i'm robert costa, welcome to "washington week." president trump: he's a weak person. and what he's trying to do is a ge reduced sentence. so he's lying about a project that everybody kne about. robert president trump battles his former attorneyse in def his business with russians during his 2016 campaign. president trump: we were thinking about building a building. i decided not to do it. there would haveng been not wrong if i did do it. robert: but those talks are under intense scrutiny as cohen admits he lied to congress and th president continues his political war with robert mueller after the special council withdrew a plea deal with paul manafort. all this while the president is abroad in argentina along with russian president vladimir putin. the latest roberting next. announcer: this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> kevin. >> kevin. >> kevin. >> advice for life. life welled plann learn more at raymondjames.com. announcer: funding is provided by, newman's own foundation donating all profits to charity and nourishing the common good. and patricia

robert costa, concern level among republicans? >> at the capitol today, brian, spending a few hours around the senate, you hear republicans looking with alarm at the way the president, at least privately in conversations with reporters, some alarm in how the president's handling pelosi and schumer and that exchange in the oval office. and they also believe that this white house is just not prepared when it comes to robert mueller or the house democrats. they see the vacancy for chief of staff. they see the new white house counsel just getting his footing. and they wonder where's the plan for the republican party looking ahead to 2020? >> and, sam, directly off the point bob just made, there's no replacement for chief of staff publicly identified yet. president says a lot of people want the job. all evidence to the contrary. president today owned a potential government shutdown. as steve schmidt would say, where's the rigor in the west wing and is this peril destined to increase? >> yeah, i think it is. you know, it's fairly abnorm

bri i'm robert costa. welcome to "washington week." >> every nation h the right but the absolute duty to protect its borders and i citizens. without borders, we have the reign of chaos crime cartels. robert: president trump digs inq on his ruest for billions for border wall. rattling capitol hill and the markets. and he announces u.s. troops will leave syria. >> we've been fightingor a long time in syria. i've been president for almost two years. tnd we've really only stepped i up. and we have won against isis. robert: but leading republicans push back. >> to say they're defeat is an overstatement and it's fake news. >> the decision to withdraw an american presence in syria is a colossal in my mind mistake, a graver >> that's going to have significant repercussions in the importants and years -- in the yearso come. and defense secretary james mattis resigns. this is "washington week." announcer: this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> kevin. >> kevin. >> kevin.ic >> a for life. life well pla

i'm robert costa. welcome to "washington week." >> i can't tell you when the government is going to be open. i can tell you it's not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence whatever they'd like to call it. robert: the government shutdown extends intos 2019 president trump and congress battle over funding for a border wall. in washington, uncertaint comes amid volatility on wall street. plus, the president makes his first trip to a combat zone and defends his decision to draw down troops in syria. >> we're not the suckers of the world. we're no longer theuckers. we're respected again as a nation. robert: we cover it all, next. ♪ announcer: this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> kin. >> kevin. >> kevin. advise for life. life well planned. learn more at rmondjames.com. announcer: funding is provide by wman's own foubdation, donating all profits to charity and nourishing the common good. qu and patricia yuen through the yuen foundat tn committedo bridging cultural differences in our

once again, from washington, moderator robert costa.: robeod evening. w federal court documents are giving us a gmp into the scope of robert mueller's investigation and the roles of three key figures. first, michael flynn, president trump' former national security advisor. he pleaded guilty to liing to the f.b.i. but has been corporating with mueller who recommended little or no prison time for flynn this week. went, ere is michael coe the president's former lawyer. to leaded guilty to lying congress. prosecutors say he deserves substantial pron timeespite his corporation. the president has rstled again him as a turncoat. and paul manafort, the trump campaign chairman pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges but violated his plea agreement and is now in solitary confinement in virginia. what a week. joining me tonight andrea mitchell, chief correspondent for nbc news. phseilip rucker, white h bureau chief for "the washington post." abby phillco, washington espondent for cnn and carl hulse, chief washington rrespondent for the "new york times." a busy friday,

robert costa, national political reporter for the "washington post." moderator of "washington week" on pbs. sam stein back with us, politi editor for the daily beast. good evening, welcome to you all. because it's most recent, mimi, i'd like to begin with you on this flynn filing by his lawyers. they write a little section in there that when the fbi was going over to the white house to talk to flynn, in their telling, flynn may not have been -- may not have had the warning repeated to him that a lot of folks go around knowing, that it's a crime to lie to the feds. >> right. so it's interesting, actually, what they actually say in the memo is that he wasn't warned about the penalties of lying to the fbi. so it's not entirely clear to me whether they're saying they didn't tell him it was a crime, or they didn't tell him how much trouble he could be in, but that argument really doesn't go very far. i mean, this is, you know, the former director of national

i'm robert costa.elcome to "washington week." >> former trumpel attorney mic cohen speaks out about hush money schemes during the 2016 campaign t >> let ml you, i never directed him to do anything wrong. >> mr. trump'statements come as the national enquirer publisher admits to federal prosecutors that theas organization involved. all this, as another criminal investigation loo into the trump inaugural committee's fund-raising. plus -- >> i am proud to shut down the vernment for border security. >> a showdown over the federal budget and border policy. mp taking full responsibility for a t shutdown. >> we cover these stories, next. ♪[music] >> this is "washington week." funding is provided by... ♪[music] >> kevin. >> kevin! [applause] >> kevin! >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjamecom. >> funding is provided by newman own foundation. donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cultura

from "the washington post," national political reporter and moderator of washington week, robert costa. daniel goldman, former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, now a fellow with the brennan center for justice, nick confessore with "the new york times" and elise jordan, former aid in the george w. bush white house and co-host of the podcast, "words matter." all of them msnbc analysts. let me start with you, jeremy bash. this idea that mueller who has been at work for a year and a half, it's been reported widely that he's coming up with some sort of report or that there will be findings, why wouldn't a white house prepare for something like that? >> i think they are incompetent and i don't know the substance of the defense. the president has dragged this out by not meeting with the special counsel, by not sitting down with him and answering their questions. of course, he's not able to do that because he would basically be putting himself into a situation which he would not tell the truth. not be able to tell the truth and he'd have criminal liability on much

but don't stop calling robert costa. >> thank you. >>> they call each other.hing can come between them, not even the brutal murder of a resident at the direction of moham ed. the reporting on the bond between kushner and the crown prince of saudi arabia. that's next. ♪ ♪ the new capital one savor card. earn 4% cash back on dining and 4% on entertainment. now when you go out, you cash in. what's in your wallet? the zip code you're born into can determine your future. your school. your job. your dreams. your problems. (indistinct shouting) but at the y, we create opportunities for everyone, no matter who you are or where you're from. for a better us, donate to your local y today. for a better us, uh uh - i deliverberty the news around here. ♪ sources say liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. over to you, logo. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >>> we have known that jared kushner is close with saudi crown prince mohammad bin salman, but new reporting in "the new york times" shows us just how close. quote, the two

. >> robert costa, based on past experience, what percentage his time has the president spent on all of this versus maybe criminal justice reform, avert ing a shutdown, setting up a payment plan for mexico getting his wall built? >> if you think about the big news today, it is criminal justice reform passing in the senate. it is a shutdown perhaps being averted with the president caving on his demand for $5 billion right now for a border wall. but when you talk to people inside the white house and close to the president, they say he's in siege mentality, war fare mentality. he's not focused on capitol hill as much. that's why he's trying to avert a shutdown because the russia investigation on two major fronts, not just with robert mueller's special counsel investigation, but with capitol hill preparing to issue subpoenas if necessary to pull up every trump adviser, if possible, to trace this whole investigation back because house democrats have power. >> two of the very best at that newspaper in washington, greg miller, robert costa, gentlemen, thank you so much for making the time t

national political reporter robert costa, chief of staff for president clinton, washington bureau chief for the boston herald, kimberly atkins. and msnbc contributor. huge thanks to all of you joining us on this week. bob, let me start with you. there's no obvious solution. that's something we keep hearing. what is the less obvious solution to ending this shutdown that we may be missing? >> the senate passed a clean resolution, insider term they call it, without any kind of funding, to keep the government open more than a week ago. if house democrats take over in a few days, you could see new speaker nancy pelosi move to reopen the government and make that her final play. >> if the president won't sign it, bob, isn't that dead in the water? >> it's dead in the water, but at this point, the president is still at this $5 billion number because he's playing to his conservative base and knows democrats, at most, will go for $1.6 billion for border security. he either has to accept that or walks away, vetos the bill and has another showdown for his political base. >> do you think that's goin

rasmussen, msnbc national security and intelligence analyst, robert costa, of course, national political reporter for the washington post and msnbc political analyst as well as moderator of washington week on pbs, to which i have been addicted for many years. general, can we just go back to the members of the military? most americans would be happy to see them smiling and having a chance to meet their commander in chief but i suspect that most of them know what's in their paychecks. it's not so huge that a 10% hike would go unnoticed. what do you make of the president falsely claiming these pay increases and that they haven't had any in a decade? >> i have absolutely no idea. the closest i can come to an explanation that the president seems to get pumped up when he has enthusiastic audiences. having been in this situation myself before, when he gets around a bunch of 18 and 19-year-old kids in a combat zone, who are always enthusiastic with a visitor like the president, i guess it tends to pump him up. as far as the troops not knowing they got a 10% raise, you can bet that at the end of

well, for all that i'm joined by congresswoman jackie spear, and robert costa, national political reporter "the washington post." robert, a couple of things in your reporting. despite the fact that the president faces a many headed monster coming at him including the new york prosecutors who just put cohen away, his lawyer away for three years, he's got the house of representatives, mueller's investigation, and he's got a busy new ambitious attorney general in new york state. let's just start with the first one. cohen, how much of a pounding did the president get today knowing that his fixer -- intimate back room deal maker guy testified against him and the national enquirer bosses testified against him, and they all said they were in on a corrupt conspiracy to break the law criminally in terms of campaign financing to cover up those relationships he had with women? >> chris, i touched base with the president's outside attorney rudy giuliani on this. and it's really a blame game, blaming michael cohen saying the president wasn't directly involved and saying it's a personal, not campaign ma

we want to go to robert costa, with us, national political reporter for the "washington post," hans nichols is at the white house for us. so to that question, hans, what does the president want, is it clear? >> it's clear he wants something for a wall/border security and i think the interesting thing about this proposal from the democrats is that it's going to force the president's hand on two fronts, really. one, will he continue to hold the other agencies hostage to the negotiations for the funding for dhs and the wall? and then there's the separate question, entirely separate question whether or not the president wants to agree to have a fight later in february. have a big valentine's day fight, that's when this would run out, when we get closer to the debt ceiling, if the president wants to take these fights and arguments in sequence, the democrats have given him the opportunity. if the president thinks he has more leverage now with all these other agencies but again, this is not the entire federal government or the military but if he likes the leverage now, then this is doa and it's a

i'm robert costa, welcome to "washington week." president trump: he's a weak person. d what he's trying to do is a ge reduced sentence. so he's lying about a project that everybody kne about. robert president trump battles his former attorneyse in def his business with russians during his 2016 campaign. president trump: we were thinking about building a building. i decided not to do it. there would haveng been not wrong if i did do it. robert: but those talks are under intense scrutiny as cohen admits he lied to congress and th president continues his political war with robert mueller after the special

kasie hunt, my colleague, of course, robert costa of "the washington post," i want to thank you.ing to pick up our special coverage right now. >> thank you, chris. the body of president george h.w. bush arriving at joint base andrews just in the last hour. we're going to keep an eye on that picture as the casket carrying the 41st president of the president is escorted to the capitol where it will lie in state. we have some of our favorite friends and reporters joining us. we start with something george bush was known to say when he spoke about his daughter robin bush. i love you more than tongue can tell is what she used to say to him. to see the outpouring of affection and the civility and respect that president bush showed the office of the presidency as well as all the occupants of it, including bill clinton who defeated him in '92 and president obama who awarded him the presidential medal of freedom. it's fair to say in many corners and certainly among those of us who knew him well, president bush was appreciated and loved for his love of this country more than tongue can tel

our thanks to phil rucker, to robert costa. greatly appreciate you both coming by tonight. and coming up, select senators finally get that so i yay breefrg on the death of khashoggi. then one prominent republican comes out and says there wasn't so much of a smoking gun as there was a smoking saw. 9 story wh the story when we come back. t was crazy, like... it's great when you see a hundred orders come in, but then you realize i've got a hundred orders i have to ship out. shipstation streamlined that whole process. the order data, the weights of the items, everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping label everything's pretty much done. it's so much easier so now we're ready, bring on the orders. shipstation. the number one choice of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get two months free. >>> i have zero question in my mind that the crown prince, mbs, ordered the killing, monitored the killing, knew exactly what was happening, planned it in advance. if he was in front of a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes. >> there is not a

robert costa, let me ask you in terms of ideology. other republican makes a big deal about nancy pelosi, san francisco, ultraliberal. but what's the threat level to her on her left among all the progressives who have been newly elected to the house, who are there for the first until and who regard waving at donald trump as something wrong, taking a phone call from him as something bad. what's the threat level there to her? >> it's significant, mike, but not necessarily empowered. the committee chairman who will really control the tone and scope of all the investigations, jerry nadlr lrcnadler, adam sch are allies of pelosi. she has to keep an eye on alexandria occasio-cortez and this social media savvy group of younger democrats who find their political capital, their power outside of washington. >> all right. there are a number of developments in the mueller investigation. president trump is lashing out at his former attorney and fixer michael cohen and demanding that he be given a stiff sentence for his admitted crimes. the presiden

i'm robert costa.elcome to "washington week." >> former trumpel attorney mic cohen speaks out about hush money schemes during the 2016 campaign t >> let ml you, i never directed him to do anything wrong. >> mr. trump'statements come as the national enquirer publisher admits to federal prosecutors that theas organization involved. all this, as another criminal investigation loo into the trump inaugural committee's fund-raising. plus -- >> i am proud to shut down the vernment for border security. >> a showdown over the federal budget and border policy. mp taking full responsibility for a t shutdown. >> we

i'm robert costa. welcome to "washington week." >> he was my first choice since day one. by republicans. and respected by democrats. robert: president trump nominates william barr, a formen at general under the late president bush for another stint at the department ofce j. and as robert muelle plows forward, the predent sps up his attack on the special council setting the stage for ti pol and legal war. but what do new court documents reveal about former trump associates? and what's the game plan forhe president's counterreport? plus, staff turbulence shakes up the president's circle.

bri i'm robert costa. lcome to "washington week." >> every nation h the right but the absolute duty to protect its borders and i citizens. without borders, we have the reign of chaos crime cartels. robert: president trump digs inq on his ruest for billions for border wall. rattling capitol hill and the markets. and he announces u.s. troops will leave syria. >> we've been fightingor a long time in syria. i've been president for almost two years. tnd we've really only stepped i up. and we have won against isis. robert: but leading republicans push back. >> to say they're defeat

i'm robert costa.rnment is going to be open. i can tell you it's not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence whatever they'd like to call it. robert: the government shutdown extends intos 2019 president trump and congress battle over funding for a border wall. in washington, uncertaint comes amid volatility on wall street. plus, the president makes his first trip to a combat zone and defends his decision to draw down troops in syria. >> we're not the suckers of the world. we're no longer theuckers. we're respected again as a nation. robert: we cover it all, next.

the answer is yes to come up. >> robert costa, it's jonathan lameer.he president is dealing with. he doesn't have a chief of staff. john kelly is leaving. yesterday mark meadows is removed from the conversation. explain to us a little more why meadows is no longer a candidate and at this point who is left? who can take this job? >> talking to white house officials and top republicans they say at one level they wanted to avoid to have a special congressional election in north carolina. mark meadows is a combative congressman, a top trump ally and the white house said we're not sure he has the skills set to deal with divided government plus the investigations plus a president whose temperament can go from here to there in a second. he's more valuable as democrats heat up on capitol hill. their short list remains so varied and the president spent much of the day on wednesday making calls from his executive residence. hearing dozens of names out there. meadows is a leading container. the former deputy campaign manager, an investigator for republicans, who

laura basset and robert costa, thanks for weighing in. >> thank you. >>> as we continue to reflect onife of president george h.w. bush, we look at what might be his biggest accomplishment in office. (roger) being a good father is important to me so being diagnosed with advanced non-small cell lung cancer made me think of all the things that i wanted to teach my kids. (avo) another tru story with keytruda. (roger) my doctor said i could start on keytruda so i did. with each scan things just got better. (avo) in a clinical study, keytruda offered patients a longer life than chemotherapy. and it could be your first treatment. keytruda is for adults with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread... ...who test positive for pd-l1 and whose tumors do not have an abnormal "egfr" or "alk" gene. it's the immunotherapy with the most fda-approved uses for advanced lung cancer. keytruda can cause your immune system to attack normal organs and tissues in your body and affect how they work. this can happen anytime during or after treatment and may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right

has dramatically heightped the legal and political danger to donald trump's presidency robert costa and phil rucker, rite. and that they continue to consume the rest of the party as well. but despite all that republicans on capitol hill are still inclined to standby trump and give him the benefit of the doubt for now at least. many people are beginning to ask themselves is this the beginning of the end for trump. well, the authors of this op-ed argue the justice department is unlikely to indict a sitting president. the question of impeachment is not off the table. >> you might call it the opening days of an impeachment. we're getting to that point now. >> we're now facing a situation where nadler's going to try to impeach president trump. we are facing an uphill battle. >> this is the most impeachable president ever, and the facts need to come out to show the american public he's committed impeachable offenses. >> some people are jumping to the conclusion this means impeachment, i haven't seen that yet. >> that's where we're going to start this morning, in the middle of that partisan di

one of the authors of that article, robert costa, described the current dilemma inside the administration. >> there's a paralysis within this white house that's pervasive about how to handle the mueller investigation. they feel if they start to meddle rhetorically even in the mueller investigation, a white house staffer could have to have a personal lawyer, maybe vulnerability when it comes to obstruction of justice. everyone's treading carefully, letting the president be out there, tweeting, doing whatever he does. >> as we mentioned, while all of this was unfolding this weekend the president announced his current white house chief of staff john kelly is leaving at the end of the year. nick ayers, who served as mike pence's chief of staff and who was poised to replace kelly, announced late yesterday he would not. as the "washington post" reports, that's left the president scrambling without a plan "b." more on that coming up as well. "the new york times" reports federal prosecutors are beginning to shift their scrutiny to the trump family business. tomorrow, michael flynn's attorneys are

joining me now is msnbc political analyst robert costa.your list, let's go through the possible replacements. >> andrea, the list is fluid. it seems to expand by the hour. talking to white house officials. they say the president may have taken meadows off of the list, but he's still looking for a combative chief of staff. someone who can help him navigate the divided government. former new jersey governor chris christie along with the former deputy campaign manager appear to be in the mix but i'm cautioned by almost all of my sources things change. >> things change. let's go through first of all chris christie would have to be working with jared kushner. chris christie was in charge in the justice department in new jersey when jared kushner's father was jailed. that would not seem to be a great way to start a beautiful relationship. >> that is true. and that looms over the kushner/christie relationship. it always has. if someone put your father in prison, you're not going to be exactly warm with them. but allies say he's more concerned wit

with us at the table, robert costa, "washington post" national political reporter and moderator of "washington week." karine jean pierre, senior advise tore moveon.org. donny deutsch is in the house. jonathan lemire, "associated press" white house reporter. let me start with you, frank figliuzzi, what did you make of this judge having none of the flynn conspiracy theories and really making abundantly clear that lying to the fbi is something that someone with flynn's background should certainly have known better than to do? >> so this is more about what we don't know, nicolle, than what we do know and by that, i mean there's -- there's information under that redacted fbi fd302 that we've all tried to read that the judge is privy to that we're not. my instinct is telling me that the judge is thinking there's more room for cooperation here, and when we combines that with the attitude he saw in flynn's last-minute filing late night, he's thinking there's more to this and he wants to send a message here and preserve additional cooperation and what he's done here, he's really created a bad day for f

robert costa joins me from cost cost, congressman costello and brown are back with me.office it was $438 billion. i think we have a graphic of shows how it went up according to the federal reserve, they're saying it could be a trillion next year. what's the legacy of paul ryan? >> the cloud over speaker ryan's legacy, before he even bay speaker, he mounted an ideological project to try to contain the deficit, back in 2008. he promised reps if they took power, he would do his best to get the reforms through. he was on the gop ticket in 2012, but he was never able to convince a lot of his party to go along with his plans. he remains a politician well liked, but whose ambitions were never fulfilled. >> there's this glossy videos you can look at and people like the former speaker john boehner saying nice things about him. will we hear from him later today? >> it's formally a farewell, but you have him signaling to the party he wants to stay around. he's only in his late 40s. he will not likely exit the political stage he's trying to say he did his best. it's a glimpse of ho

"the washington post's" robert costa joins us next with the latest reporting.here was a strange blue light over new york city last night. and at least one official confirms it was not aliens, though if you checked your twitter feed it looked like it was something straight out of "stranger things." we'll show you the pictures when "morning joe" returns. ♪ voice-command navigation with waze wifi wireless charging 104 cubic feet of cargo room and seating for 8. now that's a sleigh. ford expedition. built for the holidays. (hurry!) it's the final days to get zero percent financing plus twelve hundred and fifty dollars ford credit bonus cash on ford expedition plus twelve hundred and fifty dollars there's no excuse for what they did to you. it's a hate crime. from being a hero... steve carell... i created a world where i could be whoever i want to be. hell yeah. >>> the sky was blue, green, white, and then i saw like the fire went up very, very high. and then, all of a sudden, everything just stopped. everything. the lights, the fire, the smoke even. everything was

costa rica. carley: is robert mueller giving us more questions than answers?now where the evidence is of collusion, he joins us next. ♪ ♪ 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. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ hello, i'm an idaho as you probably know, i've been looking all over for our big idaho potato truck. it's out there somewhere reminding folks about heart healthy idaho potatoes and making contributions to local charities. so this year, i've built myself a secret weapon. there it is let's get 'em boy! awe man. always look for the grown in idaho seal. todd: rob: the russia investigation heating up and could come to a close. carley: robert mueller asking for little to no jail time for michael flynn. rob: that leaves responsible collusion unanswered here. here to discuss more is legal fellow at the heritage foundation hans perkowski. thanks for coming on this morning. a lot of this is pers

costa rica to celebrate her 36th birthday. >>> we could learn more about what special counsel robert mueller has. team must file a memo recommending sentencing for lopez has more. former >> reporter: sentencing day for michael flynn is set for december 18, more than a year after he pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi, cooperating with special counsel robert mueller's investigation ever since. today is the deadline for mueller's team to submit a memo to the judge recommending sentencing for flynn. that memo expected to shed light on how much flynn has cooperated with the investigation and whether he may have provided any information on president trump. >> michael flynn was part of the campaign at critical moments and the white house early on. >> reporter: flynn was a close campaign adviser to trump and then national security adviser before having to resign and pleaded guilty to the fbi about being in contact with russian officials today there's no information released about whether his level of cooperation has met special counsel's satisfaction. >> mueller has put things out in legal filings before