jonathan swan.t's the scoop. >> don mcgahn, white house counsel, stepping down this fall according to senior white house officials and sources close to mcgahn. we've spoke ton a number of people with the top level of the administration. the person everyone without exception wants to replace don mcgahn is emmet flood, brought in in may to represent the president from inside the white house on the mueller probe. don mcgahn himself wanted emmett flood to be his successor, told a confidant he had the perfect blend of skills to handle what's surely coming next year, if the democrats win the house which is a blizzard of subpoenas and congressional investigations and potentially impeachment proceedings. >> talk to us about the timing of mcgahn's pending decision to depart. your assessment it's a mutual decision? was he a little pressure forward leave? he made headlines a few weeks ago when revealed he spoke to the mueller probe and sat down for nearly 30 hours are so with interviews with bob mueller's team

jonathan, swan, take us into this room, we did a little bit of it there.sting moments? >> well, so really the transition when he has just become a new president when he enjoyed rewatching his debate performances and his favorite moment and i've heard this from two different people, was the moment in the st. louis debate after "access hollywood" where they brought bill clinton's accusers there and there was a moment in that debate where hillary clinton says thank goodness we don't have donald trump in charge of the justice department and trump says yeah because you would be in jail. he thinks that's the greatest moment in presidential debates. but yeah, he does. he enjoys watching replays of himself and basically reliving these moments and sort of live come men ta comentating along to them. >> care to weigh in? no but seriously. this is -- we have sort of come to assume this about this president. stories like this are kind of common place but at the same time its pretty remarkable that -- i always thought the president of the united states would be like a v

jonathan swan, they don't like cold pricklys from fox news. >> carved out -- >> truth?contrast to their late night programming for sure. >> he seemed to dismantle one of rudy giuliani's favorite myths that he tells the trump base, that somehow there was any -- former justice department officials have told me that the way to call trump's bluff early on would have been to say, sure, shine a light on the fisa'ly kalgs. release the whole darn thing. this is one of the most incorruptible parts of the system. >> having worked for director mueller irk tell you how much work and time and attention -- >> it's a pain in the neck. >> is that an understatement. >> it breaks nodding, too. >> if you used a different word, it would be an understatement. that said, there is a visceral reaction to releasing fisa materials. and so while i think you're right, politically that should have, would have put an end to the debate, the department of justice and fbi does not like to put that stuff out there. but i think it does answer the question conclusively. >> let me ask you about this idea o

put this in a little bit of broader context for us, this storm of tweets that jonathan swan knows we've heard echos of in the past. but clearly the context that everyone is living in very different now than it was a year ago. >> yeah, that's exactly right. and the irony is that the story, this post story that we wrote that prompted this tweet where he's denying the story, the story says that he is privately brooding and publicly roaring. that's actually exactly what you saw in the tweet. you saw a man privately brooding over our story and publicly came out with a bit of a roar. what's coming out in a context of a year ago mueller's probe has expanded. and as it has, the president has felt sort of, at times in his most intro speculative moments, pangs of culpability, that these people, including even someone like paul manafort he believes are getting embroiled in something that would not be happening were it not for their connection with him. and that is, of course, most stark with his eldest name sake son, don junior. >> how does trump sort of emotions and state of mind play into this w

mike: jonathan swan? the great jonathan swan is going to pick up on anything i've missed or botched here. go ahead, john. ms. trump: and if by seen, i mean, i've seen my husband, and i've seen my brother, but, no. mike: you didn't talk to any of the russian visitors? ms. trump: no. john: hi, ivanka. as you know, web force development doesn't happen in a vacuum. what do you say to workers whose livelihoods are threatened by the trade war, the tariffs, and particularly workers who actually feel that they've adapted to the 21st century economy, they're working in businesses that provide imports and exports and feel that they're being punished for developing their businesses in a way that you might advocate in this initiative? ms. trump: so, i think it's a very good question and i'll share a story with you. last week i was with the president and we went to iowa and we did a round table on the subject of workforce development. iowa has an incredibly low unemployment rate, and this is an urgent priority for the

thank you. >> thank you. >> jonathan swan from axios.rnia republican congressman duncan hunter, have you seen this unfolding? his and his wife making appearance in a federal court after a grand jury charged them with spending $250,000 in campaign funds on themselves. you cannot do that. the pair pleaded guilty -- the pair pleaded not guilty and taken their case before the cameras. prosecutors say they spent the cash on vacations to medical bills and fast food. they lied about the spending, pretended this things like food and clothes were for charity. congressman duncan hunter says they're innocent and they welcome the trial. the congressman was the second member of congress to come out in support of president trump and he's taking a page from the president's playbook calling it a witch hunt. >> i'm not going to resign with a bunch of liftist government fox. >> shepard: the congressman calling the justice department the democrats arm of law enforcement. the republican, jeff sessions leads the justice department. william lodge necessary li

. >> joining me now is a former federal prosecutor and jonathan swan, a national political reporter withs. jonathan, just to the nuts and bolts of this first, folks looking at the timeline here, would see the cooperation with the mueller investigation, the decision today. is there a connection there? >> several of the reporters have reported that there's a connection. i don't know one way or another. i've been trying to find out all day, and i haven't been able to nail it down to my satisfaction. what i can tell you is that trump has long had a strained relationship with don mcgahn. he's been fed up with him at different times. they've had pretty heated discussions where the president has, you know, become exasperated with him. in the president's mind, according to people who have watched the two of them interact and talked to the president about don mcgahn, trump thought that don mcgahn was always trying to get to no, was never trying to creatively get to yes when he had a request. don mcgahn's defenders say, well, that's because trump was often asking him to do things that were potenti

jonathan swan, live in washington, d.c. for us.rse to viewers out there, sign up for that newsletter by going to signup.axios.com. >>> that does it for us on this friday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian along with ayman mohyeldin. "morning joe" starts right now. >>> whatever happened to diplomacy. you know, i used to study -- not much -- diplomacy. i said, whatever happened to getting something you want? some you have to be rough, some you have to be nice, bud whatever happened. let me tell you if i did go up and start screaming thshgs e would have said, he was terrible! he was so rude. it was horrible. his performance was horrible. whatever happened to fair press? whatever happened to honest reporting? i remember a nice man. i actually like him. he's very talented, with a big chart, and all that red is starting to get red, republican, that chart, red, red, red. a little tiny dot of blue along the ocean. his hands start shaking, ah -- look, oh, my god. another state came -- oh, my god, what's going -- fake news. >> so bob casey does

for more, i am joined by jonathan swan, and correspondent for the pbs news hour. jonathan, what are you hearing here? >> they won't get the letter out to mueller today but likely tomorrow. there are two areas in which they have major concerns. they don't want trump to be asked questions about why he fired james comey and they don't want trump to be asked questions about the conversation he had with james comey regarding michael flynn. when trump told him if he could find a way to see to not investigate flynn. rudy giuliani says trump has answered that in public and in other places and doesn't want to go under oath to answer them. and besides that, it sounds like they are not ruling out answering questions related to obstruction of justice. they are not putting a hard and fast rule about no questions surrounding obstruction of justice. but those are two of the substantial, when you talk about obstruction of justice, those are two fairly central stories that would have to be reconciled. anyway, we are still at an impasse, and still debating. but trump wants to do the

jonathan swan of axios writing giuliani is setting up unmeatable expectations for special counsel mueller a kind of insurance policy with the president's base by claiming them as totally reasonable asks when mueller ultimately doesn't deliver by labor day. joining me now. peter baker, let me start with you just on what giuliani is up to. what is the strategy here. is this a strategy that is still designed in some way to create conditions under which the president could meet with giuliani or purely for public consumption and purely trying to create a public spectacle. >> seven, eight, nine months that they have been talking whether the president will agree to an sinterview with the specil counsel. and complain that the investigation is dragging on. you heard today rudy giuliani giving two different answers. he tells fox that it would be outrageous if mueller doesn't wrap up by september. telling cnn that it goes to the election because a good way to energize the base. he hopes the investigation will continue. all over the map on this. and as with many things with trump, we try to discern s

amy walter and jonathan swan a national political reporter, let me start with you.ite house, he expresses his opinion this one got a lot of attention and it sounded like he was giving an order. >> i know we have to cover presidential tweets and whatever but i spoke to rudy giuliani a couple nights ago. the president has it within his power to fire mueller, he could do it. there's nothing stopping him from doing it except the fact that he knows full well, it's a redline for congress and it really would trigger a lot of these members to do things that are probably beyond his control. he continues to vent, he continues to attack mueller, this is part of that, this is not of a different category -- yes it might look like this is a new dimension. it's just the same thing that we've seen every single day which is attacking the probe, attacking the investigation and speed. >> now it's saying jeff sessions should end this, is that a directive for him to end it? no. he's not saying you need to do this or i demand you do this but i think we have to get to the bottom line here

jonathan swan obtained a document that's reportedly been circulating throughout gop circles includingeadership office that lays out the potential probes that democrats will likely pursue if they flip the house. some of the investigations republicans are predicting, one on the president's tax returns. one on the payment to stormy daniels. one on james comey's firing. one on the family separation policy. and one on the hurricane response in puerto rico. and jake sherman, that is a pretty short list. the list is actually much longer than what we showed on the screen there. i feel like sometimes in our quickness to raise the specter of watergate and impeachment the way many on the left are discussing, we missed the fact there's a whole hell of a rot of steps in between and lot of investigative power the democrats don't currently have that they could gain if they win the house. >> i think impeachment would obviously be a huge headache for president trump is the least of his headache but going to have democrats throwing out subpoenas, holding out investigative hearings. i remember in the ea

several aides close to the president those mike allen and jonathan swan they advise the president not to talk about it, and he did the opposite. he's getting what he deserves. >> the news cycle continues. that is for sure. fantastic conversation. congresswoman, thank you for being here. lexi and jeff, stay with me. more to discuss. appreciate it. >>> the final stretch. closing arguments in the paul manafort trial after an unusual strategy from the defense. why didn't his team call anyone to the stand? >>> a horrifying pattern of abu abuse. what is next for the survivors as they seek justice. stay with us. and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen by funding scientific breakthroughs, advancing public policy, and providing local support to those living with the disease and their caregivers. but we won't get there without you. join the fight with the alzheimer's association. this wi-fi is fast. i know! i know! i know! i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week. like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fa

a number of sources talked to axios's jonathan swan compared this to the pardon power.se he has absolute power, doesn't have to consult anybody and everybody can come to him and beg for help. seeing the same with clearances. he can just do it, and that is a big reason that it's been appealing to him. he thinks that's the way the presidency should work. can you do it because you want to. no one can stop you. you don't have to ask anyone. >> mike, what's the rumblings so far? we already understand based on headlines, not necessarily a great relationship with the intel community. not necessarily a good relationship with traditional norm there's in the beltway? >> that's right. axios has a little news here. dr. robert gates, former cia director and had the unusual distinction of being the pentagon leader for both president george w. bush and president obama. bob gates is adding his name to that list of former intelligence officials who are criticizes the president for stripping these clearances, saying that it is unprecedented and ill advised. those leaders saying that in a

so they used to try to keep him busy, pack his schedule, but my colle colleague jonathan swan has learned meet with other members. he likes to be able to wander around, golf when he wants, but there's some side effects to that. one of them is the president is constantly on the phone, and somebody who spent a lot of time at bedminster with him tells us staff has no idea who he is talking to. >> i love that little nugget. >> who is he talking to about this? tell us about the new report titled the tivo presidency from jonathan swann. >> this is trump watching trump. we knew on the president's campaign plane he used to love to watch the rallies as he was flying home. he would do an event, and on his own boeing 747 he would watch coverage of whatever event he had just done. well, he has taken that habit to the white house. so the president on his big tv in the dining room right next to the oval, he's got a tivo, and swa, if n found out it is preloaded with the president's favorite highlights of himself. >> wow. >> >> from rallies and going back to the debates. he watches this like an nfl coach

jonathan swan reports, quote, the spreadsheet which i'm told originated in a senior house republicane catalogs more than 100 formal requests from house democrats spanning nearly every committee. it includes requests for administration officials to be grilled by committee staff, requests for hearings to obtain sworn testimony, efforts to seize communications about controversial policies and personnel decisions, and subpoena threats. these demands would turn the trump white house into a 24/7 legal defense operation. and these are just some of those investigations which run the gamut from the president's tax returns, dealings with russia, jim comey's firing to the discussion of classified information at mar-a-lago, the travel ban, the family separation policy, and the response to hurricane maria that hit puerto rico last year. >>> eddie glaude, i worked in a white house when congressman waxman had this power. i turned over my e-mails, once around the enron scandal, once around the energy task force, once around valerie plame. that was waxman's committee. it is life changing for the most

exhibit a, this latest report from jonathan swan in axios which says, quote, four sources close to trumpaxios that the revocation of former cia director john brennan's clearance belongs in the same categories of president's love of the pardon power. and the signing of executive orders. it's a power that is uniquely and solely his and matches his idea of how the presidency ought to be. pure power and instant gratification. he should see hamilton. while stripping brennan's itch for power, it's a bad day for power on the recognition front that military parade he wanted it's now canceled. here's what he tweeted about that this morning. the local politicians who run washington poorly, know a windfall when they see it. when asked to give us a price to hold a great celebratory military parade they wanted a number so ridiculously high ican seld it. never let anyone hold you. i will attend the parade at andrews air force base and go to paris for their parade celebrating the end of the war on november 11. i'm sure he had to google that. maybe we'll do something next year in d.c. when the cost come

my good friend jonathan swan at aixio has a piece out that says, look, what's the big news here?e is no breaking news. this is exactly what the president said on july 13th of 2017 one year ago. i think if we go back and look at the statement from july 13th, 2017 he says the exact same thing and jonathan has it right. >> i read jonathan's piece, the president dictated we know this because of the letter sent to mueller's team admitting he did dictate that july 8th statement in which it said the meeting was primarily about russian adoption, nothing else to see here and now the president is saying it's information on an oppone opponent. the american people should believe which one because it matters, doesn't it? >> it does matter. it does matter, poppy. you know what, it is very confusing and i would say the latter of the two statements, right, the july 13th statement, i believe. i don't believe that the president -- there's a lot of folks out there opining that the president knew about this meeting at some point along the way. i'm not so certain about that. i go with a july 13th 201

. >> our colleague jonathan swan wrote, and i quote, several republican an operatives told me it couldublican turnout and ironically serve to make the blue wave bigger. are you familiar with any republican operatives who would concur with this statement? >> secretary sanders: not that i'm aware of. the thing that encourages people is the lack of a message by democrats. they have nothing to run on other than attacking this president. and not only does the president and the record that republicans have had over the last year and a half under his leadership is a great one to run on, we have an incredible story to tell, the economy is booming, record numbers just today. we're going to continue focusing on the things that americans care about and i think that will be certainly what encourages them. and certainly what will help push republicans to do well in november. >> i'm guessing yesterday the president stated that, quote, israel will pay a price for jerusalem, not sure that's an exact quote. should israel be concerned that the price they would have to pay is one they're not willing to o

jonathan swan in our shop last night reported that republicans on the hill are starting to prepare foremocrats have requested to go after at the committee level or given speeches. it is a long, long list. it really scares republicans because they understand that once you have subpoena power and that is the big gift that you get if you have control of the house, you can go after any of these. you can call any of the cast of characters that we talked about, cohen, stormy daniels, whoever you want, you can call them before congress for public testimony. that's tough. >> i learned not to ask anybody what they're following given all the developments that happened with michael cohen and all the stuff with paul manafort. what are you following this week? what are you going to be looking for? >> you learned your lesson and ask me. interesting to see if trump or the white house says anything positive about john mccain himself. all the coverage will be all week about john mccain's heroic legacy, his sad passing over the weekend. obviously crickets from the white house. that will be one. are ther

. >> it's shocking she had the run of the west wing as jonathan swan put it. the room. and the funny thing about her is that she is actually one of the more trumpian of trump characters orlando there. she knows how to work the media, she doesn't care what other people think and she has the physical presence. aides told us that they were scared of her. they knew she had an in with the boss. even though nobody really knew what she did, her duties were a big joke, almost like a trivia question category. but people were afraid to sideline her. people were afraid to exclude her because of the special hold that she had until she got the boot. >> mike, white house as you've been seeing railing against her credibility, question might be is how widespread might be this issue, right, of recording in certain places where we've not seen or heard such things before? >> i would be stunned if it was. people are calling this very unusual, one of the worst breeches of protocol you could possibly have in the situation room. and as your viewers know, when you walk into the west

friday, is partly because of this "axios" report that dropped this morning from mike allen, from jonathan swan, on mcgahn's expected departure. it cited anonymous sources, just hours after the president tweeted. >> it is tough to know in this white house. sometimes they like anonymous sources and sometimes they don't. i would just say, as you mentioned earlier, this story of don mcgahn leaving has been percolating for months. "politico" wrote a story in march about the expectation he'd leave in the summer or the fall. he's been somebody who has been close to the president at times and somebody who had friction with the president. >> it is my understanding the relationship has cooled recently between the two of them. >>> as we juggle the breaking news, i'll bring folks back in. the president is confirming his white house counsel will leave the white house. plus, manafort's attorneys are asking his trial will moved outside of the district of columbia. partly, they say, because of the pretrial publicity, and the things president trump has said publicly about his former campaign chair. meaning on

think we have some grainy video of jeff sessions at the white house today where this, according to jonathan swan of axios, didn't come up. there he is. >> oh, yeah. >> leaving. not exactly a profile and a ton of courage. he didn't say take this job and shove it. >> actually, having written about politics for a long time, even locally in new york, you see the same thing in washington. the individuals matter greatly. so it's not just about party. and it's actually not even just about policy. i personally disagree with jeff sessions on many of his policies including the family separations and some civil rights issues. but it does matter when you have integrity. and i think this is a moment where we can really see, you know, from jeff sessions to bob mueller and everyone in between, and frankly on the other side as well, you know, with some of the folks that the president has surrounded himself with, you really see where individuals can make a huge difference in history and this is one of those moments. and i think that, you know, we'll see what happens going forward. but every single member of cong

congratulate you on your 100th briefing, and there is no way what you do every day is easy. 0ur colleague jonathan swanurnout could be depressed. are you aware of any republican operatives who would concur with this? i think the thing that will encourage people is a lack ofa that will encourage people is a lack of a message by democrats. they have nothing to run on, other than attacking this president. not only does the president and the record of republicans over the last year and a half under his leadership, it is a great one to run on, we have a great story to tell, the economy is booming, record numbers today, and we will continue to focus on what americans care about, and that will certainly be what encourages them, and certainly what will help push republicans to do well in november. yesterday, the president stated that israel will pay a price for the jerusalem embassy move. we think the president's decision was the right one, to move the embassy. it was something that other presidents had promised and fail to do, and he is delivering on the promises he made. what price are we talking about?” don

let's bring in national political reporter for axios, jonathan swan, looking at how much value a trumpement has for some of these midterm candidates. so is there a lot of value, jonathan? or does it depend on where exactly? >> well, trump among republican primary voters, the interesting thing about trump is, he's historically popular among republican voters, and very, very unpopular among the jeng p general public. it makes republican officials very nervous, because a trump endorsement in a primary is incred pkrecredibly powerful. list the former gubernatorial primary, pushed ron desantis to a double ditch cgit conservativ knows the state well. then you push them into a general election, they're tied at the hip to trump. a lot of republican officials that we're talking to are very nervous about the next phase after trump pushes them through to win the primary. >> so jonathan, it's hileman herhilemann here. talked yesterday about the stump in pennsylvania. strikes me that message is well tailored to a republican primary audience and not so well tailored to a general election audience, e

jonathan swan, axios national political reporter. and political strategist and abc news contributor, ana navarro. thank you all for joining us. donna, one year after charlottesville the president certainly has a different message. let me ask you what i asked elijah cummings. does he have the right message now? >> no. i think the president's statement last year about -- let me make sure i'm right -- very fine people on both sides and the statement this weekend, all types of racism, it echos his same statement. you have to -- this is a moral issue. racism, there's no equivalent. the president has to condemn racism. he needs to condemn the kkk. he needs to condemn these groups. they're not just marching in washington. they're marching all over america. so the president needs to come out with a firm statement. look, he condemns lebron james. he condemns our friend don lemon. he condemns maxine waters. call their name and condemn these groups and the violence that they are out there perpetrating. >> mark, you were at the white house at th

jonathan swan, thank you. a lot more coming up on this. alan dershowitz bottom of the hour at 9:30 eastern time and with today's headliner anthony scaramucci joins us at 10:00 eastern time. the quote of the night from sekulow. line up 100 lawyers and have 100 lawyers say don't sit down for an interview. >> sandra: we'll ask alan about that in a minute. back to the frightening and developing story in new mexico. prosecutors are saying one of the children found at that compound was being trained to commit school shootings by one of the suspects whose father has links to the 1993 world trade center bombing. let's go to william la jeunesse. what is the latest on what we're learning was going on there? >> sandra, court records filed yesterday tell us two important things. at least some of the kids were there to learn how to fire weapons with the intent to commit school shooting. secondly, that sick little boy who was kidnapped by his father died and was buried at the compound. in all, police found 11 children with no food, water, or electricity

jonathan swan obtained a document that's reportedly been circulating throughout gop circles including one leadership office that lays out the potential probes that democrats will likely pursue if they flip the house. some of the investigations republicans are predicting, one on the president's tax returns. one on the payment to stormy daniels. one on james comey's firing. one on the family separation policy. and one on the hurricane response in puerto rico. and jake sherman, that is a pretty short list. the list is actually much longer than what we showed on the screen there. i feel like sometimes in our quickness to raise the specter of watergate and impeachment the way many on the left are discussing, we missed the fact there's a whole hell of a rot of steps in between and lot of investigative power the democrats don't currently have that they could gain if they win the house. >> i think impeachment would obviously be a huge headache for president trump is the least of his headache but going to have democrats throwing out subpoenas, holding out investigative hearings. i remember in

he told jonathan swan nothing has changed in terms of his testimony in 2017.w in advance of any trump tower meeting under oath. steve: in other words, lanny davis confirmed the stuff in the dossier was fake. brian: by mistake, i'm sure. steve: lanny took a look and he said you know, that's just not right because i checked with my clients and he wasn't there. meanwhile, the president was on this program yesterday at this time and in one of the sound bites that ainsley got from him, here was his observation about what would happen if he were impeached. >> i don't know how you can impeach somebody who has done a great job. i will tell you what, if i ever got impeached, i think the market would crash. i think everybody would be very poor. because without this thinking, you would see -- you would see numbers that you wouldn't believe in reverse. steve: so the message is if there is impeachment, if you like your life, it's going to go away. because people will be poor because there would be an impeachment, which brian, you are absolutely right. the more people talk

jonathan swan tweeted all day sunday saying there is nothing new here. >> there is simply not. you also have to remember, when the president admitted this last year, there was really no choice. we had the emails from this british music promoter, the go between who proposed the trump tower meeting and he very clearly proposed to offer incriminating information about hillary clinton to don trump junior. so it's just right there in black and white and the president admitted it last year and he said it again on sunday. >> bill: another tweet from sunday. why aren't mueller and the angry democrats looking at the meeting of the lying dossier. the most one-sided witch hunt in the history of our country. fort naturally the facts are coming out and fast. anything new on the mueller matter we need to focus on now? >> we never know where mueller is. generally it's a good thing to assume that mueller knows more than we do about any particular topic. but we don't actually know where he is. obviously the paul manafort trial is going on today. we expect some interesting information in the tax

a variety of sources told axias jonathan swan that this is a lot like the president's use of executiveamazing quote in the story that just popped up on axios, a person very close to the president said that he gets a kick out of pardons. and the reason he gets a kick out of poureds is that it's something that he has complete domain over and people have to come to him and beg him for them. >> it's funny you mentioned that because that washington post piece we've been talking about this morning that gets into the president feeling emboldened and strong with the removal of brennen's powers there, the quote is the process is essentially meaningless. if trump wants to do it, he'll just do it. so there are processeses in place, but the president doesn't like to go through them. mean wile, a new editorial titled donald trump the payback president. mr. brennan's spanking is just the latest display of what has become standard operating procedure for this president. using the official levers of got the to punish critics and to encourage other deextracters to sit down and shut up. at this point, o