>> all signs point to "the washington post." it smells, it looks, it tastes like a "washington post" dispute. because of the president's tweets in the past linking amazon and "the post" and his rhetoric saying "the post" should register as a lobbyist. tonight "the post" is out with a new statement saying it's preposterous and disingenuous to say that bezos' other business, work over at amazon has anything to do with "the washington post." but we've seen this pattern before. you know, the president has attacked this channel, cnn. now his department of justice is suing cnn's parent, time-warner, as it tries to be acquired by at&t. that suit is officially about antitrust, about market competition, but the talk outside the courtroom is all about whether it's premised on the president's political or personal animus towards cnn. here we are with another case. the president targeting a giant company, but it seems to be all about the newspaper he doesn't like. >> dylan, previous administrations have been very careful not to pick winners

the failing "washington post," the fake news "washington post," the amazon "washington post." i think it's retaliation. obviously he's a counter puncher, we know that. but the value of president trump's tweets and how that impacts the markets. he wants to defend himself against what he feels is unfair news coverage. when you go after amazon it has a direct impact on the market showing president trump's tweets have no impact. howie: as the owner of the "washington post" he's able to influence editorial policy. but he says he never edited or modified an editorial. sarah: i think you can look at the neglect tef stories they are tide to in the "washington post." why are you going after amazon. amazon isn't doing anything different at the moment. howie: he believes it's hurting brick and mortar stores. he's wrong that the post office gains by shipping their packages. barack obama attacked a casino company. mollie: barack obama did attack companies, fox news and the casino company. it seems unseemly for a president to do that. amazon does a lot of business in china. the editorial pa

"the washington post" citing three sources familiar with discussions between attorneys for president trump and special counsel robert mueller. the new reporting is they tell the post that mr. mueller has described the president as the subject of the criminal investigation but not a target. we'll talk about the difference in a moment. additionally i'm citing the post directly here, quote, the special counsel also told trump's lawyers that he is preparing a report about the president's actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice according to two people with knowledge of the conversations. joining us now to talk about all the legal angles on this are jeffrey toobin as well as carrie cordero. jeff, if mueller does not consider the president a criminal target, rather a subject of the investigation, does that mean that the president's completely out of woods here? >> by no means. there are three categories in federal criminal law. there's target, which means you are almost certainly going to be indicted. there is subject, where you may or may not be indicted. and then there

"the washington post." jeff bezos yes, he runs and oversees both of them but those entities aren't connected. business insider said if trump were to take action that caused amazon shipping cost to go up it would be a political nightmare for the president. whatever democrat runs against him would run as the candidate

let's get this headline from "the washington post" that reads tired of the wait game. white house stabilize is gone, trump calling his own shots and the article reads in part quote, 14 months into the job, trump is increasingly defiant and singularly directing his administration with the same rapid and brutal style he honed leaving real estate and branding empire. the president is replacing aids who have tended toward caution and consensus with figures far more likely to encourage his rash instincts and act upon them. is there any sense things will stabilize once the president's cabinet picks are in place or is this the new norm? >> oh, i think this is the new normal and i think the only stabilization that will come will be imposed from the outside. this is a president who cares

and what you need to know about this cartoon is that it did not run in "the washington post." the post pulled the cartoon because it was a pro-eisenhower paper. and mr. block was for stevenson and very adamant in that in his cartoons. and they felt that mr. block's opinion of eisenhower failing to control mccarthy and nixon went too far. and might perhaps persuade voters not to vote for him. and so it didn't run. it did run in the areas where mr. block was syndicated, the other newspapers. what you also need to know about this cartoon is "washington post" readers missed it. they knew a cartoon had appeared elsewhere that hadn't appeared in their hometown paper, and they were angry. and "the washington post" ran every single cartoon that mr. block chose to draw after that. he had a lot of power at the "post" as a cartoonist. we can see that mr. block's art style has evolved from the midwestern type pen and ink drawing to a very loose drawing style. but much more, he uses a lot of graphite, a lot of ink brush, and a board, a stipple board, so it really grabs the pencil and gives

lillian: don't to the washington post site. can type in washingtonpo /.com/constitutional or presidential. you can click play and listen to any episode you want. you can also just do a google search. them.ll find brian: this is another interesting one on the constitution, about george cassaday. the bootlegger. let's listen to a little bit of this. you set up the story and then i will get you to finish it. shaven, babyan faced, in his late 20's, early 30's. he was smartly dressed, thai, fast, shined shoes that clicked on the marble floors. keys to offices and his own stowaway spot in the canon office building. he was the bootlegger. he surprised congress with illegal liquor during prohibition. brian: how much illegal liquor? lillian: a lot of it. he was essentially the main for a very hefty percentage of congressman during prohibition. we are right here, we are steps from capitol hill, where it all took place. talk about hypocrisy. the story of the man in the green hat, as he came to be reeks of the that hypocrisy of congressman

the washington post ran every single cartoon that he chose to draw after that. he had a lot of power at the post as a cartoonist. we can see that mr. bloch's art style and a very loose drawing style. he'ses a lot of graphite using a simple board. it really grabs the pencil and gives it a nice texture. white out as a way to enhance his image. for example, on this canoe being guided by president kennedy, he's got budget written in white out. on top of the ink and pencil so that it stands out in his cartoon. kennedy was hard. and even as late a 1962, they had not found big nose or something that stood out to make him look funny. so he kind of looks generically entiree for his administration. that doesn't mean mr. bloch did not find fault to pick with him. but to some special privileges. people who have benefited. next, we have lyndon johnson. mr. bloch really admired his war on poverty. he did not admire his war on vietnam. he loved to take johnson quotes and misappropriate them. in such a way as to attack his policies. this particular cartoon shows we were willing

weeks aftert six the last cartoon appeared in the washington post. his last cartoon appeared on august 26, 2001 and he died a his 92nd birthday, and october. the library of congress has the herblock collection. we have about 13,460 of his editorial cartoons but we have nearly all the work he produced. away cartoons to friends but the have the majority of his work. he drew cartoons from hoover to the second george bush. you get to see how his career evolved, how his opinions changed, see how he drew particular pull residence. i brought out a selection of cartoons to give a sense of how he perceived different presidents and how his style evolved. herbert hoover, the first president that mr. block covered, it shows hoover at the cap, before camp david existed. camp furtherd a down in virginia. depicted leading a cap.e capitalists to his they are fishing. instead of getting economic the formperhaps send of cash incentives, the capitalist gets some fresh fish to sell. it is a pen and ink style. on a smooth board. this is typical of what would've been prod

"the washington post."runs and oversees both of them but those entities aren't connected. business insider said if trump were to take action that caused amazon shipping cost to go up it would be a political nightmare for the president. whatever democrat runs against him would run as the candidate who would bring back free shipping. i like my prime shipping. >> the reason amazon is so successful is because the american consumer freaking loves amazon. you can get whatever you want delivered to your doorstep at a lower price than people are used to. very quickly with a massive array to choose from. this is a new form of capitalism and the worm turning. this now creative destruction works. if trump wants to go and use the levers of government to use this backdoor shot at jeff bezos because of "the washington post" issue to get between americans and their savings, and their free shipping, that's not going to be a good look for him. it would also be an attack on a huge free-market success which is not something a

it was so dishonest but the washington post i would have been fired if there is anything like that. no question but that is how the media changed to present specific examples whether it is about the collusion allegations or any other issue. and on collusion the washington post ran a story august 14 of last year of the emails turned over by the white house congressional committees along with the campaign aides and they're trying to get them to go to russia and meet with leadership and manafort said no we will not do this and deputy gate said no we will not do this. and manafort said i want this guy to make sure nobody in the campaign has anything to do with russians. >> and i never read that. it nowhere. >> it is ignored by the washington post and they even had the headline and trump get the aides to go to russia but really they said we don't want nothing to do with russia that is the bottom line on the whole collusion story. >> let's talk about the media because you put a lot of examples in the book as you just described where they seem to have no boundaries they destroy with negati

tonight, the "washington post," they're reporting that this is jaw-dropping, actually. that steve bannon rears his head now, pitching a plan to shut down the mueller probe, starting with firing rod rosenstein. what do you know about that? >> well, bannon, himself, spoke to the "washington post" to kind of put some meat on the bones of this he spoke to the "washington post" and gave this indication is a real indicator of a couple things. number one, he's likely having some trouble getting to the guy at the top who he used to serve very closely with, that is the president of the united states, but also that he understands president trump so incredibly well because that he's telegraphing probably exactly what president trump wants to hear right now. that there is somebody out there who gets his anger, who gets his rage, and is fueling that, is very indicative of kind of not just his understanding, "his" meaning steve bannon's understanding of dronald trump but also perhaps his desire to kind of reconnect and rekindle that relationship. >> the question is, though, frank, is

well it reads "the washington post" covered to cover -- new york tiles cover to cover. ew york journal and washington times op-ed he will have things printed out from other publication and internet sites like breitbart. >> how do you know this? >> i was able to get right to the heart of the whole issue here, and find out, you know, what and the plane -- and okay stakes most wonderful steaks are served mar-a-lago yet he'll have them well done and reagan did the same thing. fascinating it's just full of lots of thing okay, conclusion you say in your book turns out in the thousands of story about russian collision -- there was indeed a smoking gun in reverse. that -- >> minor aid -- papadopoulos e-mailed including ann ford and those e-mail were turned over by the white house to congressional committees and "the washington post" on -- not such a bad place because i used to work there. ran a story last august 14th, which quoted these e-mails and in them this moderated saying he wants the campaign to meet with russian leadership. and manafort says absolutely not in the e-mail

according to the "washington post," special counsel robert mueller informed president trump's attorneysast month that he is continuing to investigate trump, but does not consider him a criminal target at this point. of course that could change if trump slips up and makes 50 more mistakes. [ light laughter ] according to the "washington post", advisors are concerned the special counsel robert mueller told president trump's lawyers he is only a subject of the russia investigation to bait trump into an interview that could put him

carol leonnig, political investigations reporter for "the washington post." jeremy bash, former chief of staff for the cia and pentagon, former counsel to the house intelligence committee. chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney and former senior fbi official. all three msnbc contributors. let me start with you, chuck. because you and i haven't spoken since carol's bombshell report with her colleague robert costa, dropped a little more than 24 hours ago. but i want to ask you about this notion that people aligned with the president are saying publicly and privately, john dowd who was the president's lawyer reportedly left in part over a disagreement about this, that no one even on the president's side thinks that the president can be trusted to survive an interview with bob mueller. >> well, nicole, he can be -- he can survive it if he tells the truth. i mean, at least -- >> i guess the point is nobody thinks he's capable of telling the truth. >> well -- he seems to have struggled with that in the past. this is not a place where you walk in and make stuff up. f

you're talking about "the washington post" was talking about him unleashed.e he's confident and emboldened to kind of say what he wants to do and just talk about it without consulting people, without having a real discussion about it, we're going to see this happen over and over again. we saw that a lot this week with immigration. he's been tweeting about it for three days. and it's clear that the staff was not ready for whatever plan he had, if he had a plan. now suddenly here we are talking about sending the national guard to the border. and clearly they were not ready for that and they didn't have that in place. so, you know, it's only hurting him, his own, you know, staff, and undermining exactly what he does want to do. so i don't know how sustainable it is but i think we're going to continue to see it happen. >> and peter, just another example i think today. we know the president likes to watch cable news. when the president launches a -- what sounds like and looks like to the markets a trade war, even fox news watches the market tumble. larry kudlow we

more publications were forthcoming, first at "the new york times" and later in "the washington post." but mr. abrams and his cocounsel litigated the case all the way to the supreme court, and ended up winning a historic victory there for both the new york times, the washington post, and ultimately for press freedom. it made it harder for the executive branch to suppress and sensor publication based on claims of national security. since that historic case, mr. abrams has argued more first amendment and media law cases before the united states supreme court than any lawyer in our country's history. he has successfully represented landmark communications in its case against the state of virginia, and successfully established the principle that the press may not be punished for printing the truth about how a public official performs public duties. he has handled many important cases regarding libel, leaks, and the confidentiality of journalistic sources. in addition to the new york times, his clients include abc, nbc, cbs, cnn, time magazine, business week, the nation, and standard & poor

if this "washington post" story is true that there are actual tapes of michael cohen communicating with opponents, potentially leaning on folks, threatening them that he then played because he was proud of them, potentially tapes between him and mr. trump, i don't know how to describe that it's so shocking. it makes the nixon tapes look like a church picnic potentially. i will say this, a lot of people when we first started this started comparing this to watergate and said this is going to be similar to watergate. i didn't agree with that, i thought it was overblown. i think we're beyond potentially watergate at this point if this story is true. i think this is beyond a

host: we are talking with jenna johnson, white house reporter for the washington post. let's talk about the tradition which continues on the south lawn despite cloudy and rainy weather. thousands of specter for the annual easter egg roll. guest: that's right. the president got back from mar-a-lago last night and is expected to attend easter egg roll along with the first lady. last year, which was his first year with this grand tradition, they had both of them out there for the whole day, or for most of the morning. posing for photos and things like that. let's remember, the president does not often get to mix and mingle with big groups of people. over the weekend he was at mar-a-lago hanging out with john -- sean hannity and members of his own family. members of his club who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. today is a day, we will see. perhaps he will have some interactions with the families that have brought their children or maybe he will shake cans, pose for some photos and take off. host: some news over the weekend with now former v.a. secretary david shulkin.

. >>> the breaking news we're covering tonight comes from the "washington post." and it's a big one. mueller's people have told trump's people the president is the subject of a criminal investigation, though not currently a target. mueller is preparing a report about donald trump's actions in office, and there's more. two of the reporters on this story standing by to talk with us. that news dropping just hours after the first sentencing and prison time ordered in the mueller investigation. and the president's comments today on russia and putin are now being viewed in a new light because of tonight's reporting. as "the 11th hour" on a tuesday night gets under way. good evening once again from our headquarters here in new york. day 439 of the trump administration. and the "washington post" has just dropped a major story tonight on the mueller russia investigation. carol len and i can robert costa report the special counsel told president trump's attorneys that the president remains under investigation but is not a criminal target, quote, in private negotiations in e

take that with the washington post reporting tonight that the president has been told he's a subject of the mueller investigation, and make of it what you will. we'll post page 42 online tonight at maddowblog.com in case you haven't seen it. we'll be right back. we're about to move. karate helps... relieve some of the house-buying... stress. at least you don't have to worry about homeowners insurance. call geico. geico... helps with... homeowners insurance? been doing it for years. i'm calling geico right now. good idea! get to know geico. and see how easy homeowners and renters insurance can be. weeds. nature's boomerang. at roundup®, we know they keep coming back. you never invited this stubborn little rascal to your patio. so, draw the line. one spray of roundup® max control 365 kills to the root and keeps weeds away for up to 12 months. because patios should be for cooking out and kicking back. draw the line with roundup®. trusted for over forty years. ♪ ♪ so lionel, what does 24/5 mean to you?rade well, it means i can trade after the market closes. it's true. so all... evening lo

what you also need to know is post"the washington readers missed it. it did not appear in their hometown papers, and they were angry. everyashington post" ran cartoon mr. block chose to run after that. arean see that mr. block's style has evolved -- art style has evolved to a much more loose style. using a stiff board. it grabs the pencil and gives it a nice texture. he used white out both as a way to control his mistakes and also to enhance his image. , being guided by president kennedy, he has budget written in white out on top of the ink and pencil so that it stands out in his cartoon. for mostas hard cartoonists to draw. he was a handsome looking fellow. even as late as 1962, they had big errors ornd big noses or something that stood out to make him look funny. so he kind of looks generically handsome in the entirety of his administration. that does not mean that mr. block did not find fault to pick with him. this cartoon is about the kennedy administration's desire endmplement tax cuts but special privileges for people who had benefited from specia

someone leaked it to the washington post. maybe because they suspected nbc wasn't going to broadcast it. but the story has always been it sat on a shelf at nbc for many years, as if forgotten and then in the late stage of the election somebody in nbc remembered and found it and according to nbc they were about to broadcast it that way but it didn't get around at the time "the washington post" published -- and the whole world heard what was on the tape. so it makes you wonder when now president trump learned the tape was about to come out when cohen knew about the tape. one of the big mysteries about the tape is how many people at nbc knew about it? how many people knew it exists and what did they do about it. and one other mystery and that might prove crucial here, about an hour after the tape was published by the washington post, wikileaks began dumping damaging information about the clinton campaign. this was the leak of the podesta e-mails and the stolen e-mails from john podesta. those e-mails were leaked on the internet

phil rutger is with the "washington post." also an msnbc political analyst. jonathan daypart, an opinion writer for "the washington post" and msnbc contributor. matt welch, editor at large for "reason," a libertarian magazine. phil, president trump going after amazon, daca, threatening to end nafta. you have an amazing piece out. you're saying this is because his stabilizers are lost. we're talking hope hicks, gary cohn, maybe even rob porter who kept a lot of misinformation away from the president's desk for a while, so talk about that. >> yes, that's exactly right, stef, you see a president sort of unchanged and free to act on his impulses, to say what he wants to say, to try to move the needle. he did it over the weekend on amazon, on nafta, and these trade issues. what we found inside the white house is he's increasingly taking his own counsel. the people who were stabilizing forces around him, who spent multiple hours a day with him, trying to sort of cool him down, are gone. hope hick, the communication director. h.r. mcmaster, the national security adv

"the washington post" has more. mueller's investigators have indicated to the president's legal team they are considering writing reports on their findings in stages with the first report focused on the obstruction issue, according to two people briefed on the discussions. under special counsel regulations, mueller is required to report his conclusions confidentially to deputy attorney general rod j. rosenstein who has the authority to decide whether to release the information publicly. they said they want to write a report on this to answer the public's questions, and they need the president's interview as the last step. one person familiar with the discussions said of mueller's team leading off our discussion now by phone is one of the reporters who broke that story tonight, robert costa, national political reporter for "the washington post" and an msnbc political analyst. robert, you're also reporting in this that the president's reaction to the news that he is a subject of the investigation is that he is relieve

he accuses the "the washington post" of being a lobbyist for amazon. amazon pays the same as other bulk shippers. the u.s. postal service says it's deals with amazon are mutually beneficial, i should say. while both "the washington post" and amazon have the same owner, jeff bezos, they operate independently. amazon does not have a stake in the newspaper. is this an attack on amazon over policy or, rather, is it an attack on the company's ceo jeff bezos? >> well, first, remember, i work for "the new york times," and so i have great respect for "the washington post." "the washington post" is privatelily owned now by jeff bezos who is the owner of amazon and it's clear that donald trump is using this ownership as a way to attack "the washington post." he has been attacking "the new york times," cnn, "the washington post" and in almost everyone he calls the mainstream media, the fake news media, except perhaps for fox news. this is one more effort for him to undermine the credible reporting of "the washington post," as he has tried to undermine the incredi

and john sullivan, congressional reporter for "the washington post." great to have you both with us here on this sunday morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> shawn, given the attacks by "the washington post," the senior publicist had no comments when we reached out to them yesterday, but what is your sense of where this is coming from? is this usual from the different attacks against "the post" and other media outlets? >> a couple things, one, in general, we have seen the president make this kind of argument and this kind of similar argument about amazon before he's lashed out at other companies. i mean, he likes a good fight in the public sphere. another thing is that the post's own reporting shows that some of this comes from the fact that the president, or at least according to people who have talked to him, comes from the fact that the president sometimes grows frustrated with the stories he sees about him and the white house in "the post." and that often motivates him lashing out against amazon here. >> and jonathan, do you think that this

think,e would be true, i if some government entities were considering to direct the washington post to register as a lobbyist. if anything of that sort were to occur, whatever the extensible excavation was offered, my suspicion would be that the president would be responsible for it because of his anger at the post. these are not entirely fanciful thoughts. cnncent assessment given on was that so far he is just tweaking. trop has not taken action against amazon, but wall street investors believe he will back it up with regulatory muscle. let me talk now as a lawyer. as a legal matter it seems to me that any action of the government aimed at amazon would likely be deemed to violate the first amendment. permittedment is not to retaliate against individuals or corporations because of its view of their views about yeters of public policy, treat day, tweet by --tweet, the president seems to be creating a powerful and successful case for amazon that some sort of government action were aimed at it, and i include in that statement antitrust litigation, raising a postal .ates let me return to d

an op-ed piece in the washington post earlier this week by professional david dresner observed that almost everything the president had recently tweeted on topics including amazon was factually challenged and sounds worse when one takes trumps words semi- seriously. i think that's the wrong way to do it. put aside what he thanks of the president and the like, words matter. speech matters. chief justice roberts use those two words in an opinion not so long ago. i think it's important that we take very seriously anything our president has to say about an institution as significant as the press and that it is protected and deliberately protected to such a degree. while it is quite true as one of our panelists observed earlier that the president is the article to a considerable degree in saying certain things that makes it no less significant and no less worrisome when the things he said are so focused in an anti- press, and i must say, anti- first amendment manner. let me be clear, john adams, not doll trump pushed this act of 1798 through the congress and president trump has done no such thi

this "washington post" story, what do we know? >> this is our first indication the president has solid reason to believe that despite all the media hype -- hyperventilation about the special counsel, the risk of criminal jeopardy is low. that is the signal that mueller's team sent to the president's attorneys. according to "the washington post" they are saying that mueller's team missing the president is not a criminal target athis poi a subject of the investigation, as you know itsubj means that pn is under investigation but there play not be enough evidence to t bring charges. that will be difficult to prove. bottom line this this helps shed more light on why there's been a split in trump's legal camp. john dowd wanted to avoid an interview with miller. believing if your risk of criminal prosecution is low, why walk into it. ty cobb has been counseling if the president doesn't interview, he and ty cobb are confident they can have no intent to obstruct justice and mueller can complete that portion of the probe. then the cloud cou

not very happy about reading -- >> don't think he'll read of that. >> "the new york post," not "washington postthe new york post." this report. we'll continue to stay on top of breaking news. much more right after this. whe for the big things in life, we tend to start small. less of this. cut back on that. but if it feels like a lot of effort for a little gain, change that. start with something that makes a big difference... ...your student loans. refinancing with sofi could save you $30,000. it's an easier way to reach your life goal sooner. we've helped over 195,000 people. we want to help you too. find out how much you can save in just two minutes at sofi.com/save. ( ♪ ) (sustained horn honk) advisor: (on phone) jane, this is jim from onstar, i've contacted help and they're on their way. woman: okay. advisor: don't worry i'm going to stay with you until help arrives. woman: thank you. that deer, it just... just came out of nowhere. that deer, it just... he's playno, with us. he's trying to tell us something. let's see what forensics thinks. sorry i'm late. what did i miss? wanna get away? no

"the washington post" with this report tonight.l cohen taped conversations with associates. and now some of those people are worried that those recordings are in the hands of federal investigators, that this could have been seized during the raid on monday. "outfront," tom hamburger, reporter with "the washington post," this is pretty incredible. taco win, who's worked with trump for a dozen years. and now you're learning may have taped conversations? >> michael cohen was a very loyal guy, is and was a very loyal guy, loyal to donald trump. and donald trump used to indicate and did, in fact, publicly recently, that he would sometimes tape conversations. we don't know that he actually did. but he would talk about it and use it as a sort of tactic of leverage. as leverage. and michael cohen, from those that we talked to, suggested -- suggests that he did much the same thing. and in some cases actually did record conversations and at least in a couple of instances replayed them for a small audience. >> you have a story in here where d

>> presumably general kelly knows even better than the "washington post." he knows his relationship with the president uniquely better than any of us. he probably knows well where his handing is. and the story is not entirely sort of focused in one direction. there are aspects of the story that says president trump and he still have a working relationship and he talks to the president more than anyone else. white house chiefs of staff tend to come and go. our last two or three first-term presidents, have had two or three chiefs of staff. there have been some reporting the president is thinking of going without a chief of staff. that's an old promise of freshmen congressmen who come from the business world. it never works. eric: david hawkins, got to go. i have to add there are denials about mr. kelly's status at the white house. but time will tell. arthel: a fire at trump tower in new york city leaving one man dead. what we are learning about the cause today. plus under pressure. the head of the epa under mounting calls to step down while getting the suppor

the president's real ire is aimed at jeff bazos that owns "the washington post." >> or "the washington post", which i call a lobbying tool for amazon. that's a lobbying tool for amazon. expelling each other's diplomats, the presidents' day is taking off from washington. while in russia the u.s. consulate in st. petersburg. the president has a happy easter tweet and the public schedule does not lay it out. last year he celebrated with a family meal and gone to church so that may be part of plan for today, as well. the president does return to washington later this afternoon and tomorrow the first lady is the hostess for the long tradition white house easter egg roll where thousands of kids are invited to the white house and have a little fun on the south lawn. >> we look forward to that and reporting later on and what the president is doing today for sure. joining me now, caitlyn hughie burns for real clear politics and john harwood. thanks for joining me on a holiday. let's begin with the feud. what in your mind is behind it? do you think the president's ultimate goal is here? >> happy

an op-ed piece in the washington post earlier this week observed that almost everything the president had recently treated on topics including amazon was factually challenged and sounds worse when what takes trump's words some as seriously -- semi seriously. i think that is the wrong way to view it. words matter. speech matters. chief justice roberts used those two words in an opinion not so long ago. i think it is important that we take very seriously anything our president has to say about an institution as significant as the press, and that it is protected by the first amendment. while it is quite true, as one of our panelists observed earlier, that the president is the ethical -- is the afterglow -- is theatrical to a considerable degree, makes it no less significant or less worrisome when the things he says are so focused and an anti-press and anti-first amendment matter. john adams, not donald trump, pushed the act of 1798 through the congress. president trump has done no such thing. abraham lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus a number of times, leading to the jailing of

building a better california. >>> president trump versus amazon is a proxy for his war with "the washington postlieve that's even a real sentence. this morning the po-- he's been covering this amazon versus trump thing going on. and then we have this new tweet where he blasts the post. do you think he's trying to get under jeff bezos' skin? >> you can make the very same correlation looking at some critical "washington post" stories that somehow get under the president's skin and then he immediately attacks the "washington post" and amazon pretending they're one and the same, when they happen to share an owner, but nothing more. >> you've been writing about this issue for the post this week, let's take a look at what the president said on air force one talking about amazon. >> amazon is just not on an even playing field, you know they have a tremendous lobbying effort, in addition to owning "the washington post," which as far as i'm concerned just another lobbyist. >> "the washington post" has done some critical reporting on amazon, bashed some of his posts and reviews. but what's really going on

he's mad at the "washington post."doesn't even understand the way amazon works or the way we shop in the united states because jeff bezos didn't put shops around the corner out of business. walmart and malls did years ago. the american people have decided we want large quantities of stuff fast delivered to our door and we want it cheap and jeff bezos is the guy who did it. >> well, absolutely. stephanie, what we have to remember, this is not a new phenomenon. you eluded to that in our book, big is beautiful. we traced this history. you can go back to 1928, a "new york times" headline, that says big business is sweeping retail. there was a panic back then and it wasn't around even amazon or walmart, it was around a & p. and a & p was seen as the dominant company that was destroying retail. now we don't even know about a & p. then it was sears. sears is close to bankruptcy. then it was walmart. look, consumers make these choices because it's good for them. and consumers are choosing to shop with amazon because it's good

reports the size of the company's lobbying staff has ballooned and that does not include the fake washington postregister. if the post office increased its parcel rates, amazon shipping costs would rise by $2.6 billion. this post office scam must stop. amazon must pay real costs and taxes now. >>> all right. the chicago tribune points out federal regulators have found the postal service's contracts to deliver some amazon orders has actually been profitable for the postal service. people who buy products sold by amazon pay sales tax in all states that actually have a sales tax. the tribune also says that the post office's losses are due to pension and health care costs, not its deal to deliver packages for amazon. president trump did see some support over his claims amazon is too big from across the aisle from senator bernie sanders. >> this is an issue that has got to be looked at. what we are seeing all over this country is the decline in retail. we are seeing this incredibly large company getting involved in almost every area of commerce, and i think it is important to take a look at the power