it's a big deal, michael schmidt, nice exclusive. talk to us about why the mueller tale may have asked for a -- did a subpoena instead of asking they will to hand over documents? do we have any indication whatsoever that they weren't cooperating with the handing over with documents? >> that's one of the real questions here, why he went with a subpoena. it's the second time we've seen him go with a

michael schmidt, stay with us. let's add the table. joining us eli stokols, alyssa, former chief of staff for the obama white house, a lesion jordan, msnbc analyst, time columnist and former aide in the george bush white house. in d.c. never introduced before this moment, eugene robinson. phil rucker will be back later in the show. let me come back to you, eugene, on this idea that donald trump cannot even act appropriately or presidential as a client, of lawyers who are trying to keep him perhaps not out of jail, but from being implicated in an obstruction of justice charge. >> you know, i am of two minds on this because -- no, he can't control himself. he can't keep from doing that. he has no impulse control. on the other hand, however, we're talking about the president of the united states as if he's a 2-year-old. he's not a 2-year-old. he's a president of the united states. and he has a responsibility. he, i'm sure, has been told that you shouldn't talk to these witnesses. and so he knows he shouldn't do it and he does it anyhow. s

let's begin with tonight's "new york times" piece and the coauthor, michael schmidt, who is with us by phone tonight. michael, it seems to me there are two competing concerns here in your story. trump's concerns over what was asked and what was said to the special counsel, and the concerns of those who are hearing trump is asking about what happened with the special counsel. >> there's a longstanding expectation and advice that folks who are in the center of an investigation should not speak, either with prosecutors or with witnesses, as it could create an appearance of trying to interfere with an investigation. and the president has disregarded this, disregarded it back in february 2017 when he spoke to jim comey about the flynn investigation, and now as the investigation intensifies, engaging with reince priebus about his interview, engaging with don mcgahn about reports that mcgahn had been told by trump to fire mueller. and if you're someone who is concerned about the appearance of obstruction, these types of things would alarm you. >> you point out in the story, you and maggie do,

. >> michael schmidt of "the new york times" reports robert mueller sent the president's lawyers said questions he would like to ask. michael joins me by phone. the president's mood has shifted. get us up to speed on the latest if you would? >> a new tone from the president in recent days. obviously he's been very upset about the russia investigation, but they've really ramped up their attacks. the president was unnerved by the disclosure there was a subpoena that was sent to the trump organization by the special counsel. and the president thinks that the mccabe incident shows that there is corruption at the fbi. people around him say he's had enough of the special counsel's investigation, and there's nothing that he did wrong and it's cast an enormous shadow over his presidency that he's speaking out in a way he hasn't before. his lawyer, john dowd, wanted to make that statement, has been the one negotiating with mueller's office for the past several months about an sbuchlt now he'll have to go back to negotiations have haven't been finalized after calling for the office to be closed

jointing us at the table michael schmidt, and frank figliuzzi. national affairs analyst john heilman, and a.b. today art, with real clear politics. ashley, you've just come from the white house briefing. i want to get your thoughts on sarah huckabee sanders's response. >> the former campaign aide is refusing a subpoena by grand jury. he just said on msnbc moments ago, i think he, meaning the president, may have done something during the election, but i don't know that for sure your reaction? >> well, i definitely think he doesn't know that for sure because he's incorrect. as we've said many times before, there was no collusion with the trump campaign. anything further on what his actions are, he hasn't worked at the white house, so i certainly can't speak to him or the lack of knowledge that he clearly has. i'm not going to weigh into somebody that doesn't work at the white house. i can tell you from our perspective we are fully cooperating with the office of the special counsel. we're going to continue to do so. and i'll reiterate once again, th

efforts going on. >> definitely want to get your reaction, clint, to "the new york times" piece michael schmidtdowd who was the president's attorney was floating the idea of pardoning michael flynn or paul manafort. what do you make of that potential that happened last year? >> it's not surprising, but also this is the other part of the mueller investigation, which is obstruction. and when you look at that, how do we normally go about obstruction case to build it? was there evidence that was tampered, suppressed or omitted? were there witnesses that were pressured or offered quid pro quo. a pardon could be a measure and so you start to dig into that. when was this brought up, what were the discussions maybe with manafort and i think flynn was the other one noted in there. and how might have that have been used as bait to keep them from really working with the mueller team? if that's the case, if that's what they were considering, that could be very substantive to an obstruction case. >> last question, the time we have left, we haven't yet talked about the new attorney who has joined the trump l

. >> msnbc national security contributor michael schmidt is one of the reporter who's broke the story for the "new york times." first, let's talk about the timing and the context under which these discussions happened. >> so this happened last summer. this was at a time that mueller was building his cases against manafort and flynn. this was when they were trying to figure out what evidence the government had. and there was concern within the president's circle about what cooperation from these two would look like. particularly by flynn who had been around for the entire campaign and obviously for the first three weeks in the white house before he was fired. >> okay. but so the context is that the cases are building. there's a worry i guess that they're going to talk. and dowd is talking to flynn's lawyers and manafort's lawyers individually and sort of floating the idea what if the president were to pardon you? >> dowd had the lead in dealing with both of these lawyers. they had non -- they had basically agreements to work together to strategize and share information together. and it

reporter for "the new york times," michael schmidt. jonathan swan and staff writer for the atlantic natasha bertrand. thank you all for being here tonight. i hardly know where to begin from the events that have unfolded over this past week. but, pete williams, can you layout for us what exactly is going on behind the scenes at the fbi? there's so much noise, so many accusations flying. but cut through it. what are the most important things that we should be focused on here? >> well, i think the most important things are the work that chris wray is trying to do to sort of reshape the fbi. now, the whole thing with andrew mccabe, remember, was sort of set in motion before chris wray became director. and what we saw as the maturation of that in late friday. it all began with -- in october of 2016 when andrew mccabe did an interview with a reporter for the "wall street journal" who was asking about, he was trying to check out what he had heard which was that the fbi was slow rolling an investigation of the clinton foundation. so, he called

michael schmidt, let me start with you. first, your reporting on this attorney who was in the white house, in the oval office, meeting with the president, story the white house tried to cloud up a little bit after the fact. who was he and what is the significance? >> well, the sort of first phase of this investigation is coming to an end and that was the one led by ty cobb. that was the production of documents setting up of interviews between white house officials and the special counsel. most of that has been completed, so the president now has to prepare for whatever the next phase is. that is obviously the interview and then if mueller decides to do anything. and there is a sense in the white house that the president needs a really experienced person that knows what these things could look like to be in place. and a lot of people think emmet flood is that person. he's someone that represented vice-president cheney, as you mentioned he did represent clinton during impeachment. he is a veteran washington lawyer with a lot

"new york times" reporter michael schmidt is with us.n new york, tv's willie geist, of course, along with msnbc contributor mike barnicle and president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass. we have a lot to get to and i know right now we have a little bit of a competition with bob costa and david ignatius. they both want omarosa's job and they want to make a pitch to the president right now. who wants to go first. no, we won't do that. >> please. >> oh, my gosh, who's the next to go, the question is that. because this is now the white house "apprentice" style. and the question is who is president trump going to say "you're fired" to next? we'll start with the shakeup in president trump's legal team. michael schmidt and your colleague maggie haberman reporting in the "new york times" that trump has recently weighed outloud to close associates whether he should dismiss his lawyer ty cobb. cobb is the lawyer on the team who pushed for a strategy of fully cooperating with the special counsel investigation. and that appears to n

michael schmidt, "new york times" washington correspondent. his name among those five byline on this the "times" report we just mentioned. we welcome to our broadcast carol leonnig, political investigations reporter for "the washington post" and pulitzer prize winner. hers was among "the washington post" bylines today. michael and carol, both msnbc contributors. for good measure also with us is jeremy bash, former chief of staff at cia and pentagon, former chief counsel to house intel, and an msnbc national security analyst. welcome to you both. michael, since you were first on the board, what was the most important part, in your view, of your own reporting, and is anyone alleging that mr. dowd was freelancing on his own without permission from his client? >> well, that's really the question at the heart of this. was dowd simply out just talking, just trying to feel out the lawyers and try and make a deal here himself? or was he doing it at the president's behest? that's the real question. what did the president know and when did he know it? p

michael schmidt will be a guest coming up on "morning joe" later this morning. >>> so the white house has imposed sanctions on russia for interferesing in the 2016 president equal election and other cyber attacks. it's the first time the trump administration has retaliated against russia for enter the feerns and the most significant action the add men administration has taken to date against moscow. 16 of the 24 were recently indicted by robert mueller. steve mnuchin says in part, quote, the administration is confronting and countering a line in russian cyber activity including their continued interference in russian elections and critical infrastructure. these targeted sanctions are part of aed broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from russia. russia is condemning the move saying it's tied to close internal american infighting and russia's upcoming presidential election adding that the authors should better talk about their own madness. >>> and among the cyber attacks specifically outlined, last summer's attack conducted by the russian military and was th

michael schmidt with the "new york times" with the big story. thank you. >> thanks for having me. >> stepping back for a moment, this reporting has two three lines. the first is the president talking to the mueller witnesses. the second is what we've been discussing, what we're learning about the probe itself and this likelihood that don mcgahn will continue to provide information that's adverse to his boss, donald trump. for more i turn to joyce vance, a former federal prosecutor from alabama. thanks for being here tonight. >> thanks for having me, ari. >> when we know that don mcgahn has to play more than one role, he has the duty to the commander in chief and give him advice in that role, but also has a legal duty to comply with the special counsel probe, what do you see in this story that you think don mcgahn is likely to provide to mueller? >> it's an interesting question. mcgahn has the duty of candor in response to mueller. so in response to questions that are posed to him, he must be truthful, like anyone else, he testifies in front of a

it is michael schmidt and a nbc news national security contributor. ichael, today you said in firing dowd the president is looking for some silver bullet that he thinks this -- what is it? what does he think that silver bullet is. >> it is not what he's done since last summer when dowd came on. dowd came on with ty cobb and they sold the president on a strategy of cooperation. the sooner we cooperate, the more documents we give, the faster this will be over. it will be over by the end of the year. the cloud will be lifted. obviously the end of the year came and went and it is still going on. >> i don't understand how the president fell for that. when we would hear that strategy, every story whether it was your reported story or what we did on air, we would say history indicates we don't know why they think that. like it is hard -- the facts didn't match it. how did they snow the president for so long. >> i think this was a bit of baby-sitting. they were deeply concerned the president would fire mueller and doing everything they could to wait him out. t

jonathan turley and new york times reporter michael schmidt who had another big scoop. >> what's new. >> he'sincredible. >> mike, we could talk about so much right now, but first let's talk about day five of the president. i guess it's day five. maybe even more than that, that this stormy daniels news has frozen the president of the united states yet again. this is yet to happen. i know i was critical of the legal techniques stormy daniels' lawyer was taking but if you look at it through the -- through the lens of politics, my gosh, this guy has done to donald trump and stormy daniels as done to donald trump what donald trump was able to do to people like marco rubio and jeb bush and other political giants for a year and a half and that is freeze them, tongue tie them and get them trying to fig dwrur out, how do i respond to this because he has no response and he's hiding. >> you have that exactly right, joe. the lawyer for stormy daniels is doing to the president of the united states and the presidency exactly what donald trump did to nearly every republican candidate during the prim

let's go right to "the new york times" michael schmidt. he joins me now by phone. michael, great job as always. just walk me through what you and the times have learned. >> last summer has muller was building his cases against flynn and manafort, dowd went to their lawyers and broached the idea of a pardon with them. dowd has told people that he believes the case, particularly against flynn, is very flimsy. the president has long thought it was not a real case. and that there's no reason for these guys to plead as they should, you know -- that they did nothing wrong. now, the question is, is that was dowd speaking for the president? people that know dowd find it hard to believe he would go out and free-lance on something such as important as this subject. it raises the questions about whether the president was trying to influence the investigation. there's been many questions from day one that have come up about the president's efforts to interfere with this investigation. this is yet another one. >> you also are talking about how the lawyers, mr. trump's lawyer, mi

michael schmidt broke this a few minutes ago, bring us up to speed on what you have learned.ew lawyer? >> reporter: the president is looking to bolster his legal team. you are coming into a new junkture here, it appears he is taking a much more aggressive stance towards the special counsel and the degeneva has been someone that attacked the special counsel, gone on fox news, pushed different theories about the president was framed, had seen him on television the president likes people that had advocate him on television. it's a good way, he will be added to the team. i don't think he will be taking a lead role. but it will be another lawyer to help the president as he moves along here. >> what do you ung this does to the dynamics of the legal team key white house, given the fact the president over the weekend when you look at his tweet storms and there was this miscommunication if you will, saying on the one hand the mueller probe -- his attorney saying the mueller probe should be disbanded and coming out and having the same time saying, no, nobody at the white house is conte

thank you ashley parker, michael schmidt was on the phone. i thought he was on a ship to shore phone. peter baker, eugene robinson and david jolly. the legal battle between adult film star stormy daniels and donald trump. she says the nondisclosure agreement she signed isn't valid because the president didn't sign it. do trump and his attorney have a fighting chance to keep her quiet? that's ahead. plus, more new details about the russian investigation as robert mueller's investigators digging into secret meetings between trump allies in the say shell islands. the uae and the trumps threat of a trade war opened up a gaming rift between the president and many republicans. and it could smother over the economic message they hoped would cut their losses in this year's midterm elections. the happy talk about the tax cut ain't so happy right now. finally, something that happened 507 years ago next week. this is "hardball" where the action is. ng for a house. but one day we're sitting there and we decided that, something needed to be done about wha

. >>> i want to bring in michael schmidt, robert driscoll and our panel for the next 57 minutes, nancy cook and deputy news editor alexia both friends of the show. you heard kristen lay out the nuts and bolts of your piece. tell us why you found it significant to publish this information and what you understood and took away from these conversations that the president had with don mcgahn? >> central figures in investigations are always told to avoid speaking to either prosecutors or witnesses. nothing good can ever come out of it because there can be a perception that they're trying to meddle in things. obviously we know the president tried to do in february of 2017. he tried to talk to james comey about the flynn investigation. we learned about his discussions with witnesses. in these cases he's talking to witnesses about matters that they had discussed with the special counsel in the case of priebus. priebus lightly going over some of the topics they covered. in the case of mcgahn strongly pushing back on our reports about the fact that mcgahn had told mueller that he had asked him t

it's a big deal, michael schmidt, nice exclusive. talk to us about why the mueller tale may have asked for a -- did a subpoena instead of asking they will to hand over documents? do we have any indication whatsoever that they weren't cooperating with the handing over with documents? >> that's one of the real questions here, why he went with a subpoena. it's the second time we've seen him go with a subpoena, he recalls one with steve bannon and ultimately they worked out an interview. in this case, the trump organization not being responsive, or there's something larger here, this was first subpoena we know about that relates to the president's businesses. obviously it's a business he built as the backbone for his arrangements as to why he was going to be a good president. there were a lot of search materials in the subpoena, some of them relating to russia and the trump organization has to produce them. >> you also write they are looking into donald trump's deal or potential deal or attempted deal to bailed trump tower moscow. from m

where is this heading right now based upon michael schmidt's amazing once again done it, he's showing a subpoena being delivered to the corporation which trump heads about business dealings including business dealings with russia. he's at the gates with this. >> right, and that's the reason that the president's attorneys are so concerned about him sitting down for an interview with mueller and his team from watching that footage that you showed of the president saying over and over again, he had never had any sort of business interactions with russians, it's clear trump is fluid and comfortable saying things that are not true over abover. >> what's miss universe if it wasn't a business transaction? >> what was this multipage document about potentially having a trump tower in moscow. >> what about papadopoulos getting sent on an errand over there. >> exactly. the fact that trump and the people close to him said there was nothing there when there was is the reason the president's lawyers are so worried about him sitting down with mueller under oath in a situation where if he says someth

and michael schmidt. kristen welker, start with the news of john dowd's departure. you spoke with imhad just moments ago. give us a sense of why now and what's sense this sort of change in strategy within the president's legal team? >> peter, we have confirmed this report broken by "the new york times." i spoke to john dowd very briefly. he confirmed he resigned. when i asked him why he wouldn't give any details. he said just tell people i love the president and wish him very well. now of course, this move comes, peter, after all of the shakeup that you just mapped out and also after that weekend statement by john dowd in which he effectively called for the special counsel investigation to end. a lot of people say that was a green light for the president to go on the attack against the special counsel. so we saw all of these tweets. the president really taking aim at special counsel robert mueller. and from the perspective of a number of people within the president's legal team, it was a departure from the initial strategy that had been mapped out which was to not g

you've broken so many stories this past year and i refer to you in a column as the ubiquitous michael schmidt because you are at the center of so many of these things and breaking down what exactly are they being awarded for perhaps it was written in a particularly good prose style it gripped the reader's attention like an action novel or another good work of fiction here's what the head of the polk award said miss smartphones and social media we have never had more access to information and yet truths. is more lucid for an ad for the polk award honor truth the new york times did write a correction like any good news paper and earlier version of a photo caption with this article gave an incorrect middle initial for paul man a for it is j. not d. that's what you call honest journalism at least when it comes to initials. r c new york. it's a for the oh well just you think you got a handle on how big it is a new bit comes along two russian peoples have discovered a new island in the arctic that's been exposed by a retreat in glass they spotted this formation while analyzing satellite images of t

that's our thing. >>> joining us now new york times reporter michael schmidt. id the president freak out when he got the questions? is that the bottom line of your reporting? >> i don't know if he freaked out as much as he's sort of feeling emboldened. the president is feeling increasingly comfortable where he is as the commander in chief. he's sort of flexing his muscles a bit. this is more about that than it is about anger. and i think the president realizes finally the severity of this, how serious it is. and i'm not sure he's exactly going -- knows how to get out of it. he does hate firing people. i think he understands the costs that could come with getting rid of mueller. >> so tell us exactly what happened, the tick-tock, of the questions and then the response to it. and is it possible he did not recognize the severity of this until now? help me understand. >> well, we think they've had the questions for some time, but what we're told is that on thursday we reported about a subpoena that had gone to the trump organization. and this raises the sort of long

michael schmidt story this morning about -- >> the witnesses?itnesses, yes. >> as you know, the president talked to two people, don mcgahn, the white house counsel and reince priebus who was in the chief of staff about what they had talked about with mueller and while the view is that this is not considered witness tampering, it still does not look good. when the president asked his chief of staff, how did it go, were they nice to you? he's not supposed to be looking into this. >> it sounds like the loyalty oath question which is a question about a lot more than it sounds. >> elizabeth, before you go, we want to mention a great new project that the "new york times" is launching this morning. since 1851 the "times" has published thousands of obituaries. the vast majority chronicling the lives of white men. in fact, even in the last two years, only about 20% of the subjects were women so this morning on international women's day the "times" launches "overlooked" a new project to reverse those numbers. i love this. this is such a window into histor

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he said so in a conversation with the new york times with michael schmidt. >> is that is a red line? >> i would say yes. >> now, of course, today's subpoena is russia related and not personal but with the trump organization, with personal and business, well, that's a blur. by the phone who shares the by line on the story today with magg maggie haberman. >> anderson, the first time we know of a subpoena for these kinds of documents. it does not mean it is a first one. this one contains a number of search terms including one. one person pointed out to me that it could be all manner of things related to trump. it do what it does tell us is the probe that the president's legal team had told him would be done by december or soon after he would be cleared not only if it is not ending any time in the next couple of weeks, we are stretching into the summer here. the president being clear is not coming any time soon. this gets into his business. he had told my colleague and me on july 2017 that he would consider mueller going into his personal finances to be acrossing a crossing of a red line

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. >>> coming up, michael schmidt will have more on this. >> this could potentially clear a path for trump to meet with robert mueller. people familiar with the process say the move is part of the preparations for a type of interview with the special counsel. joe digenova is expected to play a key role in discussions with mueller's office about a presidential interview. the president, mean wile, reaffirmed his willingness to meet with the special counsel yesterday. >> mr. president, would you still like to testify to special counsel robert mueller, sir? >> thank you. i would like to. >> joining us now from washington, capitol hill reporter for the hill molly hooper. molly, good to have you you with us on this friday morning. so we saw democrats voice their concern that the president might try to have mueller filed during the process. given what you just heard from steve bannon that the president is about to go to war changing up his legal teams, give us a sense of how people are viewing the threat of possibly firing special counsel robert mueller. is this gaining more traction on those wat

carol and michael schmidt, "new york times," both of whom are msnbc contributors. chael, i'll start with you. what is going on over there? >> well, in many ways, i don't think it's that surprising. the president had a lot of turmoil during his campaign. three campaign managers. had a lot of turmoil at the white house. two chiefs of staff, a bunch of turnover at the senior levels there. so when we saw the things happen, the legal team in the past few days, i didn't find it that surprising. this is a president who thrives on chaos. people underneath him tend to mimic his behavior. and that's what we have seen play out. so it didn't strike me as that unusual to see such a dramatic thing where the president's lead lawyer, the second lead lawyer he's had in the special counsel's investigation, is now moving on at such a critical juncture when they have to decide whether the president is going to sit down and speak to mueller. >> carol, there are these two schools of thought on the president's behavior. there's sort of cunning and canny and full of guile sort of, you know

. >> in july, you sat down with the president, along with your colleague michael schmidt from the "new and asked what the red line would be for him. so here's a moment of that. >> mueller is looking at your finances and family's finances unrelated to russia. is that a red line? >> is that a breach of what his actual charge is? >> i would say yes. >> would that cross the line for you is what you were asking. it sounded to me, you were there. correct me if i'm wrong. you introduced that concept to the president. so he was mulling, pardon the pun, that as he was answering it for you. >> our understanding, though, is he had mulled it prior to our entering the oval office. it wasn't the first time he thought about it. >> that stands to reason, yeah, i think. it wasn't a definitive yes, that would cross a line for me. >> the president tends to leave a lot of things open ended. for him, everything is a negotiation. >> what's the difference whether or not they originated from him or originated from his own head? he had been talking to people about how he better not come too close to me. >> bec

people it was a new york times interview, i believe this summer with maggie haberman and i think michael schmidt where the president said the more mueller get news his personal finances or his business that would be a bridge too far. well, my guess is that is why he had to do a subpoena. >> right. and he -- the question was whether it would be too far if it was unrelated to russia and he -- so there was that piece. and we know this subpoena is russia related but also other things. and we don't know specifically what they are. i think this -- the potential for this to set the president off is so high. the white house already is sort of like this powder keg and has been in the last week and this is just -- this is exactly what the president said he didn't want. and in that interview it said, would you consider firing mueller, would that lead you to fire him if he went in this direction and i said i don't have to worry about that because he is not going to do that and clearly he is and i think the team knew he was looking into his businesses but this subpoena is very tangible and something very har

michael schmidt and adam goldman, a couple of them, our colleagues here at msnbc. we thank you for your reporting. >>> when we come back we turn to the collusion case that special counsel bob mueller may be closing in on. we'll show you what one reporter describes as the most direct line to date between russian intelligence and trump associates. >>> also ahead, i did not have sexual relations with that woman, stormy daniels. we'll delve into the danger of deposition ands sex scandals. and more on today's breaking news on those discussions about pardons for mike flynn and paul manafort. stay with us. before i had the shooting, burning, pins-and-needles of diabetic nerve pain, these feet... grew into a free-wheeling a kid... loved every step of fatherhood... and made old cars good as new. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer, so i talked to my doctor and he prescribed lyrica. nerve damage from diabetes causes diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is fda approved to treat this pain, from moderate to even severe diabetic nerve pain. lyrica may cause serious alle

michael schmidt, for your report. >>> up next, one of the firms that helped power the trump presidentialign is in h hot water tonight accused of stealing private data from more than 50 million facebook users. this appears to be of interest to mr. mueller. and this is "hardball," where the action is. hello. let's go for a ride on a peloton. let's go grab a couple thousand friends and chase each other up a hill. let's go make a personal best, then beat it with your personal better than best. let's go bring the world's best instructors right to you. better yet, let's go bring the entire new york studio - live. let's go anytime, anywhere, with anyone who's willing. and let's go do it all right here. ready to go? peloton. so, i needed legal advice, and i heard that my cousin's wife's sister's husband was a lawyer, so i called him. but he never called me back! if your cousin's wife's sister's husband isn't a lawyer, call legalzoom and we'll connect you with an attorney. legalzoom. where life meets legal. >>> welcome back to "hardball." cambridge analytica, the data firm hired by jared kushner,

i want to bring michael schmidt into the conversation from the "new york times."achel maddow and the massive chart she has behind her where she lists off every person who has left the administration, i'm not sure if john dowd makes the list because he's not techn technically on the inside. michael, i'm stunned by this. what have you learned? is this john dowd's doing, or is it the president? >> it's not very surprising that this has gone on. dowd has been very frustrated for several weeks with the president. the president was said to be frustrated with dowd's handling of the statement over the wo weekend. the president picking up the baton from dowd once he stepped aside and said he wasn't speaking for the president. the president launching his own attacks. the president is channelling his george steinbrenner here. he believes there is a silver bullet and that a new lawyer, a new head person, will have the magic sauce to get this problem of bob mueller away from him. legal experts will tell you it is a bad idea and a bad strategy, but it can't be that surprising,

michael schmidt, thank you for your reporting. we're grateful to have it. we're grateful to have you. when we come back, a growing outcry of the increasingly belligerent russia. the trump administration finally issues sanctions but is it too little too late? and the deputy director of the fbi a frequent target of the president's mean tweets and a key witness to potential obstruction of justice by the president is fighting for his job this hour. we'll bring you the latest. >>> and that breaking news out of miami, we'll have a live report. stay with us. you know what's awesome? gig-speed internet. you know what's not awesome? when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. >>> almost one month to the day bob mueller indicted 13 russians, the trump administration imposed sanctio

philip rucker, michael schmidt, harry litman, thank you very much, we appreciate it. >>> when we come "deadline white house," the news of a stormy daniels lie detector test. plus a decision in a lawsuit brought by another trump accuser. dear foremothers, your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands... commanded armies... yielded to no one. when i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. my name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. now with 5 times more detail than other dna tests. order your kit at ancestrydna.com now with 5 times more detail than other dna tests. i accept i don't i even accept i i used thave a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. but no matter where i ride, i go for my best. so if there's something better than warfarin, i'll go for that too. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis had both. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your ri

jim, law professor at george washington university, jonathan turlly, new york times reporter michael schmidt. jim, let's start with you based upon a couple of those clips about this interview that's already taking place, 16 minutes. is it going to go on or not? >> well, 60 minutes says it has no plans to stop. there's speculation yesterday that maybe cohen the president's lawyer would file some sort of injunction. that would be like a first amendment class of the highest order. so at this point, all plans -- all systems are go. >> jonathan, could you measure grade please michael cohen's aptitude as a lawyer for sending out these e-mails on trump organization e-mail? >> well, first of all, the use of the e-mail is probably the least of his problems. i mean, the most challenging client that michael cohen may have will be himself. there's a very good chance he'll be subject, in my view, to some form of review in terms of his conduct in this matter. he tripped wires all over the place. i mean, if you go through -- i have a column out today in "usa today" going through just five or six of the eth

that's michael schmidt and maggie haberman.hat's the impact of that development in the mueller investigation? >> well, i think the impact is significant because in a criminal investigation you don't just vacuum up, ask for, or subpoena anything. you subpoena things that you think are relevant to the crimes you're probing and we have never -- i know there's been a lot of mueller news -- we have never seen a report about a direct subpoena hitting the trump organization so it tells us, number one, bob mueller thinks there are things there that could be relevant to the probe, that there are things relating to russia or the other items under investigation that involve the trump kpaenl and ux two, he's not doing this in a low key way and saying send it over, he's doing in the an aggressive way saying you have an illegal criminal organization and anyone in trump org to from the lowest i.t. person to the highest attorney can be exposed if they don't cooperate. >> donald trump said before it was just sort of one of these off the top of

this is michael schmidt. maggie haberman writing the special counsel in the investigation has learned of two conversations in recent months which president trump asked key witness about matters they discussed with investigators. according to three people familiar with the encounters, in one episode, the president told an aide the white house council should issue a statement denying a "new york times" article in anuary saying -- host: the "new york times" story did add and talked to legal experts saying that mr. trump's contact with the men most likely did not rise to the level of witness tampering but witnesses and lawyers who learned about the conversations view them as a problem and shared them with mr. mueller. that's the story on the "new york times." deshaun in washington, d.c., your experience with the new tax law. you're next. go ahead. caller: hey, you know, honestly, i feel like it's benefitted me. and, you know, for a lot of the callers on the line who say, well, i don't know, this is negatively goi

this is michael schmidt saying as the president heads into one of the critical phases of the special investigation, the personal team has shrunk to one member. working for a president is seen leaving lawyers have spurned overtures to take over the defense of mr. trump. -- havee talked any blocked any talks fearing a backlash that would hurt business. the president was two lawyers and just the past four days. one had been hired last monday, three days before john dowd quit after determining the president was not listening to him. mr. trump was also considering a's wife, butgenov she is not joining that team. why don't you say we have a russian in the white house? wasn't trump also campaigning on infidelity, even after the election? now everyone is saying it doesn't matter. host: to the interview, what did you think of it? it.er: i didn't hear i cannot comment on it. tony, marietta, georgia. caller: i think she basically thatou know, a prostitute is selling her story. get real. to we know morality left the white house in the 1960's with kennedy. is just an extension of what has been go