i think, robert, i'd like to begin with rona.erscore what we've already established, what you already heard about her importance in all things donald trump. >> she's a crucial person, brian. i've known rona graph for years, as a reporter going up to trump tower. she was and has been for decades the gate keeper for dromonald trump. she's so close with him personally as a friend. not so much an adviser politically, but as a confidant and totally trusted by the president and then candidate businessman trump. >> the flip side of that, if you're an aggressive prosecutor and you're looking to hear who overheard what, were you on air force one, were you -- obviously she wasn't, but she could have been present at the creation of many a conversation. >> not only was she probably present at many conversations, but president trump does not use e-mail and he relied upon rona graph for years to keep a record of e-mails that were coming in, letters that were coming in. she was what john kelly is now inside of the white house, the person who co

here is rona romney mcdaniel. republican national committee chair.esting for us to see all the republicans behind the president who weren't always behind the president today? >> today is a great celebration and i just want to congratulate president trump who led the way. mitch mcconnell, paul ryan, all theç congressional leaders that came together as a team and delivered for the american people who are now going to see bigger paychecks, more jobs and higher wages. this is a great day for america. melissa: in the wake of this there are still pundits and even republicans who are talking about a really tough slog in the midterm elections, especially in the house for republicans. what do you do about that? >> well historically the party that holds the white house does have a tougher time in the midterms and we are ready for that. at the rnc we raised record money. we're already investing in our ground game. we have 21 people on the ground, state directors across the country. we recognize that the democrats are coming with resist and obstruct message. we

rona, she seems like a pretty important interview for the committee. i imagine democrats are unhappy about this happening at a time when they're not there to question her themselves. >> that's exactly right. this is a witness that democrats have been asking to come before the committee all year. they know she's been available to come to washington for months and she's willing to come next month. they don't understand why the majority of republicans wanted to do this in new york. the staff is the one doing a lot of this questioning instead of the members themselves. you know, we saw a letter from house minority leader nancy pelosi. she's trying to put the pressure on paul ryan to ensure that these efforts by the republicans to bring this to a quick conclusion are cut off. >> paul ryan is saying it's her politically posturing because she wants this to drag on. the effort to keep it partisan is not working. >>> bannon and lewandowski have been called as well to testify before the intel committee. when you hear news like that, what does that tell you about

rona graff is a key person. she's his long-time scheduler so she has a lot of access to information. it's very interesting that democrats were not told or given a heads-up on this interview or at least most of them weren't. >> that's not the only wheel turning. sarah, consensus on whether the white house is trying to orchestrate attempts to discredit special counsel mueller? this as house members, they may be reaching out to them to give voice to this effort. >> well, certainly the white house and president trump have been critical of the special counsel's investigation since the beginning, but what's notable now, like you mentioned, is that elected members of congress and the gop are starting to get on board with questioning robert mueller's investigation. there's not any clear evidence that the white house is necessarily orchestrating some kind of coordinated effort to discredit robert mueller, but certainly you're hearing the same sorts of criticisms being echoed throughout the party. i think that argument is

thanks for being here. >> glad to be here, good morning. >> it's start with rona graph, she has been at prup's side for many years in the private sector. were you or any other democrat in that interview? it took place in new york, not in d.c. was na'a surprise to you? >> well, i think it's indicative of what the republicans are trying to do, to rush to a close this investigation. i think twice this week they scheduled interviews out of state when we are in d.c. so it's difficult for members to be in the same place, particularly when the mandate is to vote. it's one indicative members they are doing, they want this investigation to go away. >> did anybody interview her? who did? what information would she be able to provide in the investigation as well? >> i believe one democrat was able to go up to new york to do the interview that took place yesterday we were another interview wednesday when we are in d.c. that interview was in new york. so, of course, no democratic members were able to go. >> it's certainly suspect west virginia kind of information do you think that everyone is try

. >> president trump's longtime secretary rona grant is in the latest investigation of investigationf the russian medding. >> in the eyes of isis in syria and iraq. >> well, good morning, everyone. i'm rene marsh in for christi paul. thanks for joining us. >> i'm victor blackwell. good morning to you. president trump is spending christmas break at his florida resort mar-a-lago. >> and the president is cheering what he calls the largest tax cut in history. let's backtrack, it's actually the fifth largest cut since the '60s. despite his excitement, aides told him he shouldn't do those end of the year traditional press conferences for fears that questions about russia could overshadow the tax bill. >> and those turns are coming as investigators we know interviewed the president's longtime personal assistant as part of the investigation into the meeting between donald trump jr. and several russians. >> dan joins us live near the florida resort. dan, no doubt it's a big one for president trump at the end of the year, but of course his aides didn't want him to step on that. >> reporter: go

comunicado que la afirmaciÓn de que su departamento tiene palabras prohibidas, es una descripciÓn a roÑacretario del tesoro dijo que desconoce la presunta directiva. [habla en inglÉs] " nadie me ha dicho que no use ciertas palabras", dijo el secretario . algunos sugieren que el supuesto cambio en el lenguaje, ayudarÍa con la aprobaciÓn de su presupuesto en el congreso. de acuerdo con el reporte del diario, al menos otras dos agencias del departamento salud y servicios humanos habrÍan recibido prohibiciones similares. en nueva york, carranza, univisiÓn. arantxa: si usted utiliza su licencia de conducir como identificaciÓn para viajar por el paÍs, ponga atenciÓn porque existen varios estados en lo que no podrÁ usar una licencia convencional. galo arellano nos cuenta cÓmo esto puede cambiar su rutina de viaje. galo: estas dos licencia parecen iguales, pero no lo son. mire esta estrella que aparece en una de ellas . muy pronto si su tarjeta de identificaciÓn no tiene este sÍmbolo, tal vez no pueda viajar en aviÓn o en vuelos domÉsticos. también podrÍan negarle el acceso a una instalaciÓn leg

final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the superman each kill you know rona's and spending student twenty million on one player. it's an experience like nothing else i want to because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful guy a great one more chance for. peace it's going to. it's the cradle of jazz. the america is still very good we. don't know all this jazz feel. climatic. alligators on the loose. are used by the at least twelve members of my family close most. of street racing. this is. the best place in the world. when you don't. see the. headspace. kelly said. claiming to know. that. alex you speak french. cut down towards. the police. cling to ready to. walk on the streets of the united states are at risk from the very people who are supposed to protect that people are afraid of criminals. you can see something happening and this is why i don't. call the cops. their lives chasing the thing. is on the trigger you never know better safe than sorry i don't know that someone else is going to pull a gun so yes unfortunately around around

rona graf is the equivalent of rosemary woods, who i know knew a great deal, and i know it was hard to get the truth from her. but to do it in new york with only the staff there and maybe one democrat, that's not a way to get to the truth. >> structurally here, jill, are we at the right place in terms of trying to understand the russia connection question? is there anything you would tweak or change in the structure we have right now, with the special counsel and four investigations on the hill? >> no. i think that the investigations on the hill serve one purpose, and they aren't looking at crim crimes. they do nothing about crimes. mueller can look at the crimes, but we as americans need to know what went wrong, how the russians were able to hack into state voting systems, how they were able to use twitter and facebook to influence the election, how they were allowed to have phony meetings that they arran arranged. those are things that democracy depends on knowing the answer to, and i think that's an important thing that congress should be looking at, and the republicans seem to be d

rona who has known the president for decades and could have a lot of information. not doing it below my feet in the capitol, but in new york city without membership present. democrats don't love that. you mentioned the bloomberg story. good news for democrats who want to keep this investigation can going. it's worth pointing out despite mybest efforts i've not been able to confirm that story said to. we'll find out, i guess, how much further democrats are able to push that probe in the house. i should point out that in his year-end press conference just now mitch mcconnell was asked about the probe going on in the senate, the senate intelligence committee. he said he has no interest in seeing that investigation stopped on any kind of artificial timeline. he hopes for a bipartisan report to come out of it and essentially richard burr and mark warner will tell us when they are done with that effort. >> garrett, thank you. chat with you later. msnbc's garrett haake on capitol hill. >>> and today marked the first major legislative win for the president after a failed a

nbc news has learned that long time trump secretary rona graff was interviewed by a handful of house intel members in new york yesterday. the committee is also reportedly looking to interview former trump campaign manager corey lewandowski and steve bannon. let's bring in kevin cirilli for bloomberg tv, and julia manchester, reporter for "the hill." julia, let's start with you. nbc reports that rhone graff was interviewed by members of the house intel committee. tell us why the long time trump assistant is particularly relevant to this investigation. >> in terms of rhone graff, she's definitely had communications with the trump organization. she's a senior vice president there. she's known him for years. obviously, she could have important information as to possibly his past dbusiness tie and stuff that's happened during the campaign. she's definitely a key figure in that regard. however, it's interesting the way they've interviewed her. normally, the house intel committee has interviewed subjects for this investigation on capitol hill by lawmakers. however, we noticed this was done

rona graf. i've talked to her for years trying to get trump on the show. worked for trump for decades. what secrets will we learn from her testimony today? that's ahead. >>> plus, virtually every country at the united nations voted to rebuke the united states over trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. trump threatened any country who voted against us and bad santa's making the list. and some of our closest allies are on it. and after notching his first big win trump touts a year, a year of huge legislative victories. didn't you notice them? boy, they just went past us so fast. and he said he doesn't get any credit as the year comes to an end. anyway, the white house is bracing for a staff exodus and trump's looking for some familiar faces to fill the holes. oh, my god. finally, let me finish tonight with trump watch. it's about how we're getting through, you and i. this period. this is "hardball." where the action is. >>> well, just days after stumping for the winning candidate in the alabama senate race, democrat doug jones, nb

and santa rona -- santa rosa i am lee martinez. >> more than 1200 kids received gifts today during angiveaway. underprivileged children left with my wolf smiling faces after getting dolls, action figures, stuffed animals and other toys. they donated more than 8000 toys, including one person who donated 120 razor scooters. they have been doing the giveaway for more than 20 years now. >>> the salvation army is looking for 400 more frozen turkeys to give to families in need of christmas dinner. if you are interested in donating a turkey the agency asked you to bring it before wednesday. you can bring it before between 830 and 430. nearly 1000 families will receive food and toys this year thanks to the salvation army. >> coming up fatalities reported in the middle east during protests in the middle east. the violence comes on the heels of president trump declaring jerusalem the capital of israel. >>> and the weather is the middle of december, we are still talking about red flag events. also rain chances that show up in the five day forecast. >>> there is more filed today from president tr

it's about these reports that your committee is planning on interviewing rona graf, long time assistantt trump organization and felix seder, ex-con, mob associated and involved in the secret plan to build trump tower moscow in the campaign, said the real estate project would be to getting trump elected. one or more of those would be happening in new york city as opposed to washington. which i can't figure out. can you confirm and tell us why they're happening in new york if that's the truth? >> i can't confirm to specific witnesses, but i can tell you this, two witnesses are very significant we've asked to be brought before the committee for months that the majority has refused to invite. they did schedule one of them today while we had tax vote, scheduled to be interviewed out of state. that went forward against our protest. at a time when we were hear voting on tax bill and none of the members could participate. they have a second interview they've planned for out of state, another key witness we've asked for for months. why is this happening? they want to jam these in end of the year

. >> reporter: for three decades, rona has been one of donald trump's key gatekeepers.f you want to get to him, you have to go through her. >> thank you. good job. >> reporter: even on tv -- >> hi. he asked me to call you and tell you to meet him tomorrow morning at the new york stock exchange. >> reporter: in "the art of the comeback," trump called her my very loyal secretary. >> she might have been present in his offices for some of the conversations that took place, even sensitive conversations. >> reporter: discrete, efficient, loyal, a trump confidant. as senior vice president of the trump organization, she's so much more than his secretary, according to trump biographer. >> she's been keeping track of his schedule for 30 years. she's the go-to person if you want to connect with the president through his business enterprises and even today people will still go to her if they want to reach the president in a channelled way. >> reporter: originally from queens, she hold as masters in education. after working in sports marketing, an employment agency got her a job wit

yesterday, house investigators questioned the president's longtime personal assistant, rona graph. despite the president telling allies he expects the special counsel to exonerate him and soon, there is no sign the investigation is close to ending. here now is cnn chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. >> he asked me to call you -- >> reporter: president trump's longtime secretary is the latest member of his inner circle to face questions from law makers in the russia investigation. >> rhona, come on, i'm going to make you a star. >> reporter: at his side for decades, long considered his gatekeeper. including sending and receiving e-mails on behalf of mr. trump, who has avoided them. graff was mentioned by name in the june 2016 e-mails between donald trump jr. and british publicist ron goldsten in which the two discussed offering damaging information on hillary clinton. goldston writing, i can also send this info to your father via rhona. also this week, lawmakers from three house committees questions fbi deputy director mccabe for more than 16 hours on a range of topic

trump's assistant is a woman named rona graft, i have spoken with her in the process of trying to set up trump interviews. she's very, very nice. she's very efficient. we had known that graph is on the witness list for the house intelligence committee looking into the russia scandal. "the wall street journal" reported tonight that for the house intelligence committee interview with her, trump's assistant and also and house intelligence interview with felix sater, a russian born and part of the trump organization, who worked on the secret trump tower moscow project during the trump campaign. republicans for some reason decided that for those who interviews for graph and satyr, they would not do them on capitol hill and decided to send their staffers to new york city to do those interviews in the setting that would be more convenient for ms. graft and apparently also for mr. satyr. having staff conduct the interviews in new york, while actual members of congress are stuck back in washington for votes, i'm sure that is very convenient for those witnesses, but it has the knock-on effect o

nbc news reporting that the intelligence committee questioned the president's long time assistant ronaraft in new york. the closed door meeting with the gatekeeper at trump tower more than three decades is the second one involving a trump associate this week. felix sader was also questioned. both graft and saiter met with the committee at an undisclosed location in new york over the objections of democrats who want it held in washington, d.c. meanwhile, house jont leader nancy pelosi concerned that republicans are pushing to end the house intelligence investigation has written to speaker paul ryan urging him to keep the probe open. ryan's spokeswoman responded in part, quote, to suit her political agenda, leader pelosi would like to see this investigation go on forever. and all of these developments with the congressional investigations are happening as we're still awaiting details of the highly anticipated meeting between president trump's lawyers and special counsel robert mueller's investigators. according to several reports, the two teams were supposed to meet at some point this we

now, on top of that, on friday there was another interview with a very longtime trump associate, ronant in the trump organization. she was referenced in an e-mail chain with rob goldstone, a publicist who set up that meeting with trump junior. the question is did she inform then-candidate trump at the time of this meeting about this effort to meet with donald trump jr. and these russian officials. now, this all comes as new investigations are taking shape on capitol hill, expected to become more partisan in the coming year with republicans pushing in the house side to investigate the clinton e-mail scandal, looking into decisions of what republicans believe were fbi bias, impartiality in this probe, something they believe gave hillary clinton favorable treatment and led to her exoneration from any charges last year. this will be a big focus for republicans going forward in the new year, even as democrats say there's a lot more to investigate on the russia issue, many more witnesses to bring forward to their respective committees. the house committee, however, it looks like they may tr

so rona who has been a long time secretary of donald trump before he was president, this obviously could mean big implications. i don't think this will be a really big deal in terms of what she knew, but of course, the house intelligence committee figuring this whole thing out and getting those answers is very important. >> i want to talk a little bit more about this investigation. we certainly see a change in strategy or a very profound strategy from both the white house and republicans and it is to discredit mueller as well as this investigation, but the latest cnn poll shows and we have those numbers there that the majority of americans approve of the mueller investigation. so here's my question. as republicans in the white house continue to try to delegitimize the mueller investigation, is this a losing strategy? >> it's an excellent question, renee. and i'm sure donald trump is wondering what the problem is. i mean vladimir putin told him they didn't meddle in the election. luckily republicans in congress are taking this a lot more seriously and i -- you know, it's an interesting so

felix saider is a republican-born trump business associate, rona graph was trump's personal assistant for almost 30 years. those are the interview subjects. importantly these interviews are taking place at a time when congress is in session and is in washington. it's a move democrats say is an attempt to rush this investigation to some sort of premature conclusion. with us for more, former u.s. attorney joyce vance who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. and sam stein back with us as well. a veteran political journalists, now politics editor for the daily beast and political analyst. counsellor, you get the first question, what's the significance of this interviewing people here in new york in the field as opposed to having them come to washington whether it's to be questioned by staff or members? >> it's very unusual these would be the first two witnesses for whom this courtesy has been provided. the reporting that i saw indicated that the lawyer for one of these two witnesses had had a medical issue and it would be more convenient for him to be in new york. that doesn't really e

i know rona mcdaniels has come out saying they'll spend money to get some good pr and explain the new tax-code bill to the general public, which is, i think, fantastic. but i think going forward, i would have said that mid terms may not be looking so good. anything can happen. i've seen anything, i've been in this business a long time. i've seen anything. but i will tell you that i think that it looks a little better for us now that we did do something. and i think that finally, you're going to see the republicans getting a little bit more unity in their party where they hadn't had before, and we had so much division. and on what david was saying, i understand that a lot of the democrats are pointing out all the negative parts that they see for the bill, but they didn't do anything. nobody cut any deals to get some things that they wanted. and i understand a lot of democrats are very passionate about some things that they view as negative in the gop tax bill. but why didn't they cut some deals? why didn't they get one piece that they could say they fought for? >> there's joe manchin w

. >> will democrats be in new york for those interviews with rona, felix, some of these individuals who played some sort of role in all of this? >> well, i can't comment on the specific names of witnesses, but i can tell you these witnesses are very significant and i can tell you we've been asking to have them come in for months. so i know that one of the gop staffers gave an excuse that one had an injury. >> i know democratic members won't be there. you have a vote and stuff going on, keeping the government running, got to pass legislation for that. but will democratic staff members go to new dwroyork to participate in those interviews? >> yes, we'll absolutely have somebody in the room but there's nothing like being in the room in terms of the members running the investigation and the critical point here is, none of this is necessary. these witnesses are willing to come in and testify in person in washington, d.c., and we have done this for no other witnesses during the investigation. so what has changed? the only thing i believe that has changed is they're operating on an injunction,

the inordinant number of hours that eileen, joanne, grace and rona have spend on the transaction documents we are very grateful for and not many people know that our mission rock team within the giants has almost lived out of the pier ones one day a week for the last several years. so, they have been incredibly hospitalable to us as we spent so many hours squating in your offices. [laughter] really it has been a huge team effort. and we just are very grateful and thankful to be here today. and happy to answer any questions. >> we have a great relationship with them dating back to the ballpark construction and working with the p.l.a. for this project as well. this really has been a great experience and one that i think we all feel good about being involved in. it's not always the case when you deal with a complex, difficult negotiation. it takes a goodwill from both sides and we really enjoyed that and enjoyed working with with you and your staff. thank you. >> we turn it over to you. >> thank you. mike? [laughter]

the staff is traveling up to new york this week to meet with rona graf, who is one of president trump's old associates, a former personal assistant, concern among these members. on the democratic side, why not bring them here to washington so we can all meet with them. the concern is this is going to be an effort to end this investigation this week. the republicans push back, saying that democrats are merely on a witch hunt. this is a deep dif investigation. some of the partisan tensions that linger in this investigation as we head into christmas here, guys. >> all right, manu raju on the hill, thank you for the reporting. joining us now is cnn legal and national security analyst, asha r rangapo. a lot to go through this morn g morning. but let's start with this belief from the president that he believes that he will get a letter from the special counsel's office exonerating him. that's not typically what happens, is it? >> no, that's not typically what happens. and it's really unlikely, at this point, that even, you know, if he weren't under investigation, that that would be forthcomin

rona's the kind of person that you would ask. and so her coming in today speaks to part of the direction this probe is going and partly shows just how deep they're willing to look for possible collusion or other contacts and foreign governments, foreign companies, you name it. it speaks to how wide ranging this effort is. >> fbi director andrew mccabe's interview yesterday with the house judiciary and oversight committees. it seems that he is now cooperating much of what james comey had to say about that meeting with trump. i mean, mccabe was there for hours. >> mccabe was there for hours two days in a row. it's worth pointing out he was on the hill back to back days. both parties sort of want their pound of flesh from andrew mccabe. republicans have been going after him about his role in the clinton investigation, what happened leading up to the election. democrats want to know what james comey told him and when, particularly about these meetings with trump. yes, as nbc's reporting has born out, my colleague coming in with the s

longtime donald trump aide and associate rona graft to field questions from house investigators. >>> and it was the best of times, the worst of times. pop some popcorn and get ready for the tale of 2017 in the time of trump. david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ essential for vinyl, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't star

her name is rona graff, known as the gatekeeper at the white house. we we have complete coverage with julyial ansley, nbc news national political reporter, and former assistant watergate prosecutor, nick ackerman, current lip a partner at dorsey and whitney. nick, let me start with you. according to bloomberg news, this would be a voluntary appearance before the house committee. what does this tell you? >> well, none of this is very surprising. first of all, we don't know if either of these gentleman have appeared before a grand jury or been questioned by robert mueller. it's very possible. that proceeding is very secret. on the other hand, it's not surprising that either of these people would be called in for testifying. corey lewandowski was the campaign manager back in april of 2016 when the campaign first learned about the e-mails that had been hacked out of the democratic national committee. he was also at trump tower on june 9th. he was a campaign manager. in my experience, at least working on campaigns, campaign managers usually know what the i

keep those pets, plants and pipes protected through about 9:00 this morning. 30 in ukiah, 29 in rona all the freezing neighborhoods. also freezing cold in san ramon at 42. 53 in san francisco, san jose about 41. commuting, no worries as far as the weather goes. ferry, mainly calm, chilly to mild on mass transit today and on the roads they'll be dry. my accuweather seven-day forecast, near record highs and dry just about every day, natasha. >> we'll have we'll have another abc7 news update in about 30 minutes and always on our news app and abc7news.com. (boy plays a chord) (dad plays the chord and it sounds very off) that was beautiful. yeah? yeah! ♪ now through saturday, get $10 off your disney pixar coco purchase of $50 or more. toys"r"us. today we play. fortified.tored. replenished. emerge everyday with emergen-c packed with b vitamins, antioxidants, electrolytes plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. why not feel this good everyday? emerge and see. at least four are burning through southern california threatening homes, sparking evacuations and unfortunately there are now new concer

. ♪ ashley: in the last hour rnc chair rona romney mcdaniel, talked about the anti-trump media and thes. roll tape. >> at the end of the day when people go vote next year they will ask themselves, am i better off than i was two years ago. let's look at my care care. let's look at my pension. let's look at my paycheck. these are the type of things they will be asking? is nye family better? is my house value going up? can i pay my rent and my mortgage? have the republican fought for me. the answer is yes. resist and obstruct are not messages resonating in the polls in 2018. we'll continue to push good policy because we're fighting on behalf of the american people. ♪ they appear out of nowhere. my secret visitors. appearing next to me in plain sight. hallucinations and delusions. these are the unknown parts of living with parkinson's disease. what stories they tell. but for my ears only. what plots they unfold. but only in my mind. over 50% of people with parkinson's will experience hallucinations or delusions during the course of their disease. and these can worsen over time, making thin

>> let's ask r nc chairwoman rona mcdaniel joining us live.nd certainly out of the white house has the upper hand midterms 2018. you guys feel that's true this time? or are you going to buck the trend? >> well, we've been preparing for that. we know historically the party that holds the white house loses seats in the midterms and that's why the rnc has been on the ground from the beginning of this year. we're already in 21 states working our field program. we've raised unprecedented amounts of money that we're putting into these states early, building out our program so that we can win in these midterms. and then let's look at the records of republicans in this first year. unemployment at a 17-year low, consumer confidence at a record high, you look at the dow, you look at the tax cuts what it's going to mean for the middle class more money in their paychecks. we are delivering on promises we have made. we have an accomplishment column that's very large and the democrats having in to run on. they've done nothing this year, and i don't think th