our leadoff panel on a monday night as we start a new week, philip rucker, ashley parker, both are msnbc political analysts and with us as well, micah oyang. phillip rucker, what is this meeting likely to be like? is this the kind of meeting where mueller said i need to talk to you about talking to your client? >> potentially it's being build as a status conference meeting and the trump lawyers are heading into it optimistic. they believe they're going to get some sort of timeline from mueller that they hope will show that the investigation is winding up at least as it regards their client, the president of the united states, that is the only person that they really care about in this meeting. and they want to hear from the special counsel a few things, one, are there any more documents that they need. two, are there more interviews they need to conduct with white house officials. and as you mentioned, potentially there could be a discussion about whether the president himself would at some point been interviewed. we know the president has not been interviewed nor has the vice president,

philip rucker, white house bureau chief for "the washington post" and political analyst. anita kumar, white house correspondent, and john heilemann. political journalist and msnbc affairs analyst. john, home team advantage. you go first. you're here with us in new york. what am i missing about donald trump, jr. claiming attorney/client privilege, which would work if you and i were each other's lawyers. we would have a private conversation that no one else could get at. how does it work the way he's applying it? can you help me? >> well, he seems to be claiming because his attorney was in the room at the same time that he had the conversation with his father, that that conversation is therefore privileged. that as you know even though i'm fairly certain you're not a lawyer and neither am i -- >> i am not. >> we have spent enough time with lawyers to know our conversations in front of lawyers are not privilege. some of my best friends are lawyers. and you don't get the privilege by transitive property. that's now how it works in the can you feel. -- court of law. i think a

we discuss it with philip rucker of the "washington post," yamiche alcindor of "the new york times." peter peter of "the new york times" and andrea mitchell of the nbc news. >> funding is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today. and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> additional funding is provided by -- newman's own foundation. do noting was profits to charity and nourishing the common good. the ethics ask excellence in journalism foundation. koo and patricia yuen through the yuin foundation. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington, moderator robert costa. robert: good evening. three members of congress were forced out of their jobs this week, brought down in the wave of women speaking out about sexual harassment and worse. million representative john conyers announced his immediate retirement after a number of former employees lodged sexual heirsment claims against him.

all with amy walter of the cook political report, shawna thomas of vice news, carol leonnig, and philip rucker

all with amy walter of the cook political report, shawna thomas of vice news, carol leonnig, and philip rucker of "the washington post," and alexis simendinger of the hill. announcer: celebrating 50 years. this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> additional funding is provided by -- newman's own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington, moderator, robert costa. robert:good evening. president trump did not hold an end-of-the-year news conference and that's been a presidential tradition. but he did sit this week for a revealing, an impromp

conversation white house bureau chief at t"the washington post" and political analyst for msnbc and nbc philip ruckers morning? >> good morning, mika. we documented the whole year, this first year of the trump presidency, and u.s.-russia policy and specifically what this government has done to respond to russian interference in the election in 2016 and help safeguard our systems ahead of next year's midterm elections and the presidential re-election. we found the government has done very little. that's in part because the president continues to be skeptical of the intelligence conclusi conclusion. we document a number of scenes where he's fought with his advisers who have been urging him to publicly acknowledge this intelligence. he will occasionally only begrudgingly do so and regret it later. he believes this intelligence acknowledging that it's true upped cuts his legitimacy as president. undercuts his victory, electoral victory that we know he's so proud of. i think importantly he thinks it impairs his ability to forge a friendship, a bond with vladimir putin that can help the united states in ar

ken dilanian, nbc news intelligence and national security reporter, and philip rucker, white house bureau chief for the washington post and msnbc political analyst. jeremy bash, what would mueller's team have to talk with hope hicks about over two days? i hasten to add borrowing the title of clark clifford's tone, he swhas preptd at the creation. >> she knows almost tlefrg is to know about where the president has been, who he's talked to, conversations he's had. three things, brian, struck me about that "new york times" story tonight about the fbi having warned hope hicks early on in the administration. first it shows the russians are working every single angle to ensure they got a full return on their investment in the trump campaign. second, it shows the fbi actually doing their job well. that's when the president really recents, it shows why he says the fbi's in tatters. it's because the fbi is warning people inside our government about russian efforts to penetrate the trump inner circle. and third i think it's clear that she told her boss that the fbi warned her when she got these war

washington post journalist philip rucker who will join us in a moment is co-author of that report along with post journalist greg miller and greg jaffey. and it's based on interviews with 50 current and u.s. officials. one told the post when it comes to talking about russia, quote, there is an unspoken understanding within the national security counsel that to raise the matter is to acknowledge its validity which the president would see as an affront. the post also reports that the daily intelligence update known as the president's daily brief or the pdb is structured to avoid upsetting mr. trump. a senior intelligence official who also spoke to the post said, quote, if you talk about russia, meddling, interference, that takes the presidential daily briefing off the rails. earlier this evening, i spoke to senator mark warner about the implications of this. >> this is a real national security concern because every one of mr. trump's appointees within the intelligence community all acknowledge that russia massively intervened in our elections with the effort to try to help mr. trump and h

with us from "the washington post," white house bureau chief philip rucker. one of the reporters that as a byline in that bombshell piece. in moscow, keir simmons and jonathan lemire. phil, i want to start with your piece out today that's driving so much of the conversation. there's a moment in which you describe that crucial hour in the president's day. what people in washington call the pdb, the presidential daily briefing. he gets a lot of information from his top intelligence officials. you write here, russia related intelligence that might draw the president's ire is in some cases clo included only in the written assessment and not raised orally. in other cases the president's main briefer, a veteran cia analyst, adjusts the order of his presentation and text aiming to soften the impact. quote if you talk about russia meddling, interference, that takes the pdb off the rails. according to a second former senior u.s. intelligence official. phil, talk about the implications of this. that the president's own team is adjusting how they communicate to him on s

. >> host: an extensive piece cowritten by greg muller and philip rucker of "the washington post"'s frontpage above the fold how trumps pursuit of has led the universe vulnerable to the us bride and here's a summary of it. your response. >> guest: so far he has not been able to rollback anything because -- so let's look at the chronology. russia hacked the election by hacking dnc and spreading a fake news and many other things we don't know aboutt. yet. that's a matter of fact. the obama administration in the last days of their administration imposed sanctions on russia for doing that. after those sanctions were put in place andt they are put in place by executive order there was some talk with donald trump came into office that he was thinking about lifting those sanctions. since he was talking aboutd. lifting the sanctions congress got involved and said it was a nonpartisan issue were democrats and republicans got together and they said should o the president be able to lift sanctions on russia on his own volition based on these things that have already been put in place. congress decid

host: an extensive piece cowritten by greg miller and philip rucker of the washington post, frontpage about the fold, how trumps pursuit of putin left the u.s. model to the russian threat. refusing to accept u.s. intelligence findings, the president, donald trump, has resisted or attempted attempts to hold russian accountable for meddling in the 2016 election. so far, he hasn't been able to roll back anything. russia hacked the election by hacking d&c and spreading fake news and many of the things we don't know about. that's a matter of fact. the obama administration in the last days of their administration imposed sanctions on russia for doing that. after the sanctions were put in place by executive order, there was some talk went donald trump came into office that he was thinking about lifting the sanctions. involved as a nonpartisan issue, where democrats and republicans got shouldr and they said, the president be able to lift sanctions on russia of his own thingsn based on these that have already been put in place. in congress decided on a vote 98-two in the senate and former 13-4

phil rucker, i'm in love with all you "washington post" philips, let me read you something from billed -- this was from a couple weeks ago. big kristol, life-long conservative tweeted the gop tax bill is bringing out my inner socialist. the sex scandals are bringing out my inner feminist. donald trump and roy moore are bringing out my inner liberal. what is happening? there is a bit -- phil rucker, a bit of a realignment around just the question of donald trump. >> you might be right. bill might be onto something there with that tweet. absolutely. you know, you wonder if this me, too, movement, the reckoning we've had in this country over the last several months with regards to sexual harassment and assault in workplace treatment would have been -- whether there would have been as much energy there were it not for the trump campaign last year. were it not for the "access hollywood" tape and for all the accusers who detailed pretty horrific acts on the part of president trump that he then denied and won the election anyways. if that had not happened would we have this cultural reckoni

rucker. on capitol hill, garrett haake and at the table, kimberly atkins, chief washington reporter for the boston herald. john heilemann, msnbc national affairs analyst, philip bump, reporter for "the washington post" and doug, president of the american action forum, former director of the congressional budget office and former chief economist of the president's counsel on economic advisers. he played a big role in helping to craft the tax bill, work with the ways and means committee and consult with senators. among the less fancy things you've done is explain tax policy to me over the years. let me start with you and ask you about the bad branding so far of this bill with only 24% of americans in the nbc news/"wall street journal" poll thinking it's a good idea. yesterday cnn had that number a little higher. i think about a 33% or 35% approval rating. why doesn't anyone like it? >> i think there are three things to think about here. the best explanation of how it works is in the economics explanation and people hate economists. so if i -- >> we don't hate you. >> but if you start winding through the logic of the business tax reforms, the incentives to inves