tip o'neill, richard nixon, which was the most fun and interesting? hn: tip is always the oldest child so i will always like tip. clarence darrow, i adore the personality of the man and nixon was by far the most fascinating. it was a great intellectual challenge. and also, you cannot be honest and look at richard nixon's life and not have sympathy for him. she really did have a tough life. he was trying to be a good guy , and yet he had this part of his character, this great, shakespearean fatal flaw that brought him down. brian: this is from your source. politicians have been known to exaggerate, this is you saying this, politicians have been know to exaggerate, and nixon was a veteran liar. john: definitely. he once told lynn barnett, you are never going to succeed in politics because you're not a good enough liar. nixon was a great high school debater, and in high school and college debate, you have to take the slides of an argument. -- both sides of an argument. you have to be able to argue the positive and then argue the negative. it gives you suc

>> nixon. >> richard nixon. >> nixon. >> yeah, nixon. >> nixon. >> is anybody else running but nixon?esident was a political animal. the president was phenomenally skilled. he was able to handle virtually anything. >> five men wearing white gloves and carrying cameras were caught early today in the headquarters of the democratic national committee in washington. they were caught by a night watchman, and they did not resist arrest when the police came. they were apparently unarmed, and no one knows yet why they were there. the film in the camera hadn't been exposed. in any case, they're being held. >> the democratic national committee is housed in the fashionable watergate complex. the break-in planned well in advance. files were ransacked and papers removed. also in this area, ceiling tiles had been removed for the suspected planting of bugging devices. >> it was saturday morning, june 17th. the phone rang, it was about 6:30. a colleague of mine, chuck work, was on the phone. he said, hello, it's chuck. we have a hot one. we have a burglary at the democratic national committee headqua

and over here here's where the media was, and all of a sudden at 3:00 in the morning richard nixon decides to go on television, even though he had not lost the election yet. and this is the media watching it. and of course i who was assigned to photograph nixon was with him, you know, 3:00 in the morning on november 9th, as he went to the podium at the ambassador hotel and conceded the election to jfk before he had actually won it. and that was an extraordinarily move on nixon's part. but four hours later the boston globe announces his presidency. and this is a wonderful picture taken by henry due mon, who is very fine photographer. as the early morning newspapers arrived at election campaign headquarters in high andist. well, by midday the election had been decided. and jfk became the first catholic president of the united states. he rallied his entire family here in high andist for this group picture. his brother-in-law, peter law ford who was an entertainer and actor. teddy youngest brother. john kennedy. one of his sisters. mother and father, ethel, and june kennedy husband over there,

think of richard nixon being a conservative. arguedue and i richard dixonthat was every bit expansionary when it came to domestic spending in particular entitlements as his predecessor, lbj. i labeled a chapter on richard nixon's presidency as great society two. society one was. john: lyndon johnson's. difference. was the lyndon johnson's great society we saw the enactment of medicare and the medicaid program, two very large entitlement programs. but mostly the great society was increasing what we think of as discretionary programs. programs for education, programmes for training, a large number of social services, where the money went directly to cities and interest groups in the cities. richard nixon was a little different. richard nixon did not expand programs that much for education and social services, but he did expand entitlement programs tremendously. and that, he created a federal unemployment insurance program. he nationalized the food stamp program, which was a very small program when he took office. he created the su

that's what the house judiciary committee found against richard nixon.oint that the president can't obstruct justice is clearly wrong, but the forum where that can be resolved, that is unclear. >> ken, do you agree with jeff? >> i do agree with jeff with one caveat. i assume that dowd was referring to the ordinary criminal justice process, not impeachment. impeachment has much wider latitude and not limited normally to what we would think of as felonies, high crimes and misdemeanors, ultimately subject to political judgment to a great degree, as congressman schiff referenced earlier. i do think it would be very hard in the ordinary criminal justice system to find a president obstructing justice within the federal system, but again, i agree with jeff, this is completely unresolved as a matter of existing case law in the united states. we're in a no man's land here from a legal perspective, but again, people significant on the left as allen december sha wits. >> kerry, where do you stand? >> it is an unsettled area of law. there hasn't been a circumstance

richard nixon was a little different.hard nixon did not expand programs that much for education and social services, but he did expand entitlement programs tremendously. and that, he created a federal unemployment insurance program. in a nationalized the food stamp program, which was a very small program when he took office. he created the supplemental security income program, which establishes a federal floor on income for the disabled and the poor elderly. he was a very big entitlement expander. in fact, he moved on farther -- or try to go farther -- but congress would not go along. the proposed the national health insurance plan very similar to the affordable care act, and he proposed federalization of the entire welfare system, which congress did not go along with. so richard nixon ranks right up there along the top entitlement expanders of any presidents in modern american history. brian: originally when medicare was passed, what did they expect to happen, and where were the republicans when that vote was taken? john

relatively brief period in richard nixon's life. he was a completely stable person in relation to that. donald trump has never been drunk in his life, the most worrisome in the history of nuclear weapons. no one we have had to worry more than him having the nuclear codes to me is the single most chilling thing about the trump presidency. everything else, everything else can be repaired, repaired. another ta another tax legislation after the trump presidency is over. you won't repair a nuclearly exchange on the korean peninsula. >> kissinger suggesting nixon was a bit unstable. there are those advancing the notion now that donald trump is mentally unstable. would you go that far? >> i went that far years ago. i went that far on the birth certificate. it its a birth certificate. it is an intelligence test. sanity test. integrity test. all those things. trump failed every one of those. every built of it. and i don't think there is a thing that is different, about, his behavior, since becoming president. i dent thion't think there was g

because he is lured into politics by richard nixon. ailes was in show business. nixon heard him talk about tv one day and decided he knows more than i do. ailes elected on the presidents from nixon, helped elect them all. and i would argue with fox news did a tremendous job helping to elect donald trump. and i don't know who would be president today were it not for richard nixon getting roger ailes into politics. >> ground zero is 1968. you have written that book. the book is called playing with fire. i'll be right back. >> welcome back and thank you for watching today. you may have noted from my first show on msnbc to the present, i'm also pushing books. books bring us together. they build bridges. they often brings folks from left and right other that which they share a conversation. it's the perfect christmas present. really, it is is. if you're going shopping today, whether it is chris matthews's or lawrence o'donnell's book, any book is a good present for anybody at any age. especially if they're young. get them early, get them going. and keep the conversati

the primary grounds for the impeachment proceedings brought against richard nixon. also worth noting, the fact we're even debating whether dismissing and removing the fbi director in order to stop an investigation of the president's own campaign, administration and himself is an impeachable offense, would be a shock to the framers. who in james madison's words, believe the wanton removal of meritorious federal officers was itself an impeachable offense. as outlined, abuse of the pardon power recognized by the founders as impeachable conduct. and by the supreme court. going after political enemies by using law enforcement, as the president has done, is one of the other articles of impeachment against richard nixon. the four or five other grounds of impeachment have less historical record, but that is not because they are not impeachable offenses, it is because we have never had a president who defied the rule of an constitution in everything that he does. highlight, andly quitesor taub has effectively covered this, but i want to highlight the reasons why the notion t

. >> the fact that richard nixon said this as an expresident foerlsed out of office as an unindicted conspiratorer in the watergate affair. and having been nearly impeached maybe that should tell you how that went over at the time. yes it's revived over the presidential tweet saturday morning. i had to fire flynn because he lied to the fbi and the vice president. he pled guilty to the lies it's a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. tlfrs nothing to hide. >>> now that is a stunning tweet because until that tweet was sent as far as the public knew the president fired national security adviser michael flynn for lying to vice president pence about contact with the russians. yet the tweet says let's show it again. i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the president and the fbi. now lying to the vice president certainly is ill advised but look vice presidents are problem use to do that it's not illegal. the second lying to the fbi, that is a felony. so this tweet suggests that when the president fired general flynn he knew or had reason to believe that fly

it wasn't long until he had to come head to head with richard nixon. who the republicans had nominated and of course nixon everybody thought would win the election. what really turned the tide in a very unique way were these first televised debates between the candidates. america had never seen anything like it before. the first debate here in october, jacky is very nervous. and she's off by the corner kind of looking out trying to figure out to make sure that her husband is going to do the right thing. it was a very interesting october. when these debates started. if you would have listened to the debates on radio, nixon was the clear winner. his voice was convincing. he spoke very well. but if you watched it on tv as tens of millions of americans did, you saw a very nervous nixon. you saw a man sweating. twitching. but yet you saw president kennedy poised, relaxed. articulate. and of course many writers including the great writer norman mailer. who wrote this piece called super-man comes to the super-mart. said the television debates really placed jf

or to introduce articles of impeachment for richard nixon on obstruction of justice. if you think about it, it's the cardinal offense. if you read article 2 of the constitution, the president's job is to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. and obstruction of justice is the reverse of that. it's taking care that the laws are frustrated and thwarted. >> do you think -- do you have confidence that congress as currently constituted can enact its constitutional duties to act as a check on that kind of power? >> well, you know, chris, it's going to be a political struggle here. so far at least on the house side, the republicans have pretty much kept their ranks. there have been some important defections on particular issues on the republican side with bob corker and john mccain and susan collins on certain things. they seem to be getting back in the fold on taxes. but nobody is above the law here. and really, the rule of law is essential for all americans. and our job is to uphold our oaths of office by defending the constitution against all enemies foreign and

>> mainstream media is out of control, never been so negative even during the richard nixon era and saraht restraint, should have thrown one of her homemade pies that these reporters but that would have been a waste of a good pie -- >> the fact is we had the anti-trump stories retracted or corrected, abc after brian ross falls russia collusion story, suspended for that, cnn on wikileaks, fake picture of a trump rally, a lot of evidence every time they get it wrong it is always against trump. that is their bias. >> these stories were all corrected. listen, first, this paul, who still watches broadcast tv? >> millions of people do. trump goes on social media with twitter. he has more followers, i am not buying this, the poll asks about pro trump statements. look at the last week, he endorsed an accused pedophile, attacked a us senator saying she would do anything for campaign contribution, those are facts. >> bruised us make a good point, he has this extraordinary power with his tweets it is using that to his favor. >> i hope chief of staff john kelly gets a fit bit to track his heart rate.

and enforcement as the president has done is one of the other articles of impeachment against richard nixon. they have a less historical record but that is not because of the non- impeachable offenses, it's because we've never had a president who defies the rule of law and the constitution and everything that he does. i want to briefly highlight as it has already been recovered but i want to highlight the reasons why the notion that we need to wait for the special counsel's investigation to conclude or simply wrong. first of all, as you have heard from a jurisdiction is limited to just two of the areas of impeachable offenses we talked about today. that would be the russian interference and obstruction. the many other areas talked about including corruption and emoluments and various undermining rights benefit is in the special counsel's investigation. congress doesn't need to wait for the evidence from the special counsel. the evidence is overwhelming. there is an adequate basis to go ahead with impeachment proceedings. as you heard from the professors it applies to the misuse of office, c

( laughter ) >> wallace: how does richard nixon, if elected by a majority? the candidate made a remark that history would note. >> nixon: the most important thing about a public man is not whether he's loved or disliked, but whether he's respected. and i hope to restore respect to the presidency at all levels by my conduct. >> bill clinton: we moved into this place. >> kroft: virtually all of the presidents of the last half century have fielded questions on the broadcast. >> jimmy carter: you didn't anticipate all these questions. >> stahl: are you really going to build a wall? >> donald trump: yes. >> kroft: lesley got the first television interview with donald trump shortly after he won the 2016 election. >> stahl: are people going to be surprised about how you conduct yourself as president? >> trump: you know, i'll conduct myself, in >> stahl: he was thoughtful. he answered all my questions. but are you going to be tweeting? >> trump: i'm going to do very restrained, if i use it at all. >> stahl: and i thought, okay, he's not going to tweet anymore. we're

. >> in the articles of impeachment that were filed against richard nixon and you know this well. one of the first articles was obstruction of justice. he was obstructing justice and he resigned before impeachment of richard nixon. >> it was a central element both of our case against the key aides to president nixon. because there was a sitting impeachment inquirinquiry, we dd to that and provided our evidence to the impeachment committee via the chief judge of the district court. remember richard nixon was named an unindicted coconspirator because of his involvement in the obstruction of justice experience. >> i want you to tell us what you know. when he said the president can't be charged because he is the top law enforcement official in the united states, go ahead and tell us about john dowd. >> john is an experienced criminal defense lawyer. he's a tough guy. a former marine. he knows what he's doing, but i think he acknowledges that he made a mistake with respect to this twitter. >> do you believe it was he who wrote that tweet? >> he said he did. i take him at his word, yes.

haldeman's sonbe as he was described by richard nixon. you have to be able to inspire a team and you have to be able to reach across the aisle. that's the simplest way i can put it. on the coverhipple of the book. this is during the final year of the presidency. the book is called "the gatekeepers." he is in new york city. we have an independent caller from little rock, arkansas. good morning. caller: this is a great topic. whipple, chris whipple, is that right? bookyou ever heard of this i just found it in my little private library here? guest: i know it very well. caller: it is similar to yours. in 1979.ut guest: that's right. it's a very good early study of some of the closest advisers. so muchout well before of our recent history. it came out before ronald reagan picked james baker as his chief of staff. bar i thinkt the for chiefs of staff who followed. it's a very good early book on the subject. caller: he loved all of the early presidents -- lumped all of the early presidents together. starting in 1857, that was the modern day maki

than he is. >> it might be hard to make the case that michael flynn as john dean famously told richard nixonere's a cancer growing on the white house. we have no indication that michael flynn may have said anything like that before, but when it comes to trying to pin the blame on someone, back in the watergate days, john dean was ultimately someone that the white house tried to push everything on, do you think that mike flynn might wind up playing that role now? >> they might try to blame him. >> scapegoating him. >> yeah. john dean was also able to help navigate the situation for the special prosecutor. and michael flynn here can be doing the same thing, putting all the pieces together. that could be happening. but there are so many other similarities, do we -- president said in the tweet, we think, maybe, he knew that michael flynn lied to the fbi. well, he's the chief law enforcement officer of the united states. what did he do about it? what did he do about it? did he ever go to the fbi? did he ever go to the department of justice and said michael flynn lied to the fbi? no, in fact what

>>> president trump's personal lawyer invoking a defense that was kind of used by richard nixon.ot commit obstruction of justice because he is the nation's chief law enforcement officer. but white house attorney is downplaying that defense. let's discuss with cnn national security analyst michael hayden, former director of the cia and nsa. sir, thank you. always a pleasure to have you. >> good morning. >> we have the can and we have the should. let's start with the can. do you believe a sitting president can be charged with obstruction of justice criminally? >> wonderful question. and i think the most telling point is here we are this morning on national tv and this has become so all-consuming that you're asking the former head of the central intelligence agency for a legal opinion. and what this tells me is my lawyers at nsa and cia used to remind me that when you own the facts, you argue the facts. when you don't own the facts, you argue the law. and what we've seen since mike flynn's guilty plea last friday is now the administration is trying to argue the law rather than argue

richard nixon was told by senators of his own party that he'd be removed.when you go down those list of horribles and you see the extent to which richard nixon used power to hurt people, to hurt his enemies, you will understand why he abused his trust. and i think that's a good standard for impeachment or removal. and i'll leave it up, i mean, i'm just one american, so just go look at that and make up your open mind. your own mind. [applause] >> first of all, i want to say thank you, mr. naftali, for presenting a really, a point of view of integrity on cnn. it's really wonderful to hear from historians, you and douglas brinkley. >> thank you. >> the amazing commentators really bring a sense of logic, which is really greatly appreciated. i was really young during kennedy's administration, but as i've gotten older and learned about the way the press reserved information, it didn't disclose everything about kennedy especially with things that would be harmful, you know, and deleterious to his presidency. and i realize that there was a lot of reserve in the pre

and richard nixon was pardoned by gerald ford. if a president of the united states decides, okay, i candon' want to pardon someone and want enforcement priorities to be x, y and z for reasons of state, unless there's some specific and corrupt motivation, which is going to really have to be shown in a real way, it's okay for a president of the united states to actually have enforcement priorities and even to let clearly guilty people go free if there are perhaps reasons for it, or if not, then we have to talk about whether gerald ford obstructed justice. so whether george h.w. bush obstructed justice. or for that matter, president bill clinton who pardoned his own brother on his way out obstructed justice. this goes back to up george washington. people who are clearly guilty are pardoned all the time and not prosecuted all the time. and actually, just think about drug laws or anything else, we do not prosecute all crimes and there are reasons we sometimes don't do that. >> how familiar is this all to you? >> too familiar and it's n

the house judiciary committee voted to impeach richard nixon for obstruction of justice.ear that a president is not above the law, but whether he can actually be prosecuted for obstruction of justice, that's really something the supreme court has never resolved and there are a lot of differing views on that. >> rebecca, i want you to listen to what dianne feinstein, the top democrat on the senate judiciary committee, said on sunday. listen to this even before cnn did report that don mcgahn, the president's white house counsel, told the president that he believed that the then national security advisor, michael flynn, had misled the fbi. listen to this. >> i think what we're beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice. i think we see this in the indictments, the four indictments and pleas that have just taken place and some of the comments that are being made. i see it in the hyperfrenetic attitude of the white house, the comments every day, the continual tweets, and i see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of director com

those conversations in private with richard nixon are cringe-inducing. not in public. you're vice president, and you behave with dignity. there's a kind of third world banana republic quality to the way pence is personally -- and again, the personalization is what gets me. and i think it's inappropriate for a constitutional republic. this is an administration. this is not a one-man rule where everything depends on his brilliance and his ability to do this and his being in touch with the american people. it's quite appropriate to say we're proud of what our administration has done under your leadership, mr. president. it's not appropriate to say you, mr. president, have done all these things, we're here just grateful to be around the table with you. >> doug, have we ever seen this kind of relationship between the president and the vice president? >> no, not when you have a vice president, as bill is rightfully saying, he's kind of -- all he does is kiss the ring of the president. does it in public. it's not a whisper in the hallway, you're doing great, mr. president. it

true fucking on the canal he was almost real and now we're going to fuck him on the cuckoo since richard nixon enough are going to show you who's to vote only to go to the snooze in the my car. was a miserable one of the stupid the. c.c.m. of our government allows us. to see all these words go. to. the top one more. visible bus broadcasting around the world from washington d.c. i'm bart chilton filling and i'm the on the coming up the wildfires spreading across california could keep it off we have in us history our chief correspondent because we report more for us from los angeles and the jobs report is out and it is good two hundred twenty eight thousand jobs were created in november and the unemployment rate. four point one percent coming up will take a deep dive beyond those numbers with. no it's just to the stories topping today's political and business headlines. in just a few months eighteen thousand will face off with the justice department in court over its attempt to buy time warner and the trial will begin on march nineteenth but a decision isn't expected to be handed down until afte

there were 11 republicans on the house judiciary committee who had voted against impeaching richard nixon. but when that tape came out, that august, all of the 11 republicans on that judiciary committee had said they would not impeach nixon. they all said hearing that tape, that they would change their votes. that they would vote to impeach. and three days after that tape came out, august 8th, 1974, the president of the united states resigned. the reason those tapes ever came into the public domain is because of a man called archibald cox. archibald cox was the special prosecutor who was brought in to investigate the watergate case. archibald cox was the one who demanded those tapes from the white house, and the white house refused and then archibald cox subpoenaed those tapes and the white house refused, and he brought the white house to court, and the court ruled against nixon and told him to release those tapes and nixon refused. and then what nixon did is he came for archibald cox. he told archibald cox to lay off about these white house tapes and archibald cox looked the president in

i was in the early '70s in the presidency of richard nixon. richard nixon would not touch that. it was just unthinkable that a president would have anything to be read by, from any viewpoint giving approval or giving moral equivalence to those neo-nazis. you know, deep at the semites in skokie. now we go forward to 2018, the 2017, to the present year, and this is why we have to recognize as as a people whether we are republican, democrat, independent, whatever we are, to send a very strong signal that with the president of the united states who, remember, he's not just head of government but under our system is also head of state. by the way, this goes back to my saying to you that i have great respect for the office of the presidency. i was a chief white house correspondent for cbs news for ten years, and i can tell you, i don't want to sound sophomoric or something, but i really felt a great sense of pride and responsibility every morning i walked through those gates. thinking about our history, thinking about what the office of the presidency is. sometimes our foreign friends

richard nixon was told by senators of his own party that he should leave. when you go down those list oforacles and you see the extent to which richard nixon use power to hurt people , to hurt his enemies , you will understand why he abused his trust. and i think that's a good standard for impeachment or removal. and i'll leave it, i'm just one american so go look at that and make up your own mind. >>. >> first i want to say thank you for presenting a really a point of view of integrity on cnn. it's wonderful to hear some from historians. we had many of the commentators really bring a sense of logic which is great, we appreciate it. i was really young during kennedy's administration, but as i've gotten older and learn about the way the press reserved information, it didn't disclose everything about kennedy, especially things that would be harmful and deleterious to his presidency . and i realized there was a lot of reserve in the press. i wonder if you would comment on freedom of the press and the future of freedom in the press in this climate under the pre

. >> i want to read from you article's impeachment of richard nixon. in this conduct of the office of the president of the united states richard m. nixon in violation of are constitutional oath to faithfully execute office of the president of the united states and to the best of his ability preserve, protect, defend the constitution of the united states, this is the interesting part. in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed prevented obstructed and impeded the administration of justice. does this set precedent? the idea that the articles of impeachment say that richard nixon obstructed justice? does this negate the argument some have the president can't obstruct justice? >> probably. it's a piece of the precedent that will be litigated. the obstruction of justice law also, you may have talked about this before. 18 usc 1503, whoever can corruptly impedes justice or threatening letter or communication attempts to obstruct justice can be guilty of that crime. most people think that that means you have to ha

>> i think it really begins with hr bob haldeman under richard nixon.se the great irony about haldeman, he's a fascinating person. he went to prison for the biggest scandal in american history, watergate, yes he wrote the template for the modern empowered white house chief of staff as we now know him. the gatekeeper who gives the president time and space to think, the honest broker who controls the information on every side of a key decision. >> but was he really an honest broker to nixon? >> again, part of the fascination of haldeman, of course, is that he created a template and yet he failed spectacularly in watergate to tell richard nixon hard truths. >> leon panetta said always tell the president what he may not want to hear because frankly a lot of people in the white house will tell the president what he does want to here. how hard is it to tell a president, a man sitting in the oval office, sitting at the resolute desk, that they are wrong. >> every white house chief will tell you that if the easy part is making the trains run on time in the west

kennedy narrowly defeated vice president richard nixon in a hard-fought battle to win the white houseon the peaceful transfer of power, the transition from one president to the next, especially when they come from different parties, can sometimes be prickly. in 1953, the transition from truman to eisenhower had been challenging. >> truman said, "eisenhower knows no more about politics than a pig knows about sunday." >> in fact, relations between the democrat and the republican were so cold that the eisenhowers chose to sit in their car instead of accepting an invitation to come into the white house for a pre-inauguration cup of coffee. now eisenhower would be welcoming another democrat, the young, vital john f. kennedy. and he hoped to set an example in handing over the presidency -- not that the president liked everything kennedy had said. in particular, he was offended by kennedy's claim of a missile gap with the soviets. eisenhower not only felt there was no truth to the claim but suspected that kennedy was simply playing politics, trying to make the eisenhower administration appea

that's the thing richard nixon would never have dare said in public. >> speaking of nixon. this is fascinating. if you watched the documentary get me stone, the firm that used to have both paul manafort and roger stone, they know donald trump and have known him for a long time. he was a pet project, a better version of nixon they thought they could mold to essentially run the same playbook because you have so many similarities between the watergate break in and dnc, although one is digital, what do you make of the idea donald trump is trying to suggest to pass off on the american people he barely knows roger stone's business partner paul manafort? >> i guess he may feel that there is a sucker born every minute because there is ample evidence to the contrary and that's the reason why we should take what he says seriously, especially what he said tonight. when donald trump said something like i have the absolute right to do what i want with the justice department, he's not just giving us rhetoric. he's telling us something that's very important. >> what would be the implicati

the first two were for richard nixon's inaugurations in 1969 and 1973. 969, 8,000 people gathered >> second nixon inaugural protest. we then went 28 years without inauguration protests. in 2001, 20,000 came to protest the inauguration of george w. bush after he lost the vote to al gore, but won the electoral college thanks to a supreme court decision. and that is it. that's the entire history of inauguration protests in america. 58 inaugurations, 4 protests. yesterday in washington, d.c. alone, more people gathered to protest donald trump's inauguration than all of the people who were gathered in the entire history of this country to protest all previous inaugurations. it has become fashionable to expect anyone that -- more voted for hillary clinton than donald trump. you're still accused of living in the bubble if you didn't see the trump victory coming. are you living in a bubble if you didn't know that saturday's protest was going to be record breaking in every way? are you living in a bubble if you don't love or know someone who marched somewhere in t

. >> that may be a legal answer, but think back to richard nixon to think there's an issue beyond a legal fire somebody or order someone to be fired, but it will have ramifications beyond a legal matter, correct? >> yeah. one of the things we see at the justice department is a bifurcation. that sort of political accountability, and a number of decisions are committed to career prosecutors, the civil service level, because avoiding that perception of any kind of pl politicizization. president trump appears to quite not understand that, as he talks about eric holder's loyalty to the president. >> the president lamented that jeff sessions isn't as loyal to him as eric holder was to president obama. >> his continuing attacks on jeff sessions are astounding to me, because sessions, in many respects, has been as loyal an attorney general as you can imagine. the only reason that sessions got out of the russia investigation is he was being accused of lying himself about his own role in communicating with the russians, and had become a witness in the case. that's very different than holder's posit

a consultant to president richard nixon's re-election campaign committee. >>> as roy moore officially loses, why the republican party isn't done with its roy moore problem. >> this is greater than judge moore. >> "all in" starts right now. good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. as the first year of the donald trump presidency draws to a close the president and his allies are trying to sell a message: they've gotten more done than anyone could have possibly imagined, starting with all those bills the president has signed. >> you know, one of the things that people don't understand, we have signed more legislation than anybody, broke the record. we have more legislation passed, including the record was harry truman, that's a long time ago, and we broke that record. >> that claim is almost cartoonishly false. according to govtrack, trump has signed the fewest number of bills into law than any first-year president dating back to eisenhower. is they han half as many bills as clinton and george hartsfield-jackson w. bush did at this point. this decide controlling both houses of congre

. >> richard nixon was.what tyrants do. that's what crappy communist dictators do. you know in on the smaller countries on the other side, that's what banana republic dictators do. they shut down the knenewspaper. they keep them from printing whatever stories there is. i think it's interesting, david, it's all about fake news. this movie, what is your hope, what is steven spielberg's hope? >> i can't speak for steven, he's the boss. >> i'll take yours. >> the point that it takes is is this. is that we are not the united states of america without the first amendment. >> so it is a current issue as you know. >> oh well -- >> the president has targeted news organizations that have printed things that he finds -- >> i believe -- i believe he calls cnn fake news. >> he did, indeed, and "the washington post." >> and "the washington post." >> and other news organizations as well. how much does that concern you? >> well, as an american, it concerns me because it's monkeying around with our constitution. it's relativ

. >> coming up, how president trump is using richard nixon's playbook to his advantage.atergate special mr. speakpr will be here with for. maybe it's time for otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,... ...with reduced redness,... ...thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has... ...no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. tell your doctor if these occur. otezla is associated with an increased... ...risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have... ...a history of depression... ...or suicidal thoughts,... ...or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla... ...reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. other side effects include upper... ...respiratory tract infection and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take... ...and if you're pr

other than richard nixon i have gotten along well with every president i have covered and have great respect for anybody who puts themselves on the line and who has that office. >> does that extend to donald trump? >> i do have a tremendous respect for the office of the presidency. that has never wavered for me. in surterms of how he handled presidency i can't say that. i knew him some before he became president and i knew his personality traits. the tone and tenure of his presidency is unprecedented. i can't respect that. when he tries to give equivalency with neo nazis and at least wink-wink to those who are extremely racial and bigoted i can't respect that as a person. >> i want to get to the book because you write about descent. you say that too many americans are equating descent with a lack of patriotism. >> that's true. descent is as american as the american revolution and as american as apple pie. some of the greatest strides we have made in the country came as result of descent. understanding how descent has helped us through our history is important when we get into such th