it's extraordinary. >> jonathan lamere, you were there. tell me all the back and forths that have been going on this week. what's your take? what have you heard inside the white house? what have you heard across washington? not only about the reaction a week later, or several days later, into the summit, but also the president lurching forward to have another summit with vladimir putin when he still hasn't cleaned up the multitude of messes created by the first summit? >> very few things seem to stick to this president. he seems to bounce off controversy nearly on a daily basis pap few things lining charlottesville, we still feel that one. this week seems like it could stay. i think the part of the confusion is, part of the reason why the stories and questions are still circulating is that no one knows really what happened. not just we in the media don't ent firely know what happened. key members of the united states government don't know what happened in helsinki on monday. the members of the white house themselves are still trying to fig

affairs analyst for nbc news and msnbc john heilemann, associate editor of "common" magazine and jonathan lamereetsy woodruff and "new york times" reporter michael schmidt. joe and mika have the morning off. a full house and a verification of a 2016 audiotape recorded by trump's former fixer. who said what, agreeing on the subj t

jonathan lamere white house reporter for the the associated press. former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. and anita kumar, white house correspondent. are we, in fact, watching as has been theorized, an evolving policy? nocollusion, no collusion. >> we shouldn't be thinking of him in legal terms. he is all about the public relations battle. he is the attack dog filling the air waves. this does seem like a deliberate step that we have seen, as you traced there, since 2016. there was no collusion. and yet suddenly today we have giuliani trying a new line suggesting that, well, even if there were collusion that's not a problem because it didn't get anywhere. nothing happened. i think that i will defer to my legal colleagues on the set -- >> i'm about to. >> in terms of whether that is true. i think what we are seeing from giuliani is two things happened today. he gives us the mysterious other trump tower meeting. people i talked to today don't know what he is talking about and they are certainly frustrated. these are trump advisers who wonder wh

white house reporter for the associated press jonathan lamere and washington anchor for bbc world news have to ask, our introductions of you are carved up by a thanksgiving turkey. at the beginning legendary ad man now they have don. don d. i mean, everythinge

affairs analyst for nbc news and msnbc john heilemann, associate editor of "common" magazine and jonathan lamere and betsy woodruff and "new york times" reporter michael schmidt. joe and mika have the morning off. a full house and a verification of a 2016 audiotape recorded by trump's former fixer. who said what, agreeing on the subject of the conversation. then candidate trump is heard discussing a possible payment to purchase the story rights of a former "playboy" model karen mcdougal about an affair the president had in 2005, of which the president denies. nbc cannot confirm whether it's been edited or altered, here's what was played. a warning. it includes a profanity from then candidate president donald j. trump. >> let me know what's happening. okay? oh. oh! maybe because of this it would be better if you didn't go. you know? maybe because of "this." for that one, you know, what you can do to get rid of this, because it's so false, what they're saying. it's such bullshit. um -- i think -- i think this goes away quickly. i think it's probably better. to do the charleston thing. just this ti

. >> jonathan lamere, though, people in the audience are cheering for his lies, and so many times know he is lying. like what is this? is it like -- is it like a rock concert or like an act where he's just delivering lines and -- they just like the lines that are being delivered even though they know he is lying to them? >> yeah. a couple of things going on at once. donald trump, since his real estate days, asserted a reality which, of course, is not true. >> hold on. they are -- this is a smaller crowd. do we have numbers on this crowd? >> 14. >> it looks like they had to squeeze the room smaller. he puts curtains around everybody, squeezes them in, pulls them in closer when less people show up. >> we don't know how many but will get a number on that. >> trump, even from real estate days, would assert something is true even though it wasn't and go with that as his reality. that is something he has done throughout and certainly carried it over into politics. in terms of the crowd believing those things, some, yes. it's a rock concert. he says a line. people around them cheer. they chee

white house reporter for associated press jonathan lamere and white house correspondent for reuters jeff. gentlemen, good morning. great to have you both with us and great job yesterday. let me start with you, jonathan. take us inside the room. we were all watching on television. it struck as as extraordinary and unprecedented. all the things said this morning. what was it like being in the room? >> a lot of energy in the room, a tense spot. coming after the two leaders had a two-hour meeting that ran longer than expected followed by a short meeting with advisers. a sense of anticipation what would happen in the room, and it was packed with security as i expect 3 expect. even an incident a reporter acting as an activist was thrown out by security at some point, holding a sign. a lot of sort of chaos in the room before they came out. any presidential press conference is a big deal, serious event, always prepared for it but this had larger stakes. vladimir putin does not take questions from american journalists often. donald trump standing a few feet away as he said they tried to help trum