they are the ones who mostly interviewed graff today. may not be over because ted lew who sits on the house judiciary committee, he said today he would be interested if having graff testify before his committee. >> it's not a surprise investigators want to speak to her given how close she's been to the president. and now, john dean. john, what are investigators look iing for from rhona graff? given just how close she has been to him for so long? >> well it's clear her name popped up in the e-mail and that's what provoked their interest as far as the campaign goes. she's not at the white house. so she obviously can't testify to what he's doing today. and what he's done since he's been elected president. but he, they can learn from him, from her a lot of his pattern and his style of working. and that could be interesting to the staff. the fact it was a staff interview is to me more interesting that the members didn't schedule her or bring her to washington, but rather, i assume, both majority and minority staff were there. we don't know th

the president did not like e-mail, didn't use it, so e-mails would go to and from rhona graff. one subject of questions from hill investigators. president trump's long-time secretary, rhona graff is the latest member of his inner circle to face questions from lawmakers in the russia investigation. >> i'm going to make you a star. >> graff has been at his side for decades. including sending and receiving e-mails on behalf of mr. trump who avoided them. she was mentioned by name in the 2016 e-mails between donald trump junior and rob goldstone, where the two discussed the campaign with a russia lawyer offering information on hillary clinton. gold stone wrote i can also send this info to your father via rhona but it is ultra sensitive. also three household committees questioned fbi deputy director andrew mccabe for 16 hours. the fbi's investigation of hillary clinton's use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state, notable for republicans. he was also grilled on his interactions with fired fbi director james comey, who mccabe told lawmakers informed him of conversations he

i've known rhona graff for years, as a reporter going up to trump tower.he was and has been for decades the gatekeeper for donald trump. on that 26th floor. she sits right outside of his office. she's so close with him personally as a friend. not so much an adviser politically, but as a confidant and totally trusted by the president and then candidate and businessman trump. >> the flip side of that is if you're an aggressive prosecutor and you're looking to hear who overheard what, were you on air force one, were you -- obviously she wasn't, but she could have been present at the creation of many a conversation. >> not only was she probably present at many conversations, but president trump does not use e-mail and he relied upon rhona graff for years to keep a record of e-mails that were coming in, letters that were coming in. she was what john kelly is now inside of the white house, the person who controls the paper flow, the person who controls the door. so documents matter as much as her recollections. >> nick, when someone is unable to travel to washin

nbc reports that rhone graff was interviewed by members of the house intel committee. tell us why the long time trump assistant is particularly relevant to this investigation. >> in terms of rhone graff, she's definitely had communications with the trump organization. she's a senior vice president there. she's known him for years. obviously, she could have important information as to possibly his past dbusiness tie and stuff that's happened during the campaign. she's definitely a key figure in that regard. however, it's interesting the way they've interviewed her. normally, the house intel committee has interviewed subjects for this investigation on capitol hill by lawmakers. however, we noticed this was done in an undisclosed location in new york. it's after democrats and other republicans have gone home for the holiday. so only a handful of investigators were reportedly able to interview her. so it's interesting to see how that's been done. i think it's something we should keep an eye on. >> kevin, let's talk about that. democrats were not happy the graff interview w

jeff, rhona graff, who has been one of the president's longest-serving aides, maybe 30 years.by staffers of the house intelligence committee in new york today. how important would her testimony be in the overall investigation? >> well, you know, these assistants, secretaries, often turn out to be very important witnesses. think about rosemary woods, richard nixon's secretary, involved in the 18 1/2 minute gap in the watergate tapes. fawn hall, oliver north's secretary during the iran-contra affair who helped him destroy documents. these are very important people because they are the keepers of the physical evidence, whether it was paper in the old days or e-mails today, you know, i -- rhona graff is a very loyal employee but she knows how the paper flow works. she knows how the e-mails were printed out and presented to then candidate trump. that kind of stuff can be extremely important. >> it certainly could be, you know, and rebecca, andrew mccabe, the deputy fbi director, he's been questioned now ten or 12 or 14 hours by various committees up on capitol hill, all behind clos

as senior vice president of the trump organization, graff is so much more than a secretary, accordingael dantonio. >> she's been keeping track of his schedule for 30 years. she's the go-to person if you want to connect with the president through his business enterprises, and even today people will still go to rhona if they want to reach the president in a back channel way. >> originally from queens, the same borough as trump, graff holds a master's in education after working in sports marketing, an employment agency got her a job with trump, according to what she told "real estate weekly." in 1993, she married then the commissioner of transportation for new york city. the mayor presided over the ceremony at the plaza hotel, which trump then owned. today, both in their 60s, they live on the upper eastside of manhattan with a daughter in high school. she's the reason graff chose to stay at her job in trump tower even when her boss moved to the white house. but as trump's right-hand woman, she's now caught in the cross hairs of a congressional investigation. her name mentioned in this e-

rona graff is a key person. she's his long-time scheduler so she has a lot of access to information. it's very interesting that democrats were not told or given a heads-up on this interview or at least most of them weren't. >> that's not the only wheel turning. sarah, consensus on whether the white house is trying to orchestrate attempts to discredit special counsel mueller? this as house members, they may be reaching out to them to give voice to this effort. >> well, certainly the white house and president trump have been critical of the special counsel's investigation since the beginning, but what's notable now, like you mentioned, is that elected members of congress and the gop are starting to get on board with questioning robert mueller's investigation. there's not any clear evidence that the white house is necessarily orchestrating some kind of coordinated effort to discredit robert mueller, but certainly you're hearing the same sorts of criticisms being echoed throughout the party. i think that argument is

cnn has learned that rhona graff has been interviewed by congressional investigators. graff has worked for trump for more than two decades and often served as his gatekeeper. thank you both for coming on. carry, i'm going to start with you. clearly rhona graff has been there during some criticate moments, perhaps of interest to investigators. tell us as an investigator why would you want to speak with her? what would you hope to learn from her? >> i think there's a few things house intelligence would want to learn from her as well as other committee investigators. if it's correct it's been reported that she is always sort of outside the office, been a gatekeeper to then candidate and now president trump. she will have information about who was at that meeting, potentially, whether she heard anything that happened in that meeting was or knowledgeable about how it was setup and sort of what the purpose of it was. but also i would think that house intelligence investigators myth be interested in longer standing information that she has regarding trump and the organization

they cited a republican source who said the interviews were moved to accommodate graff's attorney.publicans rushing to wrap up the investigation and lock democrats out. the committee is also calling o calling on former aides to testify. i'm joined by jonathan alter. jay, let me start with you and ask you about these two meetings in new york. rhona graph, help us understand what the committee could be looking to get answers to from her. >> they are looking to understand the exact nature of trump's correspondence with russians, with any contacts. she's basically gate keeper. she would field any kind of requests, any kind of calls coming in. she goes through his e-mails and say yes or no to any interest this meetings. they would want to know from her who has been approaching him. who wants to talk to hoim. that's important. there's been contacts that have come out from his son, donald trump junior and his son-in-law, jared kushner. we don't know how involved the president was, if ever, if at all with any of these contacts during the campaign. >> i said these were unusual meetings but

mike, who is rhona graff? why is she so important? >> there's been so much disagreement by republicans. the fact that they agree on rhona graff as a key witness shows how important she is. she's worked at trump tower as president trump's gatekeeper, essentially, for 30 years. so itthey just had donald trump jr. interviewed with a russian-connected lawyer talking about ways they might have incriminating information on hillary to provide. when the publicist helped arrange that meeting, he specifically told rhona, i want to get this information to your father and i'll send it through rhona. >> what do you think about doing this in new york city? >> when you hear democrats in the committee, they are very concerned that the republicans are not conducting this investigation the way you usually do. typically the rules for investigation is you follow the facts wherever they lead. it seems like the house republicans on this committee are doing is following the facts wherever they lead assuming it's not in an election year. they want to wrap th

you had to go through rhona graff in order to get to donald trump. and that is of course why rob goldstone wanted donald trump jr. in june of 2016 to go to his father and say we have dirt on hillary clinton. whether or not that got to rhona graff, whether or not that got to trump, we'll see. i'm sure mueller's looking into that. but the committee of course who is interviewing her, interviewed her today, is the house intelligence committee, chris. and we know that -- >> nunes isn't worth much. >> they've been accused of being very political -- >> very much the tool. the tools of the president. >> and democrats are very upset they did this meeting in an undisclosed place in new york just a few days before christmas. not in an office space across the hill where everyone could go join. so a lot of people are saying they did that in a way where they couldn't be -- >> were there democrats in the room? >> i think a few who were in town could go. but it wasn't something that it's walking across the street. >> what do you make of that, ned? it's almost like e

i'm joined now by national political reporter, who is this rhona graff?itics are going to creep in, but this has been extremely political. this tells you how significant she is. who is she? she's been working for the trump organization for three decades. she's president trump's gate keeper. nobody goes in and out to see donald trump at the trump organization or to call him without going through rhona. so what we know is that donald trump jr. spoke before the house intelligence committee just two weeks ago. rob goldstone, the publicist who tried to set up the infamous trump tower meeting, when he was communicating with don jr. ahead of that, "the new york times" reporting told us among the points he made in the e-mails was, i had insensitivity information to get through to donald trump. >> so why here? what are the democrats upset about? >> yeah, i mentioned that the house intelligence committee is weighed down by politics significantly. this is a witness they have been asking to meet with all year since they started this investigation in march. they say s

we don't know if any members of congress made it to new york for the rhona graff interview today.e think some of them might. we're pretty sure most of them at least didn't. so the house intelligence committee is supposed to be how congress is investigating the russia scandal. it is getting a little weird over there. these last-minute, no members interviews with incredibly key sensitive central witnesses. the news this week broken by politico.com that republicans on that committee have formed a secret republican-only working group that's using the materials obtained by the committee supposedly for its russia investigation to instead run their own working group, which is designed to indict the fbi. republicans on the committee also this week announced more plans to call yet more senior fbi officials before their committee not apparently because they want to ask them tough questions about russia but apparently because they want to make the fbi itself a scandal. the reason i say it seems like that's their intention is because of republicans' increasingly strident anti-fbi criticism in

today, house intel is speaking with rhona graff, a longtime associate of the president's who served as gatekeeper and ultimately as vice president -- senior vice president of the trump organization. joining us now is nbc news national political reporter. he broke the news about rhona being interviewed today. our panel is still here. what do you know? i got an indication this questioning may have wrapped up for the day. >> it looks like it was another very long day of questioning here in new york. it's important to note this questioning is happening in new york. i spent a lot of my time in the capital standing outside a secure room in the capitol complex where most of these interviews take place. it's very unusual that this is happening in new york and it's one of the reasons democrats are accusing republicans of trying to wrap this up quickly. one day this week there are three separate interviews. today was the second interview that happened in new york, and we know of only a handful of members that have traveled for it. they couldn't come at all because of the votes they had, most spe

bob graff mentioned that last night and his telephone call. the fact that they can expense is a fantastic asset. historic small business tax cuts are made it really, really good for the business owner. you have the hiring people and i see it on television, and reading about it all over where people are hiring a lot of people right now to go to work. the small business tax cuts are now incentivizing people. we are going to bring back probably $4 trillion from overseas. nobody knows the exact number, but it's massive and will be over $3 trillion, it could be $5 trillion. as a tremendous amount of money we had over sees that they couldn't allow it to be back into our country. we think at least $4 trillion is going to be brought back. if you look at that, it's going to be brought back right under code. this is something republicans wanted for years and democrats want to for years, and yet it never got done. who would object to trillions of dollars being brought back into our country? nobody. it never got done. it now it's being done. the bottom li

it's precisely this vision that director dominic graff takes as the premise of his science fiction film gollum the return. they call him dr gollum is an amalgamation of notions about an ideal figure how could we be how much bob brain capacity to use how much do we use our capacity to make moral judgments all that plays into the image of the figure. on the other it was that we're reaching the point where we need to re-evaluate our rob a simple moral that's not so that out that's not something the good lord intended we've got to differentiate a bit and say ok we understand it's not allowed but we're going to do it anyway so how do we regulate it with them because on the. me on is a product of the neuro robotics research laboratory in berlin. to counter the primary difference between many robots that are being examined in other research laboratories and meon is that me on his design to have the capability to do his own thing. it could be talking to. a boy and to be able to. thank you this isn't. me on has already demonstrated the ability to learn and to make decisions independently even on

. >> matt, let me stay with you, a source who has nothing of the session has confirmed that rona graffthe president's longtime secretary and personal assistant was questioned by the criminal investigation, mueller's team, agency part of their look into potential russian collusion. detail for us how essentially she is to this investigation. >> she is, you know, one of the longest serving people who has been around trump outside of his family. >> let me correct that, investigators of the house intelligent committee. but go ahead. >> she's been with trump for 30 years. she is the person through which phone calls -- you'd call rona, and she would patch you into donald trump. she's the conduit for him in the ups and downs of his business career. so, she's very close to trump. she knows trump very well. she's been loyal to trump. so, i do think she's one of those people who could potentially shut some light on trump's past interactions with russians. you know, she was not part of the campaign ''r apparatus as m. there were other aides around at that time. she's a person who knows trump and k

we can follow them and when they talk to people like rona graff or bannon or lewandowski. >> we went through a story at the top of the broadcast, and i got a legal pad full of news here on the friday night before christmas. why would feds based in brooklyn be snooping around jared kushner's finances? >> because there are lots of crimes to investigate here. and there are crimes that relate to what occurred here in new york city with respect to possibly 666 fifth avenue, a building that's owned by the kushners. it's under water right now. there are lots of other deals they've engaged in, that relates to bringing in foreigners as investors in the eastern district of new york and the southern district of new york. i think there are lots of potential crimes to be investigated, and there's no reason why it's only going to be mueller's investigative team. i mean, even during the watergate case, there was a separate case that was tried against the former attorney general mitchell right here in the southern district of new york. >> so if you think wrongdoing was committed, it's to your advant

, on top of that, on friday there was another interview with a very longtime trump associate, rona graffthe trump organization. she was referenced in an e-mail chain with rob goldstone, a publicist who set up that meeting with trump junior. the question is did she inform then-candidate trump at the time of this meeting about this effort to meet with donald trump jr. and these russian officials. now, this all comes as new investigations are taking shape on capitol hill, expected to become more partisan in the coming year with republicans pushing in the house side to investigate the clinton e-mail scandal, looking into decisions of what republicans believe were fbi bias, impartiality in this probe, something they believe gave hillary clinton favorable treatment and led to her exoneration from any charges last year. this will be a big focus for republicans going forward in the new year, even as democrats say there's a lot more to investigate on the russia issue, many more witnesses to bring forward to their respective committees. the house committee, however, it looks like they may try to w

today his personal assistant, and this is going back decades, rhona graff was questioned by staff fromouse intelligence committee in an undisclosed location here in new york, not washington. this is a move democrats on the panel have objected to. they feel

graff was mentioned by name in the june 2016 e-mails between donald trump jr. and british publicist ron goldsten in which the two discussed offering damaging information on hillary clinton. goldston writing, i can also send this info to your father via rhona. also this week, lawmakers from three house committees questions fbi deputy director mccabe for more than 16 hours on a range of topics including the russia probe of special interest to democrats and the fbi's investigation of hillary clinton's use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state. notable for republicans. mccabe was also grilled on his inner actions with fired fbi director james comey who mccabe told lawmakers informed him of conversations he had with president donald trump soon after they happened. this according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. democrats meanwhile are again warning president trump not to undermine special counsel robert mueller's investigation. >> firing mr. mueller or any other of the top brass involved in this investigation would not only call into questio

think what happened this week on friday with rhona graff, 30 years with the trump organization started as the executive assistant and ended up being a senior vp ends up being grilled off site as you noted before the break. what's up with the cloak and daggers? what's happening? it's a lot of political theater. nothing that's legally substantive and again, it's an attempt to detract from the facts and evidence. >> as democrats claim more from your vantage point, are republicans in congress trying to rush this investigation? >> i don't think it's all republicans. it's just not a party-driven line in the sand between the republicans and democrats. what you're having is a house intelligence committee doing its own investigation, mueller doing his investigation, you also have the oversight and judicial committees doing their stuff. at the end of the day, the facts and evidence will not change. that is why you need to look at robert mueller and his investigation. is he special counsel. he has tools that belong to him and his investigative team exclusively that that are going to bring answers

the legislation about power the economy, expand job opportunities, and enhance incomes and cfo alan graffng on that sentiment even further. >> u.s. gdp could increase materially next year as a result of tax reform. if it occurs we would likely increase capital expenditures and hiring to accommodate the additional volumes trig federer this incremental gdp growth. >> reporter: graf saying uses of the cash could include funding pensions, increasing the dividend as the board approves more share repurchases, and also invest in m&a where it makes sense. other topics on the call, which is still under way, lingering financial impact from the cyberattack that crippled europe over the summer. the company says it's accelerating integration of that business now and more on peak season, all the prep and strong service levels with executivessaying so far they're happy with how the peak holiday season is going. melissa? >> thank you very much, morgan brennan. that is a big boost to its 2018 outlook from tax >> fedex express is a large percentage of the business operating margins across the board are beh

her name is rona graff, known as the gatekeeper at the white house. we we have complete coverage with julyial ansley, nbc news national political reporter, and former assistant watergate prosecutor, nick ackerman, current lip a partner at dorsey and whitney. nick, let me start with you. according to bloomberg news, this would be a voluntary appearance before the house committee. what does this tell you? >> well, none of this is very surprising. first of all, we don't know if either of these gentleman have appeared before a grand jury or been questioned by robert mueller. it's very possible. that proceeding is very secret. on the other hand, it's not surprising that either of these people would be called in for testifying. corey lewandowski was the campaign manager back in april of 2016 when the campaign first learned about the e-mails that had been hacked out of the democratic national committee. he was also at trump tower on june 9th. he was a campaign manager. in my experience, at least working on campaigns, campaign managers usually know what the i

a friend of mine, bob graff, called me last night and said the tax bill is incredible. he owns the new england patriots but he's in the paper business and he said based on this tax bill he wanted to let me know he's going to buy a big plant in the great state of north carolina, and he's going to build a tremendous paper mill there or paper products plant and i've had many calls such as that, where people that are entrepreneurs in business, they're going out and they're going to buy, frankly, factories that are closed, abandoned and now not going to be abandoned any longer. this is having a bigger impact faster than i thought. the corporate tax rate as you know will be lowered from 35 to 21%. that means that more products will be made in the usa. a lot of things will be happening in the usa. we're going to bring back our companies. they've started coming back. i think they had certain confidence in me and figured we were going to get this done. they have already started. something very important to me, the family farmers and small business owners who lost their business

jeremy, rhona graff testifying today.about mccabe corroborating the loyalty pledge among pieces of system. and also don mcgahn reportedly having told the president of the united states early on weeks after the inauguration that he knew that general michael flirn, the national security adviser broke the law. put some of the pieces together for us. what have you seen this week in the russia investigation? >> i think the big picture is that the last three weeks have been weeks of planic for the trump team. mike flynn said i'm going to cooperate with bob mueller, and you've seen the trump team kick into a different gear. they've tried to attack the investigation, attack bob mueller and try to really obstruct the investigation itself in a whole new way. and i think what's going on, willie, is that the president and his team have realized that mike flynn has a critical piece of information he's going tomue. when sally yates said the russians could be bribing mike flynn. he said i talked to the russians as you told me, and here'