and michael crowley, senior affairs correspondent for politico. see how cool he keeps it in that third box. always very cool. bobby, we welcome you back to thesstores. shores. yohave the only double life among us. you get to live over there and come back here. what is this story playing like over there? >> well, it's astonishing. the level of astonishment about the donald trump presidency, just simply keeps rising. >> where do you start? twitter or the russia ties or -- >> twitter, actually, the fact that you have a president who is speaking over the top of his entire administration directly to the american people, but speaking in this sort of really bizarre manner. it's sort of my newspaper every day either online or in the paper, we're covering this, because people are fascinated. this is the leader of the free world or so we would like to think. every tweet he tweets out matters. people pay close attention. >> ashley, and this is the life we have chosen. this has become baked into your life and your beat every day, that you get to witness, thou

it was a breakdown in the vetting process. >> michael crowley, is it a breakdown in theet having process or evidence that maybe they got the michael flynn -- they wanted the flikal flynn that they get. there are many of the trump campaign that have ties. let's listen to one them, carter page, who was on cnn earlier today. and he was asked about his own ties to russia. take a ng listen. >> did you coordinator communicate the details of your trip or that you were going with any member of the trump campaigner administration? >> i never -- again, none of those details. they knew i was going, but nothing was -- >> how did they know? >> it was -- again, i don't talk about internal discussions. >> it matters. it matters, because the suggestion is they knew you were going. if they knew you were going, any must have had an interest in you going. if they had an interest in you go, did they coordinate anything that you said there which was inherently destructive to american policy? >> absolute will he not. and nothing i said was destructive to american policy. >> michael crowley it becomes more and

we are very happy to welcome back to our broadcast michael crowley, political senior foreign affairs correspondent. and michael, i begin with kind of a process question to you. what is normally the clearing house? an admistration has several people that speak o the kind of issues on for the purpose issues on foreign policy, especially going into the weekend. and what do talking points come from other than just knowing we're going to row in the same direction? >> typically, the national security adviser may have a say. you may have a communications chief on the nfc, probably in coordination with the white house communications team. you know, whoever the white house press secretary and communications director are. i wonder whether that process happened in this case because these trump spokespeople seem to be able over the map. and more generally, brian, i wonder whether we have a national security process that is functioning in the traditional sense, where these meetings are happening regularly, the process is happening, or we're still in this kind of mode both when it comes to policy a

still with us is politico's michael crowley. he is senior affairs correspondent. and michael, donald trump in this interview with the financial times said if china's not going to solve north korea, we will. in plain english, where is he getting that? >> i'm not sure where he's getting it, brian. i think he rightly recognizes that the status quo with north korea is a problem that is getting worse, and we can't just do nothing. but the problem is we can't just come in and, quote/unquote, solve it. we really need china's help on this. china doesn't actually mind the status quo nearly as much as we do. china doesn't think we should be messing around on the korean peninsula. they don't want us having an active foreign policy role. they don't like we have a military presence to begin with. trump is probably listening to national security professionals who say we have a real problem. but i'm sure they're not saying if china can't solve it, we're going to come in and do it because not many people in their right minds think there is a simple way of doing that without starti

we are happy to welcome back michael crowley, senior foreign affairs correspondent. michael i again with a process question for you. what is normally the clearing house -- and the white house has several people that speak on the kinds of per numbera issues on foreign policy. especially going into a weekend, sunday shows. where do the so less viewpoints come from other than knowing we are going to row in the same direction. >> national security council, national security adviser might have is a say. you might have a communications chief on the nsc probably in communication with the white house communications team, you know, whoever the white house press secretary and communications director are. i wonder whether that process happened in this case because these trump spokespeople seem to be all over the map. and more generally, brian, i'm wondering whether, you know, we have a national security process that's functioning in the drishl sense where the meetings are happening regularly, everybody is coming together the policy is being hammered out in a methodical way or if

let's bring in michael crowley, senior foreign affairs correspondent for "flpolitico." michael o happen lo'hanlan. our and ayman mohyeldin is on set. the president, we read about what the president said, his thinking has been changed in light of this. here it is, what the president had to say earlier today. >> i like to think of myself as a very flexible person. i don't have to have one specific way and if the world changes, i go the same way. i don't change. well, i do change. and i am flexible and i'm proud of that flexibility and i will tell you, that attack on children yesterday had a big l impact on me. big impact. that was a horrible, horrible thing. and i have that flexibility and it's very, very possible, and i will tell you, it's already happened, that my attitude toward syria and assad has changed very much. >> so michael, let me start with you. i'm curious how you would internet that. at one point he was asked as well about the red line, idea of a red line. president obama had famously said that in 2013, trump was asked was this a red line moment for you? he s

michael crowley, frank montoya and steve cook. we are going to take a quick break.ll be right back. it's time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. daniel romanetti will never sell online. the owner of the fiber space in west virginia doesn't want to process web orders. she wants to connect with customers at her store. using social media, she entices people to come in and buy. for for, watch your business on sunday morning on msnbc. american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. trites or artificial mesquite preservatives.added nitrates, find out how american express cards and services now it's good for us all. like introverts. extroverts. (cheering) and even bert. man you gotta' try this sandwich. who's just overt. oscar mayer deli fresh. so good! kevin, meet yourkeviner. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. kevin, how's your mom? life

michael crowley is senior affairs correspondent, and also, the former ethics administrator. jeremy, i'll start with you on the rolling explanations that do not include the answer to the questions, whether they vetted michael flynn or whether they regret bringing him in. what do you make between the distinctions? >> clearly a difference between being eligible for classified information, thousands of people have that. quite another thing to say vetting for the national security adviser. and when trump won the election his team should have immediately vetted michael flynn, such as general flynn you wrote an op-ed talking about how we had to stand by turkey, were you paid by the government of turkey? no, he should have said yes. secondly, did you register as a foreign agent? he said no, he should have said yes, and we've all seen the video him sitting by putin, did you get paid to sit there? he would have had to answer truthfully. and finally did you put that on your clearance form when you got the clearance earlier in the year, flynn did not do that. had the w house done a thoro

and in washington michael crowley, politico's senior foreign affairs correspondent. good evening to you all. eli, is that sound the sound of goalposts moving? he seemed to have mentioned 100 days a few times. >> it's good that after 92 days you can recognize that sound. we've been hearing that from the beginning and throughout the campaign. he is always moving the goal post. it's interesting. this entire presidency thus far has been a lot of reverse engineering. he will say something and then his staff at the white house will set about trying to make it so. just a couple of weeks ago as it just a couple of weeks ago as it pertains to the 100-day mark it was donald trump who was agitated about this himself saying we have to make it so. when i say this is the best 100 days of all time it has to look that way. how are we going to sell this? you have seen a lot of executive orders over the last days a lot of activities, you see this rush on the legislation where they want to do health care and tax reform. put those on dual tracks and at least start on both of those. so y

joining us tim mak and a michael crowley, senior foreign affairs correspondent at polito. michael, you have been matching the russian scandal map and all of the players. the manafort news now is getting more complex by the minute. also the associated press reporting the off-the-books cash payments that we had already known something about. they believe now they've got that locked down, over a million dollars in that. and then there is of course "the new york times" reporting that paul manafort recorded on the same day that he left the trump campaign a shell company controlled by manafort. would receive $13 million in loans from two businesses with ties to donald trump. i could go on and on. but michael, where should people be focused right now? >> as you say, i've mapped the connections between trump and putin, and it's a whole spiderweb. you can do just manafort's connections to russia, ukraine, the oligarch, cypress banks. it goes on and on. it appear news he took cash payments from the ukraine. but ukraine isn't a company that tried to influence our elections. so what we

i want to bring in michael crowley.what do you make of the white house having to backtrack a little from the call today? >> well, i think they realize that they made a mistake here and there was a lot of blow back. you know, trump was really in the western world kind of out on a limb. i mean it's useful to contrast the read out of his call with erdogan with the statement from angela merkel in germany, a very qualified mixed statement that focused on how close the vote was and said erdogan has a responsibility to try to unite his country. he seemed to show no concern for the way the vote happened and what it represented more broadly. the white house is feeling heat on that. i would say at the end of the day, donald tmp has a long track record of rlly seeming almost to admire authoritarian tactics in other countries. i don't see trump himself changing even though the white house is back peddling a little bit right now. >> how complicated is this for the united states? obviously turkey is a country that a u.s. ally, helpin

and washington, michael crowley. from politico. good evening to you. eli is that sound the sound of goal posts moving? he seemed to have mentioned first hundred days a few times. >> it's good that after 92 days you can rock that -- recognize that sound. he is always moving the goal post. it's interesting. this entire presidency thus far has been a lot of reverse engineering. he will say something and then his staff at the white house will set about trying to make it so. just a couple of weeks ago as it pertains to the 100 day mark it was donald trump who wassage data taillighted about this himself saying we have got to make it so. when i say this is the best 100 days of all time it has to look that way. how are we going to sell this? you have seen a lot of executive orders over the last days a lot of activities, you see this rush on the legislation where they want to do health care and tax reform. put those on dual tracks and at least start on both of those so you see a lot of activity. you know, we could judge his first 100 days on a different metric

michael crowley of politico, thank you very much. >> absolutely, katey. thank you. >> coming up, the trump team tries to smooth over west wing drama. we will have the latest from the white house just ahead. stay tuned. they'll call back. no one knows your ford better than ford and ford service. right now, during the big tire event, get a $140 rebate by mail, on four select tires. ♪ and you're about in to hit 'send all' on some embarrassing gas. hey, you bought gas-x®! unlike antacids, gas-x ® relieves pressure and bloating fast. huh, crisis averted. >>> we continue to follow developments out of san bernardino, california. suspected domestic abuse -- a suspected domestic dispute turned to blood shed inside an elementary school earlier today. investigators say the shooting happened iide one o t classrooms. right now female teacher and the alleged shooter died in an apparent muder/suicide. two students were also shot and are in the hospital, listed in critical condition. right now police are not releasing the age or names of those children. police will be ho

and michael crowley of politico. announcer: sell braying 50 years. this is "washington week." funding -- celebrating 50 years. this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> additional funding is provided by newman's seen foundation, donating all profits from food products to charity and nourishing the common good. ku and patricia ewing, committed to bringing cultural differences and from contributions from pbs viewers like you. thank you. once again from washington, robert costa of "the washington post." robert: good evening. friday marked day 85 for the trump administration. it was perhaps the most significant week yet for the president on the international stage. us military forces use the most powerful nonnuclear weapon in america's arsenal to target isis in afghanistan. the 21,000 blast nicknamed the mother of all bombs destroyed isis tunnels and caves in the province. going hard after isis

and michael crowley is back with us tonight. good evening to you all, mr. bash, i'm going to begin with you, because of your past work in the -- with the intelligence community and in and with the pentagon, where north korea is concerned. what keeps you up at night? >> north korea is really trying to perfect the element of surprise. for many years, when they would stack those missiles on the launch pad, spy satellites were able to spy at those missiles and we really had the opportunity to shoot them down and ensure they didn't get off the pad in some cases, now what they're doing, what the north is doing, they're trying to put them on the back of trucks, make them mobil so they can drive them around. not just on road but on track vehicles so they can go offroad. they're perfecting that solid fuel capability. they don't need to take the time to fuel that liquid propellant. they want to launch these missiles anywhere, any time. that's what concerns me. we've seen their tests before, we know their capabilities in that regard. it's the missile launches that mak

and our friend michael crowley is back with us tonight. politico's senior foreign affairs correspondent. good evening to you all. and mr. bash, i'm going to begin with you because of your past work in with the intelligence community and in and with the pentagon where north korea is concerned, what keeps you up at night? >> well, north korea, brian, is really trying to perfect the element of surprise. for many years, when they would stack those missiles on the launch pad, analysts from our country and around the world were able to spy at those missiles. and we really had the opportunity to shoot them down and make sure they didn't even get off the pad in some case. but now what they're doing, what the north is doing is they're trying to put them on the back of trucks, make them mobile so they can drive them around. not just on a road, but on track vehicles so they can go off-road. second, they're perfecting the solid fuel technology. they want to be able to launch these missiles anywhere, any time. that's what really concerns me. even more

to our panel, bobby gouache, ashley parker, and michael crowley, thank you all very much for being onour broadcast again tonight. >>> coming up, the senate poised to go knew clear as democrats plan to filibuster the supreme court nomination of judge gorsuch. i'll speak with a member of the senate jish rath senate judiciary committee when "the 11th hour" continues on a monday night. 5,000 jobs. and each job created by the energy industry supports two others in the community. altogether, the industry supports over 9 million jobs nationwide. these are jobs that natural gas is helping make happen, all while reducing america's emissions. energy lives here. all while reducing america's emissions. don't let dust and allergens and life's beautiful moments. flonase allergy relief delivers more complete relief. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause all your symptoms, including nasal congestion and itchy, watery eyes. flonase is an allergy nasal spray that works even beyond the nose. so you can enjoy every beautiful moment to the fullest. flonase. 6>1 changes everything. j

times" story, the conversation i first heard it take place on your broadcast monday night with michael crowley, whether this madman acts so unpredictable that your enemies are thrown off. it is not a strategy with donald trump. it is incoherence and that's what's troubling. inside the national security council the syria drill did bring der and a very sort of soring moment for this team and this president and that rex tillerson is now plugged in, secretary mad sis plugged in, mcmasters firmly in command and control of the council and they are plugged into jared and thus plugged into the president. so it is functioning. i think that may have been what he was speaking to tonight. >> george, do you see a foreign policy in any or all of this? >> not yet. when the president says we're rebuilding our military, he might mean we are redeploying assets toward korea because, a, there hasn't been time in 91 days to rebuild anything. second his proposal is for a $54 billion increase in the defense budget, which is about 3%, which is approximately what barack obama proposed and is so small that john mccain

. >> let's bring in michael crowley, he has been following this. this is an interesting discussion.oesn't mean he is any less influential here, he is just not where many people thought he should not be anyway. >> it is a extremely tlufl position. regardless, ali, i think the chair you may have heard rising from the streets of washington was the foreign fols -- ban non's approval was seen as disturbing, very unusual and odd, he is basically a political advisor. talking about the details of american military action. many people thought it was inappropriate and unprecedented it also appears they have wording for a demotion. they make them regular attendees. before it was somewhat optional. it was a downgrade of their role. so i see mcmaster asserting himself and creating a much more traditional national security council structure that is hugely reassuring to foreign policy professionals in washington and in other countries. >> kristen welker, i'm just watching from my vantage point, the vehicles are coming in for king abdullah of jordan. the first police vehicles are starting to move i

. >> tim mak, michael crowley, thank you both for joining us tonight.preciate it. >>> coming up, wendy walsh will join us again on what is the first di of bill o'reilly's vacation, a vacation forced in large part because wendy walsh came forward to tell her story about sexual harassment by bill o'reilly. advertisers have fled his show since then. and now looks like o'reilly has left town. wendy walsh will join us. t growg by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line. what's in your wallet? briathe customer app willw if be live monday. can we at least analyze customer traffic? can we push the offer online? brian, i just had a quick question. brian? brian... legacy technology can handcuff any company. but "yes" is here. you're saying the new app will go live monday?! yeah. with help from hpe, we can finally wo

michael crowley, senior of foreign affairs correspondent for politico and politico.com. good to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> your colleague has a second page story on politico tonight. the headline is trumped syria with flash in the first paragraph reads in a span of one week, president trump had a team appear wetted from declaring that serious murders dictator could state in power to launch an air strike against his regime and possibly commit a united states to a new military conflict. this is designed to send a message. it's all in the plan. to. >> yes, but it says just a huge message about what he thinks about america's latest statement from this administration a few days ago that assad wasn't really a problem we are concerned with and he could stay in power. this is something donald trump had been saying for 18 months or more. when someone like marco rubio would say on a big stage dur prd to get aside. trump would start talking about how we have all these stupid adventures in the middle east and we wasted so much money. we be better off with assad empower the

also later tonight,ct former national security advisor michael flynn is offering to testify if he's granted immunity. monica crowleyas a reaction. all of that, plus counsel to the president kellyanne conway will join us in the studio on this busy friday newsnight. r investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. ♪ strike a pose ♪ your eyes work as hard as you do. but do they need help making more of their own tears? if you have chronic dry eye caused by reduced tear production due to inflammation, restasis multidose™ can help... with continued use twice a day, every day, one drop at a time. restasis multidose™ helps increase your eyes' natural ability to produce tears, which may be reduced by inflammation due to chronic dry eye. restasis multidose™ did not increase tear production in patients using anti-inflammatory eye drops or tear duct plugs. to help avoid eye injury and contamination, do not touch the bottle tip to your eye or other surfaces. wait 15 minutes after use before inserting contact lenses. the most common side effect is a temporary burning

michael flynn and the president tweeted... this comes after reports say that flynn is willing to testify in front of the house and senate intel committees in exchange for immunity. joining is now at reaction, monica crowley we continue a jay sekulow from a legal perspective. monica, you were there with general flynn. what happened to him i don't think is any doubt was a violation of the espionage act and a felony, many other laws were broken, we will ask jay and a second. i think general flynn wants to say what he has to say because he has a victim of a crime here. >> general flynn, sean, is now a private citizen. he is perfectly entitled to seek whatever protections he can going forward. look, i think the reality is none of us know the back story here. if general flynn has already been solicited by investigators, this request for immunity makes perfect sense. if he hasn't yet been approached by investigators, perhaps he's trying to accelerate the timeline somehow and look, since we know none of the back story and details, perhaps none of this has to do with rush at all. perhaps there are some other things at play here. the bottom line is that general flynn is entitled to these protections and they also