ken dilanian is back. this was to happen on thursday.stein was on the phone with jeff flake and chris coons according to some of the "new york times" reporting trying to explain how long an fbi investigation would take. but what is the state of play with him with this white house. is he really in danger? >> i don't think so anymore. i think the president has become convinced by his advisers that firing rosenstein would be a horrible mistake before the midterms and doesn't get them anyone. it's not going to make the mueller investigation go away. he'd have to fire the entire justice department and fbi to make that happen. it's going to -- it would cause huge backlash among democrats and in congress. and, you know, there's every indication to believe that nothing much is going to happen in the mueller investigation between now and the election for reasons of justice department guidelines. so he's going to accept rosenstein's story that he offered to wear a wire in jest. he was being sarcastic and never talked about invoking the 25th amendm

ken dilanian, nbc's intelligence and national security reporter. ken, i know nbc has our own reporting on president trump's cell phone habits. >> that's right, u.s. security officials have told our own pete williams they've been concerned for months that president trump has been having sensitive discussions on cell phones with some of these informal advisers, including sean hannity from fox news. what the "times" is saying is american spy agencies determined the chinese and russians are listening and the chinese have essentially mapped donald trump's network of advisers. we say this all the time, but this is really unprecedented. barack obama was not given a smart phone untilled the middle of his second term. he listened to advice of his security advisers. donald trump apparently is unwilling to listen. and that's why we're reading about this story in "the new york times." >> ann what are the dangers here? if china and russia are listening in to conversations that he is having about who knows what. >> yes, chris, the main danger is most likely that

. >> joining us now, ken dilanian, intelligence and national security reporter for nbc news, and davidcorn, washington bureau chief for mother jones. you've been studying this closer than most of us. the president continues to deny that there's any problem, certainly no ongoing problem with the russians interfering in our election. but the trump administration still seems to be doing the work of going after the russians interfering. >> what was stunning about this criminal complaint -- it's not officially an indictment -- that was released today, 38 pages, was the level of detail about the russian attack on the united states. this is the same conspiracy, the same scheme that attacked the united states in 2016. this woman is an accountant from the organization, from the businesses that funded that work. but what was really i think the significant aspect of the criminal complaint was it said this is continuing today. so the same operation that was in place in 2016 and shaped and influenced the elections in a way that benefitted trump that was designed to benefit trump according to our in

but the break tonight is in nbc news' ken dilanian, mueller grabbing evidence on exactly how this informationad. this is before those famed clinton e-mails were out. mueller subpoenaed him last month over communications over roger stone. dilanian reports a source who read some of these messages indicated there was advance knowledge which builds on the public boasting by both roger stone and this gentleman, mr. coursei about these e-mails. he wrote this book you see there called where's the birth certificate, that was ultimately answered when trump embraced his theory. we are joined by nbc news intelligence and national security reporter ken dilanian who broke it as well as neera who is close to all of it. ken, starting with you where is mr. corsi who may not be well-known, fit into the theory of the case here? >> we came across the information when we tried to figure out why robert mueller is parading all these friends of roger stone in front of the grand jury. and we learned one of the reasons why are there are communications from mr. corsi to roger stone where he claims to have advanced kno

. >> ken dilanian, what do we make of the fact this is not a robert mueller prosecution? >> i think this is part of a larger justice department strategy to go after this election, to expose it to the world. prosecution is a tool here, but not a substitute to take on this stuff, and we're not seeing that at all. donald trump is benefitting from this russian information warfare operation. very clear. it's been going on since 2014. we didn't know about it back then. we know about it now. and other parts of his government are doing as far as we can tell very little about it. the justice department has decided they're going to bring criminal charges, and they've released a lot of detailed intelligence information in this indictment. they're showing the russians they're in their networks, this is nsa hacking exposed here in this indictment. but this woman is never going to face criminal charges, and right now we have very little defense against this manipulation of american public opinion. >> and david cornyn, one of the things they've uncovered, of course, is in the russian in

joining us is ken dilanian, reporter for the nbc news investigative unit which has really been leading the way on reporting ing oing o ing oing fbi investigation and the restrictions put on it. ken, great to talk to you tonight. >> good to be here, joy. >> we now have this new reporting from nbc news that brett kavanaugh or brett and others around him may have been trying to reach out to try to get people to maybe buck up his side of the story or become sort of character witnesses in advance of the story that "the new yorker" was going to put out about ms. ramirez. do we know whether the fbi has now actually contacted those would-be witnesses or do we have any reporting on why it seems to be so difficult for witnesses who want to be in touch to actually get through to the fbi? >> we have nothing to suggest yet that the fbi has contacted those witnesses, but today's announcement, or today's reporting that the white house is going to allow the fbi to slightly expand its inquiry suggests that they may well contact those witnesses. but that's a far cry from where we started here joy which

ken dilanian, intelligence and national security reporter for nbc news, thank you very much. really appreciate it. >> thanks. >>> all right. our next guest spent 25 years inside the fbi. you are going to want to hear what he has to say about this new investigation into brett kavanaugh. stay with us. like here. and here. see? opportunity. hi! cinturones por favor. gracias. ev-er-y-where. about to be parents. it's doing a lot of kicking down there. meeting the parents. it's gonna be fine. and this driver, logging out to watch his kid hit one out of the... go dani, go! opportunity is everywhere. all you have to do to find it is get out... here. ♪ back pain can't win. now introducing aleve back and muscle pain. only aleve targets tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve back & muscle. all day strong. all day long. olay regenerist wipes out the competition; hydrating better than $100, $200 even $400 creams. with our b3 complex, beautiful skin doesn't have to cost a fortune. olay. we're all under one roof now. congratulations. thank you. how many kids? my two. his th

ken dilanian and he will yellio williams. you're too careful.dis feel their version of events surrounding the death of jamal khashoggi, does anyone believe them? does anybody watching believe the saudis? i don't think anybody believes this crap. but how will the president respond and whether he believes it or not, he won't tell. he'll decide to go along with them probably. coming back with "hardball" where the action is right now tonight. all money managers might seem the same, but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. for just fifteen ninety-nine at red lobster. you get all the shrimp you want, any way yo

and ken dilanian, intelligence and national security reporter for nbc news. little more on this story. how is it that we know this and why is it the president is still doing this? >> ali, the situation described in this story, one of the most outrageous examples of negligence i have seen in my years covering intelligence and national security. and it's not about hating donald trump, not about partisan politics. it's about the national security of the united states. people need to understand that no president was allowed to use a smart phone until barack obama got one in the middle of his second term, and he got a modified iphone that he joked had very little functionality. he couldn't text, couldn't take pictures. and the reason for that is unsecure, unmodified mart phones can easily be turned into bugs and tracking devices. and yet here you have president trump continuing to use his unsecured iphone to make calls to residences, and now we learn the u.s. intelligence community has confirmed that china and russia are listening. and even worse than that they've

ken dilanian with 19. but in the lawmaker's column, tonight's appearance means congressman costello has overtaken eric swalwell on the leaderboard. this is his sixth appearance. we appreciate you being here each and every time. >>> we're going to get dave wasserman to dive into republicans' tough choice to fish or cut bait in key races. >>> plus if you want to know how important the midterms are, ask michael on cohen who tweeted this may be the most important vote of our lifetime. not too long he was deputy finance chair of the rnc. this weekend, he registered as a democrat. [ upbeat music ] i'm ready to crush ap english. i'm ready to do what no one on my block has done before. forget that. what no one in the world has done before. all i need access, tools, connections. high-speed connections. is the world ready for me? through internet essentials, comcast has connected more than six-million low-income people to low-cost, high-speed internet at home. i'm trying to do some homework here. so they're ready fo

. >> and according to ken dilanian backing what you have said, he has reported according to a number of sources to him that in fact the fbi has expanded this investigation as we were reporting to two more witnesses, two more witnesses, and that is all, and not to a significant number and not looking at all of the issues of the drinking, and of the letter and of other people from yale now writing the letters saying they had previously supporting him, and now they are not. >> this is my educated guess about the expansion that the fbi has to go back to the white house counsel and the white house and the client and say there are two more people that we want to speak with and may we? that is not how you do the criminal -- and so i imagine, andrea, they won't talk to many more people if they want it done today or by the end of the week. the work is being very carefully dictate and circumscribed by the white house. >> and by the way, this is not what the president wanted, and promised us and it is not just bad for the fbi, but bad for the court and bad for country to have people think howev

joining me with more is nbc news intelligence and national security reporter ken dilanian. >> this is roger stone, stephanie, in this case. as you said, bannon has said he was asked about comments stone made in private in which he appeared to have advanced knowledge of moves wikileaks was making to leak democratic e-mails. the special counsel over the last few weeks has been zeroing in on stone and associates. examining evidence that stone act acted as a conduit with the trump campaign. it's opened the door with a question of conspiracy to interfere in the election. it seems to be about roger stone. >> i must ask you about this. a new report that robert mueller has asked the fbi to investigate a possible scheme against him, false sexual harassment claims. what in the world is going on here? >> it's appropriate that we're discussing this on halloween, stephanie. here's what we know. the special counsel issued a rare statement yesterday saying they referred to the fbi allegations that women were being paid to make false claims about robert mueller. >> by whom? >> separately a republican

i what nt to bring in nbc's intelligence and national security reporter ken dilanian. you walk me through this. does the fbi really have free rein in this investigation or is the white house calling the shots? >> they do not have free rein. you said this was confusing. i'm not confused by this at all. the only reason this is confusing is because the white house has been putting out misleading statements. our sources are very clear about this. in this situation, this is not a criminal investigation, the white house is the client. the fbi is only authorized to take the investigative steps that the white house allows it to. it is true that apparently senate republicans had some input on that directive that went through the white house counsel's office and went to the fbi. so there's waa witness list of four. dr. ford is not on it. more importantly, perhaps, the fbi is not authorized to look into these very important questions of whether judge kavanaugh misrepresented, for example, the nature of his drinking at yale and whether he lied about yearbook references. which many

to jill wine-banks, sean henry, ken dilanian, peter alexander there in the rose garden, bob bauer, and to mazie hirono, the senator from hawaii, who was the first person to ask at the original kavanaugh hearings, the judiciary hearings, whether or not there had been any adult misconduct, sexual misconduct, which would not, of course, apply to high school, but would apply. that's it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." and here is stephanie from velshi and rhule. >> good afternoon. i'm stephanie rhule. my partner ali velshi on assignment. it's monday, october 1st. let's get smarter. >> i think the fbi should do what they have to do to get to the answer. at the same time, just so we all understand, this is our seventh investigation of a man who has really, you know, you look at his life, until this happened, i want them to do a very comprehensive investigation. whatever that means according to the senators and t

ken dilanian with 19.ut in the lawmaker's column, tonight's appearance means congressman costello has overtaken eric swalwell on the leaderboard. this is his sixth appearance. we appreciate you being here each and every time. >>> we're going to get dave wasserman to dive into republicans' tough choice to fish or cut bait in key races. >>> plus if you want to know how important the midterms are, ask michael on cohen who tweeted this may be the most important vote of our lifetime. not too long he was deputy finance chair of the rnc. this weekend, he registered as a democrat. mocrat then you might have a common condition called dry mouth... which can be brought on by many things, like medication and medical conditions. biotène provides immediate, long lasting relief from dry mouth symptoms. it is clinically proven to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. plus, it freshens breath. biotène. immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief. you're in the business of helping people. we're in the business of helpi