anita kumar, white house correspondent for mcclatchy newspapers.ill kristol, now editor at large of the weekly standard. he has launched a new effort which we will get to in a few moments. michael, we'll begin with you. on top of everything else in this book, large and small, that's the moment they were informed the country was under attack. this is the moment people will seize on for the lack of questions and comment afterwards. >> yeah, absolutely, brian. i mean this book is filled with fascinating and dramatic detail, but this could be the most substantive anecdote that we've heard about so far. it's so fundamental. it goes to the idea of national security, of the health of our democracy, the strength of our democracy, the security of our political system. and, you know, it's almost satire. it's almost something really, i got to say, you think of something like "veep" where the president's team is informed that a hostile foreign power has interfered with the election, and immediately the conversation goes straight to the spin. you would be laugh

anita kumar, and joining the conversation from new york, former fbi special agent and msnbc national security analyst clint watts. thank you all for being here tonight. >>> michael schmidt, i want to start with you because this book that we have been learning about the last few days, the interview set to air tonight, james comey in many ways this saga was touched off by your reporting in "the new york times" about hillary clinton's use of private e-mail when she was secretary of state. what in this book that comey has put out do you feel is going to make a material difference in how events unfold with the mueller investigation as we go forward? >> i'm not sure how much it really changes the equation there. the one thing is that if comey were to ever be a witness against trump, like in front of the -- in front of congress or even at a trial or anything, they could say, look, and you had a real motivation to go after the president. you wrote this whole book. you made all of this money. you did all of these things. maybe your word shouldn't be taken as seriously. maybe they could underm

peter baker and anita kumar keeping track of all of it for us, thank you so much. >>> a member of the judiciary committee joins us next to discuss what that mueller report on the president's conduct in office could mean for president trump and whether it might represent the early phase of a potential impeachment process. "the 11th hour" back after this. >>> more now on what we're learning about a pending report from the special counsel's office. an opinion piece in today's "washington post" by greg sergeant highlights its importance writing, "mueller is planning a report on trump's conduct, particularly as it relates to actions on his part that could constitute obstruction of justice." the piece then poses this question, "will mueller's findings ever get released in some form? most likely yes, but there are some very unpleasant scenarios that could intervene, including the very real possibility that congressional republicans will do all they can to keep mueller's report under wraps. in the end, the information will land in the house and senate judiciary committees. senator senator mai

peter baker and anita kumar keeping track of all of it for us, thank you so much. >>> a member of they committee joins us next to discuss what that mueller report on the president's conduct in office could mean for president trump and whether it might represent the early phase of a potential impeachment process. "the 11th hour" back after this. you know, i used to be good at this. then you turn 40 and everything goes. tell me about it. you know, it's made me think, i'm closer to my retirement days than i am my college days. hm. i'm thinking... will i have enough? should i change something? well, you're asking the right questions. i just want to know, am i gonna be okay? i know people who specialize in "am i going to be okay." i like that. you may need glasses though. yeah. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today with td ameritrade. >>> more now on what we're learning about a pending report from the special counsel's office. an opinion piece in today's "washington post" by greg sargent highlights its importance writing, "mueller is planning a report on trump's conduct, par

peter baker and anita kumar keeping track of all of it for us, thank you so much. >>> a member of the senate judiciary committee joins us next to discuss what that mueller report on the president's conduct in office could mean for president trump and whether it might represent the early phase of a potential impeachment process. "the 11th hour" back after this. he's trying to tell us something. let's see what forensics thinks. sorry i'm late. what did i miss? wanna get away? now you can with southwest fares as low as 49 dollars one-way. yes to low fares with nothing to hide. that's transfarency. to keep our community safe. before you do any project big or small, pg&e will come out and mark your gas and electric lines so you don't hit them when you dig. call 811 before you dig, and make sure that you and your neighbors are safe. >>> more now on what we're learning about a pending report from the special counsel's office. an opinion piece in today's "washington post" by greg sergeant highlights its importance writing, "mueller is planning a report on trump's conduct, particularly as it r

our friend anita kumar writes that according to a new report set for release on monday, trump's u.s.s have received at least $15.1 million in revenue from political groups on federal agencies since 2015. the biggest chunk of money come from his campaign, mar-a-lago is listed as one of the recipients of that money. >>> coming up after one more break for us, why the lights are off again tonight across puerto rico. here to tell you about the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's? the three p's of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54. alex, what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? also $9.95 a month. i just turned 80. what's my price? $9.95 a month for you too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the #1 most popular whole life insurance plan, available through the colonial penn program. it has an af

our friend anita kumar writes that according to a new report set for release on monday, trump's u.s..1 million in revenue from political groups on federal agencies since 2015. the biggest chunk of money come from his campaign, mar-a-lago is listed as one of the recipients of that money. >>> coming up after one more break for us, why the lights are off again tonight across puerto rico. withwhat sore back?sk... what bum knee? advil is relief that's fast strength that lasts you'll ask... what pain? with advil i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. i bet i'm the first blade maker you've ever met. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making our thinnest longest lasting blades on the market. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. it's about delivering a more comfortable shave every time. invented in boston, made and sold around the world. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get. >>> some people on the streets are saying this is the new normal. is it? >> yes, it is. it's a sad situation every

with more tonight, we welcome anita kumar, white house correspondent for mcclatchy newspapers, and jonathane, white house reporter for the associated press and an msnbc political analyst. anita, as they say, this is not a good look. >> it's not. there were so many -- so many things wrong with what happened today or this week. but nikki haley stood her ground, right? i mean she had the right information at that time, and the white house put out talking points to surrogates, potential surrogates, saying the exact same thing. so she had the right information on sunday. it's that the president or the administration changed their mind, but what larry kudlow did today is what you don't do in your first two weeks or ever at the white house, which is you make this argument, you make this fight public. right now people looking at what's going on in the white house don't know who is speaking for the white house. this is the problem they've had for the last 15 months. so, you know, they're contradicting each other, and they're having these policy fights in public. so none of that was very good, but yo

and anita kumar, white house correspondent for mcclatchy newspapers. good evening to you both. peter, senator tester tonight said 20 people have come forward. what do they all have in common? they are all active duty military. they have all taken this extraordinary step. some of them have tried to go via chain of command, and it didn't work. nothing came of it. they've come forward to this senate committee in addition to other reporting tonight, where do you put this right now? >> well, apparently there has been a power struggle several years back over the white house medical unit. dr. jackson evidently was in sort of a struggle with his superior at the time. that has left a lot of bruised feelings and a lot of, you know, damaged relationships that are now sort of coming back to haunt him. now, you know, whether this is significant enough for the senate, they'll have to decide. some of these other allegations are obviously serious, not that he was drinking at the white house but that on official travel when they tried to come find him, they said at least on one occasion, he was