carol lee, jennifer rogers, thank you for helping us understand it. carol, thanks for your incredible reporting. when we come back, the gop and the fbi have a price of loyalty to donald trump risks breaking up the very coalition that elected him. >>> and a conspiracy theory that would make alex jones blub. new signs the gop is losing its grip on reality. donald trump in a down parka? you never know what you see when donald trump hits the global ee leets in switzerland this week. stay with us. directv has been rated number one in customer satisfaction over cable for 17 years running. but some people still like cable. just like some people like pre-shaken sodas. having their seat kicked on an airplane. being rammed by a shopping cart. sitting in gum. and walking into a glass door. but for everyone else, there's directv. for #1 rated customer satisfaction over cable, switch to directv and get a $200 reward card. call 1.800.directv we're pretty sure no one's everg asked howsaid microwaved. eggs, you deserve a breakfast made with respect. try the new bacon,

ken delanieian, nbc national reporter carol lee has breaking news for us this hour. plus paul butler, former federal prosecutor, msnbc legal analyst. let me read the first couple paragraphs and you take it from there. you write, trump's gripes against mccabe included wife's politics and comey's ride home. the day he fired comey, he became furious watching television footage of the ousted fbi director boarding a government funded plane from los angeles back to washington, d.c., that he called the bureau's acting director andrew mccabe to vent. trump demanded to know why comey was allowed to fly home on an fbi plane after he had been fired, these people said. mccabe told the president he hadn't been asked to authorize comey's flight. if anybody asked he would have approved it. the president was silent for a moment then turned on mccabe. ask your wife how it feels to be a loser, trump said. mccabe replied, okay, sir. trump hung up the phone. carol, i don't know how to put this. i talked to a couple of the president's friends. he comes off as such a jerk. this person sai

carol lee and mike mamalee with new exclusive reporting. justice and security analyst matt miller, former chief spokesman at the justice department. former u.s. attorney, barbara mccabe. and allen rosen teen from the national security justice division. kristin, let's set the table. you were talking to the president about his reaction to all of the revelations that top officials with the attorney general, as the headliner here, have all been interviewed by robert mueller. >> that's right. you saw the president try to strike a confident note saying he is not concerned about what the attorney general told the special counsel. but as nbc news is reporting today, we now know that the special counsel not only interviewed the attorney general former fbi director james comey but also the president's intelligence block, i should say. as well as a whole host of other people within the president's inner circle. and according to our revelations, one of the interesting things we've learned is that former national security adviser, michael flynn, when he

carol lee, you've followed this president for a long time. this gets to the core part of that narrative where there's been a lot of the picking at errors unintentional errors or problems on copy editing in the book. but the core mayortive of a president who at times seems disengaged and. >> right. >> -- and having trouble with even keeping up with his brief, that really is a stinging, issue for him. >> we've seen the president reacting to the very kinds of personal things that are outlined in this book whether it's we saw obviously the attacks on his son and his son-in-law and his daughter and he reacted very viscerally to those. now he's reacting to this narrative he's not engaged, questions about his mental stability and whether he's fit for office. these are questions that go back to the campaign. he was dealing with them then. now he's taking them head-on, just an unusual wave engaging. he's saying i'm stable and i'm a genius and i went to the best college for college. and so he's getting down and engaging in this debate and this fight wi

. >>> and coming up a "morning joe," new reporting from carol lee with even more on what is it happening behind the scenes in the russia probe. >>> new development late last night about andrew mccabe, president trump alleges that he was influenced by his wife's donations. "washington post" reporting that while mccabe served as acting fbi director, president trump summoned him to the oval office and asked who he voted for in the 2016 election. mccabe who is considered to replace comey said he did not vote according to several anonymous current and former u.s. officials sourced in the report. mccabe who has spent more than two decades at the fbi found the conversation with trump, quote, disturbing and said one former u.s. official -- that was said by one former u.s. official. and one person said it is of interest to bob mueller. both the white house and fbi did decline to comment and we will have more on this on "morning joe." >>> and the white house is pushing back on two reports that pressure to fire mccabe led christopher wray to threaten to resign. here is how president trump and sarah

carol lee is the one who broke today's developments on flynn. and ellen broke the story on the andrew mccabe's oval office meeting with donald trump. she's with the "washington post." carol, the significance of michael flynn not telling white house about the interview, what is it? >> well, it's significant for a number of reasons. one, it gives us a window into what happened in this now very significant day one year ago. we also learned that michael flynn didn't have a lawyer with him in this interview. if you're representing michael flynn, that would be a frustrating fact. he was notified by the fbi that they wanted to come talk to him, it was put on his scheduled. he didn't notify the national security council legal team. normally someone would sit in a meeting like that. he didn't have his personal lawyer with him either. generally, people we've talked to said that he just -- he kept people in the dark about that. one thing i would say, katy, there are instances where the fbi will say, hey, let's keep this confidential. >> you say that set of

carol lee, thank you as well. we'll be reading the exclusive nbc news report that you and kristen welker have out this morning. >>> still ahead on "morning joe," former vice president joe biden sounds off on russia's election interference. why he says republican leaders share some of the blame in not stopping moscow's meddling. >>> plus from the deep state to secret societies, we'll talk more about the continued attacks on the justice department and what they mean for american democracy and the rule of law. you're watching "morning joe," we'll be right back. >> it may be time to declare war, outright against the deep state and clear up the rot in the upper levels of the fbi and the justice department. yes, i said the rot. the fbi and the doj have broken the public trust. by destroying evidence, defying oversight and actively trying to bring down the trump presidency. ♪ when you have something you love, you want to protect it. at legalzoom, our network of attorneys can help you every step of the way. with an estate

nbc reporter carol lee wrote this stunning report. carol, break this thing down. what have you learned? amazing reporting, by the way. >> thank you. what we've learned is if you go back one year ago today, it's really, we knew this was the first time that the russia investigation had basically infiltrated the trump white house. what we didn't know was that the president and the people, his most senior advisers, were unaware of that. the fact that michael flynn interviewed with these two fbi agents in the west wing, didn't tell anybody, and didn't have a lawyer present, and then, you know, not only didn't tell anybody at that time but didn't then tell anyone in the next two days, it was only when sally yates came to the white house and told white house counsel don mcgahn that michael flynn could be susceptible to blackmail from the russians and that he had been interviewed by the fbi two days before, that then senior white house officials learned about this. it kind of shows how that one day a year ago today really set into motion a lot of things we're seeing now,

we've got nbc white house correspondent kristen welker and nbc political reporter carol lee joining us. first, kristen, let's play a little bit of president trump's reaction when asked about steve bannon. >> any words about steve bannon? >> i don't know. he called me a great man last night, so he obviously changed his tune pretty quick. thank you all very much. i don't talk to him. i don't talk to him. that's just a misnomer. >> so kristen welker, a busy day at the white house with the overnight reactions from the lawyers first going after steve bannon, telling him to cease and desist and that they were going to file suit. we should point out they're also taking on michael wolff and the publisher as well with these threats, but this isn't the first time the president has made threats of legal action that haven't actually been followed up. >> reporter: that's absolutely right, andrea. still, it does underscore the fact this war is escalating between president trump and steve bannon. you could see his frustration there in his remarks when he said he obviously changed his tune pretty quic

bob costa, carol lee, michael schmidt, thank you all so very much. and we now have california congressman adam schiff, the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, that committee voted to release the memo and refused to release the democratic alternative memo. congressman, you've had a late night so thank you very much for being here and being here on set. try to explain what you think is going on with devin nunez. a lot of people are asking why wasn't he recused from the russia investigation. i think the answer is the ethics committee cleared him of any impropriety regarding that unmasking diversion, but is he now front and center and pushed his colleague over to the side? >> the chronology is march 20th we had an open hearing to kick off the investigation with james comey. comey announces at that hearing there's an ongoing investigation of the trump campaign and its contacts with russia. the white house viewed that as a disaster. the committee of republicans viewed it as a disaster. the next day the chairman went on the midnight run and wo

>> first, it's excellent reporting by carol lee. now, this race is two flags for me. we know if fbi visited mike flynn literally one year ago. this raises the flag and the question of, how long has mike flynn been cooperating? did the cooperation start on or about that first meeting? that means he could have been working for mueller's team much earlier than we thought. could have been recording and documenting conversations. the second flag it raises for me is two days later, sally yates tells trump, hey, fbi has already interviewed flynn, and this goes toward obstruction, as nick was saying. now does trump become incensed that he didn't know that flynn was interviewed by the fbi? can't guess what's going on with that. that plays into his decision to eventually fire flynn. and i agree with nick, what we're seeing here is mueller going full bore on the obstruction inquiry, and the people all being interviewed all have something to say about being pressured, pressured to recuse, pressured to get comey to drop the investigation, are privy to trumps thoughts about why he

let me go to carol lee. this pattern is pretty clear. if you step back and look at it like a polaroid picture developing, what is developing is he is purging anybody that confirm the russian investigation. now the targeting of rosenstein. >> well, yes. >> that's a purge. >> well, the question is whether that is happening because the president st. trying to get around or conceal sort of actual real criminal wrongdoing that he is aware that will come down, or if it's because of some other reason that he just doesn't like being under sort of scrutiny, that he doesn't like this investigation, that he feels like it's an attack on him and an affront on his presidency. we don't know the answer to that. but robert mueller is going to know the answer to that. and i think one of the questions here is what happens to rod rosenstein. we know from our white house colleagues over there that he and fbi director wray met with chief of staff john kelly today. and the second question is what does this mean for robert mueller. >> well, they're surrounding

and they are taking this moment to seize upon that. >> carol lee, thank you much. i'm going to ask eugene and anna to stick around longer. because when we come back, we'll talk about the looming threat of the government shutdown if lawmakers can get a deal together on the end of next week. the ultimatum from president trump and where things go after the big camp david retreat this weekend. that's after the break. my name's dustin. hey, dustin. grab a seat. woman: okay. moderator: nice to meet you. have you ever had car trouble in a place like this? (roaring of truck) yes and it was like the worst experience of my life. seven lanes of traffic and i was in the second lane. when i get into my car, i want to know that it's going to get me from point a to point b. well, then i have some good news. chevy is the only brand to receive j.d. power dependability awards for cars, trucks and suvs two years in a row. woman: wait! (laughing) i definitely feel like i'm in a dependable vehicle right now. woman 2: i want a chevy now. woman 3: i know! >>> we want the wall. the wall i

carol lee, nbc news. really interesting reporting. you. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get. get ready for centrum micro-workouts. the bottle curl. the twist n' turn. the stretch n' grab. the gummy squish. centrum micronutrients fuel your body from the inside out. grab a centrum and join in. repeat daily. >>> right now off the coast of shanghai something extraordinary is happening. extraordinary in a bad way. three days ago a really big oil tanker called the song chi collided with another ship about 160 miles off the coast of shanghai. three days ago. it has been on fire ever since. and as you can probably guess just by look

." >> i'm joined now by my colleague carol lee. >> covering this administration has sparked an entire industry. >> it's also created some of our best tv friends. >> ashley parker, white house reporter for "the washington post". >> "new york times" political reporter -- >> these people are family because we rely on not just their scoops, which come at a pace that -- it's dizzying. but they have also become our storytellers of this presidency. >> now to you. >> they manage to cover this white house to maintain all the access that they have. >> carol, you are the lead on this story. i'm going to start with you. >> not to take anything away from our investigative unit which breaks stories all the time, but to cover such a disruptive period in politics, whether it was a democrat or a republican, it takes a village. what we get do is showcase all the journalism. >> nbc news learned robert mueller has enough evidence to bring charges in his investigation of former national security adviser michael flynn and his son. >> as we're having this conversation, i'm remembering my broadcast we had ju

." >> i'm joined now by my colleague carol lee. >> covering this administration has sparked an entireustry. >> it's also created some of our best tv friends. >> ashley parker, white house reporter for "the washington post." >> "new york times" political reporter nick comfosori. >> these people are family because we rely on not just their scoops, which come at a pace that -- it's dizzying. but they have also become our storytellers of this presidency. >> kasie hunt, thank you. ken dilanian, now to you. >> they manage to cover this white house to maintain all the access that they have. >> carol, you are the lead byline on this story so i'm going to start with you. >> not to take anything away from our investigative unit which breaks stories all the time, but to cover such a disruptive period in politics, whether it was a democrat or a republican, it takes a village. what we get to do is showcase all the journalism. >> nbc news learned special counsel robert mueller has enough evidence to bring charges in his investigation of former national security adviser michael flynn and his son. >>

packed with goodness. >>> now to carol lee.re part of an nbc team, new reporting this morning on the russia investigation. the report says the president's legalpresident's legal team is discussing a range of potential options in anticipation that special counsel robert mueller will ask to interview president trump. tell us more about that? >> so, what we've learned is that president trump's lawyers have begun discussing with robert mueller's team about a possible interview with president trump. so they're talking about a number of things. what would the format be? what would -- would robert mueller do the interview it? how long would it last? things like that. and we also know the president's legal team has had its own internal discussions about what the format would be and it really would like to -- it seems -- avoid a sit-down interview face to face between the president and whether it's robert mueller or members of his team. they're floating things like a written questionnaire, submitting a signed affidavit saying he's innoc

president and the administration, putting broad pressure on the fbi, on him specifically, like what carol lee laid out, and also from chris wray, there were reports that emerged tonight about an inspector general report that's expected at the justice department that lays out mccabe and comey and their handling of the clinton e-mail investigation. and for whatever reason, wray speaking to mccabe, that made mccabe think he needed to step down because of the pressure. that's the next thing we're chancing we want to know what the pressure was, whether or not it was valid. we have seen a furthering of the polarizing lines between the republicans and democrats. and mccabe stepping down is being interpreted differently by republicans who believe that he was in charge of or oversaw a completely bias investigation or oversaw a clinton investigation in a bias way and democrats who think that he was pressured out by a president who doesn't have respect for the fbi. >> senator widen is one of the senators who has concerns about this. he said tonight fbi director wray needs to testify in pluck about his r

stream private jet used by the government became an issue for the president, who according to nbc's carol lee, called mccabe to ask why comey was being allowed to travel on a government plane after being fired. trump also went onto ask mccabe to ask his wife how it felt to be a loser. that's in reference to her loss of a state election in virginia. the campaign for andrew mccabe's dismissal has intensified in recent months. here is the white house reaction to the news that mccabe was indeed stepping down. >> the president wasn't a part of this decision making process, and we would refer you to the fbi where christopher ray serves a the director, which as i said last week and i'll repeat again today, the president has full confidence in him and has put the decisions at the fbi in his hands. >> we turn now to our lead off panel on a monday night. matt apuzo, no matter what you hear his name is matt apuzo, animist nbc contributor, and we welcome to our broadcast a former fbi special agent in charge for the agency seattle division where he served under fbi director james comey and reported to of

meanwhile, usa gymnastics has announced it will no longer train athletes at the carol lee ranch in texasrhouse training facility where some of nassar's victims say they were actually abused. in revealing her abuse earlier this week, simone biles from the 2016 olympic team says she couldn't return to that specific facility. the karolyi ranch were akutsed in one lawsuit of turning a blind eye to the abuse of nassar. the couple has denied any wrongdoing, though, in that instance. >> maybe nassar should think about how difficult it's been for those girls to recover after all ta abuse that he did. he has to have a lifetime to think about it, that isser for sure. >>> still ahead, newly released trump testimony about the dossier. plus, trump's top attorney weighs in on the status of bob mueller's investigation. we'll hear what ty cob has to say, next. my dentist said something interesting...my teeth are like an iceberg...there's a lot going on underneath that i can't see. new crest gum detoxify works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. new

carol lee, congratulations on this huge scoop. >> thank you, rachel. >> i will say. in all of the news breaking today, one of the things i am most fascinated by is the news that mike pompeo has sat down with mueller's investigators. very careful word choice in carol's report today. she described mike pompeo as also having been interviewed by the special counsel. mike pompeo has an incredibly born role to play in this scandal at a lot of different levels. him talking to the mueller investigation is a big deal. and one that i hope we're going to find out more on in the coming days. we'll be right back. protect business, from the largest financial markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyber-attacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. keeping the world of business connected and protected. that's the power of and. ♪ tired of wrestling with seemingly impossible cleaning tasks? using wipes in the kitchen, and sprays in the bathroom can be ineffective. try mr. clean magic eraser. simply add water, and use in your kitchen for burnt on foo

carol lee, congratulations on this huge scoop. >> thank you, rachel. >> i will say.n all of the news breaking today, one of the things i am most fascinated by is the news that mike pompeo has sat down with mueller's investigators. very careful word choice in carol's report today. she described mike pompeo as also having been interviewed by the special counsel. mike pompeo has an incredibly born role to play in this scandal at a lot of different levels. him talking to the mueller investigation is a big deal. stay with us. we'll be right back. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get. the great emperor trekking a hundred miles inland to their breeding grounds. except for

joining us is carol lee, a reporter that broke this story today. nice to have you with us tonight.ing here. >> thanks for having me. thank you. >> we're getting your reports first, we found a couple other news outlets reporting seeming to be focussing in on the timeline, the question of whether or not this is something coming up imminently or something being discussed as a ra hypothetical. what is your understanding now? >> my understanding is it's fluid for the reasons you laid out. but, you know, you could see some sort of interview or some kind of discussion between the president and the special counsel's office in coming weeks but the president trump's legal team still has a lot of questions just in terms of what that would look like, how long it would take, where it would be, what the format would be, all of those kinds of questions and like you were talking about, they have these different ideas how to get around from having the president actually have to sit down and have face-to-face conversation with either robert mueller or people who are working for him. >> i know that t

and nbc news national political reporter carol lee and reporter ken vogel from politico. thank you for being here on a day when we have a lot of news. as we pick up with bill and kristen left off, there's an interesting comment earlier this morning from james de vries about what is really important here. what really matters the most. listen. >> we need to continue to do the preparations for cyber, for amaritime cyber operations. we need to be ready militarily, but i think we have a tiny sliver of an opening. so nonsensical tweets about how big somebody's button is are not going to get us further on the path we need to be on, which is diplomacy. >> so making the point here made by stavridis is that it is not just diplomatic. do you agree? >> what president trump is reacting to is the fact that kim jong-un and his government basically have done this before. there's a pattern here. as soon as the pressure comes on, they begin to do things, to try to alleviate and get more economic help. and what the president is trying to do, and he did it in an artful way with the nuclear t

carol lee is a reporter from nbc news. and bill crystal, the weekly standard editor at large. carol, i will start with you. because last june all of us were pursuing this story. it was -- christopher ruddy the president's personal friend who is a publishing of a news organization openly said the president is contemplating doing this. >> very candidly, yeah. >> the white house kept denying, no he didn't order it. and now the same people who said no are saying yes. what happened. >> it is unclear exactly what happened but you hit on a very important point which is this investigation is just getting tighter and tighter and tighter and the president is in the white house and sieging and continuing to sieeethe and now there is questioning about his sitting down with the special counsel office and so it is very possible that people are nervous that he mie -- may try to do this again and he is impulsive and lashes out and people in the white house say this is a disaster for him and you could see how they want to move to cut that off. >> bill crystal, you saw this as a leak meant to be

. >> hallie jackson, carol lee, congratulations on the scoop, guys. >>> joining me now is matt miller. matt, let's just talk about robert mueller and whether or not he will end up interviewing donald trump. what do you think is going to happen? >> i think he will certainly insist on interviewing -- at that point donald trump will have a choice. he can either submit to a voluntary interview or decline it, at which point the special council will send him a grand jury subpoena. every american citizen has the right to goo to the grand jury and take the fifth amendment and not testify, because they don't want to increme nature themselves. i think most people would find that unacceptable behavior from the president of the united states. >> what about from donald trump. a lot of the things he does, people would find unacceptable. >> he promised at the start of this investigation 100% cooperation. asking for an interview done through written questions is not 100% cooperation. and taking the fifth amendment is not 100% cooperation. >> can he defy a grand jury is a peeng in a? >> he can attempt

carol lee, national political reporter and michael steele and former rnc chairman and jennifer palmieri for both the obama white house and clinton campaign and is probably, can't believe she's going to find herself saying things like steve bannon is right. [ laughter ] >> so much. never thought how wise steve bannon was? michael steele -- all right. there's a level of absurdity to this, but, wow, it's explosive. if you are dealing in the 30% of this country basically believes whatever the president says and whatever breitbart says and now the two parents are arguing, what happens? >> in large measure, trump has the upper hand relative to the base because they bought into him not bannon. and bannon was in many respects his, trump's muse. >> do you think bannon knows this? >> he does not know that. it was clear there's a separation here, but like every pot you put on the stove and turn the flame underneath it, even if there's no water in it, it can burn some stuff up. right? and that's what's happening here. all of the stuff inside this administration that has been reported over time, lar

carol lee is the report er who broke the story. take us back a year ago today. that meeting taking place in the oval office. what can you tell us about how it came a bt and what administrations knew. >> to sell the scene a little bit, it was exactly one year ago today. it was four days into the trump administration. michael flynn was just one day into taking the oath in his job as national security adviser. and there was a fophone call fr the fbi saying they wanted to speak with michael flynn. his scheduler put that on his schedule. then according to a number of people we have spoken with, michael flynn did not tell anybody about that. he didn't notify the national security counsel's lawyers, which typically someone would sit in on a meeting like that. he didn't have his personal lawyer. there was people in the white house at the time who felt that it seemed like he didn't really kind of grasp. what was happening or what was going to happen in this interview. and he kept senior most officials in the dark about that. fast forward two days later and you have the a

we had that fresh reporting yesterday from carol lee. it was really interesting, the president called mccabe at the time to say why in the world is jim comey coming back on an fbi plane. it looks like he wanted him to come back on southwest in coach or something. he wanted him to come back disgraced. it goes to show how much the president wanted to see comey taken down from his throne. and when mccabe didn't respond because he was sort of caught off guard by this call, he said, let me ask you, ask your wife how it feels to be a loser, referencing her lost race for the virginia senate seat. so this was kind of really dirty politicking all happening behind this back drop. so when andy mccabe chooses to step aside, we know it's in part because of this investigation but there are so many other factors here and it makes this particular resignation really carry weight. >> i want to go to the white house. geoff bennett is standing by with more on this. geoff, what do you have on it? >> reporter: the other big story that we're watching here via

lee. i want to get right to, carol, this sort of, the two interviews we just heard there. i feel you have. david french trying to be the moral compass of the conservative movement versus andy card who sort of put a political explanation where things are. for viewers, david french said, i don't know what more we can do. >> you saw andy card try to almost quarantine trumpism. put it over here. it's not affecting things over here. >> will it away almost. >> yeah. you've seen this before. it just doesn't work. clearly, that's not what's happening. he's president of the united states. he's in the white house. he's the leader of the republican party. he's having an influence. whether republicans like it or not he is branding the party, and potentially for the long term and you can -- so you see this time and again, republicans try to distance or rationalize or talk around it and act like he's an "other" but he's not. he's the leader of the party. >> but i think my job isn't to defend andy, but what president trump says and a lot of what he does doesn't represent the entire repub

carol lewis, track and field, john neighbors, swimming. bill thome, track and field, iris zimmerman. i ask unanimous consent. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: likewise, a -- letter d the 24th from the child welfare league of america who worked on this issue, asked unanimous consent to submit theirs into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: the d.c. coalition against domestic violence that has worked along with rain and as well has emphasized that the nation's youngest have been impacted by this dastardly series of actions. ask unanimous consent. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: a letter from professor emeritus from depaul university, were howard ruben, who speaks about the sexual abuse, my wife, barbara, knew the lasting damage that's caused when a child is abused having been a child victim, and he asks that his support for this be submitted into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: the national children's alliance that has been working with other advocacy groups and, again, long standing work against child abuse supporting this legislation,