president trump tweeted, study the late joseph mccarthy.

comparing him to joseph mccarthy when mueller is the total hero. t it is ironic that mccarthy's lawyer was roy cohn and every few days trump is asking where's my roy cohn, who's going to defend me? one wonders who's a mccarthy. >> also a few days after he puts out his hit list -- he had a whole list of people he was going to take the security clearances from. >> it's also worse than ironic. mccarthyism was bad because it was an undemocratic project trying to boot out differences in ideology. there's nothing undemocratic about trying to get to the bottom of whether russia hacked our elections and had help of people inside the white house. >> he would be investigating what's going on within doj and fbi with respect to hillary clinton and all these other things. it's his job to do a thorough investigation. >> who says he isn't? >> and he's ignoring a huge -- >> how do you know? >> well, there's certainly no evidence he is looking into this. >> because it's been looked at and passed over. how long does the special investigation into benghazi have to go?

joseph mccarthy was a demagogue. aseless accusations. >> if the american people studied mccarthy they'd say, wow, he bears a lot of resemblance to president trump. he would hurl accusations without any questions or facts. mueller would not speak with the press, if anything he's going on forever to make sure he's getting all the facts. the accusations come after the research not before. that's the antonym of mccarthy. >> he said tough as he was he always had a lot of friends and i'm not embarrassed to say i was one. why did he hire his lawyer. >> my guess is donald trump learned a lot about mccarthyism from roy cohn and he learned the techniques of mccarthyism. in some ways you could argue trump is the most successful demagogue in politics since senator mccarthy. he was once reported to be as close to roy cohn as if roy cohn was a second father to him. we see again and again interestingly with trump this quality of projecting onto others, qualities he himself has. remember just last week when he withdrew brennen's secu

with mueller and his game that make joseph mccarthy look like a baby. g witchhunt. >> it immediately brings back the whole concept of the enemies list under president nixon. and even before that in the early 50s, the mccarthy air a way the administration starts putting together lists of individuals that don't agree with him. >> i've got to add that mccarthy's lawyer became donald trump's personal voyeur and mentor for decades. the irony here is just amazing. >> after revoking the security clearance on nine others during the russia pro. meanwhile national security adviser and had misused classified information but refuse to provide any examples. >> in terms of what we said, i think the president trump and his so-called collusion with russia must he do these classified information. i don't know the specifics. >> if someone uses classified information or reveals classified information and misuse is not the way and while he's exercising the viewpoint and that crosses the line. if they leak classified information they should be the cia or even the justice dep

>> the president is calling out the special counsel by name saying he is worse than joseph mccarthy.we just get the clear sign the president doesn't plan to cooperate with mueller? our political panel weighs in. so you just walk around telling people geico could help them save money on car insurance? yea,that and homeowners, renters, motorcycle and boat insurance. huh.that's nice. what happens when you catch a fish? gecko: whoa. geico. more than just car insurance. see how much you could save at geico.com. i'm ok! now t-mobile has unlimited for the rest of us. unlimited for you. for them. for all. get unlimited for as low at 30 bucks per line for four lines at t-mobile. >>> president trump today comparing special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation to mccarthyism. the president tweeting we are now in a period with mueller and his gang that makes joseph mccarthy look like a baby. joining us now cnn presidential historian. have any presidents in the past invoked mccarthyism as a way of taking shots at an ongoing investigation? >> no. you see donald trump here. he is a mccarth

and his gang that make joseph mccarthy look like a baby. rigged witch hunt." and michael hayden called the comparison absurd. >> joe mccarthy was a demagogue. we haven't heard a public syllable from robert mueller in more than a year. >> harris: that is true. we have not heard from him. what do you make of it? >> charles: we have not heard from him but we have heard about the investigation and people complain about the leaks. at this point for me -- i haven't study mccarthy enough to be an expert but it seems like a bridge too far. earlier in the show we brought up the topic of the special counsel going forward. do you put guardrails on them or do you throw them out and they bomb the blob -- become the blob? unstoppable to go where they want to go. this is what i'm concerned about. if he has nothing or he is not close to getting something how long does he keep it going? how long does he push? he understands even the silence can be politicized and we head to midterm elections it can be an issue. >> harris: it can be politicized but not misquo

and his gang that make joseph mccarthy look like a baby.r power panelist, marianne moore former senior advisor to john kerry. marianna haworth, and a board of directors for the independent women's forum. great to have you both. let's start with the ratcheting up of rhetoric, nan, and where you are with the president comparing it to that. >> the president has a reason to feel as though this is a prosecution that feels never to end. >> would you compare it to hunting communists in the federal government? >> may be a modern day term we could use is john brennan-ism. those attacks with no evidence whatsoever, and in fact his peace in "the new york times" last week had no evidence that the president somehow, his election was due to russian pollution. and yet he persists in much the same way. joseph mccarthy in the 50s that i have a list of communists in the government. >> the more closer that mueller gets to trunk, the more trump lashes out. we saw this and other investigations whether it was the paul manafort trial rhythm michael: radar, or his

joseph mccarthy see as political opportunity.'s not talking to the people in the fbi who know the real story. he is not talking to people in the cia. he starts making up figures and saying there are 200 soviet figures in the state department. completely made up. every charge he leveled was made up. he was a demagogue. he was take america's natural fears and fanning them. all right, who in our political universe today is taking natural fears that americans might have about isis b terrorists, and fanning them for political gain i don't think it's robert mutualer. >> not robert mueller. >> no. >> thank you for taking us on a history lesson, all of us. tim. thank you so much. >> thank you. >>> the first lady delivering a speech today against tiber bullying as her husband spends his morning calling people rats, tweeting insults. does one message work despite the other? >>> and former president jimmy carter with a sharp rebuke of president trump calling him, in a word, a disaster. is there a scenario that he, perhaps along with other f

study the late joseph mccarthy because we're now in a period with mueller and his gang that make josephcarthy look like a baby, rigged witch hupt. someone needs a history lesson. >> i don't think donald trump knows his history very well. this is a real draw to find any comparisons between joseph mccarthy and bob mueller. it just doesn't fit at all. he just -- and his entire defense team, just talks in nonsequiturs. the business he could run the whole investigation. that is not true. the president does not control a grand jury. a grand jury's an independent body. that grand jury would toss him out if he tried to get in and tell them what to do. >> does the president really want the american people studying mccarthy? frank, i have to ask you because mccarthy was a demagogue, relied on baseless allegations. >> that's a great question. if the american people studied mccarthy, they'd say, wow, he bears a lot of resemblance to president trump. he would hurl accusations without asking questions or facts. mueller would not speak with the press, if anything he's going on forever to make sure he'

he compared robert mueller to joseph mccarthy and once again called the investigation a rigged witch hunt. mr. trump also blasted "the new york times" report that implies white house counsel don mcgahn provided, quote, john dean-type information to the special counsel. john dean was a lawyer for richard nixon who spilled the beans on watergate. errol barnett is traveling with the president in new jersey. >> reporter: president trump appeared on the defensive all morning, insisting he allowed white house counsel don mcgahn to be insure viewed by the special counsel because, quote, i have nothing to hide. calling the russia probe disgusting and robert mueller conflicted. >> they're down to desperation time. they have to write a report and they don't have a single bit of evidence. >> reporter: the president's personal lawyer rudy giuliani is still negotiating terms of an interview between the president and special counsel. >> i'm not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury. >> reporter: he fears the president's testimony could be used against him.

study the late joseph mccarthy because we are now in period with mueller and his gang that makes josephaby. rigged witch hunt. one word stood out, he called the apprentice villain turned west wing advisor omarosa manigault-newman a dog. that's the president's word, a dog. omarosa learned reality tv at the president's side. she vows she'll get the last word here. ? i'm not going anywhere. i'm not going to be bullied. i'm not intimidated, and everything he throws at me believe me my tapes are much better than theirs. >> how are you going to determine whether you need to? >> well, we'll see. he's threatening to get me arrested. he's trying to intimidate my publisher, trying to intimidate me. donald trump has met his match. >> who knows what omarosa really knows, but top aides are worried. discussing whether he usesed the n-word and about lara trump. >> it sounded like there's something you've got in the back pocket to pull out. clearly if you come onboard the campaign like we can't have -- we got to -- >> oh, god, no. >> it's not just audiotapes but it's also video, she may have text messa

study late joseph mccarthy. we are now in a period with mueller and his gang that makes joseph mccarthy look like a baby. rigged witch hunt. >> what would it look like if republicans on the hill reared up and said, enough. what would it look like if the president pulled a few more critical security clearances, for example? >> at this point, brian, based on my reporting, the republican party, they're fully with president trump ahead of the mid-term elections to drag them across the finish line as they face possible blue wave. at this point some people are privately grumbling if the president moves on mueller or rosenstein, they will speak up. so far the notable people speaking up are those who have chosen to retire or those who have decided to leave office. >> and joyce, what should we glean from mr. cohen's silence of late? what are the chances the decision to participate, to flip, has already been made and that is underway? >> cohen was initially pretty loud. we learned an awful lot from his public statements.

that make joseph mccarthy look like a baby. rigged witch-hunt. mccarthy led an inquisition into an alleged communist infiltration into the u.s. government. they were later to be found a fraud and hoax. >>> john brennan is now threatening to sue president trump for stripping him of his security clearance. >> these are frightening times. he's drunk on power. he really. >> brennan told "meet the press" he's already spoken to several lawyers about his options. >> if my clearances and my reputation as i'm being pulled through the mud now, if that's the price we are going to pay to prevent donald trump from doing this to other people it's a small price to pay. so i am going to do whatever i can personally to try top prevent these abuses in the future. and if the means going to court, i will do that. >> at the present time revoked brennan's clearance last week and threatened a long list of others including critics and those connected to the russia probe. dozens of former intelligence officials blasted the move as an attempt to stifle

hands off except for the blacklisting era after that stopped the original blacklisting you know joseph mccarthy in the fifty's it was cointelpro somewhere in between rather than twelve unsanctioned yeah but it was the black listing for mean media the way to speak about how media treated me was that they were in fact paid often has been proven to to drag me to say bad things about me for the last twenty years really and you think you're just i mean in this story it is read read until julianne's about the ending i mean you had this one when to a brit cancer chrysalis records to describe his story and why he was one of the one light in your life he was a light cancer was somebody who helped me out of a bad situation and i saw hope for the future and then he was murdered still unsolved and that was there's a point where i mean i say it in the book or earmark for weird sometimes and i look at that like the ultimate theft and he was stolen and that was a really it was a seminal moment in my life and also it's just. it was really dark you know and that was a dark that was a dark dark time and were thi

and his game that make joseph mccarthy look like a baby. hy's right-hand man was none other than roy kohn, who later served as donald trump's personal attorney and mentor before he died in 1986. on friday, trump cast more allegations at mueller, accusing him of bias. >> mr. mueller has a lot of conflicts also, directly yourself. so you know that. mr. mueller is highly conflicted. in fact, comey is like his best friend. i could go into conflict after conflict, but sadly mr. mueller is conflict. but let him write his report. we did nothing. there's no collusion. but if he was doing an honest report he would write it on the other side. >> all right. so in another series of tweets yesterday, president trump insisted that white house lawyer don mcgahn isn't a rat and referenced the white house watergate era attorney that turned on richard nixon. he tweeted, "the new york times" wrote a fake piece implying the white house council don mcfwan was giving hours of testimony to the special counsel. i allowed him and all others to testify. i have nothin

gang that make joseph mccarthy look like a baby.d witch hunt. i want to bring back shan wu, a cnn legal analyst, former federal prosecutor, and former lawyer for rick gates. jack quinn also joining us, a cnn legal analyst and former white house counsel in the clinton administration. jack, you first. the white house is not refuting that don mcgahn, you know, gave testimony. in fact, even saying the white house actually encouraged it. but with the president now coming out and being very critical of the report, as though the report says, you know, don mcgahn did this in some clan december tidestine wa show the president or the white house is very worried? >> i can't tell if it shows he's worried or not. i think they should be worried, so i wouldn't be surprised if they are. first of all, you know, this is really an unusual thing, obviously. i can say that as a former white house counsel. to be providing testimony of this kind. it's clear from that report and from the fact that you stated he's spoken to the special counsel for at least

because we are now in period with mueller and his gang that make joseph mccarthy look like a baby. rigged witch hunt. he's not sounding like he is cool about it or he's got nothing to worry. >> so here's what's going on. when the president tweets and when rudy giuliani gets on tv, they are talking directly to the trump supporters. they're not talking to the rest of america. they're talking directly to the supporters. so i think -- >> how does that potentially backfire though? or does it? >> you have to interpret what they're saying. i think the series of tweets over the past couple days, in a way, were saying a couple things. one is, look, we haven't cooperated extraordinarily with this investigation, and there's some credit to be given there. the notion of allowing your white house counsel very early in an investigation to come in and debrief investigators, that is extraordinary. turning over documents and allowing the white house staff to be interviewed, that is a lot of cooperation. >> any prosecutor would revel in that, would want that. >> for sure. and it is rare. so i think p

study the late joseph mccarthy.e are in period with mueller and his gang that makes joseph mccarthy look like a baby. rigged witch hunt. what do you make of that comparison? >> well, the irony is not lost on anyone except perhaps the president talking about mccarthy in a negative sense in the tweet when on the other hand you constantly hear him saying where's the roy cohen? who was joe mccarthy's right-hand man in saying i need somebody who defends me, i need somebody who will speak what i want to be spoken to. and will defend every word i say. so i'm not sure why the president would choose to go after joe mccarthy when at the same time saying he needs his roy cohen. >> there's more to discuss. sources are now saying that president trump is clearly rattled, his legal team in the dark over exactly what the white house counsel don mcgahn told the mueller team and the 30 hours of interviews. >>> plus, the president's former lawyer michael cohen visits his own lawyer on this day as federal prosecutors prepare charges, m

we're in a period of mueller and his gang make joseph mccarthy look like a baby.nt. here to react, brad blakeman, former george w. bush senior staffer. i don't know, this one may be a bridge too far, what do you think? >> it's a bridge too far, but i get what the president is saying. look there is nothing worse than government abuse, overreach, power of government, power after special counsel is one that can wield tremendous power. and, never seems to end. it costs a lot of money. the original charge of the special counsel is to get to the bottom of whether there was collusion. criminal collusion between any american to influence the elections of 2016. so far we've seen nothing. all we've seen is are witch hunts i have to agree as far as the original collusion, but also, ancillary charges like what is going on with manafort in in in alexandria, virginia. i get the president's frustration. basic tenet in the law, justice delayed is justice denied. get what you're supposed to do and close up the tent and go home. melissa: there are many ways to interpret the latest

in another tweet the president says mueller and his gang make joseph mccarthy look like a baby. he is invoking the 1950s anti-communist crusade by the former senator joseph mccarthy, which of course was a stain on the modern political era. the president trying to make his case here that don mcgahn offered no incriminating information and that his cooperation with the special counsel won't pose a problem for the president. we, of course, don't know that to be true yet. >> we are still looking into that reporting coming out of the "new york times." nancy cook, geoff, your colleague at the white house, setting it up for us, giving us good background. there is also what was said by the president's top lawyer, and that is truth isn't truth. we knew when we heard it on "meet the press" it was going to be a meme. what did he mean here, nancy? >> well, i think that rudy giuliani a lot of times goes on tv and basically just says a lot of different things to a lot of different people. i think that's part of a strategy to sort of scramble the jets on every news story that comes out of the

trump wrote, study the late joseph mccarthy because we are now in a period with mueller and his gang make mccarthy look like a baby. he led a congressional inquisition back in the '50s. a senate subcommittee found his claims to be, quote, a fraud and a hoax. >>> the reality that a lot of farmers are facing. what the future of agriculture in the bay area may look like. >> reserving chairs for a very special group of customers. >> and the all-important back to work forecast looks a little foggy so far. it's all coming up after a break. it's time for the 'biggest sale of the year' on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your movement and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. and now, all beds are on sale. save 50% on the new sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. only for a limited time. devil's gulch ranch in nicasio >>> it's a sign of the times and it reads for sale. >> devil's gulch ranch is on the market. john ramos reports that a well- known rancher says he can't afford not to hang up his hat. >> reporter: 100 years ago, the value of most land in moren co

trump wants you to study joseph mccarthy. we will tell you about the irony of that later in the show. you're watching the beat on msnbc. with the new chase ink business unlimited card i get unlimited 1.5% cash back. it's so simple, i don't even have to think about it. so i think about mouthfeel. introducing chase ink business unlimited with unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? mom: okay we need to get all your school supplies today. school... grade... done. done. hit the snooze button and get low prices on school supplies all summer long. like these for only $2 or less at office depot officemax. like these for only $2 or less not in this house.? 'cause that's no ordinary family. that's your family. which i

study the late joseph mccarthy because we're now in a period with mueller and his gang that make joseph mccarthy look like a baby. rigged witch hunt. if anyone in politics can claim the mantle of mccarthyism, it is president trump. let us remind ourselves with the men side by side, senator mccarthy was a demagogue. he relied on conspiracy theories and zen oh phobia to generate fear. sound familiar? not to mention, do you know who mccarthy's lawyer was? roy cohn. you know whose personal lawyer he became? donald trump's. now, some more proof. just listen to how desperate the efforts are. it reminds me of groucho marx. who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes. >> i'm not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury. when you tell me he should testify because he's going to tell the truth and he shouldn't worry, that's so silly because it's somebody's version of the truth, not the truth. he didn't have a conversation -- >> truth is truth. i don't mean to go like -- >> no, it isn't truth. truth isn't truth. >> so what was that? was that a one-off,

the president compared him to joseph mccarthy. lpresident trump's perso attorney, rudy giuliani argued the president should delay sit-down with mueller. >> i'm not going to be rushed to have him testify so he gets trapped into perjury. when you say he should tell the worry.nd shouldn't that's silly because it's somebody's version of the truth. >> truth is truth. >> no, truth isn't truth. the president of the united states says i didn't -- >> truth isn't truth. mr. mayor, do y realize -- >> don't do this to me. >> don't do truth isn't truth to me. >> former cia directo john brennan also appeared on "meet th he said he's considering legal action over president trump's revoking of his security clrance. >> despite vocal criticism, his wife tries to tackle the problem of cyber bullying. she's doing it today in rockville. first lady mel len yeah trump will deliver brief remarks, addressing the positive and tsnegative eff of social media on young people. she will also attend a panel discussion withre rntatives from multiple social media

the president tweeted, mueller and his gang make joseph mccarthy look like a baby. the sting goes both ways with national security professionals concerned by president trump's threat to revoke more security clearances. >> the mccarthy era where the administration starts putting together lists of individuals that don't agree with them. and that, historically, obviously, has proven incredibly problematic for the country. >> reporter: the president's legal team is publically taking the position that lengthy testimony given by the top white house lawyer to the russia investigation would ultimately be good for the presidency as a show of transparency. but the reality is they do not know what don mcgahn told investigators and, therefore, cannot know if his cooperation helps or hurts the president. kate? >> kelly o'donnell tonight. thank you. >>> to a developing story in nashville where a series of murders has residents on edge. the crimes appear to be random, but similarities have police wondering if they might be connected. we get the latest from maia rodriguez. >> report

study the late joseph mccarthy because we are now in a period with mueller and his gang that make joseph mccarthy look like a baby! rigged witch hunt! i really -- it's hard to understand what in the world he's talking about, but politico spoke to a mccarthy biographer and this is fascinating. according to biographer richard revere, mccarthy was a chronic opportunist, a political spec later, he was a republican who had started as a democrat. he was a skilled manipulator of public opinion and something like a genius at that essential american strategy, publicity. he was a vulgarian, he faked it all and could not understand anyone who didn't. also at the end of that they say he's a man who liked to use the third person. >> more than that -- >> sounds very familiar. >> there's a real connection. so mccarthy's top aide was roy cohn, who was donald trump's mentor in new york for many years before he died of aids. roy cohn. roy cohn died in 1986, the same year stephen miller was born. coincidence? i don't think so. he's got his own kind of roy cohn working for him now. they play by the same thu

about the investigation saying, quote, we're now in a period with mueller and his gang that make joseph mccarthyooked like a baby, rigged witch hunt. anne-marie? >> thank you, laura. president trump is insisting that white house counsel don mcgahn has not turned him on. president trump encouraged him and others to cooperation with the investigation. he was interviewed for 30 hours according to the new york times. the president tweeted yesterday, i allowed him and all others to testify. i have nothing to hide. the former cia director john brennan that had his security clearance revoked by the president last week says he's exploring legal options. he believes mr. trump's intent is to silence his critics. the president threatened nine other former officials that have been critical or are connected to the russian investigation. brennan, if it means going to court to stop the president, he will. >>> and the jury debating the fate of president trump's ex-campaign chair paul manafort will begin the third day of deliberations this morning. he faces 18 counts including bank and tax fraud. if convicted he

roy cohn was the acolyte to joseph mccarthy in the 1960s and famously became a mentor to the currentnt of the united states, donald trump. just describe his character, what he represented in your play. and can you imagine it's his actual mentee is president. >> it's very strange because for a long stretch of time in the early and mid '90s i would get letters from college professors saying that when they asked students if they had ever heard of roy cohn, the answer was almost always, yeah, he's a character in angel of america. people had forgotten the mccarthy era. now he's having this new wave of infamy as a consigliary of donald trump. he's a gay jew, i'm a gay jew. i could at least sense that connection. when i came from new york to louisiana where i grew up, to go to college, it was the '70s. it was his heyday and then the epidemic happened. there was an article when he died by an old lion of the west that was shockingly homophobic gloating about his death. the last paragraph was just horrendous description of roy's body at the end of his life. i found myself in this very weird po

slamming the press and the special counsel's russia investigation, comparing robert mueller to joseph mccarthyand once again calling the probe a "rigged witch-hunt." it comes as we learn that white house counsel don mcgahn reportedly voluntarily sat for interviews with the special lunsel. l rol barnett is traveling with l.e president in new jersey. et reporter: president trump appeared on the defensive all morning, insisting he allowed white house counsel don mcgahn j be interviewed by the special edunsel, because "i have nothing to hide." holling the russia probe "disgusting," and robert mueller "conflicted." >> they're down to desperation e.me. they have toto right a report ad they don't have a single piece of evidence. >> reporter: the president's personal lawyer rudy giuliani is still negotiating terms of an interview between the president d.d special counsel. >> i'm not going to be rushed into having him testify so that repets trapped into perjury. en reporter: he fears the epesident's testimony could be s ed against him. >> truth isn't truth! donald trump says i didn't talk about flynn w

hands off except for the blacklisting era after that stopped the original blacklisting you know joseph mccarthy in the fifty's it was cointelpro somewhere in between rather than twelve unsanctioned yeah but it was the black listing for mean media the way i speak about how media treated me was that they were in fact paid often has been proven to drag me to say bad things about me for the last twenty years really and you think you're just i mean in this story it is. until julie and about the ending i mean you had this one when to a brit character chrysalis records to describe his story and when he was one of the one light in your life he was a light cantor was somebody who helped me out of a bad situation and i hope for the future and then he was murdered still unsolved and that was there's a point where i mean i say it in the book or earmark for weird sometimes and i look at that like the ultimate theft and he was stolen and that was a really it was a seminal moment in my life and also it's just. it was really dark obviously you know and that was a dark that was a dark dark time and was things k

could you please give us all a history lesson about joseph mccarthy, and how this is relevant, or notng course. the more you look at joe mccarthy, the more you realize that joe mccarthy has become president, not the joe mccarthy is working in the special counsel's office. joe mccarthy was a junior senator from wisconsin on lincoln's birthday in 1950. he gave a speech in wheeling, west virginia where he said he had in his hand the names of 205 communists, the number wandered down in the state department, the number wandered down to 57, and ultimately he didn't find any. he came to anti-communism late. there were communist agents in the government but they'd been largely taken care of by the truman administration. the lesson was, mccarthy was a freelanced reporter entranced by his own name in print, on the radio and on television. he was a figure of a new modern media age that was unfolding in the early 1950s, and was ultimately undone according to his own rudy giuliani, a man named roy cohn, who was donald trump's lawyer, was undone because he exaggerated too much. he overstated. he di

hands off except for the blacklisting era after that stopped the original blacklisting you know joseph mccarthy in the fifty's it was cointelpro somewhere in between right of the twelve unsanctioned yeah but it was the black listing for mean media the way to speak about how media treated me was that they were in fact paid often has been proven to drag me to say bad things about me for the last twenty years fairly and you think you're just i mean in this story it is read read as until until the end about the ending i mean you had this one man to a brit cancer chrysalis records just describe his story and why he was one of the one light in your life he was a light cancer was somebody who helped me out of a bad situation and i saw hope for the future and then he was murdered still unsolved and that was there's a point where i mean i say it in the book earmarked for weird sometimes and i look at that like the ultimate test and he was stolen and that was a really it was a seminal moment in my life and also it's just it was really dark obviously you know and that was a dark dark dark time and where t

he says study the late joseph mccarthy. frankly, i wonder whether or not president trump is such a opportunity of mccarthyism do you think it is tear to talk about the mueller investigation, mueller who we have not heard a peep from in a year to say he is like joel mccarthy? >> i worked for bob mueller when i worked for the white house. my experience is that he is a man of integrity. he handled this investigation in the probably way. because russia interfered with our 2016 election and will interfere with this election, i think it is important we allow the investigation to move forward to we have a much better idea so we can definite against this meddling in the future. i'm confident that he has not seen anything yet to shade that evidence. >> no mccarthyism here as far as you can see? >> not as far as i can see, no. >> how about the claim that the truth is not the truth. alisyn camerota sake that's to mean that people can have different versions of the truth, isn't there a sergs of the truth that prosecutors will come down

protege of roy cone and without a doubt the most mccarthy-like figure on the american stage since joseph mccarthyg robert mueller of mccarthyism when, in fact, mueller is fact-based and gets all of his facts lined up, doesn't shoot from the hip like mccarthy or roy cone did and yet trump is now moved on to that when, in fact, he idolized the man who helped make joseph mccarthy joseph mccarthy. >> it's hard to think two men in american history more different than robert mueller and joe mccarthy, but donald trump is managing to conflate them. i just think, joe, these tweets over the past weekend, like so many others, show a president in a real state of anxiety. capitalizing rat, applying my white house counsel was a capital r.a.t., sort of mafia talk. but at the bottom of it is this sense that trump has that he may not be in control of the situation. what he wanted to say in those tweets, he's not a rat. i told him he could go testify. i'm controlling this. i'm running this. i'm in charge. and i think as we remember from richard nixon, that scream, i'm in charge. i'm running this is what you hear f

the president tweeted, mueller and his gang that make joseph mccarthy look like a baby. the sting of the mccarthy goes both ways with national security professionals concerned by president trump's threat to revoke more security clearances. >> the mccarthy era where the administration starts putting together lists of individuals that don't agree with them. and that historically obviously has proven incredibly problematic for the country. >> and that was kelly o'donnell reporting. while the president's legal team claims mcgahn's testimony will ultimately be helpful to the president for its transparency, giuliani acknowledges that he does not know what mcgahn actually told investigators. mcgahn's job put him in the room for events under scrutiny for possible obstruction of justice. >>> well, he was a controversial wedding guest. vladimir putin. the russian president flew to austria this weekend for the wedding of the country's foreign minister. she was nominated by the pro-russian austrian freedom part party. putin toasted the couple and even led the bride in a dance before

of the 50s, you talk about roy kohn during the 50s, he was representing and supporting senator joseph mccarthy mob bosses as well, as a legal analyst, right? how did that influence even further? >> well, if you think about it, the lawyers that donald trump has had representing him and has spent time with. and not just lawyers, political consultants as well, have also all come out of this world. roy kohn who you just mentioned, but rudy giuliani, his current lawyer made his name as a federal prosecutor in part by going after the mob in the 1980s in new york, and he's talked of having listened to 4,000 hours of surreptitious taping of mafia leaders. he's a huge fan of sopranos. often spoke of that show. the people donald trump has spent time with are people that are steeped in the language of the mob, it's likely that's the language they use when they speak to donald trump, he internalizes that language, and when he thinks about his own legal predicament or challenges, he tends to fall back on the same vocabulary. >> i would suggest, it's a fascinating insight into the mind-set of donald trump a

the president com mueller to joseph mccarthy who used smearactics to expose suspected communists in the 1950s. >>> yesterday on "meet the press," rudy giuliani argued the president should delay a sit-down with mueller. >> i'm not goingo be rushed into having him testify so he gets trapped into perjury. when you m tell he should testify that he's going to tell worry,th, he shouldn't that's so silly. it's somebody's version of the truth, not the truth. he didn't hav a conversation -- >> truth is truth. >> no, it i't truth. truth isn't truth. the president of the united states says i didn't -- truth isn't truth. mr. mayor, do you realize -- this i going to become a bad meme. >> don't do this to me. >> don't do "truth is the truth" tome. >> former cia director john brennan also appeared on "meet the press" yesterday. he said he's considering legal action over president trump's revoking of his securityea nce. >>> despite vocal criticism of president trump's use of social media to criticize his opponent, rihis wife to tackle the problem of cyber bullying today in maryland. mrs. trump will del

the late joseph mccorps thee because we are now in a period with mueller and his gang that make joseph mccarthyk like a baby. rigged witch-hunt. he is right on one point. we should study mccarthy. he was a disgraced wisconsin senator who in the 1950s turned the lives of many americans upside down by calling them communists. now mccarthyism means making whatever claim you want without regard for evidence. johning me a historian. welcome, sir, to the show. you know, you say it in your book title, most hated senator, comparing mccarthy to mueller, a competent law enforcement official, you tell me what president trump gets so wrong with this comparison? >> well, i don't know if he got as much wrong as you might think, actually. because i think what we have to do is weigh the difference between an historical judgment which of course now mccarthy has been dead for almost 60 years versus what is unfolding right now in washington, d.c. on the political and on the legal front. and what happens on the headline basis, as you know at cnn as opposed to the way in which history and historians think about eve

a famous line from joseph mccarthy in 1850 i believe. kind of the communists thought to destroy an american leadership. does a three-hour speech about george marshall. and a talk on this figure that was one of the most prominent at the time was essentially being denounced as a traitor or a communist front man on the floor of the u.s. congress have such a powerful force but a couple years later in 1952 when dwight eisenhower was running for president, he didn't defend marshall. he was a junior officer who was plucked out by marshall and given battlefield command, taken over the d-day command ultimately. as he's running for president who shows up and gets on stage with the card he had originally planned to defend what this guy looks like as the father in oakland decided is too politically costly to defend the man who had made his career. as in our houses the trail he feels very guilty about, but the indication of just how powerful they were. >> you point out that it was at least for a time to marshal it that the d-day invasion that fdr dec

he's comparing mueller to infamous senator joseph mccarthy. what goes through your mind when you read that and hear it? >> i was horrified. this president doesn't understand much history. on this one, he should know this cold. let's go back to this. the chief counsel was named roy cohen. after the hearings blew up and mccarthy was disdiscreditcredit cone's reputation wasn't exactly terrific either. but he went to new york and he became the mentor and very close friend of donald trump and much of what donald trump knows about in terms of exercising power and leadership comes from roy cone. and for a lot of people have been sort of thinking what mccarthy did was he singled out people in the government and said there are spies. they work for the russians. they're communists and all the rest. how is that different from what trump has been doing recently going after brennan and now going after somebody in the treasury department? these are people are unamerican. they're not patriots. you know, they're behind all this witch hunt. that is discreditin

studied the late joseph mccarthy, we are now in period with -- mccarthy was a demagogue who routinely twisted the truth. his former attorney and close friend was the lawyer roy kohn who helped mccarthy be that demagogue who routinely twisted the truth. robert mueller, until the president began taking shots at him has always been known and praised for being the opposite of mccarthy. the president would have you believe that mccarthy and mueller are on equal footing. that's the place we're in right now. the president and people speaking for him believe truth isn't truth. just listen to what the president's lawyer had to say about whether the president should talk to robert mueller. >> what i have to tell you is, i'm not going to be rushed in having him testify so he gets trapped into perjury. when you tell me that he should testify because he's going to tell the truth, and he shouldn't worry. that's silly, because it's someone's version of the truth, not the truth. he didn't have a conversation about -- >> truth is truth. >> no, it isn't truth. truth isn't truth. the president of the un

then there's the joseph mccarthy comparison which, frankly, josh, i've lost the thread on because so many different people are pointing in every which direction, making that comparison as well. strange times. >> there is but it's -- look, it's a valid point of comparison. we just learned over the weekend through the "new york times" that the white house counsel don mcgahn has spent 30 hours talking to robert mueller's investigators. this is echoes of nixon. john dean turned on nixon. i think the fear in trump's mind is that don mcgahn might turn on him so it's really the best historical parallel and that's why it keeps coming up again and again and again. >> and guys to be fair to president trump there is no evidence of the find of wrongdoing and conspiracy that the nixon white house was engaged in. those nixon tapes are damning what they were up to, using the tools of the government to go after their political enemies. in a way that, yes, the president has views on twitter that breaks norms but there's no evidence of wrongdoing. >> we've heard plenty of trump tapes but none have bee

the president also mentioned joseph mccarthy, compares mueller to mccarthy.ss what this gets to here, there are six tweets by the president this morning on this. when you look at this and look at the actions about john brennan this week, he seems to be most energized with anything having to do with the mueller investigation. everything is happening through the prism of that investigation. >> you're right, he is very much interested in that investigation and he should be. i agree with the governor that this seems to be on mcgahn's part self-preservation. i think that story is in the "times" because mcgahn wanted it in the "times." remember, mueller is looking at obstruction and mcgahn was there for the comey decision, there when the president was threatening to fire mueller. mcgahn said i'll quit if you do that. they have a lot to talk about, mueller and mcgahn. so the president i think is right to be following this very, very closely. in terms of brennan, george, i just think that was an empty gesture. it's not going to stop the criticism. you've elevated the

a young lawyer named joseph welts standing up to joseph mccarthy and his anti-communist crusade.from retired four-star admiral william mccraven who commanded the mission that killed osama bin laden directly challenged trump and his words, you've embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and worst of all divided us as a nation. good morning. it's "morning joe." it's friday, august 16th. i'm willie geist. and the hos