ken dilanian, i want to get your thoughts on mike schmidt's reporting and the mike flynn sentencing. >> i think it's fascinating we're hearing this story now, nicolle. it suggests the stenlt to which rod rosenstein has had it. he's at the end of his rope. our colleague julie ainsley said he was having late night phone calls with friends and was resigned to the fact he might be fired. here i stand. this is recorded further evidence. the fact folks are willing to disclose this. it's not surprising. i remember talking to pete williams how rosenstein's appointment of mueller was in a sense his way of trying it get some of his reputation back after being so badly used in the comey firing. and now we're seeing sort of the details of that. but it's absolutely clear a that he is at the end of his rope and yesterday's hearing was just the latest kpamt luis palomino of that. >> and, ken dilanian, let me get you to switch topics for us. i know you have some thoughts on the sen 10%ing of the delay of mike flynn who pleaded guilty and is a cooperating witness. he's on team america now. >> right.

from "the new york times" mike schmidt. joyce vance former u.s. attorney now law professor at the university of alabama. david chris, assistant attorney general for national security. and with us at the desk washington lemire for the associated press. joyce, let me start with you you and i talked about this witness tampering investigation or allegations against paul manafort. what does it mean? what are today apartmen's indic against paul manafort and constantine mean for those men and the investigation itself? joyce? joyce, can you hear us? joyce can't hear us. let me ask you to pick up the same question, david chris. what do these charges from -- i'm sorry, against paul manafort mean for the special counsel investigation? >> well, the first thing they mean is that paul manafort is in deep trouble and it's only getting deeper. these two new charges that have been added, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice, are as you

from the "new york times," mike schmidt, joyce vance, former u.s. attorney, now law professor at the university of alabama. david chris, former assistant attorney general for national security and with us at the desk, jonathan lemire, white house reporter for the associated press. joyce vance, let me start with you. i believe we talked about this witness tampering investigation or allegations against paul manafort. what do today's indictments against paul manafort and konstantin kilimnik mean? joyce can you hear us? joyce can't hear us. let me ask you to pick up the same question, david chris. what are these charges from -- against paul manafort mean for the special counsel investigation? >> well, the first thing they mean is that paul manafort is in deep trouble and it's getting deeper. these two new charges that have been added -- obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice are as you said based on the same facts that were used by mueller to try to revoke his bail so to put him in jail pending trial and that's because he and kilimnik

mike schmidt answered we don't know. informed speculation suggests he could be a crucial witness in this question of whether the trump campaign coordinated with the russian election interference. he came into the campaign with significant russian ties. he earned money from a russian stooge and during the campaign, evers trying to monetize his service by offering private briefings to a russian oligarch, deripaska and he was in contact with george papadopoulos that young aide who was told that the russianss had hacked democratic e-mails before that became public. one of the questions is did manafort discuss the trump tower meeting with donald trump. >> was there any discussion what the russians did to help campaign? donald trump didn't use e-mail. for mueller to get the evidence what trump knew when he needs witness testimony. i think that's one of the reasons he's pressing so hard, he wants his testimony about meetings with donald trump. >> caroline, as a defense attorney, from a strategic standpoint, if you're paul manaf

and, josh, because you've been around a while, when you read about in mike schmidt's story the genuine despair, that list of modifiers and emotions we used at the top of the broadcast, how does that strike you? >> well, i know that a lot of rosenstein's friends were mystified by the situation that he found himself in, in may of last year. he's a veteran bureaucratic operator in the justice department on nearly three decades. so this is not somebody wet behind the ears, unfamiliar with the interaction between the white house and the justice department and how to manage it. and so there ended up being two camps. a number of people thought that rosenstein had just made a serious error in judgment in how to handle this situation. and some others thought he had made some kind of deal that it was some effort to ingratiate himself by writing this letter, to ingratiate himself to the white house for reasons that are not entirely clear. i think partly as a result of that one week or so in may, he finds himself really in a faustian bargains here that has caused all this problem between him and r

joining us to discuss theday's developments some of our favorite reporters and friends mike schmidt reporter for "the new york times" paul butler former federal prosecutor now georgetown law profeor. bet betsy woodruff reporter for the daily beast. in washington, couldn't get him here, jonathan swan political reporter for axios. let me start with you, paul butler. the idea that bob mueller who years, his term was extended worked for democrats and fbi directors do, would be leading a team trying to frame the prt of the united states. that seems to be outlandish even in tse outlandish times. >> yeah, and if you're political, for the record, he's a republican as is his boss rod rosenstein. so what this is about is attacking the prosecution i guess because they feel like they don't have another defense. and seally their defense is this extraordinahat nothing the president could do would constitute obstruction of justice, and that he has the ability to pardon himself. so, they're trying to poison the well. it's really the tv lyer, rudy gi is doing job, but e scary thing is it's working with a cer

what could paul manafort give mueller, and mike schmidt rightly answered we don't know. but informed speculation suggests he could be a crucial witness in this question of whether the trump campaign coordinated with the russian election interference because he came to the campaign with significant russian ties. he earned tens of millions of dollars from a ukrainian politician who was essentially a russian stooge. and during the campaign, he was trying to monetize his service by offering private briefings to a russian oligarch, oleg deripaska. we know he was in contact with george papadopoulos, that young aide who was told by a russian agent that the russians had hacked the democratic e-mails before that became public. so one of the questions is did manafort learn about that? did he discuss that with donald trump? did he discuss the trump tower meeting with donald trump? was there ever any other kinds of discussions about what the russians, what help the russians were offering to the campaign. don't forget, donald trump didn't use e-mail. so for mueller to get the evidenc

with us is mike barnacle, and steve ratner and richard haase. heidi przybyla, michael schmidt. great group to start off the week and so much to get to. >> well, there's so much to get to. and you listen to what rudy giuliani said over the weekend. there's so many things that are disturbing. team that with the letter they wrote that actually the president and his lawyers believe that the bedrock american principle that no man is above the law, no woman is above the law, no person is above the law, they actually believe for the first time in u.s. history for a president it does not apply to them. and by the way, they are kidding themselves and will be let down horribly if they ever decide to try this on, take this, put wheels on this and take it out for a spin to the supreme court. they will be slaed down every bit as much as richard nixon in 1973 and 1974 and if you don't believe me, go to the supreme court. you may get one. you may get two votes. that's it. you will be run over because this supreme court does not believe that any person is above the law. >> well, i think someon

axios's mike allen has a look at this morning's one big thing and "morning joe," the take-away from the doj inspector general report. and jim comey's decision. >>> and "the new york times'" michael schmidt the mueller probe. and richard blumenthal weighs in with his take on the report. can you love wearing powerful sunscreen? yes! neutrogena® ultra sheer. unbeatable protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer with a clean feel. the best for your skin. ultra sheer®. neutrogena®. until her laptop her sacrashed this morning.eks, having it problems? ask a business advisor how to get on demand tech support for as little as $15 a month. this week get boise case paper for only $29.99 at office depot office max. the blade quality you'd expect from gillette... at a price you wouldn't. the new gillette3 & gillette5. available now for $7.99 gillette. the best a man can get. woman: it felt great not having hepatitis c. it's like a load off my shoulders. i was just excited for it to be over. harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. it's been prescribed to more than a quarter million people and is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who have

schmidt can tell us how much katrina had an impact on not only george w. bush's approval rating but the people who worked inside the bush white house. mikeren being taken away from their mothers, the stories of four-month-olds being in michigan, young four-year-old girls being driven up from the border up to new york, it's going to have an impact. i've been waiting for the gallup poll to come out, he was in the 30s for most of his presidency but he moved up to 45% and i thought would lose some support this past week. gallup poll came out and he falls back to 41%, still slightly higher but obviously all of that momentum screeched to a halt and went back down which i was pretty sure was going to happen. this is barbaric a policy and too ruthless of a move to use four-month-old children as political pawns in a negotiating trick. >> i agree. i agree but this is a huge, sprawling, interesting, diverse country and it's also a very comfortable country and we are separated from a lot of the anxious in the world still by a couple of oceans and we sit each day and we see people and as david ignatius indicated last hour, if you step back from what'

mike schmidt and kyle varner, our amazing commodities and livestock team who understand the ins and outs of farm policy like nobody else. they have done so much to improve our dairy programs, expand risk management tools to specialty crops, and support new and beginning farmers. ashley mccann who led our work on the conservation pile to expand our partnership programs. she brings her warmth, her personality, her expertise to the job every day. sean beddington, our forestry and environmental expert, has impeccable negotiating skills that we rely on daily and he helped us get to this point to have a final farm bill as well. thanks to both ashley and sean, our country will have healthy forests, more wildlife habitat, and clean waters for generations to come. katie nathans whose hard work led to the major advances in this bill for urban agriculture, organics, beginning farmers, and veterans who want to go into agriculture. i'm so proud of the farmer veterans program in michigan. kevin bailey led our efforts on expanding high-speed internet for rural communities and on the rural development a