and as people like chuck rosenberg and frank figliuzzi told us at the time. the signal sent to any criminal insnared in an investigation by the man who sits atop the government when he trashes cooperating witnesses is remarkable. and it wasn't lost on robert mueller. what rings through to me is what a bunch of sort of unethical -- i want to use words that won't get me in laura ingram's opening montage today. what a group of unethical acting people. >> cally wags. >> yeah. >> sarah sanders smearing jim comey from the podium saying that -- talking about his leadership at the fbi when under questioning with mueller's investigators saying heat of the moment. you're the white house press secretary. >> heat of the moment i wasn't exactly truthful about that. yeah, nicole, this is why this team in the white house has been so nervous about this. not only about how this piece of the puzzle connects them to the president that may get them in trouble with the president, but how it fleshes out the story lines that our friend like mr. lemire and others have been tracking

what do you think -- we talked about this with chuck rosenberg. what do you think it is like inside there now that they have a good view of who the boss is? >> you know, people were happy to see bill barr show up after matt whitaker. i don't think that that's the reaction any longer. he's disappointing. it was painful to see him deliver the kind of comments doj where we have all seen attorney generals from both parties who we know and love speak about important issues. what is so puzzling about barr is he mischaracterized the mueller report, but he knew we would read it just a couple of hours later and we would know that he had mischaracterized it. >> yes. >> so jill's explanation i think is correct. he wanted to frame the conversation. he wanted to try to go ahead and get the first jab at it an peop deeper. now as americans we all need to look past what the attorney general told us. >> all right. more outside-the-frame thinking. when we come back. joyce and jill agreed to remain with us. we'll fit in a break. when we come back, parts of the muell

that's where we start with our favorite friends, phil rucker, chuck rosenberg, aaron blake. with us at the table, careen john pierre, and jonathan lemire. let me start with you phil rucker. this weekend was remarkable only if you haven't been following trump the last two to three years. he wins and goes on the attack to make sure that even he knows that he didn't win at all. >> nicole, it was a happy easter down in mar-a-lago. the president was so focussed on this mueller report and privately he was really upset and pointing his ire at don mcghan, the white house counsel because he shows up in those footnotes again and again and again, revealing some very damaging scenes to mueller and the investigators. but it's important to remember why mcghan cooperated so fully with the special counsel and why so many of the other white house officials cooperated. that's because of a decision that trump and his lawyers made at the outset of this investigation to fully cooperate. it was president trump who waived executive privilege to allow his white house aides to sit for interviews and

to chuck rosenberg, to carol leonnig, our thanks. matt apuzzo.or all the world you look like nato secretary general against that backdrop more appropriately. thanks to you, it is 5:15 a.m. in brussels. terrific conversation, gang. thank you all for coming on the broadcast at the end of this long week. coming up for us tonight, the president calls it a big, fat waste of time, energy and money, but there are still a number of investigations swirling around him. and, later, the russians are mocking the mueller report. the problem is they're also reading the mueller report. we'll fit that in when we continue as "the 11th hour with brian williams" just getting started on this friday night. igt at fidelity, we make sure you have a clear plan to cover the essentials in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. because when you're ready for what comes next, the only direction is forward. i felt i couldn't be at my best wifor my family. c, in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured and left those doubts behind. i faced reminders of my hep c eve

chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney. aaron blake, senior political reporter for "the washington post." also with the post, political analyst robert costa. and on set national political reporter heidi presbela. >> robert, i have to start with you, you've been signaling for days now, at least ten, on this show, others and your own, that the concern before, during and after news that mueller had completed his report from the president's inner circle from republicans on capitol hill was always precisely what mr. dillinger writes about, the litany of conduct described in an obstruction report. >> that's exactly right. robert mueller's mandate was narrow. it was to investigate interference in the 2016 campaign by the russians, and also to evaluate the president's conduct and to see if it was worthy of prosecution. congress' mandate is wide. now we see the house democrats turning to obstruction. it's important that they're bringing members of the white house council to capitol hill issuing subpoenas. that means they want to del

the first person we'll bring on the show tonight, the first guest is the great chuck rosenberg. i think we need somebody that's as big as brain and well experienced as chuck is to try to answer some big basic questions about what just happened today with organization one, not individual one, that's the president, not law firm a, that's gregory craig's law firm, not magazine one, that's the "national enquirer" which may be losing its immunity deal. no, this is about organization one, which is wikileaks per their description in the indictment that robert mueller and the special counsel's office filed last summer against an even dozen military officers from the gru in russia. quote, indictment, the grand jury for the district of columbia charges count one conspiracy to commit an offense against the united states, quote, in or around 2016 the russian federation operated a military intelligence agency called the main intelligence directorate of the general staff, aka the gru. specific units of the gru conducted large scale cyberoperations to interfere with the 2016 u.s. presidential e

we're so grateful to have you help us set that table, chuck rosenberg, thank you for joining us.eak in our last break. we'll be right back. last break. we'll be right back. it's tough to quit smoking cold turkey. so chantix can help you quit "slow turkey." along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or life-threatening allergic and skin reactions. decrease alcohol use. use caution driving or operating machinery. tell your doctor if you've had mental health problems. the most common side effect is nausea. talk to your doctor about chantix. the most common doespeninsula trail?he you won't find that on a map. i'll take yo

we have chuck rosenberg, former fbi official who will join us for a moment here. hen you see what has happened so far, it seems like we have had rapid movement by law enforcement on the ground. what is fbi going to do with this? >> sure. well, fbi, atf, and i'm sure the locals are all involved. typically they would have a command center, a joint command -- i'm sorry, a command center or joint command so that they are coordinated in their response. you don't want three or four or five different agencies each doing their own thing. so it would be unified. if they need search warrants they can get it from either state or federal prosecutors as the case may be. the whole idea here is to move quickly to make sure that others are not involved. it sounds like they have the shooter in custody, that's a good thing. folks would want to be debriefing him, talking to him, if they can, if he's willing to talk. so there's a lot of work that needs to be done, that needs to be done quickly, and it needs to be done in a coordinated fashion so law enforcement, if there are other thr

. >> chuck rosenberg, this is a three-part -- it would seem three dominos have fallen in this story since late last night, "the washington post" reporting about his desire to release human beings into sanctuary city as some sort of pawn in his political battle of immigration. julia ainsley's superb reporting about how he wants to use the military in effect as human toy soldiers to carry out his political goals on immigration. and now ann's reporting about dangling a pardon. we have talked about his lurches towards authoritarianism, these seem like three examples that have been brought to us by the times, the post, and nbc news in the last 12 hours, what's going on? >> i don't know precisely what's going on? but i can tell you this, historically pardons were an act of compassion and mercy. we have been talking for the last 22 months about pardons as an act of obstruction of justice and evidence of intent. now it seems, according to the times reporting and i can't wait to read it, that pardons are also a projection of presidential power in a policy-making role. and that's hard for me to com

i would like to see the whole report, but i don't get to it. >> chuck rosenberg, thank you for comingn. i appreciate it. >> nancy and phil, stick around. >>> the new announcement from a 2020 contender who is putting mike pence on notice. what the vp is now saying in a new view this morning about mayor pete. at fidelity, we help you prepare for the unexpected with retirement planning and advice for what you need today and tomorrow. because when you're with fidelity, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. because when you're with fidelity, - (phone ringing)a phones offers - big button,ecialized phones... and volume-enhanced phones., get details on this state program. call or visit and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit >>> so, the mayor of south bend, indiana, is hoping for a promotion to the west wing setting to make his race official this weekend. and if pete buttigieg wins, an interview that relates to mike pence who opposes same-sex marriage.

chuck rosenberg, a msnbc contribute your and former u.s.orney and senior fbi official and nick con fis cory and political reporter at "the new york times" and mia wylie a legal analyst and senior vice president for social justice at the new school and john pod horowitz is a editor at commentary magazine. thank you for being with us. and let me start with you, chuck, this fight that is now set up with subpoenas flying from congress to all sorts of folks in -- or who have been in the trump administration, the president and the white house indicating they don't want to comply and they're going to tell people not to comply with any of these. democrats are saying, look, this is an effort from the white house to bide time legally if you play this out a little bit. how much time can trump and the white house buy with this strategy. >> if they want to litigate every subpoena and assert executive privilege they could buy a lot of time. there is always contention between a congress and any president and not unusual to see tensions over the provision

we've seen that before. >> chuck rosenberg and julia ainsley, thank you both.ia >>> speaking of congress, my next guest has access to sp classified information as a nes member of the house intelligence committee. congressman julian castro, ce democrat from texas.tr i will just follow up from you r the degree of satisfaction you have with this process now, thee thursday release of the redacted version that barr has filtered of the mueller report. >> well, i'm glad that we finally have a date. we know when it's going to come out.at look, we need to see all of it. i understand there are going to be redactions when the report is made available to the public, but congress needs to be able to see the full thing. remember, especially those of us on the intelligence committee, are routinely looking at classified information, and ut often times we'll have special sessions where all of congress is invited to come look at classified information. i so there is no reason that the special counsel shouldn't make this available -- i'm sorry, the attorney general shouldn't make it available to all of con

for more on what we can expect to see this thursday, i'm joined by msnbc contributor chuck rosenberg, former u.s. official and former fbi senior official and julia ainsley. julia, let's start with you on sort of the basic balls and strikes here. how does a report against transmitted? who gets it first? who gets to see it? >> okay. so we know on thursday morning the justice department is expected to give their version, the redacted version you laid out, to the public and to congress. it should come roughly around the same time. congress may get about a 15-minute heads up, we're not sure, some kind of window. really, we will see the same version in the public and congress at that same time. some people have said, well, shouldn't congress get more because they've been pushing for that? really, under special counsel regulations we're supposed to get the exact same thing because congress doesn't have power here. everyone here, whether you're a member of congress or not, we're all being filtered through the justice department because the regulations give so much power to the attorney genera

chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney, former senior fbi official is among the folks we'll be able to talk to today. chuck, you recognized attack tick at work here today. >> i did brian. that's a good word for it. the tactic is something we call as prosecutors drawing the sting. and we use that in opening statements to a jury during trial. prosecutors go first because we have the burden of proof. so we tell the jury the weaknesses in our case. we also tell them the strengths of course, but we tell them the weaknesses so they hear it from us and not from the defense attorney when she goes next. what struck me as odd here today is that the attorney general drew the sting. he talked about things favorable to the president, but he didn't add that second piece. we know there's information in that report damaging to the president, particularly on obstruction. there are ten episodes we're told, yet the attorney general only talked about stuff favorable to the president, and that struck me as odd and it did strike me as a

chuck rosenberg, michael smith, benjamin wittes, thank you all. coming up lindsey graham has been one of president trump's staunchest supporters during the mueller probe, but it seems he had a much stricter standard for obstruction when there was a democrat in the white house. >> i am shocked. >> we'll explain that next on "morning joe." it's easy to move forward when you're ready for what comes next. at fidelity, we make sure you have a clear plan to cover the essentials in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. and on the way, you'll get timely investment help to keep you on the right track, without the unnecessary fees you might expect from so many financial firms. because when you have a partner who gives you clarity at every step, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. it's how we care for our patients- like job. his team at ctca treated his cancer and side effects. so job can stay strong for his family. cancer treatment centers of america. appointments available now. so, every day, we put our latest technology and un

. >> joining me, darren samuelson and former fbi senior official and msnbc contributoring chuck rosenberg says he's going to release as much as he can, but this is not the correct graphic. this is the categories of redactions, we want to put that up on the screen if we can. grand jury information, information that might reveal intelligence sources and methods. information that might interfere with ongoing prosecutions, and information that implicated the privacy or reputational interests of peripheral players. darren, he says it's going to be color coded so you'll know which redaction is which? >> thank god for that, yeah, that will help us as we digest in rapid time with the millions on twitter. it will help to know at least, instead of just blacked out boxes, we'll get a chance to see whether it has to do with the peripheral figures, whether it has to do with the grand jury information or the classified information or the on going investigations. obviously, the more redactions there are, the more wondering why bill barr held that stuff back. 12k3w4r what did you think of bill barr's tes

to that point, sol, chuck rosenberg, senior official on the mueller report, on msnbc this afternoon.omment on this. >> it's never taken me 400 pages to say nothing happened. so i imagine something happened and that something particularly with respect to obstruction was quite serious. i don't believe for a minute that if mueller had facts that exonerated the president on obstruction he would have hesitated to say so. >> laura: sol, you know about this game. tell us. >> i know chuck. i'm appalled by his comments. barr made it very clear in his four-page summary. he said mueller is not -- mueller is not -- will not reach a conclusion on obstruction. he laid out facts in support and facts against. so i think barr made it very clear, there's going to be a really detailed factual summary of what president trump did. you'll see it there. i think barr has said you'll see it. barr did make the call, he's the attorney general. next to president trump, he's the chief law enforcement officer in the country. if mueller wasn't going to make the call, there's nobody else but bill barr that should m

our thanks to chuck rosenberg and matt miller.'ll have more on the democrats turning up the pressure on the attorney general and plus, we talked about how the house passed the extension of the violence against women act. one of the leading voices on women's empowerment, kirsten gillibrand will join the table. the 2020 candidate is our guest ahead on "morning joe." date is ahead on "morning joe. this year, we're taking it up a notch. so in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, "wow, maybe i'll glow too if i book direct at choicehotels.com". who glows? just say, badda book. badda boom. nobody glows. he gets it. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com ifor another 150 years. the fire going ♪ to inspire confidence through style. ♪ i'm working to make connections of a different kind. ♪ i'm working for beauty that begins with nature. ♪ to treat every car like i treat mine. ♪ at adp we're designing a better way to work, so you can achieve

chuck rosenberg, msnbc contributor, former u.s. attorney. senior fbi official. and a political reporter with the "daily beast" stand by. let's listen to the president. >> -- this is 141 years that we've been doing this. i don't remember the first one, but the last three years had an awfully good time, and i have to thank our first lady. she worked so hard on this event, and without her, it would not be like it is. it's as beautiful as i've ever seen it. so, melania, thank you very much. fantastic job. thank you, honey. i also want to thank the white house historical association for the incredible job they do. they work with the first lady and all of us on just making the white house and keeping the white house a special place. it is, to me, "the" most special place. there can't be anything like it and we take it really very seriously and it's in great shape. that i can tell you. it's in great shape. also our incredible marine corps band. thank you very much. beautiful. wouldn't be the same without you. and a group of people that do a wonderful job. i love them.

joyce, i wonder if you think robert mueller -- chuck rosenberg thought it was a certainty that robert mueller was able to look at and examine trump's tax returns. do you think there'll be any information in the 400 pages released? >> tax information is protected inside of doj, it can't be revealed. so if there's anything in there, it'll be redacted. but i think mueller started in many ways with taxes, they're a bible for prosecutor, they're a road map that tells you where to go and what to look at. it's interesting in this regard that mueller restricted his mission so carefully to the question of conspiracy with russia and the question of obstruction, because the taxes are really a road map to all sorts of information to other conduct. even if the tacxes that can't b disclosed, it'll lead to other investigations. >> peter your paper has done a deep dive, the taxes are the window to the soul the biggest fraud that donald trump has perp rated. the idea he's self-made and successful, he's neither. talk about the taxes from inside that white house. i don't believe anything that comes out

the reassurances from our friends like chuck rosenberg and joyce vance that he was an institutionalist gave him more credit than he deserved. on the three three reelection strategies, hard line immigration policies, the central conspiracy theory that animates donald trump's entire presidency that he was spied on and the cd that there was a complete and total exoneration from robert mueller which in the few words we've seen from robert mueller, there was not. robert mueller wrote, we do not exonerate trump on obstruction. barr has embraced all three. he is a lot more dangerous if you don't like the way donald trump seems to trample on the rule of law and a lot more of a booster if you're a trump backer. >> i was going to say we covered the barr hearings together, brian, and i think the signs were there'ven at that time. first barr had written this 19-page memo last summer which made silly legal claims to try to protect donald trump saying he couldn't obstruct justice. and back when he was attorney general for president bush, he did the famously the iran contra pardons announced on the e