you heard senator richard blumenthal say if true, donald trump jr. should be criminally charged. >> and i just heard senator blumenthal say the time is right to have donald trump jr. come back before his committee, the senate committee, and i think that makes perfect sense and here's why. we now hear donald trump jr. use a term like, well, i was on the periphery. that's one of those slippery lawyer-esque terms that gives him a lot of wiggle room. here's what i think makes a lot of sense. invite him back to testify again or subpoena him and say one of three things, i stick with my periphery claim, no, i may have made a mistake and known more about it, perhaps learning from michael cohen than i let on the first time, or he could plead the fifth. if he thinks he has some criminal exposure for not being straight with the intel committee the first time. >> let me get your thoughts very quickly on this point that bob mueller perhaps should come forward with this bit of information if, in fact, it's true. separate from everything else that he is investigati

senator richard blumenthal, i asked senator blumenthal a question tonight on the air, and i think he made some news in his answer. i asked him about people facing criminal charges for lying to congress. i want to play you back what he said just moments ago. >> because behind closed doors, there arose in my mind, very clearly, questions, serious issues concerning their truthfulness, and that issue pertained particularly to donald trump jr. and a number of his contentions before our committee, so i think this common thread of lying to congress and particularly to congressional committees may ensnare a number of other potential targets in this special counsel's investigation. >> we have seen michael cohen and now roger stone charged with lying to congress. senator blumenthal on our air tonight saying he believes the same fate may also await the president's son, donald trump jr. just wanted to make sure we underscored that, and you knew that happened on our air tonight. we will be back again tonight. time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell, a big interview tonight with senator eli

. >> senator blumenthal? >> thanks, mr. chairman. >> lets light and a quick minute as a handoff from senator sasse goes to the next question. stay tuned >> harris: back in two attorney general confirmation of william barr. we have senator blumenthal from connecticut. >> -- a counterintelligence investigation, if it is of the president of the united states, for working with a foreign adversary, that decision would be subject to multiple levels of review within the fbi. correct? >> i assume. i don't know what rules were in effect at the time. >> welcome in your experience there would be? >> yes. >> and you have no reason to believe those roles have changed? >> i don't know what the practice was. >> it almost certainly come in that kind of extraordinary investigation, you would agree with me it would be asked ordinary for the fbi to be investigating the president or working with a determined foreign adversary. there probably would be information shared with the deputy attorney general, or the attorney general. agreed? >> i wou

senator richard blumenthal, i asked senator blumenthal a question tonight on the air, and i think he may have made some news in his answer. i asked him about people facing criminal charges for lying to congress. i want to play you back what he said just moments ago. >> because behind closed doors, their arose in my mind, very clearly, questions, serious issues concerning their truthfulness, and that issue pertained particularly to donald trump jr. and a number of his contentions before our committee, so i think this common thread of lying to congress and particularly to congressional committees may ensnare a number of other potential targets in this special counsel's investigation. >> we have seen michael cohen and now roger stone charged with lying to congress. senator blumenthal on our air tonight saying he believes the same fate may also await the president's son, donald trump jr. just wanted to make sure we underscored that, and you knew that happened on our air tonight. we will be back again tonight. time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell, a big interview tonight with se

as well but now as max blumenthal market aims report for gray zone the integrity of initiatives influence operations may also be active in the united states as well blumenthal there was report that hacked documents reveal that the integrity initiative is cultivating powerful allies inside the state department top d.c. think tanks the f.b.i. and the the h.s. and among other things it has spelled out plans to expand its network across the u.s. meddling in american politics and recruiting a new generation of russia watchers behind the guise the fall skies a part of a nonpartizan charity joining us now to dig deeper into the latest on the integrity initiatives alleged actions inside the united states is investigative journalist swan ben we talked earlier about this i think just a fan weeks ago what so we talked about what it was doing in the u.k. let's move to the u.s. what is being reported on you know in terms of the integrity initiatives operations inside the united states and how all of these kind of played out in recent weeks it was the first all let me just say this i'd rather be talkin

center dot blumenthal that senator blumenthal says it is a rare -- so senator blumenthal says it is acircumstance that the public needs to know about. and senator grassley saying, we have spent so much money on this report that we deserve to see it. what should begin with these reports, in your opinion? ok, i am so sorry, we have lost the audio from mr. binhak. thank you for your time. coming up, we talk with a man who perhaps more than any other is identified with seeking to control the threat from nuclear weapons, sam nunn of georgia is coming up next. this is bloomberg. ♪ david: this is "balance of power." i'm david westin. the u.s.'s relations with russia are strained with conflicting positions in ukraine and syria. and an investigation with the president trump or those around him may have had in proper connections with russia, all of which have taken some of the momentum out of the ongoing work between the two countries to produce nuclear weapons. since his time in the senate representing georgia, sam nunn has devoted time and effort to make sure that we continue to make progress

blumenthal. sen. blumenthal: i want to thank the chairman and ranking member for pursuing this issue on a very bipartisan basis. i've been working with a number of my colleagues, both sides of the aisle, on a bill that i hope will have strong bipartisan backing that, in fact, sets a floor, not a ceiling. we can no longer rely on notice and choice, on voluntary standards, on transparency and consent. there needs to be privacy by design. call it a privacy bill of rights, call it a mandatory standard or floor. that kind of bill of rights essentialorporate principles that both the european law and california law embody. i want to thank all of you for being here today, but mr. mactaggert for championing this in california and your continued dedication to the cause. i want to ask all of you the same question i put to the executives of major companies that came here before us. is there anyone here who believes american citizens deserve less privacy protection than european citizens? your answer is the same -

joining me now is democratic senator from connecticut richard blumenthal. senator, is what's happening to roger stone in any way a legal lynching, which is what he called it? >> hardly. it is really the result of an extensive and expansive investigation. and the search that was conducted is in many ways perhaps as important as the indictment of him. >> how so? >> but one way or the other -- well, they were looking for documents and other evidence that had to be in fact raided because they were fearful that he would destroy those documents and other evidence as part of an obstruction of justice. and that search indicates that this investigation is far from over, contrary to what acting attorney general matt whitaker said, this investigation is very much proceeding and along with the delay in the sentencing of manafort and flynn the extension of the grand jury, the proceedings in the southern district of new york, which are active and ongoing, there are a lot of indication that's that search along with the prosecution of roger stone and the revelation that's

blumenthal raised a moment ago. he raised a couple of questions regarding immigration, regarding our asylum process. i think it's significant to note here that we have some in our political discourse today who are suggesting that the enforcement of our immigration laws and the enforcement of our border is somehow immoral, that it's somehow wrong. we've had people who in one of the major political parties, multiple candidates, be elected campaigning, among other things, on either eviscerating isis power or abolishing the agency all together. as you noted earlier today, you gave a speech back in 1992 in which you were one of the first people i remember using the metaphor of, you know, wanting to make sure that our immigrants come to this country through the front door and not through the back door, not through a side window or something to that effect. can you just sort of describe to us why you think it's important that we draw a clear moral distinction between the enforcement of immigration laws, between legal immig

senator blumenthal volunteered, yeah, donald trump jr. is the one named person who should really think about having something to worry about on that score, and this is not the first time that a member of congress has suggested that after hearing testimony from donald trump jr. meaning these are not people throwing that out there because they have feelings about donald trump jr., they're in a position to know because they heard his testimony. in may, for example, senator chris coons of delaware sent a letter to the chairman of the judiciary committee, then chuck grassley, saying that he believed donald trump jr. may have lied in his judiciary committee testimony about contacts with another cooperating witness in the mueller investigation, a mysterious character named george nader, who is reportedly representing saudi arabia and united arab emirates at the time he was meeting with people from the trump campaign and the trump transition. senator coons explicitly raising the prospect that donald trump jr. lied under oath in his judiciary comm

one senator on the skeptical side of the room is connecticut senator richard blumenthal. here's what he told cnn's manu raju during a break in the proceedings. >> what i'm seeing is the possibility that he could invoke unknown rules and regulations that would permit him to say no to a subpoena, no to an indictment, no to resources, no to an additional area of investigation that is directly related to russian interference in our elections or obstruction and conspiracy. >> well, senator blumenthal sits on the judiciary committee and tonight he's sitting next to me. senator, thanks very much for being with us. i want to get to what we heard today from barr, but just about shimon prokupecz was reporting about what we learned today about manafort and this guy kilimnik. how serious do you think that is? >> it is very serious because it relates to a key figure in vladimir putin's orbit and a potential russian agent. but equally significant is the clear sign that this investigation is far from done. >> right. if they need 60 more days just for rick gates there's no telling what t

senator blumenthal is here with reaction. >>> and threatening nda lawsuits, rev sharpton is here to get into it. >>> and a debate that may be a early driver in this -- sure, they probably know what they're talking about. or the one that j.d. power says is highest in network quality by people who use it every day? this is a tough one. well, not really, because verizon won both. so you don't even have to choose. why didn't you just lead with that? it's like a fun thing. (vo) chosen by experts. chosen by you. and now get apple music included, on us. it's the unlimited plan you need on the network you deserve. switch now and get $300 off our best phones. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. always a catch. like somehow you wind up getting less. but now that i book at hilton.com, and i get all these great perks. i got to select my room from the floor plan... very nice... i know, i'm good at picking stuff. free wi-fi... laptop by

any moment as i said he's washington's pawn all right very interesting to hear your thoughts max blumenthal. helping us wrap our mind around this very. interesting time in venezuela for sure thanks for being with us on arch international. all right a top human rights watchdog has released a chilling report on abuses by terrorist groups in syria more details on that after a very short break international. but politicians do something to. put themselves on the line they get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president i'm sure. more some want to. have to try to be close to see what the full story of the morning can't be good. i'm interested always in the waters of our. first city. international now a chilling report by human rights watch says. the group with links to al qaeda has detained and tortured civilians in syria the organization has also released the testimony of several victims that you might find some of the following images upsetting. they used to pull me out of the cell beat me and then return me no one asked me a single question no one asked me what my name was. these t

please help me welcome seth blumenthal. >> thank you. thanks for the introduction. and thanks to politics and prose and i'm delighted to be here. thank you c-span and of course you guys for coming out to hear my talk. if i can just briefly frame what motivated me to write this book. the project began as an attempt to reconsider richard nixon's influence on the republican party ability to win over a generation. and also the influences on consumer terrorism and campaign strategies and image making. to look beyond watergate at richard nixon's influence on politics. that was an approach that most nixon scholars that was a pretty good idea. when i began this project, the term presidency has made my efforts increasingly difficult as the emphasis on the watergate has become re- centered. still with the rise of politics recently with their unusually strong turnout in the last midterm in youth politics on issues like gun rights. i think that the politics today still underlies the book's message. i think there are two major messages about youth politics here. one is how can p

this hour, i will talk to richard blumenthal. our correspondents and analysts are standing by. first, let's go to our justice correspondent jessica schneider. michael cohen says the president is threatening his family. >> he is making it clear, the ongoing threats from the president and rudy giuliani are the reason he is cancelling his upcoming congressional testimony. in the course of the past few weeks, the president and giuliani have repeat ledly targeted cohen's father-in-law and his wife saying they should be investigated as the real criminals. tonight, president trump is trying to turn the tables on his former fixer michael cohen's claims that the president has repeat lr repeatedly threatened. >> he has only been threatened by the truth. >> reporter: cohen's attorney pulled the plug on his testimony, due to threats from president trump and mr. giuliani. mr. cohen had to put his family and their safety first. >> let me tell you the other thing. his father-in-law is a very rich guy. >> reporter: the president and rudy giuliani have been ramping up the rhetoric in recent wee

blumenthal. senator blumenthal: thank you mister chairman. commandant, this hearing marks the last official appearance here and work by my military fellow who happens to be a marine corps officer, and he has done extraordinary work over the last year. i was tempted to ask you that he continues in my office, but that work has been such a hardship i am sure, given his boss, that he deserves relief from this duty , sir. but i just want to say on the record how grateful and pleased i have been with his performance . he is the best of our military fellows except a few others have been marines, so i don't want to single him out but he is one of the best, and we will miss him. i am grateful personally for you having your marines serve us in that capacity. i will not ask you for a response to that. i do have a question about summary maintenance, and i know you have been asked about submarines by senators, and a question on the maintenance issue. it is not the most glamorous topic that we discussed today, but in my view it is one of the most essential

that's it. >> let me get back to senator blumenthal. you served with these republicans.hey're in your room, in the cloak room. maybe not your cloak but you know where they are. you walk past them in the hallway. are they happy with a government shut down for three weeks now? >> they are disastrously unhappy. they're hearing from the same people all of us see and hear who are experiencing real pain in real lives, not just the federal workers who are going without pay and they were living paycheck to paycheck. now they have no paycheck. but rippling through our economy. i spent this morning with some of the craft brewers in connecticut whose business has been stymied because they can't get permits and approvals they need for labels. this ripple effect throughout our economy is creating havoc. and the president, i think, has to heed members of this own party who are expressing that disquiet about a vanity project and a pause line that is not way to border security. absolutely right. we are all in favor of using border security by using better technology and more personnel t

blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i join my colleagues today in calling for a simple, commonsense solution to one of the most vexing unnecessary and avoidable crises in recent history. the present paralysis of agencies, essential governmental function, is intolerable and unacceptable. it is shameful and embarrassing to every member of this body. but it should be most shameful and embarrassing to the chief executive of the united states who is singularly responsible for it by insisting on a wall and using it as a condition for reopening the government. president trump is single-handedly blocking progress toward providing the american people with the service and the essential public functions they need and deserve. the impact is on the consumers of those functions. we are all consumers. we all fly and we depend on the air controllers and the t.s.a. we all eat food. we depend on inspections by the f.d.a. we all consume drugs and so the approvals of essential pharmaceutical medicines are vital to all of us. and we all nee

jon: richard blumenthal of connecticut, same thing, attorney general in connecticut. >> and senator blumenthalnteresting to watch, too. he has come out and said he is concerned about whether bill bar will approve that budget which is exactly what matt whitaker had previously criticized mueller where he said you could totally starve the mueller investigation and cut it off from its progress by cutting off budget. jon: things will get hot this week in washington. shannon, from axioms, thank you. as wallace and senator lindsey graham discussed plenty more than william barr's commission hearing. if you missed the full interview can catch it on "fox news sunday" coming up at the top of the hour after this program. chris interviewed delaware democrat, chris coons, another member of senate judiciary committee. it's all coming up evan p.m. eastern about 24 minutes from now. right here on fox news channel. in the meantime iowa christmas taking in hot water over comment about white supremacy and white nationalism. king told the new york times this past week he thought it was wrong the terms are seen as

thanks very much. >>> joining us now, democratic senator richard blumenthal. he serves on the armed services committee. thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >> what's your reaction to the news that cnn broke that donald trump junior's mysterious phone calls before and after the trump tower meeting were not -- repeat not with his father? >> it deepens the mystery who was called. it's hardly the only occasion that donald trump junior had to communicate the before and after facts with his father. >> we're told the phone calls were to business associates -- two business associates that donald trump junior had. >> the question is, whom did they tell possibly about the trump tower meeting that was going to occur or after it occurred? it was in trump tower. donald trump the father was in trump tower on that very day at that very time. he may have been told about it some other way. here is the main point. the american public sdedeservese full story. robert mueller will be developing that full story. the report that he is compiling should be made available to the americ

i'll get reaction from the senate judiciary committee member, richard blumenthal and our correspondents and analysts are also standing by. first, let's go to our chief white house correspondent, 1yji acosta. jim, a truly remarkable denial by the president as fears about his connections to russia clearly are ratcheting higher. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. it's stunning to think that a president could ever be asked this qu president trump responded to a series of bombshell reports on the russia investigation, insisting he has never worked on behalf of the kremlin. the president is facing new questions in the russia probe, just as he's refusing to budge as we've seen for days from his demand he have a border wall in order to re-open the government. president trump's response to the question as to whether he has been working on behalf of russia can be summed up in one word. yet. >> i never worked for russia. not only did i never work for russia, i think it's a disgrace that you even ask that question because it's a whole big fat hoax. it's just a hoax. >> reporter: president pushed back

when it started, you were richard blumenthal and when it ended, you were "the dick." [ ughter ] guess in his lane. [ laughter ] kelly was never going to b tng disciplithis white house. for one thing, you can't change trump, and also kelly wanted the same thing as trump. we all just projected ourselves on tkelly because his face always looked the way we felt. [ laughter ] but now we know, that's just his face. [ light laughter ] that's his "everything is going great" face. [ laughter ] here he is, blowing out the candles on his birthday cake. [ laughter ] and here is john kelly on a roller coaster. [ laughter in fact, kelly served a president for whom lawbreaking was apparently so routine that tillerson had to routinely explain to the president that the things he wanted to do were illegal. >> when the president would say "wre's what i want to do, tod here's how i want to do it." and i'd have to saim, "well, mr. president, i understand what you want to do, but you can't do it that way.la it violates th it violates a treaty." >> seth: the secretary of state had to explain to the presiden

from washington tonight, and rachel it's so fascinating to hear senator blumenthal say that. he's a former attorney general of connecticut. he's a careful speaker in these kinds of spots. and he's talking about the possibility of more criminal charges and the word's donald trump jr. are right there in the middle of what he said. he knew he was saying that. >> yeah, and you know, the question that i had asked him, i asked him kind of a long compound question, but the point of it was has the special counsel been asked for or obtained official transcripts of other witnesses who have spoken before your committee and he was like, i cannot talk about us and the special counsel, but let me tell you i was there behind closed doors. if people are getting in criminal trouble for lying to congress, donald trump jr. is one of them that may be in trouble for that. very straightforward and blunt. >> and rachel, in addition to senator elizabeth warren, in her very very first, msnbc appearance as a presidential candidate at 10:00 p.m., we also -- at 10:00 p.m., i was going to say that really

because his comments were totally irresponsible and reprehensible. >> katie: meantime, blumenthal andsenator chuck grassley have introduced a special counsel transparency bill that would ensure the mueller report is released to congress and the public. here's organ senator ron wyden. >> if there is an effort to derail the mueller report from getting in the hands of the american people, i will go to the floor of the united states senate and make sure that i have done everything possible to get the truth to the public. i have noticed even in the last day or so a number of my colleagues are saying the same thing. >> katie: albright, guy. we have an actual timeline on the mueller probe from an official at the department of justice. for the first time. the speculation is over, right? >> guy: sort of. [laughter] there was some edge and, if you listen carefully. >> katie: he was trying to stop himself and it kept going. >> guy: he hedged. he was aspirational. "i hope this will happen. soon he will get to see it." i think this idea that the congress or the public won't see the results, that t

this hour i'll talk with democratic senator richard blumenthal, a member of the judiciary committee,nd our correspondents and analysts are standing by. first let's go to our white house correspondent kaitlan collins. kaitlan, the president sounded hopeful about negotiations to end the shutdown even as he was making some new threats. >> reporter: he did, wolf. he seemed to make two arguments while speaking to reporters in the rose garden, at times saying he felt the meeting was productive with democrats and this could be wrapped up pretty quickly, but going to saying he would use his emergency powers if he had to and the government would stay shut down for years if it needed to. wolf, one thing was clear, is that they did not come any closer to breaking this deadlock. >> and i can do it if i want. >> reporter: president trump amping up his threats over funding for his border wall tonight, declaring he's considering using emergency powers to build it. >> i may do it, but we can call a national emergency and build it very quickly. >> reporter: after a two-hour meeting with congressional

thank you to each of you. >> senator blumenthal? senator blumenthal: thank you madam chairwoman, thank you for all of your written testimony. i will review the. we have -- testimony, which i will review. we have only seven minutes. i will be quick with a number of you. reverend, thank you for being here today toned your story so powerfully and eloquently session telling your story so powerfully and eloquently, and making sure -- telling your story so powerfully and eloquently. gun, and person with a i assume that you would support the legislation that has been introduced to improve the background check system, as you probably -- i'm sure you know. that shooter was able to take advantage of a loophole in the current laws. senator graham and i have proposed bipartisan measure to take guns away from people who are deemed to be dangerous by a court after due process, and thereby keep guns out of the hands of criminals and under debt other dangerous people -- and other dangerous people. i hope you can lend your voice and fake to supporti

thank you very much, senator blumenthal.reciate it. >> thank you. >>> next, the white house trying to distance itself from roger stone, but it's really impossible to do because stone and trump are close. they have a history that goes back decades. >> i am one of his oldest friends. i am a fervent supporter of the president. >> plus, president trump getting hit hard by the very same conservatives who said to shut down the government. is his base turning or not? ing) every day, visionaries are creating the future. ( ♪ ) so, every day, we put our latest technology and vast expertise to work. ( ♪ ) the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, affordably and on-time. (ringing) ( ♪ ) the future only happens with people who really know how to deliver it. the future only happens thanksmrs. murphy. unitedhealthcare, hi, i need help getting an appointment with my podiatrist. how's wednesday at 2? i can't. dog agility. tuesday at 11? nope. robot cage match. how about the 28

aft 9:00, southeast blumenthal explains howing you artist pacing in the republican party grew under richmond nixon and through the presidency of ronald reagan. and on "after words" at 10:00 p.m., an examination of whether the american dream is attainable today. we wrap up our primetime programming at 11:00 on accomplish freedom in america, tonight on c-span2's booktv. television for serious readers.

monica linsky, friend vernon jordan and sidney blumenthal. >> we were all in a state of disappointment was not the climactic day for us as house managers. >> every 12th is the goal for ending the trial unless something new and explosive emerges from the depositions. the white house hopes and predicts that will not be the case. house managers hope that it will. >> on for very 6, 1999, portions of the videotaped depositions from house managers were played in the senate chamber. for the first time the world was able to hear from the players themselves including vernon jordan. >> we reference carried out at the request of the president of the united states. >> i was acting on behalf of the president. >> and the person many people were most eager to hear from, monica lewinsky. >> i knew i would deny the relationship. >> if you believe her you will see how the president wove a web of perjury and obstruction of justice. >> 24/7, listening to the testimony, it dominated everything. >> two days later house prosecutors and the president's lawyers made closing arguments. next morning the senate s

>> thank you, senator blumenthal. i have a few questions here. i thought i would start with you, professor kovacic. and that is less than a year ago, at an april 2018 panel, i think, you suggested that there is a perception that enforcement in the united states has become, quote, timid, and, quote, passive and that europeans felt they needed to become the leader in global antitrust policy because the u.s. has defaulted. those are your words. do you still think the u.s. has defaulted? what should we do about it? >> i think that the google experience in the u.s. did create a strong impression in europe that the u.s. could not perform. there was a great run-up to that case. it was highly publicized. the cdc devoted a lot of attention to suggest that this would be a dream piece and then it closed the file. i think to european examiners who i have spoken with a great deal thafr deal, that was an ideal circumstance where you had votes, you had a dream team of advisers and all you would do is close the file. that was seen as a very bad sign. i do think

blumenthal pointed to the possible effects on competing platforms. the effect of what he described, more people are shopping on amazon's platform than other platforms. that's not to say those benefits necessarily outweigh the costs. nor is it to say the kind of thing you are pointing to can potentially be a problem. before we assume because we can describe a potentially anti- competitive scenario, it doesn't mean that it is in fact anticompetitive. these companies by other companies all the time. they improve their own products. when facebook, for example, approves its product it benefits 5 billion users of facebook. small competitor benefits -- you can't discount the fact that the benefits of the incumbent, if it has a lot of uptake and it providing benefits to consumers. improving itself is a benefit today right here and now that is measurable and apparent. what you are describing is a theoretical potential harm in the future. >> last answer them that we will go back to senator lee. >> i think at the agencies today have the evidence that backs the

blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: mr. president, my colleague from illinois is absolutely right. the votes are there to pass these six bills. the majority leader, in effect, is acting as a buffer for the president. he is not severing this body because he knows that his own members would vote for it and vote to reopen the government. and that is because they are hearing the american people tell them, as they are telling us, reopen the government. that was the message that senator schumer delivered. it is simple, direct; it is true. the american people want the government reopened, and they know we have disagreements all the time. we disagree about policy and politics and proposals in legislation, but we don't shut down the government simply because we disagree. the government continues to do its work and serve the american people, even as we have disagreements. and so our friends on the other side, the republican leadership, are complicit in this shutdown by refusing to permit us to do our duty and our work, which is to co

senator richard blumenthal of connecticut, thank you for coming by.s "all in" for this evening. >>> tonight, what did rudy giuliani just say about the trump campaign and collusion with the russians? it's a jaw dropper. it may take a bit to react to this one. >>> also tonight, with the state of our union shut down, now there's a fight over shutting down the state of the union address until the government is back up and running again. >>> four americans are killed in an isis-related suicide attack in syria. and after that attack the vice president says publicly isis has been defeated. >>> and the president who insists he's been tough on russia and the ambassador who says that's just not true and someone has to account for what trump and putin talked about. all of it as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a wednesday night.

and i think that we may need to rely on congress, both in terms of the grassley/blumenthal legislation that's pending and hopefully could pass to protect robert mueller but also just in terms of the public's right to know. i'm not saying impeachment and i don't want anyone to misinterpret what i'm saying, but i think public hearings where witnesses are forward in front of the people so that voters can assess for themselves, we now have michael cohen testifying not in public anymore, but in private. and that's not a way that we are going to ever really feel comfortable that we know. if there is no action taken against the president, it could be because they don't want to indict a sitting president or it could be because there's nothing there, and we need to know that. >> we should note you just mentioned this, that michael cohen has agreed to closed door testimony before the house intelligence committee. but the february 7th public testimony he was going to give to the oversight committee, that remains in limbo. we'll see if they come to an arrangement or he ends up being subpoenaed for

democratic senator richard blumenthal and republican senator chuck grassley introduced a bi-partisan bill ... that would require the mueller report to be made public. and house republican leadership largely agrees. (ken) former georgia gubernatorial candidate stacey abrams will give the democratic response to president trump's state of the union address. senate minority leader chuck schumer announced today that abrams accepted the invitation to speak. she gained national attention during her campaign last year to become georgia's governor and the first black female governor in the u-s. republican brian kemp, who had president trump's backing, won the race. the state of the union is set to take place one week from today at the capitol. (ken)and california attorney general javier becerra will give the spanish language response.speaker nancy pelosi tweeting today: (becerra) is a towering champion of equal justice & tireless fighter for every americans' right to quality affordable health care. i look forward to the message of progress he will deliver. (pam) most americans think women sho

senator richard blumenthal of connecticut, thank you for coming by.for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening. >> good evening, chris. thanks, my friend. much appreciated. and thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. happy to have you with us here tonight. we're going to be joined tonight by kirsten gillibrand. senator kirsten gillibrand. we have a lot to talk about. she is going to be life in studio with me. tonight is going to be her first tv interview since she announced last night that she is in fact running for president. everybody's supposed to use that slight lly euphemismist languag to explore the possibility of running for president, and legally, technically, that is what everybody is doing at this stage of the game, but s

wish list that includes lewinsky, clinton friend vernon jordan, and white house advisor sidney blumenthalhe senate majority leader was still pushing back hard. >> i heard from henry hyde that trent lott had told him there would be no live witnesses on the floor of the house. i was appalled by that thought. >> i said, "absolutely not. i will not have monica lewinsky in the well of the senate testifying about the stained blue dress." >> the way he put it is that it would sully the floor of the house to have monica lewinsky there, and we aren't going to have it, it's not gonna happen. >> it's demeaning, it's beneath the dignity of the senate. i don't think it's appropriate, and i'm not going to be a part of it. >> i want to make this very, very, very clear. at no point will we ask any questions of monica lewinsky about her explicit sexual relations with the president. >> i proposed, if the senate tells us they will not let us call witnesses, that we leave the senate chamber and refuse to proceed. >> after days of argument and secret deliberations, a senate vote finally shot down the idea of

. >> harris: a response to senator blumenthal who says he does not agree with eliminating all privateinsurance. let's watch. >> i support a medicare for all program, but not necessarily eliminating all private insurance. i think there is room for private insurance, even providing the benefits and rights that people now enjoy under the medicare system. >> harris: we saw on twitter the president's reaction to blumenthal today. we won't get into that for now. there are some concerns. you are among justice 17, by our count in the brain room, physicians on the hill who are serving us as lawmakers right now. how does that help the situation, to have actual doctors working on this? you go having physicians there, we can see from one side of the stethoscope what patients are dealing with. they come into our offices, they talk to us about how they pay for their services that they're getting, and we of course negotiate with many of them. we give free care. so we are on the tip of the sphere, seeing what happens to those patients. yes, i think our perspective it is essential for the new got folk