mueller in exchange for leniency. mr. mueller's team could investigate the prospect of mr. dowd made pardon offers to thwart the inquiry, although legal experts are divided about whether such offers might constitute obstruction of justice. we're going to dive into that very question with one of the journalist whose shares a by line on this report as well as two of our smartest national security and justice analysts. "the new york times" investigative correspondent mark joins us. jeremy bash, former chief of staff at the cia and pentagon now an msnbc analyst. and frank fa glues i, former fbi assistant for counter intelligence and also msnbc analyst. here to help us break this down. >>> mark, let's start with your state your naming reporti stunning reporting and the significance it represents in the potential object strustruct justice case we all understand bob mueller to be contemplating at least. >> what we reported was that last year john dowd, until recently was a lawyer for president trump, reached out to the lawyers for both manafort and flynn. and at least broached the

is ready to shut mueller down. two republicans in the senate say that would be a disaster. >> well, as i said before, if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of this presidency because we're rule of law nation. >> talking to my colleagues all along, it was once it goes after mueller, then we'll take action. i think that people see that as a massive red line that can't be crossed. so i hope that that's the case and i would just hope that enough people would prevail on the president now, don't go there. don't go there. we have confidence in mueller. i certainly do. and then i think my colleagues do as well. so i hope that the pushback is now to keep the president from going there. >> and this just a few minutes ago from arizona's republican senator john mccain. he tweets special counsel mueller has served our country with honesty and integrity. it's critical he be allowed to complete a thorough investigation into the interference in the 2016 election unimpeded. let's go to bore ris sanchez. the

mueller. should we believe that when the president seems to suggest the opposite? a former senior adviser to the trump campaign joins us next. i was out here smoking instead of being there for my son's winning shot. that was it for me. that's why i'm quitting with nicorette. only nicorette mini has a patented fast dissolving formula. it starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. every great why needs a great how. every great why mayor maybe they're justnts posinan ordinary couple.uple. either way, this room came at an unbeatable price. no one looks out for you, like travelocity. with price match guarantee, you'll always wander wisely. 7joining her daughter'st tyoga class.ut she was thinking about her joints. but now that she's taking osteo bi-flex, she's noticing a real difference in her joint comfort. with continued use, it supports increased flexibility over time. karen: "she's single." it also supports wonderfully high levels of humiliation in her daughter. karen: "she's a little bit shy." in

and in the case of bob mueller, i like bob mueller. he's honest. he's a very good prosecutor. he's straightforward. and i think it's not going to indict the president and i think the president should treat it that way. it would be the stupidest thing the president could do is fire him. yeah, he could do that, but he's not going to do that. and he shouldn't do that. >> reporter: now, wolf, orrin hatch also told me that he does not support legislation to protect robert mueller and neither does senator lindsey graham, at least not passing something right now. and that's notable because lindsey graham is one of the sponsors of two bipartisan bills to protect robert mueller. he just told me just moments ago, he does not believe they should move on this right now, because he does not think that robert mueller will be fired. also, john cornyn, the number two republican says he does not think it's necessary to pick that fight with the president. and you're hearing some frustrations with republicans about the republican leadership's stance on this, including mitch mcconnell, who has be

mueller. in a series of interviews with cnn, sam nunberg vowed to defy a grand jury subpoena saying of mueller, i am quoting now, do you think i would ever talk to that moron? closed quote. he thinks mueller probably has something on trump and that another aide, carter page, may have clued with russians. nunberg states there were no collusions by the trump campaign. we will talk about breaking news and more with congresswoman jackie speer of the intelligence committee and correspondents and analysts standing by. jessica, sam nunberg is daring robert mueller to arrest him. >> reporter: he is. he flat out told cnn he is not planning to cooperate. nunberg was a short-lived campaign adviser being fired early on, but still took the liberty today to speculate that june 2016 trump tower meeting, but nunberg still insists there was no collusion. tonight, former trump campaign aide sam nunberg says he will refuse to comply with a grand jury subpoena that asks him to turn over documents and e-mails exch

why is does the mueller team ha have. does anyone think this is fear and yet there's no collusion. >> it's factually incorrect, of course. robert mueller is a registered republic republican. >> rod rosenstein? >> rod rosenstein is a registered republican or appointed by a republican. chris wrays mueller has to go to get his mandate expanded or e l evaluated. and these nine that are registered as democrats, they're not going to let their party affiliation interfere with their fact-finding mission. so just because you're registered democratic or republican, it goi's going to de your view or elements of the law. it just defies reality. >>> lawmakers want answers now from facebook following allegations linked to the social media juggernaut. they have risen their interviews to 15,000 people. >> the leader of cambridge analytica says he's willing to speak to the special prosecutor and the fbi. the information comes from his own e-mail sent to his fellow colleagues at cambridge university. colin montgomer cogen's company provide

>>> happening now, breaking news, mueller moves in. cnn has learned that special counsel robert mueller has subpoenaed the trump organization for business documents as part of its russia investigation. with this look now at the trump family's business empire, has mueller crossed the president's red line? >>> sanctioning russia -- the trump administration announces punishment for moscow's meddling in the 2016 election, singling out more than a dozen russians already indicted by the special counsel robert mueller. why did the administration miss congress deadline by a month and a half? >>> friend or foe -- as president trump moves closer to blaming russia for the poisoning of a former spy, the white house won't say whether the president, vladimir putin, is an ally or the enemy of the united states. why unwilling to call him out? >>> and deadly bridge collapse -- a walkway collapse, crushing cars and trapping the people inside. rescuers are working frantically to reach the victims. what caused the span to come crashing down? >>> we want t

mueller's questions. special counsel robert mueller is reportedly saent the presidet a list of questions. given the comments and questions drgs mueller touch a nerve? using stolen date. a a whistle blower claims that they harvested the information some of 50 million facebook users without their knowledge or consent. and serial bomber. after a fourth bomb explodes in austin, texas, injurying two people. police confirm feefthe fears of residents. who is behind the attacks? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." president trump goes on the offensive against special counsel, hiring a former u.s. attorney had a has tlaalleged t president is being framed by the fbi and top officials there. that comes after the president called out robert mueller by name for the first time. amid sharp warnings by key republicans. the white house insist they are not planning to fire mueller. i'll speak with joakim castro of the intelligence committee. and our special. is are standing by with full coverage. let's begin

don't ever mess with director mueller. he'll crush you. >> the other thing mueller has are the business records and tax returns of donald trump for a good number of years. >> you think he has tax returns, carl? >> there is no question in my mind whatsoever. am i 100%? i'd say 99.9% sure and that's been suggested to me by people who should know not in mueller's office, you got to remember, this investigation has been going on for a good while. i don't think there is any question about it. i think all of these business transactions, if donald trump jr. once said, most of our money, i don't want to misquote him. i will paraphrase him about how much of our money in the trump organization has come from russians, ethno--russians from russia. this has been the source of the financing of the quote trump empire as it were for years and years and where all this is leading is this question of whether or not there was influence over people in the campaign or in his, in trump's family or business organization by the russians and muelle

>> president trump attacks robert mueller. >> are you done with robert mueller, mr. president? >> tonight donald trump formally joins the plot to stop the mueller investigation as he also hires a new attorney. and as republican lead sayers mostly silent. >> if you van innocent client, mr. dowd, act like it. >>> plus -- >> to your knowledge, did the trump campaign in 2016 use that improperly accessed data? >> bombshell new reporting on the trump campaign's data analytics operation. >> this is a company that really took fake news to the next level. >> explosive new details about the kind of operation cambridge analytica was handling. and why facebook's handling of a massive data intrusion. >> i understand that facebook was how donald trump was going to win. >> when "all in" starts right now. good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. new reporting tonight that president trump's lawyers are now turning documents over to special counsel robert mueller in hopes of limiting the scope of mueller's interview with the president. that news comes in the wake of the president unleashing

did mueller just cross the president's red line? stay with us. you're in "the situation room." almost $800 when we switched our auto and home insurance. with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual, you could save $782 on auto and home insurance. and still get great coverage for you and your family. call for a free quote today. you could save $782 when liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance. and i recently had hi, ia heart attack. it changed my life. but i'm a survivor. after my heart attack, my doctor prescribed brilinta. it's for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. brilinta is taken with a low-dose aspirin. no more than 100 milligrams as it affects how well brilinta works. brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. in a clinical study, brilinta worked better than plavix. brilinta reduced the chance of having another heart attack... ...or dying from one. don't stop taking brilinta without talkin

so we do know under mueller's f.b.i. that he did such horrific damage running off thousands of years of experience, years later, after one f.b.i. agent had such pangs of conscience that an innocent man, ted stevens, was convicted when he s 100% not guilty, the agent that was the whistleblower had been run off from the f.b.i., that had to have been with mueller's consent. he was removed from every criminal case, which means you need to get out because you're thegoing to have a job, yet agent kepner, who was in charge of the investigation, manufactured evidence, hid ed, according to these reports, she was still working in the criminal division of the f.b.i. so when anybody talks to me about how fair and ethical and upright robert mueller is, i don't buy it. i've seen the damage he did to the f.b.i. i've seen the damage he created by not allowing his f.b.i. agents to be trained to recognize radical islamists. oh, sure, after the f.b.i. got otice under mueller that tsarnaev, the boston bomber, had been radicalized and he was

cross with mueller. line a long time ago. i'm talking about the president of the united states. these tweets about mccabe, the tweets about the russian investigation, calling it fake news, attacking individuals. we're already, in my opinion, having just written a book about the constitution, i think we're dangerously chose to this already. i think the president is doing something that no ceo of a fortune 100 could do. can you imagine the ceos getting on and tweeting about one of his senior vps and saying, you know, 90 days to go until his retirement and then the guy gets fired. they would throw him out of the company. wee crossed the red line a long time ago. >> you have to take his tweets seriously because he fires people by tweet. news happens, major international foreign news policy happens by tweet in this presidency. he mentioned mueller by name in his tweets when he lashed out this weekend. >> yes, he did. and the reality is, the truth is the president of the united states would dwarf himself stand

trump is attacking mueller by name. the mueller probe should never have been started and there was no collusion and there was no crime. trump adding later, why does the mueller team have 13 hardened democrats, some big crooked hillary supporters, and zero republicans? then this morning, just to punctuate the point, a total witch hunt he writes in all caps, with massive conflicts of interest. >>> and if the president's state of mind wasn't clear from those tweets alone, the associated press issing in recent days, trump has fumed to confidants the mueller probe is going to choke the life out of his presidency if allowed to continue unabated indefinitely. if he is concerned the investigation is moving to the west l wing, he has cause to worry. mueller has focused on events since the election, not during the campaign, in his conversations with trump's lawyer, suggesting that mueller is zeroing in on the president's potential efforts to obstruct justice. all this just days after we learned that mueller has crossed what the p

well, mueller, the seychelles meeting is of great interest to mueller's team because it's also investigating any foreign money or foreign assistance fueled the trump campaign. and he's looking at how trump officials during the transition and the early days of the administration communicated with foreign officials. and this was seen to be one of the first meetings where that was done. where there's communication, it's a back channel. >> right. and this, this fact of mueller looking at it gives a greater context to the period of time that goes well beyond the campaign to whether the instrumentalities of the transition of government were abused, something that mike flynn pled guilty to lying about. and your reporting keys in on that very important part of it. thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me on, ari. >> still ahead, after months of pressure, the white house now responding to an adult film star. our break down still ahead. ry d. earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag. two united club

mueller interviewed mccabe about comey's firing.e gave mueller memos that he kept about his interactions with trump. trump started attacking mueller by name on twitter. what does that mean? most republicans stayed silent, a firm used private information from facebook without users permission. the president ramped up his legal fight with a porn star stormy daniels and vladimir putin won re-election. can you believe it? he could not lose. he could not lose that race. got all that? welcome to "morning joe." with us on set, we have columnist and associate editor for the washington post david ignatius, former white house press secretary to president obama and now nbc news political analyst joshne

there's no secret here he happens mueller gone.g him back but he wants him gone. so the question when you talk to attorneys you talk to people who say, a, he's allowed to fire these people. and b, he's not quietly -- you can obstruct in public i presume, but he's doing this very publicly. there may be other things he's doing that we obviously don't know about and that is what mueller is looking into, particularly in these questions, for example, about what trump knew about general flynn's conversations with mastercard kislyak, did trump try to cover that up when he said he first learned about those conversations from the vice president mike pence? so this has to unravel here. >> john dean, i mean when president trump uses the term witch hunt, i mean i talked about this with carl woodward, nixon sees witch hunt insides say. what parallels do you draw, and president trump when he see michael wolf's book goes into a rage when he sees it on tv, but what parallels do you see here? >> i tweeted that when i saw that headline, too. what i

you see the president going after bob mueller. there's agreement bob mueller is doing his thing. to be determined. chuck shuker wants republicans to stand up and say there is red line. are you and other republicans prepared to say yes, in fact, that needs to happen? >> i don't think there's any republican that has come out and said the president should fire mueller. the house republicans have said we found no collusion or we found no -- >> they packed things up a few months ago. >> at half-time and saying he won the game. >> the senate is still continuing their investigation. led the process play out. ultimately at the end of the day when the president is vindicated by the mueller investigation, we can sit easy and the countries will move on. >> doesn't seem like the president is resting easy today. >> richard st. paul, julia maxwell, thank you very much. >>> a hulu series called "the looming tower" looks at the rivalry between the cia and the fbi in the leadup to the september 11th attacks. i talk to ali soufan who tried to stop the attack and also lawrence wright the pulitzer p

attacked mueller.s attacked potential witnesses and called the whole probe a fraud and claimed it is a witch hunt. based on what else we know about cobb and dowd, they've been trying to find ways for president trump to avoid sitting down with robert mueller. perhaps out of fear their client might purger himself. but the president today reiterated his desire to sit down for an interview. here he is at a signing ceremony at the white house today. >> would you like to testify in front of special counsel robert mueller, sir. >> thank you. >> bottom line, the president appears to have lost faith in his legal team after all they've told him the probe would be over by now. that he had nothing to worry about. and it also appears the president wants to fight. it is what he knows. it is what he's done in the past in these situations. he just added this lawyer -- who insists the investigation is based on a giant conspiracy. >> there was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate hillary clinton and if she didn't win th

robert mueller is a republican. nine members of mueller's team have donated to democrats. the bigger donor to democrats, attorney james quarrels, also gave to republicans, jason chaffetz and george allen. as a private citizen, donald trump gave money to then senator hillary clinton. attempting to undermine the legitimacy of the investigators shouldn't be surprising. he's been undermining the larger institution now for months. >> well, it's a shame what's happened with the fbi, but we're going to rebuild the fbi. it will be bigger and better than ever. but it is very sad when you look at those documents and how they've done that is really, really disgraceful. and you have a lot of very angry people that are seeing it. it's a very sad thing to watch. i will tell you that. >> that was back in december and the pattern of course continues. today he brought in a new member of his legal team, joseph digenova, who you might remember for pushing some conspiracy theories about the fbi trying to prevent the president's election. >> they tried to frame an incoming president with a fal

so no surprises from mueller at this point. i think he's doing what a good prosecutor would do. >> i think juliette feels a similar way, i don't want to speak if you, if you don't believe that's the case say so. let me ask you about rick gates, can i or do you want to respond first? >> i totally concur. >> rick gates became close to president trump's friend tom barrack, who is a man who introduced paul manafort to the president. do you think there is scrutiny on tom barrack as well? >> absolutely. only because you have to assume that gates is talking about sort of how he came to the campaign, how manafort came to the campaign and what did they do once they were in the campaign. so anyone in the orbit now is going to be a subject of inquiry by a really smart team of lawyers working on this investigation. and so what that tells us if we gist step back is, remember how this started, this started with donald trump's team saying there were no contacts with the russians. we are past that. that is a dead, lying story now. we are at a

is the president, are the lawyers all now going after mueller? >> alex, remember, president trump's own lawyers told him that this investigation would be wrapped up by the end of last calendar year. but we see the investigation is going forward in full force and is not losing any steam. we also see through the president's tweets that that's getting under his skin. now, this is the first time, i believe, that he's called out mueller by name. and remember, that's against the advice of his lawyers, who have said, don't attack the special counsel personally. remember, they're trying to negotiate how and when trump sits down for an interview, and if, with mueller, who's trying to get that face-to-face meeting while the lawyers are exploring things like written questions or alternate kinds of interviews. this is a precarious moment and you can see his frustration coming out. >> for sure. alexi, do you think the president is just trying to undermine mueller, the investigation there, or can we say, with the interpretation here, that he's actually laying

mueller is a republican. i don't know the political leanings of any of the other members, including jim corals. although it's been if the paper that he contributed to a democrat. that's irrelevant to the facts he finds, and to the indictment he may bring. during watergate, our press officer, jim doyle, actually asked the three trial lawyers, including myself, to talk to the press, which was very unusual. but to talk to the press about what we were, what our backgrounds were, because he believed the people needed to know us in order to trust the results that we got. it was strange to do, but we did it. and obviously america believed the results of our outcome. >> sounds like from what you're describing there's a political insulation around a team like this. and i wonder how fireproof it is. what you hear comments like those from chuck schumer today calling up for republicans to stand up, are we at a point where we need that to happen? is there a need for them to be buffeted in some way for politicians to stand

if you look at the actions mueller has taken in the case, i think mueller would like nothing better than to put somebody in jail over contempt or failing to comply with the subpoena. he tried to set examples with paul manafort, he's trying to send messages to everyone that he is serious and that he's going to treat no one with kid gloves. i think he'd be perfectly happy to take sam nunberg if sam holds out and doesn't comply with the subpoena. if he finds a new lawyer he suggested in the interview his lawyer was going to dump him. i'm sure that's in the offing. if he finds a lawyer he's going to say this is not an optional thing. you have to comply. if he sticks to his guns, i think robert mueller would be happy to make an example of sam nunberg and put him in jail. it would be the best thing that could happen for him and send a message to everybody else we're not screwing around here. >> you agree? >> indeed. this is an opportunity for mueller to send a true message for people who are quite frankly much bigger fish. >> right. >> if they don't cooperate. i'm also intrigued, nicolle, of t

that's bob mueller. in total the four guilty pleas for false statements which range from the low ranking volunteers like george papadopoulos or alex van der zwaan, people not heard from much in the public realm to mike flynn to most recently rick gates who lied while trying to cut a plea deal. so when you take it all together, maybe they kept lying because they thought some lies are okay and in life, that can be a legitimate and larger debate, depending what's going on. but in this case, bob mueller's made it pretty clear, when you don't tell him the truth, it's not just a lie, it's a crime. ha, something needed to be done about what was going on in our inner-city. instead of buying a house, we decided to form this youth league. these kids mean everything to me and i just want to make sure i give something positive to do. ♪ ♪ wow, that's amazing. that's a blessing right there. to know that someone out there cares and is passionate about what we're trying to do in our communities. you excited? yes. yeah,

we have confidence in mueller. i certainly do. >> in a statement, speaker paul ryan's spokeswoman wrote, as the speaker has always said, mr. mueller and his team should be able to do their job. but most other republicans remain conspicuously silent, including mitch mcconnell. and while concerned trump may be considering drastic action towards mueller inspired some tough talk, it has translated into very little. the "washington post" reports that some republicans rallied around mueller, there were no indications they planned to take legislative steps to protect mueller. the report adds it has been almost eight months since lawmakers introduced a pair of bipartisan bills to prevent trump or any president from being able to order the firing of a special counsel without a reason that can pass muster. well, back in january, mcconnell dismissed the need to take up such legislation. let's listen. >> my understanding is no effort under way to remove the special counsel. therefore, i don't see any need to bring up legislati

mueller? it looks that way from his tweets. >> as i said before, if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of the presidency. >> senator mccain weighed in from arizona where he is receiving cancer treatment. mueller has served our country with honesty and integrity. it's critical he be allowed to complete the thorough investigation into the russia's interference in the 2016 election unimpeded. it is unclear if the lawmakers will make a move before they recess for two weeks. >> the tweet came after his personal lawyer john dowd praised to end the mueller investigation. last night counsel ty cobb said the president is not considering or discussing the firing of the special counsel. >>> andrew mccabe is gone, but not forgotten. fired by attorney general jeff sessions late friday night. a day before the retirement and full pension for mccabe. the move not well received even by most republicans. >> i don't like the way it happened. he should have been allowed to finish through

mueller. >> i like bob mueller. he's honest. he's a very good prosecutor.d be the stupidest thing the president could do. >> i think there would be total upheaval in the senate if that would happen. >> if you're innocent, act like it. >> this is serious. firing the special prosecutor. >> can you say saturday night massacre? no, this would not be a smart thing to do. >> the leader may say he's not going to do that. they've said they're not going to do that. a couple weeks ago he said he wasn't firing tillerson. >> it would be an archibald cox moment. >> preemptively we ought to say that again. don't do it. don't go there. that's a red line you cannot cross. >> how many of those are running again? >> not many. not many. >> how many of those support donald trump? >> all of them, they're not running. so it's not a little profile in courage there. but i would say about legislation, the president would have to sign it. oh, lindsey graham is. the president would have to sign this legislation, so it wouldn't go anywhere anyway because then you'd need to override th

let special counsel mueller figure that out.u believe, as we found, there's no evidence of collusion, you should want special counsel mueller to take all the time and have all the independence he needs to do his job. >> okay. republican congressman trey gowdy there, an intel committee member on the new call by the president's personal lawyer, john dowd, for an end to the mueller probe. let's bring in republican strategist, noelle nickpoore, elowna menkosky, a writer at salon, maya harris, former senior policy adviser to hillary clinton's campaign, and democratic strategy morris reid. wow, it's an all-star lineup, okay. we'll start with you, noelle, here. do you agree with the congressman? also, were you surprised that this came from this particular congressman? but that the president and his lawyers should lay off the attacks against the special counsel? >> 100%, alex. i agree 100%, because it makes sense, and also, consider the source. i mean, this is trey gowdy. this is a guy that was leading the investigations with benghazi.

instead, we see mueller tightening the screws. what are you hearing from the white house about today's news? >> well, what i understand is they're not happy, but they are trying to have a face of, you know, we're going to do what we have to do and still trying to keep this winning picture, we're okay with it. but they're not. what we understand, what i understand from sources, is that some trump organization personnel will already talk to like the president's assistant, rhona. we understand information may have been obtained from her as well. this is not something new. the trump organization has been touched already. this is a little bit deeper so this revelation is not necessary revelation. it was basically about when would it happen? what more would they want? they already touched some people in the trump administration or trump organization, i would say. >> jack, i mean, you're a great tap dancer. thanks a lot. appreciate it. thanks to all of you. >> he danced in harlem once. >> with you. >> and recently without you. >> thank y

dowd, act like it. >> reporter: they caution trump against firing mueller. >> once he goes after mueller, then we will take action. i think people see that as a massive red line that can't be crossed. >> if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency. >> reporter: president trump renewing attacks on james comey while going after mccabe, questioning reports that he documented his interactions with him, calling muck contain's memos, quote, fake. a source tells cnn memos are now in the hands of mueller's team and are seen is as a way to account his firing last may. pheub contain's attorney issuing a statement saying, quote, we will not be responding to each childish, defamatory, disgusting and false tweet by the president. the whole truth will come out in due course. the president called it a great day for the fbi. former cia director john brennan blasting the response saying when it becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced dem gag in the dust bin of history. you may scapegoat andy mccape, but you will not destroy america. senators in

trump's anger at mueller figure into all of this? >>> and we're also getting new details right now on stormy daniels' polygraph test as the porn star is now tweeting about her alleged affair with the president. ♪ vof hundreds of families, he'se hmost proud of the one the heads he's kept over his own. brand vo: get paid twice as fast with quickbooks smart invoicing. quickbooks. backing you. hey, sir lose-a-lot! thou hast the patchy beard of a pre-pubescent squire! thy armor was forged by a feeble-fingered peasant woman... your mom! as long as hecklers love to heckle, you can count on geico saving folks money. boring! fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. and taking cared abof the boys.e zach! talk to me. it's for the house. i got a job. it's okay. dad took care of us. >>> breaking news tonight. the white house is defending president trump's congratulatory phone call to russian president vladimir putin in the wake of his reelection. but many, including some top republicans, they are bitterly criticizi

he went further about the mueller team's process and about donald trump. >> i know mueller, i know the whole team and they're right and they probably have something on trump. trump did something pretty bad. i think they were interested with something with his business. >> with his business. did they ask you how he ran his business? >> yes. by the way, i have no idea what he did. >> nunberg went even further at appearance on cnn to a later point to suggest whatever it is the president might have done could have an impact on the president's preferred news network. >> by the way, you're going to be fine when it comes out what he did, but people like sean hannity, lou dobbs, they're going to be very embarrassed when it comes out. >> the white house, however, is dismissing nunberg's claims about any potential case against this president. >> i 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

to fire mueller means he would have fired other people in the justice department above mueller. means he would have multiple vacancies. and i know the white house has been warned there is no possible way you're getting numerous high ranking justice department official officials in a scenario like this. it would be unprecedented for republicans to do something like this. to basically grind a presidency to a halt. and i think the president and the white house have been advised of that. it would create just a situation that i don't think he wants to -- he wants to open this door. >> gentleman with, thank you soefrp. when we come back hope hicks leaving the white house today. and the president told by allies he doesn't need to replace her. but with so much chaos swirling there, doesn't he need a communications director more than ever? ♪ ♪ wake up early, o. ♪ slap on some cologne ♪ i'm 85 and i wanna go home ♪ ♪ just got a job ♪ as a lifeguard in savannah ♪ ♪ i'm 85 and i wanna go home ♪ ♪ dropping sick beats, they call me dj nana ♪ ♪ 85 and i wanna go don't get mad. get e*trade, kid

so he is out there now taking on mueller, which is exactly what dowd did not want him to do. >> can muellery end this case without questioning the president? >> well, he ultimately doesn't want to, and he's going to try every way he can including subpoenaing the president. one way to stall the controversy is simple, which is take the fifth. say, my answer's may incriminate me. say it privately and publicly, well, the only reason i took the fifth because this investigation is so outrageous, but if he takes the fifth, mueller has no legal options. he can't go to court and say, you know, the president is, you know, resisting subpoena. every citizen has the right to take a fifth. that remains a possibility as a way to get the president out of this. >> until the president gives a spontaneous news interview and actually does reveal information like he did with lester holt, so, i mean, that's the thing with the president as said. the attorneys know what nay are walking into, but in a sense, they don't know what they are walking into because they don't know which side of donald trump they get, depe

but because rick gates is cooperating with the mueller investigation team, we should presume that mueller knows the content of those conversations. >> mark, along the way we're all getting a master's degree in contemporary russia. and we've learned that so many people who come up in the news are hyphenates, part-time oligarchs, part-time government types, part-time spies. tell us about this man suspected to be person "a" with the for most of us the unpronounceable name and what's known about him? >> consta tin worked with paul manafort and gates for years in their work as part of the pro-russian government there. he was a business associate, he kept ties with manafort and gates really up to the end. and the question has been exactly how directly is he tied to russian intelligence? there was always suspicions of that, his background, that he may have had past ties. but the significance of the document today is that mueller and the fbi believes that these ties are pretty current. and to go to something that mieke said, if you go to the papadopoulos case, you go to the famous trump tower inc

mueller. >> once he goes after mueller, then we'll take action. i think that people see that as a massive red line that can't be crossed. >> it is beyond the pale of presidential conduct having the president of the united states attacking the institutions investigating him. and yet to your point, the majority leader quiet, answers these questions only when forced to answer these questions. the speaker answered through his spokeswoman only when people called up and said, do you have any reaction, not stepping forward. they're afraid of the president. if they anger the trump voters, what dissidence will that cause throughout the trump primaries. then to the midterm election year, they're always looking down here and not up here. are you looking up here and not down here to the republican party? >> maybe, but the people who didn't speak about condemning these attacks, there is a bill that could put out that would put any decision of any order to fire the special counsel would have to pass muster of three federal judges. lindsey graham is cothe co-aut

and mueller has said otherwise. now i think the president is reacting to that and that's why we're seeing the possibility of change in the competition of his team and that's why we see the tweet storms. it's just a man enraged by this investigation. maybe that's fair because he doesn't think he's done anything wrong. but as trey gowdy said just a moment ago, if you're innocent, you're better in this case letting the proposition play out and have it be proven that you did nothing wrong. >> michael zelden, david gregory, thank you very much. >>> how far are lawmakers willing to go to protect robert mueller and why is mitch mcconnell so silent on the president's attacks? we'll ask rick santorum next. do what i did. ask your doctor about humira. it's proven to help relieve pain and protect joints from further irreversible damage in many adults. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years. humira can

should thank god for mueller. nobody should want mueller out right now, no rational person. >> turner to former fbi director andrew mccabe fired hours before his retirement. senator marco rubio reacted this morning with this. >> i don't like the way it happened. he should have been allowed to finish through the weekend. that said, there's an inspector general report that's due and work that's being done and after he had retired, that report would have indicated wrongdoing or something that was actionable there are things that could have been done after the fact, but 48 hours to go before retirement, i would have certainly done it dempb differently, given the fact there's still that report that hasn't come in. >> norm, we heard from mccabe's attorney voo hevia we're not go respond back and forth with the president. how else, in your view, could this have been handled? >> fred, thanks for having me back, and the mccabe firing was handled the wrong way. you ought to have let the inspector general report come out, let

mueller? >> as i said before, if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of the presidency. >> senator mccain weighed in from arizona where he is receiving cancer treatment. mueller has served our country with honesty and integrity. he should be allowed to complete the investigation uni munimpede. so far, the efforts have stalled. it is unclear if the lawmakers will make a move before they recess for two weeks. >> the tweet came after his personal lawyer john dowd praised to end the mueller investigation. last night counsel ty cobb said the president is not considering or discussing the firing of the special counsel. let's check in with boris sanchez. >> reporter: dave and christine, the president is taking this stand against not only the special counsel, but he tweeted about the fbi and the department of justice and the state department as well. at least one white house official, the director of legislative affairs martin short, defended the president because the russia in

mueller. >> what dots do you think he would help connect?well, obviously there has been a lot of connections between individuals in the trump administration and the trump campaign and russia. that is the purpose of the mueller investigation. and it is important that mr. mueller now be able to have full access to all who have information to see where it leads. to see whether there is anything that needs to be further investigated and to draw a conclusion. >> let's get to a little bit of other bombshell today that has gotten buried with all of the other news and this is the times reporting that state department has yet to spend any of the $120 million granted to fight russian meddling. why is that? >> katy, this is outrageous. we know that -- that mr. putin has attacked our country in the 2016 elections and we know that he's using misinformation and cyber against our democratic institutions. and that is why congress on a very strong bipartisan vote authorized additional funds to be spent in order to protect ourselves and why the appropriators

mueller was dismissed. a source close to the witnesses told me today that it's annoying that the president doesn't leave his people alone. he doesn't seem to appreciate that everything he says to people except his personal lawyers will have to go back to mueller, the source said. joining us now to discuss how these conversations between the president and these witnesses ended up on the special counsel's radar and what that might mean for any investigation into potential obstruction of justice is the reporter who broke this news, michael schmidt. >>> michael schmidt, it's a stunning account of the circular nature of donald trump's misdeeds. the legal no-no for anyone who watched l.a. law, i don't know what your legal coming of age drama was on tv. but anyone who knows how witnesses are supposed to act after they've testified knows that you don't ask them what they said about you. so, talk about how this got back to mueller in the first place. >> when folks learned about this, they thought it was concerning b

mueller, i believe. and unless congress makes known their intention, that is, not to allow this, and i listened to sheldon whitehouse, who i have great respect for, talking about the two resolutions, there should be a third. it's a doomsday resolution. if you fire mueller, if you take steps to impede his investigation, then we will support an impeachment resolution. >> and i think as you're saying, obviously, there is not that will right now, at least not with the number of votes that we need to do so. we just don't have that. julie, according to this reporting tonight from "the pos post", trump's team -- the documents that they are handing over, right, they're handing over, richard's using the word pretext, but they're handing them over because they don't want him to have to do an interview. and "the post" is saying they're worried that the president could make erroneous claims. i guess that's the way that they would put that maybe what other people would call something else, and that he would be vulner

mueller iii to a few select topics. trump has told aides he is champing at the bit to sit down for an interview. kristen welker reports a source tells her there's ongoing communication between the president's legal team and the special counsel, which includes turning over some documents. our senior white house correspondent hallie jackson tonight tells us the two legal teams met recently and regularly; in order words, they've been talking and continue to talk. as we mentioned, donald trump has hired another lawyer for the team handling the russian investigation . he is joseph digenova. he made public his allegation of a fbi justice department plot against the president. >> make no mistake about it, a group of fbi and d.o.j. people were trying to frame donald trump of a falsely created crime. they were going to exonerate hillary, and they were going to frame donald trump. what they have done to the department and the fbi is undermine the confidence of the american people in federal law enforcement. it is disgraceful and