the other things here, the u.s. economy being the strongest ever, not true. the size of the trade deficit not true. the size of the tax cut not true. billions from tariffs not true. and then ukraine whistleblower, he wins an award for this because this is the fastest he's gotten to 20 lies in his period of lying. >> steve vir to ask you what everybody asks, these charts are incredible. ha is the machine behind ratner

that gets you to these charts? are there 47,000 elves? >> no, no, i think in many cases there are 47,000 elves. in this case i have to give credit to the "washington post" which -- who's fact checking department is amazing and has done this. think about it again, 13.5 lies a day every day of his presidency. >> that's how you, able to attach -- the way you atacht lies to the chart is incredible. >> steve rattner proving can he prove anything. thank you for being on the show this morning. coming up, janet napolitano is standing by. she joins the conversation next on "morning joe." she joins the conversation next on "morning joe." at fidelity, we make sure you have a clear plan

to cover the essentials in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. because when you're ready for what comes next, the only direction is forward. i want free access for whto research.? yep, td ameritrade's got that. a day every day of his she joins the conversation next . a day every day of his she joins the conversation next i want to know what i'm paying upfront. yes, absolutely. now offering zero commissions on online trades. i didn't have to call 911.help. and i didn't have to come get you. because you didn't have another heart attack. not today. you took our conversation about your chronic coronary artery disease to heart. even with a stent procedure, your condition can get worse over time, and keep you at risk of blood clots. so you added xarelto®, to help keep you protected. xarelto®, when taken with low-dose aspirin, is proven to further reduce the risk of blood clots that can cause heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death in people with chronic cad. that's because while aspirin can help,

it may not be enough to manage your risk of blood clots. in a clinical trial, almost 96% of people taking xarelto® did not have a cardiovascular event. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death. while taking, a spinal injection increases the risk of blood clots which may cause paralysis- the inability to move. you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. enjoy every moment-and help protect yourself from an unexpected one, like a cardiovascular event. presidency. on "morning joe." presidency. on "morning joe." ask your doctor if it's time for xarelto®. to learn more about cost and how janssen can help, visit xarelto.com.

here, hello! starts with -hi!mple... how can i help? a data plan for everyone. everyone? everyone. let's send to everyone! [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? -ahhh. sure, why not?

how'd he get out?! a camera might figure it out. that was easy! glad i could help. at xfinity, we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. there were tsunamis fourtin the world. and once they happened, we were in a major hurry to get to those regions to provide aid and support. it was very humbling to be able to help out all those people. it's my dream now to go into clean energy and whatever the next new fuel source is, that's where i want to be. i want to be on the front lines of implementation. ♪ joining us now, a former homeland security security under president obama, janet napolitano. thank you very much for being on

the show. i want to back up to 30,000 feet and ask you as a former cabinet secretary, you know, where does the state of our democracy and specifically our national security stand given the events of just the past week? >> oh, i -- i think we all have cause for grave concern, and we've seen this process evolving over the last several years, but it has reached a fever pitch. you know, the damage to the safety and security of the american people, the damage to our international reputation, you know, the damage to our constitutional system is now quite clear. you know, we have to rely on the process to work the way our founding fathers intended it to. we want to get you on daca in a moment, but let's stay there right now on national security, what you are seeing. your thoughts on what you are seeing in syria? you saw the president yesterday tout it as not only a history

for the united states but the cease-fire has been broken this morning according to reports. he was critical of your boss, president obama, of his policies there. what are you seeing there? how do you think u.s. allies around the world will feel now that they've seen the u.s. betray the kurds? >> i think it was a great day for turkey and a great day for russia. it wasn't great day for the united states and certainly not a great day for our allies, the kurds, who have been abandoned by this administration. if i am an ally in another part of the world, i have to be thinking, you know, how strong is that alliance and will the united states really be there to back me up when i'm in trouble. i have to say it just makes us appear so weak. >> picking up on that, looking at the security of people in the country -- i live in new york. i was here during 9/11. our own security, how does it put us in danger when the rest

of the world feels they can no longer depend on whatever we say and that we will be loyal allies? what does it mean to the average person watching today about our security if we are so unstable in terms of having the trust of other people that have been allied to us feeling they can't trust us anymore? >> yes, so it is not good. you know, homeland security that i was the secretary of is better when we have strong alliances, when we have strong information sharing, when we have strong intelligence gather, when we have strong partnerships where we rely on each other. all of these actions undercut those goals, and so ultimately it makes the country write less safe. beyond that, you have the hollowing out of the department of homeland security itself, which is now led by an acting secretary who has announced his

resignation and all of the major components basically are led by non-senate confirmed individuals. that department which is responsible for homeland security is operating on fumes. >> that very department, homeland security? >> exactly right. >> that's dangerous. >> yes. secretary, can you get into a little bit more? we talked about partnerships with our allies and what is going on at homeland security right now. can you talk about the fact that there is no confirmed secretary? donald trump is very favorable of using actings and he thinks it is good because he can control them in essence, but what does it mean when you are looking at so many agencies including homeland security without a confirmed secretary? >> so when you are confirmed, you know, that confirmation comes with a certain gravitas as it were and a certain authority

that an acting simply doesn't have. and so to lead the department of homeland security with an acting, to leave other departments of the federal government with acting, soon we will have an acting secretary of energy. you know, this is not good government. it is not good practice. it is not the way our system was designed to work. >> madam secretary, i am going to put you on the spot because homeland security -- the word "security" is an important word. when we look at trump's moves in turkey, when we look historically back to his el zinke speech, is there any other explanation for his behavior other than putin's owns him, whether it is a tape, whether it is money laundering? can you conjure up any other explanation for our president's behavior other than he is owned by vladimir putin? >> well, you know, i'm not going to speculate on that. >> come on, speculate! >> but i will say that during

this administration putin has done very, very well, and our allies have not. i think that should be, as i started off this interview, a grave concern to us all. it is just not right. >> briefly as a final question on daca, you know, i realize you are leaving your post shortly, but tell us what you did and the university just did in terms of the supreme court and the president's attempt to rescind that program. >> when the president attempted to rescind daca, the university of california through the board of regents filed a lawsuit to enjoin that rescission. we have prevailed in all of the lower courts. we will be before the supreme court in mid-november, but in the meantime there are some 700,000 young people in this country going to school, working, raising their families, who are all protected from deportation by daca. so there are real human lives at

stake here. >> thank you. former secretary janet napolitano, thank you so much for being on the show this morning. rev al sharpton, thank you as well. we will be tuning in to "politics nation" this weekend where rev will have two powerful interviews. rev, tell us about the funeral for atatiana jefferson. >> i will be speaking. this is the young lady killed in her own home while babysitting her nephew. the police came, a nonemergency call. one shot through the window and killed her. the funeral is tomorrow. i will be speaking and doing the show live from dallas on tomorrow, and at the same time i will be playing an interview with s with cyntoia brown who went to

jail and grew into her own in jail after she killed the one responsible for bringing her into sex trafficking. kim kardashian and others rallied for her. she was finally pardoned, let out of jail, and has become a real example of houw you can reform yourself and go forward. she did this interview with me i will play from dallas tomorrow. >> all right, rev. thank you so much. we are back in two minutes with much more on yesterday's head-spinning day in washington and around the world. d around td of course i have- ever since i started renting from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick. i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro.

liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, hmm. exactly. so you only pay for what you need. nice. but, uh... what's up with your... partner? not again. limu that's your reflection. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ - [woman] with my shark, i deep clean messes like this, this, and even this. but i don't have to clean this, because the self-cleaning brush roll removes hair while i clean. - [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans now cleans itself.

>> at some point i hope they get it because it is a fantastic financial statement. it is a fantastic financial statement. let's do that over. he is coughing in the middle of my answer. >> yeah, okay. >> i don't like that. >> when your chief of staff -- >> if you get a cough, please leave the room. >> i will come over here. >> you just can't. >> just to change the shot.

>> sorry. >> wow. >> oh, my gosh. somebody coughed. >> if mick mulvaney angered the president by coughing, you have to wonder how his open admission to a quid pro quo is going over this morning. >> i mean seriously, he is mad at him for coughing, what do you do when somebody actually poops their pants in front of the press corps? >> right. >> and then tries to take it back. >> come on. >> our barnacle, you remember how much we love money party. >> i do. >> we love money party. and money party's take on the collapse of the financial products was that they pooped the bag. mulvaney was actually from an "snl" skit, just right in his pants in front of the american people. >> stop. >> and then tried to take it back later. >> you can't take that back. >> unbelievable. >> you can't unsee that. >> he might as well just have a flashing light on his forehead

that says, "impeach us now." >> yes, he basically said, you know, looking at the president's illegalities with regard to, you know, basically trying to blackmail the ukrainian government, he basically said, hey, i want in on this too so i'm going to jump right in on public tv. i forget who said it, joe, yesterday, but it is a pretty good suppression of what happened when they say mick mulvaney co-signed the confession along with donald trump. >> he did. >> there was that. >> mika, he was arrogant about it. this happens all the time. >> get over it. >> yeah. >> get over it. >> no, actually, mick, it never happens. >> no, i know. that's bad. >> never. >> it is a bad sign when you're actually -- listen, we are backing into everything. it has been a very long week, even just yesterday it was incredible. >> we will be back in the game because it hurt me, the yankees. >> good morning, welcome to "morning joe". it is friday. >> all of those players, richard haas, that you guys had on base,

i was so hoping you could just get them, just one of them. i mean bases loaded in the first. bases loaded. >> look at him. look at him. he's mad. >> it really makes me sad because i'm a big supporter of anybody that comes out of the american league east. >> at least we're still playing for one more day. >> yeah, you know what? >> okay. there you go. >> we're all losers in the end. you are either the astros or a loser. that's what it comes down to. >> so we have mike -- >> can you believe that? at least we are all playing in the end. you sound like -- you sound like a democratic campaign manager. i don't know. >> poor richard. leave him alone. you see we have richard haas, counsel on foreign relations with us, mike barnacle. also reporter for the "associated press" jonathan lemire. >> jonathan was very hurt, by the way, the yankees not being able to bring a couple of those bases loaded, mika.

could you feel their pain? >> no. >> jonathan, could you feel their pain? >> no, i didn't feel any pain. i did not feel sympathy either. one more game. i'm not saying the series is over but i enjoyed it more than richard haas did. >> former commission analyst steve. james stavridis is with us, chief diplomacy analyst with nbc knews and journalist in residence at georgetown university, school of foreign service, elise labott. contributor charlie sykes walked a mile in our shoe wondering, what do you lead with this morning? is it the admission of a quid pro quo in ukraine, trump app awful syria deal, the president's apparent endorsement of ethnic cleansing, the

apparent collapse of the stonewall, rick perry's escape, sondland breaking with trump stories, elijah cummings, romney's dramatic floor speech on syria. not on charlie's list, the admiral who led the ray to take out osama bin laden, saying it is time for a new person in the oval office as james mattis roasts donald trump. >> there's so much to talk about. we joked for a few minutes at the top of the show, mika likes to do it. me, i like to get straight into the news, but there's so much going on if somebody woke up this morning they might -- they might not think that yesterday was not one of the most significant news days during the trump presidency. i may even argue one of the most significant news days over perhaps the last decade just in

terms of volume. mike, i want to start with you. there was so much, so many shameful acts by the president as it had to do with lining up the kurds for ethnic cleansing, kowtowing to the turks. buff i want to start with this mick mulvaney confession in the white house because it was -- it was a confession. i will say it was like you had the nixon tapes played out in front of the press for everyone to see because this was the smoking gun. this was the guy we had read weeks ago had held up the aid at the direction of the president of the united states, and yesterday he admitted military aid was held up from an ally who had been invaded by vladimir putin in return for chasing down presidential conspiracy theories and, of course, attached though

he didn't say it hunter biden. >> joe, when he said it -- i mean the tragic aspect of what he said is the reaction to it. it was basically we're not surprised. the accelerated pace of the headlines that mika just read, the incidents that have happened over the course of this, the past few days, but i think if you are going to pick out one thing to select as wow, it would be the sad aspect of what is going on in the world. in 11 days, 11 days in october, this october, the president of the united states has made the united states of america irrelevant in the most volatile, dangerous region in the world. >> he has, admiral stravridis,

trying to hide the fact that he has betrayed our closest allies on the battlefield, he empowered putin and assad, he undercut the israelis and the kurds, and of course he is the man who has reinvented isis. >> precisely. you know, a way to think of this as i watched that press conference from ankara yesterday was president erdogan and president trump, you know, they have buried the hatchet. they buried it right in the back of the kurds. it is shocking to see the kurds simply pushed in what begins to look like ethnic cleansing. here is a news flash, 300,000 of them are marching into the desert and winter is coming, literally. so that is a sad day, and as mike barnacle just said the knock-on effect from the

tactical events will be felt strategically in a lack of confidence for what the united states stands for. that's a bad day for american diplomacy. >> it is a bad day for american diplomacy, a bad week for american diplomacy, and unfortunately the next president of the united states will be cleaning this up. in fact, we will be cleaning this up for ten years because no one, admiral, is going to believe, are they, that you can trust the word of the united states of america. look at iris. we get out of iraq. isis fills that void. we go, okay, after they've cut off enough heads, after they have blown up enough people in paris, after they have shot up enough people in san bernardino, after they've had a reign, an absolute rein of terror that i will say was so -- sou ubiquitous that my children had to be convinced every day that isis was not coming to their school the next day. the fear had grown and had seemed -- i mean it was

shocking. and then barack obama and some pretty smart military people started a plan. donald trump continued it and here we are, arguably something even worse than barack obama escaping iraq -- escaping syria in a much worse situation. >> indeed. let me make a military point here. this was not a huge deployment of troops. when i commanded the mission in afghanistan as supreme allied commander, we had 150,000 troops in there. in airiraq at peak we had 185,0 troops. this was 2,000 to 3,000 special forces. it is a mistake like the dutch boy pulling his finger out of the dike to let that region just fall into chaos, give iran an open sweep of turks that goes from baghdad to damascus to the

mediterranean sea, all for pulling out 2,000 troops. i get it on pulling out, but this was a small that leveraged our partners and friends. it is penny wise and pound foolish. last comment. i have been thinking about character lately as opposed to leadership. leadership is how we influence others. it is a big door. those big doors of leadership swing on the small hinges of character. when we demonstrate a lack of character and disloyalty and lack of vision in walking away, the knock-on effects will be significant. >> yes. >> they will be, and the real tragedy of this is that the pentagon, our smartest, the best and brightest men and women, figured out a way to learn from the 17 years of mistakes that

the united states of america made because of some bad mistakes by politicians, and figured out how to have a small enough footprint that was sustained. >> exactly. >> that could do so many things strategically important to the united states of america, the west and the world shall and we take those people out. i want to move to another issue. we have so many issues, but, jonathan lemire, if you needed any more evidence of just how number the president's heinous behavior inside the white house has become, look no further than his announcement yesterday that he was going to be holding the next g-7 summit, one of the most important summits in the world at his failing miami golf resort that david fahrenthold told us has been bleeding out money the past several years. that's gross enough. what is even more sickening is that you actually have

republican politicians like marco rubio applauding an action that falls four square into the emoluments clause and what that clause was drafted for by our founders. >> you would be hard pressed to find a clearer example of the emoluments clause than this issue right here. it has been rumored for a while that the president wanted to host the g-7 next summer at his golf course just outside of miami. let's note that june in miami, not only is it often swelteringly hot but if beginning of hurricane season. it is when occupancy rate at that golf course is only about 35%, 38% in the last couple of years. that's obviously not great, and this will be a boon for business. a lot of trump properties with the exception of his hotel in washington have suffered since he took office. this was seen as a way to -- as a shot in the arm. the president will profit off of this. so yesterday with the president heading to texas for a rally and

vice president and secretary of state overseas in turkey, they dispatched chief of staff to make the announcement. it is something they felt the president couldn't do himself. it was mulvaney taking the podium to say this, it was the single best venue in the country to have this event. it was applauded by members of the republican party, most notably senator rubio who represents florida. while he was out there he was peppered with questions and shattered the white house's defense on the impeachment inquiry by suggesting that, yes, indeed, there was a quid pro quo between ukraine and the united states to investigate joe biden. he suggested it was to the dnc server, a debunked conspiracy theory, that whereas the reason behind it, not about biden in terms of withholding military aid. joe, this is something where mulvaney went out there and not only did he make official this

court of unbelievable conflict of interest with the g-7, but he imperilled what this white house is trying to do in defense of the democratic impeachment probe. >> richard haas, we had yesterday -- and we haven't even talked about the brexit deal, eu and britain coming to a brexit deal, but something that i think for american audiences even more shocking is admiral mccraven, a four star admiral, a man who basically led the charge that killed osama bin laden, brought osama bin laden to justice, writes an op-ed for "the new york times" that says in effect our republic is under attack from the president and he must be replaced. >> whew! >> what admiral mccraven said in public in an op-ed is what a lot

of people are saying in private, the difference is that admiral mccraven decided to say it. so many other people that should be speaking out have effectively become enablers. you don't have to be someone that actively supports the president to be an enabler. acts of omission as as consequential at this moment. this is one of the moments we will look back on history and basically say, where were you at that time. what bill mccraven, as he always does, is a stand-up person. he is a man of enormous integrity. full disclosure, he is a friend and he is on the board of an organization i had. he said, again, what so many people say in private that i hear all the time. and i don't want to come back to something the admiral said here, the other admiral, about their character. we are seeing character and private behavior and the relationship between character and private behavior and character in policy. you have the doral situation. but, ian, the entire thing with the kurds, that is a foreign

poll that lacks character. it has the strategic implications mike and jim were talking about, but also it says something about who we are. the fact that we would do this, that we would be so cavalier and call this a cease-fire deal, this is not a cease-fire deal. this is a cave-in. it gives turkey everything it wants. basically the kurds said we're happy to take it but if we don't get what we want we will resume fighting. that's not a cease-fire. it is a cave-in on our part and a sell out. there's others in the works on your list because it didn't happen yesterday, it could potentially be afghanistan, a very similar thing. >> it is coming. >> where essentially we go around the world and have serial sellouts of those who have been our partners. >> still ahead on "morning joe", three four star military leaders sound off on what is happening

in america right now. along with james stavridis, james mattis and william mccraven are weighing in. you're watching "morning joe". we will be right back. humira patients, you inspire us. the way you triumph over adversity. and live your lives. that's why we redesigned humira. we wanted to make the experience better for you. now there's less pain immediately

following injection. we've reduced the size of the needle and removed the citrate buffers. and it has the same effectiveness you know and trust. humira citrate-free is here. a little change can make a big difference. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your doctor about humira citrate-free. here's to you.

you're stronger than you know. so strong. you power through chronic migraine, 15 or more headache or migraine days a month. one tough mother. you're bad enough for botox®. botox® has been preventing headaches and migraines before they even start for almost 10 years, and is the #1 prescribed branded chronic migraine treatment. botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more. effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. don't receive botox® if there's a skin infection. tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications including botulinum toxins,

as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. go on with your bad self. you may pay as little as zero dollars for botox®. ask your doctor about botox® for chronic migraine. you got this. here, hello! starts with -hi!mple... how can i help? a data plan for everyone. everyone? everyone. let's send to everyone! [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? -ahhh. sure, why not? how'd he get out?! a camera might figure it out. that was easy! glad i could help. at xfinity, we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today.

c ♪ >> former defense secretary james mattis spoke at the famed al smith dinner last night. mattis took on the president after trump called him the world's most overrated general during the contentious white house meeting on wednesday. >> i'm not just an overrated general, i'm the greatest, the world's most overrated. i'm honored to be considered that by donald trump because he also called meryl streep an overrated actress.

so i guess i'm the meryl streep of generals. fwra frankly, that sounds pretty good to me. you do have to admit that between me and meryl, at least we had some victories. some of you were kind during the reception and asked me, you know, if this bothered me to have been rated this way based on what donald trump said. i said, of course not, i had earned my spurs on the battlefield, martin, as you pointed out and donald trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor. so -- >> wow. oh, my goodness. all right. so, admiral stavridis, twitter is all aflame at this, he should do more, he should do more. you know, not everybody, not everybody lives their life on a twitter timeline. >> yeah. >> not everybody is captive to a 24/7 cable news cycle.

i would say that's a pretty good start for a general who said, i'm going to have my timeline, and when it is time to speak out i will. everybody doesn't have to be blurting everything out at the same time. admiral mccraven, one of the most respected military men of our time, came out yesterday and said the president wasn't fit to serve in the office that he served in. i think it is good enough for a day. >> it is a pretty good day. let's face it, of those two responses the one i like is jim mattis because humor has a way of working itself into the conversation. it is that kind of zeitgeist that we need. both of those are appropriate i think. long-term we don't want to see lots and lots of senior retired military leaning into the political system. we are in extraordinary times. i applaud what my good friend,

bill mccraven, has done, and my good friend jim mattis. two different approaches. both very sensible. >> all right. >> retired four star navy admiral james stavridis, thank you so much. his new book, "sailing true north." >> what a great book. >> it is out now. coming up on "morning joe", cue to the sound. eugene robinson says mick mulvaney's performance yesterday was akin to a "law and order" courtroom confession. gene explains that next on "morning joe". ♪

i get it all the time. "have you lost weight?" of course i have- ever since i started renting from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter...

...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick. i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro. they give us excellent customer otservice, every time.e. our 18 year old was in an accident. usaa took care of her car rental,

and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. if i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. we're the gomez family... we're the rivera family... we're the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. get your auto insurance quote today. aaddiction. how juuline hooked kids and ignited an public health crisis." other news outlets report- juul took $12.8 billion from big tobacco. markets e-cigarettes with kid friendly flavors and uses nicotine to addict them. 5 million kids use e-cigarettes. juul is "following big tobacco's playbook." and now, juul is pushing prop c to overturn e-cigarette protections. vote no on juul. no on big tobacco. no on prop c.

♪ i've got lots of friends in san jose ♪ inside the white house briefing room yesterday the president's top aide, acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, truck down the president's defense against impeachment by admitting that military aid to ukraine was withheld to pressure the country to investigate a debunked conspiracy theory involving democrats and the 2016 election. >> that he also mentioned to me

in past the corruption related to the dnc server? absolutely no question. but that's it. that's why we held up the money. now, there was a report -- >> so the demand for an investigation into the democrats was part of the reason that he ordered to withhold funding to ukraine. >> the look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation, and that is absolutely appropriate. >> withholding the funding? >> yeah. >> but to be clear, what you just described is a quid pro quo. it is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the democratic server happened as well. >> we do -- we do that all the time with foreign policy. mckinney said yesterday he was really upset with the political influence in foreign policy. that was one of the reasons he was so upset about this, and i have news for everybody. get over it. there's going to be political influence in foreign policy. >> oh, my gosh. you know, the president's going to be so upset for so many

reasons. first of all, he said, yes, there's a quid pro quo. we do it all the time. >> get over it. >> get over it. and also most damning for him, he wasn't wearing a dark suit. he was wearing a lighter suit and that angers the president. just like, remember, sean spicer. >> a little sweaty, too. >> yes, he was sweaty and you would be sweaty if you were admitting -- he's john dean. he didn't mean to be john dean of our day but he has the glasses and everything. >> you say this is pants pooping. >> oh, it is. >> no, there's so much on the record that i don't -- my theory is there's so much on the record that you just have to go there. mulvaney later walked back his statement. >> too late. >> how do you walk that back? >> too late. i shot somebody on fifth avenue, middle of fifth avenue. no, i didn't. see, it doesn't work. you admitted it. >> that doesn't work. claiming there was no quid pro quo while blaming the media for misconstruing his remarks. >> hey, let's play it again, alex. >> i want to see if we understand --

>> the fake news media, can't stand the fake knews media. >> here we go again. >> let's let him confess to you instead of the fake news media twisting his words. >> want to make sure we get this right. >> let's do it again. >> did he also mention to me in past the corruption related to the dnc server? absolutely. no question about that. that's it. that's why we held up the money. i was involved with the process by which the money was held up temporarily, okay. three issues for that. the corruption in the country, whether or not other countries were participating in support of the ukraine, and whether or not they were cooperating in an ongoing investigation with our department of justice. that's completely legitimate. >> yeah, you know, i'm just a dumb caveman lawyer, a simple man from another time -- >> they tried to walk it all back. >> gene, this is what is so rich. they're confessing everything in public. >> yeah, yeah. >> and then they try to blame the fake news media. it is all on video. it is all on video. there's no place to run.

there is no place to hide, baby. it is all on video. mulvaney yesterday did more to move the president towards impeachment than anybody has over the past, well, three years. >> yes, it was incredible. it was like the scene on the end -- the courtroom scene in "law and order" where under jack mccoy's withering cross-examination the defendant just finally breaks down and says, yeah, i did it. >> gene, it was a perry mason moment on the stand there, sweating. i did it, i did it! that's what mulvaney did yesterday. >> i know. >> even with the sweat and everything and donald trump, seeing the light suit, it is driving him crazy. he was the witness on the stand in a perry mason show, admitted they all did it. there was a conspiracy, there was a quid pro quo. >> he's chief of staff. >> he just admitted it. so he admitted that that article of impeachment is just, you know, it is just solid.

that's an immediate -- should be an immediate conviction. and then remember why mulvaney came out in the first place. it was to announce that the president was intending to violate the black letter of the emoluments clause of the constitution. >> yeah. >> by -- by, you know, compelling foreign governments to give him money at the doral resort, which is just astounding. >> yeah. >> it is as if they took out their constitution and said, there must be one around here somewhere in the white house, somebody has a constitution. they looked and they said, well, what does that clause say? then they decided to violate its every letter. i mean it was just extraordinary. >> yeah. >> i imagine the president was probably apoplectic. in fact, if you watched him last night he was indeed apoplectic. >> coming up, is the blueprint for a brexit deal helping to move the markets?

we will look live to cnbc for business before the bell. "morning joe" is coming back up. when you shop for your home at wayfair, you get more than free shipping. you get everything you need for your home at a great price, the way it works best for you, i'll take that. wait honey, no. when you want it. you get a delivery experience you can always count on. you get your perfect find at a price to match, on your own schedule.

you get fast and free shipping on the things that make your home feel like you. that's what you get when you've got wayfair. so shop now! ( ♪ ) only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands?

tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management. to help you grow and protect your wealth. mom you've got to [ get yourself a new car.g ] i wish i could save faster. you're making good choices. you'll get there. ♪ were you going to tell me about this? i know i can't afford to go. i still have this car so you can afford to go.

i am so proud of you. thanks. principal. we can help you plan for that. start today at principal.com.

did president trump instruct you to say that there was no quid pro quo? >> excuse me, please. >> reporter: as a respected attorney, i'm sure you understand how the free press works, sir. thank you. can you say definitively there was no quid pro quo. >> i'm not giving any comment until my testimony. thanks. >> reporter: why was it important for you to show up here? >> it is important to show up when congress calls. >> reporter: are you here to salvage your reputation. >> i don't have a reputation to salvage. >> wow. geoff bennett yesterday as gordon sondland arrived on capital hill to testify in front of congressional investigators. joining us now member of the house oversight and intelligence committees, democratic congressman raja villanueve.

congressman, i guess first of all what is your reaction from what you heard in terms of the testimony from gordon sondland? >> i can't get into the specifics of the testimony, but what i walked away with the feeling about is that mr. sondland definitely pointed to guilliani as engaging in some suspect activities, and then he had some selective amnesia about his own involvement in those activities. clearly the deposition kind of provided additional crop ration for the idea that, you know, guilliani was running a shadow foreign policy not in the best interests of the country, but possibly in the best interests of his personal clients including donald trump and potentially others. >> yes. at the end of the day of course all of this corroboration you are gathering in these hearings just blurted out by mick

mulvaney. >> right, right. >> we will get to that in a second. here is the take from republican congressman jim jordan of ohio yesterday following testimony by u.s. ambassador to the european union gordon sondland. >> he confirmed what ambassador volker told us a week ago when he said there was no quid pro quo relative to 2016 and no quid pro quo relative to any investigation into the hunter biden situation. we have all said the president of the united states can have who he deems is going to do the job that he thinks needs to be done working for him. if he got other questions for mr. guilliani, like i said, my guess is he would be happy to answer them. >> did jim jordan get the memo? even mick mulvaney yesterday made the connection. what did he tell you guys? >> i disagree with congressman jordan about his assertion that somehow mr. sondland backed up

the republican theory there was no quid pro quo. secondly, you are absolutely right. mick mulvaney in a moment of candor, you know, explained exactly what was going on which is that military aid to the ukraine was being held up for assistance with a political initiative. i think somebody pointed out this sounded like a scene from "law and order". to me it looked like a scene where jack nicholson tells you the truth in "a few good men." i think that he -- mr. mulvaney gave a new meaning to acting in his role as acting chief of staff. >> congressman, when gordon was testifying before the committee, all you could think of -- at least me -- was the phrase "only the best people." that's the people that donald trump decided he was going to have around him. did you get the impression that you got the full truth about his role in the ukraine or was it

partial truth and him trying to cover up what actually happened in terms of his own involvement? >> i think it is a little bit of the latter, mike. i felt that, like i said, he had temporary amnesia with regard to many critical meetings and conversations involving himself, but he had a vivid recollection of guilliani and his role and the fact that, you know, the president basically directed, you know, mr. sondland and others to go to guilliani to figure out, you know, what was required for the military aid to be released to the ukraine. >> so he can his best to not implicate himself? >> that was the feeling that i walked away with, yes. >> congressman donny deutsch, nice to talk to you. you sat in on the hearings all week. speaker pelosi, i think rightfully so, has decided to not take a vote on moving forward. what do you think the tipping point would be to move past that goal line? >> well, as you know next week we have another series of

witnesses coming in, including very importantly ambassador taylor, who wrote those very interesting text messages. again, kind of pointing to what appeared to be a quid pro quo involving military aid. i think that the more that we get into this, i think quite frankly the more it looks like we need to figure out, you know, what's the full extent of the scheme that, you know, the whistle-blower initially alleged and, secondly, who is involved with it. because at the end of the day we don't -- in my humble opinion, i'm speaking for myself, i don't think that we should prematurely conclude this investigation because of a deadline when we really need to know the full extent of who is responsible and we don't want it to happen again. >> congressman, it is jonathan lemire. mick mulvaney tripped up on the ukraine matter but he went on to speak to the cameras to announce that the g-7 would be held at the president's golf course at doral in miami, florida.

do you think that's appropriate? i can guess your answer on that. secondly, if you don't, what can congress do about it? is there anything in terms of funding or any other measure that if you feel it is not appropriate you can prevent it from happening? >> i absolutely think not only was it not appropriate but it is illegal and potentially unconstitutional under the emoluments clause. with regard to what we can do about it, currently the oversight committee is conducting an investigation with regard to the emoluments clause and, yes, there are certain remedies with regards to funding as well as other measures that can be taken with regard to it. i just want to point out one small thing or big thing, which is that this move yesterday happened on the same day we were mourning the passing of the great elijah cummings, the chairman of the oversight committees and a champion of checks and balances on the executive branch. even though elijah is no longer with us, i can guarantee that the oversight committee will continue to investigate it and try to hold the white house accountable here.

>> congressman, susan del persio here. as your investigators continue i understand why they have to happen behind closed doors, but we keep getting drips out and they're all shaded by whoever is speaking and their opinion. when will the public be able to see what was said, if it is not the actual hearing the transcripts? because at this point we have been going on for a couple of weeks and people are getting frustrated. they believe the inquiry should happen. they understand there are national security issues, but they feel if you're going to take these steps they should be public. >> sure. and chairman schiff has said it is his intention to publish these transcripts in short order and then hold public hearings, hopefully soon. but in the meantime we have to do this in closed proceedings for two reasons. one, we don't want witnesses to align their testimony with each other. it is very important that we are able to hear their testimony

unfiltered or uncolored as much as possible by other people's testimony. and then the second thing is, you know, in past impeachment proceedings there was actually a special counsel that worked in secrecy with a grand jury. that happened in watergate and then in the bill clinton impeachment. in this case we don't have that mechanism because the doj specifically refused to open an investigation when this matter, the ukraine matter was referred to the criminal division. we in effect are having to do this grand jury type of the process, once it happens we will go to open setting i'm sure in short order. >> congressman raja krishnamoorfi. >> thank you, mika. to history being made this

morning, about 254 miles above the earth, nasa astronauts christina koch are conducting the tfirst all-female spacewalk. the spacewalk which was scheduled for march was postponed because nasa didn't have two appropriately-sized spacesuits available. well, times are changing. time now for business before the bell with cnbc's dom any chu. what can we expect from the new brexit deal reached between forest johnson and the eu? >> not a whole bunch. more uncertainty, that's the big picture. on the economic front we have the united kingdom, i mean it is across the atlantic where the uncertainty still remains. the negotiators between the uk and european union have reached a deal for an orderly exit by the uk from the european union. the deal is on the table but

britain's parliament has rejected previous deals on the table as well and they appear to be ready to reject this one as well. lawmakers will convene tomorrow for a lengthy debate on what will happen with brexit. we will keep an eye on those. across the pacific china's economy is growing at 6% in the third quarter, below forecast for what economists expected. it represents the slowest growth rate for the world's second biggest economy in almost three decades. the ongoing trade conflict with america is taking its toll there. some economists are predicting more headwinds ahead. the question for wall street is whether the slowing data will somehow spur the chinese government to take steps to stimulate its own economy or moving closer to resolving the trade war with america. the critics of social giant facebook are keeping up pressure. this time facebook co-founder

chris hughes has taken it up a notch. he has been a vocal critic of facebook but he has started a fund to com bass what he calls economic security project. it will research the market dominance. that is the friday news,ly send thing back to you guys. >> thank you, we have much more ahead on morning joe. as go to break -- >> i vonl a minute, 60 seconds in it. forced upon me i did not choose it. i know i must use it. give account if i abuse it. suffer if i lose it, only a typy little minute, but eternity is in it. elijah cummings starting off his career in congress so many years

ago. we're mourning his loss, heart broken and shocked. at knowyourvalue.com i put a personal account together of his special value to us. we'll be right back. e to us. we'll be right back. this fall, book two, separate qualifying stays at choicehotels.com... ...and earn a free night.

because when your business is rewarding yourself, our business is you. book direct at choicehotels.com asbut when your team is always dealing with device setups, app updates, and support calls... you can never seem to get anywhere. that's why dell technologies created unified workspace, powered by vmware. ♪ a revolutionary solution that lets you deploy, manage, support

and secure all your devices from the cloud. so you can stop going in circles, and start moving forward. high protein. low sugar. tastes great! high protein. low sugar. so good! high protein. low sugar. mmmm, birthday cake! pure protein. the best combination for every fitness routine. sthis one grows fuel. exxonmobil is growing algae for biofuels. that could one day power planes, propel ships, and fuel trucks... and cut their emissions in half. algae. its potential just keeps growing.

- [woman] with my shark, i deep clean messes like this, this, and even this. but i don't have to clean this, because the self-cleaning brush roll removes hair while i clean. - [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans now cleans itself. ♪ we♪ because it's made withan, plants.♪ ♪ we switched to tide purclean,♪ ♪ it gets stains out of his pants.♪ ♪ tide purclean, they don't put phosphates in. ♪ ♪ no dyes or chlorine ♪ it's gentle on my skin. ♪tide purclean, it has nothing to hide. ♪ ♪ it's made with plants and ♪ has the cleaning ♪ strength of tide. the first plant-based detergent with the cleaning power of tide.

my mother was a prisoner of war. she went to aushawitz, she survived. and she always used to say god saved me so that i could give you life. and by giving you life, you gave me my life back. you are my freedom. but now here i am, you know, at the winter of my life and i have become the godmother of the statute of liberty. my mother gave me this torch of freedom and i'm helping lady

liberty to carry her torch of freedom. that was a scene from "liberty, mother of exiles." the surprising and revealing history of the statute of liberty and that national monuments significant. joining us now, diane von furstenberg. this is an incredible project that you have thrown your heart and soul into it. >> and it is completed. >> and why did you take it on? >> i, you know, i had no idea when i took it on. when they asked me to come on the board of the statute of liberty and exile foundation. i didn't really want to. i didn't really understand the story of the statute of liberty. i just thought of it as a big statute that becomes you to new

york. i started to read about it and learn about it and see all of the amazing people that were involved in the making of it. and then i said yes. and then when i said yes i realized they wanted me to raise the funds to make the museum which is now open. and i -- at liberty island. and as i got more involved i decided to do a book, to do an app with apple, and now the documentary. >> what did you learn in this process. what moved you? >> what is nice about a movie is our own discovering of what it represents to so many people. you know the statute of liberty, she is like the sun. she warms everybody in an equal

way and everybody can bar rorro her. >> and she a symbol of freedom. >> what people may not know is it is the people of france that used their money to make a present to the people of america. the intellectuals looked at america as a utopia. we had the constitution, and they wanted to show america how much admiration the french people had for america and it's constitution. >> and then there is the poem, and what this administration has done with what they believe is the poem --

>> again, she wrote the poem to raise money for the pedestal. when the statute came here in america it stayed there in boxes and no one had the money to create the pedestal. >> so you joined the ellis island foundation, but you had a condition, i said you want me so much, i would like to have the title of being the godmother of the statute of liberty, and i like to be able to claim that. >> this project is amazing. thank you so much for coming on the show, the new film is liberty, mother of exiles. that does it for us this

morning. thank you. >> i'm stephanie ruhle if is friday, october 18th and the white house is making a very specific request of the american people. believe what we tell you to believe even if it doesn't match what you have seen with your own eyes. for example, the white house says say it's is great for the kurds. also the g 7 will be held at the trump resort, but mick mulvaney says don't worry the president won't make a dime. and mulvaney going on tv and saying of course there was a quid pro quo. >> they look back to 2016. it is absolutely appropriate. >> what you just