>> john kelly was a general, he believed really strongly in the chain of command. to him, he could not believe that miller would call people be allowed kelly and make demands and try to pressure him into making decisions. that idea was anathema to kelly's whole career. he would call the white house and actually try to get miller in trouble. he was one of the few people to do it. cabinet secretary's, people much higher than miller in the official chain of command let themselves be bullied by him. when i would ask why, they said miller has this mystique, he was so close to the president and protected because of the narrative, immigration is the reason why donald trump was elected president and was the key to him being able to hold onto power. because of that, miller was insulated from any kind of accountability, even if he defied the chain of command over and over. >> let me ask you this and i have questions from our audience. they did not execute this policy while. it created chaos. they took children who had nothing to do with them. that is part of the disaster of t

to throw a parade of his own and this was incredible you report he told his new chief of staff john kellyon screen. look, i don't want any wounded guys in the parade, trump said. this doesn't look good for me to which kelly replied and i feel like this is sort of a running thing between trump and kelly but kelly says those are the heroes. in our society there is only one group of people more heroic than they are and they are buried over at arlington. trump says in response i don't want them. it doesn't look good for me. susan, time and again this sounds like what a dictator would say and how a dictator would act. >> that is exactly right. actually, just not that long after that conversation with kelly there was another meeting in the oval office we recount in the new yorker excerpt in which the vice chairman of the joint chiefs at that time, trump again brings up the parade and wants a military parade and salva says, sir, i grew up in portugal when it was a military dictatorship and i have to tell you that kind of parade is not what we do here in america. you know, that is what dictators

the president's loud complaint to john kelly one day was typical. you f'ing generals, why can't you be like the german generals. which generals, californiay kelly asked. the german generals in world war ii, you do know that they tried to kill hitler three times and almost pulled it off? and no, no, no, they were totally loyal to him, the president replied. in his version, the generals of the third reich, they had been totally loyal to hitler. tell me about this reaction of john kelly. >> a retired four star marine general. he heard that president say many things about the military that i think stunned him and dismayed him to say the least. he talked about the parade he wanted down the streets of washington, d.c. but he didn't want any wounded soldier, people without limbs in the parade because it would look bad and general kelly said to him something to the effect of there no greater heros except for the ones who are actually buried in arlington, which didn't persuade the president. the general mentioned his own son was buried in arlington having be

now, john kelly as you said schooled trump and tried to say, well, wait a minute, mr.resident, they weren't completely subservient and they tried to hill hitler three times and trump interrupted him and said that's not right, they were completely loyal. shocking. >> it is shocking. and the politicization of the military which milley talks about in his resignation letter that he never sent, the fact that the military is supposed to be apolitical is a hallmark of american society and it's so interesting you're describing in such detail, susan, how the military itself was fighting to preserve that as a civilian commander was fighting to bastardize that. >> you know, i think you put your finger on t brianna. this is like there's no handbook, there is no guide in the constitution for what to do when the president himself is a national security threat, and they believe -- you know, that civil military relationship is almost a religion for the most senior generals, as you know, in our military and i think this conflict -- again, the through line -- this did not start after th

he told john kelly, like mattis, about his vision for independence day.k, i don't want any wounded guys in the parade, trump said. this doesn't look good for me. that is so insulting to the service of american veterans, especially those who are hurt and killed in battle for the president of the united states to make it -- it's about him, not about them. >> and this backs up reporting that we have seen that made similar points, like you were saying about his disposition towards authoritarian leaders. we know again from prior reporting that he was constantly questioning why it was that he -- why can't i do this, why can't i do that. it would be great if we could do this in other countries. you said if he does run again there's some fears that he would take actions as president that would usurp the generals and trying to get his own political appointees into those positions. but that would be a question for republicans on the ballot in 2024. >> when you listen to milley's language about the stakes here, he decided to stay. many of them decided to stay becaus

so let's start with former white house chief of staff john kelly, who said, nothing approaching an ordert foolish was ever given, and i can't imagine anyone that worked at the white house after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it. another chief of staff, mick mulvaney, flatly dismissed the idea and told me, not aware of a general standing order when he was chief. former national security adviser john bolton called it "a complete fiction." and jake, as they say, but wait, there's more. olivia troye, former homeland security official to mike penls, called it ludicrous. another senior official laughed and said, it's ridiculous. and a very, very senior trump administration official called it "bullshit" and there were a couple other words. more officials who called it b.s. >> so jamie, obviously, any president, including donald trump, has broad powers to declassify materials when he's in office. but you have to create a record of it. you didn't just like wave your hands and say this is declassifie

former chief of staff john kelly said, another quote, nothing approaching in order that foolish was ever given. look, you cannot just declassified documents by magic. there are procedures, there are rules. agencies like the cia, and i, would have to be notified. broke a twisted. all of this, beyond the unprecedented search of a former presidents home, the 11 sets of classified documents that the fbi found their, some more top secret aside, all of that is for one reason. he took classified documents. another quote, the former president resisted -- it's not there is, it's mine, several advisers said mr. trump told him. there is a lot to discuss. i want to bring in senior justice correspondent evan perez and analysts at le honing. good evening. there is a possibility that we could see a heavily redacted version of the affidavit. i want to get to that. the judge also unsealed other documents today that sharpen the focus on trump as a possible subject of a criminal investigation. tell us more, please. >> that is right, don. look, the previous documents listed the crimes that the justice depar

he told his chief of staff at the time, john kelly, to make sure that in the parade he was thinking abouts dreaming about, he didn't want to see injured service members. it was kelly who told them those are the real heroes. >> kelly was right. oren liebermann, thank you very much. let's get more on all of this. joining us, cnn military analyst, retired lieutenant general mark hertling. how angry must general milley have been to write such a forceful resignation letter and what does it tell you that he decided in the end not to resign but instead stay on and fight from the inside? >> wolf, that letter was phenomenal. when i read it this morning as that article came out, it was obvious that general milley was going through an extremely emotional and psychological time. he was trying to do the right thing for his services, not only just for the army but for all of the joint services as the chairman. but that letter was extremely unusual. you know, the military debates and in seminars at the war college or leavenworth, we debate about resigning from the service under extreme conditions. i hav

former chief of staff john kelly saying, another quote, "nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given." >> there are procedures. rules. agencies like the cia, nsa, the defense department would have to be notified. don't get it twisted. all of this, the unprecedented search of a former president's home, the 11 sets of classified documents the fbi found there, some marked top secret sci, all of that is for one reason. he took classified documents. "the new york times" reporting another quote, the former president repeatedly resisted entreaties from his advisers. "it's not theirs, it's mine," several advisers say mr. trump told them. so there's a lot to discuss and i want to bring in cnn's senior justice correspondent evan perez and senior legal analyst elie hoenig. good evening, gentlemen. lots to discuss. there's a possibility we could see a heavily redacted version of the affidavit. i just want to get to that. but the judge also unsealed other documents today that shaernd the focus on trump as a possible subject of a criminal investigation. tell us more, please. >> that's r

the presidents loud complaints to john kelly one day was typical, you effing generals, why can't you the german generals? which generals kelly asked. the generals in world war ii trump responded. you do know that they tried to kill hitler three times and almost pulled it off kelly said. but of course trump did not know that. no, no, no they were totally loyal to him the president replied. so mary, there is the typical donald trump ignorance built into that having no idea that general ronald himself was a participant himself in an attempt to assassinate hitler among others. and then there's the ignorance. and then there's the affection, the admiration for the way hitler did it. >> yeah, well that's something we have known about for a long time. i think it should just remind us that first of all, donald has always been contemptuous of service members but has also put on a pedestal generals and admirals and what have you, so as soon as he felt that he was in charge of him, they existed solely to be of use to him. that's what people are for, to be loyal to him and to do his bidding. that

john kelly tried really hard to keep him from doing that. think that some of those constraints that kelly tried putting in place, trump definitely bristled at. it's not clear to me what it looked like by 2020. >> politically, what does the former president gain or lose if the affidavit is released? >> it depends, anderson, because we don't know what's in it. obviously several media outlets, including my own, have argued that it should be released. the justice department is arguing against it. trump's folks gain more by saying see, they won't unseal it. if they thought there was advantage to this, i think he would be getting into this fight himself. his lawyers have not filed anything in this case. his lawyer was there observing the proceedings today, but it's allies of trump who are going about arguing the same case as the media. i think he sees more advantage in being seen as somebody being victimized. because as we saw with the warrant, when the warrant was unsealed, it was not good news for trump as a lot of people around him had been int

it is true and best expressed by an anecdote often linked to old honest john kelly. apparently, in 1879 at the dedication of assistant st. patrick's cathedral in new york, kelly rose up -- just so you know, he was married to the niece of new york's cardinal archbishop mccloskey. [laughter] so there's a family connection there. kelly, according to the story, apparently kind of raised his glass at this dinner after the dedication of the cathedral. he raised his glass and said god bless the two greatest organizations in the world, the catholic church and tammany hall. brief pause. person next to him, what's the second one? [laughter] they are one. and, again, most people at the time, certainly most irish catholics at the time would have no problem with that. again, irish supported tammany because tammany supported them in any number of ways. it was often the difference between life and death for the poor of new york. and, again, what are your options when you look at power, who do you turn to for help? do you turn to tammany hall, however much these people may enrich th

now kelly, just so you know, he was actually married to the niece of new york's cardinal archbishop john mccloskey. so, okay there's a connection. there it is a family connection. so reformers might worry about the church and local politics, there's definitely a connection there. but kelly, according to the story, it raised his glass at the dinner in triumph and side god bless the two greatest organizations in the world, the catholic church, and tammany hall. there was a brief pause. the person next to him says, what is the second one? it's like, they are one. and again, most people denied. certainly most irish catholics at the time would have no problem with that. again, irish supported tammany because tammany supported them. in any number of ways. tammy was often the difference between life and death for the poor of new york. and again, what are your options? when you look at power, who do you turn to for help? do you turn to tammany hall, that however much these people might enrich themselves, does seem to care about you, brings you cohen winter when you have no heat? brings you a tur

john kelly said you do know they tried to kill hitler three times and they almost pulled it off. i don't know why, but i feel like that information didn't change trump's opinions of the german generals. knowing trump he was probably like, "those generals tried to kill hitler three times. you know who was able to kill hitler on the first try? hitler. it's called leadership, people. leadership!" but anyway, let's move on to some of the bigger news stories of the day, starting off with president joe biden, who had himself one hell of a weekend. first of all, he finally tested negative again for covid. ( applause ) and was allowed to leave quarantine for the first time in 18 days. yeah, so he's back and as good as new-- or whatever he was when he went in. and 18 days is a long time in quarantine. but i'm sure he'll get right back into the swing of things, you know, because, yeah, being president is a lot like, you know, riding a bike. oh, joe, don't do it! don't do it! ( laughter ) so, the good news for bind is that he's out of quarantine. and even more good news for biden is that he

john kelly saying, quote, nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given. mick mulvaney saying, he was not aware of the general order like that. cut something out like that have gone around the chief of staff? >> the only guy who is not weighted is mark meadows. now meadows might say, this is just fine with him. i happen to know that mark meadows, i know what he was doing the morning of january 20th, and i don't think he was packing boxes for mar-a-lago. and you can read about it in my book on the biden white house. but, you know, mark meadows is just about the only person i could think of who might have said, this is just fine. >> the idea, though, that all these people were packing boxes at the last hour is just shocking. -- >> listen, i gotta tell you, that is slightly plausible to me, considering he thought he was going to hang on to power. and he may have thought that he wouldn't have to move that -- >> on january 20th? >> -- who knows. >> it reminds me of a scene from argo in the mob is at the gates of the u.s. embassy it is everybody's burning things

the president's loud complaint to john kelly one day was typical. you f-ing generals.ou be like the german generals. >> the german generals in world war ii. you do know they tried to kill hitler three times and almost pulled it off. no, no, they were -- and he was never going to get because that's not lou it works here. joining us now that bock's co-author peter baker, white house correspondent for "the new york times" and ben rhodes both msnbc contributor. peter, congratulations is premature, but you are getting plaudits for this reporting. i want to ask you about milley and i want you to talk about the broader perspective of how trump's relationship with these military people who he referred to as his generals and how that evolved over his four years in office? >> it's very interesting, of course, john, and ben knows a lot about the civil-military tension. his president had tensions with his generals as well, but president trump viewed generals as, you know, people who should be politically loyal to him. he viewed the military as the worry among the generals as a pol

>> so, john kelly, it's a great piece in the washington post put out earlier today, said it is arrogance. that trump was dismissive of intelligence officials. he thought their presentations were sort of unimpressive. he would routinely take classified documents during the briefings and keep him for himself. and he just felt that these documents belong to him. that they were part of his presidency and he should be able to keep them. john bolton, another former aide, a former national security adviser, said the same thing. that trump's -- and i'm just quoting now. but it fits a pattern here of basically, trump's arrogance. and a dismissal of government process, and a real suspicion of career public officials, in government. >> paul, let's go back to garland. before the warrant was released, you wrote a piece in the washington post, will you question the doj's choice to go after trump on this issue. you wrote, quote, the first prosecution of a former u.s. president needs to be worthy of the historic weight. after seeing what the warrant says, do you still believe what he wrote then? >> i su

when it comes to safeguarding government secrets, john kelly says trump follows his own rules. kelley tells the washington post, quote, his sense was that the people who are in the until business are incompetent, and he knew better. he did not believe in the classification system. now his way of doing things may not -- may actually be the moment something sticks no matter the excuses from -- even members of congress. >> as a senator, i know when i look at the classified documents i've got to go in a special room because we cannot even wear my fitbit and you cannot bring staff with you and that it's because these documents not only contain our nation's top secret, but because our countries that would do us harm do harm to our own citizens, we don't want them to get hold of them in any way. that's why it's so important that these documents remain and safe locations, and mar-a-lago, where you get shakeup croquet sets, tennis rackets, gulf, clips that's not one of them. >> she can't even wear her fitbit when she asks to see those documents. when it comes to trump just doing what he

so we have former white house chief of staff john kelly who said, quote, nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given. and i can't imagine anyone that worked at the white house after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it. from another chief of staff, acting chief of staff mick mulvaney, he flatly dismissed the idea and he told me, quote, not aware of a general standing order. and former national security adviser john bolton, wolf, called it, quote, a complete fiction. it goes on and on. olivia troye, who was homeland security, called it ludicrous. a very senior intelligence adviser said to me he just laughed and he said it's ridiculous. and several very, very senior officials called it bs. >> very interesting indeed. and while a president does have broad powers to declassify very sensitive material, the president at the time, a sitting president would have to have a record to show that, right? >> as one source said to me, show me his signature. there is a process to declassify. i

there is another part of the book from years earlier, in a counter that trump had with john kelly the former white house chief of staff. in which he lamented to kelly the jury at -- how come you generals, meeting americas generals, cannot be like the german generals in world war ii? he believed that they operate perfect loyalty to hitler, which is what trump wanted. again, a striking comment. there is a through line, trump sought to weaponize institutions, just as he sought to weaponize the justice department system to protect him. he seemed so outraged now, by the actions of the fbi. he sought to weaponize the u.s. military to be part of his political campaign, part of his political persona as the president. >> susan, this is stunning to hear, and you are but details all of this, it's also in the new yorker. is there room to criticize these members of the military as well, for being there and not resigning? it would've been public, the reasons why. had the joint chief of staff actually said, and had the lever published in some way, that would've been quite informative in june of 2020

john kelly went on the record -- we talk about sometimes how folks are -- he said on the record, nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given. here is john bolton. >> there was no standing order. i was not briefed on anything like that. i never heard of it. never saw it in operation. never knew anything about it. the president never said anything to me during 17 months there. i just think it's a complete fiction. >> feds are questioning trump staff from the national security operation about that as a kind of defense that seems to be just evaporating in real time. for that story, we want to add to our conversation "the washington post" columnist gene robinson. good to see you. we wanted -- >> good to see you. >> i wanted to bring you in on this part. there's this legal question around the search. we covered that. we have more on that. national security is always a huge deal. the president has powers here that are different from everyone else in government. what you see here seems to be a clash between what the president at the time, trump did, what he took with him, whether th

john kelly, trumps former chief of staff, says nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given. and another official says, where is the order with his signature on it. jim, you were in the white house? did you ever know of any standing order? >> i was the first year long before any of this came about. but i do think that all of those folks are right. i mean, there is a process for declassifying documents. it involves dni, the cia, the agencies that classified those documents. and in addition to that, could you imagine the outrage on the hill because it would have gotten to the hill. could you imagine the outrage on the hill if such a standing order existed? the hill would have everybody down there having oversight hearings right away. so, no, i don't see it. i don't see it. >> governor, when you were governor of montana, could you just wave a wand and say, poof, i declassify you? >> no, you couldn't. and look, you know, we've known all along, when trump doesn't like the facts, he makes up new facts. started day one of the administration from the crowd size when hurricane dorian

that includes two of trump's form f-chief of staffs and john kelly saying nothing approaching an ordert foolish was ever given and mick mulvaney saying, quote, he wasn't aware of a general standing order like that. second, even if you accept that the standing order thing to be true, it is legally irrelevant based on the three federal criminal statutes listed on the search warrant that was unsealed last week. that is because none of the statutes depend on whether documents contain classified information. now, it's likely trump's legal team knows all of this, but how else can you mount a defense for this ridiculousness? it may also explain why yesterday why a judge was hearing arguments over why parts of the search warrant affidavit should be unsealed allowing us to see some of the evidence backing the fbi's actions. now, trump's legal team did not make any motion to unseal it. they only watched from the public seating area. we're going to talk about that, too. let's bring in clint watts, a former consultant for the fbi counterterrorism division and a distinguished fellow at the research

cnn talked to two former white house chief of staffs, including john kelly, who said nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given. mick mulvaney, another former chief of staff at the white house said he was not aware of a general standing order, erin. >> pretty clear and important that they put their names on the record on this. thank you so much, sara murray. i want to go to a former principal associate attorney general and the general counsel to the national intelligence director. also with me stephanie grisham and john dean. one of the documents we got today, it's something we didn't have, more specific information on the potential offenses being investigated by the justice department. let me just say that the mar-a-lago search was related to a violation of willful retention of national defense information. also to concealment and removal of government records and obstruction of a federal investigation. what do you think this means for donald trump, john? >> well, to me what happens, and i agree with the others who have reached this conclusion, that it looks like trump is

bolton described one time where he and john kelly, the then chief of staff, had to kind of -- i wouldn't say manipulate, but kind of go around trump to get a copy of a document that should have been classified and held in more of a classified setting. he was just leaving them willy-nilly about. it was a really complicated, chaotic slap-dash process, and then you add on top of that at the very end of his administration, where it finally dawned on him, you're not going to be president, you've got to leave the white house, he hadn't really packed. some aides and advisers have described this final chaotic scene where they're throwing stuff into boxes and a claim, some of the stuff in the boxes might have been classified and then he might have declassified it by verbal fiat. the problem is that is, some people say -- a lot of people say that's not the way in which you handle documents, declassify documents. some of the laws are mentioned in the search warrant, and don't really address the classified issue. it's more about handling of government-owned secret documents. that's going to be an is

in jamie's article it includes quotes from john kelly former chief of staff, mick mulvaney, former chieff staff. these were people who would necessarily know about a standing order. >> that's right. olivia troy, the national security adviser to vice president pence. all of them are saying on the record this didn't happen. this couldn't happen. which is, i guess, more to the point, that you can't say that something is going to be classified in washington, d.c. but once you put it on a plen and take it to his vacation home now it's declassified. it doesn't make sense. and to the extent that the president does have broad declassification powers, those don't exist in a vacuum. you have to tell somebody, you have to tell the national security adviser, you have to tell the cia, you have to tell somebody that this document is declassified because that's the meaning of it. everybody in the government knows that this document has been moved from one category to the next. >> which makes it clear that's not a real legal defense, that's just about a message that he's putting out to his supporters. i

confirm it. 18 former white house officials, including two of trump's white house chiefs of staff, john kelly, nick mulvaney, saying there was no standing order to declassify documents. this certainly appears that trump is just lying trying to save his face. so giuliani who seems to be in a lot of legal trouble, when on a far out news outlet to try to clear things up. >> now, they want to make a responsible for taking classified documents and preserve them. really, if you look at the espionage act, it's not really about taking the documents, it's about destroying them. or hiding them. or giving them to the enemy. >> right. >> it's not about taking them and putting them in a place that is roughly as safe as they were in in the first place. >> not the espionage act is a weird and in some ways bad piece of legislation, but that's not true, but giuliani is saying. according to trump's own former head of counter-intelligence, at the department of justice, quote, the espionage act explicitly applies to the willful retention of classified and unclassified defense related documents in an authorized p

president's advisers on the way out the door talk to them about it and i heard a report yesterday that john kellyaid, yeah, the people around the president really should have had that debriefing with him before he left office. that's something they should have done, but there is no formal process to do it, you just trust the character of the person holding the office. >> and given he wasn't read out -- you know, the reason that's important is it put a role in petraeus, for example, right? >> david petraeus who as cia director was actually sharing some classified information, not just possessing it outside of proper space, but actually disseminating the information, which made it a huge issue. in this case we don't know. the affidavit once finally opened may tell us that. i doubt the redactions will allow us that much insight today to know whether there was a concern about dissemination or actual dissemination that led to the search and seizure. >> a big question looming over this is that surveillance footage that they got outside the room. david, thank you for joining us on this really, really in

it's like john kelly was like running the department of security when we were detaining people with greencards in, airport cells. you know, i was like, you weren't didn't prevent any, you know? and as you none of those people on that committee voted for joe biden. the only person could actually save america from donald trump. and so, you know, i know, i think that those people are worse. and for sure. and they're the i don't know that the book has villains because i'm trying to create complex villains, trying to make three or four, three dimensional care characters. but but those are the folks that that i come down to most harshly on. it comes across in a very nuanced way. they are villains, i think nuanced villains in the book. and i forgot where i was going with them. great. well, this is going great. do you? i'm curious how you think about how naive you were earlier in your career now. i mean, obviously write a bit about this, but. why do you think you were able to maintain the dissonance for so long now? eve, is audio also let's it keeps going back to about herself and she got into so

you also write in the book about your conversations with then secretary of homeland security john kelly. who said to you when you called it was after the muslim band after the muslim band. why are you calling me at home? correct? he said that to you. yes, he did. well, you're earrings off then too. you know. it's a whole situation. what's going on around here? and you know, it's there's been so much happening in the last two years right toward the end where i was like the deadline i had to get the book to the publishers and then the kavanaugh hearing happened. mm-hmm. i mean, but literally and and part of it. i hope everyone has the time to really read through and think about there's so much that's been happening. so rapidly we cannot forget what has happened. we cannot forget what has happened and how critical. each of these things have been and how important and how significant they have been in terms of in most of these cases the harm they have caused. we cannot forget and we cannot be seduced into reacting to okay now, i'm going to throw a thing over there. so y'all can pay attentio

through the work of john kelly at the washington post and one of our members who prefers to remain inackseat anonymous. we're able to locate four members of dr. robert russell motins ancestors or descendants. i'm sorry his descendants. so i want to i want to have them stand up and and i'll introduce them. and they should be over here dr. so we have robert d. moton. who is the great grandson? of dr. robert armed there was some melton we have his wife jennifer hardy moten. and their daughter parker mountain now robert is a great grandson. which makes and their daughter, parker motion. robert is a great grandson, which makes parker the great great granddaughter of robert -- and that's not the end. we also have can sway la austin, who is the great great granddaughter of -- and that's not the end. -- i have the distinct pleasure, a welcoming charles sims the third. president biden's first director the national park service. he's the first native american director of a national park service. -- a remember of the confederated tribes of the -- indian reservation in northeast oregon, where he

through the work of john kelly at the washington post and one of our members who prefers to remain in the backseat anonymous. we're able to locate four members of dr. robert russell motins ancestors or descendants. i'm sorry his descendants. so i want to i want to have them stand up and and i'll introduce them. and they should be over here dr. so we have robert d. moton. who is the great grandson? of dr. robert armed there was some melton we have his wife jennifer hardy moten. and their daughter parker mountain now robert is a great grandson. which makes parker a great great granddaughter of dr. robert rosemount. and that's not that's not the end. we also have consuela austin. who is on great-granddaughter of dr. rockford tourism ocean? so we're very happy that they were able to travel to dc. and and be part of this presentation of and get to hear more about their their great-grandfather. and great great grandfather from a hundred years ago. so let's begin the program. i have the distinct pleasure. of welcoming charles sam's the third chuck sam's is the was just confirmed last decembe

sometimes kept classified documents from briefings that he should have given back and then you have john kelly telling the wall street journal saying he tried to put in protocols to tighten it up. and there was a launch pad that was classified at the time mr. trump said he had the right to release that picture >> thank you very much. >>> also this morning there is hopeful news in the recovery of salman rushdie after he was repeatedly stabbed while preparing to give a lecture in upstate new york the acclaimed author who faced threats for decades is off the ventilator and beginning the slow process of heeling. emelie is joining us from erie, pennsylvania where he is recovering. >> reporter: investigators call it a preplanned attack that landed salman rushdie in this hospital he suffered stab wounds all over his body, his neck, chest, and stomach. but loved ones say they're seeing signs of improvement. this morning award winning author, salman rushdie is said to be on the road to recovery after surviving approximately 12 stab wounds. the son of the 75-year-old telling nbc news, rushdie is off a v

. >> kelly: i feel like they don't tell people it just happens sometimes and you're like what? >> hello, this is times square johnform you. so i have to say, what about you two, however lives change from the show and being a part of the show. >> okay, well, i was at the queen's jubilee bash at windsor? i have a member of the royal family asking me what is coming next in season three and a young woman from trinidad and tobago who is in the air force breaking down and weeping and saying, you know, black girls, we just love the show, so it's like all ends of the spectrum are getting involved. and i was in atlanta a couple of weeks ago and i had a security guard gave me a full on big security guard give me a full on kurt's waved me through. so it's that kind of stuff

remember john kester? and mark kelly in arizona, and the famous joe manchin in west virginia, always ending of the same. those guys might lie, but the numbers do not. and here is more of the moderate democrats voting to the party leadership. and we have the nevada senator as well. and 96% with chuck schumer and now they will have another scam to line up behind. joe biden is expected to announce student loan forgiveness, $10,000, with an income less than $125,000 check. >> the penn wharton budget model adds that $330 billion to the deficit, and not to mention it is a bribe to win back well-to-do voters. blue-collar workers, sorry, you are out of luck. and the richest 20% of americans, they carry 60% of the student loan debt. and at the naacp swung immediately on this, saying that we have a problem. this is not how you treat black voters. like this senator and he expects others to quickly follow. and they are faking it but not making it and the democrats know the political appeal of populism. but the democrats have no inte

him, he asked them why they weren't like the german generals in world war ii, which astonished john kellyyou know, they tried to kill hitler, right? he had other generals stand up to him. >> [ laughter ]. >> you can't make this up. >> stop it. >> he wanted to have the military parade down the streets of washington. another general said, that's what dictators do. finally, of course, you had mark milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, then and now, who was so outraged by the things that president trump was trying to do with the military, that he even wrote out a resignation letter. we published it for the first time in this excerpt. he didn't give it, but it was a resignation letter that was just -- he said, "i believe you're doing great and irreparable harm to my country." he said president trump didn't understand the values that americans fought and died for in world war ii. he compared him to the totalitarians in the world from the past. he put the letter in the drawer and decided to stay instead. he said, i'll fight him from the inside. he decided to stay. consistent with hi

you and your colleagues write, quote, when john kelly became white house chief of staff in the summer of 2017, he said he would remind trump about the importance of abiding by the presidential records act. a newcomer to public office who is accustomed to running his business his own way, trump chafed under the regimen. kelly said, when i got there, a retired four-star marine general, the staff secretary wasn't taking stuff out of the trash cans and taping it back together. >> he was. >> he was. that continued while i was there. my god. a former senior white house aide who was there at the time told nbc news that internal procedures tightened for a bit, but there was invariably slippage. we had something approximaing a process, this person said, speaking in the position of anonymity because of the investigation. he is a total pack rat, keeps all sorts of stuff. trump could be cavalier about material, crumbling up his papers or tearing them into pieces and leaving them on the floor, the former aide said. >> so, marc caputo, obviously, this recklessness, not just with documents but also

kelly and ryan. today from senior year, rebel wilson and sneakerella star, john salley. th tips that could boost your immunity. all next on live. and now here are kelly ripa and ryan seacrest. ♪♪ morning. that was weird. it wasn't weird. we didn't know what to do. i know. i know. oh, hi. -hey, guys. hey, guys. -hi. let's bring it up. it's tuesday, august 16th. all right, let's get into some things here. fine. if you are going to travel or have been traveling, i saw this article about the happiest time to fly. -the happiest. -the happiest time? yes, that's what i thought was interesting.