to phil rucker, tam malral keith, eugene robinson. coming up, it's a role no president enjoys. some presidents are better at it than others. a look at trump's response when tragedy strikes, when we continue. his remarks there after the we condemn this display of bigotry and hatred on many sides. >> for a leader who seems for the most part to be able to maneuver through controversy, his remarks there after the deadly crash in charlottesville shook even the president's closest allies by saying there were good people on both sides, knowing that one of those sides were nazis and white supremacists. president trump faced and failed his first test as a uniting voice. now after nearly 700 days as president and many tragedies later, donald trump has continued to miss the mark as consoler in chief. >> now, i hate to tell you, puerto rico, but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack because we've spent a lot of money on puerto rico, and that's fine. you put it in dirty water. would you drink it? >> sure. >> really? >> if there was an armed guard inside the temple they would have b

so phil rucker, he came startup organic way, saying things the boss liked. what do you make of what appeared to be an attempt to distance himself and now tonight at 4:55 a.m. all the way across the atlantic an attempt to defend the guy. >> yeah, this is classic donald trump, right? as soon as one of his associates gets in hot water embroiled in controversy, trump will try to distance himself we saw it with paul manafort, the campaign chairman who he hardly knew, the personal lawyer michael cohen. trump knew whitaker very well. he had several meetings with him in the oval office according to our reporting because, and get this, trump didn't want to get briefings from attorney general jeff sessions because he didn't want to talk to sessions. so held get the briefings from matt whitaker. he's very familiar with matt whitaker. he's trying to distance himself in case there's coerce. >> whitaker has been cleared into the white house dozens of times. a lot of people noted the president just didn't look right today, that he looked angry, he looked tired, that it's b

let's bring in our panel, phil rucker, white house bureau chief for "the washington post." tamara keefe, michael steele, former chairman of the republican national committee, and eugene robin son pulitzer prize winning column winner for "the washington post." welcome to you all. phil rucker, we all witnessed then candidate donald trump's closing argument in the campaign, that the election of hillary clinton would leave us as a country kind of enshrouded in investigations and scandal and controversy. how do we get from that, the campaign closing argument, to that scene with trump and putin in helsinki? >> well, we have exactly what trump predicted would happen in the country only with a different president because his presidency has become basically covered in scandal. there's a new one at every turn. you have the special counsel investigating the russia situation, and it's not only investigating ruing russia's tih the trump campaign, trump's social works any effort at which the president said didn't happen, which is collusion, but you also have investigation into the presid

white house bureau chief for the "washington post," phil rucker kim atkins, washington bureau chief for the "boston herald." ben rhodes, former deputy national security adviser to president obama. and karin jean pierre, move- move-on.org. i want to start with you your thought. >> this is a truly appalling behavior from the president, on a scale of the worst events in the trump presidency, helsinki summit with putin. let me point out a couple things first of all, the reporting is the intelligence community has a high confidence assessment that mbs was responsible for this murder which by the way is anybody who follows saudi arabia closely would think about a team of people flying to a third country to kill someone and render them back to saudi arabia number one, that's the highest level of confidence the intelligence community can et. if that's true, trump lied about that today number two, they don't pop up out of nowhere with that to your point, nicolle, they've had information for some time, probably weeks, that led to that conclusion so the question that needs to be answered is, what

we've never seen anything like it in our history. >> phil rucker, it strikes me, after this day we've had where there have been multiple occasions to reset today and think to ourselves as we do every day, okay, that's not normal, that's not normal, that's not normal. the president heads off to mar-a-lago where the usual checks on his -- well, sometimes there are checks on his behavior and utterances at the white house. all bets have traditionally been off down in florida. what could go wrong? >> a lot could go wrong. this was a pretty busy tuesday. just a number of controversies one hour after the next. when the president gets to mar-a-lago, it's a totally different environment for him, right? he's surrounded by his friends, by loyalists but who are not in the government, his golf buddies. his sort of rich buddies in palm beach that come and have meals with him at the clubhouse. he's very loose. he gets a lot of encouragement. he can have sort of a distorted view of what's right, what's wrong, what's popular, what's not, based on his environment there and he doesn't have the staff gua

. >> here to help us with the day's developments, from "the washington post," phil rucker. matt miller, former chief spokesman for the justice department is back. joyce vance is a former u.s. attorney and john heilemann, co-host and executive producer of showtime's "the circus." he's here. all of them msnbc analysts and contributors. phil rucker, let me start with you. that appearance before the press pool today was stunning. and for everyone who thinks that donald trump shows his hand every single time, he certainly did so once again today. >> yeah, that's right, nicolle. first of all, he said he's not agitated but he wrote in all caps on twitter yesterday about the russia probe. and in sort of an outburst on twitter. so that's clearly a sign of agitation. we know from reporting that he has been spending all week with his lawyers preparing those answers. i thought it was interesting at the press conference or the press availability earlier today, he said three separate times, i wrote my own answers, my lawyers did not write them. i don't need lawyers to write my answers. b

on any given day there's a shake-up under way in the administration, too. >> phil rucker, you and your colleagues have had some of the best reporting about the president's state of mind. it's important and relevant because the american president not only holds the nuclear codes but he's also the leader of our country when he goes to europe and passes on a tribute to -- or visit to a cemetery to honor world war i veterans. he embarrasses every american. i heard today from a source close to this president in touch with several white house aides that this is the worst they've seen the president since his loss in wisconsin during the campaign. are you picking up anything today that it's taken a turn for the worse or the better? >> i'm hearing similar things that people around the president either on the white house staff, but also people who are just talking to him who are associates of his, are very concerned about the state of things right now. they've been concerned for a few days here. the president has had a pretty low-key profile. he's only been seen in public a few times this week,

joining us to talk about this are phil rucker and kristen welker, our correspondent at the white house. what is happening at the white house? the president is losing his temper, and take on the field e reporter, and even our british allies and certainly the french allies, but what is going on with ms. cardo who is the national security adviser aide even after the first lady said that she did not the deserve the honor of being an employeet ta white house? >> well, it is remarkable, because i spoke to a white house official who said that yes, she is still here today and continues to serve in the job, but the question is what happens next and what does the future hold for her, and based on my conversations with the sources, the sense is that she is not long for serving in the white house, but where will she go next? will she leave altogether the or assigned to a different agency, and those are among the quest n questions being explored here. but we saw the first lady flex her muscles really in an unprecedented way yesterday, andr andrea, when the spokesperson put out that statement effect

nbc news justice correspondent pete williams, white house bureau chief for "the washington post" phil rucker. phil is also an msnbc political analyst. and former assistant u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york and distinguished fellow and criminal justice at pace university's law school, mimi rocha. and professor at harvard law school and co-author of "to end a presidency: the power of impeachment impeachment," lawrence tribe. everyone, welcome. pete, can you walk us through this lawsuit in maryland and where it stands right now. >> sure. first off, i'm completely outclassed by the other guests it here, but here are the facts. >> you are never outclassed, pete, ever. >> the answer to your question is yes. if the trump administration loses here, i'm sure they'll try to appeal it as much as they can. here's the maryland state argument. they have this lawsuit against jeff sessions and the government over obamacare. now it's time to substitute somebody else. what they asked the judge to say is rod rosenstein should be subed out for jeff sessions because he now is the acting attorney

on the phone is one of the three by lines who broke this story tonight, phil rucker for the "washington post." phil, we know this has been a long time developing. a slow run-up, she is an acolyte of general kelly, but what did this, apparently? >> reporter: well, brian, the president has just decided, according to officials in the white house, that it's time for her to go. she is nearing her one-year mark on the job. that would be december 6th, but the president told aides over the weekend that he wanted her out very soon. he actually had a trip planned with secretary nielsen sometime this week to visit troops at the border in south texas and he decided to cancel that trip, according to officials, and has been grumbling about her for months. it's been previously reported that he berated her at a cabinet meeting. he had spoken poorly about her behind her back, and i think it's time to go. it's also worth pointing out, brian, this is a little bit mutual. nielsen has been frustrated in the job herself and she's been thinking about leaving at some point, although clearly this is going to be

so we've asked our friends michael schmidt, phil rucker, kimberly atkins and frank figliuzzi to stick around with us through this break. on the other side of this break we'll get a quick update on the last u.s. senate race of 2018. the numbers coming in tonight from mississippi. we'll go to steve kornacki at the big board. still later in this hour, after yesterday's punishing news from a great american carmaker, the president threatens to punish the carmaker back. "the 11th hour" as we said just getting started on this busy tuesday night. liberty mutual accident forgiveness means they won't hike your rates over one mistake. see, liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >>> here's what's happening. we have these twin breaking stories starting us off tonight. our panel is standing by because there is a lot more to talk about on th

so phil rucker, you get us to the effort to protect mueller. and before we talk about it, i want to play you lindsey graham on this subject tonight on fox news. >> this is a manufactured problem. president trump is not going to fire mueller. mueller's going to be allowed to do his job. and we need conservative judges on the bench, as many as we can, as often as we can get them. >> by the way, i feel duty-bound always to read this tweet from lindsey graham may 2016. "if we nominate trump, we will get destroyed, and we will deserve it." it's always kind of an evergreen that we keep in the hopper. so phil rucker, what is the takeaway value for people who are legitimately concerned? jeff flake et al. about the protection of mueller. >> brian, they're legitimately concerned that the president could at some point act to try to restrain or get rid of mueller as the special counsel. and that's why they're putting forward this legislation. flake and a number of democrats, you know, want legislation that would create protections for the special counsel.

of phil rucker, sabrina siddiqui, and shannon pettypiece. sorry, it's late already and it's just the night before. >>> coming up for us, we'll be joined by two gentlemen named steve. kornacki is here at the big board with a preview of tomorrow evening. and mr. schmidt will join us with his prediction of the kind of country we're going to wake up to on wednesday. "the 11th hour" just getting started tonight. i am a family man. i am a techie dad. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. >>> president trump is still speaking at the final rally of the midterm season in missouri tonight, and make no mistake, in addition to elections in all 435 house districts across this country tomorrow, it is a test of trumpism. no matter what he may say on wednesday, the president has been on the trail for days saying a vote for blank -- fill in

phil rucker "the washington post," and msnbc political analyst joining me now. the president adding another tweet this morning. this one is where he really kind of calls out just about everyone he's accused of being against him over the past two years. just throws them all in one tweet, sort of a mad libs thing here actually. here's the thing, this isn't the first time we've seen this from the president, he's tweeted about collusion more than 100 times since becoming president. he's only tweeted about mueller since mid-september until today. what's your sense of what's behind these tweets? >> yeah, now that the midterm elections are over, mueller's investigation is heating up more intensively, and this week trump has been considering his answers to those questions that mueller has had, spending some time with his lawyers and presumably that is the mueller probe, the russia investigation is top of mind for him. that's why you saw the series of tweets this morning. he's clearly perturbed by the state of the investigation, and the backdrop here in washington is wit

joining me now phil rucker white house bureau chief for the "washington post," michael steele formerse speaker john boehner and ron clain. let me just share with you all there is a question now still over matt whittaker's position now as acting ag. we have a new op-ed just posted in the "new york times" by none other than neal cateo and george t. conway iii who rights that it is unconstitutional, reiterated recently under national labor relations board opinion written under the appointments clause of the constitution written by justice thomas, clarence thomas. ryan clain, i will defer to you, the most senior attorney at this table as to whether it's not some of the other clauses but it's the appointments clause not the vacancy act that says that a staff officer at justice who was the chief of staff could not become, in effect, for at least seven months if he remains as acting, he has to be confirmed by the senate. >> yeah. i mean, i was chief of staff to attorney general janet reno. it never dawned to anyone that you could make the chief of staff who is not a senate confirmed person

reporters and friends from the associated press, jonathan lemire, kim atkins for the boston herald, phil ruckerrom "the washington post" and ben rhodes, former deputy national security adviser to president obama. all of them, lucky for us, msnbc political contributors. what was behind the introduction of this word decorum? recent days? >> well, one of the ways president trump has been able to go after the media by revoking press credentials from jim acosta at cnn which is something he's wanted to do for many, many months and been held back by his aides, is citing decorum. talking about reporters aren't behaving themselves at press conferences. they're not acting professionally. that they're not treating him and his office with the respect he thinks he's accorded. and so this is just become a talking point for the president and for sarah sanders and others in the white house to say that the press or reporters are just not act with decorum. of course, a tloeft president's critics say he doesn't act with decorum when he's in the white house or in the oval office or when engaging with reporters. bu

phil rucker and ben rhodes, thanks for spending time with us. >>> with the count of trump's lies reachingore than 6,000, we dissect the patterns in his mistruths. >>> when democrats take the house in january they have a slew of investigations on their to-do list. but how many is too many? our panel weighs in on the democratic strategy. stay with us. hey, what are you guys doing here? we're voya. we stay with you to and through retirement. so you'll still be here to help me make smart choices? well, with your finances that is. we had nothing to do with that tie. voya. helping you to and through retirement. i never thought i'd say this but i found bladder leak underwear that's actually pretty. always discreet boutique. hidden inside is a super absorbent core that quickly turns liquid to gel. so i feel protected and pretty. always discreet boutique. >>> in just the past few weeks, we've heard from president pinocchio that voters change their appearance in order to vote more than once. and that you need an i.d. to purchase cereal. yep. ballots in florida were massively infected and the carava

phil rucker, bureau chief at the washington post. i am skeptical. i've watched them before. think the democrats have the stuff to stop this appointment. i don't know how they yank him out of there. i think it's a fait accompli. what do you think? he's there. he's attorney general. he's awash the fbi, the probe, everything. >> even the department of justice statement says he will consult with the ethics experts who will definitely tell him he's compromised the government ethics act directs the department of justice to come up with rules for recusal. those rules say if you have a political or personal interest in a matter, you must recuse yourself. the problem, chris, is that matt whitaker is the head of the federal legal system. he's the nation's chief law enforcement officer, so he gets to decide whether that rule applies to him. so, even if they tell him, you need to recuse yourself, you are hopelessly conflicted, you said it's a witch-hunt, you said it should be starved to death, he gets to decide. >> while you're on this question of power, because i am a student of politi

. >> phil rucker is the bureau chief and political analyst for nbc news. phil, good morning. >> good morning. >> out of the gates in the he midterms, sense was the democrats did not have the rebuke for president trump they were looking but as the week rounds out, we are getting a better sense of what happened. the democrats gained more than 30 seats in the house. they won seven governorships. picked up 100 plus seats in states legislature. theit president calle victo victory. >> the blue wave has taken the come.to these are victories for the democratic party. the joke in washington is it is not christmas, but hanukkah, where you get a new gift every day. there may be more gifts with the florida and arizona votes. >> let's talk about the president. he fired attorney general jeff sessions andce repwith matthew whitaker. telld kelly talbout this earlier. he towed the line under cutting the russia instigation. i guess the question on everybo's mind is does the president put whitaker in to ein in robert mueller. >> he did, webelieve. he had been briefedly whitak

from "the washington post," phil rucker, from "the new york times," reporter mike schmidt, associated press white house reporter jon nathan lemire, fra figliuzzi, chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney and former senior fbi official. and on set, john heilemann, nbc news and msnbc national affairs analyst and co-host and executive producer of "the circus" on showtime. chuck rosenberg, i'm going to you on all things robert mueller. this was always going to be a precarious time. donald trump, whether feeling backed into a corner by democratic gains or emboldened by republican gains and as only trump could be both in one moment he seems to be. but the concern was always going to be the fate and future of the mueller probe. my understanding it's now likely in the hands of a staunch trump ally, a person more a political figure than respected legal mind and someone who has written openly about his concerns and displeasure with the duration and the direction of mueller's probe. >> that's right, nicolle. you've characterized it fairly. you don't get to be the acting attorney general and oversee

two post reporters, josh dossey and phil rucker, sat down with the president in the oval office. here's what he had to say when asked if he'll try to stop the russia investigation. quote, the mueller investigation is what it is. it just goes on and on and on, trump said. when pressed is whether he would commit to letting the probe continue until its conclusion, he stopped short of making an explicit pledge. this question has been asked about me now for almost two years, the president said, at which point counselor kellyanne conway chimed in, a thousand times. trump continued, and in the meantime he's still there. i have no intention of doing anything. well, let's bring in our lead-off panel on this tuesday night, michael schmidt, pulitzer prize-winning reporters and one of the by-lines on this latest story from the "new york times." philip rucker, bureaucrat from the "washington post" who interviewed the president the other day, and frank faluzzi, investigator for counter-intelligence who am the past has worked for and with robert mueller. robert, i'd like to begin with you. what

another question that he wanted to answer about the iranian support for rebels in yem yemen, and phil ruckerartfully dodged the question of whether he believes and garrett haake asked him if he believes that mohammad bin salman was responsible for jamal khashoggi's death, and he said that he has seen no direct evidence. there is no direct evidence, and they have cameras there and an awe owe tape, and it was damaging according to all reports, and they didn't are respond fully to the question as to why gina haspel was not there and the cia assessment, and so they are still ducking the issue. >> they r and the cia has clifred thesclifr -- delivered thes assessment t the white house that the crown prince ordered the brutal murder of the journalist. and we asked about the line of maybe he did and maybe he did and a he said that he had been spoken to the crown prince who assured him that he had nothing to do with the killing and people around mbs have assured him that he had nothing to do with it, but the cia does have an assessment about this intelligence and there is evidence linking mbs to the

i wouldn't be possible if that makes it to his twitter feed. >> phil rucker, you predicted this. i know it's not an art form, but what do you think is coming later this week? >> brian, the white house has been preparing for a pretty major shake-up on the staff of the white house and within the cabinet. you know, the midterm is sort of a natural transition point for most administrations where, you know, people who are tired of being in government service for two years will look for an exit. but that may be in overdrive for president trump, and there is some sense that a number of officials will be announcing departures or be fired in the coming days. the most vulnerable at this hour seems to be the attorney general, jeff sessions. his allies and confidantes at the post tell us he expects to be fired as early as wednesday after the election. if the result is bad for republicans, the president may want to make some changes in his administration to reset the narrative and try to look for a reboot for his presidency. because the recriminations on him personally are probably going to b

and phil rucker, my question to you, is after speaking to that person yesterday, they indicated that part of the problem -- this is according to the former staffer, is that the president at the end of the day really, when you think about it, has no friends. he retreats to the white house residence and he sulks and he's even more isolated than a president of the united states is. he is truly doubly isolated and feeds on paranoia watching tv. but other than his family -- and i'm wondering if your reporting bears this out at all, he has no friends he can rely on and call and bounce this off of. >> donald trump through the years has always had a large number of sort of associates of people in his orbit who he can call to get information from. that he can ask favors of, to shoot the breeze on the phone. but he's lacked true heart to heart confidants. you're right. there are not particularly sort of close loyal friends that he feels he can confide in with any regularity at a deep emotional level. certainly his family is that. and he has ivanka trump, you know, in washington with him. but s

. >> with that, our thanks to michael schmitt, phil rucker, jeremy barb and joyce bash for starting out our conversation. coming up, robert mueller's next step in his investigation, especially after all we've been talking about tonight. two of mueller's former colleagues are with us next to weigh in. and later, nearly 50 days after jamal ka squloig's death and dismemberment. the president is in defense of saudi arabia. "the 11th hour" just getting under way on a tuesday night. "the 11th hour" just getting under way on a tuesday night today is the day you're going to get motivated... get stronger... get closer. start listening today to the world's largest selection of audiobooks on audible. and now, get more. for just $14.95 a month, you'll get a credit a month good for any audiobook, plus two audible originals exclusive titles you can't find anywhere else. if you don't like a book, you can exchange it any time, no questions asked. automatically roll your credits over to the next month if you don't use them. with the free audible app, you can listen anytime, and anywhere. plus for the fi

. >> phil rucker is white house bureau chief for "the washington post." danny cevalas is a new dad. and my dear friend bill cohn, special correspondent for "vanity fair." phillipe, we got to go to you first because you are the man inside the white house. give us a sense of what's going on. do they think this investigation is going to shut down? we know president trump is happy that matt whitaker is there. even if he officially shut the mueller investigation down, we remember, when he was on cnn, he said you can always give it no funding so it dies. or is team white house bracing for maximum impact? >> my reporting is there's no plan to shut down the investigation at any point soon but the president is relieved to have whitaker an ally, technically overseeing all of it because he can feel a little bit more control. but there's no evidence as far as i'm aware to be shutting it down immediately. it's important to keep in mind the president is feeling other pressure. he spent this week with his lawyers trying to answer those questions to robert mueller's team. he's dealing with his own

question but we don't right now and with that on this tuesday night, our thanks to michael schmitt, to phil rucker to jeremy bash, to joyce vance for starting off our conversation. much obliged. >>> coming up for us, robert mueller's next step in his investigation, especially after all we've been talking about tonight. two of mueller's former colleagues are with us next to weigh in. >>> and later, nearly 50 days after jamal khashoggi's death and dismemberment, trump releases a statement jammed with exclamation points in defense of saudi arabia. arabia until you need it. he's not going to be okay. from emergencies to just regular life. having the right plan for you can mean all the difference in the care you get and how much you pay. don't worry, sweetheart. it's going to get better. (silence) that's why i love health markets, your insurance marketplace. they guarantee you won't find a lower price anywhere for the plans they offer. they search thousands of plants from over 200 leading companies, both on the exchange and off, to find the plan that saves you money. you may even qualify for free healt

he's an msnbc political analyst, phil rucker. we've gone from the art of the deal to the art of incoherence. you repeatedly asked him about the economy. who should be responsible for the economy? you reminded the president that harry truman had a sign on his desk that read "the buck stops here." did the president take any personal responsibility? >> no, steph. he took no personal responsibility. in fact, he wouldn't even really engage that question about harry truman saying "the buck stops here." instead he pointed his finger at jerome powell, the federal reserve chairman. this was president trump's hand selected nominee to run the central bank, but trump said that powell is responsible for any softening in the economy. he points to the raises and interest rates at the fed. trump was careful to say he does not think there will be a recession, but that he thinks anything wrong with the economy anywhere is squarely the fed's fault. >> did he acknowledge, he's complaining that interest rates are going up. in the last administration

phil rucker, again, one of three names on the byline, the "washington post" breaking the story in the last half hour that kirstjen nielsen, the president is preparing to remove her as secretary of homeland security. phil, thanks. >>> back to this unending midterm election of 2018. we have more news on that front just out tonight. nbc news has declared democratic congresswoman kyrsten sinema as the apparent winner in the arizona senate race, giving her a narrow victory over republican congresswoman martha mcsally. sinema now makes history as the first woman senator from that state and more history because she has turned jeff flake's republican senate seat blue, and sinema reacted a short time ago. >> it won't be easy, and it won't happen overnight. but we can work together to meet the challenges our country faces. we can do this differently for our country, for our future, for senator mccain, and for each other. i think we must. thank you. >> earlier this evening mcsally, flanked by a close friend, posted her own statement, her concession. >> i just called kyrsten sinema and congratula

. >> ashley parker and phil rucker of the "washington post" write today that president trump is making aggressive moves on immigration just ahead of the midterms. "trump is mobilizing the vast powers of the military and other parts of the federal government to help bolster republican election efforts using the office of the presidency in an attempt to dictate the campaign's closing themes and stoke the fears and anxieties of his supporters ahead of tuesday's midterm elections. the president and his political advisers have decided that a base turnout strategy is the best way to preserve the gop's senate and house majorities, with trump wielding the polarizing issue of immigration as a cudgel in an attempt to motivate his 2016 supporters to vote." it is a strategy we saw on full display this afternoon at the white house as the president departed the south lawn for florida. >> as far as the caravan is concerned, our military is out. we have about 5,000. we'll go up to anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000. military personnel on top of border patrol, i.c.e., and everybody else at the border.

what did the president say when asked by josh dawsey and phil rucker? he said no. he said no. he said i'm not going to fire -- >> the president is disparaging. i would like to know -- the president is disparaging the special counsel. and law enforcement officials through his twitter account, on the record -- all across the world. i don't believe what he says. >> you shouldn't ask the special prosecutor is not squeezing people for answers. there is a tremendous amount of pressure. i wouldn't want to be grilled by the fbi about what i had for lunch. they're trying to drill on the questions about the trump tower meeting. >> but amanda, you're squeezing somebody to tell you something. >> and then -- >> i think you agree. >> and then -- i agree. look. you tell the truth. with your lawyer sitting next to you so when they come back to you two months later and ask for that same version of truth, it better match. >> david, do you think that robert mueller is pressuring people to lie? >> no, no, i don't. >> you don't think that. >> here's what i think. i think it is very difficult. you

phil rucker and josh bossi interview the president yesterday morning. at 2:30 p.m.esterday, trump met with the house republican leadership. anna and i came into the oval office shortly after that meeting and the president said he is not backing off the $5 billion. he had indicated to josh and phil he said some wiggle room on that. and i think it's an important thing to note. the president is now being backed up by republican leaders. they're basically saying we want this $a5 billion and we're willing to shut the president down. the president told us that yesterday, he is very willing to shut the government down. the president has long been convinced by his capitol hill allies that this is not a winning political fight. he now seems to believe that it is a winning political fight and it looks like he's going to go to the mat for it. he sees the $5 billion as being just for the wall with additional money to come for other border security measures. so we're in unchartered territory in this fight which is the government shuts down next froi. so we're nine days away from

. >> phil rucker, let's talk about this race.d a rough couple of weeks to put it mildly. does the democrat in red mississippi, a state that president trump won by 18 points have a shot in this run offtomorrow? >> well, he seems to have more of a shot today than he did a month ago, but he appears to be at a disadvantage in mississippi in part because republicans have such a natural built in advantage in that state. it's one of the most conservative states in the union. you know, strategists are expecting the vote to break down largely along ethnic racial lines with espy trying to turn out as many african-american voters as he can to support him. the problem he faces is a simple one of math. there's many more white voters in mississippi than black voters. that being said republicans are nervous about cindy hyde-smith. they feel she's a weak candidate. she's had a number of stumbles. if she doesn't have high turn out in the election this week that's going to be a problem for her. >> the public hanging comment has now opened the door

and i want to give a shout out to phil rucker who has won the mid terms by getting a rihanna retweet does it for kasie d.c. rachel maddow and brian williams pick up the coverage after this short break. and did you know that geico... (lips smacking) offers mo... (coughing) motorcycle insurance? ho-ho... my lips are burning. (laughs) ah... no, my lips are actually burning. geico. over 75 years of savings and service. see how much you could save at geico.com. it's too hot. oh, this is too hot, mate. coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're in! hot. but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. checkout is at four. enjoy your ride. (bicycle bell sound) ♪ ♪ explore more with a guaranteed 4pm checkout at over 1,000 fine hotels and resorts. it's another way we've got your back. the platinum card from american express. don't live life without it. first, it continues to pay paramedics while we're on break. secon

most recently with the president telling my colleagues, josh dossy and phil rucker yesterday, you know, commenting at length on climate change. describing himself among others with high intelligence not being believers in climate change and the role humans play in driving it and questioning variouses a expects of the assessment. could you explain how you see this hallmark report that the government released and the role that the -- >> sure. >> -- government plays in that. >> first, i want to recognize the hard work of a lot of federal employees in putting together that assessment. people from the 14 different agencies and departments over several years. i think it's important to recognize that the majority of that report was written in 2016. it was at the direction of the previous administration. it's been going through review over the last two years. i think a lot of the criticism that you've seen from the trump administration on the report is the emphasis from the media on the worst case scenario in the report, which is based on rcpa point five that, you know, is the worst case scena